Kuwait-Iraq War (The Gulf War) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Kuwait-Iraq War (The Gulf War) - Essay Example After the cease fire of Iraq-Iran war in 1988, Kuwait’s oil pricing policy was pushing Iraq into a bankrupt state. Iraq threatened Kuwait to change its oil prices and stop directional drilling in Iraq’s Rumaila Oil Field. The first phase of the conflict of Gulf War was diplomatic negotiation to convince Iraq to leave Kuwait. It started from August 1990 and ended in the Second phase that was air war between Allied Forces and Iraq started in January 1991. The third phase of the conflict was ground war which ended, in the end of February 1991, in cease fire and with drawl of Iraqi forces from Kuwait. The parties in this conflict were the Governments of Iraq, Kuwait, United States of America, Saudi Arabia, Israel, and the United Nations. A lot of other countries provided their troops to support US attack on Iraq. Geneva Convention: Geneva Convention was named after the establishment of Red Cross in Geneva. It was formulated to reduce the damages of war by protecting civilians, war prisoners and wounded fighters. US forces reportedly violated Fourth Geneva Convention of protecting civilians by making attacks on residential areas of Iraq. On the last day of ground fighting, the last of the Iraqi troops were massacred, by US forces, by dropping fragmented bombs over them that could be avoided. The Third Geneva Convention was also violated by United States and Saudi Arabia by not registering their war prisoners. Iraqi government clearly did not bother to follow Geneva Convention through out the war. Iraqi troops were reportedly harassed, tortured and killed several civilians in Kuwait. Iraq also fired several SCUD missiles aimed into the non-military areas in Saudi Arabia and Israel, provided that Israel was not even a party to the conflict. Iraq also did not attempt to register war prisoners with the International Committee of Red Cross and several war prisoners were humiliated by showing

An Inconveniente truth Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

An Inconveniente truth - Essay Example Ice melting has a huge impact on nature and the humanity. If we pay attention on the fact that Gore presents, we will see that the giant ice shelves retreat every year, for example from Mount Kilimanjaro, Columbia glaciers and so on. The amount of CO2 is extremely rising nowadays, despite during 650000 years it did not raise above 300 ppm. So, Gore states, the overall trend of warming is clear and intensified. 2005 year, for example, has brought the record point of temperature of the 14 years for more than 200 countries all over the world. Gore proves that the ocean temperature rises, which causes the stronger storms and hurricanes, which America and Japan felt on their own skin. The ecosystem of river is also suffering. The effects of human`s activity are of a planetary importance. As our planet is like a big engine, flora and fauna are suffering from the climate changing, for example, polar bears and pine trees. It was noticed that the giant ice missives become sicker (for 40% of 4 0 years). It has caused not only environmental problems, but also an appearance of new illnesses (more than 30 new diseases, including SARS) distributed of intensified insects, rising to the top of mountains. The other related problem is the flooding, which can happen if the big body of ice land melts. It would become a great disaster for coastal territories, for example, the large part of Florida, Shanghai, Calcutta, Manhattan and so on will be covered with water. The technical revolution has posed the humanity on the edge of disaster; it is time pay for the mistakes. As we can notice, Gore widely discovers the truth of the problem, showing it is not imaginative. However, he is optimistic – his opinion is that humanity has both ability and will to secure its future, to pay attention on what is used (thing, cars and so on) and how it can be

Comparison of UK and German Pension Systems

Comparison of UK and German Pension Systems This essay discusses two main questions: i) What are the main factors causing many people not to save towards their retirement, comparing men and women age 18 and over; and ii) Look at the differences between the pension system here in the UK and Germany, and what Germany is doing to make people save more than people save than in the UK. It is clear, across many European countries, that many individuals do not save as much as they could, and, in particular, are not saving adequate amounts towards their retirement. This applies equally for men and women and across many European countries. This problem is, however, particularly marked in the UK, with many individuals either simply not having any pension provisions or not contributing enough in to their pension scheme. In addition, many individuals in the UK simply do not save any proportion of their earnings, and spend as much, if not more, than they earn. This is not the case in Germany: practically every household saves substantial amounts, right up until old age, with only households in the very lowest proportions of the income distribution curve not saving (Borsch-Supan and Essig, 2003). 