Politics of Poverty and Social Welfare Policy Essay

Politics of Poverty and Social Welfare Policy - Essay Example Empowerment of low income earners has to be done so that the poor can be able to access resources that are raw materials for development. The poor lack power to get the desired resources. This situation worsens when the psychological status of these poor people is touched by powerlessness. Poverty makes the means of accumulation of resources through saving impossible to the poor people. This is because the avenues to save require some structures that have a monetary value. Poverty reduces a person’s power to compete for a resource because it influences the thinking and the power of these people (O’Brien and Finn 1). This work will seek to show that the poor can be involved in transforming the situations of their lives even in the current political atmosphere. The poor and the middle class earners are faced with various problems that cause them to join into movement to form a force that can prevail in collective bargaining. The economic recession was heavily felt among t hose who had not organized themselves into groups that could foster poverty alleviation. Low income earners, therefore, realized the difficulty to cause impact at individual levels. Poverty denies the poor opportunities to make choices. As a result, the little they had was subjected to risk of loss when they put it in simple projects. In response to economic recession, the poor resorted to various ways to alleviate their situation. The low income earners’ response to poverty was facilitated by their position in terms of power where they lacked power to influence policy formulation and implementation. The poor are more than the rich in any state and their number can be used as a means to change the policies. The low income earners can be able to secure a place in development in the current political context since they are the best people who know the pressure at which they are subjected in their position. Poor people understand projects that would work for them. This is becaus e in most cases projects by the rich come with levels of sophistication that the poor do not put up with. Through calculated collaborations, low income earners can be able to claim their rights from higher political powers, seek donors to fund projects centered on alleviation of poverty, and seek government intervention in their conditions. According to O’Brien and Finn (22-23), although the poor had responded in various ways to recession, very few of the poor went to seek financial aid from their governments or any financial institution or claimed unemployment or even protested against the government in claim of their rights. The methods most of the low income earners used as a means to respond to recession was by cutting cost, increasing the daily working hours and some went ahead to selling some of their properties (O’Brien and Finn 18). Although grouping and working to collectively bargain for formulation and implementation of policies that are friendly to them is advisable, individual response to poverty alleviation was a means that worked during the recession times. The methods they used in response to increased requirement collectively showed that low income earners have a commanding position in the current political context. In their individualized position, low income earners managed to reduce pressure posed by the increased cost of goods and services during the economic recession. As a politicized group, the low

