Moral ethics

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Moral ethics

Aristotle was a Greek scholar who contributed immensely to the fields of ethics, philosophy, biology, and botany. He was a firm believer in teleology. Teleology is a term that describes that states that each object has a final purpose or cause or goal or true ending. Therefore, for one to achieve their good they must attain the function. Human beings are the supreme rulers of the world, and what distinguishes us from the rest of the world is the ability to reason and act on reason. Aristotle uses the term eudaimonia to describe the state human beings achieve for experiencing a good life. Aristotle’s virtue ethics is based primarily on people and their traits rather than the actions (Van Hooft, 2014). Hence, morality has to do with “how should I be?” instead of “what should I do?”. The paper will analyze scenarios in business where Aristotelian principles can apply. It is a case of how someone should behave which is extrapolated in their actions.

Virtue ethics are essential in elaborating on many ethical problems in the business world. Virtue and moral features provide wisdom critical for analyzing specific traits. Aristotle states that every art as well as every pursuit and action aims to do good. Human beings are persistently in search of moral values and appropriate conduct (Garcia-Ruiz & Carlos). Aristotle admits that leading a truthful and virtuous life is not easy but also highlights that people can learn to do good if they are taught. An individual who lives well and does good deeds must be virtuous and knowledgeable. Aristotle categorized all the virtues into four cardinal groups namely courage, justice, practical wisdom, and temperance.

Ethics are applied in the business world either, voluntarily or involuntarily. Virtue ethics provide organizations with the moral foundation for them to operate. Consequently, all business interests and events should promote rather than undermine human life. People and entities should strive to achieve good in along with others. A virtuous business should be selfless. This means that it should consider the well-being of its employees, employers, environment, customers, and community. If this can be done, one can say they have achieved eudemonia.

Take, for example, a situation an executive attends a highly confidential meeting where the board is discussing investment matters that are to boost the company. The company notes that its profits are decreasing hence the need to reach out to new and old investors. The executive reveals this information to a hedge fund firm. The manager uses this information to make millions from the company in one night. The actions of the manager contradict Aristotle’s virtue ethics that define that every action should aim to do good for both the society and person to co-exist. According to this theory, the virtues should be moral (Bessie & Michael). The good can only be assessed when it appeases all the parties involved.

According to virtue ethics, the actions of the manager were indecent, selfish, and inappropriate. Would a virtuous person leak confidential information? The answer is no. The executive’s actions lacked appropriate integrity. The executive is dishonest to his company when he leaks key information about his company. He also broke the trust of his directors and employees. Fairness. He only revealed the information to his friend and not to the rest of the investors who became disadvantaged. One can say that he used the information for his gain. He also lacked self-control otherwise he would not have leaked the information. The intentional and calculative objective of practical wisdom in the virtue framework cannot be stressed enough.

The spirit of teamwork in a business entity is based on trust. Aristotle’s principles have been on the rise in the field of business management (Dierksmeier, 2009). The subordinates firmly believe that their superiors make decisions on behalf of the business in good faith. In this foundation, the subordinates trust that any action that is required of them seeks a goal that is beneficial to all. In this arrangement, the juniors understand that those in management occupy such positions courtesy of some qualities that they possess or certain criteria that they met. Such a process is thought to be rigorous enough so that those who finally get recruited are indeed fit to hold the offices. Therefore, it’s not in bad faith that others occupy managerial positions while others do not. The juniors hope that the superiors will have the same understanding that their subordinates understand the reason why they are not in management and what is expected of them thereof. In this common understanding, there is no mistrust as the superiors are expected not to exploit the juniors while the juniors are expected not to undermine their seniors. However, the application of Aristotle’s principle of action aimed in good faith seems to be the main fabric behind this teamwork.

Besides employees, other stakeholders have an interest in the business. Such stakeholders include investors, customers, suppliers, and shareholders. The integral part of modern business ethics involves a discussion about stakeholders. It is imperative to note that stakeholders such as investors and shareholders do not take part in the day-to-day running of the business. It’s at this point that the incorporation of Aristotelian ethical principles is of importance enjoining the board of management to act in good faith and the interest of the stakeholders (Wijnberg, 2000). The implications of this approach include the cultivation of trust among the stakeholders, which enables the business to run efficiently. Avoidance of public wrangles that sometimes culminate in court cases will also attract more investors and even partnerships. Such a business is expected to flourish and even outmaneuver other competitors in the field.

The goal of any business is to make a profit. This is true from the ownership of the business through the ranks up to the subordinates. Even the stakeholders that do not have a monetary interest in the business, they aim to profit somehow from the business entity. The customers seek to obtain affordable and efficient goods and services, the employees aim at earning a salary for their livelihood, the community in which the business is established looks forward to benefiting through corporate philanthropy and the authorities aspire to earn taxes through transactions that the business entity engages in. Aristotle disputes the “profit motive” which refers to the pursuit of income regardless of customer satisfaction (Boatright, 2019). Predictably, such pursuit of selfish interest is likely to lead to failure of the business. This is because it promotes mistrust among the stakeholders. Any action by any player in the business is seen to be selfish and therefore is not expected to be executed in good faith. The application of Aristotelian ethical principles in this scenario will certainly promote the common interests of every player. This is an act of good faith since one pursues a self-interest while being mindful that others also have a goal to achieve. All the stakeholders will, therefore, accommodate and further each other’s interests, while promoting coexistence.

Virtue ethics explores the possibility of business entities embracing the idea that human beings are born with inherent dignity. This idea implies that each employee has a potential that can be exploited for the common good of the business. However, this could also require empowerment, encouragement, and enhancement by providing the employees with opportunities to explore their capabilities. The scalar chain of command is the formal line of authority and responsibility within an organization. It’s essential in an organization to prevent double subordination. It ensures that decisions are carried out by the top management and executory roles are left to the subordinates. Any communication follows an established chain whereby a subordinate only communicates with his immediate superior. This has ensured the efficient and smooth running of businesses. It’s due to the merits of the utility of command that many argue against the incorporation of Aristotelian ethical principles in the chain of authority. However, the amalgamation of virtue ethics and the dignitary capability will ensure that this approach is not misused (Bertland, 2009). Abuse of this approach will impact negatively on the business. Unchecked authority on the employees may be exploited by some to promote selfish interests with the knowledge that they are not accountable to anyone. However, it’s acceptable that the subordinates have some capabilities that the management lacks. They need to be trained on ethical code even as they’re given authority to exploit their capabilities.

The goals of many businesses do not include their moral obligation to the welfare of the community. This concept, referred to as corporate philanthropy ” is of great significance and a worthy discussion since the community may not benefit from the business directly, hence is prone to be overlooked. It’s the reason why companies release toxic waste products to the environment, regardless of the potential hazardous effects on the health of the occupants of the surrounding. It is even more outrageous when such companies liaise with agencies that are tasked with ensuring that the environment is not polluted to cover up such acts. Ironically, such agencies become accomplices to crimes that they are mandated to fight and protect the citizens. It’s due to such that advocacy is made to incorporate the virtue ethics on the role of the business to the community. Business ethics enjoin management to fulfill the societal mandate (Pies, 2018). Through this approach, businesses will support various community programs including, social welfare, supporting educational programs for the needy families, employing some members from the community, and ensuring their practices do not negatively affect the society.

