Democracy and Technology Essay

While technologies such as the use of internet and e-democracy have made the dissemination of ideas quicker, they have also resulted in the increase in a group’s power to manipulate general opinion. The technologies aiding democracy today, such as computers, satellites, radio, telephones and television have undeniably changed the face of modern democracy. What constitute positive spill outs of these technologies for democracy also in some cases have a detrimental effect on it. While it increases the reach among people and nations, enriching both formal and business communication, it also provides these opportunities to fundamentalists to create rumours and channels individuals or a group of people against democracy. However a little caution such as verifying the news from multiple sources will easily reveal these elements and thus the negative influence of misleading a large group of rational individuals can be easily curtailed. The rise in literacy level and the positive trend of e-democracy deepens the process of democracy and empowers the individuals not only to have a say in the election of their government as earlier, but also empowers the citizens to have greater say in the decision making process of the government. With increasing literacy levels, as the citizens become more aware of the power of technology, they will find it easier to organise themselves for pressing on social, economic and political reforms from the government at helm thus ushering a truly democratic era where the citizens role is not only limited to electing their representatives but also to correct them if they are being found negligent in fulfilling their duties. However for this to happen in the future, it should be ensured that technology and their benefits are not limited to a select few in the upper echelons of society and that they are made available to those at the lowest level for complete integration of the masses to the democracy. References Allison, Juliann Emmons. (2002). Technology, development, and democracy. SUNY Press.

