Monday, September 30, 2019

Analysis Of Scientific Glass Inventory Management Finance Essay

The products of Scientific Glass include customized and specialized glassware for a variety of organizations such as pharmaceutical companies, hospitals, research labs, quality-control sites and testing facilities. By January 2010, a substantial increase in their inventory balances tied up the capital needed for investment for expansion. The debt-to-capital ratio exceeded the 40% target preventing the company to use their capital in other areas. Also the shipping costs were rising, competitive pressures were speeding up, and certain markets in North America and Europe were becoming saturated which underscored the necessity for capital investment for expanding market opportunities in Latin America and Asia. Moreover, expanding warehousing network increased the inventory levels along with costs, documentation complexities and errors. The company hired a new Manager of Inventory Planning, Ava Beane, to come up with an effective plan to manage SG’ s inventory without requiring a large capital investment. In order to finance operations in year 2010, SG requires an external funding of $53.8 million. These expenses would further limit the company to use their existing capital in other areas such as research and development and expanding to international markets. To improve customer service levels, SG had increased the target customer fill rate to 99% and added six more leased ware houses to meet the demand more accurately. This led to an increase in the inventory levels as some warehouse managers kept extra inventory in order to meet the company target fill rate. Good practices Maintained continued sales growth and higher customer satisfaction Produced creative products with lower life cycle costs Focused on durable products, innovative designs and superior customer services Reduced time between ordering and delivering the products to the customers Bad practices Treated inventory management as an afterthought, due to which inventory imbalances were increasing The company exceeded its target debt to capital ratio of 40% Incurred both underage and overage costs High Inventory Problem Due to increasing in customer service level, SG planned to add regional  warehouses in many parts US. SG has the main and the largest one in Waltham, MA, which is next to manufacturing plant. SG also has another warehouse that located outside of Phoenix, Arizona. However, at the end of 2008, SG bought other six warehouses. This means SG has the total 8 warehouses to serve customers. Annual rental and operation costs for North American warehouses were 15% of the cost of the warehoused inventory. However, in 2006, before add more 6 warehouses, SG already made investment to expand the warehouse at Waltham in anticipation of continued growth, but after these 6 warehouses had been bought, this warehouse does not work full efficiency of its capacity. Another problem of warehouse management is company expected to reach high level of customer service to 99%, so that warehouse managers keep order inventory ahead before it reach threshold of inventory level to order new one to assure that they will meet the customer service target level at 99%. This situation causes high inventory levels than required and also high inventory turnover. Moreover, salespeople were allowed to have its products up to $10,000 worth from ware house and keep them in trunk stock in their homes and cars in order to deliver this inventory on short notice to any customer who was within driving distance. This amount could lead to high finished goods in warehouse and in-transit. It could lead to missing products in inventory, and lost. Proposed solutions to inventory problem In order to solve the inventory issues, two main aspects need to be considered: Number of warehouses and their structure can be changed; Related policies can be changed and more appropriate policies need to be implemented. For changing the number of warehouses, in other words, centralizing or decentralizing warehousing functions, the different options considered are as follows: Centralized warehousing in Waltham: This option uses a single central warehouse near to manufacturing facility at Waltham and will send all customer orders from this one location. Centralized warehousing in Waltham to meet demand in Southeast and Northeast regions used the delivery service of Winged Fleet as their rates are cheaper for these two regions. This would allow SG to pool its inventory in one place in order to meet demand. But the customer response times would  increase Decentralized warehousing: This option considers more number of warehouses rather than having a single centralized warehouse to meet the demand better and reduce customer response time. Continuing with 8 warehouses: This option makes no change on the network of the warehouses and all regions will be supplied its warehouse if there is no stock-out occurs. Two centralized warehouses: In this option, the additional warehouse will be at the west at Phoenix and it will be supplied from Waltham. Demand of east region will be met from Waltham, demand of west region will be met from Phoenix and demand of central region will be met from both warehouses, assuming to have equal shares on the central region. This option may also consider including the warehouse at Dallas In addition to the main warehouse at Waltham. This additional warehouse would be supplied from Waltham. This would allow demand to be met for all other regions and prevent any stock-outs in a single warehouse. Outsourcing the warehousing functions: In this option, all warehousing actions will be outsourced to Global Logistics (GL) and distribution will start from main warehouse at Waltham and then GL will be responsible from rest of the operations. Outsource warehousing to GL to meet demand in the Central, Southwest and Northwest regions because shipping costs for those regions is cheapest with the GL rates. Outsource warehousing to Global Logistics (GL) which will provide a centralized warehousing in Atlanta. Goods will be transported in bulk from Waltham to Atlanta and GL would take responsibility of inventory-control and delivery to the customers. This way SG would not have to bear the warehouse rental charges and could focus on increasing sales and develop newer products to meet customer needs. Evaluation of the proposed solutions Having proposed certain options for inventory management, the evaluation of the different options needs to be evaluated using certain parameters to arrive at a conclusion on which would be comparatively the better option to be followed for scientific glass. Evaluation of different options will be conducted based on the following five parameters: Transportation costs, Average inventory levels, Time responsiveness, Fill rates and Additional costs and benefits Since all the products of scientific glass can be arrived out based on the analysis of its 2 products namely Griffin and Erlenmeyer, since they are mentioned as the best representative for a total of nearly 3000 products of Scientific Glass, all the parameters are analyzed for these products to arrive at a conclusion. Transportation Costs: Transportation costs for different options would be calculated for the two products, namely Griffin and Erlenmeyer. In addition, for each option, demand for the next year calculated considering the 20% increase in sales. When warehouse to customer shipments are considered average shipment weight of 19, 5 pound is used and to have an average transportation cost value, these two products’ costs are averaged according to their relative proportion in sales. Inter-warehouse transshipments occur only when stock-out occurs and as the numbers of warehouses are decreasing, effect of these costs will be diminished; therefore, it is only considered in the option where there are 8 warehouses. Option Transportation cost($) Centralized warehouse – all customer shipments are calculated for rates of Winged Fleet 12210, 16 8 warehouses- having 8 warehouses and making no change, from Waltham to all other 7 warehouses all items are sent by bulk shipment. Inter-warehouse transshipments are calculated by bulk shipment rates and they are considered only when a stock-out occurs, therefore fill rate is included in these calculations 2701, 41 2 warehouses – , when two centralized warehouses considered, it is assumed that Waltham will supply east region, Phoenix will supply will west region and they will equally supply the central region 2332, 07 Outsourcing – when warehousing functions are outsourced, assuming the 5 regions of Global Logistics (GL) will have equal amount of demand 2276, 83 To conclude, as it is expected, when numbers of warehouses are decreased transportation costs are increased. From the aspect of transportation costs, GL option has the smallest cost amount. Average Inventory Levels: The inventory policy to be used by the company needs to be decided. Begin with the review type; although firm monitors the entire inventory transfers from Waltham warehouse to other warehouses; they think taking physical counts of inventory at all warehouses. Therefore, it is concluded that company uses periodic inventory review policy. Company did not mention any due date, therefore the inventory plans should consider infinite time horizon. Though there exists a fixed cost for shipments from warehouses to customers; there is no other fixed cost related to transportation to the warehouses, i.e. no fixed ordering cost. The only order cost is $0.40 per pound bulk shipment cost which is a variable cost with weight. As a result, all analysis can be conducted considering critical ratios and the related fill rate values, which is the only option that is left and also it is considered as the most applicable to the situation. Since some of the simultaneous changes can be done, considering ce teris paribus principle and when fill rate is maintained exactly as 99% for all warehouses, we can calculate the average inventory level that must be kept at warehouses. Weighted-average biweekly inventory levels are found as: 8 warehouses : 98853 2 warehouses : 68034 1 warehouse : 59703 Outsourcing : 59703 When outsourcing option is used, it will be the same for the company in the sense of kept inventory levels for the one-centralized-warehouse option therefore they are assumed to be equal. As number of warehouse decreases, level of inventory decreases as it is expected. This is because, â€Å"the greater the degree of collaboration, the lower the uncertainty (standard  deviation of the error or coefficient of variation) of the demand model† This implies that the money tied up in the inventory decreases and this extra capital can be used in other areas, like expansion plans to international markets Based on average inventory levels, either single centralized warehouse or outsourcing gives equal results. Time Responsiveness: Delivery system of the company compensates 2 weeks of shipment cycles including the stock-out situations. In order to be a market leader, differentiation on this subject is also needed and unfortunately since this is not an exact quantitative scale, only possible situations could be mentioned. For having one centralized, or two centralized or 8 decentralized warehouse options, they all include at most 3 days ready to shipment duration and Winged Fleet’s delivery time of at most 3 days if there is no stock-out situation and the stock-out probabilities are diminishing with the aggregated demands. On the other hand, GL has 1-day premium shipment in addition to 3-day regular shipments. Considering the highly growing market situation and different segment of products, having different delivery times to different products and also to different customers will make this company focus on the most yielding areas. Therefore, it can be said that working with GL has the advantage of differ entiating customers/orders and, since there will be 2 warehouses, stock-out probability and related durations will be less compared to other options. And all of these aspects will increase the time responsiveness of the company. Additional Costs and Benefits: Quantitative issues to related to options of inventory management In order to continue with the current 8 warehouses total of $10M investment is necessary, it is assumed that all of this amount will be equally shared among all warehouses. Since warehouse operating costs will be the 15% of the total warehoused inventory, these costs could be directly compared with the annual average inventory levels that are kept in each option The amount paid to sales forces will not change when the company has 1, 2 or 8 warehouses because it is assumed that as the number of warehouses decreased, number of salesperson per warehouse will increase and total number of sales persons will not change. On the other hand, when warehousing is outsourced this  amount will not be paid Qualitative issues to related to options of inventory management. When GL is used for warehousing, SG’s senior managers will be able to focus on increasing sales, marketing issues and developing next generation of products. Stopping the practice of trunk stock could lead to a decrease in the time responsiveness and therefore it should not be stopped. Improving the controlling systems will create a better understanding of the current situation after the warehousing functions changed. Finally, when GL is used, the approach of warehouse managers to keep more than 99% fill rate and 60-day-supply will not be a problem, because all of these operating issues will be responsibility of GL. This will help to company not to keep excessive amount of inventory and less tied-up money in the inventory which can be used in other areas. Fill Rate: Company’s fill rate policy should also be calculated for the different options. The company replaced the earlier fill rate policy of 93%, which is only marginally better that the industry average fill rate of 92%, with 99%. However, there is no sign that the company is implementing this policy because it is the best approach that must be taken for the company objectives. Moreover, using a fill rate higher than optimal level leads to higher inventories and more money tied up in the inventory. Therefore, company should lower the rates down to optimal levels, if there is no other concern related to market leadership or customer satisfaction. To calculate the optimal levels of fill rates for all four options the cost items which are added to underage and overage costs also needs to be considered. The underage costs are 10% of the gross margin and overage costs are 0.6% of the unit cost of any product. Also it is assumed that unit costs covers all the costs such as warehouse rental and operation costs, cost of capital and inventory write-offs. For the three options other than outsourcing, there is no change in cost items, only the multiplied quantities are changed; but the outsourcing alternative eliminates the 15% warehouse rental and operating costs and 1% inventory write-offs. As a result, overage costs are decreased while underage costs are increased. Resulting optimal fill rates are as follows: 1, 2, or 8 warehouses Outsourcing Griffin 95.4% 96.5% Erlenmeyer 94.9% 96.1% These numbers can be interpreted in two different ways: If company is flexible about the determination of fill rate, in other words if it can lower the fill-rates from 99% to optimal levels, outsourcing option pushes the optimal fill rates to higher levels which results in larger inventories and more money to tie up. If the company still insists on keeping fill rate at 99%, the additional costs that must be paid to maintain 99% fill-rate level is lowered in the outsourcing alternative. Consequently, the better policy related to fill rates depend on the attitude of the company. Finally, another policy change about fill-rates can be considered. Rather than using one fill-rate for over all products of the company, different rates for different products can help the company in decreasing inventory costs related to, at least, for some of the products. Conclusion To conclude, since available options are studied from different aspects, it must be mentioned that the company should choose the alternatives and compare the results of evaluations according to their priorities. For instance, evaluation criteria like inventory levels and transportation costs are conflicting on interests. Company can see their situation and make decisions according to priorities. While assessing the weights for factors, it is considered that average inventory level and the transportation costs are the most important costs for the company. Then, the fill rate follows them. Time responsiveness is the next important factor which is followed by additional costs and benefits with equal weights for each. Changes in warehouse management are considered as options other than outsourcing do not provide radical policy changes which could make warehousing management better. These weights and the scores related to the investigations yield that the outsourcing the warehousing  function to Global Logistics is the best alternative among all. All of investigations and cost studies conducted are to find the most cost effective option in order to getting closer to the target debt to capital ratio of the company and provide more capital to fund expansion into new international markets while maintaining or even improving the high customer satisfaction level

