Manila, Philippines

Manila, Philippines – Fair-skinned and well-groomed Bern Josep Persia may be the new face of the gay-speaking community, being the self-proclaimed bekimon president in the country. A photographer and a tech support representative, Persia plays different roles (from a call center agent to a newscaster) in a series of videos about bekimons, defined as people who are â€Å"hard-core users† of gay language — whether they are homosexuals or not. Most of the terms that bekimons commonly use are alterations of basic Filipino and English words such as workibells (work), kalurkey (kaloka or crazy), teh (ate or sister), anekwaboom (ano or what) and heller (hello). Others are totally unique — from the popular jowa (spouse or boyfriend/girlfriend) to names of showbiz figures such as Carmi Martin (a term used to refer to karma). The term bekimon (beki is a colloquial word for â€Å"gay†) took off from the growing popularity of the jejemon subculture, which refers to those who deliberately exaggerate ordinary words by adding or subtracting letters, or by using a mixture of upper-case and lower-case letters, in written communication. On Monday, jejemon was chosen as Salita ng Taon (Word of the Year) in the Sawikaan 2010, an academic conference organized by the Filipinas Institute of Translation Inc. Bekimons may not be as talked-about as jejemons yet, but it can't be denied that the new term is starting to create a buzz in the online community. The Bekimon Facebook page, for one, is slowly gaining fans at more than 2,500, with comments flooding the site each day. On top of these are a number of news articles as well as several discussions about the new subculture in social networks, blogs and online fora. Persia's YouTube page, which is home to over 40 bekimon videos, is said to be the 85th most viewed channel under the Comedians category last month. The future of bekimons Gay lingo has been prevalent throughout the Philippines, and was initially used by the homosexual community as a tool to communicate with each other. Jovy Peregrino, director of the University of the Philippines – Diliman Sentro ng Wikang Filipino, reportedly expressed support to the growth of the bekimon language. Peregrino stressed, however, that learning about formal languages such as Filipino and English should not be sacrificed. But the question is, will the bekimon subculture last just like the jejemons, or is it merely a fad? For Persia, it doesn't really matter. In the bekimon Facebook page, he stressed that he didn't coin the term or upload videos of himself just to be the talk of the town. Rather, he said he's doing this to â€Å"make sad people happy, relieve stress and ease the homesickness of Filipinos living abroad,† particularly the gay-speaking community. â€Å"Walang mali sa pagiging masaya (There's nothing wrong with being happy),† Persia said. One of his supporters, meanwhile, expressed confidence that the bekimon subculture will never die, saying, â€Å"Everybody has a bekimon side. â€Å"

Whats in a Name?

George Ramone College Composition I Prof. Loscano September 14, 2011 In Henry Louis Gates Jr. ‘s, â€Å"Whats in a Name? â€Å", Gates deals with a sort of life changing reality as a young boy. He recalls the incident from a time when prejudice and discrimination against African Americans was perfectly normal. Gates and his father went to the drugstore in town, where his father was the only colored person that could eat there out of the whole town. As Gates was eating his ice cream, his father greets Mr.Wilson and he responds by saying â€Å"Hello, George. † Gates then finds out that Mr. Wilson calls all colored people â€Å"George†. In my opinion, Gates said he never looked Mr. Wilson in the eye again, because he knew he was racist. He had a completely different opinion of him after the incident and didn’t want to look at him. Maybe because he disrespected his father in such a manner. He also could have felt intimidated in a way and was afraid he would f ace the same as his father.After a long pause his father told him, â€Å" He knows my name boy and that he calls all colored people George. † The author then realized that his father didn’t feel bothered by this. What I found interesting was that the Gates family was different than the other African American families in the town. They were treated with a mix of dislike and respect. An example would be them being allowed to eat where other blacks couldn’t due to Mr. Gates’ reasons and were of privileged status.Once the incident with Mr. Wilson had occurred the author might have felt ashamed or a bit embarrassed. Consequently, at the end of this essay there is a moment of silence when the author calls it â€Å"One of those things as his mother called it. † He described it as a seeing into another world where reality was bitter. The mood suddenly shifts into Gates talking about Jackie Robinson being the best at hitting better in a clutch than anyone. Overall I liked this essay cause of the details and its honesty. Whats in a Name? George Ramone College Composition I Prof. Loscano September 14, 2011 In Henry Louis Gates Jr. ‘s, â€Å"Whats in a Name? â€Å", Gates deals with a sort of life changing reality as a young boy. He recalls the incident from a time when prejudice and discrimination against African Americans was perfectly normal. Gates and his father went to the drugstore in town, where his father was the only colored person that could eat there out of the whole town. As Gates was eating his ice cream, his father greets Mr.Wilson and he responds by saying â€Å"Hello, George. † Gates then finds out that Mr. Wilson calls all colored people â€Å"George†. In my opinion, Gates said he never looked Mr. Wilson in the eye again, because he knew he was racist. He had a completely different opinion of him after the incident and didn’t want to look at him. Maybe because he disrespected his father in such a manner. He also could have felt intimidated in a way and was afraid he would f ace the same as his father.After a long pause his father told him, â€Å" He knows my name boy and that he calls all colored people George. † The author then realized that his father didn’t feel bothered by this. What I found interesting was that the Gates family was different than the other African American families in the town. They were treated with a mix of dislike and respect. An example would be them being allowed to eat where other blacks couldn’t due to Mr. Gates’ reasons and were of privileged status.Once the incident with Mr. Wilson had occurred the author might have felt ashamed or a bit embarrassed. Consequently, at the end of this essay there is a moment of silence when the author calls it â€Å"One of those things as his mother called it. † He described it as a seeing into another world where reality was bitter. The mood suddenly shifts into Gates talking about Jackie Robinson being the best at hitting better in a clutch than anyone. Overall I liked this essay cause of the details and its honesty.

Human Resources Current Issues Involve

Human Resources current issues involve various aspects of the HR function and activities. Let us look at some of these. There are several writers who believe that we need to do some rethinking on strategic HR. One other issue raised is the necessity to do a rethinking on â€Å"strategic recruitment. † There is much talk about strategic Human Resource management. But surveys had shown that there is not much evidence that its implementation is widespread. It also varies from country to country. The role of human resources is changing as the result of globalization, rapid technological development and progress, and changes in stakeholders' expectation, among many. Skill in managing global human resources is fast becoming one of the emerging human resources current issues. Workers migration and expatriate employees pose problematic issues. These require organizations to formulate an appropriate international Human Resource management policy. Many organizations are yet to recognize the need to do this. Another issue, namely, the continued use of job description is criticized. Some argue it is no longer relevant. Another matter that needs attention is the increased presence of Female employees. Female workers are now competing for jobs that are formerly the domain of male employees. Still another issue that calls for attention is employee behavior. It is becoming harder to terminate or dismiss even difficult and under-performing employees. What more, even the use of strategies in the implementation of human resource management has been questioned as being anti-union and manipulative. Training continues as on-going concerns of organizations. But they are not the only parties concerned with training. It has become a national issue in many countries. The CEO Employment contract is coming under increasing scrutiny. Among the questions raised are whether the performance of CEOs merits the kind of pay they are receiving, and whether they should go if their achievement is not up to the board's expectation. Apart from all these issues which do not fail to surface from time to time, human resource diversity is fast becoming an important human resources current issue. The Knowledge Organization Change your organization's plans in response to changes in the business environment. Ways to managing human resources must also change in line with changes in your business plan. To do this, you need information on what brought about the current state of things. You need ideas and knowledge on how the HR function can respond effectively to the new situation. Proponents and practitioners of human resource management usually provide ideas which can give new insights. Be alert to new books on HR management and human resources articles on Human Resources current issues. One way of ensuring you do not miss new information is to become a knowledge organization. Here, every one of your employees is encouraged to educate themselves and to widen their knowledge. HR current issues will update your HR people information. Managing People, Performance and Risk Effective management of employees is important. Doing this motivates employees to do their respective job well. Employees become more focused and will want to continue working for your organization. Manage your employee's performance well by aligning what they do to the achievement of your business objectives. Identify the risks related to your human resource. For example, what are the risks if your good employees leave. Or what will happen if your people are not achieving their defined objectives. What steps can you take to reduce or minimize the risks involved? What can you do to prevent any of the risks from recurring? Risk is one of the human resources current issues that your organization must manage and control. This is especially true during economic downturn or when organizations are undergoing a difficult phase. HR Planning To meet all the challenges posed by Human Resources current issues, you need an HR plan. Such a plan needs to determine the possible trend of HR. Under such a plan, you can improve people's readiness by way of human resource training and development plans under strategic human resource development.

Hamlets Soliloquy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Hamlets Soliloquy - Essay Example As a person of noble class, he defends his honor and the reputation of his royal family: On the one hand, he hasn't already believed to the ghost and has significant doubts concerning the fact that his father was poisoned, yet he is already tired of observing the decline of his motherland, held by the stranger, the person of lesser wisdom and talent (than his father had). Furthermore, Claudius threats to take Hamlet's father's place in his own and his mother's lives, as he has become her lover. As an extremely impulsive person, Hamlet sees Gertrude as a betrayer of his father's light memory. Between the lines of the text one can also read about his anger and despair, and, what is important, his scorn to people who disregard human values and virtues. Anyway, Hamlet is strong enough to confess to his coward and lack of self-confidence for making any important steps: In this Act, Hamlet, having learned about the courage of Fortinbras's efforts and his desire to revenge against Denmark because of his father's murder, committed by King Hamlet. This encouraged Hamlet to launching his own plan of vengeance actions in future.