Investigating Castle Mall management Essay

The castle mall is a shopping centre located in the centre of Norwich. It is owned by the insurance company Friends Provident. Friends provident employ a whole managerial team who run the centre. This is called Castle Mall Management. This is what I will be investigating in my project. E1 Public and Private Limited Companies (PLC) Castle mall management Ltd is a private limited company (ltd). A private company is a business with limited liability whose shares are not available to the public. A Public limited company (PLC) is a business with limited liability whose shares are not available to the public. PLC’s are required by law to publish their accounts. This means that they are available for scrutiny, not only by the owners (shareholders), potential investors, and bankers, but also, by competitors. The Memorandum of Association must state clearly that the business is a public company and it must be registered as such. The term ‘plc’ must appear after its name. The differences between the two, private and public limited companies are; > A public company can raise capital from the general public, while a private company is prohibited from doing so. > The minimum capital requirement of a public company is à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½50,000. There is no minimum for a private company. > Public companies must publish far more detailed accounts than private companies. Advantages 1) The shareholders have limited liability. 2) It is easy to raise capital by issuing more shares. 3) It is much easier to raise finance because the banks are much more willing to lend money to a large, well established, as they see it as much less of a rise. 4) This all makes it easier for the PLC to grow and expand. 5) The shareholders will appoint specialists to manage and runt the company for them. Disadvantages 1) Setting up a public limited company is expensive. There is a lot of administration work involved and at least à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½50 000 has to be raised before a PLC can be set up. 2) The PLC has to issue much more information about itself and this again is very expensive to produce. It has to prepare and annul report as well as Annual Accounts and these have to be printed and sent to all the shareholders. They also available to the general public and competitors to see. 3) The extent to which any one individual, or group, can maintain control of an organisation is severely limited by the sale of its shares on the stock exchange. A family may find their influence on a business diminished when a listing is obtained. In turn, this means that publicly quoted companies are always vulnerable to take over bid. This may affect the decisions taken by directors. For example, they may be more inclined to cut back on staffing during a recession, whereas a private firm would want to hold on to experienced staff for when the economy starts to recover. E6 Communications There has to be communication between each member of staff for the company to function properly. I will now look at how this can be done within the company. Uses of communication > To contact each other > To make deals > To give instructions > To give or receive information > To exchange ideas > To announce plans or strategies > To compare actual results against a plan > To lay down rules and procedures > Job descriptions, organisation charts or manuals Direction of communication Formal Informal Vertical Vertical * Downwards Between peers, friends or -From superior to subordinate. Colleagues. * Upwards Could be given as – From subordinate to superior emotional support. Or to organise a function Horizontal or lateral or party. > People of the same rank, (In the same section Or in different sectors) Diagonal Interdepartmental communication by people of different ranks. Methods of communication A) Face to face communications > Formal meeting > Word of mouth > Interviews > Informal contact B) Oral communication > The telephone > Public address system C) Written communication > Letters, external mail systems > Memorandum, internal mail system > Reports > Forms > Notice board > News letters, bulletins, house journals > Organisation manual, handbook, leaflet D) Visual communication > Charts > Films, PowerPoint Presentation E7/A3 Quality Control * Quality is one of the ingredients in the purchasing decision of consumers, who demand ever-increasing levels of quality * Any firms that ignore the quality aspect of both inputs and outputs risk losing market share to those firms who make it a priority. â€Å"Quality is defined by the Customer† W E Deming (American Quality Guru) Quality Defined * It is difficult to provide a single definition for quality as it means different things to different groups of people. Certainly the perception of the customer is a key element. Here are some of the minimum requirements for customer satisfaction: * Fitness For Purpose The product can do what is it meant to do. This is a useful definition as it can be applied to a wide variety of products, including cheap products such as disposable pens. * Meeting the minimum standards prescribed by acts of parliaments â€Å"Health and Safety†, â€Å"Weights and Measures† and â€Å"Trade Description† Legislation provides a legal framework for minimum standards across a wide range of goods. * Meeting trade association standards Some industries have self regulating bodies that guarantee their members’ work, e.g. the national house building council. In final analysis it is the customers’ perceptions of quality that really matter, firms must strive to convince the market that their product/service is the best value for money. Quality Control Systems In the past, Quality Control in the UK meant ‘inspecting’ the product after production has taken place. In other words it was a faultfinding exercise. Today quality control it is all about ‘building in’ quality at each stage of production. Such a ‘preventative’ approach reduces the high costs of rejects and re-working. The Japanese perfected this is known as: Total Quality Management (TQM) Basic features of TQM are: * The establishment of culture of quality among all employees * The recognition of quality chains where each stage of production is treated as a separate customer to be valued and looked after * The use of Quality Circles * Empowerment of workforce * The emphasis on after-sales service as well as quality manufacture. TQM is not a management tool but a Philosophy. Requiring a complete mind shift on behalf of the entire company (Managers and employees) Quality Initiatives In recent years these have been many initiatives introduced to assist firms to achieve Assurance.Quality Quality Assurance Refers to all of the activities that ensure the satisfactory delivery of goods and services to end customer. Quality Assurance refers to all of the activities that ensure the satisfactory delivery of goods and services to the end customer. Key factors include: * The quality of inputs such as raw materials and components * The quality of the design process so that the products meet customer requirements whilst still being economic to manufacture * To appropriate skill level of the workforce and its commitment to quality assurance * The quality control methods used in the production process * The quality of advice at the purchasing point and after-sales service The Main Initiatives Have Included: TQM A philosophy of quality QUALITY CIRCLES An informal discussion group drawn from all parts and levels of the business that meets regularly to discuss quality problems KAIZEN An approach to advocates continuos improved in small steps rather than a competitive overhaul of the production system. BENCHMARKING Identifying the best practice of the leading firms and using that as a yard stick with which to measure one’s own performance ISO 9000 An international quality certification procedure ZERO DEFECTS A philosophy that encourages all employees to strive for the ultimate goal of a ‘perfect product’ TRAINING Where management has recognised that for quality to be assured a ‘quality culture’ must be implemented at each stage of the process; it is imperative therefore to train all employees to have the requisite skills, both for their direct tasks and for quality monitoring Quality can be achieved in diverse ways but the ultimate goal is to satisfy the customer, which of course is a constantly moving objective. The thing is that Castle Mall Management does not sell anything. This can be a problem when trying to implement quality control. To overcome this they have to vet the stores they have in the centre and make sure that they use quality control. This would help castle mall management reach their objectives especially the main objective to make a profit. As Castle Mall management do not sell anything they cant run certain procedures. This means that the design and production side is out of their hands, but is it? If they want to be really sure of what they are getting into they can agree with the firm or business to have an input into what they are selling. For example, they could check the production side of a chocolate shop making sure that their production line is of a high standard and that they are not breaking any laws. Another thing they could check, although not directly liked with quality is where the product is made. If a product is made in a small 3rd world country with the st aff getting paid for example 50p a day they might disagree with this and not allow the shop to trade in their centre. I believe that one of their objectives should be to help the customer in buying a quality product. The use of quality control to add value. * Adding value – For landlord * Increase foot fall * Increase spending * Operate a profitable environment City * Investment in the city * Precence Population * Provides jobs * Provide social outlets * Sponsorships * Castle Mall is the only underground shopping centre in Western Europe. This makes it a landmark E2/E3/C1 The objectives of Castle Mall Management Objectives: A statement of what an organisation wants to achieve Objectives are a statement of what an organisation wants to achieve through its operation. A firm’s formal objective is given in its memorandum of association, and larger firms may publicly state their general philosophy and values in a list of objectives. For most PLC’s profit is only one goal among others. Objectives provide criteria for decision-making. Most firms harden these general objectives into more dynamic aims, which are intended to drive the organisation forwards in the chosen direction. Mission statements are focused declarations of intent, designed to energise staff at all levels to work in common cause. In practice the overall objectives of a large firm need translating into terms that have meaning for each operation or function. This may mean that one objective is particularly highlighted. 1) The Main objective is to make a profit. They have to make a profit in order to ensure that the investors i.e. Friends Provident get return on their investment. This is the main objective of most businesses; they set out to make money. If they do not then they are considered a failure. 2) To provide a Safe and secure environment for their customers. In order to make a profit people have to come in to the centre. If possible customers feel that the centre is secure and they will be safe then they may visit and return for all their needs. If they consider the centre and car parks not to be safe then they will not visit as they feel that they or their property is not safe. 3) To increase footfall per year. The footfall is the amount of people that visit the centre in a measured time. The more people that come in the more chance of them buying items and the Castle Mall making a profit. Even if a non-customer walks through the centre everyday on the way to work then they may see a shop or an item in a window, which they may come back and buy it when they want it. 4) To increase amounts of visits per person. This is not the same as footfall as footfall is the amount of people who visit the mall, whereas the 4th objective is to increase how many times one person visits in a measured period. Again more visits means potentially more profit. 5) To increase visits from within a large catch-ment area. Trying to gain custom from shops in a large catch-ment area. This means trying to get potential customers from other places of Norfolk up to a 1-hour drive away. 6) For customers to stay longer when they get there. The longer the customer stays the more money they are likely to spend. Also with plenty of food restaurants in the mall if people are there a long time then they may get hungry and buy food. This will help increase profit. The overall objective all the objectives lead to is to Make a profit. E4 The Functional areas of Castle Mall management Ltd The main functional areas of Castle Mall Management Ltd are; * Marketing * Accounts * Administration * Security * Human resources * Food Court * Customer service Each area has its own responsibilities and objectives. Next I will explain each areas responsibility; * Marketing > Public Relations > Advertising -Briefing the creative/media buying agencies -Approving copy and schedules -Ensuring targets and deadlines are met > Web Site > Christmas Decorations > Promotions -Events -Displays -Activities > Research > Sponsorship > Buying – -Maintaining stock levels -Existing literature -Briefing in new requirements -Checking prints quality -Distribution > Health and Safety checks on displays * Accounts The accounts section of Castle Mall Management Ltd looks after the money side of the company. This can involve checking and counting all the money side of the centre. This can range from making sure people have paid their rent and how much they should have paid to counting the money that is put into the car park pay machines. This is a very important side of the company as without them they would not get any money in and staff would not get paid etc. * Administration Admin look after the paperwork side of the company. This can involve writing to perspective clients and customers with information about the centre. Also it can involve internal communication helping the company run. Without the admin department the company could not run, this is because they basically sort everything out. If a letter needs to be sent, a contract needs to be singed or a delivery needs to be taken admin are there, if they cannot sort it out then they can contact a someone who can. * Security The security department is a very important in the Castle Mall. Weather you see them or not they are always there. There are a team of highly trained security staff patrolling the Mall 24/7. This offers a visual presence for the customers, making them feel safe and secure. What the customers don’t see is the main control room where the operation is run from. Here they control over 50 cameras. Some of these are visual to the customer, some a hidden ‘Matchbox’ cameras which can be hidden basically anywhere. The CCTV system is very important in the mall, if a situation is spotted then the security guards can be contacted by radio and told any information they need to sort it. The security staffs also are called into action when there is a fire alarm. When this happens the mall is evacuated and the fire service is called, when they arrive it’s the security guards job to show them to the area where the alarm is. When the all clear is given it is the guardsâ€⠄¢ job to let everybody back into the mall. From shoplifters to lost customers the security guards are helping the mall function properly. * Human Resources The human resources department is in charge of the employment side of the company. This can involve placing adverts in the paper for a new position, looking at the application forms. Deciding on candidates and then interviewing