Gas and oil prices Essay Example for Free

Gas and oil prices Essay Oil and Gas PricesOil and Gas 2There are many issues that cause the cost of oil and gas to increase. The main contributing issue to the increasing cost of oil and gas is supply and demand, when demand is greater than supply, the price of oil and gas will increase. The factors that affect supply include increased demand, problems with refineries and pipelines, and disruption to supply or threat of disruption to supply.With the increased demand for oil in the United States and other countries such as India and China; the extra demand for oil has put enormous pressure on available oil reserves. The Energy Information Administration stated, â€Å"If refinery or pipeline and/or reductions in imports cause supplies to decline unexpectedly, gasoline inventories (stocks) may drop rapidly. This may cause wholesalers to bid higher for available supply over concern that future supplies may not be adequate† (Energy Information Administration, 2008, para. 9). With this in mind, the other underlying factors that affect supply are disruption to supply or threat of disruption to supply along with The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries is an organization of oil producing countries which produces over 40% of the world’s crude oil and has two-thirds of the world’s oil reserves. This organization was formed in 1960 to regulate the supply of oil and to some extent, the price of oil. The organization includes Algeria, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Venezuela. Mouawad, J. stated, â€Å"The cartel has refused to pump more oil, fearing that any hasty move would lead to plummeting oil prices† (Mouawad, 2008 para. 19). With OPEC refusing to increase production and reserves being depleted, a conflict or threat of conflict can be an issue of concern.If there is a conflict or threat of war or conflict with the chance of a disruption in production in an oil producing country will cause oil and gas prices to increase. The most recent conflict that disrupted production is the attacks on the pipelines in Nigeria that caus ed Royal Dutch Shell to decrease exports due to damaged pipelines. Another recent conflict was the exports from Iraq being disrupted by Turkish and Kurdish forces. With these issues increasing the cost of oil and gas, consumers have to deal with the effects as well.With oil and gas prices steadily increasing with no relief in sight, consumers have had to cope with the many adverse effects of high oil and gas prices. There are many adverse effects of increasing oil and gas prices that  consumers have to cope with such as a change in lifestyle, change in shopping habits, and some drastic effects that include not paying utility or vehicle bills leaving some consumers with little options for getting to work. With the increasing oil and gas prices, consumers are left with less expendable income.Consumers are changing their lifestyle, shopping habits, and driving habits. Consumers are left changing their lifestyle by staying home more; therefore, they are eating out at restaurants less, cutting back on entertainment such as nights out at the movies. Consumers are finding themselves combining trips for errands which include paying bills, medical tri ps, and grocery shopping. Consumers are also making the decision of not travel long distances for vacation or decided on not taking a vacation altogether. These effects have consumers looking for alternative ways of travel and more fuel economical vehicles. Mouawad, J., Navarro, M. stated, â€Å"Americans have started trading their gas guzzlers for smaller cars, making fewer trips to the mall and, wherever possible, riding public transportation to work† (Mouawad Navarro, 2008, para. 7). These effects have consumers making adjustments to how they shop.With consumers being left with less disposable income they have changed their shopping habits by shopping online to save money on fuel by not leaving their home to go shopping. Consumers are finding themselves looking for and purchasing sale items whenever possible, purchasing bargain brand items instead of name brand items and shifting their automobile purchases towards vehicles with high fuel economy and away from the large SUV type vehicles which get less gas mileage. Some consumers have traded their SUV`s for smaller more fuel economical vehicles like the hybrid models and som e have bought motorcycles. With consumers in large suburban areas dealing with these effects, rural America is struggling with the effects of the increasing cost of oil and gas. In rural areas such as Mississippi, New Mexico, Montana, Wyoming, and North and South Dakota where consumers incomes are much lower and jobs are scarce, who mostly depend on pickup trucks and vans for transportation are going to extremes in order to cope with the high cost of gas. These effects have rural consumers borrowing money from their employers to help pay for the gas to get to work resulting in less money on payday, and changing jobs for shorter commutes. Some rural consumers find themselves hiring friends and family to drive them for errands due to their family or friends vehicle getting better gas  mileage, requesting buyouts from their employers, not making electric or vehicle payments, and some have gone as far as giving up meat so they can buy fuel.Indealing with these kinds of effects, rural consumers have made the diff icult decisions of changing their job for a shorter commute or moving closer to urban manufacturing jobs. Krauss, C. said. â€Å"Dick Stevens, president of Consolidated Catfish Producers, said that 10 workers walked into his office and volunteered to take a buyout rather than continue commuting from Charleston, Miss., 65 miles away† (Krauss, 2008, para. 24). With consumers continuing to cope with the effects of the ever increasing cost of oil and gas, businesses, both large and small are trying to adapt to the changes.

