Outsiders Summary Essays - Italian Politicians, Niccol Machiavelli

Outsiders Summary Annonymous In The Prince Niccolo Machiavelli presents a view of governing a state that is drastically different from that of humanists of his time. Machiavelli believes the ruling Prince should be the sole authority determining every aspect of the state and put in effect a policy which would serve his best interests. These interests were gaining, maintaining, and expanding his political power.1 His understanding of human nature was a complete contradiction of what humanists believed and taught. Machiavelli strongly promoted a secular society and felt morality was not necessary but in fact stood in the way of an effectively governed principality.2 Though in come cases Machiavelli's suggestions seem harsh and immoral one must remember that these views were derived out of concern Italy's unstable political condition.3 Though humanists of Machiavelli's time believed that an individual had much to offer to the well being of the state, Machiavelli was quick to mock human nature. Humanists believed that An individual only'grows to maturity- both intellectually and morally- through participation' in the life of the state.4 Machiavelli generally distrusted citizens, stating that ...in time of adversity, when the state is in need of it's citizens there are few to be found.5 Machiavelli further goes on to question the loyalty of the citizens and advises the Prince that ...because men a wretched creatures who would not keep their word to you, you need keep your word to them.6 However, Machiavelli did not feel that a Prince should mistreat the citizens. This suggestion once again to serve the Prince's best interests. If a prince can not be both feared and loved, Machiavelli suggests, it would be better for him to be feared bey the citizens within his own principality. He makes the generalization that men are, ...ungrateful, fickle, liars, and deceivers, they shun danger and are greedy for profit; while you treat them well they are yours.7 He characterizes men as being self centered and not willing to act in the best interest of the state,[and when the prince] is in danger they turn against [him].8 Machiavelli reinforces the prince's need to be feared by stating: Men worry less about doing an injury to one who makes himself loved than to one who makes himself feared. The bond of love is one which men, wretched creatures they are, break when it is to their advantage to do so; but fear is strengthened by a dread of punishment which is always effective.9 In order to win honor, Machaivelli suggests that a prince must be readily willing to deceive the citizens. One way is to ...show his esteem for talent actively encouraging the able and honouring those who excel in their professions...so that they can go peaceably about their business.10 By encouraging citizens to excel at their professions he would also be encouraging them to ...increase the prosperity of the their state.11 These measures, though carried out in deception, would bring the prince honor and trust amongst the citizens, especially those who were in the best positions to oppose him. Machiavelli postulates that a prince must also deceive those who attempt to flatter him. [In] choosing wise men for his government and allowing those the freedom to speak the truth to him, and then only concerning matters on which he asks their opinion, and nothing else. But he should also question them toughly and listen to what they say; then he should make up his own mind.12 Since each person will only advice the prince in accord to his own interests, the prince must act on his own accord. Machiavelli discourages action to taken otherwise ...since men will always do badly by [the prince] unless they are forced to be virtuous.13 Machiavelli actively promoted a secular form of politics. He laid aside the Medieval conception of the state as a necessary creation for humankinds spiritual, material, and social well-being.14 In such a state,[a] ruler was justified in his exercise of political power only if it contributed to the common good of the people he served, [and] the ethical side of a princes activity...ought to [be] based on Christian moral principles....15 Machiavelli believed a secular form of government to be a more realistic type. His views were to the benefit of the prince, in helping him maintain power rather than to serve to the well being of the citizens. Machiavelli promoted his belief by stating: The fact is that a man who wants to act virtuously in every way necessarily comes to grief among those who are not virtuous. Therefore, if a prince wants to maintain his rule he must learn not to be so virtuous, and to

Faster, Better, Cheaper essays

Faster, Better, Cheaper essays The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is a government agency which invents and implements aeronautical, space, and Earth science programs. NASA is currently led by an administrator, Daniel Goldin, who has done a good job leading NASA into the twenty- first century. In the early 1990s, through Goldins leadership, NASA adopted the Faster, Better, Cheaper (FBC) approach to the project management of its space and Earth science missions. The goal was to shorten development times, reduce cost, and increase the scientific return by flying more missions in less time. This goal was driven by politics and funding. Politics play an important part in NASAs management strategies and has led to many changes in management style. Politics for all intents and purposes started NASA. NASA was formed as a result of Russias Sputnik program successes. The official start of NASA was October 1, 1958. NASA inherited the earlier National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), and other government organizations, and almost immediately began working on options for human space flight. NASAs first high profile program was Project Mercury, an effort to learn if humans could survive in space, followed by Project Gemini, which built upon Mercurys successes and used a spacecraft built for two astronauts. NASAs human space flight efforts then extended to the Moon with Project Apollo, culminating in 1969 when the Apollo 11 mission first put humans on the lunar surface. After the Skylab and Apollo-Soyuz Test Projects of the early and mid-1970s, NASAs human space flight efforts resumed in 1981 with the Space Shuttle program that continues today to help build the International Space Station. In 1992, NASA Administrator Dan Goldin challenged all of NASA, including its industry and contractors, to do projects in a Faster, Better, Cheaper (FBC) mode. Moving into the last decade of t...

The Inner Person Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The Inner Person - Essay Example It is also made up of the display of a number of characteristics including perseverance and resistance. Courage helps me in facing my strengths, which means that it gives me the will power to believe in my ability to deliver more what the good things I have undertaken before. Most commonly when a person undertakes a certain outstanding achievement, he is tempted to believe that it happened by chance and that it is not possible for such a feat to happen again. But a courageous person would believe in his abilities and try to be a better person than he had been before (Twumasi, 2010) and this is what I have always done. With courage, I have devised the saying that the sky cannot even be my limit because there is enough space beyond the skies. Courage has also helped me in facing my weaknesses. Basically, my weaknesses are those kinds of things that happen to me that are not pleasant and welcoming. For a non-courageous person, when such weaknesses arise, chances are that he would be drawn back and never make a move to rise again. But as a courageous person and as a person having courage as a value, I have always told myself that the downfall of a person is not the end of his life and so even if I fall 1000 times, I shall arise 1000 times. Due to this, I have always given a second chance to myself in trying that very thing in which I failed previously. It is worth emphasizing that my value of courage has transformed my life tremendously. With courage, I was able to land on my very first job, which fetched me so much capital to set myself up in life. It happened that I was confronted by an entrepreneur after he had seen one of my school results and asked me if I could take up a top job in his organization. Even though I was only a student at the time and had no prior experience, I was courageous enough to say yes and that was how my whole economic fortunes changed. Courage has indeed made me and will make

Sales Management Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Sales Management - Assignment Example There were also reports of overstating his performance for assigned products. In this regard, as the Sales Director, the following concerns are hereby addressed: a. Explanation on How Paul can Create an Ethical Work Climate in his Department Upon review of the scenario, it was apparent that the top performing salesperson evidently violates codes of conduct by exhibiting unethical behavior, such as use of company resources and time for personal goals and interests; overstating reported individual performance to supposedly comply with the department’s quota, and coercing customers to purchase products with ill-intent. Therefore, to respond to Paul on the ways to create an ethical work climate, the following areas need to be appropriately addressed: i. Policies and rules There is a need to evaluate the policies and rules of the organization in terms of provision and clear dissemination of policies on strict adherence to ethical, moral and legal standards. Likewise, there must be a system of rewards and punishments to impose sanctions for violating these rules and to provide incentives for exemplary performance. There should also be a system of reporting (even through confidential means) of noted violations and appropriate committee to investigate the allegations. If proven that an employee indeed violates policies, sanctions ranging from reprimand, warning, suspension without pay, and dismissal must be enforced. ii. Trust and responsibility The organization must encourage corporate values of trust, responsibility, professionalism and social responsibility. These values must be clearly communicated to all personnel, together with the mission and vision statement; as well as the code of discipline and ethical behavior. Any violations noted on policies, rules, and code of discipline should be subject to sanctions, as recommended. iii. Peer behavior It is the responsibility of colleagues within the organization, irrespective of rank or position, to ensure that ethical behavior is manifested at all times. Any manifestation of unethical behavior contrary to the values indicated and in violation of the policies and rules should immediately be reported to higher authorities for proper review, evaluation, and imposition of sanctions. iv. Bottom line sales emphasis The actions, roles, responsibilities of salespeople and other members of the organization should be noted as contributory to the increase in sales and bottom line (net profit). These financial figures are needed in order for the organization to sustain and support continued operations in the future. In no way should employee behavior be exemplifying conflict of interests by focusing on personal gains and the use of company time and resources. v. Book and Hold Recording future sales transactions in current periods are contrary to the rules in accounting. Any transactions made to comply with sales quota for the current period could not be subject to reversals or refund. In cases that c ustomers refund products purchased, any recorded credits to salespersons’ quotas would be reverted to new levels (after the return) and any rewards or bonus rendered would be deducted in current sales performance. b. Description of the â€Å"Perceived Seriousness† of the Salesperson’s Behavior The behavior manifested and exemplified by the supposedly top performing salesperson is unethical and clearly violates policies, rules, codes of conduct and ethical behav

