It’s Time to Ban the Use of Landmines :: Argumentative Persuasive Essays

It’s Time to Ban the Use of Landmines      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   El Salvador, 6 April 1992--Three siblings died near the Guazapa volcano last weekend when they stepped on a mine planted during the period of civil warfare. Ironically, their parents had returned to the area only a few days earlier. The children were four, six and eight years old. Parts from the three children's bodies were found as far as 30 metres from the explosion site. (qtd. in Grant 25)    Antipersonnel landmines kill thousands of people every year. Antipersonnel landmines do not recognize a cease-fire; they continue killing or maiming for many years after the conflict is over. Antipersonnel landmines do not discriminate between soldiers or civilians. On the contrary, more and more they are being used in an indiscriminate way, terrorizing civilians and transforming agricultural fields into killing fields. In addition, de-mining is a very slow and very expensive process, and after a war most countries are not prepared to cope with the constant health care demands imposed by the number of injured by landmines. Finally, landmines make it very difficult for refugees to go back to their cities and villages. As response to the landmine problem, the international community has come up with a treaty to ban landmines. On March 1, 1999, the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty came into effect; so far 134 countries have signed the treaty. Unfortunately, the U. S. is not one of them.    The Encarta Encyclopedia defines a landmine as "an encased explosive device that is concealed below the surface of the ground." It can be made of "metal, plastic, glass, or wood" (n. p.). Probably the concept of landmines is almost as old as the existence of organized armies. Philip C. Winslow, in his book Sowing the Dragon's Teeth, describes how Roman soldiers, before the beginning of the first millennium, used a plant with spikes as a landmine in order "to delay pursuers" (126). The Chinese, according to Delbruck, used "ground mines" made out of explosives in the year 1232 (qtd. in Winslow 126). Six hundred years later, in 1840, the use of landmines was introduced in the United States; they were used "in large quantities" during the Civil War (Winslow 126, 127).

Skywest Cas

eSkyWest, Inc. case Analysis Written Case Analysis Table of Contents 1. Introduction†¦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‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ pg. 2 2. External Analysis†¦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‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ pg. 3-10 3. Internal Analysis†¦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‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ pg. 10-14 4. Key Decisions†¦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‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. pg. 14- 15 5. Alternatives†¦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‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ pg. 15 6. Recommended Decisions†¦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‚¬ ¦ pg. 16 7. Appendices†¦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¢ € ¦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‚¬ ¦.. pg. 17-19 1-SkyWest Airline IntroductionSkyWest, Inc. was found in 1972 by Raplph Atkins in St. George, Utah. Initially this was only a charter type of flight and was mostly used by businessman travelling between Salt Lake City and St. George, Utah. But with business partnerships and merging with companies like Western Airlines and later with Delta airlines partnerships the network of SkyWest airlines were much broad. Later in near future with more partnerships with United Airlines and Midwest Airlines helped the company to grow rapidly and in 2005 SkyWest acquired Atlantic Southeast Airlines.Currently SkyWest is operating in overseas too for instance Canada meanwhile it runs its operations in 34 states and nearly in 158 cities. Sky West case analysis report will help the reader to understand especially about the SkyWest Inc. and the general economic conditions of the reg ional airline industry of US at a micro environmental level along with some introductions of market size and market growth of the airline industry. The report is organized under the following main topics as follows.External analysis, internal analysis, Key decisions, alternatives and recommended decisions along with some charts and tables that helps the arguments for better understanding. Moving on when we consider the industry as a whole it had a decline due to the economic recession in 2009 that affected the growth rate of the airline industry and in terms of market size the revenue from passenger per mile decreased in 2008 compared to 2007 and this is an early effect of the economic recession, we shall discuss the threats and alternatives as we go along.In five year period from 2004 to 2008 the industry’s combined revenue has increased almost with a double effect from $4. 7 billion to $8. 4 billion (Please refer the epilogue table # 1). As part of the introduction let†™s identify the vision statement and the company strategy. Company strategy is low-cist strategy and its competitive advantage is achieved by lower cost than its competitors. Vision statement is â€Å"Atlantic Southeast Airlines is committed to connecting more people, more often; to the places they love, by becoming the world's first super regional airline. Moving on we would concentrate on the external analysis of this company. 2-External Analysis Economic Factors The external analysis assess the company’s external environment by looking at its Marco-environmental factors including the size of the market in terms of unit sale and sales volume as well as the market growth. It also examines the number and size of buyers and sellers in the environment, the pace of technological change or innovation, the economies of scale, geographic boundaries, the market supply and demand conditions, learning curve effects of the market and the differential products available.We will now e valuate SkyWest’s external environment by first looking at its economic factors. Size and Market Growth rate: The first economic factor addressed is the size of the company and its growth rate. SkyWest is the largest independently owned regional airline that is partnered with two of the major airlines; United and Delta. Alone SkyWest has more than 11,000 people representing their company none of which are unionized. Through the partnership with United and Delta, SkyWest was imited to the size of the aircraft through scope clauses limiting seating of 76 with Delta and 70 with United. This would limit the amount of business they could capture from their partners. In order to take advantages of their efficiencies SkyWest could have purchased larger aircraft to expand its business had there been no limitations. Throughout the five years SkyWest contracted to Delta and United ending in December of 2008, their annual growth rate had increased to a compounded 29. 6% with the number of flights increasing from 1,500 to 2,300.The size of the market in terms of unit sale and sales volume will be discussed in the next paragraph defining its size of buyers and sellers. Number and Size of buyers and sellers: The number of buyers in the company can be defined by the number of customers the company serves per year. SkyWest has the ability to serve over 100,000 customers per year due to the contract with Delta and United. The number of sellers in the company can be defined as the partnering airlines using their regional services to operate their connecting flights for a fixed cost.SkyWest is a regional airline that operates the connecting flights of its major partners Delta and United. The regional flight as well as the connecting flights through Delta and United has them serving 158 cities in 42 states and five Canadian provinces and Mexico. Their Hubs are located in Chicago O’Hare, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Milwaukee, Portland, Denver and Salt Lake City. In o rder to maintain these airlines they have maintenance based in Atlanta, Chicago, Colorado Springs, Denver, Fresno, Los Angeles, Milwaukee, Palm Springs, Portland, Salt Lake City, San Francisco and Tucson.Through their contract with Delta they have increased their customer base by operating about 430 connecting flights per day between Salt Lake City and designated outlaying destination which is about 59. 9% of the company’s capacity. The other 40. 10% of capacity goes to their contract with United that has them operating about 900 scheduled departures per day. In January of 2008 SkyWest took over Midwest allowing them to service 70 and 90 seating customers per flight.When they partnered with these major airlines there were a lot of changes that took place including technical changes. We will now discuss the pace of these technical changes and innovation. Pace of technological change or innovation: Most of the technological changes happened after the 9/11 attack on the World Tr ade Center and the Pentagon. One of the changes SkyWest had implemented was the Stetson Quality Suite. The Stetson Quality Suite is a mobile data collection and reporting software SkyWest used to ensure they were meeting or exceeding their safety quality standards.SkyWest used this particular software to keep up with the Safety and maintenance standards for the Department of Transportation and the Federal Aviation Administration. Now that we have discussed the pace of technological changes or innovation we will now go on to discuss the economies of scale. Economies of Scale: The economies of scale are the cost advantages company’s can obtain due to size, with cost per unit of output decreasing with increasing scale as fixed costs are spread out over more units of output.SkyWest was able to capitalize on the economies of scale when it partnered with Delta and United which helped reduce the cost of providing the service over what others could do. Through these partnerships SkyW est was able to gain access to an established customer base that would help increase their business in size and also lower the costs through the contracts where the major airlines were responsible for all their jet fuel, ground handling and aircraft maintenance and ownership. Given the gained access to customers through the partnership made SkyWest heavily dependent on Delta and United.With the current recession causing a dramatic downfall in the economic condition put all airlines including the major ones like Delta and United at risk to airlines losses, bankruptcies and consolidations due to the decrease in operating revenues by 87% with a 64% drop in income, 77% drop in revenues and a 60% drop in operating income. Now that we have discussed the economies of scale in the industry we will go on to discuss the geographic boundaries. Geographic Boundaries: The geographic boundaries of an industry refer to the geographic boundary lines that are drawn whether they are local, regional, national or global.SkyWest’s geographic boundaries are regional representing only small cities and also servicing major airlines through connecting flights. The partnerships with Delta and United had