Disagreement is thought to be an integral part of any business entity. It is due to this understanding that many businesses come up with conflict resolution measures for foreseeable disagreements. The anticipation of failure of such mechanisms informs the decision to also put in place dissolution procedures and liquidated damages. Application of business virtue ethics in conflict resolution may lead to the smooth running of the business when disagreements arise. Virtue ethics advocate for resolution based on the factual and normative facts (Hartman, 2008). This strategy is based on the assumption that the warring parties will negotiate in good faith and with a genuine goal towards reconciliation. Each party will understand the motivation of the other party that led to the conflict. The spirit of forgiveness as a basis for reconciliation will be upheld. Failure of the reconciliatory process will not be interpreted as a culmination of ill will motives but rather an outcome among the potential outcomes.

Aristotelian principles have been applied in other sectors in society. Application in business is expected to result in the efficient running of the business. Virtue ethics itself is based on the assumption that any action is in good faith and has a goal or true ending. Therefore, the incorporation of these ideas in business is also based on being mindful of other’s interests in any action executed. This is the foundation upon which the enactment of these ideas is envisioned to be based upon.

References

Bertland, A. Virtue Ethics in Business and the Capabilities Approach. J Bus Ethics 84, 25–32 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-008-9686-3

Besser, Lorraine L., and Michael Slote, eds. The Routledge companion to virtue ethics. Routledge, 2015.

Boatright, John R. “Aristotle meets Wallstreet: The case for virtual ethics in business, vol 5 no. 2, 1995 pp.353-359.Accessed 15th Oct. 2019.

Dierksmeier, C., Pirson, M. Oikonomia Versus Chrematistike: Learning from Aristotle About the Future Orientation of Business Management. J Bus Ethics 88, 417–430 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-009-

Garcia-Ruiz, Pablo, and Carlos Rodriguez-Lluesma. “Consumption practices: A virtue ethics approach.” Business Ethics Quarterly 24.4 (2014): 509-531.

Hartman, Edwin M. “Reconciliation in Business Ethics: Some Advice from Aristotle.” Business Ethics Quarterly, vol. 18, no. 2, 2008, pp. 253–265. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/27673231. Accessed 15 Oct. 2020.

Pies, I., Beckmann, M. & Hielscher, S. Value Creation, Management Competencies, and Global Corporate Citizenship: An Ordonomic Approach to Business Ethics in the Age of Globalization. J Bus Ethics 94, 265–278 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-009-0263-1

Van Hooft, Stan. Understanding virtue ethics. Routledge, 2014.

Wijnberg, N.M. Normative Stakeholder Theory and Aristotle: The Link Between Ethics and Politics. Journal of Business Ethics 25, 329–342 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1006086226794

movie Flying Cheap

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Flying Cheap

There is a growing increase of people using planes. The advent of technology has made the world a global village, as a result, many people are moving between and among continents for business, diplomatic, leisure and finding homes. In order to manage all this many travels, more reliable, fast and efficient systems of travelling are the most sought. The airline industry is the sole assistant for this necessity.

People will always like to experience a more fast, comfortable and reliable transport means. Overall, air transport has been cited as the most secure means of travelling between and among continents on the globe. It has rare accidents and the travelling conditions are a lot comfortable compare to other means of travelling between continents.

While travelling, everybody always wants to reach his destination fast without being bogged down by the airline. However, perhaps a question that flight passengers fail to ask is themselves is whether the value they expect to get from flight companies is mutually exclusive from safety. This argument is perhaps what set up investigators from Frontline to search and find out. In this movie, the investigators are motivated by the air crash that happened in February 2009, where flight 3407 was involved.

Following this crash, we have witnessed many changes in the industry; with passengers have a wide range of choices of flights with varying prices. The liberation of the industry has brought so many changes that are being enjoyed by passengers. Despite all this, flight companies are very boastful that the industry is the sole monopoly of safety with regards to travelling within and without.

This documentary aims at explaining the concept that while at times flight passengers have the impression that they have trained, experienced and smart pilots, the concept can sometimes be wrong. The reality is that sometimes, the passengers do have a cockpit filled with captains that have been deprived of sleep for a long time, some are purely undertrained and most hearting is that they are underpaid.

This film tries to search and explain some of the mysteries around an accident that happened in February 2009 involving the famous continental flight 3407. On this occasion, the crashing commuter flight claimed the lives of a massive 50 people with one of them victims having been on the ground.

As brought out in this film, the major cause of the accident is said to have been errors of the pilot and the first officer in charge. This film looks a bit horrifying. Some of the staff that has worked for Colgan Company are explaining their versions of experience while working at Colgan, something that makes this film quite thrilling. After this incident, the airline industry took a different turn. The industry developed a new pattern of working. One of the changes is that like Colgan, other small airline operating companies have had to rebrand. Lacking the means to train pilots to run large aeroplanes but still enjoy the competitive advantage, the airlines can use such names as continental on their brands. This is usually done with the aim of luring customer to come and enjoy the comfort and luxury of travelling in large planes while keeping their flight expenses low

There has still been some airline accidents since 2002 according to the documentary. Most of them if not all, have the accidents have been a result of mistakes by pilots. The N.T.S.B found that out of the six accidents that had occurred since then, four of them wear caused be pilot errors. As a matter of fact one pilot who had been working for Colgan earlier explains how his particular day in flying was, he says, “a lot of short routes, a lot of takeoffs, a lot of landings, and going in and out of bad weather, being down low” (Genzlinger 6).

When pilots work for long hours without ample rest, it is tiring and thus fatigue can be a major cause of lapses that can results into fatal errors. Pilots working for Colgan have had horrendous experiences. It is therefore no hard to say that most of the accidents that have involved Colgan were human errors caused by administrative issues in the company. Genzlinger says, “a lot of short routes, a lot of takeoffs, a lot of landings, and going in and out of bad weather, being down low” (7)

Underpayment is cited as one of the main challenges that were experienced by crew members in this documentary. In flight 3407, the first officer had actually to fly in from Seattle through Memphis in order to begin his working day. The concept of having low payments affected many of the crew workers; they were mostly forced to commute long distances to work. Renting a hotel was not an option because the remuneration was not enough. Alternatively, they were made to find some little rest in apartments that partner pilots would rent. The main shortcoming here was that they were very congested and this would not guarantee them ample sleep or rest to manage the next flight schedule.

This film may seem frightening for passengers that fly regularly. This is because there are no traces of hope that the situation will be corrected soonest. You may not be notified of any changes by flight companies. What may be hard to tell is that the next time you are boarding a plane, you may not actually tell if the crew members are undertrained, are having conducive working conditions, or they are a just a bunch of tired pilots struggling to make their living in the air.

Frontline’s investigators revealed that major airlines hard a share of the blame in all this accidents that happened after 2009. The airlines had targeted to remain relevant in the airline field by reducing their flight costs. This is what made them to allow small companies like Colgan to use some of their brand names. Passengers would therefore opt to use the flights due to reduced costs, and the repercussion was; increaser flights due to an upward rise in the number of flight customers in this small planes.

The increased flights were actually the main cause of fatigue to pilots. Perhaps the need to minimize on costs makes the companies to underpay their crew members.

It is good to appreciate that this documentary was a turn around to the flight industry. The president had to sign some legislations; “President Obama signed The Airline Safety and Federal Aviation Administration Extension Act of 2010 into law,” (Rentz 2) which have brought about major improvements in the industry to boost passenger and crew safety in the aviation field. Qualifications for pilots have been streamlined and the particular training accompanying such has been improved as well.

