Organizational Forms Essay

There are several types of organizational forms that a business can choose from. Each form presents pros and cons that may or may not be suitable for a particular business. This report will review characteristics such as: liability, income taxes, longevity or continuity, control, profit retention, location, convenience and burden for each business form and how they differentiate from the different types of organization forms. Sole proprietorship A sole proprietorship is the most common business form. A business is a sole proprietorship if it is not incorporated, meaning that a separate legal entity is not created for it. An advantage of forming a sole proprietorship is that it is the easiest and least expensive business form. a.Liability: A sole proprietorship does not excuse the owner from personal liability. If the business fails, the owner is responsible to the creditors and may lose personal assets. b.Income Taxes: The profits and losses of the business go through the owners’ personal tax return. This can positively or negatively affect the owner depending on what the profit and losses of the business are and what other sources of income the owner may have. c.Longevity or continuity: If the owner dies the company cannot continue on. If the owner decides to leave the company, then the company will also cease to exist. d.Control: In a sole proprietorship the owner has full control of the business. e.Profit retention: The owner receives all profits in a sole proprietorship. f.Location: When a business is a sole proprietorship the owner can move the business to any location. The only fee may be if changing states or county and the business is operating under a trade name, then the owner will have to pay the relatively small fee to operate as a DBA (â€Å"Doing Business As†). g.Convenience or burden: There are not any extra burdens when operating as a sole proprietorship. The owner does not have to meet any special reporting or regulatory requirements. There are not any special tax requirements or restrictions. The business profit and losses are filed with the owner’s regular tax return. General partnership A general partnership is between two or more owners of a business that is not incorporated. a.Liability: Each partner is held personally liable for the debts of the business regard less of fault. b.Income Taxes: Taxes are reported on each partner’s personal income tax return, so any profits made by the company are treated separately from the individuals’ income, but included. c.Longevity or continuity of the organization: A general partnership lacks continuity. If a partner leaves and his or her shares cannot be bought by the remaining partner, then the business must close. If a partner dies, their heir can be paid for the value of their share of partnership, but cannot continue with business. d.Control: In a partnership control is equal between all the partners. This can be difficult when a company has many partners or partners that don’t know each other. If a change is made without consulting with the other partners that can cause friction between the partners, so it may be best to include all partners in all decisions. e.Profit Retention: Profit is distributed equally between all partners and so is any loss. f.Location: A general partnership is fairly easy to setup and move. There are not any special forms that need to be filed with the state or county to form a general partnership. There only has to be at least two people to make up the partnership. g.Convenience or burden: Since there are not any special filings that need to be done for a general partnership, it is very convenient. Limited Partnership A limited partnership is partnership that does not hold the partners personally liable for the business debts. a.Liability: Limited partners are not held personally liable for the business debts. b.Income Taxes: All profits and losses are passed through each partners’ individual income tax return. The company does not pay taxes. c.Longevity or Continuity: Limited partners can freely enter and leave the company. The company can continue if a limited partner leaves. d.Control: In a limited partnership there are limited partners and general partners. The general partners manage the partnership. e.Profit Retention: Profits are distributed to the partners based on their contribution and pass through to the partners, who in turn report the profits on their individual tax return and pay taxes at their individual rate. f.Location: When a LLP is formed or if it moves, then it must comply with state filing requirements. A LLP must file a Certificate of Limited Partnership with the appropriate state agency. g.Convenience or burden: A LLP can be convenient because it attract capital easily, it offers limited liability to partners, easy transferability of partnership, and pass-through taxation. C-corporation A C- corporation or a â€Å"privately held corporation† is a company whose stock is not publicly traded. a.Liability: A business owner is not personally liable for the company debts and is protected from lawsuits and judgments against the business. b.Income Taxes: C-corporations are double taxed. The IRS taxes the company profits and tax any dividends paid to shareholders. c.Longevity or Continuity: Even if the owner leaves or dies, the C-corporation being a separate entity can continue to go on. d.Control: Management is shared between the shareholders. e.Profit Retention: Profits are usually kept within the company and not distributed to shareholders. f.Location: A C-corporation must follow state filing requirements in each state that it wishes to setup in. This can be very costly. g.Convenience or burden: An advantage of a C-Corporation is that it provides the best protection for the owner against the company debts. A disadvantage is that it can be costly to establish. S-corporation S-corporations are a separate entity from the owner. It offers the owner limited liability, but the tax structure benefit of a partnership. a.Liability: The owner an S-corporation is not held personally liable for any debts or judgments incurred by the company. b.Income Taxes: In an S-corporation, the profits and losses of the company are passed through to the owners and shareholders and reported on their personal income tax returns and taxed at their individual rates. The company itself is not taxed. c.Longevity or continuity: Like a C-corporation an S-corporation can continue on, if the owner leaves or dies. d.Control: A board of directors manages the company through officers. e.Profit Retention: Generally in an S-corporation the profits are passed on to the shareholders. f.Location: An S-corporation must follow state filing requirements in any state that it wishes to setup in. g.Convenience or burden: An S-corporation can be convenient, because it provides the owner and shareholders protection from company debt and they save on paying taxes on profit, but it can be costly in setting up. Limited Liability Company A Limited Liability Company is similar to an S-corporation in that it offers the limited liability of a corporation, but the tax structure benefit of a partnership. a.Liability: Owners and shareholders are protected from personal liability for the business debts and judgments. b.Income Taxes: Profits and losses are passed through to the shareholders and filed on their individual income tax returns. c.Longevity and continuity: An LLC can continue if a member leaves, but the LLC must pay the member the value of their interest. d.Control: An LLC is managed by its’ members. e.Profit Retention: Profits are passed on to the members. f.Location: A LLC must follow state filing requirements for any state it wishes to setup in. g.Convenience or burden: LLC offer a very flexible structure. It also has no limitations on the number and kind of owners. It can be very expensive to form and because it is so new, it can be more complex. Bibliography Book: Beatty, J. & Samuelson, S. (2007). Business Law and the Legal Environment: Standard Edition, 4e. Mason, OH: Rob Dewey Web site: Perez, W. (2009). Protect Your Business Profits by Incorporating. About.com. Retrieved March 20, 2009, from http://taxes.about.com/od/taxplanning/a/incorporating.htm Corey Pierce, J. (2002-2004). Business Startup: Where to Begin & How to Grow. Businessfinance.com. Retrieved March 22, 2009, from http://www.businessfinance.com/books/StartABusiness/StartABusinessWorkbookTOC.htm PART B interoffice memorandum to:Owner subject: Business organization date:8/10/2013 There are many different types of business forms. After reviewing them all, I have come to the conclusion that an S corporation will be the most beneficial to you company. An S-corporation is a separate legal entity and protects the owner and shareholders from personal liability and offers benefits with its tax structure. This memo will address issues that are important to you and the advantages provided to you by forming an S-corporation. You expressed concern regarding your personal liability and whether or not if the company was to be sued- you did not want to possibly lose all of your personal assets. With an S-corporation you are protected from losing your personal assets if a company is sued for negligence by an employee or subcontractor. If the company were to default on debts, your personal assets are protected from creditors. Funding will also be fairly easy to obtain with an S-corporation. With an S-corporation, you will be able to sell stock in the company to increase capital assets to help with you expanding. You will be able to sell as much or as little of your companies’ stock as you wish, once a stock value is determined. An advantage to selling you company’s stock beside the increase in capital is that you are also able to retain control of the company when issuing stock. The profit that your company earns will be distributed to the shareholders, but with an S-corporation, shareholders are only allocated the profit and losses equal to the amount of their investment. The profits and losses are passed through to each shareholder and filed on their individual income tax returns. The company itself is not taxed. Also, with an S-corporation, if you were to pass away, the company would have continuity. The company would not have to dissolve and you. The stock that you own in the company can be transferred to an heir or transferred by the sale of all or a portion of the stock. Based on these findings, I recommend you to form an S-corporation for your company.

Cost Accounting Past FInal

January 10,800 February 1 5,600 March 12,200 April 10,400 May 9,800 The inventory of finished products at the end of each month is to be equal to 25% of the sales estimate for the next month. On January 1, there were 2,700 units of product on hand. No work is in process at the end of any month. Each unit of product requires two types of materials in the following quantities: Material A-4 units Material B- 5 units Materials equal to one half of the next month's production are to be on hand at the end of each month.This requirement will be met on December 31st, 2012. REQUIRED: a) Prepare a budget showing the quantities of each type of material to be purchased each month for the first quarter of 2013 Question Two (20 marks) KILL Industries use weighted-average process costing to determine the cost of goods manufactured. The firm began the current year with 20,000 units in process, 75% complete. Work was begun on an additional 90,000 units during the period. The period ended with 8,000 u nits in process, 40% complete.Materials are added at the beginning of the process, labor when the units are 50% complete, and overhead is re sold for scrap at $0. 10 each. Normally, 2% of the units inspected are expected to be rejected. Costs attached to beginning work-in-process were $80,000 for materials, $120,000 for labor, and $150,000 for overhead. Current costs for the period were $371,000 for materials, $475,000 for labor and $865,280 for overhead. One hundred thousand good units were completed and transferred out during the period. ) Prepare a cost of production report for this department using weighted average process costing using the vertical format (as taught in class, not in the text) b) Prepare Journal entries to record the activities for the month Question Three (22 marks) Pfizer-Plow Pharmaceuticals is a major seller of cold remedies. Its product line consists of aspirin, cough lozenges, cold capsules and a nasal spray. The firm manufactures only the cold capsules in Puerco Ricoh.The other products are purchased from firms which specialize in the manufacture of those products: For the first quarter of 2012, management of Pfizer-Plow prepared the following master budget: Sales Aspirin 10,000 cases Lozenges 20,000 cases Capsules 20,000 cases Spray 5,000 cases Total Sales Aspirin Lozenges Spray Manufacturing Costs: Caffeine 40,000 grams 400,000 Antihistamine 60,000 grams 300,000 Aspirin concentrate 100,000 grams 350,000 Direct labor 40,000 hours Overhead (all fixed) 500,000 Total Costs Net Income Through excellent SIT inventory control, the firm was able to keep purchases and production exactly equal to unit sales.The firm uses actual process costing for its manufacturing operation. A summary of the actual results for the first quarter of 2012 follow: Cost of purchases 1 ZOO cases 20,000 cases $200. 00 a case Capsules 2000 cases $310. 00 a case ,000 cases $390. 00 a case Actual Manufacturing costs incurred during the period were: Caffeine 45,000 g rams $427,500 Antihistamine 64,000 grams $384,000 Aspirin Concentrate 1 1 5,000 grams 414,000 Direct labor 43,000 hours Overhead 482,000 a) Determine actual cost net income b) Calculate I.Sales quantity variance it. Sales mix variance iii. Sales Price variances ‘v. Material yield variance v. Material mix variance v'. Material price variances c) Reconcile actual net income to the master budget in a single statement, including any other appropriate variances Question Four (12 marks) revived more Buts of heat per cord of wood than any other wood burning fireplace insert or stove. One model, the Heatproof, sells for $1,800, and a new model, the Heat Queen, sells for $1,200.A traditional costing system ‘. The BBC system b) Which system would most likely do a better Job of measuring costs for this product emphasis/keep or drop decision? Explain. C) Franklins controller points out that the BBC information could also be used to identify and eliminate non-value added activities. Explain how BBC and BAM can be used for this purpose. Question Five (18 marks) The steam-generating department of the Sotto Company provides the power necessary to run the machines in two production departments, Pl and UP.Based upon past experience, it has been determined that the total costs of operating the team generating equipment contains a fixed element of $30,000 per year and a variable element of $2. 00 per 1,000 cubic meters of steam. In addition to any allocated overhead costs, Pl has direct fixed overhead of $20,000 per year and UP has direct fixed overhead of $10,000 per year. Direct variable overhead in Pl is $1. 00 per machine hour. Direct variable overhead in UP is $2 per machine hour.Each machine hour in Pl requires the use of 1,000 cubic meters of steam. Each machine hour in UP requires the use of 250 cubic meters of steam. Maximum yearly machine hours in Pl and UP are 20,000 and 30,000, respectively. Under current economic conditions, management expects to utilize 10,000 machine hours in Pl and 30,000 machine hours in UP during 2013. A) Determine the expected 2013 operating costs of the steam-generating department.

