The Birth Of Singapore Airlines Tourism Essay

The Birth Of Singapore Airlines Tourism Essay Strategic Management is a term that is not new, first used in the 1970s it was conceived that a team of strategic planners would come up with strategic ideas to sell to decision makers. It is all about identification and guideline used by the managers in order for the company to have a competitive edge over the competition. Joel Ross Michael Kami(Fred 2011, 35) mentioned that; Without Strategy, an organization is like a ship without a rudder, going round in circles. Its like a tramp; it has no place to go. According to Wheelen and Hunger(2006,3) A set of decisions and actions that are used to charter the performance of a corporation can be defined as Strategic management. The process of this would take into account the scanning of external and internal environmental factors, long term and strategic planning for strategy formulation as well as the implementation and evaluation and control process. Wheelen Hunger(2006,3) strongly focused on the analyzing and evaluating of external opportunities and threats compared to the companys strengths and weaknesses. A SWOT (Strength, Weakness, Opportunities and Threats) analysis is an ideal tool for strategic managers to plan for both predictable and unfeasible contingencies. In the point of Dess and Miller(1993), the combination of three major interrelated activities; strategic analysis, strategic formulation and strategy implementation can be called strategic management. These activities are a continuous process that helps evaluates and controls the company and the industry it is in, benchmarks the competition and set realistic targets and strategies to meet its existing and potential competition. Lamb(1984) states that strategic management is a continuous process that evaluates and controls the business and industries the company is in; it also assesses the competitors to set goals and strategies then reevaluates them every quarterly or annually to decide on the implementation of the strategy is successful. It then reevaluates the if there is any new factors such as technology, competition, economic market, social, financial and even political environment that can be used to create a new strategy. As a summary, Strategic Management and Planning is the understanding of the process of strategy formulation, implementation and evaluation. For company an organization to gain the edge over its competition regardless of size, scale; each organization needs to have a well planned strategic management in order to strive and compete in the market while optimizing its potential for tomorrows trends of today. Background of company The birth of Singapore Airlines was from Malaysian Air Limited where it first started in 1947, because of political reasons, the company was renamed to Malaysia-Singapore Airlines and finally the company split its shares to Malaysian Airlines System and Singapore Airlines in 1972 on which Singapore Airlines is owned by Singapore state owned investment house; Tamasek Holdings Singapore Airlines was forced to focus on the international market that was subjected to intense competition because there was no domestic route available to after the separation. The difficult start of was one of the factors that drove Singapore Airlines driving spirit to compete and dedication to branding. It started the branding strategy by engaging a French haute-couture designer in 1972 to come up with a special version of the Malay Sarong Kebaya for the airline stewardess uniform and adopting a branding Singapore Girls that provide top quality in-flight hospitality. This feature became one of the most recognized signatures for Singapore Airlines. The human resource management area was given a booster with an investment of 20million for its training facilities. With a good marketing strategy and sound backing, the return was shown at 1973 when SA was ranked 3rd for the Asian region. But in 1973 to 1977 period was forced to cut cost due to the surging oil prices. Singapore Airlines joined its operations with British Airways to provide its Concorde services but was terminated in 1980. Even though the collaboration was a failure, it took advantage of the marketing campaign to made itself known around the globe. At the same time, Changi Airport was constructed thus leading the industry to higher service standards. With all that in place Singapore Airlines became the top preferred Airlines for the Asia Pacific region in 1981. Singapore Airlines experienced a steady growth rate in the 1980s with expansion of its fleet and routes, it was privatized in 1985 and listed in the stock exchange with Tamasek Holdings owning a 63% of the company and was gradually reduced to 54% in 2008. SA underwent changes in the 1990s with changes made to cater for the lower cost market segmentation as well as the SA engineering focus on increasing productivity and pursuit of better opportunities for business. The globalization in 1990 also made the airline expand overseas as well as investing on other companies. With its strong financial backing, it spend to renovate its fleet, thus giving benefit to the airlines during crisis allowing the airlines to have more bargaining power over its supplier (Scott, 2008) To date, SA group has provided a wide variety of services for the aviation industry from passenger, cargo, terminal, enginnering, training and even tour services as a whole. The airlines operates over 36 countries with week ly flights to them. Organizational Structure The organization is divided by function and its disadvantages as the low responsibility of the bottom staff as well as the compartmentalization on its mangers. In order to tackle this, SIA have made their organization chart more flattened with fewer levels of hierarchy in the organization, thus allowing empowerment and creation of a flexible and yet dynamic business that allows its employees to make decisions to leads to job enrichment. SIA also encourages independence and encourages its senior staff to train and low its junior employees to make decisions. To overcome the job compartmentalization, non technical mangers are rotated on the job and thus allow them to have a better view of the organization for a better picture. The SIA management also stresses for the importance of maintaining a healthy and good work culture. Teamwork and collaboration is placed high on importance by the company. With the growth of the company and expansion of sales office to over 80 countries, the sales operations have been divided to geographical areas. To overcome the problem of control, the company focuses on the end result objective empowering its site managers to have flexibility and to make adjustments based on the situation. Full power is given to the overseas regional general manager to make decisions and to respond promptly in order to deal with local problems and to customize the operations to suit the local scene. In general, SIA is slowly decentralizing its organizational structure and it encourages autonomy allowing faster response to the business thus creating opportunities that are vital in the fast and dynamic airline industry. 