There still more changes being proposed into this industry and in future we hope to enjoy comfortable flying experiences at reduced costs. The industry is also going to attract lucrative pays for pilots and crew members. Accidents are things that can be avoided, except for natural impediments, human errors can be rectified. Thanks to legislations and the professionalism with which the matters are being handled.

Works cited

Genzlinger Neil. “Up in the Air, With Frayed Safety Nets.” 2010. Web. 10 February 2014. < http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/09/arts/television/09cheap.html?_r=0>

Rentz Catherine. “ HYPERLINK “http://investigativereportingworkshop.org/blogs/shop-notes/posts/2011/nov/29/pbs-will-re-air-flying-cheap-tonight/” PBS will re-air ‘Flying Cheap’ tonight.” 2011. Web. 10 February 2014 < http://investigativereportingworkshop.org/blogs/shop-notes/posts/2011/nov/29/pbs-will-re-air-flying-cheap-tonight/ >

Washington Denzel. “Flying Cheap.” 2012. Web Feb 10, 2014 < http://video.pbs.org/video/1412744270/>

Case Study about Charles Well

Case Study about Charles Well

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Part 1- Value Chain Analysis

Michael Porter is the one of the first authors to use the term value- chain analysis in one of his books. Value chain analysis describes the activities an organization performs and links them with the competitive position of the organization. Value chain analysis describes all of the activities around and within an organization, and relates these activities to an analysis of the competitive strength of the firm. As it follows, this analysis evaluates which value each specific activity adds to the services and products of the organization. Economists developed this ideology upon the insight that a firm is more than a random combination of equipment, machinery, money and people. Only if organizations arrange these elements into, systematic activates and systems it will be feasible to create products and services for which the consumers will be willing to pay a certain price. Porter points out that the ability of a firm to perform certain activities and manage the associations between these activities is a competitive advantage source (Strategic management).

Porter distinguishes between support activities and primary activities. The primary activities distinguished by Porter are those, which are directly involved in the delivery or creation of a service or product. One can place these primary activities under five main groups. These are the inbound logistics, outbound logistics, operations, service, marketing and sales. Support activities are linked to each one of these primary activities, which help to enhance their efficiency and effectiveness. There are four different areas of support activities. These include technology development, procurement, human resource management and infrastructure. Under infrastructure are systems for finance, planning, information management, quality, and many more (Strategic management).

Value chain analysis is an essential tool for the organization to work out how they can create the greatest possible value for its customers. In business, consumers pay to take raw inputs, and to add and increase the value to them by changing them into something of greater value to other people. It is easier to see this in manufacturing, in which case the manufacturer increases value by taking raw material of little use to the final user and converting it to products or services that buyers are enthusiastic to give money for, like converting wood pulp into paper. However, this ideology is just as essential as in service industries, where individuals make use of inputs of knowledge, time, systems, and equipment to make services of actual worth to the customers. To analyze the specific activities through which organizations create competitive advantage, it is essential to model or to arrange the organization as a chain of activities that create value. As already mentioned, Michael Porter identified a set of interrelated generic activities ordinary to a broad range of businesses. The resulting model is the value chain (Strategic management).

Services

Organizations realize a profit depending on their ability to manage the associations between all the activities in the organization. This is to mean that an organization can only deliver products and services, which customers are willing to pay more than the total of the costs of the sum of activities in the value chain. These linkages are essential for corporate success. These linkages occur between the flows of goods and services, information and processes and systems for adjusting activities. As it follows, the linkages are about seamless information flow and cooperation between the activities in the present in the value chain. In most industries, it is unusual that a single organization is responsible for all activities from design of the product to production to final assembly of products to deliverance of complete merchandise and services to the ultimate consumer. In most cases, organizations are elements of a supply chain or a value system (Strategic management. The value chain).

Margin

Michael Porter introduced a generic chain model that is composed of a series of activities common to a wide variety of firms. Porter, therefore, came up with primary and support activities. The purpose of these activities is to offer consumers a degree of value that is more than the cost of the activities, therefore, resulting in a profit margin. The primary value activities include inbound logistics, operations, outbound logistics, sales, marketing, and service. In regards to the inbound logistics, the warehousing and receiving of raw materials and their distribution to manufacturers activities are required. Operations in this case refer to the processes of changing inputs into finished services and products. Outbound logistics, on the other hand, deals with the distribution and warehousing of finished goods. Sales and marketing is involved with the identification of the needs of customers and the generation of sales. Service in this case is concerned with the support of customers after the organization sells and distributes the services and products to consumers (Strategic management. The value chain).

The infrastructure of the organization supports the primary, which is composed of the organizational structure, company culture and control systems. Another activity that supports the main activities is the human resource management, which is composed of employee hiring, recruiting, training, compensation and development. Technology development is also another support activity, which includes such activities as integration of activities that support activities for creating value. Procurement is the last support activity that involves purchasing of inputs like supplies, materials, and equipment. The profit or margin of the firm, therefore, depends on it effectiveness in performing these activities effectively and efficiently, so that the amount that the consumer is willing to pay for the finished goods and services exceeds the cost of the production activities in the value chain (Strategic management. The value chain).

Part 2- Key Challenges Faced in Human Resource and Operations

Operational challenges are those challenges that include all of the step- to- step details which control how exactly various elements in the supply chain functions. One of the most common operational challenges is coming up with a manufacturing and production schedule that is well organized. A schedule for production affects numerous other variables and, therefore, must be designed carefully to fit appropriately into the whole picture. Other operational challenges and decisions include things like the process for planning daily activities and filling orders with all the activities involved in the supply chain. The shrinking world gives organizations numerous opportunities and benefits for business, but these are not without extending the scope of the organization’s logistic responsibilities. The days for depending on brokers to finish their end of the bargain managing a single facility are gone. Now organizations must act proactively in their efforts to put together the best possible circumstances for operations that are successful. This means addressing all of the issues and challenges that come with a supply chain that has numerous elements scattered all over the place (How a shrinking world).

Charles Wells Ltd has for a long time combined years of pub retailing and brewing with genuine spirit of enterprise and innovation. The organization has evolved to become an essential market leader in both industries and many have recognized the organization for its assimilation of change to remain competitive, yet retaining independence, by both consumers and trade alike. However, despite its success, numerous challenges, and especially those that have to do with operations have affected its excellence and competitive advantage. Other minor challenges with regards to human resource have also affected the effectiveness of the company in the market (About Charles Wells).

One of the main operational challenges that the Charles Wells has to do with the marketing and sales force of the company. The national sales force of Charles Wells Company has been selling services and products into the purchasing departments of a number of customers like major wholesalers and grocery stores. With this operational activity, a challenge arose. The challenge concerned with the fact that the national sales force had to ensure an increase and an improvement in the existing national distribution coverage and, therefore, the sales of all of its international brands by getting them in the front line of as many customers as possible. The strategy the company thought of using to deal with this challenge was to hire or recruit young staff that were fresh out of colleges and universities and to turn them into sales forces that were effective. Based at home, these sales forces would have to be mobile. They would also need to have the ability to communicate easily and work remotely hand- in- hand with the regional managers and the head office (Charles Wells’ adopts teleworking solution for mobile sales force).