Conscience – personal creative writing

He was dressed in a sluggish grey-green coat with dull checks. It reflected his character like a murky pond and the story he was feeding me smelt the same. I didn't like his attitude. The way he leered at me with his nicotine yellow teeth and thin sharp lips. It made me feel really uncomfortable. Like I shouldn't be there. I'd forgotten, as usual that I wasn't invited. I noticed that as he repeated himself his gnarled fingers were ever whitening at the knuckles. His hair was greased back off his face as if he'd put a vat full of chip fat on it. It made him look slimy and manipulating. If he'd been a well dressed man with a polite attitude I would not have given a second thought to his wife's suicide. The man in front of me was showing no sign of remorse, not even the slightest bit of sadness. The emotions that float in the air catching normal people unawares must either bounce off his highly polished forehead or slide down the nape of his neck. The flat was quite large with a private elevator at the back. A desk sat in the middle of the room. It was an old solid oak desk with two top draws and ink stains on the blotting paper. The worn out typewriter had the last written words of Mrs. Harrison stuck in it and sat there like a smug omen. People from forensics were buzzing about dusting this and bagging up that. They made the place look like an ant colony. It is very distracting to have someone spying for the minutest thing out of the corner of your eye. I went to have a look round myself. All the furniture, as far as I could see was dating back to the late 1930's yet it was all in impeccable condition. Scattered on the shelves were objects and ornaments the couple had gathered from their short married life. China dogs, vulgar things, cluttered up the iron fire surround. On the mantelpiece slept two speakers, dusty with neglect. Something caught my eye. Two brass bookends. Neither of them particularly aesthetic yet that wasn't what drew me to them. One was brown with dirt and grime, however the other was clean as the day it as bought. I called over Pete, a friend of mine in the forensics team. We were at college together until I went ‘over to the dark side' as he would say. Pete is the type of guy you could quite easily fall in love with, if you allow yourself. His hair is tight and curly. The colour of midnight. Granted, his nose may be slightly out of proportion but the ocean blue colour of his eyes! Deep, full with care yet not deep enough to hide his soul. He told me he would take the bookends off for dusting and get back to me. I couldn't help but stare as he swaggered away in his own original style. The swagger that leaves all girls stranded†¦ Waking my self up I walked back to the beetle red settee where Mr Harrison was lounging. I was sitting on the arm of the chair, trying to spot an intelligent comment from the ones reflected in his mirror forehead. I persuaded him to tell me a bit about his wife appearance. According to him she was of medium height, hourglass figure and full it the face. He got out a photo of her. She was really pretty. Her hair was sandy and fly away with dark brown eyes and full lips. The complete opposite of her husband. That then began to arouse my suspicions of her playing away. I didn't address this issue straight away; I felt it wasn't wise but I did ask what the professional relationship was between he and his wife. At this comment his attitude got blacker once more. He spoke bitterly of how she was clever and outgoing. She had been working as his accountant when they met and ‘slowly weaved her way up to the executive managers position'. It was the way he said it that made your blood chill like an ice cube had just been shoved down your back on a freezing winter day. There was certainly some jealousy going on. I could not fathom why a pretty intelligent girl could want to end her life so suddenly and tragically. Couldn't she have just settled for divorce? Was he threatening her? One thing was for sure; this was no ordinary suicide. I had to find out what really happened earlier that night. I bid good day to Mr Harrison and went to the front elevator. As I waited I tried to heave the sense out of this scene like the heavy contraption heaving itself up to the 18th floor. With the bing of the lift the cold air hit my face once more. The streets of LA are awesome. Especially at night. The rain pattered down as it had been threatening to do all day making the pavement shine like liquid silver. The starlight filled the roadside trees with a magical light like a thousand faeries having a party. A newspaper tickled my feet then went on its way to the next obstacle. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a crumpled heap, slumped in the doorway of a closed down chemists. It was partly illuminated by the street light. The other part shadowy and ghost like yet remarkably there. It churns my heart to see these things. From somewhere in amongst the churning it became clear that this fellow might know something. I strolled over as casually as I could muster in the below zero temperature and crouched down beside him. His face was like a canvas of war; his eyes hollow and lifeless. This guy didn't have a single dream or hope left to hang on to in the great pendulum of life. He'd let go just waiting for it to hit him on its inevitable return swing. He showed an utter disgust towards me once I'd told him I was a detective. It made my job really hard. I had started off with a gentle motherly tone but I soon lost it to the wind. What is the point in trying to give these people respect if they judge you on face value and smell of dustbins and public toilets. He assured me that he was awake at the time I quoted and heard no scream. I hurried away as quickly as I could leaving him to mutter under his breath.

W4 D566 Sentiment & Social Analytics using Text & Web Based Mining Essay

W4 D566 Sentiment & Social Analytics using Text & Web Based Mining - Essay Example They are useful for examining the social structure and interdependencies (or work patterns) of individuals or organizations. SNA involves collecting data from multiple sources (such as surveys, emails, blogs and other electronic artifacts), analyzing the data to identify relationships, and mining it for new information† (Social Networking Analysis, 2013, p. 1). The relationships among these terminologies include the collection of information about people’s sharing of information through posts, ideas, and other communication medium and identification of some evident pattern or trend. The disparities among these terms include the use or medium to disseminate crucial information solicited through social analysis: social analytics, per se, is broader in range; while SNA specifically identified social networks as the predominant medium of information

The Cartesian Coordinate System Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The Cartesian Coordinate System - Research Paper Example The Cartesian Coordinate System does not merely point reference to the graphical means of finding link between variables, rather, it gives Mathematics the desired image of identity in visible shapes and forms by which a learner can gain appreciation of the course as an interesting field of study. The Cartesian Coordinate System Prior to the concept of a two-dimensional system, the discovery of a coordinate system with one dimension had already enabled demonstration of the relative magnitudes of numbers in a graphical manner and had even shown how a distance between two points in the number line may be represented by the magnitude of their differences. The overall advantage, however, of a one-dimensional coordinate system is limited and is unable to extend its applicability to the relation or dependence of two sets of numbers quite significant in the mathematical studies of corresponding values wherein a set constituted by an ordered pair of numbers may be held in association to another or a couple other sets in a planar system of coordinates (Vance, p. 75). Importance of the Cartesian Coordinate System In 1637 Rene Descartes, a French mathematician and philosopher, used the Rectangular Cartesian System of Coordinates or a method of associating points with numbers, and by doing so. , associated a curve with its equation. Great progress in mathematics and the application of mathematics in science followed after this unification of algebra and geometry (Smoller). By definition of the Cartesian product of two sets, the case of interest is X ? Y where X and Y are both the set of real numbers R is symbolically denoted R x R ? { (x, y) | x ? R and y ? R }. Each member of the set is an ordered pair (x, y) and through the Cartesian coordinate system, it is possible to set up an association between this set of all ordered pairs (x, y) of R x R and the set of all points in the plane. Hence, the two-dimensional coordinate system becomes important in relating a point in a plane and a pair of real numbers which may be constructed using two perpendicular straight lines, vertical and horizontal, commonly known as the coordinate axes. With the point of intersection being the origin O, one may establish on each line a one-dimensional system which bears the same unit of length f or both axes where, normally, the horizontal line refers to the x-axis or axis of the values of ‘x’ or abscissa whereas the vertical line pertains to the y-axis along which lie the values of ‘y’ called the ordinates. Once the axes are drawn, one can begin to plot a data of points (x, y) and in determining a point corresponding to an ordered pair of values, it helps to draw lines parallel to the axes through the point (x1, 0) on the x-axis and the point (0, y1) on the y-axis (Vance, 76). These lines intersect at a point P, a distance x1 from the y-axis (to the right or left, depending upon whether x1 is positive or negative) and a distance y1 from the x-axis (above or below, depending upon whether y1 is positive or negative). These distances can be called directed distances and the point P, determined by the ordered pair of values x1 and y1, is denoted by the ordered pair, expressed as (x1, y1), where x1 and y1 are called coordinates of P. The two coordinate axes divide the plane into four parts, called the first, second, third, and fourth quadrants. It is useful to verify that the coordinates of points located in the different quadrants have the signs shown in the table. Quadrants Abscissa Ordinate I + + II _ + III _ _ IV + _ Since every other point may be plotted on the xy-plane, the line or curve connecting the

Read 7 articles Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Read 7 articles - Essay Example After the hurricane had wreaked havoc a great effort went in for rescuing those stuck in it. This effort could have been well spent to provide relief to the affected. Thus we conclude, that key officers, especially those in decision making posts should be trained to handle emergency decision making. Special leadership programs should be initiated where officers and politicians holding key positions are trained to respond to emergency and take effective decisions in the minimum possible time. Alternately, the officers can be taught emergency decision making with the help of Department of Defense, in special camps, where they are acquainted with emergency response methods of the armed force. Decision to evacuate can also be practiced in simulated exercises and circumstances. The second major impairment occurred due to failure of communication channels and absence of command and control system. The authorities in all major cities especially the coastal areas should be networked through satellite wireless communication network. A satellite wireless network has minimum chances of damage in event of a natural calamity. Even in normal times, the wireless network should be put to use to check its efficacy. Alternately, a computer program of wireless network can be maintained at all the state capitals and the Headquarters. Such program can be used to materialize, an emergency network, in a particular area in the shortest possible time. The National Communication System should be strengthened with all the above suggestions. The third factor that affected the rescue work was the civil-military coordination. Though the army provided emergency help its prowess could not be put to full use due to lack of coordination. The civil-military coordination can be increased in by conducting emergency management drills during normal times. The military and civil officials can meet more often, discuss and plan out emergency

People have become more overly dependent on technology Essay

People have become more overly dependent on technology - Essay Example According to Spira (2011) technology has been well embraced by so many people in the world. This to some extent has both negatively and positively contributed to the development in various countries. All people depend on technology for several things. Technology has become a back bone to so many things in the world. Technology has been majorly been embraced in the transport and communication sector. Countries that have low level technology are termed as under developed countries while those with high level of technology are the developed countries. Most of the African countries are under developed. This is because of the few industries found in these countries. Klososky (2011) states technology has improved the communication sector to a larger extent whereby people are able to convey their concern to one another despite the distance differences. Communication has become faster, efficient and cheaper. All people can afford mobile phones which are widely used. Most teenagers have embraced Facebook and twitter which are providing easier mode of social networking. Technology has helped in the improvement of transport sector since there are many faster modes of transport that have been invented. Transport means such as aircrafts help someone to reach their destination very fast and easier this has improved the market sectors since perishable goods such as horticultural products can reach the market on time.