40% of households in Germany regularly save a fixed amount, with a further 45% saving, but not fixed amounts and not regularly; 25% of Germans save with a fixed savings target in mind, planning their savings towards these aims, with the majority of Germans preferring to cut household consumption, rather than touch their savings, if ends do not meet; indeed, 80% of Germans seldom go negative in their current accounts (Borsch-Supan and Essig, 2003). This is quite different to the pattern in the UK, where personal debt is currently the highest it has been for many decades, and many individuals do not plan for saving with distinct aims in mind, nor save towards any sort of pension scheme, leaving themselves open to problems when they come to retirement age. As shown by the OECD (2002), since 1985, the UK has consistently had a far lower household savings rate than Germany, with Germany averaging around 13.5% of disposable household income being saved, year on year since 1985, and the UK averaging around 5.5%, year on year since 1985 (OECD, 2002). In Germany, as in the UK, there are three main types of pension: state, company and private, with the adoption of private pensions being increasingly encouraged, due to the ageing population in both regions. There are many reasons cited for why people do not save enough towards their retirement, for example, the feeling that ‘I am too young to start saving for my pension’, ‘I don’t earn enough to be able to save for a pension’ or ‘I will get a state pension, so don’t need to worry’. All of these reasons are invalid, if they are studied further, as it is increasingly becoming the responsibility of the individual to provide for their retirement, and so saving for a pension should be a necessary expense; the sooner the individual starts to save, obviously, the more they will have in their pension fund when it comes to retirement age, and the more they will be able to take as a pension when they come to retire. It is thus beneficial fo r individuals to invest in their future, by saving regularly towards their retirement, but this notion does not seem to be as ingrained in the minds of individuals in the UK as it is in Germany. Until recently, 19.5% of incomes from German individuals was generally put towards private pensions, with private pension companies in the UK taking nowhere near this amount; 10-15% is a more normal average amount taken by UK company pension schemes (OECD, 2007). In addition, Germany has one of the highest levels of public spending on pensions in the OECD countries (11.5% of GDP, compared to 4.5% of GDP in the UK (Disney and Johnson, 2001)), although recently Germany has increased the retirement age above the traditional 65 years for men, to 67; a similar rise in the age of retirement from public pension plans has recently occurred in the UK (OECD, 2007). Contribution to private pension plans has the widest coverage in Germany of any OECD country, although the amounts contributed to private pension plans in Germany are low, when compared to the amounts German individuals put in to company pension schemes (OECD, 2007). In addition, fewer German individuals are switching from company p ension schemes to private pension schemes in Germany than in other OECD countries. Indeed, only 39.9% of individuals have switched from company to private pension schemes in Germany, with 53.4% of individuals switching to â€Å"personal account† pensions in the UK (OECD, 2007). Despite the seemingly high switch over from company pension schemes to private or â€Å"personal account† pensions in the UK, the UK government estimates that around 7 million individuals are not saving enough for their retirement, under any scheme, and that an additional 10 million individuals do not save for their retirement via their company pension scheme, which includes an employer contribution of a minimum of 3%. What are the reasons for these differences, and what are the main factors causing many people not to save towards their retirement? What is Germany doing, for example, that encourages more people to save than in the UK? The UK, traditionally, has higher levels of personal debt than Germany, with individuals from both regions having very different attitudes towards spending and saving, and where they choose to invest their savings. In addition, individuals who do save in the UK tend to ‘dip into’ their savings to buy luxury items, whereas German savers tend to leave their savings alone, and to buy luxury items, only when they can afford to do so, when they have saved, specifically, for that item. Given the ageing population, and the fact that not enough people are saving for their retirement, the UK is currently trying to increase saving towards pensions, particularly, with various tax incentives, through private pension taxation schemes and ISAs, for example, and the new ly introduced pension credit schemes. In conclusion, therefore, there seems to be a very negligent attitude towards saving, in general, in the UK, with saving for retirement being particularly neglected; Germany, on the other hand, with its tradition of low personal debt, and high household savings, has a high coverage of individuals saving towards their retirement, mostly through company, or, increasingly, private pension schemes. References Borsch-Supan, A. and Essig, L. (2003). Household saving in Germany: results of the first SAVE study. National Bureau of Economic Research, Working Paper 9902. Available from http://www.nber.org/papers/w9902 [Accessed 28th October 2008]. Disney, D. and Johnson, M. (2001). Pension systems and retirement incomes across OECD countries. Edward Elgar. OECD (2002). Household savings rates by country from 1985 through 2004 forecast. OECD Economic Outlook. OECD (2007). Pensions at a glance – public policies across OECD countries 2007 Edition. Available from http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/15/42/38728511.pdf [Accessed on 28th October 2008].

