Monday, January 27, 2020
Why do I really need knowledge?
Why do I really need knowledge? Knowledge is defined as ââ¬Å"justified true beliefâ⬠[1]. This means that knowledge is any justified belief that can be proven to be true. The question ââ¬ËThe whole point of knowledge is to produce both meaning purpose in our personal lives.ââ¬â¢ will be the basis for my essay. This statement claims that as we gain knowledge, we gain meaning and purpose that affect our personal lives, which is to say, we find the answers we were looking for and also a thirst to know more. However, I do not believe that, when we gain knowledge, it affects everyone around us. My mother is a banker, the knowledge she has gained, not only helps her, but mainly impacts on others around her, because with that knowledge she has started her own bank. Whenever we gain knowledge, we also gain answers and more questions. In the Oscar Pistorius case, police investigators wanted to establish why he killed his girlfriend (meaning) and whether it was even him that killed his girlfriend (purpose).[2] I n this case, meaning is linked to intent, because there needs to be a reason for it and purpose is linked to opportunity, because there needs to be a way. When we gain new knowledge we feel better aware and more curious about our surroundings. That is to say, we learn to give ourselves meaning and purpose and in turn affect others, there are many cases where this is proven. Isaac Newton can be an example, when he first wondered about gravity he was sitting under a tree when an apple fell on his head. It was then that he wondered what force made things fall. He sought to find meaning to why the objects always fell back to earth, so he began experimenting on different objects, using reason, he used the resulting knowledge he got from his observation to determine that anything that goes up must fall down to the ground[3]. These discover he made were later called the laws of gravity and since they have many uses. It has become common sense since people now know to be cautious when deali ng with high places. When I was little, I picked up my baby sister from her crib while she was sleeping, when my mother found me with my sister dangling by a foot, she screamed. This is because she knows the fundamentals about gravity and that if my sister fell, she wouldââ¬â¢ve been hurt. Isaac Newton also developed the laws of motion, which states that an object in motion will continue to stay in motion until and external force is acted on it[4]. The laws of motion are used in different fields like car manufacturing, car testing, aeronautics, These laws also have provided a basis for many creations, for example, parachutes, trampolines, diving boards, etc. When a person is driving and suddenly sees someone or something on the road in front of them, they immediately hit the brakes, as they know that if they kept going, they would collide with the person/thing in front of them, causing damage to the person/thing, or to themselves/their car. Also, when they hit the brakes, an opposing force is acted on the cars forward motion, which in turn stops the car from moving. Two summers ago, I was riding a bike in my cousinââ¬â¢s house really fast. I wanted to slow down so I could get off the bike, but I mistakenly pressed the brakes, the bike stop abruptly and I was thrown out of the seat, I flipped over the handlebars and landed on my head. This is how the laws of motion would apply, because I hit the brakes, the bike stopped, but I didnââ¬â¢t stop, so that was why I flew off. When Isaac Newton discovered these laws, it was not for any higher reason than just to learn the answers for the whyââ¬â¢s and the whatââ¬â¢s of knowledge, in this, he had gained the meaning, but he still had no intention of gaining a purpose for his life from this, it was later, that other people found the meaning and purpose in the knowledge that he had discovered. Medical professionals (doctors, dentists, veterinaries, etc.) who have learnt medicine, anatomy, biology, etc. they used the knowledge they learnt to achieve a meaning of understanding how animal and plant bodied work, and the purpose of using that knowledge to help examine, treat or cure any injuries or illnesses within the body. My sister told me that she wants to become a pediatrician; she can only gain this knowledge for the purpose of helping children. Whenever there is a terrorist attack, whether Boko Haram, ISIS, Al Qaeda, investigators always researches everything, not only the terrorists attacking, but the victims being attacked, this is so that they can stop more attacks from happening. This is because if they can understand why a place was attacked (meaning), then it would be easier to stop other attacks in other locations (purpose). In economics, perfect competition is described as a situation where firms in an industry are relatively small in stature, have perfect knowledge of each other and are price takers[5]. This is mainly theoretically though as it cannot be practically implemented due to a wide range of unknown and inconstant variables. Although it is proven that this situation cannot exist, economists use the theory of perfect competition to determine the effect on the economy if it were to be practiced. This example is different because there is no real life scenario to go with it, but it still boosters the main point as the economists that theorized this scenario used whatever experimentation they had to come to the conclusion that it cannot exist, that is to say that the economists gained meaning from this experiment and the purpose of proving or disproving other economic scenarios. A monopoly is a situation where by a single firm has control over an entire industry, so they enjoy economies of scale and have price setting abilities[6]. In Nigeria, there are four main telecommunications companies; MTN, Airtel, Glo Etisalat, these four are individually owned by private firm. In Ethiopia, there is only one telecommunications company that is government owned. The Nigerian companies not only offer variety, but they also have an unrestricted service plan, meaning there are no limitations or restrictions to the use of the service, this is because their main aim of these firms is to make profit. The consumer can simply switch from one service provider to another if that customer is unsatisfied with their current service plan provider. The Ethiopian company is the only provider, so there is no need for any variety of services, they do not need to offer special plans or promotions or discounts because there is no competition for the company, there will also be heavily mo nitored and restricted use of the services because the main aim of the company is not to make profit, but to promote citizen optimization as they see fit, meaning that they will not allow any misuse of the service plan. There is also the fact that even if the customers are not satisfied with the service, there is nothing that they can do because they cannot change their service plan there is only one