4.0 Analysis of External Environment 4.1 Political The political environment of Singapore is stable with its dominant political party Peoples Action Party (PAP) controlling the government since the independence. Singapore government has allowed the freedom in corporate governance and has little set restrictions to the industry. Singapore Airlines make 90% of the decision on its own and has only influence the appointment of the director over the company (Sikorski, 1995). Singapore Airlines was allowed to stress on profit in comparison with public or social responsibility and was even backed by the government during its retrenchment practice during the economical crisis. (Sikorski, 1995) With a strong foreign policy that maintains good relationship with 175 countries, Singapore has a particular good relationship with huge economical countries such as France, United Kingdom, and Germany. It also has a mutual free trade agreement between Japan, Korea, Australia, New Zealand, India, United States of America and recently with China in 2008. With Singapore signing the Gulf Cooperation Council-Singapore Free Trade Agreement in December 2008, it embarks to build strong ties with the middle east countries as well. Singapore is a stable base for the operations for SIA comparing itself to other regions in the Asia Pacific that have seen unrest over the recent years. Terrorism alerts affected some countries in the Asia region with India(2008) and Pakistan(2009) hit with the lost of hundreds of life. The tourism industry for Thailand was affected in 2008 during the protest and heavy floods as well as the Tsunami event that happened in Langkawi, Malaysia as well as Thailand that affected the influx of tourist there. There was also the riots in China and the Korean Missile crisis that effect the Singapore Airlines to re-route its flight to other locations. 4.2 Economic Financial Crisis in 2007 affected many countries over the world that brought recessions to most of the affected countries. This slum lasted through 2008 that made the global financial institutions very cautions on its loans of money and many companies had to underwent a cost cutting measure to stay afloat. The IMF predicted the regeneration of the world wide economy by 2009 and it the up market trend has steadily grown from there. The Singapore Tourism Board (STB) also contributed to promote Singapore as a destination for MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conventions and Exhibitions). In SGD 90 Million BOOST (Building on Opportunity to Strengthen Tourism) program was launched in February 2009 and was followed up in October with an announcement for a new Tourism Compass 2020 roadmap to grow tourism 2015, with the goal to set Singapore as the leading city for MICE (STB,12 Oct2009). The growth was further spurred by the building of two integrated resort projects, Marina Bay Sand and Resort World at Sentosa. Singapore has also continued to host the Formula One Night Race and with all this factors surely has a positive impact for the travel and tourism sector for the country. 4.3 Social Cultural Singapores population comprises of more then 75% Chinese, followed by Malay and Indian; the main religion of the country is Buddhism, Islam, Christian, Taoism and Hinduism. Having a rich Asian culture in the country, Singapore is one of the most westernized countries within Asia. With the growing China economy and its open door policy; Singapore has landed a great pool of foreign labor arriving from China. This in return has created a cultural conflict among many Singaporeans. With a highly diversified culture with close to 35% of its population is non citizen residing in the country, (25% of is foreigner and 10% are permanent resident); Singapore can be considered as an immigrant country. Although having high non-citizen to citizen ratio, the country never stops to promote foreign talent and believes that if the immigrant policy were to be stopped, Singapore would face a shortage of quality labor. Having a strong Chinese influence over its working culture that has made it a culture of high in power distance with the lower employees accepting the subordinates positions that seldom questions the managements decisions. The working culture also stresses on good team work and maintaining group harmonies. (Warnstam,2007). This has made Singapore to become a very cooperative employee to employer relationship and its labor union is in good terms with companies throughout. 4.4 Technology The growth in the usage if Internet around the globe has prompted the growth of customized web addresses to be used around the world. This has also given the potential for the usage of Chinese characters to form the web address (Choe,Oct 2009). With the emergence of such technological advancement, the electronic devices has also evolved to become more portable with increased performance and now almost every household in Singapore would have a portable laptop, hand phone and digital cameras loaded with personalized music, games , photo and video. The growth of such technology has prompt an expansion of innovation over the past decade. The development of high speed networks and compression has allowed faster transfer of data and transfer rate, resulting in the availability to have high quality real time video conferencing with people around the globe from the office or even without leaving the house. This has made it a very good substitute for companies to use instead of having to send its employees for business travelling. (Yu, 23 Jun 2009). 5.0 Evaluate Current Strategic choice and implications 5.1 Analysis of Current Strategic Position 5.1.1 Financial position Singapore Airlines has maintained its profit over the years, the group has maintained its profit even through the 2008 financial crisis. After the growth in 2009 the group assets are worth SGD 22.04 million and debt of SGD 1.077million with an equity debt ratio of 0.08. With a general reserve of SGD 11.264 million the company is poised to be able to sustain its operations in any case of crisis. (SIA, Annual report 2012) 5.1.2 Product position Carrier RPK (Million) SIA 90,128 Cathay Pacific 90,975 Qantas 99,176 Total of   AAPA member 550,014 Table 1 Comparison of RPK Airlines market size can be measure by Revenue Passenger-Kilometer (RPK). Having based in Asia Pacific region, SIA, Cathay Pacific and Qantas all falls into the same category of medium cost, developed airlines. These airlines have similar offering and price level. It can be seen that SIA, Cathay and Qantas have market share of similar size [AAPA, 2009]. The company is ranked number two in Skytrax Best airline award; the airline is in the top five ranking for 10 out of the 12 award Skytrax have. The airline has the Best 1st Class and best in-flight catering award in 2009. The only part the company dont have a ranking is on the airport lounge service [Skytrax, 2009]. 5.1.3 Marketing capability The initial distribution of SIA is mainly by the travel agents or through internet bookings, SIA has come a long way by providing a ticketless system for its passengers that even allows boarding as well even for connecting flights with its partner airlines (SIA,2009). SIA also engages social networking website in Facebook though quite limited in its presence. This is a drawback with the current trend of younger generation who associates more with social networking sites. Another factor that is a slight disadvantages for Singapore Airlines is that the domain www.sia.com and www.sia.com.sg is not owned by Singapore Airlines, but to counteract this, they company has engaged to actively publish itself as the preferred search referee if anyone searches for SIA online. SIA has also made good placement in the search engine for using the key world Singapore airlines and Air Ticket Singapore which prompts SIA at the top of the search list. 5.1.4 Organizational structure The organization is divided by function and the disadvantages of low responsibility for the employees at the bottom as well as the compartmentalization on the managers. To overcome this, SIA has flat organization chart with few hierarchical levels for its organizations, this enables autonomy and create a more flexible but yet dynamic business that empowers its people to make decisions and lead to better job satisfaction. The promotion of independence and encouraging its senior employees to train and give chances to the junior personnel to make decisions are a key factor for SIA. Non technical management personnel are rotated on jobs and this gives them to have a broader perspective for the job. This is further strengthening by the stress on the importance of having a good and healthy work culture for the company. Great importance is stressed on having good team spirit. To overcome sales operation issue, SIA has focused on end results while giving its site managers to exercise flexibility to make necessary changes based on the situations. The full power is given to its overseas regional general manager to ensure fast response time for local issues and a more localized business operation to site the climate. The company focuses on the growth strategy that focuses more on profitability rather than size, thus allowing slow and steady growth with chances for leaders to be groomed properly. In general, the organisational structure of SIA is decentralise encourages autonomy allowing quick response to business treat and opportunity which is crucial in the airline industry which are very fast and dynamics. 