Saturday, August 31, 2019

Pada umumnya siswa-siswi

Latar BelakangPada umumnya siswa-siswi dalam proses belajar mengajar, memerlukan media pembelajaran yang tepat, guna membantu proses penyampaian informasi dan ilmu secara sempurna dalam berbagai mata pelajaran yang mereka dapatkan Dari guru dan fasilitator pendidikan lainnya. Karena siswa-siswi kerap saltwort kesulitan memahami mata pelajaran yang diajarkan. Selain itu guru dan fasilitator pendidikan juga kerap saltwort menggunakan media pembelajaran bagi siswa dalam membantu merealisasikan strategi pembelajaran siswa agar materi yang disampaikan dapat dipahami oleh parity peserta didik. Seiring dengan dibutuhkannya berbagai media pembelajaran dalam setiap mata pelajaran dalam hal ini dikhususkan pada bidang studi IPS, maka banyak bermunculan berbagai jenis dan macam media pembelajaran bagi parity peserta didik. Dari yang palng sederhana dan murah hingga yang canggih dan mahal. Ada yang dapat dibuat oleh guru sendiri dan adenosine deaminase yang diproduksi pabrik. Ada yang sudah tersedia di lingkungan untuk langsung dimanfaatkan dan adenosine deaminase yang sengaja dirancang. Hal tersebut sangatlah membantu peserta didik dan guru dalam rangka penyelenggaraan pendidikan. Oleh karena itu media pembelajaran dalam hal ini mata pelajaran IPS perlu di berdayakan, agar materi IPS yang disampaikan dapat dipahami dan dipergunakan dengan semestinya guna membantu proses belajar mengajar IPS.Identifikasi MasalahBagaimana pengaruh media pembelajaran terhadap proses penyelenggaraan pendidikan?Apakah manfaat media pembelajaran IPS yakni cyberspace dalam efektivitas proses penyelenggaraan pendidikan.Pembatasan MasalahMengingat masalah dalam media pembelajaran ruang lingkupnya sangatlah luas, maka penulis membatasi masalah mengenai media pembelajaran IPS yakni cyberspace dalam proses penyelenggaraan pendidikan.Perumusan MasalahBerdasarkan pembatasan masalah diatas maka penulis merumuskan sebagai berikut: Jenis dan macam media pembelajaran IPS Manfaat Media Pembelajaran IPS yakni cyberspace dalam proses penyelenggaraan pendidikanTujuan dan Manfaat PenulisanPada faktor eksternal, untuk diketahui oleh berbagai pihak yang terkait dengan penggunaan media pembelajaran IPS Pada faktor internal, untuk dapat memenuhi tugas pada mata kuliah † Pendidikan IPS †SISTEMATIKA PENULISANUntuk memudahkan mendapatkan gambaran yang jelas mengenai tugas mata kuliah â€Å" Pendidikan IPS † ini, maka penulis melakukan sistematika penulisan secara bitter cassava besar diuraikan sebagai berikut:BAB I PENDAHULUANPada bab ini diuraikan secara singkat mengenai latar belakang masalah, identifikasi masalah, pembatasan masalah, tujuan dan manfaat penelitian, dan sistematika penelitian.BAB II PEMBAHASANDalam bab ini diuraikan Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence tugas makalah â€Å" Pendidikan IPS † ini, yakni meliputi, Jenis dan macam-macam media pembelajaran IPS serta manfaat media pembelajaran tersebut.BAB III KESIMPULAN DAN SARANDalam bab ini merupakan kesimpulan dan saran yang diuraikan pada bab-bab sebelumnya yakni pada bab pendahuluan dan pembahasanBAB IIPEMBAHASANJenis dan Macam-macam Media PembelajaranSeiring dengan meningkatnya kebutuh an akan media pembelajaran yang menjembatani antara guru dan siswa dalam penyampaian materi pembelajaran khususnya mata pelajaran IPS, maka hadirlah berbagai jenis dan macam mrdia pembelajaran. Menurut Rudy Bretz ( 1971 ) menggolongkan media pembelajaran berdasarkan tiga unsur pokok ( suara, ocular dan gerak ) :Media soundMedia cetakMedia ocular diamMedia ocular gerakMedia sound semi gerakMedia ocular semi gerakMedia audio ocular diamMedia audio ocular gerakMenurutAnderson ( 1976 ) menggolongkan menjadi 10 media pembelajaran:Audio: Kaset sound, siaran wireless, Cadmium, teleponCetak: Buku pelajaran, modul, brosur, cusp, gambarAudio-cetak: Kaset sound yang dilengkapi bahan tertulisProyeksi ocular diam: Overhead transparansi ( OHT ) , movie bingkai ( slide )Proyeksi audio ocular diam: Film bingkai slide bersuaraOcular gerak: Film bisuAudio ocular gerak: Film gerak bersuara, Video/VCD, TelevisiObyek fisik: Benda nyata, theoretical account, spesimenManusia dan lingkungan: Guru, pustakaw an, laboranKomputer: InternetSchramm ( 1985 ) menggolongkan media pembelajaran berdasarkan kompleksnya suara, yaitu: media kompleks ( movie, Television, Video/VCD, ) dan media sederhana ( slide, sound, transparansi, teks ) . Selain itu menggolongkan media berdasarkan jangkauannya, yaitu media masal ( liputannya luas dan serentak / wireless, televisi ) , media kelompok ( liputannya seluas ruangan / kaset sound, picture, OHP, slide, dll ) , media single ( untuk perorangan / buku teks, telepon, Internet ) .Henrich, dkk menggolongkan:media yang tidak diproyeksikanmedia yang diproyeksikanmedia soundmedia picturemedia berbasis komputermulti media kit.Dalam hal ini media juga diklasifikasikan menjadi media ocular, media sound, dan media audio-visual.Media VisualMedia yang tidak diproyeksikan Media realita adalah benda nyata. Benda tersebut tidak harus dihadirkan di ruang kelas, tetapi siswa dapat melihat langsung ke obyek. Kelebihan dari media realia ini adalah dapat memberikan pengalaman nyata kepada siswa. Misal untuk mempelajari keanekaragaman makhluk hidup, klasifikasi makhluk hidup, ekosistem, dan organ tanaman. Model adalah benda tiruan dalam wujud tiga dimensi yang merupakan representasi atau pengganti Dari benda yang sesungguhnya. Penggunaan theoretical account untuk mengatasi kendala tertentu sebagai pengganti realia. Misal untuk mempelajari sistem gerak, pencernaan, pernafasan, peredaran darah, sistem ekskresi, dan syaraf pada hewan. Media grafis tergolong media ocular yang menyalurkan pesan melalui simbol-simbol ocular. Fungsi dari media grafis adalah menarik perhatian, memperjelas sajian pelajaran, dan mengilustrasikan suatu fakta atau konsep yang mudah terlupakan jika hanya dilakukan melalui penjelasan verbal. Jenis-jenis media grafis adalah:Gambar / foto: picket fence umum digunakanSketsa: gambar sederhana atau bill of exchange kasar yang melukiskan bagian pokok tanpa item. Dengan sketsa dapat menarik perhatian siswa, menghindarkan verbalisme, dan memperjelas pesan. Diagram / skema: gambar sederhana yang menggunakan bitter cassava dan simbol untuk menggambarkan struktur Dari obyek tertentu secara bitter cassava besar. Misal untuk mempelajari organisasi kehidupan Dari sel samapai organisme. Bagan / chart: menyajikan ide atau konsep yang sulit sehingga lebih mudah dicerna siswa. Selain itu bagan mampu memberikan ringkasan butir-butir penting Dari penyajian. Dalam bagan sering dijumpai bentuk grafis lain, seperti: gambar, diagram, kartun, atau lambang verbal. Grafik: gambar sederhana yang menggunakan bitter cassava, titik, simbol verbal atau bentuk tertentu yang menggambarkan informations kuantitatif. Misal untuk mempelajari pertumbuhan.Media proyeksiTransparansi OHP merupakan alat Bantu mengajar tatap muka sejati, sebab tata letak ruang kelas tetap seperti biasa, guru dapat bertatap muka dengan siswa ( tanpa harus membelakangi siswa ) . Perangkat media transparansi meliputi perangkat lunak ( Overhead transparancy / OHT ) dan perangkat Keras ( Overhead projector / OHP ) . Teknik pembuatan media transparansi, yaitu:Mengambil Dari bahan cetak dengan teknik tertentuMembuat sendiri secara manualFilm bingkai / slide adalah movie transparan yang umumnya berukuran 35 millimeter dan diberi bingkai 2X2 inci. Dalam satu paket berisi beberapa movie bingkai yang terpisah satu sama lain. Manfaat movie bingkai hampir sama dengan transparansi OHP, hanya kualitas ocular yang dihasilkan lebih bagus. Sedangkan kelemahannya adalah beaya produksi dan peralat an lebih mahal serta kurang praktis. Untuk menyajikan dibutuhkan proyektor slide.Media AudioRadioRadio merupakan perlengkapan elektronik yang dapat digunakan untuk mendengarkan berita yang bagus dan aktual, dapat mengetahui beberapa kejadian dan peristiwa-peristiwa penting dan baru, masalah-masalah kehidupan dan sebagainya. Radio dapat digunakan sebagai media pembelajaran yang cukup efektif.Kaset-audioYang dibahas disini khusus kaset sound yang sering digunakan di sekolah. Keuntungannya adalah merupakan media yang ekonomis karena biaya pengadaan dan perawatan murah.Media Audio VisualMedia pictureMerupakan salat satu jenis media audio ocular, selain movie. Yang banyak dikembangkan untuk keperluan pembelajaran, biasa dikemas dalam bentuk VCD.Media komputerMedia ini memiliki semua kelebihan yang dimiliki oleh media lain. Selain mampu menampilkan teks, gerak, suara dan gambar, komputer juga dapat digunakan secara interaktif, bukan hanya searah. Bahkan komputer yang disambung dengan cybe rspace dapat memberikan keleluasaan belajar menembus ruang dan waktu serta menyediakan sumber belajar yang hampir tanpa Batas. Realitas empirik selama ini di tingkat persekolahan memperlihatkan, dalam proses pembelajaran IPS, guru IPS kurang optimum baik di dalam memanfaatkan maupun memberdayakan media pembelajaran, karena dalam proses pembelajaran IPS cenderung masih berpusat pada guru ( teacher centered ) , text edition centered, dan monomedia. Adalah tidak dapat dipersalahkan apabila banyak siswa mengganggap proses pembelajaran IPS sebagai sesuatu yang membosankan, monoton, kurang menyenangkan, terlalu banyak hafalan, kurang variatif, dan pelbagai keluhan lainnya. Padahal pendidikan IPS merupakan man-made scientific discipline, karena konsep, generalisasi, dan temuan-temuan penelitian ditentukan atau diobservasi setelah fakta terjadi. Informasi faktual tentang kehidupan sosial atau masalah-masalah kontemporer yang terjadi di masyarakat dapat ditemukan dalam liputan ( exposure ) media massa, karena media massa diyakini dapat menggambarkan realitas sosial dalam berbagai aspek kehidupan. Meskipun untuk itu, informasi atau pesan ( message ) yang ditampilkannya?Xsebagaimana dapat dibaca di surat kabar atau majalah, didengarkan di wireless, dilihat di televisi atau cyberspace telah melalui suatu saringan ( filter ) dan seleksi Dari pengelola media itu untuk berbagai kepentingannya, misalnya: untuk kepentingan bisnis atau ekonomi, kekuasaan atau politik, pembentukan opini publik, hingga pendidikan. Sementara itu, seiring dengan pesatnya perkembangan media informasi dan komunikasi, baik perangkat Keras ( hardware ) maupun perangkat lunak ( package ) , penyampaian pesan/informasi bagi parity siswa dibutuhkan media cyberspace sebagai media pembelajaran siswa agar memudahkan penyampaian materi pelajaran IPS. Siswa dapat memperoleh informasi Dari berbagai sumber informasi, antara lain melalui media massa, siaran televisi dan wireless ( media elektronik ) , surat kabar dan majalah ( media cetak ) , komputer pribadi, cyberspace. Adalah tidak berlebihan kiranya apabila disebutkan bahwa media massa sangat berpengaruh di dalam pendidikan IPS. Hal ini didasarkan pada berbagai temuan penelitian yang menyiratkan, antara lain, bahwa:Media massa, khususnya cyberspace telah begitu memasyarakat ;Media massa berpengaruh terhadap proses sosialisasi ;Orang-orang lebih mengandalkan informasi yang berasal dari mediaMassa daripada Dari Pongo pygmaeus lain ;Para guru IPS perlu memberdayakan media massa sebagai sumberPembelajarannyaPara orang tua dan pendidik, baik secara sendiri-sendiri maupun secara

