Monday, September 30, 2019

Case Study: Ocean Carriers Essay

Executive summary Ocean Carriers is contemplating the opportunity of stipulating a 3-year leasing contract that would require commissioning the construction of a new vessel. In the short term applied hire rates are decreasing, just as they should be on the recovery side starting 2003. While signing a new client and therefore expanding the business, the aforementioned investment should be undertaken in Hong Kong. Furthermore, a 15year project is preferable, thus scrapping the vessel at an estimated price of $5M in order to reinvest that amount and avoid facing heavier upcoming costs. Although the longer lasting project (25 years) guarantees a higher net present value and forecasted rates seem to be increasing, less agility on future market occasions, increasing hire rates volatility and risks to bear for the corporation must be considered. Moreover, the alleged strong correlation between number of shipments and hire rates is being questioned. Summary of facts Provided that Ocean carrier’s fleet doesn’t present a ship which meets the new customer’s requirements and that a fairly long time is needed to build a new one, the management has to decide in 2001 whether to commission a vessel for a 3-year time charter beginning in 2003 at an initial daily hire rate of $20,000 growing at a pace of $200  per year of contract. Statement of the problem Many factors are to be considered such as the daily hire rate and operating cost trends, the supply and demand of iron ore and steel which form the 85% of capesize dry bulk carriers’ shipments. The headquarter location, on which the tax regime depends, is too a   critical decision: while in Hong Kong the operations would be exempt from tax, they would account for 35% on profit in New York. Analysis For a better comprehension of the problem, we first focused on some possible outcomes depending on supply and demand tendency. In the short term, an excess of supply (63 new vessels) and no major forces influencing the demand will cause the hire rates to drop. Also, if the consulting group is to be fully trusted, a sharp decrease in iron ore vessel shipments will drive down prices as well. Looking at a longer horizon, supply and demand drivers are mainly, for the latter, the world economy as a whole and trade patterns i.e. the longer distance the more demand, and for the former the efficiency and size of vessels (negative correlation), the demand for shipping capacity and the age of the ships. These factors reveal positive long-term effects. Due to Australian ad Indian demand rocketing, exports will expand along with higher trading volume. Moreover, Ocean carriers presents an advantage with regards to their ships: they are bigger and newer thus deserving a plus 15% factor over standard prices. Nevertheless, adverse aspects should be taken into account as well, such as the inefficiency in building a new vessel (2 years) which could lead to a growing demand for net working capital in order to strengthen the company’s financial position and make it able to face sudden cash outflows. In addition, given their better growth pattern, Ocean Carriers should favour the spot and not the time daily hire rates instead of locking themselves up in long term, less flexible contracts. Our view for the long run is definitely positive though not outstanding, with future growth resembling the inflation level. Considering the mentioned facts as well as all the assumptions, the choice that has to be made will be primarily influenced by the daily hire rates. These factors are the most  volatile and difficult to predict and influence income, profit and finally cash-flows. Ms   Linn’s decision should evaluate different and unpleasant outcomes before taking a decision based only on cash-flows’ NPV.   Firstly, when comparing Hong Kong’s and new York’s NPV, the no tax zone is clearly the better choice (see table 3 and 4 for calculations), with the 35% straight-line american taxation killing most of the profits from the investment’s first years. Even if we consider an accelerated depreciation system (MACRS) and compare equivalent profits, annuity figures are still worse for taxed areas (graph 3). From this calculation we begin to see how actual cash-flow equivalent annuities are not markedly different between the 15 and 25-year no-tax projects. If accurately analysed, inter-period NPVs show an unexpected picture (table and graph 1). If the reinvestment of the scrap value could guarantee a real rate of return similar to the discount used (discount rate=9%,inflation rate=3%,real discount=5,83%), the two NPVs move closer. This partially explains why, of the two, the shorter investment is the best : a substantial chunk of the 25-year project’s NPV (74%) is created in the latter period of the investment (2017-2027) when prices are hardly predictable, more volatile and easily influenced by present expectations. $610.159,93 supplementary cash income are not worth 10 more years of holding period: operating and survey costs become too heavy to sustain the additional period of investment. We carried on our analysis by looking at the hire rates and their expected value. The strong correlation between charter rates and shipments reported by the consulting firm is now being took into consideration (table and graph 2). The outsourced analysis states that when shipment numbers rise so should the same charter rates. Unfortunately this is wrong under a statistical point of view: whilst shipments and 3-year hire rates seem actually slightly related, the number of shipments and the spot rates go surprisingly in   the opposite direction (Pearson correlation index=(0.3783)). Hence, long term NPV needs to be managed carefully being based on assumptions not  entirely true. Recommendations The 15-year, no-tax investment is the right choice.  The NPV of this project turns out to be positive, leading us to recommend the signature of the contract. Turning down this operation would mean wasting future earnings. Furthermore, the 25-year project is unsafe : it could dry out the company’s cash and equivalents and prevent the reinvestment of the scrap value ($5M) in more profitable projects. The extra return doesn’t justify a 10 year longer investment based on many unreliable assumptions, not supported by statistical data and which does not grant the flexibility that a shorter one would.

Leadership Essay

Business Essentials LEADERSHIP PAPER 1. Reflect from your own personal experiences concerning leadership. 2. Use Microsoft Word and type a one-page essay about your experiences regarding leadership. 3. Use the following formatting for your essay: a. Font size – 12 b. Font size – Calibri c. Normal 1† margins. d. Double-spaced 4. For the first part of this essay, discuss someone that you have worked with/under (a teacher, a manager on a job, a coach, a pastor, etc. ) that you consider to be a bad leader. DO NOT NAME THIS PERSON. What exactly made this person a bad leader? Discuss why their leadership style did not inspire you – what exactly did they do to deteriorate your drive to work hard. Be specific and provide examples. Discuss how they could have changed their leadership style to get more out of you personally. Despite their poor leadership, name one way in which you benefited from working with this person. 5. For the second part of this paper, discuss someone that you have worked with/under that you consider to be a great leader. You may name this person if you choose. What types of characteristics made this person a good leader? What exactly did they do to inspire you to do a good job. Discuss how their leadership style motivated you. Be specific and provide examples. How did you benefit from working with this person? 6. For the last part of this paper, identify the top three personality traits you feel a manager should have and explain why these traits are so important. 7. Save with a password to your W:drive folder as LEADERSHIP ESSAY. Leadership Essay Business Essentials LEADERSHIP PAPER 1. Reflect from your own personal experiences concerning leadership. 2. Use Microsoft Word and type a one-page essay about your experiences regarding leadership. 3. Use the following formatting for your essay: a. Font size – 12 b. Font size – Calibri c. Normal 1† margins. d. Double-spaced 4. For the first part of this essay, discuss someone that you have worked with/under (a teacher, a manager on a job, a coach, a pastor, etc. ) that you consider to be a bad leader. DO NOT NAME THIS PERSON. What exactly made this person a bad leader? Discuss why their leadership style did not inspire you – what exactly did they do to deteriorate your drive to work hard. Be specific and provide examples. Discuss how they could have changed their leadership style to get more out of you personally. Despite their poor leadership, name one way in which you benefited from working with this person. 5. For the second part of this paper, discuss someone that you have worked with/under that you consider to be a great leader. You may name this person if you choose. What types of characteristics made this person a good leader? What exactly did they do to inspire you to do a good job. Discuss how their leadership style motivated you. Be specific and provide examples. How did you benefit from working with this person? 6. For the last part of this paper, identify the top three personality traits you feel a manager should have and explain why these traits are so important. 7. Save with a password to your W:drive folder as LEADERSHIP ESSAY. ï » ¿Leadership Essay A leader is a person who is able to take charge of a situation in a responsible and organized manner to get something done. In order to be a leader one must have people to follow and support them in that ranking position. Henry Miller said â€Å"The real leader has no need to lead—he is content to point the way. † Leaders can be born or made. Many people try very hard to be â€Å"in charge† and to become a leader that people will follow and listen to. While others have a natural qualities of a leader. One could be in a classroom and observe the students and pick out the leaders from the followers.Parents can pick out future leaders sitting on a park bench at a playground. Good leaders have many different and common qualities depending on the type of leader needed for the situation. There are more qualities needed to be an effective leader other than being organized, honest, and responsible. Granted those are important aspects they are not the only aspects. Effect ive leaders must be respectful to the people following and looking up to him/her. Respect goes both ways, if the leader does not give it, then he will not be getting it either, therefore that leader most likely will not be the leader of much of anything.An effective leader must be able to show appreciation to the people getting his job done. Also a leader needs to be able to follow through on the commitments he makes by actually doing what they say they will do. Effective leadership is when a leader is chosen, nominated, or somehow put to power and in a high ranking position is actually able to get something effective done for the common wealth while have higher decision power than the people following him/her. Now, there are different types of leaders for different situations.For example one would not need the same type of leader to run a government as to run a book club. There are different types of leaders for different types of situations called situational leaders. The four mai n types are the telling, selling, participating, and delegating leaders. A telling leader literally tells each person in his group how to go through a job. A telling leader doesn’t care so much about feelings or the relationships within the group. The selling leader is the type of leader who needs to persuade everyone into getting things done or for thing to go in his or her direction.The participating leader is a leader such as the U. S president because this type of leader listens to what his/her followers say as the president listens to the other branches of government to make decisions. Lastly the delegating leaders does not lead to much of anything because he trusts his group or followers to be responsible enough to handle duties. Leadership is developed in only a couple of ways. Now there has always been a continuous argument about if a leader is actually born or made.A lot of people believe only a leader can be born, while other believe a leader has to be taught to lea d. But in reality, one is either born a leader or taught to be a leader. Leadership can be developed as a child while being raised. For example, a child that has a lot of younger siblings is a born leader because he or she has been leading around those sibling for a long time. Also if I child is born into a military home many of those children are natural leaders just because of where they were raised. Though not everyone is born a leader, leadership can still be taught.Therefor leaders can be made. For example, a shy teenager goes into the military. The military will make him into a drill sergeant or company commander. A leader was just made by the military. Another example of a leader being made is people go to law school and graduate leaders every year. You cannot be a lawyer if you were to shy away from a case. No, a lawyer must lead his client through though trials and arraignments through a winning case. Both military people and lawyers of all sorts go to school and learn how to be leaders as well as earn spots to a higher leading position.