telecommunication company in the country. Here I have given two economic scenarios, the one in Nigeria is monopolistic competition, and the other in Ethiopia is a monopoly. In the first scenario, we can tell that there will be excess consumer satisfaction by the choice of four different service plans and the unrestricted access. However, in the second scenario, there would be excess dissatisfaction by the inability of choice, and the heavily restricted access. From my perception of these two scenarios, I can reason that the Nigerian telecommunication system is better because if offers t he right of choice and other benefits as opposed to the Ethiopian telecommunication system which would only offer on choice with no special benefits and at whatever price the government sets. Here is an example of how we can gain meaning but not purpose, because if someone can gain the knowledge of the monopoly of the Ethiopian telecommunications company, they can now understand why people would want to move from Ethiopia to Nigeria, but they will have nothing to do with this knowledge. The only reason for acquiring any form of knowledge would be to gain both meaning and purpose in our lives because once we have the knowledge, we understand how it involves up, meaning, and what we set out to accomplish with it. References: google. theory+of+knowledge. n.d. website. 22 November 2014. ib-theory-of-knowledge-website. n.d. Webpage. 22 January 2015. theoryofknowledgestudents.com. n.d. webpage. 2 December 2014. Blink, Jocelyn and Ian Dorton. Economics Course Companion. New York: Oxford University Press, 2011. 1 [1] The philosopher Platoââ¬â¢s definition of knowledge [2] Oscar Pistorius murder investigation [3] Newtonââ¬â¢s first law of gravity [4] Isaac Newtonââ¬â¢s first law of motion [5] Theory of perfect competition [6] Theory of monopoly
Sunday, January 19, 2020
The Spanish-American War :: Spanish-American War Essays
THESIS : ââ¬Å" The United States didnââ¬â¢t want to get involved in the Spanish-American War, but was dragged into it due to yellow journalism, they wanted to control the seas, and wanted complete control over Cuba.â⬠For 113 days during the summer of 1898, the United States was at war with Spain. Neither the president of the United States, nor his cabinet, nor the the queen of Spain, nor her ministers wanted the war wanted the war. It happened eventhough they made their best efforts to prevent it. It happened because of ambition, miscalculation, and stupidity; and it happened because of kindness, wit, and resourcefulness. It also happened because some were indifferent to the suffering of the worldââ¬â¢s wretched and others were not (Oââ¬â¢Toole 17). By winning the war the United States proved the the rest of the world and to itself that it could and would fight against foreign nations. For many years, world power had been concentrated in the countries in Europe. Nations such as Great Britain, France, Germany, and Spain had the most influence in global affairs. But a shift in power was gradually taking place as the United States matured. The young nation gained wealth and strength. Its popul ation grew immensely, and many people believed it would become a major world power (Bachrach, 11) Spain was one of the many European countries that had territory in the United States. Spain controlled mostly some islands off the coast of Central America. The most important of these were Cuba and Puerto Rico. The United States was led to believe that the Spanish mosgoverned and abused the people of these islands. In fact, Spain did overtax and mistreat the Cubans, who rebelled in 1868 and again in 1895. Thus, the American people felt sympathetic toward the Cuban independence movement. In addition, Spain had frequently interfered with trade between its colonies and the United States. Even though the United States had been a trading partner with Cuba since the seventeenth century, Spain sometimes tried to completely stop their trade with Cuba. In Spain doing so, this sometimes caused damage to U.S. commercial interests. The United States highly disagreed with Spainââ¬â¢s right to in terfere with this trade relationship. (Bachrach, 12) The United States was also concerned that other trading and commercial interests were threatened by the number of ships and soldiers Spain kept in the area. If the United States had to fight a war with Canada or Mexico, these Spanish forces could quickly mobilize against the United States. The Spanish-American War :: Spanish-American War Essays THESIS : ââ¬Å" The United States didnââ¬â¢t want to get involved in the Spanish-American War, but was dragged into it due to yellow journalism, they wanted to control the seas, and wanted complete control over Cuba.â⬠For 113 days during the summer of 1898, the United States was at war with Spain. Neither the president of the United States, nor his cabinet, nor the the queen of Spain, nor her ministers wanted the war wanted the war. It happened eventhough they made their best efforts to prevent it. It happened because of ambition, miscalculation, and stupidity; and it happened because of kindness, wit, and resourcefulness. It also happened because some were indifferent to the suffering of the worldââ¬â¢s wretched and others were not (Oââ¬â¢Toole 17). By winning the war the United States proved the the rest of the world and to itself that it could and would fight against foreign nations. For many years, world power had been concentrated in the countries in Europe. Nations such as Great Britain, France, Germany, and Spain had the most influence in global affairs. But a shift in power was gradually taking place as the United States matured. The young nation gained wealth and strength. Its popul ation grew immensely, and many people believed it would become a major world power (Bachrach, 11) Spain was one of the many European countries that had territory in the United States. Spain controlled mostly some islands off the coast of Central America. The most important of these were Cuba and Puerto Rico. The United States was led to believe that the Spanish mosgoverned and abused the people of these islands. In fact, Spain did overtax and mistreat the Cubans, who rebelled in 1868 and again in 1895. Thus, the American people felt sympathetic toward the Cuban independence movement. In addition, Spain had frequently interfered with trade between its colonies and the United States. Even though the United States had been a trading partner with Cuba since the seventeenth century, Spain sometimes tried to completely stop their trade with Cuba. In Spain doing so, this sometimes caused damage to U.S. commercial interests. The United States highly disagreed with Spainââ¬â¢s right to in terfere with this trade relationship. (Bachrach, 12) The United States was also concerned that other trading and commercial interests were threatened by the number of ships and soldiers Spain kept in the area. If the United States had to fight a war with Canada or Mexico, these Spanish forces could quickly mobilize against the United States.
