Applied Linguistis - Structure of English - grammar Essay

Applied Linguistis - Structure of English - grammar - Essay Example It specifies the intricacies of English grammar relatively to other languages such as French language wherein the rules of grammar have been codified, signifying the higher degree of freedom in English grammar. Sample examination of L1 and L2 non-native students (NNSs) indicates that they use simple sentences formed with be-copula as the main verbs. This essay attempts an analysis of the reasons behind this tendency in non-native L2 students in general and Arabian students in particular by offering a comparison of the essay writings of both native learners and non-native learners. Problems of Arabic L1 and L2 students related to grammar are specifically discussed with possible causes and recommendations to avoid the errors of grammar. The Meaning of ‘grammar’ The grammar in English has various meanings; the prevalent meaning is inclusion of syntax and aspects of morphology in ‘grammar’. Morphology deals with internal mechanisms of words that covers Inflectio ns such as ‘bought’, the past tense, is the Inflection of the verb ‘buy’ and when it is written in interrogative form of the sentence ‘He bought it’, changed to ‘Did he buy it?’ [Syntax], it becomes a part of grammar. In some English speaking countries, the word ‘grammar’ is used flexibly by considering spelling and lexicology a part of grammar (Quirk et al., 1985). Rules of grammar and the native speaker The native speaker of English language imbibes the rules of grammar without acknowledging them but finds it difficult to explain. The same is not true when a foreign language is learnt, as the learning process is based on complex rule sets, which are not ambiguous because the grammarians themselves have codified the rules as there is the Academy Grammar in French but nothing of that sort is available in English language, therefore, the level of freedom is high in the usage of English grammar (Quirk et al., 1985). Idea of a language is more important to convey in English grammar than the statement as it has its own sets of codes to follow. Hinkel (2003) examination of 1.083 L1 and L2 texts proves that higher non-native-English-speaking students in U.S. universities use extra-ordinarily simple syntactic and lexical sentences, like be-copula as the main verb; predicative adjectives; uncommon nouns; and public, private and expecting/tentative verbs with average frequency rates critically greater than given in basic texts by native English speakers. An evaluation of bulk corpus analyses accomplished in the last two decades shows that these expressions are common in talkative and informal discussions in stead of the written study texts. Causes for the practice of easy syntactic and lexical traits of text in L2 study essays are analysed besides introducing instructional techniques to manage the drawbacks in naturalistic and communicative L2 learning and instructional ways for L2 students pursuing studi es. The L2 study essays written by non-native English speakers (NNSs) indicate the deterioration in the standard in comparison to the academic essays written by native speakers (NSs). The overall writing standard of non-native L1 and L2 students’ texts can be raised by finding the easy syntactical and lexical sentences. The findings indicate that be-copula as the leading verb of a sentence is randomly used along with predicative adjectives. The random usage of be-copula verb even in advanced L1 and L2 essay writing affects the frequency rates of nouns and

Kite Runner Essay Essay Example for Free

Kite Runner Essay Essay Do you know that Afghanis play a game where they fight with kites? The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini describes kite fights between local Afghani kids, regardless of their social status. The main characters in this story that come from a higher socioeconomic level are Baba, a lawyer from the Pashtun tribe, and his son Amir. The main characters in this story that come from the lower socioeconomic level are Ali, a servant from the Hazara tribe, and his son Hassan who are servants to Baba and his family. The Kite Runner explores how different classes of people worked together to run things in Afghanistan. In the Kite Runner discrimination in Afghanistan is demonstrated by the relationship between the Pashutns and Hazaras. The Hazaras were often demeaned and persecuted (www. Sparknotes. com). Baba, however, taught his family to be kind to the Hazaras. Baba learned this from his father, who was a highly regarded judge in Kabul (Hosseini 24). The story describes a day when the grandfather sentenced two young Pashtun men into the military for killing almost an entire Hazaran family. The grandfather was very dismayed that the five year old boy who survived the incident would be left an orphan. Amir remembered â€Å"As for the orphan, my grandfather adopted him into his own household, and told the other servants to tutor him, but to be kind to him† (Hosseini 24-25). The young survivor was named Ali. Quite a few years later, Baba took in Ali’s son Hassan to be a servant for his son Amir. While Baba’s house was a fair and kind place to live there was still a social barrier (www. Sparknotes. com). For example even though Baba called Ali his â€Å"family†, Ali still lived in a hut and slept on the floor (www. shmoop. com). Although Hassan was believed to be Ali’s son he was actually Baba’s out of wedlock son (Hosseini 224-225). Baba and Ali never told Amir or Hassan that they were brothers because it was shameful that Baba had a relationship with Hassan’s mother, who was in a lower socioeconomic level. Baba would never be respected again if that ever got out. Later on in Hassan’s life, he had difficulty with becoming anything but a servant. Hassan had a very strong identity as a servant, and because of this he had no sense of entitlement when he grew up. Hassan took care of Baba’s house, even after Baba left (Hosseini 218). In a scene in the book Hassan tries to protect Baba’s old house from Taliban invasion, and gets killed (Hosseini 219). Through his dying day Hassan never felt a sense of entitlement and continued to serve Baba as his owner rather than as his father. At the time of Hassan’s death he was no longer Baba’s servant. The Taliban, warriors taking over tribesman under the guise of uniting their country, made Afghanistan a very dangerous place. The Taliban were very discriminating and typically tortured, beat, and executed people of a lower socioeconomic level. During childhood, Assef bullied Hassan and Amir. Assef came from a higher socioeconomic class than Hassan. Assef is now presented in the book as a Taliban militant. The Taliban banned music in Afghanistan (Hosseini 280). Hassan’s son, Sohrab, was forced to dance to music by Assef. The Taliban continued to flex its muscles to get other people to conform to their rules. Amir thought â€Å"I guessed music wasn’t sinful as long as it played to Taliban ears’† (Hosseini 280). Amir was very critical about the Taliban and stupidly admitted to Assef â€Å"I had read about the Hazara massacre in Mazar-i-Sharif in the papers† (Hosseini 277). Amir’s point was that the Taliban killed the Hazaras anywhere they could find them even though they didn’t do anything wrong. Clearly the Taliban did not value the lives of the Hazaras (www. Sparknotes. com). Assef was one of the cruelest of all the Taliban. He told Amir this â€Å"Afghanistan is like a beautiful mansion littered with garbage, and someone has to take out the garbage (Hosseini 284). Taliban influence in Afghanistan heightened discrimination and did not unite the country. The Kite Runner clearly demonstrated how different classes of people who are able to live peacefully together although keeping within the bound of their social class. The Taliban did not tolerate people from the lower socioeconomic classes and without conscious killed and destroyed their lives. Hassan and Amir, technically brother, grew up together but were never treated as equals (Hosseini 25). However they were able to coexist without hating each other (Hosseini 25). Amir never truly considered himself as a friend to Hassan (Hosseini 25). Hassan always considered himself a servant to Baba even at his death, in chapter 16. In my opinion the Afghan culture before the Taliban was one of working together and living peacefully but after the Taliban invaded the culture changed by forcing discrimination among the socioeconomic classes. Works Cited Hosseini, Khaled. The Kite Runner. New York: Riverhead, 2003. Print. The Kite Runner Chapter 4 Summary. Shmoop. N. p. , n. d. Web. 10 Oct. 2012. http://www. shmoop. com/kite-runner/chapter-4-summary. html. The Kite Runner. SparkNotes. SparkNotes, n. d. Web. 10 Oct. 2012. http://www. sparknotes. com/lit/the-kite-runner/section1. rhtml.

Essay --

Objective: Providing community-based mental health services is crucial and is an agreed plan between Iran Mental Health Office and Eastern Mediterranean Region. The aim of this study was to determine the effectiveness of home-visit clinical case-management services on the hospitalization rate and other clinical outcomes in patients with severe mental illness. Methods: One hundred eighty two patients were randomly allocated in to three groups ; home visit (n = 60), telephone follow-up (n = 61) and as-usual care group (n = 61).Trained nurses as clinical case-managers were provided home-visit services and the telephone follow-up tasks. Hospitalization rate as a measure of recurrence, as well as burden, knowledge, and general health condition of care givers, with positive/negative symptoms, satisfaction, quality of life and social skills of the consumers were assessed as main and secondary outcomes respectively. Results: Most clinical variables were improved in both interventional groups compared with control group. During the one year follow-up, the rate of re-hospitalization were 1.5 and 2.5 times more than home-visit group for telephone follow-up and as-usual group respectively. Conclusion: Single clinical case-managers are able to provide continuous care services for patients with severe mental illness. The telephone follow-up services also could have beneficiary outcome for the consumers, their caregivers and health system network. Key words: Case-management, Caregivers, Hospitalization, Mental illness Registered in IRCT.ir, with ID : IRCT201110261959N5 Introduction Since 1950, with the â€Å"deinstitutionalization† trend in the developed industrial nations, large size psychiatric hospitals were shut down and were subs... ...at in our social and cultural conditions, clinical case-management service is able to reduce the re-hospitalization and improve the clinical outcomes of the individuals who are suffering from severe mental illness. Also, the telephone follow-up services could have beneficiary outcome for the consumers, their caregivers and health system network. The results of current study has shown that an individual trained case manager is capable to provide effective service which is more compatible with the socio-economic condition of our society as a low middle income country. Although a few patients who needs community based cares are receiving such services by a team organized by Welfare organization ( such as general physicians, psychologist, and social worker), but it could be cost-benefit in our country in which the acute psychiatric beds are less than required. Essay -- Objective: Providing community-based mental health services is crucial and is an agreed plan between Iran Mental Health Office and Eastern Mediterranean Region. The aim of this study was to determine the effectiveness of home-visit clinical case-management services on the hospitalization rate and other clinical outcomes in patients with severe mental illness. Methods: One hundred eighty two patients were randomly allocated in to three groups ; home visit (n = 60), telephone follow-up (n = 61) and as-usual care group (n = 61).Trained nurses as clinical case-managers were provided home-visit services and the telephone follow-up tasks. Hospitalization rate as a measure of recurrence, as well as burden, knowledge, and general health condition of care givers, with positive/negative symptoms, satisfaction, quality of life and social skills of the consumers were assessed as main and secondary outcomes respectively. Results: Most clinical variables were improved in both interventional groups compared with control group. During the one year follow-up, the rate of re-hospitalization were 1.5 and 2.5 times more than home-visit group for telephone follow-up and as-usual group respectively. Conclusion: Single clinical case-managers are able to provide continuous care services for patients with severe mental illness. The telephone follow-up services also could have beneficiary outcome for the consumers, their caregivers and health system network. Key words: Case-management, Caregivers, Hospitalization, Mental illness Registered in IRCT.ir, with ID : IRCT201110261959N5 Introduction Since 1950, with the â€Å"deinstitutionalization† trend in the developed industrial nations, large size psychiatric hospitals were shut down and were subs... ...at in our social and cultural conditions, clinical case-management service is able to reduce the re-hospitalization and improve the clinical outcomes of the individuals who are suffering from severe mental illness. Also, the telephone follow-up services could have beneficiary outcome for the consumers, their caregivers and health system network. The results of current study has shown that an individual trained case manager is capable to provide effective service which is more compatible with the socio-economic condition of our society as a low middle income country. Although a few patients who needs community based cares are receiving such services by a team organized by Welfare organization ( such as general physicians, psychologist, and social worker), but it could be cost-benefit in our country in which the acute psychiatric beds are less than required.