Sunday, September 29, 2019

Importance of Beauty Industry and Ethical Issues

Cosmetic improvements can make people feel better about themselves but can also make others that cannot afford or obtain such services feel worse. However, the debate as been raging as to whether or not the billion dollar beauty industry is worthwhile in the modern society. The beauty industry is very diverse and has multiple players.Players involved in this diverse industry include the dealers in the beauty products, the cosmetics, services for improving appearance like exercise machines, nutritional beauty products and above all the end users of all these products (Simms, 1998).Considering the rate at which the beauty industry has been growing, it would be important to analyze whether it impacts the current society positive or not. My analysis will examine the importance of the industry to the players and the society in general. In addition I will look at the various ethical concerns presented by the beauty industry and how possibly they should be solved in order to have the indust ry continue benefiting the society. The highest number of consumers of the beauty products in the current world and in deed over the centuries is undoubtedly women.Women generally adopt the idea of self-grooming at a very tender age (Gillespie, 1996). Unlike men, women have a natural interest in their looks and physical presentation and in most cultures; they believe that good looks and physical attraction is expected of them. Women therefore find it hard to escape such sociocultural norms and as they grow up they internalized the norms such that they simply become unaware of their motivations to seek beauty (Black, 2004). Nevertheless, the modern man has been quite conscious of his looks and physical appearance (Sullivan, 2001).The motivation behind men’s growing interest in physical attraction is a debate for another day; however, the importance of beauty products and services to these users is clear. The users of beauty products and services always want to experience body empowerment, pleasure as well as freedom from appearance (Haiken, 1997). Society associates good looks and great physical attraction to power and therefore those who possess such qualities would avert competition in marriage and other social spheres of life. The pleasure of having a good body elevates one’s esteem.The beauty industry therefore provides an opportunity for those who feel bad about their physical looks to transform it according to one’s own societal ‘standard’ (Morgan, 1992). Apart from the freedom it offers the users to improve their looks; the aesthetic industry is currently a multibillion dollar industry. From the manufacturers of various beauty products, to millions of users across the globe, the beauty industry is considered one of the top revenue earners in various economies around the world and therefore justifies its existence in toady modern world (Hiscock & Lovett, 2004).Despite the importance of the beauty industry to the various p layers and economies, the industry has been receiving criticism for its unethical practices (Brumberg, 1997). There has been a growing public outcry with regards to the industry’s unsustainable business practices especially with respect to the environment. Manufacturers of beauty products have always faced criticism for testing their products on animals, unsustainable sourcing for raw materials as well as for causing chemical pollution.But due to consistent pressure from the media, the consumers and the retailers, aesthetic industry especially the cosmetic companies are shaping up to be counted as good corporate citizens. Many corporate bodies in the aesthetic industry are investing a lot in CSR programs as well as in other sustainability initiatives. For example, the Body Shop has been embarking on ethical sourcing while others like Yves Rocher have been focusing on preservation of biodiversity (Organic Monitor, 2010).A number of beauty companies have opted to take holistic approach to the issue of ethics and sustainable business practices. These companies are now reducing the environmental effects of their products by opting to greener formulations, decreasing packaging of most of their products and also reducing greenhouse gas emissions as well as water and energy consumption. In addition, they are also considering the social dimension of their businesses and operations. These include ethical supply from their supplies and social responsibilities through corporate philanthropy.In its recent strategic report, Organic Monitor (2010) found that most companies are investing in greener formulations and sustainable packaging in order to reduce the environmental footprint caused by the various cosmetic products. The report suggests that packaging is getting high interest because most companies in the aesthetic industry have realized the high environmental impact most of their cosmetic products have had on the environment. As a result companies are now looki ng for biodegradable plastics, recyclable materials as well as other innovative ways to lower environmental degradation (Brandweek, n. d).ConclusionThe beauty industry has more to offer to the modern society in terms of monetary value and desired body image. Although, some may not be able to access or afford the most expensive cosmetic products like plastic surgery, the benefits far outweighs the concerns of the minority who would have to contend with their natural looks. But even as the industry remains relevant and beneficial to the current society, it has to treat the ethical issues raised as a matter of urgency.A sustainable business practice would not only benefit the consumers and the society but also ensure a continued operation by the cosmetic companies within a sustainable environment. Although, a few companies have seen this importance of this, more need to be done.ReferencesBlack, P. (2004). The Beauty Industry: Gender, Culture, Pleasure, Routledge: New York. Brandweek, ( n. d). Study: Natural Beauty Products Flooding the Market. Retrieved on August 21, 2010, from http://www. brandweek.com/bw/content_display/news-and-features/packaging-and-design/e3id5cad753451dc1bfe073efb89ddb9730 Brumberg, J. (1997).The Body Project: An Intimate History of American Girls. Random House: New York. Gillespie, R. (1996).Women, the Body Brand Extension in Medicine: Cosmetic Surgery and the Paradox of Choice. Women and Health Vol. 24. Haiken, E. (1997).Venus Envy: A History of Cosmetic Surgery. Johns Hopkins University Press: Baltimore. Hiscock, J. & Lovett, F. (2004).Beauty Therapy, 2nd Heinemann: London Organic Monitor, (2010, May 19).CSR & Sustainability: How the Beauty Industry Is Cleaning Up. Retrieved on August 21, 2010, from http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:WvoQqIjRJqcJ:www.npicenter. com/anm/anmviewer.asp%3Fa%3D27277%26z%3D2+Beauty+Industry+Ethics&cd=7&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=ke&client=firefox-a Morgan, K. (1992).Women and the Knife: Cosmetic Surgery and the Colonization of Women's Bodies. Hypatia Vol. 6: 25-53. Simms, J. (1998).A Practical Guide to Beauty Therapy for Nvq Level 2, 2nd edition, Nelson Thomes: New York. Sullivan, D. (2001). Â  

Saturday, September 28, 2019

Social Discount Rates Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Social Discount Rates - Essay Example The discount rate which is used in financial calculations is usually chosen to be equal to the cost of capital. Some adjustment may be made to the discount rate to take account of risks associated with uncertain cashflows, with other developments. Evaluating an investment project can require the use of approaches designed to integrate the consideration of the flexibility and uncertainties associated with the investment opportunity under study (Robert Wilson, 1982). Regardless of the approach adopted, a project evaluation, based on deterministic hypotheses, is nonetheless inevitable at some given moment. The problem that arises is the choice of the 'conventional' method which helps to determine the project value with due integration of the financing related aspects. As Brealey and Myers (Robert Wilson, 1982) show it, various methods can be used, including standard WACC, Arditti-Levy, equity residual and adjusted present value. Historically, with certain assumptions, the consistency of these methods has been demonstrated by comparing them in pairs by Robert Wilson, 1982. However, this consistency could also suggest the existence of a single approach underlying these different methods, and from which they could all derive. The NPV is greatly affected by the discount rate, so selecting the proper rate - sometimes called the hurdle rate - is critical to making the right decision. The hurdle rate is the minimum acceptable return on an investment. It should reflect the riskiness of the investment, typically measured by the volatility of cash flows, and must take into account the financing mix (Ross,1976). Managers may use models such as the CAPM or the APT to estimate a discount rate appropriate for each particular project, and use the weighted average cost of capital (WACC) to reflect the financing mix selected. A common practice in choosing a discount rate for a project is to apply a WACC that applies to the entire firm. Some believe that a higher discount rate is more appropriate when a project's risk is different from the risk of the firm as a whole(Ross,1976). In capital budgeting the correct risk adjusted discount rate for future cash flows is independent of whether the flow is a cost or a revenue. Contrary to a widely disseminated view in some popular textbooks and elsewhere, costs are not especially safe (nor risky), and accordingly costs should not be discounted at especially low risk adjusted discount rates (Robert, 1998). Three Methods for Determining Discount Rates 1. The historical approach: One approach to find discount rates is to assume that the average rate which has been observed in the past will continue into the future. Typically, those who use this approach rely on the real interest rates which have been reported over a decade. What analysis of these rates indicates is that real rates were fairly stable over the period 1950-1970, at approximately 3 percent. During the oil crisis, of the early 1970s, real interest rat