How to support a Gifted and Talented child in the classroom in Essay

How to support a Gifted and Talented child in the classroom in Mathematics - Essay Example The common notion is that gifted children, having abilities superior than the rest, need less assistance in terms of education. However, what is often overlooked is the fact that these children are not necessarily, â€Å"academically gifted†, so to speak. Intelligence is not restricted to academics. As such, a gifted child may be exceptionally adept to reading but poor in arithmetic. In other words, giftedness does not encompass all fields, contrary to common belief. In fact, psychologist Howard Gardner has proposed Multiple Intelligence theory, postulating that there are actually eight intelligence domains – among them are music, linguistic and logic and mathematics (Visser, Ashton & Vernon 2006, p.487). Of these mentioned domains, an important subject of interest is Mathematics, which, as pointed by several researchers such as Mji & Makgato (2006, p.253), most students are poor at. Nevertheless, given that the aspect of giftedness in terms of intelligence is multi-fac eted, it is necessary to establish at this point how the concept of giftedness would be used in this paper. The subject of argument is the gifted children who, regardless of their astuteness in other aspects of intelligence, exemplify high prowess in Mathematics. Moving on, it was mentioned that a lot of students perform below average in Mathematics; thus, in response to this, various steps are taken to improve teaching skills of instructors in educating students in this subject. But then again, given the common misconception on giftedness, gifted children are often overlooked in the classroom, with their special needs neglected. Diversity of Experience & Learning In the book written by Kennedy, Johnson & Tipps (2008, p. 40), it was argued that the point in dealing with gifted children is not to make them reach an achievement level that is established for all average students. Instead, support should be geared towards meeting the needs specific to these children. This is to say that children have varying experiences which may affect learning and performance (Bowman 1994). Overestimating the abilities of gifted children which may lead to unintentional neglect of their needs may hinder them from achieving their full potential. The present curriculum in most educational system is designed for average students. In this scenario, the average students are benefiting more in the curriculum because they are learning things while the gifted students are just left listening to concepts that they have already mastered. The average students are compelled to study and practice in order to hone their skills. In contrast, the gifted students do not need to struggle to learn. In most cases, this experience has taught them that everything comes out way too easy; hence, they may not be as receptive to new ideas as average students do. Since gifted students can easily understand and acquire skills due to the average pace of teaching, they usually suffer from boredom and frustrat ion (Collins 2001, p.xiv). Further, since they are not challenged, most of them gradually lack motivation resulting to underachievement (Diezman, Faragher, Lowrie & Bicknell 2004, p. 8). As a matter of fact, there are gifted students who do not perform well simply because they lack interest or are occupied with perfectionism (CCEA 2006, p.6). In the long run, this lack of motivation may result to being left behind, achieving things below their levels. Therefore, it is important to

The Impact that Line Managers have on Organisational Performance Essay

The Impact that Line Managers have on Organisational Performance - Essay Example The paper tells that while a business can generate its preferred culture through the use of its ideals and standards of accomplishment, organizational cultures tend to deliver more results when they are a by-product of the beliefs of a company’s workers. Organisational culture is a fact that will determine the ability of a line manager to successfully communicate with other workers. On the other hand, if a company has only a few workers, its organizational culture may compel the line manager to be the individual who disciplines errant workers or offers correction when necessary. This can cause problems because employees are not likely to confide in an individual that corrects their mistakes on a regular basis. In larger organizations, line managers have the chance to communicate effectively with employees and develop interpersonal relationships with them even as they monitor different activities and supply regular reports on the progress of work to higher ranking corporate exe cutives. Line managers are generally trusted by employees because they are not perceived as being merely the agents that are responsible for overseeing various functions. Whether an organization has a task-oriented culture or one where autocratic principles are observed, the line manager has the responsibility to enact this culture for the workers, who then emulate him or her. For instance, if corporate executives wish for their employees to develop a culture of teamwork, they have to incorporate their line managers in jobs that also include other employees so that a team atmosphere can be created. This means that the line manager has to be able to embrace change swiftly himself before successfully inspiring other workers to embrace change. Most line managers encourage the efforts of employees to realize corporate goals by use of rewards such as pay hikes, promotions, or simple praise. This culture of the provision of rewards will not only result in improved operations but will also result in both the workers and the management being able to trust in the growing relationship between both of them.

Management and change Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Management and change - Essay Example Since other workers are part of the organisation, their views are also important in the change process (Marglin, 1974). However, the management may decide to use an approach that does not involve other workers in the decision-making process. Consequently, other workers may feel short-changed, and this affects negatively on employee involvement. In essence, the approach that the change agent uses in implementing new ideas in an organisation also has an impact on the overall performance. Most organisations tend to fail in terms of implementing new changes due to applying an unpopular approach. On the other hand, an ideal approach for implementing changes in an organisation should consider all issues that are pertinent to an organisation (Marglin, 1974). In this regard, a rational or technical approach is ideal for situations where the decision-making process involves consideration of different alternatives. A rational approach entails a systematic process where the management in additi on to relying on their skills and experience, considers various issues prior to implementing organisational change (Marglin, 1974). This paper explores the strengths and limitations of a rational-technical approach towards managing change. In a rational-technical approach to managing change in an organisation, the change agent considers a number of factors that can influence the change process (Knights & McCabe, 2003). Such factors include skills and experience of the manager or leader, the demands by followers and the prevailing situation in an organisation. With regard to skills and experience of a manager or a leader, a rational-technical approach requires the change agent to have knowledge of how an organisation operates. For instance, the manager needs to understand the environment that the organisation operates, vision and goals of the organisation, systems in the organisation, the change plan and

Explain How External Environment Influence Essay Example for Free

Explain How External Environment Influence Essay External environment aims to help an organisation to obtain opportunities and threats that will affect the organisation’s competitive situation. External opportunities are characteristics of the external environment that have the potential to help the organization achieve or exceed its strategic goals. External threats are characteristics of the external environment that may prevent the organization from achieving its strategic goals. Therefore, organisations must formulate appropriate strategies to take advantage of the opportunities while overcome the threats in order to achieve their strategic goals. The external environment consists of variables that are outside the organization and not typically within the short-run control of top management. They may be general forces within the macro or remote environment, which consists of political-legal, economic, socio-cultural, technological forces – usually called PEST. Political-legal force influences strategy formulation through government and law intervention. For example, the environment law requires the world’s automobile manufacturers to reduce emission of green house gasses, and therefore these manufacturers have to reformulate their product strategy. Economic force influences strategy formulation through economic growth, interest rates, exchange rates and the inflation rate. For example, exchange rates affect the costs of exporting goods and the supply and price of imported goods in an economy, and thus influence strategy formulation of exporters. Socio-cultural force is about the cultural aspects, health consciousness, population growth rate, age distribution, career attitudes and emphasis on safety. Trends in social-cultural factors affect the demand for a companys products and how that company operates. For example, increasing health consciousness can influence strategy formulation of fast-food companies that may have to adopt product innovation strategy. Technological factors include technological aspects such as R;D activity, automation, technology incentives and the rate of technological change. For example, rapid development of the information technology has significantly influenced the strategy formulation of logistics service providers who are now able to provide superior express services. There may be specific forces within the micro or near environment, which involves analyzing the threat from the new entrant, rivalry among the existing players, pressure from the buyers, pressure from the suppliers and pressure from the substitutes. This is introduced in Porter’s Five-Forces Model. Profitable markets that yield high returns will attract new firms which eventually will decrease profitability for all firms in the industry unless the entry of new firms can be blocked by incumbents. The existing firms therefore need to formulate new strategies against potential entrants. For most industries, the intensity of competitive rivalry is the major determinant of the competitiveness of the industry. For example, high intensity of competitive rivalry in the automobile industry forces competitors such as Ford, Honda, to form strategic alliances or adopts the strategy of M;A. The bargaining power of buyers is the ability of customers to put the firm under pressure. For example, strong bargaining power of buyers in the computer industry put Dell under pressure. To deal with such pressure, Dell has to focus on relationship marketing strategy by offering value-added services to its customers. The bargaining power of suppliers is also described as the market of inputs. Suppliers of raw materials, components, labor, and services (such as expertise) to the firm can be a source of power over the firm, when there are few substitutes. Suppliers may refuse to work with the firm, or charge excessively high prices for unique resources such as Microsoft software and Intel chips which affects the formulation of price strategy of PC makers. The existence of products outside of the realm of the common product boundaries increases the propensity of customers to switch to alternatives. In order to retain customers, companies must formulate appropriate strategies to compete with the substitutes. For example, milk producers compete with soy milk producers. However, strategy formulation is also influenced by the degree of turbulence of the external environment. A high degree of turbulence exists if changeability is high and predictability is low. Companies need to formulate strategies based on the planned prescriptive approach if turbulence is low, whereas based on the unplanned emergent approach if turbulence is high. How organizations overcome environmental changes? Organisations need to deal with environmental changes with appropriate strategies. First, organisations may choose to wait and see. Such strategy has its advantages and disadvantages. For example, facing a significant technological change, some companies may choose to integrate the new technology into their products. If they are successful, the rest companies’ ‘wait and see’ strategy is obviously unwise. However, if they failed, the rest companies’ ‘wait and see’ strategy appears wise. As a result, strategic decision making is impacted on and opportunities may either be lost or capitalised on. Second, organisations may choose to change in response to environmental changes through either proactive or reactive. Proactive change involves actively attempting to make alterations to the work place and its practices. Companies that take a proactive approach to change are often trying to avoid a potential future threat or to capitalize on a potential future opportunity. Reactive change occurs when an organization makes changes in its practices after some threat or opportunity has already occurred in the external environment. As an example of the difference, assume that a hotel executive learns about the increase in the number of Malaysians who want to travel with their pets. The hotel executive creates a plan to reserve certain rooms in many hotel locations for travelers with pets and to advertise this new amenity, even before travelers begin asking about such accommodations. This would be a proactive response to change because it was made in anticipation of customer demand. However, a reactive approach to change would occur if hotel executives had waited to enact such a change until many hotel managers had received repeated requests from guests to accommodate their pets and were denied rooms. In reality, companies may use a combination of both proactive and reactive approaches. Proactive approach is highly common when an industry is new with little or no change. The bellwether company entering the industry is making all of the strategic decisions or being proactive. However, because of its success, competitors gradually enter the market, resulting in the turbulent change of the competitive environment. Consequently, the reactive change is on the part of the new competitors as well as the bellwether company. To overcome environmental changes, companies may also choose the merger or acquisition strategy. A merger is defined as the joining of two or more organizations to constitute a new combined, legal entity. An acquisition is defined as the purchase of more than 50 percent of the voting shares of one organization by another, but the two organizations are still separate legal entities with the acquiring organization running as the parent company and another as a subsidiary. For example, recent study discloses that the merger and acquisition strategy in the global automobile industry will be further enhanced in the near future in order to deal with the threat of global financial crisis which decreased the consumers’ disposable income and increased the debt of auto makers and suppliers that have to save their organisations through merger and acquisition Ddiscuss the importance of organisational culture in strategy implementation Organisational culture can be defined â€Å"as the system of shared beliefs and values that guide and direct the behaviour of members, can have a strong influence on daily organisational behaviour and performance. † (1) Reflection to leadership Successful strategy implementation needs strategic leadership. Strategic leadership is the ability of influencing others to voluntarily make decisions that enhance prospects for the organisation’s long-term success while maintaining short-term financial stability. It includes determining the firm’s strategic direction, aligning the firm’s strategy with its culture, modelling and communicating high ethical standards, and initiating, shaping and implementing changes in the firm’s strategy, when necessary. Strategic leadership sets the firm’s direction by developing and communicating a vision of future and inspires the organization’s members to move in that direction. (2) Enable to create mission vision The vision is the source and the main idea of a company. The mission aims to give the direction which presents the unique scope of business, its vision nd specific competence competitive advantages, and to tell employees, consumers, and shareholder what the firm is. For example, IBM’s vision is: solutions for a small planet. Mission is: At IBM, we strive to lead in the invention, development and manufacture of the industrys most advanced information technologies, including computer systems, software, sto rage systems and microelectronics. Create a shared vision to manage strategic change: objectives and vision of both individuals and organization should coincide. There should be no conflict between them. Senior managers need to constantly and consistently communicate the vision not only to inform but also to overcome resistance through proper communication. Strategy implementers have to convince all those concerned that the change is not superficial. The actions taken have to be credible, highly visible and unmistakably indicative of management’s seriousness to new strategic initiatives and associated changes. (3) Help to create a better strategy (4) Staff motivation Strategy implementation requires special motivation to achieve objectives. The motivation system functions according to the qualities and mechanisms of motivation, which is developed during the stage of entry strategy preparation. First and foremost, this system has to inspire employees involved in the process of strategy development and implementation to orient their mindset toward a strategic way of thinking. Formalizing the strategic motivation system includes establishing a system of daily incentives for employees, especially those who are responsible for strategy development and implementation. The formal system is presented in a document, where all suggestions about motivation and incentives are developed and described. It includes all moral, social, and financial instruments of motivation of individual employees and groups of employees. Special recognition and awards should be given to those who go above and beyond in creating and implementing strategic ideas. (5) Increase or enhance adaptability skills How to use organisation culture to develop competitive advantages 1. Develop CA An organization that is able to maintain a positive culture is likely to enjoy many benefits. When organization members identify with the culture, the work environment tends to be more enjoyable, which boosts morale. This leads to increased levels of teamwork, sharing of information, and openness to new ideas. The resulting increased interaction among employees activates learning and continuous improvement because information flows more freely throughout the organization. Additionally, such a culture helps to attract and retain top employees. For example, Wal-Mart’s founder, Sam Walton, showed concern and respect for his employees from the company’s inception. This created an environment of trust that persists to this day. Walton also modeled the behavior that he desired from his employees, especially customer service (both to internal and external customers), by visiting his stores, meeting customers, and greeting employees by their first names. Walton also embraced and encouraged change in order to remain competitive, and developed employees by having them work in a variety of positions. Wal-Mart considers its culture the key to its success, and to this day employees continue to think about how Sam would have done it’’ when making decisions. 2. Proactive ; reactive Today’s globally-competitive business environment has made a positive corporate culture a critical aspect of success for firms. No longer just a competitive advantage, it has become a prerequisite for success, allowing companies to attract and retain top employees. Therefore, where the culture is serving to lower morale, it is recommended that management take proactive rather than reactive steps to change the corporate culture using a top-down approach, establishing a new vision and demonstrating new behavior consistent with the revised vision. 2. Ability to change 3. Strong learning curve