allowed expansion to current and new routes as well and additional departures. SkyWest was looking to expand more and through the acquisition with ASA they were allowed to expand geographically allowing them access to the East Coast markets and comprehensive national coverage that greatly expanded their scope of operations by adding regional jets to their fleets and a $1 billion to operations.We will now move on to discuss the market supply and demand conditions. Market Supply/Demand Conditions: The market supply and demand conditions changed greatly with the September 11, 2001 attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. The 9/11 attack prevented people from flying due to the fear of crashing which translated into huge losses in the major airlines. People feared the larger airlines more than the smaller regional jets due to the fact that they felt the larger planes to be more susceptible to terrorist attacks.They assumed that smaller regional airlines would not be a target for terrorism but still saw them to be less safe than the larger airplanes. The second condition affecting the market demand was the recession starting in late 2007 that continued throughout 2009. The beginning of the recession had negative effects on participant’s income statements and balance sheets resulting in airlines losses, bankruptcies and consolidations. The recession continued into 2008 and 2009 causing a dramatic downturn in the company’s financial performance.This economic downfall of 2008 and 2009 caused a decrease in the number of scheduled flights, and passenger traffics by 3%, with cargo revenues dropping as well. The airline industry is highly sensitive to fluctuations in the economy because of the significant portion of business and leisure travelers . The recession had lowered the overall demand for airline services not only to the regional but all airlines in the United States. The most recent recession in 2009 had a strong impact on the credit markets preventing airlines from getting the needed credit to acquire new aircraft.Other things affecting the market supply/demand conditions were the seasonal fluctuations that increased travel during summer months and decreased travel during the winter due to flight cancelations and delays due to inclement weather. The weather related flight cancellations represented a loss to 2,850 of its flights with a decrease in pretax income of about $5. 2 million. Next we will discuss the learning curve effects in the industry. Learning/experience curve effects:The learning curve effects of the industry were outlined in the training offered to help pilots and maintenance personnel keep up to date on the new safety and maintenance regulations as well as their skills. The vast majority of training was at training facilities for both the company pilots and maintenance personnel through a six-week program. The six-week training program proved to be very comprehensive and respected that it attracted tuition paying Federal Aviation Administration personnel. Next we will discuss their differential products. Differential Products:The differential products discussed in this case were the Bombardier Regional Jets and the Embraer and ATR Turboprops. The Bombardier region jets were the main regional gets used in the industry. These were larger commercial jets used to service longer-haul flights to the destinations up to 1,200 miles away, which allowed regional carriers to operate new longer routes and run shorter routes more efficiently. The other product discussed was the Embraer and ATR Turboprop which seats 30 passengers. This jet was used for short- to medium-haul flights and was able to land on shorter runways.Several travelers were unsure of riding on the turboprops due to the p erception of them being loud and uncomfortable. To accommodate travelers that wanted to ride a smaller jet with a more comfortable ride they created the Bombardier Q series turboprop that was equipped with noise and vibration reduction devices to help reduce the noise and vibration levels to those of a regional jet. In the next section we will define the driving forces for change in the industry. Driving Forces The driving forces are the factors that are driving the industry to make changes.These changes within the industry will have impacts on globalization, product and marketing innovation, technological change, changes in long-term growth rates and new government regulations. To start off we will discuss the impact on globalization. Globalization: SkyWest decided to go international with their business and started working with regional carriers in Europe, Latin America and China. The push to go global was due to the increased interest in airline business from people in Brazil and China. The people from these two geographic areas had pursued SkyWest to help them build their own airline within their geographic region.SkyWest agreed to help them train people, and organize from a 10- to 20 aircraft operation to a major regional carrier in countries that really needed a major regional carrier. Through globalizing their company SkyWest would be able to increase their purchasing power and help buys things at a lower rate. However, through the limitations the foreign governments would place on U. S. carriers, the opportunities by the international joint ventures would be limited. Now that we discussed the globalization driving factor we will go on to discuss the product and marketing innovation. Product and marketing innovation:The first product and marketing innovation is the Bombardier Regional Jets. The Bombardier regional jets originally serviced flights with destinations of up to 1,200 miles away. The new innovated Bombardier Jet has the quietest commercial je t available with a range of up to 1,600 miles. This larger regional jet offers many amenities including flight attendant service, stand-up cabin, overhead and under-seat storage, lavatories, and in-flight snack and beverage service. These jets were able to operate at lower costs then a 120-seat or larger jet aircraft due to its smaller size and efficient design.The other product and marketing innovation is the Embraer and ATR Turboprop, many travelers were not very interested in these smaller jets due to their noise level and uncomfortable seating. The new Embraer and ATR Turboprop has a 30 seat 120 turboprop and a 74 seat ATR 72 turboprops that are able to operate more economically over short-haul routes than the larger jet aircrafts. These smaller jets had comfort features such as stand-up headroom, a lavatory, overhead baggage compartments and flight attendant services.The smaller jets were more economically feasible making it possible to provide high frequency service in markets with relatively low volumes of passenger traffic. We will now go on to discuss the technological changes. Technological Changes: The technological changes taking place are the implementation of Stetson Quality Suite for Safety used to ensure their standards were meeting or exceeding their safety quality standards. The changes to the Bombardier and Embraer Jet to increase the overall quality and service of the jets in reference to their range of flight and the services offered to the staff and the customers boarding the flight.Other technological changes taking place are the new ways of communicating creating less need for travel. With the economy still being in a vulnerable position people are very sensitive to the price of a flight and try to find other means of commuting to their destination or communicating to that particular party. These technological changes have caused a decrease in the airline market due to price sensitivity that even business travelers are looking to save m oney. Next we will discuss the changes in the long-term growth rate. Changes in the long-term growth rate:The changes in the long-term growth rate started to increase when SkyWest partnered with Delta and United Express. The partnership had increased their annual growth rate to a compounded 29. 6%. This partnership had increased the number of flights from 1,500 to 2,300, and increased their departures to 2,400 to 208 cities per day by adding connection flight through their major airlines that serviced the United States, Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean. With the increased flights there were new government regulations that were applied. In the next paragraph we will discuss those regulations. New Government regulations:New Government regulations were in effect immediately after the 9/11 attack to ensure safety to the passengers by increasing the security regulations. The increased security also increased operational costs to the airline carriers due to the increased safety regulation s. The last increase that took place was the increased jet fuel cost, due to the economic recession in mid-2008. All these changes lead to a decrease in ticket sales due to fear of flying post 9/11 attack, and the incurred costs of flying in response to the threat of rising fuel costs. The next section will talk about the industry’s key success factors.Key Success factors: The key success factors are the competitive factors that most affect industry members’ ability to prosper in the marketplace. Different types of key success factors can be technology related, manufacturing related, distribution related, marketing related and skills and capability related. Technology related: The technology related key success factors that the SkyWest Inc. was defined by how they were able to acquire new aircraft. Regional airlines were required to find the needed capital and financing to increase the size of their fleets to service the longer routes being outsourced by the major airl ines.This had to be done without compromising their scope contracts with labor. SkyWest was able to overcome that by joining with ASA to acquire new aircraft. The next factors to success being discussed are the Manufacturing and Distribution related key success factors. Manufacturing/Distribution related: SkyWest’s manufacturing and or distribution related key success factors are defined by the ability to get their passengers to their destination on time. SkyWest was able to maximize their on-time arrivals by successfully getting all of their flyers to their sites on-time and making sure they did not miss their connecting flights as well.This gave them a good reputation with their customers in increasing satisfaction, naming them one of the highest rated regional carriers for on-time arrivals. Marketing-related The regional airline industry related its marketing key success factors to how they were able to maintain a strong safety image. In order to keep up with images of fly ing SkyWest increased safety standards and regulations to develop a much more safer image for those that were skeptical about flying smaller flights especially after the 9/11 attack.Passengers were unsure of the safety of the smaller jets preventing them from flying with the regional airlines, but after more safety had been implemented and other procedures had taken place to ensure everything was up to code they were able to maintain this strong image to passengers to ensure their safety when flying. Skills and capability-related SkyWest’s skills and capabilities were expressed in how they were able to maintain high levels of customer