Why Do People Help Others? Essay -- essays research papers

To discuss why people help others we must consider whether people are by nature selfless or selfish. The dominant view today in psychology is of universal egoism; that we are fundamentally selfish, and that altruism (helping motivated by the wish to benefit another person) an impossibility.One form of universal egoism is Piliavin et al’s "arousal: cost-reward" model, whereby faced with a potential helping situation we weigh the probable costs and rewards of alternative courses of action, then arrive at a decision which produces the best outcome for ourselves.Darley and Batson (1973) conducted an experiment into the effect of the cost time in the decision to offer help. They found that 63% of students with plenty of time to get to their next lecture helped a man clearly ill in the doorway, whilst 45% who were right on schedule helped, but only 10% of those who were late. However, although a natural setting was used, as an experiment this evidence is not very ecologic ally valid.The Sociobioligical approach also sees helping as egoistic, but in terms of the individual maximising their inclusive fitness (increasing the chances of their genes being passed on), rather than their personal fitness. This seems to be the case when we look at the apparent altruistic behaviour of various species. For example, when a honey bee dies when stinging an enemy, "...by their sacrifice they are increasing the reproductive chances of their fertile relatives thus ensuring that the...

Teaching Ethics

School for scandal? Business schools turn their attention to ethics education This case examines the role of the business school in encouraging corruption in business, and looks at the potential impacts that business ethics training might have on students. It offers the opportunity to explore the significance of the individual and their education and experience for understanding ethical decision-making. It also provides a context for investigating the specific role, purpose, and impact of business ethics courses on business behaviour.When it turns out that the key figures in some of the most infamous cases of fraud and corruption in business are alumni from leading business schools, it is perhaps not surprising that the business schools themselves might come in for some criticism. After all, if people like Andrew Fastow, the convicted chief financial officer at Enron, or his boss Jeffrey Skilling, could have got MBAs from two of America’s premier business schools (Northwestern and Harvard, respectively) and , then it is inevitable that questions will be raised about what kinds of principles and practices business school students are being taught.In the last few years, a number of business gurus and commentators have publicly condemned business schools in general, and MBA programmes in particular, for their perpetuation of ‘misguided’ amoral theories and techniques, and the lack of attention to ethics in the curriculum.For example, Henry Mintzberg, the Canadian management expert has famously condemned the MBA model, suggesting that it ‘trains the wrong people in the wrong ways with the wrong consequences’, whilst Sumantra Ghoshal, the late London Business School professor has argued that the ‘worst excesses of recent management practices have their roots in a set of ideas that have emerged from business-school academics over the last 30 years. Ghoshal’s ire is directed to typical theories taught at business schools s uch as agency theory and Porter’s ‘5 forces’ model, which he claims perpetuate an idea that everyone is self-interested, managers cannot be trusted, business is a zero-sum game, and shareholder value is the only legitimate aim of business. The perpetuation of such assumptions, he suggests, leaves business school students devoid of any sense of moral responsibility. These criticisms have received a lot of attention in academic debates, but have also been readily recounted in the media and the business community.For instance The Economist ran a 2005 article headlined ‘Business schools stand accused of being responsible for much that is wrong with corporate management today’ which brought the arguments from Ghoshal, Mintzberg, and others to a wider audience – albeit in a context where the magazine rather predictably mounted a strong defence. After all, as The Economist argued, there are plenty of examples of corporate crooks who have not had a bu siness school education, so there are clearly other aspects to consider too.Nevertheless, whatever else the debate has done, it has certainly helped refocus the attention of business schools on their curricula, and especially on the provision of courses on ethics and social responsibility. At one level, this debate is simply about whether more business schools should be encouraged to introduce such courses into the curriculum. Whilst some schools have long included ethics in their curricula, others have tended to focus more on areas such as strategy, innovation, marketing and finance, whilst others have even dropped ethics courses due to low enrolments or political manoeuvring by sceptical colleagues.As one Wall Street Journal article put it, ‘MBA students and professors bristle at ethics requirements. Some faculty members resent being forced to squeeze ethics lessons into an already jam-packed syllabus, while students grumble that ethics classes tend to be preachy and philoso phical. ’ In this context, the evidence on the scale of ethics teaching is revealing. A recent survey of US schools found that 34 per cent required an ethics course at undergraduate level whilst only 25 per cent did so on MBA degrees.In Europe, the figures are if anything a little lower for compulsory courses, but more than 50 per cent of business schools report having an optional module on ethics or responsibility at undergraduate level and more than 30 per cent at masters level. Essentially, though, most business students can still complete a degree having had hardly any exposure to these subjects in the classroom – a situation that some are now trying to change. One development comes from the US, where a long running campaign by business ethics professors has been trying to make courses on ethics and responsibility compulsory for business students.Over 200 professors offered support to the campaign, but the AACSB (the body responsible for accrediting business