How Dangerous Is Atrazine

Atrazine is an agricultural herbicide that is widely used by farmers to control broadleaf weeds and grasses that interfere with the growth of corn, sorghum, sugar cane, and other crops. Atrazine is also used as a weed killer on golf courses as well as a variety of commercial and residential lawns. Atrazine, which is produced by the Swiss agrochemical company Syngenta, was first registered for use in the United States in 1959. The herbicide has been banned in the European Union since 2004—individual countries in Europe banned Atrazine as early as 1991—but 80 million pounds of the stuff is used each year in the United States - it is now the second most used herbicide in the US after glyphosate (Roundup). Atrazine Threatens Amphibians Atrazine may protect crops and lawns from certain types of weeds, but it is a real problem for other species. The chemical is a potent endocrine disruptor that causes immunosuppression, hermaphroditism and even complete sex reversal in male frogs at concentrations as low as 2.5 parts per billion (ppb)—well below the 3.0 ppb that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) says is safe. This problem is particularly acute because amphibian populations worldwide have been declining at such unprecedented rates that, today, nearly one-third of the worlds amphibian species are threatened with extinction (though in large due to the chytrid fungus). In addition, atrazine has been linked to reproductive defects in fish and prostate and breast cancer in laboratory rodents. Epidemiological studies also suggest that atrazine is a human carcinogen and leads to other human health issues. Atrazine Is a Growing Health Problem for Humans Researchers are finding an increasing number of links between atrazine and poor birth outcomes in humans. A 2009 study, for example, found a significant correlation between prenatal atrazine exposure (primarily from the drinking water consumed by pregnant women) and reduced body weight in newborns. Low birth weight is associated with an increased risk of illness in infants and conditions such as cardiovascular disease and diabetes. The public health issue is a growing concern because atrazine is also the most commonly detected pesticide in American groundwater. An extensive U.S. Geological Survey study found atrazine in approximately 75 percent of stream water and about 40 percent of groundwater samples in the agricultural areas tested. More recent data showed atrazine present in 80 percent of drinking water samples taken from 153 public water systems. Atrazine is not only widely present in the environment, but it is also unusually persistent. Fifteen years after France stopped using atrazine, the chemical can still be detected there. Every year, more than half a million pounds of atrazine drift off during spraying and falls back to Earth in rain and snow, eventually seeping into streams and groundwater and contributing to chemical water pollution. The EPA re-registered atrazine in 2006 and deemed it safe, saying that it posed no health risks for humans. The NRDC and other environmental organizations question that conclusion, pointing out that the EPAs inadequate monitoring systems and weak regulations have allowed atrazine levels in watersheds and drinking water to reach extremely high concentrations, which certainly puts public health in question and possibly at serious risk. In June 2016 the EPA released a draft ecological assessment of atrazine, which recognized negative consequences of the pesticide on aquatic communities, including their plant, fish, amphibian, and invertebrate populations. Additional concerns extend to terrestrial ecological communities. These findings concern the pesticide industry, of course, but also many farmers who rely on atrazine to control hardy weeds. Many Farmers Like Atrazine It’s easy to see why a lot of farmers like Atrazine. It’s relatively cheap, it doesn’t harm crops, it increases yields, and it saves them money. According to one study, farmers growing corn and using Atrazine over a 20-year period (1986-2005) saw average yields of 5.7 bushels more per acre, an increase of more than 5 percent. The same study found that Atrazine’s lower costs and higher yields added an estimated $25.74 per acre to farmers’ income in 2005, which added up to a total benefit to U.S. farmers of $1.39 billion. A different study by the EPA estimated the increased income for farmers at $28 per acre, for a total benefit of more than $1.5 billion to U.S. farmers. Banning Atrazine Would Not Hurt Farmers On the other hand, a study by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) suggests that if atrazine were banned in the United States, the drop in corn yields would be only about 1.19 percent, and the corn acreage would be reduced by only 2.35 percent. Dr. Frank Ackerman, an economist at Tufts University, concluded that estimates of higher corn losses were flawed due to problems in methodology. Ackerman found that despite a 1991 ban on atrazine in both Italy and Germany, neither country has recorded significant adverse economic effects. In his report, Ackerman wrote there was â€Å"no sign of yields dropping in Germany or Italy after 1991, relative to the U.S. yield—as would be the case if atrazine were essential. Far from showing any slowdown after 1991, both Italy and (especially) German show faster growth in harvested areas after banning atrazine than before.† Based on this analysis, Ackerman concluded that if â€Å"the yield impact is on the order of 1%, as USDA estimated, or close to zero, as suggested by the newer evidence discussed here, then the economic consequences [of phasing out atrazine] become minimal.† Conversely, the economic costs of continuing to use atrazine—both in water treatment and public health costs—could be significant when compared to the relatively small economic losses of banning the chemical. Edited by Frederic Beaudry.

Corporate Social Responsibility And Its Effect On...

Chuanzi Shi Ling 200 Elizabeth Metzler 2016/12/6 Introduction Corporate social responsibility is the form that enterprises and firms benefits and do good things for the society. Many companies such as Starbucks, Nordstrom are the good examples of firms which takes the corporate social responsibility. In the society today, more and more people care about corporate social responsibility. Corporate social responsibility even effect consumers’ choices of shopping. For example, sweatshop is a controversy topic within corporate social responsibility and sweatshops have profound effect on consumers’ shopping choice. Sweatshop is a firms or company, mostly in the clothing workshops who offers extremely low wages to the workers and make the workers work for long hours in terrible working environments. Some of the sweatshops’ working conditions are not even safe and harm the workers’ health. Moreover, some workers even have limited freedom, and some violence action may use in sweatshop to control the workers. Sweatshops has ex ists for a longtime, and it still exists in many countries as well as in Unites States. Moreover, the global business model and intense competition have leads more industries to use sweatshop in order to reduces their costs and increase profits. There are two controversies about sweatshops. The first is sweatshops help the economy and benefits consumers. The second is sweatshops harm the economy and bring ethical problem. In the United States, the mostShow MoreRelatedCorporate Social Responsibility Essays1662 Words   |  7 Pages Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is the concept that corporations are expected to perform certain acts for the betterment of society. The article â€Å"Doing Right Leads to Doing Well†, explores CSR by contending that although firms use these tactics for some societal good, they may also be linked with increased brand identification and consumer trust, which may bloat the firm’s bottom line. The authors maintain that CSR outputs such as sponsorship, cause-related marketing, andRead MoreGlobal Business and Ethics Essay852 Words   |  4 PagesGlobal Business and Ethics 1. Any company doing business in the United States and abroad has a responsibility to be socially responsible. This responsibility is guided by business ethics Ââ€" basic values that guide a firms behavior. These ethics come into all decisions made by businesses. Including what goes into the products, how they are advertised and sold, and how they are disposed of. Wal-Mart, the worlds largest retailer, is the largest corporation and private employer in the UnitedRead MoreThe Impact of Corporate Social Responsibility on Consumer Behaviour: Does Csr Affect Consumer Decision Making and Buying Behaviour Within the Uk Supermarket Industry12140 Words   |  49 PagesABSTRACT Purpose: The purpose of implementing corporate social responsibility (CSR) has been a long debated topic. However there is a lack of literature within the supermarket industry. The aim of this project is to use previous research within the supermarket industry in investigating how aware and concerned consumers are of CSR practices, and how CSR activities affect consumer behaviour and their ethical decision making. Method: This study used a quantitative research approach with a semi-structuredRead MoreHistory of Retail Industry Essay1912 Words   |  8 Pages.....................3 Corporate Stakeholders ...............................................................................................................5 Role of Retail Industry in its social, economic, and political setting†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.............................5 Domestic and International Ethics...............................................................................................6 Ecological and Natural Resources†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦..6 Social Issues†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Read MoreThe Citizen Consumer Hybrid Of Ben Jerry s Marketing Strategy1624 Words   |  7 PagesRunning read: THE CITIZEN-CONSUMER HYBRID IN BEN JERRY’S MS 2 THE CITIZEN-CONSUMER HYBRID IN BEN JERRY’S MS The Citizen-consumer Hybrid in Ben Jerry’s Marketing Strategy Yilin Zhang Media, Culture and Environment Dr. Andy Opel Nov 1, 2017 The Citizen-consumer Hybrid in Ben Jerry’s Marketing Strategy Today, the ice cream industry has been developed mainly in the United States (Arbuckle, 2013). As a frozen product, ice cream is often related to environmental issue. AsRead MoreRetail Service Mix 21403 Words   |  6 Pageswouldn’t succeed. Population- Large companies such as Tesco would not invest their money in opening in a small village. This is because the locals would be used to shopping from smaller shops, such as a butcher and it is unlikely that they would allow a large retail store to open. 3. A catchment is the form which a town centre, shopping centre or a store draws its customers (Fernie et al 2003) It can be achieved by completing a customer spot, where you ask a variety of customers how far they haveRead MoreWhat Can Raise Awareness Of Sustainable Consumption Of Textiles For College Students1637 Words   |  7 PagesIntroduction: Many consumers aren’t educated on the importance of sustainability of clothing and textiles. The media mistakenly represents sustainability and the influence it can have on the environment. This research paper will attempt to address the question of what could raise awareness of sustainable consumption of textiles for college students. Consumers should all be aware of how they can conserve the environment by preserving clothing which is a concept that many people have not acknowledgedRead MoreStrategic Plan Of Amazon1273 Words   |  6 Pagesenable certified sellers to sell their products on its websites and to fulfill orders, and takes such responsibility by providing customer service through email, telephone all the times. Strategic Plan Strategic planning plays vital role for business based organizations to be a market leader in the segment and to deliver successful management values to the employees of the organization and consumers of the business. Amazon is the best strategic player in technology and it did not rise to the top onRead MoreA Formal Report About the Marketing Activities at Tesco:2770 Words   |  12 Pagesare largely outside the control of the company, but their effects on performance and the marketing mix can be profound. International business is still growing, and is expected to contribute greater amounts to Tesco s profits over the next few years, the company is still highly dependent on the UK market. Hence, Tesco would be badly affected by any slowdown in the UK food market and are exposed to market concentration risks. 3. Social/Cultural Factors: Current trends indicate that British customersRead MorePossible Topics for Marketing Paper1682 Words   |  7 Pages* What is customer opinion good for? * Economics crisis and inflation * How to improve brand recognition in TV ads * The birth of market of modern Indian art * How to understand uses of social networks * How to build an effective social network marketing campaign * How to design a good corporate culture * How to manage price increases * Shaping you brand management skills | | | | | | These are some examples that can be used for a marketing paper of â€Å"Introduction to Marketing†