Tutorial Response Essay Example for Free

Tutorial Response Essay Week 6 Referring to Christopher Pierson discussion of Offe’s work, explain the three â€Å"management crises† of the KWS. Offe (1984) points out that the present Keynesian Welfare System is a form of crisis management however within the system are three management crises; the issue of sustaining the funding for the upkeep of the welfare system, then   the issue of administrative willpower; were it battles between providing humane welfare programs and the issue of accountability. Lastly the issue of popular distrust of the states proclivity to help groups who it wants too rather than helping all citizens in need. 2. Marginson discusses ‘market liberals’ (New Right) views on the failures of the KWS and their proposals for addressing them. Explain their views. The market liberals said that KWS failed because the government had too much control over the economy of the country. They felt that too much spending of the government had distorted the market forces of the economy. The full employment logic is damaging to the market since it distorts the truth about unemployment rates but is harmful to the economic market. They have recommended that the government remove all of its regulation laws limiting the business sector. 3. According to Paul Pierson, why has it been difficult for the New Right in the 1970-80s to achieve their retrenchment goals? Although neo-liberals were gaining ground in that period, the retrenchment goals were not fully achieved because although the costs for keeping the welfare system running was too high, it was not possible for the government to reform its welfare programs as it was met with widespread disapproval. Voters were found to be averse of pay cuts and welfare marginalizing than they were of possible equivalent gains if reforms of welfare program was carried out. Week 7 According to Mishra, ‘globalisation is an economic phenomenon driven by politics and ideology’ (p.1). Explain his meaning. Globalisation is an economic force that is brought about by neo-liberal politics and ideology. This means that the neo-liberals have supported free market liberalization and driven by the ideology of minimum government control over the economy of the nation states; the liberal thinkers envisioned a global market. Globalisation extended the capitalism of major countries and city states to the international market where it is less controlled by any national government. 2. According to Kennet, what are the main defining features of the post-KWS economy? The main defining features of post-KWS economy are the decline in manufacturing and assembly lines, increases in service employment, the concentration of economic control by multinational firms and financial institutions, substantial change in the patterns of state interventions and reorientation of the welfare state, the cutting of pay-outs and stricter welfare qualifications. As well as the obsolescence of full employment and the dismissal of Keynesian policies on the economic market. 3. What does she mean by the ‘hollowing out’ of the nation state in relation to economic globalisation? Hollowing out means that due to economic globalisation the nation state have become less of a major player, it implies that the authority of the nation state to govern economic forces have become lesser in contrast to major cities that have taken on world city functions and become centers of economic, social and cultural developments. Moreover, the nation state’s important economic functions and political power to trade and negotiate in the international arena have been lessened or eased out. 4. According to Brietenfeller, what are some of the arguments in favour of economic globalisation? Economic globalisation has led to the increase of prosperity in much of the world, the exchange of goods and services and international capital have encouraged the growth of the business sector, thereby contributing to the growth of the economy in certain countries. With globalisation is also the widespread exchange of technology that has made it possible for countries to trade and market their services and goods unencumbered by state regulations. What problems doe he see arising from it? The greatest problem with economic globalisation is that it encourages stiff competition among a number of countries in terms of labour and capital, thus a country that offers less costs for labour to multinational companies would naturally get the contract, and if multinational companies do not agree with state regulations they can always take their plants to cheaper countries. The end result is that globalisation results in job losses and income inequality. Week8 Downes is a conservative liberal writing in the 1970s. What does he mean by ‘separating the planning and procurement of public services from their production and delivery’? Downes argued that the government should take the role of separating the planning and procurement of public services from their production and delivery. This means that he believes that the government could work more efficiently if it narrows its focus and concentrate on planning and procuring of public services which it does best and then assign the production and delivery of public services to private entities who can do it better and would be more cost efficient to the state. 2. What does Brennan mean by ‘separating steering from rowing’? By steering, Brennan means making policy decisions while rowing is the direct-service delivery of public services. When he says separating steering from rowing, he means that the government should do the steering because it is better and more effective in doing so. The division of these functions would enable the government to concentrate on what they are better at, looking for and raising revenues and planning for social programs that the citizens would benefit from. 3. McGuire discusses contracting out of public services and service delivery contracts for the public sector. To what kinds of developments is she referring? McGuire asserts that contracting out of public services and service delivery contracts for the public sector will answer the need of the government to transition from post Keynesian systems to neoliberalism. She says that contracting will result to competition that improves the efficiency and effectiveness of public service delivery it also defines what services to be delivered and it facilitates the blurring of traditional boundaries between public and private sectors. In what ways can these developments be understood as ‘steering not rowing’ by the state? Neoliberalism calls for the abolishment of government control over the economy, they believe that true economic prosperity depended on a true and free market. By contracting out public services, the government is basically concerned with policy decisions making – steering such as what services should be contracted out, what performance goals to measure etc, while the same act is rowing because the government awards contracts to private groups to deliver public services. How does Harvey characterise neoliberalism? Harvey defines neoliberalism as a political and economic theory that posits that individuals can only attain progress if the state grants its individual citizens the right to entrepreneurial freedom wherein the state must create laws that protect property rights, establish free markets and free trade. Aside from which, neoliberalism does not approve of state intervention and governance over the business sector as well as the encouraging of welfare dependency.   Week 9 According to Ransome, what distinguishes post-Fordism from Fordism? Post-Fordism is characterized by the belief in the sovereign consumer which has the power to dictate the market forces, what the market provides is based on what the consumer wants and needs. It is also seen as the emergence of personalized life-styles and the withdrawal of individuals into their private worlds. On the capitalist side, owners and means of production begun to implement organizational changes to accommodate the changing consumer profile. According to Ransome, what is the link between the flexible firm, flexible production, and the core-periphery structure of the labour force? Flexible firms are capitalist enterprises that are structured to accommodate organizational changes and production methods around the model of flexible specialization, wherein it can change the size of the workforce, redeployed to different tasks to meet the changes of consumer demands which are accommodated by the retaining of highly skilled workers (core) and transiently employed workers (periphery). Flexible production is the availability of new production methods and the ability to produce specialized goods by flexible firms. 3. According to Walters, what is the significance of neo-liberal notions of the `active society` to labour market policy? The active society seeks to make all individuals workers. It is thought of as a solution to the problem of the welfare state. In the welfare state, those who are on welfare are called inactive and contribute to the shortage of labour. If all individuals capable of getting paid work will be available in the market labour then there will be less need for state policies to protect or serve workers. Active individuals would lead to faster economic opportunity and combat poverty. What concerns does Combet raise in relation to the current Federal Governments ‘workplace agenda’? Combet argues that the workplace agenda is a radical plan that will strip every Australian worker the right to join unions and to collectively bargain with management to improve worker welfare. Then it also removes any protection from unfair dismissal without any right to representation. The plan also proposes to abolish the no disadvantage test and replace it with streamlined conditions that is a disadvantage for every worker. According to Leonard, what is the difference between Fordism and Post-Fordism? Leonard says that Fordism is a period where technological innovation was minimal, organizations were bureaucratic in structure, and workers joined mass unions and wage bargaining was centralized and welfare was standardized for all; as such it was a period wherein everyone thought and was treated alike. Post-Fordism on the other hand is a direct opposite of Fordism although it leaned more to the development of individual choices, specialization and independent thinking. Week 10 1. According to Williams, what is the main features neo-liberal of public sector reform? Neoliberals argue that government spending on welfare programs is too excessive and hence should be regulated. Any reform to the public sector should include cutting public spending and taxes, government should sell its business enterprises to private corporations, contracting out the delivery of services, creating markets out of monopolistic public or private industries and deregulating industries.   This would enable the government to focus more on what it should essentially do. 2. Williams refers to the ‘responsibilisation of individuals as market players’(p.250). What does he mean and why does he consider it a problem? Responsibilisation of individuals as market players to Williams mean that citizens of the state now become individualistic in their pursuit of needs and interests in a state that is structured as a marketplace. The problem with this is it encourages the rich to resort to arrangements beneficial to themselves and to disregard any obligation for the collective good. The poor however have no choice and have to contend to what is available to them. 3. According to Mendes, what are the five main concerns neoliberals hold regarding the welfare state? The main concerns of neoliberals regarding the welfare state is that the welfare state is captured by interest groups for their own purpose, it also deregulates the labour market since it preserves minimum wages and deny disadvantaged workers access to jobs. It also encourages welfare dependency, it also does not make any distinction between the undeserving and deserving poor and it reduced private individual’s ability to contribute to charities of their own choice. Rodger suggests there is a ‘new moral economy of welfare’. What does he mean by this? According to Rodger, the new moral economy of welfare means that individuals rather than society will carry the primary obligation to meet their own welfare needs in the future. He acknowledges that there is a relationship between the complex institutional provisions of health and welfare in contemporary society and the nature of social consciousness. The moral fabric of welfare will then be concentrated on preparing individuals to provide themselves with a comfortable future.   Week 11 Moss argues that the Mutual Obligation Scheme is morally flawed because ‘the unemployed have little choice about their contract’ and ‘there is insufficiently mutuality shown towards the unemployed’, and that the Scheme is accordingly ‘essentially punitive’. 1. According to Moss, what is the Mutual Obligation Scheme and what is new about it? The Mutual Obligation Scheme is based on the premise that those who depend on the community for long periods should give something back to the community that supports them. It is also made up of the Work for the Dole 2000 which refers to the obligations of the unemployed in terms of what they can give back in exchange of the help they were receiving like providing services to the local community. 2. What is the moral basis of Moss’s argument? Moss argues that receiving welfare and being obligated to give something in exchange for it is not morally binding. Those on welfare are there because they cannot find work through no fault of their own. Welfare is supposed to be a service that the state owes it citizens and should not be dealt with as a business and hence it is not obligation binding. The title of Mendes’s article is the phrase: ‘Blaming the Victim: the new assault on welfare state’. 3. What does this phrase mean? The phrase means that the reforms on the welfare state were designed to abolish the services that assist the less fortunate and able because it punishes the victims of poverty and disadvantaged for their own fate and to deprive them of the right to assistance. The welfare state existed because of poor people who are lazy and are blamed for the excessive spending of the state which should have been channeled to more necessary services. What evidence does Mendes provide? Mendes have cited a number of evidences that have led him to believe that the poor is blamed for the welfare state. There is the published critique of the welfare state by the New Right; there is the dob in a dole bludger campaign which in essence denigrates the poor with its reference to dole. Those who are unemployed are also forced to keep a dole diary and a review of the Young Homeless Allowance.   Week 12 Llewellen states that the Third World has been created – it is ‘in no way primal or natural’. What is the basis of his argument? Llewellwn states that the Third World is not a natural occurrence; it is a label developed by the First World to designate underdeveloped countries as such. But this designation is a function more of its place in relation to the First world rather than a natural occurrence. Third world countries are underdeveloped because they do not have the same technological advancements as the First world. Third Worldism evolved out of the military, political and economic expansion of the First worlds. 2. Hoogvelt argues that economic globalisation is another phase of the imperialist exploitation of the Third World by the ‘advanced’ world (western/industrialised nations). Explain the basis of her argument. Hoogvelt says that economic globalisation had allowed the advanced world to manipulate the economy of third worlds by imposing on them measures that are beneficial to the first world, the labour divisions that limited the Third world into providing the raw materials, producing and exporting unprocessed commodities to the first world, the profits that the first world gets out from technological rents and the global expansion of capitalists to third worlds are all imperialistic in nature. 3. Amin argues that most discourses of contemporary (economic) globalisation present this phenomenon as a kind of `natural law, thus marginalising any understanding of the social, political and economic factors which bring it into being’. Briefly outline the major points of Amin`s argument. Globalisation accordingly has been perceived as a natural law thereby it has taken off as a natural occurrence. It is a phenomenon that has been brought about by the interdependence of contemporary societies that allowed the deploying of economic dimensions on a world scale. It is founded on historical social compromises between nations and defined within the framework of political states, those who have greater power and resources control the global market. Brietenfeller argues in favour of ‘global unionism’. What difficulties stand in the way of workers ‘solidarity’ between North (west/industrialised) and South (Third World/developing) unions? Global unionism has been sought by many as an answer to the inequality of the conditions and wages of workers all over the world. But there has been strong opposition against the international worker organizations because states fear that it would lead to trade union imperialism, hence policies and reforms to recognize them have been ignored by the state. Factional differences within the group also exist and limit their collective representation in the world trade. Week 13 1. Referring to Esping-Anderson (2002) and Perkins, Nelms and Smyth (2005): Explain ‘social investment’ in your own words. Social investment is a concept that encompasses the states responsibility to invest in its human resources. It is seen that in order for the state to gain economic progress it has to design and give services that would benefit its human capital. It means that the government provide for the education, training and protection of its citizens that would prepare them to participate in the labour market. Social investment would also necessitate the drawing up of social policies that would prioritize government spending on programs and services that will generate the best outcome for the economy and society; like making sure that roads and facilities that would enable the exchange of goods and trades are well kept and in excellent condition. 2. Esping-Anderson suggests that ‘social justice’ should be an important facet of ‘social investment’. What is the proposed moral basis of ‘social investment’ to which Esping-Anderson refers? Social justice is the moral basis of social investment; it means that any action directed towards developing the state’s human capital should conform to the normative definition of justice of the culture. Hence providing opportunities for education and training to enable its citizen to participate in the labour market should be founded on equal opportunities, wherein anything that is beneficial to some should be beneficial to all. The state should also develop life skills for all kinds of people, basic social services should be rooted on the principle of equality and justice. However, priority should be given to those who are the weakest in the state and their welfare would be safeguarded. Social justice also dictates the rules for making choices and selecting priorities on what form of social investment should be given like a the need for having a healthy and educated workforce would take precedence over the need for developing cultural awareness. References Pearson, C. 1998. Beyond the Welfare State, 2nd, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Pp. 56-81 Marginson, S. 1997. Educating Australia. Government, Economy and Citizen since 1960, Oakleigh, Melbourne: Cambridge University Press. Pp. 73-81 Pierson, P. 1996. Dismantling the Welfare State? Reagan, Thatcher, and the Politics of Retrenchment, Cambridge University Press: Melbourne. Pp. 1-9 Mishra, R. 1999. Globalisation and the Welfare State, Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar. Pp. 1-16 Kennett, P. 2001. Comparative Social Policy, Buckingham: Open University Press. Pp. 26-29. Brietenfeller, A. 1997. ‘Global Unionism: A potential player’. International Labour Review, Winter 136:4. Pp. 533-37 Downes, A. 1998. ‘Separating the planning and procurement of public services from their production and delivery’, in Anthony Downes ed. Political Theory and Public Choice, Cheltenham UK: Edward Elgar. [first published 1976]. [4 pages] Brennan, D. 1998. ‘Government and civil society’, in P. Smyth and B. Cass eds. Contesting the Australian Way, Oakleigh, Melbourne: Cambridge University Press. Pp. 127-137 McGuire, L. 1997. ‘Service delivery contracts; quality for clients, customers and citizens,’ in G. Davis, B. Sullivan and A. Yeatman eds. The New Contractualism, Centre for Public Centre   Management, Griffith University, Queensland. Pp. 102-118. Harvey, D. 2005. A Brief History of Neoliberalism, Melbourne: Oxford University Press. Pp. 1-3, 64-67. Ransome, P. 1999. Sociology and the Future of Work. Contemporary Discourses and Debates, Sydney: Ashgate. Pp. 66-74. Leonard, P. 1997. Postmodern Welfare, London. Sage. Pp. 119-127 Walters, W. 1997. ‘The â€Å"active society†: new designs for social policy’, Policy and Politics, 25(3): 221-34. Pp. 224-31. Combet, G. 2005. ‘Whose Choices? Analysis of the Current Industrial Relations â€Å"Reforms†Ã¢â‚¬â„¢. Journal of Australian Political Economy, 56:243-253. Pp. 243-253. Williams, C. 1996. ‘Reinventing’ the welfare state: neo-liberalism and beyond’, in A. McMahon, J. Thomson, and C. Williams eds. Understanding the Australian Welfare State: Key Documents and Themes, Croydon, Victoria: Macmillan. Pp. 248-261. Mendes, P. 2000. Australia’s Welfare Wars: the Players, the Politics and the Ideologies, UNSW Press. Pp. 37-49. Rodger, J. 2000. From a Welfare State to a Welfare Society, London: Macmillan. Pp. 3-10. Moss, J. 2001. ‘The ethics and politics of mutual obligation’, Australian Journal of Social Issues, 36(1): 1-14. Pp. 1-14. Mendes, P. 2001. ‘Blaming the messenger: The media, social workers and child abuse’, Australian Social Work. 54(2):27-36. Pp. 27-36. Mendes, P. 1997. ‘Blaming the victim: the new assault on the welfare state’, Journal of Economic Social Policy, 2(1):41-53. Pp.41-53. Gardner, F. 2006. ‘Current Issues and Prospects’, Chapter One in Working with Human Services Organisations, South Melbourne: Oxford University Press. Pp. 3-13. Lewellen, T.C. 1995. Dependency and Development. An Introduction to the Third World, London: Bergin and Garvey. Pp. 19-25. Hoogvelt, A. 2001. Globalisation and the Postcolonial World. The New Political Economy of Development, 2nd, Hampshire UK: Palgrave. Pp. 29-34, 43-47. Amin, S. 1999. ‘Capitalism, imperialism, globalisation’, in R. M. Chilcoate ed. The Political Economy of Imperialism: Critical Appraisals, London: Kluwer Academic Publishers. Pp. 157-67. Brietenfeller, A. 1997. ‘Global unionism: A potential player’. International Labour Review, 136(4):531-555. 543-44, Pp. 549-51. Esping-Anderson, Gosta 2002. Why we Need a New Welfare State. Melbourne: Oxford University Press. Perkins, Daniel, Lucy Nelms and Paul Smyth. 2005. ‘Beyond neo-liberalism: the social investment state?’ Just Policy, 38:35-40.