The Core Rules Relating to Nursing Practice Essay -- Ethics, Health, Nu

ETHICAL ISSUE Ethics is a philosophic study that examines values, choices, and actions to determine right and wrong. Ethical principles include but not limited to; Justice, beneficence, nonmaleficence, veracity. The case study which I am going to discussed in my paper is about an LPN, who was working from 7:00 P.M to 7:00 A.M. And was assigned to five patients, including a patient for whom an obstetrical consultation was needed. The other four patients were essentially stable. At about 4;30 A.M., the LPN became ill and vomited in the bathroom. She immediately went to the nurses’ station notified the other four nurses who were working with her that she was leaving. The charge nurse instructed her to notify the supervisor before leaving, but the LPN did not communicate with the nursing supervisor before existing the facility. The facility notified the LPN that it was terminating its contract with her and reported the LPN to the state board of nursing for abandonment. The board of nursing imposed a $ 1000 penalty for abandoning her patients and suspended her nursing license pending a psychosocial examination. According to The Texas Board of Nursing (BON or Board),† in keeping with its mission to protect the public health, safety, and welfare, holds nurses accountable for providing a safe environment for clients and others over whom the nurse is responsible [Rule 217.11(1)(B)]. Though the Nursing Practice Act (NPA) and Board Rules do not define the term abandonment, the Board has investigated and disciplined nurses in the past for issues surrounding the concept of abandonment as it relates to the nurses’ duty to patient. The Board's position applies to licensed nurses (LVNs and RNs... ... to prevent harm. Nonmaleficence is defined as: The duty not to inflict harm intentionally. Based on my viewpoint, the LPN did not intentionally inflict harm on the patient’s. According to her statement, she became ill and decided to leave the facility and the reason she didn’t communicate with her supervisor was because she was afraid that the supervisor would send her to the emergency center, which she didn’t want to be billed for such a visit. Veracity is defined as truth-telling and based on my point of view, the LPN was not telling the truth, when she testified that she intended to see her family physician early that same morning. It was 4:30 am when she left the facility and there is no way she could have seen her family physician that morning unless she went to the emergency room which she refused to go making her guilty for abandoning her patients.

Reflection Paper of a Walk to Remember Essay

Summary: â€Å"A Walk to Remember† is a heart touching story which is being narrated by a 57 year-old Landon Carter, who describes how he fell in love with the Baptist’s daughter, Jamie. It’s starting from two young people who first are strangers and then find themselves unexpectedly fall in love with each other. In 1958, Beaufort, North Carolina, seventeen-year-olds Landon Carter who is a popular and rich kid in the community planned to study at University of Carolinas after he graduated. His first girlfriend is Angela, but unfortunately they are not last. Therefore, Landon and Jamie live in two completely different worlds. Jamie Sullivan is a quiet and kind and bookish girl whom he has known many years but rarely ever spoken with. This changes when Landon needs a date for the homecoming dance. All the girls he knows already have dates and finally he has no other possibility than asking Jamie. Surprisingly, she agrees, although her father doesn’t like Landon at all. The party day is coming and they have fun together lots. After the dance, Jamie asks Landon to play one of the main roles in a Christmas play that her father has written. Landon doesn’t want to but he agrees nevertheless. When the rehearsals start, Landon and Jamie spend a lot of time together, and the more Landon knows about Jamie, the more he understands and even likes her. He even walks Jamie home every night. On the evening when the play is performed, he seen Jamie as a very beautiful lady and he realized he falls in love with her. After Landon confessed, they start dating and having a very sweet couple life. They’re in a relationship together until Jamie tells him she has leukemia, and that she had stopped responding to treatments. This causes a struggle in their relationship. Jamie condition getting worse day by day and London feel really sad that he can’t help her anything. In the end they get married because Landon wants to fulfill her wish. Forty year later, Landon still loves her and never removed the ring. He said â€Å"I now believe, by the way, that miracles can happen†. Characters Analysis: Jamie Sullivan is the seventeen-year-old daughter of Hegbert Sullivan. She is a very religious girl, carrying her Bible around with her everywhere. She is happy and cheerful and sees the best in everyone and in every situation, always ready to help those in distress. I really like her character the most because of her kind and innocent attitudes and very loyal to love. Landon Carter is the 57 year-old man who through flashback narrates the story of his seventeenth year, the year that changed his life. I really like him after finishing the whole reading because it show that he is very loyal to his wife by never removing the wedding ring and still in love with her. However, after I take looks at the acknowledgement part of the novel shows that he re-married with other women and has 2 sons. I really dislike the fact that he re-married showing that he is not loyal to Jamie at all. Recommendation: I would recommend this story for those who enjoy novels that touch your heart and make you think about real life. It’s a story of how strong teen love can truly be and the love conquers all. Even it’s a bit complicated and boring at first, if you keep on reading you will find it addicted, because the best part of the story is in the last chapter. Conclusion: This novel is a very heart touching story and I like it. I love how the author draws the reader in with emotions, descriptions, love, and death. Therefore, I think it’s a great book that show the real love between man and woman and it’s even touching of how it show that the main characters struggle together through their love obstacles and how the power of love can change a person.