Baby Bottle Tooth Decay Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Baby Bottle Tooth Decay - Research Paper Example The first advantage associated with acquisition is the undeniably, outright growth of an existing business. For instance if company A buys company B, the size of company A now becomes A+B, which means that there become an outright growth. This outright growth caters for the possibilities associated with starting a business and failing. It also caters for other basic company routines such as recruitment, placement and orientation; some of which do not always end well. Leading on from the first advantage, acquisition ensures that the buyer enjoys a ready-made organizational structure, system and culture. In business, there is no denying the fact that establishing an organization may not be as difficult as establishing or setting up a organizational structure, system or culture. Gourley notes that â€Å"organizational culture is defined as the shared values, norms and expectations that govern the way people approach their work and interact with each other.† This explains the extent to which organizational culture could be difficult for most businesses that are started from the scratch. Buying a company therefore saves an entrepreneur from the hassle of getting a new organizational culture in place. The very last advantage has to do with the inheritance of corporate publicity. Corporate publicity simply refers to the kind of popularity a company has in the eyes of consumers and buyers. These days, most investors target well established and publicized companies when they are buying. This makes it possible for them to inherit the popularity of the existing company. It also makes money voted into publicity very minimal. The best part of inheriting corporate popularity is the inheritance of customers. Customers are the lifeline of every company. It is their inputs that make up the revenues for companies. Building a strong customer base is however very difficult to do. When a person buys an existing company however, he automatically have the customers of the