The company came up with a solution. The solution was working from home; the sales force used PCs with modem Internet connection supplemented by fixed broadband Internet. They were also able to come by a CRM system that had some details of the customers. The database technology was extremely useful as it enabled the replication to the tablet PCs of the representatives so they could operate independently with the most current customer information and data available. To support this process, each member of the sales force was given a multifunction device that had several functions in one machine. The members could, therefore, print, scan and copy from one compact device, thus, reducing the impacts of technology within the home office and reducing the total space used, and most essentially print in either mono or color. This solution offered the company a number of benefits. The project to address this challenge was successful, as a result, of the close collaboration between network support, developers, users and sales management. As a result, the project is producing results, with numerous new listings. The results of the project are key elements to the success of the solution. This project is an excellent example of how IT and mobile technology strategies can be of use to numerous businesses such as Charles Wells Ltd in solving its technological and operational challenges (Charles Wells’ adopts teleworking solution for mobile sales force).

Part 3- Summary and Conclusion

Organizations have for a long time made use of the value chain framework for organizational strategic planning. The value chain framework indicates that the value chain of a firm is useful in understanding and identifying critical aspects to attain competitive strengths and key competencies in the marketplace. The model also shows how the value chain activities are connected together to ultimately establish the value for the customer. The five main activities and four support activities create a system that is interdependent that is tied together by linkages. Therefore, analysis of the value chain has to break down the main activities of the organization according to the activities stipulated in the framework, and assesses the potential for increasing value through the means of differentiation or cost advantage. Finally, it is essential to determine strategies that put their focus on those activities that would make it feasible for the corporation to achieve competitive advantage, which it can sustain.

The value chains of numerous organizations have gone through many modifications in the earlier years, as a result, of inventions, innovations and advancements in technology enabling change at an increasingly rapid pace in the environment of business. As we have seen in the case study, these rapidly changing technological environments in business have caused numerous challenges for the Charles Wells Ltd, which had to change its approach to sales and marketing by recruiting new sales forces, which were later trained using new technologies. The integration of mobile technology into the new marketing and sales tactics enabled the company to solve its challenges and turn its sales around to become more profitable. The company made came up with the solutions to its problems after breaking down the main activities of the organization according to those stipulated in the framework, and after assessing its potential for increasing value through the means of differentiation and cost advantage. As a result, the corporation was able to come up with solutions and strategies that focus on the wanting activities, and which upon improvement would enable the company attain competitive advantage.

References

About Charles Wells. Charles Wells Pub Company. Retrieved from http://www.charleswells.co.uk/home/about

Charles Wells’ adopts teleworking solution for mobile sales force. Together. Retrieved from http://www.brother.co.uk/display.cfm?id=124129&isAdmin=1

How a shrinking world creates new logistics challenges. Solusource. Retrieved from http://www.solusource.com/tominfo/WhitePapers/Shrinking%20World%20Creates%20Logistics%20Challenges.pdf

Strategic management. The value chain. QuickMBA. Knowledge to Power Your Business. Retrieved from http://www.quickmba.com/strategy/value-chain/

Strategic management. Value chain. NetMBA. Business Knowledge Center. Retrieved from http://www.netmba.com/strategy/value-chain/

Acuity-Driven Gigapixel Visualization

Acuity-Driven Gigapixel Visualization

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Introduction

Acuity-Driven Gigapixel Visualization is a project that makes to compensate for the flaws that have been presented by advanced visual technology. The realization that advanced visual technology has limitations on user navigation as a result of the alternating user-surface distance between optimal and suboptimal is acutely projected in the study. Deriving basis on tests run on a Reality Deck with a gigapixel display of 1.5, a 3600 Horizontal FoV and a 33′ * 19′ * 11′ workspace, the project is a presentation of optimized visualization process of gigapixel data (Papadopoulos, 2013). The project also employs the use of tracking data gathered from the study to formulate synthetic usage scenarios to conduct an evaluation of performance of the proposed system. It is termed so because it uses an approach of guiding optimizations by analytically formulated visual acuity (Papadopoulos, 2013).

Methodology

The study projects the use of a shader based on local data in determining the appropriate LoD for implementation of the virtual texture on a GPU. Such determination is made by the virtual texture pipeline on the basis of spatial derivatives of the texture coordinates of the of the image plane:

The study proposes that decrease of the user’s retina’s visual angle directly affects its texture space.A geometry tessellation based on the F + C lens curvature and viewer’s proximity from the display is further proposed in the study. The factors enable the calculation of gigapixel adaptive parametrization comprised of both a view based and a lens based metric.An integration of the LoD selection that is acuity driven in a gigapixel visualization pipeline that is based on virtual texturing is then conducted for implementation. The tessellation scheme is also GPU implementable (Papadopoulos, 2013).

Results

The algorithm had a linear projection between the resulting tessellation and the proximity to the screen and also accurately captured the F + C lens structure (Papadopoulos, 2013). The participants as such achieved an average vision enabled through the use of either corrective glasses or lenses. This is confirmed by their ability to successfully pick out similar survey target pictures after being subjected to queries on demographic information. Comprehending the data and the participants’ reaction is simplified by the head-tracking props that they wear.

The Article’s Flaws

In its experimentation, the article projects the participants used for the study as bearing an average of 26 years, all of whom are graduate and undergraduate students (Papadopoulos, 2013). The study thus fails to examine the children whose visual ability is very significant for their conception of the concepts of the universe, considering that their retinas are immature and subject to changes of development. Moreover, elderly persons also have their visual ability on a constant reduction. The study should hence offer the flexibility to cover for all generations with visual impairment.

Well Presented Points

The post-hoc analysis of the positional tracking makes it possible to rate the reaction of the participants and easily comprehend their ADGV image quality in comparison to SVG. The analysis is quite detailed and gives a fine explanation for the results.

Project Revelation

The project presents a scheme that improvises technology to further improve visual capacity in a great dimension (Papadopoulos, 2013). The use of vertex shaders to displace the underlying mesh by utilizing OpenGL tessellation that enables the F lens to be stored and precumpted in a lookup texture is an interesting concept (Lewis and SPIE, 2013). As such, the system supports execution that is distributed and synchronized (Porter, 2006).

Significant Conclusions

The projects take to simplify the complex mesh by refining the image based on proximity to the object. The process makes its distinct from the more basic mechanisms that that uses perceptual criteria to achieve the same and as such presents comparison to work in the LoD field.

Future Focus

The project aims to focus on varied mage data and a larger sample size. However, they should also aim to include more variation of the ages of the participants to establish the reaction levels (Lewis and SPIE, 2013). Not only would such focus make it easier to comprehend the eye and head the correlation movement, but also make it more comprehensive in analyzing the reaction rates based on age (Seymour and Britton, 1989).

References

In Lewis, K. L., Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft,, & SPIE (Society),. (2013). Emerging technologies in security and defence: And Quantum security II; and Unmanned sensor systems X : 23-26 September 2013, Dresden, Germany.

Papadopoulos, C. (Dec, 2013). Acuity-Driven Gigapixel Visualization in IEE Transactions in Visualization and Computer Graphics (Vol 19, 12).

Porter, C. (2006). Tessellation quilts: Sensational designs from simple, interlocking patterns. Newton Abbot: David & Charles.

Seymour, D., & Britton, J. (1989). Introduction to tessellations. Palo Alto, Calif: Dale Seymour Publications.

Case study Australia’s 2day radio station prank call

Case study: Australia’s 2day radio station prank call

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What is the radio station going to do?

Due to the mounting pressure by individuals and organizations to close down the stations and fire the presenters, the station has decided that the djs will not air the show until further notice. The company decided to suspend all its advertisements until investigations about the tragedy are carried out (The Age. com.au, 2012). Rhys Holleran, Southern Cross Austereo CEO emphasized that their priority was to support the family and not judge whether the company should lose its broadcasting license or not (The Age. com.au, 2012).