5.1.5 Human Resources SIA has a strong emphasis on human resources. The requirements for entry level to the company is only for diploma holders are accepted, these employee would then go through the recruitment process. After the appointment, these cabin crew is trained for 15 weeks, 2 times longer the industrial standards. The SIA employees have a 6 month probation that needs to be reported continuously by their supervisor with a confirmation rate of 75% while 20% will be on extension. These trainings are changed periodically to adjust to show the customers expectations. While on the job, the employees are also required to engage in various voluntary community services, arts and cultural activities. Refresher courses will be available for employees allowing 3 to 4 days per year, this is a form of motivation for the employees to engage in self learning and the employees will be accountable for their own growth and development. Results from these stringent training has been obvious by producing Stewardess that have high esteem, motivated and capable in handling the customers in the companys best interest (Heracleous and Wirtz. 2009). The focus on talent form within the company, the company focuses on development of the human capita given training spending of SGD100million for its employees. The company also offers scholarship programs for recruiting management trainees from the universities. 5.1.6 Condition of facilities and equipment Having one of the newest fleets in the world, with an average age of 6 years, Singapore Airlines is one of the most updated planes compared to the worldwide average of 15 years (Prystay, 28 Aug 2009). By adopting the newest planes and technology this impacts in the reduction of maintenance and petrol cost. Other than that, SIA also went through an upgrading of its plane cabins to provide customers with the most updated entertainment systems and a better seating arrangement. Training equipment for its pilots is also provided from the SGD 1 million flight simulator that is capable of simulating the high altitude scenario. SIA also updated its training center in 1999 to ensure the recruitment is capable to facilitate a better and efficient training environment. Overall the airlines does have a great training faclilities for its personnel as well as their commitment to bringing top quality service with a strong financial background but because of the financial crisis in 2008 and the lack of demand over supply, SIA is laden with excess aircraft that has not been utilized. 5.1.7 Past objective and strategies SIA corporate level uses a diversified strategy whereby it expands its business to airline catering, airport terminal services as well as into aircraft maintenance. These dual strategy in cost leadership and differentiation enables SIA to have excellent cost efficient service through high business efficiency. SIA has secured its high business competence through the execution of five organizational systems. The first is the structured service development and design that allocates dedicated departments for its enhancement of service and thorough testing to ensure that there will be a quality service that will be able to meet the latest customers expectations. Second is the focus on consumer trends over the years, with a specific department that monitors closely to ensure that innovation is tailor to focus on improving and enabling a cost effective and highly productive service innovation. The focus will also be on the companys weak point, adapting the best practices from other successful developments while reducing the cost and risk involved for the innovation. The third set is the focus on a profit conscious culture, with the education of its personnel on the priority of profit and customer satisfaction. SIA also focuses on a reward based system that gives proper recognition to employees based on their performance to encourage team work and productivity while reducing wastage. The fourth is the goal for the organization to achieve success through the diversification and infrastructure of its subsidiaries. These integration allows the focus and control that will enhance the knowledge while reduction of cost at the same time. The management of its subsidiaries is based on a clear expectation that enables the subsidiaries to be subjected to market discipline. The last focus for the company is the development of its personnel through training and development while encouraging the development of a direct self continuous learning system to boost their self esteem. The overall strategies that SIA has adopted has made the company to have a high competence core with the overall ability to achieve a differential offering through exceptional levels of efficiency (Heracleous et al 2009) 6.0 Strategic Potential Justifications Choices for strategy for SIA should be based on the logical elements for the process and have a central role. The company should focus their choices of strategy through based on the internal and external factors while taking into account its core competency to strive for profitability and service excellence of its personnel. Strategic Choices for Singapore Airlines Business Level Strategy Corporate Level Strategy Direction and Method of Development Strategy for competitive advantage Adhere to government regulation and satisfaction Internal training and development Profit measurable success for strategies Diversification in market Creation of value added services to gain competitive advantage 6.1 Business Level Strategy Price Based Strategy This strategy takes into consideration of the product to price to gain a competitive advantage. There are many low cost airlines company as of this moment that is conducting business in the Asia region. This causes the market to be very competitive and Singapore Airlines is one of such company that faces challenges. Low cost airline companies such as Air Asia is one of the competitors that are focusing on the usage of price based strategy to capture a market share in the current market. Justification: Acceptable and feasible pricing strategy: The focus for the price based strategy is important as the current completion from the low cost airlines also focuses on the same routes of travel while providing a lower air fare. One of such routes traveled is from Singapore to Bangkok, from this example, Air Asia is selling its seats for a round trip for a price of $150 while compared to SIA that cost $500. Because of this the company is losing money as customer trends are now slowly switching over the low cost seats. http://htmlimg1.scribdassets.com/4abs74bzsw9yk25/images/16-b0f782e011.jpg 4.2 Corporate Strategy Direction Policy Matrix Used to measure the health of the industry for the Asian regions and the capabilities of Singapore Airlines. Below is the representation of Singapore Airlines