Reaction Paper of the Movie Agora Essay Example For Students

Reaction Paper of the Movie Agora Essay Wars, conflicts and deaths between the Christians, pagans and the Jews were not so strange for me anymore. Quite unfamiliar, however, was the story of Hystia and her great findings. I pictured women in the ancient times as submissive, simple-minded, gentle and defenceless that I was quite shocked when I first learned that Hystia was a philosopher and a great teacher. I regretted that idea in the end because it was like thinking so lowly of earlier women. But to think that a woman, found the answer on a long-debated question about the orbit of the earth, was quite a controversy. Of course, many people believed that it was Keppler who discovered the elliptical shape of the orbit, but actually it was already answered way, way back in the time of great kings and not great scientists. It was just so sad because during that time people were not strong enough to accept philosophy and science. Instead they depend solely on their religion that they disregarded the essential questions of life and eventually even the scriptures of their own religion. Even the Christians, whose main teachings are forgiveness, love and understanding, also killed other people for power and authority. I am a Christian, and it was quite disappointing for me to learn that my fore-fathers were hypocrites. They taught people to do the right thing, even though they themselves resort to death when their own security was threatened. After I watched the movie, I am thankful and amused at the same time. I was amused because of the differences in the past and the present in accordance to our beliefs. And thankful because I lived here, at a time where we are not tied by our own differences. Discrimination may still be wide spread but more people began to learn that all of us are unique. Various philosophies, opinions and even religions are accepted and respected. Different people could already live in harmony with each other. And it was nice to think that people evolved in a good way where freedom and democracy prevails, where scientists could already study science as long as they want. The movie indeed made an impact on me, all as a Christian, a woman and of course, a human.

Sophocle`s Plays Essays - Mythological Kings, Creon, Oedipus

Sophocle`s Plays According to ancient Greeks the state of human beings was always in constant tragedy. This is due to the continuous control that the Gods exerted on all human beings. The Gods determined their fate and if humans tried to change their destiny and thus their character they were punished. The Gods required justice and never let someone go unpunished. Sophocles wrote two plays that described these ideas. The characters in these plays, Oedipus, Jocasta, Creon, and Antigone were bound to the Gods, and trapped between various moral obligations. A question that was deeply present in Greek conscience was that everyone needed to know their place in the universe as a human being. Oedipus was on a continual search throughout King Oedipus for his identity. The use of oracles in the play depict the importance of the Gods role in the Theban society. Greeks depended on them for guidance and answers to problems. Oedipus as the king of Thebes was morally obligated to his subjects to find the killer of Laius who is the source of the vile plague and promises that he will save the city just as he did when he solved the riddle of the Sphinx. After sending Creon to the oracle at Delphi and speaking to Teiresias he believes that they are both planning to dethrone Oedipus. In the interaction between Teiresias and Creon you can see Oedipus' tragic flaw which is his pride. Oedipus taunts Teiresias when he says that he is the killer of the previous king. Oedipus refers to his track record and shows Teiresias if he was any good at prophesizing that he would have solved the riddle himself. He holds himself as this overconfident and superior being because he possesses an intelligence that surpasses everyone in Thebes. He also accuses Creon of wanting to be king and using the prophet as his pawn. His pride also made him kill the king and all but one of his guards. This makes his pride a tragic flaw because it made him save the city, but allowed him to kill his father and guards with indifference. His pride led to his greatness and his downfall. Oedipus also angers the Gods. At the oracle of Apollo he wanted to find if Polybus was really his father, but instead gets a horrific prediction that he will kill his father and marry his mother. He tries to use his free will to flee Corinth and his parents, but indeed he makes the prediction come true. Oedipus should have known that by trying to change his fate he irritates the Gods and is punished by finding the truth out in a cruel way and making his fate come true anyway. He also did not listen to Teiresias who he knows is the nearest mortal to Apollo. This would mean that he disregarded a message from Apollo and therefore has a disbelief in Gods. You can see that his moral predicament was a search of Laius' murderer which in fact led him to find his own origins by revealing an undeniable fact that he killed his father and married his mother. No one could escape their fate because it was predestined by the Gods. Jocasta can be seen as a disbeliever of the Gods and their oracles. The moral dilemma that Jocasta faced was to prevent a prophecy from coming true and to test Oedipus' faith. Jocasta tried to avoid the prophecy from coming true by sending her son to be exposed on a mountain to be killed. By doing this and pinning her son's feet together she tried to defeat the Gods which highly angered them. Jocasta planted doubts after hearing that Oedipus and Creon's argument was due to an oracle. She says they are nonsense because she was given a prophecy that Laius would be killed by the son and marry his mother. She believed that Laius was killed by robbers and that the baby died on the mountain. Since this did not come true she believed that they were incorrect. Also when the messenger comes to tell of Polybus' death, Jocasta again says that his propecy was also a lie. She is implying that since that oracles were wrong that the Gods were also false. Jocasta's punishment can be seen as a test. She was to test the beliefs of the child she had sent to die. By planting doubts of the Gods in Oedipus' mind the gods can test his faith and his power. He failed the test and

Opposing the Atomic Bomb essays

Opposing the Atomic Bomb essays The bombing of Hiroshima by the United States was retaliation to the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. The U.S. wanted to make an example of Japan, so they dropped the most powerful bomb they had, not fully knowing what kind of devastation it would cause. Many people lost their lives and an entire city was economically devastated. Nuclear proliferation should be banned in order to prevent other countries from suffering the death and destruction like that of Hiroshima. Governments around the world have the power to regulate what kind of warfare is used during battle. However, by permitting the use of the atomic bomb, many innocent civilians are killed. Proponents of nuclear armament argue that one massive show of force results in fewer casualties overall compared to prolonged ground war, but the use of the bomb is still inhumane. In the case of Hiroshima, staticians said that at least 100,000 people had lost their lives and 37,245 had been injured. Although the use of nuclear proliferation is often used to set an example for the rest of the world, it causes intense suffering and death to many innocent civilians. Although many governments use atomic warheads to protect their own citizens from harm, the survivors of these atomic bombs are permanently affected. The effects of the bomb cause damage to physical health as well as emotions. Thousands of people suffer from severe burns, which leave terrible koloid scars. Others have broken bones, and many thousands more suffer from nausea and fatigue due to extreme radiation exposure. Many became very bitter as a result of seeing such death and destruction. Lastly, thousands of homes and business are destroyed resulting in a decline in the economy. Many people would be left homeless or living in shelters. These people would not be able to get back on their feet because they would all be out of jobs because there would be no businesses. After businesses ...

English as a Second Language Essays

English as a Second Language Essays English as a Second Language Essay English as a Second Language Essay I love to create, design and construct. Ten years ago I decided to attend to Architectural School in Peru and become an architect as most of my family members are. It was the best decision I have ever made but it was something else there, it was my interest for travelling and know more about the rest of the world. As soon as I finished my career and hopeless of being successful on my path , I decided to go for the American dream , but again it was something it will make this dream even harder to achieve : I didn’t know how to speak the language . Ten years since then ,being a foreigner and with so many frustrations of not having completed yet my dream of being an Architect in AMERICA , I decided to go back to school to pursue my professional goals. The class of English 92 , will help me not just to learn properly English but also I consider is the first step to be successful in this country.First of all , to my consideration the knowledge I have about English is very few but I am very confident of the few I know and very open to receive any corrections and criticism . I am a very persuasive learner. I educate myself learning English using tools such of tv, internet , radio and reading novels and books. I learned how to speak , read and hold conversations but my accent and my not very much extended vocabulary as long as my few grammar skills , can make my intent to express myself so much harder . Once I finished English 91 I would love to feel more confident on my English know lodgment which will make me sound and look more professional on my career path . I worked really hard to finally be able to go back to school and complete my studies . I was and I still am a very persuasive person. If don’t know something I will investigate and use any tools to get what I’m looking for . Being in a class and interact with the computers at the same time , learning about the links and tutorials was unusual and somehow overwhelming , but I tried hard to a dapt