What do you think they should do?

It is best that the company puts the two presenters out of limelight until things cool down. The presenters themselves should apologize to the public and the deceased person’s family. The presenters are definitely shocked by the experience and should be supported by the station and not criticized. However, the company should not try to portray the innocence of the presenters and itself before the heat reduces and conclusive investigations are conducted. The station should understand the reason why advertisers chose to suspend their commercials.

This event has become what we call, & quote; A Media Circus

Since the controversy, Many media houses in Australia and oversees have aired the story. Some include, Daily Mail, London Evening Standard, The Times, The Guardian, Daily Star, The Daily Telegraph and The Independent (The Age. com.au, 2012). Social networking sites like twitter and Facebook have been used to conduct opinion polls on the issue and seek public opinion over the matter.

If the radio station management does not take certain steps to make the situation better, the radio station might go out of business – what happened? What should they do now?

Advertisers who have suspended their commercials may retrieve them completely due to fear. There is need for the station to win back the trust of these advertisers lest the company stands to loses them. The station should also thrive to maintain its fun base intact by not justifying themselves. The station should also agree to any consequences bestowed upon them. A nice recovery effort would be to train its employee on ethics.

Are there media theories that apply (or should be applied) here? What mistakes were made?

The station broadcasted a private phone conversation without the participant’s acquaintance which is illegal according to ACMA Code of Conduct for Talkback and Interviews (Commercial Radio Australia Limited, 2011). The station abused person’s right to privacy by broadcasting Kate Middleton’s hospital detail on air. The nurse also violated the professional code of conduct by releasing private information of a patient’s condition though without consent this was a breach of professional ethics (Australian Nursing & Midwifery Council, 2008).

How people were hurt and then and what you think the Radio station SHOULD do in order to minimize the damage?

Kate Middleton was hurt by the exposure of her hospital detail to the public. Jacintha was hurt on realizing she had publicly denounced ethics. The family was hurt after the nurse committed suicide. The two djs who made the prank as well as the station were hurt and face the risk of being fired or losing the broadcasting license. The criticizers of the hoax call are also people hurt by the incidence. The hospital where the nurse worked suffered the loss of a qualified nurse. The radio station should support the victim’s family and publicly apologize.

Reference

The Age. com.au (2012) Global reaction after nurse who took prank call from Australian DJs found dead. Retrieved January 15th, 2013 from file:///C:/Users/Kirugi/Downloads/Prank%20call%20nurse%20found%20dead%20_%20Duchess%20of%20Cambridge%20Pregnancy.htmlAustralian Nursing & Midwifery Council (2008) code of professional conduct for nurses in Australia. Retrieved January 15th, 2013 from http://www.amsantmanual.com/proforma/hr/Code%20of%20Ethics%20for%20Nurses%202008.pdfCommercial Radio Australia Limited (2011) Codes of Practice & Guidelines. Retrieved January 15th, 2013 from http://www.acma.gov.au/webwr/aba/contentreg/codes/radio/documents/commercial_radio-codes_and_guidelines_5sept2011.pdf

ACURA Strategy Development

ACURA Strategy Development

ACURA is an acronym that represents variant customer-related strategies including acquisition, cross selling, up selling, retention, and advocacy (Biswas, 2014). It is an important strategy in ensuring that both consumers and firms are able to find value through approaches within each of the five strategies in ACURA. It allows firms to design a variation of related approaches including promotional deals, offers on products, bundling, attractive alternatives, and many other strategies to not only acquire but also retain consumers and win them back in case of loss.

Cross-selling and Up-selling Strategy

For the low budget young customer segment, Raiz Invest Limited should cross selling will be among the most effective means to increase revenue. For instance, Raiz could provide bundled products in an attractive package for example enabling mobile payments on its digital lending and credit platform. It could also provide insurance on mobile loans as a way to increase revenue for a market segment that is focused on the product and its benefits while remaining consciously sensitive of price. In light of this, the most applicable cross-selling strategy that Raiz can use on the low budget young consumers is promoting products that other people bought, including any available offers and related items for the same.

Ghoshal, Mookerjee, and Sarkar (2021) advocate for recommending related items in a cross-selling strategy as one of the most effective ways to get price sensitive consumers to purchase. Similarly, offering discounts on bundled products is noted by Jayalath and Premaratne (2021) to rapidly increase sales for young consumers. Other strategies that apply to Raiz’s cross-selling strategy would include promoting products that are essential to another product’s performance. For example, if a customer takes a mobile loan, Raiz could offer an insurance package against delayed payments as a way of adding value to the original product. In this way, revenue is generated and the customer sees value in both products. Therefore, a cross-selling strategy is recommended for the low budget young segment of Raiz’s market. Bundling, recommending products, recommending related products, offering discounts on products and bundles, and promoting products essential to another product’s performance are the most effective approaches.

Retention Strategy

Retention is defined by Mahmoud, Hinson, and Adika (2018) as the ability to get an acquired customer to buy a product again. For example, when a customer renews their insurance package every year with the same agency for five years. To increase customer loyalty among existing low budget young customers, Raiz will need to employ excellent customer service on its platforms, offer bundled discounts and surprise gifts, and have a personal relationship strategy. Other strategies proposed by Gomber et al. (2018) include fast support, personalized interactions, meeting customers where they are, incentivizing loyalty. And gathering feedback on a regular basis. The idea is to boost loyalty through creating buyer relationships.

Raiz will also need a win-back strategies for lost customers. It will encompass a “we fixed the issue” campaign that addresses the reason why customers stopped buying a product or switched to a rival organization. There will also be incentives provided to win back customers. For example, discounted prices on previous bundled purchased over a period of time. Lastly, social media personalized campaigns will target interactions with consumers (Renjith, 2017). Recovery strategies in the case of product or service failure for the low budget young consumers will include free products for a trial basis, discounts, apologies, and coupon. For the unprofitable customers, no action will be taken, but instead products will be bundled up to ensure that they are either able to move up their spending curve or exit altogether.

Objectives

The objectives are focused on attaining the following objectives as well as key performance indicators (KPIs)

Enable Raiz to increase its market share by 25% in the target segment including the low budget young group

Reduce the churn rate by 4% for the first quarter of operations

Raise the customer loyalty rate by 10% by converting current passives to promoters

Time-Scheduled Roadmap

For cross-selling and retention strategies for the low budget young segment, the following time schedule is recommended for Raiz to apply.

