Global Warming, Politics and Policies Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Global Warming, Politics and Policies - Essay Example As the paper declares Carbon Dioxide (CO2) is the most prevalent of the greenhouse gases. Trees absorb CO2 and when they die, CO2 is restored to the atmosphere. The clearing of forests by mass burning, which is happening at a phenomenal rate in the tropical rain forests, is decreasing the amount of CO2 that is absorbed and increasing the amount that is added to the atmosphere. CO2 supplies about half of the total gases that create the greenhouse effect (Breuer, 1980). Although deforestation is contributing heavily to the excess of CO2 in the atmosphere, a larger portion is caused by the burning of fossil fuels such as oil and coal. Fossil fuels are burned by factories, vehicles and electricity-producing power plants to name a few sources. According to the research findings the vast majority of this excessive fuel consumption and its poisonous, pollutant and greenhouse-enhancing byproducts are located in the U.S., Europe and Russia. Other greenhouse gases include methane, which is released when vegetation is burned during land clearing, during oil exploration activities and the coal-mining process; chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), which is the substance that cools refrigerators and provides the propulsion in aerosol cans and nitrous oxide (N2O) which is the lesser cause of CO2. It is generated from both man-made and natural processes. It is estimated that man-made influences represents about half of the CO2 output.

South africa Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

South africa - Essay Example The companies’ efforts were however met with government’s counter strategies to maintain the practice of apartheid. Caltex, owned jointly by Texaco and SoCal is one example of foreign company operating in South Africa whose shareholders on many occasions tried hard to pass resolutions that were anti apartheid. This paper seeks to highlight Caltex, its conception in the South African market, its operations and how it affected the growth or downfall of the practice of apartheid. First we consider whether the entry of Caltex in South Africa empowered apartheid. Whether or not the utilitarian benefits of Caltex’s operations stood above the moral rights and justice violations that its presence seemed to propagate. In 1975 Caltex sought to expand its investment in South Africa. The expansion could cost $135 million, increase south Africa’s refining capacity by 11% and it promised a return on interest of about 20% i.e. approximately $27 million annually. In essence, a Return on Interest of $27 million annually, had a strong utilitarian benefit. After all Caltex is a profit making company and profit making is the major focus. However, this expansion would consequently strengthen the economy of the very government that was steadfast at maintaining apartheid as its legal policy. A strong economy meant a strong government and thus widespread apartheid. The commitment that Caltex later showed to the plight of their black employees is another utilitarian benefit that requires consideration. They moved 40% of their black workers to refinery jobs initially held by whites and they moved a total of 29 to the topmost four of the white collar and skilled job categories. Even though most blacks remained in the lower job categories, Caltex had at least shown their commitment to eradicating apartheid. The utilitarian benefits of Caltex presenting better working conditions

Transcending the Compulsion beyond the Counter Essay

Transcending the Compulsion beyond the Counter - Essay Example Its history and the way fast food chain of restaurants centering the military base since World War II metamorphosed a sleepy and quiet town into one of the most developed and busy townships of United States. With the sprawling employment, more and more interface of the teenagers was noticed in the fast food industry. Behind the Counter examines the effect of the involvement of the teenage folks readily into the growing fast food industry and its effect on the socio-cultural and socio-economic aspects of American society. Behind the Counter from Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal examines the effect of the â€Å"part-time† jobs and the involvement of the teenagers in the fast food industry. This essay intends to explore and examine the effect of the continuing legacy of the contemporary society of America as well. Behind the Counter is a very important and effective chapter that enables the readers to understand the subtleties and intricate relationships b etween economy, culture, and society. No one can ignore the tremendous power of economy on the development of culture and society and American society is not an exception in this regard. In this chapter, tracing the development and inception of a city which flourished holding the hands of the fast-food chain of restaurants examines how the teens are predominantly converted into the workforce that kept the fast food industry alive. Focusing on the working conditions of these teens, Schlosser also draws attention on the way these part-time jobs into the counters of the fast-food centers interfere in their education and explains the adverse effects of their spending of money.