Confucius’ Social and Political Philosophy Essay

These days we are focusing on the topics of Confucius’ social and political philosophy. After finishing readings of this section, I would like to give reflections that mainly about Confucius’ view on governing and analyze the traditional culture and administration of our country. This essay will present my opinions about the merits and demerits of nowadays Chinese society’s government. First, let us deal with something that Confucius would say that Chinese society is currently doing well. According to Confucius, when the population is already numerous, make them wealthy will further improve them, and once they are wealthy, to instruct them will improve them further more.[1] I think this passage is suitable for making appraisals to nowadays Chinese society, because China has a large population and Chinese government is taking the road of common prosperity, these are very similar to passage’s description. The road of common prosperity means, for the purpose of enabling more and more people to become prosperous, some people are encouraged to become prosperous first, and at last all people will become prosperous. In my own understanding, I think this passage did not show that Confucius think wealth is more important than education. I think what Confucius want to said is, to make people wealth does not means just make people hold a lot of money, actually it means to let people live a peaceful and wealthy life, which is important to build a harmonious society. In addition, Chinese government also focuses on education, like the government increases the input of fund for rural compulsory education. In another passage, Confucius said â€Å"If common people’s need are satisfied, how could their lord be lacking? If the common people ‘s needs are not satisfied, how can their lord be content?† [2] These above passages show Confucius think it is important to satisfy common people’s needs, to let them live a wealthy life is necessary for reaching this goal, so he would be pleased to see Chinese government is paying efforts to improve people’s life and education. However , it is obvious that there is also something Chinese government is currently not doing well. In recent years, human flesh search engine became very popular. According to Wikipedia, human flesh search is a primarily Chinese internet phenomenon of massive researching  using Internet media such as blogs and forums. What made human flesh search became famous is misconduct in public office were exposed frequently through this way, this means the government is not honest enough. When this kind of things happened, it usually begin with some public servants wearing or using luxuries in public activities, then people think it is suspicious that public servants can afford those kind of luxuries, so they begin human flesh search to find out what happened. Confucius would be displeased, because the dishonest behaviors of some public servants are damaging government’s reputation. According to Confucius, he said he would sacrifice armament and food, but he though a state cannot stand once it has lost the confidence of the people.[3] That means Confucius regard the confidence of the people as the most important thing for a government. There is also an old saying that the lord is a boat and common people is water, means when a lord gain the supports from his people, it is like the water make the boat float over water-surface. And it works both ways. The correct attitude towards common people will gain people’s support, the bad reputation cause by dishonest governing will lose people’s support, it is no doubt that Chinese society is not doing well at this point. Confucius also said â€Å"Raise up the straight and apply them to the crooked, and the people will submit you. If you raise up the crooked and apply them to the straight, the people will never submit.† [4] When we understanding this passage and relating it to nowadays society, I think the â€Å"straight† can be understand as the public servant who work honesty and really care of common people’s interests. Likewise, â€Å"crooked† can be understand as the public servant who abuse power and damage common people’s interest. Chinese government did not build up a complete supervise system to punish the corrupt officials and it is what government should do in the future. The key to adopting Confucius’ philosophy centers on discarding the dross and selecting the essence. Chinese society is doing a good job in striking a balance between social improvement and inheritance on traditional culture, like the idea about building up a harmonious society. I think Chinese society should be as Confucian as it is today, because although we can carry forward things from tradition, we cannot carry forward everything from tradition, we need to keep pace with the times. Some of Confucius’ view on governing cannot accommodate itself to the Chinese society’s development. For example, Confucius said, let the lord be a true  lord, the ministers true ministers, the fathers tr ue fathers, and the sons true sons.[5] In this passage, Confucius was only requiring the lord to fulfill his obligation, but he did not require any democratic rights which are extremely important to nowadays society. In ancient China, People did not have their right to choose a lord they want, but nowadays people are supposed to have their democratic rights and choose the government they want. The Chinese society must comply with the world development trend. We should accept the good things showed in the passage, like the idea â€Å"to do what you are deemed to do†, but for governing, we are not supposed to take its idea like â€Å"people serve their lord and cannot against the lord† Chinese society does not take the wrong way and its governing is becoming more and more democratic, so it is Confucian enough and it just need to keep this style. In conclusion, there is still lot of things that we can use the experience of Confucius for reference, the view on governing is just a part of it, and Confuciusâ€℠¢ philosophy is always the important asset for us.