Schedule Repair And Maintenance Construction Essay

Schedule Repair And Maintenance Construction Essay Recently there was a lot of building have build around us, it growth fastly like a mushroom after rain. The owner of the building must take care of their building carefully; lack of maintenance by the owner of building will cause the building to lose their main function. The building is very importance for the body or company, this is because the building can be a symbol to the company, we can see there are a lot of interesting building design was build. The design will present the building aesthetics value and also can present the body strength. For example, the design for the bank building, the building must be looks solid, so the client will feel safe when they doing business with the banks. Besides that, for the commercial building such as, shopping mall and theme park, the design must look very interesting, to attract more people to come to the buildings. The beautiful design of building, and sometimes under our imagination of building design will only be meaningless if the owner of the building does not maintained it. From Dr. Ahmad bin Ramly said, some of the reason that cause the building not appreciate are: The owner itself failed to value and appreciates their building as important asset. Because of the current defect characteristic was slow, so, the repairing works can be delayed. 2.2 DEFINITION According to the statement of office the Legislative Auditor State of Minesota, maintenance management means the regularly schedule repair and maintenance needed to keep up a building component operating at peak efficiency and extent its useful life. It is includes scheduled activities intended to prevent breakdowns, such as periodic inspection, lubrication, calibrations, and replacement of equipment. Proper maintenance schedule must be prepared by maintenance manager to make sure all the defects in the building can be detect and also can solve it quickly. According to British Standard 8210 defined maintenance as the combination of all technical and administrative action intended to retain an item in, or restore it to, state in which it can perform its required function. Another British standard ( BS 8831 : 1964 ) maintenance as the combination of any action will be make to retain the items or restore it to make sure it in acceptable standard , maintenance management typically required both capital and operating expenditure. The maintenance management needs to work hard to make sure the maintenance standard is achieved. According to (Noble, 1984; Lee, 1987).there is no absolute maintenance definition for maintenance, the definition is very subjective, the standard is depends on person, or organization as a client request. The standard of maintenance is base on the objectives of the company or organization that the maintenance company will take care. Every building have their function and the maintenance works need to achieve to make sure the building is function as the client wanted, for example, for the building that function as a business purposed, the maintenance standard is high, such as maintenance for hotel building. According to books (building pathology principles and practice by David S. Watt), building and their services inevitably become obsolete as a result of factor relating to the use of the building (functional, economic, locational, social, statutory or physical) and changes in the needs of building user. BS 3811: 1984 define maintenance as A combination of any action carried out to retain an item in, or restore it to an acceptable condition. From this definition two key components can be identified: Action that will take is not only to the physical execution of maintenance, but it also concerned with its initiation, financing and organization. The notion of an acceptable condition, which implies and understanding or requirement for the effective usage of the building and its parts which in turn compel broader consideration of building performance. The committee on building maintenance recommended the adoption of the following definition work undertaken in order to keep, restore or improve every facilities, i.e. every part of the building, its services and surround to a currently acceptable standard that and to sustain the utilities and value of the facilities. According to Paul Wordsworth ( Lee s Building Maintenance Management, 4th edition ) The Charted Institute of Building offer the following definition work undertaken in order to keep ,restore pr improve every facilities i.e. every part of building services and surround to an agreed standard by the balanced between need and available resource. 2.3 MAINTENANCE OBJECTIVE. Maintenance may be undertaken either in anticipitation of failure (preventive maintenance) or carried out to restore the building to an acceptable standard after failure (corrective maintenance). According to several of reference the successful maintenance program should achieve these goals. Help buildings function as they were intended and operate at peak efficiency, including minimizing energy consumption. (Harvey H. Kaiser, The Facilities Managers Reference (Kingston, MA: R. S. Means Companying., 1989), 81; and American Public Works Association (APWA), Public Works Management Practices (Chicago: APWA, August 1991), 65.). Building maintenance must achieve to make sure the building can functioning as it proposed to be. For example, the design for commercial building must be function to attract people to come; proper maintenance to keep the building in good condition must be program. Prevent failures of building system that would interrupt occupant activities and the delivery of public services. (R. S. Means Company, Inc., Cost Planning Estimating for Facilities Maintenance (Kingston,MA: R. S. Means Company, Inc., 1996), 264.) Building that operate trouble-free allow public employee to do their jobs and serve the public. Because building maintenance includes regular inspection and replacement of equipment crucial to operating a building, maintenance staff reduces the problem that might otherwise lead to a breakdown in operation. Sustain a safe and healthful environment by keeping building and their component in good repairs and structurally sound.( APWA, Public Works Management Practices, 63; and International Code Council, Inc., International Property Maintenance Code 1998 (Country Club Hills, IL: International Code Council, Inc.,1997), 9-10.). Building maintenance must protect every building component in good condition, to create safe and healthful environment to the building occupant. Any serious defect to the building must be take an action because event a small defect it can slowly effect the building structure, and sometimes it also can effect to the occupant health. Provide maintenance in ways that are cost- effective. (Federal Facilities Council, Standing Committee on Operations and Maintenance, Budgeting for Facilities Maintenance and Repair Activities (Washington D.C.: National Academy Press, 1996), 29. Cost-effective denotes both economic efficiency and desirable results.) A main goal of maintenance is to minimize cost without reduce the quality services and building performance. To achieve cost effective a proper building maintenance cost planning must be developed to make the maintenance cost that will be spent for the building is relevant. To protect building owner invest for the building.( Dr. Ahmad Bin Ramly , 2002,Prinsip dan Praktis Pengurusan bangunan) Building owner has been investing a lot of money for the building; every investment must give an income. The increasing operation and maintenance cost of building will cause the owner investment will unrelavant and also not economical for a long term. The impact will be more conspicuous when the building has a lot of problem defect and need a lot of repairing works. Building maintenance classification. In generally, building maintenance can be categories into 2 categories, planned and unplanned maintenance. Planned maintenance is maintenance organized and carried out with forethought, control and the used of record to a predetermined planned. Maintenance works must be program properly, to make sure there no failure will occurred, any defects or problem must be recorded to make the observation works will be easier. Unplanned maintenance is ad hoc maintenance carried out to no predetermined plan. According to the Audit Commission considered a better maintenance to be as follows. Strategic repair and maintenance. This represent work required for a long term preservation of an asset, and includes planned maintenance of the building fabric (decoration and routine replacement), maintenance of engineering services and maintenance repair items such as re-roofing. There are normally item which can be plan of because, for some extent there can be foreseen and budgeted for. Tactical repair and maintenance. These items are related with day to day works of minor nature in response to immediate need. The audit commission point out that tactical maintenance is not necessarily the same as responsive maintenance as some immediate respond item are clearly of strategic nature for example a flat of roof failure. According to BS 3811 and for practical purposed about maintenance classifications are Preventive maintenance this maintenance carried out at pre determined interval, or corresponding to prescribe criteria, and intended to reduce probability of failure or the performance degradation of an item. Corrective maintenance maintenance carried out after failure is occurred, an intended to restore an item to a state in which it can perform it required function. Emergency maintenance maintenance which it is necessary to put in hand immediately to avoid serious consequences. Condition based maintenance preventive maintenance as a result of knowledge of the condition of an item from routine or continuous monitoring. Schedule maintenance preventive maintenance to carried out to a pre-determined interval of time, number of operation mileage etc. Another maintenance classification was made by Noble (1984) that classified maintenance as five different types: a. Routine or cyclic maintenance, it is task carried out at more or less regular intervals without prior inspection, such as cutting grass, lamp changing, cleaning of drains and gutters. b. Planned maintenance; can be determined as selected services, plant and equipment. It is a regular inspection and servicing (lubrication and adjustment) with repairs and replacements made or programmed only when found to be necessary. c. Planned inspection, for selected elements of structure, fabric and finishes. It is a regular inspection but with maintenance work carried out or only when found to be necessary. d. Breakdown or emergency maintenance, an action taken to remedy failure. e. Minimum maintenance, often applied to premises awaiting disposal. No action except to meet mandatory requirements, e.g. for health or safety, to conform to the terms of a lease, or to keep the property wind and waterproof. MAINTENANCE STANDARD In maintenance management there is no specific statement that defines the maintenance standard for building. In generally, maintenance standard is base on the client requirement and the contractor will know the standard base on the owner requirement. According to Dr Ahmad Bin Ramly, maintenance standard is basically same in any building or equivalent with the type of building, however in practically small size building will be easier to maintain and easier in maintenance management. Many of it repairing works can be done as planning. For the building that larger and more complex, with sophisticated design it will need a lot of special service. To fulfill the maintenance need, the building owner needs to provide one maintenance department to take care of the building facility and services. If the owner want to take consultant to maintain their building, they must specify ,what maintenance jobs will be carried out ,then ,all the workers must be supervise properly, to make sure the maintenance work is followed as planned. Besides that, all the maintenance workers must a qualified person to carry out the works, there must be no person can do the maintenance job, except the qualified person or maintenance expert. Milne, 1985, the main idea about maintenance standard is basically the request or maintenance work order from the owner to contractor, which area or defect that should be repair or replace, and this order should be clear as a standard for the contractor to perform the job. The work order should include the sufficient detail in order to enable the workman to take with him the correct quantity and type of material when making the maintenance work. In fact some of 40% of the maintenance standard was directed in site. (Lee, 1987) have mention, in building maintenance management describe building maintenance standard can be divide into two categories. Lower level The need of maintenance due to increasing probability of failure involving not only enhanced repairs costs but also consequential losses where the normal user of the building is interfered with. Upper level Set by a cost of achieving it. Lee also said about building individual element, he divide the maintenance standard into three condition : Physical condition of the elements. Has two related terms, the condition of element that related to the magnitude of defect that calls for remedial action and second is the performance or environment systems. Times criteria. When the repair or replacement will be make. At this method, the maintenance need frequent inspection and its need a little bit knowledge about decoration. The balance between frequently inspection, risk, and consequences of failure is the important part that should be achieve. Financial criteria. This criterion can be taken from the variable sum based on the costs of some primary activity or replacement value, or taken from fixed sum based on historic costs or an analysis of anticipated benefits. In certain time, maintenance works sometimes have a difficulty during do an operation some product that gives unsatisfaction to the owner. However, this problem can be solving if the proper maintenance works can be program, beside give a relevant budget. It can be done smoothly with one good maintenance program. MAINTENANCE NEEDS. According to Dr. Ahmad bin Ramly state that in Principe, the important building maintenance can be seen in four main aspects: Investment value. Building design Building function. heritage stuff 2.5.1 Retaining investment value. There is no person that have been invest for one thing want to lost, they always hope what they have been spent the money will be get a benefit from it. It also same with building owner, they have spent a lot of money for the building; so, they wanted their investment will be worth, and they will get the benefits. There are two type of income that usually investor hopes from their investment. Short term income. It means the owner hope to get profit from their new building. They hope their new building can be sold fastly, especially when the owner used loan to buy the land, then they must sale the building quickly, so they can cut the loan interest quickly. If the sale is slow, the loan interest will be rise, and when the interest is more than profit, the owner will be lost. Long term investment. Long term investment usually consists of calculation about rental rate that will be get and sale price. If the investor find the land market is in the good condition and increase, or any sign that the land market will be a rise, usually the owner will save their property for a longer term, so that, one day, they can sale the land or building with the higher price, or they used tenant as a source to pay the loan. Building Design. With proper building maintenance, the building will be look more interesting and less defects will occur. There have some reason that can cause the building will look not interesting and a lot of defect occurs: Dirt because of user careless. Natural environment effects. Such as, weather, season and air pollution. Insect attack. Fungus and plant attract. A decay that usually attack at some part of building that has dampness. Natural disaster or any unpredictable accident. Building function. All building that build have a reason to build, there have their function. So, proper building maintenance program will help to retain the building function as planned. There have some reason, why the building need maintenance to retain their function : To remain their actual design function and their construction objectives especially for preservation and conservation proposed. To maintain and fulfill building occupant needs or the owner. To remain or followed the statutory requirement or other local authority requirement. To remain building space with other services that have been provide for the buildings. To make sure all the facilities that provide or other services always functioning and can be used all the time Heritage Stuff The awareness and interest of the public and country to heritage item is increase. Now a day, the heritage stuffs not only just a collection to the people that interest with history, but now, it can be main things to make money. The heritage stuff such as old building, fortress, and houses not only have high value from their design, but for some local community it was a main thing to them, to make money. Those structures can attract tourist from out or in the country to come. 2.5.5 The satisfaction of building needs. According to Paul Wordsworth ( Lee building maintenance management ,4th edition ), his said that, in order to put the problem into perspective it is necessary to view maintenance in the context of the overall building process. The building needs community is met by interrelated construction activities of maintaining, modernizing and replacing existing stock of building and by erection of additional new building.( figure 2.0) The recent express view is that the level of expenditure on maintenance is too high. However in order to know the reasonable of expenditure is reasonable or not it is necessary to consider 3 factors: Whether the amount spent is excessive in relation to the work done. The amount that provide for maintenance works need to use carefully, to make sure the works is reasonable with the budget. Whether the work which is done is necessary and unavoidable. There are many reported cases of early maintenance which could have been avoided with better design and the suitable of the material. Whether it would be advantageous to carry out more works. Clearly construction resourced are limited and the goal should be to achieve the optimum allocation of manpower, material and capital between the maintenance and improvement of existing building and the construction of new building. Construction activities New buildings Existing building Replacement (Erection of new building of the same functional type as one demolished- usually on the same site. Maintenance (Work necessary to keep or restore to an acceptable standard including minor associated improvement) Alteration (Works involved in providing improved facilities to make more suitable for existing use.) Additional (Erection of new building- usually on a virgin site) Conversions (Work involved in rearranging internal spaces and/or providing new facilities to make building suitable for a new functional use. Figure 2. 0 Construction Activities within the Overall Building Process. 2.6 MAINTENANCE STRATEGY Maintenance strategy is to adopt the best approach to undertake the maintenance activities, so that maintenance objective is achieved. The strategy should be reflecting to approach the agencies maintenance and support the strategic maintenance plan and maintenance policy establish by the agencies. 2.6.1 Maintenance Strategy Development Techniques. The maintenance strategy needs to plan properly to make sure they achieve their objective with the strategy, these elements will affect maintenance performance, irrespective of which ever strategy pursue. The (fig.3) below show the corresponding to the maturity stage they start to have a maximum relevance: STAGE 1 STAGE 2 STAGE 3 STAGE 4 -PLANNING CONTROL SYSTEM INTEGRATION METRICS FIGURE 3 Stage 1 Planning is the stage progress it does not stop after stage 1, but must be maintain and enhance right thought the stage 4. Stage 2. The proper control can be achieved by definition. This happen when: All relevant variable operation in the specific maintenance environment have been identified. The relationship between the variable are clear to all. Action has been taken to optimized at the desire output, by focusing by the input of each process. Stage 3 Congruency or system integration is the major key to stage 3 progresses. It is impossible to achieve effective congruency, if good planning and control system have not been established and this corporation must be extent beyond the boundaries of the maintenance function. Stage 4 It is difficult to define the metrics due to the fact that is cannot be research to any significant extent. Not all success company wants to share their strategies. Trust, teamwork and corporation seem to be some of its attribute. 2.7 MAINTENANCE PLANNING The maintenance planning is one of the important element in develop the good maintenance works, according to Barrie Charter and Peter Swallow, (1996, The Maintenance Management) state that, the basic principle of the planning should be firmly understood before considering maintenance planning specifically. The planning should be transparent to make sure the workers are understood what is the maintenance planning and their goal to achieve. The maintenance planning should be planned before the construction building , this will make sure to take account the effect of the building design to the maintenance aspect. According to Dr. Ahmad Bin Ramli (2002, Pengurusan Penyelenggaraan Bangunan), the maintenance planning should be done in five stages: The building in still in design stage. The proper maintenance planning should be plan at this stage need to be rigid and nonstop, especially for those building that need to do renovation in the future, the maintenance aspects need to take account to make sure the building long lasting. In the construction stage, the maintenance manager need to know the progress to make sure the construction works is followed as in planned. Before handover to the owner. the planning should be prepare before the building is handover to the new owner, the maintenance manager must know the condition of the building , and the new owner need, from the information, maintenance manager can program the maintenance works for the client need. The change of use to the building. The maintenance manager should have a planned if the building will change to the new function, they must know the relevant of the new function that will be use to the building. The maintenance manager should give advice or inform to the new owner about the impact of the building function to the maintenance. The change of maintenance budget. The change of maintenance budget is not impossible if the client faces the economic problem, the maintenance manager need to plan what should do to use the new budget to the maintenance. Thats mean if the client decides to cut the maintenance budget, the manager should cut down the unimportant works, and only focus on the serious maintenance works. According to Change of manpower. There have a possibilities that the manpower will decrease, this is because with some reason, such as because of high demand that the workers cannot accept the situation, and resign. The because of the economic problem by the owner, maybe a lot of worker will be reject to cut the operation fees. The maintenance manger should reprogram all the planning, and find the other alternative to face the problem. 2.8 PROBLEM IN MAINTENANCE MANAGEMENT. Maintenance management is very important for the building, a good maintenance management will make the building life span is more, and also can reduce maintenance cost for the building. Any small defects at the building must be identify and must be solve it as soon as possible, because the small defects is like a cancer that slowly will become big defects in the future. Big defect means, big problem, and big problem need big cost to solve it. However, why there still have some of the building that have maintenance department, but the defects still occurs? Until sometimes the defects have cause injuries to the people who used the building. There are some general ideas about the problem in maintenance management: The building design. The building design is one of the factors that cause problem in maintenance management. Sometimes, the building designer does not consider about building maintenance during design the building, the design just take serious about building appearance compare to building maintenance. Some maintenance access must have to provide to make maintenance works can be done quickly and safe, beside that to make sure all part of building can be reach, so that any problem to the building can be Identify and solve quickly. Maintenance budget. Budget for maintenance is very important things, with the relevant budget, the maintenance management can manage all the maintenance cost properly. Most of the owner didnt want to spend a lot of budget for maintenance, because for them, the money is more important to use it in their business. For government building, limited budget to maintain will cause the maintenance management could not do their job properly. Because, the maintenance equipment, such as any specials equipment is very expensive, but it is very important tools, to make sure the building test or survey is accurate. Poor maintenance program. Poor maintenance program means the maintenance manager failed do their job to manage the building properly. Good maintenance management can provide the good maintenance program such as, provide maintenance information management, routine maintenance schedule, proper maintenance planning, and manage maintenance budget. Lack of professional skills. Maintenance management is a work that needs a skill to manage it. Less professional workers to manage building maintenance is very important to make maintenance management process can do smoothly. Professional person in maintenance need to know all about maintenance, such as , programming maintenance work, get to know , the suitable material to use for building and also know how to do and analysis test. Some country needs to import the professional worker from oversea to do this works. It is very sad, when government need to spend a lot of money to pay foreign workers. It will be better if the works can be managed by local people. Use unqualified workers Maintenance works need a qualified person to do the work; this is because maintenance work is dangerous which the workers need to handle dangerous equipment such as electrical system. At this stage, maintenance management is responsible to take a qualified person, besides have high skill or experience to do maintenance works. The maintenance workers need have a high knowledge about the works that they will do,they need to know how to reduce the risk and work safety during do the maintenance works.