Harmonics In Domestic Power Consumption Engineering Essay

Harmonics In Domestic Power Consumption Engineering Essay The objectives of this project are to design a model in Matlab/Simulink of a Domestic power system. The model represents a domestic power source and load that contains both linear and non-linear devices. It will be a time-based model which means these devices will be switched ON and OFF at various timings. Means of monitoring the voltages and currents responses are also added to this model and they are discussed in the results discussion part of this report. Finally, harmonic filters are added to the power system and their influence in reducing the harmonics content is observed. The approach taken for this project was to study the methods of simulation using Simulink and the examples related to Harmonics provided by this program. After that, a survey of Non-linear devices was conducted to observe the harmonics effects and to measure the values of the Total Harmonic Distortion (THD) and current amplitudes of the odd orders of the harmonics (i.e. 3rd, 5th, 7th harmonics and so on) of each device using a power quality meter. After completion of the survey, the measurements were added to the model and simulation of the power system is conducted. The results showedà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦. Acknowledgements Table of Contents LIST OF TABLES LIST OF FIGURES CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION Background Power system quality has become a major concern for both the power supplier and the end-user especially with the various aspects of power quality disturbance. The impact of harmonics on the modern power systems in specific has become a serious issue to the electrical power utilities and to the costumers as it may cause huge economic losses. The impact of harmonic distortions on domestic power systems can be categorized to two categories: impact on the electrical power utilities of the power supplier and impact on the customer equipment and devices. From the power suppliers prospective, harmonic distortion may harm their major components like transformers, overhead transmission lines and cables. It might cause a reduction in the components lifetime and hence cause economic losses to the power supplier due to maintenance and reinstallation. This, in turn, will increase the system losses and as a result will reduce the efficiency of the power plant. From costumers prospective (residential area or domestic load in this case), a distorted domestic power system will affect the equipment and the devices that are being used. Harmonic distortion may cause them to overheat and reduces their lifetime. As a result, an increase in the electricity bills and economic losses to the customer may occur. The aim behind this project is to have a full understanding about non-linear domestic loads that exist in current residential power systems and their contribution to harmonic distortions. This project consists of a survey of measurements from a number of selected non-linear devices that may have an effect in the domestic power system in term of harmonics. After collecting these measurements, the distortion level will be compared to the international standards and a model will be designed in Simulink to represent the harmonics effect of these non-linear devices and then adding harmonic filters to mitigate their effect. Problem Definition The harmonics distortion produced by the non-linear devices in the domestic load can cause negative impacts on the domestic power system. Both the utilities and the customers are affected economically. Objectives Measuring and evaluating the harmonics that are produced by non-linear devices available in todays domestic loads than model them on Simulink. After that, further analysis and investigation for a solution to this harmonic distortion is to be done. Scope and Limitations This project will be focusing on the domestic loads that are connected to domestic power systems. It will only look into a specific power quality issue, which is harmonics and will disregard any other types of power quality disturbance. For this reason, the mitigation technique to reduce the total harmonic distortion will be considered is a passive harmonic filter. Report organization The final report consists of six chapters which are divided into sections and subsections for a better explanation of the contents of this report. Chapter one discusses about the background of the project and explains briefly the impacts of the harmonics on the utilities and the customers and the relationship between harmonics and the economic losses. It also defines the problem, the objectives and the scope and limitations to this project. Chapter two covers the literature review of research topic. It includes a proper definition of harmonics and lists their effects on power systems in terms of technical and economic losses. Moreover, the chapter gives information about harmonic sources and the available mitigation techniques that can be used to reduce the harmonics distortion. Chapter three is about the practical and experimental work that has been done. It will discuss how the measurements and the evaluation of the harmonic distortion have been done and the equipment that were used. It will also include a subsection about the modelling part of the project and the blocks that were used in Simulink. Chapter four will discuss the results acquired from the experimental work and briefly compare the harmonic distortion of the non-linear devices and the international standard. Chapter five is about conclusion and implications of the project. It includes a final discussion, a conclusion and recommendation for further work or issues to be pursued. CHAPTER 2 Literature Review 2.1 Introduction Power Quality disturbances can be defined as any power disturbance that will lead to voltage, current or frequency fluctuation that result in failure or misoperation of customer equipment. Power quality is considered to be a very important factor due to the fact that power is a part of our daily lives and any interruption or disturbance may cause into several problems such as data corruption, equipment damage, and data transmission errors and reduce equipment life. All these problems can result in huge economic losses to both the utility and the customers. There are several types of power quality disturbances as listed below [4]: Harmonics Transients Short-Duration Voltage Variations Long-Duration Voltage Variations Voltage Imbalance Waveform Distortion Voltage Fluctuation Power Frequency Variations This project will focus on one of the most important power quality disturbances which are harmonics. Harmonics are important to be analyzed as they occur in the industrial loads, residential loads and also in the utility. Analyzing harmonics will help to design a more stable system by applying the appropriate mitigation techniques that reduce harmonics. 2.2 What is Harmonics? A harmonic is a component of a periodic wave having a frequency that is an integral multiple of the fundamental power line frequency 50-60 Hz. Total harmonic distortion is the contribution of all harmonic frequency currents to the fundamental [5]. http://referencedesigner.com/books/si/images/fouriertransform.png 2.3 What is Inter-Harmonics? Inter-harmonics are additional frequencies which are not an integer of the fundamental frequency that can be observed between the harmonics of the power frequency voltage and current. It appears as discrete frequencies or as a wide-band spectrum and can be found in power systems of all voltage classes [1]. There are different sources of inter-harmonic waveform distortion such as static frequency converters, cyclo-converters, induction motors, arching devices and power line carrier signals. The corresponding effects of these inter-harmonics are affecting power line carrier signalling and induce visual flicker in display devices such as cathode ray tubes (CRTs) [1]. 2.4 Harmonic Effects Harmonics have many impacts on the electrical systems and equipment that it may cause overheating for some of the system components which will result in power losses that may decrease the life time of the components which means high economic losses for the utilities. Also if a consumer is having distorted waveforms, it will affect the life time of the equipment therefore again more losses for the consumer as well. Bottom line, harmonics impact is a chain reaction each problem will lead to many other problems [1]. Harmonics cause problems both on the supply system and within the insulation which can be summarized into the following [7]: Overloading of Neutrals: When the loads are not balanced, only the net out of balance current flows in the neutral. Installers (with the approval of the standards authorities) have taken advantage of this fact by installing half-sized neutral conductors. However, although the fundamental currents cancel out, the harmonic currents do not in fact those that are an odd multiple of three times the fundamental, the triple-N harmonics, add in the neutral [8]. 2. Effects on Transformers Transformers are affected in two ways by harmonics. Firstly, the eddy current losses increase at full load with the square of the harmonic number. This results in a much higher operating temperature and a shorter life time. Fortunately, few transformers are fully loaded; however the effect must be taken into account when selecting plant. The second concern is the triple-N harmonics. When reflecting back to a delta winding they are all in phase, which leads the triple-N harmonics to get trapped and circulate in the delta winding and does not get absorbed onto the supply. However, the non-triple-N harmonics can pass through the delta connection winding. The circulating current has to be taken into account when rating the transformer [4]. 3. Nuisance Tripping of Circuit Breakers Residual current circuit breakers (RCCB) operate by summing the current in the phase and neutral conductors if the result is not within the rated limit, disconnecting the power from the load. Nuisance tripping can occur in the presence of harmonics for two reasons. Firstly, the RCCB device may not sum the higher frequency components correctly and therefore trips. Secondly, the kind of equipment that generates harmonics also generates switching noise that must be filtered at the equipment power connection. The filters normally used for this purpose have a capacitor from line and neutral to ground, which might lead into current leakage to ground [4]. 4. Power Factor Correction Capacitors Power-factor correction (PFC) capacitors are provided in order to draw a current with a leasing phase angle in order to compensate for the lagging current that is drawn by the inductive loads such as induction motors. The impedance of the PFC capacitor reduces as the frequency increases, while the source impedance is generally inductive and increases when the frequency increases. As a result, the capacitor is likely to carry high harmonic currents which may lead to it getting damaged, unless it has been specifically designed to with stand that high amount of current [4]. 5. Skin Effect The skin effect is said to happen when the alternating current tends to flow on the outer surface of a conductor. Skin effect is normally ignored as its effect is minor at power supply frequencies. However at above about 350Hz which occurs at the seventh harmonic and above, the skin effect will become significant and will be taken into consideration. As it will be causing additional losses and heating [4]. 6. Induction Motors Harmonics may affect the induction motors in a way that the harmonics may induce a flux to the rotor in an opposite direction to the rotor rotation which will reduce the motor efficiency also harmonics may increase the eddy current in the rotor which therefore will increase heat dissipation [9]. 7. Zero-Crossing Noise Many electronic controllers detect the point at which the supply voltage crosses zero volts to determine when loads should be turned on. This is done because switching inductive loads at zero voltage does not generate transients which may lead into reducing electromagnetic interference and stress on the semiconductor switching devices [9]. 8. Harmonic Problems Affecting the Supply When a harmonic current is drawn from the supply it gives rise to a harmonic voltage drop proportional to the source impedance at the point of common coupling (PCC) and the current. Since the supply network is generally inductive, the source impedance is higher at higher frequencies. Of course, the voltage at the PCC is already distorted by the harmonic currents drawn by other consumers and by the distortion inherent in transformers, and each consumer makes an additional contribution [9]. 2.5 Sources of Harmonics Different non-linear loads produce different but identifiable harmonic spectra. This makes the task of recognizing the harmonics that are produced from those loads easier. Utilities and users of electric power have to become familiar with the signatures of different waveform distortions produced by specific harmonic sources. This will help us figure out better mitigation methods in order to reduce the harmonics produces from the source. This will reduce the harmonics penetration to the electrical power system. At the development of power electronic switching devices, harmonic current propagation was looked at from the perspective of design and operation of power apparatus devices with magnetic iron cores, like electric machines and transformers. At that time the main source of harmonics must have involved substation and customer transformers operating in the saturation region. Harmonics are the by-products of modern electronics. They occur frequently when there are large numbers of personal computers (single phase loads), uninterruptible power supplies(UPSs), variable frequency drives (AC and DC) or any electronic device using solid state power switching supplies to convert incoming AC to DC. Non-linear loads create harmonics by drawing current in abrupt short pulses, rather than in a smooth sinusoidal manner [1]. All variable frequency drives cause harmonics because of the nature of the frontend rectifier design. The 6-pulse rectifier is the standard power circuit elementary configuration for most pulse width modulated variable frequency drives with Diode Bridge rectifiers sold in the marketplace today. Harmonics are generated by non-linear loads, and can be divided into [1]: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Saturable Devices à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Arcing Devices à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Power Electronics 2.5.1 Saturable Devices Saturable devices are devices which operate under steady state conditions (constant voltage and current). Examples of saturable devices are: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Transformers à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Rotating Machines 2.5.2 Arcing Devices Arcing devices are devices that consume high amount of current such as lighting ballasts, arc furnaces, welding machines and fluorescent lamps. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ lighting ballasts Electronic lighting ballasts have become popular in recent years because of the overall improved efficiency. The light level can be maintained over an extended lifetime by feedback control of the running current and as result of changing the current it generates harmonics in the supply [1]. Small Uninterruptible Power Supplies (UPS) For high power units, UPS is used. The aim is to make the power supply load look like a resistive load so that the input current appears sinusoidal and in phase with the applied voltage as a result of that UPS is a source of harmonics [1]. Compact Fluorescent Lamps (CFL) The harmonic current spectrum is produced in CFL. These lamps are being widely used to replace filament bulbs in domestic properties and especially in hotels where serious harmonic problems are suddenly becoming common [1]. 2.5.3 Power Electronics Devices Switched mode power supplies (SMPS) Majority of companies use modem electronic units like SMPS. The advantage to the equipment manufacturer is that the size, cost and weight is significantly reduced and the power unit can be made in almost any required form factor. But its disadvantage is that, rather than drawing continuous current from the supply, the power supply unit draws pulses of current which contain large amounts of third and higher harmonics and significant high frequency components [1]. Figure 2.2 Switched Mode Power Supplies (DC-to-DC Converter) 6-Pulse Thyrister Rectifier Variable speed controllers, UPS units and DC converters in general are usually based on the three-phase bridge. The six pulse bridge produces harmonics as 6n (- or +) 1. As we increase Pulse Bridge, harmonics will be less [11]. 2.6 Mitigation Techniques There are many ways to reduce harmonics, ranging from variable frequency drive designs to the addition of auxiliary equipment. The primary methods used today to reduce harmonics are: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ 12-Pulse Converter In this configuration, the front end of the bridge rectifier circuit uses twelve diodes instead of six. The advantages are the elimination of the 5th and 7th harmonics to a higher order where the 11th and 13th become the predominate harmonics. This will minimize the magnitude of harmonics, but will not eliminate them. The disadvantages are cost and construction, which also requires either a Delta-Delta and Delta-Wye transformer, Zig-Zag transformer or an autotransformer to accomplish the 30 ° phase shifting necessary for proper operation. This configuration also affects the overall drive system efficiency rating because of the voltage drop associated with the transformer configuration requirement. Transformers Transformers have reactance and resistance which makes it represent the majority of the impedance found in lines feeding non-linear loads. Reactive impedance increases directly with frequency, naturally attenuating harmonics by reducing available current at higher frequencies. This technique is commonly used in reducing the current distortion of electric motor drives in industrial applications. Delta-Delta connected transformers for some drives and Delta-Wye connected transformers for the remaining drives are used in order to trap the triple-n harmonics. This will lead into current distortion reduction [7]. Line Reactors This method consists of connecting a line reactance in series with the harmonic source at which the reactance will reduce the harmonic current. However, the line reactance method has different advantages and disadvantages as shown in the Table 2.l[12]. Advantages Disadvantages Low Cost Harmonics reduction is insignificant Available in different values Dynamic characteristics depend on the line capacity Small power losses At very low load conditions it may damage the line due to high harmonic currents Table 2.1 Advantages and disadvantages of Line Reactors The amount of harmonic that can be reduced is a function of the impendence of the line reactor the higher the line impendence the higher the reduction in harmonics. Active Filters Active harmonic filters uses power electronic devices in order produce harmonic current components that cancel the harmonic current components that are produced by the nonlinear loads. The active harmonic filter is configured based on a pulse width modulated (PWM) voltage source inverter that interfaces to the system through a system interface filter. The active filter configuration that is shown in Figure 2.6 is referred as a parallel active filter as the filter is connected in parallel with the nonlinear load that is compensated. Figure 2.6 show the concept of the current cancelation so that the current being supplied from the source is sinusoidal. The voltage source inverter is used in the active filter in order to control the harmonics. This inverter uses dc capacitors as the supply and can switch at high frequencies to generate a signal that can cancel the harmonics produced by the non-linear loads. The voltage distortion is reduced because the harmonic currents that flow through the source impedance are reduced [13]. http://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0019057811001133-gr1.jpg Passive Filters Passive filters consist of capacitor, inductor and a resistor connected in parallel to a nonlinear load. Passive filters will provide a low impedance path for the harmonic current therefore will inject them to ground. Passive filters can be tuned to absorb one type of harmonic current or several types as shown in the Figure 2.7 [14]. Figure 2.7 Passive Tuned Filters: (a) Single Tuned (b) Double Tuned Another important feature of the passive filters is that they can improve the power factor since they have a capacitance in their construction. Moreover, filters can be specified according to the connection type into two main groups, the series connection and parallel. The filters power losses depends on the material used so the lower the losses the higher the cost of the filter so after all its a trade of between the power losses and the filter cost [15]. In conclusion, many techniques by which harmonics can be mitigated from the system but always there are some advantages and disadvantages for each technology which makes it appropriate for some applications and not for others. Moreover, the decision of using which mitigation technique depends mostly on the cost, reliability and power losses. Always important to keep in mind that theoretical calculation and assumptions for the type/size of mitigation technique does not always match with the practical findings due to some voltage disturbance and phase unbalancing. 2.7 Harmonic Evaluation and Measurements 2.7.1 Introduction Evaluating harmonic system is a very important step in the analysis and design process. In order to evaluate the harmonics sources we should follow some standards that are set by IEEE as they have specified some guidelines and limits that we should follow. Following those guidelines will be helpful during measurements and understanding the devices used. 2.7.2 Harmonics Limits There are many standards which have been set by many organizations (national/international) in order to improve the quality of service provided and to protect the customers from all different effect of disturbances that may occurs in electrical systems. For this project we will discuss the limits specified by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. 2.7.3 Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) According to IEEE 519-1992 standards the total voltage distortion and the total current distortion limits should be within the specified limits as shown in Table 3.1 and Table [2]: Table 3.1 Total Voltage Distortion Limits According to IEEE 519-1992 Table 2.7 Total Current Distortion Limits According to IEEE 519-1992 SCR is the ratio of the maximum short circuit current to the maximum fundamental frequency load current at the point of common coupling (PCC)[]. 2.7.4 Harmonics Evaluation Harmonic currents produced by nonlinear loads can interact with the utility power supply. This interaction often gives a rise to voltage and current harmonic distortion observed in many places in the system. Therefore, to limit both voltage and current harmonic distortion, as seen in the limits set by the IEEE standard 519-1992 in order to limit the harmonic current injection from the end users to make the harmonic voltage levels on the overall power system acceptable [8]. The two most common used indices measuring the harmonic waveform are: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Total Harmonic Distortion (THD) à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Total Demand Distortion (TDD) Since there are two parties involved in limiting the total harmonic distortion which are divided between the utility and the customers, the evaluation is divided into two parts which are: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Measurements of the currents that are being injected by the loads à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Calculations of the frequency response of the system impedance The total harmonic distortion (THD) is a measure of the effective value of the harmonic components of a distorted waveform relative to the fundamental. In order to calculate the total harmonic distortion for the voltage or current Equation (1) or (2) are used [1]: (1) (2) The total demand distortion (TDD) is expressed in terms of the maximum demand load current. TDD can be calculated using Equation (3) [1]: (3) In computing the short circuit level at the point of common coupling the normal system condition that will result in minimum short circuit level will be taken into consideration as it causes the most severe impact to the system. The short circuit current can be calculated using Equation (3.3) [8]: Where MVA and kV represent the three-phase short-circuit capacity in megavolt amperes and the line-to-line voltage at the point of common coupling in kV, respectively. The load current should be evaluated in order to determine the short circuit ratio Equation (3.4) can be used to calculate the load current [8]: 3.6 How to Evaluate Compliance Harmonic currents produced by nonlinear loads can interact adversely with the utility supply system. The interaction often gives rise to voltage harmonic distortion and current harmonic distortion observed in many places in the power system. Therefore, it is required to identify the point of common coupling (PCC) in order to have a more accurate measurement and evaluation. For industrial and commercial end users, the PCC is usually at the primary side of a service transformer that supplies the facility as shown in figures 3.1 and 3.2.

