Culture and Anarchy by Mathew Arnold Essay

My foremost design in writing this Preface is to address a word of exhortation to the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. In the essay which follows, the reader will often find Bishop Wilson quoted. To me and to the members of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge his name and writings are still, no doubt, familiar; but the world is fast going away from old-fashioned people of his sort, and I learnt with consternation lately from a brilliant and distinguished votary of the natural sciences, that he had never so much as heard of Bishop Wilson, and that he imagined me to have invented him. At a moment when the Courts of Law have just taken off the embargo from the recreative religion furnished on Sundays by my gifted acquaintance and others, and when St. Martin’s Hall [iv] and the Alhambra will soon be beginning again to resound with their pulpit-eloquence, it distresses one to think that the new lights should not only have, in general, a very low opinion of the preachers of the old religion, but that they should have it without knowing the best that these preachers can do. And that they are in this case is owing in part, certainly, to the negligence of the Christian Knowledge Society. In old times they used to print and spread abroad Bishop Wilson’s Maxims of Piety and Christianity; the copy of this work which I use is one of their publications, bearing their imprint, and bound in the well-known brown calf which they made familiar to our childhood; but the date of my copy is 1812. I know of no copy besides, and I believe the work is no longer one of those printed and circulated by the Society. Hence the error, flattering, I own, to me personally, yet in itself to be regretted, of the distinguished physicist already mentioned. But Bishop Wilson’s Maxims deserve to be circulated as a religious book, not only by comparison with the cartloads of rubbish circulated at present under this designation, but for their own sake, and even by comparison with the other works of the same [v] author. Over the far better known Sacra Privata they have this advantage, that they were prepared by him for his own private use, while the Sacra Privata were prepared by him for the use of the public. The Maxims were never meant to be printed, and have on that account, like a work of, doubtless, far deeper emotion and power, the Meditations of Marcus Aurelius, something peculiarly sincere and first-hand about them. Some of the best things from the Maxims have passed into the Sacra Privata; still, in the Maxims, we have them as they first arose; and whereas, too, in the Sacra Privata the writer speaks very often as one of the clergy, and as addressing the clergy, in the Maxims he almost always speaks solely as a man. I am not saying a word against the Sacra Privata, for which I have the highest respect; only the Maxims seem to me a better and a more edifying book still. They should be read, as Joubert says Nicole should be read, with a direct aim at practice. The reader will leave on one side things which, from the change of time and from the changed point of view which the change of time inevitably brings with it, no longer suit him; enough [vi] will remain to serve as a sample of the very best, perhaps, which our nation and race can do in the way of religious writing. Monsieur Michelet makes it a reproach to us that, in all the doubt as to the real author of the Imitation, no one has ever dreamed of ascribing that work to an Englishman. It is true, the Imitation could not well have been written by an Englishman; the religious delicacy and the profound asceticism of that admirable book are hardly in our nature. This would be more of a reproach to us if in poetry, which requires, no less than religion, a true delicacy of spiritual perception, our race had not done such great things; and if the Imitation, exquisite as it is, did not, as I have elsewhere remarked, belong to a class of works in which the perfect balance of human nature is lost, and which have therefore, as spiritual productions, in their contents something excessive and morbid, in their form something not thoroughly sound. On a lower range than the Imitation, and awakening in our nature chords less poetical and delicate, the Maxims of Bishop Wilson are, as a religious work, far more solid. To the most sincere ardour and unction, Bishop Wilson unites, in these Maxims, that downright honesty [vii] and plain good sense which our English race has so powerfully applied to the divine impossibilities of religion; by which it has brought religion so much into practical life, and has done its allotted part in promoting upon earth the kingdom of God. But with ardour and unction religion, as we all know, may still be fanatical; with honesty and good sense, it may still be prosaic; and the fruit of honesty and good sense united with ardour and unction is often only a prosaic religion held fanatically. Bishop Wilson’s excellence lies in a balance of the four qualities, and in a fulness and perfection of them, which makes this untoward result impossible; his unction is so perfect, and in such happy alliance with his good sense, that it becomes tenderness and fervent charity; his good sense is so perfect and in such happy alliance with his unction, that it becomes moderation and insight. While, therefore, the type of religion exhibited in his Maxims is English, it is yet a type of a far higher kind than is in general reached by Bishop Wilson’s countrymen; and yet, being English, it is possible and attainable for them. And so I conclude as I began, by saying that a work of this sort is one which the Society for Promoting Christian [viii] Knowledge should not suffer to remain out of print or out of currency. To pass now to the matters canvassed in the following essay. The whole scope of the essay is to recommend culture as the great help out of our present difficulties; culture being a pursuit of our total perfection by means of getting to know, on all the matters which most concern us, the best which has been thought and said in the world, and, through this knowledge, turning a stream of fresh and free thought upon our stock notions and habits, which we now follow staunchly but mechanically, vainly imagining that there is a virtue in following them staunchly which makes up for the mischief of following them mechanically. This, and this alone, is the scope of the following essay. I say again here, what I have said in the pages which follow, that from the faults and weaknesses of bookmen a notion of something bookish, pedantic, and futile has got itself more or less connected with the word culture, and that it is a pity we cannot use a word more perfectly free from all shadow of reproach. And yet, futile as are many bookmen, and helpless as books and reading often prove for bringing nearer to perfection those who [ix] use them, one must, I think, be struck more and more, the longer one lives, to find how much, in our present society, a man’s life of each day depends for its solidity and value on whether he reads during that day, and, far more still, on what he reads during it. More and more he who examines himself will find the difference it makes to him, at the end of any given day, whether or no he has pursued his avocations throughout it without reading at all; and whether or no, having read something, he has read the newspapers only. This, however, is a matter for each man’s private conscience and experience. If a man without books or reading, or reading nothing but his letters and the newspapers, gets nevertheless a fresh and free play of the best thoughts upon his stock notions and habits, he has got culture. He has got that for which we prize and recommend culture; he has got that which at the present moment we seek culture that it may give us. This inward operation is the very life and essence of culture, as we conceive it. Nevertheless, it is not easy so to frame one’s discourse concerning the operation of culture, as to avoid giving frequent occasion to a misunderstanding whereby the essential inwardness of the [x] operation is lost sight of. We are supposed, when we criticise by the help of culture some imperfect doing or other, to have in our eye some well-known rival plan of doing, which we want to serve and recommend. Thus, for instance, because I have freely pointed out the dangers and inconveniences to which our literature is exposed in the absence of any centre of taste and authority like the French Academy, it is constantly said that I want to introduce here in England an institution like the French Academy. I have indeed expressly declared that I wanted no such thing; but let us notice how it is just our worship of machinery, and of external doing, which leads to this charge being brought; and how the inwardness of culture makes us seize, for watching and cure, the faults to which our want of an Academy inclines us, and yet prevents us from trusting to an arm of flesh, as the Puritans say,–from blindly flying to this outward machinery of an Academy, in order to help ourselves. For the very same culture and free inward play of thought which shows us how the Corinthian style, or the whimsies about the One Primeval Language, are generated and strengthened in the absence of an [xi] Academy, shows us, too, how little any Academy, such as we should be likely to get, would cure them. Every one who knows the characteristics of our national life, and the tendencies so fully discussed in the following pages, knows exactly what an English Academy would be like. One can see the happy family in one’s mind’s eye as distinctly as if it was already constituted. Lord Stanhope, the Bishop of Oxford, Mr. Gladstone, the Dean of Westminster, Mr. Froude, Mr. Henry Reeve,– everything which is influential, accomplished, and distinguished; and then, some fine morning, a dissatisfaction of the public mind with this brilliant and select coterie, a flight of Corinthian leading articles, and an irruption of Mr. G. A. Sala. Clearly, this is not what will do us good. The very same faults,–the want of sensitiveness of intellectual conscience, the disbelief in right reason, the dislike of authority,–which have hindered our having an Academy and have worked injuriously in our literature, would also hinder us from making our Academy, if we established it, one which would really correct them. And culture, which shows us truly the faults, shows us this also just as truly. [xii] It is by a like sort of misunderstanding, again, that Mr. Oscar Browning, one of the assistant-masters at Eton, takes up in the Quarterly Review the cudgels for Eton, as if I had attacked Eton, because I have said, in a book