degree programmes) appears, so far, to be unconvinced. A recent redraft of their guidelines for accreditation did not bow to the campaigners’ demands, and business ethics remains outside of their list of accredited subjects. Diane Swanson and Bill Frederick, the campaign leaders responded by condemning the AACSB’s arguments for excluding ethics as ‘desperate and out of date against the backdrop of unprecedented corporate scandals, increased public distrust of business, and a virtual sea change in corporate governance. However, some leading schools have moved towards greater attention to ethics. Harvard Business School, for instance, introduced a compulsory course on ‘Leadership and Corporate Accountability’ for all first year students in 2004 – a development that the school claimed represented ‘the most far-reaching course we’ve ever introduced on this subject’. In Europe, the situation is also changing, and in fact there appears to be significantly more support than in the US from European accrediting bodies.The Association of MBAs for example, has issued new criteria for the accreditation of MBA programmes that stipulate that the curriculum ‘should pay attention to ethical and social issues’, while the European Foundation for Management Development (EFMD) is also considering ways to integrate CSR into its EQUIS accreditation. New academic departments and centres have also sprung up in universities to lead ethics and responsibility teaching, such as the Business and Society Management department at Rotterdam School of Management and the International Centre for Corporate Social Responsibility in Nottingham University Business School.Whilst there is still a long way to go before schools successfully infuse ethics education across all of their courses, such developments certainly point to an increased emphasis over the past decade. Ethics and corporate responsibility feature far more prominently in the prospectuses of business schools than they did even a few years ago. Questions remain though about how ethics should best be integrated into the curriculum, and even whether exposure to the subject really has a positive effect on the decisions made by managers.While some maintain that a stand alone course on ethics is necessary to develop a suitable understanding of the subject and to consolidate its importance on the curriculum, others argue that this raises the prospects of generating an ‘ethics ghetto’ unconnected to mainstream business subjects such as finance and marketing. And the jury is still out on just how much of an effect any form of ethics training is likely to have on individuals. Various objections have been raised over the years, including the suggestion that students’ morality is already fixed and cannot be improved, and the accusations that ethics teaching is abstract, mbiguous, subjective, and little more than indoctrination from self-r ighteous ideologues. Of course, the extent to which some of these accusations are true will vary from course to course, and on the goals of any specific programme. In the main, evidence suggests that courses are rather better at enhancing students’ recognition of ethical issues, stimulating their moral imagination, and developing their analytical skills rather than improving students’ moral development or changing their values.As one business ethics professor puts it, ‘I do not want to teach moral standards; I want to teach a method of moral reasoning through complex issues so that students can apply the moral standards they have. ’ This highlights another growing debate among business ethics professors about the very purpose of business ethics education – and even what a business ethics course should consist of. Whilst one camp retains belief in the established practice of teaching moral philosophy to develop better normative thinking among student s, other camps have started to emerge.Some business school professors see more need to focus on practical management concerns, such as managing the corporate reputation or preventing accounting fraud, whilst others point to the need to understand ethics within wider social, political, and economic structures. One recent business ethics textbook (by Jones et al. 2005) was even introduced by the authors with an admission that they were ‘not particularly fond of business ethics’ because ‘business ethics in its present form is at best window dressing and a worst a calculated lie’!Ultimately then, developments in the field of business ethics education suggests that business schools and accreditation bodies may be beginning to take the subject more seriously, especially in Europe where something of a momentum appears to be building. However, the future direction of business ethics remains in some doubt. Not only will its integration into the curriculum remain pro blematic for some time yet, but as the subject expands and develops, the approach to teaching business ethics will probably shift quite considerably into new conceptual territory.Whatever the outcome, business ethics will have to go a long way before it presents a completely convincing antidote to corporate wrongdoing, and misconduct in the workplace. Questions 1. What are the main factors encouraging business ethics education and what are the main barriers to its further development and expansion? 2. To what extent can business education cause or prevent ethical infractions in business? Give arguments for and against. 3. Given the importance of situational factors in shaping ethical decision-making, what are the limitations posed by business ethics courses that focus on individual students?How would you design a course to focus primarily on situational issues? 4. Consider the aims and approach of the business ethics course that you are currently studying. What are these, and how ef fective is the approach for achieving these aims? What would you like to see done differently? Sources Alsop, R. 2005. At MBA programs, teaching ethics poses its own dilemmas. Wall Street Journal, 12 April. wsj. com. Boston Globe. 