Hawthornes Scarlet Letter - Rev. Arthur Dimmesdale and the Scaffold Scenes :: Scarlet Letter essays

The Scarlet Letter   - Dimmesdale and the Scaffold Scenes In Nathaniel Hawthorne's "The Scarlet Letter," there are three very important scenes that all take place at the town scaffold, a place of great shame in their strict Puritan society. These scenes represent the progression of Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale over the course of the story. Each scene involves him in some way and one can easily see that he has changed dramatically in all three. The first scaffold scene takes place in the very beginning of the story. Hester Prynne, a woman who has committed adultery and will not name the father of her child, is forced to stand upon the scaffold in shame for three hours in front of a crowd of people. Dimmesdale, who is later revealed as the father, openly denies his sin and even goes as far as telling Hester to "speak out the name of thy fellow-sinner and fellow-sufferer," in order to make sure that nobody suspects him. While the author doesn't make his guilt very obvious, he does give a few hints that suggest Dimmesdale does have some sort of hidden secret. In this scene, the Reverend shows his original strength of character, which he slowly loses over the course of the story. Seven years later, in the middle of the night, Dimmesdale finally admits to his sin while standing on the scaffold, just as Hester did so very long ago. It has been eating away at him all this time and feels that he also must be punished, though he cannot bring himself to confess publicly. He even brands his chest with the same letter "A" that Hester has been forced to wear upon her clothing to show that she is an adulterer. In the third and final scaffold scene, Dimmesdale finally reveals his secret to the public. And as "Pearl kissed his lips...a spell was broken," Dimmesdale conquers his guilt and dies right there on the scaffold with an open conscience. He also escapes