Saturday, September 28, 2019

Current Ethical Issues Paper

Current Ethical Issues Paper Heidi L. Hinckley XMGT/216 December 16, 2012 Dan Mitchell In creating this paper I have decided to use the Kudler Fine Foods organization, due to the fact that I enjoy trying new flavors from around the world. Kudler Find Foods is â€Å"a local upscale specialty food store† (Kudler website) located in California. Kudler Fine Foods currently has three locations in the state of California. There focus is to bring the finest foods and finest team members they can to their potential customers.They offer a wine steward at each location, as well as monthly classes for customers to lean about various wines in the store. Kudler Fine Foods wants to promote the best in food and service. The Kudler Fine Foods organization first opened their doors on June 18, 1998. The owner and creator, Kathy Kudler, decided to take her passion for gourmet cooking and turn it into a business that she could be successful at as well as enjoy doing. That success has been proven in the opening of two additional stores one in 2000 and another in 2003.Kudler Fine Foods offers a variety of ingredients, fresh baked goods, meats, local seafood, cheeses and wines. Kudler Fine Foods is a one stop shop for any gourmet cook or even want to be gourmet cook in the family. One large ethical issue is the lack of leadership on the part of the owner Kathy Kudler. She lacks interaction with her customers as well, spending most of her time doing all of the ordering for all three of her stores. This can create large ethical issues in that she is not in touch with what her customers really want.There is also the ethical issue of using family to when referring to legal issues. First is the issue of nepotism and secondly there is the advice to always settle on customer accidents. This action makes the business appear as if they are always at fault and not taking the customers safety into consideration. Another issue that jumped right out is in the wording of certain areas of he r website. If she truly wants to bring the best to everyone, then she needs to remove statements from her website that list herself as upscale.I understand that she is trying to create an atmosphere, but in that statement it would seem that she only want to work with certain kinds of customers. This could lead some consumers to think that they are not welcome in her stores. .Kathy Kudler has a moral and ethical obligation as a business owner to promote an atmosphere that is open and welcoming to all. There is also the questionable promotion on Kudler Fine Foods website on how they only hire the best employees.Although I personally understand the statement, it can be considered unethical in the terminology. There is an insinuation that in that way that terminology is presented. There should be a change there in that all Kudler Fine Foods employees are trained to assist customers with any questions they may have on the products that are available in the store. There is also an ethical issue in the description of the stores themselves. The website promotes the locations as â€Å"8,000 square feet of retail space in a fashionable shopping center† (Kudler Fine Foods).Again the terminology in that statement may be perceived as condescending as if certain individuals would not be welcomed within the locations. With a store like this it is important that if you are promoting the flavors of the world they you would also represent the people of those regions. A diverse workforce that is familiar with these ingredients and foods would also show that the owner take a strong diverse attitude with her business. This would also bring a welcoming atmosphere to all in the neighborhoods around these store locations.If Kathy Kudler makes that type of promotion that her store is diverse and open then her stores will be considered a gem in their neighborhoods and she will continue see more growth, and it may even be faster than she planned. Offering top services to her cust omers, by offering the best training and information for her employees, will help to lead to a business that Kathy Kudler can not only be successful at but that she can also enjoy doing. Reference: https://ecampus. phoenix. edu/secure/aapd/cist/vop/index. html https://ecampus. phoenix. edu/secure/aapd/cist/vop/Business/Kudler2/internet/index. asp

Friday, September 27, 2019

Discussion 1 Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Discussion 1 - Assignment Example Personally, I find it amusing how people then had to use art as a way of communication, while not everybody has the talent of drawing. Some people cannot even draw a tree leave alone a smiling face. Although the discovery of art must have made life easy and simpler, the fact that most of the people could not take part in the emotional communication, as they did not have the skills to draw and express themselves just like their counterparts. Culture, as I would define it in relation to the world cultures cyber journeys is the differences in the way of people’s lives, and their believes on the various things that they practice in their daily lives. Through the daily practices and people’s interactions, a group of people unknowingly expresses their cultural practices. Thus, the normal things people either express subconsciously or consciously in writing or in other ways such as define the culture of that particular group. Cultures can either differ or compare with one another. Despite people having different cultural background, they exhibit some of similarities in their cultural practices. The differences and similarities of the western and eastern culture revel this. Both the western and the eastern people share in a number of ways. Their religious beliefs, share a common direction. Both the western and the eastern people believe in a supernatural figure. The two cultures believe in the existence of some form of power beyond their ability. However, the dwelling places of their supernatural powers differ. On the other hand, they believe in leaders, chosen among them. The main difference however is that while in the west the leader has an equal status with the people, in east, the leader is supreme and has overwhelming power. Culture regards the west as more advanced than the east. Especially in the manner through which

Thursday, September 26, 2019

The proletariat during the Russian revolution Research Paper

The proletariat during the Russian revolution - Research Paper Example The praxis of the proletarian was developed by Lenin in the year 1917 he argued that the proletariats were only interested in the state for a given period of time and that it was never geared towards advocating for separation from the anarchists through the elimination of the state. He further articulated that the best form of revolution was that which could offer defense to itself and that could only be achieved by the form of dictatorship by and for the proletariat. Dictatorship of the proletariat during the Russian revolution was to allow the working class members of the society quelling all manner of opposition, strengthening of political power, gain control over the various means of production and to break up the entire machinery of the bourgeois. The process was to be attained through massive education initiatives that targeted the peasants as well as the small-scale business persons, intellectuals, office and industrial employees so as to equip the m with the necessary skills needed to attain some level of freedom both socially and economically. The initiatives were directed towards coming up with a more democratic system backed by rights and liberties of the humanity as opposed to democratic parliamentarism that was being propagated by bourgeois. Stalin came up with three dimensions in order to develop an understanding of the dictatorship of the proletariat. One is that he considered it as an instrument for the proletarian revolution. Secondly, it was regarded as the rule over the bourgeoisie and finally as a form of Soviet power that represented the entire state. The Communist Party became the stronghold of the proletariat. The key elements during the revolution of the proletariat were based on the ultimate devotion of the people to the revolutionary ideas, proper attendance of classes after work so as to ensure that the works of Marx and Lenin were

Argument Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Argument - Essay Example I believe that in our judgments about reality we cannot abstract ourselves from the sensual reactions and subjective judgments; as a result, empiricism is the philosophy that is closer to the reality and reflects the true way of judging and evaluating the surrounding reality. Rationalism is an important trend in philosophy. Plato is fairly regarded as one of the basic proponents of rationalism in philosophy. Rationalism in general and Plato, in particular, assert that knowledge never comes from senses but is innate (Anonymous 335). As such, there is nothing sensual in nature and individuals who seek to objectivity in their judgments should rely on their innate knowledge and avoid using personal experience and observations. It should be noted, that where Plato opposes to the relevance of the senses as a potential source of reliable knowledge, his opposition is justified by the fact that the senses are bodily and thus morally tainted (Anonymous 335). Actually, everything associated with body, in Plato’s opinion, is morally tainted and cannot be considered as a good source of knowledge. Such rejection of the senses is the definitive feature of rationalism (Anonymous 335). To some extent, Plato’s arguments about the senses his opposition to using the senses as the source of knowledge are justified. He is confident that absolute truth and absolute good do exist (Anonymous 335). However, never in life was he able to perceive and grasp the meaning of these absolute beauties and absolute good with his senses; rather, a rational person in search for objective knowledge will do everything possible to develop an intellectual vision of reality which has nothing to do with the senses but applies to reason (Anonymous 335). Surprisingly or not, but in his defense of rationalism, Plato does not only exclude the senses as potential sources of knowledge but also implies that other emotions, including love, lust, fear, and

Wednesday, September 25, 2019

The Right Stuff Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The Right Stuff - Essay Example he story as seen through the eyes of the astronauts and in doing so eloquently illustrates the wide range of emotions and qualities it takes to attain the Right Stuff. By exposing the reader to the world of the astronauts, their families, the danger they faced, and their almost unlimited quiet bravado Wolfe is able to describe and define what is meant by the Right Stuff. The astronauts of the 1960s and 1970s where a study in contrast as Wolfe so aptly portrays them in his book. They were the highest public personas in America during that time. They were sought after and idolized. They were admired for their bravery and respected for their courage. Yet, they were family men with a healthy respect for religion and the values of America. The Right Stuff has often been seen as the ability to look death in the face and not blink, but it was more the ability to keep their head when the world around them had gone insane. The Right Stuff was a brotherhood of men that understood their place in history before the history was written and humbly accepted their place in it. When integrated, these characteristics became what Wolfe referred to as the Right Stuff. The Right Stuff was not the bravado and over-confidence of men doing feats of skill and daring that was right out of science fiction. The Right Stuff was the ability to remain human in the face of these s uperhuman events. Wolfe gives the reader an indication of what the Right Stuff is early in the book. Wolfe writes, "...herein the world was divided into those that had it and those that did not. This quality, this it, was never named, however, nor was it talked about in any way" (24). The Right Stuff was a special personality trait that could not be easily described. Those that had it knew it, and those that did not also knew it. They knew who belonged to each club. It could be readily recognized and noted, but definition was more elusive. The quality is known to exist, but less is known about its substance. The

