Wednesday, July 31, 2019

How to the Methods of Calculating Banks Marketing Budget Essay

How to Decide Banks Marketing Budget? Introduction Now a day under taking marketing activities is compulsory and a key to exist in the business environment especially in the financial sector where competition is strong. In Ethiopia there are 16 private commercial banks and three public owned banks. There is strong competition among these banks to take market share and earn profit especially for those banks that enter the market recently. In addition according to the National Bank of Ethiopia Directive, all commercial bank have to reach 500 million paid up capital in the coming four years. In order to achieve this amount of capital these banks must sell new share, persuade their existing share holders to fully pay the subscribed amount and retain the earning instead of paying the dividend. These are achieved by undertaking strong marketing campaign. All the banks have marketing budget and the budget differs based on the size and depth of their capital. However, determining the size of marketing budget is not an easy task. It is big question often asked by marketers and bank executives. In Ethiopia it is common to see Television program and football events sponsored by commercial banks, advertisement of banks products and services in any time on electronics and print media especially money transfer adverts during the holiday season, distributing giveaway materials and entertaining their customers. The marketing budget for a bank generally includes expenditures for five different activities: Advertising Debub Global Bank, MPPE Department Compiled by: Behaylu Wondafrash Promotional activities Sales promotion Marketing research Sales/customer service training and Public relations: How a bank allocates its total marketing budget among various marketing activities depends largely on bank size in terms of capital and branch distribution and advertising cost (production and air time cost). Most the Banks in Ethiopia spends about 80% of their total marketing budgets on advertising. The rest activities took 20 percent of the budget. Most banks are currently using sales promotion activity like commercial bank of Ethiopia which provide awards for who save 1000 birr and above in any branch of it and promotional activities like sponsoring Ethiopian Great Run and donating to children aid. Advertising took about 80 percent of the budget. This due to the fact that time to time increasing cost of advertising rate and production cost. The lion share of the budget is goes to the Ethiopian radio and Television Agency and then to the private FM radio stations especially Fana FM and Sheger FM. Most banks also use print media like reporter and fortune news paper. But how does a bank determine how much it should spend for marketing in general and advertising in particular? There are methods of calculation. Methods of calculation According to author of Marketing Financial Services, there are different ways to calculate a bank’s marketing budget. Banks use at least four methods to determine what they will spend on marketing in general and on advertising in particular: Debub Global Bank, MPPE Department Compiled by: Behaylu Wondafrash The percentage method, The competitive parity method, The incremental method and The objective-and-task method. 1. Percentage method: the percentage method states bank’s advertising budget is 1/10th of 1 percent of a bank’s total assets. This percentage method has several drawbacks or flaws. First, it is based on the bank’s past performance rather than on objectives for the future. Second, it views assets or deposits as the cause of advertising rather than recognizing that increases in these variables might be, to some extent, the effect of advertising. Third, it discourages aggressive advertising and reduces advertising expenditures in periods of economic slowdown. Research indicates that firms that maintain or increase their advertising during periods of recession do better after the recession. 2. Competitive parity method this method is also known as follows the leader. A bank determines what its competitors are spending on advertising and simply follows their lead. This method is based on the erroneous assumption that the market responds in the same way to the same volume of birr spent by different banks. It fails to take into account the effects of variations in creativity, different uses of media, the timing of campaigns, and a bank’s image and recognition level in its market area. Furthermore, a bank’s competitors probably use no more rational a system for determining their advertising expenditures than does the bank that is following their lead. 3. Incremental Method: under this method a bank simply increases its advertising budget by a certain percentage each year. The percentage may take Debub Global Bank, MPPE Department Compiled by: Behaylu Wondafrash into account the rate of inflation or the growth rate of the bank or it may be dictated by a planner or budgeter whose primary objective is to make the bottom line show a targeted return on assets. Whatever the percentage increase, this method does not take in to account the desired objectives of advertising and the most cost effective ways to attain them. 4. Objective-and-task method. Using this method, the bank bases its advertising budget on what it will cost to meet the marketing objectives it had defined. The bank then weighs this cost against the expected net benefit of the new business to ensure that the cost of advertising will not reduce the profit margin on the newly acquired deposits or loans beyond acceptable limits. For example, Let us take Debub Global bank (DGB) and assume that a bank’s goal is to increase its one-year deposit volume by 100 million birr over its expected normal growth during a promotion period. It calculates that the profit margin on those funds (deposits) will be 6 percent (or 6,000,000 birr). The bank must then decide how much it is willing to invest in advertising in order to generate an extra 6,000,000 birr of income. The selected amount will vary from bank to bank. This method also has its drawbacks. While it works for specific promotions that have immediately measurable results, such as increased deposit or loan volume, it cannot be used to determine the level of advertising necessary to build awareness of the bank and to develop and maintain an image for it. A bank that advertises only when it has a specific promotion to communicate may be out of the media for considerable periods of time. Most marketers agree that some maintenance level of advertising, either product or institutional, is a necessary investment, simply to keep the bank’s name in front of its publics.

Tuesday, July 30, 2019

Drugs Addiction

Al Akhawayn University Center for Academic Development Information Literacy Skills 1212 Fall 2010 The causes of drugs addiction Prepared by: ABDELAZIZ Under the supervision of: Dr. AHMED KABEL The causes of drugs addiction: AddictionNowadays, drugs addiction is considered as one of the most widespread phenomena in our modern societies. Everyone in this modern world has become aware of the dangerous consequences of being drug addicted, yet opium, cocaine, marijuana, cannabis, and many other kinds of drugs have been used for centuries and are still widely used today by a large proportion of people from different age, sex, and economic status. But, before looking at the factors that push people to take drugs, let us first define drug addiction.According to Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research (MFMER), â€Å"Drug addiction is a dependence on a street drug or a medication. When you're addicted, you may not be able to control your drug use and you may continue using the drug despite the harm it causes. Drug addiction can cause an intense craving for the drug. You may want to quit, but most people find they can't do it on their own. † In fact, people often underestimate the complexity of drugs addiction and the fact that it has become a contemporary illness that is similar to other chronic diseases such as diabetes, asthma, or heart disease.Moreover, many people used to think that people addicted to drugs were just morally weak; hence, they believe that drug abusers are able to stop â€Å"this habit† if they are only willing to do so. However, recent scientific advances have allowed us to know much more about how exactly addictive drugs impact and change the brain, and how stopping drug abuse is very complex and not only a matter of willpower. But, the real problem is that many people still do not have a clear idea about the causes behind addiction.For most of them, according to Hamid Ghodse, â€Å"the cause or causes of drug dependence ar e not known, or more specifically, it is not known why do some people become addicted while others in the same situation do not† (10). The causes of drugs addiction are numerous and very attached with each other, but the most important factors that interact to lead to this phenomenon are: person’s biology, social environment, and age or stage of development.It is, obviously, very important to determine whether genetic factors play a significant role in the process of addiction or not at all. Actually, finding genes which predispose to drugs addiction may undoubtedly be very helpful since it will â€Å"aid in the identification of the biological processes involved in the addiction condition and ultimately allow the development of treatments to counteract the abnormal end-point of the processes† (Paul R. Buckland, 1769).Therefore, countless researches, studies, and genetic approaches have been ongoing for many years in order to find any association or linkage betwe en genetic factors and drugs addiction. As a matter of fact, many of these researches could come up with great results and very useful conclusions. For instance, Hamid Ghodse stated in his book â€Å"Drugs and Addictive Behaviour: A Guide to treatment† that â€Å"the discovery within the body of endogenous receptor systems for a number of psychoactive substances has revived interest in a link between drug dependency and genetic predisposition† (19).In addition, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), â€Å"genes that people are born with, in combination with environmental influences, account for about half of their addiction vulnerability. † In the same context and quoting from experts, Abramovitz, Melissa wrote in her article titled â€Å"Addiction† that â€Å"genetic factors that affect how the brain responds to drugs play a big part in pushing people toward drug addiction, and researches have found several genes linked to nicotine, c ocaine, and alcohol addiction. Also, Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research (MFMER) reported that â€Å"once a person has started using a drug, the development into addiction may be influenced by inherited traits. † Therefore, most of researchers confirm the idea that genetic factors play a crucial rule in the process of addiction. However, Paul R. Buckland came up with so many important results, which are in fact a little bit different from the ones stated above, by reviewing and evaluating almost all the studies and evidence that claim the existence of genetic factors in the process of addiction.So, he found that â€Å"the phenotype for addiction to drugs is not well defined, and the heritability of addiction to drugs of abuse is far from clear and may be small compared to that of many other complex disorders† (1773). Moreover, he concluded saying that â€Å"many candidate genes put forward so far as susceptibility genes may be unrelated to the underlyin g process referred to as addiction but, rather, are related to the propensity to take drugs in the first place† (1769, 1770). But, that does not mean that there is no association between genetic factors and addiction process.In fact, Paul R. Buckland himself has confirmed that there are some genetic studies that have reported a great number of success and could ultimately find some linkage between genes and addiction, but he ended highlighting â€Å"the need for even larger samples and new statistical methods or new experimental approaches to identify fully the genes involved in the disease process† (1771, 1772). Of course, genetic factors are not the only cause behind drug addiction; no one can become addicted to drugs if s/he has never started using drugs.Accordingly, there may be other factors that affect the predisposition to drugs abuse. Actually, a person’s environment includes many different influences that seem to play a significant role in initial drug u se. At the first glance, it may spring to many people’s minds that local social problems such as poverty, ignorance, unemployment, break-up of local communities, drug pushers are the main causes of drugs addiction, but according to Hamid Ghodse â€Å"these often-repeated phrases may well be contributory factors,†¦but they are not the causes of drug dependence† (11).On the other hand, the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) and the Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research (MFMER) both consider environmental factors, including one’s family’s beliefs and attitudes, exposure to a peer group that encourages drug use, the socioeconomic status and quality of life in general, as the most important influencers that shape addictive behaviour.In fact, Hamid Ghodse, also, illustrates these factors clearly by showing us how â€Å"peer networks can provide opportunities for drug use and support this behaviour† (16) and how â€Å"the importanc e of peer networks reflect the support or lack of support that the child is receiving at home and the importance of the parent-child relationship as a protective factor against the use of drugs† (16).Therefore, he gives us some situations in which family may play a significant role in the initiation of drug abuse: Factors such as family disruption, criminality and drug abuse of parents and siblings have all been identified as important predisposing factors for drug abuse later on, as have inadequate or ineffective parental supervision and enforcement of rules†¦while satisfactory family relationships and climate, and emotional support to adolescents are influences that appear to delay or diminish initiation into drug use, they can only be developed over a long period of time and attempts to make up for their absence by measures such as a sharp increase in parental control of the adolescent’s behaviour may lead to increased rather than diminished drug abuse (16). In addition to genetic and environmental factors, the age or the stage at which a person starts consuming drugs may have a considerable impact on the process of becoming drugs addicted. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), â€Å"Although taking drugs at any age can lead to addiction, the earlier that drug use begins, the more likely it is to progress to more serious abuse. For instance, one study concerning alcohol addiction which is almost the same as the case of drug addiction showed that â€Å"teens who begin drinking alcohol with their friends before age 15 are four times likelier to become alcoholic than are people who wait until age 21 to drink† (National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), quoted in Abramovitz, Melissa). In the same context, Hamid Ghodse said that â€Å"adolescent drug abuse is of particular importance not only because of the potential for drug-induced harm in a young person but also because taking drugs in childhood and adolescence is a strong predictor for drug abuse in adulthood† (17). Moreover, observations as such, he said, â€Å"have led to theories that suggest that using one drug leads on the consumption of more dangerous drugs with a higher dependence liability† (17).Besides, one other reason that we may discover when seeking causes that are related to the stage of initiating using drugs is prescriptions. According to Hamid Ghodse, most of drug-dependent individuals have personality disorders such as low self-esteem and confidence, high anxiety, low assertiveness, and tendency towards hypochondria, so they begin to take some sedatives and tranquillizers or even drugs as self-medication or as treatment prescribed by a doctor to overcome these problems (15, 17). The problem is that many people become addicted to these treatments by continuing using them as Jeffrey Kluger shows in his article The New Drug Crisis: Addiction by Prescription.According to Kluger many people become addicted to some p rescriptions such as Opioid, Oxycontin, Vicodin, and Hydrocodone while trying to find a treatment to some diseases like cancer pain. In conclusion, it is true that taking drugs for the first time may be a voluntary decision, but factors such us person’s biology, social environment, and age or stage of development undoubtedly play a considerable role in the process of addiction. Genetic factors that affect how the brain responds to drugs and environmental factors, including family’s beliefs and attitudes, peers’ ethics and behaviour, and socioeconomic status, in addition to the culture and the age or the stage at which a person starts using drugs all contribute in shaping addictive behaviour.The problem with drugs is that once a person starts consuming them, s/he may not be able to give up abusing them; hence, we should all be aware that drugs addiction is not just a normal habit that we can stop whenever we want, but rather a complex illness and a serious diseas e that makes the consumer lose self-control and ability to make right decisions. In fact, drugs addiction is a contemporary chronic disease that can cause harmful long-term consequences not only on the user but also on those around him, but as a matter of fact we can prevent ourselves from all these troubles by just avoiding initiating its causes. Works Cited Abramovitz, Melissa. â€Å"Addiction. † Current Health 2; Sep 1999: 26. Print. Buckland, Paul R. â€Å"Will We Ever Find the Genes for Addiction? Addiction, volume 103 number 11, November 2008, pp 1768-1776. Jeffrey, Kluger. â€Å"The New Drug Crisis: Addiction by Prescription†. Time September 13, 2010: p46-49. Print. Ghodse, Hamid. â€Å"Drugs and Addictive Behaviour: A Guide to Treatment. † London: University of Cambridge Press. 2002. Print. Mayo Clinic staff. Drug Addiction, MayoClinic. com, Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research, 2009, web. November 2010. (http://www. mayoclinic. com/ healt h/ drug-addiction/DS00183). National Institute on Drug Abuse, Drug Abuse and Addiction, MedicineNet. com, MedicineNet. Inc, 2010, Web. 21 November 2010. (http://www. medicinenet. com/ drug_abuse/article. htm).