Saturday, January 11, 2020
Personal Recount Essay
Megan did not have a bright attitude towards school. She was always not looking forward to studying because she has problem coping in school. Whenever they bring in a new topic, she sighs heavily knowing she would take a long time to understand it even though it is considered an easy topic to the rest of the class. She was always positioned last in class and having a mere fifty-five percent and below for her percentage in exams and tests. Her position in level is one of the bottom few. She did not like being in a school filled with intellegent students. Her teacher, Mrs Tay, had asked the class to prepare a short speech to say in front of the class on what they want to be when they grow up and what are they are going to do to achieve their goal. Most of the students had said that they want to be a doctor, a lawyer, a banker or even an Army Sergent. Many of them had bright futures waiting for them. They all wanted to complete their Masters and futher their education abroad. When it came to Meganââ¬â¢s turn, she look down into her script nervously and read out her speech. She was hesitant to speak the truth but she decided that she should not be embarrased as she too has embitions. She wanted to be a veternarian to help cure sick and needy animals as she had once lost her dog in a car accident. Many of her classmates were shocked. They did not expect a weak student to have high embitions. After speaking out, her classmates shouted from their seats, saying she can do it. Mrs Tay gave words of encourangement which made her delighted. After class, Megan went up to Mrs Tay. She asked her if she could have one-to-one sessions with her to help her. Mrs Tay gladly took her under her wings. As months pass and her PSLE finishing, Megan made an increasing improvement. She was now confident in her work, partake in class work and volunteer to help others. Teachers were saying among themselves that she has changed into a positive and outspoken person unlike before. She was the role model of many students in her school. When the day of the results of the PSLE came, Megan was confident. She knew she had done her best regardless of her aggregate. Mrs Tay passed to her her certificate and it shows A for most of her subjects. Megan jumped for joy and many of her friends went up to her to congratulate her. Her effort paid off. If she had not shared her embitions, she wouldnââ¬â¢t be excelling in her subjects.
Friday, January 3, 2020
Internet and the Music Industry - 1092 Words
Internet and the Music Industry Cassandra Utz University of Phoenix In our society today, there is a growing number of consumers using the Internet as a main source for music. The smaller music companies are having to come up with new and different ways to use the Internet to increase their sales. The music companies can drive there sales because so many people are previewing songs online by downloading it first. The artists are also able to capitalize on their music via the Internet. The Internet is capable of reaching all types of people all over the world. The music industry has been madeâ⬠¦show more contentâ⬠¦The bigger companies like Warner Music Group, Universal Music Group, Song BMG Music Entertainment, etc., have the big dollars to promote all of their artists. Because the Internet has caught on, all of the music companies can promote everyone. Even the little companies can do this. Hopefully, the music industry will look at this as a blessing in disguise for the underground labels. Looking at this in the short-term of thing s, downloading music could hurt the music industry and their profits. However, later down the line, it will eventually benefit them. In a study done by Ipsos-Reid, it shows that 81% of the public that download music, often spend at least the same on records or even more than they did before downloading music from the Internet. The record industry must concentrate on offering value to the user and adapt to the publics needs (Vives, 2004). The music industry should try to realize that the ideas behind free downloads can benefit them. They should do what they can to market more from it, rather than turning their noses up at the technology behind it. They should realize that they waste more money on fighting the sites that offer free downloads and lobbing Congress to stop the downloading, they should build a system in which all music is readily available free. Making sites with easy to follow links to other online music store so that the people can buy music from the same place t hat they listen to it. With music industry coming into theShow MoreRelatedThe Music Industry : The Advent Of The Internet1683 Words à |à 7 PagesThe music industry is one of the few industries that have enjoyed complete dominance in their particular segment from their very beginnings all the way up to the late 1990s. Once the internet began to take hold, and become available in every home, the music industry began losing ground in their market segment. Digital downloading through the internet became so popular that record labels began losing money at a significant rate. Their reaction to illegal downloading has been controversial, as wellRead MoreThe Impact Of Internet On The Music Industry1276 Words à |à 6 PagesIntroduction: The music industry consists of the companies and individuals that make money by creating and selling music (Wikipedia). The current music industry which emerged around the middle of the 20th century has been undergoing drastic changes for the past two decades. When the Internet, and peer-to-peer file-sharing services such as Napster, Kazaa and Limewire, began their rise at the turn of the millennium, many predicted that the music industry, among other entertainment sectors, was headedRead MoreThe Effect Of Internet On The Music Industry1432 Words à |à 6 PagesLast year, David Byrne claimed that The internet will suck all creative content out of the world, (The Guardian 2013) a dramatic opinion that suggests that the use of the internet in the music industry is having harmful consequences. But is this entirely true? Music has always been an important part of people s lives, with the earliest forms of music being simply hitting rocks together to produce sounds. Over the years, music has developed into something more profound; a way of capturing the feelingsRead MoreEvolution Of The Internet And Its Effect On The Music