An Introduction to Virtue Ethics

â€Å"Virtue ethics† describes a certain philosophical approach to questions about morality. It is a way of thinking about ethics that is characteristic of ancient Greek and Roman philosophers, particularly Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle.   But it has become popular again since the later part of the 20th century due to the work of thinkers like Elizabeth Anscombe, Philippa Foot, and Alasdair MacIntyre. The Central Question of Virtue Ethics How should I live?   This has a good claim to being the most fundamental question that you can put to yourself.   But philosophically speaking, there is another question that perhaps has to be answered first: namely, How should I decide how to live? There are several answers available within the Western philosophical tradition:   The religious answer:  God has given us a set of rules to follow. These are laid out in scripture (e.g. the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament, the Koran). The right way to live is to follow these rules. That is the good life for a human being.Utilitarianism: This is the view that what matters most in the world in the promotion of happiness and the avoidance of suffering.   So the right way to live is, in a general way, to try to promote the most happiness you can, both your own and that of other people– especially those around you–while trying to avoid causing pain or unhappiness.Kantian ethics: The great German philosopher Immanuel Kant argues that the basic rule we should follow is neither â€Å"Obey God’s laws,† nor â€Å"Promote happiness.† Instead, he claimed that the fundamental principle of morality is something like: Always act in the way that you could honestly want everyone to act if they were in a similar situation. Anyone who abides by this rule, he claims, will be behaving with complete consistency and rationality, and they will unfailingly do the right thing. What all three approaches have in common is that they view morality as a matter of following certain rules. There are very general, fundamental rules, like â€Å"Treat others as you’d like to be treated,† or â€Å"Promote happiness.† And there are lots of more specific rules that can be deduced from these general principles: e.g. â€Å"Don’t bear false witness,† or â€Å"Help the needy.† The morally good life is one lived according to these principles; wrongdoing occurs when the rules are broken. The emphasis is on duty, obligation, and the rightness or wrongness of actions. Plato and Aristotle ‘s way of thinking about morality had a different emphasis. They also asked: How should one live? But took this question to be equivalent to What kind of person does one want to be? That is, what sort of qualities and character traits are admirable and desirable. Which should be cultivated in ourselves and others? And which traits should we seek to eliminate? Aristotles Account of Virtue In his great work, the Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle offers a detailed analysis of the virtues that has been enormously influential and is the starting point for most discussions of virtue ethics. The Greek term that is usually translated as â€Å"virtue† is arà ªte.  Speaking generally, arà ªte is a kind of excellence. It is a quality that enables a thing to perform its purpose or function. The sort of excellence in question can be specific to particular kinds of thing. For instance, the main virtue of a racehorse is to be fast; the main virtue of a knife is to be sharp. People performing specific functions also require specific virtues: e.g. a competent accountant must be good with numbers; a soldier needs to be physically brave. But there are also virtues that it is good for any human being to possess, the qualities that enable them to live a good life and to flourish as a human being. Since Aristotle thinks that what distinguishes human beings from all other animals is our rationality, the good life for a human being is one in which the rational faculties are fully exercised. These include things like the capacities for friendship, civic participation, aesthetic enjoyment, and intellectual enquiry. Thus for Aristotle, the life of a pleasure-seeking couch potato is not an example of the good life. Aristotle distinguishes between the intellectual virtues, which are exercised in the process of thinking, and the moral virtues, which are exercised through action.   He conceives of a moral virtue as a character trait that it is good to possess and that a person displays habitually.   This last point about habitual behavior is important.   A generous person is one who is routinely generous, not just generous occasionally. A person who only keeps some of their promises does not have the virtue of trustworthiness. To really have the virtue is for it to be deeply ingrained in your personality. One way to achieve this is to keep practicing the virtue so that it becomes habitual. Thus to become a truly generous person you should keep performing generous actions until generosity just comes naturally and easily to you; it becomes, as one says, â€Å"second nature.† Aristotle argues that each moral virtue is a sort of mean lying between two extremes. One extreme involves a deficiency of the virtue in question, the other extreme involves possessing it to excess. For example, Too little courage cowardice; too much courage recklessness. Too little generosity stinginess; too much generosity extravagance. This is the famous doctrine of the â€Å"golden mean.