The Performance Management At The Starbucks Commerce Essay

The Performance Management At The Starbucks Commerce Essay Mr. Schultz with few investors bought Starbucks in the year 1987. In 1992 Starbucks decided to go public to achieve rapid expansion. The results of making the company public were great; it helped raise $25 million and took the growth rate at 40% to 60. Stratbucks had launched around 5000 outlets by year 2000. Averages of three new stores were being opened each day. At this time 20 million customers were being served by Starbucks. As the company had gone public sales and profits climbed at a rate of 45 to 55%. As the company expanded position of Chairman of board was retained by MR. Schultz while MR. Orin Smith became the CEO. Department of research and development was introduced. Versimo espresso machines and drive troughs were introduced in order to increase operations efficiency. Post of CEO was taken over by Mr. Jim Donald in the year 2005. Immense increase in sales was experienced in his era as the range of products was increased by him. Oven warmed breakfast sandwich, movies and books were added. The characteristics of Starbucks are as follows: Characteristics of Starbucks 1: Setting functional goals to achieve strategic objectives Knowing the distinction between corporate strategy and business strategy is very significant in order to respond to the questions mentioned above. Corporate strategy Issues related to the market in which the market wants to compete or would compete in future are dealt with corporate strategy. The main concern of the strategy is mission, aim and on the whole degree of the organisation. Business Strategy Strategies associated to making a business prosper in a specific market are known as Business strategy. An alternate name for business strategy can be Competitive strategy. The main objective behind the strategy is to be in a situation where organisation has competitive advantage over its opposition in the market by cost leadership or differentiation. Integration, Acquisition and Mergers related benefits achieved by Starbucks Benefits attained by using vertical Integration (backward or forward integration) strategy were: As a result of direct contact with the targeted market, significant environmental knowledge of market is gathered. This enables to make early adjustments to avoid loss. Higher profits can achieve as they are being a buyer and supplier. Sp some section of this value can be delivered to customers. Need for much more capital to enter the market will increase the entry barriers for potential oppositions as a result of vertical integration. Impact of decentralization, separate profit units on Starbucks Diversified business units will have less cooperation between each others. Transaction cost might not be saved as divisional publishing units have to achieve minimum profit % set by corporate management to remain in the Starbucks. Responsibility of their divisional business is not being taken by higher management willingly. Tax in result of stock transfer by internet is being saved. Business and corporate goals would lack alignment. core competencies cannot increase for different businesses Available tools and techniques to set team performance objectives Motivation is most important thing. Motivation can be categorized as a process which develops a desire that people have to work well and achieve the goals. In order to have increased and constant high performance from a worker, it is important to keep the workforce motivated as it is the main aspect of performance. Motivation can be in financial or non financial forms, it is important to apply different theories and figure out which works out the best. In Abraham Maslows theory, he has divided human needs into five types. He then further developed it into a heirchy of needs pyramid, in which needs are aligned in order. According to him all the five human desires have to be fulfilled, to uphold or boost stimulus levels.. Following picture shows hierarchy of the needs: Till year 2000 which was Mr. Schultz era, he managed to attend all the needs lined up in hierarchy. Evidences are provided in the chart below: Source: (Suhomlinova, 2008) Maslows theory was truely adopted by Mr. Schultz in his era. He managed to maintain high levels of job satisfaction level with consistency among the partners. This is proved by 70% staff turnover, which was a result of very satisfied partners. Whereas at the same time other food industries were experiencing 300% staff turnover. After Mr. Schultz period deviations from Maslows theory was observed. Orion Smith denied paying for the overtime, he also neglected health and safety as injuries related to work were not paid for. Partners autonomy was reduced in the operations by the introduction of espresso machines. Job complexity got worse when later Mr. Donald introduction of oven warmed sandwiches resulted in little stimulus and job contentment levels. Latham and Lockes theories about setting goals indicates that if goals are set wisely, it can boost up the motivation levels leading