Unit 6 Discussion Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Unit 6 Discussion - Essay Example He compares General Motors to Volkswagen, the company which increased their investment in Audi and received a significant increase in their revenue (Rosevear, 2012). This is the best route for GM to take if it plans to reestablish itself amongst the world’s elite companies. Production of Cadillac may be a lucrative investment but the company already has made some other important investments that can be successful in the nearest future. This is a major challenge to the investment manager since he cannot stop an investment that is already earning the company millions. The investment is tested and, therefore, has an edge over the new one. The existing investments will, therefore, get more funds allocated to them in terms of capital. Maybe, the company has to make a painstaking anlysis to figure out what investments are the best and whatare not effective for the company. It is the only way the best investment decisions can be made. Rosevear, J. (2012). Why cadillac is crucial to GMs revival (GM). Stock Investing Advice: Stock Research. Retrieved from

Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Seethetwoarticleslistedattheendofthisdocument.Basedonthematerialcoveredinthemicroeconomicsclass,provideaneconomicanalysisofthepolicyscenariogiven below - Essay Example This may include External Price Referencing element in it. In some countries like Germany, they allow free pricing of patented drugs but use the policy of External Price Referencing in reimbursements. It is not the same in Netherlands which sets a cap on the price of medicines considered to be of therapeutic value. It must be noted that not all types of drugs are subjected to this policy of External Price Referencing. There different guidelines in different countries that are used when using the policy. The drug m market follows the rules of demand and supply just like other products. The only difference comes in regulatory protection and approval and also on the role played by the demand side. (Mossialos, et al, 2004). This varies with different countries for they have different rules and regulations that guide the policy being undertaken on pharmaceutical products. Also the value of a particular pharmaceutical product is determined by factors such as the amount the consumers are willing to pay for the product. This varies in different countries based on availability, accessibility, importance of the drug and other factors like the government policies and controls. The manufacturer and those importing set their own pricing which affects the price of the drug. This varies in different countries which have different tariffs on imported goods. Others factors are differences on costs of procurement and even price discrimination by the suppliers of patented drugs on those countries with a factory producing generic drugs. (Olcay and Laing, 2005). The incomes of individual consumers and national, degree of competition in the public and private sector, the system of health capacity and the public policy in different countries. Those countries that are developing public health cost account for the second largest government expenditure after staffing cost. (World Bank

Starting Business Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Starting Business - Essay Example Technology-based start-ups are generally strategically and operationally agile which give rise to innovation. On the other hand, start-ups ventures have scarcity of resources and often struggle to arrange funds and other operational requirements that they need to get their ideas to market. Establishing a new company presents a lot of challenges especially in its early stage. Principal reasons of opening a company in 2002, according to National Institute of statistics and economic surveys (INSEE) were: Buyout of a company, though less riskier task, involves a lot of intricacies. Raising the funds is major challenge of any buyout. Following elements make a buyout a cumbersome and time consuming business process: Finance: Financing a buyout involves various issues such as the true value of the company and evaluation of the companies involved and the market credibility of buying company which determines the amount they can raise from market and as debts from banks. There are various ways to raise finances for funding a buyout such as debt funding, private equity financing and vendor financing. A buyout involves complex taxation issues. No two buyouts are quite the same and their tax implications vary correspondingly. The buyout benefits will diminish if proper consideration is not given for its tax consequences for individual investors, the buyout company, and the vendor. Cultural assimilation: adoption of employees to the management owner plays an important role in success of a buyout. These issues become starker if an established company is buying an already established company. Retaining existing competent workforce Retaining key personnel of the company being purchased is also an important issue which needs to be addressed in an urgent basis. Rumors may spread that the business is about to close, in this case some of the capable workforce may leave the company. Assuring workforce that their interests will be taken care of requires a clear communication with employees and their associations. Employee's protests, in several cases, can stall the buyout process. Some of the other concerns related to buyout of an existing business include the potential for inheriting: An obsolete product or mature market: If a proper assessment is not done there are chances that you purchase a company whose products are not in demand or market for the product that company is producing is mature. This makes the purpose of a buyout obsolete. Existing operational inefficiencies, obsolete equipment, or a bad optimal location for the business: This issue again adversely affects the purpose of a

Ups and downs of Jaguar Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Ups and downs of Jaguar - Essay Example In congestions, most people leave their vehicles on when stationery. This leads to the inefficient use of engines and is a waste of petrol or diesel, which as we all know, we cannot afford at the earth’s current environmental state. Waste of time and energy. Congestion is nothing but a waste of people’s time and energy. Whether they are travelling to and from work or for any other reason, it only tires and stresses everyone out. Wear and tear to roads. Due to the standstill traffic, Congestion causes a lot of wear and tear to the roads as opposed to if there is free flowing traffic. Damage to health. Congestion causes a lot of damage to people’s physical and mental health due to breathing in pollutants and being stressed out due to the congestion. (bized.co.uk) Jaguar also produces the Externality of pollution, which as discussed above, is a strain on people’s health as well as is supposed to be a cause of Global Warming. In our current state, we cannot af ford to cause any more damage to the earth. JAGUAR: The Production Process Jaguar has developed a complete vehicle recycling program, around design-for-recycling guidelines, increased use of recycled material, and reducing hazardous materials, as part of their production process. They have taken this measure, due increased environmental awareness and an attempt to reduce their carbon footprint. . By means of this program, car manufacturers and importers of new cars in the United Kingdom take back vehicles that they put on the market at the end of their life ensuring that they are treated in an environmentally responsible fashion. This reduces the impact of negative externalities on the nation. The De-pollution process: Jaguar is working hard to remove its negative externalities by going... The most obvious way for the Government to levy some sort of control over negative externalities such as pollution, is to set a limit for every production house with regards to how much they can pollute. Crossing over the set pollution limit will give them a fine. This will lead production houses to opt for more green or environmental friendly production machinery and invariably help in reducing the negative externalities. The government must also take care to help reduce externalities like congestion. To do this they must improve the country’s public transport system and encourage people to use it rather than all of them taking out their cars. Also, they must launch campaigns that encourage car pooling and such. These measures, though quite little can effectively help curb pollution and congestion. Effectiveness of Externality Control Jaguar has taken into account the negative externalities in terms of pollution and wastage and has taken steps to negate them to a certain extent. By undertaking the de-polluting process for cars that they have introduced, they are ensuring that they do something for the environment. Also, this shows a good step towards environmentalism and shows that as an organization, Jaguar is not just interested in making profits. The measures that they have taken seem to be effective and will guide the way to a better, greener way of living. Jaguar has grown from strength to strength and has moved from Britain to India, but they know what they are doing and how it will benefit them as well as the environment.

Article Review (human resource management) Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Review (human resource management) - Article Example e, the best performing companies are in a league of organizations that have shifted their focus from development and expansion of facilities to personal development. These include McDonald’s, General Electric, American Express, among others. In a survey carried out by Chief Executive Magazine involving more than 300 global firms, almost all respondents ranked identifying and finding the right leaders as the biggest challenge, with prospects of demand for leadership increasing to the future (Maxwell, 2006). This implies that companies in addition to experiencing challenges in creating a pipeline of leaders within their operations have also to develop new skills and capabilities in accordance with business transformations, investing in leading technologies, and globalizing their operations, in addition to entering into new challenging partnerships. Sam Palmisano, President and CEO of IBM explained that the biggest challenge for companies in embracing globalization, and the main aspect that drives businesses in the current sophisticated market is and has been obtaining and retaining a supply of â€Å"high value skills† (Palmisano, 2006). This explains the strategic decisions by leading companies such as MacDonald’s to review development of the leading 200 managers in ensuring their talents are in tandem with the current market dynamics, and finding ways of imparting more skills to make them more competitive; this puts them in line with the current management demands in a highly dynamic global market. On the other hand, maintaining a high degree of strategic, cultural, and internal fit within an organization ensures such an organization has a perfect system of practices; an organization must not only focus on talent management, but has also to take interests in â€Å"organization learning and knowledge management† (Evans, Pucik & Barsoux, 2002). Therefore, companies will always attain a competitive advantage not only in designing best pr actices, but because