about foreign schools, that a man may well prefer to teach his three or four hours a day without keeping a boarding-house; and that there are great dangers in cramming little boys of eight or ten and making them compete for an object of great value to their parents; and, again, that the manufacture and supply of school-books, in England, much needs regulation by some competent authority. Mr. Oscar Browning gives us to understand that at Eton he and others, with perfect satisfaction to themselves and the public, combine the functions of teaching and of keeping a boarding-house; that he knows excellent men (and, indeed, well he may, for a brother of his own, I am told, is one of the best of them,) engaged in preparing little boys for competitive examinations, and that the result, as tested at Eton, gives perfect satisfaction. And as to school-books he adds, finally, that Dr. William Smith, the learned and distinguished editor of the Quarterly Review, is, as we all know, [xiii] the compiler of school-books meritorious and many. This is what Mr. Oscar Browning gives us to understand in the Quarterly Review, and it is impossible not to read with pleasure what he says. For what can give a finer example of that frankness and manly self- confidence which our great public schools, and none of them so much as Eton, are supposed to inspire, of that buoyant ease in holding up one’s head, speaking out what is in one’s mind, and flinging off all sheepishness and awkwardness, than to see an Eton assistant-master offering in fact himself as evidence that to combine boarding-house- keeping with teaching is a good hing, and his brother as evidence that to train and race little boys for competitive examinations is a good thing? Nay, and one sees that this frank-hearted Eton self- confidence is contagious; for has not Mr. Oscar Browning managed to fire Dr. William Smith (himself, no doubt, the modestest man alive, and never trained at Eton) with the same spirit, and made him insert in his own Review a puff, so to speak, of his own school-books, declaring that they are (as they are) meritorious and many? Nevertheless, Mr. Oscar Browning is wrong in [xiv] thinking that I wished to run down Eton; and his repetition on behalf of Eton, with this idea in his head, of the strains of his heroic ancestor, Malvina’s Oscar, as they are recorded by the family poet, Ossian, is unnecessary. â€Å"The wild boar rushes over their tombs, but he does not disturb their repose. They still love the sport of their youth, and mount the wind with joy. All I meant to say was, that there were unpleasantnesses in uniting the keeping a boarding-house with teaching, and dangers in cramming and racing little boys for competitive examinations, and charlatanism and extravagance in the manufacture and supply of our school-books. But when Mr. Oscar Browning tells us that all these have been happily got rid of in his case, and his brother’s case, and Dr. William Smith’s case, then I say that this is just what I wish, and I hope other people will follow their good example. All I seek is that such blemishes should not through any negligence, self-love, or want of due self- examination, be suffered to continue. Natural, as we have said, the sort of misunderstanding just noticed is; yet our usefulness depends upon our being able to clear it away, and to convince [xv] those who mechanically serve some stock notion or operation, and thereby go astray, that it is not culture’s work or aim to give the victory to some rival fetish, but simply to turn a free and fresh stream of thought upon the whole matter in question. In a thing of more immediate interest, just now, than either of the two we have mentioned, the like misunderstanding prevails; and until it is dissipated, culture can do no good work in the matter. When we criticise the present operation of disestablishing the Irish Church, not by the power of reason and justice, but by the power of the antipathy of the Protestant Nonconformists, English and Scotch, to establishments, we are charged with being dreamers of dreams, hich the national will has rudely shattered, for endowing the religious sects all round; or we are called enemies of the Nonconformists, blind partisans of the Anglican Establishment. More than a few words we must give to showing how erroneous are these charges; because if they were true, we should be actually subverting our own design, and playing false to that culture which it is our very purpose to recommend. Certainly we are no enemies of the Nonconformists; [xvi] for, on the contrary, what we aim at is their perfection. Culture, which is the study of perfection, leads us, as we in the following pages have shown, to conceive of true human perfection as a harmonious perfection, developing all sides of our humanity; and as a general perfection, developing all parts of our society. For if one member suffer, the other members must suffer with it; and the fewer there are that follow the true way of salvation the harder that way is to find. And while the Nonconformists, the successors and representatives of the Puritans, and like them staunchly walking by the best light they have, make a large part of what is strongest and most serious in this nation and therefore attract our respect and interest, yet all that, in what follows, is said about Hebraism and Hellenism, has for its main result to show how our Puritans, ancient and modern, have not enough added to their care for walking staunchly by the best light they have, a care that that light be not darkness; how they have developed one side of their humanity at the expense of all others, and have become incomplete and mutilated men in consequence. Thus falling short of harmonious [xvii] perfection, they fail to follow the true way of salvation. Therefore that way is made the harder for others to find, general perfection is put further off out of our reach, and the confusion and perplexity in which our society now labours is increased by the Nonconformists rather than diminished by them. So while we praise and esteem the zeal of the Nonconformists in walking staunchly by the best light they have, and desire to take no whit from it, we seek to add to this what we call sweetness and light, and develope their full humanity more perfectly; and to seek this is certainly not to be the enemy of the Nonconformists. But now, with these ideas in our head, we come across the present operation for disestablishing the Irish Church by the power of the Nonconformists’ antipathy to religious establishments and endowments. And we see Liberal statesmen, for whose purpose this antipathy happens to be convenient, flattering it all they can; saying that though they have no intention of laying hands on an Establishment which is efficient and popular, like the Anglican Establishment here in England, yet it is in the abstract a fine and good thing that religion should [xviii] be left to the voluntary support of its promoters, and should thus gain in energy and independence; and Mr. Gladstone has no words strong enough to express his admiration of the refusal of State-aid by the Irish Roman Catholics, who have never yet been seriously asked to accept it, but who would a good deal embarrass him if they demanded it. And we see philosophical politicians, with a turn for swimming with the stream, like Mr. Baxter or Mr. Charles Buxton, and philosophical divines with the same turn, like the Dean of Canterbury, seeking to give a sort of grand stamp of generality and solemnity to this antipathy of the Nonconformists, and to dress it out as a law of human progress in the future. Now, nothing can be pleasanter than swimming with the stream; and we might gladly, if we could, try in our unsystematic way to help Mr. Baxter, and Mr. Charles Buxton, and the Dean of Canterbury, in their labours at once philosophical and popular. But we have got fixed in our minds that a more full and harmonious development of their humanity is what the Nonconformists most want, that narrowness, one-sidedness, and incompleteness is what they most suffer from; [xix] in a word, that in what we call provinciality they abound, but in what we may call totality they fall short. And they fall short more than the members of Establishments. The great works by which, not only in literature, art, and science generally, but in religion itself, the human spirit has manifested its approaches to totality, and a full, harmonious perfection, and by which it stimulates and helps forward the world’s general perfection, come, not from Nonconformists, but from men who either belong to Establishments or have been trained in them. A Nonconformist minister, the Rev. Edward White, who has lately written a temperate and well-reasoned pamphlet against Church Establishments, says that â€Å"the unendowed and unestablished communities of England exert full as much moral and ennobling influence upon the conduct of statesmen as that Church which is both established and endowed. † That depends upon what one means by moral and ennobling influence. The believer in machinery may think that to get a Government to abolish Church-rates or to legalise marriage with a deceased wife’s sister is to exert a moral and ennobling influ ence [xx] upon Government. But a lover of perfection, who looks to inward ripeness for the true springs of conduct, will surely think that as Shakspeare has done more for the inward ripeness of our statesmen than Dr. Watts, and has, therefore, done more to moralise and ennoble them, so an Establishment which has produced Hooker, Barrow, Butler, has done more to moralise and ennoble English statesmen and their conduct than communities which have produced the Nonconformist divines. The fruitful men of English Puritanism and Nonconformity are men who were trained within the pale of the Establishment,–Milton, Baxter, Wesley. A generation or two outside the Establishment, and Puritanism produces men of national mark no more. With the same doctrine and discipline, men of national mark are produced in Scotland; but in an Establishment. With the same doctrine and discipline, men of national and even European mark are produced in Germany, Switzerland, France; but in Establishments. Only two religious disciplines seem exempted; or comparatively exempted, from the operation of the law which seems to forbid the rearing, outside of national establishments, of men of the [xxi] highest spiritual significance. These two are the Roman Catholic and the Jewish. And these, both of them, rest on Establishments, which, though not indeed national, are cosmopolitan; and perhaps here, what the individual man does not lose by these conditions of his rearing, the citizen, and the State of which he is a citizen, loses.