Phase Activity Timeframe

Phase 1 Bundling products in an attractive package In the next 12 months

Review and update of bundled products every 2 months

Phase 2 Promoting products that other people bought

Recommending related items Continuously for the next 12 months

Phase 3 Offering discounts on bundled products For the next 12 months

Weekly reviews

Phase 4 Promoting products that are essential to another product’s performance For the next 12 months. Review every month based on uniquely bundled products and highest moving products

Phase 5 Excellent customer service

Fast support

Personalized interactions

Meeting customers where they are

Incentivizing loyalty Continuous for the next 12 months

Phase 6 Surprise gifts Every week

Key Performance Indicators

The metrics for the low budget young segment is as follows

Cross-Selling Metrics

KPI Composition Sources Frequency

Sales effort spent Amount of time spent on the right products by sales representatives Time logged on phone calls and customer engagement Weekly

Activities per opportunity New pipeline generated efficiency Amount of time used to make interactions leading to new business Weekly

Win rate New business generated out of each cross-sell strategy Conversion rates leading to business Monthly

Attach rate Accurate forecasting of cross-sell and net new more accurately Higher numbers per period Quarterly

Renewal rate Selling products with a long term value Amount of repeat business per period Annually

Retention Metrics

KPI Composition Sources Frequency

Customer retention rate Calculated through getting number of customers at end of time period minus the number of new customers acquired during time period (divided by number of customers at the beginning of a time period) New customer entries Monthly

Churn rate The percentage of lost customers over a given time period Customer accounts Monthly

Existing customer revenue growth ratio Revenue generated from customer success, retentions, and loyalty effort Higher numbers of monthly revenue from retention efforts Monthly

Net incremental revenue Changes in net revenue earned Higher numbers per period Quarterly

Repeat purchase rate Percentage of customers returning to make repeat purchases Amount of repeat business per period Monthly

References

Biswas, S. (2014). Relationship marketing: concepts, theories and cases. PHI Learning Pvt. Ltd..Ghoshal, A., Mookerjee, V. S., & Sarkar, S. (2021). Recommendations and Cross-selling: Pricing Strategies when Personalizing Firms Cross-sell. Journal of Management Information Systems, 38(2), 430-456.

Gomber, P., Kauffman, R. J., Parker, C., & Weber, B. W. (2018). On the fintech revolution: Interpreting the forces of innovation, disruption, and transformation in financial services. Journal of management information systems, 35(1), 220-265.

Jayalath, J. A. R. C., & Premaratne, S. C. (2021). Analysis of Key Digital Technology Infrastructure and Cyber Security Consideration Factors for Fintech Companies. Analysis of Key Digital Technology Infrastructure and Cyber Security Consideration Factors for Fintech Companies, 84(1), 8-8.

Mahmoud, M. A., Hinson, R. E., & Adika, M. K. (2018). The effect of trust, commitment, and conflict handling on customer retention: the mediating role of customer satisfaction. Journal of Relationship Marketing, 17(4), 257-276.

Renjith, S. (2017). B2C E-Commerce customer churn management: Churn detection using support vector machine and personalized retention using hybrid recommendations. International Journal on Future Revolution in Computer Science & Communication Engineering, 3(11), 34-39.

Movie in Sociology

1885950297180Movie in Sociology

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Introduction

Sociology is the scientific study of societal life, social change, the social basis, and costs of individual behavior as well as investigating the structure of groups, organizations, societies, and people’s interactions within these situations. All human behavior is considered social thus making the main issue of sociology to range from the close family relationship, organized crimes, religious cults, shared beliefs of a common culture, sports sociology, and to the work sociology. Sociology provides many distinguishing perspectives on the world, breeding new ideas and criticizing old thoughts by tackling the most current taxing issues thus making it a rapidly expanding field whose potential is increasingly tapped by those who design policies and build programs.

The subject matter of sociology is to make our lives better by knowing the different societies, improving our way of thinking towards different people in the society and understanding the social processes that have brought the society of humans from their origins to where the society stands currently. Sociology has greatly contributed to many life aspects such as understanding and planning of society, keeps us posted on contemporary issues, enriching human culture, bringing our interest to the essential worth and dignity of man, and providing solution to societal challenges (Giddens & Sutton 2010).

Sociological Imagination

This refers to the concept of willingness of thinking beyond the conventional perspective by moving away from thinking in terms of the individual problems, focusing rather on the social circumstances that produce social problems to the individuals. It involves looking at issues in holistic or multidimensional point of view by examining both personal and social forces when explaining any phenomenon. Sociological Imagination entail the ability of an individual to stop considering things from a narrow perspective, but to perceive general social forces, characteristics as well as their reactions , and to apply their findings to everyday life (Kornblum & Smith 2011).

Social Issues and Personal Problems

A social issue refers to outside forces affecting an individual’s perception and opinion yet the individual has no control on. Social issues may be either desirable or undesirable depending on different societies with unusual perceptions and opinions regarding social behaviors (Kornblum & Smith 2011). As a result, social issues purely vary with particular society in question being that there is no uniformity in the social manners in different societies. A social issue is therefore any issue intimidating the values upheld by a society, hence distressing all individuals who involved in the society such as violence, justice equality, and poverty (Giddens & Sutton 2010).

Personal problem refers to an issue bothering or concerning an individual at a personal level and the ultimate decision to resolve, or repair that certain problem lies in an individual’s hand, even though possibly persuaded by the community. Personal problem is an issue involving an individual and the resolution to that problem would only benefit the person affected. On the other hand, a personal problem has everything to do with self efficacy since an individual has absolutely complete control of the problem from the very start (Kornblum & Smith 2011).

Movie

Philadelphia is an American drama movie that was released in 1993 and amongst the first conventional Hollywood films to acknowledge HIV/AIDS, homosexuality and homophobia that was written by Ron Nyswaner, and directed by Jonathan Demme (Pristin, 1996). The movie features two chief artists, stars Tom Hanks and Denzel Washington, who perform with immense decency, that give it substance and convincingly address the AIDS plague seriously. (Pristin, 1996). Philadelphia movie irrefutably incorporates both the social issue and personal problems themes in an undeniable and clear manner thus making it the basis of addressing these issues in this piece of writing.

Social Issue Presented in film

The issue of discrimination, which is a social issue in the society, is presented in the Philadelphia movie in a very depressing and emotional way that makes whoever watches the movie keenly understand it. Discrimination presented in the movie is that of intolerance against the HIV/AIDS infected individuals. Philadelphia drama film is a story of Andrew Becket (Tom Hanks) who is a senior associate in a law firm and is pitilessly fired by the law company after realizing that he was diagnosed with HIV/AIDS. It was disgraceful that the firm, where he had worked for a long time and as a senior person, was doubtful about his ability to discharge the duties of the firm (Pristin, 1996).

The film further attributes a social challenge of biasness, versus a personal problem of homophobia by revealing Andrew Beckett’s (Tom Hanks) homosexual act, which, for a long time, he has been hiding from the people around him, to keep away from being intimidation or having his reputation damaged. Andrew Becket understands that homosexuality is an act that is not common to the society especially after he had his colleagues negatively joking about gays, though it is his preferred way of doing sex. Andrew Becket therefore found it uneasy to disclose his situation to his fellow workers who were openly opposed to gay.

Truth about the social problem

HIV/AIDS and sexual orientations are some of the social issues discriminated against in the place of work, social events and homes because of their unpopular nature in the society. Additionally, the HIV/AIDS infected individuals are mostly assumed incompetent in discharging their obligations yet they too live as any other normal persons and can do anything done by HIV/AIDS negative persons.

Functionalism theory specifies that everyone in the society is vital, notwithstanding their sexual orientation or health status, being that they all contribute to the society (Kornblum & Smith 2011). No persons should not be discriminated against in the society due to their health status or sexual orientation since sickness does not interfere with an individual’s ability to work and ability to help in the society. It is important to treat every individual equal and with equal respect that they deserve for the mutual benefit of the society. Finally, the issue of personal opinions and perceptions in a society influences greatly affects people in that particular society and Philadelphia film has clearly shown this.

References

Giddens, A., & Sutton, P. W. (2010). Sociology: Introductory Readings. Cambridge: Polity.

Holtzman, L. (2000). Media Messages: What Film, Television, And Popular Music Teach Us About Race, Class, Gender and Sexual Orientation. Armonk, NY [U.A.: Sharpe.

Kornblum, W., & Smith, C. D. (2011). Sociology In A Changing World. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning.