Industry1628 Words à |à 7 PagesAmber Dawkins - Music Business Skills The Evolution Of The Internet And Its Effect On The Music Industry The evolution of digital music has created an obvious and drastic shift in the way consumers and producers view and use the music industry. The introduction of digitally compressed music files has made music so easily attainable to all for a small fee or to download illegally for free. This has made the music industry reevaluate how they are to make a profit off their art form. Social mediaRead MoreHow the Internet Changed the Music Industry Essay example1338 Words à |à 6 PagesHow the Internet Changed the Music Industry COM/156 September 11, 2011 Large music labels have made statements since the late 1990s regarding the Internetââ¬â¢s damage to music sales through piracy by showing the decline of CDs sold year over year. However, the music labels themselves did not realize the sales opportunities that could be provided by the Internet and only saw a damaging environment. The same music labels also neglected to take advantage of the Internet as a new venue to find popularRead MoreHow Has the Internet Changed the Music and Movie Industries3305 Words à |à 14 PagesMusic and motion pictures, two of the most popular forms of entertainment today, can easily be traced back hundreds of years ago. Yet a relatively newer form of entertainment (and information) has impacted those long-established industries in as little as a few years: the internet. Recorded music, technically speaking, can be traced back to April 9th, 1860 with ââ¬Å"Au Clair de la Luneâ⬠by Ãâ°douard-Là ©on Scott de Martinville . Though music existed long before this date, it marks the first time musicRead MoreInternet Piracy and the Music Industries Business Model - Research Project4472 Words à |à 18 PagesResearch Project: The Music Industryââ¬â¢s dramatic business model change from physical sales to digital downloads, how much the record labels are affected by internet piracy and how to regulate it. Information Discovery, Analysis and Interpretation Contents Page Page 1. Executive Summery 3 2. Scope of Report Read MoreHow Music Industry And Artists Have Been Affected By The Internet- 3rd Draft1559 Words à |à 7 PagesDecember 2015 How Music Industry and Artists Have Been Affected by the Internet- 3rd Draft Technology in this digital age has led to drastic changes in many sectors of life, especially needs to technology such as Internet as an information and connection resource. In fact, music has continually evolved at a rapid rate, and the music industry is struggling to keep up the pace. Issues ranging from illegally downloading and sharing of music, piracy to inevitable disputes over sites offering music streamingRead MoreImpact of New Media in Music Industry1394 Words à |à 6 PagesNew Media in Music Industry Introduction In the recent years, there have been changes in the structure of the Music industry and the paths that have been used for creating, promoting and distributing music. Most of these changes resulted from the advancements in technology, which affected both economic and technological structures of the industry. The digitization of music and its migration on to the Internet has been one of the biggest challenges to the traditional music industry. Ever since theRead MoreShould Public Access For The Internet?1477 Words à |à 6 Pagesââ¬Å"listening to musicâ⬠. Music is more accessible than ever in 2016, thanks to technology, computers, and the constantly growing use of the Internet. Just about every industry has been affected by these elements, and the music industry is no exception. Advances in technologies have had, without a doubt, a massive influence on music. However, whether this influence is good or bad is essentially subjective, as there are both positive and negative things to be said. Public access to the Internet has been around
Thursday, December 26, 2019
Comparing Carnap And Popper Propose Two Different Criteria
Carnap and Popper propose two different criteria of demarcation. Carnap proposes that theories be declared scientific based on whether they can be tested, at least in principle, and labels this his verification criteria. Popperââ¬â¢s method is based on whether a theory has empirical content which is the set of all possible excluded events proposed by a theory. The question is, is it possible to agree with both of these criteria? I would say no. The above criteria, by themselves, are not enough to govern demarcation. Both of these, while necessary, are not sufficient enough to conclude that a certain theory is scientific. Examining logical examples as well as historical events revels how these theories disagree with each other and are limitedâ⬠¦show more contentâ⬠¦The sun could not rise and be replaced with another celestial body and the theory would still be scientific according to Carnapââ¬â¢s criteria. Let us consider an example from history. Consider the Phlogiston t heory. This is a rather ancient, now disproven, theory arising in the 17th century that is the predecessor to the theory of combustion. The theory states that all combustible bodies contain Phlogiston. Upon burning, these bodies release Phlogiston to the air. The air can hold a finite amount of Phlogiston after which it is completely phlogisticated and no longer supports burning of a material. Carnap would consider this theory unscientific as it cannot be tested. At the time, there was no way to quantify or measure Phlogiston. No instruments existed at that time period that could have been used to measure Phlogiston which makes the theory unscientific. Who was to say what substances possess and do not possess Phlogiston since it could not be measured? On the other hand, Popper would argue that the theory is scientific as it has empirical content, it excludes non-combustible bodies from having Phlogiston. Let us consider a case where both Carnap and Popper would agree. Compare the Phlogiston theory to modern chemistry and combustion. Both Carnap and Popper would agree that combustion is scientific. Calorimeters exist that can measure heat released from chemical reactions quite easily. Combustion also lays out what happens upon a
Wednesday, December 18, 2019
The Killer Angels By Michael Shaara - 1117 Words