†Ã‚   The â€Å"mean,† as Aristotle understands it is not some sort of mathematical halfway point between the two extremes; rather, it is what is appropriate in the circumstances. Really, the upshot of Aristotle’s argument seems to be that any trait we consider a virtue as to be exercised with wisdom. Practical wisdom (the Greek word is phronesis), although strictly speaking an intellectual virtue, turns out to be absolutely key to being a good person and living a good life. Having practical wisdom means being able to assess what is required in any situation. This includes knowing when one should follow a rule and when one should break it. And it calls into play knowledge, experience, emotional sensitivity, perceptiveness, and reason. The Advantages of Virtue Ethics Virtue ethics certainly didn’t die away after Aristotle. Roman Stoics like Seneca and Marcus Aurelius also focused on character rather than abstract principles. And they, too, saw moral virtue as constitutive of the good life– that is, being a morally good person is a key ingredient of living well and being happy.   No-one who lacks virtue can possibly be living well, even if they have wealth, power, and lots of pleasure. Later thinkers like Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) and David Hume (1711-1776) also offered moral philosophies in which the virtues played a central role.   But it is fair to say that virtue ethics took a back seat in the 19th and 20th centuries. The revival of virtue ethics in the mid-late 20th century was fueled by dissatisfaction with rule-oriented ethics, and a growing appreciation of some of the advantages of an Aristotelian approach. These advantages included the following. Virtue ethics offers a broader conception of ethics in general.  It doesn’t see moral philosophy as confined to working out which actions are right and which actions are wrong. It also asks what constitutes well-being or human flourishing. We may not have a duty to flourish in the way we have a duty not to commit murder; but questions about well-being are still legitimate questions for moral philosophers to address.It avoids the inflexibilities of rule-oriented ethics.  According to Kant, for instance, we must always and in every circumstance obey his fundamental principle of morality, his â€Å"categorical imperative.† This led him to conclude that one must never tell a lie or break a promise.   But the morally wise person is precisely the one who recognizes when the best course of action is to break the normal rules. Virtue ethics offers rules of thumb, not iron rigidities.Because it is concerned with character, with what kind of person one is, virtue ethics pay s more attention to our inner states and feelings as opposed to focusing exclusively on actions. For a utilitarian, what matters is that you do the right thing–that is, you promote the greatest happiness of the greatest number (or follow a rule that is justified by this goal).   But as a matter of fact, this is not all we care about. It matters why someone is generous or helpful or honest. The person who is honest simply because they think being honest is good for their business is less admirable that the person who is honest through and through and would not cheat a customer even if they could be sure that no one would ever find them out.Virtue ethics has also opened the door to some novel approaches and insights pioneered by feminist thinkers who argue that traditional moral philosophy has emphasized abstract principles over concrete interpersonal relationships. The early bond between mother and child, for instance, could be one of the essential building blocks of moral l ife, providing both an experience and an example of loving care for another person. Objections to Virtue Ethics Needless to say, virtue ethics has its critics. Here are a few of the most common criticisms leveled against it. â€Å"How can I flourish?† is really just a fancy way of asking â€Å"What will make me happy?†Ã‚   This may be a perfectly sensible question to ask, but it really isn’t a moral question. It’s a question about one’s self-interest. Morality, though, is all about how we treat other people. So this expansion of ethics to include questions about flourishing takes moral theory away from its proper concern.Virtue ethics by itself can’t really answer any particular moral dilemma. It doesn’t have the tools to do this. Suppose you have to decide whether or not to tell a lie in order to save your friend from being embarrassed. Some ethical theories provide you with real guidance.   But virtue ethics doesn’t. It just says, â€Å"Do what a virtuous person would do† which isn’t much use.Morality is concerned, among other things, with praising and blaming people for how they behave.   But what sort of character a person has is to quite a large extent a matter of luck.   People have a natural temperament: either brave or timid, passionate or reserved, confident or cautious. It is hard to alter these inborn traits. Moreover, the circumstances in which a person is raised is another factor that shapes their moral personality but which is beyond their control.   So virtue ethics tends to bestow praise and blame on people for just being fortunate. Naturally, virtue ethicists believe they can answer these objections. But even the critics who put them forward would probably agree that the revival of virtue ethics in recent times has enriched moral philosophy and broadened its scope in a healthy way.