European Environment Essay

Introduction Turkey’s entry into the European Union has been a matter of controversy for years. Although the nation is applying great effort to breaking the entry barrier, so far its efforts have been futile. Why? It seems too big, too poor and too different from Europe. The little piece of Turkish territory that is situated in Europe cannot persuade the European policy-makers that the nation is part of the European civilization. However, Turkey keeps pushing and at one point the nation might succeed in attaining its goals. In this paper, we will examine the advantages and disadvantages of joining the EU for the largely Asian country and for the EU itself. After all, the almost forty-year struggle for EU membership waged by Turkey should be motivated by the perceived advantages of the membership in the union. For the EU, the acceptance of such an unusual member can also bring some distinct advantages as well as disadvantages. EU perspective 1.1. Cons for Europe Unlike pros, the cons of accepting Turkey into what has previously been a group of white, Christian and affluent nations are apparent at first glance. Former European Commissioner Frits Bolkestein’s â€Å"too big, to poor, too different† is a perfect designation for what Turkey appears to be to the Europeans and what it bring them in the not-so-remote future, changing the landscape of Europe forever. Turkey is indeed too big in proportion to population. At the moment, it numbers about 70 million, but considering the rapid growth rates, it may soon become the largest European nation (Lamb 2004). As the EU often determines how much power to give the nations in accordance with their population size, Turkey may grab more power in the EU than European policy-makers are willing to give it. Anyway, â€Å"that would immediately shift the balance of EU power to the East† (Lamb 2004). At the same time, Turkey will bring the borders of the EU closer to the unstable Middle Eastern region. Iraq, Syria, Iran – all these explosive neighbors would come one step closer with the entry of Turkey. Those who oppose its entry point to the fact that it is already a member of NATO and so it is unlikely that joining the EU would help to broaden the cooperation in any meaningful way. Besides, Turkey is too poor to be admitted into the alliance that enjoys one of the highest living standards in the world. The completion of the integration process between Turkey and the EU would require opening the borders between the two nations to admit free flow of capital, goods and people. This could immediately flood the European Union with a massive stream of immigrants from Turkey willing to work for larger EU salaries. The probability of this unwelcome scenario is corroborated by the fact that â€Å"in a recent poll by the Turkish Gallup Institute, 23 percent of Turkish workers asked said they would move to Western Europe countries if part of the EU† (Lamb 2004). This would surely oversaturate the European labor market and increase unemployment. A constant concern is the clash between Muslim and Christian values. Although Turkey is already a borderline state between the two civilizations, it still remains a Muslim nation that retains much of the ethical concerns of this world. The clash of two very different civilizations is therefore a matter of concern. The cost of admitting Turkey can be overwhelming for the EU budget that has already aroused considerable controversies. The opponents of admitting Turkey insist that â€Å"Turkey’s membership will cost more than all ten of the countries admitted in May combined† (Lamb 2004). This is impossible to check since all the expenses cannot be quantified at this point. Surely, with a large agricultural sector, Turkey will be able to claim a large portion of EU agricultural subsidies, and the ‘old European’ nations like France and the UK may not like it, claiming those subsidies themselves. 1.2. Are there any pros? Although not all Europeans may want to admit it, accepting Turkey into the EU has not just cons, but pros as well. The nation, being big in the size of the population, can not only drag the block down with its sheer size, but also increase its weight on the international arena. The EU and the prospects of entering it are already a major factor in the politics of the nations situated in the geographic proximity of Europe. At the same time, the entry of Turkey will expand the boundaries of Europe and put more nations in the orbit of European influence. It will, effectively, enlarge the boundaries of European influence into Asia and provide a new vehicle for European impact on Asia. The very things that are believed to be the cons can be turned into pros. Thus, despite the calls of those envisaging the clash of cultural values between Muslims and Europeans, there is another counterclaim. Thus, Turkey as part of the EU can turn into â€Å"a bridge between the two cultures, and a proof that Europe isn’t a club just for Christians† (Lamb 2004). Turkey’s membership can prove a way toward achieving a workable compromise between the Christians and Muslims. The economic part of the cons, namely, Turkey’s alleged poverty can also be seen from the other side. Even if Turkey’s per capita income is behind that of most European nations, â€Å"Turkey’s economy — in contrast, incidentally, to many of the more established EU states — is growing rapidly† (Lamb 2004). This turns the nation into an excellent investment opportunity and makes it a desirable EU member since Turkey’s growth can last for years and decades after the entry to the EU and propel the region’s economic growth. Anyway, Turkey’s economic situation is not worse than that of poorer EU members like Portugal, and the subsequent fate of those states has demonstrated how much advances they have made. In comparison to the next candidates for EU membership, Bulgaria and Romania, Turkey has a higher capita income. Another area which has gives Turkey extra points is the geopolitical position of Turkey and its prospective role in strengthening the EU’s security. Thus, the proponents of Turkey’s membership say that it â€Å"could be a model for a modern Islamic democracy — one which could influence other Muslim states into moving towards Western ideals† (Lamb 2004). This, on its own, will urge the Muslim nations to abandon their anti-Western stance, if any, and focus on peaceful integration with the West. In addition, â€Å"Turkey has a large and powerful military presence and would offer the EU a stronger presence in a geo-politically vital region† (Lamb 2004). The opponents object, however, that Turkey has a negative image in much of the Muslim world and thus cannot be reasonably considered as having the power to break its negative perception to influence the West. The Turkish Perspectives 2.1. The Political Situation For Turkey itself, its membership in the European Union would mean a total shift of geopolitical direction. Although seen as advantageous by many, it is by no means certain that the majority or even all of the population support this move, perceived by many as too dramatic a shift from the previous political course. However, there are many distinct pros for Turkey in joining the EU. To realize how the EU accession will spearhead reforms and progress in Turkey, one needs to look closer at the history of this nation that became the first modern and secular Islamic state ever. The remains of the destroyed Ottoman Empire were turned by Mustafa Kemal, alternatively known as â€Å"Ataturk†, or â€Å"the father of all Turks†, into a secular republic. This was a breakthrough movement in the history of the Muslim world, offering an alternative to the previously monarchial structures. Kemal â€Å"abolished the caliphate, secularized academic curricula, †¦replaced Turkey’s Arabic script with a Latin one†, â€Å"disbanded religious courts, Westernized the legal system, and gave women suffrage and equal rights† (Philips 2004). Since then, the commitment to secularism and democracy, embodied in Turkey’s constitution, has been upheld by the Turkish military that have watched over the development of the country. This role given to the nation’s officers is established in Armed Forces Internal Service Law of 1961, the constitution of 1982, and the role of institutions such as the National Security Council (NSC). The Turkish military have with success fulfilled this role, batting off the inroads made by extremist and fundamentalist forces, preventing the threat of terrorism and separatism. Now, the admission of Turkey into the EU will provide further incentives to liberalize the state policies and give individuals freedom of expression. Thus, each nation that has a chance to be admitted into the EU must meet the so-called Copenhagen criteria that, among others, include â€Å"democratic questions concerning human rights, minority rights, prevention of torture and independent judiciary† (EMEP 2004). These requirements contain points that can contribute to the progress of human rights in Turkey. After all, the nation is said to have some after-effects of the Muslim rule in place that hamper the preservation of human rights. This concerns, for instance, the freedom of religion and the separation of religion and state. Thus, although Turkey is considered a secular state, it continues to give broad privileges to the mainstream Hanafi school of Sunni Islam and sponsor imams in government employment, sometimes even sending them to areas of the EU where Turkish minorities reside (Wikipedia). At the same time, the Greek Orthodox Church has faced hurdles in its functioning in Turkey. Thus, the church has not been able to open the Theological School of Halki (Wikipedia). Proponents of Turkey’s membership insist that the nation could have been inspired to change this if given a reasonable chance to enter the European Union. Besides, many note that Turkey still preserves some Islamic traditions that are a concern in terms of their compatibility with global democratic standards. Thus, the continuing existence of polygamous marriages is at odds, many say, with the EU policies on women rights and gender equality. Turkey continues to oppress its Kurdish and Alevi minorities, although it recently recognized officially the Kurdish language. In addition, Turkey signed the Cairo Declaration on Human Rights in Islam (CDRHI) that contains some controversial statements including norms unacceptable for a member of a democratic community that the European Union is. Thus, â€Å"that declaration has contradictory statements on the equality of and the non-discrimination between sexes as claiming in principle that legal systems should be defined in accordance with Shariah† that has long been recognized by the EU as incompatible with its democratic values. The accession into the EU and, more importantly, successful integration with the union would most probably make the chances of Islamic fundamentalists even slimmer. The reforms implemented at the urge of the EU would further lessen the chances that Turkey will embrace Shariah as a state law code. The rights of Turkish minorities would be at smaller risk, and Turkey would have an incentive to implement the freedom of speech and religion. All this would most probably improve the political situation in the country, making it more susceptible to democratic values. At the same time, the opponents of the EU membership point to the peculiar role of the Turkish military in safeguarding the nation from the impact of Islamic fundamentalists. The army â€Å"has overthrown three prime ministers since 1960, and in 1997 it engineered a soft coup to oust the Islamic Welfare Party (REFAH), after just one year at the helm of an improbable coalition† (Philips 2004). At each time, the power was soon transferred to the civilian secular authorities. In this way, the Turkish military has served as a guardian of the country. However, the Western-style democratic reforms, it is feared, giving broader rights to the political expression of minority views, would also open the way for fundamentalists and Islamic hard-liners. The power of the military to contain them would then be undoubtedly curtailed, and the nation would prove more vulnerable to their potentially negative impact. The very mechanisms through which the military has sought to purge the nation of the overly zealous religious fanatics would be destroyed, and the nation would be unprotected. Besides, it is by no means a certainty that Turkey will be able to ensure the separation of religion and the state in case of its accession. Thus, the question of whether democratization would increase is open to dispute. 2.2. Economic Consequences While democratization is, despite the limitations described above, seen as a benefit of EU membership by many Turks, the economic consequences of joining the union remain more disputable. Will Turkey really benefit from the accession to the union that places heavy demands on the economic policies of the members to ensure integration? Will its firms be able to survive the competition against the well-developed European companies? Turkey, in case of gaining entry, will have to abide by the economic policies set down in EU’s Maastricht and Amsterdam Treaties that were established by the union long before Turkey’s plausible accession. EMEP, the Turkish Party of Labour, has long stated that the EU economic policies can be ruinous to certain sectors of the domestic economy. Thus, if the EU Council adopts a plan on the liberalization of the telecommunication industry, Turkey will be forced to sell its part of the PTT. The Turkish oil company, the Petrol Ofisi, also stands little chance, in the opinion of the EMEP, to withstand the liberalization policies. Finally, the agricultural sector of Turkey that is a significant part of the national economy, will not survive should the EU decide to give up subsidies for the producers of agricultural products such as beetroot, cotton, tobacco and other products. At the same time, for ordinary citizens accession to the EU continues to symbolize economic benefits that will hopefully be translated into higher life standards. To Turks, the entry has come to be associated with â€Å"a higher income, better healthcare and medical treatments, access to higher education, the freedom to travel, and a carefree retirement† (Zaptcioglu 2004). However, experts continue to worry about the realization of the Maastricht criteria for economic situation in a prospective member that, allegedly, will be harder for Turkey to meet than the Copenhagen ones. The nation now has a national debt of $270 billion. The Maastricht requirements mean that debts are no more than 60% of the national income (Zaptcioglu 2004). The skeptics’ plan to overcome this hurdle is â€Å"should pull out of the tariff union and at the same time apply to the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank for different and better terms for paying off its debts† (Zaptcioglu 2004). However, it is controversial whether Turkey should risk spoiling relations with the West in this fashion in order to gain entry to the EU. The current economic impact of integration with the EU is also debatable. Thus, Turkey currently has a tariff union with the block it hopes to enter some day. This union was established with entering the Customs Union Treaty in 1995. EMEP (2004) points that the union works to the disadvantage of Turkey, leading to increase in its trade gap with Europe to the amount of $10 billion. However, this is not the opinion of only one political party that may be exploiting facts to prove a point. Manisali and Sinan Aygà ¼n, chairman of the Chamber of Commerce in Ankara, also lament the deprivation inflicted on the economy by the union. Aygà ¼n says that â€Å"Turkey has become an import country for European industrial products, but, according to the tariff union regulations, is not permitted to export its agricultural products into the EU† (Zaptcioglu 2004). This means that the union is not equitable and gives EU broader advantages than Turkey. There is certainly fear that the policies implemented in case Turkey joins the EU will be similarly skewed in order to give the EU an advantage. Thus, the accession to the EU could adversely affect the Turkish economy, subjecting the domestic policies to the dictate of the Brussels power. It is not certain that Turkey will be able to maintain its growth if it is forced to adapt to the adverse EU decisions on economic policy. 2.3. Impact on Turkey’s Foreign Policy Since demands concerning the foreign policies of the this prospective member are among the most important demands on Turkey, it is highly probable that the nation will have to change its relationships with neighbors. Thus, Turkey will most probably have to recognize Cyprus, something it has been reluctant to do for years. The island that remains divided into two parts after the conflict of 1974 involving a Greek coup d’etat and a Turkish military intervention. The island, divided into two parts, the Republic of Cyprus that is part of the EU and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus recognized by Turkey, remains a matter of dispute for Turkey and Greece. The EU accession will most likely lead to the requirement for Turkey to recognize the Republic of Cyprus. In the same way, the Aegean dispute between Turkey and Greece as well as the relations with Armenia remain open to controversy. The boycott of Armenia including the construction of Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline outside of the Armenian territory was caused by Turkey’s perception of Nagorno-Karbakh area as unlawfully occupied by Armenia. Romano Prodi, ex-President of the European Commission, has made it one of the requirements to resolve the conflict with Armenia (Wikipedia). Thus, entering the EU, Turkey will have to abandon part of its sovereignty in decision-making and succumb to the EU demands. This will limit the ability of the nation to pursue independent policies that may differ from EU wishes. Conclusion Turkey’s accession to the European Union remains open to controversy. The union balks at letting in a state that due to its sheer size will exert influence on the EU environment and can make integration more difficult. The acceptance of a Muslim state is also a controversial subject because the ensuing clash between the Islamic and Western values is hard to avoid. From the perspective of Turkey itself, its membership in the EU is also fraught with positive and negative consequences. While it is certain that it will contribute to the democratization of the state and the improvement of the human rights situation, Turkey will also have to pay attention to the political stability. The unique role of the Turkish military in preserving the secular doctrine may be challenged, which will open the way for fundamentalists. On the economic side, the cons may outweigh the cons unless Turkey can count on substantial subsidies. Finally, accession to the powerful body of nations will mean greater security on the international arena. At the same time, Turkey will have to count on losing part of its sovereignty and the need to succumb to the EU authority on many important issues. Bibliography Accession of Turkey to the European Union. Wikipedia. 30 January 2006 . EMEP (The Party of Labour). Turkey and the European Union. October 2004. 30 January 2006 . Lamb, Scott. â€Å"TURKEY AND THE EU: The Pros and Cons.† Spiegel Online 14 December 2004. 23 January 2006 . Phillips, David L. â€Å"Turkey’s Dreams of Accession.† Foreign Affairs (September/October 2004). 30 January 2006 . Zaptcioglu, Dilek. â€Å"They Will Never Accept Us!† Quantara (2004). 30 January 2006 .   