service. Typically regional airlines were not known for their customer service due to a large number of mishandled uggage that happened when transferring luggage from one plane to the next and an increased number of cancelled flights due to inclement weather. Most of these issues were not directly related to the regional due to their partnership s that handed all of their scheduling and majors taking priority in runways. SkyWest was able to maintain an average number of mishandled baggage, the second lowest number of involuntary denied boarding’s and the fourth in number of complaints per 100,00o passengers.This put them at the top to be named the Regional Airline Company of the Year for on-time arrivals by the Department of Transportation multiple times. Five Forces Model of Competition The five forces model evaluates the industries competition based on their level of Rivalry, threat of new entry, substitutes, bargaining power of buyers and bargaining power of suppliers to be either strong, moderate or weak. We will first discuss the first and most powerful of the five forces of competition; rivalry. Rivalry: Competition in the U. S. irline industry is very strong with their being a large number of competitors in the regional airlines. The success of low-cost carriers such as Southwest Airlines and JetBlue has incre ased the pressure on airlines to compete on price to attract sufficient numbers of passengers to keep flights full. In some regards, major airlines use contracts with regional carriers to keep costs and airfares low. Therefore, contracts for regional service are awarded by major carriers are to those having the lowest prices and reliable service. The overall rivalry in the airline industry is strong.Threat of new entry: The Threat of entry into the regional airline is define by the barriers to entry that include costs of acquiring a fleet of aircraft, acquiring contracts with major airline partners, and low industry profitability. Although the capital required to start up a modestly-sized small regional airline is fairly small, entering at a scale large enough to create a competitive threat requires substantial resources. The major threat of entry comes from major carriers which have the resources to start up their own regional airline. This threat is only moderate because the trend is for ajors airlines to sell off their regional airline operations and contract out service to regional carriers. Substitutes: Since regional airlines service short routes, passengers have more alternatives such as bus, automobile, or train travel than they do for long distance travel. This is particularly true when passengers are traveling only a few hundred miles. However, for major carriers that utilize regional carriers to execute hub and spoke strategies, there are few alternatives that they can use other than operating their own regional carrier.Substitutes are a weak to moderate force in the industry. Bargaining Power of Buyers: In the airline industry there are two types of customers; Leisure and business travelers. The business travelers tend to make up most of the market because they used the regional airlines to commute to and from locations that were considered too far to drive. They were also the most profitable because the larger customers purchased flights that were bought at a premium due to their short-notice or unexpected plan for flight.The Second type of buyers in the market were the leisure travelers that was a much smaller group of buyers because they traveled less often and were more price sensitive to the ticket sales. With their being several airline businesses in the industry all offering the same service, switching costs for tickets from airline to another tend to be very high. Airline industries have a fixed price on airline tickets preventing from buyers being able to bargain a lower price. Since most if not all customers search airline tickets based on price this makes the bargaining powers of buyers in the industry to be weak to moderate.Bargaining Power of Suppliers: In the regional airline industry there are two main types of suppliers Brazil’s Empresa Brasilerira de Aeronautica SA and Bombardier. With their only being two different types of suppliers in the regional airline industry that have two differentiated produc ts, makes the demand for them to be very high. Since these are the only two for the regional airlines it makes the bargaining power of suppliers to be very strong allowing them to change higher prices without losing their service to another manufacturer. 3-Internal AnalysisSWOT Analysis The SWOT analysis is an incredibly useful tool that helps review and analyzes the company’s current strategy. The SWOT analysis also identifies a potentially new direction for the company’s strategy to go. SWOT stands for strength, weakness, opportunities, and threats. Strength and weaknesses generally relate to factors that are internal to the organization, while opportunities and weakness in contrast often relates to factors that are external to the organization. We will now analyze SkyWest, Inc. using the SWOT analysis. Strengths:A company’s strength is something that the company is good at doing, or an attribute that enhances its competitiveness in the marketplace. SkyWest le ads the industry in safety and maintenance by being a pillar in the industry for seeking safety prevention, and leading by example and getting involved to help the community overall be safer. SkyWest also has good statistics for safety and for on-time arrivals along with other factors that affect customer satisfaction. For years 2004 through 2009 SkyWest had the highest percentage for scheduled flights arriving on time.They also were second for the least amount of involuntary denied boarding’s. SkyWest also has a high level of employee satisfaction due to its workforce being nonunion. SkyWest owns jets like the Bombardier regional jet or the Embraer and ATR turboprops that are more economical and cost-efficient but also have speed that is comparable to those of larger jets; and they even have many of the same features that larger jets offer. A significant strength is that SkyWest has experienced a compounded annual growth rate of 29. 6 percent from 2003 to 2008.A key strength for SkyWest’s success is its ability to secure partnerships that expand its geographic and customer base. Now that we have completed analyzing SkyWest’s strengths we can take move on to analyzing their weaknesses. Weaknesses: A weakness is something a company lacks or does poorly; in comparison to competitors or a condition that puts the company at a competitive disadvantage. One weakness is SkyWest’s poor relationship with Delta Airlines which was caused by their disagreement over their contract and whether or not Delta owed SkyWest $25 million dollars.This inhibits SkyWest’s ability to fully function within that partnership, and of course being short changed $25 million dollars is also a significant loss. Another factor that contributes to SkyWest’s weaknesses was once considered a strength; SkyWest’s partnership with Midwest. After partnering together for two years Midwest filed for bankruptcy leaving a messy wind-down process for both c ompanies, which undoubtedly will take a toll on SkyWest’s competitive advantage. Unfortunately that’s not where the mess ends; in 2009, Midwest was purchased by Republic, a larger company that is considered a direct competitor of SkyWest.Another strategic issue for SkyWest is the fact that because they partner with larger airlines and even though their own statistics for safety and for on-time arrivals along with other factors that affect customer satisfaction are either average or above average, from the customer’s point of view they are connected with the major carriers. Therefore the larger airlines statistics are intertwined with their own; which, results in customers perceiving a poor reputation for customer service; mishandling baggage, canceling flights, delayed flights for both carriers.Another weakness caused by customer’s perceptions is that customers typically perceive that the planes regional carriers use are small, uncomfortable, noisy, and a lso unsafe. Now that we have finished evaluating SkyWest’s weakness, we can now move on to analyze opportunities. Finally the last weakness we will go over is the scope clauses with United ; Delta Airlines. In the labor contracts with their pilots union it is spelled out the maximum size of airplane that an outside partner can operate. This limits the size of aircrafts to 70-seat and 76-seat aircrafts.This translates into a limited amount of ticket sales which means its limiting profits and market share and the number of flights a company could support. Now that we have evaluated the different factors that put SkyWest at a disadvantage we will take a look at the external factors; starting with opportunities. Opportunities: Opportunities are found within the external environment and arise when a company can take advantage of current circumstances or changes in the environment to gain a competitive advantage and become more profitable. Generally the best opportunities are the o nes that match with your company’s strategic goals.One opportunity for SkyWest is with more and more major carriers that start outsourcing a portion of their routes to regional airlines this creates an opportunity for SkyWest to build those relationships and eventually become partners with those major airlines, giving SkyWest a chance to expand and grab more market share. Another opportunity for SkyWest to expand its market share is with United ; Delta Airlines filing for chapter 11 this creates a short window of opportunity for SkyWest to serve those customers and to do it with great service and low prices building an expanded loyal customer base.Another opportunity that SkyWest needs to watch the horizon for is if the scope cause liberation were to be approved it would create an opportunity for SkyWest to increase the number of routes flown in contract with other airlines and the seat capacity of those routes. It would be a wise decision to spend time making plans that coul d be quickly executed should the scope cause liberation get approved. It’s important to keep an eye on the horizon watching for changing technology, government policies, or social trends that way the company can respond quickly and seize the opportunity to gain the competitive advantage.A changing external environment doesn’t only mean possible opportunities it also means possible threats. We will now examine SkyWest’s possible threats. Threats: Threats are factors in a company’s external environment that pose a threat to the company’s profitability and competitive well-being. The 2007 economic recession is an example of a threat that many people did not see, because of this many industries including the airline industry suffered.Some people believe that we still have not fully felt the aftershocks of the recession and because the airline Industry is highly sensitive to the economy as a significant portion of travel; both leisure and business trave lers, are discretionary, it is still a potential threat. Another threat to the airline industry is the increasing costs for jet fuel and its general availability. This can have a crippling effect on a company’s profitability and threatens their