Friday, August 30, 2019

Homelessness Melissa St

Homelessness Melissa St George SOC 203: Social Problems Instructor: Risa Garelick August 28, 2011 I intend to show the meaning of homelessness and the different ways that people become homeless. I will also show how we can go about preventing homelessness. Homelessness means that one has no place to live. â€Å"The most prominent sociodemographic characteristics identified with high risk of homelessness have been male gender, Black race, being unmarried, and being middle aged† (Greenberg & Rosenheck, 2010, p1234-1235). Most of the homeless live in cities but there are those who live in the rural areas. Most of them are hidden because they are homeless for shorter periods of time. There are several causes or reasons why people are homeless, some of them are by choice and others are forced, contrary to most people’s beliefs that they â€Å"are drug addicts, alcoholics or are mentally challenged† (syzygyastro). The different types of homeless people are â€Å"push-outs†, victims of environmental catastrophe, mentally ill, the new poor, the technologically unqualified, the elderly, runaways, the demoralized, alcoholics, ease addicts, travel addicts, and excitement addicts (Henslin, 2008, p 228). The â€Å"push-outs† are people or families that have been forced out. They can be teenagers who are thrown out by their parents. The parents may have thrown them out due to They can be adults or families who have been evicted by landlords. Due to the high costs of rents, they may have had to choose between paying the rent or other necessities such as food, clothing, or gas. Or they could have lost their home due to the â€Å"sub-prime mortgage catastrophe that has made more than families homeless in 2008 and now threatens a further 48 percent of the rest sub-prime mortgage holders who are late in payments or in default† (Syzygyastro). Victims of environmental catastrophe have been forced out due to hurricanes, floods, fires, tornadoes, tsunamis, or other environmental disasters. The mentally ill have been forced out by hospitals or insurance companies. They are unable to care for themselves, so they live out on the streets not knowing how to survive in the â€Å"real† world. They can also become homeless because they need to choose their medications over rent. â€Å"20% to 50% of homeless adults suffer from a serious mental illness† (Greenberg & Rosenheck, 2010, p 1235). The new poor are forced out from a job due to technological change. There jobs are taken over by machines and/or globalization. The company moves to another part of the world, so that they can pay fewer wage to their employees. The technologically unqualified have been forced out because they never posed any technological skills, so they are unable to keep or get jobs. The wages that they do receive are so low that they can not afford an apartment. The elderly have been discarded. They have no family support, no income, and most are unemployable. Runaways choose to be homeless due to unstable living conditions. Most of these runaways are teenagers who have been physically abused. Some are the results of the system failing them. Most of the runaways are between the age of fifteen and seventeen but there are some that are as young as age ten. The demoralized are the depressed who have given up. The addicts are those who have been addicted to alcohol or drugs and choose their addictions over their homes. 0% to 80% have a history of substance use disorders† (Greenberg & Rosenheck, 2010, p 1235), â€Å"thirty eight percent of homeless people have a problem with alcohol addiction and that another twenty six percent of homeless people have addictions to other drugs† (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 2003). The Anti-Drug Abuse Act has made impossible for people who are convicted of a drug-related crime to keep their public housin g. In the 1950’s the deinstitutionalization of psychiatric treatment was the major factor of homelessness. The ease addicts choose homelessness. They are usually in their early twenties and want to escape responsibility. The travel addicts choose to be homeless and want to roam. The excitement addicts choose to be homeless. They enjoy the thrill of danger and because it offers the â€Å"edge†. The other things that are also associated with homelessness are past incarceration, exposure to trauma, lack of low-income housing, and the decrease in public funds. â€Å"As a result of loss of benefits, low wages, and unstable employment, many families leaving welfare struggle to get medical care, food, and housing† (National Coalition for the Homeless, 2009). A lack of affordable housing and the limited scale of housing assistance programs have contributed to the current housing crisis and to homelessness† (National Coalition for the Homeless, 2009). There are many ways that we can help to prevent homelessness. In 1987, the McKinney Homeless Act took the first steps to this by making it a federal law that there ne eded to be funding for the homeless. The next steps that we need to do is to evaluate the homeless in our communities to see what programs or services are most in need. We need to evaluate our homeless shelters. We need to have job training and financial programs. We need to keep track of the people that we help. We need to set up supportive housing and/or â€Å"Unfortunately, government action and public policy of recent has not necessarily helped the plight of the homeless, in fact in some cases it has served to compound the problem† (Gaddis, 2007). When we evaluate the homeless in our communities to see what programs or services that we need most, we need to do it in a way that is nonthreatening and compassionate. We need to evaluate our own bias, so that we can put them aside and help them. Many of the people that experience homelessness are not the stereotypical homeless persons that would come to mind when thinking about this problem† (Gaddis, 2007). We need to find out why they are homeless and look to the local government for help. Public assistance programs can help the homeless with some of their problems. There needs to be some type of coordination between homeless sh elters and public service agencies. Some people will not go to public agencies for help because of the bias of others and/or because of their pride. Many of the reports that I read told of conditions at shelters as being in poor condition. An example of this is when FEMA set up the social housing after Hurricane Katrina. â€Å"Some people are highly critical of these camps, calling them nothing more than concentration camps complete with barbed wire and gun towers† (Syzygyastro). The other reports that I read talked about shelters that were run down, very few of them, and they were riddled with disease, pests, and thefts. Job trainings and financial programs will be able to help the homeless get back on their feet. We should have some kind of job training programs for these people because most of them are there due to a job loss. This would also help the runaways who need to the life skills to survive in the world. Financial programs could be very helpful because it can help them get their finances in order and to teach them how to stretch their earnings by budgeting. We need to keep track of the people that we help. Too many times people get the help that they need and then they are forgotten about. We need to set up programs that help this people and offer support over a long period of time. Studies of placement programs often find that they lose track of residents within the first year, so track clients carefully, and assess their need for specific services† (Solutions for America). We need to look at supportive housing or â€Å"Treatment of substance abuse has been reported to improve outcomes in homeless persons with dual diagnoses of serious mental illness and substance abuse† (Folsom, Hawthorne, Lindamer.. , 2005). When we set up supportive housing for addicts, we can help them to beat their addictions and set up their new â€Å"life†. We can also help the people with mental health disorders; get the supports that they may need. We will only be able break the cycle by coming together as a community and working on ways to help those that are having a difficult time. We need to remember that one day that could be us and we would want someone there to help us. Annotated Bibliography: Why Are People Homeless?. (July 2009). Retrieved August 12, 2011, from National Coalition for the Homeless website, http://www. nationalhomeless. org/factsheets/why. tml. The article talks about what homelessness is and the many causes of it. Gaddis, Roger. (2007, August 22). The Homeless in the United States. Retrieved August 12, 2011, from website http://www. associatedcontent. com/article/351165/the_homeless_in_the_united_states. html? cat=4, The article talks about the number of homeless people in the United States and reasons why they are homeless. Youth Homelessness: Facts and Solutions. (n. d. ) Retrieved August 12, 2011, from Yout h Noise website http://www. youthnoise. om/page. php? page_id=6145. This article talks about the causes for teen homelessness and how we can prevent it. Preventing Homelessness in America. (n. d. ) Retrieved August 12, 2011, from Solutions for America website http://www. solutionsforamerica. org/thrivingneigh/homelessness. html. The article talks about the many causes of homelessness and how we can prevent it. Addiction Blog. (2011, January 7). Drug and alcohol abuse and the homeless. It talks about the statistics for drug and alcohol abuse among the