Some the schemes used to solve Latin America Debt Crisis of the 1980s Essay - 1

Some the schemes used to solve Latin America Debt Crisis of the 1980s can be use to the current EU Crisis - Essay Example The Baker plan and the Brady plan can solve the present economic crisis in Europe because they focus on growth of the economy. Countries in Latin America succeeded in solving their debt crisis in 1980s using the two schemes. According to research by economists in Europe, the Brady plan is more effective because it emphasizes on debt reduction. In Mexico, investors’ debts were cleared using the guidelines of the plan (Habermas & Ciaran 107). Interestingly, the Brady plan and the Baker plan are approaches that America use when handling financial crisis for the developing countries. The two plans advocate for sound economic policies when enhancing growth. According to Habermas, & Ciaran (14), the strategy should target least developed economies. The Baker plan identified the countries that needed aid before formulating policies that restructure the economy. This is an indication that European countries should classify their economies before coming up with corrective measures. According to the plan, extending governments should extend the maturity period for loans for countries such as Greece. This will cushion the citizens from crisis. Member countries in the European Union will have to restructure their financial system to improve the economy. The plan equally advocates for intervention by the IMF in aiding ailing economies. IMF should increase lending to commercial banks. Additionally, developed countries should voluntarily reduce debts for ailing economies. The EU government should seek support from Asian economies in creating a balance. For example, the government can encourage the swapping of bonds with creditors from China. This is preferable in the case of Greece. According to Habermas, & Ciaran (2), Latin America received support from Japan in averting their financial crisis. Although the strategy worked in Latin America, it is difficult to estimate the magnitude of a crisis using

A History of the Popes Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

A History of the Popes - Essay Example The church that was established at the site of the burial place of Peter seems to be insinuated in the film, â€Å"A History of the Popes, Saints and Sinners: Upon This Rock† as the fulfillment of the words of Jesus saying upon Peter, he will build his church. This seemed to have even been strengthened during the time of Pope Leo who very articulately explained the humaneness and divinity of Jesus, making people declare that Peter has spoken to him. The next episode of the film entitled â€Å"Between Two Empires† reflects the fight for power between the political and religious empires in Rome. The religious empire ruled by a pope, decides on what is to be rightfully implemented by the political empire headed by an emperor. However, absolute power has been quite coveted by emperors. On the contrary, popes did not like to give full authority to emperors. Therefore, a long history of contentions between the two empires has been documented. In addition, personal interests played a great role in the historical facts created by emperors and popes. Interestingly, it was not only the emperors who did not play fair for power. Instead, the popes also showed some vicious acts such as murder like the death of John VIII, Leo V and John

Pacific Northwest Settling Establishments Essay Example for Free

Pacific Northwest Settling Establishments Essay Contact at trading posts had originally introduced the Native Americans to Christianity. The British Protestants and French-Canadian trappers who were mostly of Catholic faith did this. The trappers were impressed by Native religion and didnt see any problem between Christianity and Native religion. Fur companies usually encouraged their men to get Native American wives and marry into the tribes to make trade relationships stronger. The Whitman established their mission with the Cayuse at Waiilatpu near Walla Walla. Spalding was assigned to convert the Nez Perce people and founded a mission at Lapwai, Idaho. This was one of the most successful missions. In 1838, two Catholic priests, Fathers Blanchet and Modesta Demers arrived at Fort Walla Walla to imagine the possibilities of beginning a Catholic mission in the area. According to historians the Roman Catholic missionaries were much more successful with the Native Americans. The Native Americans were convinced of the Missionaries tactics and customs from a few different ways. One of the ways that was used was that they didnt promote immigration into the area. Their customs in church were interesting to the Native Americans and helped to encourage practicing their beliefs as well as the fact that mission sites were extensive. To help convert they didnt emphasize changing the Native Americans culture, but instead promoted theirs to make the Natives want to change. Instead of requiring Native Americans to live on or close to the Missions, they traveled alongside with them. In some ways the Missionaries used reverse physiology to convince the Native Americans that their practices were better. The significance of having the missionaries approach and try to chance the Native Americans was very significant. If it werent significant, the Native Americans that were opposing Christianity wouldnt have acted so forcefully, and so many conflicts would not have arose. To all Native Americans, the significance was of great impact whether thought to be positive or negative. It was also of great significance to the coarse of history. If the Missionary Era never occurred, things might be a lot different as far as religion goes for the 21st century.