Into thin Air and To Build a Fire Essay Example for Free

Into thin Air and To Build a Fire Essay Nature is the natural force that governs life: weather and events beyond the control of man. Nature is utterly indifferent to man. Even though man cannot control nature, man can defeat nature. However, human errors can cause nature to defeat man. The two main guides, Rob hall and Scott Fischer in Into thin Air and the Man in â€Å"To Build a Fire† errors played a huge role in their battle against nature. In Jon Krakauer’s Into Thin Air and Jack London’s â€Å"To Build a Fire†, man’s propensity to underestimate nature’s strengths and excessive pride led to nature’s victory. In Into Thin Air, the guides’ propensity to underestimate nature’s strengths was one of the human errors that led to man’s defeat. During the expedition, Scott Fischer was one of the main guides to underestimate nature. Before summiting Mount Everest, author Jon Krakauer recalls Scott Fischer stating that he â€Å"built a yellow brick road to the summit†, (Krakauer, 86). Scott Fischer’s tone shows that he is underestimating nature’s strength because he ruled out the perilous obstacles the climbers would encounter while summiting. In addition, in the story â€Å"To Build a Fire†, the man’s tendency to underestimate nature caused him to lose his battle against nature. While traveling through the Yukon, the man encountered the severely cold weather. However, he continued to travel because he believed he could defeat the weather. Jack London writes â€Å"Fifty degrees below zero meant eighty odd degrees of frost. Such facts impressed him as being cold and uncomfortable and that was all. It did not lead him to meditate upon his frailty as a creature of temperature†¦Ã¢â‚¬ , (Jack London, pg. 1). The man’s thoughts illustrates that he is underestimating nature’s ability due to lack of knowledge on the fragility of humans; humans always need to be in a stable environment. However, he believes he can survive in fifty degrees below zero temperature without facing any serious life threatening conflicts. In Into Thin Air, lead guide Rob Hall’s excessive pride caused nature to win. The expedition was full of people who were extremely prideful. Rob Hall was one of the most prideful people on the expedition. Author Jon Krakauer recalls a comment made by Rob Hall during the expedition. He states that hall â€Å"bragged on more than one occasion that he could get almost any reasonably fit person to the summit†, (Krakauer, 284). This description proves that Rob Hall is extremely prideful because he completely disvalues the risk aspects of climbing to the top of Mount Everest. Furthermore, Rob hall’s pride led to the down fall of the expedition. When Rob Hall guided everyone on the 1995 Mount Everest expedition safely, he was sure he could guide another expedition and have the same outcome as the 1995 expedition. In the end of the novel, the author states â€Å" After everyone came out of that summit attempt alive, Hall may have well thought there was little he couldn’t handle†,(Krakauer, 284). Rob Hall’s thought illustrates that his pride led to the down fall of the expedition because he did not acknowledge the fact that every expedition is different. Climbing a mountain is extremely unpredictable. He made an enormous mistake by believing from the 1995 expedition. In â€Å"To Build a Fire†, the man’s excessive pride leads him into conflict when he does not heed the advice of others who had experience similar situations. Jack London writes â€Å"All this the man knew the old-timer from sulphur creek had told him about it the previous fall, and now he was appreciating the advice†, (Jack London, paragraph 20). This description illustrates that the man, in his egotistic mind, never believed he would encounter any obstacles and disregards the old-timers advice. It is not until he encounters a hazardous problem that he truly sees the significance of the old-timers advice. In the novel Into Thin Air, man’s propensity to underestimate nature’s ability allowed nature to beat man. Scott Fischer’s comment regarding the summit allowed nature to beat man because it made the climbers lower their guards and not focus on the things that could go wrong while summiting. His comment probably convinced many climbers that climbing Mountain Everest was extremely easy and that they didn’t have put their all in climbing because they had a perfect guide who had everything figured out. If Scott Fischer had focused on things that could go wrong and made a plane, then they would have been able to defeat nature’s strengths. In addition, in the story â€Å"To Build a Fire†, the man allowed nature to beat him due to his propensity to underestimate nature. The man did not fully comprehend the mean of fifty degrees below zero. To the man, it meant only cold and uncomfortable. However, fifty degrees below zero temperature can cause dangerous life threatening problems due to the fragility of humans. If had better comprehend the real meaning of fifty degrees below zero temperature, then nature’s strengths could have been defeated and he would not have lost his life. In Into Thin Air, Rob Hall’s excessive pride caused nature to beat man. Rob Hall, the lead guide of the expedition, had repeated success at getting everyone to the top of Everest. This made him extremely proud. Over time, his pride got the better of him by making him complacent. If Rob Hall had focused on getting the clients to the top safely, then he could have beat nature. However, Hall’s excessive pride caused him to not heed the obstacles him and his clients might have encountered while climbing Everest. Furthermore, in â€Å"To Build a Fire†, the man’s pride also allowed nature to beat him. When the inexperienced man arrived at the Yukon, he decided to disregard the advice given to him. He was so confident that in could survive traveling the severely cold Yukon Territory. If the man had taken the old-timers advice and used it to make rational decisions, then he could have survived. In Into Thin Air and â€Å"To Build a Fire†, man’s tendency to underestimated nature’s power and extreme pride allowed nature to defeat man. Nature always pushes man to his limits. It is up to the man’s decisions that illustrates whether man will win or if nature will win. Man is nature’s enemy. One little human error can lead to nature’s victory.