2003. Harvard raises its hand on ethics. Boston Globe, 30 December. Ghoshal, S. 2003.Business schools share the blame for Enron. Financial Times, 18 July. Ghoshal, S. 2005. Bad management theories are destroying good management practices. Academy of Management Learning and Education, 4 (1): 75–91. Jones, C. , Parker, M. , and ten Bos, R. 2005. For business ethics. London: Routledge. Lacy, P. 2005. From the margins to the mainstream: corporate responsibility and the challenge facing business and business schools. Business Leadership Review, 1 (2) (April): 3. Matten, D. and Moon, J. 2004.Corporate social responsibility in Europe. Journal of Business Ethics, 54: 323–37. McDonald, G. M. and Donleavy, G. D. 1995. Objections to the teaching of busi ness ethics. Journal of Business Ethics, 14: 839–53. Mintzberg, H. 2004. Managers not MBAs: a hard look at the soft practice of managing and management development. Harlow: FT Prentice Hall. Swanson, D. and Frederick, W. 2005. Campaign AACSB: status report, January. www. pitt. edu/~rorst6/sim/aacsb. The Economist. 2005. Business schools, bad for business. The Economist, 17 February. Teaching Ethics School for scandal? Business schools turn their attention to ethics education This case examines the role of the business school in encouraging corruption in business, and looks at the potential impacts that business ethics training might have on students. It offers the opportunity to explore the significance of the individual and their education and experience for understanding ethical decision-making. It also provides a context for investigating the specific role, purpose, and impact of business ethics courses on business behaviour.When it turns out that the key figures in some of the most infamous cases of fraud and corruption in business are alumni from leading business schools, it is perhaps not surprising that the business schools themselves might come in for some criticism. After all, if people like Andrew Fastow, the convicted chief financial officer at Enron, or his boss Jeffrey Skilling, could have got MBAs from two of America’s premier business schools (Northwestern and Harvard, respectively) and , then it is inevitable that questions will be raised about what kinds of principles and practices business school students are being taught.In the last few years, a number of business gurus and commentators have publicly condemned business schools in general, and MBA programmes in particular, for their perpetuation of ‘misguided’ amoral theories and techniques, and the lack of attention to ethics in the curriculum.For example, Henry Mintzberg, the Canadian management expert has famously condemned the MBA model, suggesting that it ‘trains the wrong people in the wrong ways with the wrong consequences’, whilst Sumantra Ghoshal, the late London Business School professor has argued that the ‘worst excesses of recent management practices have their roots in a set of ideas that have emerged from business-school academics over the last 30 years. Ghoshal’s ire is directed to typical theories taught at business schools s uch as agency theory and Porter’s ‘5 forces’ model, which he claims perpetuate an idea that everyone is self-interested, managers cannot be trusted, business is a zero-sum game, and shareholder value is the only legitimate aim of business. The perpetuation of such assumptions, he suggests, leaves business school students devoid of any sense of moral responsibility. These criticisms have received a lot of attention in academic debates, but have also been readily recounted in the media and the business community.For instance The Economist ran a 2005 article headlined ‘Business schools stand accused of being responsible for much that is wrong with corporate management today’ which brought the arguments from Ghoshal, Mintzberg, and others to a wider audience – albeit in a context where the magazine rather predictably mounted a strong defence. After all, as The Economist argued, there are plenty of examples of corporate crooks who have not had a bu siness school education, so there are clearly other aspects to consider too.Nevertheless, whatever else the debate has done, it has certainly helped refocus the attention of business schools on their curricula, and especially on the provision of courses on ethics and social responsibility. At one level, this debate is simply about whether more business schools should be encouraged to introduce such courses into the curriculum. Whilst some schools have long included ethics in their curricula, others have tended to focus more on areas such as strategy, innovation, marketing and finance, whilst others have even dropped ethics courses due to low enrolments or political manoeuvring by sceptical colleagues.As one Wall Street Journal article put it, ‘MBA students and professors bristle at ethics requirements. Some faculty members resent being forced to squeeze ethics lessons into an already jam-packed syllabus, while students grumble that ethics classes tend to be preachy and philoso phical. ’ In this context, the evidence on the scale of ethics teaching is revealing. A recent survey of US schools found that 34 per cent required an ethics course at undergraduate level whilst only 25 per cent did so on MBA degrees.In Europe, the figures are if anything a little lower for compulsory courses, but more than 50 per cent of business schools report having an optional module on ethics or responsibility at undergraduate level and more than 30 per cent at masters level. Essentially, though, most business students can still complete a degree having had hardly any exposure to these subjects in the classroom – a situation that some are now trying to change. One development comes from the US, where a long running campaign by business ethics professors has been trying to make courses on ethics and responsibility compulsory for business students.Over 200 professors offered support to the campaign, but the AACSB (the body responsible for accrediting business degree programmes) appears, so far, to be unconvinced. A recent redraft of their guidelines for accreditation did not bow to the campaigners’ demands, and business ethics remains outside of their list of accredited subjects. Diane Swanson and Bill Frederick, the campaign leaders responded by condemning the AACSB’s arguments for excluding ethics as ‘desperate and out of date against the backdrop of unprecedented corporate scandals, increased public distrust of business, and a virtual sea change in corporate governance. However, some leading schools have moved towards greater attention to ethics. Harvard Business School, for instance, introduced a compulsory course on ‘Leadership and Corporate Accountability’ for all first year students in 2004 – a development