The Rise And Fall Of Bernie Ebbers - 787 Words

Introduction One of America’s famous corporate leaders rose to prominence like a whirlwind and, then years after the euphoria, he fell from grace. Bernard Ebbers, a Mississippian native, became the face of America’s corporate world just for a short time. Then, his glory ended only to face allegations of fraud, abuse, and other corporate malpractices. The rise and fall of Bernie Ebbers shocked the business world for he lived, then, in modesty, supported education and contributed to his community. Ebbers’ community called him â€Å"responsible business leader† (Trevino Brown, p. 90) and author George Gilder described him as â€Å"one of the most fascinating, improbable, and inspiring in North American business† (p. 90). What went wrong? Discussion†¦show more content†¦He generously loaned this select group without documentation, a patronage behavior rampant in developing countries. Just a strong showing of social learning and social exchange wrapped in ethics and morality would have done the tricks (Trevino Brown, 2005). Q3. Identify some theoretical linkages between Ebbers’s leadership style as practiced and the behavior that occurred within WorldCom. Answer: Ebbers’ self-inflicted, self-centered, transactional leadership style paved the way for the firm’s demise. He loaned subordinates to ensure compliance, loyalty, and cooperation. A transformational leader leads subordinates to achieve goals for all. The main issue is trust, a trait that is higher in transformational than in transactional leadership (Principles of Management, 2015). Ebbers decided otherwise. He surrounded himself with a select group of people and kept others in the dark on decision-making. Q4. The law firm report identified Ebbers as the source of a culture that resulted in the company’s accounting fraud. How did Ebbers’s leadership style contribute to the values and actions of key managers? How could key managers perform their jobs effectively and ethically in the WorldCom culture? Answer: Ebbers promoted a culture of patronage and a disdain for openness and contrary opinion. He had a select group that made all the decisions. He rewarded them by personallyShow MoreRelated WorldCom and The Mississippi Scheme Scandals Essay1704 Words   |  7 Pagesstock prices and dubious practices within the organizations to keep the public unaware. Bernie Ebbers was the founder and CEO of WorldCom. He took a small telecommunications firm and transformed it into an industry giant before it collapsed into bankruptcy in 2002. The stock prices of WorldCom began to fall in 2000 and in order to prevent the price from falling further WorldCom made mass loans to Ebbers to stop him from selling his stock. He initiated the fraud and false reporting. He did notRead MoreEssay about Worldcom: Organizational Culture and Unethical Safeguards1195 Words   |  5 Pagesrelatively small amount of people, are completely wrong. Bernie Ebbers, Chief Executive Officer, and Chief Financial Officer, Scott Sullivan’s classical view of social responsibility was the beginning of the end for WorldCom; this classical view shaped WorldCom’s organizational culture, and blinded how WorldCom should have safeguarded against unethical accounting breaches. Ebbers and Sullivan’s Classical View of Social Responsibility Ebbers was one of nine investors of Long Distance Discount ServicesRead MoreAccounting Fraud at Worldcom 21405 Words   |  6 PagesWorldCom The break up of ATT opened the long distance service market to small companies during the mid- to late-1980s and 1990s. Long Distance Discount Service (LDDS) opened in 1983 with moderate growth until its stock went public in 1989. 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As Albrecht et al. (2012) illustrate, there are many ways to commit fraud but common to all frauds are the following three elements, which make up the fraud triangle: 1. A perceived pressure 2. A perceived opportunity 3. A rationalization of the fraud as acceptable These three elements are almost always present in every fraud and are interactive. This gives rise to the fraud scale. As Albrecht etRead MoreLong Distance Discount Services ( Ldds )1460 Words   |  6 Pagesand Jickling 2002). This report examines and analyses the underlying reasons behind how and why such a massive fraud took place, how it went unnoticed through the years and the actions taken by senior management at Worldcom that led to the rise and subsequent fall of the company. This report also provides recommendations that could have helped prevent this scandal from taking place as a result of ethical accounting practices and having a strong corporate governance system in place. 2. 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For my grandfathers: the businessmen. iv Contents Introduction ..............................................................................................................................Read MoreEvolution of Corporate Governance3567 Words   |  15 Pagesway, Bernie Ebbers became the scapegoat in the Worldcom â€Å"scandal†. He was greatly influenced by Jack Grubman and other leaders from banks and investing firms. There were emails showing how he was coached on speeches by these very people. When it came time to place blame though, Bernie Ebbers was the biggest loser. Other individuals involved were only fined monetarily. This turned out to be a minor portion of the overall gain they had received from their involvements in the rise and fall of WorldcomRead MoreCorporate Governance Benchmarking Paper6593 Words   |  27 Pagescollapse or disarray of many organizations. Team A will provide a brief synopsis of specific organizations experiencing unethical challenges and how these organizations experience total collapse and devastation or how these organizations have come to rise above these unethical challenges by changing the corporate culture. By identifying the key course concepts, comparing and contrasting the practices of the various organizations will also provide insight of how each organization was able to react to