A Narrative Inquiry on the Life History of Betty Siegel

Known for her outstanding achievement in educational policy, Dr. Betty Lentz Siegel was the longest serving female president at Kennesaw State University. In 1981, she assumed the position at Kennesaw State University, which then was a four-year college institution with 4,000 students and 15 baccalaureate degree programs. Under her tutelage, Kennesaw State University achieved its university status with more than 18,000 student enrollees and 55 undergraduate and graduate degree programs (online Golden Key International Honour Society International).It was her vision and leadership that brought the educational institution to its current university status focusing on teamwork through the creation of strong administrative teams and group interaction. With her guidance, the institution implemented several initiatives and high profile activities that created opportunities and recognition of the institution in the local and state communities. In the book Searching for Academic Excellence: T wenty Colleges and Universities on the Move and their Leaders, Dr.Siegel was in a limelight in her accomplishment for Kennesaw State University (online Golden Key International Honour Society International). In her 25 years of service in the institution, Kennesaw State University received numerous recognition and awards for its outstanding achievements (online Golden Key International Honour Society International). Its awards are as follows: †¢ 1987, chosen as one of the top three college colleges and universities in its nationwide competition focusing on â€Å"The President and the Public† by the Council of Advancement and Support of Education (CASE)†¢ 1989 – 1991, Kennesaw State also caught public attention as the US News and World Report acknowledges Kennesaw State’s exemplary programs in minority recruitment and retention, leadership programs for faculty, staff, administrators and students, and international initiatives. US News and World Report di stinguishes Kennesaw State as the country’s â€Å"up and comers† and â€Å"rising stars† in the South’s regional institutions. †¢ 2003, KSU received recognition to become one of twelve founding institution included in the program entitled Foundation of Excellence in the First College Year of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities.In addition, this recognition also gave KSU the needed funding to pursue the projects of the RTM Institute for Leadership, Ethics Characters, which Dr. Siegel is the Endowed Chair. †¢ 2006, US News and World Report ranked KSU as number one among the 25 educational institution known for their learning community programs. In addition, the magazine highlights the school’s first year freshman experience program. Academic Background Behind the outstanding accomplishment of KSU is Dr. Siegel’s utmost leadership, dedication, and commitment to education. Dr. Siegel’s academic areas of e xpertise include child psychology and administration.Her outstanding academic achievement also marks her commitment for continuous learning. She received her Ph. D from Florida State University, A Masters in Education from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, a B. A. n English and History from Wake Forest University and an Associate of Arts from Cumberland College. She also has received her two-year post-doctoral study in Clinical Child Psychology at Indiana University. She holds honorary doctorates from Cumberland College in Kentucky, Miami University in Ohio, Eastern Kentucky University, Lynchburg College, Morehead State University, and Southern Connecticut State University.Professional accomplishments Dr. Siegel had been an accomplished educational administrator even before coming to Kennesaw State. She started as a faculty member for several universities such as Indiana University and Lenoir-Rhyne College. And in 1967, she taught at the University of Florida. In 1971 , she became the first woman Dean of Academic Affairs for Continuing Education at the University of Florida. She moved to Western Carolina University in the School of Education and Psychology in 1976 and was also the first woman to hold the position of academic dean for the University.In 1981, she came to Kennesaw State where she has started several programs and later became the first female president. Dr. Siegel was also co-founded and co-directed a non-profit organization chartered in North Carolina since 1982. She worked with an esteemed colleague Dr. William Purkey in establishing International Alliance for Invitational Education. The organization currently has more than 12,000 members of different professionals from over twelve countries, who seek to apply the concepts of invitational education to their personal and professional lives (online International Alliance of Invitational Education).In 1999, the Center for Invitational Leadership was created to advance the model of inv itational education by offering opportunities for professional to participate in leadership development programs. Its mission is to â€Å"to enhance lifelong learning, to promote positive change in organizations, to cultivate the personal and professional growth and satisfaction of educators and allied professionals, and to enrich the lives of human beings, personally and professionally. † (online Radford University’s Center for Invitation Leadership). Moreover, with the high-regards to the accomplishments of Dr.Siegel, she has delivered keynote addresses at hundreds of national, regional, and state conferences throughout United States, Puerto Rico and ten other foreign countries and has lectured for over 120 colleges and universities around the world. She is an internationally- and nationally-known lecturer and motivational speaker on leadership, educational issues, and the concerns of women. She has also served as a consultant to a wide range of businesses such as ed ucational institutions, businesses, non-profit organizations, health-care services, government and socio-civic groups (online Golden Key International Honour Society International).Public Service Dr. Siegel has also worked in community improvement programs of the government. In 1997, Governor Zell Miller appointed Dr. Siegel to represent the State of Georgia on the Southern Growth Policies Board’s 1998 Commission on the Future of the South. Prior to that, she also represented Governor Miller at the Presidents’ Summit of America’s Future held at Philadelphia in 1997. Currently, she has been appointed as to serve as member of Governor Perdue’s Commission for a New Georgia.Her work in the commission was largely publicized as she was the driving force behind the establishment of the Cobb Education Consortium. The Cobb Education Consortium was created to form a collaborative organization among the public educational institution â€Å"to combine the resources, energies, and talents of the member institutions to address areas of common concern in moving public education in Cobb Country from its current level of excellence to the exemplary level which will be needed to prepare students to become responsible leaders, capable workers, and well-rounded human beings.