My Leadership Capabilities

According to me, leadership is a quality of an individual that makes him stand beyond the crowd. Leadership is all about organizing a group of people, understanding them, monitoring them, identifying & allocating them desired role, getting the best work done out of them & lastly reward them. The main objective of the leader is to get the best out of his team in order to meet the goals of an organization. Perhaps different leaders have different methodology but their objective has always been same.Our group mutually agreed on the following skills which we strongly believe a leader should perceive. 1. Interpersonal Skills: It includes the positive attitude, manners, gestures & behavior of a good leader. A good leader should use these interpersonal skills to solve the conflicts in the group & to maintain peace & discipline in the organization. 2. Communication skills: A good leader demonstrates communication skills as being a good listener & speaker. There should n’t be communication barrier between a leader & his subordinates.The meaning of words should be easily understood by both leader & the teammates in order to carry the workflow smoothly. 3. Relationships: Trust is the base of each & every relationship. In order to maintain a good relationship a leader should first understand needs of his teammates which will help him to allocate suitable role to that individual. A good leader should associate with his subordinates; develop the interpersonal relationships & feeling of belongingness. 4. Motivation: A good leader should always ignite the fire in his subordinates in order to meet the desired goal & objective of the organization.Leaders are responsible for building confidence in their teams & setting an example of their own in order to inspire their team. 5. Time management: â€Å"TIME IS AN ETERNITY† says SHIV KHERA. Time is the most vital factor in life; a good leader should always set an example of utilizing the given time & giving the best out of it. 6. Decision maker: Making the right decision at the right time is the most vital characteristics of a good leader. Keeping in mind the mission & vision of an organization, being loyal & ethical; decisions should be made by a leader in order to meet the goals of an organization. 7.Constructive feedback: It’s very important for a good leader to provide his team with constructive feedback from time to time. Correct feedback helps teammates for future improvements & enhancements. After the feedback which I got from my team mates, I was a bit surprised & stunned as well, because I got to know my strengths & weaknesses more precisely also the areas where I need to improve. Considering interpersonal skill, my group feels I am very good at it. One of my team mates told me he just adores my greeting style like every morning I greet them wishing good morning & keeping a smile on my face.They told me this attitude of mine just drives them to a good start in the morning. Also they liked my positive attitude towards work which motivates them to complete their assignment within the given time limit. They explained me this point giving an example of when we were allocated a task to be completed within short span of time I was the first to take the initiative of being a team leader & taking responsibility on my shoulder, this positive attitude of mine motivated them & we manage to complete the task within the time limit giving the best out of us.Regarding communication skill my group feels that I am excellent at it, I completely agree with them. That’s probably because I have a very smooth communication with them , my gesture, body language, the way I speak is easily understood by them & also the vice versa is true. They also praised me for my excellent listening skills perhaps according to me that’s the most crucial factor a good leader should posses, I strongl y believe in order to be a good speaker you first need to be a very good listener.My group feels I am good at maintaining relationships. One of my team mates told me he was very much surprised to notice my presence in his surprise birthday party. I have always maintained good relations with my team mates not only in the meetings or in the office but also beyond the office walls. Understanding my teammate’s needs has always been first on my priority list; it helps me in order to assign a particular task to the subordinate well suited for that task. It also helps me in making decisions to reward & promote my teammates.Maintaining a good relationship with your team helps in building trust in your team which ultimately results in best work out of your team. Also it’s very vital to maintain relationship with your teammates keeping in mind they don’t take it for granted perhaps then as a leader you won’t be able to get best out of them. My group feels I am good at motivating them in order to make them complete the assigned work in time. I strongly feel that a good leader should have motivational factor in abundance in order to motivate his team.My teammates told me they get very much motivated by the words I use when I am delivering speech. One of my teammates was nervous & frustrated because of the work load I told him about my own experience of life how I faced ups & downs in my life but every time keeping a smile on my face I had enjoyed those phase which brought smile on his face & he assured me hence forth whenever he shall be feeling low he will remember my experience & will go back to work & will deliver the best out of it.He had also thanked me publicly for the motivation I gave him. A good leader should always value the time because it’s well said ‘if you don’t value the time wont value you. ’ Perhaps this is where I need to improve a lot, my group feels that I am average in time management; I whole heartedly welcome their criticism. I have been told by my group that at time I am not punctual in the meetings, well I don’t blame them but for sure I will rectify it keeping in mind as a leader I need to set an example for them that has to be excellent & not just fair or average.My group feels I am good at making decisions, I agree to them because I have taken few decisions which were ironical to them but later on it proved to be beneficial to the organization. Perhaps keeping in mind the goals & setting ethical standards I need to improve in making decisions. When it comes to giving feedback I know I am a bit reserved because I don’t want to hurt anybody’s emotions or ethics. That’s why my group feels I am poor at giving feedbacks.A good leader should always give accurate feedback to his subordinates it helps them to improve in future also it furnish them with the compliments & rewards they get from the feedbacks which b uilds their confidence level. A good leader should always be fair in giving feedback this is where I need to improve a lot because my feedbacks are always positive to all my team mates even if their work is not appropriate which hinders them to learn & improve in future.I strongly believe that life is a learning process & as a good leader I have always learn from whatever came on my way whether it’s a compliment or it’s a criticism. From the feedbacks I have learned that I need to be fair in giving feedbacks, I need to manage time well & I need to lead my team in a correct path which leads to achieving the desire goals & objectives of our organization.List of References 1. Mullins, L. (2010) MANAGMENT AND ORGINIZATIONAL BEHAVIOUR, ninth edition, financial times prentice hall. 2. U. S. Air Force [online] available from http://www. legacee. com/Info/Leadership/Definitions. html

Billy Budd Essays - Billy Budd, Billy Kessler, Pale Yellow Skin

Billy Budd Unknown There is much to be said about innocence. If one is with innocence than one can do no wrong. But that is not all to be said. Innocence is not always a good thing. It could make one naive or blind to certain evils. Like in the case of Billy Budd. Billy was innocent from evil and therefore could not see the evil of John Claggart approaching him, out to destroy him. It is known Billy's innocence was his down fall by hiding the true evil from his eyes. But why was John Claggart out to destroy Billy?. There are several reasons why John Claggart attempts to destroy Billy Budd. John Claggart wants to destroy Billy because he is extremely wary of Billy's intentions. He has come to believe that Billy is planning a mutiny and wants to take over the ship. Claggart reports this to captain Vere saying," During today's chase and possible encounter I had seen enough to convince him that at least one sailor aboard was dangerous." Meaning that he felt Billy was against them. Claggart felt that Billy's big plan was to get in favor of all the men on the ship and then turn them against the captain. Captain Vere responds by having Billy and Claggart meet in private where Claggart can openly accuse Billy of this crime. Fortunately, Claggarts attempt to destroy Billy for mutiny fails because he is struck down by Billy in one blow, ending the matter, but opening a much more serious one. Claggart is also seen as attempting to destroy Billy due to his evil nature in general. Nothing depicts Claggart's evil nature better than the way he looks. His cleanly chiseled chin and cunning violet eyes that can cut lesser sailors with an evil glare. His pale yellow skin and jet black curly hair; they all contrast his character. He is out to destroy Billy because of the constant struggle of good and evil. Billy is innocent and cannot comprehend evil therefore making him good. People calling Billy "baby budd, and handsome sailor" just seem to contrast the good in him even more. Claggart was born evil and therefore is evil. Claggart would naturally be out to destroy Billy because he is what he is against. Just good vs. evil in a battle for control. That is why Claggart is naturally out to bring the downfall of Billy Budd. It is very true that jealousy is another reason why John Claggart wanted the destruction of Billy Budd. Claggart was never well liked by the crew he was watching over. This would not have been a problem except that Billy Budd was so very liked by the crew. Every time he saw the love of Billy he was reminded of the dislike of himself. One old sailor on the ship noticed this too and warned Billy by saying, "Jimmy Leggs is down on you". Jimmy Leggs referring to Claggart. One instance which occured in the kitchen just made matters worse when Billy spilled the soup he was making and it ran down the corridor just as Claggart was walking by. Claggart did not openly get angry at Billy for the accident, but inside felt he had done it on purpose. As the soup ran down the corridor it seemed to symbolize an actual line drawn between the two. The resentment Claggart felt for Billy made him look him too critically. That is a good reason why Claggart could have thought Billy was planning a mutiny a nd would want him destroyed. He was just jealous of Billy's popularity. There are several reasons why John Claggart attempts to destroy Billy Budd. One might ask why and come up with the obvious and not so obvious answer, even though we know the real reason for his downfall. That was his innocence. Yes, Billy Budd was innocent of evil, but that innocence is what made him unable to see the evil out to destroy him in Claggart. Too much innocence is not always a good thing, but a little helps from doing wrong. There is quite a bit to be said about innocence.

Carbohydrates Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Carbohydrates - Term Paper Example Structural composition of carbohydrates Structurally, carbohydrates exist as polyhydroxy or alcohol groups containing ketone or aldehyde functional groups (Engel, Gary and Reid, 115). These functional groups are responsible for the distinct chemical and physical properties of the different types of carbohydrates. Normally, carbohydrates are made of monosaccharides, which are the basic and the simplest units. Therefore, carbohydrates are polymers, consisting of monosaccharide monomers. The chemical and physical properties of carbohydrates depend on the type of monosaccharide monomers, the length of the polymer chain and the method used to join the basic units (Linhard and Bazin 55). Carbohydrates are divided into different categories depending on the length of the carbon chain. These categories include monosaccharide, disaccharides, oligosaccharides and polysaccharides. Monosaccharides are single and the simplest carbohydrate molecules, comprising of five or six carbon chains (Linhard and Bazin 57). Examples of monosaccharide include five carbon (pentose) sugars such as xylose, arabinose and ribose. Hexoses, which are six carbon sugars, are the most common simple sugars. They include fructose, mannose, glucose and fructose. Green plants through photosynthesis process naturally synthesize glucose. During photosynthesis, carbon dioxide and water combine in presence of light energy to form glucose (Voet, et al, 164) 6CO2 + 6H2O + energy> C6H12O6 + 3O2 The monosaccharides synthesized from the green plants undergo polymerization reactions to form disaccharides and other complex carbohydrates. Other methods natural processes that produce glucose include chemosynthesis in autotrophic bacteria and biosynthesis (McKee and McKee, 306). The presence of many chiral centers on the structure of glucose results into formation of two structural conformations, which could be either enantiomer or diastereomer. Enantiomers are mirror images. Glucose exhibits two enantiomeric struc tures namely, D and L glucose. Both of these structures demonstrate different physical and chemical properties (Pigman, 79) Disaccharides consist of two monosaccharide molecules that undergo polymerization reaction forming the longer chain carbohydrate (Timberlake, 127). Polymerization reaction is building up process, where small units (monomers) link together to form a complex molecule (polymer). Glycosidic bonds link the two-monosaccharide molecules after undergoing polymerization reaction. Polymerization process leads to formation of disaccharides, oligosaccharides and polysaccharides. These reactions occur between hydroxyl group of two different molecules leading to formation of covalent glycosidic bonds (Engel, Gary and Reid, 217-228). Examples of disaccharide include sucrose, maltose and lactose. Sucrose is formed when fructose and glucose undergo polymerization reactions. Therefore, fructose and glucose are sucrose monomers. Similarly, maltose is formed from the reaction of t wo glucose molecules while lactose from glucose and galactose molecules. Hence, glucose molecules are maltose monomers. Oligosaccharides comprises of about three to ten monosaccharides that are linked together after undergoing polymerization reactions. Examples include fructo- oligosaccharide and galacto-oligosaccharide (Pigman, 162). Polysaccharides comprise of long carbon chains formed by numerous monosaccharide units. The large number of number of monosaccharide monomers in polysaccharides result to