Tuesday, September 24, 2019

Online learning and cultural issues Research Paper

Online learning and cultural issues - Research Paper Example Also effect sizes were found to be larger for studies that had the online instruction as collaborative or instructor-directed, as compared to those where online learners worked independently. Student learning outcomes were least impacted in the way in which various studies conducted online learning. Across various content and learner types, the effectiveness of the approaches of learning online appears to be massive. Another research of experimental and semi-experimental studies that compares various types of online learning standards report that candidate learning is usually comparable in both distance learning and face to face learning if a study compares a mixture of both to purely online conditions. It also concludes that objects such as video feed or online tests do not seem to impact the amount that students tend to learn in online classes. Online learning can be made effective by giving students control of their interactions with media and requesting for learner interaction as well. When a couple of students group together to learn online, support techniques such as guiding queries usually impact the way students interact, but does not influence the amount they learn (Means, et al., 2010). There were about half a dozen studies conducted from 1989-2004 that actually met the criteria for experimental validation to compare online and traditional courses. Based on this, the National Survey of Student Engagement research concluded that online learners have deeper approaches to learning as compared to classroom-based learners and they also claim to have experienced better use of polished thinking skills, combine thinking process and reflective learning (Susan and Allison, 2009). Another study describes strategies to build and maintain online learning communities. They suggest the effectiveness of setting aims, tasks and their results, role of an instructor, enhancing social comfort and scaffolding. The issues they addressed were cultural and individual differe nces, verbalization, and intimidation of technical skills to operate and interact online. They conclude by suggesting not to expect a radical change overnight to address the issues but further research on overcoming the issues from both the instructor’s end and the learners’ end (Ruth and Wing, 2002). Applications: There are many applications in use today for e-learning. They all emphasize in providing the qualities that would provide ease in communication and to bridge gaps between the student and teacher by employing effective techniques. eFront is the most widely used as it provides features to instructors as creating and managing lectures via visual content editors that support images, video and sound. It also provides a file sharing space which is organized by a file manager. It also provides the flexibility to assign assignments and generate surveys. Another tool is Moodle and its popularity is attributed to the fact that it is open source. Apart from course mana gement features, it provides support for chat between teachers and students. Dokeos is a tool that provides video conferencing capability along with chat and course management features. Claroline is the only tool to be translated in 35 other languages. It

Monday, September 23, 2019

Othello Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 5

Othello - Essay Example Othello totally believes in the concept of love with full commitment and nobility. He believes in the absolutes. lago subscribes to no particular thought and believes least in human beings. The book’s popularity can also be traced to its modern nature. At the core of intrigue is the very realisation that the play is matter of a private life affair than the other great tragedies. This impression is supported in a number of ways. Othello is a depiction of modern life as the drama depicts contemporary life. The characters appear very close to the readers than in Hamlet or Lear. Many people will realise that Othello employs a sense of beauty that is not available in most plays of the time. Of Shakespeare’s plays, Othello stands out in one important respect: beauty. The play employs much steady rhythm, peculiar phrase and a sense of serious imagination which blend together to create a lucid and clear feeling in the mind of the reader. Indeed, this beauty is only evidenced in two other plays i.e. Romeo and Juliet and Antony and Cleopatra. However, Othello has another form of beauty. Except for the brief trivial section of the clown, everything is much attached to the central issue and nothing requires any solid justification. At best, the drama has a dense of intellectual beauty which fulfils the aspiration for order and harmony between the different parts and the whole. At the same time, the book glows with much moral beauty. We see the figure of Desdemona in a love situation which is not affected even in the worst of events. A sense of incompleteness in the play gives way to innumerable cases of men at odds with one another. Several ‘parts’ exist in the play which create the wholeness albeit with some incompleteness. lago appears universal, because he represents many things at a single instance. His style and temper make him become the villain of the melodrama. He

Sunday, September 22, 2019

Brave New World and Anthem Essay Example for Free

Brave New World and Anthem Essay In both Brave New World and Anthem the underlying themes are very similar. The government controls every aspect of people’s lives, everyone is supposed to be perfectly happy with what role they are given, and the main character do not fit into what the government was deemed normal. While both books have these very similar traits, there are many differences as well; the way the government controls the people, as well as the form of government, the way people of both societies treat each other, and the situation in which the main characters are placed. In both Brave New World and Anthem the government controls everything about a person. In Brave New World the government has taken the ultimate step in controlling the people. The government has taken people’s right to have children away, and instead grow children in labs, dictating what the child’s life will be like from the time the sperm is introduced to the egg. The government adds enhancers if they want the child to come out smart, or things like alcohol to the embryo if they want it to come out stupid. Then the child is put through a series of conditioning treatments that make the child behave exactly how the government wants the child to (Huxley). In Anthem the government has also taken control of every aspect of te people’s lives. They are not as drastic as the government in Brave New World, but they put a child through a conditioning school, they choose the job that the person will do, and they choose when babies will be made. In Anthem the government is a council of leaders that have been chosen by the previous leaders to lead the people, and make them conform to the way that the council wants the people to think. There are councils in every city in Anthem as well as sub-council that control other aspects of life, for example the council of scholars rules over the new inventions, and studies conducted (Rand). Brave New World’s government is a series of people called controllers that rule over a continent, each controller is in charge of everything that happens in the continent be it new discoveries, or what kind of felly to show the people. The controllers have absolute power within their continents, but there is also a world council. Each controller is part of the world council and they make decisions that involve more than one controller’s continent. In the books the government has taken measures to see that everyone is perfectly happy, no matter what the cost of happiness is. In Anthem the children are taught from infancy that they would be perfectly happy if they loved their brothers and did their best to serve them. The children were punished if they tried to do something that their brothers would not like, or would not benefit the rest of the population. This method did not always work because some people where resistant to the ideas, and would always think in a different way that would make them unhappy. Also in Anthem the men are taught to stay happy they must serve their brothers fully and not interact with women at all. It is a crime to interact with women outside of the time of breeding. While in Brave New World the government took the children from birth and used conditioning as well as things like electric shocks to make the children think a certain way. This method is used until the children reach adulthood, and then to keep the population happy they are given a drug called soma. Soma is a mind altering drug ha makes the people happy an forget all their worries. The government convinced everyone that Soma was solution to the unhappiness in the world. Yet, this happiness is one reduced to sheer consumerism, just as politics in the brave new world is degraded to conformism. ( Diken Bulent). More tellingly yet, the only alternative set in the book against this sterile, suffocating civilization is religious fundamentalism (Diken Bulent). Another way that the government in Brave New World fools everyone into thinking that they are happy is by teaching the population that everyone belongs to everyone, and that having sex with as many people as possible as often as possible is a good thing, and is highly encouraged. The main characters in both Brave New World and Anthem do not fit into what the governments see as the perfect world. In Anthem Equality 7-2521 who was born into his society wanted to be a scholar, and help his brothers with his ideas, and inventions, but he was assigned to be a street sweeper. When Equality tried to change his life, and took the light bulb to the scholars hoping that they would accept him into their ranks and let him study with them. Equality was then punished and sentenced to death for trying to help his brothers better themselves, but escaped with his beloved and founded a new colony in which the mind would not be oppressed by the government. In Brave New World John is a boy from a reservation brought into society as an experiment, he does not understand the logic of the people, or the way they are until he meets the controller of the continent. While everyone that was raised in society is very promiscuous, and open with everything, John who was raised on the reservation only wants to be with one person, and keep his relationship private. This goes against everything that the people of civilization believe in. the differences eventually lead to John leaving the city to go live in a lighthouse far from the city. He eventually killed himself because he could no longer handle what was going on in his head, and the things going on around him. Brave New World and Anthem where very similar in the fact that they both had governments that dictated everything, things that where suppose to eliminate unhappiness, and had main characters that did not fit into the world in which they found themselves living. There where also pretty outstanding differences between the books as well though, the way the two societies viewed interactions with the opposite sex, the ways the governments where structured, and most of all the ending of the books. One character goes on to live his life with the one he loves, while the other commits suicide.

