The Seneca Oil Company - 2052 Words

In 1859 Edwin Drake and E. B. Bowditch of the Seneca Oil Company drilled the first commercial oil well in the United States in Titusville, Pennsylvania. The well produces about 500 gallons of oil a day and over time has increased. Soon, similar wells all over western Pennsylvania were providing crude oil for kerosene production that was needed to fuel the nation s streetlights and house lamps. â€Å"The lighter boiling component, gasoline, was discarded, since it had no market. There are historical reports that waste gasoline, which had been dumped into rivers, sometimes caught fire. In 1892 the first gasoline-powered engines, for both car and tractor, were developed: This soon provided a market for the once useless substance, gasoline†Ã¢â‚¬ ¦show more content†¦But the key fact that’s missing from all the ranting and raving is the rate of inflation. â€Å"The simple definition of inflation according to Dictionary.com is: â€Å"A rise in the general level of price s of goods and services in an economy over a period of time†. At the end of World War I, average annual income was only $1,500. Currently, annual income is around $50,000† (Samuel R. Avro 2015). Gas prices in 1917 were $0.17 and fell dramatically over the next few years due to the process of inflation and stock market crashes. In 1931 as nominal prices fell from 30 cents a gallon in 1920 to 17 cents in 1931. In 11 years prices fell 43%. But we have to remember that 1931 was the beginning of the â€Å"Great Depression† and overall prices fell 24% during the same period. More interesting than that, gas prices due to inflation were actually cheaper in January 2015 than they were in the Great Depression. Although the Great Depression left many in debt, foreclosure and struggling from day to day, gas was still one of the most prominent things purchased. Buses, fairies, and taxis gained more publicity but gas still took over. The demand for more vehicles caused the demand for more gasoline. There was a need for new and more unique fuels to go along with the new kinds of vehicles being made at the time. In the 20th century, vehicles that were being accessed by people required some but not many fuels that caused the need for petroleum to be used as a raw material.

Eating Disorders (the Black Swan) Free Essays

The main character Nina Sayers has a sever eating disorder. In her attempts to be the perfect ballerina, she is both anorexic and bulimic. She does not eat anything and if she does she later throws it up. We will write a custom essay sample on Eating Disorders (the Black Swan) or any similar topic only for you Order Now For example, for breakfast she was forced to eat a grapefruit but is later shown in the bathroom throwing it up. When she gets the part in the play she worked so hard for, her mother buys a cake in celebration – only to be put to waste since Nina refuses to eat it. In the movie, she provides an example of what can happen when an eating disorder completely takes over. She becomes so pleased with the positive feelings she feels when she looks at herself in the mirror, that she only tries to love her image more. This habit begins a downward spiral into eating less and less. In The Black Swan, Nina is portrayed as the best dancer of her company. Until some competition, Lily arrives and Nina views her as a huge threat. This causes Nina extreme stress and she develops the idea that Lily is out to get her and take her position as best dancer. Since extreme starvation of the body leads to cognitive distortions, threats are commonly amplified. Nina feels extremely threated and like her spot as best dancer is at risk. She then feels even more of a need to have the perfect body and to be a perfect dancer. Since she does not eat enough, her brain and body do not receive appropriate amounts of nutrients. The lack of nutrients puts her in a state of high stress and her brain does not think clearly or logically. It distorts her surroundings giving her a warped image of herself when looking in the mirror. She sees herself as much larger than she actually is. She compares herself to everything and everyone around her. Not only does her eating disorder hurt her mentally but also it physically affects other parts of her body. When feeling the urge to eat, she claws at her skin on her back where it can be covered by clothes. Nina’s fingers are also covered with bandages to conceal her skin she carelessly peals away. The thought of becoming a perfect ballerina literally begins to kill her. Although Nina never sought help, there are plenty of ways she could have. Cognitive-behavioral therapy or group therapy would both have been very helpful for her situation. Cognitive-behavioral therapy focuses on current behavior rather than childhood or past experiences. The therapists typically address ways their patients should change the way they think and behave, assign homework, and offer strategies of how to change them for the better. Group therapy also would have been an effective way to treat Nina’s eating disorder. If she went to group therapy and saw that other people were going through the same thing as her and got better, it would have encouraged her that she could do the same. How to cite Eating Disorders (the Black Swan), Essay examples