Thursday, August 29, 2019

International Travel Essay

No matter how much you read ahead of time, you’ll be confronted with culture and custom that you are unprepared for. The farther removed the culture is from your own, the more you can expect to be surprised. Novice travelers will struggle with the basics†¦ everything from getting a cab to finding a public bathroom can offer a challenge. Veteran travelers will be more secure with the small stuff and that may offer them a firm-enough foundation to give them the confidence to try the more challenging things. That is where we were on our recent adoption trip to China: Veteran third-time travelers who were confident that we could do anything and blend right in. Our trip to the real Chinese restaurant taught us otherwise. It was our second week in China. We were there with our two previously adopted Chinese children, ages ten and eleven, and we’d just added a new family member. She was a new daughter, age twelve, and she spoke not a word of English. Things had been going very well, and our new daughter was really fitting in seamlessly. This being our third trip, we felt pretty cocky. We snickered good-naturedly as first-time travelers timidly peeked outside the doors of the hotel onto the Chinese thoroughfare. They might make a run for the McDonald’s now and again, or go all the way up the block to KFC, but actually heading out into the big city, sans guide, was not on their bucket list for the time being. That was not for us. We decided that we’d all head out to an authentic local restaurant, the sort frequented by the Chinese rather than by westerners; the type with plastic curtains rather than doors; a restaurant with no western influences beyond the ubiquitous presence of Coca-Cola products. Three hungry children herded between us, my wife and I set out to find just the right place. We headed out the less-frequently-used rear entrance of Guangzhou’s China Hotel, which spilled out onto the broad Panfu Avenue, a typical busy main thoroughfare. It was filled with small shops and stalls, looking shabby and temporary to Western eyes, though in reality, permanent centers of street commerce. We wound our way through typical robust foot traffic, straining to keep the kids together amidst the crowds. We passed up several restaurants close to the hotel in an effort to separate ourselves from the tourist-oriented places, but several blocks away we came upon the Liushen Xiguan restaurant, which translates roughly as â€Å"Traditions of the Six Gods† restaurant. It was clad in gold paint, trimmed with red cloth, and several large Buddhas smiled at us as they stood sentry on the sidewalk. The wall in the entryway was covered with awards given by the local of chamber of commerce, and as an added benefit, the awards each offered a picture of the winning dish. Velvet padded bamboo chairs lined the wall in the waiting area. Peeking through the windows, we could see that the dining area was enormous. Such a place was likely to have good food, was clearly worth a stop. It was 4:50 when we asked to be seated, but oddly, the dining room was dark and the hostess desk was empty†¦ as were the tables. No table cloths or place settings were to be seen, and the chairs were upended and sitting atop the tables. A hostess apprehensively approached us to talk. After much arm flapping and hand gesturing, we came to understand that the restaurant would not open until five P. M, although we could not see how it would do so. Not a soul was to be seen besides the hostess, and nothing was prepared for customers. We began to have second thoughts and we started to wonder if we’d misunderstood the hour that service would start. We decided to wait for a bit, if only to rest. At the stroke of five the lights came on to illuminate a dozen employees rushing from the kitchen, bearing ornate livery for the tables, and tools of the trade for the hungry guests. The dining space went from abandoned warehouse to friendly, well-lit, white linen appareled eatery in a matter of moments. Once seated, we began to notice differences from what we expected in a restaurant. Soup bowls appeared, as well as a pot of tea, tea cups, and a large empty ceramic bowl. We watched the other tables to see what use our fellow diners would have for the bowl. Some diners were watching us. Perhaps they didn’t know what to make of the empty bowl either? More likely, they were wondering what a couple of Americans were doing here staring at them too. Other diners were taking the cups, bowls, and spoons and washing them in the tea, using a rather practiced method. The used tea was discarded into the empty bowl. I wasn’t sure if this meant we needed to do our own dishes, or if it was simply a custom. To be on the safe side, we started washing. I noticed curious grins. Was I doing it wrong? Did we appear like children playing in a wading pool? Unblemished by the bemused stares, we toweled ourselves dry, and with confidence in the cleanliness of our place settings, we dug into the menu. There were thirty pages of menu items. Many had pictures and some had English translations, though mostly the translations read â€Å"Pork and vegetables in sauce† or â€Å"Chicken with vegetables in sauce†. While I’m certain that was accurate, it was of little value in helping us to choose from amongst the twenty five varieties of â€Å"Pork with vegetables in sauce†. We struggled with the pictures and each made the best possible dinner choices we could, with a few appetizers added in. The waitress took our order promptly and returned in a few minutes with my meal, and nothing else. No appetizers. No other orders. Just mine. She placed it in the center of the table and left. My meal was far larger than I expected. In fact, it was large enough to feed us all. Suddenly we grasped what we had missed. The table top was essentially an enormous lazy Susan. It appeared that we would be eating family style. Other tables were sharing food as well, so we set out to share the barbecued pork I had ordered. A few moments later the next meal appeared, and shortly thereafter, the next, and then the next, each meal large enough to feed a family of five. Even the items we’d been led to believe were appetizers seemed enormous. Before long, we had enough food for forty people. There was so much, that the server was barely able to find room for the last steaming bowl of fried rice. I’ve been to weddings that served less food than we’d purchased. We were clearly the center of attention now as we made an effort to at least put a dent in the spread we were responsible for. The pictures didn’t do the food justice, nor were they worth the thousands words I’d so often been promised. The fried rice was filled with boldly colored fresh carrots, peas and sprouts, and those turned out to be the only vegetables on the table that we easily recognized. We were served steamed and pan-fried dumplings, bursting with juices and filled with meat stuffing. There was a whole roasted chicken, the bright yellow color of a school bus. When I say whole, I mean it. Chicken in China often comes with feet, head and beak attached. It appeared that our dinner had walked straight from the barnyard to the oven. A second chicken was served in pieces which had the bright red color of a fire engine. Both birds were juicy and offered bold flavor, the yellow one having been seasoned with a curry and the red one more of a peppery spice. The seafood dish seemed a bit more tentacle-filled than we were used to, and it went largely unloved. I still have no clue to this day what was in it, though I will admit that the description â€Å"fish with vegetables in sauce† seemed unerringly accurate. Our crisp pork on a platter seemed straightforward. No sauce or vegetables, though I could swear that the translation of the dish said they were included. Our meal was rounded out by a course of tea smoked duck. The dark meat had been roasted over a tea leaf fueled fire and had a deep rich flavor. After some of our other mis-translations, I would not have been surprised to have had it served in a pipe for actual smoking, but it wound up being the best part of the meal. I do hope it was duck though. We left a great deal of food on the table. In very American fashion, we asked for containers to take the remaining food for thirty back to our hotel. That doesn’t seem to be the norm in China, but we packed up our bags and loaded up with more victuals than a United Nations food convoy. I was concerned about the cost, but for all the entertainment that our endeavors provided for the patrons, perhaps they should have paid us. The price was thankfully low; bless you generous exchange rate. One last problem appeared. The tip. It is insulting to over tip in China. After having the experience of being publicly chastised by a cab driver for over tipping, I was leery. Loaded down as we were, there could be no quick escape should I insult the staff with too many Yuan, or too few. The Six Gods must have been watching out for us though. The older hostess (manager, cook, waitress, cashier†¦ no real idea) took pity on me and selected a bill to leave as a gratuity. It was far less than I would have chosen. I’d have given her double that just for getting me out with my remaining dignity intact. We wound our way back to the hotel, filled with a good meal, good stories, and a good deal of new knowledge about how things are done in China. I mentioned the experience to our guide, who filled in a few of the blank spots. He was happy to hear that we were treated well by the local people. I was happy for the experience. A few days later, we coaxed some other group members to come out with us to the restaurant. We displayed our dining skills for them without ever mentioning the difficulties with which they were acquired. After all, that is how veterans maintain their mystique.

Report about resolving wildlife conflicts to allow people and wildlife Essay - 1

Report about resolving wildlife conflicts to allow people and wildlife to coexist in aviation - Essay Example Special noise-making devises are used to manage flocks of birds. Special fences protect territories from animals which might be wondering in the search for food (Federal Aviation Administration, 2015). People pay special attention to habitat management because animals which live close to airports create dangerous situations. Special fences, water and waste management policies as well as vegetation control actions are taken to prevent unwanted consequences. There are even landscaping measures used to prevent animals from living close to the industrial objects (Federal Aviation Administration, 2015). Airport staff and special agencies control flora and fauna close to airports to keep these territories safe. At the same time, protective measures are necessary because many animals and birds die if wildlife management policies are not effective. Modern technologies give biologists more chances to make animals and people live together peacefully on one territory. FAA reports prove this fact and show that people care about nature and want to prevent tragedies related to aviation

Wednesday, August 28, 2019

How Evil Has Evolved from the Early Witch Craze to Contemporary Ideas Essay

How Evil Has Evolved from the Early Witch Craze to Contemporary Ideas on Evil - Essay Example Exactly where did Satan evolve? The first appearance of Satan or the concept of Satan began following the Babylonian captivity of Judah in the 4th and 5th centuries. â€Å"Shatan† became known as the evil one to the Persians, as they became fearful of the Israelites. The Israelite faith adapted to the figure God, and he became the creator of good and Satan became the evil one. In ancient times good and evil pagans were formed as early cultures began to change from hunters of food to gradual farming societies. Gods and Goddesses of the Harvest were formed, as a way of giving thanks to what was harvested. Eastern and Western Europe were the first to see magical practices and witchcraft through all cultures shortly after. However, witchcraft, was not given the name witchcraft until the 13th century when the Anglo-Saxons formed covens. Dracula also has a history of being one from the dark side. Oblivious to some in our society, the name Dracula evolved from a Vlad Dracul who actua lly lived in Romania in the 14th century. Vlad Tepes was born on December 1431 in Sighisoara, Romania and his father was the governor of Transylvania. He was inducted into the Order of Dragon, which was a military/religious society, one year before. The primary goal of the society was a crusade for good, and war against the Turks. The Boyars of Romania felt that the Order of Dragon was evil, and associated it with the Devil They dubbed Vlad’s father â€Å"Dracul†, which in Romanian means Devil. Thus, Dracula evolved from the name, which means â€Å"the son of the devil.† The 15th century brought about the Witch Trials, which began in 1490, and these times have been called â€Å"the burning times.† England established the first and second Witchcraft Act, which made it illegal to organize covens in the 16th century. From this time forward, the covens were forced to go underground and become secret. A new and stricter law was passed in the early 16th century and was able to stay in place until the early 17th century; however, hysteria broke out in England, and tricked to the American colonies. The Salem Witch Trails began in Massachusetts during the late 1600s. Evil at its highest point expanded to include hangings, drowning and burnings at the stake. By the 18th century, England gained some stability, and the 16th century Witchcraft Act was repealed by King George II. By the 19th century, some of the secret covens began stepping into the public eye, and many books and publications on the subject were written in England. By the 20th Century the last Witchcraft Act of England was reformed, and the Craft was no longer illegal by 1951. Wicca was formed in 1951, which combines beliefs from folklore and mythology and was seen as a woman’s religion. In the 21st century or the â€Å"New Age,† native American beliefs become popular through TV and movies. This brings pagan beliefs to the surface as an acceptable and open religion. In 2007 the Veterans Administration approves the Pentagram’s use as a symbol acceptable on headstones in military cemeteries. From ancient times to our modern present times, good and evil have always been a part of our lives. If there is a good, then in retrospect there has to be an evil; is this true? There are natural evil occurrences in our society, floods and earthquakes, being struck by lightning and terminal illnesses. These all bring devastation, death and despair. But there is also humanistic evil, which most psychologist would call abnormal human traits. This is a question of moral evil and how our society views good and evil. As the timeline indicates we have drastically relaxed our values to allow evil a comfortable place in our society. This is not to say that good is better or evil is