From your characters point of view Essay Example for Free

From your characters point of view Essay I knew that big Bastard was trouble as soon as I saw him in the office that first day they both arrived on the ranch. When I saw him turned away from me I knew what his sort was like, big guys who thought they owned the place jus cos of their size. An he didnt even answer my question, jus stood there like a big lump staring at me. I knew they was gonna cause trouble. I heard from the other guys that Lennie was a good worker I give him that but he still was odd, never was with the guys always by himself, with George or with that damn pup that Slim gave him. Carlson always said he never said a word unless George was there or if he allowed it, stupid Bastard. I mean I heard things about guys like that who were big and smart but this guy, Lennie, was different altogether he was almost like a child I didnt know he was capable of mangling my hand, let alone kill my wife. But you never know looks can be different than what is genuine, you get to know these things when you see these bastards come work and then leave, you see it all the time. Since Lennie first come to the ranch I had a hunch, and when he did what he did to my hand I knew that he was not only mean but he was dangerous. I never told about my hand before, I know what the other guys on the ranch would say, Me, the bosses son being beat up by some guy who couldnt put two and two together, I Wasnt gonna let em know, I wasnt gonna let my wife know that her husband got beat up by that Bastard. Them only been on the ranch couple o weeks and Slim letting em getting away with it, I wasnt gonna say Nothing. Slim has a way with words, all the guys trust him. So when my hand got busted by Lennie I was real furious, it made me real mad. I was Jus looking for my wife when it began I spose, so she has something to do with it, She is always going off and when Im looking for her I could never find her. Not knowing where your wife is can ruin a man. An people were sayin things about her. Made me wonder I spose so I go looking for her in the barn where it been mentioned she was and Slim said to be in there too. My wife had been looking at Slim for a while so I was mad and made my way to the barn. Slim was there but not my wife, so we have an Argument and it ends up with my hand being busted. I mean whats a guy spose to think when his wife is looking around at the men? An Slim would be what you call a good catch I spose, But that means that he aint no better than me. When I started on him I never thought about what he could do to my hand, he always was so quiet and looked like he could never hurt anything even though he was a big bastard. The look in his eyes when he just grabbed my hand, I had never seen it in a guy before an I wont wanna be seeing it again too soon I can tell ya. I havent seen a guy so mad before, sure I have got a temper I get mad a lot, but this Lennie was just mental. He jus had this look of hate in his eyes, I was angry but for a big guy like that to take advantage of his size is out of order. He had no right to jus do that kind of shit to me. He just took hold of my hand and then crushed it within his own palm, the pain was unbelievable and the other guys jus stood there watchin him do it. Before he fought back I heard George in the background tellin him to do it. I knew they travelled together but I didnt think that that they was that close, I was proven wrong, Lennie always did what George told him to and that time was no exception. His grasp on my hand grew tighter and I was in pain, I couldnt think about anything else but the feeling in my hand, and what I must have looked like to the other guys but then after it got to its worse all I could think about was what would be left of my hand after the big bastard had finished. An If only George hadnt told him to do it, It wouldnt have happened, he still makes me mad the way he is still here working on the ranch with Slim. I could feel the bones in my hand breaking, I never had thought of pain like that before. My hand still is now messed up. Dont think its ever gonna be the same, and neither is he. As soon as I saw him I had it in for him, but after him mangling my hand I wanted revenge. Things werent so good between me and my wife but that was no excuses for her death. The Dumb bastard was out for me too, and he got me, twice. I knew the way he spent all that bloody time with that pup that he was strange, I had warned her about spending time with the guys on the ranch, her being the only woman was dangerous but he was the last guy I woulda thought would take advantage. He never was interested in things like that, he didnt come to town with us ever, and jus stayed in the barn with that pup. I had said for her to stay in the house, but for a woman to do what she is told is something that doesnt happen easily. I spose it was also her fault stupid bitch going where she aint wanted gettin herself into trouble; something was gonna happen sooner or later. The guys was just out in the yard playing horseshoes, I wasnt gonna join in and be humiliated by them all laughing at my hand. I jus sat down an watched didnt know what was going on else where. The next thing I know old candy is calling from outside the barn saying for us to come quick. She was jus there face down on the straw, I had never seen her be so still. But then I thought and knew what had happened, me an Slim rushed up to her and Slim jus said she was dead. I knew at once that the big bastard had been in there with that damn pup. I knew it was him form the start, he couldnt help himself, He wanted to make trouble and this was the last time I was going to be humiliated he had gone one way too far. I wasnt disturbed by her death really bad, I was jus mad with the Bastard I knew it was him an I was gonna do something about it. Carlson knew it was him too, an I could see it in Georges eyes that he also knew what was going on. I wasnt gonna let Lennie get away with it either. My wife was a slow bitch but it was Lennie who took her life and he wasnt gonna get out of this one by the other guys keeping em Quiet. I had done that already once, when I could have got him canned, but I didnt for my pride now he had the life of my wife. But George was his friend, regardless of this he still went looking for him. I was suspicious though, I mean they travelled together and how did I know that he wasnt gonna help Lennie get away and escape. But I Spose the dumb bastard wouldnt make it on his own without some other guy helping him out or getting him outa shit. When me and the guys saw Lennie lying on the floor next to George I was livid, I hadnt killed the crazy Bastard myself, I was gonna make him suffer the way I had. I dont know everything that went on but what I do know is that Lennie was to blame for the death of my wife and my hand was never gonna be the same cos of him being a crazy Bastard. I could see that they were gonna mess things up, an I was right.