Monday, July 29, 2019

Challenges of Cross-Cultural Team

Corporate sectors have been using the concept of cross culture within their business operation. According to the views of corporate culture, they prioritize the ways in which interaction takes place between the management and the employees (Bonache and Noethen 2014). The dress code, office set-up, business hours, hiring decision, the ways in which clients are treated and even the business hours are dependent on the employees working and the culture to which they belongs. Cross culture is an important concept in business nowadays. The way to initiate the harmony between different groups of people within the organization and improve the efficiency of the same with their help is known as managing cross-cultural team (Corkindale 2015). Through these methods the company can develop by increasing their understanding of the ways in which different groups of people belonging to different culture communicate and interact amongst themselves. There have been several theories relating to cross c ultural dimension as used by the different companies within their course of operation and the benefits it yielded to the company. The chosen organization for this report is Aldi supermarket. Karl Albrecht and Theo Albrecht have founded the supermarket chain established in Germany. According to BBC news published on 2016, the company was planning to employ 5000 staff in their company. The company has several district managers within their organization who has been engaged in managing the daily business and keeping things into law and order (Ward 2015). They have around 25 expatriate area managers in their team. They are also into expanding their business into Chinese market for which they need to recruit new managers in their organization. This report tries to focus on the ways in which these cross-cultural dimensions can be helpful in the recruitment procedure of the company and the challenges faced by the management of the company. The first segment of the report gives a brief review of the existing literature and the beneficial impact of cross-cultural dimension. In addition, the ways in which Hofstede model has been used in the company has also been observed through this report. The ways in which the company uses the theory of Hofstede while trying to recruit the expatriate managers and the problems faced by them in their operation has been highlighted in the second segment of this report. The report also tried to focus on the skills and abilities that a successful manager must possess in any organization.   The multivariate criteria that can be used to analyze the capability of an international manager has also been observed here. The final part of the report highlights the acculturation issues faced within the organization. The advent of time has led many companies to improve their procedure of recruitment within their organizations. According to Anand and Chitra Devi (2016), the companies are now moving towards having an e-recruitment procedure through which it is going to hire its employees even the top-level management groups. Through this paper, the author saw that still today there is superiority of the real-time communication over the e-recruitment process. Again the paper also highlights that HR department is benefitted by the e-recruitment as much of their work pressure is relieved through this (Anand and Chitra Devi 2016). Another journal reveals that in some companies of Sweden the recruitment of top managements are done based on the parameter of homosociality. The entire recruitment procedure has given more importance to two different practices through which recruitment took place. They are: hierarchy and competency and giving preference to males than females (Holgersson 2013). In other words through the report, it has been observed that in countries like Sweden preference is given to male employees than female employees. According to the Engelen et al. (2014) there has been an established relationship between the top management leadership and the level of innovation within the firm.   Through the journal the author has tried to find out the ways in which any organization is benefited by the level of innovation and the behavior of the leader in this respect. The report found out that there are 6 components in the transformational behavior of the leaders. It is these components of the leaders that has influenced the innovation within the organization in a positive way (Engelen et al. 2014) It has also been observed that the extent to which the components have influenced the organization is different but each of them has a positive impact within the company. Another journal suggests that the influence of cultural relationship of the employees on the designing of new products and the technological innovation within the domain which leads to the growth of the organization (Turro, Urbano and Peris-Ortiz 2014). The report found out that there has been a positive relationship between the design innovations on strengthening the market share of the organization. It has been observed that as individualism increases there has been an increase in the positive influence of the organization’s business strategy. The above literature survey suggests that throughout the global economy, different organizations have opted for different methods while recruiting the top-level managers within their organization. In spite of the fact that different methods have been used, all the organizations came into one concluding point that is everyone realized the need and benefit of using cross-cultural dimension within their organization. Most of the organizations have started employing people from different cultures within their organization’s domain. The following part initially talks about a brief theory of the Greer Hofstede Model followed by the issues, which Aldi faces in recruiting their expatriate managers. Hofstede was a social psychologist who was an ex-employer of IBM. The model was initiated with a survey done on the employees of IBM globally during 1969-73. The main purpose of his model was to establish the impact of the different culture on the values imbibed on the people of that nation. In other hand, this model was established to understand the influence of these six different components on the organization (De Mooij 2015). The six different dimensions of Hofstede’s model is given as follows:   Individualistic/ Collectivism: This dimension tries to highlight the ways in which individual people prioritizes their own needs and goals in their daily business operation. The ways in which the individual needs of these employees can influence and generate the goals and needs of the entire organization is shown through this dimension (Evanschitzky et al. 2014). Masculine/ Feminine: This dimension highlights the gender biasness existing within the society. Under the feminine culture there is less differentiation amongst the males and females within the society. On other hand, there are different rules for masculine society whereby the females and males are treated differently. Uncertainty Avoidance: The capability of people to adept to the changes in the society, organization and work culture has been seen through this dimension. People can be classified as risk lovers, risk neutral and risk averse. The risk lovers show low level of uncertainty avoidance that is they are capable of diving into uncertain situations whereas the risk averse person shows high uncertainty avoidance where they are not ready to adopt uncertain situation (Corkindale 2015). Power Distance: This dimension highlights the employee’s capability to acknowledge the existence of inequality within the organization. There is always existence of inequality in terms of income distribution and power distribution within the society. The ways in which the employees accept this disparity matter a lot in their performance. Time Perspective: The success of an organization depends on future planning of the company, long term perspective. The short time goals taken up by the company based on their past and present situation matters a lot for the company’s growth. Indulgence/Restraint: The extent to which any organization gets benefitted by taking up little fun sessions amidst the strict rules of the company is seen through this dimension (Wurtz and Suutari 2014). If the employees are engaged into work for the entire office hours then it would dampen their productivity and henceforth little fun activity and enjoyment should be provided within the same. The managers of Aldi has comes from different regions with different imbibed cultures. It has been seen that they often faces several issues in their daily course of business. Few such issues faced by them have been discussed below with comparison with the learning of the Hofstede’s model. Before discussing the issue, a graph comparing Aldi operating in Australia and in two other nation has been provided based on Geert Hofstede’s Model. Figure 1: Comparison of ALDI in Australia, Denmark and Sweden The graph above shows that Aldi has performed differently in different nation when it has been judged on Hofstede’s model. Along with Aldi operating at Australia, the performance of the company in two other nation have been highlighted through the graph. It is clearly seen that other than long-term orientation and indulgence, the ranks in all other parameters are well above when compared with other two nations. In Australia, the component of masculinity got highest rank whereas the other two nations namely, Denmark and Sweden ranks much below. Hence, the graph above indicates that there is existence of gender biasness within the Australian nation when it comes to hiring the top level managers in the organization.   Ã‚   Individualistic approach: Each individual has some cultures and ethics imbibed within them, which gets reflected in the way they conduct themselves n their life, in front of the society and within their business domain (Gido and Clements 2014). The managers of Aldi who have been hired from other nations face the problem of conflict whereby they try to abide by their culture and takes time in adapting the already existing culture within the society.   Facing problem in cultural aspect can seriously dampen their performance and hence there is a need for Aldi to implement the cross-cultural approach thoroughly within their system. Masculine: It has already been observed from the figure above that within Australia, ALDI has been showing strict biasness while recruiting their management employees in top ranks.   Though the nation talks about bringing gender equality but whenever it comes to recruiting a high level executive in their company they give preference to the male candidate. One possible reason could be that it is easier for the males to leave their home and reside abroad for work purpose whereas the female might face problems in moving abroad.   