Online Video Rental Management System Information Technology Essay

Online Video Rental Management System Information Technology Essay For web-based video rental management system, the asp.net is use to develop this project as a front-end system and vb.net 2008 as a back-end system. This system is linking with MySQL 2005 as database resource. Comparing between Online Video Rental Management System with another existing system in the current market is needed to identify the weakness and strength of the systems and the specialization of this project. This chapter will begin with definition of Online Video Rental Management System which proved by several journals or articles and follow by description of advantages and disadvantages of Online Video Rental Management System, workflow architecture for Online Video Rental Management System, and lastly is comparison this project with similar system in current market that included VidRent Online DVD Rental Software, Video Rental Software, DRS Pro Start, W3Rentà ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢ Rental System, and Online Video Rental Management System. Definition of Online Video Rental Management System Table 2.1: Definition of Online Video Rental Management System(no italic) Author Definition (Bertino.E, Trombetta.A, Montesi.D, 2002) Each particular system is build from what types of the data it handles and the functionalities that performs. An indexing and querying of video data can be supported by the system which is database for billing purposes or video store system which just store the video data that lacking the typical features of database. (Bertino.E, Trombetta.A, Montesi.D, 2002) A particular system is introduced in the architecture because quality of service is an important requirement for whole management system. Architecture result consists of several systems that integrated all their functionalities while preserve autonomy, extensibility and data integrity where necessary (R.Walker, P. Foster, and S. Banthorpe, 1997). An powerful interactive video systems must not only store the videos, but it also provide full functionalities included queries support, insertions and deletions for managing the videos as well as for users subscription and billing according to some policy and it must ensure adequate quality of service. Author Definition (Basile. P, Tinelli. E, Degemmis. M, Noia, T. D., Semeraro. G, Sciascio, E. D, 2007). Through online catalogues, videos are recommended to customer normally are described in both of useful features which are textual features and non-textual features. Online catalogues are the motivation that often behind the research of the developer on the recommendation features. (Dr. Oliver Hinz, Dipl.-Kfm. Jochen Eckert, 2010). Search videos and videos recommendation tools play a crucial role in e-commerce. There are only beneficial for consumers if successful to search for appropriate products supported by system which help them to identify products that fit to their preferences. So, customers can use actively for their search and recommendation systems that independently recommend products on the basis of certain algorithms and data. (Dr. Oliver Hinz, Dipl.-Kfm. Jochen Eckert, 2010). There had two different consequences of the search and recommendation systems for the rental and sales included decreasing search costs can increase the sales based on additional consumption and there can also be a shift in demand from blockbusters to niche products and vice versa, so that substitution effects can be observed. Author Definition (Yanjiang. Y Beng Chin. O, 2005). Current rental records containing two purposes to identifying information serve primarily that are users who holding overdue rental items can be trade by the service provider but only in case the user does not return the items in time. Second is the service provider can enforce rental limit such that a user cannot simultaneously keep more than a limited rental items. To be effective, an anonymous rental system has to afford these two functions as in a regular rental service. (J. J. Jozefowicz, J. M. Kelley, S. M. Brewer, 2008) A serious lack of success films exist in the video rental market from analysing even the obvious popularity of this form of entertainment and the fact that the majority of film studios domestic revenues are generated by home video viewing. (Zhan Wang, Harrison Stein, Chin Yeung Siu, Ruiqi Rachel Wang, 2005) Customers can easily rent the movies through online or at rental stores to enjoy watching the movies whenever at a much cheaper cost rather than watching movies in theatres. Movies rental is more flexibility to support the customers and enabling them to enjoy the movies in comfort of their own homes. State Simplify: By increasing media technology in movies recorder, especially movies which are stored in DVD rather than VCD are become most popular in rental business nowadays. There are about quadruple of storage in DVD larger than VCD with lower price. Customers more prefer watching movies in home in cheaper price rather than go cinema. In additional, the location of the company that support in this project is no cinema. So, movies rental is a very popular business in Cameron Highlands and it is play an important role in entertainment for resident. This project had allocated to two applications that are front-end application and back-end application. The front-end application which is interface that designs to interact with the users through online customer services. Several functions such as movies previews, videos rating, voting, and some recommendation are provide to help in sales increases by hearing from the customer. Information that collects from the customers at the front-end application needs to processes from back-end application that control by administrator but not customers such as transaction record, customer information, order management, payment detail and movies stock. By fulfilling the company requirement, a customization system is need to design based on company need and condition. In this case, system design is more focus on the customer services rather than administration functions. So, this project is needs to add more additional functions to improve the customer services and fulfil their need at the same time benefit to the company in two ways. Targeting to expand the company, a flexible system is mainly consideration by the company to adding a communication space to collect the information from customer and understand what the customer needs. Customers are freely allows to remove, add, or cancel reservation of the videos within certain period. By cooperation several functionalities, an integration management system is create and it is fully customise to the company and help the company improve the business daily transaction. Advantages and Disadvantages of Online Video Rental Management System Online video rental management system is design with several advantages that benefit to organizational, customers and business processes. According to PlanMagic(2010), advantages included legendary ease of use, advanced functionality, low cost of ownership, customer approved and competitor Approved. Same as proved from PlanMagic, 2010, this project had advance functionalities to achieve competitive advantages that are more focus on customer services by adding the automation email sending, attraction interface, and given movies recommendation to let customer unlimited browse and watch movies preview through online and leave some commends on the movies after they watched. Movies recommendation specially provides to customer who are in hesitate of choosing movies. Lower prices of the movies rental are suitable for local students and residents because the owner is obtain the low cost of the movies resources by suppliers. From such advantages, its user-friendly format can be easily controlled by anyone and at the same time, it able requires and maintains to only one person with reducing overheads to a great extent. This video rental system can be understood and installed within a few minutes. In this project, it can benefit to the owner by reducing the human resource and fully utilize system performance to easily keep track the rentals and sales history, storing customer information, auto calculate late payment and generate payment that customer need to pay. All these features are totally customizable and make for unique Online Video Rental Management System to meet the expectation of the Stop and Stick Company. Online reservation is one of the advantages from this project to let the customer making order anytime and anywhere. They no need arrive to the shop to checking whether the movies in stock or not. By applying this project, owner can get the business easily through customer online reservation and increase the orders from suppliers to expand their business quickly. According to Web Experts, 2008, Our online reservations system for videos, DVDs, equipment, or whatever else you want to rent handles everything included east stocking and management. By applying online video rental management system, customers are freely to browse the website, view the movies preview, given recommendation, or making reservation of the movies in whole day 24 hours whether the shop is close or not. Reservation list will be auto arrange in order and handle by owner for second day. Besides of advantages, this project had some disadvantage that cannot be avoided. Compare to the current online video rental system, local DVD movie rental from this project have to treat with late fees, due dates and traffic but through online videos rental system, there are no need to worry about it by ship the videos to the customer after make order from online. Due to the small business company, the company had not suitable yet to running the business by delivery the DVDs to customer through online reservation. By consideration of limited resources of movies and human resources, it is difficult for company to append this service with higher cost. Customer needs to arrives the shop and rent the movies which are reserved. Due dates and late fees are needed charges from customer to maintains and manage the limited stock of movies. In additional, by the reason of the good company location which is stay at middle of the city, so that students must pass by the shop after school for everyday. It is bringing a larger market for the students who are rent the movies or return with easily and convenience. So, it is hard to provide the online payment feature from this small company, customer cannot enjoy any payment through online. Transaction process is done by cash exchanges between the owner and customer at the shop after reservation on the portal. Besides that, one of the disadvantages of this project is the problem of DVDs damage or broken after return by customer and gets negation by customer. The lost of physical cost lost is one of the disadvantages of this project which cannot be avoided and only can control it by manageable the videos under the rule and procedure before rent to the customer. Workflow Architecture for Online Video Rental Management System Figure 2.2: Workflow Architecture from source (Riderck, 2009, March 28).(no date, no italic) (Riderck, 2009) In this section, the overall structure of the online video rental management system is referring by Ridercks video rental system which is similar with this project. Same as Riderck workflow, all customer need to register as a member before utilize the web-based video rental management system at the shop to obtain the id number and membership card by owner. Customer information will be store into the database for rental use. According to the Riderck workflow, it is an offline video rental system and transaction will be keep track after customer rent the movies in the shop. Payment will be calculate by admin part that is inside the video rental system and generate the receipt to customer. By compare with this project, using web-based video rental management system is bringing tremendous benefit to the customer and company for manage the company and effect in increasing sales. After registered as a member, customer can freely leave their comment, rating, voting and making reservation on what the movies they need through online. Besides that, latest release movies and promotion had automatic received by customer at the first time by email sending. Movies which are coming up to date had reminded by email sending from company to prevent movies fine. Reservation or direct orders by customers are process sequence by admin part who are first come first serve. Payment automatically calculates by system that included late payment and total of videos rent let the company easily and speed up the transaction processes. Simple report will be generate for every month to clearly define the total of sales, total movies that are rent and help in decision making by ordering the movies from supplier based on the popular rate of movies. A concept of workflow architecture at the below is draw by developer for this project to let readers more understand about the system process of Online Video Rental Management System as a big picture. Figure 2.3: Workflow Architecture of Online Video Rental Management System Comparing Online Video Rental Management System 2.4.1 Comparison between Online Video Rental Management System with existing current system Table 2.4: Comparing Online Video Rental Management Systems with existing system- Administrator Part (Back-end Application)(no itallic, pls retructure table become smaller) Feature/Functionality VidRent Online DVD Rental Software Video Rental Software (quote) DRS PRO START 5.1 (quote) W3Rentà ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢ rental system (article) Online Video Rental Management System Administrator Function: (Back-end Application) User login à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã… ¡ à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã… ¡ à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã… ¡ à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã… ¡ à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã… ¡ Profile management à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã… ¡ à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã… ¡ à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã… ¡ à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã… ¡ à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã… ¡ Inventory management à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã… ¡ à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã… ¡ à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã… ¡ à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã… ¡ à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã… ¡ Transaction record à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã… ¡ à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã… ¡ à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã… ¡ à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã… ¡ Time and date management à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã… ¡ à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã… ¡ à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã… ¡ Auto late calculation payment à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã… ¡ à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã… ¡ Report à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã… ¡ à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã… ¡ à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã… ¡ à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã… ¡ Transaction calculation à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã… ¡ à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã… ¡ à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã… ¡ à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã… ¡ Billing à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã… ¡ à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã… ¡ à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã… ¡ à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã… ¡ Email automation sending à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã… ¡ à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã… ¡ à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã… ¡ Damaged/Missing Item à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã… ¡ à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã… ¡ à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã… ¡ Table 2.5: Comparing Online Video Rental Management Systems with existing system Customer Services Part (Front-end Application) Feature/Functionality VidRent Online DVD Rental Software Video Rental Software (quote) DRS PRO START 5.1 (quote) W3Rentà ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢ rental system (article) Online Video Rental Management System Customer Services: (Front-end Application) Powerful search engine à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã… ¡ à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã… ¡ à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã… ¡ à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã… ¡ Movies Categories à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã… ¡ limited à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã… ¡ à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã… ¡ Movies previews à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã… ¡ Prompt out related movies preview à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã… ¡ Auto count numbers of visitor à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã… ¡ Movie rating, voting and recommendation à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã… ¡ à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã… ¡ à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã… ¡ à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã… ¡ System auto give suggestion à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã… ¡ Movies reservation/order à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã… ¡ à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã… ¡ à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã… ¡ à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã… ¡ à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã… ¡ 2.4.2 VidRent Online DVD Rental Software VidRent is web-based or online video rental software that promotes to the customer in rental business area. According to Spectrum Research, Inc., 2010, VidRent system was first releasing by Gold Entertainment Group, Inc., and they had almost 5000 distributors and customers for a year before they fall into the recent video rental company price wars and ceased operations. From rapidly development of video rental, VidRent is no longer available because the prices became cheaper and it is cause by competitive advantages. Same as this project, VidRent is consisted of two parts; there are administrator part and customer services part. Through this system, customers can login to the website and making reservation of the videos after registered as a member. Besides that, VidRent provided several movies in difference categories that can let the customer making choices on the movies which types they are preferable. Movies voting, rating and recommendation given by customer on the movies are important to increase the interest of customers on movies rental in certain types. Search function is one of important part that provided to customer to find the movies easily by typing the title name of the movies. It is lack of functionalities on the payment section in this VidRent system. According to the features that state from the VidRent system, there are no provided transaction calculations and billing to customer after the movies are reserved or prepared on the cart. This system is no provided payment function and customer need process their payment by arrives to the shop. Payment record is not build in VidRent system and it may needs to link with another accounting system or POS system to control the business. From observation of the VidRent system, all information and pictures of the videos allocated on the interface that is too simple and the pictures are combination together make the interface looked complicated. Figure 2.6: Administrator Support (VidRent Online DVD Rental Software) Figure 2.7: Customer Support (VidRent Online DVD Rental Software) 2.4.3 Video Rental Software Commodity Rental Video rental software is a very efficiency system in the accounting area and transaction processing system. By adding accounting and point of sales system into video rental system, all-in-one system is powerful to let the user more easily to manage their transaction with auto calculation of the total payment and monthly account calculation. By using this function, cost saving and system simplification help the company run their business smoothly. From above statements, this is strengthens of this video rental software and it encouraged use in medium size of organizational. Same as VidRent system, video rental software has divided into two parts which are administration part and customer services support. This system is strongly concentrated on the administrator part especially the payment area. Accounting function and point of sales function in the system will benefit to the user in calculating monthly sales and transaction will become more quickly and sufficiency. From customer support section, the drabness layout and functionalities of the customer supports website is one of the weaknesses in this system. The most important of the search engine was ignored builds in video rental software, so customer cannot quickly search the movies which they need. It needs to take a longer time to search the movies by click the one page to another page until the end. In additional, there are no categorize of movies that place in order on the main page, user may be confused and it is become more complicated when the new movies are adding or update in the future. Besides that, this website is totally no interaction with the customers because customer recommendation, voting and movies ranking is no provided to the customer. This system is strongly focused on administrator part that use in business transaction process but it is poor in customers support. Figure 2.8: Administrator Support (Video Rental Software Commodity Rental) Figure 2.9: Customer Support (Video Rental Software Commodity Rental) 2.4.4 DRS PRO START 5.1 Online DVD Rental System 5.1 is divided into three versions which are DRS Pro Start 5.1, DRS Pro Business 5.1, and DRS Pro VIP 5.1. Three difference versions of the system can meet the difference need from customer who is running their rental business. In this case, basic function is more suitable for apply by small enterprise.  By the way, DRS Pro Business 5.1 and DRS Pro VIP 5.1 are more suitable for the medium or large company with contained advanced functionalities and specific solution that is given. DRS Pro Start 5.1 is a system that fully implement through online, customer no need reach to the shop and all the services are provided to customers through E-Commerce. After reservation is making by customer, videos are pack in envelop and directly shipping to the customer, it bringing a convenience way to the customers at difference location. Time saving and cost saving is a main issues for customer when they getting to the shop to choose the movies. Through online services, there are no any due date or late payment of the movies rental. So, the two functions that are time and date management and auto late calculation payment of the system can be ignore and omitted. By using this system, company need spend a larger amount of the human resources cost and material cost such as shipping cost, quantity of DVDs, and worker. From the powerful function of automation email sending function in this system, customer can receive the notification which sending by the system automatically such as disc returned/dispatched, titles requiring rating, recommendations, titles coming soon and etc. The function of search engine is provided to let user quickly search movies. Video rating, customer commend are welcome update by users. There are very limited catalogue in DRS Pro Start 5.1 package. The simple layout and less attraction website easy lead the users bored. Figure 2.10: Administration Support (DRS PRO START 5.1) Figure 2.11: Customer Support (DRS PRO START 5.1) 2.4.5 W3Rentà ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢ rental system According to the article, W3Rent is an online system that similar with DRS Pro Start 5.1 which is implements the business through E-Commerce. Customer no need arrive to the shop but they can receive the movies anytime, anywhere through shipment method from making reservation through online. So, time and date management and auto late calculation payment can be ignored same as DRS Pro Start 5.1. Security had provided to prevent unauthorized to access the information. Difference users in this system have difference access level such as customer only can login to the customer support website but they are not allow access to the administrator functional area. The staff can login to manage the inventory and being transaction with customer of the administrator area. Limit the functionalities can clearly divide the task for difference type of position and not confuse. According to article, there are no provided report function and transaction record function to the customer. So customer cannot find the history of transaction when they want check back the movies whether had rent by them previously or not. Report cannot generate without historical of transaction record. There are special function in this system is this system can handle the damaged item such as broken of DVDs, damaged DVDs, or lost of DVDs. The system can keep track this DVDs and placing them to specific section. Automation email sending had provided by this system that can help the company saving the cost of time because any notification, returned or dispatched are auto send out to the customer by mail. Besides that, this system had less interaction with the customer because it no provided movies rating and recommendation on the movies to the customer. So, company does not know which type of the movies is more preferable by customer and focusing on promote the popular movies that rate by customer. 2.4.6 Online Video Rental Management System Focusing on customer service is the main purpose of this project to target the customer preferable on the movies to affect the sales. An attractive main page of the customer website is very important to capture the interest of the customer when they are browsing to the website. Short movies previews at the website can attract the customer to click them and watch the content of the movies, so customer will immediately take a consideration of the movies to rent based on their preference. Besides that, the related movies will be prompt out below the movies that watching by customer, so customer can rent more. Powerful search engine and movies catalog should provide to the customer to search the specific movies with easily and faster. Furthermore, this system will give some suggestion to the customer when customer in hesitate to choose the movies by key in some words about what types of the movies are more prefer by them based on the mood feeling. After customer watched the movies, they can give some recommendation and movies rating through login to the website. In the administrator part, access level has provide to users to separate the position such as customer can browse to the customer support area to watch the movies, leave recommendation and enjoy the services that provide by this system, staff can login to administrator function to process the transaction with the customer but they are not allows to change any information of the inventory or delete the customer information. Only the boss or manager can access all the data in this system. Limit the function to difference users are important to ensure the security if the company to prevent attack by un-authorization. By the way, transaction record, payment detail and calculation functions have included in this system. Report need to generate and show the total sales of each month to easy the user make decision in supply the videos from supplier. Email automation sending function can given notification, promotion for new movies and remind customer when the rental is up to date. This system no provides videos shipping, so customer needs to rent the movies directly in the shop base on the limited resource of the Stop And Stick Company. 2.4.7 Discussion of table 2.4 and table 2.5 By comparing online video rental management system with another four existing systems, it found that the previously of four software are very strongly focused on the administrator part. If company only focus on administrator part, they would not know what are the types of movies customer more prefer from interaction with the customer through get feedback from them. By focusing customer services within this project, long term profit can be measure by update information from customer. All of these systems allow the users to keep track the rental, stores the customers detail, taxes calculation which are basic functionalities of the system accept VidRent system. Beside this, there have provides customer rating, recommendation give by customer and get the feedback from customer accept W3Rent System. VidRent System and Online Video Rental Management System no provide online payment and the transaction need directly process in the shop because of limited resource and the system are suitable for small enterprise use. Nowadays, more and more system needs to focus on the customer services to provide integrated system to the customer and catch up their time. By automation email generation, email can auto send to the customer when the movies up to date or during release the new movies to save the cost and time. From this, VidRent and Video rental software is lack of this function. Besides that, search engine and movies catalog is most important function to easy find information, product or movies from the customer. Lack of those functions from Video Rental Software and DRS Pro Start 5.1 System are easy confused and make the interface more complexity. For DRS Pro Start 5.1 and W3Rent system, the functions of time and date management, and auto late calculation payment are no need because they provided the shipping services to the customer and there are no any fines on the late return. There are differences of Video Rental Software which is included the functionalities of time and date management, and auto late calculation payment no matter it is same area with DRS Pro Start 5.1 and W3Rent system. 2.5 Chapter conclusion Chapter 2 concluded with five system comparison that included VidRent Online DVD Rental Software, Video Rental Software, DRS Pro Start, W3Rentà ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢ Rental System, and Online Video Rental Management System. Comparing between these projects system with other systems in current market had been done by comparing the specialization, features and functionality of the system. From the lack functionalities require by other system, full functionalities and special functions are need to add in this project to enhance the quality of the system and target to enlarge the market from small enterprise. Before comparison process, definition of this project had been identified and it advantages and disadvantages of this Online Video Rental Management System.