JKL International plc. International Human Resource Essay

INTRODUCTION With the trend of globalisation, the number of multinational companies is constantly increasing as well as expatriates (Business Recorder, 2011). Expatriate management now is an essential issue of human resource department because it takes a large amount of budget from the corporation. It is inevitable for expatriates to face culture barriers in subsidiaries because of unique national cultures in all countries over the world. National culture is †cultural experiences, beliefs, learned behaviour patterns, and values shared by citizens of the same nation† (Neale _et al_, 2006, p.26). A national culture will significantly affect any employee working in firms and furthermore, national culture will influence the management framework in a company as well accompanied with organisational culture so that cross culture management is helpful not only for the supervisors’ decisions but also for employees especially for expatriates (Chen, 2006, p. 2). In the case study of JKL, it showed a range of problems in their expatriates which related national cultures and JKL will implement a British managerial system into its Russian subsidiary. This essay will first examine the problems and issues in managing expatriates in JKL and then evaluate the proposal from Jim Flinn, the CEO of Zagorski who will apply an entire British managerial system into a Russian subsidiary. ORGANISATIONAL CONTEXT (CASE STUDY) JKL is a British pharmaceutical company which was founded in 1925 and it has expanded its business by acquiring other pharmaceutical companies in Malaysia, India, Greece and USA. Recently, JKL has made the largest acquisition of Zagorski, a pharmaceutical company in Russia. At the headquarter of UK, JKL applies a decentralised organisational structure. All managers are required to give their own opinions to avoid some drawbacks of group decision making which is conformity pressure in groups (Robbins and Judge, 2009, p.336). Employees are allowed to propose valuable ideas to manufacture and administrative systems as well. Supervisors will award monetary incentives (one of the physical needs) as motivation to employees and managers (Carrell, Elbert and Hatfield, 2000, p.129) if their initiatives are judged as potential innovations. On the other hand, in subsidiaries, JKL applied localised human resource practices in order to fit local cultural values and legal systems (Dowling, Festing and Engle, 2008, p.217) by keeping local managers with existing  organisational and managerial systems. In past years, those subsidiaries in Malaysia, India and Greece were continually making profits to JKL and JKL also regularly sent managers and specialists to those subsidiaries for expatriation in a period of time. After the acquisition of Zagorski, Dr. Jim Flinn will be the CEO who had spent last three years in the subsidiary of USA. PART ONE: EXPATRIATES MANAGEMENT AND CROSS CULTURE MANAGEMENT IN MULTINATIONAL CORPORATIONS INTRODUCTION Culture is a popular topic in literature research and it could be described as a †software of the mind† (Hofstede, 1991, p. 2) .With the trend of globalisation, managing cultural differences has become an important issue in human resource management of multinational corporations. Misunderstanding may be occurred if culture differences are not well-managed even these colleagues are working in the same organisation (Hall, 1995, p.6). In the case study, seven expatriates of JKL have their own problems and for JKL, there is a high expatriate leaving rate after repatriation (Appendix F). This essay will identify the problem of seven expatriates working in JKL and its subsidiaries and after that, rational proposals of changes will be given to them on the basis of improvements of JKL’s human resource department. EXPATRIATES AND ORGANISATION PROBLEMS AND PROPOSALS FOR CHANGES EXPATRIATES In the case study it lists seven expatriates with their problems and in the following essay they will be numbered from A to G. A (RETURNED FROM PENNSYLVANIA, USA) According to the case study, expatriate A was the first expatriate to Pennsylvania because of an attractive salary. The reason of returning is that expatiate A was annoyed about following managers received better compensation packages than him although they were almost doing the same works. The main problems of the human resource department of JKL are rewarding system and lack of correct performance appraisal system. †Every employee believes, and most experts believe, that pay and rewards are an important part of an organisation’s human resource management† (Harris, Brewster and Sparrow, 2003, p.91). In fact, the first expatriate to a subsidiary will face loads of difficulties in practical and then try to solve them as a pioneer (Business Wire, 1998). As a result, the first expatriate is deserved to have a better compensation package than followers. As the perspective of organisation, the first expatriate may important to human resource managers because this person can be regarded as a training model of human resource management (Arusha Times, 2009, p.16). On the other hand, because of lacking effective performance appraisal, expatriate A had a lower compensation package compared with following managers and that may be the reason of the compensation package of expatriate A was retain unvarying for a long time as well. Expatriates sometimes will feel unfair if performance evaluate system is not effective enough because insufficient performance appraisal system may make expatriates uncertain of their performance especially for those hard working expats (Gordon, 2010, p.56). The possible solution of dealing this problem is establishing an effective reward system by performance appraisal (Performance -related reward system). Performance-related pay (PRP) can change the payment from a rigid structure to a flexible way depended on performance (Harris, Brewster and Sparrow, 2003, p.94). By applying this system, the productivity of employees will be significantly increased and for expatriates, they will be motivated and more  willing to finish their assignments as well (Gielen, Kerkhofs and Van, 2010, p.299). Furthermore, accurate evaluation is also a factor which company need to take account because there is an essential link between motivation and performance appraisal (Carrell, Elbert and Hatfield, 2000, p.315). B (RETURNED FROM INDIA) The reason of expatriate B returning to UK is that his spouse and child had enough of India living and schooling as seemed to be suffering (Case Study). The main problem of the human resource department of JKL is expatriate selection especially in cross-cultural suitability and family. Cross-cultural suitability and family are two of the most crucial criteria of expatriate selection (Dowling, Festing and Engle, 2008, p.120). In culture aspect, Hofstede’s national culture model demonstrated the main various between UK and India in power distance and individualism (Appendix A). According to appendix A, the power distance column in India is much higher than it in UK as well as individualism so that there maybe the reason of his spouse had enough of India. In addition, unlike Western Europe civilisation, there is a caste system in India which cause the high power distance and many females in India basically are not regarded as equal to males (Robert _et al_., 2000, pp.654-656). Moreover, individualism in India is much less important than UK so that residents in India intend to work, study and live collectively (South Asian Studies, 2011) that is totally different to UK. As a result, the wife and child keened on back to UK because of the cultural adjustment problem while her husband was still working only with British colleagues (Case Study). The solutions will be provided here are selecting an appropriate candidate as an expatriate and putting more emphasis on cross-cultural suitability and family requirement. Cotemporary, the family element is having more important weight in expatriate selection because of non-working factors and potential influence to working expatriates (Andreason and Aaron, 2008, pp. 386-387). C (RETURNED AFTER A-FIVE-YEAR-ASSIGNMENT AND WOULD BE SENT OUT IMMEDIATELY) The problem of JKL here is about repatriate management and in detail; it will be related to re-entry management. In general, after completing an international assignment, an expatriate will go back to the home country as called re-entry or repatriation (Harzing and Ruysseveldt, 2004, p.337). However, most repatriates will cope with culture shock after they back to the home country. Using an example of India and UK here, although many British work in India as expats for its booming economic and after their finishing assignments, back to UK, they therefore only find they cannot work under a UK context (The International Herald Tribune, 2009). That may be the reason that JKL sent employee C abroad again without hesitation in order to avoid coping with culture shocks (Case Study). It is obviously that JKL need to improve their repatriate management and there are many models here from other multinational companies. JKL could ‘Offer repatriation training, pre-departure training, and re-entry orientation to employees and their families’ (Liu, 2005, p.129) and expats can increase the awareness of repatriation and decrease the uncertainty after back to the home country . Moreover, JKL could prepare a job vacancy in expatriate management division of human resource management because expatriates have various working experiences in other countries (Berman and Ursula, 2009, pp.80-81). D (NOW WORKING IN GREECE AS AN EXPATRIATE) The major issue of expatriate D in Greece now is adapting the local customs and culture in Greece although JKL had a prepared pre-departure training programme (Case Study). In Hofstede’s national culture demonstration of UK and Greece (Appendix B), the uncertainty avoidance is extremely high and no long-term orientation in Greece. In the case of expatriate D, a problem of communication is occurred as well. In theoretical aspect, there four problems in cross-cultural oral communication: †semantics, word connotations, tone differences and differences among perceptions† (Robbins and Judge, 2009, pp.407-408) and English and Greek are classified to two different language system. As a result, it will take a longer training  programme to completely learn and understand a foreign language. Likewise the body language and gestures in England are slightly different to the world, for example, a †V† gesture means victory or peace in many countries but in England, †if the palm and fingers face inward, it means ‘up yours’ especially if executed with an upward jerk of the fingers† (New York Times, 1996, p.E7). Consequently, post-departure training is a rational option for expatriate D to continually make adjustments into Greek culture. The reason is that post-departure training is suit for expatriates living in a country which has an entirely different culture and it can accelerate accustoming another culture (Managing Training and Development, 2005). E AND F (CONFUSED AFTER REPATRIATE) Expatriate E and F have similar problems after finishing their international assignments because JKL currently have no response about their repatriate (Case Study). The problem of JKL must be repatriate management. The possible solution will be provided here is putting emphasis on repatriate management. In fact, in last ten years, there is an increasing number of multinational corporations focus on repatriate management while in 1990s, only few companies would hold a re-entry discussion. According to a survey in 1997, only 27% firms supposed to hold a discussion about re-entry and it had been improved in 2000s. In 2004, there are 86% companies intended to discuss the re-entry issue (Dowling, Festing and Engle, 2008, p.199). JKL could offer repatriate supports to repatriates such as give interaction to human resource management to increase the sense of loyalty so that the company can avoid losing these experienced employees (Harzing and Ruysseveldt, 2004, pp. 343-344). G (THOUGHT GREEK DISCRIMINATE AGAINST FEMALE) From expatriate G’s case, it seems Greek dislike the idea of female even she is well qualified or experienced (Case Study). Thus, for JKL, it shall  investigate the culture and even the working environment in Greece. From Hofstede’s national culture model, UK and Greece possess almost the same figure in masculinity and Greece actually has a lower masculinity figure than UK (Appendix B). However, the power distance in Greece is much higher than it in UK which means whatever a male or female, their ideas are hardly applied to supervisors as an employee. In Greek working condition, it is surprisingly to find much evidence of discrimination against female. According to an official report written by Greek Helsinki Monitor (GHM) and the World Organisation against Torture (OMCT) (2002, pp.13-21), there are approximately 4500 rapes in working communities every year and only 6% are reported to police. Furthermore, Sexual harassment in communities is common in Greece due to no specific legislation of sexual harassment. Those factors may be the reasons of Greek male employees discriminate against female in the working place. In JKL’s view, it is a challenge to solve this problem as well, one