in comparative to Air Asia ad MAS in the Asian Region. http://htmlimg1.scribdassets.com/4abs74bzsw9yk25/images/17-978ec5a00e.jpg Source: Johnson G, Scholes K. 2005. P 320 Justification: Acceptability Feasibility of Directional Policy Matrix From the analysis it can be seen that the market positing of Singapore Airlines is aimed towards the middle business class strength that offers a highly attractive market. The bargaining power, threats for substitute and competitive rivalry is high for the Singapore Airlines. In the event of a cost increase for jet fuel to USD 115/barrel, the supplier has the upper hand the the treat of substitute is potentially high for the market. For this the feasibility and acceptance of a directional policy matrix for Singapore Airlines is High. 6.3 Directional and Method of Development TOWS Matrix Through the analysis of the internal and external environment, the generation of a TOWS based matrix. This will enable Singapore Airlines to focus on the strategic options available to cater for any potential changes or adapt strategies to further strengthen its market share while limiting its weakness. http://htmlimg2.scribdassets.com/4abs74bzsw9yk25/images/18-6f7d0e3282.jpg Suing the strength and opportunity for Singapore Airlines, there is potential for market diversification. To overcome the potential treats, SIA can have a merger or acquisition with certain airline companies. Avoidance of weakness for Singapore Airlines can adopt a cost leadership strategy. The airlines can develop their internal factors to avoid the treats and weaknesses. Justification Diversification: The current airline industry for the Asian region is highly competitive. There are many airline operations in the region and one of such competition comes from the low cost airline Air Asia. Air Asia flies twice daily from Malaysia to Guangzhou. Currently Air Asia has 86 routes that offers no frills service and has garnered wide recognition from the china market comparing to Singapore Airlines which has 88 destinations in 38 countries. Singapore Airlines would need to strengthen and diversify its market by planning out more feasible routes to high business locations and take a competitive advantage though expansion of the Asian market. Merger and Acquisition: Singapore Airlines needs to have a strong understanding on its competition and to avoid the treats they possess. With their strong financial background, the potential for merger and acquisition is a great choice for Singapore Airlines. Currently there are two national carriers that are seeking to limit Singapore Airlines to access their home market thus slowing down the growth for the airline. Because of this Singapore airlines joined the Star Alliance to take advantage of its international strategy. This is also boosted by the investment of SIA groups into China and India to ensure strategic alliances with the local organizations for their cargo divisions, airport services, enginnering and catering. Internal Development During the previous years, Singapore Airlines recorded a low asset turnover ration in comparison with its competitors. Because of this, the weaker asset turnover ratio has a potential to show that the companies ineffectiveness to utilize the assets to generate profit and will eventually lead to the decline in the groups growth. Singapore Airlines can adapt to this by using better use of information technology to enhance its services to the customers and gain back better response and efficiency. Singapore Airlines website is now one of the most advance and user friendly in the industry that offers the customers to check their schedules, buy tickets, check in and manage their accounts as well as even choosing the meal for their flights. Because of this value added service, the company is able to further maintain its market share and slowly cover up the losses by creating a portal for customers and potential clients to interact with Singapore Airlines. The efficient use of IT has proven to significantly reduce the cost and enhance service levels for Singapore Airlines. Conclusion Singapore Airlines is the national carrier for Singapore and is one of the industry leaders in Asia. Currently the operations route carries Singapore Airlines to South East Asia, East Asia, Europe, Middle East and the Australia. The analysis for the external factors indicates that Singapore Airlines does face some barriers due to the international economic and political sector. The prices of oil over the years have been very volatile and would play a major impact on the profitability of the airline industry. Other than that with some ups and downs in the economy and the growth of high speed networks through the usage of information technology has played an impact for the overall performance in the airline industry in general with people become less mobile while still being able to work with their counterparts across the globe. The internal factors with the successful branding of Singapore Airlines is one of the drawing factors that is able to sustain its competitive edge as well as with strong management background that ensure a quality of service for its customers gives the company its core competencies. For Singapore Airlines to keep evolving towards the new market trends, the company should take into account the internal and external surroundings.

Whos Afraid of Edward Albee? :: Biography Biographies Essays

Who's Afraid of Edward Albee?      Ã‚   Edward Albee was considered the chief playwright of the Theater of the Absurd when his first successful one-act experimental plays emerged.   The Zoo Story, The Death of Bessie Smith, The Sandbox, and Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-Tung were all released during Albee's thirties between 1959 and 1968 (Artists   1-2).   Edward Albee was born in the nation's capitol on March 12, 1928, and his career has brought him three Pulitzer Prizes over four decades, the first for A Delicate Balance in 1966 and the most recent in 1994 for Three Tall Women.   While Albee's original works established him as a leading voice in America's Theater of the Absurd, his more mature plays were representative of traditional playwrights like Eugene O'Neill and August Strindberg.      Unlike many successful writers, the childhood of Albee was not one of deprivation.   On the contrary,   Albee was adopted at the age of two weeks by a millionaire family.   From that point on he knew a life of wealth and privilege.   He resided with his family in Westchester, New York.   His childhood experience was quite remote from that of many writers who knew squalor and deprivation.   As one magazine article said regarding his childhood years, "It was a time of servants, tutors, riding lessons, winters in Miami, summers sailing on the Sound:   there was a Rolls Royce to bring him, smuggled in lap robes, to matinees in the city; an inexhaustible wardrobe housed in a closet as big as a room.   Albee has never made any explicit comments about the happiness of his childhood.   His father was believed, however, to be dominated by his wife, who was considerably younger than her husband and an avid athlete" (Biography   1).   His grandfather was one of the major f igures in the development of the razzmatazz of American show-business and the owner of a famous chain of vaudeville theaters.   Albee was named after him and this lineage gave him a great deal of exposure to plays and theater people at a young age.   Albee was not very adept at schoolwork though he showed promise as a writer from a young age.   He dropped out of Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, after a year and a half to pursue a writing career full time in New York.   However, while at Trinity, Albee did gain theater experience by playing a variety of characters in plays produced by the college drama department.