† (online Cobb Education Consortium) In addition, she also served as a chair of subcommittee on post-secondary options for the Georgia P-16 initiative. The initiative aims to a comprehensive and collaborative statewide effort aimed at raising expectations and ensuring student success from pre-school through post-secondary education. The initiative is different than other educational reform efforts because it impacts the entire educational spectrum—not just the parts. (online University System of Georgia)Lastly, she initiated the Northwest Crescent Alliance between the three private colleges and three public institutions. The alliance was formed to develop programs of c ollaboration in economic development, enhancement of the arts, the preservation of Southern/Appalachian culture and history, and the development and promotion of community leadership. (online Northwest Crescent Leadership Alliance) Publications Dr. Siegel has recently co-published with Dr. Purkey entitled Becoming an Invitational Leader. The book offers a fresh and innovative model based on a single theoretical framework.It deviates from the traditional control and dominance model of leadership to one that focuses on connectedness, cooperation and communication. This model has been adopted in the International Alliance for Invitational Education and had been applied in numerous fields including administration, business, nursing, dentistry, counseling, and other professions. Purpose of the Study Successful and well-established teacher on leadership, Dr. Siegel’s life history has been a model for many aspiring leaders. She not only teaches about leadership, but she has embodied what she has taught.Her success has led to many researchers to examine what leadership truly is. Indeed, many have published life-stories and lessons on management’s leadership, but many have looked into it in lens following the theoretical framework of industrial management. The purpose of the study is to examine the perceptions of people surrounding the leadership during the tenure of Dr. Siegel at Kennesaw State University. We will looked at what people think within and outside Kennesaw State University’s phenomenal growth in relation to Dr. Siegel’s leadership.By examining the perceptions of Dr. Siegel in her tenure at Kennesaw State University, trends may emerge regarding leadership attitudes and/or leadership style. In undertaking this study using narrative inquiry, we hope to answer the following questions: 1. What are events and influences that formed Dr. Siegel’s mental model and invitational leadership theory? 2. What are the factors attracted and the perceptions students and alumni with Dr. Siegel’s leadership? 3. What is the value and contribution of Dr. Siegel to the understanding of leadership? Review of Related LiteratureIn the book Telling Women’s Lives: Narrative Inquiries in the history of Women’s Education, Weiler and Middleton (1999) explored the broader questions of gender and power through education. They have in discussing the stories of women as teachers come across on topics of education bureaucracies, material condition of women teachers, and the ways concepts of gender and sexuality have shaped experiences of men and women in the educational state. Indeed, women had not been fairly represented in the leadership of educational institution. Dr. Siegel has been an exception and as our purpose is to understand the success of Dr.Siegel’s, we looked at it in a different lens of leadership framework. We undertake this study using narrative inquiry to understand further the leadership model of Dr. Siegel. General Presupposition on Narrative Inquiry Stories have always been a way to pass on tradition and history of a nation. People love to tell and listen to stories. It is way we communicate and more importantly a way we understand people and events. Hardy (1986) has described narrative as a basic mode of thought, and Brunner (1986) described it as a way of organizing knowledge.Cultures are created and traditions are transferred from generation to generation through narratives. It is through narratives that individuals and society expresses their world views and provide models of identity and agency to their members (Brunner 1996). Narrative inquiry differs from more traditional uses of narrative education, that is, from didactic and strategic uses of narrative. Conle et al. (2000) argues that narrative inquiry retains these qualities in two areas: (1) for research, and (2) for professional development. Narrative in ResearchPolkinghorne (1988) defined narrative as the process that humans use to make sense of their experiences. It is through the application of language and personal reflection that people are able to continually construct and reconstruct significant events in their life and gain a deeper insight of their experiences. Atkinson (1998) argues that people arrange their experiences in a manner that make sense of the events and places the seemingly chaotic world in a coherent order. Thus, narratives are the process by which people make meaning of their own experiences. Denzin (1989) describes narratives as simply stories.Polkinghorne (1988) suggests that these stories convey the organizational scheme used to make meaning out of experiences. Very similar to any story, narratives are thematically organized around a central plot. It in the theme, organization, and the play of language of story that meaning and knowledge is drawn out. That is, we learn and gain insights in the temporal relational nature of the author’s reconstruc tion of events (Polkinghorne 1995). Narratives convey an understanding of environmental and interpersonal context, temporal sequence, and affective domain of the story.Polkinghorne (1995) offered the