Corporate Responsibilities and Ethical Problem †Free Samples

Question: Disccuss about the Corporate Responsibilities and Ethical Problem. Answer: 1.The present problem is based on the ethical issue raised during the course of business. The case is evolved with hotel management, hotel development opportunities and the ethical problem that can be raised from the issues (Velasquez Velazquez, 2015). It is very hard to pin down the ultimate definition of ethics. Ethics consists of certain moral principles that should be maintained for the betterment of the society. The term ethics can be raised regarding the every possible grounds. There are certain professional ethics that can be taken place during the commencement of a business. In business ethics, there are a confliction between the morality and ethics cropped up (Hoffman, Frederick Schwartz, 2014). Business ethics developed through the conduct of the parties and from the nature of the business. It has two different aspects that are used to regularise the effect and consequence of the ethical issue of business. The two wings of business are the normative and descriptive. In the present case, an ethical problem arose regarding the establishment of a hotel in an island of Caribbean. There are many opportunities present if the hotel can be established. However, certain ethical issues cropped up regarding the same. According to the words of Adam Smith, people who are involved in the business sector, often go against the public policies. Similar situation has arisen in this case as if the hotel be established there, the living environment of the locals may hamper and even it can cause degradation in the environment. Such a problem is needed to be resolved at the earliest stage. The problem can be resolved by taking certain measures that can be useful for the locals and for the business. This is a case of ethical dilemma and to solve the problem, ethical approaches are needed to be adopted. There are certain theories present that can be present the idea of ethics from various dimensions. The most appreciable methods in this case is social responsibility ethics (Melissen, Ginneken Wood, 2016). The main theme of this theory is to fulfil the duties without hamper the society. It is intended to maintain a balance between the economic growth and the betterment of the society. The measures that can be adopted here are as follows: If there is a hotel be established in the sector or that area, certain land is needed. Land can be taken from the locals but the problem is whether they will give their consent where they are residing for centuries. That problem may be solved if a replacement or relocation of them can be possible. The second problem is to gain the government assent. There are certain advantages present if a hotel can be established there. The place can be a good tourist place that can be held profitable for the economical growth of the country (de Grosbois, 2016). Government can get a lump sum tax from the hotel authorities. If the hotel can be established, there can be an opportunity regarding the appointment of the employees necessary for the works of the hotel be cropped up. It will develop the living condition of the locals. 2.There is a term regarding the facilitation fee used here. Certain amount can be used to facilitate certain administrative procedure. It is paid to the government officials to complete certain job or work for the benefit of the payment making party. In this case, an attractive amount of facilitation fee can be played an important role for the betterment of the project (Fee Roulston, 2014). Facilitation fee are payable to the officials of the lower level where the clerical process are go on and it is not a kind of bribery. It is different than that. An ethical issue is lying in this case. In some countries, facilitation fees are considered as bribe and therefore unethical in nature. The main reason behind it is this payment is not intended to use for the benefit of the business, rather they are used as a fees to obtain the assent of the government work. It also used to obtain certain license or permit for some project. In the countries like United Kingdom and Germany, the process of taking facilitation fee is considered illegal to prohibit the corruption in the government sector. In this case, there is a situation arose regarding the payment of facilitation fee. In the provinces of Caribbean, there is a lean for the smooth inflow regarding the foreign direct investment is present to develop the economies of the country (Lian, Rahman bin Alas, 2015). The country is providing several opportunities to the foreigners who want to do business in their land and in this criteria, the government is adopting certain friendly policies. Therefore, if there is ground to pay the officials any facilitation fee, it can be considered as ethical approach for the establishment of business there. 