How do Reality TV shows like Geordie Shore construct Reality and why Essay

How do Reality TV shows like Geordie Shore construct Reality and why is this genre so popular - Essay Example In the reality shows, so much about it is real and anyone who is watching it is able to see the real life of the person and not a real person portraying an imaginary person. The Shows are usually much cheaper for the whole crew and performers because most of the equipment used including dressing does not have to be produced by the owners of the shows (Faller, 2009). This is because mostly the housemates may use some of their own clothing and make ups, which is an advantage as it reduces the expenses. It is not so easy for many people to understand Reality shows and its names mean it is real yet there are few parts of the shows, which may portray a sense of fiction. A show such as the Geordie Shore portrays real people in real life using their real names, unlike for instance, a show such as Big Brother where the setting could be called fiction because in real life, these group of people does not normally spend their times together, and whatever happens during their times together may not have happened if it was not for the purpose of the show being aired for people to view and get entertained. However, I would not hesitate to comment on how much this show is extremely entertaining. So much of the activities in the show are attention catchers hence, this reason could score the show more marks if it was to be compared with other shows. The reality about a show such as Geordie shore is the fact that the people in it are using the real identity and leading a normal kind of life in their homes and wherever else they go, the feelings which develop between them in the process could be viewed as real among other things going on in the show. Expenses are also reduced due to the fact that the performers of the shows do not need to go and work in front of the cameras away from their home towns neither are they needed to go to holy wood for instance but all they have

The Media Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

The Media - Essay Example However, the greatest weapon of media is that it can magnify the truth of an act or incident, sometimes to the point of exaggeration. It is because of this power that media can keep checks and balances on political leadership. Besley, Burgess, and Prat (2002) observed that suppose â€Å"a politician is thinking of taking or making a bribe and that the probability of this will become public depends on the efficacy of the media in both discovering it and broadcasting it widely† (p.5). It is agreed then that the media can influence and persuade politicians to do their proper roles for fear of bad publicity. However, the media also are victims, and are even a mark suspect for political corruption or political advantages. Walgrave and Van Aelst (2004) stated that, â€Å"symbolic political agendas are more, and more immediately, affected by the media than substantial political agendas† (p.8). This fact cancels out the effectiveness of media as an aspect that provides a check on government actions. For the media to maintain its effectiveness in keeping watch over political affairs, it has to maintain a strong level of integrity and professionalism, while being impartial with regard to political

Satisfied and Motivated Employees Create Satisfied and Loyal Customers Essay Example for Free

Satisfied and Motivated Employees Create Satisfied and Loyal Customers Essay Abstract In Corporate America, organizations vie to maintain their competitive advantage within their perspective industries. In the current economic downturn, organizations have come to rely heavily on the competitive advantage they receive from their employees, or human capital. Organizations are investing more of their funds towards satisfying and motivating employees in the hopes that these employees will create satisfied and loyal customers. To ensure employees are satisfied and motivated, organizations may recognize employee contributions with pay and a package of employee benefits. These forms of compensation work to ensure increased employee satisfaction and motivation, decreased voluntary turnover, and, therefore, the overall success of the entire organization. In Corporate America, organizations vie to maintain their competitive advantage within their perspective industries. In the current economic downturn, organizations have come to rely heavily on the competitive advantage they receive from their human capital. Human capital is defined as â€Å"an organization’s employees, described in terms of their training, experience, judgment, intelligence, relationships, and insight† (Noe et al., 2011, p. 3). Highly skilled and developed employees are an organization’s most valuable resource in the fight to maintain their competitive advantage. Therefore, organizations are investing more of their funds towards satisfying and motivating employees in the hopes that these employees will create satisfied and loyal customers. In an effort to satisfy and motivate employees, organizations may recognize employee contributions with various forms of compensation including pay and an employee benefits package, and through recognition pro grams. These forms of compensation and recognition work to ensure increased employee satisfaction and motivation, decreased voluntary turnover, and, therefore, the overall success of the entire organization. â€Å"If we take care of our employees, they will take care of our customers.† During the current economic downturn, many organizations have experienced decreased sales and profits. Many of those organizations responded with spending cuts, which included layoffs and decreased investments in employees. The restaurant chain, Texas Roadhouse, was not immune to the economic downturn and also experienced decreased sales. However, the chain did not respond with spending cuts aimed at employees. In fact, the chain continued its existing spending relative to employee satisfaction and motivation. The text indicates, â€Å"Spending to promote job involvement and organizational commitment remained intact† (Noe et al., 2011, p. 319). The decision to maintain spending relative to employee satisfaction and motivation reflects the chain’s commitment to their employees. The chain’s commitment to their employees has been best expressed by Texas Roadhouse Chief Executive Officer (CEO), G. J. Hart. Hart, who realizes the value his employees bring to the organization, has stated, â€Å"If we take care of our employees, they will take care of our customers† (Noe et al., 2011, p. 319). Hart’s phrase may seem like a common clichà ©Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ in Corporate America; however, organizations focused on satisfying and motivating employees are actually gaining the competitive advantage that only their employees can provide. The text indicates, â€Å"Every organization recognizes that it needs satisfied, loyal customers. In addition, success requires satisfied, loyal employees† (Noe et al., p. 293). Texas Roadhouse is not alone in its commitment to its employees. SAS, a privately owned software company, is also highly committed to its employees. Bev Brown, who works in the company’s external communications department, indicates â€Å"People do work hard here, because they’re motivated to take care of a company that takes care of them† (Noe et al., 2011, p. 385). More organizations are beginning to realize the advantages associated with satisfying and motivating their employees. And, as the realization becomes more prevalent in Corporate America, more organizations will begin to demonstrate their commitment to their employees by offering generous rewards and recognition programs. Alternative Motivation Methods Their Effectiveness Texas Roadhouse uses money as a primary motivator for its employees. The chain holds a yearly competition to identify its best meat cutter, who is awarded $20,000. The chain’s managers are allotted $500 to host barbecues or outings for their employees. The chain also holds an annual motivational conference to recognize and reward its top performers. The text indicates, â€Å"The company invites about a thousand employees, managers, and vendors to bring their spouses to a four-day conference as a way to recognize and reward its best people† (Noe et al., 2011, p. 320). The retreat was costly; and, the chain’s CEO, Hart, was publicly criticized for such lavish spending. The text indicates, a reporter â€Å"†¦ criticized Hart for wasting $2 million on luxuries during lean times† (Noe et al., p. 320). However, Hart stood firm in his commitment to his employees as he replied that â€Å"†¦ the effort to inspire employees was precisely the kind of investment that enables his company to succeed† (Noe et al., p. 320). Texas Roadhouse’s strategy is certainly effective in ensuring they retain their top talent. The text indicates, â€Å"†¦ turnover among the company’s on-site recruiters tumbled by two-thirds after the company put in place a program to recognize and reward these employees† (Noe et al., p. 320). Pay is certainly a motivator for employees; however, organizations may also utilize employee benefits as a means of motivating employees. Employee benefits are â€Å"†¦ that part of the total compensation package, other than pay for time worked, provided to employees in whole or in part by employer payments† (Milkovich Newman, 2005). The text indicates that benefits serve functions similar to pay in that benefits â€Å"†¦ contribute to attracting, retaining, and motivating employees† (Noe et al., 2011, p. 384). For instance, SAS offers a generous employee benefit package as a means of ensuring their employees are satisfied and motivated. The company’s benefit package includes access to the on-site recreation and fitness center, a subsidized day care center and summer camp, and a subsidized cafeteria. The company has established an on-site lactation room for nursing mothers, and an on-site health care center for employees and their family members to have medical concerns addressed at no cost. The text indicates that these generous benefits are â€Å"†¦ part of a strategy to hire and keep the best people without paying top dollar in salaries† (Noe et al., p. 385). The SAS strategy is certainly effective in regards to ensuring the company retains its top talent. The text indicates, â€Å"Compared with 22 percent employee turnover in the industry, SAS reports turnover of just 2 percent† (Noe et al., p. 385). The SAS strategy is also effective in ensuring the company remains profitable. The text indicates that every year the company has been in business â€Å"†¦ it has turned a profit† (Noe et al., p. 385). Transferring the Texas Roadhouse Motivational Methods The Texas Roadhouse method of using pay to motivate its employees is certainly transferrable to other organizations in Corporate America. Organizations should demonstrate their commitment to their employees by offering competitive and rewarding pay and recognition programs. Doing so will ensure the organization has the ability to attract and retain top talent, which will provide the organization with a definite competitive advantage in their perspective industry. References Milkovich, G., Newman, J. (2005). Reward systems: Theory and administration. (8th ed., p. 400). Mc-Graw-Hill. Noe, R. A., Hollenbeck, J. R., Gerhart, B., Wright, P. M. (2011). Fundamentals of human resource management. (4th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.

A Good Man Is Hard To Find The Storm Essay example -- essays papers

A Good Man Is Hard To Find The Storm Of the two stories I read, one being The Storm by Kate Chopin and the other being A Good Man Is Hard To Find by Flannery O'Connor, I found that each had characters with moral dilemmas. In both, the setting played a role in these dilemmas but in different ways. In The Storm, the bad weather was the set-off to and unpredicted intimacy while in A Good Man Is Hard To Find, the setting seems to be focused around a family's vacation and their encounter with a criminal. In the following paragraphs, I will go on to explain how certain characters have moral dilemmas and how the setting helps to support my interpretations. The Storm is based around a woman by the name of Calixta who is left home alone while a threatening storm blows up suddenly. Her husband and son are stranded at a local store until the weather calms down. While she is preparing for the worst, a man visitor appears at her doorstep needing a place of shelter. This man turns out to be an old sweetheart of hers, Alcee. As the story goes on, Calixta and Alcee, unleash themse...