Saturday, September 21, 2019

The Damage Of Theft To A Company Business Essay

The Damage Of Theft To A Company Business Essay Employee theft is always been costly to any business. This is still more appropriate in case of big retail chain organizations. The enhanced security arrangements in the recent times have made this topic more important than ever. This research is conducted to investigate the possible reasons for employee theft in supermarkets in Malaysia. It identifies the relationship between various factors with the employee theft behavior. It aimed to develop a model to help big retail chain organizations to design effective internal control systems to prevent/reduce employee theft. This chapter covers the following sections: 1. Background to the research 2. Malaysian retail industry and retail shrinkage 3. Research problem, issues and objectives 4. Justification for research 5. Whats new in this research? 6. Organization of this thesis 7. Definition of terms and 8. Summary 1.1 BACKGROUND TO THE RESEARCH Retailing crime continues to be a challenge for businesses in the USA and elsewhere (National Retail Security Survey, 2003). Retailing crime is financial loss attributable to a combination of various factors like customer theft, employee theft, internal error (administrative or process error) and supplier-vendor frauds. The recent worldwide shrinkage survey revealed 42.4% of the retail shrinkage was due to customer theft, 35.3% due to employee theft, 16.9% due to internal error and 5.4% due to suppliers-vendors frauds. Total global shrinkage in the 42 countries surveyed costs retailers U.S. $107.3 billion ($107,284 million), equivalent to 1.36% of retail sales: a serious threat to retailers bottom lines particularly at a time when many retailers are beginning to feel the pinch of an economic downturn. A key point to be noted is that the cost of shrink is ultimately borne by not only retailers, but also by consumers and society at large. Here Shrinkage or shrink refers to an accountan cy figure, reflecting the difference between the financial revenue the business should have received (based upon inventory and purchases) and the amount actually received. (The Global Retail Theft Barometer, 2010). The Barometer further confirms that retail shrink is a global issue: it is a common problem across all countries, regions and market sectors. The Barometer further points out that In 2010, thieves stole a very wide range of merchandise, but tended to focus on expensive popular branded items including: razor blades/shaving products; cosmetics/face creams and perfumes; smart phones and electrical gadgets; alcohol; fresh meat/expensive foodstuff; electric toothbrushes, electronic monitoring devices; infant formula and coffee; DVDs and electronic games; fashion (especially branded items, leather, handbags and accessories); sports-branded goods and sports shoes; electronic goods; branded sunglasses and watches. The survey tells that over 6.2 million customer and employee thiev es were apprehended last year. Employee theft is second major component of retail shrinkage due to the huge retail space in supermarkets and big size retail organizations. Employee theft can be defined as the theft of anything of value from the retailer by an employee or accomplice. The term anything of value includes cash, merchandise, property, services and information. Employee theft occurs mostly at the checkout area followed by the sales area and the customer desk/courtesy area (Hollinger and Clark, 1983). The theft methods include stealing merchandise, stealing cash, retaining receipts to show stolen items were paid for, voiding a sale or making a no-sale after a customer has paid and pocketing the cash, overcharging, shortchanging, coupon stuffing, credits for nonexistent returns and sliding product through the lane without charging. Other examples include warehouse personnel stealing stocked items, and cleaning and maintenance personnel removing valuables with the trash. Employee theft also takes place at the point-of-receipt of merchandise and includes losses due to payment for goods not received. Employee theft is any use or misuse or stealing of employers assets by the employees without permission to do so (Justice J. Walsh, 2000). Money is the most common asset that is stolen from employers. Theft of time happens when an employee is paid for the time which he/she did not work. Usually this happens by falsifying of time records. Technically, theft of time also includes employees who are not working while on the job, although legally this is very difficult to prove. Theft of supplies is another usual form of employee theft. Examples of this form of theft are office supplies (computers, papers, cabinets, etc.) and restaurant supplies (food, silverware, condiments, etc.). Another example of theft of company property is product displays. Overcharging the customers and subsequently pocketing the extra cash can totally affect a business credibility, because it affects not only the employer but also the customers. If the customers find out that a business is overcharging, it can hu rt that business growth. This is very familiar in restaurants because many restaurants do not keep a close eye on their employees actions. Stealing information is perhaps the most damaging form of theft. Familiar examples of this nature are theft of trade secrets and product designs. A number of studies have been conducted in United States, Canada and in European countries about the employee theft in retail organizations and super markets. The US Chamber of Commerce estimates that US employers lose $20 billion to $40 billion a year due to employee theft. It also states that 30% of all business failures are caused by employee theft (David J Shaffer and Ronald A Schmidt 2006). For every dollar stolen, supermarkets need to sell at least $50 more of goods to make up the loss (George H Condon, 2003). Happy employees steal less in United States (Jennifer Korolishin 2003). Shrink losses due to employee theft can equal the profits in Canada (George H Condon 2003). 1.2 MALAYSIAN RETAIL INDUSTRY AND RETAIL SHRINKAGE Malaysias retail trade touched at RM122.54 billion for the year 2009, up 106.37 per cent from 2005. Growth has averaged 26.59 per cent yearly from 2005 to 2009. Retail sales touched RM59.38 billion during 2005, increased to RM71.69 billion during 2006, gone up to RM95.67 billion in 2007, improved to RM116.10 billion during 2008 and risen to RM122.54 billion in 2009. In the first quarter of 2010, it touched the ever seen highest amount of 32.33 billion (Department of Statistics, Malaysia). From 2006 to 2008, increased urbanization and education saw Malaysians become even more sophisticated and demanding with their shopping experiences. This brought about the development of quality, world-class malls across the country in this period, such as 1Borneo; these malls house a strong array of international brands which are uniquely suited to the discerning needs of consumers. Therefore, new lifestyle retail concepts have become more popular in Malaysia, with retailers offering unique merchan dise to cater to the needs of specific consumers. For instance, Robinsons Malaysia has 50 to 60 exclusive brands for shoppers, whilst Tangs in the Pavilion Kuala Lumpur claims to be the Generation Three Tangs store, a store that encompasses Tangs signature shopping concepts alongside being localized to meet the needs of Malaysian consumers. Store-based Retailing Achieves a Better Performance Inevitably, store-based retailing maintained its dominance from 2006 to 2008, with slightly stronger growth than non-store retailing. The development of shopping malls across the country from 2006 to 2008, especially in secondary towns, such as the opening of The Spring in Sarawak and East Coast Mall in Kuantan, further boosted the performance of store-based retailing. Direct selling continued to dominate non-store retailing, with internet retailing exhibiting the strongest current value growth, albeit from a small base. Interestingly, non-store retailer Dell also opened its first physical counter at Tec Asia in early 2008, representing an increased crossover by non-store retailers in an effort to expand their growth. Employee retail theft in select retail businesses in Malaysia during 2009-2010 The Global Retail Theft Barometer was released in October, 2010 for the period between July, 2009 and June, 2010. In Malaysia, 19 retailers with a combined sale of US$1.974 billion participated in the survey. The findings of the survey reveal that as a percentage of total sales, retail shrinkage in Malaysia was 1.53 per cent. In this, the customer theft amounts to 51.6% (US$132.10 million) This was followed by employee theft at 22.3 % (US$57.09 million) and supplier or vendor theft at 5.9% (US$15.19 million). The remaining 20.2% of financial loss amounting to US$51.71 million was due to administrative errors. As per the findings of The Global Retail Theft Barometer, the methods of employee retail theft in select Malaysian retail businesses are as follows: Table 1.1 Main methods of employee retail theft in select retail businesses in Malaysia: Cash, coupons and vouchers 18.6% Merchandise 38.3% Refund fraud, false markdown 27.3% Large financial frauds 6.9% Collusion 8.9% Total 100 Source: The Global Retail Theft Barometer, 2008 RESEARCH PROBLEM, ISSUES AND OBJECTIVES It is a difficult job to correctly approximate the amount of revenue lost through employees theft by way of cash, goods, and services because much of these activities remain undetected, unnoticed or unpublicized. It has been estimated that as much as 75% of losses attributable to employee theft is undetected because of the difficulty in separating inventory shrinkage into its major internal (theft) and external (shoplifting) component parts (Green, 1997). Like the Global Retail Theft Barometer, many other studies have also made an attempt to identify the base rate for employee theft (see Ash, 1988; Brooks and Arnold, 1989; Jones et aL, 1990; Slora, 1989; Wimbush and Dalton, 1997). The results have shown a wide-range of estimates ranging from 3 to 62 percent. Thus it could be seen that employee theft is an expensive problem for an organization; it has been reported as 10 times as costly as Americas street crime (Greenberg, 1997). The amount of property theft alone has been estimated to be $40 billion per year (Shapiro, Trevino, Victor, 1995), and about one third of employees admit that they steal from their employers (Kamp Brooks, 1991). Researches on antecedents and other correlates of employee theft have focused on two broad categories of factors: individual (personality) factors and situational factors. Both of these factors are important and have practical implications for businesses. Individual factors are variables that employers mostly cannot control; employers may only be able to respond to them. Situational factors such strong policies about theft, safeguards, etc., are much more under the control of employers. The central objective of this research is to investigate the key research problem: What are the factors contributing to workplace theft behavior of the employees of retail floor of super markets in Malaysia and how the internal control systems help to prevent/reduce the workplace theft behavior in case of the employees of Supermarkets in Malaysia. The following are the research objectives to investigate this key research problem: Objectives: a) General objective: To study the various factors contributing to the intention to steal in the supermarkets in Malaysia and also to study the relationship between the internal control systems and workplace theft behavior in the supermarkets in Malaysia. b) Specific objectives: 1) To identify the possible reasons leading to the intention to steal by the employees in supermarkets in Malaysia. 2) To find out the relationship between the individual factors and the intention to steal in supermarkets in Malaysia. 3) To find out the relationship between the organizational factors and the intention to steal in supermarkets in Malaysia. 4) To find out the relationship between the intention to steal and the workplace theft behavior of the employees of supermarkets in Malaysia. 5) To determine the moderating effects of internal control systems between the intention to steal and workplace theft behavior of the employees in supermarkets in Malaysia. 6) To identify the effective internal control systems to prevent/reduce employee theft in supermarkets in Malaysia. The research issues and related objectives to investigate the research problem are described in Table 1.2 Table 1.2 Research Issues and Objectives Research issue Research objective 1. What are the reasons contributing intention to steal by the employees in retail floor of supermarkets in Malaysia? To identify the possible reasons leading to the intention to steal by the employees in supermarkets in Malaysia. 2. What is the relationship between theindividual factors and the intention to steal in supermarkets in Malaysia? To find out the relationship between the individual factors and the intention to steal in supermarkets in Malaysia. 3. What is the relationship between theorganizational factors and the intention to steal in supermarkets in Malaysia? To find out the relationship between the organizational factors and the intention to steal in supermarkets in Malaysia. 4. What is the relationship between the intention to steal and the workplace theft behavior of the employees of supermarkets in Malaysia? To find out the relationship between the intention to steal and the workplace theft behavior of the employees of supermarkets in Malaysia. 5. What are the moderating effects of internal control systems between the intention to steal and workplace theft behavior of the employees in supermarkets in Malaysia? To determine the moderating effects of internal control systems between the intention to steal and workplace theft behavior of the employees in supermarkets in Malaysia. 