3.It is the utmost duty of an entrepreneur to start up a hotel business with a developed customer responsibility management and to provide the customers with certain facilities (Polite Santiago, 2017). In case of establishment of any hotel, a huge amount of money is needed. Therefore, the main target of the hotel authorities is to earn money that can be held profitable for them. Money will help them to meet their targets so that they can be able to repay the loan if any and to provide certain benefits to the customer for the betterment of the hotel in subsequent event (Weaver, 2014). In this case, it has been observed that the authorities who want to open a five star hotel in the island, decided to open a casino in the hotel to attract the customers (Wang, 2014). There are certain reasons behind the decision that can be categorised as follows: The customers, who will come to the hotel, invest their money in the casino and there is a scope for the hotel authority to earn a huge amount of money during the process. Casino can be an attraction regarding the customer orientation program and there is a scope to make the economic base of the hotel strong (Walker, 2016). Casinos are one of the main entertainment products for the customers who will come to the island to spend the holidays and it is a common mentality of people to earn money by luck. They will definitely try to check their luck and that could be the ultimate checkmate for the hotel authorities. One of the key metrics of the hotel business is the economic gain and casino will be helpful for the purpose. The customers include the common people, tourists and the business personnel. Apart from that, there is an opportunity arise regarding the appointment of new employees and a scope can be arisen for the locals to be appointed in that hotels that will indirectly help th e economic background of the country. The tax that will be imposed on the hotels and on the casino will be lump sum in nature. Therefore, the implication of the casino on the promotion of the hotel is positive in nature. 4.As a business development Director of a firm, it is the utmost duty to analyse all the scope, both positive and negative and come into a conclusion regarding the investment process of the development firm. It should be kept in mind that there are a lot of be invested into the business. Therefore, the decision should be kept by analysing all the respective procedures. There are certain things that are to be considered for that purpose. Certain ethical issues are also involved in this case. The first issue is that if a five star hotel is to be concocted in the area, there is a need of land that are to be collected from the locals. Henceforth, if there is no scope for the replacement of the locals in any alternative place, that could be affect the project vehemently (Barsky Maier, 2015). It is the first and optimum duty for the authority to make them give assent for the same to meet the requirement of the hotel business. Theory regarding the social responsibilities is applicable in such place. It is possible that a hotel in such place can be affect the environment and the social life of the local inhabitants. Therefore, certain ethical approaches should be adopted to maintain a link between the ethical issues. There should be no ethical dilemma or environmental degradation takes place regarding the same. An acceptable interaction between the local governments is needed in such case. If there is a provision that does not make the process of facilitation fee illegal, then the problems can be resolved by way of providing an attractive amount of money to the government official. The friendly atmosphere of the island will help to catch the customers and therefore, the hotel authorities should provide facilities to the customers. A bold step regarding the same can be taken by way of opening a casino in the hotel. That can be proved as a customer-oriented step where they will invest money to check their luck and due to this, the hotel will gain infinity of profit. Therefore, an investment in the project can be helpful in these area but that should be meet the ethical approaches regarding the business without hampering the locals and the environment. Reference: Barsky, J., Maier, T. (2015). WIN OR LOSE, IT'S THE CASINO EXPERIENCE THAT GAMBLING HOTEL GUESTS VALUE MOST.International Journal of Business, Marketing, Decision Science,8(1). de Grosbois, D. (2016). Corporate social responsibility reporting in the cruise tourism industry: A performance evaluation using a new institutional theory based model.Journal of Sustainable Tourism,24(2), 245-269. Fee, R., Roulston, C. (2014). The'global village': facilitation student engagement with citizenship transnational peer-learnng. Hoffman, W. M., Frederick, R. E., Schwartz, M. S. (Eds.). (2014).Business ethics: Readings and cases in corporate morality. John Wiley Sons. Lian, K. F., Rahman, M. M., bin Alas, Y. (Eds.). (2015).International Migration in Southeast Asia: Continuities and Discontinuities(Vol. 2). Springer. Masadeh, R. E., Nasseef, M. A., Sunna, C., Suliman, M., Albawab, M. (2017). The Effect of Hotel Development on Sustainable Tourism Development.International Journal of Business Administration,8(4), 16. Melissen, F., van Ginneken, R., Wood, R. C. (2016). Sustainability challenges and opportunities arising from the owner-operator split in hotels.International Journal of Hospitality Management,54, 35-42. Polite, F. G., Santiago, J. E. (2017). Social Responsibility/Accountability Addressing Constructs of Critical Race Theory. InCritical Race Theory: Black Athletic Sporting Experiences in the United States(pp. 279-293). Palgrave Macmillan US. Velasquez, M. G., Velazquez, M. (2015).Business ethics: Concepts and cases(Vol. 111). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. Walker, J. R. (2016).Introduction to hospitality. Pearson Higher Ed. Wang, C. J. (2014). Do ethical and sustainable practices matter? Effects of corporate citizenship on business performance in the hospitality industry.International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management,26(6), 930-947. Weaver, D. B. (2014). Asymmetrical dialectics of sustainable tourism: Toward enlightened mass tourism.Journal of Travel Research,53(2), 131-140.