Zero Fee Tour-Making an Ethical Decision?

Zero Fee Tour-Making an Ethical Decision? Generally, ethic is similar to moral value that regulates the behavior of people and we use ethic to justify what is right and wrong. Business Ethic is therefore the standard to justify what is good or bad in making a business decision or in running a business (Geer, 1994). Business ethic is relevant to both conducts of individuals and business organizations. Some of the enterprises just simple ignore the business ethics and run the business practically as profit was the sole target for them. Ethical action may not be practical to a business, while practical action may not be ethical to others.It constitutes an ethical dilemma. A manager should therefore strike a balance between â€Å"ethical† and â€Å"practical† before making a decision. In this paper, I will explore approaches to address ethical dilemma and what aspects will be considered before making an ethical business decision. I will use the tourism industry as an exampl e to examine that can an enterprise only focus on business ethic or the profit and whether or not the business ethics are the key element for it to consider before making decision. I will examine both the positive correlation and negative correlation and draw a conclusion at last.We always wonder what are our ethical standards base on and how can we apply those standard to different circumstances. Many ethicists and philosophers have suggested several approaches to address ethical dilemma. The most common three approaches suggested are the utilitarian approach, moral right approach, justice approach (Velasquez, Moberg, Meyer, Shanks, McLean, DeCosse, Andre, Hanson, 2009). Utilitarian approach is to make a decision base on ethical action that can maximize the benefit or minimize the harm for the majority of people. It deals with consequences and emphasizes the result of a decision.According to the definition, ethical business action is an action that benefits the stakeholders, the co mmunity, and the environment most. However, it is difficult to find out what is good due to changing characters and behaviors (Velasquez, Andre, Shanks, Meyer, 2010) and people may not always have the same view on what is a good and what is harm. The moral right approach is based on human nature that people can decide what they want to do on their own. They have the right of free consent, the right to privacy, the right of freedom of conscience, the right of free speech, the right to due process and the right to life and safety (BrowneM.Neil Browne (Author)†º Visit Amazon's M. Neil Browne PageFind all the books, read about the author, and moreSee search results for this authorAre you an author? Learn about Author Central , Giampetro-Meyer, Williamson,2003). According to this approach, ethical action is the best action to protect and respect the stakeholders’ moral right. Right also imply duty, base on this approach people also have duty to respect others’ rights. However, we cannot ensure that the companies maintain the ethical standards depend on their highest value priority.The justice approach bases on the teachings of the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle that all equals should be treated equally. According to this approach, the ethical actions treat all people equally or fairly based on a standard which is defensible (Conroy, 2010). Favoritism and discrimination are therefore unjust and wrong. However, this approach may not have adequately accounts for the rights and needs of everyone affected and it is difficult to see if the decision is based on a defensible standard or an imbalance of power (Yuter, 2008).All approaches mentioned above help us to address ethical dilemma and to know what we do can be considered as ethical. Although, it is difficult to putting the approaches together as they explain what is â€Å"ethical† in different ways, they give us some information to determine what is ethical in different circumstance. Th e majority of business decisions contain ethical issues, we only have to decide how to fit the issues into the business actions and weigh how much they should be considered (Cadbury, 2002).We should have the ability to determine ethical issues and then weigh the consideration that should influence our business action in order to make a good decision (Velasquez, Moberg, Meyer, Shanks, McLean, DeCosse, Andre, Hanson, 2009). There are five elements enterprises used to think of before evaluating a decision. They are profit, fairness, reputation, community care and sustainability. Profit generally means economic profit, that is, the difference between the total revenue and the total cost (both explicit and implicit) of an enterprise.As assumed in economics, everyone is self-interested and they tend to maximize their profit to achieve profit maximization. Profit is important in business world, especially in profit-making company as profit and money give motivation for business to survive (Williams, 2010). It therefore is an essential element being considered when making business decision. Fairness and reputation is another two elements. Fairness is the mechanism of how we achieve the ideas of just, equal, good, ethical or moral (Bothamley, 1993).Reputation is the feeling or opinion of other people towards an enterprise. It can be defined as the result of what you do, what you say, and what other people say about you. When a company’s reputation for honesty or safety is damaged, it may cause serious impact on the business (Burkhardt, 2008). Community Care will be considered as an element for making business decision also. Community Care is a firm’s obligation as a moral agent extends beyond its legal and economic obligations, to the pursuit of long-term goals are good for society.Assumed that all businesses obey law and pursue economic interest, community care is done voluntarily, but not what it must do by law or they choose to do because of economic s ense (Besser, 2002). Sustainability is the capacity that an enterprise can endure or survive in the market. It is about the doing business better, working with others and staying in business in long run. The enterprise should use division of labors and resources in order to save money, to communicate to the stakeholders and to gain others’ loyalty in order to be sustainable.Enterprises should consider these five aspects with the approaches mentioned before making business decision. For example, if an enterprise wants to make profit ethically, it should focus more on the fairness when it makes decisions. Take the Hong Kong tourism industry as an example. In March this year, a Hong Kong tour guide of Win’s Travel Agency discontented with the insufficient shopping amount of the tourists. She threatened the mainland tourists that if they did not go shopping, she would not let them to eat and did not provide hotel to them for accommodation. She used unethical method to forc e tourist to shop in order to earn more.A tourist recorded what she said and has spread the video online, which seriously influence the tourism image of Hong Kong (Sina, 2010). The cause of this case is the introduction of zero-fee tour. Zero-fee tour was introduced during 2003 the SARS period in Hong Kong. It is tour which charges tourists less than the basic cost of airline tickets, accommodation and attraction tickets. As this kind of tour is charged under-cost, the travel agencies can only earn a profit by receiving commission and tipping from shops (Lu, 2006). According to Wong (2010), we can examine the business ethical problems in two ways.In the view of the travel agency, that is the enterprise, they have to transfer the costs to the service providers in order to save costs of the company as the tour is charged under-cost. The travel agencies therefore do not give basic salaries to the tour guides, and force them to push shopping in order to earn commissions from different s hops. Also, some of the travel agencies may require the tour guides to pay in some cost component in advance and delay the repayment to the guides. In the view of tour guides, they don’t receive any salaries in zero-fee tours.They will earn nothing if the tourists do not shop therefore they tend to force or even threaten tourists to buy in order to earn shopping commissions and tipping. This damages the tourism image of Hong Kong seriously. Using utilitarian approach, the business action should be base on ethical action that can maximize the benefit or minimize the harm for the majority of people. According to Velasquez, Andre, Shanks and Meyer (2010), to use utilitarian approach we should first determine the course of the business action and then find the benefits and harms of taking the action for all stakeholders.In this case, only Win’s Travel Agency gains benefit. The tour guide has no salary in serving a zero-fee zero, she did not earn much benefit and had to for ce the tourists to shop. The business action harmed the tourists, as they were treated badly by the tour guide and are forced to shop. The tourists also had to buy things in unreasonable price as the shops marked up the price of their products in order to pay for the shopping commissions. Also, the action harmed the image of Hong Kong tourism. The action is not ethical as the courses of it cannot maximize the benefit or minimize the harm for the majority of people.By using moral right approach, we should first indicate what rights are involved in a specific case, and then see if the business action conflicts with the rights (Hamilton, 2009). In this case, the tourists had the right of freedom; they can refuse to shop if they do not want to. The tour guide’s action was unethical as she threatened the tourists and forced them to shop in order to fulfill the shopping amount. Also, the tour guide’s action conflict the tourists’ right to life and safety as she threat ened them that they would not be provided a place for accommodation.We should know the distribution first when using justice approach. We have to know who gain benefits and who suffer from losses, and then see if the distribution of the business action is fair (Hamilton, 2009). According to this case, Win’s Travel Agency gained benefits as it have saved costs and the tour guide suffered from losses as she did not earn any salary. It is unethical that the enterprise did not provide the tour guide with basic salary. The tour guide really provided service for the company, and it was not fair for her to receive no pay while other guides not serving zero-fee tour received salaries.Also, it is unfair that those tourists who bought few products were treated badly as all tourists joined the same tour and they had not required to shop when they joined the tour. Now, I would examine why Win’s Travel Agency made the decision to provide this kind of tour according to the five aspe cts mentioned. Firstly, the enterprise mainly focused on profit. Providing this kind of tour, the enterprise need not to pay salaries to the tour guides and it can receive a great deal of commission from shops as most tourists from mainland spend a lot in shopping.Also providing zero-fee tour attracts a great deal of people from mainland to visit Hong Kong, the volume of sales of the enterprise would therefore increase (TICHK, 2009). The enterprise considered less in fairness and reputation. It did not pay the tour guide any salary except the shopping commission although the tour guide deserved to get salary after providing service. It is unfair that the enterprise did this action. As the tour guide was not paid, she treated the tourists badly, this not only damaged the reputation of the enterprise but also that of Hong Kong tourism.In sustainability, the enterprise can use division labors and resources to save costs. However, it communicated to the stakeholders unsatisfactorily as it did not know what the tour guide and the tourists needed. Also, it cannot gain others’ loyalty in order to be sustainable. Finally, in community care, the enterprise did less beyond its legal and economic obligations. Other than increased the sales figure in the tourism industry, it did less that benefited the society. Win’s Travel Agency therefore made decision mainly based on profit rather than business ethics.In conclusion, different businesses would make decisions base on different aspects. They should use the utilitarian approach, moral right approach and justice approach to address ethical issues before evaluating a decision base on the five elements. According to the case above, purely base on making profit practically does not really bring much benefit to an enterprise. Enterprises should therefore strike a balance between practically making profit and the business ethics. It is very important for enterprise to consider ethical issues before making decisions as it is unavoidable. Reference Andre . C, Velasquez .M, Moberg . D, Meyer . M. J, Shanks . T (2010), Calculating Consequences:The Utilitarian Approach to Ethics Andre . C, Velasquez . M, Moberg . D, Meyer . M. J, Shanks . T, McLean . M. R, DeCosse . D, Hanson . K. O (2009), A Framework for Thinking Ethically Besser T. L (2002), The Conscience of Capitalism: Business Social Responsibility to Communities Bothamley . J (1993), â€Å"Dictionary of Theories,† London:Gale Research International Browne . M. N, Meyer . A. G . , Williamson. C (2003), Practical Business Ethics for the Busy Manager Burkhardt . R (2008), Reputation Management in Small and Medium-sized Enterprises Cadbury .A (2002), Case Histories in Business Ethics, Conroy . M (2010), An ethical approach to leading change : an alternative and sustainable application Geer . H. D. (1994), Business Ethics in Progress Hamilton J,B (2009), How to Use the Justice Test Hamilton J,B (2009), How to Use the Rights Test TICHK (20 09), Travel Industry Council of Hong Kong Lu . J (2006), ‘Zero-fee' practice damages travel industry Sina (2010), News on Sina. com Williams . W. E (2010), Profit versus Nonprofit Wong . W (2010), Chairman of Hong Kong Association of Registered Tour Co-ordinators, News Yuter R. J (2008), A Fair and Balanced Approach to Social Justice