Ethics of Human Resource Management-Free-Samples for Students

Question: Discuss about the ethics of Human resource management. Answer: Human Resource Management can be considered the most effective and easy people Management concept that is utilised across various different kinds of organisational scenarios. However it has to be mentioned that there is a significant difference between core human resource management and people management. According to the authors traditional people management only focuses on organising and controlling employees from an administrative point of view. However in case of human resource management the employees are often treated as a resource rather than being actual people (Berman et al. 2012). That is the reason the ethics and morality of human resource management in the organisational scenario has been researched and criticized many times. One of the most sought after school of thought regarding the ethics of human resource management has been provided by the Kantian research. This essay will attempt to explore the Kantian imperatives of human resource management and whether human reso urce management could ever treat employees as end in themselves instead of a tool or resource. In order to correlate the construct of ethics and morality with human resource management, the core ideology and principles of human resource management and its contribution and importance and organizational scenario has to be understood. Strategic human resource management (SRHM) is a very important component of organizational structure. The primary contribution of SHRM on the organizational scenario is providing and ensuring skilled, committed, and inspired workforce that facilitates sustainable competitive advantage to the organization. Strategic human resource management (SRHM) relies on resource base theories and frameworks that emphasizes investment in each of the employees equivalent to the profitability value that a company can achieve by facilitating a strategic fit between the human resources and the opportunities they can provide to the company (BoltonandHoulihan 2007). Elaborating on the origin and development of SRHM, it can be mentioned that there are two theoretical principles based on which SRHM functions. One reflects a contingency approach between employee motivation and employee engagement with desired performance outcomes. On a more elaborative note, this process of strategic human resource management is targeted at improving in controlling employee behavior in engagement to achieve optimal performance outcomes and profitability for the company. Known as the Hard SHRM strategy, it uses contextual variables in order to arrive at the best way to manage people only to achieve the organizational goals (Bowie 2017). On the other hand the soft approach focuses on high commission high-performance strategy to people management. Hence it can be mentioned that in contrast the soft HRM techniques facilities of psychological link between organization and employee engagement in order to achieve the desired goals, whereas the hard technique involved no p sychological attachment for the employees. Overall, the employees or human resource to be precise, are treated as tools or machinery by the company where the optimal benefits are excised based on different strategic approaches (Boxall and Purcell 2017). Basic principle of SHRM, there are many substantial benefits which makes SHRM the most important components of organisational structure and operational management. First and foremost it has to be mentioned that SHRM has a direct link with effective business planning and effective human resource deployment based on expertise and experience. According to the authors Human Resource Management anticipates individual employee performance outcomes and relates it with the long term goals and strategies of the organisation. SHRM also has significant role in the cost benefit analysis and planning of an organisation in terms of employment, training, and remuneration cost imbalance management. Lastly, a suitable SHRM technique also helps in maintaining and enhancing the market demand and reputation providing the organization with a competitive advantage. Therefore, HRM is an essential element of the business process management, although maintaining