Flute Acoustics Essay -- acoustic sound

A flute blows a rapid jet of air across the embouchure hole. The pressure inside the players mouth is above atmospheric (usually 1kpa: just enough to support a 10cm height difference in a water manometer). (http://newt.phys.unsw.edu.au/music/) The work done to accelerate the air in this jet is the source of power input to instrument. Sound requires an oscillating motion or air flow. In the flute, the air jet, and the resonance in the air in instrument produces an oscillating component of the flow. As the air starts to vibrate some of the energy (sound ) is radiated out the ends and through any open holes. Most of the energy is lost as a sort of friction (viscous loss) with the walls. The pitch or note can be altered very slightly by breath and lip adjustment, but if changed completely the length of the air must change. This is why the holes in the flute are used to remove the constriction of the air at that particular point. The resonance of the air column in the flute mostly determines the playing frequency which is the pitch. (http://newt.phys.unsw.edu.au/music/) Since the...

Ethical Dilemmas Essay

There are three situations presented in the simulation which poses different ethical dilemmas on the part of the decision-maker. The symptoms of the respective dilemmas and their root causes shall be discussed individually because â€Å"analysis would be proper if they are able to locate the root cause of the conflict† (Lee). The Indiscreet Relationship The first situation presented was an indiscreet relationship between a boss and his secretary. The boss took the secretary along with him during business trips at the expense of the company. He even promoted the secretary to junior account executive. This problem created a stir within the company and corridor talks went around saying that the way to make it through the ladder of success in the company was through less than ethical means. This has caused an unrest among the employees of the organization that an ethical stand should be taken. However, the decision-maker had an ethical dilemma in making his decision. The boss, Patrick, is his former friend and colleague who was the one instrumental in landing him his job. Patrick also helped him during his early days with the company in getting hold of the ropes of the business of the company. On the other hand, company morale is going down because the employees think he is an unethical leader for allowing Patrick have his way in maintaining an indiscreet relations with his subordinate and in spending company resources in the process. This is what defines the ethical dilemma here. Sniffdog The second situation presented by the simulation which involved an ethical dilemma is the decision to represent SilverPill and their Sniffdog account. Sniffdog is a computer program which could sneak into the user’s hardware and retrieve many confidential data without the user’s knowledge. The ethical dilemma comes in when taking the account means allowance of the intrusion of privacy while not taking the account will make the company lose a lot of money by losing the account. The fact that compounds these all is that SilverPill informed the company that they will give all their accounts to McKinley should they choose to endorse Sniffdog. The ethics rulebook of McKinley states that the employees will maintain impeachable integrity in all its business dealings. Allowing Sniffdog to push through will not reflect well of this ethical rule. On its face, the business being dealt with here is plainly business and nothing will be objectionable about it. McKinley will just seek to endorse the Sniffdog program. However, when the program has capabilities of sneaking into private information, an ethical issue arises for McKinley will be signing itself to be part of such intrusion. Although SilverPill promised not to use any information that may be gathered for any illegal or extralegal use nor to sell it to a third party, the fact alone that there will be intrusion into the private lives of the users of the program will already present a grave ethical issue. Thus, the root cause of the problem here is whether or not to be a part of a project which can intrude into the private lives of clients by collecting confidential information from them without their knowledge. Think Eddie  And the third situation with an ethical dilemma presented by the simulation is whether or not to reveal certain information about the program Sniffdog to Think Eddie which is a competitor of SilverPill. At this point, SilverPill is no longer associated with McKinley and has moved on to another PR company. Think Eddie has entered the picture and wants McKinley to represent them for a computer program which has the same features as that of SilverPill’s Sniffdog. Think Eddie is a big client. And now it wants information about the Sniffdog program without, however, threats of any sanctions given to McKinley in case of non-compliance. The ethical dilemma here is whether to reveal the requested information to Think Eddie or not. Though Think Eddie did not give any threats for non-disclosure, surely there was an unwritten statement accompanying the request that non-disclosure might strain the relationship between the two companies. On the other hand, the ethics rule book of McKinley prescribes them not to hold conflicting interests. SilverPill, though a former client, still has the right that every information given by it to McKinley be kept confidential by the latter. Because of the mentioned rule, McKinley is duty-bound not to divulge confidential client information, especially in this case where the revelation will be made to a competitor. The root cause of the problem, therefore, is whether or not to reveal information obtained from a former engagement in order to establish a better business relationship with a new engagement even though the two have conflicting interests and the former engagement has already been severed. In all, the ethical dilemmas arise not because of the ethics rule books established by company but mostly because of moral grounds. â€Å"If doing what is right produces something bad, or if doing what is wrong produces something good, the force of moral obligation may seem balanced by the reality of the good end. We can have the satisfaction of being right, regardless of the damage done; or we can aim for what seems to be the best outcome, regardless of what wrongs must be committed† (Ross, 2007). Thus, the root of these dilemmas is simply because there are moral standards to which, companies as well as persons, must adhere.