kants moral theory :: essays research papers

Kant ¡Ã‚ ¯s Moral Theory   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   I think Kant ¡Ã‚ ¯s Moral theory is one complement to the Utilitarianism because one deficit of Utilitarianism is it is sometimes impossible to foresee the consequences, and Kant brought up that  ¡Ã‚ °the consequences of our acts are not always in our control and things do not always turn out as we want ¡Ã‚ ±. However, he believed that we can control our motives, and the  ¡Ã‚ °motive to do what is right ¡Ã‚ ± gives an act its moral worth.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The second belief Kant holds is  ¡Ã‚ °people ought not to be used, but ought to be regarded as having the highest intrinsic value ¡Ã‚ ±. My understanding here is Kant believe that the intrinsic value of an act determines what is morally right or morally wrong. The intrinsic value always accompanies the act, for example, if A is intrinsic to B, then it is no accident that B exhibits A.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  For actions to have moral worth,  ¡Ã‚ °good will ¡Ã‚ ± and good act (in accordance with duty) are required. Kant believed that the  ¡Ã‚ °good will ¡Ã‚ ± is the right motive. Good will is to will your maxim to be a universal law or universally valid and accepted.  ¡Ã‚ °Having a right intention is to do what is right (or what one believes to be right) just because it is right ¡Ã‚ ±. Kant believed that acts done from the motive of duty are the only ones with moral worth. For example, you borrow money from a friend, and your options, or maxims, are to either return the money, or not to return the money. To return money is of good will, and if you choose this to be your maxim, you are in accordance with duty. Not to return money, if put into a universal law, nobody ever returned the money, and everybody broke their promises, there would be no promises, and the act is not in accordance with duty. So the act of not returning the money has no moral worth and i s morally wrong.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  There are two different types of imperatives, according to Kant, hypothetical imperative and categorical imperative.  ¡Ã‚ °an imperative is simply a form of statement that tells us to do something ¡Ã‚ ±. Hypothetical imperative is conditional and represents an action that is good and necessary as a means to further results. It can be expressed as  ¡Ã‚ °if I want to  ¡Ã‚ ­, then I ought to  ¡Ã‚ ­Ã‚ ¡Ã‚ ±. For example, if you don ¡Ã‚ ¯t want to get sick, then you ought to wash your hands carefully. kants moral theory :: essays research papers Kant ¡Ã‚ ¯s Moral Theory   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   I think Kant ¡Ã‚ ¯s Moral theory is one complement to the Utilitarianism because one deficit of Utilitarianism is it is sometimes impossible to foresee the consequences, and Kant brought up that  ¡Ã‚ °the consequences of our acts are not always in our control and things do not always turn out as we want ¡Ã‚ ±. However, he believed that we can control our motives, and the  ¡Ã‚ °motive to do what is right ¡Ã‚ ± gives an act its moral worth.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The second belief Kant holds is  ¡Ã‚ °people ought not to be used, but ought to be regarded as having the highest intrinsic value ¡Ã‚ ±. My understanding here is Kant believe that the intrinsic value of an act determines what is morally right or morally wrong. The intrinsic value always accompanies the act, for example, if A is intrinsic to B, then it is no accident that B exhibits A.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  For actions to have moral worth,  ¡Ã‚ °good will ¡Ã‚ ± and good act (in accordance with duty) are required. Kant believed that the  ¡Ã‚ °good will ¡Ã‚ ± is the right motive. Good will is to will your maxim to be a universal law or universally valid and accepted.  ¡Ã‚ °Having a right intention is to do what is right (or what one believes to be right) just because it is right ¡Ã‚ ±. Kant believed that acts done from the motive of duty are the only ones with moral worth. For example, you borrow money from a friend, and your options, or maxims, are to either return the money, or not to return the money. To return money is of good will, and if you choose this to be your maxim, you are in accordance with duty. Not to return money, if put into a universal law, nobody ever returned the money, and everybody broke their promises, there would be no promises, and the act is not in accordance with duty. So the act of not returning the money has no moral worth and i s morally wrong.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  There are two different types of imperatives, according to Kant, hypothetical imperative and categorical imperative.  ¡Ã‚ °an imperative is simply a form of statement that tells us to do something ¡Ã‚ ±. Hypothetical imperative is conditional and represents an action that is good and necessary as a means to further results. It can be expressed as  ¡Ã‚ °if I want to  ¡Ã‚ ­, then I ought to  ¡Ã‚ ­Ã‚ ¡Ã‚ ±. For example, if you don ¡Ã‚ ¯t want to get sick, then you ought to wash your hands carefully.