The Golden Age of Islam essays

The Golden Age of Islam essays The rise of Islam ushered in an entirely new era for the people of the Arabian Peninsula as early as the 7th century CE.  Islam extended itself across the Middle East and then began its conquest of North Africa, reaching into Spain and Eastern Europe.   The 1200s saw Islam's spread into India as well as Southeast Asia.   The success and expansion of Islam throughout these times was founded on the power of the empire's military, the effectiveness of a common language, and the egalitarian practices of leaders regarding conquered peoples. Islamic armies possessed the ability to efficiently and quickly advance the territories of their empires by employing advanced ideas and tactics as well as their superior use of a militant cavalries made up of both horses and camels.   The leaders of these armies and empires treated conquered peoples with remarkable tolerance, once these people agreed to their authority, of course. In combination with this territorial expansion, intellectual e xpansion exploded. This time period is known as the Golden age of Islam and was focused on three main principles of language, trade, and education. In order to read the Quran, a devout Muslim would need to learn Arabic, the original language of the holy book. This religious requirement affected more than just the daily religious practices of Muslims, it aided in uniting the multifarious indigenous cultures within the empire of Islam. The spread of knowledge, technologies, and ideas was made possible by the use of this common language, effectively uniting the culture. Literacy is an important aspect of this transformation. Unifying faiths and languages alone, for all that, did not solely inspire the expansion of literacy and academics cultivated by the Golden Age of Islam, however. Because of expanded trade, the city of Samarkand, on the eastern border of the empire, brought in Chinese technology for making paper. All of a sudden, the time-intensive transforma...

7 key resume tips from hiring managers

7 key resume tips from hiring managers Putting together a strong resume can be tricky. No one knows this better than hiring managers, who see job candidates make a lot of the same mistakes on their resumes over and over again. So who better to let you know what errors to avoid when making your own resume than the people in charge of hiring? Here are 7 tips from hiring managers that will ensure you avoid the biggest resume blunders. 1. Tell the truth.There’s an old assumption that everyone lies a little on their resumes. Don’t buy into that clichà ©, and rise above this silly misstep that’s sure to catch up with you. Lying about your experience on your resume can land you in a job that simply is not for you†¦or worse yet, lead to quite a bit of embarrassment if the hiring manager uncovers a lie. Don’t end up embarrassed or out of your depth because you stretched the truth on your resume.2. Take care of the details.Hiring managers pay close attention to the tiny little parts of every resume section. Misspellings or grammatical errors on a resume are red flags that a potential employee might also make sloppy mistakes on the job. Be equally careful when composing emails when following up on your resume and in your cover letter.3. Skip the objective.The objective is a classic resume element. It’s where you state your ultimate career goal. The thing is, your career goal will often have absolutely nothing to do with the particular position for which you’re actually applying. The resume space you set aside for your objective can be put to better use, so it’s probably wisest just to eliminate it altogether. It’s a bit outdated and no hiring manager is  ever going to miss it or knock you down a peg if it’s not there.4. Get (and list) relevant experience.Being well-educated may be crucial to get a particular job, but hiring managers also want to know that you’ve actually held down a job before. Recent graduates often make the error o f thinking their educational accomplishments are enough, and fail to include work experience on their resumes. Never leave out work experience, even if you have to list menial part-time jobs, unpaid internships, or volunteer work on your resume.5. Don’t forget your accomplishments.Hiring managers want to know where you’ve worked in the past, but that’s not enough to provide a clear picture of what you’ve accomplished. So for each work experience entry, also note what you accomplished or how you were outstanding in that particular job. Be brief, but specific.6. Don’t trumpet your strengths.Are you a strong leader or a â€Å"people person?† Good for you! But save descriptions of yourself for your interview. There shouldn’t be anything but your work experience, accomplishments, degrees earned, and contact information on your resume.7. Don’t forget the cover letter.Okay, so you have a ton of relevant work experience, you’ve earned a higher education degree, and your accomplishments are many and marvelous. Your resume is impeccable. But simply shipping off a resume in response to a job opportunity won’t get you the job- no matter how fabulous your resume is. You also need to submit a cover letter. This is where you can allow a bit more of your personality to shine through and explain why your experiences, education, and accomplishments are relevant to the particular job for which you are applying. Treat your cover letter with all the care you put into your resume, avoiding the misspellings, grammar errors, untruths, and other common mistakes that could make you seem like a less-than-ideal candidate.

Civil War Battles by State

Civil War Battles by State Following is a list of civil war battles organized by the states in which they occurred. Included in this list are all the major battle and many of the minor battles for each state. Each battle leads to a summary and further information. Alabama Battle of AthensBattle of Fort BlakelyBattle of Mobile BayBattle of SelmaBattle of Spanish Fort Arkansas Battle of Bayou FourcheBattle of HelenaBattle of Pea Ridge Battle of Prairie DAneBattle of Prairie Grove Colorado Battle of Sand Creek District of Columbia Battle of Fort Stevens Florida Battle of Olustee Georgia Battle of AllatoonaBattle of AtlantaBattle of ChickamaugaBattle of Ezra ChurchBattle of Fort McAllister IBattle of Fort McAllister IIBattle of Fort PulaskiBattle of GriswoldvilleBattle of JonesboroughBattle of Kennesaw MountainBattle of MariettaBattle of Peachtree CreekBattle of Ringgold Gap Kentucky Battle of Mill SpringsBattle of MunfordvilleBattle of PerryvilleBattle of Richmond Louisiana Battle of Baton RougeBattle of Fort De RussyBattle of Forts Jackson St. PhillipBattle of MansfieldBattle of New OrleansBattle of Pleasant HillBattle of Port Hudson Maryland Battle of AntietamBattle of MonocacyBattle of South Mountain Mississippi Battle of Big Black River BridgeBattle of Brices Cross RoadsBattle of Champion HillBattle of Chickasaw BayouBattle of Corinth IBattle of Corinth IIBattle of JacksonBattle of OkolonaBattle of Port GibsonBattle of TupeloSiege of Vicksburg Missouri Battle of Byrams FordBattle of Fort DavidsonBattle of New Madrid - Island Number 10Battle of NewtoniaBattle of WestportBattle of Wilsons Creek New Mexico Battle of Glorieta PassBattle of Valverde North Carolina Battle of BentonvilleBattle of Fort Fisher Battle of New BerneBattle of Roanoke Island Oklahoma Battle of ChustenahlahBattle of Honey Springs Pennsylvania Battle of Gettysburg South Carolina Battle of Charleston HarborBattle of Fort SumterBattle of Second Battle of Fort SumterBattle of Fort Wagner - Morris IslandBattle of Secessionville Tennessee Battle of ChattanoogaBattle of Fort DonelsonBattle of Fort HenryBattle of Fort PillowBattle of Fort SandersBattle of FranklinBattle of JohnsonvilleBattle of MemphisBattle of NashvilleBattle of ShilohBattle of Spring HillBattle of Battle of Stones RiverBattle of Battle of Wauhatchie Texas Battle of Battle of GalvestonBattle of Battle of Sabine Pass II Virginia Battle of Appomattox CourthouseBattle of Appomattox StationBattle of Balls BluffBattle of Beaver Dam CreekBattle of Boydton Plank RoadBattle of Brandy StationBattle of Bristoe StationBattle of Cedar CreekBattle of Cedar MountainBattle of Chaffins Farmsee also New Market Heights)Battle of ChancellorsvilleBattle of ChantillyBattle of Battle of Cold HarborBattle of Battle of CraterBattle of Battle of Cross KeysBattle of Battle of Deep Bottom IIBattle of Battle of Drewrys BluffBattle of Battle of Fishers HillBattle of Battle of Five Forks Battle of Battle of Fort StedmanBattle of FredericksburgBattle of Battle of Fredericksburg IIBattle of Battle of Gaines Mill Battle of Battle of Glendale Battle of Battle of Globe Tavern Battle of Battle of Hampton RoadsBattle of Battle of Hatchers RunBattle of Battle of Jerusalem Plank RoadBattle of Battle of Kernstown I Battle of Battle of Kernstown IIBattle of Battle of LynchburgBattle of Battle of Malvern HillBattle of First Battle of Bull Run (Mana ssas I) Battle of Second Battle of Bull Run (Manassas II)Battle of Battle of Manassas Station OperationsBattle of Battle of Mine RunBattle of Battle of New MarketBattle of Battle of North AnnaBattle of Battle of OpequonBattle of Battle of Peebles FarmBattle of Battle of PetersburgBattle of Battle of Petersburg IIIBattle of Battle of PiedmontBattle of Battle of Port RepublicBattle of Battle of Proctors CreekBattle of Battle of Rappahannock Station IIBattle of Spotsylvania Court House