that the school claimed represented ‘the most far-reaching course we’ve ever introduced on this subject’. In Europe, the situation is also changing, and in fact there appears to be significantly more support than in the US from European accrediting bodies.The Association of MBAs for example, has issued new criteria for the accreditation of MBA programmes that stipulate that the curriculum ‘should pay attention to ethical and social issues’, while the European Foundation for Management Development (EFMD) is also considering ways to integrate CSR into its EQUIS accreditation. New academic departments and centres have also sprung up in universities to lead ethics and responsibility teaching, such as the Business and Society Management department at Rotterdam School of Management and the International Centre for Corporate Social Responsibility in Nottingham University Business School.Whilst there is still a long way to go before schools successfully infuse ethics education across all of their courses, such developments certainly point to an increased emphasis over the past decade. Ethics and corporate responsibility feature far more prominently in the prospectuses of business schools than they did even a few years ago. Questions remain though about how ethics should best be integrated into the curriculum, and even whether exposure to the subject really has a positive effect on the decisions made by managers.While some maintain that a stand alone course on ethics is necessary to develop a suitable understanding of the subject and to consolidate its importance on the curriculum, others argue that this raises the prospects of generating an ‘ethics ghetto’ unconnected to mainstream business subjects such as finance and marketing. And the jury is still out on just how much of an effect any form of ethics training is likely to have on individuals. Various objections have been raised over the years, including the suggestion that students’ morality is already fixed and cannot be improved, and the accusations that ethics teaching is abstract, mbiguous, subjective, and little more than indoctrination from self-r ighteous ideologues. Of course, the extent to which some of these accusations are true will vary from course to course, and on the goals of any specific programme. In the main, evidence suggests that courses are rather better at enhancing students’ recognition of ethical issues, stimulating their moral imagination, and developing their analytical skills rather than improving students’ moral development or changing their values.As one business ethics professor puts it, ‘I do not want to teach moral standards; I want to teach a method of moral reasoning through complex issues so that students can apply the moral standards they have. ’ This highlights another growing debate among business ethics professors about the very purpose of business ethics education – and even what a business ethics course should consist of. Whilst one camp retains belief in the established practice of teaching moral philosophy to develop better normative thinking among student s, other camps have started to emerge.Some business school professors see more need to focus on practical management concerns, such as managing the corporate reputation or preventing accounting fraud, whilst others point to the need to understand ethics within wider social, political, and economic structures. One recent business ethics textbook (by Jones et al. 2005) was even introduced by the authors with an admission that they were ‘not particularly fond of business ethics’ because ‘business ethics in its present form is at best window dressing and a worst a calculated lie’!Ultimately then, developments in the field of business ethics education suggests that business schools and accreditation bodies may be beginning to take the subject more seriously, especially in Europe where something of a momentum appears to be building. However, the future direction of business ethics remains in some doubt. Not only will its integration into the curriculum remain pro blematic for some time yet, but as the subject expands and develops, the approach to teaching business ethics will probably shift quite considerably into new conceptual territory.Whatever the outcome, business ethics will have to go a long way before it presents a completely convincing antidote to corporate wrongdoing, and misconduct in the workplace. Questions 1. What are the main factors encouraging business ethics education and what are the main barriers to its further development and expansion? 2. To what extent can business education cause or prevent ethical infractions in business? Give arguments for and against. 3. Given the importance of situational factors in shaping ethical decision-making, what are the limitations posed by business ethics courses that focus on individual students?How would you design a course to focus primarily on situational issues? 4. Consider the aims and approach of the business ethics course that you are currently studying. What are these, and how ef fective is the approach for achieving these aims? What would you like to see done differently? Sources Alsop, R. 2005. At MBA programs, teaching ethics poses its own dilemmas. Wall Street Journal, 12 April. wsj. com. Boston Globe. 2003. Harvard raises its hand on ethics. Boston Globe, 30 December. Ghoshal, S. 2003.Business schools share the blame for Enron. Financial Times, 18 July. Ghoshal, S. 2005. Bad management theories are destroying good management practices. Academy of Management Learning and Education, 4 (1): 75–91. Jones, C. , Parker, M. , and ten Bos, R. 2005. For business ethics. London: Routledge. Lacy, P. 2005. From the margins to the mainstream: corporate responsibility and the challenge facing business and business schools. Business Leadership Review, 1 (2) (April): 3. Matten, D. and Moon, J. 2004.Corporate social responsibility in Europe. Journal of Business Ethics, 54: 323–37. McDonald, G. M. and Donleavy, G. D. 1995. Objections to the teaching of busi ness ethics. Journal of Business Ethics, 14: 839–53. Mintzberg, H. 2004. Managers not MBAs: a hard look at the soft practice of managing and management development. Harlow: FT Prentice Hall. Swanson, D. and Frederick, W. 2005. Campaign AACSB: status report, January. www. pitt. edu/~rorst6/sim/aacsb. The Economist. 2005. Business schools, bad for business. The Economist, 17 February.