Even there has been several instances where the expatriate management employees feel lonely when staying amidst everyone in their organization (Cuddy et al 2015). Uncertainty avoidance: The Company gets a score of 54 in this dimension. It is also nearly double than it got in other two nation. Hence, while recruiting the managers the issues faced by Aldi are that it recruits the managers who are risk averse in nature. Long term Orientation: The Company ranks low in this dimension. While recruiting the managers the company thinks of the short-term goals and not the long-term scenario. However, it reality the company should think about the long-term prospective of the organization when recruiting the managers as recruiting them, providing them with proper training requires huge amount of cost that is to be borne by the company (Gooderham, Gooderham and Grogaard 2013). Hence, the focus should be on short-term goals. Indulgence: The expatriate managers are often stressed out in their initial days within their organization. The stressed out managers cannot perform well and it can demoralize the other employees within the organization. Henceforth, indulgence in the form of group interaction, short fun sessions and other fun-filled activities often helps them to get accustomed within their organization (Wurtz and Suutari 2014). This short session not only helps the managers to relief their stress but also it helps the lower level employees to have a healthy work relation with the higher authority creating synchronization between the different hierarchy. The discussion above clearly highlighted the issues that Aldi faced in their domain when recruiting expatriate managers. The company believes in retaining its employees and avoids hiring new people in the top managerial level arriving from different cultures and nations. Henceforth, It has been observed that in order to retain their previous employees the company offers them a lump-sum salary hike along with other facilities like iPhone and AUDI A3. Aldi provides high amount of rewards and recognition to their employees because the company believes in promoting their staff within their domain. Other than the above-mentioned issues, the recruitment procedure within the organization prioritizes some other issues like the experience of the candidate who is sitting for the position. In addition, the company also looks for ability of the competing candidates and the ways in which the manager can adopt the different culture within the organization. The success of any business depends largely on the skills and effectiveness of the top-notch managers within that organization. The efficiency of the managers gets highly prioritized when the company or organization is involved in managing cross country teams (Bonache and Noethen 2014). The main reason is that managers who deals with teams of indigenous people are well aware of the cultural notions imbibed within its employees and the things that could hurt their sentiments (Gooderham, Gooderham and Grogaard 2013). On other hand, within cross-cultural teams the employees may have sentiments regarding several different issues and may be compatible working under several schemes. Henceforth, the abilities and skills that a successful expatriate international manager must possess have been discussed here. The international must possess this following abilities and skills: Self-Awareness: It has been observed that people at the higher authority have the tendency to be bossy and always assumes that they are right while their juniors might be wrong. The basic notion of becoming a successful international manager is to realize the fact that they might not always be right while others might not always be wrong. In other words, the international manager must possess the skill of having self-awareness whereby they recognize and accept the fact that other view can differ from his views (Gido and Clements 2014). Adventurousness: The ability to take risk and grasp a new method in business operation deviating from the traditional ways is very necessary for the long term growth of any organization. Hence, a good international manager must be adventurous in their work and try out new innovative ways of operation. In case of Aldi, it is this innovative idea taken up by its expatriate managers that led to the growth of the organization. Good negotiator: Working in a globally acknowledged company requires good negotiating skills of the managers. There may be several cases where they need to negotiate with the clients and other companies and establish their own views in front of them while strategically disregarding the opponent’s views. Well-Spoken: The important skill that successful managers possess is that of being an orator. In order to be in a brownie point and win over others while communicating with international clients, the managers have to be a good orator. In addition, if the person can speak in the native language of his client, then he gets an upper hand in influencing and getting a good business done (Moran, Abramson and Moran 2014). Presence or flexibility: An expatriate manager must possess a charismatic attitude reflected through his energy level, dress, interests, self confidence and code of conduct. The way in which the person can gel with his colleagues matters a lot in the success of the business.    Sensitive towards cultural diversity: The ability to adopt the cultural diversity within the organization is the most important skill that international managers must possess. It might happen that not being able to eat raw fish or touching your colleagues or clients with left hand might offset the manager image as well as de-motivate the potential clients. Hence, the managers must be well-informed and adapted to the rituals of the region where he or she may be posted in their job. Open minded: A successful international managers are also found to be open minded. They are ready to accept the fact that some other organization or people within the organization might be better than them. By accepting this fact they always try to improve themselves and match with the global situation. It has been observed that the managers of Aldi possess almost all the skills mentioned above. It is during the recruitment procedure of these managers that the higher authority checks and analyzes the charismatic personality of the competing candidates. The higher authority gives more importance to the X-factors rather than the academic knowledge of the candidates. The managers of Aldi have been seen to possess high level of dedication in their work field with an in depth understanding about the same. Multivariate analysis presents the opportunity of using statistical tools for analyzing multiple independent variables with multiple criterion variables. Human behaviour and the studies related to the same is complex. It makes studying the dependent outcomes of such behaviour hard, as the behaviours cannot be described in terms of other variables. Measuring these traits directly is not possible, which requires multiple factors of variables to determine the behaviour of the dependent variable. The observation and the variables have to be analyzed simultaneously, which makes the process more difficult. Multivariate analysis helps the researcher in using all the independent variables to analyze the dependent variable simultaneously and find out at the same time the significances of the independent variables on the dependent variable. According to Mach and Baruch (2015), the scope of using multivariate analysis in effectively managing cross cultural teams is huge as the independent variables determines altogether the effectiveness of the dependent variable. The conditional effects of team composition keeping in mind the expatriation and repatriation of the, on the performance can be done thorough multivariate analysis. It will help to understand how group consensus, collective orientation of team, and trust among the members of the team help explaining the objective performance of the team in the context of cross cultural teams. The research has its boundaries in the sense of the countries of origin from where the team members belong. According to the ideas given by Davies (2015), the change of origin places plays a crucial role in determining the significance of the independent variables. The result shows one of the things that bind a team together is trust. Following the views of Burns, Minnick and Starks (2015), it can be said that, there are many variables that determines whether the trust and bond between the team members will be built. The reason the team lacks trust and bond among the team members are numerous. For example, the gap between two member’s payments differentiates between the members. The structure the organizations follow in the cross-country model is that of a tournament structure. It also determines the values and ethical grounds of the organizations. The variables regarding the differences between cultures and thought process of the workers are thus has to be taken with unbiased attitude. According to the ideas given by Moran, Abramson and Moran (2014), the cross culture teams are now available in all the economies around the globe due to the globalization. With more reduction in barriers, the international economy increases by its size. It nourishes cross culture teams at different stages of production in the organizations. Although there are cultural dissimilarities in different countries, but the integration of the market has created a scenario where the problems organizations face are more or less similar across the globe. Following the views of Cramton and Hinds (2014), it can be stated that, the variables that define several issues in cross-cultural teams are similar in different countries, which are operating in the open market structure. In Multinational Corporations, the same work culture is followed in its overseas companies. This might disconnect employees from their cultural roots in the overseas companies. It creates problems, which are the results of mis understanding between the team members. The reasons of the misunderstanding are sensitization of social culture of the locality. As stated by Stahl and Tung (2015), the cross-cultural teams are supposed to increase the team’s morale and motivate the team members working in a diverse workforce. It helps growing a sense of responsibility and commitment in the team. The cultural differences can be shown using the Hofstede’s model of cultural dimensions. The individualistic or collective dimensions give the idea about the demands that has to be taken care of by the managers by prioritizing the significance of the demands. As stated by Pioch and Gerhard (2014), the management rules might differ due to the structural differences in the societies. The six cultural dimensions in Hofstede’s model can be used as the independent variables to understand the cross cultural teams’ issues in global business. According to the ideas given by Dà ¼rr et al. (2016), the global businesses require recruitment of managers, who are internationally experienced. Hiring international managers will help the o rganizations to address the issues of cross-cultural teams. This can also be used as a measuring scale for the managers. According to Charleston, Mattos and Chapman (2017), the international managers will be far more advanced in addressing the cross cultural issues than the local managers. The cross cultural teams also depends on the level of communication that the manager provides. Different people from different cultural backgrounds have different ways of communication. The international managers’ job here is to provide the team an opportunity to communicate freely following the ethical boundaries of the organization. The manager also has to train the team members different ways of communication that they can use while communicating. According to the ideas Verbeke (2013), the international managers are required to do follow certain strategies, which will help them in creating a strong bond within the team with people from different cultures. The managers should have the quality of acculturating a new work environment with different cultural aspects and values. Capability is required where the managers have to be both qualified and experienced to manage a team with people from different cultures. The international managers have to care for the people they lead in an unbiased manner while showing same level of passion for different cultures. Interacting effectively with the people from different cultural backgrounds to develop relation which will support good communication is one of the most important and critical responsibilities of the international managers. As stated by Metzger (2014), dealing with cultural diversity requires awareness of the surroundings in the team as well as outside of the team. The manager has to make sure that this awareness is properly achieved before approaching the employees collectively. Comparing and finding out the contrasts in the behaviours from different cultures is a quality that the managers must have to manage a cross cultural team. From these requirements the independent variables can be drawn which will be required to find out whether a manager is capable of being an international manager. The objective of this research is to find out whether an individual manager is capable to become an international manager. The person is not eligible for being the international manager in Aldi. The person is eligible for being the international manager in Aldi. o run this multivariate analysis primary data is required. Secondary data has no significant impact on the results. The primary data will be used for each individual to find out whether a manager can be recruited as an international manager. The primary data will be collected from the subjects’ past records in different platforms. The data will be collected using the managers’ past employer’s data bank as the source. This data might be stored in order to create a variable through which future subjects can be judged (Aldridge, Kilgo and Christensen 2014). The same process will be used for all the subjects individually. The data will be collected for the manager’s experience in the field, managing ability, performance of the teams under his supervision, understanding of different cultures, attitude towards the other cultures, and others. These are the independent variables required for the multivariate analysis. The dependent variable is the credibility of the international manager. The independent variables will be recorded and then divided into two categories. The manager’s experience in the field, performance of the teams under his supervision, and managing ability will be