Neuron Conduction :: physics science

Introduction During a thunderstorm in 1786, Luigi Galvani touched a frogà ¢s leg with a metal instrument and noticed the muscles twitching. He concluded that the storm had generated electricity, which conducted through the frogà ¢s nerves and caused the muscles to contract. Nerves do transmit impulses from one part of the body to another, but in a different way than in an ordinary conductor. The electrical properties are different in neural conduction because it is slower and does not very in strength (it is a all-or-nothing conduction). A nerve cell (neuron) is the basic building block of the nervous system and is specialized to transmit information. It consists of a cell body and two types of branchlike fibers, dendrites and axons (top of Figure 1). Dendrites, along the cell body, receive information in the form of stimuli from sensory receptors or from other nerve cells. The axon is a long, thin cellular extension responsible for transmitting information to other nerve cells, and is filled with a viscous intracellular fluid called the axoplasm. If stimuli received by the dendrites or the cell body is above the cellà ¢s intensity threshold, a nerve impulse is initiated which propagates along the axon. It flows along the axon away from the cell body toward the terminal branches. Once a nerve impulse reaches the terminal branches, neurotransmitter substances release, conveying the impulse to receptors on the next cell. The Resting Potential of the Nerve Cell Critical to the function of the nerve cell, the cell membrane maintains intracellular conditions that differ from those of the extracellular environment. There is an excess of negative ions inside the cell membrane and an excess of positive ions outside (middle of Figure 1). The electrochemical gradient across the membrane is the means of nerve impulse transmission. The concentration of potassium (K+) is 30 times greater in the fluid inside the cell than outside and the concentration of sodium ions (Na+) is nearly 10 times greater in the fluid outside the cell than inside (See Table 1). Anions, particularly chloride (Cl--), are also unevenly distributed. Nerve cells use both passive diffusion and active transport to maintain these differentials across their cell membranes. The unequal distribution of Na+ and K+ is established by an energy-dependant Na+-K+ à £pumpà ¤, moving Na+ out of the cell and K+ into the cell. Specialized proteins embedded in the nerve cell membrane function a s voltage-dependant channels, passing through Na+ and K+ during nerve impulse transmission.