Tuesday, August 27, 2019

Article critique Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Article critique - Assignment Example In the recent times, the vacancies for headship in school in UK are swelling up at alarming rate with increasing number of head-teachers who are opting for early retirement. Effective succession planning for selection and retention of head-teachers through leadership development programmes has become priority for UK government. The paper would critically analyze the article for the various issues and paradigms within the educational system that promote the need for government programmes. The initiatives are designed to create future educational leaders who would be able to fill the vacancies of senior school staff. Critique The article is highly relevant and gives deep insight into the developing crisis situation in UK schools which are faced with the huge problems of filling the vacancies of Headship with right candidates. Howson report (2007) shows concern on the government’s inability to fill the vacancies of headship in 35% of primary, 19% of secondary and 33% of special s chool. The authors are hopeful that FL program would be able to create committed leaders who would be able to do justice to the post of headship in the future. ... It greatly limits the scope of the programs and deters talents from non academia. They can bring in new ideas and approach to various paradigms of educational system and teaching. The article is divided into two distinct parts: one that elaborates an evaluated the ‘Future Leader’; and second part that tries to look into the crisis that has emerged with low retention and increasing trend of early retirement of the heads of the schools. While the two issues are important paradigms of education system, the authors’ have been ambiguous in clarifying whether the existing heads actually lack leadership traits. The issues have been examined in relative detail so that developing crisis of low retention of senior staff of schools could be identified. But the article is unable to identify linkages between the two issues for efficient delivery of goals of the FL programmes. There is ambiguity as to how the FL would be able to resolve the issue of early retirement of heads. B ut it has been successful in showing the viability of FL in schools primarily because of the fast transforming societal format which has increasingly become multicultural. The authors have used questionnaires, interview schedules and case studies to analyze the inputs from participants of the programme. At various stages of the programmes, the inputs from the participants and various stakeholders like host school management, senior staff, mentors of the participants etc. have been judiciously evaluated against the wider goals and objectives of the programme. The authors assert that while the initial programme was highly successful in developing educational leaders, the

Monday, August 26, 2019

Analysis of Lidl's advertisement strategy Dissertation

Analysis of Lidl's advertisement strategy - Dissertation Example The history of this international supermarket chain dates back to 1930s when the company was established as a grocery wholesaler with headquarters in Neckarsulm, Baden-Wà ¼rttemberg, Germany. Currently, the company is amongst the major leading grocery retailers in Europe. During the 90s, Lidl started to expand its operations across Europe stepping outside Germany for the first time; and presently, Lidl outlets can be found in the majority of the countries in Europe. The company is very well-established as a major food retailer in Europe. As far as the discount sector is concerned, an extensive network of Lidl outlets is unmatched. The company has always believed in offering superior quality products at competitive prices to their customer base across Europe. As mentioned above, the company takes pride in providing superior quality products at a very competitive price to their customer base. The company regards themselves as the best in business, as far as the discount sector is conc erned and they convey the same message through their advertisements in order to influence the buying decision of their customers. The message that the company conveys through advertising, as can be noted on its website is, â€Å"Where quality costs less.† The company has implemented a very effective and efficient international marketing strategy of pricing their product competitively (at a lower level) and at the same time, enhancing the quality of their products and services with the sole motive of satisfying customers (Lidl, 2014b).

Sunday, August 25, 2019

Grand Inquisitor and Jesus Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Grand Inquisitor and Jesus - Essay Example The temptations were turning stones into bread, casting himself from the temple and the angels of God would come and save him before getting to the ground and being given the authority and power to rule all the kingdoms of the earth (Fyodor 29). The inquisitor says that Jesus rejected all this in favor of freedom. He believes that the majority of humans cannot handle this freedom given to them and that giving human’s freedom to choose prevents them from redemption, hence living them to suffer. The inquisitor feels that Christ was wrong to reject each temptation. He feels that he should have turned stones into bread since men will always fallow those who fill their stomachs. Casting himself from the temple would have proved his goodness in the people’s minds following him forever and governing all the kingdoms would guarantee their salvation. Jesus then kisses the inquisitor on his bloodless aged lips instead of responding to his accusations. The inquisitor releases him and tells him never to return (Amy 16). This finally shows the inquisitor’s sympathetic

Saturday, August 24, 2019

Nursing metaparadigm Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Nursing metaparadigm - Essay Example In the changing socio-cultural environment and holistic nursing takes into consideration the wider implication of the environment within which the patient lives. I believe that nursing needs to go beyond the precinct of medical intervention to include external environment that influence patient’s welfare and decision making. My definition of nursing metaparadigm is closely aligned to the nursing theory of ‘The Stability Model of Change’. The theory primarily relies on the fact that change is consistent and people tend to adapt to changes to maintain equilibrium with the changing environment for improved healthcare and well being. In this instance, Jean watson’s Human Science and Human Care theory becomes highly relevant. It insists that major aim of nursing is to help individuals to gain harmony within mind, body and soul (case study, p140). Thus, caretive factors become facilitators of healing process. For example, when a cancer patient is encouraged to be happy and enjoy his present, he is more like to get well and challenge death. Thus, environmental factors that are aided and abetted by positive attitude considerably bring harmony of mind, body and

Friday, August 23, 2019

Qualified Teaching Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Qualified Teaching - Essay Example Training to be teachers is imparted in colleges so the teachers are better prepared to face students the whole year round. However, now not all teachers are qualified. They may be graduates in different spheres of work areas. But nowadays, teachers abound in the area of their profession. An engineer could switch over to teaching science and mathematics. An accountant could start all over as teacher of economics, statistics, and accounts. Â  Let us take the case of a teacher who specializes in teaching English as a Second Language (ESL). In the beginning, it will be difficult to fathom the method or syllabus to be used for teaching the language. Actually, there will be no need for elaborate textbooks. It is possible to make do with one textbook and one grammar book. There is also need for a textbook that has basics as well as some exposure to the advanced language. It is necessary to build a method. There will be students from diverse backgrounds. And each student will have his and her own knowledge level in the language to work from. It is necessary to go through several books on the subject. Finally, the teacher settles to one conversational textbook and a grammar textbook. Â  It is good if the conversational textbook has more information in it that needed. But it must be simple and clear in its presentation, and the first half of the book must consist of the needed texts. The other half must be exercises in conversational practice which the students could handle on their own and only revert to the tutor for portions they do not understand. The grammar textbooks used in the fifth to seventh grades serve the purpose of teaching grammar. They covered the complete grammar portion. Â  Knowledge is the key ingredient in ESL. It is easy to teach ESL among non-graduates or undergraduates.

Thursday, August 22, 2019

Disaster Management Essay Example for Free

Disaster Management Essay Disaster management is a way to help when disasters happen but it is also to help prevent them or to inform everyone about what may happen. The main function is to helping the citizens to understand what is happening. The state will determine how severe the disaster is and then the ones who are responsible for reporting to the appropriate government or agency will then make the recommendation to getting help for funding, support, and any emergency supplies to those who are affected by the disaster. The disasters that happen can be unpredictable like earthquakes, while other natural disasters could happen with some type of warning like flooding. B. The state of California has manuals that they use that goes into details about statewide policies, procedures, regulations, and any other important information that was developed and authorized by the state offices, department of finance, department of general services, and the government offices (Disaster Management California Technology Agency State of California, 2013). III. Examine local, state federal legal and regulatory requirements A. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)- Has jurisdiction over all public and private sector places of employment in the state with exception of Federal employees, the USPS, private sector employers on Native American lands, maritime activities on navigate waterways of the US, private contractors on designated land under Federal jurisdiction, and employers that requires Federal security clearance. B. Joint Commission of Accreditation of Health Care Organizations (JCAHO) C. The California State Plan is operated under an agreement with OSHA. It is an occupational safety and health program in accordance with Section 18 of the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970. D. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS)- Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness Act, Coordination with the Department of Homeland Security, Regional Emergency Coordinators, Emergency Care Coordination Center IV. Is there a Certificate of Need program for your state? A. Certificate of Need (C. O. N. ) programs are aimed at restraining health care facility costs. The Health Planning Resources Development Act of 1974 was put into effect across the nation. Over the past 30 years, there have been numerous changes and about 36 states retain some type of CON program. This program was used to approve the construction and expansion of health care facilities and services based on determination and community need. B. California does not currently have a C. O. N. in effect. Back in 1969, the state had implemented a C. O. N, ending in 1987. California’s C. O. N. program suffered from inadequate staffing and lack of data. V. What are the issues to consider when meeting the International Building Code for a facility? A. New codes vs. Old codes B. Updates to â€Å"I-Codes† done by diverse group of officials i. Corridor width ii. 8 feet of clear, unobstructed width iii. Defend-in-place practices iv. Visual and audible fire alarms. v. Elevator Lobbies vi. Floor openings vii. Smoke control viii. Ceiling and smoke partitions ix. Fully Sprinkler hospitals x. Alcohol-based hand sanitizers xi. Decorations on Wall. C. What Measurements may need to be done in advance of the new plan or renovation? i. Acoustical measurements to plan work zones accordingly to minimize decibels ii. Security measurements to ensure clear sightlines where needed, specialized door access and/or any visual monitoring via camera. iii. Measuring of equipment to ensure adequate planning of rooms iv. Safety measures D. List the stakeholders that may play a role in your development (Scott) Facility management i. Providers that are financially vested in the company ii. Depending on size of facility, CEO, CFO, VP, etc. iii. Input from floor staff to maximize area usage for patients iv. Patients-their input from potential comment cards or direct questioning in how to improve their care from a facility perspective. E. Conclusion i. Strong conclusion that provides details to what the State of California is working towards accomplishing safety awareness. ii. Existing disaster plans in the State of California. iii. State of California has financial instability affecting citizens as well as service. References Disaster Management California Technology Agency State of California. (2013). Retrieved from http://http://www. cio. a. gov/OIS/Government/disaster. asp HHS. gov. (2010). Retrieved from http://www. hhs. gov/asl/testify/2010/01/t20100125a. html US Department Of Labor. (2013). California State Plan. Retrieved from http://www. osha. gov/dcsp/osp/stateprogs/california. html What is disaster management? (2012). Retrieved from http://www. disastermanagement. in/2012/02/what-is-disaster-management. html Certificate of Need: State Health Laws and Programs. (2011). Retrie ved from http://www. ncsl. org/issues-research/health/con-certificate-of-need-state-laws. aspx