Friday, September 27, 2019

The Ideology Of Islamic State of Iraq and Syria Research Paper

The Ideology Of Islamic State of Iraq and Syria - Research Paper Example They employ the vicious Hudud punishments in enforcing sharia laws in the areas they control in Iraq and Syria. The Jihadist group is also known as the â€Å"Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant† (ISIL) and controls an unrecognized state and caliphate in the Middle East. ISIS originated from the almost fallen Al-Qaeda. The Al-Qaeda who embarked on the arbitrary and brutal treatment of civilians tried to ignite a sectarian war to the majority Shia community in 2006 under Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. The ignition was almost a success after they bombed a Shia shrine, Al-Askariya Mosque, in Samarra sparking retaliatory attacks. Their leader was however killed and the group was nearly destroyed (Charles River Editors, 2014, 10). When the US forces left Iraq, a ‘third generation’ of Al Qaeda emerged. Rebranding their name to Islamic State in Iraq, 2006 saw the birth of this new generation of Al Qaeda. They would later add and Syria to the name to complete the name ISIS. The Shia-dominated government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, they claimed, starved resources and excluded the Sunnis from a share of power. The new leader, Abu Omar al Baghdadi re-established the group’s influence through ideologies when Sunni senior political leaders were being arrested and people from the Sunni dissent suffered heavy-handed suppression (Charles River Editors, 2014, 16). In 2010, Abu Omar al-Baghdadi was killed in a joint US-Iraq operation paving way for the Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi governance. In 2013, ISI absorbed the Al-Nusra Front which was an Al Qaeda backed militant group in Syria. Al-Baghdadi named the group ISIS. Al-Nusra Front’s leader and Al Qaeda however later renounced the ties after months of infighting. The group then started taking control of cities starting with Mosul and Tikrit freeing prisoners and radicalizing young people. The group is both politically charged and still rules through Islam fanaticism.

Thursday, September 26, 2019

Financial management Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 2

Financial management - Assignment Example Ford was able to get this money by pledging almost all of its assets as collateral, including its U.S. property, plant, and equipment; its equity investments in Ford Credit and Ford’s foreign subsidiaries; and its trademarks, including the Ford brand name and logo. Why did Ford decide to use up all of its financial slack in one gigantic gulp? First, debt financing was available on relatively easy terms in 2006. Second, Mulally must have been aware of the history of restructuring programs in the U.S. auto industry. Some of these initiatives were failures, some partial successes, but none solved Ford, GM, or Chrysler’s competitive problems. The companies shrank but did not improve significantly. So Mulally was in effect sending a wake-up call to Ford’s managers and employees: â€Å"We’ve raised all the cash that we can get. This is our last chance to reform the company. If we don’t make it, Ford is gone.† For the final project, you are to conduct an analysis and evaluation of the capital structures and costs of capital of Ford Motor Company over a history of 5 years. The examination will be in three parts. 1. State the amount of the following in the financial statements for the years 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012 using the following table (NOTE: Long term debt includes all long term debt regardless of when payable) - Fair value is a standard of measurement used in financial reporting. It refers to the market price that would be received upon a security if it were to be sold (Warren, Reeve & Duchac, 2014). Ford Motor Company (2008) adopts the January 1, 2008 SFAS No. 157, Fair Value Measurements, definition of fair value, defining it as the price receivable so as to execute the selling of an asset of payment for the transfer of a liability taking place in a orderly transaction among the market participants at the given measurement

Wednesday, September 25, 2019

Chinese Culture Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Chinese Culture - Term Paper Example Anthropological studies provide information, which explain cultural diversity that people experience across the world. Historical facts project various dimensions in human culture. Historians use cultural dimensions such as language, social structure, religion, beliefs, and relation to the environment among other dimensions to acknowledge diversity in humanity. Each geographical location in the world has people who are distinguished using their cultural identity. Chinese culture provides historical information about the Chinese people, their beliefs, and their attitude towards other people, social economic practices, and education among other factors. This paper is analysis of Chinese culture in relation to socio economic practices, language, education, belief, government, environment, topology, and historical facts about their cultural heritage. Language Historians believe that language is one aspect of culture, which distinguishes various communities from each other. Historians bel ieve that Chinese language has varieties, which have some close relation. The language family of Chinese is Sino-Tebetan (Pletcher, 68). Each group of Chinese language has its own dialect or sub-dialect. These dialects are less or more mutually intelligible. Chinese population, which stands at about 1.2 billion, speaks one these dialects. In China, Chinese is formal language, which they use in both public and domestic places. Sign communication and media communication in China uses Chinese language. It is arguable visitors coming China need to learn Chinese or use interpreters to help them in their communication. Clothes Chinese culture ranks clothing among other primary necessities in life. China a renowned history of garment making in which Chinese exchanged their garments in trade. Chinese garments in the ancient time had ornate details, refined artisanship, and bright colors. Clothes in Chinese culture changed with different dynasties. However, 20 century has observable changes in garments. Some styles portrayed on Chinese garment include Cheongsam, Qipao, western suits, silk stocking, hat, high heels, jackets, bell-bottom, bikinis, miniskirt, and bell-bottom among other fashion trends in the 20 century (Chen 111). Analysts believe that China decided to respond positively to the fashion trends in 1978 by embracing some western practices (Choi 89). During the ancient age, Chinese people devoted, various clothing to people according to the color of the skin. For instance, ordinary people wore costume and long hat when offering sacrifices to ancestors or gods. Another notable aspect of Chinese clothing culture is that ethnic minority wore clothing, which was colorful, flowery, and highly distinctive. Chinese people associate red color to good fortune. Red color characterizes wedding clothes for the Chinese people. It is notable that Chinese in the north wear qipao, and southern Chinese wear Kwa for their weddings. Dominance hierarchy Gender dominance is relev ant in Chinese culture. Men gender dominated over women in the Chinese culture. The culture views a woman a subordinate who is subject to his father during the youthful stages, to her husband upon reaching maturity, and to her son at old age (Palmer 44). Dominance by the male gender in the Chinese culture influences the activities of women. Women should not roam freely as men. Largely, their duty is to stay inside the house performing house chores. Cultural responsibility for women gave them the authority to govern their homes, whereas men guarded the outer world. In ancient time, women never had dominant role in the family. Historic information about hierarchy in ancient time in China indicates that social stigmatization characterized life of the Chinese people (Chen 138). For instance, women

Tuesday, September 24, 2019

The Turn of the Screw Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The Turn of the Screw - Essay Example Hence, the prologue introduces the story as a long-kept secret that is about to be revealed. The secret as narrative strategy consists in the omission of information by the narrator, in order to maintain the narrative suspense among the readers, which can be compared to Douglas’s attitudes towards his audience. An atmosphere of mystery surrounds Douglas’s introduction of the story: his agitation, his reluctance to tell too many details (â€Å"You’ll easily judge†¦ you will† [24], â€Å"That will come out. I don’t anticipate† [28]) and his hiding of the governess’s manuscript before he decided to read it. From the prologue, it becomes obvious that the narrator is not only a subject who tells, but also a subject who allows herself/himself to remain silent. As soon as the narrator chooses â€Å"not to tell† everything, we notice that the great secret of the ghostly experience is made of a chain of â€Å"little† secrets, some of which are partially revealed (the cause of the former governess’s death, the reason of Miles’s expulsion from boarding school), whereas others remain untold, and the very ending of the story becomes a secret to the readers, that is, Miles’s death, a question that has generated a lot of interpretations among the scholars. Priscilla Walton assumes Miles’s death as a Pyrrhic victory of the governess’s over the ghost of Peter Quint, who possessed little Miles (315). She states that he died due to his conflict on sexualities. On the contrary, Teahan claims that Miles was strangled by the governess. The climax of the story coincides with the governess’s fatal â€Å"reading† of Miles: unable to tolerate the ambiguity of his failure to conform to her polarized stereotypes of the sexually innocent â€Å"angel† and corrupt â€Å"fiend†Ã¢â‚¬ ¦, she fixes his meaning by strangling him in a deadly literalization of the recurring metaphors of â€Å"seizing† and â€Å"grasping† that track her struggle

Monday, September 23, 2019

Integration of personal and professional skills and discuss the value Research Paper

Integration of personal and professional skills and discuss the value of higher education in todays society - Research Paper Example The higher education provides so many opportunities to us students and therefore I will also examine some of those opportunities that are availed to us. It has been a long journey and I have also gained a lot from education and I will take this chance to provide reason to others as to why they should follow in my footsteps. In conclusion, learning is not a process that ends when one leaves school; I will be explaining what I will be doing in order to maintain a lifelong learning attitude. Learning is a long and tedious process that requires hard work and determination in order to succeed. Many people have talked about learning and how to succeed. It all begins with the individual’s inner drive to want to succeed. The individual then through motivation from within and the external environment tries to find ways that will make them succeed in learning. I am one such person that has had the inner drive until this last minute. I have engaged with my professors and my fellow students in finding the best ways to learn and succeed in life. The professors at this university have greatly contributed to my success up to this point in time. There are basic skills that I have acquired during this course and there are a few others that I have improved on. The first basic skill that I acquired is team work. I have learnt that a person does not exist alone and therefore he/she needs to mingle with people and find out how they do things so that you can borrow ideas from them or improve on what you already have. Team work is very important especially at the university. Most of the students are left on their own to conduct research and find solutions to problems that exist in the real world. An individual working on his/ or her own may find this work overwhelming especially when given many tasks that have strict deadlines. If such an individual and another formed a group to discuss the work, it will be very easy for them to complete the work. This is because they share