Strategic Management Plan

Introduction Strategic management plan finds use in promoting strategic leadership as well as in strategic planning to ensure that the business processes of an organization are in line with goals (Probst, Raub, Romhardt 1999). Strategic plan should reflect the goals and vision that the organization aspires to accomplish within a given period of time. It entails the principles of management that enables the organization to govern its decisions and actions.Advertising We will write a custom report sample on Strategic Management Plan specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More It enables an organization to focus its energy on achieving common goals as well as in evaluating and adjusting its operations to be able to respond to the changing environment. It enables organizations to formulate effective means of responding to the hostile environmental conditions by developing consciously responsive ways to the dynamics in the environment (Chen, Ham brick, Nag, 2007). Greenwood Nursery’s primary objective is to promote the growth of new wood as well as to maintain healthy fruit formation. Strategic management planning is therefore very important to Greenwood Nursery in ensuring that it maintains sustainability in its environmental operations as well as in ensuring that the communities that it serves are provided with plant species which are able to successfully thrive in the specific environments despite the environmental dynamics. Greenwood Nursery also needs strategic management plan to develop appropriate cost-cutting measures in its operations and in ensuring strategic leadership in the organization as well as environmental leadership in the community that it serves. Strategic Management Process Environmental Analysis Once an organization has reviewed its objectives, it starts from its current situation to work out a strategic plan that would enable it achieve its objectives. An environmental analysis is done to ide ntify the opportunities available to an organization to enable it meet the set objectives (Davidow, Uttal, 1990). The organization has to understand its own capabilities as well as limitations. This would enable the organization choose opportunities which can help it achieve greater success. The organization also has to analyze its external environment which includes the macro-environment that affects all organizations, and the micro-environment which include all those factors which affect organizations in particulars sector. The macro-environment in this case may include technological, social, economic, as well as political factors. Micro-environment analysis should be very specific to the factors which affect the organization. These factors may include the operational efficiency and capacity of the organization, the organizational structure and image, the organization’s access and utilization of natural resources, financial resources, as well as the key staff among many ot her factors (Heskett, 1986).Advertising Looking for report on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Strategy Formulation Once the analysis has been done to identify the environmental forces affecting the organization, it now embarks on developing specific strategic alternatives which can be applied to ensure that the organization meets its objectives and mission (Ohmae, 1982). Implementation The organization has to decode the complex and abstract terms developed during the strategy formulation process into very detailed policies which can be understood by every individual in the organization at every functional level of the organization. This would help place more emphasis on any practical issues which might not have been understood well at a higher functional level. Implementation requires that the strategy be developed into specific strategies for each functional unit in the organization. This phase also invol ves the identification of the required resources as well as adopting the necessary changes in the organization. This stage involves distributing resources, designing the structure of the organization, managing the organization’s human resources as well as developing the organization’s decision making process. The implementation process involves putting in place benchmarks against which the organization can be measured (Lamb, 1984). Evaluation After the implementation, the organization’s processes have to be measured and evaluated to determine the extent of objective achievements. The internal and external factors have to be evaluated so as to obtain facts which are used to consider possible corrective measures. The process should determine the organization’s suitability, acceptability as well as feasibility (Lamb, 1984). Greenwood Nursery: Strategic Management Plan Mission Greenwood Nursery’s mission is to conserve the environment and to enhance th e community’s capacity to improve the quality of the environment. Core Functions The core functions of Greenwood Nursery are conservation and stewardship by providing plants species which protect and add aesthetic value to the environment and by enhancing the community’s capacity to ensure environment sustainability. The other core functions include research, analysis as well as information management to enable the organization provide technical services to its customers.Advertising We will write a custom report sample on Strategic Management Plan specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Vision Greenwood Nursery’s vision is to enhance the community’s capacity to improve the quality of their environment and to add aesthetic value to their environment. Assessment An analysis to determine the organization’s performance was done in December 2010 and the compilation of the analysis was as follows. Strengths The demand for the organization’s products and plant species continues to rise as the organization maintains workers motivation to perform their duties perfectly. The reputation of the organization has also improved and most customers from the community tend to prefer the organization’s services to other organizations. Weaknesses The organization only relies on the internet to market its products and services and also put less effort in ensuring customers and the community involvement. Opportunities It is important that the organization adopts a leadership style that is more customer-oriented which would ensure customers and community involvement. It is also important to develop a more comprehensive marketing strategy