Michael Shaaraââ¬â¢s 1974 historical novel, The Killer Angels, covers the story of the four days of the Battle of Gettysburg that also features maps for visualization. The format of the story is well organized. It begins with a Foreword, which describes in great detail the armies and soldiers involved in the battle. It follows up with four sections and within each section there are chapters that are written in chronological order, covering the events between Monday, June 29, 1863 and Friday, July 3, 1863 in different perspectives. The first to reveal their thoughts is Harrison, the Confederate spy. Harrison reports his findings about the Union to James Longstreet. As a result, Robert E. Lee decides to move his troops to Gettysburg. Meanwhile, Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain proceeds to move his soldiers north. When John Buford, commander of the Union Cavalry, enters Gettysburg, he notices the Confederate infantry. Eventually, the armies clash. That was the mark of the beginning of the battle between the Union and the Confederates. Soon the rest of the Union army heard of the confrontation, so they prepared for battle. The Union and the Confederate army continued to plot plans against each other and fight for the next few days. Nonetheless, they both had their ups and downs. The characters are drawn from the words of the men themselves. In fact, Shaara states that he used letters and documents as sources. However, it is Shaaraââ¬â¢s own interpretation of the characters. Shaaraââ¬â¢sShow MoreRelatedThe Killer Angels By Michael Shaara1634 Words à |à 7 PagesPulitzer Prize-winning author Michael Shaara, the author of The Killer Angels, was born on June 23, 1928 in Jersey City, New Jersey. He was an author of science fiction, sports fiction, and historical fiction. Although writing was his passion, Shaara was very athletically successful in high school, winning more awards than any other student in the history of the school for sports such as basketball, tra ck and baseball. He acquired a skill in boxing, and of the 18 matches Shaara fought as a young man, heRead MoreThe Killer Angels By Michael Shaara1290 Words à |à 6 Pages The Killer Angels Essay ââ¬Å"There is no honorable way to kill, no gentle way to destroy. There is nothing good in war. Except its ending.â⬠Stated by Abraham Lincoln, this quote embodies the essence of war, its tragic character and unfortunate occasional necessity. Accordingly, the outcome of war and its battles is often determined by the attitudes of the leaders of the opposing sides, including their causes for the willingness to fight and to be fought. Such was the case with the Battle of GettysburgRead MoreThe Killer Angels By Michael Shaara1521 Words à |à 7 PagesThe book The Killer Angels was published in 1975 by the Ballatine Booksand was written by Michael Shaara. The Killer Angels is a historic novel about the time of the American Civil War, more specifically The Battle of Gettysburg. Shaara wrote this historical masterpiece with the sole purpose of letting the reader know exactly how the war was for the men actually putting their lives on the line to get this great country of America to the stature it is today. In order to accomplish his goal of creatingRead MoreThe Killer Angel By Michael Shaara1248 Words à |à 5 Pages The Killer Angel is a book elaborating on the history of the American civil war authored by Michael Shaara. The book has gained popularity among American citizens as it covers one of the deadliest battles in American history that took place at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, hence the title of the battle of Gettysburg (Shaara 5). The crash involved two major groups, the Confederacy, and the Union. The Confederacy constituted of seven secessionist states from the South who advocated forRead MoreThe Killer Angels By Michael Shaara1947 Words à |à 8 Pagesthe dueling North and South together to the small town of Gettysburg and on the threshold of splitting the Union. Gettysburg was as close as the United States got to Armageddon and The Killer Angels gives this full day-to-day account of the battle that shaped Americaââ¬â¢s future. Michael Shaara author of ââ¬Å"The Killer Angels,â⬠tells the story of the Battle of Gettysburg through the eyes of generals Robert E. Lee, Joshua Chamberlain, James Longstreet, and John Buford, and the other men involved in the actionRead MoreKiller Angels By Michael Shaara850 Words à |à 4 Pages In the Pulitzer Prize winning civil war novel Killer Angels, Michael Shaara covers five days of the historic battle between the Northern and Southern United States at Gettysburg. Both the North and the South fought for freedom, although they did not have equivalent definitions of freedom. The North and the South were unwavering in their beliefs and their hope for a better United States, but what the two butted heads the most on was slavery. The South was a primarily agrarian region which reliedRead MoreThe Killer Angels By Michael Shaara Essay1255 Words à |à 6 Pages In the novel The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara, the story is told from the perspective of the men that fough t in the war of Gettysburg in Pennsylvania on July 1863. We are able to see both sides of the combatants, their struggles they faced, friendships acquired, losses, personal stories and their views. In history we only learn the superficial information of how it occurred in the battle and the outcome of it, but we do not know how it happened and how much effort it took to fight in thatRead MoreThe Killer Angels By Michael Shaara1123 Words à |à 5 PagesThe Killer Angels Novel written by Michael Shaara describes the Gettysburg battle from the perspective of Robert E. Lee, James Longstreet, various soldiers from both sides, and other men who fought in the battle. This author makes the reader go back in time and actually makes the reader depict the circumstances, and situations that soldiers and generals faced. This Novel makes the reader know that both sides were eager to win, and bring this bloodshed to an end. This amazing Novel shows how neighborRead MoreThe Killer Angels By Micha el Shaara852 Words à |à 4 PagesThe Killer Angels by Michael Shaara was not just a fiction novel, it was a story of a man who actually saw the battlefield of Gettysburg and learned about the battle and its importance. When he returned from the battle sight he decided to write a novel based on his experience there. Instead of creating fictional characters he used the names and experiences he had directly with the main characters of the novel. Not only did Shaara study and review letters, documents and journal enteries of the menRead MoreThe Killer Angels By Michael Shaara1206 Words à |à 5 PagesShawn Gacy American Lit. Mrs. Moyer September 11, 2015 Summer Reading The book I chose to read over the summer was the book The Killer Angels, by Michael Shaara. The Killer Angels tells the story of the Battle of Gettysburg. On July 1, 1863, the Confederate army, and the Union army, fought the largest battle of the American Civil War. When the battle ended, fifty one thousand men were KIA (Killed In Action), wounded, or MIA (Missing in Action). All the characters in this book are based