ANZ Anz Culture Study: Management Principles

Question 1) Explain the term ‘corporate (or organizational) culture’, and discuss its importance to the operational success, or failure, or organisations. Corporate culture, also known as organisational culture is ‘the system of shared values and beliefs that develops within an organisation and guides the behaviour of its members’ (Schermerhorn,et al, pg 45, 2004). Robbins, et al, pg 70, 2003, explain that culture is a perception, and people perceive culture to be what they see hear or experience within the organisation. This is one reason that corporate culture is so important, as it just becomes part of daily routine or ‘the way we do things here’ (Schermerhorn,et al, pg 45, 2004). Therefore if these common practices are good practices there is a strong chance the organisation will be more successful. The culture of an organisation is very important and can for a large part determine the success of organisations. As culture is a perception, it is concerned with how its members perceive the organisation and not whether they like it, (Robbins, et al, pg 70, 2003). If its members like the culture, the organisation is more likely to succeed. Organisations that have a good culture often perform at high levels, which also corresponds with staff morale. Robbins et al, pg 73, 2003 refer to a case study involving Virgin Blue, who have a different recruiting policy and job roles than other airlines in Australia. Virgin Blue want their staff to show their outgoing personality and interact with their customers during flights. Virgin Blue staff say morale is high and management gets on well with the workforce. The perception of Virgin Blue is that it is a little different to the other airlines in Australia, and that it is a fun outgoing organisation to be a part of, which is a perception Virgi n Blue appears to promote and are proud of. Question 2) Examine and summerize the cultural shifts that occurred on the ANZ over this period and the benefits they brought to various stakeholders. The ANZ like most banks in the late 1990’s had a poor public image. Banks were criticised for bank fees, branch closures and scandals, as a result morale for bank employees was also poor. ANZ conducted a staff survey, which confirmed morale was low and staff satisfaction was below 50%. The survey results were quite clear that staff did not feel valued in their workplace, and employees were asked to nominate words they felt best describes the ANZ bank. Words rating at the top of the list were cost reduction, profit and shareholder value. The ANZ initiated a program, ‘the breakout program’ which was designed to shift the culture, as the bank wanted to create a new public image or perception that distinguished them from other banks. Executives of the ANZ realized a shift if employees mind set was needed to regain the trust of their staff and assist with this intended culture change. This was done with various workshops and subsidising computers for its staff, which in particular was very well received by its staff. As well as increasing staff morale by subsidising computers, staff were given the opportunity to use skills they had acquired by assisting and educating customers with money matters. This was something staff were very passionate about, and by giving them the opportunity to complete such duties may have been a factor to increased morale. ANZ claim a complete transformation in organisational culture, believing their culture has changed for ever. Judging by further surveys conducted since the change in culture, staff morale is high, and this also coincides with customer satisfaction. Question 3) Evaluate the leadership style/s that would have been used by McFarlane and other senior executives in ANZ to implement this cultural shift in the ANZ and describe other leadership styles that may not have been beneficial in doing so. It is quite likely that more than one leadership style or a combination of styles was used by ANZ to initiate its change in organisational culture. One particular style that may have been used is the path-goal theory. ‘A leadership theory that says it is the leaders job to assist their followers in attaining their goals and to provide the direction or support needed to ensure that their goals are compatible with the overall objectives of the groups or organisation’ (Robbins, et al, pg 577, 2006). At the ANZ bank staff morale was low and its public image poor, and to change that McFarlane used the path-goal leadership style to attempt to increase morale, which would also lead to enhancing its public image. The path-goal theory discusses input from staff, this was done by taking information from the staff survey, and gaining an understanding of what is important to staff. Change was then implemented so staff could start working in an environment which they feel much more comfortable, more likely to succeed and have higher job and customer satisfaction. The staff were given direction (path) and could see the rewards or goals, the leader helps facilitate this transition. Mcfarlane changed his leadership style, to give staff more involvement by conducting staff surveys, then implementing change due to results of the survey, this is further evidence to using path-goal theory. As the path goal leadership style assumes that leaders are flexible and can change their behaviours (Robbins, et al, pg 587, 2006). This is contrast to another leadership style, Fielders contingency model, which suggests that leaders could not change their behavior. If using this theory it would been very difficult for ANZ to change its culture as the leader would be unwilling to change their own behaviour in order to facilitate the required changes to result in the change in culture. Question 4) Discuss the challenges faced by McFarlane and his executive team in introducing change across ANZ. For change to occur, someone must take responsibility for managing the change process, the person who does this, who is also usually a manager, is known as a change agent (Robbins and Coulter, pg 360, 2007). At ANZ their CEO McFarlane is the change agent, and he may have encountered significant resistance change. There are numerous reasons why people within organisations resist change. Kreitner & Kiniki pg 546 – 547, 2008 explain that individual and group behaviour following organizational change can take many forms, from extreme ranges of acceptance to active resistance. This resistance to change is an emotional /behavioural response to real or imagined threats to an established work routine. One particular reason discussed by Kreitner & Kiniki, 2008 is an individuals predisposition to change, which is highly personal and deeply ingrained. With so many employees at the ANZ there is a strong chance that there would have been quite a lot of people who just resist change for personal reasons. Another reason for resistance to change is due to a climate of mistrust (Kreitner & Kiniki pg 547, 2008). This may have been the biggest resistance to change within the ANZ. Prior to the change employee morale was low, employees perceptions of ANZ were that they did not care about their staff and were more concerned with profits, cost reduction etc. ANZ were aware of their employees feelings, the lack of trust and realized the importance of having employees trust. Therefore when ANZ were initiating change staff may have found it difficult to adjust and believe that the change was going to be a change for the good. Question 5) Discuss whether or not the executive management instigated changes to the culture of the ANZ are ethical. Ethical behaviour is described as ‘behaviour that conforms to generally accepted social norms’ (Davidson & Griffen, pg 106, 2003). The workplace info case study mentions that most banks in the late 1990’s had a poor public image due to bank fees, branch closures etc. Although it is common practice amongst banks to operate under the conditions, .it is not considered acceptable behavior by the wider community, namely its customers. The ANZ bank wanted to be different to the other banks, it wanted its culture to be a point of difference from the others. It could be said that the ANZ felt it had a responsibility to change peoples perceptions of itself and banks in general. Davidson & Griffen, pg 117, 2003 explain that ‘ethics relate to individuals. Organisations themselves do not have ethics, but organisations do relate to their environment in ways that often involve ethical dilemmas and decisions. Social responsibility is the set of obligations an organisation has to protect and enhance the society in which it functions’. The society for the ANZ bank is the banking community, general community (customers) and its staff. The ANZ bank felt it had responsibilities to their customers, by providing a higher level of customer service in order to enhance its public image, but it had a responsibility to its staff, as they are the people who are to implement the changes. The ANZ may have avoided an ethical issue when it decided that its staff could choose where it could spend time volunteering. ANZ originally controlled where staff would go to volunteer, but this was quickly changed, possibly as a result to ethical dilemmas that may have arose. While there may have been some resistance by staff to change, it did occur and its staff and customer satisfaction have increased, without any major ethical dilemmas arising. Question 6) Determine the organisational structure that would best facilitate the implementation of these new practices. Organisational structure is the formal arrangement of jobs within an organisation. When managers develop change or structure, they’re engaged in organisational design, which involves 6 key elements (Robbins and Coulter, pg 266, 2007). Therefore to develop an organisational structure the manager must consider the elements of organisational design. One of these elements that would have been used by ANZ would have been span of control, which would then also lead to either having a tall or flat organisation structure. Span of control is determining how many people will report to each supervisor or manager (Davidson & Griffen, pg 357, 2003). The decision about span of control determines the overall structure of the organistaion, which will be either a flat or tall organization (Davidson & Griffen, pg 358, 2003). The ANZ may have shifted from a tall organizational structure to a flat structure. Davidson & Griffen, pg 106, 2003 explain that many experts agree that business run more effectively with fewer layers of organisations, which depicts a flat organisational structure. Flat organisations often lead to increased staff morale, productivity as well as increased managerial responsibility (Davidson & Griffen, pg 358, 2003). ANZ structure may look like a tall organization due to the large number of employees, braches and therefore managers for each branch, however a change occurred which would have resulted in less layers, which increased communication from employees to management which assisted in the culture change at ANZ. Question 7) Explain the importance of informal groups in achieving the managerial objective of cultural change. Groups are defined as ‘two or more interacting and interdependent individuals who come together to achieve specific goals’ (Robbins and Coulter, pg 424, 2007). For example, an ANZ branch might have a customer service team, who get together regularly to discuss new ways to increase customer satisfaction. The members in this group are from same ‘team’, and perhaps if not for working within close proximity of each other would not socialise, they are organised formal groups. Contrast to this is informal groups, which Davidson and Griffen, pg 645, 2003, descibe as ‘A group created by its members for purposes that may or may not be relevant to the organisation’s goals’. Informal groups may form while standing around in the morning making coffee, some informal groups are formed by an interpersonal attraction (Davidson and Griffen, pg 646, 2003). Whatever the reason informal groups are formed, they will be important in assisting in the shift for cultural change. When informal groups are formed, they are likely to become cohesive groups, Davidson and Griffen, pg 653, 2003, explain cohesiveness as ‘the extent to which members are loyal and committed to a group; the degree of mutual attractiveness in the group’. Therefore if informal groups within an organisation are open to change it is more likely that the organisation will be able to achieve its objectives, and it this case that is assist with a cultural change. The ANZ bank appears to have undergone a successful cultural transformation, with a focus of staff morale, which increased customer satisfaction. This change has been so well received by staff it now embedded in its staff, and will become the norm for all future staff, regardless of their personality or who is managing them.

Vietnams affects on American s essays

Vietnams affects on American s essays The Things They Carried, document supports the textbooks view of both the wars effects on American soldiers as well as how and why they fought the war. Lieutenant Jimmy Cross, one of the soldiers fighting in the Vietnam War, was forced to undergo a transformation in order better cope with the struggles and events he incurred during the war. The soldiers of the Vietnam War carried both physical and emotional baggage which affected the way they fought in the war. Lieutenant Cross carried many objects with him during the war. The most important of these objects were letters from a girl back home named Martha he was just a kid at war, in love. He used these letters to daydream and to escape the realities of war and the horrible situation he was in. Cross loved her more than he loved the lives of his men even though he knew that Martha didnt love him. He loved her so much, that he would find himself daydreaming at crucial times during the war when his men needed his guidance the most. Because of his love for Martha, Lieutenant Jimmy Cross abandoned the needs of his men and put them in danger. The death of one of Crosses men Ted Lavender put a deep sense of guilt on Cross who was daydreaming when Lavender died he felt shame and a hatred for him-self. The other men were so desensitized by the war that they hid their true feelings by making jokes and retelling how they saw him die, a Christian of all people said the poor bastard just flat-fuck fell reemphasizing the demoralizing effects on the soldiers during the war. Cross not only blamed him-self, but also Martha. The death of Lavender left him with a love-hate feeling for Martha. She was in another world that was not quite real to him and completely uninvolved with his world and he realized that she did not love him and never would. The death of Lavender forced Cross to face reality and become a responsible uncaring...