Sunday, September 22, 2019

Evaluation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 3

Evaluation - Essay Example While observing the speeches of Obama, we see him as possessing the first and foremost quality of an eloquent orator as mentioned earlier. Another notable feature of Obama is that he is always energetic and confident during his speeches that the long schedules or programs never did tire him. One dominant feature found in Obama’s speech is his ability to pause wherever necessary and resume the speech after observing or studying the audience. His style is identifiable when he began his Democrat Primary Victory Speech on 3rd June, 2008. The beginning, â€Å"Tonight, after 54 hard-fought contests, our primary season has finally come to an end† (Democrat Primary Victory Speech, 2008) justifies the former statement. Obama could also begin the speeches with striking words, though not often with quotations, and maintain the flow of words tinted with poetical lines. He has enough voice projection and voice modulation that can enchant people to him. To conclude, one can infer tha t Obama possesses the notable features of a good public speaker. An evaluation of McCain’ as a public speaker reveals that he is no less than Obama as a talented orator. He could also raise number of people, though he could not win American Presidency Elections against Obama. The outstanding feature of McCain’s speech is that he was motivational that he tried his best to motivate the audience. His words â€Å"Do not yield. Do not flinch. Stand up. Stand up with our President and fight. Were Americans. Were Americans, and well never surrender. They will† (McCain, 2004) are capable of stirring the minds of the people. Like, Obama, he also would acknowledge that his knowledge was limited, if he was not proficient in a particular topic. During his speeches, he tried to present the root cause of the existing problems in American Society as well as in economy. This is very clear when he said, â€Å"Americas most vital

Saturday, September 21, 2019

Metaphysics SHort essay 4 Essay Example for Free

Metaphysics SHort essay 4 Essay Price begins by describing how things we see in nature share elements. He explains how a tomato, sunset in the sky and a blushing face share nothing more in common than the color. However, some objects have many things in common. These objects group themselves together into Natural Kinds. Price describes a Natural Kind as a group of objects, which have many, perhaps indefinite, features in common. He explains that while this repetition makes things seem dull and monotonous, they are important because they are what makes conceptual cognition possible. In a world of incessant novelty, where there was no recurrence at all and no tedious repetitions, no concepts could ever be acquired. It would also make difficult the act of thinking because nothing would be recognizable. Price goes on to describe different terms of quality and relation. Quality is a recurrent feature of the world, which presents itself in individual object or events taken singly. Redness and bulginess are examples of this. A relation is a recurrent feature of the world, which presents itself in complexes of objects or events, such as this besides that, or between A and B. These terms allow us to give a simple analysis of change. Price explains how change has puzzled philosophers since the time of Heraclitus. Understanding objects in terms of quality and relation help us understand the concept of change. Another term that allows us to do so is the term ‘characteristics’. Characteristics are of at least two different types of qualities and relations. For Price, allow of this leads us to Aristotle’s theory of univeralia in rebus, or philosophy of universals. The philosophy of universals agrees that all objects characterized by x resemble one another. However once must be cautious and note the difference between exact resemblance in a certain aspect, and total or complete resemblance. While some have debated whether complete resemblance can be achieved, the important thing to note is the different intensities of resemblance that exist. Price goes on to list differences between the philosophy of resemblance and the philosophy of universals and deals with classical arguments against them both. Price concludes by saying that one must have a good knowledge of both. Since both can be misleading at times, when in danger of being misled by one of the theories, then can turn to the other for truth. D. C. Williams, on the other hand, comes out against the philosophy of universals in â€Å"The Element of Being. † He attempts to explain this in his example of the three lollipops. He tires to prove that when one says a is similar to b, one is only saying that a part of a is wholly similar to a part of b. He states that entities or abstract components are the primary constituents of this or any possible world. Many know these to be ‘abstract particulars’. Williams decides to name these parts tropes. He defines a trope as a particular entity either abstract or consisting of one or more concrete entities in combination with an abstraction. Tropes are connected to each other by way of location and by way of similarity. He goes on to explain and concludes by saying any possible world, and this one, is completely constituted by tropes and their connections of location and similarity. He explains how they would pertain to the notion of abstract and universal by using the example of Socrates (concrete particular), his wisdom (abstract particular/trope), Socratesity (concrete universal) and all of the wisdom (abstract universal). He goes on to explain how tropes would apply to different areas of philosophy, such as the philosophy of knowledge. He concludes by saying that all the things we see are no universal but consist of parts, tropes, which these things are a part of. Williams differs from Price by stating that objects consist of tropes and they are what create these appearances or similiarties. Price on the other hand states that objects share a certain resemblance in quality, relation and characteristics. Resemblance Theory and Trope Theory Carlos Manuel Jordan PHI 3500 Metaphysics December, 4 2014.