broadly taken in production category. Understanding of different cultures and attitude towards the other cultures will be broadly categorized under sensitivity regarding cultures. â€Å"Hofstede’s cultural dimensions† study will help in creating the variables under the context of cultures (Geppert, Williams and Wortmann 2015). For the analysis purpose Microsoft Excel software will be used where the significance of the independent variables on the dependent variable will be analyzed. From the analysis the null hypothesis or alternative hypothesis will be selected as true for a person of interest. The result of the final analysis will be used as the subject’s score. This score of all the available managers will be compared for finding out which manager will be the most suitable for the job of international manager in the organization Aldi. The outcomes from the analysis are expected to have a significant effect on the management recruiting process. The independent variables for each subject are expected to be of high significance with the dependent variable. For those, who are not good with cross-cultural teams will the null hypothesis H0 will be true. For the others, the alternative hypothesis H1 will be true. The definition of acculturation states that it is a process where a cultural change occurs. Multiple cultures meeting, often results in a mixture of the cultures in the society. The process of mixing of the cultures is termed as acculturation (Thomas and Peterson 2014). It is considered as a direct change of one’s culture under the influence of other culture. Acculturation issues might be present in expatriation and repatriation of international managers. The issues are discussed below: During expatriation, one person permanently or temporarily starts living in a foreign country among their culture. The international managers who are expatriated face several issues regarding acculturation. The managers looking for acculturation after expatriation faces problems regarding several contemporary issues like transition and high expectation. Moreover, the providers of diversified cultures can be divided in dominant and non-dominant. The different cultures, in the context of acculturation have to be merged to form a mixed culture.   According to Tee, Goh and Cheah (2015), in the case of expatriation, a person feels out of place in an acculturated society or working place.   It leads to loneliness and frustration for the person. The issue of cultural differences can disturb the person considered. Here, the international manager can suffer due to the cultural differences and thus should have experience with different cultures. The cost of staying in the circle full of ne w people from different culture can be intimidating for a person. The cost can be in the terms of mental and physical. The mental or psychological issues can come in the form of frustration and depression. The physical issues will incorporate workplace violence, change in cost of living, and other physical matters. According to Ang and Dyne (2015), the new person be it a manager or a team member can face problems regarding relationship with the team members. The new people a person meets during expatriation might present different cultural values, which his cultural values do not approve. This will create a situation of dilemma disrupting the workplace environment. The issues related to the repatriation can present severe problems for the workers in a team. Normally, during repatriation the workers become relaxed assuming that the process will be easy and the cultural fit will be perfect. Often the process presents problems, which creates distance and lack of trust in the team. This can break the team spirit and hence the productivity of the team as a whole. According to Hoch and Kozlowski (2014), the international managers during repatriation might expect the team to function in a way, which otherwise he would not have expected. The unrealistic expectation might lead to bad managing of the production process. It can ruin the communication process in the company. Following the views of Nahavandi (2016), it can be said that, leaving the system the manager became used to might result in emotional shocks. Often the managers think that the culture in the organization is the same as it was when he left before. In reality, the cultural traits of an organization changes with time. This creates cultural gap between expectations of the international manager and the team he backs to. This will again create communication gap and affect the teams’ productivity in a negative way. The cultural values are evolving in nature. During repatriation, the manager might face almost a new set of cultural values. It might give the international manager the feeling like expatriation. This will again produce challenges for the manager to work with the production units. The report can be summarized by stating that for an organization to run successfully within the global domain it needs lots of market research and adaptive capacity within themselves. Following Geert Hofstede’s cultural dimesnsion model it has been observed that an expatriate managers faces several issues in their daily line of operation. The recruitment of the manager follows several cautious steps taken by the higher authority based on several criteria. An international manager must possess several qualities and skills so that the company gets benefitted in the long run by exploiting those skills of the top-notch managers. The several skills include being a good orator, being adaptive and culturally sentimental, flexible and a good negotiator. It can be said that the multivariate analysis will help the international organization Aldi in recruiting international managers. The main issues regarding hiring an international manager incorporate productivity, performance, and cult ural sensitivity. If the international manager has experience of working in an environment with cross cultural teams, then he will add value to the production process. This will help Aldi in recruiting the potential workers for the production and other purposes. The multivariate analysis shows that the independent variables will figure out how much those can affect the dependent variable. The independent variables cover both production and cultural contexts. The cross cultural working environment is a challenging one for the international managers for which the acculturation issues occur. The acculturation issues can occur in expatriation and repatriation of the international managers. During expatriation the acculturation issues creates boundaries for the international manager to work with the new employees. The cultural gaps become more prominent which affects the team’s productivity. Aldi has to ensure that the international manager is chosen abiding the multivariate analy sis in such a way that the cultural gaps have no impact on the productivity. The moral situation of the international managers can also be disturbed due to the issues of repatriation. In this case, unrealistic expectations mostly lead to unachieved goals. Aldridge, J., Kilgo, J. and Christensen, L., 2014. Turning culture upside down: The role of Transcultural education. Social Studies Research and Practice, 9(2), pp.107-119. Anand, J. and Chitra Devi, S. (2016).  A Walk towards paperless HR. [online] www.allresearchjournal. Available at: https://www.allresearchjournal.com/archives/2016/vol2issue11/PartH/2-11-44-946.pdf [Accessed 3 Feb. 2017]. Ang, S. and Van Dyne, L., 2015. Handbook of cultural intelligence. Routledge. Bonache, J. and Noethen, D., 2014. The impact of individual performance on organizational success and its implications for the management of expatriates.  The International Journal of Human Resource Management,  25(14), pp.1960-1977. Burns, N., Minnick, K. and Starks, L.T., 2015. CEO tournaments: A cross-country analysis of causes, cultural influences and consequences. Charleston, B., Gajewska-De Mattos, H. and Chapman, M., 2017. Cross-cultural competence in the context of NGOs: bridging the gap between ‘knowing’and ‘doing’. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, pp.1-25. Corkindale, D., 2015. A Wild Child goes overseas.  Marketing, p.421. Cramton, C.D. and Hinds, P.J., 2014. An embedded model of cultural adaptation in global teams. Organization Science, 25(4), pp.1056-1081. Cuddy, A.J., Wolf, E.B., Glick, P., Crotty, S., Chong, J. and Norton, M.I., 2015. Men as cultural ideals: Cultural values moderate gender stereotype content.  Journal of personality and social psychology,  109(4), pp.622-635. Davies, W., 2015. The International Business Environment: A Handbook for Managers and Executives. CRC Press. De Mooij, M., 2015. Cross-cultural research in international marketing: clearing up some of the confusion.  International Marketing Review,  32(6), pp.646-662. Dà ¼rr, S., Oehlhorn, C., Maier, C. and Laumer, S., 2016, June. A Literature Review on Enterprise Social Media Collaboration in Virtual Teams: Challenges, Determinants, Implications and Impacts. In Proceedings of the 2016 ACM SIGMIS Conference on Computers and People Research (pp. 113-122). ACM. Engelen, A., Schmidt, S., Strenger, L. and Brettel, M., 2014. Top management's transformational leader behaviors and innovation orientation: A cross-cultural perspective in eight countries.  Journal of International Management,  20(2), pp.124-136. Evanschitzky, H., Emrich, O., Sangtani, V., Ackfeldt, A.L., Reynolds, K.E. and Arnold, M.J., 2014. Hedonic shopping motivations in collectivistic and individualistic consumer cultures.  International journal of research in marketing,  31(3), pp.335-338. Geppert, M., Williams, K. and Wortmann, M., 2015. Micro-political game playing in Lidl: A comparison of store-level employment relations. European Journal of Industrial Relations, 21(3), pp.241-257. Gido, J. and Clements, J., 2014.  Successful project management. Nelson Education. Gooderham, P.N., Gooderham, P.N. and Grà ¸gaard, B., 2013.  International management: Theory and practice. Edward Elgar Publishing. Hoch, J.E. and Kozlowski, S.W., 2014. Leading virtual teams: Hierarchical leadership, structural supports, and shared team leadership. Journal of applied psychology, 99(3), p.390. Holgersson, C., 2013. Recruiting managing directors: Doing homosociality.  Gender, Work & Organization,  20(4), pp.454-466. Mach, M. and Baruch, Y., 2015. Team performance in cross cultural project teams: The moderated mediation role of consensus, heterogeneity, faultlines and trust. Cross Cultural Management, 22(3), pp.464-486. Metzger, K., 2014. International Management Analysis of ALDI. Moran, R.T., Abramson, N.R. and Moran, S.V., 2014. Managing cultural differences. Routledge. Moran, R.T., Abramson, N.R. and Moran, S.V., 2014.  Managing cultural differences. Routledge. Muenjohn, N. and Armstrong, A., 2015. Transformational leadership: The influence of culture on the leadership behaviours of expatriate managers.  international Journal of Business and information,  2(2). Nahavandi, A., 2016. The Art and Science of Leadership -Global Edition. Pearson. Ochieng, E.G., Price, A.D., Ruan, X., Egbu, C.O. and Moore, D., 2013. The effect of cross-cultural uncertainty and complexity within multicultural construction teams. Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management, 20(3), pp.307-324. Pioch, E.A. and Gerhard, U., 2014. Organizational culture as differentiator in international retailing. The Service Industries Journal, 34(8), pp.729-749. Stahl, G.K. and Tung, R.L., 2015. Towards a more balanced treatment of culture in international business studies: The need for positive cross-cultural scholarship. Journal of International Business Studies, 46(4), pp.391-414. Tee, P.L.K., Goh, S.K. and Cheah, K.S.J., 2015. Cross-Cultural Challenges and Synergies Working in an International Collaboration Project. In Taylor’s 7th Teaching and Learning Conference 2014 Proceedings (pp. 67-79). Springer Singapore. Thomas, D.C. and Peterson, M.F., 2014. Cross-cultural management: Essential concepts. Sage Publications. Turrà ³, A., Urbano, D. and Peris-Ortiz, M., 2014. Culture and innovation: The moderating effect of cultural values on corporate entrepreneurship.  Technological Forecasting and Social Change,  88, pp.360-369. Verbeke, A., 2013. International business strategy. Cambridge University Press. Ward, V. (2015).  Aldi offers graduates a  £42k salary, rising to  £70k within four years, and an Audi A4. [online] Telegraph.co.uk. Available at: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/retailandconsumer/12075767/Aldi-offers-graduates-a-42k-salary-rising-to-70k-within-four-years-and-an-Audi-A4.html [Accessed 3 Feb. 2017]. Wurtz, O. and Suutari, V., 2014. Work–life balance and coping of international assignees.  The Routledge Companion to International Human Resource Management, p.363.