of the effective ways is sending a male expatriate instead of female employee in Greece to prevent any hidden risks in Greece and make further investigation in Greek subsidiaries. ORGANISATION From the case study, JKL have a high expatriate failure rate (Exceed 46%) in subsidiaries except USA (Appendix F). JKL has paid a low attention on cross culture management because it applies a localised managerial system and most managers in the subsidiaries are from the host countries. In fact, many multicultural corporations which apply localised managerial system have the same issue in manage culture difference (National Centre for Vocational Education Research, 2006, p.1). According to Brunstein (1995, pp. 275-280), a localised managerial system will positively fit the local context and it is easier to bring profit like autonomy units in a shorter of time than centralised management system. However, the drawbacks are employees especially the expatriates from the parent company will probably face a huge  culture shock in the subsidiary if their cultures are totally different. As a result, JKL must release many improvements in human resource department especially in expatriate management field. If JKL continually applies a localised managerial system in acquired firms, it may only have problems on expatriates’ management. However, once the supervisors intended to transplant the whole management system into a country with entirely different national culture like flag-planting, it definitely will bring a serious impact to the target subsidiary and the worst consequence may like the failure of Japanisation entering UK in 1990s. CONCLUSION The main problem that JKL has is on its international human resource management as a part of managerial system. In the case study, seven expatriate had a range of typical expatriate problems comprising training, expatriate selection and repatriate management. Moreover, 43 per cent of expatriate left JKL after their repatriation and at least 46 per cent of expatriate cannot complete their tour in subsidiaries except USA. In short, those fundamental factors of expatriates’ problems are totally based on various national cultures that JKL need to take account in its cross culture management. PART TWO: APPRAISE THE DECENTRALISED MANAGERIAL SYSTEMS OF JKL APPLIED IN RUSSIAN AFFILIATE INTRODUCTION Like national cultures, many companies have developed their own organisational culture as well as managerial structure. Organisational structure is important to multinational corporations because it will definitely interact with different national cultures in host countries (Francesco and Gold, 2005, p.236). In the case study, JKL applies a  polycentric control system in Malaysia, India and Greece and decision making authority is awarded to subsidiaries in order to avoid drawbacks on the motivation and political problems in these countries (Stonehouse _et al_, 2004, pp.382-383). As a result, those subsidiaries make profit very shortly (Case Study). This essay will evaluate Jim Flinn’s proposal who intends to transplant a whole managerial system from JKL headquarter to its Russian affiliate. STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESS OF JKL’S AND ZAGORSKI’S STRUCTURES AND MANAGERIAL SYSTEMS At the headquarter in UK and its affiliate in USA, JKL uses a decentralised management structure and employees will be empowered to make decisions on their own works (Case Study). Currently, many European multinational companies applied decentralised managerial structure and developed an organisational culture called ‘old boys network’ with high autonomy (Bartlett, Ghoshal and Birkinshaw 2003 pp.342-343). Decentralised structure is one of the most successful management systems in transnational corporations which has experienced a long time modification and has generated many derivative systems. Under this system, diverse standards are made to fit specific manufacturing cases and it will enhance developing new and innovative products (Johnson _et al_, 2008, p. 166). For JKL, it is a brilliant choice because innovation is actually a crucial factor to a pharmaceutical company. Yet, the weak point of this system is hard to implement global business strategies because those subsidiaries are working as autonomies while Zagorski used to apply a centralised structure which renowned for the efficiency of implements business strategies. Furthermore, JKL developed a monitoring system with performance appraisal in headquarter and USA which can significantly motivate employees in working place (Decenzo and Robbins, 1999, pp. 292-294). However, there are a few weaknesses of performance appraisal system. For example, a report from General Electric (GE) which applied performance appraisal system and it found that those employees who received a honest but negative feedback from supervisors would actually not motivated them but decrease the motivation in their work  (Oberg, 2000, p. 64). On the contrast, a centralised structure has a formal bureaucracy system with a tall hierarchy and fixed official duties (Francesco and Gold 2005, pp.240-241). This structure is therefore suit for small or middle-sized companies at the beginning stage for effective control power in strategy implementation (Jeong, 2001, p. 446). One the other hand, the Economist (2004, p.33) found that with the increasing size of firms, a centralised structure will constantly lose the efficiency of decision making process through the complicated bureaucracy system and the employees will get used to receive orders from supervisors instead of expressing their own idea. In addition, there is no performance related rewards in Zagorski because a tall hierarchy management system proposed to make a uniform management system by formalised, vertical and fair control so that regulations are designed to fit every employee as a same unit (Czinkota, Ronkainen and Moffett, 1999, p.712). NATIONAL CULTURE DIFFERENCES JKL used to transplant their management system to its subsidiary in USA and it successful worked. This is the main reason that Jim Flinn, the former manager in US affiliate wants to transplant the system to Russia again. Before making the final decision, it is necessary to analyse the reasons of this success in USA. As main economics in Europe and North America, there are many similarities in the national culture of UK and USA. According to Harris, Moran and Moran (2004, pp.297-298, pp. 437-440), free enterprise, culture affinity, English speaking, private, good manners, aggressive and self-realisation are the common key words of American and British. Moreover, in Hofstede’s national culture model (Appendix C), the national culture of USA and UK are almost the same and in uncertainty avoidance column, USA is slightly higher than UK. However, Russia is totally a different country in East Europe. First, employees in Russia are regarded as a kind of cost rather than a resource (Organizational Dynamics, 1999, p.75). Second, beside the language usage, all management decisions are made by supervisors in business context.  Furthermore, Russian basically have a slow time sense and they intend to work collectively (Harris, Moran and Moran, 2004, pp.497-500). In Hofstede’s national culture demonstration (Appendix D), Russia has a higher power distances, lower individualism, higher uncertainty avoidance and no long term orientation compared to UK and USA. From a report, Russian firms used to apply a reactor business strategy in order to meet immediate need instead of long term benefits but most of those companies are finally failed (Milles and Snow, 1978, p. 353). RELEVANT CASES After culture analysis, it is showed that there is a huge difference in national culture between Russia and UK. Hence, it is not sure that Jim Flinn will still succeed again in his transplanting programme. Look back at history, in 1990s, Japanisation once became a popular word in UK and Toyota established its manufacturing plant in Derby in 1992 because there was an existing skilled engineering workforce there (The Independent, 1992, p.23). During the early 1990’s only about 55000 people were employed by Japanese companies in the UK (The Journal, 1999). Japanisation is a Japanese managerial system with Cost-centred Just in Time System, long term contracts, vertical integration to supplier and low labour turnover rate (Hasegawa, 2001, pp.165-166). However, once Japanese manager attempted to entirely implement this system into British subsidiaries, it was not worked effectively with British employees and many Japanese companies like Nissan finally failed in UK market because Japanese manufacturing method did not fit British economic and culture conditions with collective working method (Procter and Ackroyd, 1998, p. 241, pp.244-245). In Hofstede’s national culture model (Appendix E), Japan is a collective, success oriented and long term oriented country with high uncertainty avoidance which is almost an opposite of UK. It is recommended to apply a centralised managerial structure in Russia because many most Russian companies applied a †traditional production-oriented culture with strong factory patriotism† just like a  typical Soviet traditions (Clarke, 2004, p. 418). In 2003, IKEA opened its first store in Russia and many Swedish worked in IKEA Russia as expatriates. After repatriation, their feedbacks are high power distance in the working place accompanied with rigid centralised management structures (Jonsson, 2008, p.34). Despite the nation culture of Russia possess a high power distance, there are some autonomous states in Russia which has rich unexplored natural resources such as Komi and Sakhalin actually have a more decentralised culture and many Dutch petroleum and pharmaceutical companies had established their affiliates with decentralised management structures in those regions (Condon, and Dauman, 1993, p.31). FORECAST According to the case study, Jim Flinn intends to use a ‘top-down’ change approach to transplant the managerial structure which may be imposed in a coercive manner (Balogun and Hailey, 2004, p.27). Once Jim Flinn has completely applied the management system that used in the headquarter and USA, the employees in Russian subsidiaries have to cope with a huge culture difference from West Europe. Jim Flinn may draw attention on the success of Dutch pharmaceutical companies in Russia as mentioned before. Thus, in a short term, transition will be a main issue in Russian subsidiary and it probably will take a long time in this process. However, in a long term perspective, the management structure of JKL’s headquarter may bring a range of benefits because a decentralised management system is exactly helpful in research and development department although the Russian employees are used to reluctant in changes (Case Study). CONCLUSION The main problem of JKL’s Russian affiliate is culture adjustment if Jim Flinn transplants the whole management structure from JKL to Zagorski. In fact, national culture will strongly influence the organisational culture as well as managerial framework of a company. Changing management system in a  subsidiary is not a flag-planting work because of various national cultures involved. In the first part of essay, some expatriates actually have problems on their international assignments in India and Greece. Hence, it can be estimated that, after the transplantation, many local employees working in Russia subsidiaries may have the same problems. Furthermore, many previous cases above are provided which could be used as a reference to Jim Flinn as well. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS This essay examined the problems in managing expatriates in JKL and evaluated the proposal from Jim Flinn who will transplant a British managerial system to a Russian subsidiary. Through these analyses, it is concluded that national culture will influence both expatriates and organisational cultures. It is essential for multinational corporations to have a good command of human resource management because of the large proportion budget of expatriates and efficiency of implementing business strategies. Managerial structure, on the other hand, it cannot be easily changed and sometime it will bring a series negative consequences in real business context because national cultures are involved as well. JKL have to improve its human resource department especially repatriate division and training programme to offer better supports to expatriates and eventually, there is a suggestion to Jim Flinn which is making further investigations on previous cases and local subsidiaries REFERENCE: Andreason and Aaron, W. (2008), ‘Expatriate Adjustment of Spouses and Expatriate Managers: An Integrative Research Review’, _International Journal of Management_, 25(2), pp.386-387. 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Purdie (2004), _Global and Transnational Business, Strategy and Management_, pp. 382-383, John Wiley and Sons Ltd, West Sussex, England. The Independent (1992), ‘Britain’s motor parts suppliers learn Japanese’, p.23, 8 June, 1992. The International Herald Tribune (2009), ‘A Reverse Culture Shock in India: Workers Returning Home Find It Hard to Cope with Clash between Two Worlds’, p.10, 28 November, 2009. The Journal (1999), ‘Japanese bring 150 more jobs –  £5m investment in Tees Valley’, p.26, 8 September, 1999.