overall business operations. Fuel expenses already account for 35-50 percent of an airlines operation cost in 2009.Another external threat is if either new or changes are made to the ASA Regulation for either weather related factors or safety inspections. Both would increase costs and could threaten the success and the competitive advantage of SkyWest, which in turn could lead to decreased customer satisfaction and fewer sales. Since SkyWest is a regional carrier they need to keep a careful watch not only on how they are performing but also how their major carriers whom they have partnerships with are performing.If a major carrier were to file for bankruptcy it would most certainly threaten SkyWest with loss of customers and profits an d could lead them to follow suit and file for bankruptcy as well. Another threat that could affect regional carriers in the industry is if two major carriers merge the result would most likely be consolidating of routes and possibly completely shutting down smaller hubs, which as we have explained would also affect their regional partners. Financial assessment Ratios: Financial data is important to analyze as it provides the concrete results as for how the company’s strategy is performing.Ratio analysis is often used to determine a company’s financial position. Ratio analysis breaks down into 5 key subgroups; profitability ratios, liquidity ratios, leverage ratios, activity ratios, and finally share-holder ratios. We will break down each one of these types of ratios starting with profit ratio. It should be noted that analyzing the individual companies financial performance alone, is not a complete analysis. To have a complete analysis, the ratios should be compared aga inst the industry’s average; however, we will not be covering that in our assessment with SkyWest. Profitability ratios:Profitability ratios generally tell us how well the company is using their resources efficiently. One of the several profitability ratios is the Operating profit margin. This ratio tells us how much profit is earned on each dollar of sales before paying interest charges and income taxes. | 2004| 2005| 2006| 2007| 2008| Operating Income| 144776| 220408| 339160| 344524| 255231| Total Operating Revenue| 1156044| 1964048| 3114656| 3374332| 3496249| Operating Profit Margin| 0. 1252| 0. 1122| 0. 1089| 0. 1021| 0. 0730| Here we see that the operating profit margin has been declining, while the total operating revenue is increasing.This can be interpreted as less money is being made on each dollar of sale. When looking at the operating profit margin ratio higher is better and you want to see an upward trend, since we don’t see that it is cause for concern and should be looked into. Liquidity ratios: Now let’s look into the liquidity ratios. Liquidity ratios measure a company’s ability to pay off short-term obligations by using their liquid assets, one of these ratios is the current ratio. The current ratio tells us how much of the company’s short-term obligation can be covered by using and converting their liquid assets. 12/31/2008| 12/31/2007| Current Assets| 125,892| 122,802| Current Liabilities| 129,783| 118,202| Current Ratio:| 0. 9700| 1. 0389| SkyWest’s current ratio had a small decrease from 2007 to 2008. For 2007 their ratio was 1. 04, and for 2008 it decreased to . 97. The ratio should be higher than 1, however what an acceptable ratio is depends on the type of industry as it varies. The fact that their ratio is decreasing could suggest impending insolvency. However to accurately analyze we would need to compare the current ratio to other companies in the airline industry. Leverage ratios:Next we wil l move on to analyze leverage ratios. Leverage ratios are concerned with the balance between debt and equity. One of the leverage ratios is the debt-to asset ratio. The debt-to asset ratio measure the extent to which borrowed funds have been used to finance the firm’s operations and investments. | 2007| 2008| Total Debt| 3990525| 4014291| Total Assests| 3990525| 4014291| Debt-to assets ratio| 1| 1| Here we see that for both 2007 and 2008 the debt-to asset ratio equals 1; however this is a cause for concern. It would be better if the debt-to assets ratio were a low fraction.A low fraction would indicate that the firm less debt then assets and therefor does not have a high risk of bankruptcy occurring. Activity Ratios: Another area to analyze is how effectively a company is managing its assets this group is called activity ratios. An example of an activity ratio is the inventory turnover ratio; which takes the cost of goods sold divided by the inventory to determine the number of times the inventory is turned over and whether they are carrying excess stock. One example of an activity ratio is the average collection ratio. | 2007| 2008| Accounts receivables| 81216| 55458|Total Sales (Total Revenue)| 3374332| 3496249| Average collection period| 8. 7851| 5. 7897| This measurement indicates the average length of time it takes SkyWest to receive a cash payment after making the sale. The shorter amount of time is optimal. From 2007 to 2008 SkyWest shortened the amount of time by almost 3 days, bringing it to roughly 6 days. Other important measures of financial performance: The last category is kind of a miscellaneous category; however this category is sometimes referred to as the shareholder-return ratio because many of the ratios measure the return earned by shareholders from holding stock in the company.There are other measures as well like the internal cash flow measurement. This measures how much cash a company’s business is generating after paying operating expenses, interest, and taxes (often referred to as NIAT). Years| 2004| 2005| 2006| 2007| 2008| Net income| $81,952 | $112,267 | $145,806 | $159,192 | $112,929 | Depreciation| $76,817 | $115,275 | $189,885 | $208,944 | $220,195 | NIAT| $158,769 | $227,542 | $335,691 | $368,136 | $333,124 | – Key Decisions 1. One of the main points the case covers is the state of the global and national economy. As previously discussed the airline industry and its success is highly correlated with the state of the economy. 2. Another main point that SkyWest should be concerned with is their ability to attract and retain partnerships. Its already been established that SkyWest’s relationship with Delta has been changed to â€Å"it’s complicated† over the disagreement of 25 million dollars unpaid and not going after Delta in a lawsuit for the unpaid money for fear of losing their partnership and connected business.As Delta Airlines contributed 59. 9% of SkyWest†™s customer capacity. Also their previous partnership with Midwest Airlines which then filed for bankrupt and later was purchased by a direct competitor, which could become larger and more capable; threatening SkyWest’s future. 3. Another issue plaguing SkyWest is the impact of high fuel prices. It is estimated that 30-50% of total costs are from the costs of fuel. This in conjunction with the scope clauses that limit the size of planes SkyWest can operate increases the costs and amount of fuel needed. . The Last problem the case covers is the issue of government legislation and regulations and the effect it has on the airline industry. Safety regulations and labor contracts that limit the number of passenger’s pilots can fly. Along with the issue of planes being grounded to perform safety inspections or the proposals of new legislation like the regulation that was going to require they provide oxygen for passengers that would have added a significant amount of addit ional costs. 5- Alternatives 1.Economy: Clearly one cannot control the state of the economy, but if SkyWest continues to take advantage of their strengths and repair weakness that are due to partner companies’ poor customer service, human resources and low profits they are likely to be successful when the economy is doing better. While the economic recession continues SkyWest should attempt to renegotiate their agreements with their major carrier partners and cancel flights, when capacity is low, in order to reduce their costs.They need to make sure they maintain competitive prices and not just meet customer’s expectations but also exceed them, this will lead to a stronger customer loyalty hopefully keeping SkyWest out of the red. 2. Partnerships: SkyWest needs to continue to develop their partnerships with major carriers to further diversify the amount of major partners, which would ultimately reduce the risk of being dependent on Delta and United. Also combining effo rts would reduce the companies overhead. . Fuel costs: The rising costs and fluctuations in fuel price pose a significant risk as they are the largest chunk of operation costs for the airline industry. SkyWest should plan their routes to maximize their fuel efficiency along with again trying to renegotiate their agreements with their major carrier partners to permit flying larger size planes with more seating capacity; which would therefor create larger economies of scale. 4.Regulations: SkyWest needs to continue to pay close attention to union activity within the ASA Corporation and also continue to avoid labor unions and instead focus on employees through effective benefit packages and employee engagement. 6- Recommended Decisions 1. SkyWest airlines considerably has cash in had it could make a risky move by starting to serve in new countries since they are already exposed to some of the foreign destinations it would not be a bad idea but they must be prepared to face new competit ors.This would help the company to offer more international connecting flights and strengthen the operations that already exists for instance in Canada. 2. As we discussed before as a whole the industry is enjoying an accumulated revenue, so at this point making new partnerships may increase the revenue share of SkyWest Airlines and this would help the company to face the unknown future challenges and lessen its affect to SkyWest airlines since the economy is not steady. . Even though SkyWest is well known for being the best at safety of the services rendered it should invest more on researches with the other industry competitors so they could split the cost and enjoy the benefits (joint research agreements). This would help the SkyWest to keep up to the new regulations that is set by FAA, TSA and DOT. 4. In the first quarter of 2009 they had a SkyWest had a revenue loss of $7. million which was merely by ASA because of poor maintains and inefficiency of the flights. Management shou ld take initiatives to reduce these types of inefficiency and integrate a successful system for sustainable growth of the company. 5. SkyWest Inc. should be concerned with the route maps and they should look for opportunities that could potentially help them to expand route coverage with the existing partnerships or to get into new business agreements with new partners. . Management should work closely with the finance department to cut down fuel and maintains cost to earn more revenues in the volatile economy. For instance management should be working together with finance department on hedging for fuel, and they could get into partnerships with smaller companies in the industry to share maintains cost rather than a large air carrier where SkyWest’s needs wouldn’t be considered upon a larger company.