Tuesday, December 10, 2019
Management Theory and Practice Apple Inc
Question: Discuss about the Management Theory and Practice for Apple Inc. Answer: Introduction: This essay highlights the ethical dilemma faced by an eminent organisation. This case study has been chosen for this essay is Apple Inc. In the organisational development approach, this organisation has been suffering from different challenges as well as several ethical problems. These ethical problems will be discussed in this study. As per the statement of Azim et al., (2016), business ethics is a process of applied and professional ethics, which determines the ethical principles as well as morale that arise within the organisational environment. During the operation, Apple Inc. were accused that they treat their employees inhumanly and treat them as machines. In addition, in order to increase the profitability statement and also to reduce the cost structure, Apple Inc. has hired 500000 workers. As a result, the productivity has started to increase in these two factories, which are located in Southern China(Ciulla, 2014). However, after the investigation, it can be observed that th e actual situation of the organisation was worsened than the prediction. There are several cases of unethical behaviour, which have faced by Apple Inc. and the dreadful things, which they put on the workers. This study described two theories about these organisational ethical issues to examine the dilemma. Ethical dilemma makes an effect on the organisational decision making procedure. On the other hand, ethical leadership as well as decision making is the important section of corporate social responsibility of a global company such as Apple Inc. In this essay of managerial ethical theory, multiple theories describes regarding the ethical issues. In this context, this study will describe Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mills Rule based ethical theory during eighteenth century (Conway Gawronski, 2013). Other theory is Virtue based ethical theory, which is older, compared to the Rule based ethical theory. Plato and Aristotle developed this ethical theory. Ethical behaviour of an organisation is affected by different organisational factors. As per the statement of De Wet (2015), the factors are such as business policies of the organisation, behaviour with the employees, organisational culture influence the ethical behaviour of the organisations. The senior decision makers of a company can highlight the organisational ethics. Doyle, Frecknall-Hughes Summers (2014) opined that ethical decision-making is needed to understand the impact of an action plan on the stakeholders. Therefore, it can be inferred that an ethical leader is essential to implement the cost benefit analysis before execute the project especially during the organisational development. Finally, Goetsch Davis (2014) mentioned that during the time of ethical decision making process, organisational ethical leader requires to have courage to implement the ethical action. On the contrary, it can be stated that sometimes organisations suffer from ethical dilemma, as a decisio n can be benefitted for the company, however, conflicts the willingness of the workers. In the opinion of Hair (2015), ethical theory can be differentiated into three categories. These theories are agent centred theory, consequentialist theory and non-consequentialist theory. Consequentialist theory concerns with the ethical outcome of a definite action. On the other hand, non-consequentialist theory highlights the purpose of person making ethical decision compared to the effect of the actions. Lastly, agent centred theory deals with the entire ethical status of the individual employee. Apple Inc. is one of the renowned technology companies in the world. The basic moral principle, which is followed by Apple, is honesty. In this context, Hoffman, Frederick Schwartz (2014) cited that Apple Inc. speculates honesty and also performs ethical behaviour during making business dealings. Apple expects that its workers require to avoid the situations if any confliction or difficulties occur. On the other hand, Apple expects that all of the partners, workers to respect the confidentiality of the organisational information not only to the staffs of the organisation, but also the consumers. According to Hsieh Kramer (2012), Apple also expects that its workers, including the parties whom the company can maintain the greatest standards of business conduct in the global market. Therefore, this organisation is concerned in making of partnership regardless to social disparity in different countries. The above figure depicted that social responsibility of an organisation is depending upon some definite factors such as economic, legal, ethical and philanthropic responsibilities. It is known that social responsibility of Apple Inc. is developing around the world. Recent surveys show that Apple Inc. has been following the above-mentioned four responsibilities. As per the statement of Johnson (2013), Apple is the first company in its class in this field. The growth sales of Iphone have increased by 143% from the last year and revenue earning by this organisation has reached to double from the previous year (from 15.70 billion to 28.57 billion).This proves that Apple is an ideal example, which fulfil its economic responsibility. On the other hand, Apple Inc. has taken step against the unethical conduct. Therefore, Apple has stopped to recruit underage labour in their organisation. Jordan et al., (2013) opined that Apple does not consider dangerous working circumstance in two facilitie s as well as bribery in one facility. Lastly, Apple has done a higher job related with the environmental issues, which range from the