6. What are the effective internal control systems to prevent/reduce employee theft in supermarkets in Malaysia? To identify the effective internal control systems to prevent/reduce employee theft in supermarkets in Malaysia. Employee theft in a retail organization can be defined as the theft of anything of value from the retailer by an employee or accomplice. The term anything of value includes cash, merchandise, property, services and information. In retail organizations employee theft occurs mostly at the checkout area followed by the sales area and the customer desk/courtesy area (Hollinger and Clark, 1983). Methods include stealing merchandise, stealing cash, retaining receipts to show stolen items were paid for, voiding a sale or making a no-sale after a customer has paid and pocketing the cash, overcharging, shortchanging, coupon stuffing, credits for nonexistent returns and sliding product through the lane without charging. Other examples include warehouse personnel stealing stocked items, and cleaning and maintenance personnel removing valuables with the trash. Employee theft also takes place at the point-of-receipt of merchandise and includes losses due to payment for goods not received. US reta ilers have recognized for years that employee theft is a huge and growing problem (Mathews, 1997). These losses were, on average, 1.72 percent of retail sales, comparable in magnitude to retail profit margins as a percentage of sales. Surveys by UKs Center for Retail Research (2001) and the Retail Council of Canada (2001) broadly corroborate these figures and demonstrate that concern about retail shrinkage is not restricted to US retailers alone. Together, with the amounts stolen, the cost of preventing theft imposes a substantial burden on retailers. Employee theft has been cited as a primary factor in 30 percent or more of all business failures (Snyder et al., 1991). Theft from retailers can result in bankruptcy or near closure. It results in lost raises and bonuses if not layoffs for employees, and higher prices for customers as the following quote argues: A store operating at 3 percent profit on sales would have to sell $1,216.66 worth of merchandise a year to make up for the da ily loss of a ten-cent candy bar. Just to cover a yearly loss of $1,000 in thefts, a retailer would have to sell each day over 900 candy bars, or 130 packs of cigarettes, or 380 cans of soup. Faced with such unreasonable selling volumes most small business people are forced instead to raise their prices and lower their ability to compete (Verril, 1999). Researchers and employers appear to agree generally on how to define employee theft. Researchers studying this phenomenon have defined employee theft broadly as an employees unauthorized taking, control, or transfer of money, goods, and/or services of an employer committed during the normal course of work activity (Merriam, 1977). Organizations create policies that fit this general definition and further identify the specific types of behavior considered to be theft in their particular context. By enacting such policies, organizations seek to shape the employee perceptions of inappropriate behavior. However, these policies often fail to generate a common perception among employees as to the types of behavior considered employee theft. While most employees agree that some types of behaviors (such as stealing cash) are theft, other types of behaviors are seen by employees as more ambiguous. For example, the unauthorized taking of food by restaurant workers would be included in the above definition of theft, but some employees may consider such stealing a perk of the job. Indeed, researchers suggest that employees are unlikely to share common definitions of employee theft (J. Greenberg, 1998; L. Greenberg Barling, 1996; J. Greenberg Scott, 1996; Hollinger Clark, 1983; Tatham, 1974). Hollinger and Clark (1983) found that several types of employee theft occur in organizations and that social norm consensus did not exist among the employees they interviewed with respect to acceptable and unacceptable (theft) behavior. Social norm consensus represents the amount of agreement among coworkers as to whether a specific type of behavior constitutes theft. This research also is consistent with Mischels (1973) work on cognitive social learning, which suggests that situations vary in the degree to which they determine and limit individuals attitudes and behavior. That is, situations with a high degree of social norm consensus serve to limit individuals to specific thoughts and actions. Social norm consensus is likely to play an important role in labeling an ob served behavior as theft. Although some theoretical work (J. Greenberg, 1998) indicates that lack of agreement among organizational members as to what is considered theft and non-theft is likely to affect whether a particular individual defines a specific incident as employee theft, this has not been empirically demonstrated. There has been some previous research on the matter of retail employee theft, although in recent times there seems to have been a dearth of interest in this topic. For example, Tatham (1974) conducted a survey of retail employees to determine their perceptions of theft from their employers. They classified the respondents into two groups: non-takers, that is, those who do not steal from their employers; and takers, those who engage in stealing. An interesting finding was that, though non-takers were less reluctant than takers to report fellow employees who engaged in stealing, in general, there was much reluctance by employees to report fellow employees who stole. Tatham also found that there was little effect of the value of the item taken on the employees admission to stealing. Hair et al., (1976) conducted a survey of some 254 retail employers to assess their perceptions of, and responses to, employee theft. They found that employers were likely to underestimate the level of emplo yee theft. As did Tatham (1974), they also found that the value of the item taken by the employees had little effect on the employees admission of stealing; however, it had a substantial influence on the employers perceptions of what constituted stealing. While Tatham (1974) found that some 50 percent of employees reported stealing from their employers, about 80 percent of retailers in the Hair et al.,(1976) study believed that employee theft accounted for less than 2 percent of their total shrinkage and that no more than 2 percent of their employees stole. Other researchers engaged in this stream of research have looked at such issues as: personnel selection and its contribution to reduction of employee theft (Brown and Pardue, 1985; Jones et al., 1990); the impact of product identification and posting of losses from shrinkage on employee theft rates (Carter et al., 1988); and the use of internal control procedures to stem employee theft (Kennish, 1985; Snyder et al., 1989). In more recent work, Oliphant and Oliphant (2001) used a behavior-based method in an effort to determine the level of shrinkage in a drug store outlet in the USA, and to assess reliability of the employers estimates of the level of shrinkage. Rather than posting shrinkage information on individual targeted items in the employee break and lunch area, the researchers posted the total dollar amount of shrinkage and the number of items missing due to shrinkage. During the eight-week period of their study, the store achieved an 82 percent decrease in the number of items stolen each week and a 74 percent decrease in monetary loss. Working in conjunction with the retail store, these researchers were able to assist with identification of and reduction in theft of store merchandise by employees. Bamfield (2004) surveyed 476 major European retailers regarding shrinkage and found variations in the shrinkage rates across countries. European retailers ranked employee theft second among the sources of shrinkage (29 percent), in contrast to the USA, where employee theft was perceived by retailers to be the leading source of shrinkage (47 percent). Though retail employee theft can take many forms (for example, giving of unauthorized discounts, theft of cash, theft of merchandise, time theft, violation of sick leave and time-off policies, and so on), the theft of cash and merchandise is most profound, and, so, is the focus of our attention. Retailers continue to struggle with this issue and continue to use a number of different policies in an effort to avert, or minimize, the problem. Among the policies are: pre-employment screening; policy and procedure manuals; loss prevention awareness programs; human resources programs, including decent retail wages and employee incentives; as w ell as various detection procedures (National Retail Security Survey, 2003). In spite of these factors, retail employee theft still continues to be the factor that contributes most to retail shrinkage in the USA. Hence, there should be focus on efforts to understand retail employee theft. The idea of employees stealing is such a difficult concept for many managers to comprehend that they do not use the words, theft or stealing, to describe the deviant actions of employees. Euphemistic or politically correct words such as inventory shrinkage, spoilage, pilferage, shortage, unaccounted loss, or defalcation are more commonly used to describe employee theft, which reflects an attitude of denial and avoids the image of criminal activity. Because an employee is considered part of the family, it is hard to accept that someone you hired and worked with would steal from you. When caught, employees are often treated less harshly than someone not employed who steals from the firm (Kennish, 1985). Many employers consider employee theft as an unpreventable, unpleasant situation which is just part of doing business (Kennish, 1985). They expect employees to steal. The problem of employee theft is further exasperated by what constitutes employee misconduct. Some employers believe a pencil here and there, use of the copier for personal use, or five dollars worth of long distance calls per month on the office phone are acceptable. When employers exhibit such an attitude, it establishes an organizational atmosphere that management condones employee theft (Kamp and Brooks, 1991). Thus, employees view stealing from the company as an acceptable and justifiable behavior. It also makes it difficult to prosecute stealing, since it is difficult to determine what level of stealing is unacceptable. Employers face the prospects of going out of-business if they cannot control the costs of lost services, cash, and products. Statistics provided by the US Chamber of Commerce indicate that 50 percent of all small business failures in the first year of business can be attributed to employee theft (Business Strategy, 1995). Insurance companies estimate one-third of all business failures can be attributed to employee theft (Miner and Capps, 1996; Snyder and Blair, 1989; Snyder et aL, 1989; Bourke, 1992). The alternative is to develop anti-theft measures (i.e. honesty tests, surveillance devices) to prevent employees from stealing which then add costs to doing business. The employer must decide which costs are greater; to catch a thief, or to accept it as the inevitable (Taylor, 1986) and pass these costs on to the consumer by raising the prices. However, to determine a cost benefit analysis, one must know the amount of employee theft being conducted. As stated earlier, it is difficult to determine the amount of business losses attributed to employee theft. For example, in the retail sector, shrinkage losses are attributed to shoplifting, employee theft, administrative error, and vendor fraud. Distinction among these categories is difficult to calculate. Most companies cannot measure the amount of employee theft accurately and the amounts that are calculated are at best, informed guesses (Baker and Westin, 1987). Robinson and Bennett (1995) used a broad category of deviant workplace behaviors within which theft may be investigated. Two dimensions of deviance, ranging from minor (m) to serious (s) and organizational (o) to interpersonal (i), can be combined to form four counterproductive behavior categories: property deviance (s, o), production deviance (m, o), political deviance (m, i), and personal aggression (s, i). In this study, they focused on the model dimensions of serious and minor incidents of organizational deviance, or production deviance and property deviance. These categories subsume specific behaviors of time theft (production deviance) and physical theft (property deviance). Property deviance includes employee behaviors that involve the unauthorized taking, control, or transfer of money or property of the formal work organization by an employee, either for the employees own use or for sale to another, during the course of occupational activity (Greenberg, 1997; Hollinger Clark, 1983b). It includes behaviors such as misuse of employee discounts; taking merchandise, supplies, or information for personal use or sale; filching money or production materials; and falsifying time records. The boundaries of employee theft as defined here do not include theft of coworker property. Production deviance includes what has been referred to as work withdrawal behavior. These behaviors can take the form of reduced productivity, increased absenteeism and tardiness, low job involvement, and low organizational commitment (Hanisch, Hulin, Roznowski, 1998). The production deviance construct also includes behaviors such as leaving work early and taking unauthorized breaks (Blau, 1998). Individuals engage in these behaviors to maximize or maintain social and organizational roles. When these motives conflict with formal job responsibilities or when employees are dissatisfied, individuals minimize time spent on formal job tasks (Hanisch Hulin, 1991). Production deviance behaviors that result in the reduction of time working (e.g. tardiness, absenteeism, abuse of sick time, unauthorized breaks, socializing, loitering) are considered to be time theft. Many researchers use attitudes such as dissatisfaction to predict deviant employee behavior (Bolin Heatherly, 2001). According to Murphy (1993), satisfied individuals tend to exhibit pro-social behaviors, whereas unsatisfied individuals tend to commit acts of property and production deviance. Hanisch and Hulins (1991) definition of work withdrawal assumes that dissatisfaction is the catalyst for behaviors such as time theft. Individuals involved in employee theft also are often involved in other deviant behaviors (Murphy). Hollinger and Clark (1983b) found relations between job dissatisfaction and property deviance among samples of retail and hospital employees, but not manufacturing employees. They also found a significant relation between job dissatisfaction and production deviance (i.e., work withdrawal or time theft) in all three industries. Differences between the strength of relation between satisfaction and property deviance and satisfaction and production deviance could occur because of perceived differences in organizational sanctions for these behaviors. Johns (1998) suggested that work context may constrain the exhibition of one withdrawal behavior while allowing the expression of another theoretically related behavior. Hanisch et al. (1998) suggested that the set of withdrawal behaviors that manifests as a result of negative job attitudes is a function of the situation and job constraints. These sanctions and constraints would be communicated by an organizations climate for theft. According to Murphy (1993), many researchers have acknowledged the importance of situational factors to employee deviance, but few have examined this relationship. Boye and Jones (1997) suggested that the effect of specific aspects of climate for theft should be examined. Climate for theft includes the opportunity to steal and the perceived and communicated norms of the organization, management, and work group. Included in these norms is the attitude toward theft, perceived extent of coworker and management theft, perceived certainty of sanctions for theft, and perceived severity of sanctions for theft. Hollinger and Clark (1983a) examined the conditions under which employees commit theft. They found that the perception of certainty and severity of organizational sanctions were related to employee theft. The perceived certainty of sanctions had a stronger relation with theft than did the perceived severity of sanctions. The least theft occurred in situations in which sanctions were p erceived as severe and certain. Greenberg (1997) suggested that norms, unwritten rules that guide behavior and contribute to an organizations climate, often condone or encourage employee theft. For example, managers who engage in theft may establish a norm that such behavior is tolerated. Managers also may encourage theft by allowing employees to use equipment and materials for personal use or rewarding extra behaviors with free or highly discounted products (Greenberg). If steal-friendly norms have been established and the organizational climate is perceived as permissive to such actions, employees may steal to fit in or get along with their coworkers. Consistent with this climate-based influence, Hollinger and Clark (1983b) found that the influence of coworker attitudes on theft behavior was stronger than that of management sanctions or employee fear of reprisal. Thus a number of studies are availa