Wednesday, August 21, 2019

HIPAA’s Pros and Cons Essay Example for Free

HIPAA’s Pros and Cons Essay HIPAA or what is known as the â€Å"Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996† has its pros and cons (United.., 2007).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Pros include the following:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   HIPAA guarantees dependability and promptness of â€Å"electronic patient health, administrative, and financial data† (HIPAA, 2006).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   HIPAA implements rules, policies, and standards that maintain the confidentiality and soundness/constancy of â€Å"individually identifiable health information covering the past, present, as well as, the future† (HIPAA, 2006). For instance, in case where an established institution needs an individual’s record, this individual is ensured that his or her personal information is safe with that institution (HIPAA, 2006).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Cons, on the other hand, include the following:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   HIPAA negatively affects the access of clients to their medical records (United.., 2007). This is because information may be â€Å"pending† to those who have the right to get hold of it because of the penalties enforced (United.., 2007). This is also because of the fact several health care providers are unsure when it comes to the legalities of the Act (United.., 2007).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   HIPAA also does not have a positive impact or effect on health research (United.., 2007). This is because of the fact that HIPAA limits or controls the researchers’ conscientiousness to carry out â€Å"retrospective, chart-based research† (United.., 2007). In addition to that, HIPAA restricts researchers to â€Å"prospectively assess patients by getting in touch with them for the purpose of follow-up† (United.., 2007). Not to mention of course that, in terms of, â€Å"informed consent† forms, wide-ranging and far-reaching detail on how confidentiality is safeguarded is necessitated making it more complicated for subjects to grasp before they could sign in, which usually ends in not signing at all because they do not know what they will be signing on (United.., 2007). References       United States Department of Health and Human Services. (2007). HIPAA. Retrieved December 5, 2007 from   http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/hipaa/ HIPAA. (2006). Unsure How to Handle HIPAA? Retrieved December 5, 2007 from   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   http://www.hipaa.org/