to higher levels of job satisfaction and performance. Set goals must be SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and time based). Every member of the organisation should agree with the goals set up and should work toward achieving it. Before 2000 under Mr. Schultz leadership organisations aim was to originate a 3rd place if all the partners agreed on it and was acceptable to them. After 2000 with the change of leadership t he goals also changed. The goal was to open as many outlets as possible. The partners were not told of the new goals and strategies which were mainly made to boost up the rapid expansion. All the goals and policy making was done at the top and partners were unaware of it. Moving at a rapid growth rate it seemed unrealistic to maintain customer experience. According to expectancy theory of Vroom the work force will put forward extra effort and hard work when they are aware that their hard work will be praised and rewarded. Expectancy theory is most effective when an enormous organizational change is arising e.g. in this case when espresso machines were installed this theory can be applied to get desired results as some people will not feel comfortable to work with machines as they enjoy doing all the steps of coffee making in a relax pace while talking to customers at the same time. Equity theory tells us that the employees judge the fairness of the distribution of rewards by comparing it to the other co-workers rewards. If the employee making the caparison gets to the conclusion that he is under rewarded, it may result in low motivational and performance levels. Frustration can also arise if the employee is being under rewarded. Increasing number of organisations were understanding the importance of keeping the workforce happy for staff retention and better performance. The job complexity was increasing with the expanding number of stores, sales and products. Due to the increased burden the partners started to feel that the organization is not caring for them, in fact day by day the burden of work was increasing and they had to work very hard to get rewards. The Value of Team Performance Tools to Measure Future Team Performance In 1980 Hackman and Oldham defined 5 features of a good job design; they defined the 5 characteristics as skill variant, test identity, task significance, autonomy and feedback. Skill variety was reduced by the installation of espresso machines as the step which involved coffee making, now were different due to machines input. Machines have the massive on the way people perform their jobs, machines bring standardisation and people start depending upon them. The element of people skill was reduced which starbucks was originally hired on with the introduction of espresso machines and growing amount of work load. Socialisation and emotional aspect was missing with the new policies there is no time to speak to customers or colleagues. Usually partners took help from each other, when there was a work load, currently machines can put up with it. Machines do not have any emotions associated to them, people think that they are controlling the machines but in reality they are being controlled by machines as they have to work according to the machines and cope up with its speed. Previously their partners were solely acknowledged by the complimentary feedback from customers as they were involved in the steps of making coffee. Now the appreciation is divided as machine is involved and people think at times that major part of the job is performed by the machine. All the discussion above is almost contradicting Hackman and Oldmans theory thus, resulting is low job satisfaction To make the experience uplifting for the customers these are the main 3 gears of Starbucks branding strategy. Under the leadership of Mr.Dnonald and Mr.Smith clearly all the components mentioned above were losing strength. Reduced personalisation and very little time to communicate and socialise with the customers was the result of espresso machines. The atmosphere standards were being destroyed by the development of drive through as fewer soft chairs and carpeting, as a result of this service is also dropping because 80% of Starbucks coffee is consumed outside stores. In todays market its very significant to created competitive advantage, this can be achieved then product differliation composed to competitions. This is important as many subsidies are present in market this differentiation will make their product sell over others. At very early stages Starbucks adopted the relationship marketing approach. Under the leadership of Mr.Schultz. Today under the leadership of Mr.Donald and Mr.Smith Starbuck is practicing the philosophy of early 19th century. The brand is being ruined by this policy as strategy of horizontal diversification is being used for growth. Early 19th century related production concept is being followed when the imagination of organisations was that as they produce quality products at affordable rates the customers will favour them. in the mid 1920s the selling concept came in, according