Advocacy

Advocacy Free Online Research Papers Mediators and advocates are very important to the human service field because clients are often uneducated when it comes to knowing their rights and liberties that exist for them in our society. Clients are often unaware of laws and regulations that protect them so mediators and advocates are necessary to fill in this gap. Mediators are important in the human services field especially because they are facilitators of communication between two parties who have differences and conflicts. Without communication and a platform then minority groups are often left living their lives unfulfilled and in despair because their rights and liberties are not being met. In either case mediators and advocates have extremely tough jobs. Research Papers on AdvocacyRelationship between Media Coverage and Social and19 Century Society: A Deeply Divided EraCapital PunishmentPETSTEL analysis of IndiaGenetic EngineeringThe Hockey GameLifes What IfsComparison: Letter from Birmingham and CritoThe Project Managment Office SystemThree Concepts of Psychodynamic

Business Model of Nespresso Essays

Business Model of Nespresso Essays Business Model of Nespresso Essay Business Model of Nespresso Essay Nespresso is a subsidiary of giant Nestle which was created in 1986. Before launching e-business the capsules sales where operated by telephone and the machine sales by retailers. The Nespresso Club was created in this period of company development. In 1998-1999 Nespresso launches its web site and the next year open its â€Å"Grande Boutique† in Paris. The Nespresso advent began its existence. The specific distribution channels and the idea of private club reinforce the sense of belonging. The client does not feel to be simple people who buy the product but clients develop the feeling to be an exceptional person supported by the Nespresso service. The e-sales improve the Nespresso data and improve the marketing Nespresso’s operations. Since this huge change Nespresso has now a machine for cappuccino and the new collection for Lungo coffee. This company does not offer a simple â€Å"excellent cafe† but a real design item which is integrated in the home decor. 1) Customer segments Nespresso’s main target is the upper middle class, workers in the office, hotels and restaurants. The Nespresso coffee is quite expensive and vehicles a prestige image for people who drink it at home in family or with friends. In the office the use of Nespresso machines is very frequent particularly during negotiations with clients and other stakeholders. Nowadays, Nespresso can target fashionable people who are concerned by the last trends. 2) Value Propositions Nespresso embodies the most sophisticated coffee concept ever developed. * Perfectly portioned highest quality Grand Cru coffees * Smart and easy to use machines and capsules with unique innovate design * Personalized service Nespresso club functionalities are increased * Exceptional coffee experience The concept (machine, capsule, service) is protected by 70 patents and allowed Nespresso to create an economic model closed to competition. Not only can Nespresso coffee capsules only be used in Nespresso machines, with patents ensuring exclusivity, but most customers are forced to buy from Nestle through the brands website or one of Nespresso Boutiques. 3) Channels The sales of Nespresso products are mostly concentrated in : * Internet: 45% of the business. Clients can have customized special offers thanks to their personal Nespresso space. A real customer follow up was created. * Exclusive boutique network * Boutique Bar lay-out: Lounge * Retailers Besides the capsule sales Nespresso has more than 20  000 machine equipped points of sales. 4) Customer Relationships Loyal members, Nespresso Club, 5) Revenue streams * Capsules sales * Commissions on the machines sales 6) Key resources * Superior quality of coffee * Unequaled experts specialized in the production process * 24/7 Service * Loyalty of the members of Nespresso club * A new high standard design machines * Client’s loyalty * Good sustainable brand image Prestigious and appreciated marketing campaign (Sponsoring Alinghi and America’s Cup, Georges Clooney) Nestle is working on ways to prevent competitors from taking advantage of the coming expiry of its patents. 7) Key activities * Constantly improve the chain value * Conserve the privileged relationships with clients * To conserve the capitalization of their good image and their stylish, unique an d eco-friendly culture * Follow the construction of the Internet site 8) Key partnership Nespresso is one of the biggest sponsors of Alinghi and America’s Cup. Partners with Nestle to utilize synergies in terms of: * Financial support * Ramp;D * Specialist support in terms of tax, legal, public affairs etc * Purchasing power * Start-up in new markets Almost 8 machine partners: Magimix, Krups, Miele, Koenig, Alessi†¦ There is a unique partnership with numerous hotels and restaurants which will sell the product to their customers. 9) Cost structure * The cost of the 24/7 service * Capsule production * Cost of sending parcels * Marketing cost which allowed the company to build the Brand reputation and spread its activity on new markets.

Variations in the university degrees Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Variations in the university degrees - Essay Example The technicalities in some degree course offer an explanation as to why a student who has graduated with those courses are likely to earn more than others. A case in point is seen among graduates in the field of medicine.They have to take more time in the university while pursuing their programs as opposed to other courses such as arts and social sciences. Those who have done medicine have the right to receive more pay as the course is very technical and demands a lot of concentration and accuracy. Another example is seen in the engineering courses that require practical applications as opposed to being theoretical in nature. From an economic standpoint, it would be pointless to attend college unless a student achieved some sort of benefit by doing so. This benefit might be in the form of increased earnings, more certain employment, some sort of non-monetary return but it must be great enough to offset the cost of attendance. Boehm and Lees-Spalding describe on-the-job training as a form of human capital investment. In their arguments, they present definitions of two different types of training that can occur. General training is useful to many firms and is therefore applicable to a wide range of jobs. However, it is vital that even as universities should stop offering majors that are not proven to lead to successful careers, it is imperative that they continue on a lesser scale to do so since they still need new streams of income especially in the wake of major cut funds from the governments.

Case Study in Systems and Operations Management - Otakowa Essay

Case Study in Systems and Operations Management - Otakowa - Essay Example III. Research and Analysis†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 1. Research proposal†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 2. Analysis of Existing Systems and Activities†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. a. Organizational Arrangement scrutiny†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ b. Data Systems Analysis†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. c. Activities analysis†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã ¢â‚¬ ¦. IV. Conclusion and Recommendations†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. V. References†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. I. Executive Summary According to the customer report of Atokowa Advantage Co. Ltd., there is a reported and documented noteworthy drop in corporate productivity over the past consecutive half decade. Along with this is the noteworthy decrement in market share and control from a globally prevailing spot of 35% to insignificant 16% within similar time fame under monitoring. The main aim of this report is to test the systems technology and the operational procedures of Atokowa Company Limited so as to assess its productivity to the general corporate aim of productivity and development. Particularly, it suggests means by which the organization could adopt in order to advance the value of administration and executive management. Additionally, the provision of probability within these marketplaces for its stationary business, the study also gave a novel market position within these markets for sorted out stationary. The markets simply required the basic stationary (Meyler, Fuller, Joyner & Dominey, A. 2008, p. 11). Nevertheless they also demonstrated a wish for more sorted out and expansion within these commodities. It is usually upon a similar wish that Carik enterprises was founded to handle specifically with stationary aimed for the learning institutions. Atokowa Company Limited was established originally two decades ago as Carik enterprises, a subordinate of an Australian corporation known as Dungles Ltd. The organization was originally formed to tap into a developing section off the parent’s organization’s gain dealings. The management of Dungles Ltd. had a mission of developing their business markets within the region and likely into other external markets like the United States, Eastern Europe States similar to Germany and Russia and China were going through a population explosion (Burstein & Holsapple, 2008, p. 369). The organization worked under the identity of Carik enterprises for more than 6 years until it was taken over in 1988 by another American-oriented stationary firm known as Cereomacx enterprises. The organization worked under the new Cereomax title for a year until the second annual overall limited name an Atokowa Company Limited. This is mainly because of the organization’s wish to tap developing and extremely profitable Asian Market (Blanchard, 2007, p. 77). The mission of the organization appears to have hit a thump and as such the company wishes for a convincing fix that will reverse the inclination context back onto the track of productivity and development (Hill, 2011, p. 34). The report scrutinizes the roles of hu man resource in staffing, inventory control, technology adoption and utilization and in novel commodity and novelty. In this regard, the report analysis utilizes

Emergency Complaint for Declaratory and Injunctive Relief Essay

Emergency Complaint for Declaratory and Injunctive Relief - Essay Example However, this restriction is narrowly tailored as it does not consider that motorists reduce at certain times of the day and it also does not properly define what street performance encompasses. 12. The plaintiff alleges that the ordinance is stated vaguely and can have many meanings ascribed to it and as such it has impermissibly restrictive speech. This gives room for wrongful incarceration. 13. This is an action by the plaintiff for declaratory relief due to the current legal stake that the defendant has no legal standing or rights to enforce ordinance that purports to outlaw all street performances along St. Georges street. 14. As set forth above, the defendant cannot satisfy the legal standing requirements with this vague section of the constitution. As set forth above, the plaintiff will suffer loss and irreparable harm in case the relief is not granted. Other street performers will also suffer the same fate (Elias 112). 18. This action for emergency injunction is temporary. Plaintiffs use the St. Georges Street and the defendant shows no satisfaction of the mere necessary legal standing to enforce section 22-9 of the constitution. 19. Specific facts set forth so far demonstrate that there is need for an emergency injunction to be granted; otherwise the plaintiff and other street performers could suffer irreparable damage and loss. Therefore, with all evidence and legal stake withholding, the plaintiffs respectfully request the court to consider this matter and grant injunctive relief cancelling the blockade and impeding of the Southard Street for the reasons set forth hereinabove (Bastiat

Video case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Video - Case Study Example The sponsors of the project brought together US army, US navy requirements for a fighting plane into a single design. They demanded supersonic, single-engine, single-seat that is stealth, short take-off, multirole features and vertical landing (Rinaldi, 2001). At the top of the requirement list is efficiency in cost while assembling all features from the predecessor plane into one. The top-level requirement was to land vertically, take-off at shorter runways and remain invisible to enemies in war. JSF program came into being under a program structure that had a basis of a complicated set of association that brings together government Department of Defense (DOD) and industry players Boeing and Lockheed Martin. In addition, on board were eight other partners including Canada, UK, and Australia. The development was shaped in a competition outfit given to Boeing and Lockheed-Martin for a period of four years, which took the government a total of $200 billion. The SJF program in design focused on coming up with a solution to the challenges the partners explained they faced in air combat planes. The focus by Boeing included improving on affordability, the capability to perform while it remains a fighter machine. The design focused on takeoff and landing approaches to a superior war-based machine. The takeoff was to be a short runway and a vertical landing. They came up with refined empennage that had horizontal tails to enhance control power. They maintained the leading-edge sweep of the delta wing for speeds and stealth merits. Moreover, they came up with an aft-sweeping chin inlet, which is regarded lighter with superior aerodynamic performance for the attack. From the earlier F-22 raptor, F-16 version, the decided to maintain wing sweep, vertical tail, fore-body and wingspan with addition of diagonal fins. They also adopted the low weight and simple machine for a direct lift design (Rinaldi,

Examine Best Buy recycling program Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Examine Best Buy recycling program - Case Study Example e-cycle program also recycles audio and video cables, cell phones, computer monitors, DVD players, gift cards, inkjet cartridges, rechargeable batteries (Best Buy- Recycling Program). Recycling of consumer electronics is beneficial because of its environmental and health benefits. To ensure that the whole process is fruitful, Best Buy ensures compliance with policies for hazardous and non-hazardous material handling. It only employs competent employees that are conversant with the recycling process. The company does not accept air-conditioners and refrigerants because their output presents hazardous materials that they cannot handle. Best Buy has a take-back program as an alternative in case there are no federal or state policies for e-waste. Even so, it observes The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), which governs hazardous waste regulations, in its waste management process. In this policy, they measure factors such as corrosiveness, ignitability, reactivity, and toxicity to ensure proper the recycling and disposal process does not harm the environment. Figure 1 indicates the variety of products that Best Buy recycles. Best Buy is likely to remain in operation because of the continuous evolution of electronic products, which means there will always be junk that requires

Case Study Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 29

Case Study - Essay Example ove, however, cannot be established since the available evidence makes it apparent that the omission or misstatement of material facts was not deliberate. SEC recognizes misrepresentation as an offence (Miller et al., 2008, Page 572). In suing Mitchell & Moss and demanding recovery, those who purchased the Whitlow & Company shares of stock would base their argument on negligence on the part of the former and its major deviations from the stipulated norms of auditing and due diligence standards. They are further required to provide evidence that (i) they were third party beneficiaries in the contract between Mitchell & Moss and the Whitlow & Company and (ii) Mitchell & Moss is legally obliged to act without negligence in the audit of the Whitlow & Company. There certainly were instances in which such claims by third party found favour, the conventional viewpoint is that it is iniquitous to implicate auditors with unlimited liability on charge of negligence. The present case is broadly within the scope of the latter view. Section 11 of the Securities Act of 1933 imposes civil liability on accountants for misstatements and omissions of material facts (Miller et al., 2008, Page 650). On the basis of this, Jackson asserts that she suffered a loss by relying upon the financial statements, prepared and certified by Mitchell & Moss, which were misleading. This claim for recovery of damage, however, is valid only if she succeeds in establishing that the untruth or omission was not known to her at the time of purchasing the Whitlow & Company shares of stock. Jackson’s is a case of potential liability in the plaintiff’s favor in which it becomes entirely the defendant’s responsibility to explain why he should not be held liable. One option available for Mitchell & Moss is to argue that the alleged omission or untruth could, in all likeliness, be deemed to be known to Jackson, she being a member of the Private Placement Group having access to and sound knowledge of