simple example of the sentence: â€Å"The king died; the price cried. † Taken in isolation, each adequately describes an event. Understood as a narrative story, with a temporal relationship and context, these two sentences describe a son’s response to the loss of his father. They convey emotion and evoke empathy. Conle (2000) describes the two purposes of narratives: (1) to convey meaning to others from unrelated events into a thematic story (Polkinghorne 1995), and (2) to convey norms and values to newcomers on a cultural or community level (Mattingly 1991).Narratives, therefore, are both the process of constructing and reconstructing events into organized schemes and the resulting that conveys the scheme (Polkinghorne 1988). Further, Polkinghorne (1988) explains that nar ratives can be used to either describe or explain an event. Descriptive narrative inquiry reports and interprets existing narratives. Descriptive narrative research describes what underlies the values and assumptions of people within a community by examining several narratives for similarities and themes.Explanatory narratives seek to explain why something happened or to explain an event. It, thus, looks narrative accounts for connections between events and actions that led to a particular occurrence. To put it more succinctly, it looks for casual connection between antecedents and events. Narrative research uses linguistic data in attempt to understand empirical reality from the perspective of the teller. It uses the resulting story to understand the organizational scheme the teller used to make sense of his or her world.In narrative research, then, it is not only the content of the story that helps in understanding the experience, but the way the story is constructed that reveals more about the experience. It therefore looks at the study of ways humans experience the world (Connelly and Clandinin 1990). Thus, narrative research begins with the narrator’s story, but moves the research toward interpretation. Denzin (1989) suggests that interpretation allows researchers to look for and connects patterns of meaning and experience in the respondent’s narratives.Bloom (1998) furthers this discussion by asserting that by connecting patterns and meaning and experiences of respondents, the researcher are able to draw from a wide array of theories to set forth his/her interpretation. Furthermore, Atkinson (1998) advises researchers to examine the respondent’s narratives for ordering of events. Context is revealed by understanding the emotions and values conveyed in the narrative. However, Feldman et al. (1990) cautions researchers on the need to scrutinize the respondent’s use of metaphors, irony, and other rhetorical devices as it may resu lt to misinterpretation.It is therefore, important to understand and gain insight into the mental state of the respondent in order to fully interpret the story. More importantly, the end result should be a synthesis of several stories into one thematic narrative. Interest in the use of narrative research has strong precedents in other fields such as in Psychology, Anthropology, and Educational Research. They use narrative as a medium of data representation and as a guide in the development of methodologies, if they did not want to lose the temporal quality and contextual detail of what they were studying (Fenstermacher 1994).They view narratives as a metaphor for human conduct (Sarbin 1986). Narrative, thus, did not stay confined to data representation, but became an entire mode of inquiry where data analysis and final documents did not have to relinquish their narrative quality. Dewey’s work on time, experience, and sociality had been central for narrative inquiry, which con sists of experiential stories that combine the social and the personal (Dewey 1904).It is these experiential stories without abandoning the particular, the contextual, and the complex events that the inquiry attempts to give voice to tacitly held personal knowledge of the respondents (Polanyi 1966; Schwab 1970). This personal knowledge has practical function or serves as an instrument in order for the researcher to evaluate and explain previously determined outcomes on the subject’s deliberations, intuitive decisions, daily action and moral wisdom. Narrative inquiry, therefore works best in getting such ‘practical knowledge’.In fact, MacIntyre (1981) promotes narratives for the study of practices, of lives and of traditions. The methodology allows the researcher to recover the moral qualities of all aspects of the subject’s contemporary lives, qualities that he sees as practically and theoretically lost. Micheal Connelly’s concept of personal, pract ical knowledge (Connelly and Diennes 1982) combined Polanyi’s sense of the personal with Schwab’s notion of the practical and MacIntyre’s moral intent.Connelly later saw the construction of narrative accounts of experiences as the perfect medium for the study of personal practical knowledge (Connelly and Clandinin 1982). Benefits Narrative Inquiry Conle (1997) notes that the most important contribution that narrative inquiry is a language that implicitly forces the issues of open-ended meanings and of the ‘constitutedness’ of identities, both ethnic and narrator’s identities. Narratives are about temporal events and tell us where and when something happens, in which contexts, who said what to whom, with which feelings and in what mood, and under which moral constraints.Such contextualization on the surface seems to convey facts, but it also potentially subjuntivizes these ‘facts’. If generalization do not accompany the specifics, narrative contextualization limits the factual to the ‘once only’ and to the reliability of observation made by a specific observer at one particular time. If the temporal quality of narrative inquiry is heeded, the tentativeness of conclusions and the open-endedness of stories will prevail. These are much-needed qualities in pluralist societies.It is the open-endedness that allows readers the ability to further interpret and understand the contextual framework of such actions (Conle 2000). Nonetheless, Berstein (1992) cautions that it is equally crucial for a narrative inquiry not to contribute to the rampant relativism, especially more moral relativism and should not deviate against reason. Such relativism can reduce the instrumental rationality of the research and can hinder the ability to draw insights especially in intercultural settings.