to which sales targets were to be achieved by aggressive promotion. In the early 1950s the marketing concept also came in. The concept stated to manufacture goods according to the demand and taste of customer. In 1990s the relationship marketing era started. This concept was that apart from producing products according to the. Customers likely and demand, it was also important to maintain long term relation with its satisfied customer. The factors discussed above mention that the starbucks was going backward in the world of marketing after 2000.This is shown by the diagram, illustrated above. Starbucks unique and rich culture is the reason behind its success. A lot of respect is given to its employees calling them partners and using ceo as a substitute of CEO. The achievements of the partner is appreciated by the organisation in the form of norms Warm regard, Mug, Bravo and sprit of starbucks. To achieve customer satisfaction Starbucks feel that it is important to satisfying their staff .Work force variety create environment for a lot of fresh ideas and culture of different sort together, which makes starbucks a desirable place to work. Apart from satisfying its staff and customers sratbucks also serve the community. This is done through their corporate social responsibility group which donated $36.1 Million cash and products sratbucks also volunteered 383,000 hours to help out the community .The unique culture of starbucks helped them to maintain the satisfaction of employees which resulted in low staff turnover and the contentment of a staff were transferred to the cust omers. By the early year 2000 the rules and strategies of starbucks started to change as it was believed the starbucks amazing culture is onerous instead of competitive advantage. as stated in the case study the company had stopped paying for the overtime, less care for the staff and injuries related to work were not being paid for .After Mr.Schultz leadership partners were not consulted about the new strategic decision like, drive through, offering sandwiches or the design changes made to accommodate more customers. Reduced empowerment and lack of entrepreneurial spirit was the result of these policies of the partners. Partners make labour union was fired by the Starbucks. This indicates that the starbucks partners cant get to the upper level management. They need union because of the unhappiness.Making more stores and achieving higher sales become the aim of the higher management .The partners had a feeling that it was not starbucks who was giving up the benefits, but the case was that they had to work very hard to get them .Starbucks faced problems like lower customer satisfaction, less staff satisfaction, reduction in sales and share value as a result of deviation from their culture. 2: Team performance targets towards objectives. To achieve objective a few targets are recommended of the evaluation of the organization: Business It analysed that after Mr.Schultz era which ended at the start of 2000 the focus of the organization deviated from people to other issues .Starbucks preferred products, increase in efficiency through machines and growth of the organization over the people. Leadership Transformational leadership is required to solve the issues mentioned above in the analysis. Importance of leadership should be recognised by Starbucks and the fact that management is not the replacement for leadership. From the above study we can conclude that Starbucks is totally unaware with the advantages of transformational leadership. A good example can be Mr.Schultz. starbuks needs to get in leadership training programmes. They could use their own leadership story for a better understanding. As their story mentions different impacts, under different leaderships. Culture The culture of Starbucks is very rich but after 2000 their dimensions, strategies, aims changed. According to market research report 53% to 61% believes that Starbucks is all about making money. While 48% to 55% people have thinking that Starbucks is all about opening new stores. Its partners also feel that the employees are not being cared for. All the negative thoughts about Starbucks need to be changed. Motivation Starbuks needs to motivate its workforce. As from the study above we have noticed that employees do not have any say. They should be made part of the decision making process., their work shall be appreciated by verbal means as well as financially at times. A new job design needs to be in place which involves less use of machines. Boost in entrepreneurship spirit and empowerment can be achieved if supported and participated leadership is introduced. Product and Competitive Advantage, Vision, Atmosphere and People Creating product differentiation on actual product is very difficult. Competitive avantages can be created through the way to concentrate on service and environment. Environment can be improved by making seating more comfortable by installation of music systems, roper lighting, carpets, heating systems and comfortable seats. Job satisfaction is very important to maintain, as a satisfied workforce will make customers satisfied. This can be achieved by thinking of new ways to reduce job stress. One way can be by reducing the use of espresso machines. 