that involves the use of traditional and modern communication channels. The marketing strategy should also involve measures that focus more emphasis on the customers’ perception and capacity development. Threats The major threat on the organization ’s operations is inadequate time to follow up community capacity development in ensuring sustainable environment. Goals Goal 1: To increase the diversity of plants species in the organization’s nursery and garden.Advertising Looking for report on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The organization will carry out research to find more plant species which are appealing to its customers and can easily adapt to the environmental conditions of the region. The organization will also research on the impacts of such new plant species on the environment including their invasive influence on the plant diversity in the organization’s garden and in the surrounding region. Goal 2: To take a leadership role in developing consistent as well as dynamic working relationships with the members of the community. In order to achieve this goal, the organization intends to put in place several measures aimed at positive environmental relationship with the community members who are the Greenwood Nursery’s customers. The organization would create a department to offer consultation services to its customers on the maintenance and development processes of the various plant species available in the organization’s garden. The organizations will also provide outreach education services to the surrounding community to enable them understand the environmental sustainability and how to achieve and maintain environmental quality. In order to achieve positive relationship that would also market the organization’s plant nursery and gardens as well as its services, the organization will also foster relationships with its customers by offering critical health and safety matters associated with the plants. Goal 3: To enhance the organization’s workers empowerment through retraining and knowledge development. The organization acknowledges the significance of the human resource in achieving quality services to customers as well as healthy plants. The organization will involve workers in mandatory training programs to enable them better understand the maintenance of the plant species. This would make them more efficient and effective in the organization’s operations and enable them provide quality services to customers. This would enabl e the organization develop guidance procedures on how to treat every plant during the plant growth and development. This will be supplied to each customer who buys any plant. Goal 4: to enhance the customer’s decision making process through improved communication. The organization will adopt an integrated marketing communication by investing in other traditional channels of communication like TV stations and newspapers to advertise its services. Promotional campaigns will be implemented to ensure that the organization’s reputation reaches the whole nation. Conclusion Strategic management has to be adopted and made specific to every functional unit of an organization. Each unit in the organization should also have specific benchmarks to evaluate their performance so as to ensure that every functional unit of the organization is line with the organization’s goals and mission. Reference List Chen, M.-J, Hambrick, D. C, Nag, R. (2007). What is strategic management, really? Inductive derivation of a consensus definition of the field. Strategic Management Journal. 28(9), 935–955. Cambridge: Blackwell Publishers. Davidow, W Uttal, B. (1990). Total customer service. New York: Harper Perennial Books. Heskett, J. (1986). Managing in the service economy. Boston: Harvard Business School Press. Lamb, R. B. (1984). Competitive strategic management. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall. Ohmae, K. (1982). The Mind of the Strategist. New York: McGraw Hill, New York. Probst, G, Raub, S. Romhardt K. (1999). Managing knowledge. London: Wiley. This report on Strategic Management Plan was written and submitted by user Richard Z. to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

Pitch Perfect

Pitch Perfect This week my literary agent said she’ll submit my young adult novel to publishers. Her advice to me during this waiting period is â€Å"You must be patient. Are you patient?† Yes! For me to have gotten to this point, I had to be incredibly patient - over 10 years’ worth of persistence. And I’m beyond excited. Because from where I sat a decade ago, this moment would have seemed impossible. But after an adventurous trek through the wilds of editing, the challenges of slush pile and Twitter querying, and the thrills of face-to-face pitching to agents, I know I’ve not only prepared my best work but also have the best representation for my novel. Just as Hope preaches, practice at this writing thing does make perfect. Agents aren’t kidding when they say they want a manuscript that’s ready. They’re not interested in â€Å"potential.† I learned this when I queried my manuscript too early over a year ago. My story garnered some partial reads from a few agents, but eventually, over 50 rejections. (Keep in mind I had to query far more agents - over 100 - to get 50 â€Å"nos.†) During the revision process these last two years, my novel has changed titles three times and has improved thanks to feedback from two freelance editors and over 20 beta readers. A former acquisitions editor I found via Editing-Writing.com suggested key changes that ultimately got me the attention from my current agent. So February a year ago, with a new title, a much tighter plot, and a whole new query letter, I was ready to pitch again and even travel to Chicago to meet agents. These writing workshops hosted The logline was also the perfect tool for #PitMad, a day of Twitter pitching that happens four times a year, where authors share manuscripts with agents using 140 characters. From the three tweets you’re allowed, I received three requests from agents. Here’s one that worked: â€Å"When a friend is sexually assaulted, a teen journalist learns it’s better to go NYT, not TMZ, when reporting the crime. #PitMad #YA.† But it was the slush pile query that ultimately brought me the pot of gold. While Twitter and face-to-face pitching, I never stopped sending out a revised email query: at least two a week. This one featured the logline, now the hook in my first paragraph. Agent Amy Tipton of Signature Literary asked for my full manuscript in June and made me an offer of representation. We worked that  summer on two rounds of revisions (one major and one minor), and now the book is ready for publishers’ eyes. I got my agent