The Virgin Group An insight into the organizational structure and culture

The Virgin Group An insight into the organizational structure and culture Introduction The Virgin Group of companies is one of the largest business organizations in the world. Founded by Richard Branson, the Virgin Group has established itself into many diverse facets of the business industry. This paper analyzes the organizational structure and culture of the Virgin Group and how it has helped this organization attain such success in many diverse industries. Much of the culture of the Virgin Group is influenced by the personal beliefs and philosophies of its founder, Richard Branson, and is one of the reasons for the organizations success. Branson highly values all of his employees and takes personal responsibility to ensure that his beliefs are instilled among all of them. Branson has created a decentralized structure in the organization by giving his employees the authority to take decisions thereby reducing bureaucracy. Employees are encouraged to not always follow rational procedures and instead think on their own. This paper will first briefly give an overview of the Virgin Group of companies and its history and development. The organizational structure and culture of the Virgin Group will help the reader understand the organizations processes and business practices and how the values and belief system of its founder has shaped its structure and culture. In addition, the reader will learn how the Virgin Group has established itself as a successful organization based on its structure and culture. The paper will apply some of the theories and concepts from the course textbook to the Virgin Group which will help to understand the working of this organization better. In conclusion, this paper hopes to emphasize the Virgin Groups overall journey through the years and the role that its structure and culture has played in its success. About the Virgin Group The Virgin Group is one of the most successful business empires today. This organization has established itself in diverse industries including mobile telephony, retail, music, financial services, travel, and many more. Virgin has ruled the British market and has expanded worldwide into other regions like North America, Asia, Africa and Australia. Starting out as a simple mail-order record retailer in 1970, Virgin has grown into one of the most successful business empires in the world. The Virgin Group has established more than 300 companies, employing around 50000 people in 30 countries. Its global revenues in 2009 exceeded US$18 billion. (Virgin, n.d.) The majority of the Virgin Groups success has been credited to the founder and CEO of Virgin, Richard Branson. Bransons beliefs and philosophies are deeply rooted in the corporate culture of the Virgin Group. This has helped the Virgin Group to flourish in todays competitive business world. History and Development Richard Branson is the founder of the Virgin Group of companies. When he was a student at Stowe, he published a magazine called Student. The magazine was a success and it encouraged Branson to leave school and try his hand at new business ventures. His first target was mail-order records. He found that by putting a single advertisement in an issue of Student magazine, he was able to establish a thriving business with almost no up-front investment and no working capital. The name Virgin was suggested by one of his associates who saw the name as proclaiming their commercial innocence, while possessing some novelty and modest shock-value. In 1971 Branson opened his first retail store on Londons Oxford Street. Virgin then expanded into the recording industry and the result was the Virgin record label. By 1983, the Virgin Group was earning profits of 2 million pounds on total revenues of just under 50 million pounds. (Grant, 2008) Gradually Branson expanded into other ventures. The Organizational Structure Many assume the Virgin Group to be a multinational, but such is not the case. Each of the 300 odd companies of the Virgin Group operates separately and Branson serves as shareholder, chairman, and public relations supremo. Most of them are operating companies that own assets, employ people, and offer goods and services. These operating companies are owned and controlled by about 20 holding companies. The Virgin Group has a very complex structure. It has been termed both as a brand franchising operation as well as a keiretsu. (Grant, 2008) However, based on its structure, the Virgin Group can be safely termed as an organization with a keiretsu structure. A keiretsu is a group of organizations, each of which owns shares in the other organizations in the group, and all of which work together to further the groups interests. (Jones, Mills, Weatherbee, Mills, 2006) Furthermore, such a large organization with a complex structure needs to be organic in order to be able to adapt to changes in its environment. An organic structure promotes flexibility, so people initiate change and can adapt quickly to changing conditions. ( Jones et al., 2006) Considering each of the individual companies as a department providing a unique product or service, it is evident that they exhibit product departmentalization. Product departmentalization is the division of the departments of an organization based on the type of product or service offered. (Jones et al., 2006) For example, Virgin Mobile offers cellular services while Virgin Records is a music label. However, the structure of the Virgin Group is so complex that it is necessary for it to not just have one type of departmentalization. For instance, Virgin Mobile has operations in many different countries like the UK, India and Australia. As such, the type of service varies in each of these countries. This shows that Virgin Mobile also exhibits geographic departmentalization. Geographic departmentalization is the division of an organization based on the geographic location. (Jones et al., 2006) In addition, type of service and products also varies depending on the customer base hence ex hibiting customer departmentalization. Customer departmentalization is the division of an organization based on the kind of customers it serves. (Jones et al., 2006) Since the Virgin Group of companies exhibit so many types of departmentalisations, the organization as a whole is said to have a hybrid structure, which is a mixture of two or more kinds of departmentalisations. This multi-divisional approach helps the Virgin Group to easily adapt to the cultural, technological and other forces in