Common Errors in English Language Learning and Use – the Philippine Context

For half a decade, I have spent significant time working with and studying English as Second Language (ESL) learners in several contexts – online, corporate, and academic. In the course of interfacing with these different types of students, several interesting features arise in the study of the learners’ language, most especially errors in writing. In this article, I will give a brief background of the errors of the learners. I will also try to encapsulate some of my observations and experiences in dealing with language errors and probably suggest ways on how to appropriately address them. Hopefully, this will be an eye opener to a lot of English language teachers and practitioners that errors are important in both learning and teaching ESL. The Context The influence of mass media, which use English as a medium for communication has greatly contributed in the development of the English language in the Philippines. Several broadsheets and magazines, FM radio shows and late night newscasts in English are just a few manifestations that the language is indeed alive in the local media scene. Furthermore, the prevalence of business process outsourcing (BPO) industries is also a validation that the country is home to thousands of bilingual customer service representatives who deliver quality customer service to English-speaking clients. Philippine education, however, does not have the same story. Through the years, teachers and school administrators have tried different strategies to improve the English language proficiency of their students. But based on observation and research, there is incongruence between the strategies and the language practices in Philippine schools ; for instance, â€Å"most colleges and universities claim that their medium of instruction (MOI) is English but there is often no explicit school policy articulating this (Bernardo and Gaerlan, 2006:21). † This, in return, results in the decline of English proficiency, leaving educators and teachers with unresolved problems regarding standard policies and procedures in using the English language in the academe. On Errors and the Learners’ Language (Interlanguage) Errors are considered significant features in acquiring, learning, and teaching a second language. It has been customary for students and teachers to talk about errors in the language classroom, most especially in writing classes. Teaching professionals often feel frustrated with the quality of the language of their students’ essays. , For some, errors are signs of failure while others believe that they are indications of and opportunities to understand the very complex process of learning to communicate in a second language. One methodology in studying the learner’s error is by doing Error Analysis (EA) or â€Å"the process of determining the incidence, nature, causes and consequences of unsuccessful language† (James, 1998:1). Brown (2000:218) states that errors may result from several sources, two of which are: â€Å"interlingual errors of interference from the native language and intralingual errors within the target language, context of learning and communication strategies. To simply put it, the first kind refers to the second language errors that reflect native language structure while the second one, results in faulty structures that do not follow the standards of the target language. It is also a must to acknowledge the kind of language that learners produce in order to come up with a holistic study of the learners’ errors. Larry Selinker labels this as interlanguage or â€Å"the separateness of a second language learners’ system, a system that has a structurally inte rmediate status between the native and target languages† (1972 in Richards, 1974:31). With this, it will be easier for teachers to understand where learners are coming from and also for them to come up with possible solutions to address these errors. The Classroom Experience In the English classroom, where formal learning takes place, I have encountered several â€Å"unique experiences† in dealing with errors in academic writing. Filipino college students are very innovative in constructing English sentences that often result in several interlingual and intralingual errors. Take for instance the following excerpt from a student’s composition: Me in my friend was stranded at the gate 3 of fort Bonifacio because the jeepney cannot pass over because of the heavy flood that if we measure is in a waistline and in some place in a neckline. Me and my friend was just stay in the jeepney hoping and waiting that the rain would stop for us to go home. † It is quite obvious that the student has committed several intralingual errors such as: a. Misused pronoun (Me and my friend – My friend and I) b. Faulty capitalization (fort Bonifacio – Fort Bonifacio) c. Wrong conjunction (Me in my friend – â€Å"and†) . Incorrect verb tense (was just stay – stayed) e. Lack of punctuation (Me and my friend was just stay in the jeepney (,) hoping and waiting that the rain would stop(,) for us to go home. f. Inventing new vocabulary and usage (pass over which means â€Å"to pass through†; waistline which should be â€Å"waist deep†) The student also used her knowledge of the first language (in this case Tagalog) to write in English. For example, the compound subject â€Å"Me and my friend† is a direct translation of the Filipino phrase â€Å"Ako at ang kaibigan ko†. This is a concrete example of an interlingual error. It is really tedious to mark essays that contain numerous errors but these things must be pointed out in order to improve the language abilities of students. Moreover, by studying these kinds of errors, it will be easier to diagnose certain areas that need reinforcement. Some Possible Solutions As a teacher and researcher, I have realized that it is imperative to put utmost importance to the errors that ESL students commit in academic writing. Studying these errors may mean finding probable solutions to address them. The following are some suggestions that other teachers can do in their own classrooms: 1. Analyze and rectify the errors found in the learners’ compositions by following specific â€Å"linguistic criteria or the formal features of a language† (James, 1998:206). With this on hand, a basis for assessing and correcting the errors of students will be available. 2. After analysis, provide supplementary materials that will help reinforce language proficiency. This can be done by addressing specific areas of concern like grammar, lexis, usage, and mechanics. This will be helpful most especially to struggling students that are having difficulties in understanding the complex rules of the target language. 3. It is also a must to recognize individual differences inside and outside the classroom. Finding time to connect with students will also help in understanding the nuances of the languages that they use. Knowing how they interact and being able to cope with their interests will give the teachers several insights as regards the learners’ language. . Finally, continuous research and error analysis can lead to a development of a standard material based on empirical data. This will help address the most frequent errors that learners commit in specific linguistic areas. References: Bernardo, A. & Gaerlan, M. J. (2006). Teaching in English in Philippine higher education: The case of De La Salle University-Manila. Hong Kong University. Brown, H. (2000). Principles of language learning and teaching. England: Longman. James, C. (1998). Errors in language learning and use. London: Addison Wesley Longman Limited. Selinker, L. (1972). Interlanguage in error analysis: Perspectives in second language acquisition. Jack C. Richards, (Ed. ). London: Longman Group Limited. Author’s Profile Mark Arthur Payumo Abalos teaches college English, writing (expository, research and technical), oral communication, and literature at the Far Eastern University – East Asia College and De La Salle – College of St. Benilde in Manila, Philippines. He also works as an English language program facilitator at John Robert Powers International and an IELTS consultant at the PALMS Australian Immigration Services. He used to be a full-time Educational Consultant for the Language and Literacy Programs of Scholastic Publishing. He obtained his bachelor’s degree in English Studies: Language from the University of the Philippines – Diliman. His master’s research focuses on the significance of interlanguage grammar and error analysis in developing ELT materials. You can reach him at [email  protected] com.