them. They would then have to decide on a new employee with their experience and knowledge. * Food Court The food court has a different sort of agreement with Castle Mall Management, they are directly accountable to Castle Mall Management Ltd as there targets are set by them. If they are struggling to meet this Deadlines Castle Mall Management will intervene and try and sort the problem. As they have this relationship the profits they make are shared with Castle Mall Management. This is a pre-arranged agreement, which was sorted when the mall opened. As the food court is a large part of the mall and is closely linked with Castle Mall Management they have their own manager within Castle Mall Management. It is their job to make sure that the food court are meeting their targets and are running with no problems. * Customer Service The customer service desk and team have a large area to cover. They basically look after the customers of the mall. Here are some of the areas they cover. > Information services for the mall and local area. > Security > Car parking – Disabled parking and access > Disability service – Shopmobility > Information leaflets > Public relations – informing public about evens > Baby changing facilities > Good signage and directions > First aid > Directory leaflets Also the customer service desk is also the first place to make a complaint. It depends on the nature of the complaint as to how it is dealt with. However, all that make a complaint will get a letter of some kind of response from the centre manager. All complaints are dealt with as soon as possible. If necessary clients/customers will be invited backs and helped. One example is when a fire alarm went off and a mother with a toddler with a pushchair had to carry the pushchair down flights of stairs because she had taken the wrong turning. She aired her concerns to CMM Ltd who invited her back to show her that there was an access/ exit especially for disabled/pushchair access. This alleviated her concerns and she is more than likely to return to the shopping centre because her concerns were dealt with efficiently and effectively. Complaints cam be made either through the information desk or by post. Customer fills in form They will then be sent to the management suite where the corresponding manager will deal with it. Investigation carried out And acted upon E5/C2/A1/A2 Organisational structures When you look at the structure of Castle Mall Management it looks, as it is hierarchical (See additional page 1). This is not 100% true, when I asked Erik Kirk the manager of Castle Mall management Ltd he described them as having elements of all structures and cultures. Organisational structures can be described as flat, hierarchical or matrix shaped. Where decision-making is decentralised, the structure tends to be flat. This means that managers and the staff are given wide ranging responsibilities in deciding what to buy, what prices to charge and which staff to employ etc. An organisational structure where decision-making is decentralised it can be described as flat because it does not have many layers. A disadvantage of this type of organisation is that decision-making can be slow. For example any decision that is made this way can take a long time. However, the decision-makers have the advantage of being close to the others day to day activities. In other words there is not along line of communication between the decision-maker and the work to be done. The most extreme version of this is the sole trader who does all the work and carries out all the decisions of the business. Some organisations have in recent years cut out layers in the middle management with the aim of improving communication and decision-making. It can be called de-layering this has had the effect of widening the span of control of the managers who are left. This means that managers can become overwhelmed by the information coming to them and the quality of decision-making suffers. The managers start to loose control over practices and procedures. Narrow Span of control Wide Span of control An alternate way to run the business is to centralise operations. This approach takes decision-making power away from junior staff. This resulting structure is described as hierarchical. Senior staff makes all-important decisions. Below is an organisational chart showing a centralised structure it has several layers of command and is pyramid shaped, i.e. wide at the bottom and narrow at the top. Most large businesses are organised in a hierarchical structure. The senior managers are responsible for taking decisions affecting the whole, or large parts of the businesses whilst shop floor workers mainly carry out decisions made by others. Manager Senior supervisor Senior supervisor Junior Supervisor Junior Supervisor Junior Supervisor Junior Supervisor Shop Floor Workers Shop Floor Workers The Key advantage of a hierarchy is that it allows strong leadership and centralised decision making. It ensures that the organisation has a consistent policy, approach or activity. A problem with hierarchy is that the line of communication between ‘top’ and ‘bottom’ might be quite long. There are layers of people who to receive and pass on information and at each stage the Information can be reinterpreted or misinterpreted. One way of avoiding this problem is to delegate decision-making. This means that people within the organisation are given the authority to make decisions themselves rather tan wait for instructions from the top. Advantages and Disadvantages of centralisation Advantages * Bulk buying reduces costs * Fewer staff are required in the whole operation. * The scope for specialisation increases * Producers such as ordering and purchasing can be standardised * Planning and control tends to be more effective * Decisions are made for the good of the company rather than the branch * Leadership is likely to be stronger and more consistent Disadvantages * Middle managers may be less motivated because they have less responsibility * Local needs are less likely to be met * There is less flexibility * There may be more administration * Communications between different sections might be poor * The burdens of management is more concentrated to the centre More example of Structures Location Allied Breweries Ltd Calsberg/ Allied Breweries Allied Tetley UK Netherlands Breweries Trading World-wide Product Allied Lyons PLC Spirits Retailing Brewing Food + Manufacturing Wholesaling Some organisations have structures that cannot be described as flat or hierarchical. They use tears that cut across traditional departmental boundaries. Sometimes the tears are permanent, in other cases the are brought together for a specific purpose. Project tears are increasingly being used by businesses to develop new products. Such tears have MATRIX STRUCTURES. In that the have members drawn from several departments. One example of a project team is the one ‘Rover’ used to develop the ‘600’ series. From the start of the project, stylists, manufacturing, production engineers, production line operates and suppliers all worked together. All team members had the authority to act without consistent referral to senior management. Stylists Engineers Team Leaders Production line Operates Suppliers How does the organisational structure affect its performance The organisational structure of Castle Mall Management (or as they call it the ‘Family Tree’) has a hierarchical shape. This means that there is one main centre manager. The centre manager Eric Kirk then goes directly to a deputy centre manager. They then lead directly to four other managers of separate divisions. The marketing, food court, security and administration manager all then head a team in that department except the marketing manager who has no team and works closely to the deputy and main manager. The structure shows that the centre manager has direct input to the four division managers. I believe that having a structure of this sort will be successful. This is because everyone has a link with everybody else. If there is a problem then there is always someone there to sort it. Also as the main manager has close links with most of the staff under him so if he makes a request they may not mind carrying it out. I think that the structure helps Castle Mall Management meet and exceed its objectives because they work well as a team. This is because everyone is linked with everyone and there is always someone to help you out if need be. You see how important they find these as they call there structure the â€Å"Family Tree†. This can help with all objectives, especially the objective, to make it a safe and secure place for the customers to shop. If the employees believe they are doing a important job and feel wanted as a part of a team then they may put more effort. This means that they may make the extra little bit of effort to clean a spillage etc. The management culture The management culture of a business is how the people very high on the hierarchy act to the lower down employees and their associates. It depends on how managers act, if they tell people what to do or if they leave it up to them to make their own decisions. A good model to show this is the leadership continuum. Autocratic style Participative style Free-Rain Style Consultative Consensus Democratic Autocratic style An autocratic leader maintains most of the authority by issuing orders and telling what to do without consulting them. To the autocrat, the basis for leadership is formal authority. Autocratic leaders may have a few favourite subordinates but they usually regard close interpersonal relationships with group members as superfluous. The autocratic style of leader is generally in disfavour in modern organisations. Participative style A participate leader is one who shares decision-making authority to the group. Participative leadership occupies enough space on the continuum to warrant dividing it into three subtypes: Consultative, Consensual and democratic. A Consultative leader solicits opinions from the group before making a decision, yet does not feel obliged to accept the groups thinking. A standard way to practice consultative leadership would be call a group a group meeting to discuss an issue before making a decision. A Consensual leader encourages group discussion about an issue and then makes a decision that reflects the general agreement of group members. Consensual leaders thus turn over more authority to the group than consultative leaders do. The consensus leadership style results in long delays in decision making because every party involved provides input. Free-rain style or laissez-faire style A Laissez – Faire or Free Rain leader turns over almost all authority to the group members and does as little leading as possible. Given a situation in which the work to be done by each employee is clearly defined, weather it is sorting coupons or cutting gears with laser beam, such leaders maintain a ‘hands-off’ policy. They make few attempts to increase productivity or to coach their employees. At times the free-rain leader is a abdicator who cares very little for productivity goals or developing subordinates. Erik Kirk of Castle Mall management is certainly not like this as he has very high targets and standards. As with any leadership style, there are some situations in which an autocratic style is appropriate. One example is a high-accident work area where the employees are not particularly knowledgeable about the potential risks. Many autocratic leaders have been successful as high-level leaders in the private and public sectors. One good example of this is taken from â€Å"Management and organisation† by DuBrin, Ireland and Williams. Jack Traimiel, the controversial executive who has occupied key positions at both Commodore and Atari. A co-worker of Tramiels said, â€Å"Commodore was the house that jack built, and when he left the company, so did the spirit, the aggressiveness and the drive. Decision making also went by the wayside† Castle Mall Management are democratic and laissez-faire at times but are autocratic at times of: * New Employees New employees may not know about certain parts of the business so if they make decisions however small they could make curtail mistakes, which could cost money or customers. Also if they are not taught they may never learn a certain technique and carry on using the wrong way forever. * Health and safety Health and safety is very important as it involves the welfare of workers and customers. If they want to meet their objective of proving a safe and secure place for people to shop they will have to be very strict on this subject. This means that precise decisions need to be made which are in lines with all guidelines set by the governments of the world. * Security Is very important, again if they want to meet their objectives they will have to be very strict and precise on security matters. This may involve making decisions based on laws and keeping information form other employees lower down the hierarchy. Erik Kirk and his associates like to have a team of workers who are loyal and work hard. He also likes to make them feel part of something, a team. He has an ‘open door’ attitude when it comes to this. He likes to feel that if there is a problem it can be sorted. No matter how small the problem is he feels that he can help providing answers and privacy. On paper the structure appears hierarchical but it does have elements of a flat structure. Overall the culture is: * Philanthropist in attitude * Good work ethics * Relaxed * Productive * Efficient * Good and open communication channels * Clear objectives * Safe and secure working environment E6 The use of ICT in communications Castle Mall management would be severally impaired without ICT. The main use of ICT is communication. There are many areas of communication featuring ICT, these are: * E-mail Internal External * Web site * Alarm System (2 way communication) * Reports * Telephone (external + between departments) * CCTV + Mini cameras E-mail Castle Mall Management uses E-mail to communicate between department, level and centre. E-mail is a very good way of communication as it is virtually instant. Also you can send designs, graphics and programs as attachment files. This is very helpful as it saves in paper costs and also cannot be lost as with paper. Castle Mall Management uses E-mail to communicate with each other no-matter where they are in the building or country. For example a admin worker could e-mail his supervisor to alert them of a problem or just to book holiday. Another example is Erik Kirk the main centre manager E-mailing another manager of another centre alerting them of a security problem. Web site Castle Mall Management help run the castle-mall.co.uk web site. Some Castle Mall Management staff has been trained to update and redesign the web site. The web site can be used to make customers aware of events and new promotions. It can also give customers information about what shops are in the mall and what services are available. Alarm systems The alarm system in the mall has a communication system built in so if there is an emergency most people in the mall can contact each other through the alarm system to find out what’s happening. It can also pinpoint where a person is so if they are in danger then they can quickly be located and helped. Reports Reports are written by all sections of management so that other people in other positions know what is happening, why and when. They are written about special events to inform people what is happening and how successful something was. Also reports are written once a week, month and a major one written each year. These reports are read by managers and then sent to Friends Provident or FisPam. To let them know how they are getting on. If there is a problem with the reports then friends provident will try and suggest ways to rectify it.