Impact of the Internet on Developing Countries

Impact of the Internet on Developing Countries Abstract The Internet has completely changed the information management scene in developed countries. It has improved the communication systems and has developed user-friendly environments for information sharing and exchange. The benefits of the Internet in developed countries have inspired the developing countries to develop the Internet and use it to their benefit. The Internet is now changing the information practices in various sectors in developing countries. The impact of the Internet has caused developing countries to modify traditional methods of conducting information business by setting up new sources of information and new methods of communication on a global basis. The Internet has helped the developing countries to take advantage of access to global sources of information in order to improve their economic markets. In this paper we will discuss the evolution of the Internet along with the atmosphere, which initiated the growth of the Internet in developing countries. We will touch upon the constraints involved in promoting Internet growth, the models used to enhance Internet growth, the areas benefited by the Internet and the future of Internet in developing countries. We have focused our discussion on the impact of the Internet on the two most populous developing countries, India and China. Introduction In todays world where globalization is inevitable if you want to succeed, the Internet is your only respite. The Internet has revolutionized information technology and made information access across boundaries very easy. It has spread in all spheres of life and you cannot think of life without the Internet. Come to think of it, how did the Internet evolve and how did it become such an essential part of our lives? The Internet has created competition by bringing many international and indigenous information technology vendors on to the same platform and has raised the standards of quality of services. Even though the Internet has its advantages, the developing countries are facing a lot of issues in using it to achieve maximum benefits. Some concerns are related to the infrastructure costs, language and cultural barriers, political barriers and economic costs. If the issues related to the growth of the Internet can be tackled, there would be phenomenal growth in the economy of the developing countries due to the benefits of the Internet. Statement of Purpose The three major aspects involved in the overall development of a country are economic, political and social. As it is evident from the success of the Internet in developed countries, and will be clear from the examples stated in the paper, we can see that the Internet plays a very important role in all these aspects. It is evident from the extent of usage of the Internet in our daily lives that it has and will continue to change the way we live. How it has changed, and how it will continue to change our lives, is the reason for discussion on the topic of à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Impact of the Internet in Developing Countriesà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ . We are discussing the impact of the Internet specifically on developing countries because the awareness and number of users of the Internet is still growing. As compared to the number of users of the Internet, the effect of the benefits of the Internet has been phenomenal. Evolution of the Internet The idea of the Internet originated about 25 years ago at the US Defense Department Advanced research Projects Agency (ARPA), to keep track of data through computer hardware and software. The Internet is now a complex web of networks connected with high-speed links cutting across countries. There are no set boundaries for the Internet in cyberspace. Recent statistics show 50,000 networks in more than 100 countries with more than 50 million users (MIDS press release). It is estimated that the rate of growth in Internet use is around 20 per cent a month. Currently the Internet is not proprietary and is available to anyone with computer access connected to the external world. Since the USA launched the information superhighway in 1994, the Internet has come to play an ever-increasing role in the vast information market in many countries. Malaysias Prime Minister, Mahathir Mohammed, once said: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“It can be no accident that there is today no wealthy developed country that is information poor, and no information rich country that is poor and underdevelopedà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  This statement emphasizes the importance of the Internet for developing countries. From an international perspective access to and use of the Internet is unbalanced; there are obvious gaps between developed and developing countries in terms of the numbers of nets, hosts and users. Information Environment in Developing Countries China and India have the highest population among the developing countries. With the vast population, the market for the Internet in these countries is huge. Both India and China are information-rich countries with a long tradition of learning and applying their knowledge. Both countries have had phenomenal growth economically and are utilizing information technology and information management for the same. The reduction in the price of personal computers and the multimedia influx only accelerated the growth in Internet usage. For countries with vast information centers, the Internet proves to be the most valuable resource. Chinese general information systems are divided into six categories: (1) Information centers affiliated with the National Scientific and Technical Commission (2) Information centers belonging to central government ministries (3) Information centers of a provincial nature (4) Information centers of a specialized nature affiliated to regional governments (5) Information centers affiliated with state enterprises, universities and other research institutions (6) Information centers of non-governmental, regional, professional and similar bodies In India, at the national level the main sources of information include: (1) Various line ministries; (2) The Central Statistical Organization (CSO) (3) The National Sample Survey Organization (4) The Registrar-General of India (RGI) (5) The National Information Center (NIC) (6) The Center for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) (7) The Federation of India Chamber of Commerce and Industries (FICCI) (8) Tata Energy Research Institution (9) The Center for Science and Environment Given such huge information centers in both countries, the public need for the Internet and its potential are vast. Areas of concern in Developing Countries Three major areas of concern about the Internet in developing countries are: (1) National information policy (2) Regulatory framework and information infrastructure (3) Proper education and training National information policy Awareness of various information sources in developing countries is limited to oral form. Awareness in print is negligible. The national information policies in developing countries concentrate on trade, international relations, national security and technology, but they barely concentrate on electronic access of information through the Internet to achieve maximum benefits. For rapid economic growth, official documents of developing countries should include high priority plans to implement electronic information delivery systems. National policy documents, like five-year plans, should contain policy statements and should be implemented on time. Sufficient funding should be available during planning and implementation phases of electronic information access models. Regulatory framework and information infrastructure Developing countries have a regulatory framework in place, which makes protection of investment, intellectual property and individual privacy compulsory in the information market. Developing countries have legal frameworks in place, which deals with private sector involvement, skilled human resources, standards and implementation. Regulatory frameworks for information do not exist. Even though information technology and telecommunications have made a way into all the markets in a developed country, in developing countries, information technology is still seen only as a means to support information management systems, finance and accounting facilities and data processing. As compared to the population numbers, the per capita penetration of computers in both India and China in the area of small office/home office (SOHO) is very insignificant. Telecommunications has also not yet picked up in India and China. If the information infrastructure were to cover the wide Indian and Chinese markets, and if technology was used for global access to information through the Internet, there would be a phenomenal economic growth in these countries. Both the countries need to urgently address the awareness of the Internet and its importance for policy makers at the political level. Proper education and training As in developed countries, workforces in developing countries are also adopting knowledge-based methodologies rather than labor intensive ones. Surveys have shown that Internet use is associated with higher education in developed countries. The same applies to developing countries. Literacy rates in developing countries needs to be improved to a great extent. The governments, central, state and local and learning institutions and civic associations should take responsibility and should work together to raise the literacy levels in developing countries. Information professionals should be trained on priority. Trained information professionals can make better use of the Internet and will be more efficient in acquiring, organizing and propagating information. Developing countries are often concerned about preserving language and culture heritage and supporting political systems. They are weary of foreign economic formats. Thus, proper trainings and seminars for information professionals is a must. These trained professionals can help educate the masses and can take advantage of the benefits of the Internet. This would help in sharing of knowledge through cyberspace and would help in increasing the value of the global information sector. The Internet will support development in the following ways: * Assess the information capacity of the country and determine the needs of users, organize and synthesize information and provide access to internal and external information * Disseminate information to meet the public needs and private sectors and the daily information needs of the general public The governments role in utilizing the Internet is very critical. It influences the appropriate use of the Internet for social and economic change in the shift from labor-intensive production to knowledge based information industries. Also, it reveals the market to a strong private information sector by defining public and private sector relationships. In order to destroy monopolies and encourage competition among international and indigenous vendors, it redefines telecommunication policies. Internet Growth in India Internet service in India started in 1994 with government being the monopoly provider. Service was costly and unreliable and by 1996 there were only 4,000 subscribers nationwide. In 1998, the ISP market was deregulated. By 2000, there were 225 ISPs (India Infoline 2001) and prices had dropped 60%. PC prices also dropped significantly owing to lowering of import duties. The subscriber base then grew rapidly, reaching 1.8 million in January 2001. E-mail and chat are the most popular applications (Natarajan 1999). E-commerce is yet to find wide acceptance but is expected to touch $2.3 billion by 2002 (Pai 2000a). PC penetration in urban middle class households has increased in recent times (Dataquest 2000; Pai 2000b), and has led to an increase in the Internet subscribers. The popularity of the Internet has also had a feedback effect on PC sales (Dataquest 2000). The demand for bandwidth outstrips supply thirty-fold (Desai 2001). As of December 2000, there were only 28 million telephone lines equal to a tele-density of 3.5/100 persons. Alternatives to analog modems, such as ISDN lines or cable modems, are limited. Regulations have also stifled Internet growth. The ban on Internet telephony and the requirement to obtain security clearance before setting up an international gateway are two examples. In short, Internet diffusion in India started very recently and is characterized by high telephone charges, limited customer acceptance of E-commerce applications, limited telecommunications infrastructure, and restrictive regulations. These characteristics are prevalent in many other developing countries as well. The VSNL, is still by far the dominant player in the ISP market, and maintains the backbones that most private firms will have to use to provide access to consumers. There is currently one Level 1 gateway owned by VNSL, as well as a Level 2, through which most private companies will have to connect. 1995/96 1996/97 1997/98 1998/99 1999/2000 2000/2001 2001/2002 States Popn CAGR (81-91) Estd Popn CAGR of Lines Actual Lines à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"000 Lines/100 Estd Lines Lines/100 Estd Lines Lines/100 Estd Lines Lines/100 Estd Lines Lines/100 Estd Lines Lines/100 Estd Lines AP 2.19 696.98 20.44 797 1.35 959 1.59 1155 1.87 1391 2.20 1675 2.60 2017 2.58 2044 Assam 1.20 227.37 21.59 107 0.56 130 0.68 158 0.81 192 0.98 233 1.17 283 1.16 284 Bihar 2.14 903.30 19.97 280 0.36 335 0.43 401 0.50 481 0.59 577 0.69 692 0.68 694 Gujarat 1.94 428.65 16.52 916 2.44 1067 2.79 1243 3.19 1448 3.64 1687 4.16 1965 4.18 2012 Haryana 2.45 174.52 21.31 295 2.00 357 2.36 433 2.80 525 3.31 636 3.91 771 3.90 786 Himachal 1.91 53.60 28.27 110 2.58 141 3.23 180 4.06 230 5.10 295 6.42 378 6.45 387 JK 2.57 82.29 13.61 53 0.71 60 0.79 68 0.87 77 0.96 87 1.05 98 1.02 98 Karnataka 1.93 466.52 20.32 784 1.98 943 2.34 1134 2.76 1364 3.26 1641 3.85 1974 3.85 2013 Kerala 1.35 307.74 22.24 681 2.67 832 3.22 1017 3.88 1243 4.68 1519 5.64 1856 5.71 1905 MP 2.41 700.25 22.47 623 1.06 762 1.27 933 1.52 1142 1.82 1398 2.17 1712 2.14 1730 Maharashtra 2.32 831.86 18.70 2425 3.38 2878 3.92 3416 4.55 4054 5.28 4812 6.12 5711 6.19 5904 Orissa 1.85 327.44 19.68 166 0.59 198 0.69 236 0.82 282 0.96 337 1.12 403 1.11 405 Punjab 1.91 210.22 25.23 571 3.34 715 4.1 895 5.03 1120 6.18 1402 7.60 1755 7.70 1813 Rajasthan 2.53 468.70 28.14 494 1.32 633 1.65 811 2.06 1039 2.57 1331 3.21 1705 3.17 1727 TN 1.44 570.17 22.01 1014 2.14 1237 2.57 1509 3.09 1841 3.72 2246 4.47 2740 4.50 2798 UP 2.30 1464.71 25.53 810 0.68 1016 0.83 1275 1.02 1600 1.25 2008 1.54 2520 1.51 2537 WB 2.23 714.44 15.56 610 0.96 704 1.09 813 1.23 939 1.39 1085 1.57 1253 1.55 1265 à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"The above table represents an extrapolation based on the s available at the end of the 1995-96 fiscal year. The s show that the penetration of phone lines is in fact growing faster than the population. In addition, the s represent only the penetration of public services, whereas the latest telecom policy calls for added investment in the private sector. Nevertheless, it is clear that the current trends in growth will not result in the planned telephony penetration into India (7% by 2005 and 15% by 2010). In addition, in many cases the s are skewed towards the urban regions within the states, and mask a poorly developed rural sector. Thus, the general indication at this juncture is that there is a clear need for dedicated infrastructure developed throughout india. The Impact of the internet in developing countries http://cse.stanford.edu/classes/cs201/projects-00-01/third-world/india-overview.html Modeling Internet Growth To get a thorough understanding of the technicalities of Internet diffusion in developing countries, we will discuss a model, which combines contagion effects and their interaction with external factors. There are a variety of methodologies available in the market to represent dynamic processes. We will be discussing the SD (Sterman 2000) model. Some of the reasons for choosing this model are listed below: * The feedback loop, which is the main structural element in an SD model, makes the model well suited for capturing the interaction among different drivers of diffusion over time * The SD model not only represents quantifiable variables, but also soft variables, which help in understanding because the diffusion context has both social as well as technical aspects * System behavior in SD models results from interaction among its feedback loops When you build an SD model, you start with the development of a causal loop graph that consists of a collection of causal links. Each of these causal links has a certain polarity. A positive (negative) link is associated with a reinforcing (balancing) relation. A positive (negative) change in the cause in this scenario leads to a positive (negative) change in the effect. Small lines intersecting causal links represent the delays in an effect. A causal loop is the result of a closed sequence of causal links and the loop polarity can be easily understood from the individual link polarities. The causal loop graph results in a mathematical model in which relationships are illustrated by means of time varying difference equations. A what-if analysis is conducted by simulating the mathematical model under different parametric and structural alternatives. The given above depicts the causal loop diagram for our diffusion model. The first of validation is the verification of each of the structural components involved. We will be discussing the foundation for the core component, followed by the selected components that capture external factors that are typical of developing countries. At the heart of the diagram lies the contagion based Internet Adoption, which helps PC owners become Internet subscribers. Innovation Coefficient and Imitation Coefficient drive Contagion in the same manner as in Bass 1969. The causal loop structure consisting of the above five variables would result in the familiar S-shaped diffusion curve, if it did not have any other structural components. The basic contagion mechanism is augmented by external factors typical of developing countries. In the above , this is accomplished by driving the contagion parameters by external factors like PC price, tele-density and the level of competition allowed by regulation. Model validation Replicating observed behavior Replicating the observed behavior is the second stage involved in validating an SD model. The given above was transformed into the corresponding difference equations and was then implemented using the iThink package. The s given below provide a comparison of the simulated and observed behavior of subscriber base and growth rates respectively, using quarterly data for India from 1996 to January 2001 (Dutta. A, Roy. R, 2001) (Dutta. A, Roy. R, 2001) Conclusions from this model The validated model offers a synthetic environment that helps us in analyzing the effect of different external factors. Loop dominance analysis (LDA) was used in SD parlance in order to analyze the external factors. A dominant loop is one, which is mainly responsible for model behavior over a particular time interval. The relevance of LDA is that it helps in identifying which loops need to be strengthened and/or weakened, through policy actions, so that we can achieve maximum desirable behavior. Two conclusions analyzed from our model, using LDA, are listed below: * Low infrastructure facility, high hourly usage costs and low geographic dispersion are dominant in the diffusion process. Regulatory policies would help in weakening these variables and therefore would dominate the future diffusion processes. * Besides the industrial countries, security concerns have not spread intensely in developing countries. One explanation for this could be that e-commerce has not yet got a hold in developing countries. Political barriers hindering the growth of the Internet The political atmosphere in India is to blame for the slow growth of both, the Internet access and the telecom infrastructure. In spite of the liberalization of Indian economy in 1991, the telecommunication sector remained in tight control of the government. This resulted in a number of problems for both, private firms as well as consumers. Even though the government has increased its interest in promoting the growth of the Internet throughout India, there is still a need for the review and/or removal of regulations still in place if we want the telecom industry to flourish. The government should rethink its current policies on telecommunications, take into account the global changes brought the about by the advent of new technology, and work to create a market environment that is favorable for investment by both local and international IT firms. Impact of the Internet on various sectors in developing countries The Internet has considerable potential in various sectors in developing countries: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Education à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Banking and Finance à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Business à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Government à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Telecommunications à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Travel and Tourism We will discuss the impact of Internet on some sectors in detail. a) Impact on Education The world of education is undergoing some major changes, the most important of which is the use of the Internet in teaching and learning. Before the advent of the Internet the main sources of information for students were the teachers and the books available in the libraries. Now, thanks to the Internet, teachers are just one of the sources of information. Global access to information has widened their horizons to gain maximum knowledge. In this à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Information ageà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ , the Internet has helped involve students in active learning. They are more interested in hands-on learning, which presents them with practical, real-life experience. Studies have revealed that this style of learning results in better retention and understanding of topics. Also, learning is now not confined to the walls of the institutions. The easy and quick access to infinite resources of information has encouraged out of the box thinking. Besides these benefits, the Internet has helped in personal development of students. Social interaction over the Internet has helped students who are shy to interact and improve their communication skills. With the advent of the Internet, the concept of online exams has also evolved. It has become easier to appear for exams like GRE, GMAT, TOEFL, technical certification like SCJP etc. These exams are now conducted online, which has helped people in developing countries to enhance their knowledge. It has reduced the overheads and hassles involved in personally going to exam centers. One of the best examples would be CISCO human network which has promoted education in remote areas of almost all developing countries like India, Africa etc. by using the Internet for teaching through virtual classrooms which use video conferencing. b) Impact on Banking and Finance Around the clock banking is one of the biggest advantages of Internet use in banking. With the help of the Internet, we have remote access to the banks, which helps in transfer of money overseas with concepts like RTGS from RBI, India. It has reduced daily visits to the banks because we can get regular updates about our bank details online. Expenditure on administration services, paper, stationery etc. has been reduced which has helped in increasing the profit margins of banks besides being environment friendly. Internet has eliminated the tedious paperwork involved in banks, and has provided easy and fast access, making life much easier for bankers as well as customers. The concept of digital signatures has also picked up and it will only enhance the benefits of Internet banking. Tedious and monotonous process of dealing with brokers has been eliminated with the help of Online Trading. Demat accounts have eliminated the concept of physical shares. c) Impact on Business The Internet has provided a global source of information, which helps in developing new strategies and methodologies to enhance businesses. Even for the smallest of traders, constant updates of the prices of commodities are available online. Some companies use the Internet to build direct associations with their customers. Others are using the Internet to bring together buyers and sellers in the new tremendously efficient marketplaces. The Internet has taken the concept of e-Commerce to e-Business. The growth of the Internet has promoted inter-company trade of goods over the Internet. The best examples would be of online websites like e-Bay and other companies promoting online gifting systems. Airline industries have also benefited a lot from the Internet. Tickets can be booked online at any time of the day. d) Impact on Advertising The companies attract customers by building brand awareness and by providing market information over the Internet. This can be seen in the recent IPO (Initial Public Offerings) releases like those of Reliance Petronet. In e-business, the profits are generated not only by speeding up and automating the companys own internal processes but also by recognizing its ability to spread the efficiency benefits to the business systems of its suppliers and customers. The capability to team up with others may be just as much of a competitive advantage as the ability to deploy the technology. e) Impact on e-Governance With the growth of the Internet, people have realized that the use of information and communication technology to provide and improve the government services can be highly beneficial. Using the Internet for e-Governance is a convenient and cost effective method to provide people access to current information. Internet can promote greater citizen participation in the nations capital. It will encourage people all over the country to interact with politicians to make their voices heard so that the political situation can improve and the countries can progress. E-Governance would make the political system more efficient, provide improved services, better accessibility of public services and would make the processes more transparent and accountable. Nowadays, online counseling for entrance exams has reduced the overhead for the government institutions. Developing countries are now using the Internet to manage the biggest networks like railways. All travelling transactions can now be done online on websites like www.irctc.co.in (India). f) Impact on Telecommunications Internet has helped the developing countries in reducing the national as well as international call rates. The BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) nations have all taken up the concept of VOIP (Voi