Human Recources Management Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Human Recources Management - Assignment Example In their efforts to meets the needs of the employees, companies adopt Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. This theory depicts five steps hierarchy of needs that employers should provide to their employees. These include physiological needs, safety, love, esteem and self-actualisation (Murphy, 2009, p. 24). On the other hand, reward is a tangible or intangible appreciation that is given to an employee after a good performance. The objective of a reward is to make an employee repeat the rewarded behaviour. For instance, in order to meet the physiological needs of the employees, organisations should reward them with food and water. Similarly, social needs of workers are met through rewarding them with affection, belongingness and love. Self-respect, improvement of status, prestige and self-esteem are key rewards that meet the esteem requirements of workers according to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. 3.2 Job evaluation process and other factors emulated to determine pay Job evaluati on entails the strategies undertaken to analyse and assess the worth of jobs within a firm. One of the vital objectives of job evaluation is to ensure that employees are remunerated in an equitable way. Additionally, organisations undertake job evaluation to maintain an appropriate job grading techniques and to comply with legal requirements. Other factors that are used to determine employees pay include, minimum wage as stipulated by law, market rates of pay, equal pay and individual performance. British Leyland Motor Corporation Ltd (BLMC), a UK based motor vehicle manufacturing company adopts piecework to remunerate its employees. The amount of pay is usually re-rated whenever a change occurs in the technique of production. According to the BLMC policies, a change in the job does not result to a reduction of the salary. To motivate its employees especially in the production facility, the company increases its payment rates during an introduction of a new model. In addition to the piecework, employees who are responsible for servicing the production lines are remunerated by time rate and bonuses. This is in addition to the minimum rate as depicted by the UK labour laws. 3.3 Effectiveness of reward systems To ensure that workers are focused at attaining their goals as well as the objectives of the entire organisation, it is imperative for employers to offer rewards that are intrinsic or extrinsic in nature. Through adoption of an effective rewards system, human resources managers play vital roles of retaining the loyalty of the employees and improving their performance. Some of the primary objectives of a reward system include motivating the workers, retaining productive labour force, responding to organisational skills as well as informing the potential and existing employees about the organisational values that attract high rewards. One of the notable UK Company that has put in place an effective reward system is Tesco supermarket. Being the second largest supermarket in the world after Wal-Mart, Tesco controls 36% of the UK grocery market. One form of a reward adopted by Tesco is training and development of its employees. In this way, all members of staff are given an opportunity to advance their career while working in the company. To make the training flexible, Tesco offers Apprenticeship and Options Development Programmes (Carolyn, 2011, p 3). Protecting employee’

A Review of the Costs and Benefits of Globalisation Essay

A Review of the Costs and Benefits of Globalisation - Essay Example It will also include the continuing debate over globalisation as well as the possible compromises and solutions. Lastly, it will present a brief observation on the progresses and achievements of globalisation thus far. Analysis of the Economic and Political benefits of Globalisation   Globalisation increases the use and transfer of science management competencies and products of science and technology, generating advantageous situations for underdeveloped and developing nations to acquire and build sophisticated technology, advancing their own management and organisation proficiencies, and perform the processes of industrialisation and modernisation (Amoore 2005). Globalisation builds favourable conditions to accelerate the adjustment of occupational arrangement within a nation. Every nation can gain advantage from the alteration of economic system to capitalise on its vantage points in the market. Globalisation generates positive circumstances for underdeveloped nations to take ad vantage of foreign investment for the conduct of industrialisation and modernisation, by making use of foreign and local assets efficiently (Ritzer & Atalay 2010). Globalisation builds an excellent condition for the formation of the global economy. The inputs from global information system, infrastructure, and advanced technology have enhanced business success and production efficiency, improved productivity, surpass problems of oversupply, and reduced prices (Stonehouse et al. 2004). An enlarged market brings about advantageous conditions for economic competition and alliance, giving rise to mutual growth and development. Globalisation builds favourable situations for every nation to...This essay offers a fact-based analysis of the benefits and costs of globalisation to political economies all over the world. There is also the continuing debate over globalisation as well as the possible compromises and solutions in the paper. Globalisation increases the use and transfer of science management competencies and products of science and technology, generating advantageous situations for underdeveloped and developing nations to acquire and build sophisticated technology, advancing their own management and organisation proficiencies, and perform the processes of industrialisation and modernisation. Globalisation builds an excellent condition for the formation of the global economy. The inputs from global information system, infrastructure, and advanced technology have enhanced business success and production efficiency, improved productivity, surpass problems of oversupply. Support for globalisation remains pervasive, particularly when multilateralism is perceived an element for reinforcing social values and norms. Specifically, the compromise between global action and local independence remains authentic. Every nation has to adapt its political economies to global policies in order to incorporate into the global economy, take part in global markets, exploit capital, and enhance human resources and technology. The benefits of globalisation rely on global regulations and standards. It implies that every nation has to confront the demands of the local and global economy and negative aspects of the market economy.

Ethical Development Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Ethical Development - Essay Example Either way it is a stage that we all go through. For me, even with all the identity crisis, this stage was a learning process. My adolescence development was a success because of the immense support given by my parents and siblings. I am biologically mature and psychologically prepared to face the adulthood life challenges. During this time I learnt that honesty is a virtue. With the confusion of identity discovery, I learnt that doing things in line with my spiritual self was good enough to reconnect me with my lost source which is important to establish an ego structure. An ego identity is essential in making a career choice (Erikson) or even marriage partner and that is what I have to realize even though I am still on a journey to establishing my career. My adolescence stage, I can say, taught me the principle of commitment and trust. Even though fidelity was achieved, trust and commitment towards what we undertake mirrors the internal fidelity within. Trusting myself has enabled me to have a healthy relationship with other people. I believe having that inner intuition and an internal guidance system wil l help in making future life choices as well as keep me safe from myself. Like other adolescents I was caught up in the tension between internal forces within me and the society expectation of me. The pressure from the society on behaving in certain ways and dressing in particular manners was too much that it made me unsure of what I really wanted. In thought, the society needs to understand that it is a stage and leave the adolescents to go through it in peace, but if that was the case, we would all be a lost generation. In reality the society tries the best way it knows to bring sanity to the individual. What they do not understand is that the adolescent stage is a cunning one and if they do not rebel, they will do whatever is said for the sake of it. This was the challenge I

International case 2 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

International case 2 - Essay Example It operates in about seventy countries in the world. They incorporate the use of technology and innovation with the intention of building energy for future sustainability. The company aims at meeting energy demand across the entire world in a responsible manner in terms of economic, environmental, and social aspects. The company is committed to ethics and requirements of corporate social responsibility. In Nigeria, Oliver (2014) narrated that the company was involves in corruption scandal of $ 1.1 billion. Investors and stockholders were furious on the modalities the company had employed in Nigeria concerning how the capital was spent. The deal was perceived to be a shadow one as it was considered not only bad for the people of Nigeria as a developing country but for business as well. Corruption is considered unethical in the climate of corporate social responsibility (John, 2012). The reputation of the company was tainted and this would reflect on its performance. That was an issue that the shareholders would not sit by and watch since a drop in performance was tantamount to have a significant effect on their share value. Earlier this year, Miroslav (2015) illuminated that the government of Slovakia had contemplated enacting a law that was deemed anti-Shell due to the scandal related to the health procurement. The scandal outraged the citizens since the healthcare sector was one o f the most corrupt sectors in Slovakia. If this law is enacted then the value of the shareholders of the company is likely to drop. The other countries where the multinational corporation in discussion have faced similar corruption scandal are in the US, UK, and Ireland. Diseye (2014) explained that the company also was accused of double standards in its commitment to corporate social responsibility (CSR) especially in countries where there are no strict laws. According to FOE (Friends of the Earth), Shell disregarded the environment, as well as the

D14 Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

D14 - Assignment Example I expect most students to fail due to the constant hangovers. Yes it actually does. I did not consider that participating in the college drinking games during the campus and fraternity house parties actually causes alcohol addiction or that alcohol poisoning is what happens when there is excessive drinking to a level of even passing out. No it should not be stopped. Based on the increasing risky behavior that teenagers and even students engage in when they are drunk such as risky sexual behaviors or even the alcohol poisoning that has claimed the lives of many young people, it should be continued. The masking would still leave the feeling of gratification and eliminate the despair most students feel while at the same ensuring that people remain sober enough to make conscious decisions. No it will not make any difference. Most people who turn to alcohol even have no idea about what brand they are taking and especially in clubs and hence will not even care about the number of calories. Only those obsessed with weight will care and the number is negligible. What role do you think government should play in the advertising of alcohol (on television, to younger viewers, etc.)? Did watching the movie (in the list of items to do), relevant even though it was from 2006, have any real impact? The advertisements about alcohol should be pushed to late night from 11am when most of the teenagers and young people are already asleep. The movie put it in black and white about the real deal with binge drinking to especially female college students and the situation calls for dire change. Labeling will not make any significant changes in controlling or reducing the binge drinking in young college women or even older women for that matter. Many drink in order to forget some of their life’s misery and hence no labels would change that (Centre for Science in the Public Interest, 2008). Drinks such as four