removal of toxic material from the manufacturing goods to recycling and also the use of greenhouse gas emission. However, Jussila, Goel Tuominen (2012) argued that Apple Inc. has been suffering from the practice of unethical behaviour in their business. After the employees get hired, they had to work excessive amount of overtime, almost three times as much. In addition, the workers can only take one day week off in each of the two weeks. However, they also do not receive the eligible remuneration, they receive only $17 to $22 as the per day wage rate. This is lower as per their eligibility. With the passage of time, the demand for the products of Apple has been increasing. In order to meet the demand of the consumers, the organisation requires to increase the level of production and hence, the employees are working overtime. As a result, life of the employees is getting miserable. The events in Southern China are disturbing and also upsetting. In this point, Ke Wang (2014) opined that Utilitarianism or rule based theory can maximise the happiness for the employees. On the other hand, the management of Apple Inc. disrespect their employees and also made hard their life. Kennedy, Herring Pieplow (2015) criticised that Apple run their organisations only for their personal gain and therefore, are not concern about the profitability of the individual labour. With the help of Virtue theory, Apple Inc. will be able to gain four virtues such as courage, honesty, justice and temperance. Apple did not have any courage to stop the abuse, as it was wrong and unethical. In addition, they were also not honest to the stakeholders. Temperance was also violated due to the expectation of each of the worker was unreasonable. Lastly, it can be stated that Apple Inc. was not justice for the workers as they did not apologise or reimburse their labours for their terrible treatment. In the words of Reamer (2013), business ethics in an organisation can be regulated by an individual or also by a set of individual. However, it reflects the overall business culture. Ethics highlights the actual course of business action. On the other hand, ethical behaviour is able to boost the sales of an organisation, product development and can also expand the organisational operation. In this present study, the rule based ethical issues and virtue based ethical issues are explained. The rule based ethical issue or utilitarian ethical theory describes the interest of all of the stakeholders of an organisation, who are reflected by the external and internal actions. Therefore, this theory mainly highlights the trade-off between the different decisions of the management and stakeholders. On the other hand, virtue based ethical theory illustrates some definite qualities, which define the ideal behaviour and determine the right action to take. Utilitarian ethical approach is a form of consequentialist theory. As mentioned by Ciulla (2014), if the consequences are moral, then the actions will be good and vice versa. This ethical based theory has developed by Jeremy Bentham. From the above study, it can be observed that business actions in Apple Inc. are not moral. In this point, Bentham mentioned that an act will consider as a moral act if the act has the capacity to produce greatest result for the greatest mass. The mission of Apple is to earn highest profitability as much as possible. Apple universalises technology and information. Hence, the largest number of people worldwide facilitates large unit of information. Chinese government in terms of imposing invisible trade barrier limited the ethics followed by Apple Inc. The decision of the government of Chine restricted the utilitarian ethics trailed by Apple Inc. Now the ethical dilemma in this stage can be discussed if Apple would agree the Chinese government, the organisation would violate the rule-based norm. Moreover, if the organisation would follow its own business ethics, it would violate the code of conduct not to violate the political laws. As a result, Apple Inc. has been suffering from ethical dilemma in case of decision-making procedure. On the contrary, Shin (2012) argued that utilitarian ethics has some limitations in the production of greatest outcomes. However, this ethical approach is great as long as it does not damage anybody. The outcome of Utilitarian approach is restricted if any company reduces the utility of the other stakeholders in case of increasing the companys own utility. In addition, Strom, Sears Kelly (2014) added that utilitarian ethical theory would provide that this approach needs to highlight all the possible courses of action as well as their consequences. Execution of this procedure needs greater interpersonal skills of the organisations managers as well as the leaders. According to the critics of utilitarian theory, it is not possible to measure the happiness of the other employees and also their satisfaction level(Hair, 2015). As a result, it is hard to measure the greatest benefit. Nevertheless, it can be stated from the example of Apple Inc. that the political and complexity makes it di fficult to formulate utilitarian theory based ethics in the purpose of maximising the benefits of the community. Virtue based ethical theory has focused to the internal characteristics of the individual. This theory also describes that within an organisation, it s necessary to develop the connection of trust. The final goal of virtue theory is to take right decision at the right time in the right way. Virtue is a positive behavioural trait, which is helpful to make its possessor a good human being. In addition, Weiss (2014) opined that virtue is differentiated from the single actions as well as the feelings. As per the concept of this theory, a virtue is related with the honesty and it is not just a tendency to do what is honest. Moreover, it can be said that a virtue is not helpfully specified as the desirable or as the morally valuable character trait. According to Zuber Asheim (2012), a virtue is concerned with several actions such as emotions, emotional reactions, choices, desires, attitudes, interests, expectations of the individuals of an organisation. In the words of Nicomachean, it can be mentioned that he highlighted that moral virtues of an organisation is connected with 11 moral virtues. These virtues are such as courage, temperance, liberty, magnificence, magnanimity, appropriate