Subject, Education, Truth :: Philosophy Papers

Subject, Education, Truth Two processes develop in human culture and society that implicate each other. The first is, according to Hegel, the development of universal experience and knowledge in any individual since individuals are never born complete as what they are supposed to be. The second is the subjectivization of the universal experience and knowledge into unique and singular forms of the self and self-consciousness. An analysis of these two processes in the history of philosophy has revealed the interconnections between the cognizing subject, truth and education and paideia. A hermeneutical principle of "self-care" that develops the skill of ruling and caring for others represents one of the traditions that includes these features in unity and determines a type of paideia. This principle is developed by Socratic, Platonic, Epicurean and Stoic morality, and was actualized by Descartes in his movement to the cogito. "Self-care" was considered in the 17th century as a condition of acquiring scientific k nowledge; later, however, it was labeled as egotism and individualism and replaced by self-cognition. Foucault gives proof of the necessity to revive the "self-care" principle in its initial sense as a foundation of the modern hermeneutical conception of upbringing. Hence, the role of philosophy as "an adviser" or "tutor" is to be revived in the process. How should I change my "self" to gain access to the truth? M. Foucault Hegel treats education as the alienation of natural Being and individual rising to universality, thus he correspondingly understands the person as "self" and as the subject of education. Subjectivity is here the definiteness of the universal. Aimed to freedom, it is able to unfold itself in culture and history, to develop itself on the basis of "the spirit and heart principle" to the extent of subjectivity, to the extent of judicial, moral, religious and scientific activity. It exhibits itself in active entity, internal activity and processuality as "inter-subjective" activity that develops in culture and history. The self-educating subjectivity becomes the highest universality, concrete Being of the universal, an individualisation of its content. In culture and society there develop two processes that meet each other. The first one, according to Hegel, is coming of a person to the universal experience and knowledge, because a person is never born the one s/he has to be. The second i s subjectivization of the universal experience and knowledge into unique and singular forms of the self and self-consciousness. Looking at education from these two points of view allows one to reveal hermeneutic meanings of education.

Henry ford Drivers ed paper :: essays research papers

Born July 30, 1863 in Dearborn, Michigan, Henry Ford was the first child of William and Mary Ford. As a young man he became an excellent self-taught mechanic and machinist. At age 16 he left the farm and went to nearby Detroit, a city that was becoming an industrial giant. There he worked as an apprentice at a machine shop, while months later he would begin work with steam engines at the Detroit Dry Dock Co., where he first saw the internal combustion engine, the kind of engine he would later use to make his automobiles.. On April 11, 1888 he married Clara Bryant and soon after they had their first son Edsel. By Christmas Eve 1893, Henry completed his first gasoline engine and started to build racing cars. In 1901 his car beat what was then the world's fastest automobile in a race before a crowd of eight thousand people in Grosse Pointe, Michigan. The publicity he received for this victory allowed Ford to finance a practical laboratory for refining his auto ideas. In 1903 the Ford Motor Company was formed. People did not believe he could make a car that the working man could afford. He achieved his goal of having a car that the average man could afford by using the idea of mass production. Ford soon began production on his most famous car the model T. It took a while but in 1913 Ford created the first moving assembly line in his plant. Soon demand for his affordable cars soared. Of course, there were not always supporters of Henry Ford. If fact, there were many critics who believed that Henry Ford was so controversial that it prevented the potential of Fords from becoming greater than it is today. By the mid twenties the Ford was already the worlds most successful automobile company, but their great reputation would soon decline.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  On January 5, 1914 Henry Ford’s announcement of the incredible $5 dollar/day plan swept the newspapers across the nation. The Detroit Journal announced, The surprise of the labor leaders and the consternation of manufacturers, Henry Ford announced on Jan 5, 1914 that a minimum wage of $5 dollars/day would be instituted immediately in the Ford plants, along with a profit sharing plan for all male employees. Not only did Henry Ford’s new deal shock the nation; it sent a tremendous number of workers to Detroit. For the next ten years people would do anything to become a worker of one of Henry Ford’s plants.