Wage Determination in the UAE Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Wage Determination in the UAE - Essay Example If the job is of private sector, foreign applicants would be preferred (Abdalla et al., 2010, p. 165). The difference in the access to job opportunities for the national and foreign applicants can fundamentally be attributed to the high level of segregation in the labor market. The public and private sectors in the UAE are completely independent with their own characteristics, criteria, and culture. The public sector is almost entirely meant for the national applicants whereas the private sector almost entirely accommodates the foreign workers. This is because of the fact that companies in the public sector are government-owned and thus can accommodate the high expectations of the national workers with respect to wage and benefits. Foreign workers in the public sector are vulnerable to discrimination and stereotyping because of their rarity amidst the abundance of national workers of the UAE. On the other hand, companies operating in the private sector place emphasis on maximizing th eir profits. So hiring national workers of the UAE does not prove a cost effective option. Besides, the national workers of the UAE are also less equipped with the talents and competences required by the companies operating in the private sector. ... While mentioning experience, it is important to note that companies both in the public and the private sector mostly value experience that is gained within the UAE rather than elsewhere. So a worker with ten years of experience in India or Pakistan might be considered equivalent to a college freshman in the UAE. Conditions of job in the private sector in the UAE are tougher as compared to those in the public sector. An example of this is more number of working hours in the private sector than those in the public sector (Abdalla et al., 2010, p. 171). Therefore, as an individual gets more experienced within the UAE, he/she prefers to work in the public sector rather than the private sector, though the basic factors of nationality and gender are still considered. The segregation of labor market in the UAE can be attributed to the fact that the UAE wants to protect the rights of its national workers and considers their employment more important than those of the foreign workers. Educati onal level of a worker plays a significant role in his/her productivity. The more educated the worker, the more productive he/she is because of the added knowledge he/she has as compared to a less educated worker. Citizenship of the employee generally does not have any impact on the employee’s productivity because irrespective of citizenship, all employees have to work in the culture of the UAE industry following the norms and rules of the UAE. Working hours per week do have a connection with productivity. There is an optimal number of working hours that promise maximal productivity. Working hours above or below them reduce the productivity.

Pushing hands Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Pushing hands - Essay Example Lee in this movie explores the element of cross – culture relationships and conflicts and issue related to it. This movie is a first of a kind where a father from a traditional background encounters a changing living atmosphere. This movie displays a wisdom and warmth of a traditional Chinese man in a family which has complete urban background. In this movie the character Alex is also stuck between his traditional grandfather, and his modern wife who is fussy. It is painful situation for the grandson and grandfather, as they share blood relation and have to keep up with each other’s expectations. In the end, the movie shows Mr. Chu regaining his hold on life and moves on independently. Plot of the Movie The plot of the movie is the life of an old and retired Chinese martial arts trainer, Mr. .Chu who moves to New York to join his grandson Alex. Alex is living with an American women Martha who is his wife and also a writer by profession. Martha is a neurotic and was suff ering from writer’s block which is condition which affects the writer’s mostly due to overwriting or lack of inspirational thoughts. As per (Nix)â€Å"As it so happens, Martha’s writer’s block started about the same time Mr. Chu moved in, and no one is more aware of this fact than she†. The moment when Mr. Chu joined the Alex’s family, his wife was in a disturbed condition and this makes the relationship of Mr. Chu and Martha bitter. As the movie â€Å"Pushing Hands† initiates, Mr. Chu is shown to be already in New York with his grandson and is uncomfortable and sharing a negative relationship with Martha. The film focuses much on this retired Chinese martial art teacher and his attempts to cope up with his new living atmosphere .In this he also attempts to teach Tai – Chi in a local school, where Alex is a student of Chinese Language. In the following part Mr.’ Chu encounters with a Chinese lady Mrs. Chen, and develops an attraction for her. However, due to Mr. Chu’s less aggressive nature this attraction towards Mrs. Chen s tends to falls out .Normally speaking, this movie tells all about the plight of an old Chinese immigrant in a foreign land and his attempts to fit in the new land of modernism. Background and Theme of the Movie The movie â€Å"Pushing Hands† is written by two writers namely; AngLee and James Schamas.Ang Lee is a Taiwanese man who made use of his Taiwanese heritage to create memorable movies which earned acclamation throughout the world. He has earned Masters from New York University on film, and got noticed in film arena with his classical movie like â€Å"The Wedding banquet†. This movie has earned him Academy award nomination and earned recognition as a director who crossed cultural and national barriers. James Shcamas is the co – writer of this movie â€Å"Pushing Hands† and also is an independent film producer and screen writer. During 19 90s, James Schamus have produced many interesting films which gained much attention and appraisal from film fraternity. He is known for taking risks to bring about stories with is of challenging and versatile nature. The theme of the movie â€Å"Pushing Hands† is culture clash which is prominently displayed between Mr. .Chu and his