the humanitarian ethics in the organizational scenario often is very difficult in the cut throat corporate world (Gotsis and Kortezi 2010). According to the ideology of Immanuel Kant, humans or humanity should be treated as ends in themselves rather than being treated a means to an end. For instance, his ideology is based on the fundamental principle that people are not just a tool or resource to be used and exploited by the organizations rather they are ends in themselves. Now it has been mentioned that the ethical stand to the construct of human resource management has been researched and evaluated time and time again in research. The morality of ethics of Human Resource Management can be effectively correlated with the Kantian view (Bowie 2017). Elaborating more on the Kantian view any individual can only be considered ethical when that particular individual and his actions can be justified by preserving moral worth. The fundamental element of Kantian ethics is based on the difference between categorical and hypothetical need or necessity, only in the case that the person utilizes logical unreasonable path to address that need. Along with that, the author has also mentioned that for any categorical imperative to be considered ethical, moral commands must be involved in the decision making as well (Greenwood 2013). Extending the principles of Kantian ethics to human resource management, it can be mentioned that in terms of reversibility and universality, any action that is thought to be accurate for one particular individual will have similar effects in case of all other individuals. In this regard it can be argued that even human resource management needs to treat all individuals equally in order to maintain optimal ethics and morality of the construct. Moreover, the Kantian ethics when correlated with strategic Human Resource Management, indicates the use of a deontological view to the entire scenario. According to Kantian principles, the human resource management should also consider the people as the ends themselves, a part of the goal rather than treating them as only objects in path of achieving the goal. Therefore it can be mentioned that the Kantian point view of human resource management directs SHRM to be compassionate and supportive of employee rights and benefits along withorganizat ional profitability and goals. Along with that the human resource management, in terms of Kantian ethics, should optimize their strategies ensuring the greater good if the employees as well along with the organizational profit, and in order to enhance profitability or minimize, the employee rights and welfare must not be compromised on any manner (Jack, Greenwood and Schapper 2012). Despite the Kantian ethics being correlated with human resource management in research studies, there are no effective results being reflected in the strategic human resource management scenarios of different organizational sectors. In the present corporate scenario the employees are still treated as a tool or resource that provides the means for the company to attain the organizational goals. The severity with which the employees are treated as resource that is utilized in order to attend specific ends depends on their hierarchical position in the organization. The lower ranks are often the most exploited resources in most of the organizations and their welfare is the most neglected in the present day scenario. Now there are many contributing factors that can be discussed here as restricting the human resource management from developing a particular morale. First and foremost, organizational culture and corporate stereotype needs to be mentioned. It must not be ignored that the enti re construct of human resource management or administrative operational management is focused on the sole prospect of increasing profitability and market demand of the organization and facilitating smooth the business process management. That is the reason that strategies that are employed in both human resource management and operational management scenario in most of the organizations are only concerned with the processes and practices that will aid to the enhanced profitability and productivity, regardless of the impact on the employees (Jiang et al. 2012). On the other hand it also