3: Monitoring of actions and activities to uplift team performance Dividing the task into groups or departments and developing coordination between these departments of the organization to achieve organizational goals is called Organizational structure. A good structure sets clearly defined authorities and duties. It also develops and increases coordination. As a result it eases monitoring of different activities of the organisation. Enhanced effectiveness and effectiveness in operations of the organization is a result of this. Organizational structure can be made in three ways; by grouping different activities of the organization: Functional Structure (grouping by task) Divisional Structure (grouping by output) Matrix Structure(grouping by task and output simultaneously ) Starbucks has some functional departments but apart from that it does not have any formal organizational structure as there is no data written in the case study nor on the website. These departments are finance, sales, corporate social responsibility, production, research and development and human resources. The organisation structure shows lack of connection, sequence and coordination between different departments which is observed in the case study. From this kind of functional grouping Starbucks achieved in-depth functional knowledge as it is stated in the case study We tend to be great on measuring things, at collecting market data (Suhomlinova, 2008) but overall organizational goal is suffering due to lack of coordination and accountability. Starbucks grouping also hindering the effective decision making process of the organization as it is stated that we are not very disciplined when it comes to using this data to drive decision making (Suhomlinova, 2008). Poor accountability no clear responsibly is also observed as market research noticed that Starbucks is losing product differentiation and customers satisfaction rates are declining through their decisions like creating convenience by increasing no of stores and drive-throughs but no one was looking at the big picture and previous executives were blaming soft economy for poor performance (Suhomlinova, 2008). During rapid expansion they followed Max Weber Classical approach which led to bureaucracy. They moved their focus from people to mechanistic organization as Mr. Schultz said that he want to shift Starbucks focus from bureaucracy to people by giving them more training and tools to launch new products and introduce new concepts in store designs (Suhomlinova, 2008). All of the above circumstances are creating problems like critical customers satisfaction results reduction in staff morale and cannibalization of existing stores. In respect to Starbuck bureaucracy means function department are performing their tasks without coordination, espresso machines increased standardisation which made partners job boring, formalization and centralized authority to make decision. In general bureaucracy result in higher performance for large size organizations but in Starbucks bureaucracy became a factor or low performance because bureaucracy is effective in standardised operational activities and Starbucks customers want personalized coffee with non-standardized emotional greeting. Value Chain and coordination with drawing activity map Activities related to production are divided into secondary and primary activities by Michael E. Porter value chain. Making and delivering the products is associated with primary activities. Supporting and service activities are related to support the primary actives to produce product or services effectively and efficiently (Johnson, 2008: p.110). Starbucks diversified product portfolio and geographical distances are creating hurdles to fully utilize the essence of vale chain. Mr. Middelhoff asked the whole group to increase and share communication and resources for synergy without drawing an activity map that where the coordination is required. Michael E. Porters value chain is shown in the following diagram. 4. Apply influencing and persuading skills to the active and politics of personal relations. Starbucks needs to develop a marketing department as it has expanded to such a large scale. To develop a marketing department integration of its 3 existing department market research group, category group and marketing group is needed which is show in the picture and adopt relationship marketing approach. Organizational Chart for Starbucks In order to overcome the difficulties mentioned in the analysis an organization chart is shown above. In designing Starbucks structure all types of grouping methods are considered to maximise synergies. To increase communication horizontal and vertical structures are used at different levels. Horizontal structure is used at bottom level management, which includes country manager, area manager, Store Manager and then sales. Vertical communication is used