Sunday, July 28, 2019

Answers Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 5

Answers - Assignment Example In such a case, a computerized system can calculate the impact of expansion like the cost of adding employees to the business. This team is also responsible for identifying the resources by identifying the resources already available at hand then reconsidering other options available before implementing decisions. Consider the case of adding more employees when the company evaluates the experience and the skills that the current employees have then promoting them before hiring new less skilled employees who can fill up their positions (Hussain, 2004). Another role is meeting training needs. The HR can protect critical electronic employee information by consistently enforcing policies and procedures. They can also consider revising these policies and procedures to ensure that all the necessary changes and additions get the attention they deserve. Being aware of critical employee information as well as corporate data and the people who have access to such kind of information also helps in boosting the security of such information. Finally, the company should have a response plan which should come in handy in the event that such security breaches occur (Hussain, 2004). Hussain, Z., Prowse, P., & University of Bradford. (2004). Human resource information systems (HRIS) as means of fulfilling job more professionally for human resource (HR) managers. Bradford: Bradford University, School of

Accounting for Jointly Controlled Entities Essay

Accounting for Jointly Controlled Entities - Essay Example 2. Similarly venturer share in income and expenses in each transaction of the consolidated joint venture income statement shall be shown as separate line item under income and expenses of same nomenclature of venturer own Income statement. 4. Balance sheet will not carry a separate ‘investment account with joint venture’ as total of each asset and liability under each head will include assets and liabilities of venturer own business and those of his share in joint venture business. As per IAS 31.341, the venturer under this method may combine his share of assets, liabilities, income, and expenditure under each head in the consolidated joint venture financial statements with the venturer own assets, liabilities, income, and expenditure in the consolidated venturer financial statements. In other words items are not shown separately but only a combined figure is shown for each item in venturer financial statements. 2. Share of income from the joint venture investment is added to the capitalized investment and corresponding credit may be reflected in the statement of retained income or may be brought through by adding that to income of venturer in the venturer income statement. 4. In the financial statements of the venturer, final balance in ‘investment in joint venture’ shall now be shown as fixed assets investments either at cost or at valuation as provided in FRS 9(20)2. 5. It is important to note that when an investment in joint venture is sold, the equity method is applied till the date of sale of such investment after recognizing the gain or loss from such investment. A gain or loss to be recognized under such circumstances shall be equal to the difference between carrying value of investment and the sale consideration of the investment. Equity method is applied to an investment where the investor has

Saturday, July 27, 2019

Public Sector & Government Budgeting - Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) Assignment

Public Sector & Government Budgeting - Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) - Assignment Example oosing projects, and in this instance, the LBRA involvement is vital to resolve the agony of blight and the blighting effect to the community around in the region. The third top factor that have been raised is selecting and giving first priority to those ventures that people are willing and ready to shore up to their accomplishment (Launar & Nollar, 2005). It is obvious that all the shareholders and the members in any company or an institution will always have the desire and the longing to see best improvement, from the effort they put in that company, cooperation or an institution. Therefore, the redevelopment and structuring projects are done in the accurate time. The arrangement, endorsement and planning of these projects are also done within the stipulated time in line with their accomplishment and the desire of the stake holders (Bland 2007). In the capital improvement policy statement, there are issues like appropriate management of resources and funds. Timely accomplishment of projects is also taken with greater weight in the policy. These issues are well addressed in the long beach city of California since most of the projects had been accomplished on time. The preparation of operating budget ought to be separated from the capital budget, to prevent the mismanagement of funds and resources. This may also be done to avoid interfering with each other final records. Finally, the separation may be done so as to have different independent projects that at the end will yield best

Friday, July 26, 2019

Journal 4 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 6

Journal 4 - Essay Example It is unfortunate that many people do not recognize that God ha such love for us (Greidanus, 2007). The course enabled me to gain familiarity with the challenges that Jesus faced when he was on earth. I am happy that he set a perfect example for us to emulate. Jesus did promise his disciples that he would provide them with his holy spirit. Notably, God’s Holy Spirit still guides us today. It is comforting to recognize that God and Jesus understand the criticality of the times we are living. Therefore, we have the gift of the Holy Spirit who guides us on the right way. In addition, the course made me realize that Jesus does intercede for us. The fact that Jesus intercedes for us proved to be very comforting to me because there are times when I feel that it is impossible to express my true feelings to God (Malone, 2006). As an imperfect human being, I find it comforting to realize that Jesus who understands the challenges on earth intercedes for us Christians. The course introduced the angels and their purpose. From the course, I learned that the angels were present during creation and that they celebrated the good work that God did. However, the example of Satan, who chose to challenge the sovereignty of God served as a warning to me as a Christian. Since Satan understands his fate, he is determined to lead as many people as possible astray. My greatest concern in the period we are living in is whether I will be able to survive and resist the temptations of Satan. Therefore, I am praying for myself continuously that I may be able to appreciate God’s love that He showed through His son and helped God give an answer to his adversary Satan (Greidanus, 2007). However, there are still aspects of the judgment period that I do not understand fully, especially the ones revealed in the book of

Thursday, July 25, 2019

Levers of Control, Balanced Scorecard 1, Non-Financial Performance Article

Levers of Control, Balanced Scorecard 1, Non-Financial Performance Measures - Article Example The writers say that there are still a lot of firms which do not realize the importance of nonfinancial performance measures and have no such procedures to measure them, on other hand there are many others which only use off the shelf procedures and frameworks for measuring it and do not dig deep to track the activities which actually affect the framework. Companies make many mistakes in using these off-the-shelf and even their own frameworks one of which is that they do not link the measures to the strategy and don’t know that which nonfinancial performance measure they should track. In their research they found that only 30% firms have developed their own causal models which develop cause-and-effect relationship between chosen drivers of strategic success and outcomes. Second mistakes the companies make is that even after developing causal models they do not validate the link between the selected measures and strategy, i.e. afterwards they do not examine the results to verif y that if their selected measure is actually contributing towards the goal or not, or to what extent it is effective for achieving goal, so that it may be weighed accordingly and thus they remain fail to determine the relative importance of each measure and resultantly they fail in proper allocation of resources. During their research they found that out the firms that develop causal models, only 21% of them validated the link between measures and strategy. The third mistake made by the firms is that they do not establish right performance targets. Because right performance is only beneficial or fruitful upto a certain extent and after that point it produces diminishing or even negative returns, so it’s very important to set a level for right performance so that resources are not wasted into non-productive or counterproductive activities and may be directed towards more productive factors. Fourthly, about 70% of the firms that build causal models and validate links between se lected measures and strategy and set right performance targets, adopt such metrics to measure the results which lack statistical validity and reliability. To solve the four problems discussed above writers have lined a six step procedure according to which; firstly, a causal model should be developed on the basis of the hypothesis in the strategic plan. Secondly, firm should pull up the useful data from already available data and by using all of the available data and systems of all of the departments. Thirdly, collected data should be turned into information by using different statistical tools and models. Fourthly, ongoing reassessment of results should be done regularly and causal model should be refined accordingly because effectiveness of different activities goes on changing with the passage of time and new activities/ factors keep on emerging. At fifth, results and conclusions of data analysis should be used in decision making and for future planning. Finally, results and out comes should be assessed to see the effectiveness of action plans. The writers are right in concluding that nonfinancial performance measures are more effective if they are based on more sophisticated qualitative and quantitative inquiries into the factors actually contributing to the economic results. The article â€Å"How new top managers use control systems as levers of strategic renewal†