Discuss the roles of language and reason in history Essay

The study of history is one in which people or communities attempt to understand the nature of humans through the study of events in the past. When we look at historiography or the writings of history, we are looking at the study of historical events that have been seen as relevant and meaningful by historians. So when we study this area of knowledge, we need to think about what affects the way we interpret it, and therefore by association, how it is taught to us. There are various components to the learning and teaching of history and perhaps the two most prominent components are language and reason; two ways of knowing. Language is fundamentally a systematic means of communicating by the use of sounds or conventional symbols. This is in itself linked to reason, which is a rational motive for a belief or action. Indeed language is a powerful tool that can communicate beliefs and facts but also manipulate such facts. Language has an effect on our emotions, our perception and what we believe in and can lead to history being manipulated over generations. Therefore, it is justifiable to say that this affects our reasoning. Therefore, I will be looking at how these ways of knowing affect the way in which a complex topic is taught: the Second World War (WW2) and some of its events. I will be addressing knowledge issues, which are questions that relate to our understanding of the world and us, combined with our desire for knowledge. I will look at how the holocaust is possibly taught in a German school, as well as how the Kamikaze attacks are taught in a Japanese school. I will also look at the way these events have been taught to me, as someone who attends a British school. The knowledge issues that will form the basis of my essay are: how do languages affect our opinion of a historical event, what role does our reasoning have in understanding historical events and whether we can study history without reason and language. I will be arguing that language and reason do have definitive roles in history. If we are to look at how WW2 may be taught in Germany, we have to perhaps look at Germany’s stance on the event now. Indeed a survey in Sarah Ann Gordon’s Book Hitler, Germans and ‘The Jewish Question’, showed the sentiments of the German people in the years after WW21. This can be seen below:  Statement  Percentage of people who agree  Hitler was right in his treatment of the Jews.  0%  Hitler went too far in his treatment of the Jews, but something had to be done to keep them in bounds. The actions against the Jews were in no way justified.  77%  Indeed, judging by the above results, it is possible that the majority of Germans abhor the Holocaust. The way in which they do so however, is very much linked into their language. Germany would most likely not want a repeat of the events of WW2 and so the way in which it is taught is one in which the actions of the Nazi party is abhorred, perhaps even more so than in the schools of other countries. Indeed if you look at the response of German historians and their analysis of WW2, many have been damning of events such as the holocaust. This can be seen with Hans-Ulrich Wehler, who in a 2006 interview expressed his support for the imprisonment of the British historian, David Irving, for Holocaust denial2.

How to Convert a Traditional Organization to a Learning Organization

Communication is the sharing of information for a variety of purposes including informing, persuading, motivating orinfluencing. There are two general ways of delivering the information: formal and informal communication channels. Formal Communication in the Workplace Formal communication is organized and managed information that is shared with relevant individuals in order to secure coordinated action throughout the organization. Formal communication channels are based on an individual’s role in the organization and distributed in an organized way according to the established chain in organizational charts.Typically, formal communication flows â€Å"downward† from executives to directors to managers to staff regarding company direction and instruction and â€Å"upward† from staff to managers to directors to executives in the form of data and reports. The communication flowing through these channels iss   pecific to the jobs and departments. Such formal communication is well established and planned. For example, reports and data from staff are organized are generally submitted prescribed templates and according to a set schedule.Communication focused on a company’s strategy and direction, which originates from company executives, is funnelled through the organizational chart and changed in such a way to be relevant to each department and manager. What starts out as â€Å"high-level† communication on corporate strategy needs to be thought out through planning sessions so that the communication provides direction and is actionable for the individuals who implement the tasks of the strategy.The better the communication the better employees and staff will understand what is expected and required of them. advertisement Communicate Better, Lead Better Successful people are good communicators. Enhance your communciations skills with the guide to Being an Effective Communicator. Informal Communication in the Workplace On the other hand, informal communication in the workplace satisfies a variety of needs, particularly social and emotional, and are not based o n the positions individuals occupy within the organizations.As a result, the communication is not managed or planned in any organized fashion. It’s more relaxed, casual and tends to be spread by word-of-mouth quickly throughout a department or organization because it’s not restricted to approvals and an established path of distribution. Probably the most common term used for the informal communication in the workplace is â€Å"grapevine† and this communication that is sent through the organizational grapevine is often considered  gossip  or rumour.While grapevine communication can spread information quickly and can easily cross established organizational boundaries, the information it carries can be changed through the deletion or exaggeration crucial details thus causing the information inaccurate – even if it’s based on truth. The use of the organizational grapevine as an informal communication channel often results when employees feel threat ened, vulnerable, or when the organization is experiencing change and when communication from management is restricted and not forthcoming.When used with thought and planning, however, there are several advantages of grapevine communication. It can * spread information quickly throughout an organization * serve a social purpose * reduce stress and anxiety * can be used to identify problems or lack of satisfaction in the workplace While the organizational grapevine can never be eliminated, even if there are several advantages of grapevine communication, it can be reduced by removing the need for information. Managing the grapevine can be partly achieved by providing information through good, effective ommunication such as: * supplying sufficient information through the formal communication channel about the concerns that are of importance to employees and staff * present as much factual information as possible as soon as it is obtained * keep information coming on a regular basis esp ecially during times of change when the employees are stressed and wondering what’s going on. Daily communication with them will reduce the pressure of uncertainty. * open the lines of the formal communication channels to receive feedback and concerns. Respond to these as quickly as possible.If concerns are submitted from staff and no response is given by management, rumours through grapevine communication will begin to fill in the communication gap which was created by management. Formal / informal communication channels exist in every organization. Formal communication requires thought and planning prior to distribution; informal communication, however, usually succeeds on its own mostly because of the very effective grapevine. While there are several advantages of grapevine communication, managing the grapevine also requires thought and planning.Even so, it’s very difficult to formalize informal communication, therefore, the best way to cut the grapevine is to provi de accurate, respectful and timely formal communication. http://basiccollegeaccounting. com/2009/05/understand-the-difference-between-formal-and-informal-communication/ FORMAL COMMUNICATION| * Communication takes place through the formal channels of the organization structure along the lines of authority established by the management. * Such communications are generally in writing and may take any of the forms; policy; manuals: procedures and rule books; memoranda; official meetings; reports, etc.Advantages & Disadvantages  of Formal Communication:The  advantages  of formal communication are: * They help in the fixation of responsibility and * Maintaining of the authority relationship in an organization. The  disadvantages  of formal communication are: * Generally time consuming, cumbersome and * Leads to a good deal of distortion at times. | INFORMAL COMMUNICATION| * Communication arising out of al those channels of communication that fall outside the formal channels is k nown as informal communication. *Built around the social relationships of members of the organization. * Informal communication does not flow lines of authority as is the case of formal communication. * It arises due to the personal needs of the members of n organization. * At times, in informal communication, it is difficult to fix responsibility about accuracy of information. Such communication is usually oral and may be covered even by simple glance, gesture or smile or silence. | http://www. easycommunication. info/what-is-informal-communication ————————————————-WHAT IS INFORMAL COMMUNICATION? Informal communication arises out of all those channels that fall outside the formal channels and it is also known as grapevine. It is established around the societal affiliation of members of the organization. Informal communication does not follow authority lines as in the case of formal communication. Informal communication takes place due to the individual needs of the members of an organization and subsists in every organization. Normally, such communication is oral and may be expressed even by simple glance, sign or silence.Informal communication, is implicit, spontaneous multidimensional and diverse. It oftenly works in group of people, i. e. when one person has some information of interest; he passes it on to his informal group and so on. An organization can make efficient use of informal channels to fortify the formal channels of communication. It acts as a valuable purpose in expressing certain information that cannot be channeled via the official channels. It satisfies the people desires to identify what is happening in the organization and offers an opportunity to express dreads, worries and complaints.Informal communication also facilitates to ameliorate managerial decisions as more people are involved in the process of decision-making. Inspite on many advantages, informal communication has certain disadvantages. Informal communication contains facts, deceptions, rumors and unclear data. The informal channels of communication may transmit completely imprecise information that may harm rather than help an organization. In addition, it is impossible to fix the responsibility for its origin or flow of information. However, for the efficient working of any organization both formal and informal communications are required. ttp://www. typesofcommunication. org/communication/verbal-communication/formal-communication/ Formal Communication Formal communication can be considered as communication efforts that are â€Å"dressed up† to fit customary rules and ceremony For example, in a written letter, the formal communication style will demand that the layout of the piece of written communication follow a specific format that includes the date, header, salutation, body of the letter, close, signature lines and any indicators of enclosures all placed neatly upon company letterhead or personal stationery.By contrast, an informal piece of written communication can be as simple as a jotted note to a friend on a torn slip of paper Formal communications are mostly written, although they may now also include formal presentations that are on computer disk, video tape or DVDs, MP3 presentations and other similar electronic reproductions of written communications. Other forms of formal communications include newsletters, legal advisories, invitations, awards, and