Video case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Video - Case Study Example The sponsors of the project brought together US army, US navy requirements for a fighting plane into a single design. They demanded supersonic, single-engine, single-seat that is stealth, short take-off, multirole features and vertical landing (Rinaldi, 2001). At the top of the requirement list is efficiency in cost while assembling all features from the predecessor plane into one. The top-level requirement was to land vertically, take-off at shorter runways and remain invisible to enemies in war. JSF program came into being under a program structure that had a basis of a complicated set of association that brings together government Department of Defense (DOD) and industry players Boeing and Lockheed Martin. In addition, on board were eight other partners including Canada, UK, and Australia. The development was shaped in a competition outfit given to Boeing and Lockheed-Martin for a period of four years, which took the government a total of $200 billion. The SJF program in design focused on coming up with a solution to the challenges the partners explained they faced in air combat planes. The focus by Boeing included improving on affordability, the capability to perform while it remains a fighter machine. The design focused on takeoff and landing approaches to a superior war-based machine. The takeoff was to be a short runway and a vertical landing. They came up with refined empennage that had horizontal tails to enhance control power. They maintained the leading-edge sweep of the delta wing for speeds and stealth merits. Moreover, they came up with an aft-sweeping chin inlet, which is regarded lighter with superior aerodynamic performance for the attack. From the earlier F-22 raptor, F-16 version, the decided to maintain wing sweep, vertical tail, fore-body and wingspan with addition of diagonal fins. They also adopted the low weight and simple machine for a direct lift design (Rinaldi,

Case Study Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 29

Case Study - Essay Example ove, however, cannot be established since the available evidence makes it apparent that the omission or misstatement of material facts was not deliberate. SEC recognizes misrepresentation as an offence (Miller et al., 2008, Page 572). In suing Mitchell & Moss and demanding recovery, those who purchased the Whitlow & Company shares of stock would base their argument on negligence on the part of the former and its major deviations from the stipulated norms of auditing and due diligence standards. They are further required to provide evidence that (i) they were third party beneficiaries in the contract between Mitchell & Moss and the Whitlow & Company and (ii) Mitchell & Moss is legally obliged to act without negligence in the audit of the Whitlow & Company. There certainly were instances in which such claims by third party found favour, the conventional viewpoint is that it is iniquitous to implicate auditors with unlimited liability on charge of negligence. The present case is broadly within the scope of the latter view. Section 11 of the Securities Act of 1933 imposes civil liability on accountants for misstatements and omissions of material facts (Miller et al., 2008, Page 650). On the basis of this, Jackson asserts that she suffered a loss by relying upon the financial statements, prepared and certified by Mitchell & Moss, which were misleading. This claim for recovery of damage, however, is valid only if she succeeds in establishing that the untruth or omission was not known to her at the time of purchasing the Whitlow & Company shares of stock. Jackson’s is a case of potential liability in the plaintiff’s favor in which it becomes entirely the defendant’s responsibility to explain why he should not be held liable. One option available for Mitchell & Moss is to argue that the alleged omission or untruth could, in all likeliness, be deemed to be known to Jackson, she being a member of the Private Placement Group having access to and sound knowledge of