Computer Programming :: essays research papers fc

Computer Programming   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Programming a computer is almost as easy as using one and does not require you to be a math genius. People who are good at solving story problems make good programmers, and others say that artistic or musical talent is a sign of potential programmer. Various computer languages are described, and tips on choosing the right language and learning how to use it are provided.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Learning how to program is actually easier than many people think. Learning to program takes about the same time as two semesters of a college course. The process of learning to program is uniquely reinforcing, because students receive immediate feedback on their screens. The programming languages Basic, Pascal, C, and Database are discussed; tips on learning the languages are offered; and a list of publishers' addresses is provided.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  One way of programming is rapid application  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   development (RAD) has tremendous powers, but it is not without its limits. The two basic advantages RAD tools promise over traditional programming are shorter, more flexible development cycle and the fact that applications can be developed by a reasonably sophisticated end user. The main disadvantage is that RAD tools often require code to be written, which will result in most developers probably having to learn to program using the underlying programming language, except in the case of the simplest applications. The time gained from using a RAD tool can be immense, however: Programmers using IBM's VisualAge report the ability to create up to 80 percent of an application visually, with the last 20 percent consisting of specialized functions, which means by using and IBM program it is much easier because most of the program is graphics which is just point and click to do, and the rest is code, which really isn't much.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Anyone who is willing to invest a little time and effort can now write computer programs and customize commercial applications, thanks to new software tools. People can create their own application with such programming languages as Microsoft's Visual Basic for Windows (which is about $130) or Novell's AppWare, part of its PerfectOffice suite. These products enable users to do much of their programming through point-and-click choices without memorizing many complicated commands.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Programming can also be very difficult. At least one programming mistake is always made and debugging it can be very hard. Just finding where the problem is can take a long time alone, then if you fix that problem, another could occur. There was a programming involving a cancer-therapy machine, has led to loss of life, and the potential for disaster will increase as huge new software programs designed to control aircraft and the national air-traffic

Against Marijuana Legalization :: Marijuana Should NOT Be Legal

Against Marijuana Legalization Should Marijuana Be Legalized? In society today, many people look for a feeling of freedom. Many people go on vacation and spend money. The most common escape for people is drugs. Our American society is facing a tremendous drug problem. In order to eradicate the drug problem, a public debate is going on to find some solutions to this drug dilemma. It has become a highly controversial issue whether drugs such as marijuana should be legalized or not. Some people advocate this issue and believe that legalization is the only solution left for the nation while others oppose because it will increase the number of drug users and drug related crimes. Marijuana is a drug that is illegal in the United States. This drug as you know is bad and causes severe side effects to your brain and body. Scientist have found that smoking marijuana can cause you to loose your memory. Marijuana has many psychological and physical effects. People usually smoke marijuana in cigarettes or pipes, but it also can be mixed with food and beverages. Short-term effects of marijuana include both psychological and physical reactions. These reactions usually last for three to five hours after a person has smoked marijuana. The psychological reaction, known as a high consists of changes in the user ´s feelings and thoughts. Such changes are caused mainly by THC. The effects of a marijuana high vary from person to person and from one time to another in the same individual. In most cases, the high consists of a dreamy, relaxed state in which users seem more aware of their senses and feel that time is moving slowly. Sometimes, however, marijuana produces a feeling of panic and dread. The different reactions result partly from the concentration of THC in the marijuana. Other factors, such as the setting in which marijuana is used and the userÕs expectations, personality, and mood, also affect a personÕs reaction to the drug. Long-term effects of marijuana are not completely known, but studies have shown that some people have used marijuana regularly for several months or longer have develop serious long-term problems. Among males, marijuana use can reduce the production of sperm and of the male sex hormone testosterone. Among females, it can cause menstrual irregularity and reduced fertility. Extended use of marijuana also has a long-term psychological effect on many people. These individuals loose interest in everything.

Atticus Finch as a Moral Character Essay

Throughout literature, there are numerous examples of characters who serve to reinforce moral values of both other characters, and the reader. These characters consistently choose to do the â€Å"right† thing in the face of severe adversity. For example, in the Parable of the Good Samaritan, the Samaritan man goes against all societal values to help the Jew after he had been left for dead by muggers. In To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Atticus Finch serves as a shining beacon of morality in the face of the prejudice-ridden early 20th century Alabama. Atticus helps to develop healthy and moral attitudes in his children by encouraging them to avoid unnecessary conflict, to always strive to be the better person, but also to still be prepared to accept a challenge if it is necessary for doing what is morally right, which demonstrates his truly moral character. Being passive and avoiding conflict is often viewed as being weak, but in many cases, avoiding conflict can be the only responsible, morally correct choice. This is specifically demonstrated by Atticus Finch after Bob Ewell spits in his face. Atticus displays extreme restraint by refusing to fight Ewell. When asked to comment on the incident, he simply remarks, â€Å"I wish Bob Ewell wouldn’t chew tobacco† (Lee 291). In this case, Atticus demonstrates that he is perfectly willing to swallow his pride and do what is right. Secondly, Atticus further expands on this attitude by teaching his children that it is wrong to fight with neighbours, no matter what insults are said to them. After Mrs. Dubose tries to antagonize Jem, Atticus advises: â€Å"†¦hold your head up high and be a gentleman. It’s your job to not let her make you mad† (Lee 133). On this occasion, Atticus is teaching his children the old proverb of â€Å"sticks and stones† – that people should learn to ignore things that others say about them. By being peaceful and restrained towards Bob Ewell, and requiring his children to do the same to Mrs. Dubose, Atticus is teaching his children how to avoid conflict and handle situations properly, which is a critical element of acting morally. It is often difficult to travel on moral high ground, especially when there is pressure not to, but experience teaches us that it is always the best option. In To Kill a Mockingbird, Atticus provides a clear example of how to be the better person when forced into an uncomfortable situation. After Jem  destroys Mrs. Dubose’s garden, Atticus has to teach his children that people are not always going to be kind to them, especially with Atticus’ role in the Tom Robinson case, but they must still treat everybody with respect. Atticus tells Scout, â€Å"It’s not fair for you and Jem, I know that, but sometimes we have to make the best of things† (Lee 139). In this example, Atticus is teaching his children that no matter what happens, always try to be positive about it, and never to let their detractors bother them. Additionally, Atticus does not condone his children fighting. Once again, Atticus knows that there are always going to be people that are unkind to them, but that fighting will not make the situation any better. Scout mentions, â€Å"Atticus had promised me he would wear me out if he ever heard of me fighting anymore; I was far too old and big for such childish things, and the sooner I learned to hold in, the better off everybody would be† (Lee 99). In this instance, Scout remembers that Atticus does not permit her to fight with others because it is immature and damaging, regardless of what caused the fight. Therefore, Atticus’ attitude towards conflict, to be the better person, demonstrates that he understands how to behave morally when presented with conflict. Doing the right thing is often significantly tougher than indecision, or even doing the wrong thing. In To Kill a Mockingbird, Atticus Finch proves that doing the right thing might be difficult, but it is always the preferable choice, and that it is never impossible. In 1930s southern Alabama, racist or otherwise prejudiced attitudes are plentiful. This can make morally correct choices difficult. When Atticus Finch took the Tom Robinson case, he knew that the popular opinion of the residents of Maycomb would be against him. However, he understands that taking the case was the right thing to do, and that he must do it. When Atticus is explaining his decision to take the Tom Robinson case, he states, â€Å"This case, Tom Robinson’s case, is something that goes to the essence of a man’s conscience – Scout, I couldn’t go to church and worship God if I didn’t try to help that man† (Lee 139). By saying this, Atticus is acknowledging that although Maycomb may be against him, he knows he has to help Tom Robinson because it is the only way to do what is morally right. Later, Tom Robinson’s life is threatened by a mob who want to break into the jail and murder him. Atticus  is warned of this, and he goes to the jail in order to help Tom. Atticus prevents the mob from reaching Tom, telling them, â€Å"You can turn around and go home† (Lee 202). At this time, Atticus understands that he could be attacked and potentially injured, but he knows that he must make the morally correct, albeit challenging choice, and go to the jail to protect Tom. Based on this evidence, it is clear that Atticus understands that some of the choices that he has to make will be difficult, such as defending Tom Robinson in court, or protecting him from the mob. However, Atticus knows that they are the only morally right choices, and therefore the only choices he may permit himself to make, as he is a strong moral character. Acting morally does not require perfection, and any person or character will have minor flaws and imperfections. In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, Atticus Finch serves as a near-perfect role mode in contrast to the chaotic environment of 1930’s Alabama. His desire to avoid inane conflict, always strive to be the better person, and accept challenges in the process of doing what is right demonstrate his true sense of righteousness, and call us to act as better people in the face of adversity. If adopted by everyone, Atticus’ actions, attitudes and principles would make the world a much more pleasant place to live in.