The Biography and Inventions of Inventor Thomas Edison

The Biography and Inventions of Inventor Thomas Edison Thomas Alva Edison was born on February 11, 1847, in Milan, Ohio; the seventh and last child of Samuel and Nancy Edison. When Edison was seven his family moved to Port Huron, Michigan. Edison lived here until he struck out on his own at the age of sixteen. Edison had very little formal education as a child, attending school only for a few months. He was taught reading, writing, and arithmetic by his mother, but was always a very curious child and taught himself much by reading on his own. This belief in self-improvement remained throughout his life. Work as a Telegrapher Edison began working at an early age, as most boys did at the time. At thirteen he took a job as a newsboy, selling newspapers and candy on the local railroad that ran through Port Huron to Detroit. He seems to have spent much of his free time reading scientific, and technical books, and also had the opportunity at this time to learn how to operate a telegraph. By the time he was sixteen, Edison was proficient enough to work as a telegrapher full time. First Patent The development of the telegraph was the first step in the communication revolution, and the telegraph industry expanded rapidly in the second half of the 19th century. This rapid growth gave Edison and others like him a chance to travel, see the country, and gain experience. Edison worked in a number of cities throughout the United States before arriving in Boston in 1868. Here Edison began to change his profession from telegrapher to inventor. He received his first patent on an electric vote recorder, a device intended for use by elected bodies such as Congress to speed the voting process. This invention was a commercial failure. Edison resolved that in the future he would only invent things that he was certain the public would want. Marriage to Mary Stilwell Edison moved to New York City in 1869. He continued to work on inventions related to the telegraph, and developed his first successful invention, an improved stock ticker called the Universal Stock Printer. For this and some related inventions, Edison was paid $40,000. This gave Edison the money he needed to set up his first small laboratory and manufacturing facility in Newark, New Jersey in 1871. During the next five years, Edison worked in Newark inventing and manufacturing devices that greatly improved the speed and efficiency of the telegraph. He also found time to get married to Mary Stilwell and start a family. Move to Menlo Park In 1876 Edison sold all his Newark manufacturing concerns and moved his family and staff of assistants to the small village of Menlo Park, twenty-five miles southwest of New York City. Edison established a new facility containing all the equipment necessary to work on any invention. This research and development laboratory was the first of its kind anywhere; the model for later, modern facilities such as Bell Laboratories, this is sometimes considered to be Edisons greatest invention. Here Edison began to change the world. The first great invention developed by Edison in Menlo Park was the tin foil phonograph. The first machine that could record and reproduce sound created a sensation and brought Edison international fame. Edison toured the country with the tin foil phonograph  and was invited to the White House to demonstrate it to President Rutherford B. Hayes in April 1878. Edison next undertook his greatest challenge, the development of a practical incandescent, electric light. The idea of electric lighting was not new, and a number of people had worked on, and even developed forms of electric lighting. But up to that time, nothing had been developed that was remotely practical for home use. Edisons eventual achievement was inventing not just an incandescent electric light, but also an electric lighting system that contained all the elements necessary to make the incandescent light practical, safe, and economical.    Thomas Edison Founds an Industry Based on Electricity After one and a half years of work, success was achieved when an incandescent lamp with a filament of carbonized sewing thread burned for thirteen and a half hours. The first public demonstration of the Edisons incandescent lighting system was in December 1879, when the Menlo Park laboratory complex was electrically lighted. Edison spent the next several years creating the electric industry. In September 1882, the first commercial power station, located on Pearl Street in lower Manhattan, went into operation providing light and power to customers in a one square mile area; the electric age had begun.    Fame Wealth The success of his electric light brought Edison to new heights of fame and wealth, as electricity spread around the world. Edisons various electric companies continued to grow until in 1889 they were brought together to form Edison General Electric. Despite the use of Edison in the company title however, Edison never controlled this company. The tremendous amount of capital needed to develop the incandescent lighting industry had necessitated the involvement of investment bankers such as J.P. Morgan. When Edison General Electric merged with its leading competitor Thompson-Houston in 1892, Edison was dropped from the name, and the company became simply General Electric. Marriage to Mina Miller This period of success was marred by the death of Edisons wife Mary in 1884. Edisons involvement in the business end of the electric industry had caused Edison to spend less time in Menlo Park. After Marys death, Edison was there even less, living instead in New York City with his three children. A year later, while vacationing at a friends house in New England, Edison met Mina Miller and fell in love. The couple was married in February 1886 and moved to West Orange, New Jersey where Edison had purchased an estate, Glenmont, for his bride. Thomas Edison lived here with Mina until his death.    New Laboratory Factories When Edison moved to West Orange, he was doing experimental work in makeshift facilities in his electric lamp factory in nearby Harrison, New Jersey. A few months after his marriage, however, Edison decided to build a new laboratory in West Orange itself, less than a mile from his home. Edison possessed the both the resources and experience by this time to build, the best equipped and largest laboratory extant and the facilities superior to any other for rapid and cheap development of an invention. The new laboratory complex consisting of five buildings opened in November 1887. A three story main laboratory building contained a power plant, machine shops, stock rooms, experimental rooms and a large library. Four smaller one story buildings built perpendicular to the main building contained a physics lab, chemistry lab, metallurgy lab, pattern shop, and chemical storage. The large size of the laboratory not only allowed Edison to work on any sort of project, but also allowed him to work on as many as ten or twenty projects at once. Facilities were added to the laboratory or modified to meet Edisons changing needs as he continued to work in this complex until his death in 1931. Over the years, factories to manufacture Edison inventions were built around the laboratory. The entire laboratory and factory complex eventually covered more than twenty acres and employed 10,000 people at its peak during World War One (1914-1918). After opening the new laboratory, Edison began to work on the phonograph again, having set the project aside to develop the electric light in the late 1870s. By the 1890s, Edison began to manufacture phonographs for both home, and business use. Like the electric light, Edison developed everything needed to have a phonograph work, including records to play, equipment to record the records, and equipment to manufacture the records and the machines. In the process of making the phonograph practical, Edison created the recording industry. The development and improvement of the phonograph was an ongoing project, continuing almost until Edisons death.    The Movies While working on the phonograph, Edison began working on a device that, does for the eye what the phonograph does for the ear, this was to become motion pictures. Edison first demonstrated motion pictures in 1891, and began commercial production of movies two years later in a peculiar looking structure, built on the laboratory grounds, known as the Black Maria. Like the electric light and phonograph before it, Edison developed a complete system, developing everything needed to both film and show motion pictures. Edisons initial work in motion pictures was pioneering and original. However, many people became interested in this third new industry Edison created, and worked to further improve on Edisons early motion picture work. There were therefore many contributors to the swift development of motion pictures beyond the early work of Edison. By the late 1890s, a thriving new industry was firmly established, and by 1918 the industry had become so competitive that Edison got out of the movie business all together.    Even a Genius Can have a Bad Day 1890s greatest failure    A Profitable Product alkaline battery . By 1911, Thomas Edison had built a vast industrial operation in West Orange. Numerous factories had been built through the years around the original laboratory, and the staff of the entire complex had grown into the thousands. To better manage operations, Edison brought all the companies he had started to make his inventions together into one corporation, Thomas A. Edison Incorporated, with Edison as president and chairman. Aging Gracefully In the 1915, Edison was asked to head the Naval Consulting Board. With the United States inching closer towards the involvement in World War One, the Naval Consulting Board was an attempt to organize the talents of the leading scientists and inventors in the United States for the benefit of the American armed forces. Edison favored preparedness, and accepted the appointment. The Board did not make a notable contribution to the final allied victory, but did serve as a precedent for future successful cooperation between scientists, inventors and the United States military. During the war, at age seventy, Edison spent several months on Long Island Sound in a borrowed navy vessel experimenting on techniques for detecting submarines. Honoring a Lifetime of Achievement Edisons role in life began to change from inventor and industrialist to cultural icon, a symbol of American ingenuity, and a real life Horatio Alger story. In 1928, in recognition of a lifetime of achievement, the United States Congress voted Edison a special Medal of Honor. In 1929 the nation celebrated the golden jubilee of the incandescent light. The celebration culminated at a banquet honoring Edison given by Henry Ford at Greenfield Village, Fords new American history museum, which included a complete restoration of the Menlo Park Laboratory. Attendees included President Herbert Hoover and many of the leading American scientists and inventors. The last experimental work of Edisons life was done at the request of Edisons good friends Henry Ford, and Harvey Firestone in the late 1920s. They asked Edison to find an alternative source of rubber for use in automobile tires. The natural rubber used for tires up to that time came from the rubber tree, which does not grow in the United States. Crude rubber had to be imported and was becoming increasingly expensive. With his customary energy and thoroughness, Edison tested thousands of different plants to find a suitable substitute, eventually finding a type of Goldenrod weed that could produce enough rubber to be feasible. Edison was still working on this at the time of his death. A Great Man Dies During the last two years of his life Edison was in increasingly poor health. Edison spent more time away from the laboratory, working instead at Glenmont. Trips to the family vacation home in Fort Myers, Florida became longer. Edison was past eighty and suffering from a number of ailments. In August 1931 Edison collapsed at Glenmont. Essentially house bound from that point, Edison steadily declined until at 3:21 am on October 18, 1931 the great man died.