Friday, September 20, 2019

Erikson’s Psychosocial Theory: A Qualitative Study

Erikson’s Psychosocial Theory: A Qualitative Study From the time of conception until death, humans undergo incessant changes. One would experience biological, psychological and cognitive changes as one progresses in life. It leads to a change in the way one thinks and behaves. Development is the systematic change that takes place in an individual over the course of life (Shaffer and Kipp 2009: 2). The development of a human being is influenced by factors of nature and nurture. Based on these factors, various psychologists have proposed theories pertaining to human development. Particularly, psychologists have been interested in how one’s personality develops; whether personality is inherent or whether it is shaped by one’s experiences and environment. Among such psychologists was Erik Erikson who proposed the psychosocial theory of development. Erikson was a follower of Freud and accepted many of the idea’s that Freud introduced, however Erikson made modifications to Freud’s ideas and introduced the theory of psychosocial development (Erikson 1963, 1982 cited in Shaffer and Kipp 2009: 44). Freud believed that the stages of personality development was influenced by the maturation of sex instinct, this theory was termed psychosexual development (cite needed). Psychosexual theory of development focuses essentially on the unconscious mind. The id, ego and superego are the components of personality and these three components develop in accordance to the stages of psychosexual development. There are 5 stages of psychosexual development; the oral, anal, phallic, latency and finally the genital stage. The extent to which conflicts are resolved in each of these stages influence one’s personality later in life. Erikson modified this theory by emphasizing more on social and cultural influences on development and personality, rather than the influence of sex instinct and urges. The psychosocial theory of development constructs a series of 8 stages of psychosocial conflict that one would encounter at various stages of life. Each stage consists of a major crisis. The time at which each crisis emerges is dependent on factors of biological maturation and social demands that one would encounter during various phases of life. The extent to which an individual resolves each conflict affects the psychological development and personality of the individual (citation needed). Early life experiences, therefore, are assumed to have a significant impact on the way in which one would think about the world, the way one would form social relationships and on what one would think about oneself. To determine how Erikson’s psychosocial theory of development may contribute in explaining how interpersonal relationships, emotion and personality are shaped, particularly in individuals of the Sri Lankan context, a structured interview was formulated and 2 individuals were interviewed based on how he/she looks back on his/her life. The interview provides means of obtaining qualitative data about the participants’ lives with respect to the psychosocial development that has and is taking place. The sample for the interview consisted of a 25 year old Sri Lankan male who was married and a 50 year old Sri Lankan female who was divorced, single and had 2 children. The occupation of the participant A (the male participant) was mechanical engineering and participant B (the female participant) worked as a confidential secretary. Before the interview was conducted, each participant was briefed on the purpose of the interview and the method in which the interview would take plac e, then were asked if he/she would like to participate in the study. Information regarding the expected duration of the interview and the nature of the questions that would be asked was also given to the participants prior to the interview so that the participant would be fully aware of what the consequences of taking part in the study would be. The interview was a structured interview; 38 open ended questions were devised and there was an average of 4 questions relating to each of the 8 stages of Erikson’s theory of psychosocial development. After the participants agreed to participate in the study a face to face interview was conducted at each of the participants’ homes. Before the interview began the participants were briefed on confidentiality being maintained, their rights to not answer questions that they wished not to answer and they were given the right to withdraw at any moment they wished. The participants then signed a consent form and the interview proceeded. Stage 1: Trust versus mistrust The first stage of psychosocial development is believed to take place during infancy (0 – 1 year). At this stage the relationship between the infant and mother is of importance. In order to cultivate a healthy balance between trust and mistrust the infant should not be overprotected and overindulged yet the infant should be cared for and not neglected. If the infant is abused or neglected at this stage the infant’s basic trust will be destroyed and mistrust would be fostered. When one has mistrust one tends to expect that the world would bring more bad his/her way than good. One may find it difficult to trust friends and loved ones, even society. Mistrust may even cause an individual to be more avoidant of exposure to risks because the individual feels that the world is dangerous and inconsistent. Contrastingly, if the infant is overprotected by the mother the infant may develop a false sense of trust. Insulation from any form of unexpectedness may amount to sensory dis tortion and the individual may become naive. Such individuals are generally optimistic. In the interview conducted, questions were asked to determine how trusting the participant was of the world. When asked about what the participant thinks the future holds, participant A stated that he was optimistic to a certain extent about the future and the responses that participant A provided revealed that he did not seem to have difficulty in trusting other individuals. Participant A believed that the world is good yet has its ugly when asked whether the participant thinks the world is a bad place. Using the psychosocial theory of development participant A appears to have a healthy balance between trust and mistrust. Therefore it can be inferred that as an infant the participant obtained sufficient affection and care without being overprotected. Participant B, however, was pessimistic about the future, failed to see any good in the world and did not seem to trust other individuals with ease . Mistrust seems to have fostered more in participant B and this may be as a result of neglect during infancy. However the degree to which this theory is effective can be of question. Participant B’s mistrust may not be a result of experience during infancy, instead it may be an experience from later in life. The individual is divorced and the failed marriage may be a better explanation for why the individual is pessimistic and finds it difficult to trust others. Stage 2: Autonomy versus shame and doubt Between the age of 1 and 3, exerting independence becomes a key challenge for the child. The child begins to gain control over his/her body and is able to explore surroundings. If the child is ridiculed for his/her attempts at autonomy the child may become doubtful and ashamed of handling situations and problems on his/her own. Participant A’s responses to the questions based on autonomy took no extremes but rather fell on middle ground. The responses revealed that the participant made decisions independently and did not rely on others for matters that needed to be handled himself, however would seek help occasionally when in doubt. Participant B, however, still relied on parents for assistance when making important decisions in life and would ask for assistance when facing difficulty or if doubtful about what to do. Therefore, it can be assumed that participant B is less autonomous than participant A. However in the Sri Lankan culture it is not common to find adults still see king his/her parents for advice. Families in Sri Lankan culture are closely knit. Even as children grow into adults, the relationship with parents remain strong and it is quite common to find that elderly parents continue to live with their adult children and grandchildren. This closeness and confidence could be the reason why individuals still ask parents for advice even as an adult, not because of autonomy as a toddler. In this sense Erikson’s theory may be ethnocentric and not quite applicable in Sri Lankan culture. Stage 3: Initiative versus guilt This stage takes place between the age of 3 and 6 years. In addition to autonomy, the child now learns qualities of planning and undertaking tasks for the sake of being active. Guilt is a result of being reprimanded for adventure and experimentation. At this stage in a child’s life Erikson highlights the importance of adventure and play no matter how puerile it may appear to the parent of supervisor. Preventing an individual from initiation at this stage may have an effect on the individual’s confidence to initiate in later life and may instil fear that the individual is wrong or would be disapproved. However the child should still experience the consequence of mistakes and learn through trial and error so that the child does not turn out to be irresponsible so that the child’s conscience develops and so that he/she does not become boastful in nature. Stage 4: Industry versus inferiority From the age of 7 to 12, the child’s cognitive capabilities increase drastically. The competence of the child develops and the child begins to engage in meaningful activity. Involvement in extracurricular activities in school may help the child prepare to enter life and become industrious as an adult. Contrastingly if the child does not experience the satisfaction that achievement brings, experiences failure in school work and activities, or is denied the opportunity to develop his/her unique potential and participate in school activities, in later life the individual may feel useless, unable to contribute or work in teams. Moreover, a certain amount of failure is important too so that the child has a sense of modesty. The balance between modesty and competence if important. One develops the virtue purpose if successful in this stage. Stage 5: Identity versus role confusion Adolescence (age 12 to 18 years) is a major stage of development of an individual. One becomes increasingly independent, one begins to think of the future in terms of the career one wishes to occupy and the type of lifestyle one wishes to follow. In making such decisions one must learn the roles that one will occupy as an adult. What should happen at the end of this stage, according to Bee, is â€Å"a reintegrated sense of self, of what one wants to do or be, and of one’s appropriate sex role† (Bee 1992 cited in McLeod 2013). Individuals begin to explore possibilities and based on the result of such explorations, one’s identity is formed. Forcing an identity upon a youth would cause diffusion in which the individual lacks any form of commitment or passion. The youth would become rebellious or unhappy. In failing to form one’s identity, one may experience foreclosure where the youth adopts an identity of convenience precipitately. The youth that is unable t o form his/her own identity becomes confused about his/her role in society. Individuals would develop the virtue of fidelity if successful in this stage. Although Erikson’s theory describes the development of fidelity the theory does not explain how the development takes place. It is difficult to test the theory in this area and it is not falsifiable. The relationship between exploration as a youth and development of identity is vague. Participant A in the interview had strict parents and was not allowed to explore and adventure as a teenager yet seems to have fidelity and a strong identity. This contradicts the psychosocial theory of development. Stage 6: Intimacy versus isolation In young adulthood (18 to 40 years), one starts to share oneself and one’s space more intimately with another individual. It starts with exploring a relationship with an individual other than a family member, which in turn could lead toward a long term commitment to that individual. Avoidance of intimacy and commitment to a relationship could lead to isolation or even depression. If an individual succeeds in this stage the individual develops the virtue of love. However in a country that has arranged marriages it is difficult to see how willing one is to share one’s personal space with another. It could just be that the individual is forced to be in a committed relationship with another individual. The obligation to remain in the relationship would be present without love. In this case determining the successfulness of an individual at this stage is difficult. Stage 7: Generativity versus stagnation This stage occurs during middle adulthood (between 40 and 65 years). The individual starts to feel more involved in the world and a part of a bigger picture. Moreover, one would become more productive in terms of one’s career or in terms of raising one’s children. Some may even become involved in community activities and organizations that would benefit society. Failure in being generative in these ways would cause an individual to feel unproductive and stagnant in society. This stage is important for the development of the virtue care. Stage 8: Integrity versus despair As one steps into old age (65 years and over), one becomes unable to be as productive as one use to be. Therefore at this stage one starts to reflect on one’s life in terms of how satisfied one is with how he/she lived life. Integrity develops as a result of one seeing oneself as successful in life. According to Erikson, if one is disappointed and feels one did not accomplish the life goals one had, the individual would develop despair. Whilst the psychosocial theory is an aid in capturing central development issues in the 8 stages, it is still difficult to use the theory as an explanation of as to how and why such development comes about and Erikson acknowledges this (Erikson 1964 cited in McLeod 2013). There is no explicit explanation for how the degree of development at one stage affects the degree of development at another stage. The psychosocial theory of development is claimed to be universal however it is difficult to apply in certain cultures. For the solution of crises there is no universal mechanism that can be applied. It may vary from culture to culture. Moreover, the psychosocial theory of development, similar to the psychosexual theory of development, is not falsifiable and is difficult to test empirically. The lack of empiricism is one reason why developmentalists prefer other viewpoints of development, typically the learning viewpoint, rather than the psychoanalytical viewpoint. Despite the criticisms of the psychosocial theory of development, there is still support for Erikson’s 8 stages of personality development (McAdams 2001). The emphasis on the fact that individuals undergo development actively rather than passively and that humans are not subject to irrational urges is a quality that Erikson introduced after improving Freud’s psychosexual theory (Erikson 1963 cited in Shaffer and Kipp 2009: 44). Many find it easier to accept that humans are rational and there is interaction of both biology and social influences, with ego playing a greater role than id. The psychosocial theory indeed has provided understanding to the development that occurs through various stages of life. The impact that relationships with family, friends and peers has on development has been brought to light and this theory can be applied to the education setting, work setting and even help improve parenting methods. Therefore despite the limitations of the psychosocial theory, the contribution to the field of developmental psychology that Erikson has made, in terms of the psychosocial stages of development, is certainly valuable. List of References McAdams, D. P. (2001) ‘The Psychology of Life Stories’. Review of General Psychology 5 (2), 100 McLeod, S. (2013) Erik Erikson [online] available from www.simplypsychology.org/Erik-Erikson.html> [19 March 2014] Shaffer, D. R., and Kipp, K. (2009) Developmental Psychology: Childhood and Adolescence. 