Using Satire to Create Awareness of Gender Roles: Egalia’s Daughters

Egalia’s Daughters and â€Å"Sultana’s Dream†Egalia’s Daughters and â€Å"Sultana’s Dream† both portray examples of what it would be like to have gender roles reversed in societies. They both criticize gender roles and show people how gender discrimination leaves the submissive gender in suppressed conditions. Poking fun at gender role reversal was one way these books helped in educating the readers. â€Å"Sultana’s Dream† has a time of setting of the early twentieth century. The author of Egalia’s Daughters is Gerd Brantenberg, born on October 27th, 1941 and is presently still alive. She was born in Oslo but grew up in Fredrikstad which is the largest city in Norway. Some of her greatest accomplishments are establishing women’s shelters, working in lesbian movements, in 1978 she created a literary Women’s Forum, her drive being to encourage all women to write and publish, and lastly she has also published ten novels and two plays. In 1983 she was awarded the Mads Wiel Nygaards Endowment. Rokeya Hossain was born in 1880 and died on December 9th, 1932. She was born into a Bengali Muslim upper-class family in the village of Pairaband. Her main accomplishments were establishing the Sakhawat Memorial Girls’ School in 1909, in 1916 she founded the Anjuman-e-Khawatin-e-Islam, and even though English was her 5th language she still wrote a book in English to show her proficiency in English to her husband. In Gerd Brantenberg’s novel she clearly shows that in her society women were put on the back burner just like the men were in her novel. Gerd was born back when women had very little rights. She lived during a time where women were stepping up and rallying against the fact that they were not allowed certain rights that men were allowed and this showed in her book. For example in Egalia’s Daughters the guys or the â€Å"menwim† have the â€Å"burning of the pehos† along with other â€Å"masculist activities. † 1 In Rokeya Hossain’s short story she is trying to relate to her readers about the inequality of her society and the dominance of one gender over another. â€Å"In ladyland men are a part of the society but are shorn of power, as women were in Rokeya’s India. They live in seclusion and look after the house and the children, again, just like the women in Rokeya’s India. † 2 Her society must have had a lot of sins and hatred along with harm because in the short story it says â€Å"this is Ladyland, free from sin and harm. 3 In â€Å"Sultana’s Dream† women became dominant when men failed to win the war against a nearby country. The women then became the dominant gender by using science and advanced technology to then win the war. At first they were taunted for being smart and into science instead of being focused on military strength like the men. In the end it paid off being smart because â€Å"they directed all of the rays of the sunlight and heat toward the enemy. The heat and light were too much for them to bear. They all ran away panic-stricken, not knowing in their bewilderment how to counteract the scorching heat. 4 This was a major turning point in the story because at that moment the men thought that there was no hope for their country which is why they went into the zenanas without protest and were locked in. The men then remained in seclusion and got used to the â€Å"purdah system†. 4 The women then â€Å"rule over the country and controlled all social matters. † 5 Since that point there had been â€Å"no more crime or sin† and that is how it remained. 5 In Egalia’s Daughters women being the dominant gender went a little differently. The women in this novel ruled from the beginning. There was never a time in their culture that males ruled before the females. Spinnerman Owlmoss explained to the boys that â€Å"the menstrual cycle in wom was precisely what bound the huwom race to life, to nature’s own great cycle and to the phases of the moon. By virtue of this endlessly recurring rhythm in her body, she was bound in a very different way, to nature, and this contact with her natural surroundings gave her an inner power and strength, which allowed her to dominate nature and the environment. In the same way that she dominated her own body by releasing an egg once a month. Wim therefore had greater control over everything; over their own bodies, over the cultivation of the soil, and over the world. 6 Therefore, the wim were in charge from the very beginning. In â€Å"Sultana’s Dream† women’s religion was â€Å"based on love and truth. † 7 The women say â€Å"we don’t take pleasure in killing a creature of god, especially a human being. † 7 They believe this works because unlike the men who were violent and fought in the war, they used science to win without hurting anyone. As far as biology goes, basically the women explained their power over the men because of the simple fact that they were smarter and that women’s brains are rather quicker than men’s. They pretty much said men are good for nothing. All of that together was their argument for why they were biologically better. In the novel, Sister Sarah explains why women are smarter than the males. She says â€Å"our good Queen liked science very much. She circulated an order that all the women in her country should be educated. Accordingly a number of girls’ schools were founded and supported by the Government. Education was spread far and wide among women. And early marriage also stopped. † This is her explanation of why the women are so much smarter than men and now are the dominant race. Religion in Egalia’s Daughters is quite different. In this novel, God is a wim instead of a manwim. Donna, who is wim and also God’s daughter who is like Jesus for Egalia, and they are the ones all Egalia are supposed to look up to. The reason wim in Egalia are more biologically dominant is because they bear the children and have the menstrual cycles. For some reason the people of Egalia felt that since they had a monthly natural cycle it connected them to nature and made them powerful, more powerful than any man. This in their thoughts made them the dominant gender as if they were the chosen ones. As far as history goes Spinnerman Owlmoss taught his class the history of the wim. Like we in our society have fore fathers they had a version of those except they were women. Those women created rules and regulations for Egalia that were always followed. In Ladyland the men and the women both had very different jobs. The men â€Å"do no skilled work† and â€Å"they look after the house and children. † 2 They â€Å"mind babies, cook, and do all sorts of domestic work. † 2 The women in Ladyland embroider; engage in scientific researches and garden. Sister Sarah says that â€Å"our noble Queen is exceedingly fond of botany; it is her ambition to convert the whole country into one grand garden. † 5 Therefore, they are never sitting still and constantly gardening and such. In the town of Egalsund, the wim and menwim had very different jobs. The menwim do nothing but sit at home and take care of their children. Once they receive â€Å"fatherhood protection† from the wim, they are to stay home and raise the children while the wim goes to work and does as she pleases. 8 The wim of course, do all the things a man would do in our society now. They were sailors too. Menwim were never sailors and hardly allowed to be either because the wim said â€Å"they’re always trouble! They never leave the us in peace and there’ll be strife and quarrelling and jealousy in the crew. † 9 The wim also hold government positions and hunt as well. In both the short story and novel the women’s jobs were viewed as more important even though staying home and taking care of the kids was a really big and important job as well. It was just not viewed that way by the women. In both Egalia’s Daughters and â€Å"Sultana’s Dream† the women/wim were very happy. They were at the top of the pecking order and they liked it that way. Women/wim ruled and things happened as they wanted it to, not the other way around. On the other hand, the men/menwim were by any means happy with their lives. The men in â€Å"Sultana’s Dream† at first protested. The men wanted to be free, but Her Royal Highness told them if their services were ever needed they would be sent for, so therefore, they should remain where they were. After that they slowly became accustom to the â€Å"purdah system. † 4 In Egalia’s Daughters at first they were accustom to the way things were. Then later on in the book, the menwim began to protest. They give speeches, burn pehos, and strip down at the menstrual games out of chicken costumes as a way of protesting. 10 Women have always been suppressed throughout history, constantly having to fight for their rights. Women in history have always been taken advantage of and also been able to be rough housed a lot easier than men because of their gentle nature. Therefore, these fictional books are related in the sense that in these books, the men’s roles are actually what women’s roles have been all along throughout history. Women are the ones that have always been raped and beaten but in the novel Egalia’s Daughters the boys are actually the ones that are terrorized. Is satire an effective way of drawing attention to gender inequality? Yes, it is because it makes things appear even more ridiculous which in turn makes it more entertaining to read. For example if both books had it where women’s and men’s roles were normal, the books would have been boring and lacked in attention grabbers. But since it was a bizarre setting, it makes you immediately more interested and it puts a twist on things so that it captures your attention. . Brantenberg, Gerd. Egalia's Daughters: A Satire of the Sexes, translated by Louis Mackay. (California: Seal Press, 1977), 218. 2. Jahan, Roshan. â€Å"‘Sultana's Dream': Purdah Revisited,† in Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain, Sultana's Dream and Selections from the Secluded Ones. Edited and translated by Roushan Jahan. (New York: The Feminist Press, 1988), 4. 3. Jahan, Roshan. â€Å"‘Sultana's Dream': Purdah Revisited,† in Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain, Sultana's Dream and Selections from the Secluded Ones. Edited and translated by Roushan Jahan. (New York: The Feminist Press, 1988), 8. 4. Jahan, Roshan. â€Å"‘Sultana's Dream': Purdah Revisited,† in Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain, Sultana's Dream and Selections from the Secluded Ones. Edited and translated by Roushan Jahan. (New York: The Feminist Press, 1988), 14. 5. Jahan, Roshan. â€Å"‘Sultana's Dream': Purdah Revisited,† in Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain, Sultana's Dream and Selections from the Secluded Ones. Edited and translated by Roushan Jahan. (New York: The Feminist Press, 1988), 15. 6. Brantenberg, Gerd. Egalia's Daughters: A Satire of the Sexes, translated by Louis Mackay. (California: Seal Press, 1977), 168. 7. Jahan, Roshan. ‘Sultana's Dream': Purdah Revisited,† in Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain, Sultana's Dream and Selections from the Secluded Ones. Edited and translated by Roushan Jahan. (New York: The Feminist Press, 1988), 16. 8. Brantenberg, Gerd. Egalia's Daughters: A Satire of the Sexes, translated by Louis Mackay. (California: Seal Press, 1977), 37. 9. Brantenberg, Gerd. Egalia' s Daughters: A Satire of the Sexes, translated by Louis Mackay. (California: Seal Press, 1977), 72. 10. Brantenberg, Gerd. Egalia's Daughters: A Satire of the Sexes, translated by Louis Mackay. (California: Seal Press, 1977), 251.