Media Snatching :: Kidnapping Baby Snatching Essays

Media Snatching Baby snatchings and kidnappings have gotten popular attention in the past decades. Through media exploitation, safety awareness and fear inside of parents have heightened. No longer has an isolated case of a baby snatching become the scare of the day-it is the scare for a child’s first years. Are baby snatching and kidnapping a reality to everyone? Should everyone with a child fear that child’s abduction, or is it only a made up reality within the media? The fear of a baby or young child being abducted is natural and understandable. It is otherwise unfortunate that the media is able to use its power to purport a crime wave on a seemingly low-rate crime. Through extensive media coverage, parents and the world can perceive any place as a possible risk for child abductors. This point is expressed by Furedi when he states, â€Å"The intense level of media attention paid to the rare instances of baby-snatching has contributed to widespread demands for hospital security.† Frank Furedi is not the only person to comment on media coverage spreading angst. One article talks about Guatemala and its people’s fears of baby snatching and then the baby’s body parts being sold in the United States. Even after years of rumors of this type of believed behavior had subsided, a new wave of fear had returned to hit a group of people. â€Å"†¦Rumors about body part sales tap into ‘deep reservoirs of fear and anxietyâ€℠¢ among parents and are widely believed ‘despite total lack of evidence’.† Obviously, this statement is a clear example of how easily the public’s fears are created and manipulated by the media. Once an article or a telecast of some story is released, a public’s perception is changed, no matter if the intent of the media is to caution or to merely inform. This demonstrates the media’s power and how easily the public is a victim whether or not it is the media’s intention. Newspapers, television, magazine articles, and movies are all forms of communication that have contributed to spreading the baby snatching alarm. Not all times are these types of media correct with informing the public viewer. Sometimes the media can be so personable that it is made to seem like it could be happening everywhere and right under the noses of parents. This is an absurd but subtle accusation made by media coverage. For example, the Oregon Association of Hospitals and Health Systems put out an article on a way of thwarting baby snatchings.