Truman Doctrine or the Marshall Plan Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Truman Doctrine or the Marshall Plan - Essay Example The Truman Doctrine came into being in 1947. It signalled a break with previous US foreign policy and undoubtedly contributed to the bitter rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union. While the United States had previously pursued a policy of non-intervention and had hoped to return to this policy following the conclusion of the war, the Truman Doctrine effectively prevented this. Instead, it defined a policy of intervention in European domestic affairs as an extension of American national interests. Most specifically, the Truman Doctrine aimed to contain and curtail the power of the Soviet Union within Europe. Hence, upon being informed by the British forces that Great Britain could no longer afford to maintain a military presence in Greece for the purposes of fighting the Greek communist threat, the United States covered the cost of the operation. The point here is that the United States, irrespective of the concept of European nationalism and regardless of the Soviet U nion's own European identity and continental affiliation, had decided that intervention for the purposes of containing the spread of Soviet influence was both its right and duty. The consequence of its doing so was the division of Europe into East and West, into the Communist and the Liberal/Democratic blocs. The Marshall Pl

Websites Response Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Websites Response - Research Paper Example Energy efficient equipment can thus significantly lower the operating costs, and these benefits can be transferred to customers. With operations such as heating, cooling, lighting, and sanitation consuming a lot of power in the food service sector, energy efficient equipment can help achieve the sustainability goal. Sustainable restaurants are those that acquire food in a sustainable manner and use efficient methods to prepare and serve the foods. The methods used should consume the least amount of resources possible. Some of the resources to be saved include water and energy. Such restaurants should work with local communities to promote environmental sustainability. Examples of such include 676 Restaurant and Bar in Chicago, Abeno Okonomi-yaki Restaurant in London and The Akem in Hertfordshire (Thesra.org, 2014). Food service equipment can help promote sustainability by consuming less of key resources- water, heat and electricity. Such equipment can help minimize the volume of resources used in the food service sector, thereby helping to promote the global sustainability agenda. This is particularly important considering that the food service sector is one of the most resource intensive industries worldwide. Therefore, Equipment used in food preparation, cooling, heating, sanitation and ventilation need to be

Causes of the Civil War Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Causes of the Civil War - Essay Example uncertainty about the wars  causes  has driven historians back to the sources time and time again, with the result that we have gradually enlarged our knowledge and deepened our understanding of our greatest national crisis. Hence I find the prospect of a continuing debate, however much it may annoy those who find it disagreeable to live with uncertainties, the best promise that research and writing in this period of American history will continue to have vitality (Stampp, 1992). The point is that wars including The American  Civil  War usually happen due to the number of reasons and not because of one definite reason. People who take part in the war may often have different reasons for that. This question is worth-discussing, so in the given paper we will try to identify the possible reasons of American Civil War. Notwithstanding that slavery represented serious  ethical problem of 19th century, many average citizens of the United States were not interested in it. Some of them even had never met a slave. The politicians on the contrary showed great interest in slavery. They understood that the economy of the South was grounded upon slavery and would be completely destroyed with its abolishment. Thus, they tried not to leave any threat to slavery unnoticed; furthermore many of them were slave-owners and did not want to loose their wealth and privileges and accept the new way of life that democratic North tried to impose on them. In the North of the country politicians had different attitudes towards slavery. Some of political leaders were abolitionists, as well as many average citizens who worked in the area of religion or in journalism. Many citizens had neutral position. Anyway, it is necessary to note that while today we consider slavery from the point of view of ethics and morals, in the 19th century it represented

What Competitive Strategy Coca Cola Should Adopt to Develop Business Dissertation - 1

What Competitive Strategy Coca Cola Should Adopt to Develop Business Expansions in China - Dissertation Example has released new bottling operations in China with plans of expanding its business. The company has commitments towards the country for investing in further growth in â€Å"one of the world’s largest and fastest growing beverage markets† (Guinness, 2011, p.166). The beverage market in China is known to be one of the most vibrant markets in the country. Monnikhof and Kranenberg (2000) had presented facts that around 48 percent of the populations are regular consumers of beverages in China (Alon, 2003, p.151). However, the country has other popular beverage companies as well like the Wahaha Future Cola or Wahaha Extreme Cola that pose competition for the Coca-Cola Company (Zhang & Alon, 2011, p.287). Globalization and the increasing competition in the current business world reflect the growth and development of different businesses and their expansion across different countries. The beverage industry is one of the largest industries in the world. The Coca-Cola Company being one of the leading companies in the world’s beverage industry, a research on their business strategies would help in an understanding of how leading companies create and maintain their position in their own countries as well as in other countries through expansions. China’s beverage industry reflects a huge market, particularly for large companies like the Coca-Cola Company. ... e business strategy for the company that may help the company in developing its business expansion in China and maintain its position above and over its competitors 2. Rationale of the Study: Globalization and the increasing competition in the current business world reflect the growth and development of different businesses and their expansion across different countries. The beverage industry is one of the largest industries in the world. The Coca-Cola Company being one of the leading companies in the world’s beverage industry, a research on their business strategies would help in an understanding of how leading companies create and maintain their position in their own countries as well as in other countries through expansions. China’s beverage industry reflects a huge market, particularly for large companies like the Coca-Cola Company. The company has its operations in China but the growing competitions and other internal and external factors may affect the successful expansion plans of the company. The rationale of the study is in the learning and understanding of the competitive business strategies of a leading beverage company that may benefit the expansion of the company in the China market. In the modern world of increased globalization, there is a need to learn the theories and concepts followed by large companies to have a view on the strategies necessary to keep up a position of a company in the industry among its competitor companies. This study would be focused on the Coca-Cola Company that already has its operations in the China market and would look for further expansions to which the company has the requirement of innovative and competitive strategies that would keep its position above its competitors. Hence, this study is rational in the context that

An Analysis of the Current Developments in International Advertising Essay

An Analysis of the Current Developments in International Advertising Regulations - Essay Example In their efforts to be competitive, international firms have emulated various strategies. Some of the notable marketing aspects include e-marketing, social media marketing, product diversification, repositioning of brands among others. In order to enhance product awareness and customer’s loyalty, global companies such as Coca-Cola, Toyota, General motors, Honda, Apple Incorporation, Pepsi among others have taken wide range of advertisements through satellite television, newspapers, internet and other avenues. This paper gives the analysis of the current developments in international advertising regulations and the impact on international marketing practise and consumption. International advertising International advertising involves spreading of messages that are related to a product or a service with an aim of propelling the demand from the existing customers or with the purpose of attracting new consumers. It is important to note that due to the cultural diversity and social aspects in various countries, the way customers perceive or react to an advertisement campaign differs. In this regard, international advertising entails the communicating process that takes into consideration the consumption patterns of the audience, multiple cultures and forms of communication. In the same way, international advertisement has been recognized by international agencies as a profitable business in terms of creating adverts on behalf of organizations. Development of international advertising One of the major causes of heated discussion among the advertising managers and academics is advertising standardization. According to the advertising managers, establishment of a comprehensive advertisement campaign entails the identification of local, intrinsic and firm factors that manipulate global advertising. In order to effectively serve the firms that were aimed at operating at an international level, advertising agencies established themselves in various countries. This was based on the high returns that they anticipated by treating the advertising campaigns as business practices. One of the major aspects that led to development of international marketing was the end of the communist regimes in 1990’s. As a result, companies who were eager to provide new products and attract large number of consumers positioned themselves in the Eastern Europe market. Based on the high number of firms that were scrambling for the available consumers, the global advertising became a priority. According to Grein and Ducoffe (1998), most organizations especially those from US emulated the services of advertising agencies leading to high advertising revenues. For instance, in 1991 the top ten advertising agencies in US earned more than 60% of their income from international billings. To find the solutions and share the plight that hindered advertising in the global market, companies that were focused at international advertising formed organizations such as Unit ed Kingdom Institute of Practitioners and US Association of National Advertisers. As companies progressed in their advertisement strategies, innovations in the information technology led to the enhancement of international marketing practice through the introduction of internet. This ensured that international companies targeting customers from various place in the world could now advertise their