Budget Preparation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Budget Preparation - Essay Example Often for a commercial organization which is both a manufacturer and seller budgets envelope all activities and in the discussions taken up in this paper only such organizations would be cited. Due to their important lighthouse role to the business ships targeting to shore a decent profit mechanics of preparing various categories of budgets and their importance for decision making managers assumes importance. This paper covers these two aspects primarily, taking adequate precaution to explain in detail, encourse, the important categories of budgets. Budgets are drawn to assist in clarifying and attaining business objectives. These objectives can be varied but can be commonly listed as minimizing costs/controlling expenditures, increasing revenues, gaining a higher market share, improving spread/margins (through increased sales), etc. Therefore, a statement of identified objectives becomes important at the commencement of budgeting. Once these objectives have been set then the rest of the budget can fan out after a series of logical coordination. Subsequent to the statement of identified business objectives and determination of the budget period (say 1 week, 1 fortnight, 1 month, 1 year, etc), additional information need to be gathered in order to compile the budget. This information generally includes past and current performance data procured from profit and loss accounts, balance sheets and previous cash flow forecasts of the organization. In case of a new business peer studies can be important guide posts. To help new concer ns, good amount of classified data is published by various industry associations. Irrespective of the context this information can then be used to identify probable sales in number of units and associated costs in the future. One approach to budgeting is to compile from scratch ignoring all previous historical data and current performance: this is termed as zero-based budgeting which can be risk prone and should be taken up by those who have very realistic estimates of strengths of their concern vis a' vis market demands. It is commonly observed that during the preparation of budgets certain figures are easier to state with confidence than others. For instance, costs fall in former category while predicting sales falls in the latter category. The obvious reason for this is the fact that sales are affected by several probable factors (e.g. increase or decrease in demand, level of competition, changes in consumption pattern,technology,fashions,fads etc);while costs are technically sta ted and determined by suppliers/government policies and remain relatively stable.However,these are to be stated preferably on some historical and comparable base. This paper would exhibit subsequently important functional budgets that follow from statement of sales and cost objectives; however two important points need emphasis in respect to the process of budgeting-one, ideally the budgeting should be grass root

Italy and Greece Essay Example for Free

Italy and Greece Essay Its all fat, but does it make you fat? In this coursework I am going to explain the health implications of eating saturated and hydrogenated fats by investigating individual types of oils and margarines and their affects. My research into different types of fats will explain which fats should be eaten more or less of and the reasons for this. I will also talk about the fats we shouldnt eat, what affects they have on our bodies and why we should avoid eating them. I am then going to form an for and against argument about why hydrogenation in the industry can harm our bodies and then come to a conclusion whether I think we should or shouldnt eat hydrogenated fats. In this part of the task am going to find out and explain what is meant by monounsaturated, polyunsaturated, and saturated fats/oils. Triglyceride Molecule A triglyceride is a molecule that contains one glycerol molecule and three fatty acids, which is mainly constituted in vegetable oils and animal fats. The chemical formula is RCOO-CH2CH (-OOCR) CH2-OOCR, where R, R, and R are longer alkyl chains. The three fatty acids RCOOH, RCOOH and RCOOH can be all different, all the same, or only two the same. This part of my coursework will explain what is meant by Monounsaturated, Polyunsaturated and Saturated fats or oils. Monounsaturated Fat Monounsaturated fats or (Monounsaturated fatty acids) are fatty acids that only contain one double bond in the chain and the rest of the remaining carbon atoms in the chain are single bonded. Fatty acids are long chained molecules with a methyl group at one end and a carboxylic acid group at the other. The fluidity of the fatty acids increases with the increasing number of double bonds. Monounsaturated fats have a higher melting temperature than polyunsaturated fats but lower than saturated fats. Monounsaturated fatty acids are liquids at room temperature and semisolid or solid when refrigerated. Monounsaturated fats are found in natural foods such as nuts and avocados and are the main component of tea seed oil and olive oil (Oleic acid). Macadamia nut oil, grapeseed oil, groundnut oil (peanut oil), sesame oil, corn oil, popcorn, whole grain wheat, cereal, oatmeal, safflower oil, sunflower oil, tea-oil Camellia and avocado oil are also sources of monounsaturated fats. Oleic acid is typical monounsaturated fatty acid which has 18 carbon atoms with the first double bond occurring 9 carbon atoms away from the methyl group. Other typical monounsaturated fatty acids include Palmitoleic acid which has 16 carbon atoms with the first double bond occurring 7 carbon atoms away from the methyl group and 9 carbons from the carboxyl end and Vaccenic acid which has 18 carbon atoms. Oleic Acid Polyunsaturated Fat Polyunsaturated fat or (Polyunsaturated fatty acids) are fatty acids which contain more than one double bond within the molecule. It has two or more points on its structure capable of supporting hydrogen atoms that are currently not part of the structure. Depending on the geometry of the double bond the polyunsaturated fatty acids can assume a cis or trans conformation. They can be divided into two categories Omega 3 fats which can be found in fish, seafood, and lean meat, plant foods such as cereal grains, seeds, nuts, legumes, dark green leafy vegetables, figs and also in plant oils including soybean, canola, linseed and walnut. Oily fish such as mackerel, salmon, trout, tuna, sardines, herring and gemfish contains more omega 3 fatty acids than white fish. Omega 6 fats which is the second category are mostly found in nuts, seeds and plant oils such as corn, soy and safflower. There many benefits of omega fats, some of which are lowering blood cholesterol levels and in doing so reduces risk of coronary heart disease. The melting point of the compound is significantly lower because the strength of the intermolecular forces is reduced due to the lack of hydrogen atoms on the molecules surface. Trans fats solidify at a higher temperature than cis fats making them more similar to saturated fats than cis fats. A typical polyunsaturated fat is Linoeic acid; both of the double bonds in Linoeic acid are cis. Linoeic Acid Saturated Fat Saturated fat is fat that consists of triglycerides that only contain saturated fatty acids radicals. There are several natural occurring saturated fatty acids which differ by the number of carbon atoms; they range from 3 carbons (Propionic Acid) to 36 carbons (Hexatriacontanoic Acid). Chains of saturated fatty acids have no double bonds which makes them fully saturated with hydrogen atoms. Foods containing a high proportion of saturated fats include dairy products especially cream and cheese and also butter and ghee. Others foods also include animal fats such as suet, tallow, lard and fatty meat, coconut oil, cottonseed oil, palm kernel oil, chocolate and some prepared foods. A typical saturated fatty acid is Stearic acid. Stearic Acid Fats that we should eat more of and why? We should eat more non-saturated fats which are Polyunsaturated and Monounsaturated fats, these types of fats and oils have numerous health benefits. It transports fat soluble vitamins A, D, E and K throughout the body and also cushions and protects internal organs. Essential fatty acids (EFAs) benefit your heart, metabolism and immune system. Some EFAs are used by the body for structural, hormonal and electrical functions rather than energy. These EFAs increase metabolic rate and increase fat burn off resulting in loss of weight. Fat is a concentrated source of energy. It can also prevent irregular heart beats and reduces inflammation. We should avoid eating Saturated fats as they are bad for health and they clog up arteries causing heart disease and strokes. However health warnings to avoid saturated fat have been misinterpreted which makes people thinks avoid all fat. Polyunsaturated and Monounsaturated fats are actually good for you if eaten sensibly. Diets high in saturated fat have been correlated with an increased incidence of atherosclerosis and coronary heart disease. Saturated fats increase cholesterol levels in your body which increases the risk of heart disease.