Ethical Business In The Minds Of Its Customers Commerce Essay

Ethical Business In The Minds Of Its Customers Commerce Essay This paper aims to answer the question Has McDonalds PLC achieved its objective of being seen as an ethical business in the mind of its customers? I chose McDonalds because it is one of the biggest food outlets in the world. Over the years, it has been criticised by costumers for being unhealthy and not environmental conscious. My investigation is based on a comparison of what McDonald claims to change and to work on against the counterclaims posed by the public. In order to fortify my claim, typical case studies of how McDonald has achieved being an ethical business in the eyes of the consumer were presented and analysed. They are: Analysis of the McDonalds Beef Fries Controversy and the McDonalds Happy Meal Challenge. Other research and enquiry was done to further analyse my investigation and they include: a primary research and a secondary research .A primary research was carried out in order to seek the opinion of the people in my local community about the state MacDonalds has reached as an ethical business. To further investigate on this, a secondary research was conducted using the companys sustainable card for the year 2011 in order to determine if McDonalds is environmentally sustainable. Results gotten from this were analysed and it was observed that 60% of the people who answered the questionnaire were not satisfied with McDonald being an ethical company due to certain reasons. The remaining 40% of people wer in support of MacDonalds being ethical. In conclusion, I realised that McDonald is really not as ethical as most allegations claim. With regards to this, suggestions regarding marketing strategies, and organisational structure were given under my recommendations. With these suggestions, McDonald can indeed reach a commendable level as an ethical business someday in the future. Word count: 295 Table of content Abstractà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦..1 Introductionà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦3 Research Questionà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦.3 Investigationà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦7 Bodyà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦8 What is ethics?8 Organisational Structure of McDonalds10 Case Studies on McDonalds as an unethical business and Counterclaims by the company as being ethical12 Result Analysis16 Conclusion18 Recommendation..19 Bibliographyà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦20 Appendix21 Introduction In 1937, McDonalds was started as a drive-in restaurant by two brothers, Richard and Maurice McDonald in California. From the beginning, it was making about $200,000 per annum. However, in the 1940s the company began to implement self-service policies called the Speedee system where consumers serve themselves and this boosted their annual earnings. Initially, McDonalds was designed for mass production where people line up to collect their food. During this era, food prices were relatively low and the two brothers considered service and cleanliness as the paramount factors to the success of their business. With this growing in buisness, people started showing interest in this business and wanted to take it on as a franchise. A franchise is an agreement where a business (the franchisor) sells the right to other businesses (the franchisees) allowing them to sell products or to use them to sell products or use the companys name (Dave Hall, Rob Jones. 2004. P.50) This system failed because at this point the Donald brothers were very transparent in their business dealings. In addition, this franchises formed were not able to meet up with standards set by the parent organisation. This encouraged a lot of imitators that copied their business and the format it employed. However, in the early 1990s, McDonalds was facing problems due to changing customer preferences and increasing competition. Customers were becoming increasingly health conscious and they wanted to avoid red meat and fried food. They preferred to eat at other fast food outlets that offered discounts. (Anon. 2002) As at 21 may 2012,McDonalds was ranked by the Fortune magazine (Anon, 2012) as first company in the food services making him the worlds largest fast food chain, selling primarily hamburgers, chicken, French fries and carbonated drinks and more recently salads, fruit and carrot sticks. There are McDonalds restaurants in 120 countries and territories and they serve about 54 millions of customers each day. (Anon, 2006) Such a success implies a lot of responsibilities such as finding the right management style to keep the business running a good Human Resources management in order to have the best workforce to be able to deliver good services and to satisfy the consumers. The consumers are one of the most important elements for a businesss success so there opinion should be considered. Looking at McDonalds which operates in the food industry; it has to provide food that is in respect with consumers health, culture, taste, etcà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ This aspect of the business is called Ethics which is a system of moral principles, being in the business context we talk more of Business Ethics. Business ethics could be defined as the moral values that guide the way corporations or other business make decisions (Mark S. Putnam.2002). It is at this junction, my research question: Has McDonalds PLC achieved its objective of being seen as an ethical business in the mind of its customers? comes in. I might be a bit prejudiced in my judgement and answer to this question as I have been a big fan of McDonalds right from childhood. Consequently, I have employed other sources to aid my unbiased and objective analysis of this. Over the years, there have been a lot of cases and reports presenting McDonalds as an unethical business. The question here is; how true are all these allegations which are laid against this company? Are there other perspectives as to its credibility as an ethical business and what are preferable suggestions as to how McDonald can be more ethical, if indeed they are currently considered unethical in the minds of the consumers? All these are going to be analysed in my essay bringing to the limelight both sides of the coin and critically analysing various prominent case studies such as; The McDonalds Beef Fries Controversy, and McDonalds Happy Meal Challenge. With all this in mind, conclusions as to whether McDonalds has been an ethical business will be made and preferable suggestions given as to how to boost their image. McDonalds has to portray a good image to its customers and its employees; by offering a good quality of food. This essay aims to investigate the achievement of McDonald as an ethical business over the years as well as its loyalty lies i.e., its profit or the well-being of the community and the environment at large. The problem is that on various accounts, allegations have been laid against McDonalds as an unethical business. Many ethical issues are subjective and are difficult to enforce and easy to neglect that is why I have come up with the title of Has McDonalds PLC achieved its objective of being seen as an ethical business in the mind of its customers? Investigation With regards these allegations passed on McDonalds as to not achieving the standard as an ethical business, a primary research was conducted in the form if a questionaire This was done to find out peoples opinion on this subject matter i.e; whether they think they are ethical or not. I chose a stratified sample of public, because it makes the sample more representative of the whole group. The sample is divided into segments. I therefore chose a sample of 20 people aged from 17 and plus and all of them went to different locations in the world. The questionnaire was launched on Survey Monkey (Darrell, 2012), so that everybody could fill it, and I will make the results more general. As secondary research I looked at the McDonalds Sustainability scorecard and for the year 2010 and 2011 (refer appendix 1), to look at the goals that McDonalds has set to meet in terms of ethics. These goals could be included in the questionnaire for the customers to counter or to confirm their affirmation of being ethical. I also looked for different articles and point of view about McDonalds ethics which will be used to counter McDonalds opinion about its ethics. They are: Analysis of The McDonalds Beef Fries Controversy and the McDonalds Happy Meal Challenge. Body What is Ethics? The ethics of a business depends upon the values of its employees. The ethical stance of a business is likely to be determined by the values of senior managers, directors and other important stakeholders. It will also be influenced by codes of conduct which may operate in the industry. The term ethical is used to refer to businesses which explicitly recognise the importance of social responsibility and the need to consider its actions upon stakeholders. This has led to the rise of stakeholder concept. Some businesses now take into account the needs of employees, customers, suppliers and the local community as well as shareholders when making important business decisions. The benefits of this approach might include the following: If the needs of the McDonalds employees are taken into account which is usually a higher salary they may be more motivated, more productive, more loyal, more flexible and less likely to leave. However if McDonalds chooses to focus too much on shareholder needs might find it difficult to recruit high quality staff. If businesses have a higher regard for the local community they might win their support. For example, if the local community is consulted when expansions plans are announced, there may be less resistance to the construction of new buildings. Having their regard for the local community is also likely to improve the image of the company. In this case, McDonalds could consult the local communities about the food they serve and their origin, this will make less protestations and this will give McDonalds the image of an ethical business. If the needs of customers are satisfied more effectively there is likely to be an increase in business. For example, if McDonalds deal with complaints in a friendly and supportive manner, customers are more likely to return and spread the good word. One way of considering the impact of businesses upon society is to view all the groups affected by the behaviour of a business as a stakeholders. The stakeholders in the case of McDonalds are likely to include customers, employees, shareholders, suppliers, government and local communities. The following lines of my extended essay will mainly be the comparison and the analysis of some information collected from McDonalds which obviously would described itself to be an ethical against some articles found on the internet which contradicts the version of McDonalds of being ethical. While a business is considering its stakeholders, a problem could possible arise which is the ethical dilemma. Ethical dilemma is the moral decisions  that  have to be made when choices are equally unfavourable.  With McDonalds being so popular, they have to meet the demand of their patrons, but at the same time, think of ways to make more sales, cut costs, and basically maximize the profits of the firms.  During these processes, they face many ethical dilemmas concerning their consumers and competitors. Many Fast food restaurants serve foods that are unhealthy to a high fat content which is detrimental to the health of its loyal consumers. They are basic decisions that these fast-food restaurants like McDonalds have to make with regards to serving healthy food. Should they increase the cost of food served and provide healthy meals or serve deep-fries that can cause health hazards in the long run. Most fast-food restaurants tend to imitate menus of their competitors. For example, McDonalds started selling twisters also known as curly fries which was originally a product of AW. This food was very high in price at the expense of the consumers as it was unhealthy. This is unethical and these outlets should invest into Research and Development of new foods which would have the health of their consumers at heart rather than copying their competitors and exploiting their customers (Anon. 2008). In some cases, these Fast-food outlets tend to cut down the portions of food served. Many of McDonalds customers have noticed that the burgers are smaller (Anon,2008). Thus they are not satisfied after eating the food. The company increase the price of the food in order to meet the demands of the consumers. This will then make the consumers buy more in order to be satisfied. At this point, there is a question that comes in; Should McDonalds reduce the amount of food served at the same price in order to maintain their reputation of being honest or to increase the price to maintain their net profit and destroy the reputation as an unethical business? In order for these fast-food restaurants to be ethical, the decisions made could either be detrimental to them in terms of their profit margin although it would be to the benefit of the consumers. In this capitalist economy nowadays, which fast-food outlet is ready to suffer at the expense of their consumers? Organisational Structure of McDonalds To be able to answer if McDonalds is an ethical company in the mind of its customers I am going to look at the organisations structure of McDonalds. McDonalds Corporation franchises and operates McDonalds restaurants in the global restaurant industry. These restaurants serve menu at various price points providing value in 119 countries globally. This is due to the difference in currencies and of the consumer wealth due to the different GDP per capita of these countries as well as the varying exchange rate system. All restaurants are operated either by the Company or by franchisees, including conventional franchisees under franchise arrangements, and developmental licensees and foreign affiliated markets under license agreements (Anon, Unknown). McDonalds has a centralized organisational structure. It means that the decision making and the authority are in the hands of few persons in the McDonalds head office. The franchises around the world are dictated how to order, cook and prepare all the food from McDonalds headquarters. The headquarters also make decisions on the price at which the products have to be sold (Anon, 2012). Referring to their Global Sustainability Scorecard in the appendix 1, McDonalds claims to be an ethical business by giving back to the community and the environment by working with schools and local organisations, and by showing how it has improve his food and how it improved the working conditions at McDonalds. According to their scorecard, in the countries they operate they have been able to raise $ 170 million from all the countries through the McHappy Day (McDonald Corp. 2011) and $27 million from customer donations. I can actually say that McDonalds undertakes some actions for its community, but it does not actually say what they plan to do with the money they have raised and the reason why they raised money. McDonalds is undertaking actions to give itself an ethical image but it still uses the customers to collect funds instead of using a part of the huge profits it makes. However, it has included fruits and vegetables in its menu in their restaurants in North and South America and West Europe. This could probably mean that they are conscious that their food is healthy enough for their customers. But McDonalds could appear more ethical in the mind of its worldwide customers if it expands the new menu into the others restaurants in the world, since McDonalds has been accused by health campaigners in America and Europe of helping to cause an obesity epidemic. Case Studies on McDonalds as an unethical business as well as Counterclaims by the company as being ethical. While researching on the McDonalds ethics an article called McDonalds Beef Fries Controversy (Anon. 2002) was found where McDonalds was sued by Hindu activists in India because of the French fries that were falsely promoted to be 100% vegetarian, while there was some beef flavouring in it. This case could be classified as unethical, because McDonalds does not respect the religious values of Hindus, thus its social responsibility towards it customers is eluded. Social responsibility is the duty that a business owes those who are directly or indirectly affected by its activities. McDonalds headquarter makes most of decisions and the franchises follow the orders from the headquarters. This could lead to a problem as there might be bureaucracy and these franchises might not be honest. This affects the image of McDonald, since there is no control of what is being done in the others restaurant. Disadvantages such due to lack of centralised organisational structure could arise as there is no control of the subsidiaries. Thus, franchises have no power to make decisions without consulting the managers due to bureaucracy. McDonalds mission is to be the favourite family restaurant and it believes that this involves protecting the environment at a local and global level. McDonald strives to ensure that its operations today do not have a negative impact on the lives of the future generations. McDonalds goal is to achieve continuous environmental improvement so it complies with all current legislation and where possible, acts in anticipation of future environmental legislation McDonalds bases its environmental program around the hierarchy of Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle and are committed to continuous review, evaluation and improvement of its program. This includes targets and monitoring and reporting on progress towards meeting them. McDonalds business impacts on the environment through: -Sourcing agricultural products and other materials to serve and build its restaurants -The operation of its restaurants and administrative functions. McDonalds aim to address these impacts by: -Improving energy efficiency -Minimise impacts associated with odours, noise. Previously, there were most famous environmental issue. It was suggested that McDonalds had destroyed hundreds of acres of Brazilian rainforest to make way for large-scale cattle ranching. This not only removes a valuable natural resource, but also has an impact on global warming, as the rainforest is an essential mechanism for the absorption of Carbon Dioxide in the atmosphere. McDonalds also annually produces over a million tons of packaging used for just a few minutes before being discarded. Traditionally a number of ozone depleting gasses were used in polystyrene foam packaging. In the 21st century, McDonalds uses almost all recycled packaging. However, the company still faces criticism due to the amount of waste it produces. Each of McDonalds US restaurants produces 238 pounds of waste per day and each of its U.S. regional distribution centres disposes of another 900 pounds of waste per day'(Kevin Thompson. 2006). This is not only expensive to dispose of, but also difficult when considering that similar quantities of waste are being produced around the world. Aside from the pollution from factories where the food is produced, the unusable waste from nearly all the food they sell, and the massive amounts of power and energy that are required to keep all branches up and running, this corporation is destroying natural rain forests. McDonalds like to purchase their meat from privatised farms, which is not a problem in itself. The conflicts arise when these privatised farmlands are built on the land where a lush rainforest once resided. So not only is McDonalds polluting the air, but they are destroying a large part of what would help to keep clean it out. McDonalds has also been accused for internal ethical issues related to the working conditions and treatment of employees. McDonalds employs over 1 and a half million people worldwide, over half of them are under 21 years old. McDonalds has adopted age differentials between adult and younger workers, meaning that they pay most of their employees less than the normal adult minimum wage. For example, McDonalds pays some 16-year olds as little as $6.80 an hour. McDonalds employees also experience poor working conditions with discrimination, illegal working hours, and poor safety conditions (Kevin Thompson.2006). There is little that can be done about this due to the absence of trade unions, within McDonalds, to represent staff. If Milton Freemans theory of stakeholders is adopted, the needs and expectations of staff are just as important as those of customers. McDonalds employees are frequently underpaid for the amount of time that they work which often extends into illegal amounts of labour hours. The farmers from which they get their food are also generally underpaid for the amount of produce and meat which they sell to the corporation, particularly considering the cost that many of these farms have regarding the environment and health of the workers, therefore the buyer power of McDonalds constraints. Over the past 30 years McDonald has been mainly criticised over one thing: its food which is claimed to contribute to the increased-level of obesity in US and in the other developed countries. 1 in 5 adults are dangerously overweighting in the UK, while it was reported that 300,000 deaths a year in the U.S related to obesity. McDonalds has also been criticised for exploiting children with advertising, with the Happy Meals where there are toys, as well as colourful advertising campaigns and promotions in schools. The unhealthy diet of many children is contributed with these marketing tactics. Results analysis I observed that most people dont have a concise idea of what an ethical business is, thus 60% of them as shown in Fig 1 see it as unethical because they think that the food is unhealthy as it has too much fatty and oily food served and healthy food like salad are not served. The chart in Fig 2 follows up this analysis, as 50 % of people who answered this questionnaire think there are now more fruits an vegetable and the other 50% think otherwise. Results from here show that many people think that McDonald has not made a big effort to make the foods healthy as they only focus on the profit rather than the health of their customers. On the other hand, 75% of the respondents agree that, McDonalds sells food that come from sure suppliers. This is because they have read about this information in the different outlets they have been to. The other 25% think the opposite because they have seen unfit items like; human hair in fries, among others which has made them unhappy and discontent. Being more specific, I have noted that people have differents point of view on the environmental aspects of McDonalds restaurants. Looking at the diagram above, 75% of people think that most McDonalds restaurants are not ecological, because of the amount of energy that is used for the lightning, the heating, and for the different machines that are used in the food processing. They believe that they do not recycle the paper used to serve take-away food. This 75% account for people who visited McDonalds restaurants in Europe. With this questionaire, the opinions of various people where taken into consideration. However, there might have been some bias in judgement as people might like other fast-food restaurants like :Pizza Hut, Burger King, SubWay. This could have in one way affected the response given to qestions in the questionnaire. On the other hand, people given this quesstionqire might not have bee knowlegable enough as regsrd the definition and the hidden aspects of ethics. This could have led to misjudgement of Mc.Donalds as an ethical buisness. In addition, people who responded to the questionnaire have visited different oultets of Mc.Donalds, this would greatly influence their judgemnet as McDonlads is a franchise .Thus different standards might exist as they are managed by different individuals. The McDonalds in America might be different from that in theU.K , although they sell the same type of food, the managerial structure is not necessarily the sam as it is a franchise. Conclusion Looking at the analysis, made and the results gotten from the questionnaire, it can be assumed that McDonalds has failed to achieve its objective of being seen as an ethical business in the minds of its customers. Resources from the internet, journals and questionnaire have helped in examination of this question and conclusion. Articles such as ; Analysis of The McDonalds Beef Fries Controversy have shown that MacDonalds is an unethical business. In this article, McDonalds falsely marketed its fries made with beef flavouring to its Hindu customers without letting them know about the presence of beef seeing as they are vegetarians. Although, McDonalds pays their workers according to age, this often discriminatory as the duties in this outfit is not necessarily assigned according to age. This practice goes against the concept of an ideal ethical business. Through this analysis made in this essay, there is another question that could arise, which will to a deeper discussion and consistent thinking about business of nowadays, should be more carry about their stakeholders, or they should be thinking of making more profits. Recommendation Marketing Strategy Marketing Strategy could be defined as an  organizations  strategy  that combines all of its  marketing  goals  into one  comprehensive  plan. A good marketing strategy should be drawn from  market research  and focus on the right  product mix  in order to  achieve  the maximum  profit potential  and sustain the  business. The marketing strategy is the  foundation  of a  marketing plan (Anon. 2012). While investigating we found out that McDonalds have claimed to make some changes which were not known by the customers because it has not been advertised, thus customers have kept seeing McDonalds as an unhealthy and unethical business. On this point we could recommend to McDonalds show to its customers that it has improved his menu for example. To be more efficient they should also undertake questionnaires to customers to find out what they think about them. Organisational structure Most McDonalds restaurants are franchisees and from my investigation we found that it is problem in terms of communication. When the head quarter emits new ideas or new strategy, franchisees might not apply the idea of McDonalds headquarters; therefore the franchises could give an unethical image to the customers which are probably not the aim of the head quarter. So what McDonalds could do it to ask for report from the different McDonalds restaurants in other countries of the different changes they could have decided to do. This will help McDonalds to be more concerned and involved in what is happening in these other outlets around than world. Bibliography Anon. (Unknown).  McDonalds Corp. Full description.  Available: http://in.reuters.com/finance/stocks/companyProfile?symbol=MCD. Last accessed 31/10/12. Anon. (2002).  The McDonalds Beef Fries Controversy. Available on: http://www.icmrindia.org/casestudies/catalogue/Business%20Ethics/McDonald%20Beef%20Fries%20Controversy.htm. Last accessed 03/12/12. Anon. (2006).  Write a brief history of Mc Donalds .  Available: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20061127061917AAo0yoo. Last accessed 04/12/12. Anon. (2006).  Who controls the decision making process in a franchise?.  Available: http://nz.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100325003603AAz89CY. Last accessed 04/12/12. Anon. (2008).  The Ethical Dilemmas of Fast Food Industries.  Available: http://www.darkztar.com/forum/showthread.php?52669-The-ethical-dilemmas-of-fast-food-industries. Last accessed 28/11/2012. Anon/2011/ 2011 McDonalds Global Sustainability Scorecard/Poster/ Available from:/ http://www.aboutmcdonalds.com/mcd/sustainability/2011_sustainability_scorecard.html/ 14/08/2012 Anon. (2012).  Our annual ranking of Americas largest corporations.  Available: http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune500/2012/snapshots/2262.html. Last accessed 04/12/12 Darrell Passigue. 2012.  Questionnaire.  Available: http://fr.surveymonkey.com/MySurvey_EditorFull.aspx?sm=lfUVEfNQzdOk5wMYi2Y5467mI8nrZsagIwRrzTGL_2B2o_3D_0A. Last accessed 04/12/2012. Dave Hall, Rob Jones,CarloRaffo. (2004). Business Organisations in the Private Sector. In: Ian Chambers and Dave Gray  Business Studies. p50. Kevin Thompson. (2006).  Ethical Criticism of McDonalds.  Available: http://voices.yahoo.com/ethical-criticism-mcdonalds-147813.html?cat=3. Last accessed 04/12/12. Mark S. Putnam. (2002).  Ethical Values for Business Success.  Available: http://www.globalethicsuniversity.com/articles/valuesforsuccess.htm. Last accessed 21 Nov. 2012. Marketing strategy definition.  Available: http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/marketing-strategy.html. Last accessed 02/12/2012.