Local lawsuit Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Local lawsuit - Essay Example In one of such incidents, Monsanto had incorrectly advertised its herbicide as being biodegradable and further asserted that it left the soil clean. The event happened in the year 2009 and it had to pay a fine of 15000 Euros (BBC, 2009). It has also been identified that the senior manager of Monsanto ordered one of the consulting firms which is in Indonesia to offer a bribe of $50000 to a top bureaucrat working with environment ministry of Indonesia in the year 2002. Therefore, in this regard, Monsanto had to pay a fine of $1.5m (BBC, 2009). Risk Management Strategies Companies often face with lawsuits as they tend to violate the governments’ requirements or tend to break the criminal laws. Once the companies have identified the risks, it becomes significant to minimize the risks and thus manage them to a greater extent. The company needs to ensure that there is better supervision and therefore there must be clear communication of the policies. The key to reduce the risks of w orkplace related lawsuits is to be proactive. It becomes significant for the companies to execute policies and trainings which are designed to avoid the lawsuits (Pakroo & Pakroo, 2011). Risk management can be identified as a procedure meant to prevent any sort of physical, financial and time loss in an organization (Chan, 2010). Monsanto should not have advertised wrongly since doing so not only leads to lawsuits but also ruins the reputation of the company. The company could have ensured that the staffs are made aware of the problems of such illegal activities and therefore should have provided the staffs with proper information on risks and consequences of such illegal activities. Such risks could have as well been avoided if Monsanto was capable of identifying the critical point in the business processes where such illegal activities are likely to occur. The company could as well designate internal structures so that the staffs can report problems, risks and people those are sus pected with such activities. If all these strategies were adopted by Monsanto previously, then lawsuits could have avoided. Ethical Considerations Reflected In the Laws Applicable To This Case The case is related to fraudulent trade practices and bribery. Therefore, the laws related to these two illegal trade practices need to be considered. The ethics and anti-bribery rules try to raise the problems of ethical and moral attitude towards both bribery and corruption. In the ethical considerations related in the laws, offering bribes is as offensive as receiving it (Sosnow & Narayanan, n.d.). According to US law of deceptive advertisement, it is unethical if any company communicates a deceptive claim to 20-25 percent or greater than this amount of the target audience. Deceptive advertising is considered as wrong since it harms competitors, consumers as well as society as a whole. Deceptive advertisement is considered as wrong since the person practicing it tends to violate the need of morality (Carson, 2002). Sources of Law The cases are related to bribery and deceptive advertising practices. Therefore, bribery law of US has been demonstrated under 18 U.S. C. Â § 201 (United States Office of Government Ethics, 2011). It has been found that both the state and federal laws are responsible to regulate deceptive advertising. It is the Lanham Trademark Act that controls false advertising at the federal level. The Federal Trade Commission and state consumer protection agencies are mainly

An Analysis of the Current Developments in International Advertising Essay

An Analysis of the Current Developments in International Advertising Regulations - Essay Example In their efforts to be competitive, international firms have emulated various strategies. Some of the notable marketing aspects include e-marketing, social media marketing, product diversification, repositioning of brands among others. In order to enhance product awareness and customer’s loyalty, global companies such as Coca-Cola, Toyota, General motors, Honda, Apple Incorporation, Pepsi among others have taken wide range of advertisements through satellite television, newspapers, internet and other avenues. This paper gives the analysis of the current developments in international advertising regulations and the impact on international marketing practise and consumption. International advertising International advertising involves spreading of messages that are related to a product or a service with an aim of propelling the demand from the existing customers or with the purpose of attracting new consumers. It is important to note that due to the cultural diversity and social aspects in various countries, the way customers perceive or react to an advertisement campaign differs. In this regard, international advertising entails the communicating process that takes into consideration the consumption patterns of the audience, multiple cultures and forms of communication. In the same way, international advertisement has been recognized by international agencies as a profitable business in terms of creating adverts on behalf of organizations. Development of international advertising One of the major causes of heated discussion among the advertising managers and academics is advertising standardization. According to the advertising managers, establishment of a comprehensive advertisement campaign entails the identification of local, intrinsic and firm factors that manipulate global advertising. In order to effectively serve the firms that were aimed at operating at an international level, advertising agencies established themselves in various countries. This was based on the high returns that they anticipated by treating the advertising campaigns as business practices. One of the major aspects that led to development of international marketing was the end of the communist regimes in 1990’s. As a result, companies who were eager to provide new products and attract large number of consumers positioned themselves in the Eastern Europe market. Based on the high number of firms that were scrambling for the available consumers, the global advertising became a priority. According to Grein and Ducoffe (1998), most organizations especially those from US emulated the services of advertising agencies leading to high advertising revenues. For instance, in 1991 the top ten advertising agencies in US earned more than 60% of their income from international billings. To find the solutions and share the plight that hindered advertising in the global market, companies that were focused at international advertising formed organizations such as Unit ed Kingdom Institute of Practitioners and US Association of National Advertisers. As companies progressed in their advertisement strategies, innovations in the information technology led to the enhancement of international marketing practice through the introduction of internet. This ensured that international companies targeting customers from various place in the world could now advertise their

Do Athlethes and Actors Get Paid to Much Assignment

Do Athlethes and Actors Get Paid to Much - Assignment Example , it is a belief that in a typical society where traditionally the amount of money payable in salaries and related earnings is determined against the value of one’s work to the society, the pay packages of athletes and actors go against the grain. It is a common economic practice in the modern society that in determining the pay commensurate to someone’s work, it is to be determined by the economic significance of their work, and value added to the society by that particular job. For instance, the teaching profession is among one of the most economically significant profession since the future of any economy is dependent on the education acquired by its young generation. In spite of this fact, teachers are paid peanuts when compared to established athletes such as Usain Bolt (Quirk, Rodney and Pay108). In addition, there is the opinion that athletes and actors do not encounter hardships and life-endangering situations in their work. However, this cannot be said of occupations such as those of policemen, medical practitioners and fire brigades who save lives of other people even risking their lives in the process. What of the gallant police officers and military personnel who even abandon their loved families for the service of protecting and defending their nations with some paying the ultimate price in the process? They all earn just a little fraction of these athletes and actors. In fact even the number one patriot in America, President Obama’s pay cannot stand what these A-class athletes and actors take home in spite of the fact that he handles and makes critical policy decisions that directly affect the entire world each day he is in office (Hanold 89). The group that hold this view reiterate that if athletes and actors are to be paid these huge pay packages, then they should at least give back some of it to the society. They can do this through charity organizations as a show of goodwill since the same people make their payday. In addition, they should