letters of congratulations.Non-written formal communication devices are in-person communications in the forms of departmental meetings, telephone calls, conferences and special interviews. Some publications that are devoted to a special purpose, such as a company’s annual report, are formal communications. There is a non-verbal component to formal communication as well. The style and manners of the presenter dictate the formalness of a meeting, and this can be immediately seen at the time of introduction of a speaker.Some elements of non-verbal formal communication include maintaining a certain distance from others, standing above the crowd, speaking in formal tones and using formal means of address to others, such as â€Å"Mister† or â€Å"Doctor† when calling upon others. Colloquialisms, which are freely used in  informal communication, are not present in formal communications. Proper English or another language is spoken. Formal communications will follow a chain of command in the flow of the communication, either upwards to or down from managers.The use of formal communication is more prevalent in highly technical areas where a message must be exact and specific, leaving no room for misinterpretation. The written communication is carefully thought out, and planned for a certain effect or result. It often is written in a third person non-personal voice of â€Å"he, she, it, and they† rather than †Å"I† or â€Å"you† voices. Grammar, spelling and layout are important for written communications, and for spoken communications there is an emphasis placed on the quality of the speech voice and pronunciation.Some formal communications are congratulatory, others can be advisory or informational. Legal papers follow a tightly formatted layout that is customary within the professional and widely used by others. Likewise, scientific research papers have a customary format to follow. Any written communication that is expected to adhere to particular rules can be considered to be formal communication, and the actual tone of the piece may range from friendly to threatening. It can be more demanding and imply expectations to the receiver that should create desired results. ttp://www. communication-type. com/what-is-formal-communication/ The messages which are circulating on regulated, preset channels, of an organization are creating the  formal communication. The content of the communication is related to the organization’s activity, to the work and to anything which is related to those. The  formal communication  can consist in verbal messages, nonverbal messages, written, under the shape of letters, telephone messages, radio messages, printed, internal notes. Even some gestures can consist in  formal communication.The messages are transmitted by the authorized ones: on official channels, these arrive to the ones who need to react, to people or machines which need to know the content of these messages. Usually, all  formal communications  are recorded and kept in the organization’s evidence. Are retained copies of these by the transmitter, by the receiver, by all of the desks from the organization which need to know and keep the information. Examples of  formal communications  are given by work commands, reports and financial evidence, reports over sells / inventory, statements referring to the company’s policies, po st descriptions, etc.The  formal communication  can sometimes take place on the horizontal, along the parallel directions of authority. The  formal communication  network from an organization along with the keeping spaces of these communications, are serving to more purposes. It defines the channel on which will be sent important messages. It will be created a transmitting plan of this information, both for the transmitter and for the receivers. It will be indicated the direction towards the persons who will react and to the persons who need to be informed about these actions, their steps and esult. It offers an information storage space which will be necessary on planning the operations and control. It is created an ordered system for the superiors and subordinates, in order to keep each other informed constantly. The  formal communication  network is formed out of formal channels, created by setting a formal system of responsibilities according to the hierarchical stru cture of the organization. The perfect network is the one which contains communication channel from bottom up, downwards and horizontally.Often the direction of horizontal communication is missing or it is inefficient and in this way the accuracy of the information decreases. The situation is appearing because of the lack of permanent circulation of the information between departments, although this is vital for the organization in conditions of existent competition, or the lack of specialists in organizational communication. The downwards communications, from top to bottom, is performed by the manager to the subordinates. There are transmitted provisions and instructions, are identified the employees responsibilities.In an efficient organization, this type of communication has its purpose in motivating the employees, their continuous information about policy, goals and organization strategy. The periodicity is important because it ensures the constant communication. Sometimes this type of communication is gaining a preferred tempt, moving only towards the employees, considered as having priority responsibilities. It can have place even when only the manager is transmitting orders and instructions to the employees, without being too preoccupied about their information.If the organization is in changing, the downwards communication must be used to change opinions, attitudes, to waste restrictions and fear towards misinformation in order to support the employees to comply with these changes. This type of communication requires a feedback. That is why it is completed with bottom up communication, from the employees to the manager. These, as they understand the downwards communication, can communicate their answers. The manager must pay attention to the information he receives, thanks to the employees tendency to say only good stuff to the boss: it may appear the deliberate misinformation. ttp://ezinearticles. com/? Informal-Communication—How-It-Differs-Fro m-Formal-Communication&id=5129153 Informal Communication – How It Differs From Formal Communication oth informal communication and formal communication take place in any organization whether it be business or our personal family lives. But we need to recognize the difference. Informal communication is casual and spontaneous, whereas formal communication is more thought-out and prepared from learned experiences or organized training that present rules and conventions authoritated by business and formal etiquette.Informal communication comes from communication activities outside of those formally learned at home through discipline, or at school through education, or in business through our own personal experiences and formal training. It falls under the social communication of grapevines and rumors, casual conversations and inter-relational activities outside of the formal or public arenas. We do not behave the same way at work as we do at home or at play. I always say that peo ple are at their best at work. We really don't know someone until we've stayed with them outside of work for a few days-or a few hours even, with some people.Informal communication may not be as reliant as formal communication where more accountability is expected. In an organizational setting, such as business, or association and the like, communication is connected with official status-quo or protocols of the formal channels of structure and culture which the line of manager/subordinate reporting system is expectedly accepted. In order to understand informal communication, we need to understand formal communication and then realize that informal communication is what takes place without the formal addition of convention and ceremonies.In business the different forms of formal communication include departmental functionality, activities taking place within meeting and conference settings, verbal and written communication through telephone, memos and bulletins, etc. It is safe to al so recognize that informal communication may be vulnerable to being deceptive and imprecise in its casualness – conscious or unconscious. In a formal setting, people take the time to recognize the consequences of transmitting any wrong or incomplete information. But in an informal setting, the quality of communication may be affected by the more relaxed or careless attitude or behaviour.However, both formal and informal communication is found in an organization, depending on the level of business experience and training one possesses in his or her personal life. An organization can make efficient use of informal communication by confirming and affirming that which is being communicated by the untrained or less trained individual Informal communication, like formal communication can be expressed verbally or non-verbally by words, tone of voice, signs such as glances and gestures and even silence.For the purpose of effective communication, one needs to identify and affirm anyth ing that may be communicated, if unsure of the true meaning behind the communicator. Article Source: http://EzineArticles. com/5129153 http://www. blurtit. com/q616802. html Formal communication  is when people use the rules of language in a conversation or in writingformat. In a conversation, it would be more likely for you to use  formal communication  when in aninterview  or writing a letter to a business or maybe work. Informal  communication  is when people do not use the rules of language and may use slang in conversation.It would be more likely for you to use informal  communication  when you see a friend on the streets and you have a chat. It would also be informal like chatting on MSN or Facebook. The main difference between formal and informal  communication, aside from the language that is used, is the setting in which we use them. Formal communication  would be used in a formal setting where  communication  efforts are ‘dressed’ up in order to impress. For example, in aninterview  to get into University, you would not use slang or colloquialisms. Informal  communicationis of course the opposite of formal.When using informal language, the rules of language that are applied to  formal communication  are not applied so people use many more colloquialisms and often  slang words. This form of  communication  is most commonly used face to face between a friend of relative although due to advancements in  communication  technology, informal language is now used in texting, talking  on the phone, on social networking sites or an instant message conversation. Other examples of  formal communication  can also be non-verbal for example in a letter.In this circumstance and in others, it is important to address people in the correct way for example, Sir, Madam or Doctor. When beginning a letter to a person you do not know, you must start with ‘To Whom it may concern’. When in a formal sit uation such as  at work  or in an  interview, some people tend to  adopt  a more formal tone of voice. For  formal communication  in written form, impeccable grammar and spelling is a must. For spoke  communication, a  great deal  of emphasis is placed on the quality of the speaking voice and correct pronunciation.We use informal  communication  throughout most of our days. You may greet your friends or relatives with a hug or kiss rather than a formal handshake. You will become much more relaxed around these people and not feel the need to make an effort with your voice. You will be less careful with your language choices and more inclined to use colloquialisms and perhaps even slang, if you are around your friends. You will often use informal communication when you know people well such as freind and family. Some friends or family memebers may use terms that only their own group would understand.Local groups might have their own ways of speaking, for exampl e some people in sothern england might say things like ‘ hi you mate, how's it going?. ‘ if you belong in this group, you will appreciate this as a warm friendly greeting. Formal communication is for example, at a hospital reception you might expect the receptionist to say somethin like:'good morning. How can I help you? ‘ this formal communication might be understood by wide range of peole. Formal communication also shows respect for others. nformal communication would be like what we are doing here, online chatting or just having a conversation with a friend.Formal Communication would be writing a business