Friday, September 20, 2019

Data leakage

Data leakage Data leakage is the unauthorized or unintentional exposure, disclosure, or loss of sensitive information (GAO, 2007, p.2). Many businesses have in their control sensitive data about their organisation, employees and customers. The Information Commissioner (ICO) in a recent press statement (ICO,2010) is alarmed with the unacceptable number of data leakages within the modern world and will issue fines for major breaches to commence in 2010. In addition to our markets, the safety and security of our information could not be assumed either. (Verizon Business, 2009 p.2). In 2008 there appears to be a link between the turn of the recession and an increase in reported data leakages. Research conducted by Verizon Business (2009) showed that the number of reported compromised records was more than the previous four years combined as shown below in Figure 1.1. Figure 1.1 Number of records compromised per year in breaches investigated by Verizon Business (2009) Within this study (Verizon Business, 2009) it was found that the industries with the highest number of data leakages were in retail (31%) and financial services (30%). As employees exit, so does corporate data (Ponemon Institute, 2009, p.1). A survey conducted (Ponemon Institute, 2009) showed 59% of employees who left a business (including voluntarily and those asked to leave) stole data. It is difficult to measure the entire impact of a data leakage. Data Breaches Are Frequent, but Evidence of Resulting Identity Theft Is Limited; However, the Full Extent Is Unknown. (GAO, 2007, p.1.)   The financial impact on a business per breach according to the Ponemon Institute (2006) is on average $4.8 million.   Breaches can not only be financially costing to a business but also extremely damaging to a companys reputation, this study (Ponemon Institute, 2006) showed that 60% of customers terminated or considered terminating contracts after a security breach. According to Verizon Business (2009) in 2008 91% of all compromised records were linked to organized criminal groups. Examples of confidential data that criminal groups may wish to obtain are companys financial information, customers sensitive data and credit card details.   There are many ways in which data leakage can occur, some of which will be discussed in the following chapter of this report. 1.2 Data Leakage in the Media The media is one of the most influencing ways of communicating issues globally. Data leakage appears to be increasingly more popular in the media as the reported breaches increase. The ICO stated that there were 434 organisations that reported data security breaches in 2009, the previous year had 277 reported (Unacceptable level of data loss, 2009). This evidence supports the theory of there being an increase in breaches during the recession but what must be taken into account is that there is an increase in the reported cases. It may be that more businesses are becoming aware of data leakages where previously they were oblivious to breaches committed or did not disclose the known leakages. Reported in the media, a Nationwide employees laptop was stolen from their home containing confidential customer data (FSA,2007). 11 million Nationwide customers were said to be at risk of identity crime at the time. The FSA (Financial Services Authority) were alerted by the breach and it was found that the Nationwide did not start an investigation until 3 weeks after the theft took place. The firm were fined  £980,000 by the City watchdog for the security violation. Another example in the media (Previous Cases of Missing Data, 2009) is the Ministry of Defence data security breaches. The Ministry of Defence admitted to losing or having stolen 121 memory sticks in a four year period. According to this press release (Previous Cases of Missing Data, 2009) Defence Secretary Des Browne said 747 laptops had been stolen of those only 32 have been recovered. 1.3 Data Loss Prevention (DLP) The protection of sensitive data, to avoid data breaches, should be a vital part of a business day to day operations. Yet organisations rarely have adequate visibility or control of their data (Broom, cited in When financial data goes missing, 2008). From the research conducted (Verizon Business, 2008) out of all the data leakages that occurred in the year 87% were preventable through simple or intermediate controls. This suggests that many businesses are not putting in adequate controls to prevent leakages. The Date Protection Act (DPA) is a framework to ensure that personal information is handled properly (ICO, The Basics, no date). One of the principles of the act is, it is the responsibility of the business to secure the sensitive data it withholds. The DPA have the right to prosecute and unless exempt, all businesses have to abide by this act. The difficulty faced by many businesses is to manage the risk without affecting their productivity and to manage risk in a new and challenging environment (CFO Research Services and Crowe Chizek and Company LLC , 2008, p.2). The important factors to consider when implementing a DLP plan is the alignment of process, technology and people as a unit.   developing a robust security policy and ensuring that all employees fully understand their role and obligations(Broom, cited in When financial data goes missing, 2008). Broom also stated that users need high-quality training and good communication regarding information security concerns. Chapter 2: Types of Threats Threats to the protection of data can be split into two broad categories: Internal and External threats. Internal threats are from within the business itself and majorly centred on employees actions. Attacks from outside of the business are known as external threats. Examples include hackers, organized crime groups and government entities (p.8, Verizon Business, 2009) According to Verizon Business (2008 or 2009) 20% of reported data breaches are caused by insiders whilst 39% of the breaches involved multiple parties, thus proving the importance of a combination of internal and external controls. 2.2 External Threats According to Verizon Business, 2008 saw   more targeted, cutting edge, complex, and clever cybercrime attacks than seen in previous years   (p5 2009). The fact that attacks appear to be increasingly more sophisticated is a concern for many organisations to ensure they have adequate control measures in place. One of the most common external threats to data security is Malware.   According to Easttom (p6 Computer Secuirty Fundamentals) Malware is the Generic term for software that has a malicious purpose. Malware can be used to steal confidential data from a personal computer to a global network. A virus is a small program that replicates and hides itself in other programs, usually without your knowledge (Symantec,2003) through Computer security fundamentals p6.) A Trojan Horse is a useful or apparently useful program containing hidden code that, when invoked, performs some unwanted function. (P48 info sec pipkin). Trojans must spread through user interaction such as opening an e-mail attachment. It looks legitimate and so users are tricked into executing the malicious program. The Trojan can then potentially delete files, steal data and spread other malware. They can also be created to generate back doors to give hackers access to the system. (http://www.cisco.com/web/about/security/intelligence/virus-worm-diffs.html) An example of a dangerous Trojan is the Dmsys Trojan. According to (http://www.2-spyware.com/trojans-remova) and (http://www.uninstallspyware.com/uninstallDmsysTrojan.html) it steals users confidential information by infecting instant messengers. It uses a keystroke logging technique to steal passwords and private conversations. This information is stored in a log file and then sent to the hacker. Thus allowing the malicious user to have access to potentially, confidential information. There are various tools online that can dispose of this Trojan automatically, but if a user wanted to do it manually they would need to delete the files: dmsysmail.eml and dat.log. Manually Deleting Malware Each program consists of files. Evenspyware, a virus or a different parasite all have their own files( http://www.2-spyware.com/news/post203.html ) To remove a parasite usually means to delete all its files. According to this website, it is not always this simple, as files being used by active applications can not be deleted and some of the Malwares files may be set to invisible. Following this sites guidelines: Open Windows Task Manager and select End Process but only works if you know what processes should be running and those that look suspicious. Once you have stopped the process it is now possible to try and delete the malicious files. Locate the folder you believe the program to be (eg My Computer) and ensure all hidden and protected files are visible (Tools, Folder Options, View, Advanced Settings).There may still be files that are invisible, now type cmd into run to access the Command Prompt. Within the Command Prompt enter dir /A folder_name. All files within this folder will be listed including all hidden files. To delete these files within the cmd enter the command cd folder_name to locate the folder. Then enter del file_name to delete the file. Ensure the Recyle Bin is also emptied. http://www.2-spyware.com/news/post203.html steps on how to manually remove Malware. Preventing Malware attacks Since new viruses are introduced daily (p49 info sec pipkin) an up-to-date valid anti-virus software is essential to avoid data leakages via Malware. Vulnerability patching firewalls A combination of the mentioned attacks can be catastrophic to the security of data hacking gets the criminal in the door, but malware gets him the data (p20 verizon) It is critical that a blend of the above security measures are put into place. 2.1 Internal Threats Whether knowingly or unknowingly, innocently or maliciously, employees engage in behaviours that heighten the risk of data loss.( Cisco data leakage find page) According to a study conducted by cisco data leakage 46% of employees admitted to transferring files between work and personal computers and approximately 1 in 4 admitted sharing sensitive information with friends, family, or even strangers. According to the Deputy Information Commissioner David Smith (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8354655.stm) Unacceptable amounts of data are being stolen, lost in transit or mislaid by staff. Dangerous numbers of personal data is still being needlessly stored on unencrypted laptops and USB sticks. if they do not think about security, users can start to cause quite a few problems p37 computer insecurity book. bar chart 5 ponemon 2009 page8 info kept after leaving chart 7 ponemon 2009 page 9 According to Ponemon (2009), only 11% of the respondents who took part in this research had permission from their supervisor to keep this information. in figure à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦. An alarming percentage of the above transfers may have been avoided with appropriate controls, which will be discussed later in this report. It can often be hard to detect data leakages, such an employee copying confidential data to a USB device. more often, the information is left just as it was so that the theft is not quickly discovered p59 info sec pipkin. Using a Data Leakage Prevention tool can assist in monitoring and blocking users risky actions to avoid leakages. In this report Digital Guardian by Verdasys will be used to demonstrate some examples of how a DLP tool can be used to assist in the battle of information security. Chapter 3: Verdasys Digital Guardian Software Introduction Digital Guardian is a comprehensive and proven data security solution for protecting and tracking the flow of critical data anywhere in the world. (Verdasys, 2006) (http://www.daman.it/wp/dg/Digital_Guardian_DS.pdf ) According to Verdasys (2006) Digital Guardian (DG) can help to prevent the loss of data by identifying hard to detect user actions. The tool can block unauthorized access, copying, printing, and other user actions. The DG platform consists of a central server and control console to communicate with remote agents deployed to desktops, laptops and servers where data needs protection. It is an agent based (Endpoint) Data Loss Prevention (DLP) tool. These agents operate silently and report rules violations, continuing to operate even when a device is removed from the network. (Verdasys, 2006 http://www.daman.it/wp/dg/Digital_Guardian_DS.pdf ). The DG server is accessed via a web-based interface to the Control Console.   Figure à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ DG Management /Control Console The above figure is the web-based management console. This tool can be implemented on both Windows and Linux machines. For this project Windows machines have been used. Capabilities Digital Guardian can monitor or block various risky actions users are taking. Whether it be users abuse or accidental operations. There are many actions that the software can perform some of which will be shown in the followingà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦.. Rules can be created within the software and then applied to policies which are deployed to machines chosen. These rules can generate warnings to the user and also email alerts to administrators upon policy breach. Reports can be generated to allow for auditing and drilldown summaries of use of data and users actions. Along with being able to completely block specific actions DG can also ask for justification from a user which is a form of Soft Blocking (DG, 2006). This type of DLP can also allow for a monitoring only approach, which   according to ( http://www.networkcomputing.com/wireless/time-to-take-action-against-data-loss.php) can be more   successful than a blocking solution. It can be used assist in computer forensics investigations whether it would be monitoring triggered rules by prohibited actions that breach corporate policy or more sinister illegal activity. According to (http://www.networkcomputing.com/wireless/time-to-take-action-against-data-loss.php)   The beginning of the investigative process is to find out what was being sent, where, and by whom. Is it legitimate business reasons? Maliciously? They didnt know any better? Blocking may keep the data safe, but it wont answer those questions. (http://www.networkcomputing.com/wireless/time-to-take-action-against-data-loss.php) There are functions within the tool that can block the removal of confidential data via clipboard actions (cut/paste/print screen).   add on features such as mail/file encryption and content inspection by Autonomyà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ (company name) (Verdasys 2006) Figure (à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦) shows the capabilities of the software, How the software works Digital Guardian installs drivers that tie into the Operating System (O/S) at a very low level within the kernel. When an application wants to save a file, it calls a function within the application that does this, and that the O/S handles the task, right down to the kernel that does the hard work, without application writers having to know the details.DG ties into that kernel, detects these events happening, extract useful details (like the filename and size etc), and then send the details onto the DG server. The advantage of this is that any application saving a file will have to get the O/S to do it, so tying in at that very low level ensures it works for virtually all applications. Any more Installation oh god try and remember!! Installation details of .. appendix. windows server,   SQL Server, DG Server, DG Agents,   Hardware and Software à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ pre , key etc. Detailed in the à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦. Digital Guardian files.   Limitations  Ã‚   - FIND some Digital Guardian is mainly used for insider threats and doesnt lessen external threats by intruders or malicious attacks. It also does not address server and network vulnerabilities. (http://www.software.co.il/data-security/17-data-loss-prevention-shoppers-guide.html) No functionality to actually block users downloading applications (CHECK THIS) and running them if not already blocked within Application Management. The software has to be installed on the network to be able to block the use of it. check!! No rule to be able to block all attachments sent via emailcheck Scalability challenge of maintaining classifications of Windows shares/content (http://www.software.co.il/data-security/17-data-loss-prevention-shoppers-guide.html) Chapter 4: Testing and Implementation Policy Exception USB Encrypt Email Prompt Encrypt Mail Rule Encrypted Email Password Application Management Application Management Exceptions Application Management Exceptions Block of Applications Prompt Upload Via Webmail Upload via Webmail Prompt Block upload via webmail sites. This rule controls users access. Instead of completely blocking their access to certain sitesà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦. Can access the specified sites but can not upload to these sites. For example social networking sites like Facebook. Stops the sending of attachments via webmail.   à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ If laptop accessed from outside of network these rules will still functionà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦.. NEED BETTER SCREEN SHOT THAN THIS IS THERE A COMPONENT RULE FOR THIS? Control of USB Devices Block non-approved USB devices Within DG it is possible to block all uploads to all USB devices, thus preventing all users from removing any data from the network. It is also possible to block uploads to USB devices with the exception of predefined USB devices. For example if a business provides users with an encrypted USB device (such as Kingston.) a rule is created to say block all USB device if stated device is not listed in the component rule associated. The USB device is recognised by its Product ID and Vendor ID. These IDs can be discovered by using a simple tool such as à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦. Block non approved USBs Above is the control rule called Block non approved USBs. This rule is set to block any File Copy/Move/SaveAs to a removable device that is not listed within the function (component control rule) approved usb device. Component rule for USB Approved Within the approved usb device component rule is the Vendor Id and Product Id for the approved USB device(s). USB Block Prompt If the USB device inserted does not match the predefined approved removable device then the above prompt is triggered. This prompt is flexible and any message the administrator wishes to set will be displayed. Once Close is selected no data can then be transferred to the device. This way if the USB device is lost/stolen it is encrypted so would be extremely difficult to view any sensitive contents on the device without knowing the password. This rule could be useful for businesses where their employees have to travel regularly (eg Sales) and so data needs to be easily transportable. Obviously this rule does not stop users from stealing the data but does assist with accidental loss. The software could still be used to monitor who/what/how much data is being transferred to these devices. BETTER SCREEN SHOT Content inspection rulesà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦. Look into TRY AND CRACK/BREAK THESE RULES. Manually blocking USB within the Registry It is possible to manually block all USB devices via the registry. The following steps were taken from Microsofts Support site (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/823732). Before manually adapting the registry it is strongly recommended that a backup of the registry is made as any errors made within the registry can cause severe problems.   To enter the registry of the computer from the Start menu click Run and enter regedit.   Find the registry key : HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesUsbStor. On the right hand side double click Start as highlighted in figureà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦.   Ensure Hexadecimal is highlighted and enter 4 within Value data. This will now block all USB devices being used on this machine. When a device is plugged into the machine the device will not be acknowledged. To re-enable USB devices follow the same steps above but change the Value data back to the default value of 3. Chapter 5: Analysis of results founded by Digital Guardian.   Digital Guardian Technology   ANY IMPROVEMENTS FOR DG Chapter 6: Critical review of other products Having assessed an Endpoint (agent based) DLP tool, secondary research was conducted on a Network DLP tool, Websense Data Security, for comparison. Figure below is a table of brief pros and cons for different DLP measures available, taken from informationweek.com . Analyse table Taken from (http://www.informationweek.com/1163/163ss_impactassessment690.jhtml;jsessionid=WA0XH3S4GN0CTQE1GHPSKH4ATMY32JVN) WhenDLPvendors are being honest, theyll readily admit they cant stop the serious and skilled insider from getting data out. (http://www.networkcomputing.com/wireless/time-to-take-action-against-data-loss.php)Their real significance is in finding employees who are accidentally leaking data, those who dont know its against policy or who are taking risky shortcuts to get their jobs done. Websense Data Security is a network based DLP tool with forward proxy.   According to a review by (http://www.software.co.il/data-security/17-data-loss-prevention-shoppers-guide.html) it is typically used for monitoring email traffic and quarantining suspect messages. It requires placing an application-layer proxy next to an Exchange server or server agent. With a network based DLP such as Websense it avoids having to install an agent onto every machine, and instead involving installing network taps. As data passes through these it is checked, and events collected that way. According to(http://www.networkcomputing.com/wireless/time-to-take-action-against-data-loss.php) Network-based solutions have the potential to be more vulnerable to an insider threat. An insider can steal data out via thenetwork, using encryption or steganography (where data is embedded within another data format). Unlike DG a network-based tool would not prevent a user plugging in a USB stick and copying files, it also would not log that this event had even occurred. TYPE UP MORE COMPARISONS Still, an even somewhat paranoid but unskilled insider can use a cell phone or digital camera to photograph documents on the screen. No form ofDLPcan protect against that. (http://www.networkcomputing.com/wireless/time-to-take-action-against-data-loss.php) Installing   a DLP tool is not the be all and end all protection against threats and as emphasised earlier in this report a combination of measures needs to be addressed. Chapter 7: Conclusion and Future Work. Highlight any deficiencies etc Ethical Traking employees? ANY IMPROVEMENTS FOR DG   .Many different aspects to consider Link intro with conclusion. Verizon other factors p3 . The best security technology in the world wont produce a good return on investment without the foundation of security processes, policies, and education. P8 Cisco data leakage. if you have never experienced a security incident, does this mean that you are secure? Or does it just mean that, so far, you have been lucky? computer insecurity book in short no one is immune computer insecurity book More.. Glossary Bibliography Online Sources ICO. (2010), Press Release: Data Breaches to Incur up to  £500,000 penalty, [Online]. Available at [Accessed 31st January 2010]. (2009),Unacceptable Level of Data Loss, [Online]. Available at [Accessed 1st February 2010]. FSA. (2007), Final Notice to Nationwide Building Society, [Online]. Available at [Accessed 26th January 2010] (2009), Previous Cases of Missing Data [Online]. Available at   [Accessed 12th January 2010] Broom, A. (2008),When financial data goes missing.[Online]. Available at [Accessed 3rd February 2010] ICO. (date unknown), The Basics . [Online] Available at [Accessed 2nd February 2010] Journals GAO. (2007), What GAO Found, Report to Congressional Requesters Verizon Business (2009), Data Breach investigations Report Ponemon Institute. (2009), As Employees Exit so does Corporate Data, Data Loss Risks During Downsizing Ponemon Institute. (2006), 2006 Annual Study: Cost of a Data Breach CFO Research Services, Crowe Chizek and Company LLC. (2008), The Changing Landscape of Risk Management Appendices