Mobile Phone and Skype Users Essay

1. Describe the environment in which Skype competes based on the three characteristics of high-tech markets (Chapter 1). Skype competes in the Internet telephony market, which provides voice-over-internetprotocol (VOIP) services to users. This allows users to install the software on their computers and make call through the Internet for free. Skype makes small charges for per-minute calls to landlines and mobile phones. The three common characteristics of high-tech markets are 1) market uncertainty; 2) technological uncertainty and 3) competitive volatility. 1) Market uncertainty a) The users are uncertain about the security and potential vulnerabilities exposed by the Skype system. Users doubt the reliability of the system. It is often not used for making emergency cases or highly important matters like calling the ambulance or police. b) There exist different VOIP platforms. There is platform dependency, where only Skype users can make calls to users who are using the Skype platform. c) Users move in herd behavior and there is increasing popularity in using social platform like MSN messenger, which also provides VOIP service. Thus there is a shift of users to more popular platform. 2) Technological uncertainty a) Windows update caused potential glitch in the system. This caused blackouts to users, which caused lost of trust in the Skype system. b) Users doubted the privacy security of the system, which could be intruded by unknown strangers calling using Skype. c) Users can easily disguise themselves and falsify their identities when registering to use the platform. Thus unregulated membership increases the rise of misusing the technology for crimes. 3) Competitive Volatility a) There is an increasing direct competition from large competitors such as Yahoo, MSN and Google. These players have diverted Skype users as this free voice-communication over the net is integrated into each of the social platform. As the network becomes larger, some of these services might utilize revenue model of Skype by adding value-added service to call users by landlines and mobile phones and provide it for free. b) The rising popularity in the use of Iphone also means there is a increase of other free calling services provided by Tango and Facetime etc. these platform provide the ability for users to conveniently call using their phone or gadgets like Ipad.

Analysis of the Black Cat Essay

â€Å"I neither expect nor solicit belief† explains that the narrator does not expect the reader to believe the story they’re about to read, because he finds it unbelievable himself which is evidenced by the excerpt â€Å"Mad indeed would I be to expect it, in a case where my very senses reject their own evidence. † With that being said the single effect of the story is alcohol induced insanity. The Black Cat† is a tale that deals with the ups, downs, and delusions of alcohol. The story is told in first person so the reader will get an intimate sense of the writer’s thoughts and feelings. The narrator at first appears to love his wife and pets, however by the end of the tale the narrator is delusional and despises his once beloved pet and its replacement. His alcoholism leads to madness and he hangs the first cat. This is succeeded by his house burning to the ground and his entire world of wealth with it. The narrator then â€Å"resigns himself henceforward to despair† this phrase shows him falling deeper into alcoholism and insanity. The narrator’s decent into insanity is further evident by the phrase, â€Å"when I first beheld this apparition- for I could scarcely regard it as less- my wonder and my terrors were extreme. † He continues for months that the phantasm of the cat haunted him. He then finds the second cat which is seemingly related to his alcoholism as he finds him among one of the taverns frequently visited for the purpose of intoxication. He soon finds aversion for the cat. The narrator then speaks of how he feels the cat is out to get him, as shown by the statement, â€Å"I am almost ashamed to own that the terror and horror with which the animal inspired me, had been heightened by one of the merest chimeras it would be possible to conceive† The narrator story continues with him and his wife walking into the cellar. He feels the cat tried to trip him down the stairs and enraged he swings an axe at the cat in which his wife blocks. The narrator then writes â€Å"Goaded by the interference into a rage more than demonical, I withdrew my arm from her grasp and buried the axe in her brain. This shows his level of insanity increasing into murderous rage. He then sets forth without remorse to cover up the murder of his wife. The narrator’s insanity doesn’t take away from his intelligence. As G. K. Chesterton quoted â€Å"A madman is not someone who has lost his reason but someone who has lost everything but his reason† (www. goodr eads. com/qoutes). The narrator has thus shown that he is insane but also calculating. He also shows very little guilt over the murder of his wife which is witnessed by the excerpt â€Å"The guilt of my dark deed disturbed me very little. The narrator is instead feeling enlightened at this point in the story because his tormenter, the cat, is not around. Satisfied that he would not be caught; when the police did a search of his home he felt it necessary to gloat about the sturdiness of the home and tap his cane against the very wall with which he had imprisoned his wife’s dead body, he pens â€Å"No sooner had the reverberation of my blows sunk into silence, than when I was answered by a voice from within the tomb. † This second cat in the end provides justice when it reveals the hiding place of his murdered wife with its cry. This story has many elements that contribute to the single effect of alcohol induced insanity. The strongest element is character development. As previously stated, the narrator begins his tale as a seemingly normal man and as his alcoholism gets worse so does his decent into insanity. The character develops slowly over the course of the story thus making his decent into madness more believable. He creates the climb into insanity by centering his anger on the cat due to the irritation that arises within him from his alcoholism. He further exasperates the conflict between him and the cat by inflicting violence upon the brute and blaming it upon the spirit of perverseness. The character has now developed from the ostensibly normal person in the introduction to a drunken insane violent man. He continues with the characters madness but takes it further by the instant rage they caused him to murder his wife. The character then realizes the need to think clearly, intelligently and concedes to concealing his wife in the cellar wall, like the monks of the Middle Ages did their victims. The center of his insanity it would seem has disappeared with the murdering of his wife and the narrator perceives himself as no longer insane cause his tormentor has let him be. Then comes the search for his wife by the authorities and the narrator feeling good about his current disposition brags in little detail about his heinous deeds and is thrust back into madness instantly with the shrieking of his tormenting beast. The single effect of this short story is alcohol induced insanity. The narrator tells the story of how he once was sane and lucid and then began his descent into insanity because of alcoholism. The short story shows the effects alcohol could have on anyone person when drinking excessively. The effects of alcohol have been well documented throughout time and can affect each individual in a unique way, causing happiness in some and insanity in others.