8th edn. Australia: Cengage Learning TWas The Dopolavoro A Success? TWas The Dopolavoro A Success? To What Extent Was The Dopolavoro A Success? Plan Of Investigation This essay will analyse the extent of the Dopolavoros success within Italian society between the years 1925 and 1939. The Dopolavoro was a leisure program under the organization Opera Nazionale Dopolavoro (OND) and was created initially to help gain the support of the Italian working class after the ban on trade unions. In addition to controlling Italian dissatisfaction within the state, the OND saw these programs as a further area of competition with the Socialists, who had similar social organizations. Seeing that it tried to gain the support of employers, there was nothing characteristically fascist about it. However, after Augusto Turatis rise to party secretary in 1927, the Dopolavoro became another supporting element of Mussolinis regime. Despite propaganda having a wide range presence, Italian society was not affected to the extent that the government wished, leading to the question, to what extent was the Dopolavoro a success? The two sources presented approach the topic in a relatively different manner. John Whittams Fascist Italy describes the course taken on this subject by a purely subjective viewpoint and analyses the factual information. Martin Blinkhorn on the other hand, in Mussolini and Fascist Italy, promotes a objective opinion on the Dopolavoro and the Italian state while criticizing it for its manipulation and deceptive attitude. Conclusively, an evaluation of the extent to which this program was a success will be presented through the analysis of key factors. Summary Of Evidence Mussolini was appointed Prime Minister in 1922 The Dopolavoro was formed on the first of may in 1925. The Dopolavoro included adult leisure programs, facilities and welfare programs. This idea was introduced by an engineer Mario Giani. Edmondo Rossoni promoted Gianis schemes. It was ran by a government agency called Opera Nazionale Dopolavoro. It aimed at decreasing tension created after the ban on trade union-sponsored clubs. In the 1930s the Dopolavoro ranged from theater to bands and libraries. Initially, membership was limited to 300,000, in 1926 and grew to 4 million by 1939. The OND was the answer to Gianis plea for a national state sponsored plan. The OND took over former socialist buildings and used them as its facilities. Turati was appointed leader of the OND in 1927. The ONDs initial purpose was to deliver news on the agricultural sector. Increased membership urged the OND to put more emphasis on recreational activities. Sports activities and welfare programs were heavily funded and journeys to favorable locations were subsidized. In 1936, twenty per cent of urban workers joined, 7 per cent of rural members and 80 per cent of employees in state and private sectors. Company employees were granted better facilities and lounge areas. Class divisions were evident. The poorer classes were given the cheapest seats in addition to being separated from the higher classes. Evaluation Of Sources Fascist Italy by renowned historian John Whittam, is a concise introduction on the nature of Italian Fascism under Mussolini. This book was written to inform the reader of the Italian Fascist state in terms of politics, diplomacy and military developments, and in what ways the domestic sector was neglected. The provision of documents and recent research aided in analysing the origins of the movement and its political success. Within its far-reaching analysis, Whittam emphasizes Mussolinis attempt for social control and party-state tension. The successes and failures of the fascist state, as well as the collapse of the regime are analysed objectively. Mussolini and Fascist Italy, also written by renowned historian Martin Blinkhorn, explains the importance of Mussolini, the movement and the regime which overlooked Italian society between 1922 and World War 2. Furthermore, he examines the fascist partys rise to power and the creation of Mussolinis dictatorship through reason and rational arguments. Nevertheless, Blinkhorn portrays his argument by criticizing the fascist state for subjecting society totalitarianism and deception. Although he makes brief comments on certain aspects of the Dopolavoros success, his argument largely consist of its â€Å"abysmal failures†. Furthermore, the age of the book must be questioned. In contrast to Whittam who has exploited certain recent revelations, Blinkhorns resources rely on documents preceding 1980. Analysis Like several other dictators, Mussolini too tried to tie his people closer with fascist beliefs and incorporate the masses to the fascist regime. An attempt was made to achieve this by introducing certain programs to the Italian people. These included adult leisure programs, facilities and welfare programs. On May first 1925 the Dopolavoro was formed, ran by a government agency called the Opera Nazionale Dopolavoro (OND). Initially, this idea of social engineering was introduced by Mario Giani, an engineer and a former manager of Westinghouse plant at Vado Ligure. Edmondo Rossoni, an Italian Fascist politician, acknowledged Gianis schemes for common activities and arranged for them to be introduced to his rapidly growing syndicalist organization. The upholding of the relationship between employers was crucial, seeing that such a project required increased funding as well as buildings and recreation grounds. Gianis plans seemed to be put in peril by suspicion placed on Rossoni on beha lf of the employers. Giani saw the risk in going through with his schemes under the current situation so he requested a national, state-sponsored plan. The solution to this appeal was the Opera Nazionale Dopolavoro. The remains of the Socialist Partys establishments aided the emergence of the Dopolavoro â€Å"with its chambers of labour, co-operatives and leagues many of them with mutual aid societies, communal halls and facilities for social and sporting events.† The squadristi, commonly known as The Blackshirts, destroyed many of these; the fascists simply took over those which remained intact. Mussolini appointed Turati, the party secretary, as leader of the OND two years after its establishment, and proceeded to integrate it as a central aspect of the National Fascist Party. The party representative in the provinces was responsible for assembling a board to supervise the area, and all Dopolavoro activities, as well as those sponsored by the employers, would be managed by its members. Originally, the OND was meant to inform the workers of new techniques and developments in the industrial sector. However, as the organization grew, more efforts were put in enhancing sports activities, summer camps, subsidized journeys to the mountains and the sea, cheap rail fares and welfare programs. It aimed at â€Å"re-educating† the Italian people as a whole, instead of brain washing them from an early age. It aimed at providing leisure/after-work activities within a fascist atmosphere. Also the Dopolavoro aimed at decreasing the workers irritation with the fascist ban on the trade union-sponsored clubs. Reaching the 1930s the Dopolavoro ranged from theater to bands and libraries. Initially, membership was estimated at 300,000 in 1926 and grew to almost four million by 1939. Reaching 1936, twenty per cent of urban workers took part, 7 per cent of rural members and 80 per cent of employees in state and private sectors. Many of the state and private employees were granted access to clubs, shops and athletic facilities provided by their respective company. What separated these benefits from the publicly used ones was the difference in their superiority. Even though organization was used to â€Å"demolish† barriers, class divisions were evident. During their excursions boarding railways or steamers, lower classes were separated from the higher ones and were given the poorest seats. Nevertheless, they saw no reason to complain, seeing that it was the first time for most of them to ever board a train or a boat, let alone go to the sea and the Alps. In order to clarify the extent of the Dopolavoros success, we must first distinguish the nature of its success. In this respect there are two criteria which have to be taken in mind. Social indoctrination of fascist ideology and diversion of mass awareness and attention. The ONDs initial cause was to provide after-hours leisure activities, so it should come as no surprise that they neglected direct ideological indoctrination as priority. However, during the 1930s (with Starace as party secretary) the importance of the OND as an instrument of propaganda was understood. In the cordial environment of the OND clubs and excursions, the masses were exposed to the success, failures and problems of the party. This was particularly worrisome for the regime as they made great efforts to avoid fanatical reactions. All they wished for was for passive acceptance of the given situation. The OND distributed government issue radios. Although these were considered a luxury item (300,000 in 1932, over a million in 1938), collective listening was encouraged. This was a measure taken for regulating information. The regime issued these radios so as to censor most information and prevent any public aggravation. Due to its recent appearance, the radio was highly favored. Moreover, through the OND, millions of people were exposed to propaganda and entertainment plans. This was an advantageous step for both the government and the illiterate. The ONDs use of the radio as well as the cinema was very efficient in distracting the masses. The Dopolavoro even purchased mobile projectors and sent them to remoter areas. Despite the Dopolavoros efforts to create a â€Å"laid-back† atmosphere so as to keep a sense of serenity among the people while in parallel integrating them in the fascist regime, it is argued that the members were not affected by fascist propaganda, hence failing to meet the goal set from 1927 onwards which included fascist indoctrination within the masses. Conclusion Among the fruition of many institutions brought forth by the Italian government, the Dopolavoro (or OND) was without doubt the most popular. Evidence of its popularity lies in the fact that it survived even Mussolinis fall, at which point its name was altered to Ente Nazionale Assistenza Lavatori (National Organisation for Worker Assistance) in 1945. Throughout the course of its existence, the Dopolavoro proved to be invaluable in its efforts to divert attention from the partys social and economic issues by providing a widespread and diverse range of cultural and recreational activities. Moreover, it served as a buffer in response to societys discontent. Be this as it may, criticism is present in the fact that it facilitated the infiltration of government branches and aided the meeting of enemies of the regime without attracting attention of the police. The Dopolavoro attempted a more active approach in fascist indoctrination in the late 1930s, however due to the lack of radical thinking, it failed to meet the regimes wishes. As far as public unrest is concerned, the Dopolavoro was successful in toning it down by introducing various leisure activities aimed at decreasing social irritation. However, in its goal to instill the fascist ideology within the Italian people, not only did it meet a miserable fail, it proved to be highly inefficient and showed a direct contrast to the regimes intentions. Bibliography Blinkhorn Martin, Mussolini and Fascist Italy, Routledge 1987 De Grand J. Alexander, Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany, Routledge 1995 Kolinsky Martin, Continuity and change in European society: Germany, France and Italy since 1870, New York: St Martins Press 1974, 58 Marinetto Michael, Corporate Social Involvement: Social, Political and Environmental Issues in Britain and Italy, Ashgate Publishing 2005 Townley Edward, Mussolini and Italy, Heinemann Educational Publishers 2002 Whittam, John, Fascist Italy, Manchester University Press 1995 Whittock Martyn, Mussolini in Power, HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 1998 Whittock Martyn, Mussolini in Power, HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 1998, 4 Townley Edward, Mussolini and Italy, Heinemann Educational Publishers 2002, 91 Townley Edward, Mussolini and Italy, Heinemann Educational Publishers 2002, 91 Marinetto Michael, Corporate Social Involvement: Social, Political and Environmental Issues in Britain and Italy, Ashgate Publishing 2005, 124 Whittam, John, Fascist Italy, Manchester University Press 1995, 73 Whittock Martyn, Mussolini in Power, HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 1998, 19-20 Whittock Martyn, Mussolini in Power, HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 1998, 19-20 Blinkhorn Martin, Mussolini and Fascist Italy, Routledge 1987, 36 Whittam, John, Fascist Italy, Manchester University Press 1995, 73 Whittam, John, Fascist Italy, Manchester University Press 1995, 73 Whittam, John, Fascist Italy, Manchester University Press 1995, 73 De Grand J. Alexander, Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany, Routledge 1995, 71 Whittam, John, Fascist Italy, Manchester University Press 1995, 73 Kolinsky Martin, Continuity and change in European society: Germany, France and Italy since 1870, New York: St Martins Press 1974, 58 Whittam, John, Fascist Italy, Manchester University Press 1995, 73 Whittam, John, Fascist Italy, Manchester University Press 1995, 73 De Grand J. Alexander, Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany, Routledge 1995, 71 Whittam, John, Fascist Italy, Manchester University Press 1995, 73