Wednesday, July 24, 2019

Sustainable Packaging Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Sustainable Packaging - Essay Example A sustainable packaging is the designing and use of packaging materials that are more sustainable. In designing a company’s sustainability strategy, packaging comes in handy as a very fundamental factor. The sustainable packaging design aims at increasing the use of life cycle inventory and reducing the environmental impacts. Its main objectives are the maintenance of quality human life, secure habitats for the present and future generation needs. Government regulations, corporate goals, branding, logistical optimization, and consumer expectations determines the design of a sustainable packaging. The Sustainable Packaging Coalition (SPC) and the Sustainable Packaging Alliance (SPA) provides businesses and factories with the best information for making sustainable packaging decisions that commercially an environmentally beneficial. The sustainable packaging products emanate from materials that are healthy, recyclable, and environmental friendly throughout their lifecycle. The materials may include papers and recyclable plastic products. The manufacturing process of sustainable packaging uses clean production technologies and best practices that minimise environmental pollution. Gas emissions from manufacturing factories may cause air pollution and global warming. Hence, the production of sustainable packaging must consider this hazard in ascertaining a habitable environment. The design of sustainable packaging products aims at optimizing materials and energy use. This ensures cost effectiveness in production. According to Pike Research, the demand for packaging is valued at $429 billion (Pike Research Web). Packaging ahs also employed more than five million people in the world (SPC Web). The employment, security and protection of human life are social aspects that sustainable packaging offers. With the demand e xpected to rise with relative increase in population and industrial growth, it is very important to use the most sustainable packaging materials. Non-renewable and non-recyclable materials decrease t he level of cohabitation. Air, land, and water pollution are some of the effects of using hazardous packaging products. Hence, manufacturing companies should strive to use eco friendly and life supporting materials in producing the sustainable packaging products should be eco friendly and with an ability to support life. The manufacturing process should conserve raw materials, water, and energy. We can achieve this by shifting from the use of fossil fuels to renewable sources of energy. This would reduce or eliminate toxic emissions, which are harmful to human life and environmental conservation (SPC Web). The products should equally meet the market criteria and guarantee effective performance throughout their life cycles. The process of tendering, acquisition, and production of sustain able packaging should be cost effective to realize targeted comp-any profits. Paper and paper-based packaging dominate the global packaging market. However, according to pike research the use of plastic-based packaging will also grow significantly by the year 2014. Moreover, the demand for sustainable packaging is considerably more than that of general packaging. Better disposal methods

Tuesday, July 23, 2019

The Muslims lives in recent Anglophone fiction since 1973 Essay

The Muslims lives in recent Anglophone fiction since 1973 - Essay Example Therefore, novels have a great advantage over didactic models of disseminating information. Unlike textbooks that tend to teach by preaching, novels teach the reader by showing. Georg Lukacs, a philosopher and literary critic argued that novels can depict history more fully than "factual reporting" because in novels, Historical necessity is no otherworldly fate divorced fiom man; it is the complex interaction of concrete historical circumstances in their process of transformation, in their interaction with concrete human beings, who have grown up in these circumstances, have been variously influenced by them, and who act in an individual way according to their personal passions. (qtd. in Zuckert 687) Thus, a novel has the capacity to discuss its topic in the context of human experience not in an abstract and detached form. Moreover, it can transcend artificial boundaries that divide people of different backgrounds and civilizations by addressing every aspect of the humanity of the character. This interacts with the humanity of the reader on many levels, thereby magnifying the similarities and diminishing the differences between the reader and the character. A novel can allow an individual from a vastly different cultural background to deeply understand the cultural reality of the characters. ... Like Plato's divided line, which attempts to direct us towards true knowledge and the discovery of reality, novelists take us out of the cave and put us on the path to knowledge by stimulating our imagination, hoping that at the end of the novel, the reader will reach the highest level of the divided line. Roger Spegele, author of "Fiction and Political Theory" argued that there is no difference between political novels and political theory (114-127). Thus, one can say that novelists resemble political thinkers. They choose a distinctive medium to study social and political phenomena. Edward Said, a Palestinian-American literary theorist, said: The one place in which there's been some interesting and innovative work done in Arab intellectual life is in literary production generally, that never finds its way into studies of the Middle East. You're dealing with the raw material of Politics.. . You can deal with a novelist as a kind of witness to something. (Middle East Report 33) Here, Said hints that Arab intellectual life has been less than innovative except in literary production where it is relatively free from external influences. As such, it is uncontaminated raw material that can be utilized to study politics. In keeping with Said's notion that literary production provides the raw material of politics, this study will use novels written by Arabs and Moslems to examine orientalism, colonialism, the search for home and the quest for identity. More specifically, eight Arab and Moslem novels and three Occidental ones will be used to examine Edward Said's thesis on orientalism and the validity of his statement about literature and politics. They will also be used to reveal the historical impact of colonialism