Exploring the greek mythology through the ‘Odyssey’

Literary narratives such as the Greek and the Roman mythologies have played a great part on the development of societies around the world. Especially in the context of western civilization, the mythologies of the Greeks and the Romans significantly shaped the culture of this region. Aside from its culture, it also highly influenced its society in general. In fact, politics and religion are also explained in the light of the Greek and Roman mythologies. In this paper, it will explore on the Greek mythology through the myth on the ‘Odyssey’. More specifically, it will emphasize on its main character by the name of Odysseus or Ulysses. Through this character, this paper will be able to explain the role of myth on the changing cultural make-up of Greece. In particular, this myth will serve as an instrument in identifying the way Greeks perceive and use mythologies. Finally, this paper will also present the different key points of the myth. The Odyssey is an epic of Homer about the adventures of Odysseus. Specifically, this myth is considered as the sequel to the earliest well-known surviving work in Western literature which is the ‘Iliad’. In comparison to many sequels in the present era, the ‘Odyssey’ is considered to be distinct because of its originality and even stands as an independent work. (Napierkowski, 1998a) It has been said that its main character, Odysseus, has been a celebrated hero in the Greek mythology. Being the central character in the ‘Odyssey’, he is best known for is adventures during his ten-year journey home after the Trojan War. His journey to home on Ithaca took ten years because of the anger of the sea god Poseidon. During his journey and adventures, the hero went to many wondrous and dangerous places. Along the way, he lost all his companions and the treasure he had gotten from Troy Arriving home at last after an absence of 20 years, Odysseus had to defeat rivals trying to take possession of his wife and his kingdom. Then he had to prove his identity to his wife, Penelope. (Wickersham, 2000) The adventures of Odysseus are highlighted by his achievement of victory in various challenges or struggles. Among this is the encounter with the Ciconians, the Lotus-eaters, Polyphemus, Aeolus, the Laestrygonians, Circe, Journey to the underworld, the sirens, Scylla and Charybdis, the cattle of Helios as well as the Calypso and the Phaecians. More importantly, one can also add the difficulties he acquired upon his arrival in Ithaca due to the suitors of his wife, Penelope. Eventually, all of these trials were conquered by Odysseus. Therefore, he was dubbed as a hero. Moreover, the qualities he manifested during his trials were considered as the qualities of a real or true hero. Undoubtedly, the voyages and troubles encountered by Odysseus highlights the concept of heroism, loyalty, creativity and order. In addition, the ‘Odyssey’ is also famous for its use of symbolism as well as for the pace and variety of its action. With this, both the ‘Iliad’ and the ‘Odyssey’ set the standard by which epic poetry, if not all poetry of any kind, was judged in the past 1,500 years. More importantly, the story on the wanderings of Odysseus has remained a perennial favorite to the present day. (Napierkowski, 1998a) Basically, the appeal of the ‘Odyssey’ is derived from its nature as being able to present the Greek people as well as the way of life in ancient Greek society. In short, the story serves as an archetype to various societies and not just the Greek community. Particularly, the characters of Penelope and Odysseus serve as a role model to the multitude. Their way of life has been the idealized life of the many. Until today, the moral of the story has continuously been resonated to the people of any culture or ethnic group. Furthermore, the theme of human condition is the most important theme in the ‘Odyssey’. In the story, almost every aspect of humanity is depicted- good, bad, young, old, individuals and groups, the living and even the dead. Other themes also include love and loyalty, order and disorder, heroic craftiness, the nature of women, triumph over temptation, home, the epic journey, the God’s involvement, revenge, heroism and, creativity, imagination and deception. Â  (Napierkowski, 1998b) Indeed, the story of Odysseus made a great impact on the society of the Greek people. In fact, even in the present day, the story on the adventures of this great hero is still related to many people around the world. In the contemporary society, people have created a modern version of the ‘Odyssey’ through the aid of media technology. This is evident on the animated version of this story in order to cater the needs of the children or the young generation. REFERENCES Burns, M. (1996, May 1). The wanderings of the Odysseus: The story of ‘The Odyssey.’ The Horn Book Magazine. Â  72 (3). Napierkowski, Marie Rose. (Ed). (1998). Odyssey: Introduction. Epics for students. Vol.1. Detroit: Gale. (1998). Odyssey: Themes. Epics for Students. Vol. 1. Detroit: Gale, Wickersham, John M. (Ed). (2000). Odysseus. Myths and Legends of the World. Macmillan: Thomson Gale. Â  

Social and Historical Effects Responsible for the Conception of the Fantastic and Supernatural in Gothic Horror (Dracula)

Bram Stoker’s Dracula debuted in Victorian England at the end of the nineteenth century. Not the first vampire story of its time, it certainly made one of the most lasting impressions on modern culture, where tales of the supernatural, horror, witchcraft, possession, demoniacs, vampires, werewolves, zombies, aliens, and monsters of all kinds have become something of a theme in modern art, if not an obsession. Many scholars debate the origin or cause of this phenomenon, yet most agree that culture plays an enormous role in the development of such themes, whether in nineteenth century gothic novels such as Dracula or Frankenstein, or in modern films with gothic leanings, such as The Exorcist or Children of Men. This paper will examine how fantasy and the idea of the supernatural, including the â€Å"undead,† is an important underlying fear prevalent in the psyche of humanity, which manifests itself differently, depending on the social or historical circumstances which spawns the creation of that work of literature or film. By placing Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein within the context of its Romantic/Enlightenment era, E. Michael Jones shows how the effects of the revolutionary doctrine of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Marquis de Sade, and Percy Bysshe Shelley found their ultimate expression in the gothic horror genre (90). Dracula, no less than Frankenstein, is indicative of the cultural underbelly that the Victorian Age sought to cover up. Far from speaking directly of the human passions unleashed by the Romantic era, the Victorian Age found it more appropriate to hide them, keep them out of the public sphere, render them lifeless, and thereby make life respectable. The problem was, the less those passions were talked about, but acted upon, the more those same passions bubbled up to the