Adolsent Habits of Spending Money Essay

I think that many people are familiar with the economic crisis that has plagued the front of newspapers and run rampantly across countless television news networks throughout the day. Billions of dollars are flying around to help businesses in hope of avoiding a catastrophic financial meltdown. A barrel of oil has dropped to the lowest price anyone has seen in months, and multibillion-dollar companies are crashing into the rocks. In all honesty I really don’t have any opinion on the financial crisis. Of course I know the economy is failing. I see the stock market plunging and then slowly coming up for breath and quickly plunging once more, but in my mind this really doesn’t affect me because I don’t know what I am looking at. It doesn’t interest me, and I almost forget that it exists at times because I don’t have anything invested and I didn’t lose anything but 20 minutes in a day sitting on the couch watching some numbers drop. This is by far not the healthiest way to perceive something as serious as this. I really only care about financial aid as of now, which is quickly dwindling by the way, in the hope that when I finally leave this place and move on with whatever I plan to do to make a little money in my life, I will not have to pay anything for a college education. Second on my list is surviving until that point, and I plan to take it from there — what I have always done through financial turbulence and what many others should begin to think about. So when I read an article in the New York Times yesterday titled, â€Å"The Frugal Teenager, Ready or Not† written by Jan Hoffman, I was quite intrigued. It seems that most teenagers are being spoiled to an extravagant degree. Parents have had success in their lives after the late 1980s, ultimately giving them the ability to care for their children and essentially give their kids whatever they ask for, generally. I can admit I was spoiled as a child and when I was a teenager as well. My parents have done everything to their ability, and so have many other parents. What interests me more than anything is that many of the teenagers in this article took spending less on designer clothes or whatever else teenagers want as an insult. Many of these kids have never been told no and they really don’t like the sound of it. This is fairly sad. I know that parents want the best for their children and feel the need to do whatever they possibly can for them. This is perfectly understandable, but I believe that it has gone way too far, and the fact that it takes an economic meltdown that debilitates the United States and erases millions of people’s savings, investments, bank accounts and jobs to actually say no to privileged children is quite ridiculous. What does this really mean, though? Nothing. I guess that 20 years of good fortune has led parents to think that their financial situation would stay pretty much consistent, and the cash crunch got the better of them. My parents experienced this almost 15 years ago when my mom lost her job. When a family’s budget goes from over $100,000 a year to less than $30,000, it is quite unimaginable. Your standard of living is completely pulled out from underneath of you and the only way to continue is to move on. I had to be said no to — quite often actually — and it has done me well, and the teenagers today do not seem to know what money is. The only way to reverse this is to simply tell them there are going to be cutbacks and you will have to sacrifice just as much as we do. I was surprised by some of the teenager’s reactions, though. They seem as though they actually care about helping their parents in this difficult situation, which is quite relieving, by agreeing to a lower spending limit, shopping at lower brand stores and helping out with household chores to earn their allowance. This is how it should be. The value of a child growing up with responsibility is the greatest gift a parent could possibly give to his or her child, and instead of a teenager entering a completely new world after graduating high school and moving on to college or right into the workforce, they will actually realize that the world just isn’t something in Google Earth. The responsibility that my friends and I have learned while we were teenagers is priceless, and I wouldn’t trade making food for a bunch of tourists 40 or 50 hours a week when I was barely able to work for anything.

The Role of Trade in Japans Economy

The Role of Trade in Japans Economy The purpose of this paper is to examine the proposition that has been put forth by many that Japan's post-war economic success has been due to a policy of export-led growth. It is important to understand that Japan is currently the second largest economy in the world. Even more, the country enjoyed decades of economic growth following World War II that was unmatched by all other countries around the world (Economic Overview, 2007). However, a determination of whether exports are an important part of this growth requires both an analysis of economic policies and developments in the country, as well as a comparison of these policies to a theoretical framework explaining economic growth.Theoretical Framework of ExportsBlumenthal (1972) explained that exports can be an important part of an economy's growth in three different ways. First, exports are how a country obtains money that contributes to growth in its gross domestic product.English: World GDP growth rate and GDP growth rate...In order for a country to see growth in its GDP, it must have a continuous level of exports to foreign countries. In addition, increases in the level of exports from a country actually help to increase the level of production in other industries within the country. For example, a country may have a high level of exports of agricultural products. The exports in the agricultural industry help industries that produce farm equipment, as well as the shipping industry and even the chemical industry that produces the pesticides and fertilisers needed to produce high yields of crops.The third way explains how exports help a country to create a level of trade with foreign countries that in turn bring in new technologies and innovations. As new products are brought into a country through trade, these products can be sold by domestic companies. Even more, they can help to...

Do Male Nurses Make More Money

Do Male Nurses Make More Money We know a wag gap exists throughout the business world, and that the fight for equal pay is super important. But does this happen in the nursing field? Surely if a male and a female nurse, with the same experience and education, are working in the same job, they must make the same money, right? Wrong. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), female RNs made a median weekly salary of $1,011 in 2008, while male RNs made $1,168. That doesn’t look like a huge difference, but remember to multiply that by 52. The gap begins to widen.Turns out, female nurses make 86.6 percent of what their male counterparts are making. Is this just because they make higher hourly wages? Yes and no. Male nurses typically have the advantage coming straight out of school. They make up 6% of the nursing workforce, but tend to be better represented in the more specialized, high paying sectors of the field.Almost half of CRNAs (Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists) are men, and making signific antly more than floor nurses, the vast majority of whom are women. This is mostly because becoming a CRNA requires a master’s degree, and men are more likely than women to go further in their nursing education. Men also factor highly in military nursing positions, which are also super lucrative.Now, this isn’t all salary discrepancy. Sometimes male nurses have the advantage because they’re not responsible for the same amount of childcare as some female nurses. They tend to have more freedom to work overtime shifts and take on extra work, relying on partners to pick up more of the domestic duties.And, perhaps more than anything, they tend to be more aggressive in asking for what they want in salary negotiations and annual reviews.Take away lesson for the ladies? If you can, get that extra degree. Ask your partner to take a few extra shifts of child care so you can bring in a bit more bacon. Push yourself a little further. Fight for pay equity. And, above all else , ask for a raise. You deserve it.