has to be mentioned that there are many moral conflicts that an HR manager needs to face in the organizational scenario which makes the path of following ethical and moral integrity very difficult. According to the article by Pinnington, MacklinandCampbell (2007), maintaining justice and impartiality in the organizational decision making can be very difficult in the face of more than one decision makers. It is also supported by the fact that the organizational decision making or HR policy implementation is not always in the hands of the human resource management, there are many other stakeholders that are involved with the process. Now the question remains whether HR management is powerless while maintaining morality and justice in the organization. Despite the human resource management not being the sole purpose of justice in an organization the influence of the human resource management on the business processes is also significant. With honest effort and dedication towards safeguarding the best interest of the employee along with it into the organizational performance and productivity can enhance the morality of HR and construct (Patrick Neumann and Dul 2010). The present age of technological revolution in globalization and with all the changes that are operating in the organizational sector treating the employees just as a resource is a highly flawed perception. It has to be mentioned that organizations can obtain profits only on the basis of the performance and hard work that the employees invest and hence they also deserve to be valued by the company. The human resource management can be the first step in safeguarding the employee rights and abiding the contracts or promises can actually implement lawful and justified fairness in the work culture of organizations. Hence despite being difficult treating the employees as ends in themselves instead of means to an end is not impossible for human resource management with effort and will. References: Berman, E.M., Bowman, J.S., West, J.P. and Van Wart, M.R., 2012.Human resource management in public service: Paradoxes, processes, and problems. Sage. Bolton, S.C,andHoulihan.H,(2007).Searching for the human in human resource management.NewYork:Macmillan,availablefrom:https://books.google.co.in/books?id=V_AcBQAAQBAJprintsec=frontcoverdq=Searching+for+the+human+in+HRM:+theory,+practice+and+workplace+contextshl=ensa=Xved=0ahUKEwidoa2y9qTZAhXKLY8KHYkzALUQ6AEIJjAA#v=onepageq=Searching%20for%20the%20human%20in%20HRM%3A%20theory%2C%20practice%20and%20workplace%20contextsf=false.[accessed on] 15th February, 2018. Bowie, N.E., 2017.Business ethics: A Kantian perspective. Cambridge University Press. Boxall, P. and Purcell, J., 2011.Strategy and human resource management. Palgrave Macmillan. Gotsis, G.N. and Kortezi, Z., 2010. Ethical considerations in organizational politics: Expanding the perspective.Journal of Business Ethics,93(4), pp.497-517. Greenwood, M., 2013. Ethical analyses of HRM: A review and research agenda.Journal of Business Ethics,114(2), pp.355-366. Jack, G., Greenwood, M. and Schapper, J., 2012. Frontiers, intersections and engagements of ethics and HRM.Journal of business ethics,111(1), pp.1-12. Jiang, K., Lepak, D.P., Hu, J. and Baer, J.C., 2012. How does human resource management influence organizational outcomes? A meta-analytic investigation of mediating mechanisms.Academy of management Journal,55(6), pp.1264-1294. Kalshoven, K. and Boon, C.T., 2012. Ethical leadership, employee well-being, and helping: The moderating role of human resource management.Journal of Personnel Psychology,11(1), p.60. Koonmee, K., Singhapakdi, A., Virakul, B. and Lee, D.J., 2010. Ethics institutionalization, quality of work life, and employee job-related outcomes: A survey of human resource managers in Thailand.Journal of business research,63(1), pp.20-26. Patrick Neumann, W. and Dul, J., 2010. Human factors: spanning the gap between OM and HRM.International journal of operations production management,30(9), pp.923-950. Pinnington,A,,Macklin,R.,andCampbell,T.,2007.Human resource management: ethics and employment.Oxford University Press,pp. 260-270.available from: https://www.hrpa.ca/Documents/Designations/Job-Ready-Program/Human-Resource-Management-Ethics-and-Employment.pdf.[accessed on] 15th February, 201