ambition, truthfulness, wittiness, friendliness, modesty, righteous indignation. Among these 11 moral virtues, Apple Inc. did not follow four major virtues and they are courage, honesty, temperance and justice. In the opinion of Conway Gawronski (2013), Apple Inc. were not honest towards the consum ers as well as towards the other stakeholders of the organisation. As per the concept of temperance, it can be noticed that Apple Inc. did not fulfil the expectation of each of the employees. The employees expect that they would receive higher wage rate as they usually got one week off in each of the two weeks. In addition, they had huge work pressure in order to increase the organisational productivity. Therefore, they were suffering from depression. Lastly, the employees did not get justice (Hsieh Kramer, 2012). The organisation did not apologise for this type of organisational practice towards the employees. The employees also did not get the compensation against this type of inhuman practice. Human rights employees work for documenting the human rights violation within a nation. Hence, this activity in Southern China would hit the willingness of some people as well as government (De Wet, 2015). As a result, the virtue activists aim to the social, economic as well as on the cult ural factors. Business ethics is the moral value of a company, which is necessary for the success of an organisation. Business ethics is appropriate for each of the business unit and also for the society. Business ethics are related to the all of the stakeholders of the organisation. The major stakeholders of Apple Inc. are such as consumers, suppliers and also the subordinates. Goetsch Davis (2014) opined that organisation ethics not only reflect the code of conduct within the organisation, but also includes the willingness of the associates and the employees. Moreover, it can be mentioned that each of the strategic decision has ethical values. The objective of a business is to provide the stakeholders an approach, so that they can deal with the moral complications. On the other hand, Hoffman, Frederick Schwartz (2014) cited that some of the ethical values could make a business successful. The first argument is related with the protection of the employees. The company requires to focus to the h ealth, safety as well as the environmental standards of the business. Another ethics can increase the product and service line in order to enhance the resource utilisation. Courage of accumulating new ideas within an organisation and receive the review from the consumers is the ethical practice, which are followed by the organisations in the competitive type market structure. Ethical behaviour requires to highlight the business practices towards the organisational leaders. Ethical behaviour of people will be benefitted to influence the workers as well as to the other stakeholders of the organisation. Ethics shapes the quality of the strategic management of an organisation. Ethics highlights the sustainability in case of decision making procedure. On the other hand, ethical leaders include the positive and the negative values simultaneously ((Doyle, Frecknall-Hughes, Summers, 2014). The leaders also require to consider the rights of the other staffs during the decision making procedure. Therefore, it proves that ethical culture of an organisation considers the other staffs accountable. It raises the collaboration between the co-staffs. Therefore, it can be inferred that the decision-making procedure would be easier. Ethics is related with the communication skill of the managers. In this connection, it can be mentioned that appropriate communication of the managers with the other staffs is needed to follow in the decision making approach. The leaders also require motivating and encouraging the performance of the employees. However, Jordan et al., (2013) argued that ethics and strategy cannot be taken together. Strategy is considered as the rational approach for the company to achieve the success and also face the challenges during the organisational operation. Therefore, critics concludes that strategy conflict the business ethics. Ethics only considers the moral values. Therefore, strategy is highly aggressive in character than the other ethical principle. In addition, Hsieh Kramer (2012) cited that strategy is assumed to be flexible and it can be changed based on the organisational circumstances. Therefore, on case of organisational dilemma, leaders require to have greater interpersonal traits , which can reduce the scope of the development of business risks. Ethical behaviour in a company is influenced by the different organisational determinants. They are policies, regulations of a company. The course of action of a leader affects the stakeholders. An ethical leader requires to perform the cost benefit analysis before formulate a project in case of the organisational development procedure. Apple Inc. has faced ethical dilemma more than one time. This essay has highlighted two ethical concepts, they are rule based ethical theory and virtue based ethical theory. Business operation in Southern China is attractive to the organisation like Apple Inc. However, the company treated with the employees as a machine. Thus, Apple has faced ethical dilemma in the decision making process. Utilitarian theory follows appropriate action in order to produce most feasible goods. Therefore, the morality of this organisation will be developed and also agree to compromise the repressive policies and regulations of the Chinese government. This above mentioned example violates the utilitarian ethical approach regarding the business ethics of Apple Inc. The, morality of this organisation did not sustain during the decision making procedure. As a result, this has a negative impact on the organisational behaviour and thus, the employees of the organisation have been suffering from depression. On the other hand, after analyse the virtue based ethical theory, it can be observed that Apple Inc. did not follow four virtues such as courage, honesty, justice and virtuous in their business. Therefore, it can be inferred that these two examples have restricted the ethical cultural practice of Apple Inc. Lastly, this essay has also described the relationship between the leadership, ethics and the decision making process within a company. Bibliography Azim, M., Sadiq, M. W. 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