Beethoven Interpretations Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Beethoven Interpretations - Research Paper Example Beethoven was showing signs of romanticism in his middle period. Beethoven left the sonata form but the freedom he gave each movement is typically Romantic. The Piano Sonata N ° 27 is a beautiful piece of music which has been interpreted in many different ways. The Sonata has three movements: adagio sostenuto, allegretto and presto. It can take anywhere from 12 minutes to 15 minutes to perform depending on the interpretation. Beethoven composed it in 1801. He personally put the title as Quasia una fantasia or almost a fantasy. This means that it can be played as the artist sees fit. In listening to the difference of performance, it can be said that Beethoven's title is more accurate than Moonlight Sonata. A fantasy gives more freedom to perform the music as the performer wants. The name "Moonlight Sonata" was given as a publishing trick. Some say it was given after Beethoven's death. Others say Beethoven gave it as a tribute to his student, Guicciardi. Beethoven had fallen in love with her, a countess. He knew he could never marry someone of that social class. It is unlike him to have been so open as to name a sonata after someone who was paying the bills. This sonata was composed in his middle period. He was not composing romantic music. The title was misplaced (5). His music was steadily leaving the classical form (Waltz). In this Sonata, you see a difference between each performer, which is contrasting. Beethoven would have been heavy in his interpretation. He was already affected by his deafness. The loud pounding of the keys in the last movement enabled Beethoven to hear the vibrations. I listened to many different interpretations in order to get the right feeling for the Sonata. In my research, I saw that the Moonlight Sonata was one of his most famous sonatas. I was surprised at seeing that it could be played so differently by such artist. I chose two artists to explain the three movements (the whole Sonata) in order to have a comprehensive feeling of the dynamics and tempo: Bareboim and Gould. Their interpretation is so different. Then I chose two other artists in order to compare their first movement: Horowitz and Brendel in addition to Bareboim and Gould. I think my favorite of them all was Gould because I felt he was the closest to how Beethoven would have liked the Sonata to be played. In terms of the first movement, I felt it was a classic to hear Horowitz. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HpOb5NxtG-w   Baremboim played the first movement with emotion and slowly. He was sad or pensive. His expression was sad. The dynamics were softly played piano. There was, too, much of a difference with the two hands. The bass continued to have the same level of sound during the whole movement and the treble would have crescendos and be too loud. He used a little bit of the rubatto effect. The timing of the first movement was 6.55. Only towards the end did the two hands converse with each other. The end was slow. There was too much confli ct between the three note motif and the left hand. His left hand dominated the right only one time during the movement. Towards the end of the movement, he increased in volume and there was a slight crescendo of the left hand which tapered off in the final measure. His bass and treble were blended and not articulate. The Allegretto of the 2nd movement was still slow. It was happy.  

Maritime law Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Maritime law - Coursework Example That notwithstanding, it is important to also note that an action in tem can only be taken by the plaintiff who has obtained a statutory or maritime lien against the ship and proceedings can only be instituted where a vessel is within/present in the jurisdiction of the state the proceedings are taking place (Bluesteinlawoffice.com, n.d.). Some of the advantages of proceeding in rem include: first the vessel is assumed to be the defendant, thus, eliminating the challenges of the owner being present within the jurisdiction. Thus, this allows the proceedings to continue even in the absence of the vessel owner (Okoli, 2010). Secondly, proceedings in rem require no prior notice as long as a vessel is within the jurisdiction by only the claimant taking an oath in a court. Thirdly, proceedings in rem allow a claimant to arrest a ship and continue with proceedings as in personam (Okoli, 2010). Fourthly, if proceedings in rem are successful, a court rule can dictate that the res be disposed and proceeds used to settle claimants, thus, providing a form of guarantee and security to the claimants (Shrikant and Binita, 2014). For admiralty courts to entertain applications for vessel arrests the following conditions must be satisfied: (1) the dispute must involve maritime claim implying that the claim must be connected to shipping; (2) the claimant must prove that the ship in question has connection with the claim; (3) granting of warranty of arrest is unconditional on the claimant to make all disclosures of any material facts during the application for warranty of arrest such no proceedings have been instituted in another country (Woollam, 2010). Thus, having satisfied the conditions above the process of arrest follows the following procedure: The arrest warrant and writ are served the moment the vessel is within the jurisdiction by an officer of the HM Customs who acts on instructions from the Admiralty. After

Southern Distinctiveness.James C. Cobbs Away Down South Essay

Southern Distinctiveness.James C. Cobbs Away Down South - Essay Example In this book, Cobb argues that the southerners did not achieve distinctive identity with respect to politics, culture, and religion. However, he points out that the history of the Southern is the only distinctive feature of the South. He asserts that the quest for southern distinctiveness should be abandoned since it is both intellectually stultifying and politically dangerous. Indeed, I agree with Cobb’s statement that the search for southern distinctiveness should be thwarted since most of the debates, about this topic, usually trigger dangerous political arguments. Cobb identifies that the quest for southern distinctiveness is not an issue that originated in Southern regions of America, but it is the northerners, during the revolutionary era through the Civil War period, who begun stressing on the distinctiveness of the south (Cobb 222). It is until sectional crises of 1950s, originating from the remonstration of the southern region between 1860 and 1865, that the white sou therners realized the need to create their own identity (Cobb 222). After southerners lost in Confederacy, they became obsessed with the results of Civil War and Reconstruction, which dominated their imagination of forming the New South. In the quest for southern identity, New South propagandists, by 1900, had won a contest for defining post-war southern identity. They also created a remarkably comprehensive version of defining post Civil War South identity (Cobb 226). The new identity embraced the causes of the loss including a modern industrial future for the southern in alias with the northern capital. However, the New South identity failed to recognize the plights of African American, and embraced a regime of white supremacy. It is within the context of white supremacy that people begun questioning the significance of New South identity. During the second Reconstruction after World War II, the southern region was initially perceived as a confident and militant Africa-American co mmunity (Cobb 231). However, during the second Reconstruction, many southern scholars turned their feelings about their region to shame and guilt. This led to their defeat in the Civil War; something Cobb believes was as a result of disagreements and conflicts in white identity. Ironically, instead of conceding the defeat, some of the southern governors, still had the confidence to boost that the loss was as a result of their own mistakes, but not as a result of the entire nation. While the northern America was struggling to achieve a global image, the south was struggling to become Americanized. Cobb further indicates that both the white and black Americans were struggling to claim the southern identity (Cobb 229). However, African Americans, born and bred in the southern, have embraced the New South identity in a different perspective from the white southerners. Their definition of the southern identity does not include anything that relates to Lost Cause or Confederacy, but rathe r with community, place, family and culture (Cobb 234). In this case, they are trying to reclaim the identity of a region that was initially owned by white Americans. This implies that the initial definition of New South identity, which was structured by white intellectuals, was not valid enough to prove the southern distinctiveness south because it failed to recognize their presence, as members of the community, yet they participated in the Civil War and Reconstruction process (Cobb 234). This also indicates that people have mixed reactions and definitions when it comes to southern distinctiveness. Therefore, the quest for southern identity should be abolished as it creates unnecessary conflicts and dangerous politics among authors and other

The Renaissance Man in Michelangelo Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The Renaissance Man in Michelangelo - Essay Example Discussing the three works --- their similarities and differences --- will help evaluate if Michelangelo indeed is able to present great talent in several different art realms. THE RENAISSANCE MAN IN MICHELANGELO 3 The Renaissance Man in Michelangelo Renaissance is a big part in the history of art. Here, art was reborn through the rediscovery of Greco-Roman tradition. The word renaissance itself came from the term â€Å"la rinascita,† meaning â€Å"rebirth.† (Rubin, 2006, p.563) During this period, pieces of art developed from the supernatural to the natural, as man's expansion of the scientific knowledge progressed. Study of human beings and scientific research caused societies to believe more in the self (Rubin, 2006, p.565-6). The Renaissance era spanned for two centuries, with historians dividing it into three periods --- Quattrocento or Early Renaissance, High Renaissance, and Mannerism. If modern artists today take pride in being a master of a certain field, Renai ssance people are considered great if they are able to present great talent in several fields (Rubin, 2006, p.574-5). ... Even though his talent is mostly considered as â€Å"only† within the realm of arts, the mastery he showed in every piece of work in every discipline is enough to make one understand that he is no ordinary â€Å"Jack of All Trades† (Emison and Chapman, 2006, p.508). He is considered a part of the High Renaissance period because there is naturalism in his works, there are no halos in religious pieces, and there is the balance between movement and stillness. There is also a great sense of harmony and balance in his works, which are both characteristics of Renaissance work. Furthermore, the Renaissance period is characterized by private or government funded art THE RENAISSANCE MAN IN MICHELANGELO 4 commissions, as compared to the common practice of art commissions by religious sectors (Rubin, 2006, p.576-7). â€Å"Statue of David† is among Michelangelo's sculptures, and perhaps can be considered one of the most famous sculptures in the world. The Guild of Wool Merch ant commissioned Michelangelo to create the â€Å"Statue of David.† As mentioned above, private commissions became the norm during the Renaissance period particularly for sculptures, especially due to its high cost. This sculpture breaks away from the traditional way of presenting David (Allen, 2001, p.18). In Michelangelo's sculpture, he does not show David as a winner, but rather as a youth just about to gain power right before the fight. This technique is also a characteristic of the Renaissance period, and Michelangelo brilliantly created the image of balance between stillness and movement by creating a sculpture that is both calm and smooth, yet dynamic and combat-ready (Allen, 2001, p.19). The tendons and the muscles of David's

All My Sons by Arthur Miller Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