Expanding Circle - Definition and Examples

Expanding Circle s The expanding circle is made up of countries in which English has no special administrative status but is recognized as a lingua franca and is widely studied as a foreign language. Countries in the expanding circle include China, Denmark, Indonesia, Iran, Japan, Korea, and Sweden, among many others. According to linguist Diane Davies, recent research suggests that some countries in the Expanding Circle have . . . begun to develop distinctive ways of using English, with the result that the language has an increasingly important functional range in these countries and is also a marker of identity in some contexts (Varieties of Modern English: An Introduction, Routledge, 2013). The expanding circle is one of the three concentric circles of World English described by linguist Braj Kachru in Standards, Codification and Sociolinguistic Realism: The English Language in the Outer Circle (1985). The labels inner, outer, and expanding circles represent the type of spread, the patterns of acquisition, and the functional allocation of the English language in diverse cultural contexts. Although these labels are imprecise and in some ways misleading, many scholars would agree with Paul Bruthiaux that they offer a useful  shorthand  for classifying contexts of English world-wide   (Squaring the Circles in the International Journal of Applied Linguistics,  2003). Examples and Observations The spread of English in the Expanding Circle is largely a result of foreign language learning within the country. As in the Outer Circle, the range of proficiency in the language among the population is broad, with some having native-like fluency and others having only minimal familiarity with English. However, in the Expanding Circle, unlike the Outer Circle, there is no local model of English since the language does not have official status and, in Kachrus (1992) terms, has not become institutionalized with locally developed standards of use.(Sandra Lee McKay, Teaching English as an International Language: Rethinking Goals and Approaches. Oxford University Press, 2002)Expanding Circle English and Lingua Franca English- Despite the all-pervasive use of English throughout what many like to term the international community and despite countless anecdotes about emerging varieties such as Euro-English, professional linguists have so far shown only limited interest in describing lingua franca English as a legitimate language variety. The received wisdom seems to be that only when English is a majority first language or an official additional language does it warrant description. . . . Expanding Circle English is not deemed worthy of such attention: users of English who have learned the language as a foreign language are expected to conform to Inner Circle norms, even if using English constitutes an important part of their lived experience and personal identity. No right to rotten English for them, then. Quite the contrary: for Expanding Circle consumption, the main effort remains, as it has always been, to describe English as it is used among the British and American native speakers and then to distribute (Widdowson 1997: 139) the resulting descriptions to those who speak English in nonnative contexts around the world.(Barbara Seidlhofer and Jennifer Jenkins, English as a Lingua Franca and the Politics of Property. The Politics of English as a World Language, ed. by Christian Mair. Rodopi, 2003)- I argue . . . that a lingua franca model is the most sensible model in those common and varied contexts where the learners major reason for [studying] English is to communicate with other non-native speakers. . . . [U]ntil we are able to provide teachers and learners with adequate descriptions of lingua franca models, teachers and learners will have to continue to rely on either native-speaker or nativized models. We have seen how a native-speaker model, while appropriate for a minority of teachers and learners, is inappropriate for the majority for a range of linguistic, cultural and political reasons. A nativized model may be appropriate in Outer and in certain Expanding Circle countries, but this model also carries the disadvantage of cultural inappropriacy when learners require English as a lingua franca to communicate with other non-native speakers.(Andy Kirkpatrick, Which Model of English: Native-Speaker, Nativized, or Lingua Franca? English i n the World: Global Rules, Global Roles, ed. by Rani Rubdy and Mario Saraceni. Continuum, 2006) Also Known As: extending circle

Mujahideen (Definition)

Mujahideen (Definition) Definition: A mujahid is one who strives or struggles on behalf of Islam; mujahideen is the plural of the same word. The word mujahid is an Arabic participle drawn from the same root as the Arabic word jihad, to strive or struggle. The term is most frequently used in reference to the self named Afghan mujahideen, the guerrilla fighters who battled the Soviet army from 1979 – 1989, when the Soviets withdrew in defeat. The Soviets invaded in December, 1979 in order to provide support a recently installed pro-Soviet prime minister, Babrak Karmal. The mujahideen were fighters from the mountainous areas of the largely rural country, and also maintained bases in Pakistan. They were entirely independent of the government. Mujahideen fought under the command of tribal leaders, who also headed Islamist political parties, which ranged from radical to moderate. The mujahideen received arms by way of Pakistan and Iran, both of which share a border. They made use of an arsenal of guerrilla tactics to thwart the Soviets, such as laying ambushes or blowing up gas pipelines between the two countries. They were estimated to be about 90,000 strong in the mid-1980s. The Afghan mujahideen were not seeking to wage an aggressive jihad beyond national boundaries, but were rather fighting a nationalist war against an occupier. The language of Islam helped unify a population that was- and still isotherwise very heterogonous: Afghans have many tribal, ethnic and linguistic differences. After the war ended in 1989, these different factions returned to their previous divisiveness and fought each other, until the Taliban established rule in 1991. These unorganized guerrilla warriors were viewed as outlaws by their Soviet enemy and as freedom fighters by the Reagan Administration in the U.S., which supported the enemy of its enemy, the Soviet Union. Alternate Spellings: mujahedeen, mujahedin