Process Improvement Essay

ABSTRACT This document will be evaluating an existing process within Toyota during the time of their accelerator crisis. A problem statement will be defined around the process of internal communication of concerns and ideas between foreign-based Toyota employees and the authoritative management of Toyota based in Japan. PROBLEM ANALYSIS OF SELECTED PROCESS Problem framing is a very important, but easily overlooked, part of decision-making. Framing a problem can have a heavy influence on the decisions that are made. It isn’t enough to frame the problem; it should be framed with the solution in mind. This helps to keep the end goal of the decision-making process in mind so that the correct choices are made. In the case of Toyota, at the highest level, they had a major problem with some of their products involving unintended acceleration and their handling of  customer reports of the problem led to a whole mess of other problems. So from the outside looking in, it seems that many processes internal to Toyota had room for improvement. Although there are many different business sections of Toyota with their own respective problems such as customer service, public relations, manufacturing, the problem I would like analyze and offer improvement on is internal communication process between management and foreign employees and how the breakdown in this process affected some of the business decisions made by Toyota’s upper management. â€Å"As Toyota grew into a global powerhouse in the auto industry, the organizational structure that emerged was a centralized design †¦Ã¢â‚¬ that put key decision-making in the hands of executives in Japan†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Some believed that Toyota’s structure in the U.S. ultimately impaired its ability to prevent the safety problems before they reached the crisis† (Greto, Schotter & Teagarden, 2010, pg. 7-8). A quality tool or method used to help with the identification and prioritization of the potential causes of quality problems in a process is cause-and-effect analysis. In a way, this is a reverse engineering method used to identify the elements of a specific quality problem and to identify the causes so that it can be corrected. The problem wasn’t the unintended acceleration of certain vehicles; the problem was the internal management decision-making that impacted the engineering of those vehicles which created the engineering problem. For some background information, the defining and founding philosophy of Toyota, the Toyota Way, has been around for a long time but it wasn’t until the late 1980s in which they began production of their vehicles in the U.S. Specifically the problem of ideas from U.S.-based employees has been largely ignored for almost 20 years when it comes to key engineering or financial-based decisions. â€Å"Despite the global sales volume gain, Toyota reported revenues of US $211 billion for 2009, a decrease of 19% for the previous year† (Greto, Schotter & Teagarden, 2010, pg. 2). Even though Toyota has been making large profits throughout the past 20 years, they experienced a decrease in 2009 and part of this was related to the ambitious initiatives and business decisions made by Toyota’s upper management. â€Å"Japan is notoriously consensus oriented, and companies have a strong tendency to mediate differences among individuals rather than accentuate them† (Porter, 1996, pg. 63). Japanese culture and Toyota’s centralized decision-making structure made it difficult for U.S. based employees to offer ideas, suggestions for improvements, or to elevate critical problems to upper management in Japan. Toyota’s upper management, in their minds, let the U.S. employees do what they do best, which is supposedly marketing and selling. The process used by Toyota to communicate foreign employees’ ideas to upper management was heard, but not listened to. Even the process of internal communication between management had its breakdowns because of the perception by family-oriented managers of nonfamily managers in that nonfamily members didn’t have such thoughts as safety and quality in the forefront of their minds. Overall, the communication process seemed to be that ideas were submitted from employees, whether by Japanese or foreign employees, to management and ideas were reviewed and pushed up the management chain when it was appropriate. However, ideas that might have some bearing on engineering, manufacturing or financing were largely ignored when the source of the ideas were from U.S.-based employees and this violated the Toyota Way. To add to the complexity, the process for communicating ideas became more convoluted depending on the audience, nonfamily or family-based managers. To sum this up into a problem statement: â€Å"Toyota has violated their founding philosophy of employee empowerment, especially for non-Japanese employees, and continues to make important business decisions without any regard to concerns or ideas from foreign employees when appropriate. Employees may have ideas that could be used in the decision-making process to achieve better quality solutions. Toyota needs a better mechanism or improvement to this internal communication process to capture the knowledge and ideas of all employees and to share these ideas across the organization. All in all, it’s to improve the internal communicat ion process between employees and management in order to support the idea of continuous improvement and quality.† CONTEXT OF SELECTED PROCESS FOR IMPROVEMENT â€Å"The _Toyota Way_ mandates planning for the long term; highlighting problems  instead of hiding them; encouraging team work with colleagues and suppliers; and, perhaps most importantly, instilling a self-critical culture that fosters continuous and unrelenting improvement† (Greto, Schotter & Teagarden, 2010, pg. 3). Two cores ideas from the statement above are the idea of team work and most importantly employee empowerment. These two values are what made Toyota into a successful global corporation during their fast rise in the 1980s. Employees were encouraged to offer ideas for improvement for any process within the organization and this helped with continuing the idea of continuous improvement. An important part of making business decisions is having real-time and critical information. The selected process for improvement: improving the communication of ideas and concerns and the sharing of foreign employees’ ideas to Toyota’s Japanese management team needs to be addressed immediately. The process selected for improvement is the process used to capture the ideas of all employees, U.S.-based included, and to have these ideas be properly represented and presented to management for review in real-time. â€Å"You know the joke that every bank branch has a president – well, every Toyota facility has a president, and one can’t tell another what to do† (Greto, Schotter & Teagarden, 2010, pg. 8). This statement touches the surface of why the internal management communication process needs improvement at Toyota. The way the process is currently being represented in Toyota’s organization is a complete violation of their founding philosophy. During the 2000s, Toyota pushed for a lot of initiatives that in hindsight were either short-term profit driven or too ambitious. For example, â€Å"despite the savings of more than US $10 billion over the six years since CC21’s inception, Watanabe set out to achieve even more cost savings through the new â€Å"VI† (Value Innovation) strategy† (Greto, Schotter & Teagarden, 2010, pg. 5). This was a business decision made to further drive up profits despite the respectable amount of savings already made financially. If the knowledge, ideas and concerns of employees were properly captured and communicated to management, it could have prevented some of the poor business decision-making made and the impact of these decisions on engineering and manufacturing. Two impacts of the poor decision-making was the decision to become leaner with the manufacturing process and  overstretching existing resources in trying to supplant GM as number on in the automobile industry. Toyota’s has employees in many different markets who most likely had concerns regarding these decisions or ideas on how to improve the ideas and _communicated_ these ideas but these ideas weren’t being heard in time or heard at all by management. To put this all into context, the process for communicating ideas and concerns internally is impacted by the culture and internal structure of Toyota. These are both tough things to change but the process used to capture and represent ideas to management is something easy to improve. IMPLICATIONS OF THE PROCESS If the current internal communication process continues as is, there will continue to be a breakdown in the communication of potentially important ideas and concerns from employees to management. If employees feel as if their input isn’t listened to or even heard, they will become apathetic or not even bother trying to communicate important ideas or concerns. As a result, this can lead to the cycle of poor business decisions being made resulting in more damage to the company. Even worse, this will continue to cause Toyota to stray away from the core values of the Toyota Way that made them a successful global corporation. Already what has happened as a result of the ignoring of ideas and making business decisions with only the goal of short-term profits in mind is that Toyota during the oil sludge crisis had to pay millions of dollars as a result of class action lawsuits and took a hit to their business image. Fast forward to the accelerator crisis, Toyota experienced losing $2 billion dollars during the recall, had to pay a $16.4 million dollar civil penalty under U.S. law, experienced a customer relations nightmare and even had some of their car models dropped from Consumer Reports. The dollar amount lost due to the alienation of customers, lack of accountability at first by Toyota, and corporate reputation and image hit is immeasurable. Implementing some mechanism to improve the communication process between  employees and management and even management can be improved with the use of something such as a knowledge management system. â€Å"Effective knowledge management tools can help firms reduce internal costs of maintaining electronic filing systems and reduce the administrative expense of locating documents. Second, just as efficiency can improve profitability, leverage can have the same effect where knowledge transfer enhances the quality of work performance, and therefore, its value. In this context, leverage is the ability to delegate work to the most cost-effective resource. The transfer of knowledge is, in fact, the essence of knowledge management† (Martin, 2002, pg. 1). Although it is a large internal expense, the benefits of a KM system would have a great effect on the general business results and business relationships of Toyota with its employees, management and even their supply chain. POTENTIAL OUTCOMES OF IMPROVING THE PROCESS Improving the current internal communication process of ideas and concern helps to improve employee relations between management and their reports. It helps to re-establish a culture of knowledge sharing and representing that captured knowledge in such a way that it can help to improve the business decision-making by upper management. Any important business decisions made by upper management have a direct impact on the shareholders. So any improvement in the process that results in better business decisions being made will have a direct positive impact for the shareholders. The current decision-making and straying away from the founding principles of the Toyota Way has damaged the company and continuing down this path will only make the future worse for Toyota. So having an internal mechanism to capture ideas and improve communication such as a KM system can only improve the situation. Employees would feel like their ideas are being heard and will continue to offer suggestions for continual improvement. An improvement in communication can help to break down the false perceptions that family-oriented managers have of nonfamily managers. For example, a family-based manager might come across an idea from an unexpected source, a nonfamily manager, and come to respect that person for their knowledge. In a  way, this could help to improve the Japanese culture way of making decisions internally. Toyota is almost in the top of their market, so they are their own worst enemy when it comes to being competitive. So an improvement in their internal decision-making around all important financial, engineering and manufacturing decisions will only help to sustain and further their current competitive edge. Sometimes an organization has to make a large internal expense in order to position themselves differently from their competitors. â€Å"Strategic positioning means performing _different_ activities from rivals’ or performing similar activities in _different_ ways† (Porter, 1996, pg. 62). So collecting ideas internally and using them to make better business decisions will help Toyota to strategically position themselves even further away from their competition. SUMMARY Overall, Toyota is its own worst enemy with the current decision-making process they have in place internally. Even though the centralized decision-making structure is what Toyota currently has in place, the decision-making needs to take into account employee input, whether foreign or not. Employee input has been a cornerstone of the Toyota Way and Toyota has strayed from this founding principle. The implications of continuing down this path will result in more crises which in turn results in loss business, damaged business reputation, lawsuits and losing the competitive edge. Improving this process will result in better employee relations; establish a knowledge sharing culture which is needed for an environment that is striving for continual improvement and better business decisions being made. REFERENCES Greto, M., Schotter, A., & Teagarden, M. (2010). Toyota: The accelerator crisis. Thunderbird School of Global Management. Martin, K. (2002). Features – â€Å"Show Me the Money† – Measuring the Return on Knowledge Management. LLRX. Retrieved from http://www.llrx.com/features/kmroi.htm Porter, M. E. (1996). What is strategy? _Harvard Business Review, 74_(6), 61-78. Russell, R.S., & Taylor, B.W. (2011). _Operations management: Creating value along the supply chain_ (7th ed.)_._ Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons. ISBN: 9780470525906