All My Sons by Arthur Miller - Essay Example This essay will describe how issues of morality and politics affected the main characters, how Miller employed the fundamental elements of drama to create a modern play on par with older Greek tragedies, and some personal observations. As an initial matter, it is important to note that competing political and moral belief systems were instrumental in the development of the main characters. An examination of the father and sons is useful. The father, Joe Keller, was by all accounts a family-oriented man. He loved and provided for his sons. Indeed, as the play demonstrates, Joe believed it to be his highest moral responsibility to take care of and provide material support for his family. Money was important according to his realistic view of the world and of his own role in the world. His sons, Chris and Larry, provide a sharp contrast to the father's philosophical underpinnings. Both are of an idealistic bent. Family, to be sure, is important, but both have deeply ingrained notions of a deeper social obligation to their country and to other individuals in their country. In this case, involving the sale of damaged airplane parts to the United States government, the play was set from the beginning to elicit different and competing responses from the main characters. Joe, as the practical family ma... His sons were Chris and Larry. Other fathers had to worry about their own sons. Chris and Larry, on the other hand, because of their different notions of social obligation and honor, could never accept such a narrowly tailored and self-serving justification. For them, both veterans of WW II, social obligation was a more comprehensive duty which transcended temporary financial windfalls or the isolated survival of an individual family. Sons, from their point of view, might have been defined as American soldiers, as American citizens, or as allies more generally around the world. Because of these broader beliefs in social duty, both were unable to accept their father's complicity in the sale of the damaged parts. Larry committed suicide by crashing his airplane and Chris threatened to abandon his heritage by leaving the factory and his father. In the final analysis, these characters were defined by their views of the world. Their actions and their decisions adhered to these philosophical characterizations and the reader cannot imagine that they could have behaved much differently than Miller scripted them to act. These three are philosophies as much as they are people. 1.2 How Miller Used the Elements of Drama to Effectively Emphasize his Themes This play is nothing if not a tragedy. It is tragic because well-intentioned people suffered tragic fates. Miller highlighted this feeling of tragedy by creating and adhering to a dramatic structure which created both a feeling of empathy and a feeling of disgust. There was empathy for individuals and disgust for certain actions; more particularly, the dramatic structure employed by Miller vested the main characters with believable motivations and their consequent actions with realistic results. The

Build a Model (Micro) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Build a Model (Micro) - Essay Example Therefore higher the percentage of students with disability, lower will be the API. API is highly dependent on the credential of the teachers. Higher the percentage of full time teachers in a school the better will be the API. In other words higher the dependence of a school on part time teachers, lower will be its API. In this model we want to visualize that how the parental education will affect the school performance. Ceteris Paribus, we see that Y = aX1 + z where z is a constant and a>0. If we want to plot this relation we have to measure average parent education on x axis measured in unit years and API being dependent variable on y axis. API is a unit free measure. The curve will be an upward sloping curve with a slope of dY/dX1 = a. Here we have done a cross sectional study with API of ten schools. API of year 2000 has been recorded and average parent education across various schools has been recorded. Now in this model we want to see how the API gets affected if we introduce a third variable say average class size. If the average class size increases, given the average parental education factor unchanged, then the API will fall and the curve will shift downwards. Due to increase in class size, given a fixed number of teachers, the teacher student ratio will fall leading to a poor academic growth of the students and lower API. The data and the diagram below show the effect. Here API 2000_revised is the API with new variable

Our Experience as Teachers of ILEC Essay Example for Free

Our Experience as Teachers of ILEC Essay We are Mauricio Munoz (a teacher) and Adela Perez del Viso (a lawyer and trainee teacher), the two Legal English teachers at the Colegio de Abogados de San Luis, the San Luis (Argentina) Bar Association. My idea of teaching Legal English started in 1998 when I took a course at an Academy (located on Huntingdon Road, Cambridge, U. K. ). My teacher was, by then, Mr. Brian Catlow. The organizers made us visit different courtrooms in Cambridge and in London. It was fascinating. Afterwards, I got to know about the ILEC exam, which was a huge academic improvement: now we had a purpose for these studies, a method, a set of contents, a book (and now more than a book), etc. I sat for the Ilec exam in 2009, after two complete years of hard study. Now we organize these courses at the Bar Association, and we know that only some students will come and stay: those who have a very good command of the language, and at the same time those who are keen on the legal field. During this year we organized two â€Å"modules†: the first one, based on General Principles and Contracts. with all the units related to Contracts); the second module, devoted to Company Law (3 units) plus Labour/Employment Law. The decision to divide the whole course in 3 or 4 modules have allowed us to set some goals which seem to be not so far in time; at the same time, it allows other students (who have not started with the original group) to join us, for instance, at the 2nd module. We organize every class with the material presented by the Ilec book, along with videos taken from the internet, movies, trailers (in this sense, John Grisham? books, movies and trailers are quite good), some University classes that can be retrieved from the internet (for instance, some classes from American universities, related to Contracts), etc. Only when time presses, we work on the ILEC book alone, which is quite complete. Next year we are planning to acquire the new edition of the ILEC/ TRANSLEGAL/ C. U. P. book, with the hope that it will present new material to practice with our students. One thing that is quite important, as always when training for any international exam, is to teach strategies to cope with the requirements of the different papers. We explain every one of the papers, and rehearse them with the students, so as they do not feel out of place whenever they sit for the final exam, in the future. Our students are quite committed, even though most of them are lawyers and have a lot of work to do. One of our students comes every time from a place located 140 km from our centre. They have felt quite encouraged with the contents of the course, and some of them are dreaming to travel abroad, or perhaps to get any kind of scholarship and study a course in an English-speaking country. The only thing that our students sometimes ask us is to provide some information as regards criminal law. We sometimes take some elements from the other book related to Legal English, called Introduction to International legal E. and from â€Å"Profesional English in Use†. But we explain to them that these contents are not required for the ILEC exam so far. We think that the ILEC course, and the ILEC exam have really fulfilled the aim of setting an outstanding goal to Legal English students; establishing a future goal to those who like to study English hard, and to combine the experience with their own legal expertise.

Pidgins and Creoles Essay Example for Free

Pidgins and Creoles Essay Note to the Customer I’m sorry the essay cannot be revised as you say. It was an urgent order, so books could not be found. Moreover, you didn’t say that you wanted a critical analysis of the pidgins and Creoles. Revisions are only possible if the writer fails to follow the original instructions. In your next order please mention that you would like books to be used, and whether the discussion should be descriptive or analytical. Best regards, Pidgins and Creoles A pidgin is defined as a language that has been simplified from at least two different languages.    Referred to as a contact language, a pidgin may be used by those who do not originate in a given geographical area and must therefore develop a common language to be spoken in the area.   All the same, pidgin is used sparingly.   Its structure is rather simplistic.   Seeing that it serves a â€Å"simplistic purpose,† a pidgin dies out rather easily (Pidgins and Creoles, 1997). If people manage to use a pidgin for a long time, however, the contact language is expected to become richer and more complex in terms of vocabulary and structure.   In that case, the pidgin is said to have evolved.   Children may learn the evolved pidgin as their very first language or mother tongue.   If this happens, the pidgin has managed to turn into a Creole.   An example of a Creole is Tok Pisin, a language of Papua New Guinea, which was a pidgin before it turned into a national language (Pidgins and Creoles, 1997). Stafford notes that pidgins and Creoles are mostly used in third world nations because of the dramatic changes in the social and political environment experienced by the communities there.   Moreover, most of the pidgins and Creoles in the developing regions, for example, in South East Asia, are based on languages of Europe.   English, French, and Spanish are very much associated with the pidgins and Creoles of the third world.   This is because Europeans had spent time a great deal of time in the developing world.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Pidgins are often created for communication between immigrants and natives or missionaries and locals (Stafford).   As the pidgin evolves, the contact language develops its own grammatical rules.   Typically it is the children who must get together to formulate grammatical rules for the pidgin that they have accepted as their first language.   The fact that the Creole is generally formed without the influence of adults reveals that the formulation of grammatical rules and the application of structure to a certain language is innate behavior (Pidgin and Creole).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   â€Å"Insufficient education† is another reason why people of a certain region may have to develop a pidgin, and subsequently a Creole, so as to communicate with a new group of people they have come into contact with (Pidgin and Creole).   It is estimated that between ten to fifteen million people in the world speak languages that are considered creolized.   As an example, Creole based on French is spoken by seven million people in the world. These people may be found in Haiti, the French Overseas Departments of Guadeloupe, Mauritius, Martinique, Guyana, Reunion, Dominica, St. Lucia, and many islands of the Caribbean that have been influenced by the British, in addition to southwestern Louisiana (Mauritian Creole, 2005).   In the case of the pidgins that were created by these people, most probably to communicate with the Europeans they had come into contact with; French was considered the superstrate language.   If there were minority languages that contributed to the creation of a pidgin, the languages were referred to as subtrate languages (Pidgins and Creoles, 1997).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Regardless of the kinds of languages that were used in the creation of pidgins and Creoles, the fact remains that human beings have an essential need to communicate with one another.   Human beings do not appreciate invaders, so therefore people in the third world had by and large rejected the presence of the colonialists.   Nevertheless, they had to learn to communicate with the people who had become dominant on their lands.   Whether they had to communicate with the foreigners because the latter controlled their economic resources or otherwise, it may be inferred from this discussion that pidgins and Creoles would be created for as long as human civilization exists on earth.   Man is a social animal, after all. References Mauritian Creole. (2005). Pidgins and Creoles. Retrieved Dec 1, 2007, from http://kreol.mu/CreoleLanguages.htm. Patrick, P. L. (2004, Nov 14). Pidgin and Creole Languages: Origin and Relationships. Intro Sociolinguistics. Retrieved Dec 1, 2007, from http://privatewww.essex.ac.uk/~patrickp/Courses/PCs/IntroPidginsCreoles.htm. Pidgin and Creole. Retrieved Dec 1, 2007, from http://www.hevanet.com/alexwest/pidgin.html. Pidgins and Creoles. Retrieved Dec 1, 2007, from http://www.uni- due.de/SVE/VARS_PidginsAndCreoles.htm. Pidgins and Creoles. (1997, Feb 25). Retrieved Dec 1, 2007, from http://logos.uoregon.edu/explore/socioling/pidgin.html. Stafford, A. Pidgins and Creoles. Retrieved Dec 1, 2007, from http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/cultural/language/pidgcreol.html.