The premier food

The premier food EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This report aims to critically appraise various internal and external factors which contributed to the success of Premier Foods grocery division restructuring programme. Examples of effective change management disciplines are integrated throughout the project to achieve a successful business strategy. Although, no matter how effective and efficient you plan for change, risks are inevitable. The report aims to identify the key risks associated with the restructuring plan and identify the possible effects on human, physical and cultural resources. In the latter stages, the report will come to a close, highlighting the main points which the author believes has had an influence on the entire grocery divisions restructuring process. ORGANISATIONAL OVERVIEW Premier Foods has been established as the UKs leading food manufacturer, specialising in many known consumer brands such as OXO, Quorn, Hovis, Batchelors and Branston Pickle. Its estimated that 99.4% of the UK population buy at least one Premier Food product each year and a total of 43 million people, eat a leading brand food product every two weeks. Therefore, current turnover is estimated at  £2.6 billion and the company currently employs 17,000 people at 60 manufacturing sites around the United Kingdom and Ireland. Although, these figures would have been unrealistic without Premier Foods  £460 million acquisition of Campbells UK and Irish market share in August 2006. In March 2007, Premier Foods also captured RHMs market share for  £1.2 billion and therefore, turnover figures increased dramatically from  £760 million to the current turnover figure of  £2.6 billion. In 2008, Premier foods had successfully undertaken a comprehensive restructuring programme, which was deemed extremely complex in the UK. The aim was to radically transform the Grocery Division, which would drive the business through lower costs and higher technical standards. Premier Foods wished to implement the following key changes: The eradication of eight manufacturing sites between September 2007 and December 2008. Five core sites would increase the number of consumer brands manufactured. Capability and capacity are critical. The transfer of more than 1500 consumer brands and 2000 materials (136,700 tonnes). Capital Investment of  £47 million, of which  £19 million would need to be delivered in savings. BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT PLAN REASONS BEHIND THE CHANGES External Market Pressures The United Kingdom has one of the fastest growing food and drink markets in the world (UK Trade Investment Services, 2009). The food and drink sector alone generates sales estimated at  £70 billion and significant growth areas lie in value added products i.e. ready meals or Non-European recipes. Recent studies had estimated the UKs organic sector at  £1.2 billion a year and the chilled food market a staggering  £7 billion. Therefore this accounts for almost 60% of the overall European chilled food market. However, in the East Midlands, food manufacturing is rapidly expanding. 15.1% of the UKs food produce is manufactured here and over the forthcoming years, this figure is expected to increase by 40%. Food companies such as NOM, an Austrian Diary Producer, have taken decisions with the help of the UK government (Trade and Investment) to expand into the UKs rapidly expanding food markets. Therefore, it was imperative that Premier Foods assess the external market and plan for radical change. Premier foods understood that the UK food market is highly competitive, demanding consistent product quality and reliable supply whilst seeking more competitive pricing and innovative new products (Premier Foods, 2010). The company had a policy to, generate economies of scale to reduce production costs in order to support promotional activity, investment in building brand awareness with the consumer and new product development (Premier Foods, 2010). Over the years, Premier Foods had marginalised its market position through organic and inorganic growth. Through this initiative, the company has strengthened its competitive position by undertaking various initiatives in order to boost efficiencies and minimize costs (Just-Food, 2010). During 2009, Premier Foods excelled it strategy of developing growing branded sales and expanding gross margin through the benefits of consumer scales and insights. The company recognised the need to continually develop this through 2010. In this period, the company wishes to deliver efficiency savings over and above the synergies already delivered in 2009. The benefit strategies of 2009 were particularly absorbed by inflation (Input Costs) and by tougher consumer and trading environments. Therefore, this allowed promotional costs to rise and the company are to remain cautious in the 2010 shortfall. Nevertheless, the company has the desire to challenge market growth rates and developed the strategy of identifying particular categories and brands they can push most. This new strategy splits consumer brands into, Drive, Core and Defend. Premier Foods represent Drive categories as the consumer brands which will inherit the most market investment i.e. Hartleys, Quorn, Ambrosia etc. However, Premier Foods agree that cooking sauces / accompaniments, desserts and cakes would have immediate success rates within the consumer market. A company statement had concluded that although the cake category was in decline over recent years, lunchbox, ready-to-eat sweet snacks or treats are proving extremely popular. In theory, taking advantage of this opportunity would eventually start a trend, where Premier Foods would target other popular categories. In other words there is ample room for additional market growth. Bearing this in mind, the company is still confident in delivering a three year market strategy in demonstrating the company is moving in the right direction, ability to make profits and increases in the UK / Ireland market share. Internal Pressures Organisational Reform By successfully developing an external market strategy plan, Premier Foods needed to radically transform the entire business, which would be a rationale for its success. The first phase was to conduct a review of all the manufacturing sites to identify their capabilities, infrastructure and skill base. This activity was conducted in the first three weeks by a small group of senior management. The site review allowed senior management to develop viable options and allowed the initial steps towards a cost benefit analysis. Once satisfied with this, a presentation was developed for the companies board and an agreement was passed to take the initial work to a full business case. A larger team, comprising representatives from each in scope sites, was formed and a clear consensus regarding the optimum option was quickly reached (Wilkinson, 2010). The agreement of the business case, allowed all main stakeholders to be involved within the development. The main intention was to secure a unanimous agreement on the final proposal. Fortunately, agreement was reached within six-weeks of the business case and provided a solid rationale for delivery of the restructuring programme. However, part of the business case recommended the closure of six manufacturing sites in the United Kingdom and two in Ireland. There would be a period of twenty-one months, in which a mixture of consumer brands would be manufactured over five expanded sites. By now, people including stakeholders, board directors, managers etc knew which consumer brands would move from one manufacturing site to another, the expected costs of the entire restructuring programme, target delivery points and detailing the benefits that would occur across the entire organisation. The output of this work also demonstrated the overall level of benefits that could be achieved and provided a baseline for delivering the programme (Wilkinson, 2010). Therefore, market strategy developments, extensive cost cutting exercises, combined with effective efficiency strategies developed a recipe for success. BUSINESS STRATEGY PLAN Rationale In July 2003, Premier Foods were initially floated on the London Stock Exchange with a business strategy of: Development within consumer focused brands. Development through effective consumer relations. Cost Reduction strategies and business simplification. Parallel to this, there was spotlight within the UK and the desire to acquire Great British brands. The integration of these, would rapidly contribute to further strategies based on scale. However, the main aim was to expand company competitiveness with other British food manufacturers, whilst still improving company returns to the shareholders. Premier Foods anticipated that corporate responsibility is a strategic priority that should be parallel to the overall business objectives. The company ensured that responsible business practice should be a fundamental operation of the business and place in the core of the corporate responsibility strategy of, doing the right thing. Premier Foods adopted a business strategy which analyses current issues and attitudes. This allows the company to anticipate any trends which could hamper the business. This business strategy has been untouched and still currently forms the central core of the companies aspirations. Due to the rapid growth of the company, the individuals and the manufacturing sites involved in the restructuring programme had very different cultures and people who came from different work backgrounds. Therefore, there was different levels of understanding in both project and programme management processes. Although, to implement an effective restructuring process, an effective change management strategy had to come into operation and to get an overview; there are five key principles that are extremely important: (Briggs, M., 1995) Individuals tend to react differently to change. Everyone has a desired need, which should be met. Change tends to involve a loss or reduction in something. Realistic targets and expectations. Fears need to be dealt with. Bearing this in mind, Premier Foods had to be open and honest about the entire restructuring strategy. The company were open and not too overoptimistic in theory. In other words, the company set realistic targets and deliverance dates. Project Management Strategy To improve how the company manages large or small scale projects, Premier Foods embarked on integrating a new project management process. Currently, there were various project management systems integrated across the entire organisation and the proposal was to have one standard system based upon Prince2. Prompt, would be the system which Premier Foods integrated across the entire organisation and benefits in Prompt allowed Premier Foods to manage and initiate projects in each work stream. Work stream managers were responsible for this and would manage project teams, to complete any work as necessary. Resource Management Strategy To increase flexibility and reduce project delivery risk, interdependencies between specific work streams and projects were minimised. Time scales and achieving key delivery dates were crucial in this process. However, to support this, Premier foods ensured a structured organisational programme was in place and at the same time, avoided the utilisation of common resources. On the other hand, the company sourced resources at the work stream level, through process of common procurement approach. This allowed work streams to progress at a constant level, whilst having the ability to maintain an overview of contract resource usage and ability to view potential competing priorities at an early stage. Environmental Strategy Due to recent European legislations in place, there are pressures within industry to curb the amount of carbon dioxide produced in the manufacturing of consumer goods. Premier Foods is committed to supporting the UK Governments position on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol (Premier Foods, 2010). The company has a Five Star Environmental Award Scheme in structure, which was rolled out to all manufacturing sites in 2009. The scheme is a benchmark ensuring energy usage, waste, water usage and carbon dioxide emissions are carefully monitored (Wilkinson, 2010). Scheduling Milestone Management Strategies The original business case recommended a tight delivery timescale and was substantially dictated by the seasonality of transferring food categories. In other words, the transferring of a food line had a set delivery date. If the opportunity was missed then the company would have to wait to the next available opportunity i.e. desserts are more popular in the winter and therefore move production to the summer. At different intervals during the project, there was the requirement to assess the restructuring programmes ability to deliver within the target timescales. Whilst towards completion of the programme, various groups of people needed to be coordinated around specific milestone dates. Therefore, Premier foods had to ensure a sufficient scheduling and milestone management programme was in operation. Programme Assurance, Change Control and Scope Management Strategies The scope of the restructuring programme was controlled within overall programme approvals through the formal initiation of projects and associated funding in each work stream (Wilkinson, 2010). Each element within the restructuring programme had strict parameters to adhere too and were closely monitored i.e. funding and timescale delivery. However, if parameter changes were necessary, agreement would have to be obtained through steering committees, by the change control process. Information Communication Strategies Due to a large number of individuals being involved in the restructuring programme, an effective communication strategy was implemented to ensure information was circulated both internally and externally. Therefore, to ensure employees fully understand the strategic approach, Corporate Responsibility Road shows, were presented at all manufacturing sites to Senior Management teams. This ensured that they were aware of the long term sustainability goals and could effectively brief all employees about the planned changes in the company i.e. maintain