or other letter within the guidelines of that genre. Such as a cover letter for a resume', or a thank you letter or note for a present received. http://www. easycommunication. info/formal-communication ————————————————- FORMAL COMMUNICATION Websites D esigning|access to mysql|Software Development India|home broadband offers|Serviced Offices in London Formal communication is that which is connected with the formal organizational arrangement and the official status r the place of the communicator and the receiver. It moves through the formal channels authoritatively accepted positions in the organization chart. Formal communication is mostly in black and white. Formal communication can be defined as, â€Å"A presentation or written piece that strictly adheres to rules, conventions, and ceremony, and is free of colloquial expressions. † It connotes the flow of the data by the lines of authority formally acknowledged in the enterprise and its members are likely to communicate with one another strictly as per channels constituted in the structure.Thus, it is a purposeful effort to influence the flow of communication so as to guarantee that information flows effortlessly, precisely and timely. It emphasizes the essence of formal channel of communication. The different forms of formal communication include; departmental meetings, conferences, telephone calls, company news bulletins, special interviews and special purpose publications. The main advantage of formal communication is that the official channels facilitate the habitual and identical information to communicate without claiming much of managerial attention.Essentially, executives and mangers may devote most of their precious time on matters of utmost significance. But at the same time, the weakness of formal communication should not go unaccounted. Communication through channel of command greatly obstructs free and uninterrupted flow of communication. It is, generally, time consuming, cumbersome and leads to a good deal of distortion. 3http://management. about. com/od/begintomanage/tp/newmgrmistake. htm Managing can be a little difficult at first. A recent poll found that more than 50% of managers received NO training before starting the job.Here i s a list of the most common mistakes new managers make so you can avoid making them too. (If you think I missed one, use the â€Å"Readers Respond† link at the bottom to add a new one. ) 1. Think you know everything. If you were just promoted to Production Manager, you may feel you know everything about production. Even if that were true, and it isn't, you sure don't know everything about the most important part of your new job, managing people. Listen to the people around you. Ask for their input when appropriate. Keep an open mind. 2.Show everyone who's in charge. Trust me, everyone in your group knows who the new manager is. You don't have to make a big show about being â€Å"the boss†. You do, however, have to demonstrate that, as the boss, you are making a positive difference. 3. Change everything. Don't re-invent the wheel. Just because the way something is done isn't the way you would do it, it isn't necessarily wrong. Learn the difference between â€Å"differe nt† and â€Å"wrong†. 4. Be afraid to do anything. Maybe you didn't ask for the promotion. Maybe you are not sure you can do the job.Don't let that keep you from doing the job the best you can. Upper management wouldn't have put you into the job if they didn't have confidence that you could handle it. 5. Don't take time to get to know your people. Maybe you worked alongside these people for years. That doesn't mean you know them. Learn what makes them excited, how to motivate them, what they fear or worry about. Get to know them as individuals, because that's the only way you can effectively manage them. Your people are what will make or break you in your quest to be a good manager.Give them your attention and time. 6. Don't waste time with your boss. Since he/she just promoted you, surely he/she understands how busy you are and won't need any of your time, right? Wrong. Your job, just like it was before you became a manager, is to help your boss. Make sure to budget ti me to meet with him/her to both give information and to receive guidance and training. 7. Don't worry about problems or problem employees. You can no longer avoid problems or hope they will work themselves out. When something comes up, it is your job to figure out the best solution and get it done.That doesn't mean you can't ask for other's input or assistance, but it does mean you are the person who has to see it gets taken care of. 8. Don't let yourself be human. Just because you are the boss doesn't mean you can't be human, that you can't laugh, or show emotion, or make an occassional mistake. 9. Don't protect your people. The people in your group will be under pressure from every direction. Other departments may want to blame you for failed interfaces. Your boss may want to dump all the unpleasant jobs on your department. HR may decide the job classifications in your area are overpaid.It's your job to stand up for your people and make sure they are treated as fairly as possible. They will return the loyalty. 10. Avoid responsibility for anything. Like it or not, as the manager you are responsible for everything that happens in your group, whether you did it, or knew about it, or not. Anything anyone in your group does, or doesn't do, reflects on you. You have to build the communications so there are no surprises, but also be prepared to shoulder the responsibility. It goes hand-in-hand with the authority. 3. http://www. ehow. com/info_8423578_implications-organizational-change. tml Implications of Organizational Change A static environment can quickly antiquate an organization. Therefore, change is a constant and necessary requirement for organizations to stay competitive and survive in this volatile global economy. Organizational change can help streamline business processes and eliminate redundant systems or groups. However, it can also have negative consequences. To minimize the negative impacts, strategic change in an organization should always seek to achieve advancement in both business and employee performance.The overall change process should reflect a â€Å"win-win† situation for both the organization and its employees. The Process of Change * To implement sustainable organizational change, companies employ a three-prong phased approach. The most important and difficult phase of the process is unfreezing, which involves identifying and unlearning wrong past behavior that are sometimes ingrained in an organization's culture. The most significant indicator of success at this phase is employee acceptance. If an organization manages employee resistance promptly and effectively at this stage, it will ensure the success of the next two phases.The second phase, changing, involves replacing past behavior with new behavior through significant redevelopment and training. Refreezing, the final phase of the process, reinforces and sustains the new behavior through continued visibility and measurement of success. One reinforcement technique is the employment of a praise and reward system. Praise and reward systems elicit high performance and motivate employees to embrace change. Employee Resistance to Change * A changing organization should not ignore the human element. It is important to change business activities within a company.If employees are not involved or are not willing to accept change, the process is likely to fail. Employees resist change because they are afraid that to lose a job or have to take on additional responsibilities that an employee is either unqualified or unequipped to handle. Using encouraging and inspiring techniques to implement change demonstrates to an employee that she is not being forced to accept change, but is an integral part of the process. An employee feels like a significant contributor in the work place environment when he is part of a successful revolution. * Sponsored Links Change Mgmt Training Certification training to manage the people side of change www. change-ma nagement. com Employee Turnover * After a major reorganization, businesses typically undergo some employee turnover. An employee may feel that the environment is too unstable and might seek employment elsewhere where she feels more secure. High employee turnover can severely affect an organization's productivity due to loss of skilled workers and the need to recruit and train new people. Sometimes the loss of resources can also result in loss of business revenue as an employee may take key accounts with him.To abate employee resistance and turnover, an organization should initiate a deliberated change management process that explains the significance and implications of the change and guides employees afterward. Deteriorating Work Climate * Organizational changes that lead to ambiguity and job uncertainty create a declining work environment, which can negatively affect the economic health of an organization. The most detrimental impact is mortality, which is a clear sign that a busi ness transformation has gone horribly wrong.An organization can die when change occurs too quickly or erratically. In a deteriorating environment, employees become self-preserving, less productive, unmotivated and fearful. Avoiding ineffective changes and implementing positive ones will promote a productive corporate culture and prevent organizational death What could it have done differently to facilitate the changes? * Ensure that the platform for change are fully understood through consultation with those involved * Develop ; communicate a vision with credible and honest explanation of why change is required. Determine of what needs to occur to move from the current to the future scenario. * Plan implementation period carefully. * Determine how the change process will be overlaid on day to day activities * Involve the people impacted by the change in the planning process such as their commitment and motivated to support the change. * Define ; communicate objectives, responsibilit ies and timescales carefully. * Seek advice on implementation methods and timescales from expert. Meet with others who have implemented change and learn from them http://humanresources. bout. com/od/changemanagement/a/change_planning. htm Planning and Analysis in Change  Management While the  executive vision and support, clearly communicated, is important, it is not enough. More fundamental approaches to planning and analysis need to occur to encourage effectivechange management. * Assess the readiness of your organization to participate in the change. Instruments are available to help you assess readiness, as well as qualitative information from internal or external staff and consultants. Answer questions such as these.What is the level of trust within your organization? Do people feel generally positive about their work environment. Do you have a history of open  communication? Do you share financial information? * These factors have a tremendous impact on people’s a cceptance of and willingness to change. If you can start building this positive and supportive environment prior to the change, you have a great head start on the change implementation. * Turn the change vision into an overall plan and timeline, and plan to practice forgiveness when the timeline encounters barriers.Solicit input to the plan from people who â€Å"own† or work on the processes that are changing. * Gather information about and determine ways to communicate the reasons for the changes. These may include the changing economic environment, customer needs and expectations, vendor capabilities, government regulations, population demographics, financial considerations, resource availability and company direction. * Assess each potential impact to organization processes, systems, customers and staff. Assess the risks and have a specific improvement or mitigation plan developed for each risk. Plan the communication of the change. People have to understand the context, t he reasons for the change, the plan and the organization’s clear expectations for their changed roles and responsibilities. Nothing communicates expectations better than improved measurements and rewards and recognition. * Determine the WIIFM (what’s in it for me) of the change for each individual in your organization. Work on how the change will affect each individual directly, and how to make the change fit his or her needs as well as those of the organization. Some respondents found the development of a theoretical underpinning for the change effective in helping individuals understand the need for change. * Be honest and worthy of trust. Treat people with the same respect you expect from them. Effective change management can help you successfully implement any change necessary for your future prosperity and profitability. 