Ethical Concerns in Health Care Disparities Research Paper

Ethical Concerns in Health Care Disparities - Research Paper Example The U.S. policy makers had been vigilant in seeking resolutions to address issues on health care disparities in order to uphold justice and respect to the people. This paper presents the general concepts about health care disparities, focusing on the issues concerning ethics raised commonly raised by the people, as well as on the management of these issues that confronts the health care system of the U.S. First, it is important to convey a unanimous thought of the commonly used terms in this study. According to the Agency of Healthcare Research and Quality (2011), â€Å"health care seeks to prevent, diagnose, and treat disease and to improve the physical and mental well-being of all Americans.† In the 2003 National Healthcare Disparities Report, â€Å"disparity† means â€Å"the condition or fact of being unequal, as in age, rank, or degree†, synonymous with the word inequality, unlikeness, disproportion, and difference. It shall be noted that â€Å"health dispar ities† and â€Å"health care disparities† are two different terms, though both have close association in concept (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality 2004). ... favorable health conditions that exist among specific population groups, including racial and ethnic minority groups† (American Society of Clinical Oncology 2009). Health care disparities, on the other hand, refers to â€Å"different people’s access to insurance, preventive services, and medical care or lack thereof,† while health status disparities refers to â€Å"the individual differences in disease prevalence, habits, and risks factors between various races and ethnicities† (National Business Group on Health 2011, p. 5). Differences in race are base on the physical (such as skin color, facial features, etc.) and genetic aspects among subgroups while differences in ethnicity consider the subgroups’ cultural, religious, political, and socioeconomic variables (Tobin 2010). The four major ethnic/racial groups frequently noted in literatures are the African Americans, Hispanics, Native Americans, and Asian Pacific Islander, and together with the poor, the mentally retarded, and the immigrants, these groups have experienced unequal burdens in health and health care observed from high morbidity and mortality rates (Baldwin 2003). To delimit the broad scope of disparities in health, this study focuses on health care disparities, per se, more specifically on the issues of ethical concerns. Furthermore, the World Health Organization or WHO (2011) presented the determinants of health that affect the individual or the community’s healthy status and these include: (1) the social and economic environment (income, culture, social status); (2) education; (3) physical environment; (4) social support networks; (5) health services; and (6) the person’s individual characteristics (genetic, gender) and behavior (lifestyle, exercise, eating patterns). Evidence showing the

Managing workplace diversity Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Managing workplace diversity - Essay Example It is evident from the study that for the last decades, the term diversity has been used to mean the â€Å"demographic constitution of a particular group or team†. In experimental studies, the diversity of a team is normally determined using compositional technique, which focuses on how demographic characteristics such as ethnicity, gender, age among others are distributed within the team. Assessment of diversity in workplace entails determination of the extent in which members are similar or dissimilar to one another. According to Caleb, diversity represents the numerous individual disparities existing among people in particular organization. In studies of diversity in workplaces, various attributes of employees have been proved to be of critical importance in the current management practices. They include gender, ethnicity, length of service in the particular organization, areas of specialisation and skills, level of education, cultural values in addition to personality of t he individual. The content of diversity in workplaces has been a subject of many research studies. Aparna and Susan classified the content of diversity into two categories, namely task and relations oriented. Relations oriented diversity involves the availability of traits or attributes that are influential in determining interpersonal associations. In normal circumstances, relations oriented diversity does not have direct noticeable effects on the performance of tasks (Aparna and Susan, 2000: 60). Mike (2004: 157) consider relations oriented diversity as the social -category diversity. Task oriented diversity is the distribution of the performance-relevant attributes. Examples of attributes that are more likely to be relationship-oriented diversity include age, sex, race, ethnicity, religion, political association, sexual orientation and nationality. These attributes are readily indentified or recognised in a particular context (Caleb, 2006). Other relationship oriented attributes are not readily detected in workplace setting. They include gender, attitudes, values, personality, racial and ethnic identity, sexual and class identity among other social identities. Task oriented diversity attributes in the work place include readily identified qualities such as education level, membership to an organisation or department, association with professional bodies, formal credentials and titles in addition to organisation tenure. However, some task oriented diversity attributes are not obvious, or easily detected. They include knowledge and expertise, cognitive skills and abilities, in addition to physical skills and capacities (Aparna and Susan 2000: 201). Research on performance of employees in a multicultural background indicates that diverse teams perform differently from homogenous groups (Kreitner and Kinicki 1995:72) Although the exact mechanisms that cause the disparity in performance remain speculative, various existing theories provide feasible explanation t o the difference.

Contract Law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words - 2

Contract Law - Essay Example contract law have included several clauses so that any specific situation will be easily fitted in to the case and solution will be provided by the judges after going through all the deliberations. In the present case study, it is clearly apparent that seller (The individual or organization who sells the goods to buyer) has violated the contract law provisions. The contract law states that once the agreement was made, the terms and conditions should be accurately followed with minor exceptions only with sufficient justification. Hence the buyer (on behalf of Buyer Ltd. : Tom) should file a case in the court of law to get the justice. The violation of contract law was clearly committed by the seller (on behalf of Seller Ltd. : Max) with ill intention of charging extra money of  £2800. The case can be filed against the seller as it violated both English contract law and unfair contract terms act (1977). This has been found to be in violation with the principles of European contract law (Ole Lando et al., 2003 ; The commission on European conract law, 1999) . False representation or misrepresentation may be considered as serious offence as it affects the interests of the general public involved in trade transactions severely. The seller has been indulged in false representation in claiming his bill amount for the hydraulic jack system. The English contract law also clearly prohibits the actions relating to the breach of contract (Samuel Williston, 1903). It was also found to be against the fair trading and hence comes under unfair contract terms act (1977) 1. This helps in narrowing the gap between the classic theory of contract law and social reality and hence found to be effective in providing justice to the innocent clients (Hugh Beal, 1978 ; Friedmann, 1972). The violation of terms and conditions signed at the time of contract is legally punishable and hence the parties have to bind themselves to the contract strictly 2. The buyer has to proceed to the court

Illustrious Case Essay Example for Free

Illustrious Case Essay The key inputs to implement a Material Requirement Planning come from three sources: a Bill of Materials (BOM), a Master Production Schedule and Inventory Records. The Bill of Materials contain information on every item or assembly required to produce end items, this includes raw materials, component parts, and subassemblies. The Master Production Schedule anticipates how much of each item is wanted and when is wanted. The Master Production Schedule is developed from forecasts and firm customer orders for end items, safety stock requirements, and internal orders. The Inventory Records provides information of how much inventory is already on hand or on order, and thus should be substracted from the material requirements. These records must be kept up to date. The outputs expected from MRP inlude three primary reports and three secondary reports. The primary reports consist of: planned order schedules, which outline the quantity and timing of future material orders; order releases, which authorize orders to be made; and changes to planned orders, which might include cancellations or revisions of the quantity or time frame. The secondary reports include: performance control reports, which are used to track problems like missed delivery dates and stock outs in order to evaluate system performance; planning reports, which can be used in forecasting future inventory requirements; and exception reports, which identifies major problems like late orders or excessive scrap rates. The bills of materials for two finished products (D and E), inventory status, and other relevant information are given below. Compute the planned order releases and projected on-hand inventory balances for parts D, E, and F.

Michelangelo Buonarroti :: essays research papers

Michelangelo Buonarotti   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã¢â‚¬Å"Michelangelo Buonarotti was the most famous artist of the Italian Renaissance, and one of the greatest artists of all time.† (Encyclopedia, pg.398) Michelangelo was a sculpture, architect, and painter. He started to develop his talents, at an early age.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Michelangelo was born on March 6, 1475, in the small Italian village of Caprese near Florence. (Personal, pg.1) At age 12, Michelangelo became an apprentice painter, to Domenico Ghirlandajo. There after he started sculpting, one of the less popular forms of art during this time period. (Encyclopedia, pg.398)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Sculpting was Michelangelo’s one true passion. â€Å"Michelangelo resisted the paintbrush, vowing with his characteristic vehemence that his sole tool was the chisel.† (Sunsite, pg.1) Michelangelo’s statue named â€Å"David† is his most well known. He started creating the statue of â€Å"David† in 1501 and completed his masterpiece in 1504. The statue is carved from marble and stands at a towering 14 feet 3 inches. â€Å"The choice of David was supposed to reflect the power and determination of Republican Florence and was under constant attack from supporters of the usurped Medicis.† (Rubens, pg.1)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Even though Michelangelo loved to sculpt it was not his only artistic talent. Another artistic talent of his was painting. Michelangelo’s largest and most famous paint was that on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. It took him 4 years to complete, from 1508 to 1512. (Castela, pg.1)He also painted the â€Å"Last Judgment† over the altar in the chapel. The â€Å"Last Judgment† took 6 years for him to finish, from 1535 and 1541.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Michelangelo was also a magnificent architect. In 1560, he designed a dome to cover a massive opening, on the Sistine Chapel. They began to construct the dome that he had designed in 1560.