Tuesday, August 20, 2019

Judaism :: essays research papers fc

Judaism Judaism is intrinsically open to history. It looks forward to a future event - the messianic redemption - that will dwarf the importance of Exodus. This paper will discuss the important holidays of the Jewish year and a look into the Holocaust from a Jewish standpoint. I talked to a friend of mine, Josh Cohen. Josh practices Conservative Judaism. I also retrieved some information from a book The Jewish Way; Living the Holidays. Rabbi Irving Greenburg wrote it. I will first explain the holidays I discussed with Josh, and then discuss Josh growing up in the Jewish culture. "They particularly exemplify the focus on developing human capacity in the Sabbath and days of awe. The primary, Holy days that nurture personal life along the way. The Sabbat, on a weekly basis, and Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippers, annually, are the key periods of individual family renewal. These holidays accomplish their goals primarily by lifting the individual out of a routine that controls, too often, deadens daily life." The Sabbat is their weekly ceremony, held Friday evenings, to celebrate the end of a work week. Rosh Hashanah - Yom Kipper is the core that of being on trial for ones life. During that trial one moves from life through death to renewed life. Also discussed in this paper is Hanukkah, the festival of lights. Hanukkah stands for the temple that burned to the ground. The Jewish people only had an oil lamp to provide light for six nights and seven days. Therefore that is why they celebrate Hanukkah for six nights and seven days. Passover is also discussed. It is a time where Jewish families are to be fasting, no bread or meat. This last one week. Similar to the Christian Easter celebration. When a Jewish boy turns, age thirteen into an adult Jew they know it as a Bar Mitzvah. In order for this to happen a young teenage boy must attend Hebrew school. They usually take place a couple times a week. There are three types of Judaism worship Orthodox, Conservative, and Reform. Orthodox would be the most religious, Conservatism being middle of the road, and Reform being the least practiced. Josh grew up into the Orthodox beliefs because of his grandparents. Josh's grandparents, his father's mother and father, were Orthodox. His mother's, mother and father were Conservative. Eventually his mother and father switched over to the Conservative beliefs. The Orthodox beliefs would show the in the center and the women on the outside. They viewed women as caretakers. There are three temples in the city of Toledo.

Monday, August 19, 2019

Gun-Control in Charlton Heston’s Is Freedom Lost on the Next Generation and Paul Craig Robert’s Unarmed and Unsafe :: Amendment Rights Essays Guns

Gun-Control in Charlton Heston’s Is Freedom Lost on the Next Generation and Paul Craig Robert’s Unarmed and Unsafe There are three ways to approach gun-control: first, it is the citizens’ constitutional right to own firearms; second, firearms kill - get rid of them; and third, to have no opinion and not deal with the issue. Whichever view people have on gun-control, they must first understand the facts and statistics of these issues. Charlton Heston’s â€Å"Is Freedom Lost on the Next Generation?† and Paul Craig Robert’s â€Å"Unarmed and Unsafe† both study the opposing side of gun-control with facts and logic. In Heston’s â€Å"Is Freedom Lost on the Next Generation,† he writes about how â€Å"we may be losing the next generation of Americans, as they lose an understanding and appreciation of what the Second Amendment is and does† (Heston 1). Heston uses the statistics from a June, 2000 national survey of 1,500 high school students to show that the young adults of America do not have faith in the Constitution or Bill of Rights. He reports that â€Å"64 percent of high school students favor stricter anti-gun laws, 90 percent favor the licensing of handgun buyers, 96 percent said all handguns should be registered at purchase, and 19 percent of high school students do not believe that the Second Amendment guarantees the right to own a firearm†(Heston 1). Heston asks how safe any of America’s freedoms are if twenty percent of high school students believe that the Bill of Rights does not mean what it says? High schools use to have rifle teams along with s occer and football teams, and now even toy guns have the possibility of being banned. He mentions that being able to own a gun does not mean a thing if so many requirements, fees and restrictions practically leave Americans disarmed. Heston claims that being allowed to own, or even use, a firearm is a maturing experience for young people. He also mentions that the trust that goes hand in hand with the gun does more than show the acknowledgement of self-discipline and responsibility, it reinforces those virtues better than almost anything else can. Heston argues that it is the American’s responsibility to maintain the rights of gun ownership and provide the next generation with the same freedoms(Heston 1-2) . In â€Å"Unarmed and Unsafe,† Roberts confirms the saying â€Å"when guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns†(Roberts 2) He begins his article with the effects of recent gun-control in Britain.

Sunday, August 18, 2019

The Fantasy of Out of Africa vs. the Reality of Ngugis A Grain of Whea

The Fantasy of Out of Africa vs. the Reality of Ngugi's A Grain of Wheat Both the film and the book versions of Out of Africa portray life in Africa as being a haven for European colonists. In these works, Africa was a beautiful land to move to where the Europeans could live like â€Å"royalty† in a sense. Their money went a lot further, and they could have African servants do all the work and chores for them. These African peoples adored the white settlers, and would peacefully work for them for very low wages. However, this view of Africa during colonial times is not accurate. The Africans did not always adore the Europeans; they were not happy to have their lands taken from them; and they did not usually accept the exploitation peacefully. This point is illustrated, for example, in Ngugi's A Grain of Wheat which reflects on the Mau Mau rebellion which led to the Kenyan independence in 1963. The film Out of Africa creates an Africa where a white person, such as Karen Dinesen, could move to and live happily, for a while anyway. Granted this is a movie, but it is based on the autobiography of Karen Dinesen. The film shows Karen moving to Kenya in about 1913 where she was happily greeted by her many African servants who were awaiting her. With her she has all of her lovely, expensive possessions that go well in her beautiful farmhouse. Karen and the rest of the white colonists are shown to have lives that are all play and no work. They sit about while the servants wait on them hand and foot, or they go out on safaris to see the countryside and wild animals. The image that the audience receives creates a dream world for them. It does not have any indication of violence between the colonists and the Africans. The book Out of ... ...r, it is not entirely realistic in its portrayal of colonialism. Karen Dinesen wrote her story how she wanted to see it. I am sure her life was as she wrote it to be, but I do not think that she took in to account the treatment of the Africans. I do not think that she intended to write of those aspects of colonialism. In my opinion, she want to share with the world the greatness of Africa as she saw it. A Grain of Wheat was written to share with people the violence of the colonialism. The hardships endured by those colonized was meant to be brought out to the audience. These two pieces of literature were written for different reasons: one to show a wealthy white woman’s life in Africa as she saw it, and the other to show the violence brought about by the colonization of Africa. Works Cited Fanon, Frantz. The Wretched of the Earth. (New York: Grove Press)1963.