surface through the means of gothic horror novels and films. While, Oscar Wilde’s â€Å"art for art’s sake† carried the artistic world out of the Victorian Age and into the twentieth century of unhindered expressionism, Wilde himself fell victim to the very underbelly of Victorian England—which, in fact, prosecuted him to the fullest extent of the law when his vices became open knowledge to the public. Stoker’s Dracula was just as representative of his own sexual desires masked by Victorian prudery. But because Stoker for the most part kept his affairs from becoming public scandal, he was left well enough alone to express what everyone was interested in anyway, and which has always been an easy seller: sex. Controlling the passions had always been the interest of the Catholic Church, which was the European bulwark against revolution, with assistance from the reason of Augustine to the scholasticism of Aquinas to the architecture of the gothic cathedrals. With the growing corruption of many Church officials, the rise of the Renaissance and the Protestant Reformation, that control was finally threatened and replaced. New philosophies were spread (Rousseau’s concept of nature as the only law; Sade’s concept of that same nature as brutal, animalistic, and violent), which unleashed a tidal wave of radical revolutionaries in Paris at the end of the eighteenth century, which in turn needed new types of control. Napoleon was the immediate result. Victorian prudery was the nineteenth century’s later response. It enabled Mary Shelley to turn her husband into a â€Å"Victorian angel,† as she â€Å"dedicated the rest of her life to effacing their sexual experiment† (Jones 91) with Byron in Geneva, memorialized, however, by Ken Russell’s 1987 film Gothic, in which de Sade’s Justine informs Mary Shelley of what could soon be expected. What Sade foresaw, and helped promote, was a sexual revolution that would elevate sexual desire from the restraints of medieval Church doctrine. While that elevation led to the enforcement of a new social code of conduct (Victorianism), an alternate development got underway in which that same elevation of sexual license was to be used itself as a form of control. In fact, Augustine had spoken of such centuries before when he wrote that a man has as many masters as he has vices. Sade’s assessment was similar in the eighteenth century: â€Å"The state of the moral man is one of tranquility and peace; the state of an immoral man is one of perpetual unrest† (Jones 6). Yet, while Augustine promoted peace, Sade, who exercised some political sway in the Reign of Terror, promoted unrest: â€Å"By promoting vice, the regime promotes slavery, which can be fashioned into a form of political control† (Jones 6). Such was in line with Robespierre’s doctrine of terror as persuasion. Stoker’s Dracula was an expression of just such an idea—for Stoker himself knew the validity of both those claims: a seducer of young women, Stoker doubtlessly identified with Jonathan Harker and Dracula, the captive and master all at once. The vampire became a persona of iconic horror status in film in the following century. The concept of the walking â€Å"undead† who fed on the blood of innocents conjured up something so profound and stimulating in the minds of audiences all over the world that vampirism was everywhere, from Nosferatu to Bela Lugosi to Carl Theodor Dreyer’s Vampyr. Dreyer, who had shot what is considered one of the greatest silent films of all time, The Passion of Joan of Arc, found his inspiration for his vampire film in the likes of Magnus Hirschfeld. Hirschfeld was an honorary member of the British Society for Sexual Psychology and something of a movie star himself in Weimar Germany, playing an â€Å"enlightened, sexually condoning doctor in Richard Oswald’s pro-homosexual film Anders als die Andern† (Jones 194). The themes of sexual license and control had a significant impact on Germany. Sigmund Freud would take up the themes in his psychoanalytic studies, promoting the fulfillment of sexual desires as a means of appeasing the subconscious. In Dr. Seward’s diary, one finds no less: a blood transfusion is given to Lucy by Van Helsing, who states, â€Å"She wants blood, and blood she must have or die† (Stoker 123). Lucy has been bitten by the vampire and become, in a sense, contaminated. The only scientific cure is to give her want she wants: blood. The allusion to another blood exchange is obvious—but the sense is inverted: While T. S. Eliot states in Murder in the Cathedral the relationship between Christian sacrifice and control of the passions (â€Å"His Blood for ours, Blood for blood†), Enlightenment science suggests no spiritual remedy—merely a physical or psychological one: a psychological/physical giving into desire rather than a spiritual dominance of it. Jones speaks of the sexual revolution that ran concomitantly with the French Revolution as the real forbearer of gothic horror. Whereas othic cathedrals reinforced through visual representation the horror of Satan and sin, modern gothic horror does the same—though the solution is different (if there is one, and there often is not: the immortal evil of Michael Myers, Jason, Krueger, etc. suggests that while Christ was the answer for Augustine and Aquinas, the Enlightenment has yet to formulate any acceptable solution). Meanwhile, the manipulation of desire, Jones notes, has found its way out of Victorian prudery and into the mainstream through advertising, radio, television, music, and cinema. The fantasy of the â€Å"undead† in the George A. Romero franchise, which is still being updated, suggests a kind of public response to the world around it: a society full of living, walking dead—killed by the bombardment of uncontrolled passions, yet still living, shopping, attending to social rituals. The sexual revolution and Enlightenment doctrine of the 1790s and early twentieth century resurfaced in full throttle in the 1960s and 70s, to create a new wave of liberal social doctrine and a new wave of gothic horror in film. In Dracula, Mina Harker records the assessment of the evil of vampirism according to Van Helsing: The nosferatu do not die like the bee when he sting once. He is only stronger; and being stronger, have yet more power to work evil. This vampire†¦is of himself so strong in person as twenty men; he is of cunning more than mortal†¦he have still the aids of necromancy, and all the dead that he can come nigh to are for him to command; he is brute, and more than brute; he is devil in callous, and the heart of him is not. (Stoker 237) The portrayal is Satanic, and a similar portrayal would be given in 1973’s The Exorcist, in which Satan possesses a girl through the medium of a children’s game (the Ouija board). Yet, with The Exorcist, the spiritual evil is made much more real than the fantastic evil of Dracula. And while Dracula is destroyed by a stake, the devil is dispelled only through the power of Christ in The Exorcist. Ironically, however, the devil is driven out only after the death of not one but two priests—the old man initially, and then the younger priest, whose own crisis of faith becomes a kind of