the region it expands to. The division of labour and the hierarchy is also an important aspect of an organizations structure. The number of levels of authority, the control, and the amount of communication are key factors in the proper working of an organization. As mentioned, the Virgin Groups companies operate as separate organizations. The companies are part of a family rather than a hierarchy. They are empowered to run their own affairs, yet the companies help one another, and solutions to problems often come from within the Group somewhere. In a sense, Virgin is a commonwealth, with shared ideas, values, interests and goals. (Virgin, n.d.) In fact, Branson himself has provided all his employees with the authority to make unsupervised decisions based on their intuition rather than following a chain of command. This leads to the employees having more confidence in them and in the management. Since interaction among all the levels of the hierarchy is promoted, it increases effective communication. This is e vident from the fact that Branson personally interacts with employees on a regular basis discussing ideas and receiving feedback. The Virgin Group expresses self-sufficiency and effective communication. Virgin has a flat hierarchical structure and this enables quick and efficient decision making. The flat structure is one of the reasons that the Virgin Group has been able to expand into new ventures. In addition, a flat structure allows a wider span of control, and decentralization. Span of control is the number of subordinates a manager manages directly. (Jones et al., 2006) The decentralized structure of the Virgin Group gives more power in the hands of its employees when it comes to decision making. Decentralization is the delegation of authority to all levels of the hierarchy. (Jones et al.,2006) Branson believes that the employees are the backbone of the company and hence it is important that they have enough involvement and authority in decision making. Since the Virgin Group comprises of so many companies, along with a decentralized structure, it should show some signs of organizational bureaucracy. However, Branson has ensured since the beginning to minimize bureaucracy as much as possible since he strives to flatten the hierarchy. Bureaucracy is a structure in which people are held accountable for their actions because they are required to act in accordance with rules and standard operating procedures. (Jones et al., 2006) The efficiency of the employees is enhanced under Bransons leadership who emphasises a wide span of control and self management. Bransons scepticism of organizational hierarchy and a formal structure has contributed to organizational cohesiveness to a great extent. His adoption of this unorthodox strategy rather than traditional business practices and non-traditional structuring of the organization may be the reason for the Groups success. The Organizational Culture Much of the Virgin Groups culture is influenced by its founder Richard Bransons personal philosophies. Just as his employees are important to him, so are the customers the Virgin Group serves. The ability of the Virgin Group to operate effectively with almost a non-formal structure is because of its unique organizational culture. The culture of the Virgin Group reflects Bransons casual nature, his disrespect for hierarchy and formal authority, commitment to employees and consumers and his belief in hard work and responsibility. (Grant, 2008) This influences all of the companies in the Virgin Group and its organizational culture. This in turn, enables the Virgin Group to provide an environment in which talented, ambitious people are motivated to do their best and strive for a higher level of performance. However, even in an informal environment, a high level of commitment, acceptance of personal responsibility and long hours of work when needed is expected. Performance incentives at V irgin for most employees are diffident but Virgin provides benefits like social activities, company sponsored weekend getaways and impromptu parties. (Grant, 2008) Such an environment promotes better relations among the employer and the employees. Virgins unique culture has gradually progressed to where it is today. Virgin describes itself as a family emphasizing its informal but strong belief system and values. Possessing such a culture enables the Virgin Group to have effective coordination among its various departments. Working as a community rather than a corporation, instils the ability to communicate effectively among the many companies in the Group. The Group as a whole works together based on these shared set of values which are continuously strengthened. This is important considering the vast size and complexity of the organization. Following in the footsteps of its founder, Virgin has always maintained the belief that the employees are the biggest force of the organization and as such, should be treated with respect. (Virgin, n.d.) The management cares for the welfare of the employees and allows them to work in a free environment. Because of these primary beliefs and values, Virgin has been able to compete, thrive, a nd challenge new business opportunities. As mentioned before, Richard Branson has influenced the culture of the organization the most. He has managed to instil his belief system into all of his employees and this has motivated them to strive to perform better. One of the many strong points in Virgins favour is the fact that it is non-traditional; revolutionary even; in the manner it does business. Virgin believes in grasping opportunities. Contrary to what many people may think, Virgins constantly expanding and eclectic empire is neither random nor reckless. Each successive venture demonstrates their devotion to picking the right market and the right opportunity. This has proved beneficial to the organization and is one of the many reasons for its success. (Virgin, n.d.) Conclusion Based on the analysis of the corporate culture and structure of the Virgin Group, it is evident that it is a highly successful organization most of whichs credit goes to the founder and his values and beliefs. Even though the industry considers much of his methods to be unorthodox, these methods have proved highly beneficial to him and the Virgin Group and have been deemed to be effective. Not many today can dream of venturing into so many diverse industries starting from scratch. If Virgin continues to strengthen its culture and structure, it has the potential to become one of the most successful companies ever.