Pristin, T. (1996). Philadelphia Screenplay Suit to Reach Court. New York Times, n.p. HYPERLINK “http://www.nytimes.com/1996/03/11/business/philadelphia-screenplay-suit-to-reach-court.html” http://www.nytimes.com/1996/03/11/business/philadelphia-screenplay-suit-to-reach-court.html.

Moral Growth of Children

Moral Growth of Children

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Introduction

Morals is a set of beliefs, values, or ideologies that administrate how a human being behaves in two ways: by administering good conduct which is value to the others, moral values can be instilled in children in certain ways with the help of teachers. Teachers spend most of the time with the children, and as a result, their behavior impacts a lot on the children. The teachers can enhance good morals, by reminding the children daily of the importance of good morals. Providing guidance for the children, when they deviate from the good morals is another way, of building good morals in the children. When the children have a disagreement, the teachers should assist in reconciling the children, and teaching them of the importance of forgiveness, in that helping develop the morals.

The teachers have a role to play, in helping the children know what good morals are, and instilling the morals in them. This can be done in various ways, when a child does what is morally wrong; the teachers should device a way of making the children know, that what they are doing is wrong. Children may do something that is morally wrong, but when told in a polite way they can rectify and never do it again, thus developing good morals in the children. Understanding the following phases can help the teachers in developing good morals in the children.

Egocentrism

Egocentrism is a phase where the children mostly keep to themselves, and are mainly occupied with themselves. In this stage the children are mostly restricted to their own moral understanding of what surrounds them, and how they relate to the world (Best 2000).

Heteronym

Heteronym is the phase where the children begin to adhere to the rules, the children in this phase are now aware of the importance of the rules that are related to good behavior. At this phase, the child tries to follow the good behaviors, as they are aware that good behavior is appreciated by being given presents. The children are also aware that bad behavior and other vices are not wanted and can result in one being punished. It is at this phase that children need to be taught most of the moral educations so as to help them in their later life (Best 2000).

.Transition

Transition is the phase where the children begin to understand, and appreciate the importance of rules, the impact it has on their daily lives. It is at this stage that the children know how the rules make things run smoothly, how to strictly follow the rules, and even how to break the rules both at home, and school (Best 2000).

Autonomy

Autonomy is the final phase of moral growth, in this phase the children are concerned of their behavior. In this stage the children have a tendency of changing their behavior according to the current and emerging policy of moral code. It is at this phase that the children have the ability to appreciate the moral code.

Factors that can affect children moral growth either negatively or positively can be social, mental, family, peer influence, the school, and at times the society. Depending on the above factors, the influence can either be positive, or negative.

Family

The family plays a vital role in the development of children moral behavior. When a child is born the first people to influence the child behavior are the family members, this can be the father, mother, older siblings, grand parents, or even the various uncles, and aunties. The people who can influence most the children behavior are the parents, What the parents approve will be taken as the right thing by the children, and what the children disapproves are considered as wrong by the children. In this regard the parents should be very careful of what they approve or disapprove. It is paramount for the parents to remember that the children will follow what the parents do. The children foundation on good morals lies squarely in the family (Louv 2005).

School

The school also plays a vital role in the development of children; the children are mostly influenced while in school, the relationship between the children and the teachers, classmates, and the other senior students can impact on the children negatively, or positively. At this stage the children tend to believe that what they see the senior students do to be the right thing. It is at this stage that the children disregard what they had been taught at home and embrace what thee other students do. Moral education at this stage is vital as it helps the children in their later life (Louv 2008).

.Peer group

Most children are always curious, and are always looking out for new things. In this phase children tend to copy what the other children are doing. Bad company means the children will pick some very bad habits; on the other hand good company will ensure the children will pick good behavior (Louv 2005).

Society and culture

The way the society behaves around the children can either influence the children negatively, or positively, depending on how the society behaves. If the society condones bad behavior then the children will take the habits, if the society encourages good behavior the children will be of good behavior (Louv 2008).

Age

The children’s age is also a vital factor in shaping the children’s behavior. As the child grows from being a child to an adolescent they become broadminded towards some issues which are not accepted as right. At this stage the children are not entirely obedient as before, the children becomes somewhat defiant, and rebellious. This changes later in life as they embrace once more the things they had rejected.

Sex

Sex plays a vital role in shaping the children morals development. Girls tend to posses a sense of guilt and are remorseful; boys in the other hand are aggressive and are not always as remorseful as the girls. This is one area that has to be handled with care (Shumaker & Heckel 2007).

Teacher’s role

Teachers play a vital role, in shaping the children’s moral behavior, as they spend most of the time with the children. Most children tend to admire their teachers and copy their teacher’s behavior. That means that if the teachers are of bad character, the children will follow the bad characters. The teachers can also monitor the children’s behavior in school (Shumaker & Heckel 2007).

Conclusion

A child’s morals can be shaped or destroyed by various aspects from, the family, school, society, peer group, and age. The most vital institution in developing a child’s moral behavior is the family and more so the parents, that means the parents should encourage good behavior among themselves so that the children will also embrace the good behavior. The school administration should also ensure the children are of the best behavior when in school. Guidance and Counseling should also be readily available to the children, which will help the children to get advice on various issues anytime.

Reference

Shumaker, D. M., & Heckel, R. V. (2007). Kids of character: a guide to promoting moral development. New York: Praeger Publishers

Louv, R. 2008). Last child in the woods: saving our children from nature-deficit disorder (Updated and expanded. ed.). Chapel Hill, N.C.: Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill.

Best, R. (2000). Education for spiritual, moral, social, and cultural development. London: Continuum

Louv, R. (2005). Last child in the woods: saving our children from nature-deficit disorder. Chapel Hill, NC: Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill.

Moral Heroic Responsibility

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Moral Heroic Responsibility

Heroism is a product of courage coupled with altruism and sacrifice to leave a legacy behind that goes well beyond the normal scope of the rational human being. As a result, they leave behind a memory that leaves for many years after they die. Examples of heroes are Hercules who was a vicious killer feared by many, Asclepius who was the first doctor and Dionysus, the inventor of the fraternities of the Greek empire. To be remembered for a good deed or great achievement is a wish that most people have before they die. Morally, it is always good to be remembered in the hearts of many for a good deed. Every single human being on this earth has a moral responsibility to be a hero to someone or something.

At this age and time, it is virtually impossible to separate heroism from morality. They are bound together by an invisible thread that can only be seen by poring through the originality of the situational context. Testing the actions of people who act morally reveals an inner drive that is unparalleled which eventually breeds heroism. It happens inadvertently such that it coincides with heroism. It is, therefore, the responsibility of every human being to leave morally and leave behind a legacy in which they are a hero at something. Human beings need heroes since they help define the limits of their aspirations. Heroes are role models who possess the qualities that people look for in them. A good example is a person who regards Martin Luther King as their hero. They will have a different sense of heroism to a person who regards Osama Bin Laden as their hero. Morally speaking the two people had different legacies. They are both remembered for their actions to humanity. However, Osama Bin Laden quite contrasts the ideals of heroism by acting immorally to people who don’t subscribe to his ideas. Therefore basing the argument on morally leaving a legacy is quite shallow and misleading (Owens, Christabel, and Helen).