Thursday, September 19, 2019

Queen Elizabeth and her Conflicts Essay -- Royalty

Queen Elizabeth I was one of the most famous monarchs along with being one of the most successful woman rulers in history (Rowse 243). During her reign, she is said to have kept a long and eternal peace. Wikianswers believes that the main conflict she had during her reign was, â€Å"the aspects of the catholic religion†. Yes, religious settlement of England needed to be established, but her throne was in danger of her sister in the start and the intrusion her cousin later had greatly impacted and challenged Elizabeth. These are the obstacles I think she more had to battle during her reign. But she wasn’t always first in line for the royalty seat. Elizabeth was the child of King Henry and Anne Boleyn (Galli) born in the year 1533. King Henry had a previous wife named Catherine of Argon with whom they bore Mary in the year 1516. King Henry of course wanting a male heir kept trying and finally had a boy in 1537 with Jane Seymour named Edward VI. Edward was concluded to inherit the throne but died at a young age leaving Mary I of Henry’s children to be next in line (Galli). King Henry lived to the age 55 and passed due to bad health. This was the year of 1547 and Mary being the successor, became queen. Mary I â€Å"suffered terrible childhood of neglect, intolerance, and ill health†, says Galli. In her years she went from having high status, to loosing it all from a law change, to receiving it all back and reinstating her to the throne. Her major goal once queen was to reestablish Catholicism and was very committed. She was named Bloody Mary due to her burning of 300 Protestants at the stake which is a big sense to why â€Å"her reign was unpopular† (Galli). Thomas Wyatt led a rebellion with many Protestants to dethrone her. Mary was certain El... ...gue to rest in her bed. She died in March of 1603 (Queen Elizabeth I). Queen Elizabeth never had children so her successor was James VI of Scotland who became James I of England. He was the son of Mary Stuart and was King of Scots, Ireland, and lastly England as of 1603 at the age of 37 (Wikipedia). He was a talented scholar and â€Å"The Golden Age† continued into his reign. Through Elizabeth’s 45 year’s of British rule, she battled challenging obstacles such as religious conflict, Mary Tudor’s rule, peoples’ will to overthrow her, and Mary Queen of Scots intrusion. She faced these trials and managed to be given the title of England’s greatest monarch. This influential woman ruler left inspiration and knowledge for future monarchs and the British government for many years to come. She had also provided her country with stability and a sense of identity (Rowse 245).

Wednesday, September 18, 2019

Equine Nutrition :: Biology Anatomy Horse Essays

The digestive system of the horse consists of a simple stomach, small intestines, cecum, large and small colons, rectum and anus. The horse’s stomach is comparatively small for its size. The stomach of an average horse has a holding capacity of about two gallons. This may be the reason horses eat small but frequent meals. From the stomach food moves to the small intestine, which is the main site of digestion. The small intestine empties into the cecum. The cecum; along with the large colon; make up the large intestine. Digestion in the large intestine occurs by action of bacteria and protozoa. (arg.gov.sk.ca) The energy content found in feeds and how it is measured in Kilocalories (kcal). (arg.gov.sk.ca) which is also the measure used for calories in human consumption. Equine energy intake is measured in megacalories (Mcal) which are equal to 1000 calories. (arg.gov.sk.ca) The total energy in feed is called gross energy. The amount of the feed's gross energy that is used by the horse is called Digestible Energy or DE. Total Digestible Nutrients (TDN) is also a measure of feed content energy, it is reported in percentages and converts between calories and weight. (arg.gov.sk.ca) Carbohydrates supply 80-90% of dietary energy. Sugars, starch, cellulose and related substances are carbohydrates. Starch is more easily digested than cellulose. Grains are easy to digest as they are 60-80% starch. (arg.gov.sk.ca) A recent study conducted by Sharon R. Bullimore et. all. investigated the result of supplementing the diet of endurance horses with fructose rather than glucose. They â€Å"conclude that fructose is well-absorbed by horses and rapidly converted to glucose.† An assessment of adequate energy intake can be established by evaluating body condition. Deficient diets result in weight loss in the horse. Alternate causes of weight loss are internal parasites and disease. Excess energy intake wall cause obisity which stresses joints and reduces athletic ability. (arg.gov.sk.ca) A horse in moderate physical condition is described as â€Å"Back level. Ribs cannot be visually distinguished but can be easily felt. Fat around tailhead beginning to feel spongy. Withers appear rounded over spinous processes. Shoulders and neck blend smoothly into body.† (Henneke et al., 1981) Protein is necessary in a horse’s diet as they can not produce the amino acid lysine and must be supply it in their feed. The horse’s protein requirements vary depending on age and function. Young horses needing more as they are still developing tissues made of protein.