This is a summary of Place Matters Essay Example for Free

This is a summary of Place Matters Essay A community is a place where people around supposed to be able to live and thrive together. When one thinks of a community, the image that most likely is visualized is one of a place where each person lives harmoniously with all the other members of that community. While this may be the typical image of a community, it is not the realistic view. In reality communities can share both good and bad aspects. In Place Matters: Metropolitics for the Twenty-First Century Peter Dreier, John Mollenkopf, and Todd Swanstrom make the argument that the place a person lives ultimately matters over all else; the place which a person lives effects the choices that that he/she makes and determines his/her ability to obtain a high quality of life. In the first chapter the authors begin by laying out their thesis: place matters (Dreier, Mollenkopf, Swanstrom 1). The authors look at three different Congressional districts to show how place is different in metropolitan American. Those places include poor central-city in the South Bronx of New York, a district that spans the West Side of Cleveland and its suburbs, and a wealthy outer-ring suburban district west of Chicago (Dreier, Mollenkopf, Swanstrom 3). The first district explored by the authors is the South Bronx. This is one of the poorest and most Democratic congressional districts in the United States. Some of the problems of this district are as follows: high percentages of children, high rates of infectious diseases and violate crimes (Dreier, Mollenkopf, Swanstrom 4). The area has such a high poverty rate because the government pushed thousands of homeless families there. Despite these problems, the South Bronx has a few good aspects to it as well. Immigrants bring rejuvenation to the area, housing units are being built or redeveloped, and there are large numbers of thriving community groups (Dreier, Mollenkopf, Swanstrom 5). This area shows the greatest sense of community. Church groups, neighborhood associations, etc. keep the people in this area close knit to one another. People in this area are more likely to know about and can relate to others in their community. Even with this high sense of community in this area, peo ple continue to flee to the  suburbs. As this suburban flight continues, city areas like the South Bronx will continue to decay no matter how hard they try to keep up with the surrounding suburbs (Dreier, Mollenkopf, Swanstrom 6). One example of type of suburb that people are fleeing to is Ohios Tenth Congressional District in west Cleveland. This area serves as a stepping stone between the city and the exurbs (i.e. the outer-ring suburb of Chicago). This area consists of mostly white socially conservative and economically liberal people; this means that people in this area vote both Republican and Democratic in elections (Dreier, Mollenkopf, Swanstrom 7). This is a rust-belt suburb, meaning that it once had prosperous manufacturing companies but has now lost them and suffers greatly for that loss. This area pits inner-ring suburbs against outer-ring suburbs. The inner-ring suburbs have low property value and are concerned with urban decline; outer-ring suburbs have higher property values and are where many people are being to flee in order to find a better life (Dreier, Mollenkopf, Swanstrom 8). The final and ultimate step that people take on their flight from the urban areas and inner-ring suburbs are the wealthy outer-ring suburbs like the one in Chicago the authors focus on. The authors refer to this as exurbia. Exurbia is a place where there are high levels of income and education among its residents (Dreier, Mollenkopf, Swanstrom 11). There is an increase in population in these areas as the accomplished people try to escape the world of the common people. Using the above-mentioned Congressional districts as examples, the authors begin to make their case of how place truly matters. One argument they make is, The fundamental reality is one of growing economic segregation in the context of rising overall inequality. People of different classes are moving away from each other not just in how much income they make but in where they live. America is breaking down into economically homogeneous enclaves. (Dreier, Mollenkopf, Swanstrom 12) In other words, America has a widening gap between its wealthy and poor. As the rich get richer and the poor get poorer, there is a problem emerging: the disappearance of the middle class. Low-wage workers continue to fall behind those who make higher wages, and this only widens the gap between the two. There has been an economic boom in the United States, which has made the country more prosperous than it has ever been. That prosperity does not reach all people; it seems to only favor the rich. Rising economic segregation has taken away many opportunities for the poor to rise in America today. The poor may find that the economic boom has increased their income; however, as their income increase so does the prices they must for their living expenses (Dreier, Mollenkopf, Swanstrom 19). Identifying economic class goes beyond determining how much money a person makes; it is also defined by where a person lives. The lowest people on the economic scale are assumed to live in central cities; the middle-low income people live in the inner-ring suburbs, and the wealthiest live in the exclusive outer-ring suburbs. The authors point out that as one moves outward from the central city to the inner-ring to outer-ring suburbs incomes rise (Dreier, Mollenkopf, Swanstrom 37). The outer-ring suburbs become known as exurbias. The lower income residents of the central city face problems that the residents of inner-ring and outer-ring suburbia do not face: crime, unhealthy environments, inferior public services, heightened stress, higher cost for retail goods besides groceries, and alienation from society and politics (Dreier, Mollenkopf, Swanstrom 91). As people begin to move into the different classifications of places [central city and inner-ring and outer-ring suburbs], politics begins to be affected. One idea is that the rich may become so powerful that they are able to dominate the poor (Dreier, Mollenkopf, Swanstrom 20). Up to the 1900s the idea was that one government runs the center of the metropolitan area, while many different suburban jurisdictions govern the wealthier periphery (Dreier, Mollenkopf, Swanstrom 37). Today every major metropolitan are being split into one or more central-city governments and numerous suburban governments (Dreier, Mollenkopf, Swanstrom 37). Another aspect of politics that economics is affected is governmental policy. As people are becoming economically segregated, the economies of the areas they live in are being affected. As stated early, the poor live in the central city, while the rich are living in the wealthy outer-ring. Living in the central city and being poor can create problems for the residents. Central city residents are left with burden of having to pay taxes in the city. These people are poor and sometimes close, to if not below, the poverty line. If all the rich move out of the city, there will be little revenue for the city to generate and they might be forced to raise taxes to pay for public spending. The poor people of the central city may not have the money to pay the increased taxes so they will only get poorer while they try to get caught up. On the flip side, a person who lives in the outer-ring will enjoy many freedoms. One such freedom may be a lower tax rate simply because his house is outside the city lines. When the rich move out of the city, it leaves the poor to pay the tax burden. One solution to this problem may be to limit sprawl. If sprawl is limited, then people will be forced back into the inner city, and this increased revenue may help to decrease poverty. After the book identifies the fact there is a gap between the rich and the poor of America, it begins to bring out some of the facts of the economic segregation and urban sprawl of American citizens. One of the ideas that is focused on is the inequality among regions. The authors say that the American economy should be understood as a common market of regional economies (Dreier, Mollenkopf, Swanstrom 33). The Bureau of Economic Research identified one hundred and seventy two different economic regions in the United States; wages and house prices tend to track each other within each region (Dreier, Mollenkopf, Swanstrom 33). Since the characteristics in each region are similar only within the regions, inequality is created among the different regions. The book argues, rising inequality among regions is partly a reflection of the bicoastal phenomenon (Dreier, Mollenkopf, Swanstrom 34). The bicoastal phenomenon refers to the idea that cities on the East and West Coasts of the Untied States did better  economically than the ones in the countrys interior. The bicoastal effect occurs as a result of technology and industry; there is not a lot of technology and/or industry in Americas interior so people have begun to move to the coastal areas where these two aspects are abundant. There was once a gap between the North and the South, but one between the coast and the interior is replacing that gap. As regions continue to place gaps amongst themselves, they are also creating something called a clustering effect. The clustering effect is when different regions attract different types of businesses; this is also known as specializations for each region (Dreier, Mollenkopf, Swanstrom 35). Examples of specialized regions are the Rust-Belt cities and the textile states. In some ways it is good to let specialization of regions occur but in other ways it is not. Specialization of a region gives the people in that region something to identify with and develop a livelihood on. However, while people are developing this livelihood, they tend to become dependent on the specialized industry of their region. If the industry figures out that it can move to a new location and produce the same goods for a cheaper price, it will more than likely relocate and leave many people unemployed. Once one manufacturer moves out of a region, other manufacturers [of the same industry] also begin to move out of the region. This creates a domino effect on the people and the economy of the region. The economy begins to suffer as a result of the industrys relocation. Like regions, cities and suburbs place economic segregation between themselves. The authors move back to this notion to point out that as one moves outward from the central city to the inner-ring to outer-ring suburbs incomes rise (Dreier, Mollenkopf, Swanstrom 37). It is argued that lack of transportation makes it difficult for some people to have jobs that they so desperately need. A large number of jobs have moved into the suburbs, and this makes it difficult for people in the city to find jobs because so many lack the transportation necessary to reach those jobs (Dreier, Mollenkopf, Swanstrom 58). Jobs such as manufacturing move into the suburban areas and  away from the city; while professional, white collar jobs remain in the cities. People that need to work in the manufacturing jobs live in the cities, and those who have the skills and education necessary to work the professional jobs live in the suburbs. Jobs and the people who have the skills to work them are moving away from each other (Dreier, Mollenkopf, Swanstrom 59). The lower income families cannot afford to follow the jobs because the houses in the suburbs are too expensive. In terms of the suburbs, they seem to be interdependent on cities for things such as jobs. Yet another effect of economic segregation and urban sprawl is the quality of health that people experience. Economic inequality negatively influences health (Dreier, Mollenkopf, Swanstrom 67). The standard of living in a community is directly effected, and just as important, as the economic aspects of that community. The book suggests that, People living in concentrated poverty areas experience all sorts of detrimental conditions, in particular, poor access to health care, an unhealthy physical environment, and detrimental social relations and lifestyles. (Dreier, Mollenkopf, Swanstrom 68). People who live in the central city are more likely to experience these types of conditions because they are at the bottom of the economic scale and do not have the ability to pull themselves up. Equality in an economic sense gives people more equality in health standards; people with equal amounts of money have equal access to healthcare. Health standards are not the only aspect that is unequal among suburbs and cities. Cities see an increase in the amount of money they spend on living expenses and taxes. For example, studies have been done that show that the poor in central cities pay more for groceries than people in suburbs. The poor city dwellers must purchase food from small convenience stores because there are no supermarkets in the city neighborhoods (Dreier, Mollenkopf, Swanstrom 77). If city dwellers do rely on supermarkets for the food, they must spend even more money commuting to the areas where the supermarkets are located. Cities are poorly served with some of the conveniences (i.e.  supermarkets) that suburbs have available so the cities must in turn pay more for this lack of convenience. While the poor city dwellers find it hard to manage their needs for living, people in suburbia have a surplus. To obtain and keep a high status and to further themselves from urban dwellers and city problems, suburban families find that they must purchase expensive housing on the suburban fringe (Dreier, Mollenkopf, Swanstrom 81). Suburban families must also make investments such as owning one or more cars. This creates problems for suburban families. Families here most of the time purchase things on credit and incur massive mortgages (Dreier, Mollenkopf, Swanstrom 81). Looking at both low income city dwellers, middle income suburbia residents, and wealthy exurban residents, this book explores how the place people live affects the economic, political, and social lives of those people. Dreier, Mollenkopf, and Swanstrom explain their thesis with sound examples and facts. In comparison to Gainsboroughs use of examples, the three authors do not take their examples to extremes. Gainsborough uses so many examples in her book Fenced Off: The Suburbanization of American Politics that the book seems very repetitious and redundant. Unlike Gainsborough, the authors of Place Matters do not use excessive examples to prove their thesis. Even though they cite various examples that do prove their thesis, their examples are too general. The book focuses on only three Congressional districts in their study: the South Bronx, the inner-ring and outer-ring suburbs of Cleveland, and exurbia in Chicago. These places are not representative of the entire country. Each Congressional district that the authors chose to focus is in the northern part of the United States; the southern and western parts of the country are not represented in this study. By excluding central cities, suburbs, and exurbs in the southern and western United States, the thesis of the book is somewhat weakened. There is no evidence to show how suburbs and cities in these areas function in regards to economic segregation. After research is conducted, it may show that the suburbs and cities in the South and West react differently than those in the North and Midwest. Place Matters describes how place effects a person in economic, political, and social terms. Communities in the United States must face reality: they are becoming more and more economically separated. People move into a community because they are seeking a place where they can identify with other people of similar standing. As American citizens face increased economic segregation, they must find new ways to decrease the economic gap in order to provide a greater equality between cities, suburbs, and exurbs. Economic equality will lead to equality among people and their standards of living. In a country that is based on the principle of equality, communities must work to have equal footing so everyone can have the same chances in life. Peter Dreier, John Mollenkopf, Todd Swanstrom. 2001. Place Matters: Metropolitics for the Twenty-First Century. Kansas: University of Kansas Press.

Monday, July 22, 2019

CARE OF CLIENT IN LABOR AND DELIVERY Essay Example for Free

CARE OF CLIENT IN LABOR AND DELIVERY Essay Within our care of the patient, we were able to identify several problems that correlated to affecting our client’s ability to carry out the labor and delivery process. We also have identified several risk factors that posed a danger to the client’s prenatal and postpartal state. Based on our analysis, problems such as fatigue related to labor and delivery process and deficient knowledge related to new condition, procedure, and treatment /delivery process. Not only have we identified problems such as the ones stated. We have also managed to identify that our client is noncompliant with regards to her health beliefs and value system, powerlessness related to inability to make decisions with respect to taking appropriate health actions and interrupted family processes related to conflict between family members. Characteristics such as this have managed to add an additional problem in affecting her health. Though we managed to provide nursing interventions on several problems, we had also identified several risks such as risk for inadequate tissue perfusion r/t decreased cellular components required for the delivery of oxygen or nutrients to the cells s/t anemia and another risk like anemia related to her ineffective health maintenance. In a time of in our care, all things identified were provided with an intervention. Interventions that are not merely dependent but also independent. And through evaluation, certain goals were met upon our care. Teenage pregnancy will always have higher risks for acquiring anemia. In our analysis of the case, Madam M’s noncompliance with taking recommended medications and inadequate prenatal check-ups may also be one of the factors that lead her to have anemia. That’s why we came up with how important the nurses’ roles are in educating the subject to being active and participative in every care of plan health workers and as well as the subject should mutually collaborate. We also have studied that her condition could have been prevented from being her current illness if only she had her adequate prenatal check-ups together with her proper diet. Although it will never be good for the nurses to coerce any individual to be obliged follow what is to  be done, but at least nurses should help the subject to realize the significance of each heath practices. We also have concluded that it will be best if the nurses should be a listener considering that the subject is a teenage r.