Capturing the Value of Supplementary Services

A brief note on Supplementary service verses standard service: The service as a product is essentially described as a package or bundle of different services, tangibles and intangibles, which all together form the total product. The package is divided into two main categories: the first one is the main service, which is called the ‘core service' or ‘substantive service'. The other one is ‘auxiliary services' or ‘extras', which are often referred to as ‘peripherals' or ‘peripheral services'. These are also known as supplementary services. The core service is the basic value provided by the service product.It is the reason to purchase or consume services. This is the reason for which any company is in business too. Supplementary services are those that facilitate and enhance use of the core services. These are services other than core that companies offer to their customers to give additional value to their products or to encourage customer loyalty. Flexible Services Offering: It has been observed through research that most suppliers typically provide customers with more services than they want or need at prices that often reflect neither the value of those services to customers nor the cost of providing them.Too many times the manufactures continue to let sales people give away whatever services they think it will take to land a deal, even if those freebies dramatically reduce the profitability of business. To overcome the cost associated with the above issues, the author has suggested the ‘flexible service offering’ model to enable manufacturing and service companies reduce the number and cost of services they use to augment their core products.This approach enables the company to identify a naked solution or a naked system (which is the bare-bones-minimum number of services uniformly valued by all customers in a given segment at the lowest possible price that yield a profit). These naked solutions are then wrapp ed with options – particular services valued by individual customers within the segment. The steps to achieve flexible service offering are, ? Understand the supplementary services portfolio.If the company compiles the complete inventory of supplementary service, then it can assess the value of each service and the cost of providing it. ? Assess the value of the service rather than just measuring the customer satisfaction. Results indicate that while customers determine their re-purchase intention based on both core and supplementary service quality, mediated by value and satisfaction there is a direct and positive relationship of involvement between customer satisfaction and value of supplementary service provided. Extend the activity-based-costing technique to supplementary services as well. If the manufacture can break down costs on segment-to-segment and customer-to-customer basis, then it is viable to determine the value/price of the service being offered. This helps ind ustries to target those market segments where their products or services provided the greatest value to customers and thus held the greatest potential for profit. Identify the existing standard services that can be done away with or specialized services that can be part of standardized services.Identify the existing optional services that can be discontinued. The benchmark here is simple: if the cost of the optional service exceeds the customers’ willingness to pay for it, the service should be discontinued. ? Apart from identifying the standard or optional services, to stay ahead in competition a manufacture has to continually innovate and produce new value added services. *For example in a survey taken by Hong Kong mobile phone industry to gauge the benefits of the supplementary services among the customers, it was reveled that the only one of the supplementary services (both optional and standard like pricing policy, staff assistance, customer service and transmission qual ity and network coverage) factor in the satisfaction determinants among the mobile phone users.The results suggest that network providers should focus more on transmission quality and network coverage as the core attributes of their service offerings and formulate appropriate ricing policy, rather than competing or focusing more on supplementary services like varied customer services. Benefits: When the supplementary services are offered with all the above attributes discussed in the flexible services offering section, there are lot many benefits the service providers gain and it also establishes the fact that trimming the supplementary services to what is required and beneficial to the manufacturer has benefits that far outweigh the benefits of keeping all the supplementary services just so as to satisfy the customer and keep the market share.Flexible service offering provides suppliers with a powerful means of retaining and expanding business with their most valuable customers. ? Helps customize the packages of products and services to meet more precisely the requirements of its spectrum of customers. ? Enables managers to be more adaptive and responsive in their pricing. ? Flexible service offering helps companies to revamp their sales force philosophies and practices. More control is given in the hands of the sales team there by enabling sales team to be more persuasive in explaining the value of services to the customers. #Case Study: Credit Card Marketing in Indian Industry The case study below deals with managing perceived risk for credit card purchase through supplementary services. Supplementary services can play a significant role in controlling functional and psychological perceived risk associated with credit card services. Marketers of credit cards can enhance the value of services to customers and can thus enhance purchase possibilities by reducing perceived risk through supplementary services that are controllable.Perceived risk is defined as th e uncertainty that consumers face when they cannot foresee the consequences of their purchase decisions. The supplementary services recognized in this case were, ? ATM access, cash advance, and cash withdrawal and other facilities to meet financial requirements effectively. ? ATM access, cash advance, and cash withdrawal facilities with credit card. ? Through add-on card other family members can also use the credit card. ? Buying airline/railway tickets by using credit card at special counters save time. Additional facilities with credit card increase its usage value. In a study done by the author (Dr. Anita Goyal), it was revealed that 79. 26% agree with the idea that supplementary services provide operational value. It was also inferred that there were significant differences in the frequency of perceptions towards the statements indicating the functional utility of supplementary services available with credit cards. 70. 64% agree that supplementary services with credit cards help them to take care of psychological risk.There is a favorable perception of supplementary services in controlling the psychological risk. Respondents feel mental satisfaction to have supplementary services with credit cards. Thus, consumers while deciding for a credit card purchase consider facilitating services and supplementary services as significant in providing help to consumers for pre-purchase evaluation of credit cards and to make credit card purchase decisions in the Indian environment.References: 1. * Customer Satisfaction in the Hong Kong Mobile Phone Industry. – Service Industries Journal; Jul99, Vol. 19 Issue 3, p162-174, 13p, 3 charts http://search. ebscohost. com/login. aspx? direct=true&db=bth&AN=2514451&site=ehost-live 2. ## Managing perceived risk for credit card purchase through supplementary services. – Journal of Financial Services Marketing; Mar2008, Vol. 12 Issue 4, p331-345, 15p, 6 charts. http://search. ebscohost. com/login. aspx? direct=true&d b=bth&AN=31227169&site=ehost-live

Economic development in low income countries Essay

It is no secret that despite the breakthroughs in international economic dynamics, development is still elusive to some of the world’s poorer countries. However, current trends indicate that some of these low income nations are actually faring much better than others. Countries like China, Vietnam, and India might be well on their way to economic prosperity. The purpose of this paper is to identify the current aspects that affect economic progress and identify existing trends within those aspects. This paper gauges the sensitivity of low income countries to such trends. In particular, this paper discusses the aspects of globalization and education; the parts that each of these aspects play in determining the economic fate of low income countries. In the continuing rise of globalization, lines that have previously separated nations are now being blurred. The advent of free trade a few decades passed has increased not only economic, but cultural interactions among countries worldwide. These developments preview a globalized perspective of the economy, where the concept of nation as an economic barrier because of tariffs and trade regulations may no longer apply. If we look at how low income countries fare in the light of a globalizing world market, there are varied effects that can be observed. The influx of multinational corporations into countries of the third world brought about by the prospect of more affordable labor boosts employment rates and strengthens these countries’ current economic standing. Countries like India, Vietnam, and the Philippines currently thrive on jobs provided by various outsourcing corporations from the United States and Europe. On the other hand, some countries tend to suffer trade abuse from countries with stronger markets when it comes to the lowering of trade barriers. Without trade barriers on foreign products, the local companies of poorer countries find it much harder to compete with their foreign counterparts. The larger companies obviously have greater capital and can afford to lower prices much more than local smaller companies. On the other hand despite the lowering of tariffs in the countries where larger companies are based, smaller companies from other countries who want to enter into those markets still have a hard time. A good example of this can be seen in the case of China and the Philippines. China’s booming economy exported goods worth over $18. 6 million into the Philippines in 2005 while the Philippines was only able to export $2. 3 million (Rogers, 2006). Clearly, smaller companies in the Philippines are sorely outclassed by Chinese capital and cheap labor. China has is in fact making remarkable market headway in the international arena despite the prevailing low average income per annum of U. S. $2,040. With regards to direct investment, smaller companies yet find themselves outgunned once more by their larger competitors. Direct investment allows large companies to infiltrate chap labor markets where smaller companies operate. They are able to offer higher wages to workers from smaller companies owing largely to wide differences in capital which is boosted more by differences in foreign currencies. On the other hand, smaller companies neither have the ability nor the need to expand their workforce and operations into other countries. Foreign direct investment is not only useless to them, but it also creates an avenue for their workers to be pirated by larger foreign companies. Therefore it can be concluded that globalization is value neutral when it comes improving the economy of low income countries. Both India and the Philippines experienced long colonized rule which resulted to staggering economies in both cases. Yet after their freedom from their respective conquerors, the economics as well as other aspects of advancement in either country took different turns. Economically, India lagged behind the Philippines for many years proceeding World War II, but India’s investment in education eventually paid off. The Indian government sets aside as much as 55% of the national budget for the development of basic and tertiary education from since 1968 (Basham, 2005). The Philippines also allocates considerable budget in education but rampant corruption in the country prevents any authentic development from occurring. As a result, the country fared consistently low in successive Trends in Mathematics and Science Studies examinations conducted in 1999 and 2004 (Basham, 2005). The trends brought about by education reflect the quality of labor that a country has to offer and consequentially, the strength of its economy. While outsourcing western companies still obtain services from the Philippines for their call centers and medical transcription needs, they go to India for specialized and technological professional services. Therefore it can be concluded that advances in education equate to advances in a country’s economy. It also holds true that countries that make considerable genuine investments in their education system develop a citizenry that fares relatively better in the international job market than countries who do not. In conclusion, there are indeed varying rates of economic development present in low income countries. These rates are partly dictated by trends in globalization and in education. It is imperative for less developed countries to take heed of their neighboring countries’ actions and follow suit, or risk being left behind by a rapidly evolving world economy.

Essay on Pets

Essay on Pets This essay is about animals as pets and the opposing and conflicting views. Many people think that pets are too much of a responsibility, as they require food, walked on a regular basis, trained properly and lots of love and care. Any pet that lives outside a cage has to be trained properly so that it does not soil the home. Without training dogs can be very destructive and even dangerous. Pets are also very expensive and their food, toys, and medical treatment cost a lot of money too. Some pets are not looked after properly by their owners and sometimes the owner even loses interest. There were 40,879 humane destruction’s of dogs last year, 32,769 of cats and 18,816 of others. These figures include 29,610 dogs and cats too sick to live. People are cruel to pets and hurt them in al sorts of ways. In 1985 the RSPCA had to destroy 137,632 dogs cats and other pets, many were healthy but just too much for the RSPCA to find homes for. Inspectors from the RSPCA were called out to investigate 64,678 complaints last year. These are just some of the bad points of having a pet. Others think of pets as trusted friends as they give us comfort and affection. Pets are tame animals kept for companionship or because they are attractive to look at. Pets are good fun and can teach children responsibilities in life. Pets in the UK are very popular below are the top ten pets in England and Wales. In 1980 there was 5.6million dogs in the UK, this number increased by 1.8million in 1989. There were 2million more cats in the UK in 1989 than in 1980. The number of Budgies also increased by 0.1million in 1989. The Royal Society for the prevention of cruelty to animals more commonly known as the RSPCA looks after animals that have been treated badly. Last year the RSPCA homed 105,079 animals including dogs, cats and many other animals. If you don’t have a pet I would seriously consider buying one. Pets are very good company and almost any animal could be a pet. Unusual pets require special care and some knowledge and how they behave in the wild. Many pets need very little attention or space – there is room in the smallest home for a fish tank or a birdcage.