Tuesday, September 17, 2019

Wal-Mart Resources

Unit 2 Assignment 1 Introduction Wal-Mart uses a tremendous amount of information resources to build their marketing decision support systems and customer relationship management environment. Wal-Mar’s main objective is to provide their customers with the best value they can find anywhere while providing friendly and efficient customer service. Its strategies are based on reducing costs to quality products so they are able to achieve â€Å"everyday low prices† (Walmart. om, 2013). Wal-Mart has to be able to monitor and analyze all the processes and information possible in order for them to attain a competitive price advantage, lure in new customers, and retain faithful and loyal current customers. Information technology is essential today in helping companies to achieve these goals and Wal-Mart utilizes a great deal of the available information through systems and operations that the retail business encompasses (Walmart. om, 2013). Listed in this paper are the many ways Wal-Mart enlists its information from customers and how it is used by marketing managers to help make marketing decisions and enrich its customer relationship management environment. Information Collected Collected By Wal-Mart Wal-Mart collects information from its customers in a number of ways through the customer’s interaction, whether by in-store activity or website activity.Wal-Mart discloses that it gathers information on customers whenever they create an account on one of their websites, make an online or in-store purchase, use a gift registry, create a mobile shopping list, or submit personal information to Wal-Mart along with any related content of the communication. In addition, they also collect information whenever the customer conducts a transaction where Wal-Mart collects information as required by law.This could include hunting and fishing licenses, request customer service, contact Wal-Mart, submit a Wal-Mart related testimonial, review, story, rating, or any other user-generated content that may be generated on the website, or participate in a contest, sweepstake, promotion, or survey (Wal-Mart. com, 2013). Collected By Other Sources Wal-Mart may receive personal information from other entities that can help the correct or supplement their records, improve the quality or personalization of their services, and help prevent or defer fraud.They may also collect information from consumer reporting agencies or other service providers if you attain certain other financial products (Wal-Mart. com, 2013). Automated Information Collection Wal-Mart also gathers technical information such as the customer’s internet protocol address, device operating system and browser type, the address of a referring website, and the path the customer takes through the Wal-Mart website.Wal-Mart uses â€Å"cookies† to recognize you as you use or return to their website. Wal-Mart also uses web beacons that allows them to know if a certain page was visi ted, an email was opened, or if ad banners on their website and other websites were effective (Wal-Mart. com, 2013). Marketing Information Used Wal-Mart uses information for different purposes but for this paper we will discuss how they use information for marketing purposes. Fill requests for products and services and communicate with the customer about those requests * Administer surveys, sweepstakes, contests, and promotions * Provide customer service * Help improve and customize their service offerings, websites, and advertising * Send information about products, services, and promotions Information Systems Point of Service/Sale System Wal-Mart uses SUSE @ Linux Enterprise Point of Service/Sale system that is supplied by the Novell group vendor (Information, 2007).This system is made up of three primary components: Administration Server, Branch Server, and Point of Service Client Images. The SUSE Linux Enterprise Point of Service Administration runs Wal-Mart’s main office in Bentonville, Arkansas. It records sales from all the stores but also contains a database of goods sold through other sales outlets such as Wal-Mart online shopping. This data also comprises of information like the number of items bought by a user and similar products purchased along with other online statistics.The Branch Server boots the Point of Service clients from the local network, registers new client devices at the website, distributes operating system updates to the client devices, and also stores the sales information as a backup in real time simultaneously as the Administration Server. The Point of Service Client is the indirect interaction between customers when they make any purchases at Wal-Mart. These devices process and record purchases and allows real time coverage of sales and inventory information for all sales.Having this type of information gives marketing managers the tools necessary to make informed decisions about what promotions to run and on what product s in real time. Retail Link Retail Link was developed in 1992 by Wal-Mart’s very own Information Technology Department (Hays, 2004). Using this software Wal-Mart can look at the take up rate for sale items, changes in the number of customer purchases, and the amount the average customer spends during a promotion. Marketing managers will know what products were being bought and what items that the customer may have added on during that purchase.Having that information may give the marketing department the idea to do a promotion with those two items paired up together. Retail Link software can also display to vendors various key information such as the repurchase cycle time of the product, purchase quantity per basket, and provide information such as sales history and sales performance. This allows vendors and Wal-Mart’s marketing managers the ability to simulate what-if situations that can help them make more informed marketing decisions (Hays, 2004).The information gat hered in these systems give marketing managers the intelligence needed to figure out which marketing initiatives have worked in the past, are currently working, or may work in the future in order to prevent wastage of money from ineffective promotions. Wal-Mart uses these systems in order to provide customer satisfaction, everyday low pricing, and to enhance the shopper’s experience (Walmart. com, 2013). Conclusion Wal-Mart collects information on its customers numerous ways. Some sources are transactions, customer service operations, surveys, and website registrations just to name a few.They could, however, come from other sources such as outside companies that help Wal-Mart update its records. Wal-Mart wants to communicate to its customers for feedback through email newsletters, special offers, and new product announcements. Wal-Mart also participates in interest-based advertising, which means the customer may see advertising on its website tailored to how the customer brow ses or shops. This type of information is essential today in accomplishing the goals Wal-Mart has of everyday low pricing and its customer first approach. References Hays, C. L. (2004, November 14). What Wal-Mart Knows About Customers' Habits.Retrieved from NY Times: http://www. nytimes. com/2004/11/14/business/yourmoney/14wal. html? oref=login;oref=login Information, W. (2007, January 24). Wal-Mart Taps Microsoft, Novell For Linux Deployment. Retrieved from Information Week: http://business. highbeam. com/137376/article-1G1-158268344/walmart-taps-microsoft-novell-linux-deployment-walmart Walmart. com. (2013). Annual Reports. Retrieved February 11, 2013, from Walmart. com: http://stock. walmart. com/annual-reports Wal-Mart. com. (2013, March 3). Privacy Policy. Retrieved March 3, 2013, from Wal-Mart. com: http://corporate. walmart. com/privacy-security/walmart-privacy-policy

Monday, September 16, 2019

Eating Habits

Eating habbits Junk food, keeping fit. In today’s fast-moving world, people have less and less time to spend eating. It is probably for this reason that junk food has become so popular, and there’s no doubt that it’s here to stay. In fact, it seems that you simply can’t get away from it. Obviously, a diet of junk food is not the best thing for your health, particularly as it is high in saturated fat. This type of fat is associated with great risk of cancer. Apart from the risk of cancer, another side effect of consuming highly fattering food is that you are likely to gain weight. This is especially true because you tend to eat more, as junk food is less satisfying and lower in vital nutrients than healthier food. The best advice, for those who cannot live without it, is to limit the amount junk foodthey eat/ A little now and then will probably do no harm. Young people pick up the idea that speed means excitement, whereas anything traditional is slow and boring. As a result, they turn down traditional food and go for junk food instead. Another alarming thing is that while the amount of junk food we eat has increased, the amount of exercise we do has actually decreased. Exercises help to control our weight and if taken regulary, can also decrease our having a heart attack in later life. What is more you don’t have to exercise much to gain vasible benefits, twenty minutes three times a week is all that is necessary. People nowadays are actually far more aware of the importance of exercise and healthy diet than they were a few years ago. Rcent reserch has shown that young people, who prefer burgers and chips to rich gourmet dishes, tend to become overweight. Reserchers suggest that the new genration will be much more likely to suffer from heart and liver desease. What can’t be emphasised enough is fact that a balanced diet and regular exrcise bring significant health benefits. You can gain anything from glowing skin to an allround feeling of good health. One way or another, the vast majority of people seem to be missing out on this, due mainly to the pressures of modern life. Ironically, if they were to make time to exercise and improve their eating habbits, they would probably find that they were far better equipped to deal with their stressful lifestiles than they are now. Vegan leaving. A large number of people do not eat meat. Vegans have taken this a step further by refusing to consume or use anything that comes from animals. This means that not only they do not eat meat; they do not eat fish, poultry or dairy products either. Although a vegan diet may be strict, there are certain advanteges to be gained. Firstly, because a vegan diet is low in fat and cholestrol, the risk of heart disease is reduced. Secondly, there is less preassure on farmers to keep animals under cruel conditions to produce milk, eggs and poultry. On the other hand, humans are natural meat eaters and some essential ingridients in our diet can only come from animal products. For example, we cannot get enough vitamin B12 from plants, so vegans have to take this vatamin, made from yeast, as a supplement to their diet. Moreover, the human digestive system cannot digest certain plant proteins, and this can lead to stomach problems. Although there are some disadvanteges to adopting such a strict diet, people feel that overhall; it is a healthier way of life. Furthermore, it is cruel to kill animals for food and if everybody adopted a vegan diet, our whole outlook on life would change for the better. Factors that influence on food choices Food choices are influenced by many factors, age, gender, friends, family, cultural background and where we live. Although the main purpose of food is to nourish the body, food means far more than that to many people. It can represent much of who and what we are. People bond and foster relationships around the dinner table and at celebrations with special meals and foods, such as birthday cake. Some people express their creative side by serving dinner guests, as well as expressing their awareness and appreciation for others. Some people also use food to help them cope with stress by overeating or depriving themselves. Food may also be used as a reward for accomplishing a specific goal. Consequently, what people eat can reveal much about who they are socially, politically and religiously. Factors influencing food preferences include: Taste, *texture* *and* *appearance*. Economics – The cost of food affects what we eat. Our early experiences with food – Food preferences begin early in life and change as we are exposed to new people and places. As children, our choices were in the hands of our parents. However, as we get older, our experiences with new people and places increase, thereby broadening our food preferences and choices. Habits – Most of what we eat from a particular core group of foods. About one hundred items account for 75 percent of the foods most people eat. Having a narrow range of food choices provides us with security. For example, going to a particular fast-food restaurant provides common expectations and experiences. Many people also have the cooking habits of our mothers or grandmothers. Culture – Religious rules can affect food choices. For example, Hindus do not eat beef, and some Jewish people do not eat pork. The region that people are from can also affect eating behaviors. Swedish people would not eat an ear of corn, because it is considered food for hogs. In Russia, we don't normally eat insects, but many other cultures regard them as preferred foods. Culture can also dictate the times to eat and what to eat at certain meals. Advertising – To capture the interest of the consumer, food producers spend billions of dollars each year on advertising and packaging, both for food bought in grocery stores and restaurants. The power of persuasion is very strong, and so food producers and restaurants try to make their products as appealing as possible to consumers, even if that means making false claims. Social factors – Social changes have a big effect on the food industry. Our fast-paced society demands drive-through restaurants. Gas stations now have convenience stores and restaurants attached to them, so people can do one-stop shopping. Malls also cater to their customers with food courts offering a wide variety of foods. My own eating habbits