Coral Divers Resort Case Analysis Essay

Strategic Recommendation: What do you advise Coral Divers to do? Core divers Resort (CDR) should focus on making their current business operation more efficient by keeping an eye on operating costs and partnering with adventure resorts for customers who wants adventure diving. The company financials cannot support any expansion for family oriented resort with the company being over leveraged with little cash and liquidity. Secondly, this strategy has ease of implementation and provides a profit increase of 10% with little capital expenditure Also, Greywell has built a lifestyle around the Coral Divers Resort business and enjoys it with his family. Selling the resort with his little equity in the business will not provide enough money for him to start a new business in another location. Focusing on being more efficient is more profitable for the company as the industry is in its maturity phase with stiffer competition and readily available substitutes. What do you think Coral Divers would like to accomplish over the next 5 years? Coral Divers is experiencing declining revenues and unprofitability for the past three years. Other resorts that have been able to specialize in certain segments of the diving industry, Coral Divers have been unable to distinguish themselves from other resorts. Coral Divers Resort (CDR) is looking to differentiate itself from other resorts in the New Providence, Bahamas region. The company is looking for opportunities in the diving industry to find a unique niche and gain a competitive edge that will lead to an increase its revenues. Strengths The resort has a beachfront location, the rich resource of the ocean is within close proximity and have developed a good reputation as a quiet and safe resort which appeals to vacationers looking to get away from busy tourist resort hotels. The diving instructors in the resort are certified by PADI and NAUI. Weakness It is a family- run one-service business that is inefficiently operated. It is heavily leveraged making it difficult to get funding for further expansion while facing stiff competition. Opportunities There are opportunities in the diving industry to find a unique niche market (adventure diving, family oriented resort) for Coral Divers and gain a competitive edge that will lead to an increase in its revenues like providing additional service to customers eg picking and taking clients to the airport and other educational services about scuba diving which requires less capital expenditure. Threats The bleaching impact of climate change on coral reefs makes them to lose their beauty, making diving less attractive for divers. The recent surge in airfares and the changing demographics are potential could reduce the customer base of diving resorts. Current Ratio The current ratio of CDR shows that the company is not able to service its current obligations. The resort’s short –term assets cannot cover its current obligations of $88,476. However quick ratio value of CDR will provide a clearer indication of the company’s liquidity and success in meeting its obligations. Quick Ratio CDR quick ration of 0.1875 suggests that the company has a very low ability to service its maturing short- term obligations. This ratio is a more  reliable variation of the current ratio because inventory, prepaid expenses, and other less liquid current assets are removed from the calculation. In other words, it shows how CDR can quickly convert its assets to cash without a loss in value if necessary to meet its short-term obligations? The resort’s low quick ratio makes it difficult for the resort to meet creditors requirement and obtain further funds for future business expansion since they operate a business that does not provide a steady and predictable cash flow. Favorable liquidity ratios are critical to creditors within the resort’s industry. Return on Assets The negative return on CDR’s asset shows that the company’s asset is not used effectively to generate profit and shows the business is not profitable. However, the assets in the resort are highly depreciated which is unusual and it is affecting the return on assets. CDR should reduce its depreciation expense since the resort is not fully booked in the low rental seasons of the year. The resort’s return on assets of -5.75% indicates there is a need for improvement in this area to ensure the company can remain competitive and continue to operate successfully. Return on Equity The percent rate of return on equity for Coral Divers Resort is -87.04%, which indicates that there is absolutely no profits earned based on the owner’s investment in the resort and it would be harder getting a positive return when extra capital is added to the resort. Debt to Total Assets CDR debt to asset ratio of 0.934 indicates that the company can barely meet its long-term obligations, remain solvent, and avoid bankruptcy. This shows that the company can barely withstand more losses without harming creditor interests making it really difficult to obtain additional financing for expansion. Debt to Equity The debt to equity ratio for CDR is 14.12 show which that the company is  heavily leveraged and that most assets the resort has is financed by debt. This creates issues around controlling stake in the company when more debt is added to the company. On what basis do customers choose Coral Divers or competitors? Scuba diving trips to Bahamas tend to be luxury items and therefore it is more likely people would travel during good economic conditions, the amounts of disposable income people have and the weather condition. Are the driving forces causing demand for this service likely to increase or decrease? The driving forces are likely to increase in the future, there has been increase in the population of scuba divers in the last 20 years and the economy is recovering from the last meltdown. Are the driving forces acting to make competition more or less intense? The driving forces are making competition more intense. There are 26 officials diving operators in Bahamas with different program offerings. Most of the resorts are well known for their high quality services and the brand awareness and recognition is present between the groups of tourists who choose to dive in the Bahamas. The capacity and additional services offered by the hotels for additional revenues makes the competition even harder. Will the driving forces lead to higher or lower industry profitability? The driving forces has the potential of leading to greater industry profitability due to the increase in the number of active high paying divers. Does this industry offer good prospects for attractive profits? The profits of the industry is limited, there is higher competition, and the