The Fifth Discipline Essay Example for Free

The Fifth Discipline Essay Introduction The organizations that will truly excel in the future will be those that discover how to tap people’s commitment and develop the capacity to learn at all levels in an organization. Deep down, people are learners. No one has to teach an infant to learn. In fact, no one has to teach infants anything. They are intrinsically inquisitive, masterful learners. Learning organizations are possible because at heart we all love to learn. Through learning we re-create ourselves and are able to do something we were never able to do earlier. Through learning we reperceive the world and our relationship to it. Through learning we extend our capacity to create, to be part of the generative process of life. There is within each of us a deep hunger for this type of learning. This seminal book by Peter M Senge explains how learning organizations can be built. The building blocks Systems Thinking Business and other human endeavours are systems of interrelated actions, whose full impact may be seen only after years. Since we are part of these systems, it’s hard to see the whole pattern of change. Instead, we tend to focus on snapshots of isolated parts of the systems, and wonder why our deepest problems never seem to get solved. Systems thinking is a conceptual framework, to make the full patterns clearer and to help us see how to change them effectively. Personal Mastery Mastery means a special level of proficiency. People with a high level of personal mastery are able to consistently realize the results that matter most deeply to them in effect. They approach their life as an artist would approach a work of art, by becoming committed to their own lifelong learning. The discipline of personal mastery, starts with clarifying the things that really matter to us, of living our lives in line with our highest aspirations. Mental Models Mental models are deeply ingrained assumptions, generalizations, or even pictures of images that influence how we take action. Very often, we are not consciously aware of our mental models or the effects that they have on our behavior. Many insights into new markets or outmoded organizational practices fail to get put into practice because they conflict with powerful, tacit mental models. Institutional learning is the process whereby people change their shared mental models of the company, their markets, and their competitors. Building Shared Vision If any one idea about leadership has inspired organizations for thousands of years, it’s the capacity to hold a shared picture of the future we seek to create. When there is a genuine vision, people excel and learn, not because they are told to, but because they want to. But many leaders have personal visions that never get translated into shared visions that galvanize an organization. All too often, a company’s vision revolves around the charisma of a leader, or around a crisis that galvanizes everyone temporarily. But, people must pursue a lofty goal, not only in times of crisis but at all times. What is needed is a discipline for translating individual vision into shared vision – not a â€Å"cook book† but a set of principles and guiding practices. Team Learning The discipline of team learning starts with â€Å"dialogue,† the capacity of team members to suspend assumptions and enter into a genuine â€Å"thinking together.† Dialogue also involves learning how to recognize the patterns of interaction in teams that undermine learning. The patterns of defensiveness are often deeply engrained in how a team operates. If unrecognized, they undermine learning. If recognized, they can actually accelerate learning. Assessing the organization’s learning disability Most organizations learn poorly. The way they are designed and managed, the way people’s jobs are defined, and most importantly, the way people have been taught to think and interact, create fundamental learning disabilities. When people in organizations focus only on their position, they have little sense of responsibility for the results they produce. Moreover, when results are disappointing, we tend to find someone or something outside ourselves to blame when things go wrong. All too often, â€Å"proactiveness† is reactiveness in disguise. True proactiveness comes from seeing how we contribute to our own problems. Actions in organizations are dominated by concern with events: last month’s sales, the new budget cuts, the last quarter’s earnings, who just got promoted or fired, the new product our competitors just announced, the delay in launching a new product, and so on. Our fixation on events is actually part of our evolutionary programming. The irony is that today the primary threats to our survival, both of our organizations and of our societies, come not from sudden events but from slow, gradual processes. The arms race, environmental decay, the erosion of our society’s public education system, increasingly obsolete physical capital, and decline in design or product quality are all slow, gradual processes. Learning to see slow, gradual processes requires slowing down our frenetic pace and paying attention to the subtle as well as the dramatic. We learn best from experience but we never directly experience the consequences of many of our most important decisions. The most critical decisions made in organizations have systemwide consequences that stretch over years or decades. Systems thinking Systems thinking is the fifth discipline. It is the conceptual cornerstone that underlies all the five learning disciplines. The easy or familiar solution is not only ineffective; sometimes it is addictive and dangerous. The long-term, insidious consequence of applying non-systemic solutions is the increased need for more and more of the solution. There is a fundamental mismatch between the nature of reality in complex systems and our predominant ways of thinking about that reality. The first step in correcting that mismatch is to let go of the notion that cause and effect are close in time and space. Tackling a difficult problem is also a matter of seeing where the high leverage lies, a change which – with a minimum of  effort would lead to lasting, significant improvement. This point is quite similar to what Malcolm Gladwell makes in his book, â€Å"The Tipping Point†. Without systems thinking, there is neither the incentive nor the means to integrate the learning disciplines that have come into practice. Systems thinking is the cornerstone of how learning organizations think about their world. Sophisticated tools of forecasting and business analysis, as well as elegant strategic plans, usually fail to produce dramatic breakthroughs in managing a business. They are all designed to handle the sort of complexity in which there are many variables. Senge calls it detail complexity. But there is another type of complexity, where cause and effect are subtle, and where the effects over time of interventions are not obvious. This, Senge calls dynamic complexity. Conventional forecasting, planning, and analysis are not equipped to deal with dynamic complexity. When the same action has dramatically different effects in the short run and in the long run, there is dynamic complexity. When an action has one set of consequences locally and a very different set of consequences in another part of the system, there is dynamic complexity. When obvious interventions produce non-obvious consequences, there is dynamic complexity. The real leverage in most management situations lies in understanding dynamic complexity, not detail complexity. Unfortunately, most â€Å"systems analyses† focus on detail complexity, not dynamic complexity. Systems thinking is useful for describing a vast array of interrelationships and patterns of change. Ultimately, it helps us see the deeper patterns lying behind the events and the details. In mastering systems thinking, we give up the assumption that there must be an individual, or individual agent, responsible. Everyone shares responsibility for problems generated by a system. That does not necessarily imply that everyone involved can exert equal leverage in changing the system. But it discourages the search for scapegoats. In reinforcing processes, a small change builds on itself. A small action snowballs, with more and more and still more of the same, resembling compounding interest. But there’s nothing inherently bad about reinforcing loops. There are also â€Å"virtuous cycles† – processes that reinforce in  desired directions. If we are in a balancing system, we are in a system that is seeking stability. If the system’s goal is one we like, we will be happy. If it is not, we will find all our efforts to change matters frustrated until we can either change the goal or weaken its influence. Nature loves a balance – but many times, human decision makers act contrary to these balances, and pay the price. In general, balancing loops are more difficult to see than reinforcing loops because it often looks like nothing is happening. Leaders who attempt organizational change often find themselves unwittingly caught in balancing processes. To the leaders, it looks as though their efforts are clashing with the sudden resistance that seems to come from nowhere. In fact, the resistance is a response by the system, trying to maintain an implicit system goal. Until this goal is recognized, the change effort is doomed to failure. Systems seem to have minds of their own. This is specially evident in delays between actions and their consequences. Delays can make us badly overshoot the mark, or they can have a positive effect if we recognize them and work with them. That’s one of the lessons of balancing loops with delays. Aggressive action often produces exactly the opposite of what is intended. It produces instability and oscillation, instead of moving us more quickly toward our goal. Symptomatic intervention A reinforcing (amplifying) process is set in motion to produce a desired result. It creates a spiral of success but also creates inadvertent secondary effects (manifested in a balancing process) which eventually slow down the success. Instead of trying to push growth, we must remove the factors limiting growth. An underlying problem generates symptoms that demand attention. But such a problem is difficult for people to address, either because it is obscure or costly to confront. So people â€Å"shift the burden† of their problem to other solutions – well-intentioned, easy fixes which seem extremely efficient. Solutions that address only the symptoms of a problem, not fundamental causes, tend to have short term benefits at best. In the long term, the problem resurfaces and there is increased pressure for symptomatic response. Meanwhile, the capability for fundamental solutions  can atrophy. Symptomatic intervention; the â€Å"quick fix,† solves the problem symptom quickly, but only temporarily. In case of a more fundamental response to the problem, it takes longer to become evident. However, the fundamental solution works far more effectively. It may be the only enduring way to deal with the problem. The shifting burden structure explains a wide range of behaviors where well-intended â€Å"solutions† actually make matters worse over the long term. Opting for â€Å"symptomatic solutions† is enticing. Apparent improvement is achieved. Pressures, either external or internal, to â€Å"do something† about a vexing problem are relieved. But easing a problem symptom also reduces any perceived need to find a more fundamental solution. Over time, people rely more and more on the symptomatic solution. Without anyone making a conscious decision, people have â€Å"shifted the burden† to increasing reliance on symptomatic solutions. A special case of shifting the burden, which recurs with alarming frequency, is â€Å"eroding goals.† Whenever there is a gap between our goals and our current situation there are two sets of pressures: to improve the situation and to lower our goals. Dealing effectively with the situation requires a combination of strengthening the fundamental response and weakening the symptomatic response. Strengthening fundamental responses almost always requires a long-term orientation and a sense of shared vision. Weakening the symptomatic response requires willingness to face the truth about palliatives and â€Å"looking good† solutions. Leverage The bottom line of systems thinking is leverage. We must see where small actions and changes in structures can lead to significant, enduring improvements. The best results come not from largescale efforts but from small well-focused actions. Nonsystematic ways of thinking consistently lead us to focus on low-leverage changes, on symptoms where the stress is greatest. So we repair or ameliorate the symptoms. But such efforts only make matters worse in the long run. Systems thinking means organizing complexity into a coherent story that illuminates the cause of problems and how they can be remedied in enduring ways. The increasing complexity of today’s world leads many managers to assume that they lack the information they need to act effectively. The fundamental â€Å"information problem† faced by managers is not too little information but too much information. What we  most need are ways to know what is important and what is not  important, what variables to focus on and which to pay less attention to. This will generate leverage. Personal Mastery Organizations learn only if individual employees who learn. Individual learning is a necessary, through not sufficient condition for organizational learning. We must make personal mastery a part of our lives. This involves continually clarifying what is important to us. We often spend too much time coping with problems along our path that we only have a vague idea of what’s really important to us. We also need to see current reality more clearly. We’ve all known people entangled in counterproductive relationships, who remain stuck because they keep pretending everything is all right. In moving toward a desired destination, it is vital to know where we are now. The juxtaposition of vision and a clear picture of current reality generates â€Å"creative tension†. The essence of personal mastery is learning how to generate and sustain creative tension in our lives. The gap between vision and current reality is a source of creative energy. If there is no gap, there wo uld be no need for any action to move toward the vision. But when there is a gap between the goals and the current reality, negative emotion may also arise. We may lower our goals when we are unwilling to live with emotional tension. On the other hand, when we understand creative tension and allow it to operate by not lowering our vision, vision becomes an active force. Truly creative people use the gap between vision and current reality to generate energy for change. Mastery of creative tension leads to a fundamental shift in our whole posture toward reality. Current reality becomes our ally not an enemy. An accurate, insightful view of current reality is as important as a clear vision. If the first choice in pursuing personal mastery is to be true to our own vision, the second fundamental choice in support of personal mastery is commitment to the truth. What limits our ability to create what we really want is belief in our powerlessness and unworthiness. People cope with these problems in different ways. Letting our vision erode is one such strategy. The second is to try to  manipulate ourselves into greater effort toward what we want by creating artificial conflict, such as through avoiding what we do not want. Some people psyche themselves up to overpower all forms of resistance to achieving their goals. Willpower is so common among highly successful people that many see its characteristics as synonymous with success: a maniacal focus on goals, willingness to â€Å"pay the price,† ability to defeat any opposition and surmount any obstacle. Being committed to the truth is far more powerful than any technique. It means a relentless willingness to root out the ways we limit or deceive ourselves from seeing what is, and to continually challenge our theories or why things are the way they are. It means continually broadening our awareness. Focusing on the desired intrinsic result is a skill. For most of us, it is not easy at first, and takes time and patience to develop. As soon as we think of some important personal goal, almost immediately we think of all the reasons why it will be hard to achieve – the challenges we will face and the obstacles we will have to overcome. While this is very helpful for thinking through alternative strategies for achieving our goals, it is also a sign of lack of discipline when thoughts about â€Å"the process† of achieving our vision continually crowd out our focus on the outcomes we  seek. We must work at learning how to separate what we truly want, from what we think we need to do in order to achieve it. A useful starting exercise for learning how to focus more clearly on desired results is to take any particular goal or aspect of our vision. If we ask ourselves the question. â€Å"If I actually had this, what would it get me?