Sunday, September 15, 2019

Leadership Styles Essay

MOTIVATION Giving the input on leadership styles and influence process, we should presume the aim is to understand and improve the style of functioning as a leader. To start with, there must have clear idea as to what is meant by leadership. Leadership is the activity of influencing people to strive willingly for group objectives. This process is a function of the leader, the followers and the situation. In any situation trying to influence the behaviour of another individual or group, leadership is operating. Thus one tries leadership at one time or the other, whether activities are centred around a business, educational institution, hospital, political organization, Government organization or a family. As part of this process, one who attempts to influence the behaviour of others becomes a potential leader and the persons he is attempting to influence are the potential followers. This may happen irrespective of the fact that the leader may be their boss or a colleague (associate) or a subordinate or a friend or a relative. In other words through a style of. functioning he influences attitudes and expectations, which in turn encourage or discourage the follower’s activity or achievement, enhance or diminish the follower’s commitment to the work, etc. In our day-to-day life, we come across instances of how people are influenced by the activities or word of a person who is trying to lead them. We always make judgments about the leaders of our own office. In our mind, we make a difference between a good leader and a bad one, by judging his style or way of functioning and his influence on others. Hence, in understanding the phenomenon of leadership, priority must first understand the various styles of the leaders. [4] LEADERSHIP STYLES The word style is the way in which the leader influences followers. Person and environment function in conjunction with the behaviour itself and reciprocally interact to determine behaviour. A person, through his actions, produces the environmental conditions that affect his behaviour in a reciprocal fashion. The experience generated by behaviour also partly determines what a person becomes and can do. This in turn affects his subsequent behaviour. The theory is called social learning theory because, individuals learn in an environment in the process of interacting with each other which is a social process. The application of this theory in understanding the behaviour of a leader and the continuous reciprocal interaction between the   person (leader’s cognitions) and environment (including subordinates and their needs, experiences, objectives in the organization. abilities, skills, energy performance, etc. known as contingencies that regulate their behaviour).The three aspects of this theory of leadership assume that the leader knows how his behaviour is controlled by various needs, situations and experiences that he undergoes. The leader works with the subordinates to discover what those needs situations and experience. The leader and the subordinates jointly attempt to discover ways in which they can manage their individual behaviour to produce mutually satisfying as well as organisationally productive outcomes. In this approach, the leader and the subordinates have a negotiable and interactive relationship. They are continuously aware of how they can modify or influence each other’s behaviour by giving the rewards or holding back the performance respectively. [4,5,6] TYPES OF LEADER AND POWER CONCEPT Formal Leader A formal leader is selected by the organization. For example, a manager is a formal leader by virtue of the authority coming from the organization. He influences others to help accomplish the goals of the organization or unit. Such a leadership lasts over a long period of time Informal Leader An informal leader is chosen by the group. Thus, all managers are leaders if their authority is accepted, but not all leaders are managers. Informal leadership is leadership without position and may shift from one person to another. It may last for a brief time. Most people are leaders at one time or the other and they can have influence on others as defined by the concept of leadership. The ideal leader is the one who can combine the formals and informal leadership simultaneously within himself. SUCCESSFUL VERSUS EFFECTIVE LEADER As we have seen in the preceding discussions, leadership is the activity of influencing people to strive willingly for group objectives; it is the ability to persuade others to get something done. So the leader attempts to have some effect on the behaviour of another, which we call attempted leadership. The response to this attempt may or may not be successful. A basic responsibility of managers in any work organization is to get the work done with and through people. The success of managers is measured by the output or productivity of the group they lead. [8,10] LEADER BEHAVIOUR IN GROUPS The main aim apparently is to understand why individuals form groups. The solution lies in tracking the solution ideas: How old were you when you first joined a group? How many different groups do you belong to? How would you identify a group leader? Does your behaviour change when you are with different groups? Have you ever led a group? In what sense were you the leader? What were the results? If our own the questions should be answered, which leads to the understanding of group. Behaviour and the properties of groups are essential to being both a good manager and an effective member of groups. A manager spends half of his time in some formal or informal meetings, where a group of people get together to solve problems or make plans. So the manager himself acts as a member of a group with other managers or colleagues. Groups have a powerful effect on human behaviour. Any increase in output of those workers was because of the importance and attention given to the group of workers by their colleagues as well as their own interactions with each other about the quality and quantity of output they were supposed to produce. People are motivated to act in a certain way in a given situation and one should change the situation in order to make the people act the way one wants them to. There are also many examples where the manager decides to take a decision on his own or to rely on groups by holding meetings or making committees. In Management, small groups with which he interacts are very important for a manager. It may consist of his peers or colleagues, other managers, specialists or others who really help the manager to take an effective decision. There are instances of well knit and cohesive groups, which really make a superior performance under a good leader. For all these purposes gaining understanding of how to manage a group and how to become a more effective group member. In order to develop the above two objectives, point noted is that a group is part of a larger organization with which it interacts. [1,4] LEADERSHIP AND INFLUENCE PROCESS Authority is the right to command and extract obedience from others. It comes from organization and it allows the leader to use power. Power is the ability to exercise influence or control over others. In the functioning of a leader the ability to guide the action of others is achieved through his authority. Carrying out of these decisions is accomplished because of the power of the leader. The relationship between the authority and power of a leader as we go further to understand various types of power GROUP DYNAMICS Group Dynamics is concerned with the interactions and forces among group members in a social situation. In the path on management functions, it is important to understand dynamics of members of formal or informal groups in the organization. Group Dynamics is the interaction of forces among group members in a social situation. Authoritarian, Democratic and Laissez-faire, is having three different social situations for the three styles of leadership. In course of time various meanings were attached to the term ‘group dynamics’ One of the meanings suggest how a group should be organized and conducted. In democratic leadership, member participation and overall cooperation are emphasized. Another meaning of Group Dynamics is that it is set of techniques. In various group exercises it tries to make the leader as well as the member effective. An attempt made to make the above members play their roles in a management situation of group discussions, team building, finding out various solutions to problems by brainstorming and understanding ourselves in relation to others while we transact or interact with others. Such exercises are also provided in situations where only members are present and no leader exists to direct or control the group. All these exercises are techniques to develop both the individual as well as the organization in which he or she works. The meaning of the term Group Dynamic suggest internal nature of the groups as to how they are formed, what their structures and processes are and how they function. [7,8] COMPOSITION OF A GROUP In most organizations getting the work done requires group efforts. Thus, a manager must know how to manage individual by knowing the individual dynamics, such as his values. Personality, perceptions and attitudes. A manager must know how to manage a group by understanding Group Dynamics Each group has a common objective, but the members who belong to it may have other personal objectives. For example, a life insurance agent may like to become a member of a parent-teacher association of a school to help promote the development process of its students. But belonging to that association will also help him to increase his or her contact to ensure more and more people, so he gets more commission for as many members as he can sell the insurance to. What is most important in the content of the definition of a group is to be aware of each other in a group. This awareness is seldom there, when we look at an aggregation of people. They are mere collections, different from what we call a group, where members see themselves as belonging to a group in order to interact and achieve the common objectives of the group. Moreover, such kind of interaction may be over a long or a short period of time. [9,10] TYPES OF POWER Legitimate Power This power comes to the leader when the organisation’s authority is accepted. It comes from the rules of the organization. For example, parents, teachers, managers. police, etc. have legitimate power only when their authority is accepted in the positions they hold. Expert Power This is the power of knowledge and skill of special kind that are important in getting the job done. A person’s professional competence or knowledge gives him the expert power. His credibility increases. He can lead other persons to trust his judgments and decisions, as an expert like a physicist or a lawyer or a chemist or a computer programmer or a purchasing agent or a financial analyst. A leader himself may not be an expert in all fields, but he can certainly take the help of experts in particular fields. Charismatic Power This is the power of attraction or devotion, the desire of one person to admire another. A subordinate feels a positive attraction towards a leader by identifying himself with the leader, or gets influenced by the leader’s attractive power. This power helps the subordinate to understand and value the leader so much that he understands and acts according to the expectations of the boss or the leader. It helps him to act as his own boss, and behave in ways he thinks the boss will want. [15] Reward Power This power is the present or potential ability to reward for worthy behaviour. The superior or the leader has the power to give tangible rewards such as promotion, office space, time off from work, attractive work assignments and help to the subordinate. Also psychological rewards like praise, appreciation, approval and recognition can be given by the leader or the superior to the subordinate. The subordinate has to believe that he has access to higher authorities, therefore he can give rewards. This reward power of the leader can also increase the leader’s charismatic and legitimate power. Coercive Power This is the ability to threaten or punish. The leader can give tangible punishments like dismissal, demotion, low rating. less satisfying work assignments, etc. Psychological punishments include criticism, avoidance, disapproval, satirical remarks on the subordinate. The reward power helps to avoid something undesirable. Self-esteem of the subordinate increases because of reward power and decreases because of punishment or coercive power. Even a subordinate may withdraw or break the rules or become hostile. He may not feel attracted towards the charismatic power of the leader and at times may ignore the leader’s legitimate power. Having seen the reasons for differences between the authority and power of the leader, you should know the type of leaders as understood on the basis of their authority and power. [11,12] COLLECTIVE ACTION Interpersonal competence refers to the degree to which we are accurately aware of our impact on others and of the impact of others on us. It is the ability to engage in an mutually helpful relationships. It enables us to achieve your personal goals as well as task goals in the organizations where you we are a member. What are the effects of our interpersonal competence on our managerial behaviour? Interpersonally incompetent managers create an organizational environment in which members act very defensively to protect their own interests. Since everybody acts defensively in the organization. where roles and relationships are basically interdependent, neither the personal goals of the members, nor the task goals can be fully realized. Problems are not confronted and are kept hidden from each other for fear that exploring the problems will only aggravate the situation. In course of time, issues which were avoided and swept under the rug assume gigantic proportions and overwhelm the members. On the other hand, interpersonally competent managers allow their subordinates to challenge their views and to question the organisation’s norms, policies, rules and objectives. When these kinds of behaviour are tolerated, people are likely to discover problems and commit themselves to their solutions. Organizational effectiveness increases. Besides these three types of roles, that may have to interact with a lot of other people from different positions: consumers, suppliers, people from regulatory agencies, general public. etc. Interactions with different interest-groups demand different types of specific skills and competencies. Possession and understanding of these skills may not guarantee successful human relations, but it can increase your interpersonal sensitivity and help you take appropriate action to improve relationships. [13,14]             References Rao, T.V., â€Å"HRD in the New Economic Environment,† Tata McGraw-Hill Book Company, New Delhi,1994 Drucker, P.F. (1974). â€Å"Management Task Responsibilities and Practices†, Harper & Row, New York. Murtin, CC., 2004., Project Management — How to Make It Work, AmaCom, N.Y. Neale RH, 1984., Managing Projects , Geneva Nicholas, J.M., 1990., Managing Business and Engineering Projects Concepts & Implementation, Prentice Hall. N.J. 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