A Study of Warfare in Europe Between 1300 and 1500 Essay

Since the introduction of gunpowder into Europe, it has gone on to dominate warfare into the twentieth century. With the development of the first European guns in the fourteenth century, armies were given use of a weapon which was to radically alter most of the ways of making war which had been established during the Middle Ages, and changes began to be seen within only a few years. It is, however, questionable whether the nature of these early changes constituted a revolution in the methods of war, and even more so whether guns had by 1500 made a great deal of impact on the character of war as it had existed in 1300. In assessing whether a revolution had taken place (or at least whether one was in the process of happening) by 1500, it is necessary to examine three areas: the effectiveness of guns during the period; the extent of their use in conflicts; and finally the changes which resulted from the employment of the new weapons in war. The first reliable sources which assert the existence of guns appeared in the 1320s, and from the late 1330s the number of references to them rose dramatically. The early guns were of large calibre and used almost exclusively for sieges, although as early as Crà ©cy in 1346, the English â€Å"fired off some cannons which they had brought to the battle to frighten the Genoese.† Guns were made in one of two ways. Firstly, there were cast metal guns, usually of bronze, which were made at the foundry. These were usually the better weapons because they were made of a single piece of metal and therefore were less likely to burst apart on firing. The second method was arranging wrought iron strips into tubes which were then bound together with iron hoops in much the same way as barrels were made. The advantage of these guns was that iron was a much cheaper metal than bronze (but could not be cast), but being made of many pieces faults were more likely to develop, causing either the release of explosive pressure through the sides of the barrel and therefore a reduction in the power of the shot, or even the complete bursting of the gun. This structural weakness was compounded by the inclusion of a detachable breech (such guns were far easier to build) which often detached itself on the discharging of the weapon. Despite their lack of quality, however, iron guns were the more numerous due to their comparative cheapness, although smaller guns tended to be made chiefly from bronze both because of the difficulties of constructing small guns from iron  strips, and because they required less metal than the great bombards. The sizes and types multiplied from their modest beginnings until there were guns ranging in size and type from great bombards used for reducing entire cities, to handguns used as anti-personnel weapons. The early role played by artillery was in sieges, where its effectiveness was soon widely appreciated. â€Å"Broadly speaking, the use of guns meant that sieges could be brought to a conclusion much more quickly.† Cannons, with the ability to throw stones with great force over a flatter trajectory and with more accuracy than the old siege engines, could bring an end to a siege in a few weeks where previously it might have taken several months. In 1437, the castle of Castelnau-de-Cernà ¨s was â€Å"broken down during the said siege by cannon and engines, and a great part of the walls of the same thrown to the ground, so that it was in no way defensible against the king’s enemies.† On occasion, the mere presence of bombards could be enough to induce swift surrender, cities preferring capitulation to large-scale destruction by cannon fire. As artillery was added to armies in increasing amounts during the 1400s, wars became far more fast-moving affairs. The French employed artillery on a large scale in reducing the English fortresses in Normandy and Gascony, while huge, cumbersome bombards were used to good effect by the Spanish in the Reconquista. Such was the effectiveness of artillery by 1500 that Machiavelli could declare that â€Å"No wall exists, however thick, that artillery cannot destroy in a few days.† The successes which the early guns had in siege warfare led to the bombard being a vital part of any country’s armoury. The use of the counterweight trà ©buchet, which had been in existence in Roman times, failed to decline until the 1380s and was still listed as an active weapon in some French arms inventories until the 1460s. This shows the gradual nature of the introduction of gunpowder artillery (perhaps caused by shortages of materials for the cannons or unwillingness to invest in them when a prince already owned trà ©buchets), but there was little doubt that guns were becoming by far the better siege weapons. Their importance gave rise to a kind of ‘arms race’ in France in particular, with cities in the contested areas of the Hundred Years War assigning the acquisition of guns a high  priority. Charles the Bold’s army included a substantial artillery element in his war with the Swiss (although he was perhaps not a good enough general to make effective use of it), while in 1494, Charles VIII invaded Italy with â€Å"†¦an army of 18,000 men and a horse-drawn siege-train of at least forty guns. Even contemporaries realised that this marked a new departure in warfare: in 1498 the Venetian Senate declared that ‘the wars of the present time are influenced more by the force of bombards and artillery than by men at arms’.† Despite their undoubted worth, however, artillery did have a number of disadvantages at this time. Perhaps the main one of these is the chronic difficulty of moving the heavy guns, especially over land. Philip the Good of Burgundy experienced such problems in his war with Ghent in 1452-3: â€Å"Such was the weight of a great bombard which he borrowed from the town of Mons that all the bridges between Mons and Lille had to be strengthened with iron supports for its passage. During the journey, the gun fell into a ditch, and took two days to be extricated by men using lifting equipment specially constructed for the purpose.† Transport was easier by river, but clearly this limited the movement of the artillery. It is partly because of these transport problems that artillery (with the exception of handguns) was used little during open field battles. Particularly when manoeuvring was of critical importance to an army, the last thing a commander would want would be to have to wait for the artillery, which would be slower than the rest of his force, and be unlikely to be able to move away from roads. Due to a lack of enthusiasm for such a cumbersome battlefield weapon, field artillery developed little in the early days of gunpowder, and the large cannons which were used on battlefields tended to be immobile siege guns which had been hastily adapted. Not only did the lack of mobility of cannons cause problems for armies on the march, but it also restricted their usefulness on the battlefield itself. The absence of effective gun carriages meant that artillery tended to be fixed rather than able to be aimed, the guns being mounted on wooden frames or simply positioned on mounds of earth. Their slow rate of fire (not only because of the time taken to load them, but because it took time for the  guns to cool down between shots) and their limited range at this time was another weakness, which led to them being easily overrun. Soldiers could wait at the limit of the guns’ range until the first salvo had been fired, then charge, reaching them well before the next shots could be fired, and disable the guns. The weaknesses of artillery on the battlefield were such that, â€Å"Even during the second half of the fifteenth century cannons were only used occasionally in pitched battles.† Handguns were of more use on the battlefield, having none of the transport problems of the heavy artillery and having a great deal in common with the crossbow, a weapon of proven worth. Like the crossbow, the handgun was a specialised anti-personnel weapon, and was ideal for firing at large exposed masses of soldiers where it could inflict considerable damage. The advantages which handguns had over crossbows was their superior hitting power, (of which Pope Pius II remarked, â€Å"No armour can withstand the blow of this torment, and even oaks are penetrated by it,†) and their relative cheapness due to the simplicity of their construction. As their accuracy improved and the numbers of trained marksmen increased, they came to supersede the crossbows in European armies, but by 1500 this process was by no means complete, the two weapons frequently working side-by-side in battles. While the slow rate of fire of handguns meant they could not stand independently in battle and needed the support of troops armed with close-combat weapons, they became an accepted auxiliary weapon in many armies. Despite the increased use of gunpowder weapons in battle, they were by no means always successful. Superiority in artillery was no guarantee of victory, as Charles the Bold discovered at Grandson and Morat in 1476. At Agincourt, the French gunners were pushed to one side by their own men at arms and played no significant role in the course of the battle. There are, however, examples of the successes of guns in battle, hinting at the success they were to achieve in the future. The Battle of Castillon in 1453 showed the devastating effects of crossfire: â€Å"Talbot imprudently attacked the [French] camp which led to the intervention of the French battery commanded by Giraud de Samian, a highly respected cannoneer. ‘He grievously injured  them because with each shot five or six fell dead to the ground’.† With the increased use of guns, deaths and injuries caused by them came to be recorded in greater number: â€Å"In 1442, John Payntour, an English esquire, was killed by a culverin shot at La Rà ©ole. Four years previously, Don Pedro, brother of the king of Castile, had been decapitated by a gunshot during the siege of the castle of Capuana at Naples†¦In April 1422, one Michael Bouyer, esquire, was languishing in prison at Meaux, ‘gravely ill and mutilated in one of his legs by a cannon shot, in such a way that he cannot aid himself’†¦It was becoming obvious that the gun could not only batter down fortifications, but could kill, and kill selectively from afar.† It is clear that by 1500, guns had come to be an everyday part of European armies. While the use of firearms on the battlefield tended to be limited to handguns, these were gradually replacing the older bows as the main auxiliary shot weapon. Cannons had made a huge impact on the conduct of siege warfare, bringing sieges to an end comparatively swiftly, and becoming indispensable in great armies. Although there were bound to be initial troubles with what was after all a relatively new weapon, notable successes were being recorded, especially in sieges, and the gun was definitely here to stay. To constitute a revolution, though, the growing use of such weapons would have to have changed not only the methods of making war, but also the outcome and the character of conflicts. What, then, were the consequences of the increased use of gunpowder? One of the largest series of changes happened in the area where the new guns were at their most effective, that of siege warfare. The advantages which a defending army could gain by hiding within fortifications had been understood for a long time. During the ‘High Middle Ages’, the war zones of Western Europe had become studded with castles and forts, and wars came to be characterised not by swift manoeuvre and open field battles, but more through long, drawn-out sieges. The failure of an attacking army to take a castle was likely to cause it a great deal of problems. If bypassed by an army, a defending garrison could retake control of the surrounding countryside from its secure central base and conduct raids on the enemy’s army and supplies (especially as fortifications tended to be located at  communications centres). Failure to take a large number of castles could result in their garrisons uniting to form an army capable of defeating the enemy force in the open field. In short, territory could not be conquered without gaining control of the fortifications within it. The effect of the introduction of effective siege guns with the capability of breaching the walls of castles was to bring the advantage in siege warfare away from defence and more towards the attacking force. With guns able to bring about the capitulation of fortresses within a few weeks or even a few days, there was a diminishing prospect of the defending country being able to organise an army in time to relieve the besieged. It would seem that the introduction of cannons had, for a time at least, called into question the efficacy of defence by small, dispersed garrisons defending fortifications. Had the use of siege guns not produced a defensive reaction, it seems possible that the castle could have been made redundant and defensive armies driven to do battle in the open field on equal terms with their adversaries. Attacking innovation, however, did produce defensive reaction, which in turn provoked counter-reaction from besiegers, and this greatly altered the nature of siege warfare during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. Guns, of course, were not exclusively weapons of attack. Defensive firearms were an early experiment which had some effect in maintaining some sort of defensability of fortifications in two ways. Firstly, by firing at the besieging army from the castle walls, defensive marksmen and cannoneers could take advantage of the short range of early guns by making it very hard to position bombards close enough to the walls to cause damage. By refusing to give the besieging army the freedom to position guns wherever they liked, the defenders could in this way keep the enemy at ‘arms length’. The second way in which guns could be used to defend fortifications was not to defend the walls from destruction by cannon fire, but to provide crossfire against enemy troops when the time came for them to attempt to storm the castle, a function which crossbows were able to perform, but were of inferior effectiveness and more expensive than handguns. This use of defensive firearms caused changes in the way in which attackers  approached sieges. Guns being fired into the besiegers’ camp necessitated the greater use of cover, in particular for the bombards which were placed nearest to the castle walls for much of the siege. To this end, trenches were dug and wooden shields or hoardings were constructed to protect the soldiers and their guns. Trenches provided some degree of effective protection against most weapons, while the hoardings gave protection to the guns, which usually had to be positioned in more exposed locations in order that they could target the walls before them, against everything but powerful firearms. â€Å"Jean de Bueil could advocate the siting of a besieger’s camp before a beleaguered fortress on the model of the fortified entrenchments dug at Maulà ©on, Guissen, Cherbourg, Dax, and Castillon fifteen years before. Trenches, he wrote, were to be dug from one part of the siege to another, covered by hoardings. Ease of contact and movement between the units of the encircling forces could thus be ensured.† Further success could be gained by the besieging forces by employing not only large bombards to break down the walls, but also smaller guns to pick off individual defending troops. This would not only prevent defensive gunners from having the luxury of completely free shots at their enemies, but would limit the effectiveness of attempts to repair breaches in the walls. The use of guns in both attack and defence produced perhaps the biggest changes in siege warfare in the form of changes to the fortifications themselves. The castles which existed before the widespread use of cannons were ill-suited to withstand the accurate and powerful impact of cannonballs. Trebuchà ©ts had been of more use in lobbing stones over the walls to cause damage inside castles than in actually causing breaches, and so the walls were built tall and flat so as to be better able to resist being scaled by soldiers. Such walls provided a large target for cannon fire, and their flatness meant that the full force of the shot was directed straight into them. Rather than rebuild entire castles, lords were often forced through reasons of cost to opt for the next-best solution of adaptation. Scarping the walls with banks of earth or masonry was tried in an attempt both to thicken the walls, and to turn the blows of cannons into more glancing shots, with the added bonus that sloping walls meant that siege ladders became ineffective. While it was a sound theory to avoid  square-on impacts from cannonballs, scarping was of limited value, and where this was an adaptation to an older castle, in many cases it weakened the walls by placing extra weight on them. Gunports were a further adaptation to fortifications which occurred as a result of the introduction of guns. These were holes put in the walls of the castles, often where arrow slits had been, to allow small guns to be fired from a position of relative safety. They were frequently positioned in the towers or gatehouses of castles to provide flanking fire along the walls where it was anticipated any attacking soldiers would have to stop before being able to push on into the castle. This modification was quite cheap and easy to put in place, and was used across Europe. One method of improving the efficacy of defensive fire both against attacking troops and forces sitting back and besieging was the greater use of defensive outworks built of earth or masonry. Not only could this ‘forward defensive’ strategy force enemy guns further back from the castle proper, but it also provided a further opportunity to enfilade soldiers as they advanced. Boulevards or artillery towers could be built in ditches forward of the walls with a clear line of fire along the trench. As the enemy soldiers advanced, they would have to spend time negotiating the ditch during which the fire from the outworks could take its toll. â€Å"At Dax, Guissen and Cadillac, in 1449 and 1451, the French encountered heavy resistance from such outer works constructed by the defenders.† The ultimate defence against besiegers armed with guns, though, was the fortification based on the angled bastion. It was this defence which was coming increasingly into use by 1500 which decisively swung the balance of power back in favour of the defenders. The bastion was essentially a gun platform for siting heavy guns which needed the freedom to be turned and fired against the enemy camp wherever it was in relation to the castle, a freedom which could not be obtained firing through gunports. These towers were thrust forward of the walls to keep the enemy back and were built the same height as the rest of the castle (unlike traditional towers), perhaps to facilitate the movement of guns around the walls, or perhaps because of the high cost of taller towers. The entire structure was squat, making it a smaller target and allowing the guns at the top of the walls to maintain fire at targets close to the foot of the fortification, and scarped to produce more glancing blows from cannonballs. This last objective was also achieved by projecting the bastions at a different angle to the rest of the wall, so that in effect only the wall would receive square-on blows. It could be said that round castles and round towers would present no flat surfaces to be hit squarely, but to build such fortifications would make flanking fire along the walls at best difficult. Round bastions were built, but left dead ground where guns could not reach, while entire castles built on a circular model would need many projecting towers to provide fire along the walls. With the angled bastion, fire could be given along the entire base of the tower from guns positioned in the walls, while fire along the walls could be provided from gunports in alcoves in the bastion. It seemed for a while that the destructive power of cannons would lead to a decisive shift towards the attackers in siege warfare which would perhaps bring an end to the dominant role of fortifications in warfare. However, defensive tactics adapted to the situation in a number of ways, ensuring the survival of the castle and the siege. It can be said, though, that although the nature of warfare overall was not changed, the nature of sieges changed significantly as a result of the use by both attackers and defenders of gunpowder weapons, and because a new type of castle had been born. If guns provided a temporary revolution in the balance of sieges, then the bastion was equally as revolutionary in restoring the old balance. â€Å"By resisting the new artillery and providing platforms for heavy guns [the bastion] revolutionised the defensive-offensive pattern of warfare.† While cannons produced many changes in the conduct of sieges, changes of similar magnitude cannot be seen in open field warfare. Cannons, lacking effective carriages to allow them to keep pace with their armies and to manoeuvre on the battlefield, were little used until the late fifteenth century. Handguns, despite coming to be as accepted a weapon as the crossbow, failed to produce any noteworthy changes. Possessing greater hitting power than the crossbow, but similar weaknesses, including slow rate  of fire, they were unable to establish themselves as anything more than an auxiliary weapon. While the Swiss were to use handguns in their successful pike square formations, their role could be (and often was) performed equally well by crossbowmen, and European armies continued to be based on knightly cavalry and close-combat infantry. The handgun of the fifteenth century was simply another auxiliary shot weapon, and, â€Å"The arquebus, or match-lock musket, did not finally oust the crossbow from French armies until 1567.† Nonetheless, the importance of guns increased during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries until they became an essential part of major wars. One of the results of this was to make war a much more large-scale thing in terms of money, and to put serious warfare (involving conquest and therefore sieges) out of reach of the pockets of anybody but princes. Artillery was very expensive. â€Å"It was one thing, in accordance with ancient ways, to expect a man at arms to come to the host equipped with his own horses and armour, but no one, in the new conditions of war, expected a master of artillery to provide his own cannon.† On a national level, the introduction of guns further widened the gap in military potential between rich and poor countries, underlining the superiority of countries like France over countries like the Italian states. It can be asked to what extent gunpowder weapons revolutionised notions of chivalry and whether the attitudes of people altered as a result of their experiences of the new guns. There is a good deal of late mediaeval literature which shows that many people despised them. They were an indiscriminate weapon which had no respect for social status, meaning that princes could now be killed from afar by peasants and artisans. This went against the traditional chivalric notion of individual combat among equals. Guns were also seen as cowardly, because of the belief that the gunner, hiding behind the smoke from his gun, did not put himself in mortal danger by firing, yet could still take the lives of others. Many saw guns as being instruments of the devil, with the noise and fire created being seen as having come from Hell itself. A popular attitude during the early days of guns in Europe is shown by Cervantes when he wrote, blessed be those happy  ages that were strangers to the dreadful fury of these devilish instruments of artillery, whose inventor I am satisfied is now in Hell, receiving the reward of his cursed invention, which is cause that very often a cowardly base hand takes away the life of the bravest gentleman; and that in the midst of that vigour and resolution which animates and inflames the bold, a chance bullet (shot perhaps by one who fled, and was frightened by the very flash the mischievous piece gave, when it went off) coming nobody knows how, or from where, in a moment puts a period to the brave designs and the life of one that deserved to have survived many years†¦ It is unlikely, however, that this attitude was held by the majority of people at the time. Shot weapons were nothing new, and had been in existence and used on a large scale for many years. There was little difference between a knight being killed by an arquebus or by a longbow. The large-scale use of guns by most European armies demonstrates that while there might have been some degree of chauvinism against firearms, princes were still quite prepared to use them, and indeed the church positively encouraged their use at a time when the Turkish threat to Christendom was increasing. There is little evidence that captured gunners were treated any differently to any other captured commoners (and by 1500 it was by no means guaranteed that gunners would not in fact be noble), and overall, society had little difficulty in accepting the place of artillery in modern warfare. Guns were ‘domesticated’ and given names, taking on characters of their own, and, â€Å"By the end of the fifteenth century and the beginning of the early modern era, gunpowder weaponry had simply become a feature of everyday life. Guns had become so conventional that they began to be used in celebrations, in fashion, and in crime. Ultimately, guns even became virility symbols.† This growing acceptance represents in part a change in attitudes brought about by the realisation that guns were of considerable use, but mainly it is a result of the rather superficial nature of chivalry at that time. There was a tendency for people only to behave according to the rules of chivalry when either it suited them to or when they could afford to. Princes, when faced with an adversary armed with artillery could not afford to confine themselves to criticising such ‘bad sportsmanship’ but had to respond in kind, an option which they were more than willing to take. In assessing whether gunpowder’s introduction caused revolutionary changes in Europe before 1500, it is necessary not only to examine the specific changes which arose, but moreover to assess whether warfare in 1300 had significantly changed in character by 1500 as a result of the use of guns. The answer to this has to be a definite no. The armies of 1500 made extensive use of guns, but these had not revolutionised the makeup of armed forces. The dominance of cavalry had persisted throughout the two centuries, and its only serious challenge had come in the late fifteenth century with the pike square, which by no means relied on guns. While the use of cannons had transformed the methods used in conducting sieges, only temporarily had there been the prospect of altering the nature of war away from the innumerable fortress battles which characterised the period. Gunpowder weapons had failed to bring an end to the siege as an important aspect of war, and could only act as a supplem entary weapon on the battlefield. Overall, despite the numerous changes which the increasing use of guns had caused, it is possible to agree with J. R. Hale’s assertion: â€Å"Gunpowder, in short, revolutionised the conduct but not the outcome of wars.†