Customer Requirements And Product Characteristics

Customer Requirements And Product Characteristics One of the main roles of any manufacturing plant is to produce product that caters to the demands of the market, and the best way to understand the market needs is to distinguish what is important to the customer/consumer. This understanding of the customer gives the manufacturer a competitive edge, as he knows more or less what the needs of the customer is, when he sells his product in the market. This competitive edge can be distinguished into various factors, for e.g. Quality, Speed, Dependability, Cost, and so on. A particular way of distinguishing which factor gives us more competitive edge is to distinguish between what Prof Terry Hill calls as â€Å"order winners† and â€Å"order qualifiers†. (Pycraft et al 1997) [Online] But before we dive into categorising the various competitive factors into order winners and order qualifiers, it will be helpful if we knew where the products lie in the Puttick Grid. The Puttick Grid, devised by the Warwick Manufacturing Group, defines product market position with respect to the complexity of the product and the level of uncertainty in the market. A point to note about the Puttick Grid is that over a period of time, product tends to move around in the grid and hence may change after a period of time. The Specialist DBPs have a very erratic demand profile, they are basically manufactured either one by one, or if they is more demand they probably in batches of 10. There is a peak in demand during the spring and summer seasons as a lot of people get back to riding their bikes after the winter, and hence become desirable during these seasons amongst the people who own vintage bikes. Also since these are vintage bikes, they dont mind spending a bit for getting replacement parts. The Aftermarket DBPs have a rather subdued demand as compared to the Specialist DBPs. Since these are DBP that are no longer in standard productions, there are a lot of organisations that have come out with their own version of the DBP and hence the customer has more choice. So, in such a case, the customer will go by brand image, price and the quality of the product. The Original Equipment DBPs on the other hand, will have a very stable demand that will be known to Friction Materials well in advance. Quality and price become very important for such a product and hence they become more of a commodity. Hence according to the above discussion, the products have been placed in the Puttick Grid as shown below in Figure 1.1.1 Super Value Product Responsive/Jobbing/Fashion Specialist DBP Consumer Durables Commodities Original Equipment DBP Now that we have an understanding of where the product lies with respect to the Puttick Grid, we can distinguish which competitive factor is an order winner and which is an order qualifier. Characteristic Aftermarket DBP Specialist DBP Design Brand Name 60 60 Price 40 40 Speed (Lead Time) Q Dependability (Availability) QQ Q Quality (Fit to purpose) Q QQ Table 1.1.1: Order Winners and Qualifiers. (Adopted for Hill 2000) [Note: Order Winners are marked out of 100. Q: Order Qualifier; QQ: Order Looser.] Characteristics Original Equipment DBP Design 40 Brand Name 10 Price 40 Speed (Lead Time) 10 Dependability (Availability) QQ Quality (Fit to purpose) QQ Table 1.1.2: Order Winners and Qualifiers. (Adopted for Hill 2000) [Note: Order Winners are marked out of 100. Q: Order Qualifier; QQ: Order Looser.] 1.1.1 Design The links between design, operations and markets are the very essence of the business. The way that these integrate, therefore, is fundamental to sound strategy development and implementation. Both design and operations aim is to provide products according to the technical and business specifications. (Hill Hill 2009) In case of Aftermarket DBPs, the dimensions of the DBP are calculated from the equivalent OE component and then some changes are made so as to avoid patent infringement. So in this case, the design of the DBP is not very important as it is only reverse engineered from an existing product. In case of Specialist DBPs, the dimensions are taken from records if they exist or taken from existing component and then designed as a made-to-order item. So in this case too, not much work goes into the design of the DBP as they are already available to the manufacturer. Hence, design of the DBP does not give the product any competitive edge over other competitor products. In case of Original Equipment Manufacturer, initially specifications will be given by the motorcycle manufacturer. But if Friction is selected as the preferred OE for DBP, it will be expected to design the brakes to meet the requirements given by the manufacturer. Hence, if not initially, over a period of time the designing of brakes for the OE product range will become the one of biggest competitive edge that the company could get in winning the order. 1.1.2 Brand Name Through a variety of activities, companies try to establish a brand name for their products in the market. Where this has been achieved and maintained, companies will win orders partly due to the image that has been created in the market. (Hill Hill 2009) In case of Aftermarket DBPs and the Specialist DBPs, the brand name, â€Å"Stop-Rite†, play a major role in winning orders for the company. Since these parts are no longer in standard production by the OEM, there is a lot of competition in the market to win orders for these products. And hence the brand image, which Friction Materials Ltd has maintained for the last 20 years, becomes the biggest competitive edge in the market to win orders. In case of the OE DBPs, initially Friction Materials is trying to win orders and hence it does not have a brand name in the OE market as of now. But as they start to win orders and establish them in the market, their brand name will start to help them win orders and hence, as time will progress, brand name will become an order winner. 1.1.3 Price In many markets, particularly in the growth, maturity and saturation phases of the product life cycle, price becomes a very important order winner. When there is a range of products to choose from, price comparisons with alternatives becomes an integral part of the customers evaluation of the product and hence price plays a very important part in winning orders. (Hill Hill 2009) In case of the Aftermarket and the Specialist DBPs, since there are a lot of alternatives in the market, price eventually become one of the main reasons why the customer chooses to buy the product, as if there are two products meeting his criteria, they are bound to buy the cheaper product. Hence they become an order winner. In case of the OE DBPs, since the manufacturer is going to buy the product in bulk, he is going to want to buy them from a manufacturer who is able to produce them in the cheapest possible way and who also meets their requirements. Hence price in this case becomes one of the biggest factors for choice. 1.1.4 Speed (Lead Time) and Dependability (Availability) A company may be able to qualify for an order/win an order based on how quickly they are able to supply the product or if the product is already available for delivery/purchasing for the customer. Hence is it very important that the Operations Lead Time must be able to match the Customer Lead Time. (Hill Hill 2009) In case of the Aftermarkets DBPs, the ability to deliver the DBP faster than others may affect the spares stores to make an order to the manufacturer. This is possible if the lead time for the product is less and hence lead time becomes an order qualifier. With respect to the customers, the product being available on the store self become an order qualifier, i.e. they consider the product as a possible buy. But in case the product is not available on the shelf, means that even though their product is better than the competition, they will lose an order and hence this becomes an order looser. Similarly, in case of the Specialist DBPs, since these are mostly made-to-order items, the lead time does not give an influential competitive edge over the competition. But at the same time, availability/delivery of the product has to be on time and this becomes an important factor that the customer will take into consideration when he/she is looking to buy a DBP for his/her Vintage Motorbike. Hence availability of the product on time becomes an order qualifier in this case. In case of the OE products, the motorcycle manufacturer will be looking for a manufacturer who can produce the parts and deliver them in the shortest possible time. Hence speed or lead time becomes an order winner. Also, being a local supplier to the local motorcycle industry will give them a competitive edge over other outside competitors as they will be able to respond to the demand much quicker. But, in addition to this, being able to deliver the products on time is going to be a very important factor. So important that initially, some late deliveries may lead to the manufacturer going to an alternate supplier as you are not able to meet his demands on time. Hence dependability becomes an order looser. 1.1.5 Quality Quality or Quality Conformance can be defined as ability of a manufacturer to manufacture products according to the customers requirements. (Slack et al 2002) In case of the Aftermarkets and Specialist DBPs, no one is going to consider buying the product unless you are certain that the DBP is fit to use on their particular motorcycle model. Hence for both these product ranges, quality becomes an order qualifier. That is, only if the DBP is fit to use on a particular customers motorcycle, they will consider buying that DBP. In case of the OE products, since now they are trying to become suppliers of OE products for the first time, quality has to be bang on target. It has to meet all the customer requirements. Any lapse of quality may lead to a halt in the manufacturers assembly line and this is going to cost them a lot of money. Hence any lapse in quality of the OE suppliers part will give a bad impression and hence may lead to the supplier losing the order. Hence quality for the OE product range becomes an order looser. 1.2 Implications on Operations The Polar diagram (above) shows all the competitive factors for all the product range and their relevant importance for winning orders. Hence, in a way, the diagram also helps understand where Operations should concentrate more so that they will be able to produce more products that will be able to win the orders in the market. From the above diagram, we see that for all the three product ranges, Price, Quality and Dependability are the common performance objective that can help give them competitive edge in the market. Hence operations has to focus more on reducing the cost of the product and at the same time try to keep quality at a good level and always deliver the goods on time. Also, we see Brand Name is very important for the Aftermarket and Specialist market. But if operations is able to maintain price, quality and dependability; it will maintain and perhaps even built up the brand name of the product. Also, by concentrating on dependability, operations is going to keep the lead time (speed) of the product to as low as possible to meet the delivery times and hence speed is also taken care of. Hence by concentrating more on price, quality and dependability, operations will be able to cover all the order qualifier and winner factors of all the 3 product ranges. 2 Manufacturing Strategy for the OE product 2.1 Framework Hill, T. (2009) breaks down the process of developing an operation/manufacturing strategy into 5 simple objectives. 2.1.1 Defining the Corporate Objectives The recent future Corporate Objective of Friction Materials is to try and break into the OE product sector. This will help them isolate the financial burden that they have to carry due to the ever decreasing prices because of cheap Far Eastern Aftermarket DBP available in the market. Hence another Corporate Objective is to make them more stable financially by entering a highly profitable and long term contract product range. Other general corporate objective like Profit and Growth and ROI also apply to Friction Materials Ltd. 2.1.2 Defining the Market Strategies to meet these objectives As said in the Corporate Objectives, Friction Material Ltd. is now trying to enter the Original Equipment product market. Volumes initially (during sampling stage) will be low, to the order of 300. But once their samples get approved, they will start producing these products in very high volumes, to the order of about 3000 DBP/week. Keeping these facts in mind, the Marketing Strategy for the OE product range is to produce and deliver high quality low cost DBP on time, every time. 2.1.3 How do products win orders in the market place? As mentioned in Section 1, the major factors that win orders for the OE product is Price, Quality and Dependability (in terms of delivery). Once Friction Materials becomes the choice for OEM for DBPs, they will have to design the brakes themselves and hence Design also becomes an important order winner. 2.1.4 Establishing the most appropriate mode to manufacture these sets of products Process Choice We are in process of getting samples accepted for the new OE product range. Currently we are manufacturing only the Spares and Specialist product ranges and this is done in a batch process flow layout. This is ok for these ranges as they are in small quantities of about 300 DBP/week. But the new OE product range is going to require about 3000 DBP/week. Hence the Batch layout will not suffice to meet this quantity demand. The most appropriate process choice for such a huge demand is the Mass Layout or the Continuous Layout. But the continuous layout calls for a bigger investment in terms of the money involved. Since Friction Materials is only starting to try to establish itself in the OE market, it would not be wise to tie up a lot of the Companies money into something that might not work out to the magnitude expected. Hence the Mass Layout seems to be a more sensible choice. 2.1.5 Provide the manufacturing infrastructure required to support production Providing the infrastructure to support production of the new OE product is going to involve some amount of trade off in the sense of a balance between the various competitive factors that will affect the ability of the product to win orders. For instance, from the polar diagram (Sector 1.2) we see that dependability and cost of product play a very important role in helping the product win orders. In order to always deliver the product on time, we must always have enough stock with us to meet the demand. This can mean that we make-to-stock the product. But if we have a lot of inventory, it means that we have a lot of money held up as inventory and this may lead to increase in the price of the product to help insulate this cost. But this increase of cost may lead to loss of an order. Hence what amount of inventory would be sufficient to always meet customer demands and not hold a lot of money in inventory would be the trade off that we will be keen to look for. This process of trade o ff balance will help the manufacturing/operations to align itself with the corporate strategy. (Slack et al 2002) 2.2 Analysis of Current Operations System Before we can start formulating and making changes to the production system, we must first define what the current system is. We can do this with the help of various tools. We are going to use the SWOT analysis tool to do the same. Once we know where the current production capabilities are, we will be able to make decision taking into account the current scenario. 2.2.1 SWOT Analysis Strengths Weakness The brand name â€Å"Stop Rite† Established producer of aftermarket DBPs in the UK and Western Europe Competency in making the brake pad mixture * Good liquidity and turnover * Bad production planning system even though a MRP system is in place for the same Opportunities Threats OE market will lead to more opportunity in the EU market. OE market will help insulate the competition and market share because of the Far Eastern Competition * Growing to a medium scale company will help in being capable of handling more customers * Competition for cheaper Far Eastern Competition Table 2.2.1: SWOT Analysis Tool The brand name â€Å"Stop-Rite† is one of the main strengths of Friction Materials Ltd. This is what is helping them win orders in the Specialist market and the aftermarket market. This brand name that they have, they have been able to establish it because of being one of the main trusted DBP manufacturer in the UK and Western Europe market. This is also one of the strengths that they should exploit. They have a competency in creating their own mixture for the DBPs, which helps keep the cost of the product down. Also, as we can see from the financials, their Quick Ratio is about 1.03 and their Current Ratio is about 1.8, both of which are very near the acceptable values and hence the company is doing very well financially. And as they say â€Å"Cash is King†, this is their main strength. But even though they are strong in these areas, their production planning system is not very good, or up to industry standards. Even though they have a MRP II system in place, the Planning Controller has to fire fight situation that should not arise because of the system. This shows one of the two situations, either the Planning Controller is not familiar with the system or there is something wrong with their planning system. This can cause a lot of problems if they are to start production for about 3000DBP/week for the OE product. Opportunity wise, the OE product can help gain more market share in the Western European market and hence improve their brand name even further. Also, since this will be a more steady market, this will help insulate some of the market share loss due to the cheaper Far Eastern Competitor products in the Spares market. This will help the company grow financially which is always the main aim of any organisation. Once the organisation has more market share and money, they can easily transition to a medium scale company and hence cater to more customers. The only threat that the company faces is due to the Far Eastern products. They are almost as good as their DBPs, but they are far cheaper than Frictions DBPs and hence this sometimes leads to loss of market share. Entry to the OE product market will help them to insulate this loss. Now that we are clear on where the organisation current strengths and weakness lie, we can develop our manufacturing strategy to complement the strengths and negate the weakness of the organisation. 2.3 Elements of Manufacturing Strategy Miltenburg (2005) divides manufacturing strategy in six main sub-systems and terms them as Manufacturing Levers to reflect the concept that each sub-system can be adjusted to align according to market demands and corporate mission. 2.3.1 Sourcing Current list of all the suppliers to Friction Materials Ltd. are largely UK based. This is good as this help in decreasing the manufacturing lead time of the component. Since currently, their production demands are very low, to the order of 300DBPs/week; they were unable to convince their suppliers to deliver Just-in-Time. But now since they are looking to produce to the order of about 3000DBPs/week; they should be able to convince the suppliers to deliver Just-in-Time. Along with this, they should bring the list down in number and probably sign long term contracts with their most reliable supplier as the demand for the OE market is very stable and this long term contracts will help with the demand and also improve relations with their suppliers. But care should be taken when such contracts are framed, so that if the supplier does not make the delivery, then Friction Materials is free to buy that demand from another supplier. (Quinn and Hilmer 1995) In terms of the product range, since making DBPs is their main expertise, I feel that they should continue to produce all their existing product range so that they do not lose their current market share and customer base. The level of vertical integration should be kept to a minimum and Friction Materials should concentrate on its main competency of making the DBPs. Smaller parts of the product like the packing materials should be bought from an external vendor. 2.3.2 Process Technology Hill (2009) uses a profiling method to help decide what kind of production process is good for a particular type of product depend on the profile of the product. We will use this profiling approach to decide the type of process that we will implement for the OE range of product. Relevant Aspects Characteristics of Process Choice Product Job Batch Line Type Special Standard Range Wide Narrow Order Size Small Large Level of Change High Low Rate of NPD High Low Order-Winner Del. Speed Price Process Technology G.P. Dedicated Flexibility High Low Volumes Low High Key Tasks Meet Spec. Cost Investment Low High Table 2.3.2.1: Hills Profiling Approach (Source: Hill and Hill 2009) For the OE product range, we know the following: The order volume is going to be very high; hence the product is going to be standardised. Since the product is standardised, it is logical to have machinery dedicated to the product so that it can churn out more product and help meet the high demand. This in turn will decrease the flexibility of the process, but that is a trade-off that has to be taken to meet the high demand. We are going to produce only a certain types of DBPs, hence range is very narrow. The variations in the design of the DBPs are going to be minimal. New designs will only be developed when there is a requirement for it, hence the rate for new product development is also low. Order-winner for the OE product as discussed above is a balance between delivery speed and cost. Hence the key task for the process is bringing the cost of the product down. Hence we see from the above table, most of the profile of the OE product fits the Line Process choice. Hence in our case, for the OE product range, it is advisable that we go for a Line process. Currently, the Spares and Vintage DBPs are being produced in a Batch Equipment Paced Line Flow. They are currently running operations with 3 machining centres, each consisting of a pair of inter linked CNC machines with magazine feed. But even with a demand of only 300 DBPs/week compared to a demand of 3000 DBPs/week, the 3 machining centres are running at full capacity and often require overtime to meet the demand. Hence it is only logical for Friction Materials to in some new machining centres for the new OE production line that will be mainly be used for OE production, as they will find it very difficult to cope up with the demand with the existing infrastructure available. In fact, Friction Materials should look to start to invest into some of the other machines that they require for the production of DBPs to help cope up with this new OE demand. It is also advisable to make this new investments into the shop floor as the OE market is a profitable market which has a very stable demand and this demand will be there for quite a few years and hence this investment can be easi ly recovered during the life cycles of not OE product, but probably two or three OE products. The current manufacturing process layout should be adopted for the OE production also. The process has been setup taking into consideration the capacity of the mixer, setup time on the presses and stock levels and hence they are designed to give the whole process a flow. But setting up a completely new production line demands a lot of capital being invested and it will take quite some time before you will be able to break even for this investment. Hence the logical thing to do for Friction would be to invest in some new machining centres, so that they would be able to able to cope with the demand. But these new machining centres should be dedicated to only for the OE products. And over time, with increasing profits from the OE business, they can keep adding more machining centres to create a separate line for the OE product. 2.3.3 Production Planning and Control The production of DBPs has been broken down majorly into two process; namely Pressing and Finishing. The Pressing team takes care of making the brake pads; the Finishing team takes care of machining the DBPs to ensure consistency of the physical dimensions of the pad. Since both these processes are independent of each other, they are connected to each other with some decoupling or WIP inventory (Miltenburg). In our case, the baking process is the decoupling process. The two bin system can be used for inventory control for raw materials. In this system, the buffer stock in kept in the second bin and the current stock in kept in the first bin. Once the first bin is emptied and the buffer stock is brought into use, the purchase team should place orders to the respective material supplier for replenishing the material. For quality control, the organisation is already running on Statistical Process Control charts for the Spares and Specialist market. But this is acceptable for these products as their production volumes are not very large. The OE volumes are going to be very huge and hence SPC may not be the right choice for quality control. SPC looks at maintaining the quality of the products that the processes inside the organisation. Since OE is such a big market and where it is always important to â€Å"get things right the first time, every time†; it is better that Friction Materials looks into implementing Total Quality Management (TQM). TQM not only looks into the quality of parts being produced inside the organisation, but it takes the whole supply chain into account and sees to it that not only are the part being produced are up to quality standards, but also parts entering into the system are of optimum quality as it is unlikely to product good quality parts out of sub-standard part s. (GE Systems). Also in TQM, each worker becomes responsible for keeping the quality of their output up to standard. Hence this virtually removes the requirement of a quality control team in the organisation. 2.3.4 Human Resources The major machines, that require training in the whole manufacturing process at Friction Materials, are the press machines and the machining centres. The current workforce employed at Friction Materials is very well trained and are flexible enough to work on any process within their block. But we see that there is considerable time that goes into the setup of the presses when there is a need to change the design of the pad. So the employees can be further trained in how they can reduce the set up time for the presses. Regular maintenance is being carried out at Friction Materials by the current