Modern Leadership Principles Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Modern Leadership Principles - Essay Example These goals indeed lead the organization to the successful heights that it had every dreamt of achieving. In the process of accomplishing these tasks, there are many obstacles that need to be addressed. The environment, under which the organization puts forth its work, plays a critical role. These goals can be achieved by executing the tasks. For successful execution of these tasks, we need to have a guideline and organizations prefer to have these goals assigned as tasks to specific personnel. These personnel are the one's responsible to lead the team/group of people in successful completion of their duties. There are various definitions to describe the characteristic features of leadership. John Maxwell sums up his definition of leadership as "leadership is influence - nothing more, nothing less. This moves beyond the position defining the leader, to looking at the ability of the leader to influence others - both those who would consider themselves followers, and those outside that circle. Indirectly, it also builds in leadership character, since without maintaining integrity and trustworthiness, the capability to influence will disappear (Teal.org, nd). An organization always looks forward to have experienced personnel as well as the personnel who exhibit leadership skills to take up important tasks to benefit the entire organization. Leadership quality is the most sort after characteristic that the organizations seek in the personnel. Leadership requires the personnel to guide the entire team/group to attain the goals. As an individual has their own point of view regarding the critical issues, it is very important to gain a certain level of understanding amongst various individuals. There might be various situations where in certain amount of conflicts arise due to individual point of view. Importance of leadership Leadership is a characteristic that has engulfed all the organizations in recent times. As there is a transfer of cultures, technology update and many more challenges coming up there are a huge number of tasks that need to be accomplished every moment at the right time. To accomplish these tasks at the right time, there has to be proper management as there are numerous tasks to be accomplished. These management issues are always achieved by a certain motive. This particular characteristic of the motive is known as Leadership (Justin Sturek, 2005). A quality that helps in executing the tasks and then achieving the assigned goals can be defined as Leadership. Leadership is a characteristic of knowing oneself, the capabilities and the potential of working things out when required to attain a particular state of action. It is about having a vision about the goals to be accomplished. The vision of accomplishing the tasks at a particular level of success is very essential to guide the team members in the right direction. Leadership also involves the primary feature of building trust among the colleagues. All these have to be attained by taking effective action to realize your own leadership potential. The quality of leadership in organizations can be defined in a different manner. It is usually defined as the characteristic

Marketing Cmmunications Plan Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Marketing Cmmunications Plan - Essay Example We are suggesting a few ideas in the form of our marketing communication plan which are as follows: we would put up posters everywhere and hand out leaflets containing our telephone number and web address and also advertise on the TV and on internet, we would try to promote our website, giving links to it on famous websites such as www.yahoo.com and www.msn.com and others. People with houses and businesses around the areas that would be affected by the London 2012 Olympics are no doubt not in complete darkness and probably do have a hint of what business opportunities might come their way when Olympics comes to their neighborhood but once people have established their firms and businesses, getting them to conform according to the need of the times can be at times a tedious but worthwhile task to undertake. Hence we felt that there is a dire need to put a promotional plan into action to persuade people to gear up for the games. One problem we face is that people might perceive these p rofit opportunities to be of a short-term nature, most businesses are of the opinion that these opportunities would arise during the games and would go away when the Olympics is over and leaves town, so changing the whole nature of their operations to be perfect for the business needs of few days is an idea not very appealing to both the small scale as well as the extremely well developed businesses, especially the well developed ones. People are comfortable making minor alterations but when it comes to total restructuring people are quite iffy over it. ... are no doubt not in complete darkness and probably do have a hint of what business opportunities might come their way when Olympics comes to their neighborhood but once people have established their firms and businesses, getting them to conform according to the need of the times can be at times a tedious but worthwhile task to undertake. Hence we felt that there is a dire need to put a promotional plan into action to persuade people to gear up for the games. One problem we face is that people might perceive these profit opportunities to be of a short-term nature, most businesses are of the opinion that these opportunities would arise during the games and would go away when the Olympics is over and leaves town, so changing the whole nature of their operations to be perfect for the business needs of few days is an idea not very appealing to both the small scale as well as the extremely well developed businesses, especially the well developed ones. People are comfortable making minor alterations but when it comes to total restructuring people are quite iffy over it. So we feel that there is a need to project the fact that firstly the event doesn't merely bring short-term benefits but rather an opportunity to form ties and long term contacts, it provides them with the opportunity of projecting their business and companies all over the world, a chance to represent them selves and secondly even if you consider only the massive short-term sale, only for the