involvement and commitment to employees whose job role were becoming redundant. Regular meetings with key external stakeholders ensured that the company advised them on any major changes, ensured the company was on the front foot and most importantly, minimised any potential damage to corporate reputation from any foreseeable redundancies (Wilkinson, 2010). Moving food production from one manufacturing site to another, impacts both the suppliers and customers. Therefore, both had to understand the changes which were being devised and reassured that supplies in a particular food category were managed effectively i.e. there was sufficient stock in the warehouses, while the transfer of a particular food line was being made. Quality Management Strategy Quality Consumer Brands Although moving manufacturing lines from one site another is relatively a straightforward process, ensuring the quality of the produce is critical. The company initiated a quality protocol which ensured that an individual product would move to a new location, meeting all necessary standards. Therefore, ensuring you protected the consumer experience was fundamental to the programme. This operation was strictly controlled and managed centrally. This ensures that the steering committee could monitor the quality control process and highlight any problem areas. Quality Control Premier Foods technical and commercial teams ensured that resources were utilised where required. Food tasting panels were utilised to ensured product matching and consumer testing in more severe cases. This ensured that the companies acquisitions of additional food brands were protected from other manufacturers. Efficient Supply Chain Management Peer review stage gate processes were introduced to ensure decisions were made appropriately. Individual project managers would check a list of criteria leading up to a Go / No Go decision. Review teams were constituted from all areas of business, ensuring there specialist area was implemented to high standards. Supply change management and independent business activities were amalgamated into one process, to ensure risks to the business and customer service levels were understood and managed appropriately. Issue Management Strategy Dealing effectively and efficiently with issues was seen as a competitive advantage for whole organisation. Individuals could identify any issues, at any point with the restructuring programme. Once identified, the responsible manager or line manager would deal with the issue. If required, an issue could be escalated to high level through steering committees for example. Alignments between, operational business, programme delivery and benefit achievement, demonstrated clear ownership and responsibility of the programme (Wilkinson, 2010). Therefore, issue management procedures could be reduced, as the result of effective communication forums and clear governance routes (Wilkinson, 2010). Therefore, the delivery of the restructuring programme within, target timescales, benefits and customer service constraints demonstrates the effectiveness of this approach (Wilkinson, 2010). Health and Safety Strategy Premier Foods, employed 16,000 employees across 60 manufacturing sites and they recognise that our employees are our single most valuable asset and we strive to be an employer of choice in areas which we operate (Premier Foods, 2010). Health and safety was a critical aspect in the programme, ensuring a safer manufacturing environment and safety improvements within plant and machinery. Strict guidelines were put in place and key initiatives were presented to line managers in workshops to ensure that risk assessment and risk management initiatives were enforced throughout the company. Value Engineering Approach The value engineering approach was utilised throughout project delivery dates, operational design and high safety food standards. By scrutinising the entire project build i.e. capital costs, then positive decisions could be made. Likewise, a change control mechanism was in place to acquire a cycle of positive feedback. Therefore, changes could be made prior to management decisions. Feedback from the value engineering approach was shared across the entire restructuring programme, in the ability to deliver efficiencies i.e. value for money. PROJECT RISKS Human Physical Impacts As quoted by the Boston Consulting Group (2010), Premier Foods restructuring strategy was one of the largest and most complex restructuring of food manufacturing in the UK. Risks are inevitable with a restructuring strategy the size of Premier Foods and precautions need to be put in place to counteract any eventualities. To begin, risks begin with the agreement of all the key stakeholders within the company. If by any means the stakeholders were unable to come to a unanimous decision, then the entire restructuring process could be in jeopardy. The key to its success would be to present an excellent business case, identifying the key drivers and reasons behind the change. Whenever there are redundancies, it can be a devastating blow to the surrounding area, local economy and families. It may happen because a work place is closing down or because few employees are needed for work of a particular kind (Holland, et al, 2008). In this instance, part of Premier Foods restructuring programme involved closing eight manufacturing sites and distributing current food categories over five existing sites. Senior Management closed a site based upon a number of factors i.e. site throughput. The aim was to improve productivity, lower costs and increase profits. Nevertheless, redundancies were inevitable at this point and the key was to maintain the companies reputation to avoid scrutiny. A reputation of a company is its important and valuable asset. A positive one may bring many benefits to a company, when a negative one may significantly harm it (Westcott, 2005). Although it was a devastating blow, the company would have to ensure all employees were treated in the best possible interests. Fortunately, the company offered generous redundancy packages and liaised with the local councils to ensure all redundant employees would have help getting back into employment. Once the workforce has been restructured, logistics and the redistribution of resources are crucial. The overall business challenge was to redistribute; 1500 products, 2000 materials, build new facilities, transfer 51 manufacturing lines, put a 2.5 million pallet stock build in place to maintain customer supply and complete 1800 line trial activities (Premier Foods, 2010). Besides this, the company needed to maintain both the company image and the customer service performance of a demanding business. Keeping the consumer supplied was at foremost importance, as there was the possibility of loosing contracts with some of Britains major brand stockists i.e. Tesco, ASDA, Sainsburys. As well as ensuring the survival of major cultural brands that have been produce for generations i.e. Hovis. Likewise, due to the rapid growth of the company, individuals and manufacturing sites that were affected by the restructuring programme had very different cultures. Cultural Impacts Culture, is seen as a pattern of beliefs and expectation that are shared by an organisations members (Schwartz, et al, 1981). These factors tend to produce norms which, powerfully shape the behaviour of individuals and groups in the organisation (Schwartz, et al, 1981). Culture, intends to concentrate upon the nature of these expectations. Taking Premier Foods into context, the individuals involved have been told various incentives which are behind the grocery divisions restructuring process. Therefore, the company have the responsibility to deliver their business strategy and individuals are right to dispute whether company expectations are being met i.e. Do they promise what they wish to deliver in the short-term and long term future? There is the risk that Premier Foods simply do not deliver and again, elements including corporate image could be affected. Likewise, the individual and manufacturing sites involved, originated from different work backgrounds. There were different levels of understanding in both project and programme management processes. Although, its good when an organisation is built around people who have different ethics i.e. the ability to share ideas to improve an organisations structure, the problem is getting everyone to agree upon a particular thing and ensuring people work upon a standard level. The key is to ensure everyone has good understanding of both principles, to ensure the restructuring programme is at minimum risk as possible. If not, then conflicts can arise (behavioural factors) and the restructuring programme could have major issues. Generally, it doesnt work if one individual has a strong understanding in one area and a weak understanding in another. Other Potential Risks The organisational restructuring programme was also surrounded by other critical integration projects, which were being implemented at the same time. Some of these included the integration of key administrative functions i.e. Human Resources and Finance. In the marketplace, the company itself faced soaring food cost inflations, as well as the impact of a major economic recession. Human and physical resources were thinly spread and significantly challenged during this tense period. In other words, it was either make or break time and fortunately, the gamble succeeded in the end. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS Summary On a generic scale, the implementation of the entire restructuring programme was a complete success, taking the size and complexity of the programme into consideration. From research, the author identified the main critical elements for change. To begin, the author believes that Premier Foods wishes to be the leading competitor in the UK food market, to compete with other competitors. Once this is established, there maybe future business development plans to expand and compete with the European Food Market or on an International Scale. However, current infrastructure could not cope with future expansion and therefore, major internal reform was needed to improve the quality of food produced, the quantity of food produced and overall manufacturing costs. Although there were harsh reforms in the workforce for example, this allowed the company to focus on long-term developments and improve profits. In the short-term, this allows major shareholders to gain a healthy return in investments and can continue to provide investments for the future. Recommendations Taking the following into contention, no major improvements are needed. The Premier Foods restructuring programme demonstrates high professionalism, within a large strategic scale. All project delivery points were delivered on time and within budget. Although, a possible thought to consider is cultural differences. Current levels of project and programme management were at different levels between individuals and the manufacturing sites involved. Offering solutions that allow everyone to have the same level of knowledge may be advantageous. Nevertheless, its good when people have different ranges of knowledge and experience. This allows people to express their own interpretations, leading to new ideas. REFERENCES Boston Consulting Group (2010) Premier Foods. Available at: http://www.bcg.com/2010. (Accessed: 15th February 2010). Briggs, M. (1995) Change Management: Five basic principles and how to apply them. Available at http://www.teamtechnology.co.uk/changemanagement.html. (Accessed: March 2nd 2010). Holland, J., Burnett, C. (2008) Employment Law. Revised Edition. New York: Oxford University Press Inc. Just Foods (2010) Just Foods website. Available at: http://www.just-food.com/store/product.aspx?id=60647. (Accessed: 14th February 2010). Premier Foods (2009) Premier Foods website. Available at: http://www.premierfoods.co.uk. (Accessed: 20th February 2010). Schwartz, H., Davis, S.M. (1981) Organisational Dynamics. 1st Edition. New York. AMACOM UK Trade Investment Services (2009) UK Trade Investment Services website. Available at: http://www.ukinvest.gov.uk/Food--drink/en-GB-list.html. (Accessed: 14th February 2010). Westcott, J (2005) Corporate Image. Available at http://docs.google.com/viewer. (Accessed March 4th 2010). Wilkinson, R. (2010) Premier Foods Guest Lecturer Grocery Manufacturing Consolidation Programme. Available at http://elp.northumbria.ac.uk (Accessed 25th February 2010). BIBOLOGRAPHY Boston Consulting Group (2010) Premier Foods. Available at: http://www.bcg.com/2010. (Accessed: 15th February 2010). Briggs, M. (1995) Change Management: Five basic principles and how to apply them. Available at http://www.teamtechnology.co.uk/changemanagement.html. (Accessed: March 2nd 2010). Guardian News (2010) Premier Foods. Available at http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/marketforceslive/2010/feb/16/premierfoods (Accessed 15th February 2010). Holland, J., Burnett, C. (2008) Employment Law. Revised Edition. New York: Oxford University Press Inc. Just Foods (2010) Just Foods website. Available at: http://www.just-food.com/store/product.aspx?id=60647. (Accessed: 14th February 2010). Kotter, J. (1995 2002) Change Management. Available at http://www.businessballs.com/changemanagement.htm. (Accessed March 1st 2010). Premier Foods (2009) Premier Foods website. Available at: http://www.premierfoods.co.uk. (Accessed: 20th February 2010). Schwartz, H., Davis, S.M. (1981) Organisational Dynamics. 1st Edition. New York. AMACOM UK Trade Investment Services (2009) UK Trade Investment Services website. Available at: http://www.ukinvest.gov.uk/Food--drink/en-GB-list.html. (Accessed: 14th February 2010). Westcott, J (2005) Corporate Image. Available at http://docs.google.com/viewer. (Accessed March 4th 2010). Western Mail (2010) High Beam Research, Premier Foods hails sales rise as Hovis takes 25% of market, 1, pp. 1. International Newspapers, Local Markets Li-Z [Online]. Available at http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-219048662.html (Accessed March 4th 2010). Wilkinson, R. (2010) Premier Foods Guest Lecturer Grocery Manufacturing Consolidation Programme. Available at http://elp.northumbria.ac.uk (Accessed 25th February 2010).