Greed in The Rocking Horse Winner :: Rocking Horse Winner

Greed in The Rocking Horse Winner  Ã‚     People need money to live, and enough to buy the basic goods one needs to survive, but everybody wants more money. More money means an easier life. The more money one has, the more money one wants, as is shown in the story, "The Rocking Horse Winner" by D. H. Lawrence. At the beginning of this story the family did not have enough money to support their opulent lifestyle. Mr. Lawrence illustrates their situation like this: "Although they lived in style they felt always an anxiety in the house. There was never enough money." (p. 159) The family scrambles to pay the bills at the end of the month. An unspoken phrase "Whispered" throughout the house, "There must be more money! There must be more money!" (p.160) the whispering said. Even though the family had money, they wanted, they needed, more. Paul, the child, knew that his family wanted money, and he knew that he was lucky, betting on the horses. Paul became partners with the gardener. He picked the horse, and the gardener placed the bet. Paul had started out with five shillings but his winnings kept adding up. When he had made 10,000 pounds he decided to give his mother 1000 pounds a year for five years. He wanted his winnings to be a secret so a lawyer handled the money. Paul saw the envelope from the lawyer and asked his mother if she had received anything good in the mail. She said "Quite moderately nice" (p. 168) in a cold voice. She liked getting the money, but she wasn't happy. She wanted more. The same day, she had a meeting with the lawyer who was handling the money. Paul's mother demanded the full sum. She received the money and spent it all. The author informs the reader, "There were certain new furnishings, and Paul had a tutor... There were flowers in the winter, and a blossoming of the luxury that Paul's mother had been used to." (p. 169) The money ran out and the voices in the house screamed, "Oh-h-h, there must be more money.

Kesey and Plath: A New American Myth :: Biography Biographies Essays

Kesey and Plath: A New American Myth A mutual friend sets up Ken Kesey and Sylvia Plath on a blind date. They meet in a Boston restaurant and discover they're both writers. Describe the ensuing conversation. Sept. 3, 1955 (from Sylvia's diary) It must have been some terrible mistake. Mother set me up with a certain Ken Kesey, a friend of a friend of the family. Terrible! We met at a restaurant on Harvard Square and it went downhill from there. I came home alright, but barely. I guess I can start from the beginning... Ken is large and very open with his body and gestures. He's from California, which could explain that. He dressed very casually and he had a crazy look in his eyes when he saw me. I don't know if he was happy to be there either. Apparently he goes to Stanford and is studying creative writing. I asked him about his writing and he started a whole speech on psychiatric wards and medications. I didn't want to hear a word about psychiatric wards, but he certainly got my interest. He volunteers to do experiments for money. I can't imagine going through what I went through voluntarily... I did venture to ask him why he was writing about hospitals and he looked very closely at me and said, "You've been there. I know." And he did. He was seeing inside me, all the way inside, and it was the most uncomfortable silence I've ever had. I mumbled an accusation and as soon as it came out, I knew my mother hadn't told him about all that. Dinner went alright, barring the conversation about hospitals. We walked around the square and by the river for awhile and then he invited me to his hotel room and I said no, but I really wanted to leave with him. I've been so bottled up for days... I wanted to do something different. We sat down facing Cambridge and he looked at me again, intently and laughed... "It's all black, isn't it? Then everything shuts down." Ken looked off toward the river. He started to laugh again. "I don't know what you're talking about." Sylvia put her knees closer together. Uncomfortable. "When they throw the switch. When it all shakes and then you black out. Then you can't think for days.

MBA Admissions Essay: Harvard, and Nowhere Else :: MBA College Admissions Essays

Having worked on both small and large scale internet ventures, as well as in traditional brick and mortar enterprises, I have truly fallen in love with the entrepreneur world of business. Â   Â  I have been the CEO of my own smaller companies and have been an integral part of large scale operations. My professional goal is to become the most effective entrepreneur and manager I am capable of becoming. Â   My sample set of experiences has been both wide ranging and engaging, but a Harvard Business School education will serve to hone my skills and sharpen my ability to think. Â   Â  First and Foremost, an MBA from Harvard business school will help improve my performance as a manager at the basic level of problem solving and thinking. Discovering the unique experiences and perspectives of a diverse student body will undoubtedly alter the way I face and solve problems. A classroom environment that does not take a static format will enhance my ability to think quickly and effectively. Â   Secondly, I feel that a manager's ability to interact effectively with others can make or break a company. Being in a dynamic classroom situation will help perfect these skills of communication.

Akbar the Great

Abu'l-Fath Jalal-ud-Din Muhammad Akbar  (Hindi:   ,  Persian:   ? –  Jalal ud-Din Mu? ammad Akbar), also known as  Shahanshah  Akbar-e-Azam (14 October 1542   Ã¢â‚¬â€œ 27 October 1605),[4][5]  was the third  Mughal Emperor. He was of  Timurid  descent; the son of Emperor  Humayun, and the grandson of the Mughal Emperor Zaheeruddin Muhammad  Babur, the ruler who founded the Mughal dynasty in India. At the end of his reign in 1605 the Mughal empire covered most of northern and central India.He is most appreciated for having a liberal outlook on all faiths and beliefs and during his era, culture and art reached a zenith as compared to his predecessors. Akbar was 13 years old when he ascended the Mughal throne in  Delhi  (February 1556), following the death of his father Humayun. [6]During his reign, he eliminated military threats from the powerful  Pashtun  descendants of  Sher Shah Suri, and at the  Second Battle of Panipat  he deci sively defeated the newly self-declared Hindu king  Hemu. 7][8]  It took him nearly two more decades to consolidate his power and bring all the parts of northern and  central India  into his direct realm. He influenced the whole of the Indian Subcontinent as he ruled a greater part of it as an emperor. As an emperor, Akbar solidified his rule by pursuing diplomacy with the powerful  Hindu  Rajputcaste, and by marrying a Rajput princess. [7][9] Akbar's reign significantly influenced art and culture in the country. He was a great patron of art and architecture  [10]  He took a great interest in painting, and had the walls of his palaces adorned with  murals.Besides encouraging the development of the  Mughal school, he also patronised the European style of painting. He was fond of literature, and had several  Sanskrit  works translated into Persian and Persian scriptures translated in Sanskrit apart from getting many Persian works illustrated by painters from hi s court. [10]  During the early years of his reign, he showed intolerant attitude towards Hindus and other religions, but later exercised tolerance towards non-Islamic faiths by rolling back some of the strict  sharia  laws. 11][12][13]  His administration included numerous Hindu landlords, courtiers and military generals. He began a series of religious debates where  Muslim scholars  would debate religious matters with  Hindus,  Jains,Zoroastrians  and  Portuguese  Roman Catholic  Jesuits. He treated these religious leaders with great consideration, irrespective of their faith, and revered them. He not only granted lands and money for the mosques but the list of the recipients included a huge number Hindu temples in north and central India, Christian churches in Goa. Akbar the Great Abu'l-Fath Jalal-ud-Din Muhammad Akbar  (Hindi:   ,  Persian:   ? –  Jalal ud-Din Mu? ammad Akbar), also known as  Shahanshah  Akbar-e-Azam (14 October 1542   Ã¢â‚¬â€œ 27 October 1605),[4][5]  was the third  Mughal Emperor. He was of  Timurid  descent; the son of Emperor  Humayun, and the grandson of the Mughal Emperor Zaheeruddin Muhammad  Babur, the ruler who founded the Mughal dynasty in India. At the end of his reign in 1605 the Mughal empire covered most of northern and central India.He is most appreciated for having a liberal outlook on all faiths and beliefs and during his era, culture and art reached a zenith as compared to his predecessors. Akbar was 13 years old when he ascended the Mughal throne in  Delhi  (February 1556), following the death of his father Humayun. [6]During his reign, he eliminated military threats from the powerful  Pashtun  descendants of  Sher Shah Suri, and at the  Second Battle of Panipat  he deci sively defeated the newly self-declared Hindu king  Hemu. 7][8]  It took him nearly two more decades to consolidate his power and bring all the parts of northern and  central India  into his direct realm. He influenced the whole of the Indian Subcontinent as he ruled a greater part of it as an emperor. As an emperor, Akbar solidified his rule by pursuing diplomacy with the powerful  Hindu  Rajputcaste, and by marrying a Rajput princess. [7][9] Akbar's reign significantly influenced art and culture in the country. He was a great patron of art and architecture  [10]  He took a great interest in painting, and had the walls of his palaces adorned with  murals.Besides encouraging the development of the  Mughal school, he also patronised the European style of painting. He was fond of literature, and had several  Sanskrit  works translated into Persian and Persian scriptures translated in Sanskrit apart from getting many Persian works illustrated by painters from hi s court. [10]  During the early years of his reign, he showed intolerant attitude towards Hindus and other religions, but later exercised tolerance towards non-Islamic faiths by rolling back some of the strict  sharia  laws. 11][12][13]  His administration included numerous Hindu landlords, courtiers and military generals. He began a series of religious debates where  Muslim scholars  would debate religious matters with  Hindus,  Jains,Zoroastrians  and  Portuguese  Roman Catholic  Jesuits. He treated these religious leaders with great consideration, irrespective of their faith, and revered them. He not only granted lands and money for the mosques but the list of the recipients included a huge number Hindu temples in north and central India, Christian churches in Goa.