Thursday, September 19, 2019

Gravity-Centrifugal-Power-Motor :: essays research papers

SCM-Variation Gravity-Centrifugal-Power-Motor Objectives At chapter Swing-Circuit-Motor (SCM) above, a design was worked out corresponding to build-up of a loop-swing. There, two axis were demanded (system- and excenter-axis) and two  ´wheels ´ did turn within each other. So this will be a rather difficult technical construction. By this chapter now shall be examined, how effect of building-up mechancal oscillations could be realized easier. So only one axis should be neccessary, nevertheless masses should move like at uneven  ´movement of pendulum ´, above this phase shifting by intermediate storage of forces must be guaranteed. Pendulum with radial suspension At previous chapter Mechanical Oscillating Circuit Harald Chmela did mention example of a pendulum with radially working spring, like schematically shown once more at picture EV SKM 31 upside. Around system axis (SA) a pendulum, here called rotor arm (RT, German Rotortrà ¤ger), can swing. At the rotor arm effective mass (MP) can glide inside and outside. That radial movements are limited resp. controlled by a spring element (FE, German Federelement). Potential energy of level is transformed into kinetic energy at downward-phase, opposite energy of movement is re-transformed into energy of high level at upward-phase. In addition, power is stored into spring intermediately, so some later power is restored into pendulums oscillation. Mass will move at an U-shaped track. Mass will show maximum speed at its lowest point of track (A) and there will press down spring at its maximum. Following relaxation of spring will show analog relations of forces, based at symmetry, so this mechanical oscillation will be stable (no friction assumed). Effect of building-up oscillations can only be achieved, if symmetry is broken. This could be done e.g. as shown at picture EV SKM 31 downside. Asymmetric track Tension of spring downside should have to be stored for a short time, e.g. any mechanicsm could allow relaxation of spring some later (B). Counter stored energy then would exist less forces (resulting force of gravity power and centrifugal power), showing upward more and more. Power of spring afterward could move mass easier and faster towards upward-inside (C). Angles speed thus will be accelerated and mass will be brought to higher level (D) than starting level. This mechanical oscillating circuit thus will be build-up without input of energy from outside. Progressive suspension By this concept an asymmetric track is achieved. However, this pendulum swinging resp. effect of build-up oscillations is technically usable only if a momentum is achieved at a constant turning shaft.