†, the answer to that question reveals â€Å"deeper† desires lying behind the goal. In fact, the goal is actually an interim step to reach a more important result. Ultimately, what matters most in developing the subconscious rapport characteristic of masters is the genuine caring for a desired outcome, the deep feeling that it is the â€Å"right† goal. The subconscious seems especially receptive to goals in line with our deeper aspirations and values. People with high levels of personal mastery do not set out to integrate reason and intuition. Rather, they achieve it naturally – as a by-product of their commitment to use all the resources at their disposal. They cannot afford to choose between reason  and intuition, or head and heart. The discipline of seeing interrelationships gradually undermines older attitudes of blame and guilt. We begin to see that all of us are trapped in structures embedded both in our ways of thinking and in the interpersonal and social milieus in which we live. Our knee-jerk tendency to find fault with one another gradually fades, leaving a much deeper appreciation of the forces under which we all operate. Mental Models New insights fail to get put into practice because they conflict with deeply held internal images of how the world works. That is why the discipline of managing mental models – surfacing, testing, and improving our internal pictures of how the world works holds the key to building learning organizations. The problems with mental models arise not because they are right or wrong but because we often act without being aware of them. The healthy corporations are ones which can systematize ways to bring people together to develop the best possible mental models for facing any situation at hand. Learning skills fall into two broad classes: skills of reflection and skills of inquiry. Skills of reflection concern slowing down our own thinking processes so that we can become more aware of how we form our mental models and the ways they influence our actions. Inquiry skills are concerned with how we operate in face-to-face interactions with others, especially in dealing with complex issues. People who become lifelong learners practice â€Å"reflection in action,† the ability to reflect on one’s thinking while acting. Our mind tends to move at lightning speed. We immediately â€Å"leap† to generalizations so quickly that we never think of testing them. Our rational minds are extraordinarily facile at â€Å"abstracting† from concrete particulars – substituting simple concepts for many details and then reasoning in terms of these concepts. But our very strengths in abstract conceptual reasoning also limit our learning, when we are unaware of our leaps from particulars to general concepts. Leaps of abstraction occur when we move from direct observations (concrete â€Å"data†) to generalization without testing. Leaps of abstraction impede learning because they become axiomatic. What was once an assumption becomes treated as a fact. To spot leaps of abstraction, we need to keep asking what we believe about the way the world works – the nature of business, people in general, and specific individuals. We need to ask â€Å"What is the ‘data’ on which this generalization is based?† We need to ask, â€Å"Am I willing to consider that this generalization may be inaccurate or misleading? This is a powerful technique for beginning to â€Å"see† how our mental models operate in particular situations. It reveals ways that we manipulate situations to avoid dealing with how we actually think and feel, and thereby prevent a counterproductive situation from improving. Most managers are trained to be advocates. In fact, in many companies, what it means to be a competent manager is to figure out what needs to be done, and enlist whatever support is needed to get it done. Individuals became successful in part because of their abilities to debate forcefully and influence others. Inquiry skills, meanwhile, go unrecognized and unrewarded. But as managers rise to senior positions, they confront more complex and diverse issues. Suddenly, they need to tap insights from other people. They need to learn. Now the manager’s advocacy skills become counterproductive. What is needed is blending advocacy and inquiry to promote collaborative learning. When operating in pure advocacy, the goal is to win the argument. When inquiry and advocacy are combined, the goal is no longer â€Å"to win the argument† but to find the best argument. When we operate in pure advocacy, we tend to use data selectively, presenting only the data that confirm our position. When we explain the reasoning behind our position, we expose only enough of our reasoning to â€Å"make our case,† avoiding areas where we feel our case might be weak. By contrast, when both advocacy and inquiry are high, we are open to disconfirming data as well as confirming data – because we are genuinely interested in finding flaws in our view. Likewise, we expose our reasoning and look for flaws in it, and we try to understand others†™ reasoning. Learning eventually results in changes in action, not just taking in new information and forming new â€Å"ideas.† That is why recognizing the gap between our espoused theories (what we say) and our â€Å"theories-in-use† (the theories that lay behind our actions) is vital. Otherwise, we may believe we’ve â€Å"learned† something just because we’ve got the new language or concepts to use, even though our behavior is completely unchanged. Systems thinking is equally important to working with mental models effectively. Most of our  mental models are systematically flawed. They miss critical feedback relationships, misjudge time delays, and often focus on variables that are visible or salient, not necessarily high leverage. Understanding these flaws can help to see where prevailing mental models will be weakest and where more than just â€Å"surfing† the mental models will be required for effective decisions. Ultimately, the payoff from integrating systems thinking and mental models will be not only improving our mental models but altering our ways of thinking. T his will result in shifting from mental models dominated by events to mental models that recognize longer-term patterns of change and the underlying structures producing those patterns. Shared vision Shared vision is vital for the learning organization because it provides the focus and energy for learning. While adaptive learning is possible without vision, generative learning, occurs only when people are striving to accomplish something that matters deeply to them. In fact, the whole idea of generative learning will seem abstract and meaningless until people become excited about some vision they truly want to accomplish.  Vision creates the spark, the excitement that lifts an organization out of the mundane. Shared vision fosters risk taking and experimentation. People know what needs to be done. Even if they don’t know how to do it, they keep experimenting till they succeed. But even when they experiment, there is no ambiguity at all. It’s perfectly clear why they are doing it. Organizations intent on building shared visions continually encourage members to develop their personal visions. They want people to have their own vision, not to â€Å"sign up† for someone else’s. That leads to compliance, not commitment. On the other hand, people with a strong sense of personal direction can join together to move toward what they truly want. Personal mastery is the bedrock for developing a shared vision. This means not only personal vision, but commitment to the truth and creative tension – the hallmarks of personal mastery. The origin of the vision is much less important than the process whereby it comes to be shared. It is not truly a â€Å"shared vision† until it  connects with the personal visions of people throughout the organization. In many organizations, most people are in states of formal or genuine compliance with the organization’s goals and ground rules. They go along with â€Å"the program,† sincerely trying to contribute. On the other hand, people in non-compliance or grudging compliance usually stand out. They are opposed to the goals or ground rules and let their opposition be known, either through inaction or through grudging obedience. An organization made up of genuinely compliant people will be very productive and cost effective. Yet, there is a world of difference between compliance and commitment. The committed person brings an energy, passion, and excitement that cannot be generated if he is only compliant. The committed person does not play by the â€Å"rules of the game.† He is responsible for the game. If the rules of the game stand in the way of achieving the vision, he will find ways to change the rules. A group of people truly committed to a common vision is an awesome force. They can accomplish the seemingly impossible. Building shared vision is actually only one piece of a larger activity: developing the â€Å"governing ideas† for the enterprise, its vision, purpose or mission, and core values. These governing ideas answer three critical questions: â€Å"What?† â€Å"Why?† and â€Å"How?† †¢ †¢ †¢ Vision is the â€Å"What?† – the picture of the future we seek to create. Purpose (or â€Å"mission†) is the â€Å"Why?† the organization’s answer to the question, â€Å"Why do we exist?† Core values answer the question â€Å"How do we want to act? A company’s values describe how the company wants life to be on a day-to-day basis, while pursuing the vision. There are two fundamental sources of energy that can motivate organizations: fear and aspiration. Fear can produce extraordinary changes for short periods, but aspiration is a continuing source of learning and growth. Vision spreads because of a reinforcing process of increasing clarity, enthusiasm, communication and commitment. As people talk, the vision grows clearer, enthusiasm for its benefit builds and the vision starts to spread in a reinforcing spiral of communication and excitement. Enthusiasm can also be reinforced by early successes in pursuing the vision. If the reinforcing process operates unfettered, it leads to continuing growth  in clarity and shared commitment toward the vision, among increasing numbers of people. But any of a variety of limiting factors can come into play to slow down this virtuous cycle. The visioning process can wither if, as more people get involved, the diversity of views dissipates focus and generates unmanageable conflicts. People see different ideal futures. Must those who do not agree immediately with the emerging shared vision change their views? Do they conclude that the vision is â€Å"set in stone† and no longer influenceable? Do they feel that their own visions even matter? If the answer to any of these questions is â€Å"yes,† the enrolling process can grind to a halt with a wave of increasing polarization. This is a classic â€Å"limits to growth† structure, where the reinforcing process of growing enthusiasm for the vision interacts with a â€Å"balancing process† that limits the spread of the vision, due to increasing diversity and polarization. In limits to growth structures, leverage usually lies in understanding the â€Å"limiting factor,† the implicit goal or norm that drives the balancing feedback process. In this case, that limiting factor is the ability (or inability) to inquire into diverse visions in such a way that deeper, common visions emerge. The visioning process is a special type of inquiry process. It is an inquiry into the future we truly seek to create. If it becomes a pure advocacy process, it will result in compliance, at best, not commitment. Approaching visioning as an inquiry process does not mean that we have to give up our views. On the contrary, visions need strong advocates. But advocates who can also inquire into others’ visions open the possibility for the vision to evolve, to become â€Å"larger† than our individual visions. Visions can die because people become discouraged by the apparent difficulty in converting them into reality. As clarity about the nature of the vision increases, so does the awareness of the gap between the vision and current reality. People become disheartened, uncertain, or even cynical, leading to a decline in enthusiasm. In this structure, the limiting factor is the capacity of people in the organization to â€Å"hold† creative tension, the central principle of personal mastery. This is why personal mastery is the â€Å"bedrock† for developing shared vision – organizations that do not encourage personal mastery find it very difficult to foster sustained commitment to a lofty vision. Emerging visions can also die because people get overwhelmed by the demands of current reality and lose their focus on the vision. The  limiting factor becomes the time and energy to focus on a vision. In this case, the leverage must lie in either in finding ways to focus less time and effort on fighting crises and managing current reality, or to break off those pursing the new vision from those responsible for handling â€Å"current reality.† A vision can die if people forget their connection to one another. This is one of the reasons that approaching visioning as a joint inquiry is so important. The spirit of connection is fragile. It is undermined whenever we lose our respect for one another and for each other’s views. We then split into insiders and outsiders – those who are â€Å"true believers† in the vision and those who are not.