Importance Of The Performance Appraisal Business Essay

Importance Of The Performance Appraisal Business Essay Q3. Critically assess the importance of the Performance Appraisal as a function of human resource management in either a private or a public sector organization. Use a relevant case study discussed in the seminars to illustrate the importance of the above in relation to the strategic business objective of the organization. Introduction The Human Resources Management (HRM) is rational allocation of human resources in planned way based on the requirements of development strategy of organizations, which ensure the corporate strategic objectives. The HRM is a series of corporate policies in human resources affairs and relevant management activities. A diversity of functions are included in the HRM, and the key is to determine the employment needs of an organization and whether to outsource or hire staffs to fill these vacancies, recruiting, training, evaluating performance, and guaranteeing the personnel and management performs conform to numerous rules. Performance appraisal is one of the key functions of the HRM, it has a largely effect on the success of the organizations HRM, thus, it is no need to say that performance appraisal plays an important role in either private or public sector organizations. However, due to the complicated relationship within the organizations and the difficulties in designing appraisal system, performance appraisal cannot always be effective and useful. In this paper, some basic concept of performance appraisal will be discussed at the very beginning, the importance of performance appraisal will be discussed after that, issues which leads to ineffective of appraisal will be indicated and a case will also be used to illustrate the importance of performance appraisal. The Role and Purpose of Performance Appraisal The performance appraisal is one of the most important parts of HRM system. Performance appraisal is the method of obtaining, analyzing, and recording evidence about the relative value of a staff to the organization. It is an analysis of a staffs recent performance, advantages and disadvantages, and suitability for training or promotion in the future. Besides rewards allocation, organizations also use appraisals to offer growing advice to employees, as well as to know their perspectives about their positions, departments, supervisors and organizations (Walsh and Fisher, 2005). Generally speaking, the processes of performance appraisal are in six following steps: 1. discussing and establishing standards of performance with employees; 2. setting assessable targets; 3. measuring real performance; 4. comparing real performance with the employee; 5. discussing the evaluation with employee; 6. initiating corrective action when it is necessary. As a crucial function of HRM, although there is no consensus on the purpose of performance appraisal, the purpose of performance appraisal is generally identified as to improve current performance, provide feedback, increase motivation, identify training needs, identify potential, let individuals know what is expected of them, focus on career development, award salary increases and solve job problems (Torrington, Hall and Taylor, 2002). Performance appraisal plays a verity of roles in the HRM: it encourages supervisor and staff have regular and organized dialogue, makes the provision of feedback to the employee being assessed comprehensively; it enables to evaluate past and current performance, aims to find out the possibility for improvement and how to achieve it; it identifies the needs of training and individual or professional developmental; it gives advice for promotion and secondment; it is used to decide the performance-based payment. The Importance of Performance Appraisal in Organizations It is clearly that the HRM makes a great contribution for either private or public sector organizations to achieve organization goals, therefore, as an important function of HRM, the performance appraisal has significant importance in organizations. If there is no performance appraisal system, an organization can hardly have a clear understanding of its current situation, therefore it cannot get the direction and goals for improvement for future, the situation of the organization will be dangerous. If the performance appraisal system is full of deviation or even error, it can possibly lead the organization into a wrong direction of resource inputting, thus the organization will lose its long-term competitiveness. On the contrary, an effective performance appraisal system can ensure resources of the organization invested into the most critical processes, which can improve competitive advantage of organization. Generally speaking, the importance of performance appraisal to organization is mainly reflected in three aspects: 1. Affecting the productivity and competitiveness of organization. Performance of employees has a huge effect on productivity and competitiveness of the organization. Performance can be measured from work results, work action and work attitude of employees; 2. Performance appraisal result is an important indicator of personnel decisions. Performance evaluation offers important reference when organization making personnel decisions, such as promotion or demotion, secondment, salary adjustment and so on; 3. Effectively performance appraisal leads to better staff management. It means that an organization can make better evaluation of staff performance, which results in more reasonable remuneration and incentive. It also means that an organization will be able to offer more help to employees self-development since performance evaluation can explore the potential of employees and help them know clearly about what they should do to meet expectations better. Besides, it will help to achieve better communication between superiors and staffs, which promote greater unity of purpose. It is no doubt to say that strategic control plays an important role in meeting strategic business objective of the organizations. Strategy implementation is best accomplished through high-performing people (Michlitsch, 2000), that is to say, the HRM functions are important strategic control measurements. The ability of the organization to obtain a benefit from the professional knowledge and employees vision will be limited if there is an invaluable link between human resources functions and strategic plans of organization (Humphreys, 2005), so the link between the HRM and strategic objective is so important. As one of the core functions of the HRM, performance appraisal has purpose on administration and motivation, it provides important information and feedback for the HRM, so it is necessary for leaders of organizations to understand and create accomplished performance appraisal and feedback systems, which can link human resource management activities with the strategic needs of th e business (Schuler, Fulkerson and Dowling, 1991). On the other hand, according to the research of Walsh and Fisher (2005), organizations performance appraisal processes operate in ways that are less than ideal. Performance appraisal may be leaded to useless and inaccurate situation by many factors such as time pressures, complicated forms and psychological defense. Whats more, the appraisal process may become unclear and incoherent since employees and organizations try to meet different needs by performance appraisal. That is why most organizations agree that performance appraisal is important and must be executed, but only a few organizations can execute it continuously, usefully and effectively. Besides, a performance appraisal system should build clarity and reinforce a strategic corporate mission/direction (Chadwick, 1991), different parts of the organization will make effort to achieve the objectives in their one-sided view if a performance appraisal system didnt build clarity and strengthen strategic organization objective, th is may lead to sabotaging to overall organization goal. If things come to this situation, performance appraisal cannot act as an important and useful role in the HRM, let alone in strategic control. A Case Study of Rother Homes Effective performance appraisal systems do make important contribution for either private or public sector organizations. One of the evidence is from the experience of Rother Homes, which included in the case studies we had discussed in the seminars. The strategic business objective of Rother Homes was to reorganize its top two management tiers, which needed help in plan of succession and in-house development of managers. Rother Homes wanted to create an organization capable of grasping the opportunities which independence allowed (Analoui, 2007). After preliminary restructuring, a brand new performance appraisal system was in great need and conducted gradually. According to well-planned process and customized, well designed feedback questionnaire, Rother Homes benefited from 360-degree feedback not only for their new performance appraisal system but also their program of management development. Ten-month management-development program was conducted on the base of new performance app raisal system, the program made employees expanding and applying knowledge and views better, it also made participants doing better in teamwork. This program got very positive feedback from managers. Finally, under the help of more suitable and supportive performance appraisal system, Rother Homes successfully reorganized its management tiers, whats more, they got a more cohesive and enthusiastic management group (Analoui, 2007), well met the strategic business objective. This example well illustrated the importance of performance appraisal in relation to the strategic business objective of the organization. Conclusion As one of the most important functions of the HRM, performance appraisal plays a big role in the success of the organizations HRM. Performance appraisal affects the productivity and competitiveness of organization, the results of performance appraisal is an important indicator of personnel decisions and effectively performance appraisal leads to better staff management. Performance appraisal has a big importance to either private or public sector organizations and an effectively performance appraisal system does offers great help for either private or public sector organizations to achieve strategic goals. However, since the complicated relationship within the organizations and the complications in establishing well-designed appraisal system, performance appraisal cannot always be effective and useful as we expected it. In one word, establishing an effective appraisal system is not an easy task and it can never be completed overnight (Caruth and Humphreys, 2008). The only way to deve lop a useful and effective performance appraisal system is to work hard, think carefully, plan seriously and design accurately as what Rother Homes has done, it is not easy but is definitely worth to do.

Can Computers Think? :: essays papers

Can Computers Think? In order to answer this question thinking must first be defined. Thinking is something that most scientists still don’t have a concrete definition of. The human brain is a very complex entity and we still don’t completely understand what happens when thoughts are processed. Scientists know that the brain is comprised of neurons that send signals to each other but the actual details are still not known. Bearing this in mind it is very hard to say whether or not something is thinking without a clear definition. The best I can do is to offer my own definition of thinking. I say thinking involves taking in information, making decisions, and being able to learn. Given this definition, it is my opinion that computers can think. Computers can take in information, make decisions, and they are beginning to learn. Comparing, ordering, remembering, storing, duplicating, choosing, These are all actions that require some thought process. Computers can do all these things, and while comparing a 1 against a 2 may not seem like a big deal, it does require a thought process. The computer must know the value of what is comparing, then use judgment to decide which one is bigger, and which one is smaller. And computers can do much more than compare two numbers. They can compare letters, words, phrases, and more. To see computers thinking you can simply go to an internet search engine, such as yahoo.com. Yahoo accepts information when you type in your search criteria. For example, lets say you want to search for information on artificial intelligence. You type in â€Å"artificial intelligence† into the text box and Yahoo takes that text and compares it to the text of millions of pages located in it’s database. It locates the pages that contain information that matches your search and displays those pages in order according to the closest match. Yahoo has just done many things that involve thinking. It has compared your search criteria with the contents of millions of web pages. Yahoo has ranked these comparisons according to the closest match, and it has ordered these pages according to rank. Comparing, ordering, and ranking all require thinking. And these are all tasks that the computer is able to do. This may not seem like very complex thinking, but never the less thes e simple tasks do require thinking.