Sunday, July 21, 2019

Object Oriented Technology in Software Design

Object Oriented Technology in Software Design Jose E. Laguardia Abstract This research paper explains the concepts of Object-oriented technologies. Explores the evolution of Object-oriented programming languages, from their introduction in the 1960s to languages that are still relevant today. It compares Object-oriented programming languages with Procedural programming languages and their structures. Explaining the advantages and disadvantages of using an Object-oriented programming approach over a Procedural programming approach. Supports why Object-oriented programming is more cost effective in comparison to Procedural programming. And finally, explains how developing in an Object-oriented programming language, increases reusability and productivity, which results in higher quality software. The results were taken from research conducted online (Internet) from six published articles and reports. The articles and reports explain, in depth, Object-oriented programming languages, its advantages and disadvantages, and how it differs from Procedural programm ing. This paper will help the reader understand why some developers prefer to develop their software using an Object-oriented programming language based on its benefits and reusability for future changes or projects. Object-oriented Technology in Software Design and Implementation Object-oriented programming is a method of programming based on hierarchy of classes, and well-defined cooperating objects (Essays, UK, 2013). Object-oriented programming is a type of programming language where the developer has to first, plan out the functions and operations to be applied to data structures before writing any code. By doing this, the data structure converts to an object that includes both data and functions. Among some of the most popular Object-oriented programming languages are Java, C++, Python, Ruby, Visual Basic .NET and Smalltalk. The first step in developing Object-oriented style programs is to identify all the objects to be manipulated and how they identify each other. This process is often called, data modeling. Once the object is identified the developer has to label it as an objects class, define the data contained in it, and the logical sequence of manipulation. A distinct logical sequence is known as a method. An instance of a class is called an object and the object runs in the machine where the instructions are provided by methods and the data is provided by the characteristics of the object. Object-oriented Programming is a methodology or paradigm to design a program using classes and objects. It simplifies the software development process and maintenance by providing six concepts. Object, class, inheritance, polymorphism, abstraction, and encapsulation. Object: any entity that has state and behavior is known as an object. For example, computer, desk, keyboard, pencil, etc. The object can be physical and logical. Class: a collection of objects. It is a logical entity. Inheritance: is when one object acquires all the properties and behaviors of a parent object. It provides code reusability and it is used to achieve runtime polymorphism. Polymorphism: when one task is performed in different ways. For example, the way everyone speaks. Abstraction: hiding internal details and showing functionality. In Java, abstract class and interface are used to achieve abstraction. Lastly, encapsulation: binding or wrapping code and data together into a single unit. In Java, class is an example of encapsulation. To be considered a totally Object-oriented language, the language must include inheritance, polymorphism, and encapsulation. The evolution of Object-oriented Technologies points back to the 1960s. Simula 67, a major revision of Simula 1, is considered the first Object-oriented language when it first introduced the concept of an object. Simula 67 was designed by Kristen Nygard and Ole-Johan Dahl at the Norwegian Computer Center in Oslo, Norway. The introduction of Simula 67 brought the first true programming object, classes, and a form of inheritance. That is why in discussing Object-oriented technologies, Simula its an important milestone. Simula had a different way of presenting the object, so that each object has its own behavior and data. Smalltalk language, considered by many the first truly Object-oriented language, was developed by Xerox at their Research Center in Palo Alto, California in the early 1970s. In Smalltalk everything is an object, it is virtually impossible to write a program that is not Object-oriented. Smalltalk is more than a programming language, is a programming interactive environment that allows you to change parameters and code while the program is running. Smalltalk supported inheritance and the concept of sending messages between objects. C++ brought wider acceptance of Object-oriented development in the marketplace. C++ may be considered the most important programming language. With the release of C++, Object-oriented programming became mainstream. C++ was introduced in 1982 under the name of C with classes. The class concept provided encapsulation, now a requisite of Object-oriented languages. In 1989, commercial C++ compilers began to appear and the ANSI C++ committee was formed. C++ is still widely used nowadays and a programmer can create very elegant Object-oriented programs with it. Javas origins are in consumer electronics. In 1991, a small group of Sun engineers called the Green Team believed that the next wave in computing was to unite computers and digital consumer devices. The team lead by James Gosling, demonstrated their new language with an interactive remote controller that was originally targeted at the digital cable television industry. Unfortunately, it did not end up working for the television industry, as the concept was much too advanced at the time. But it was just perfect for the internet, which was just starting to take off. In 1995, Java ran on SPARC Solaris, Windows NT, Windows 95, and Linux. The team also announced that the Netscape Navigator Internet browser would incorporate Java technology. Today, Java is the invisible force behind many of the devices and applications we use in our day-to-day lives. Other languages like C# .NET and Visual Basic .NET by Microsoft where created to respond to the popularity of Java. C# relied heavily on the success and failure of earlier programming languages. The C# platform builds upon many powerful features from Visual Basic and C++ environments. The .NET environment provides the ability to develop code in many different languages that can be integrated in the same application. Any objects developed in the .NET environment can be used together. Comparing Object-oriented programming to Procedural programming. Procedural programming is simple and straight forward. At times, it has been referred to as inline programming, it is more of a top down style of programming. Procedural programming takes on applications by solving problems from top to bottom. A program starts with a problem and then is broken down into smaller sub-procedures. These sub-procedures are continuously broken down in a process called functional decomposition until the problem is simple enough to be solved. The drawback about Procedural Programming is that if an edit is needed to the program, the developer has to edit every line of code related to the original change. It obviously becomes a very tedious task if many changes need to be made in the code. Procedural programming uses different methods all over the code than Object-oriented programming. Procedural programming uses procedures where Object-oriented programming uses methods. Procedural programming us es records where Object-oriented programming uses objects. Procedural programming uses modules where Object-oriented programming uses classes. Procedural programming uses procedure class where Object-oriented programming uses messages. The design process for each method differs in many ways. Object-oriented programming is designed to be reused and recycled throughout the program where Procedural programming is not. Also, the development process is different for both programing languages. Developing in Object-oriented programming begins with mapping and planning out the program. Classes are created and data fields are associated to help the developer in planning out the program. Functions and methods can be introduced as well in the planning process. Once the classes and objects have been planned out by the developer, the program can begin to take shape in a development environment. Planning out the program in Object-oriented programming is essential for the development process. It gives a basic blueprint of the program when building it. Developing in Procedural programming starts with the main functions or procedures, the main function is the main goal of the program. In Procedural programming the program is planned out in a storyboard pattern. The main function is decided and then broken down into individual and more manageable problems that can be solved. Procedural programming targets the main goal of a program first and then recognizes the smaller components to solve the main goal. Some of the benefits of using Object-oriented programming are its accuracy and sustainability across different platforms. A benefit of Object-oriented programming is the ease of debugging the code. Errors that could possibly exist during the development process can usually be traced to their point of origin and then edited, eliminating errors all over the program. Also, with the help of inheritance, a developer can eliminate redundant code and extend the use of available code. Data hiding is another benefit, with data hiding programs are designed not to be affected by code in other parts of the program, this provides greater system security and avoids unintended corruption. Also, multiple instances of an object can exist side-by-side without interfering with each other. Another benefit of Object-oriented programming is the ability to relate code to real world examples, this logical structure makes the process easier to code. A main benefit for developers is the ability to find errors when compiling rather than at runtime. All of these benefits help developers choose an Object-oriented programming approach over other programming styles while developing programs and software. A disadvantage of Object-oriented programming is the complexity of understanding how, objects, methods, classes, and actions correlate to each other. For developers who are used to Procedural programming this approach may be difficult to comprehend. Another disadvantage of Object-oriented programming is the necessity to have packages and libraries installed for the code to function correctly. These libraries are intended to make the coding process easier for developers but for some who are used to Procedural programming these libraries can cause confusion. Object-oriented programming is modular, this means that it provides separation of duties in object-based program development. Object-oriented programming is also extensible, objects can be extended to include new attributes and behaviors. Objects can also be reused within and across applications. Object-oriented programming provides improved software development productivity over traditional Procedural programming because of these three attributes: modularity, extensibility, and reusability. These three attributes also make software using Object-oriented programming easier to maintain. Due to the modular design, part of the system can be updated in case of issues without a need to make large changes. Reuse of code enables faster development process. Object-oriented programming comes with rich libraries of objects and code that can be reused in future projects. This reusability of software also lowers the cost of development. Faster development process, increased productivity, and low er cost of development allows the developer to spend more time and resources on the quality of the program, which results in higher quality software. Object-oriented programming works the way real world works. It is easy to map a real-world problem to a solution in Object-oriented programming. Programs can be built from the working modules which interact with one another, rather than starting the code again from scratch (Essays, UK, 2013). Its easier to break the work in parts based on objects. Code can be reused. Productivity is increased and costs are reduced, which helps in developing better quality software. All of these, are some of the benefits of Object-oriented programming over other styles of programming like Procedural. Object-oriented programming in its purest sense is implemented by sending messages to objects. Popular Object-oriented languages are used to code and develop a majority of software and applications we use in our daily life today. Languages like Java and C++, are used from instructors in classrooms to engineers and developers in the private sector and the government. To new adapters, Object-oriented progra mming may appear confusing, however, advocates of Object-oriented programming claim it actually results in simpler, cleaner, and more reliable code. References Eliason, K. (May 2016). Difference Between Object-oriented Programming and Procedural Programming Languages. Retrieved from https://neonbrand.com/website-design/procedural-programming-vs-object-oriented-programming-a-review/ Essays, UK. (November 2013). Object Oriented Programming What Is Object Information Technology Essay. Retrieved from https://www.ukessays.com/essays/information-technology/object-oriented-programming-what-is-object-information-technology-essay.php?cref=1 Jaiswal, S. (2011). Java OOPs Concepts. Retrieved from http://www.javatpoint.com/java-oops-concepts Oracle Technology Network. The History of Java Technology. Retrieved from http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/overview/javahistory-index-198355.html The Saylor Foundation. (2013). Advantages and Disadvantages of Object-Oriented Programming (OOP). Retrieved from https://www.saylor.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/CS101-2.1.2-AdvantagesDisadvantagesOfOOP-FINAL.pdf Weisfeld, M. (March 2015). The Evolution of Object-Oriented Languages. Retrieved from http://www.developer.com/java/other/article.php/3493761/The-Evolution-of-Object-Oriented-Languages.htm