There is a hero inside every human being, and this makes them special and unique in their special way. The world would be a better place if every person strived to morally be a hero at something. It is, therefore, the moral responsibility of each person to act morally in the world. Acting morally quite contrast the ideals that most people hold about the definition of heroism. Heroism is doing something where you are taking great risks to help another person without really expecting something in return. However, the fact that there is a hero deep within a person should not make them feel superior unless their deeds are dedicated to leaving the world a better place. Naturally, human beings tend towards evil. They are wired towards watching something from a distance. This notion is often referred to as the bystander effect (Barber).

Many people perceive life differently depending on their experiences. Each person is a product of their experience. For instance, research was conducted by Ervin Staub on the motivators of heroism. His study had very significant findings. Most notably is the fact that those people who had gone through periods of suffering like assaults and violent assaults and natural disasters were wired towards acting heroically in the face of uncertainty. It is all about knowing the toughness of circumstances. People who have faced suffering and gotten help from well-wishers have a moral obligation to help others in the face of adversity. There is another category of people who have not had any bouts of suffering that is of great significance that they have to find a reason to act when they get in a situation where instances of heroism are bound to prevail. Therefore it’s not a moral responsibility to feel obligated to act in a way that the society expects unless one has a good reason backed up by a good background to do it (Staub).

The problem with most people is their devotion to heroism. Most people have devoted their attention to the wrong heroes. It is therefore essential that people leave behind a legacy that is admired by many in a positive sense. Leaving behind a morally acceptable idea of heroism that is widely acceptable by many should be the obligation of many. The main problem with the current society is that it is pervasive and skeptical about the whole idea of heroism. The corrosive culture tends to corrode all the positive aspects of heroism leave behind a facet that is not admired by many but a selected few. Most of the ideals have been betrayed by the leaders and heroes we look up to. Human beings should strive to leave behind the best version of them for the world to see and admire. It is all about expanding the sense of possibility and poring to other horizons. Ideals of heroism should not be too cramped such that they promote the immoral.

Due to the complexity of the immorality of some actions, people have often found a reason to defend an offensive or immoral thing however much it contrasts the expectations of many. Open minded people find it hard to take a side of the argument that supports morality despite them knowing well the magnitude of the immorality deep within their hearts. However to a rational human being heroism should be all about passion. Heroes experience the passion and in one way or another make it known to the outside world. Defining heroism to the standards of morality should well align to the expectations of the world from a humanistic point of view. If the passion of a person is immoral, they may find it hard to leave in the real world. It is important to be realistic in the current world. Their dreams need to be blended with the wishes of the people. As such, it should be a moral responsibility for people to be heroes to those who look up to them. The presence of other people may also derail the passions of people who would wish to be heroes to other people at something. Heroism should well be grounded on recognizing fully ones individuality in the face of opposition and morality.

Works Cited

Barber, Benjamin. Aristocracy of everyone. Ballantine Books, 2012.Owens, Christabel, and Helen Lambert. “Mad, bad or heroic? Gender, identity and accountability in lay portrayals of suicide in late twentieth-century England.” Culture, medicine, and psychiatry 36.2 (2012): 348-371.

Staub, Ervin. The roots of goodness and resistance to evil: Inclusive caring, moral courage, altruism born of suffering, active bystandership, and heroism. Oxford University Press, 2015.

MOVIE ANALYSIS

MOVIE ANALYSIS

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Episode three

In episode three, the story line revolved around unexpected turn of events, the characters are Norman, Christine Heldens, George, Nick, and Emma and the setting of the story is in the community set up. In this episode, Norman is disappointed to learn that she was not involved in the community play and that makes her to make new friend with Christine for companion. Christine invites Norman to a party and introduced her to new friends. With the death of Bradley in their mind, Emma organizes a memorial at the beach, however things do not go as planned as Caleb appears unannounced hence shattering Normans dreams.

Episode four

The story line is about denial and emotional and the setting is in the motel. The characters in the play are Dylan, Caleb, Norman Sheriff Romeo, Emma, and Zane. Dylan gets drunk after the revelation that Caleb is not his father; he further confronts Norma who admits that she never told anyone about the secrets of his parental status. The ever outrageous Norman goes to acting out as his mother and visits Caleb as these unfolds , Emma wakes up in the morning to find out that she slept with the boy she met in the beach party. The events in this episode show how Dylan gets disillusioned in life in realizing that Caleb is not his father. It also gives as a picture of how careless people are when Emma slept with a boy she met in the beach party.

Episode five

The theme of the story is secrecy and the characters are Dylan, Zane Cody, and Norman. The typical setting is within the family set up. In this episode, Norma trust Cody with the family secrets and want Cody to keep them by himself at the same time, Dylan finds himself in trouble as he fights for his life that was engineered by Zane drug war. The turn of events makes Norman to have a deal with a strange mysterious man to help stop the bypass as Norman faces some of his childhood demons. This story reveals hidden secrets that Norman has been keeping and his bad behaviour during his childhood has come to haunt him. The story can clearly tell the character traits of Norman as a wicked person through the haunting by the demons.

Episode six

The theme of the episode is plunge and the characters involved are Norman, Cody, Emma, and Dylan. The setting of the play is in the business sectors or firm as can be seen by the employment scenario. In this case, Norman works tirelessly to get appointed to the council and this makes him to look for the driving licenses to enable him get the position. At the same time, Norman has to deal with the incident concerning Emma and Cody situation at work. The scene ends when Dylan gets to know his boss. The scene depicts frustrations within the society as can be seen on how Norman is frustrated and tries to make life easy though it does not work for him. It further tells how the employers are too bossy to know their staff that comes out when Dylan gets to know his boss after long time.

Episode seven

The theme of the episode is revenge as the characters are presumed to be innocent though in the real case it is not. The characters involved are; Norman, Zane, Miss Watson, Romero, Dylan, and Cody. Norman questions himself about his faith and tries to get the motives behind his miseries. At the same time, Zane is burning with revenge and is eager to do anything to threaten Dylan for the death of Miss Watson, however, Romero presents new evidence that may change the course of the case of Miss Watson’s murder and breaks the friendship of Cody and Norman. This episode brings about betrayal of characters in the scene and how it is hard to trust a friend. The evaluation of the scene is that you cannot fully trust a friend, however close you have been and that the best person who knows your secrets is your best friends.

Episode eight

The story line in episode eight is looking for truth and the characters presents are; Romero, Dylan, and Norman. The setting is in the family set-up. Romero is busy digging for the truth regarding Miss Watson murder and at the same time, the war between the drug families presents Dylan with a hard choice to make. Norman is forced to push Dylan away so as to get the truth he is looking for. The story reveals how it is hard to get the truth of any matter in the society since there are many obstacle in the way that want to conceal secretes like Dylan did when Norman was looking for the murderer of Miss Watson.

Episode nine

The story line in this episode is about betrayal and death. The characters involved are; Norman, Nick Ford, Zane, Dylan, Romero, and Declan and the setting are in a home set-up. Zane returns home in the morning and finds Norma still sleeping; she gets a call from Nick who wants Norman dead, Norman is kept in a metal box in the middle of nowhere that makes him recall the events of Miss Watson death. The story reveals how Norman was involved in Miss Watson’s death and how Norman had hidden such secretes to himself.

Episode ten

The theme is rescue operation and the characters involved are; Norman, Zane, Dylan and Romero while the setting is in Norman’s home. In this scene, Norman is being rescued by Dylan and his friends that take Norman back to his mother where Norman reveals the murderer of Miss Watson of which he was the one involved. Romero finds it hard to trust Norman and thereby she is forced to keep him at bay. The revelation of the story reveals how wicked Norman was and also how secretive he was to the extent of going to his grave with those secretes. .