despair at the end of the film, when, ceasing to compel Satan through Christ, he cries, â€Å"Take me! instead, and then throws himself out the window when his own possession is complete. The girl is freed from her captor, but only at the cost of the life and soul of the young priest: the power of Christ merely served to anger the devil—it did not subjugate him; such would have been too meaningful in the relativistic climate of the 70s. The 70’s sexual and political revolutions were intertwined to such an extent that hardcore pornography and Feminist politics app eared on the scene simultaneously. While Betty Friedan opposed traditional gender codes in such works as The Feminine Mystique, pornography was raking in the profits. The cinematic response to this was the slaughter of sexually-active teenagers by homicidal maniacs (evil incarnate), while virtuous and chaste maidens like Jamie Lee Curtis’ character in Halloween remained alive just long enough for the evil to be driven away by a male authority figure. Horror films often reinforced traditional gender norms, yet the awesome evil of those films seemed to have no end. With the proliferation of contraceptives as a form of eugenics similar to the kind practiced under Hitler, sex became an act of passion without physical consequences; yet horror maintained that it still had psychological and even spiritual ones. Nonetheless, as Jones shows, the promotion of contraception in twentieth century America by representatives of the Rockefeller Foundation was supposed to be nothing more than the controlling of ethnic populations that were found to be subhuman by WASP elitists (406). The black and Catholic communities, whose uninhibited breeding threatened to undermine WASP political control, promptly received the attention of people like Margaret Sanger and â€Å"Rev. Theodore Hesburgh, C. S. C. , who used Rockefeller money to fund secret conferences on contraception at the University of Notre Dame from 1962 to 1965† (Jones 147). The idea of Thomas Malthus, that over-population would ultimately destroy the earth, was marketed as the principle behind contraception. The underbelly of the movement, however, was, according to Jones, nothing more than a power play for control. The extremity of the situation would be explored by Alfonso Cuaron’s 2006 film Children of Men based on the novel by P. D. James. Friend of Spanish filmmaker Guillermo del Toro, whose Mimic has been noted in â€Å"Good Entomologist/Bad Entomologist† by Jones as a swipe at Enlightenment doctrine being a vain attempt at setting and controlling social mores (â€Å"The only solution left is the†¦prime totem of folk Catholicism, the rosary†Ã¢â‚¬â€referring, of course, to the end scene in which Mira Sorvino’s character draws blood rom her hand with a rosary crucifix to divert the attention of the giant blood-sucking roach, which is about to eat the little boy). In Children of Men, there are no little boys, nor little girls—in fact, children are gone altogether (a threatening theme that opens Del Toro’s Mimic too). The rampant sterilization of modern years is turned into a life-threatening ideology, affecting everyone and all ethnicities. When a woman is found, who has seemingly miraculously conceived, she is caught in the middle of yet another struggle for control—one group wants to use her as a political poster child, the other wants to legitimately help. Meanwhile, a war is waged in the urban cities, which evokes a kind of apocalyptic message of utter desolation. As Clive Owen’s character makes the ultimate sacrifice (his life) for that of the woman and her child’s, a sense of hope in the future of mankind is restored—but the outlook is still bleak and grim—for no one knows whether the woman and her child will really make it as they disappear into the fog rolling across the open sea. Hope is in the approach of the ship, but beyond that lies—what? In Children of Men, the fantasy of the â€Å"undead† is replaced by the fantasy of the â€Å"unborn. † The reality of Malthusian sterilization taken to extremes in modern times by social groups across the globe (birth rates are at lows nearly everywhere), sexual liberation has once again become a pathway to political control and to gothic horror genre representations. In conclusion, the underlying fears of societies since the beginning of the Romantic/Enlightenment age have manifested themselves in a variety of forms depending upon the cultural climate of the time. Beginning with Shelley’s Frankenstein as a repudiation of Enlightenment doctrine and going through Stoker’s Dracula as a representation of sexual desire and control bubbling under the surface of Victorian prudery, gothic horror has found its way into the mainstream culture with tales of supernatural occurrences that are in some sense connected to the issues of the day. The sexual revolution of the early twentieth century in New York materialized in greater force all over America in the 60s and 70s, launching another series of gothic horror novels and films onto audiences, from Stephen King to John Carpenter, Clive Barker, and Stanley Kubrick. While films like The Exorcist and Children of Men get closer to the reality of spiritual possession and widespread sterility, the human psyche of modern times continues to want to see itself as a kind of â€Å"undead† creature, whose reason for being has yet to be determined. Therefore, popular gothic horror icons like Frankenstein and Dracula remain staples of modern horror fiction, representing to the populace a mirror of its own struggles with the doctrine of Enlightenment liberation and control.

Controlling Extraneous Variables in Research Coursework - 2

Controlling Extraneous Variables in Research - Coursework Example They do it based on the rational analysis and past occurrence. After spotting the extraneous variables, they can be regulated through grasping a variable steady. Another way of controlling the extraneous variables is through building a consistent environment and system to ensure that all variables are equal in every condition. Researchers have also embarked on random assignments where a group of researchers takes part in the same research. In random research, different researchers or groups are assigned to perform the task where a mathematical theory is applied to conduct the research. Â  In the article, a hypothetical construct has been identified as an extraneous variable, it is not seen directly. However, there are dimensions that have been formed to help learn hypothetical constructs in a more systematic way. Researchers use different techniques to address the issues related to the extraneous variables such as standardization that is mostly used in survey analysis. Researchers also ensure those extraneous variables are kept the same for all the research parts. It also requires the researchers to be aware of the extraneous variable especially throughout the design phase and be able to control it. Balancing the variable across the research stages also reduce the chances for the influence of the research by an extraneous variable. The balancing enables comparison between the research groups and stages.