Impact of the Russian revolution - Ideology matters Essay Example for Free

Impact of the Russian revolution Ideology matters Essay I. BACKDROP: GERMAN IDEALISM AND RUSSIAN REVOLUTIONARIES German philosophers in the 19th century were often Idealists, that is to say that they maintained that ideas have a force, power, and reality that is more real than that concrete, reality that so consume us in our daily lives. German idealism dominated the 19th-century Russian revolutionary movement from the Decembrist Revolt of 1825 until long after Lenins successful revolutionary coup that we call the October (or Bolshevik or Communist) Revolution of 1917. While I never want to downplay the central role of raw hypocrisy in human affairs, much of what we in the United States have interpreted as hypocrisy in the Soviet Union-the dissonance between the profound humanism of Marxs ideas and the coarse violence of the Stalinist dictatorship-this hypocrisy can also be seen as the desperate attempt to coerce reality through the power of belief-through the power of the Idea. And one way to interpret the ultimate collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 was that the Soviets had lost their ability to convince themselves that the Leninist/Stalinist Idea had the power to transform reality into a better future. With the collapse of this self-justifying, central Myth that legitimized the Soviet experience, the Soviet Union died not with a bang but rather whimpered into Lev Trotskys dust bin of history. With this introduction, I would now like to offer three examples in the Russian Revolutionary experience where Ideas profoundly affected the future course of events. Only toward the end of the Twentieth Century have these effects begun to run out of steam. II. THREE EXAMPLES A. MODERATE SOCIALISM AND THE FEBRUARY REVOLUTION OF 1917 The first example involves the reaction of moderate socialists to the February Revolution in Petrograd in 1917. Moderate Socialists, including the Marxist Mensheviks in contrast to Lenins Bolsheviks, had adopted a position that Russia was not yet ready for a Socialist Revolution; reading Marxs Stages of History quite literally, they understood that the Bourgeois Revolution had to come first and had to take place under the leadership of the bourgeoisie. The working class movement thus had to be satisfied with playing the role of a party of the extreme opposition-the bourgeois revolution must come first and be developed, and the responsibility of the proletariat was to encourage this historical necessity. Real consequences flowed from this belief. When the women, workers, and soldiers of Petrograd spontaneously took to the streets in February 1917, it took only several days for them to overthrow the 300-year-old Romanov dynasty. They then handed power they had won in the streets to their moderate socialist leadership-none of whom were philosophically or psychologically ready to assume the mantle of power. Consistent with their beliefs, the socialists in turn handed power to the bourgeoisie who established the Provisional Government. Not having the complete courage of their convictions, however, the moderate socialists also established the Petrograd Soviet which basically held veto-power over the actions of the bourgeois Provisional Government. This compromise established the period of Dual Power which was inherently unstable. In retrospect, it is amazing that the Provisional Government, amidst the catastrophe of World War I, managed to hold on to power until October of 1917 when Lenins and Trotskys Bolsheviks managed a coup detat to take power. Lenin, like his Menshevik cousins, was a Marxist, but his Marxism focused less on the determinist element of Marxs Stages of History than on the ability of the individual to assert his will on history. For him, there was no need to wait patiently for the bourgeoisie to fulfill their historical duty at their own leisure; Bolshevism could force the pace. Lenins Will to Power and his belief in the power of the Idea to change reality made the difference between his success and the moderate socialists failure. B. LENINS IMPERIALISM, THE HIGHEST STAGE OF CAPITALISM The second example of the power of the Idea concerns Soviet influence on the developing world. Lenin wrote Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism in 1917, during the trials of the First World War and before the Bolshevik Revolution, to explain two crucial contradictions facing Marxists of the day. The first contradiction concerned the delayed outbreak of the promised world revolution. After all, it had already been sixty-nine years since Marx in the Communist Manifesto had proclaimed that A Specter is haunting Europe-the specter of Communism. What had gone wrong? The second failure of the Marxist promise involved the inability of the worlds proletariat to prevent war and its rejection of internationalism for nationalism. It had been a common belief among those of all political stripes from the far right to the far left, that socialist influence on the proletariat had made a major European war impossible. One of the central socialist beliefs was that wars are fought for the benefit of capitalist profits. Now, with the spread of democracy and the entry of powerful socialist parties into Europes parliaments, the capitalists could try to provoke war to their hearts delight but would find it impossible to vote war credits through parliament or to mobilize soldiers who, following their socialist leadership, would refuse to fight. These ideas evoke memories of the anti-Vietnam War poster: What if they gave a war and nobody came? Lenins ingenious answer to both questions came in his book, Imperialism: The Highest Stage of Capitalism. In it he argued that the concentration of production had transformed the capitalism of free competition into monopoly capitalism. The concentration of production also had dramatically increased the socialization of production. Big banks had changed from pure credit institutions into business banks and as such they dominated whole sectors of industry. Together the banks and industry were tied in with government. This coalescence of bank capital with industrial capital with strong government ties had led to the formation of a financial oligarchy that controlled large sections of the national economy. Share issues and state loans had increased the power and amount of surplus capital which flowed beyond political frontiers and extended the financial oligarchys control to other countries. The capital exporting monopolies had divided the world among themselves; international cartels formed the basis for international relations, and the economic division of the world provided the ground for the struggle for colonies, spheres of influence, and world domination. But once the world was divided up, the struggle had become one for the repartitioning of the world. Because the economic development of individual countries is uneven and sporadic, some were left at a disadvantage in this repartitioning. Imperialism represented a special, highest, stage of capitalism. The transition to a capitalism of this higher order was connected with an aggravation of contradictions, frictions, and conflicts. Monopolists assured profits by corrupting the upper stratum of the proletariat in the developed countries. The imperialist ideology permeated the working class. In other words, the burden of bourgeois oppression had been shifted from the shoulders of the domestic proletariat to those of the colonial peoples. In effect, the domestic proletariat had been bribed and they came to see that their material interests were tied up with colonial enterprise. Now, successful war to repartition the world in the favor of a particular nation made fighting war against fellow proletarians in other countries worthwhile. With his theory, Lenin seemingly had explained those two problems with Marx. The revolution had not yet swept the world because the potential revolutionaries, the proletariat, had been bribed by the illusion of short-term, material gains to forget their true, long-term interests. They had rejected their class-based internationalism for nationalism because wars fought to expand colonial holdings appeared to be in their material self-interest. Hence they did not prevent the outbreak of the Great War. This theory held long-term importance because Lenin, unlike Marx and Engels, did not see the revolutionary perspectives as centered uniquely upon advanced capitalist countries. After the Great War, in a period of Capitalist Encirclement the Soviets attacked the weak link in the chain of imperialism, the colonies. Political influence went to where the oppression was-the colonies. In the colonial and post-colonial world after World War II, given the absence of an entrepreneurial bourgeoisie with the will and capacity to transform existing conditions and to overcome the entrenched interests opposed to full-scale development, a gospel of competitive individualism seemed useless for modernization to those in the Third World. What appeared to be needed to get the underdeveloped country moving has been collective effort inspired by a national sense of political purpose. Only governments had sufficient capital, organizational skills, and commitment to make rapid development possible. Ideologically, therefore, the intelligentsia of such countries gravitated to one or another of the various socialist doctrines-something that in general might be described as state capitalism, that is, the state and not private individuals perform the entrepreneurial duties of gathering land, labor, and capital for productive enterprise. Socialist rhetoric disguised this crucial essence . For most of the twentieth century, Soviet Russia provided the model for those in the Third World who wished to rapidly modernize their countries. And rapid modernization was necessary for the sake of national prestige and independence. Russias success seemed obvious when we note that within forty short years Russia had risen from the ashes of World War I to defeat Hitler, to become one of the worlds two superpowers, and to be the first in space. Just as important as was this practical example was the vocabulary provided by Lenin. That Marx himself had had little to say to the underdeveloped world mattered little. I would argue that many Third World leaders, for two contentious examples Ho Chi-Minh and Fidel Castro, who led revolutions to assert national pride, independence, and prosperity, turned to Communism because Lenin had provided a vocabulary with a coherent explanation for colonial degradation and a means for asserting national regeneration. Additionally, of the major powers, the Soviet regime alone more-or-less consistently supported the aspirations of those wishing to throw off the oppression of colonialism and capitalism. Of course, today, the Communist model no longer holds the same allure it once did. C. TWO MARXIST HERESIES: LENINISM/STALINISM AND MUSSOLINIS FASCISM The final example of the power of ideas generated during World War I involves the intimate, kissing cousin-relationship between Stalinist Communism and Mussolinis Fascism. Despite facile assumptions, Fascism and Communism were not antipodes. Although their exact relationship remains difficult to define, there exist commonalties, as one author has pointed out: Fascism was the heir of a long intellectual tradition that found its origins in the ambiguous legacy left to revolutionaries in the work of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. Fascism was, in a clear and significant sense, a Marxist heresy. It was a Marxism creatively developed to respond to the particular and specific needs of an economically retarded national community condemned, as a proletarian nation, to compete with the more advanced plutocracies of its time for space, resources, and international stature. Was this kind of self-awareness present as thinkers and politicians struggled to define these two ideologies as they co-developed earlier in this century? In fact, many did recognize that their common interests held much greater weight than did the Talmudic differences between Fascism and Communism. Arturo Labriolas Avanguardia Socialista of Milan by 1903 had become the forum for Italys Sorelian syndicalist revolutionaries, who were struggling to make Marx relevant and against reformist socialism. Such luminaries as Vilfredo Pareto and Benedetto Croce graced its pages, followed shortly by a second generation of Sorelian theoreticians, who came to dominate Italian radicalism for more than a generation. Together they constructed an alternative socialist orthodoxy, which they believed was the true heir to classical Marxism. Clearly, their ideas were no more heretical to those of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels than was Lenins Marxism. By 1904 Mussolini, then a socialist agitator in Switzerland, had begun his collaboration with Avanguardia Socialista, a relationship he maintained for the next five years. The syndicalist contributors to the journal affected the future Duces intellectual and political development. Radical syndicalists like A. O. Olivetti innovatively argued that, under retarded economic conditions, socialists must appeal to national sentiment if their ideas are to penetrate the masses. For him, both syndicalism and nationalism were dedicated to increasing production dramatically. As long as Italy remained underdeveloped, the bourgeoisie remained necessary to build the economic foundation requisite for a socialist revolution. Olivetti spoke of a national socialism, because in an underdeveloped economy, only the nation could pursue the economic development presupposed by classical Marxism. When Mussolini took over as editor of the socialist paper, Avanti!, in December 1912, he attracted anarchists and even some rigid Marxists like Angelica Balabanoff, whom he took on as his assistant editor. Paolo Orano, who served on the editorial staff of Avanti!, along with other syndicalists like Sergio Panunzio, set the tone of that socialist paper. Mussolini also founded and edited Utopia from November 1913 until December of the following year. This bi-monthly review attracted many of the most important young socialist and syndicalist theoreticians, who helped Mussolini to develop his own ideas. In the final years before the First World War, many independent national syndicalists, including Panunzio and Ottavio Dinale saw war as progressive. Helping to put together the rationale for Fascism, they supported Italys fight with the Ottomans over Libya in 1911, and, along with Mussolini, they called for Italys intervention in the First World War. Many socialists now passed into Mussolinis Fascist ranks, and syndicalists such as Panunzio, Olivetti, and Orano, became its principal ideologues. As early as October 1914, Olivetti in Pagine Libere spoke of an Italian socialism infused with national sentiment, a socialism destined to complete Italys unification, to accelerate production, and to place it among the worlds advanced nations. Over the next three years in LItalia Nostra, Olivetti spoke of the nation as uniting men of all classes in a common pursuit of historical tasks; class membership did not align an individual against the nation, but united him with the nation. Patriotism was fully compatible with the revolutionary tradition of Italian socialism. By the time of Mussolinis accession to power, Fascism had given clear evidence of its commitment to industrialization and modernization of the economy. Not only were the Futurists, Nationalists, and National Syndicalists agreed that maximizing production was the first order of business, but all also advocated urban development, the rationalization of financial institutions, the reorganization of the bureaucracy on the basis of technical competence, the abolition of traditional and nonfunctional agencies, the expansion of road, rail, waterways, and telephonic communications systems, the modernization and secular control of the educational system, and the reduction of illiteracy. What does this mean for Fascisms relationship with Soviet Russia? Mussolini by 1919 was pointing out the absolute decline in economic productivity in Russia as proving its failure to recognize its historic obligations. He suspected that the Bolsheviks ultimately had to commit themselves to national reconstruction and national defense, that is, to some form of developmental national socialism as defined by Fascisms former syndicalists. Speaking of the Bolshevik failure to comprehend their revolutionary necessities, Mussolini presciently predicted that Lenin had to appeal to bourgeois expertise to repair Russias ravaged economy. Bolshevism, he said, must domesticate and mobilize labor to the task of intensive development, something which could have been anticipated, because Marxism had made it quite clear that socialism could be built only upon a mature economic base. Russia, not having yet completed the capitalist stage of economic development, met none of the material preconditions f or a classic Marxist revolution. Russia was no more ripe than was Italy for socialism. Lenin, in the practical working out of his revolutionary government, did run headlong into many of these conundrums predicted by the syndicalists. In the months following his takeover, he had expected that the revolution in Germany would bail Soviet Russia out of its difficulties. Thus, while the first Fascists were organizing for a national revolution, the bolsheviks were still dreaming of an international insurrection. Lenin, changing horses, in 1921 proposed the New Economic Policy to replace the ideologically purer but failed War Communism. Like Fascists, Lenin now spoke of holding the entire fabric of society together with a single iron will, and he began to see the withering away of the state as a long way away: We need the state, we need coercion-certainly a Fascist mantra. After Lenins death in 1924, this logic culminated in 1925 with Stalins creative development of Marxism: Socialism in One Country, a national socialism by any other name. Mussolini suspected that Stalin might be abandoning true Communism. This, it seemed, might provide economic advantages to Italy, and to Mussolini it made sense for his country to build ships and planes for the Soviets in exchange for one-third of Italys oil supplies. For him the even more interesting possibility was that Stalin might be the true heir to the tsars and an imperialist with whom Fascism could see eye-to-eye. In 1923, the Duce predicted, Tomorrow there will not be an imperialism with a socialist mark, but . . . [Russia] will return to the path of its old imperialism with a panslavic mark. Mussolini convinced himself that Russian Communism was proving to be less revolutionary than was Fascism. The Duce and some of his followers considered it possible that the two movements were moving together closely enough as to be no longer easily distinguishable. Even dedicated Fascist party workers such as Dino Grandi, Mussolinis foreign minister from 1928 to 1932, early recognized Fascisms affinities with Lenins Bolshevism. He had taken at least part of his own intellectual inspiration from revolutionary syndicalism, and in 1914 he had talked of the First World War as a class struggle between nations. Six years later, Grandi argued that socialists had failed to understand the simple reality of what was happening in revolutionary Russia. The Bolshevik Revolution had been nothing less than the struggle of an underdeveloped and proletarian nation against the more advanced capitalist states. Not only Fascists made this sort of analysis. Torquato Nanni, a revolutionary Marxist socialist and an early acquaintance of Mussolini, as early as 1922 had anticipated these developments. He analyzed the common economic foundations of Fascism and Bolshevism, which produced the related strategic, tactical, and institutional features of these two mass-mobilizing, developmental revolutions. Both, he wrote, had assumed the bourgeois responsibilities of industrializing backward economies and defending the nation-state, the necessary vehicle for progress. Lev Trotsky, the organizer of the October Revolution, consistently, even mulishly, argued that Fascism was a mass movement growing organically out of the collapse of capitalism. He also rejected all notions of any sort of national Communism. Nonetheless, he too recognized a certain involution. Stalinism and Fascism, he said, in spite of a deep difference in social foundations, are symmetrical phenomena. In many of their features they show a deadly similarity. A victorious revolutionary movement in Europe would immediately shake not only fascism, but Soviet Bonapartism. (that is, Stalinism) He, however, refused to go as far as his sometime ally, Bruno Rizzi, who later argued that the assumption of similar developmental and autarchic responsibilities could only generate social and ideological convergence. He lamented, that which Fascism consciously sought, [the Soviet Union] involuntarily constructed. For him, the governments of Stalin, Mussolini, Hitler, and even Roosevelt were lurching toward a global system of bureaucratic collectivism, a new form of class domination. Fascist theoreticians agreed with such convergence notions. By 1925, Panunzio claimed that Fascism and Bolshevism shared crucial similarities. Fascists noted that the Soviets had created an armed, authoritarian, anti-liberal state, which had mobilized and disciplined the masses to the service of intensive internal development. The supreme state generated and allocated resources, articulated and administered interests, and assumed and exercised paramount pedagogical functions. Thus, while the first Fascists were formulating the rationale for a mass-mobilizing, developmental, authoritarian, hierarchical, anti-liberal, and statist program guided by a charismatic leader, events had forced the Bolsheviks along the same course. Both intended to create a modern, autarchic, industrial system, which would insure political and economic independence for what had been an underdeveloped national community. With forced industrialization and state capitalism, the Soviets hoped to bring Russia all the benefits of bourgeois modernization. In the face of required austerity, to mobilize their respective populations, the Communists and Fascists alike supplemented economic incentives with pageantry, ritual, ceremony, and parades. All this, coupled with territorial aggression, completed a compelling picture of systemic symmetry. III. CONCLUSION I have presented three diverse examples of the impact of the Russian Revolution on subsequent history. There are other potential examples. I find it interesting that events so crucial to the twentieth century, now seem to be fading so rapidly in their influence. One real benefit of examining the Communist Revolution within the larger question of how best to develop is that the Revolution loses its sense of seminal criticality. For all the pathos surrounding the effort, it becomes just another interesting attempt at rapid development-a failed attempt at that. While I would happily argue that Marx still has relevance for us today, especially in his critique of capitalism if not particularly in his solutions, clearly Lenin and Stalin no longer do.