Drugs essays

Drugs essays Drugs have become a very serious problem in the United States. They have become a component of ones every day lives. This Nations reliance on drugs for pleasure, depression, and medical relief dominates the political and economic scene. Much debate over the drug issue occurs daily. Pleasure is one of the main reasons for drug use in America. Drugs are used daily by all different age groups. Some of the more common drugs used are marijuana, alcohol, cigarettes, and heroin. Among the younger users, marijuana, alcohol, and cigarettes are most prevalent in our society. Alcohol is widely used by both adults and teens. More often than ever we are seeing younger kids get in alcohol related accidents. It is becoming heavily abused as each minute passes by. More and more people are getting addicted to alcohol and are running their lives. Sure, it does give them a buzz and a good feeling for a while, but once one gets addicted it can totally ruin their life. Marijuana is also a very harmful drug. When one uses it for pleasure, they are looking for a high that last for four or five hours. A person might just start to smoke once in a while, but before no time, they are addicted to it and theres no turning back. Marijuana is known to be a stepping stone. That is true, 90% of those using hard drugs, such as heroin, started with marijuana. People do get a high and do feel good but overall marijuana is bad for you. If used as a teen it can cause retarding of the normal brain cells. Cigarettes on the other hand are not thought of as being a drug. Well they are. Cigarettes are probably the easiest drug to get a hold of. When a person smokes, they not only put themselves in danger but they put other in danger also. When a person lights up a cigarette they get short buzz. At the same time they are also harming their bodys. Nicotine, which is what gets people add...

Evaluation of Montenero Governance and Economic Reforms on the Way to Essay

Evaluation of Montenero Governance and Economic Reforms on the Way to EU Membership - Essay Example This essay presents a comprehensive analysis of modern political and economic developments in Montenegro, which is pursuing its further ties with the EU. Montenegro’s conclusion of its Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA) negotiation with the European Commission will pave the way for eventual integration with he European Common market . The tiny nation of just 620,000 has done so ahead of Serbia whose European ambitions have been stalled with its refusal to cooperate with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. Montenegro looks poised to follow Croatia and Macedonia in actively negotiating accession negotiations. Greater political stability was achieved with the democratic elections held in September in the year 2006 after the narrow win in the referendum in May, with just 55.5% of voters giving a go signal for independence. Djukanovic, with his party in power has even greater leverage to pursue governance reforms in line with democratic principles as one of the main prerequisites into entering the European Union. Held in a fee and fair manner and in line with international standards, the parliamentary elections placed Montenegro was seen favorably by the international community in its capacity to address political reforms and implement them. In terms of legislation, Montenegro has strengthened its anti-corruption drive. Key legislations for improved public procurement and conflict of interest legislation are set to be passed and the Law on Free Access to Information was signed (par 10). Also for the first time as a signal towards greater Montenegro accountability, 1,692 public officials submitted reports on their income and property (par10). Djukanovic in an interview published in the New York Times said that his government managed to pass 140 laws and many more regulations in his past term as Prime Minister, with focus on reforms on the economy, education and administration. As to criticisms that implementation has been slow, he said that the "effects of this reform job will be witnessed only after 5 years" To further cement its legal democratic framework, Montenegro has to craft a

Global Leadership Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 2

Global Leadership - Essay Example Jordan also offered a similar peace treaty a year later. The Israelites had to choose between expansion of their territories or having peace and security with Egypt. Israel chose expansion over security and this led to the 1973 war. The war was an indication to Israel that Egypt cannot be under estimated and was a force to reckon with. It was later that Israel had to agree on the peace treaty offered in 1971, but this time, the national rights of Palestinians were recognized (Chomsky, 2010, p. 2). Obstacles of the Israel Palestinian conflict Negative perception by the leaders in dealing with this conflict is indicated by the fact that leaders do not recognize the existence of the rival state. The outgoing Prime Minister of Israel Shimon Peres had stated that the Palestinian State would never exist. To make the matters worse, the incoming Prime Minister, Netanyahu, went on to describe the intended Palestinian state as left over fragments or fried chicken (Chomsky, 2010, p. 9). United States policy has been indicated as one of the obstacles hindering the end of the Israel Palestinian conflict. Chomsky suggests that if the United States changes its policy, just as it did towards South Africa, then Israel will be compelled to join the rest of the world (Chomsky, 2010, p. 10).