scuba diving industry entering into the maturity phase. Although there is some industry growth, the current marketing appeal of a diving resort is facing high competitions from other leisure alternatives. Sustainable Competitive Advantage Tests: Does this business have a resource that is valuable/rare? The resort has a beachfront location, the rich resource of the ocean that is within close proximity and have developed a good reputation as a quiet and safe resort which appeals to vacationers looking to get away from busy tourist resort hotels. The diving instructors in the resort are certified by PADI and NAUI. Is the resource competitively superior? The resource of Coral Divers is not competitively superior when compared to its competition. Do they have a resource that is hard to copy? Coral Divers resource is easy to copy as anybody with a nice location, boats and the necessary certification from PADI can start a resort. Can the resource be made obsolete by the different capabilities of competitors? With the emergence of different types of diving, CDR’s resource is been made obsolete due to non-distinguishing brand, adventure diving and family oriented resorts Is the firm organized to exploit its valuable, rare, costly to imitate resource? Coral Divers has failed to exploit its resource due to increasing cost, negative return on equity and three years of loss Do you think this company has a sustainable competitive advantage? The company does not have a sustainable competitive advantage and would face stiffer competition in the future. Other resorts that have been able to specialize in certain segments of the diving industry (adventure diving, family resort) and have been successful over the past years as the industry continue to grow. How intense is the rivalry of existing competitors for consumer dollars? The rivalry is really intense; the additional services offered by the hotels for additional revenues makes the competition even harder. How likely/easy would it be for new competitors to enter this market? Anybody  with a nice location, and the necessary certification from PADI can start a leisure resort. Do customers have a lot of competitors to choose from or very few? There are 26 officials diving operators in Bahamas with different program offerings. Most of the resorts are well known for their high quality services and the brand awareness and recognition is present between the groups of tourists Are there any firms in other industries offering suitable substitutes? There are several firms and industries offering substitute e.g. movie, sports, game etc. Porter Five Forces Analysis Supplier Power The supplier power is minimal, the business is service based and is vertically integrated. Degree of Rivalry There is high degree of rivalry and cost of competition in the diving industry leading to lower profitability Buyer Power Buyer power is high, there is low cost in comparing price and services of resorts. Service and amenities provision to customers is really important. Threats Of Substitutes There are several substitutes ranging vacation elsewhere to other leisure activities like sports, golfing, boating, skiing and other technology products e.g. video games, and movies. Threat Of New Entrants Although it is easy to open a resort, there is medium threat of new entrants due to high competition and the industry being in maturity phase.

Kempinski Hotels in United Arab Emirates Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Kempinski Hotels in United Arab Emirates - Essay Example At the moment the Kempinski Hotel of Ajman is in its growth period and it is expected that it will soon reach its zenith in the hospitality industry. (Sen, 448-50) 2) It is always difficult to enter any industry and the hospitality industry in UAE was no different. However with proper execution of five forces it becomes logically viable for a new company enter into a specified market Michael Porter in his famous idea of the Five Forces condenses his theory regarding the 5 separate forces, which, according to him, influence any given industry. These forces include the force of Rivalry, rampant between all the firms in the industry. Threat of substitutes is another force i.e. the threat posed by outside products which do not belong to the same industry as the product it tends to threaten. Buyer Power Barriers is another which, if high, can even set the price for things available in the market. The next one is the Supplier Power which, if high, can even bite of a good chunk of the manufacturers profit by simply supplying raw materials at a higher price. The last one is the Barriers to Entry, which is the principle key in the hands of the old firm s to keep new firms from entering the market. Porter's five forces train a new competitor to scrutinize these 5 important forces before taking decisions pertaining to strategies your firm might be keen to pursue. Porter is quick to provide antidotes to deal with each of the force he so carefully describes. To combat either of the forces he outlines 3 different types of strategies; the corporate level strategy, the business unit level strategy and the functional or departmental level strategy. These strategies ought to be utilized for successfully confronting and overpowering the problems posed by any of the 5 forces he outlines. From the parameter of the paper it could be stated that Kempinski Hotels did exactly this and thus the entry was made possible with comparative smoothness. 3) In the context of hospitality industry in UAE it can be stated that the Kempinski Hotels made a late movement into the market of UAE. It is a certainty that the first movers enjoy a considerable advantage of over the late movers and in this case hotels like Marco Polo Hotel, Millennium Hotel, Landmark Suites Hotel, Lotus Grand Hotel and Rimal Rotana all penetrated the UAE hospitality market on an earlier date than the Kempinski Hotels. However, with their brand equity of the mother concern and with the incorporation of the effective business strategies the Kempinski Hotels compromised the disadvantages of late entry and came out as winners in the long term. (King, 34-5) 4) Kempinski Hotels started their campaigns in UAE in a high note. Like all successful organizations they followed the path of strategic management and became successful. With the boom of tourism industry in UAE it was logical that there would be a heady demand for accommodation and thus the market can be stated as well secured. It has been reported that the average room occupancy in 5 and 6 star hotels range from 75% to 90% which is extremely high under all conditions. Under such circumstances it would relevant to mention that the basics of the product are already well positioned as the Kempinski Hot