Virtual Organization

Virtual Organization Free Online Research Papers The changing dynamic of customer needs and business environment impose new ideas and concepts. One of these is the virtual organization (VO). This type of organization can be established and dissolved quickly to respond to rapidly changing market opportunities. It is hard and sometimes impossible for a single organization to react to market demand and opportunities. Organizations develop a network of corporations that are familiar with each other and then define some rules of co-operation for a specific project, which would help all the involved benefit from the collaboration. The main emphasis of the VO is to complement and share resources in order to improve competitiveness as a whole and enable competition on a larger scale (Ulrich, 2001, p. 50). The enabling factor that allows this form of organization is technology, namely the major advances of the Information and communication technology (ICT). The approach of this briefing paper would be one of a consultant guiding an organization through the process of virtualness. Prior to diving into the key issues that an organization faces and if these key matters are being addressed or not, let us first identify the mechanisms o f a VO. The literature on VO offers a wide spectrum of life cycle models. Sieber (1998) recognized five stages in the development of a VO â€Å"creation of a complementary resource base, co-operation of partners by a common business understanding, integration of the resource base by a transaction governance system, formulation of a common network strategy, and socialization by trust between the partners involved† (Sieber, 1998). Creating a complementary resource base will allow the organization to identify organizations with competencies outside of its own, for partnership potential, if there is a market need. These are different organizations that have different strategies, resources and objectives. They do not necessarily have to be corporation but could also be a group, or an individual. The co-operation of partners by a common business understanding has the underpinning agreement to form a VO from an open-ended network of different organizations, only if there is a market opportunity. The ground rules of participation in the VO are drawn out and agreed upon by all members. Formulation of a common network strategy, in this phase, the members of the network of business partners implicitly agree on the common strategy to use as a VO, the procedures that have to be in place, the way the exchange of knowledge would be carried out especially if patent issues are involved, the use of information and most i mportantly the quality of work. And socialization by trust between the partners involved, in the creation of the network phase, corporations most likely would address these issues of trust and socialization. Prior to initiating the contact with a group, a company or an individual for an operation in which different organizations jointly develop, produce, and market services, they would have known each other from prior collaborations or based on the expectation that together they have the competencies and resources to create added value for a specific customer or group of customers (Saabeel et al., 2002 p. 9). The participants would also bring with them an understanding of the networking phase. Again ICT is a fundamental factor in the coordination of activities in the various partners and each one of them should be able to bridge the difference of time and space for efficient communication. Some key matters organizations face related to virtualness are identified by Ulrich (2001, p. 46): selection of suitable partners and transaction costs resulting from trust development, organizational fit, multiple leaders. Each one of these points should be addressed by the organization as well. T he selection of suitable partners could take a long time but the development and acknowledgement of the company’s core competencies will allow entrance into various networks and build relationships within the network to identify potential partners. Transaction cost for the first time around cannot be avoided because of the relationship building involved and the manpower required setting up everything the face to face required, meetings, correspondences and infrastructure coordination, but from then on, it should be negligible unless it is new partnership. Once potential partners are identified, the technological and sociological factors should be analysed for a good organizational fit. Since the partnership could be between two or more organizations, multiple leaderships could be problematic and organizational boundaries need to be set carefully to efficiently manage the joint project and avoid cross-organizational problems that could translate into more complicated trust t ribulations. (Plant, Murrell, p. 2) identified key aspects of virtualness and organizational culture in relation to innovation. In their analysis, it came clear that an organizational mission statement, vision, and strategy has to incorporate an innovative organizational culture in order to be competitive and survive the ever changing market dynamics, customer requirements and market opportunities. At this age of information technology development, organizations are networked and they maintain their key competencies but are in a relentless quest of new partnerships and co-operation with other companies to reposition themselves, to be effective in the market place, and most importantly be innovative in research and development bringing new products to market. Each one does what they do best and complemented with the work of one or more organizations, they can share cost, resources, and knowledge to create and market new products or respond to a market opportunity. VO supports innovation pursu its and a prerogative to the successful execution of this endeavor is the existence of corporate culture of innovation between the organizations involved or the clear spelling out of this objective in the strategy and objectives of the VO. Innovative pursuits will not be the only outlet for VO; there is a plethora of venues to explore. As long as the strategy