Problems in Chinese Education System and steps taken to improve the Essay

Problems in Chinese Education System and steps taken to improve the system - Essay Example Nine years of education is made compulsory in China at preliminary and junior secondary level. However, there is very low government spending on education. Teaching resources are not sufficient as the enrolments in schools. China’s National Auditing Office recently released the 2003 auditing results of 18 universities in China. It was found out that there were violations of financial regulations in these universities. Furthermore, when university professor Mr. Sun Guangwen and former secretary Lin Mu were interviewed about China’s education system, they identified three major problems which are unequal opportunity, expensive tuition and difficult standards for admission. There are also issues regarding course material and teaching methods of China’s education system.... ccording to survey of China’s Academy of Social Sciences, the average education related fees of universities, high schools and elementary schools account for 30 to 60 percent of a family’s income. To the low income families residing in China who accounts up to 80 percent of Chinas population, education fees are a secondary expense to food expense (Yue & Hong, 2006). Lin Mu has identified an emerging concept of â€Å"education commercialization† in China. Schools are now a commercial business; they only keep raising their fees and emptying poor family’s pockets. Even the free schools now charge some amount of money. Professor Sun regards commercialization as wrong and has drawbacks. Commercialization is based on making money. This increases burden towards students. Schools are also required to pay bonuses to teachers. Some schools pay really high bonuses. There are three levels in a school. The first level includes the president, vice president, secretary a nd vice secretary, deans and assisted deans. These people are paid 50,000 yuan or US$ 6000 per year. The second level of staff is paid 40,000 yuan or US$ 5000 and the third level is paid 30,000 yuan or US$ 4000 per year. All this money is coming from students (Yue & Hong, 2006). Through commercialization, universities and colleges have started branding their institutes which attracts students so that they can get better jobs later. Another way for these institutes to make money is by offering short courses, training classes or post graduate certificate programs. These are affordable as the teachers only care about money. As a result, the quality of education is seriously suffering (Yue & Hong, 2006). An expert once estimated and came on a conclusion, based on the ratio and people’s income, the expense of

Lifestyle and Health Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Lifestyle and Health - Essay Example This is so for the different elements of the physical body generally work in harmony with each other to maintain a good health, but this can only be possible if a healthy lifestyle is maintained (World Book Encyclopedia, 1994). Positive lifestyle factors can hugely improve the state of health of the individual. The World Book Dictionary defines health as that state of being well or not sick. Hodal (2005) further asserts that this should also encompass the optimal state where the physical, mental and social well being of the individual is attained. There should be a more holistic approach in considering health. There should be an interrelation among the different aspects of the human body, including the lifestyle, to achieve the optimum state of health (Hodal, 2005). Everyone has always been told to eat a healthy diet. What does this proposition really entail Having a healthy diet means eating the right food and feeding the body with the essential minerals, vitamins, proteins, fats and carbohydrates that are crucial for an individual to properly function (Hodal, 2005). Food is needed to support the body. Food is needed to make one healthy. Food is also part of the lifestyle of any individual. This is why any food, particularly eating the healthy diet, is one big chunk in the positive lifestyle factors and a necessary element to fight off nutritional diseases like obesity or extreme fatness (World Book Encyclopedia, 1994). Being active and mobile are also essential to health. It was declared not too long ago that one epidemic that is threatening Asians is the diabetes (Zabriskie, 2002). Diabetes, once it has invaded the body, cannot anymore be eradicated; the adverse effects, however, can still be avoided (Zabriskie, 2002). The best solution so far, to control the disease is to have an active. It was further pointed out by Zabriskie (2002) that having a healthy diet, lots of exercise, seeking regular check ups and controlling the weight are important elements in the lifestyle of a person, especially for the diabetic. It is truly undeniable that a healthy lifestyle is needed to improve on the health and whole being of the individual. In much the same way, the negative lifestyle factors also have a major impact on the health of an individual. It was shown that there are behavioural and social issues that can really threaten the healthy state of the body of the individual (Lyons and Langille, 2000). Before, society is concerned with the threat of infectious diseases; today the main concern is the hazard of leading unhealthy lifestyles (World Book Encyclopedia, 1994). There are many negative factors that people imbibed in their daily life like smoking, overeating, drinking, lack of sleep and lack of exercise. Such stressful behaviours can affect the overall body of the person and lead to ailments and health problems (National Women's Health Resource Center, 2006). Obesity is one health problem that people today are facing. This is a significant problem that has come about because of unhealthy and poor diet. It was found that the average American diet is high in salt, sugar and fat, characteristic of foods that encourage obesity (Smith and Pergola, 2002). Experts also declared that there is a sudden threat of diabetes in Asia and it has been tagged as the 'silent killer' (Zabriskie, 2002). This was generally attributed to the drastic and negative lifestyle change among Asians. Eating mainly Western cuisine, drinking