Undergraduate Learning Profile Essay Essay Example

Undergraduate Learning Profile Essay Essay Example Undergraduate Learning Profile Essay Essay Undergraduate Learning Profile Essay Essay Strategic Approach From the stud skills inventory for students scores, my study approach is the strategic approach as I scored highest points in the strategic approach as compared to the deep approach and the surface approach. I am a focused learner who aims at achieving the highest marks possible in tests. I am, also good at time management as well as planning to help me in using my efforts effectively. I also know how to choose my study materials and prepare a conductive environment for my studies. I am also keen to details and can easily study patterns and understand what the assessors expect from the assignments as well as determine the perceive preferences of each teacher. Your name and something about yourself: My name is Kamaljeet Kaur. Based on my personality traits, realized that I am extroverted, agreeable, detailed and relaxed. I found that I like competition, easily get bored with routine and monotony. However, I am also surprised that I can work well under minimal supervision and pressure. The reason why you are studying nursing My main reason why I am studying nursing is that nursing to me is like a calling, a passion, and chosen career path. I like taking care of sick people and giving them hopes when they are very sick and worried about their health. I believe empowering people even in their death bed and offering hope. One learning strength you possess which will be useful for your study this semester The learning strength that I believe I possess and I can use this semester is time management. I am good in time management and if I use that well, I can cover the whole syllabus ahead of the teacher and prepare myself well for the examinations. One specific strategy you will put in place to help you learn better this semester One strategy that I will put in place help me learn better is combining both conventional learning tools and technology. There are tons of resources online that can be accessed over the internet at little or no cost to supplement the available conventional books. Support or source of help you have in place (or in mind) if you need it this semester (for example your partner, the Learning Centre, the lecturer). The school has a digital library that would be instrumental in my learning. I also have access to lecturers with whom I can organize one- on-one session to help me understand and apply concepts learned in this course. Write a paragraph (250 450 words) reflecting on your learning strengths and weaknesses and providing the three specific strategies you will put into place to improve your learning this semester. My strengths include being good at time management. I know how to manage time through proper planning and executing my plans. I also have a good memory and can remember most of the concepts taught in class. I can also attribute my academic success to my curiosity because I am always curious which is what drives me to want to learn more. My main weaknesses include my love for social activities. I like socializing which consumes a lot of my time. I also like surfing the internet and spend a lot of time on Facebook another social networking sites. There are many opportunities at school that I can take advantage of to my success in course work. For example, I have resources such as books at my disposal. I also have access to the digital library which can contribute significantly to my academic achievement. There are also some loving, caring and competent lecturers who are open to discussion and are helpful. There are many threats in school that is likely to affect my studies. These threats are, however, manageable if only I can prioritize and organize myself. For example, there is much time wasting activities such as betting and drinking which is a hindrance to college learning. There are also social events in the school throughout the semesters that are a threat to proper learning. These social events do not add value to my school life or academic. Never the less, there are some strategies that I need to integrate to enhance my learning capabilities this semester. For example, I will prioritize my activities from the most impo rtant to the least important. I would engage in learning activities more as they are sources of networking and learning which are inry6umentalt to my academic achievement. I would also teach myself new skills every day such as academic writing, scholarly referencing, using the internet to research, avoiding academic malpractices as well as doing exceptional research.

The Great Chicago Fire of 1871 and Its Aftermath

The Great Chicago Fire of 1871 and Its Aftermath The Great Chicago Fire destroyed a major American city, making it one of the most destructive disasters of the 19th century. A Sunday night blaze in a barn quickly spread, and for approximately 30 hours the flames roared through Chicago, consuming hastily constructed neighborhoods of immigrant housing as well as the citys business district. From the evening of October 8, 1871, until the early hours of Tuesday, October 10, 1871, Chicago was essentially defenseless against the enormous fire.  Thousands of homes were reduced to cinders, along with hotels, department stores, newspapers, and government offices. At least 300 people were killed. The cause of the fire has always been disputed. A local rumor, that Mrs. OLeary’s cow started the blaze by kicking over a lantern is probably not true. But that legend stuck in the public mind and holds fast to this day. What is true is that the fire did start in a barn owned by the OLeary family, and the flames, whipped by strong winds, quickly moved onward from that point. A Long Summer Drought The summer of 1871 was very hot, and the city of Chicago suffered under a brutal drought. From early July to the outbreak of the fire in October less than three inches of rain fell on the city, and most of that was in brief showers. The heat and lack of sustained rainfall put the city in a precarious position as Chicago consisted almost entirely of wooden structures. Lumber was plentiful and cheap in the American Midwest in the mid-1800s, and Chicago was essentially built of timber. Construction regulations and fire codes were widely ignored. Large sections of the city housed poor immigrants in shabbily constructed shanties, and even the houses of more prosperous citizens tended to be made of wood. A sprawling city virtually made of wood drying out in a prolonged drought inspired fears at the time. In early September, a month before the fire, the city’s most prominent newspaper, the Chicago Tribune, criticized the city for being made of â€Å"firetraps,† adding that many structures were â€Å"all sham and shingles.† Part of the problem was that Chicago had grown quickly and had not endured a history of fires. New York City, for instance, which had undergone its own great fire in 1835, had learned to enforce building and fire codes. The Fire Began in OLearys Barn On the night before the great fire, another major fire broke out that was battled by all the city’s fire companies. When that blaze was brought under control it seemed that Chicago had been saved from a major disaster. And then on Sunday night, October 8, 1871, a fire was spotted in a barn owned by an Irish immigrant family named OLeary. Alarms were sounded, and a fire company which had just returned from battling the previous nights fire responded. There was considerable confusion in dispatching other fire companies, and valuable time was lost. Perhaps the fire at the OLeary barn could have been contained if the first company responding had not been exhausted, or if other companies had been dispatched to the correct location. Within a half-hour of the first reports of the fire at OLearys barn, the fire had spread to nearby barns and sheds, and then to a church, which was quickly consumed in flame. At that point, there was no hope of controlling the inferno, and the fire began its destructive march northward toward the heart of Chicago. The legend took hold that the fire had started when a cow being milked by Mrs. OLeary had kicked over a kerosene lantern, igniting hay in the OLeary barn. Years later a newspaper reporter admitted to having made up that story, but to this day the legend of Mrs. OLearys cow endures. The Fire Spread The conditions were perfect for the fire to spread, and once it went beyond the immediate neighborhood of OLearys barn it accelerated quickly. Burning embers landed on furniture factories and grain storage elevators, and soon the blaze began to consume everything in its path. Fire companies tried their best to contain the fire, but when the city’s waterworks were destroyed the battle was over. The only response to the fire was to try to flee, and tens of thousands of Chicagos citizens did. It has been estimated that a quarter of the city’s approximately 330,000 residents took to the streets, carrying what they could in a mad panic. A massive wall of flame 100 feet high advanced through city blocks. Survivors told harrowing stories of strong winds pushed by the fire-spewing burning embers so that it looked as if it was raining fire. By the time the sun rose on Monday morning, large parts of Chicago were already burned to the ground. Wooden buildings had simply disappeared into piles of ash. Sturdier buildings of brick or stone were charred ruins. The fire burned throughout Monday. The inferno was finally dying out when the rain began on Monday evening, finally extinguishing the last of the flames in the early hours of Tuesday. The Aftermath of the Great Chicago Fire The wall of flame that destroyed the center of Chicago leveled a corridor about four miles long and more than a mile wide. The damage to the city was nearly impossible to comprehend. Virtually all government buildings were burned to the ground, as were the newspapers, hotels, and any just about any major business. There were stories that many priceless documents, including letters of  Abraham Lincoln, were lost in the fire. And its believed that original negatives of classic portraits of Lincoln taken by Chicago photographer Alexander Hesler were lost. Approximately 120 bodies were recovered, but it was estimated that more than 300 people died. Its believed that many bodies were entirely consumed by the intense heat. The cost of destroyed property was estimated at $190 million. More than 17,000 buildings were destroyed, and more than 100,000 people were left homeless. News of the fire traveled quickly by telegraph, and within days newspaper artists and photographers descended upon the city, recording the massive scenes of destruction. Chicago Was Rebuilt After the Great Fire Relief efforts were mounted, and the US Army took control of the city, placing it under martial law. Cities in the east sent contributions, and even President Ulysses S. Grant sent $1,000 from his personal funds to the relief effort. While the Great Chicago Fire was one of the major disasters of the 19th century and a profound blow to the city, the city was rebuilt fairly quickly. And with the rebuilding came better construction and much stricter fire codes. Indeed, the bitter lessons of Chicagos destruction affected how other cities were managed. And while the story of Mrs. OLeary and her cow persists, the real culprits were simply a long summer drought and a sprawling city built of wood. Sources Carson, Thomas and Mary R. Bonk.  Chicago Fire of 1871. Gale Encyclopedia of U.S. Economic History: Vol.1. Detroit: Gale, 1999. 158-160.  Gale Virtual Reference Library.