4. http://smallbusiness. chron. com/happens-organization-changes-its-strategy-2690. html What Happens When an Organization Changes Its Strategy ? Strategy is the term given to the overarching goals and objectives of a business. Strategy decisions affect what line of business a company is in, who it serves and how it serves them, as well as how the company operates internally. It an be difficult to predict exactly what will happen when an organization changes its strategy, but companies experience a number of common positive and negative effects when going through a strategic transition. Sponsored Link Leadership Development Program in SG in Feb. For Mid-level Managers from US$7660. Find out now www. ccl. rg/APAC Significance Organizational strategy guides all managerial decisions from the front line to the board room. Strategic plans act as a roadmap that helps businesses to achieve the grand vision of their owners and top-level executives in practical ways. Changing an organization's strategy can change the way the organization operates, altering everything from organizational structure to the daily routines of employees. Pr ocess The process of changing a corporate strategy can be broken down into four distinct steps: planning, implementation, monitoring and review.In the planning stage, managers form their strategic vision into concrete, time-bound goals and objectives. Research and testing are vital in the planning stage, as managers attempt to gain as much information as possible about the viability of the change. The implementation phase sees the change put into action according to the plan. Monitoring is a less of a phase and more of a continual activity that helps managers to gain insight into how well their plans are working and pinpoint potential problems. In the review tage, managers analyze information gained from monitoring activities and decide whether the strategy needs to be altered yet again. Positive Effects Changing strategy can have a number of positive effects. New strategic directions can help a company to adapt to changes in the legal environment or the marketplace. New strategies can help a company to perform more effectively or cost-efficiently, or can help them to enter a new, more profitable industry or market segment. Changes in strategy can also help a stagnant company to reclaim its former growth rates. Negative EffectsNot all of the effects of change are positive. Internal employee resistance can be a major barrier to effective change implementation, as certain people strongly resist any kind of change to the status quo or daily routine. There is also always the possibility of failure in new initiatives, leaving a company in a worse position than it was before the change. Considerations Regular changes in strategic direction are healthy and natural for a successful company. Markets, technology, legal issues and operational trends do not stay stagnant, and neither should a dynamic, adaptable company.Involve a wide range of people in your monitoring and planning activities on a regular basis to fully leverage the creativity of your workforce. http://www . ehow. com/about_6622983_organization-change-strategy. html Organization Change Strategy Organizational change is when an organization moves from one structural state to another. This process can happen in any number of forms and can involve corporate structure, strategy, processes, technology used, or culture, among others. Change can be small and incremental, or it can radically change the way an organization works, from the ground up.Why Do Organizations Change? * Organizations change due to internal or external factors. Examples of external environmental factors include workplace demographics, or what employees look for in benefits or bonuses; what technology is available to do the job more efficiently; and what the customer base is interested in buying and for how much. Internal environmental factors might include organizational growth, for example, becoming too large for former organizational structures, or poor performance. Resistance to Change * Individuals will each react to change in their own way, from active resistance to active support.Active resistance is the most disruptive to change, although by listening to the points of people who oppose the change, you can learn valid problems with your change strategy and your end goal. Some of a company's most committed employees might be the most vocal opponents of a change effort. Some of the primary reasons for active resistance include disrupted habits, having a personality that is change-resistant, being uncertain about the person's place in the company after the change takes place, having too much change recently, or being deprived of power. Unfreezing The first step for effective organizational change is known as unfreezing. Make clear the vision for change, communicate it to your employees and create a sense of urgency that the change is actually needed. From here, you can garner support and build a sense of community behind the change and get employees to feel like they had input in the change as well. Executing * Executing change is the actual process of the change itself. As the change happens, continue providing support for your employees who are experiencing the change, and point out small successes as they happen to keep spirits up about the change.As obstacles arise, eliminate them to prevent them from building up and increasing resistance to the change that is already in progress. Refreezing * Once the change has occurred, refreeze organizational culture. You should show to your employees how you've succeeded by executing the change, as well as showing where more change might be beneficial. Use this to create a culture of change instead of a staid one, which will allow future changes

A Report on Qatar Airways Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

A Report on Qatar Airways - Assignment Example For example, in 2006/2007 Qatar Airways according to the Oxford Business Group carried about 8 million passengers worldwide a sharp increase from its earlier record of 6.4 million passengers the previous year. This portrays a fast growing airline with massive potential to capture the market today, not only regionally but in the global market. Progress in Qatar airways The company in the last ten years since its launching has gained much ground compared to any airline globally. In an interview with the CEO, Qatar Airways Mr Baker, he explained that the airline managed to dominate its regional market mostly aided by the 2006 Asian games that made the world focus be turned to Qatar. As visitors from all over the world visited Qatar, this opened the region to the world, and as eh CEO explains, the Airways and the country at large benefited much in the regional level as the games opened this part of the continent to the world (Oxford Business Group 2008, 142). The General Secretary for De velopment and Planning, GSDP (2008, 2) explains that the massive and rapid growth in the region aided much in improving the airline in the region, as more investments trickled to the United Arab emirates since the early 90s. The international expansion of Qatar has been drastic and dramatic. The progress of the company has involved massive campaigns and acquiring ne destination in the global market. The expansion to the international market was more strategic compared to the expansion programs. Pennington (2010, 40) argues that the CEO of Qatar Airways explained that while other companies were rushing pack planes due to high competition in the market, the company was launching 7 new destinations in the international market. The most dramatic expansion and progress in the international market was the launching of the airway destination to Washington in June 26, 2007. This marked the first gulf airline to land in US and as the airplane landed on Newark Liberty International airport, i t marked the venturing in into a lucrative market that has thousands of travelers form different continents (Oxford Business Group 2008, 144). The oxford Business report further explains that the massive advertisement campaigns that have been carried out by the company are part of the overall strategy to expand to the international market. Currently Qatar Airways continue to dominate and capture new markets in Europe and other regions to expand its operations. Cultural, Political and legal environment According to GSDP (2008, 1) there is a tension in Qatar between the new aspects of life and the old traditions that natives were used to culturally. Modern work patterns in Qatar crash with the traditions relationships based on trust and personal ties. This is more elaborate as the country becomes more open to globalization and more international business enters the country. Although there is a challenge of social patterns as GSDP (2008, 1) argues, there has been a positive embracing o f the globalization where the country is more receptive to international investors and this makes Qatar Airways a choice of many in the regional Asian market. The political class is seriously committed to improvement the business opportunities and conditions in Qatar. Due to globalization Qatar Airways has been able to expand to foreign markets such as in the US, Africa, Europe and the Asian market effectively.

Movie analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Movie analysis - Essay Example She then wakes up with the reality at home. She is beaten by her mom physically while she does the chores and cooking at home. One night, her principal at school visited her and seeks to speak with her mom. The principal, Mrs. Lichenstein, talks to her mom about Precious going to an alternative school Each One, Teach One, where, she thinks that Precious would get better learning. Mary, extremely aghast at the suggestion of the principal, beat Precious as soon as the principal left. She blamed Precious for her miserable life, adding accusation of stealing her lover (Precious father) when he raped her child in her presence. She verbally oppress Precious with negative words such as fat, ugly, undesirable and that school will do her no good. She don’t want Precious to go that new school in fear that it would jeopardize the welfare checks coming from the government as she pretends to be a good but jobless mom in front of the Social Welfare. Precious went to the suggested Alternative school Each One, Teach One where she met her understandable but straight A lesbian Ms. Blue Rain. She was encouraged by her new teacher and fellow students on her new environment. She developed her writing abilities as their teacher constantly asked them to write about what is in their hearts. True enough, the welfare checks stopped coming making Mary bellow in total hysterics and once again beat Precious. Precious, tired of lies soon revealed to the Social Welfare about her mom’s cruel treatment to her and asks for assistance to be moved away from her. Precious gave birth to her second child as she is reciting in class. At the hospital she met John, her attending nurse and discovered the fresh feeling of getting attended upon. When she was discharged, she returns home with her mom totally in wreck, determined to bring havoc once again through the many modes of abuse. She ran away with her baby Abdul. Precious got assistance from the social welfare to be housed

SHORT written assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

SHORT written - Assignment Example Trojans for example are capable of disabling antivirus software and removing firewalls exposing your computer to serious risks. Spywares are capable of causing your computer to crash as well as collecting personal information and changing configuration settings. These threats are designed to gather information from users that are mainly used to commit fraud and identity theft (Turner & Gelles 2003). There are various methods can be used by organizations to identify threats and act on them before they can cause damages. Primarily, the organization can establish a corporate policy to only allow approved devices on the network and to have those devices running on the latest version of antivirus. Secondly, the policy should allow only the administrators to install and run applications. Thirdly, the organization can invest in software tools that aid in auditing computer activity and detecting the presence of tampering and damage. Lastly, the organization should make computer security education a prerequisite to any computer user. This will help users to know how best to protect their systems and detect any unusual