Saturday, August 17, 2019

Mpio

SCM Is the management of a network of Interconnected businesses Involved In the ultimate provision of product and service packages required by end customers. Mall activities of SCM are as follows: Execution Control Monitoring Leveraging worldwide logistics Synchronizing supply with demand and measuring performance globally.PLANNING: On the basis of above functions HRS department will make a plan to hire a best candidate for Finance, Marketing and Supply chain. HRS follow different criteria for different department such as: For Finance they require qualified person who can manage all procedure of accounting, arranging cash and credit as well as he knows how to raise the fund. For marketing they require experienced candidate because who provide create new ideas, Focus on to sustain the brand and to monitor competitors activities in the competitive market.For Supply Chain candidate must have experience of Logistics, Channel Management, operations and Risk Management. Suggestion: Gaston (Minds. ) has to follow three key elements of the HRS planning process to achieve best fit between Jobs and employees. Elements are as follows: Forecasting labor demand, Analyzing present labor supply, and Balancing projected labor demand and supply. RECRUITMENT: It is the overall process of attracting, selecting and appointing suitable candidates to a one or more Jobs within an organization.The term may sometimes be defined as incorporating activities which take place ahead of attracting people, such as defining the Job requirements and person specification. Recruitment can also refer to processes involved in choosing individuals for unpaid positions, such as voluntary roles or training programmed. Suggestions for Gaston (Minds) is in order to increase efficiency in hiring and retention and to ensure consistency and compliance in the recruitment process, it is commended the following steps be followed (also refer to Staff Recruitment Checklist).Details for each step include the min imum recommended best practice to attract a talented and diverse applicant pool: Step 1: Identify Vacancy and Evaluate Need Step 2: Develop Position Description Step 3: Develop Recruitment Plan Step 4: Finalize Recruitment Selection committees will consider all applications. The department uses a streamlined selection process and applications are rigorously short listed. Selection committees may then choose between a number of different assessment methods.These include, but are not limited to, contacting referees prior to assessment, making an assessment based on application and referee input alone, conducting interviews, examining work samples and conducting performance tests which could be both written or practical. All selections and employment decisions for the department are based on merit. And to ensure consistency and compliance in the selection process, it is recommended the following steps be followed: Step 1: Select Search Committee Step 2: Post Position and Implement Recr uitment Plan Step 3: Review Applicants and Develop Short List Step 4: Conduct Interviews

Friday, August 16, 2019

Qualitative Research Methodology Essay

In this essay I am going to express my understanding of the key principles of qualitative research. In order to understand the nature of qualitative research, we must primarily look at the constructivist ontology and the interpretivist epistemology, which will allow us to develop an understanding of the context in which the qualitative methodology is conceptualised. Furthermore, I will look at the research design process and the inductive nature of this subjective, value laden procedure. I will then go on to look at the principles of qualitative research, with focus on the concepts of trustworthiness and authenticity from a qualitative perspective, which can help sociologists gain Verstehen with individuals. To conclude my essay, I will look at the strengths and weaknesses of qualitative research, making reference to specific methods. Ontology and Epistemology Researchers using qualitative methods of inquiry believe that social phenomena are constructed through human interactions and not determined by governing laws. This is known as the constructivist ontology and aims to understand how a social phenomenon is created through interaction and intersubjective meaning. From their perspective, they believe that social actors create the social world through interactions as opposed to objectivists who believe that social structures determine individual actions and behaviour (Bryman, 2004, p. 3-25). This constructivist ontology needs to be investigated using an interpretivist epistemology, and by understanding this epistemology we can therefore appreciate the key principles of qualitative research. By using interpretivism and an inductive form of inquiry, sociologists aim to understand how individuals construct meaning. For interpretivists, subjectivity is incredibly important due to the subjective nature of individuals, and they try to gain Verstehen. They would see value neutrality as unnecessary because it is impossible to gain Verstehen without using qualitative methodologies (Berg, 2007, p. 19-52). The Inductive Research Process To conduct qualitative research, you would primarily need to select an area of research and research questions, and in this sense the type of question ou select will guide your research process. Qualitative research is inductive, so it does not require an initial hypothesis, unlike quantitative research. This is because behavioural and socio-cultural patterns emerge over time and in some cases are not noticed until after the research has been conducted. After selecting an area of interest, the researchers would need to decide on the research setting and establish what method/s they will use to conduct their research (Bryman, 2004, p. 265-290). There are many methods that can be used in qualitative research, which, according to Strauss and Corbin is used to describe â€Å"any kind of research that produces findings not arrived at by means of statistical procedures or other means of quantification† (1990, p. 17). The researchers themselves play an important part in the research process as they bring their values to the research, which complements the interpretivist epistemology. Researchers have to be aware of the ethical guidelines set out by the British Sociological Association (BSA). Researchers have to take into consideration professional integrity, anonymity, privacy, confidentiality and informed consent (unless research is conducted covertly). Covert research has ethical implications if the research is not important and in the public’s interest. The researchers are in a sense a tool used to collect primary data, and the flexible nature of qualitative research means they are not bound by a rigid process and can adapt their research when needed. The final stage of qualitative research is writing up findings. Research results can be compiled to form a book, journal, article or report (Bryman, 2004, p. 61-82). The Principles of Qualitative Research Qualitative research looks at the micro sociological context. That is, qualitative researchers like to study people in their natural environments. This means that qualitative research is context specific. Qualitative research is concerned with the quality of the social research and aims to be explanatory by looking at the interaction between variables. You can get expert help with your essays right now. Find out more†¦ Qualitative researchers want to understand and explore social situations through generating descriptions from on-site observations and interviews. Qualitative researchers focus on understanding patterns and themes as stated by the author of Jones International University web site: The real world is complex; qualitative research focuses on the elements of that complexity: emotions, meanings, symbols, motivation, thought processes, feelings, patterns and themes. Qualitative research seeks to make sense of this world by finding meaning through the eyes of participants. (http://www. jonesinternational. edu/schools/courses/edu793. hp) Using qualitative methodology, researchers are able to give detailed accounts and descriptions of socio-cultural phenomena which do not need to be conveyed quantitatively. In contrast, quantitative, positivist, deterministic research generalizes findings to the whole population and aims to be conclusive by discovering governing laws (Bryman, 2004. p. 3-25). There are also many other methods qualitative researchers can employ, for example, focus groups, interviews and case studies. After the researcher has decided on the methods, they need to conduct their research. Qualitative researchers are not bound to one particular research method. They can use a variety of different methods if their research requires them to. This use of multi methodology is called triangulation (Berg, 2007, p. 19-52). Qualitative research design is circular. Qualitative researchers needto repeat and adapt their design to suit the flow of their research. After selecting their methods and collecting their data, researchers need to analyse their findings, which can be done in various ways. For example, the research findings would need interpreting; this can be done by linking data to a larger sociological context and generating concepts. Findings can also be analysed by detecting patterns and trends in the data. This can be done by using textual analysis, such as coding using computer software such as MaxQDA (Bryman, 2004, p. 398-416). There are different theoretical approaches involved in qualitative methodology, for example naturalism, ethnomethodology, emotionalism and postmodernist research. Each approach is used as a means of interpreting social phenomena by using a value laden perspective where a researcher applies his/her own values to a social context through an unscientific, flexible process and finally an in-depth, subjective methodology. These principles shape the methods used for qualitative research as they compliment both the constructivist ontology and the interpretivist epistemology. I am now going to discuss some of the different methods used by qualitative researchers that apply these principles. Qualitative Methods Qualitative data collection can be conducted through observations. Participant observation is one of the most common methods for qualitative data collection. Participant observation has strong authenticity but it does lack in repeatability as the research is difficult to reproduce in the same way. There are many different ways of conducting participant observation, and it typically requires the researcher to become a participant in the culture or context being observed. Participant observation is often longitudinal; the researcher needs to spend long periods of time with the focus group to be able to gain a â€Å"native’s point of view†. Participant observation can be conducted either overtly or covertly, depending on the nature of the research. Covert participant observation involves the researcher hiding their true identity and motives of their research from their subjects. This is effective in socially sensitive areas, such as deviant or criminal subcultures, where a researcher can gain Verstehen by using qualitative research methodologies (Hammersley and Atkinson, 1995, chap 8). An example of observational methods is ethnography. Ethnography focuses on the sociology of meaning through observation of socio-cultural phenomena; typically, the ethnographer focuses on a small group or community and uses largely participant observation. This research method was employed by the University of Chicago during the 1920’s and 1930’s. Robert Park, an important figure at the University of Chicago in the 1920s, encouraged students to go outside and collect primary information by using observational methods to study social phenomena: Go and sit in the lounges of the luxury hotels and on the doorsteps of the flophouses; sit on the Gold Coast settees and on the slum shakedown; sit in the Orchestra Hall and the Star and Garter Burlesque. In short, gentlemen, go get the seat of your pants dirty in real research (Park, cited in Prus, 1996, p. 103-140). Overt participant observation contrasts with covert, as the identity of the researcher and intentions of the research are known to the group being studied. Researchers using this method will often record their findings by making detailed field notes; this, however, can become difficult if the research requires them to take a covert stance, as their ‘cover’ may be jeopardized if they were recording their findings in front of the group. Qualitative research analysis is dependent on building interpretations of the research to gain authenticity and trustworthiness. This may be difficult because of the subjective nature of this method, but due to the ideographic nature of individuals and the interpretivist epistemology, this would not be an issue for qualitative researchers, who ultimately aim to gain Verstehen. Conclusion In conclusion, while this approach can be criticized by positivists for its subjective nature and lack of empirical methods, it does, however, offer a more in-depth perspective into individuals and their lives. Qualitative research is rigorous and highly subjective because the researcher’s investigation is overly influenced by the views of the researcher involved. Also, qualitative research does provide a way of extracting more complex, in-depth and comprehensive information from social contexts that would be difficult to retrieve using quantitative methods. However, this methodology has been criticised by positivists and the objectivist ontology because of the value laden perspective it takes. If the researcher does have any preconceived ideas of the findings, it may cause bias in the results and therefore affect the authenticity of their work. Also the researcher may misinterpret the social phenomena they are studying and therefore have difficulties establishing the real meaning of that particular social situation. Qualitative research can also be criticised because of its lack of representativeness of the larger population, as qualitative research typically deals with micro social issues that cannot be generalised to the wider population because they are context specific. However qualitative researchers would see this as an advantage because they require a deeper understanding in order to gain Verstehen. Another criticism would be that qualitative methods are also very expensive to conduct, mainly because of the amount of time it takes to interpret data and conduct observational studies. Despite these criticisms, qualitative research is a flexible, in-depth form of enquiry that is not dominated by statistics or rigid research methods. It is largely dominated by the constructivist ontology and the interpretivist epistemology which believe that the social world is built upon actions and interactions. Researchers adopt this qualitative approach to enable them to form Verstehen with their research topic or group.