of the different organizations embroil a new stratagem for the VO, the goals and objective would be identified and with collaborative interchange of resources, ideas and effective work, communication and efficient use of ICT, success can be achieved by the VO. The effective use of knowledge, whether internal or external to the organization, requires a network. In the era of information technology, networked electronic communities thrive all over the Internet. Competitiveness of an organization whether virtual or not requires an interaction of knowledged-workers, systems and extra-corporate entities. This way, relationships could be formed with other organizations to share information to be more effective and to help position the organizations in short term relationships like virtualness, long-term market share and success. Organizations need to be continually repositioned to be effective in the market place. Skills enhancement is a fundamental activity for organizations that want to gain market share and be successful in the marketplace. The use of knowledge and market information is achieved partly from being a component of a larger network of organizational connectivity centered on the use and manipulation of both internal and exter nal knowledge (Plant, Murrell, p. 4). Tremendous benefits could be realized from successful execution of a virtual operation. Minimizing cost and increasing revenues are some of the main reasons why many corporations are operating, virtualness permits this by partnering with shared resources, cost, and improve competitiveness as a whole, along with the ability to compete at a larger scale than a single company alone could. Virtualness also allows the organization to be flexible and able to rapidly respond to market demands with the co-operation of one or more organizations. Virtualness provides an organization with the optimum value chain and the flexibility to be part of groups to deliver first class products to the marketplace, at the least cost possible, neither of which would have been possible for a single company to undertake. More importantly, being part of a network of large integrated companies helps an organization keep its finger on the pulse of the market place and demand, to leverage opportunities and sat isfy individual customer needs nationally and internationally. VO is such a new field that emerged from the information revolution, it is difficult to find quantifiable data to illustrate its benefits to a corporation. Nonetheless, let’s look at the Dell Computer Corporation (Dell) as an example. Founded in 1984 by Michael Dell, now employs approximately 30,000 employees worldwide and has annual revenue of $12 billion. Dell uses a variety of suppliers and customers order using the Internet from a list of available options. Based on the match of the different components that are specified by the customer, the order is routed dynamically to one of the suppliers that are carefully chosen by Dell and all the interfaces are done through Dell system. This makes Dell a VO because Dell does not carry any inventory but rather uses the suppliers who incur the cost of inventory but are in partnership with Dell, which guarantees a constant flow of orders for the suppliers. The div ersity of suppliers in partnership with Dell enables the organization to be abreast of technological development and innovation, which can in turn better satisfy customer requirements. Dell also aggressively searches for new partners and suppliers within the dynamic networked community (Saabeel et al., 2002 p. 9). VO is a promising organizational form of the 21st century; I would like to make few recommendations for organizations planning to go virtual. Firstly, be flexible, flexibility is essential to innovation although VO supports only certain types of innovations. Going virtual assumes some cultural changes from the departments or individuals that are going to be involved in the VO. The communications that accompany these structural changes are critical to the success of the VO as they provide opportunities for members to understand roles and responsibilities as the organization changes (Grabowski, Roberts, 1998, p. 17). Once roles and responsibilities are known and organizational changes are carefully articulate, the issue of trust will be faced and the best way of dealing with it would be a creating of an effective shared culture. Each organization comes in with its own culture and since culture is tacit, the VO needs to foster a shared culture, group meetings with lateral organizat ion forms would contribute to building this trust and culture. Some factors that would make the VO a failure are: lack of a share vision, not clearly identifying network members selected to participate, and having mission and goals incompatible with individual’s aspirations (Skyrme, 1999, p.6). Reference: Grabowski, M., Roberts, K.H. (1997). â€Å"Risk Mitigation in Virtual Organizations† Journal Of Computer-Mediated Communications Online. Internet. 27 October 2002. Available: ascusc.org/jcmc/vol3/issue4/grabowski.html Plant, R., Murrell, S. â€Å"The Agile Organizations: Technology Innovation† Online. Internet. 27 October 2002. Available: miami.edu/~rplant Saabeel, W., Verduijn, T.M., Hagdorn, L., Kumar, K. â€Å"A model of virtual organisation: a structure and process perspective.† Vol. 4 No. 1 Page: 1-17 (current article). Electronic Journal of Organizational Virtualness. Online. Internet. 27 October 2002. Available: virtual-organization.net Skyrme, D. â€Å"Virtual Teaming and Virtual Organizations: 25 Principles of Proven Practice† Online. Internet. 27 October 2002. Available: skyrme.com/updates/u11.htm Su, Q., Chen, J., Lee, S. â€Å"Quality management systems design for virtual organizations.† Vol. 3 No. 5 Page: 65 79 (current article). Electronic Journal of Organizational Virtualness. Online. Internet. 27 October 2002. Available: virtual-organization.net Ulrich, F. â€Å"The Concept of Virtual Web Organisations and its Implications on Changing Market Conditions.† Vol. 3 No. 4 Page: 43-64 (current article). Electronic Journal of Organizational Virtualness. Online. Internet. 27 October 2002. 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