in functional departments. To comprehend customers, enhance efficiency and effectiveness marketing decisions, through internal integration of three existing groups marketing department is brought in to shape. As all the departments will be at head office, it will improve coordination and communication between functional departments. In result this will improve and foster strategic decision making process. Implementing the above recommended chat will result in decentralised and clear responsibilities at all management levels. This will help the organisation reduce bureaucracy. Conclusion The study has tried to explore Starbucks within four learning outcomes as specified above and has found that Starbucks has a unique spiritual culture created by a transformational leader Mr. Schultz. This case tells us that how leaders and organizations can change commodity into culture by having strong belief on people and by creating ethical culture. Power and devotion of people can change a simple product and small company to huge multinational company. Critical analysis of different theories in organization behaviour module not only helps in understanding the organization but also provide a basis to improve them in different environments. Most of the companies now days are trying to increase performance of the organizations by embracing technology but this case study give us a different point of view a more natural approach to solve different problems of the organizations. Different theories developed with the passage of time but to understand organization performance its best to understand and apply all to get multiple view of the organization behaviour.

The Role of Music in Politics

The Role of Music in Politics If theres any hope for America, it lies in a revolution. And if theres any hope for a revolution, it lies in Elvis Presley to become Che Guevara. These words by Phil Ochs, an American protest singer, reflect the power of the political use of music (Street, 2003). Since music is a strong way of expressing inner thoughts and feelings, it reveals the political views and stands of people; thus serving as a political tool. Music has the power to get massive crowds pumped up, which is why it is used to bring support to various causes. In war times, governments used music as propaganda to boost nationalism and promote fighting. In addition, music is used in elections numerous times. From a different standpoint, many musicians benefited from music as their resistance. Rock and roll was the voice of anti war protests in 60s, folk music stood for civil rights (Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Museum, 2012). These examples also proves us that music is closely related with issues going on at a certai n time; just as soul music, which focused on lives of Afro Americans in 30s. All of the things mentioned above show us music and politics are inseparable. Music is just not about entertainment, its the reflection and expression of people; therefore music serves humans as their truth bearer, so the political use of music should be done strongly and continuously. If we look at the role of music in politics, well see that it is used to aid two causes (generally); either serving or rebelling against dominant institutions in society (Williams, 2009). Due to musics irresistibility and ability to change peoples ideas, it has an integral part in public; therefore music is used by various political sides to promote their beliefs. National anthems are highly respected by their citizens and boost nationalism, for instance. Governments also benefited from other songs, especially in war times. American government frequently has songs to raise support for troops in war, as in God Bless America, which was used in WW2 (Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Museum, 2012). Also during WW2, Soviet government funded bands and other forms of entertainment to maintain military morale, and infamous Nazis specified the use of songs in their Nazi Youth trainings, as John Street stated (Street, 2003). Music was also used against governments, as in anti war protests. Redgum, a n Australian rock group, recorded a song called I Was Only 19 to show what young Australian soldiers been through in Vietnam. Song had exploded in Australia and became the voice of people against war. Through 60s, hippie music was considered as a threat to government because of its peaceful attitude. All these situations are great examples of how music is used successfully to promote a belief, a stand; therefore I think its safe to say that music plays a big role in determining politics. Music is a great way to create a bond between people and make them act as one. It is also the unofficial voice of resistance. An intriguing case study is provided by Peter Wicke, who argues that rock musicians in East Germany were the catalysts for collapse of the East German regime. He states that governments repression of rock turned it into a resistance, which was more or less impossible to control (Street, 2003). A local example from Turkey, a protest rock group named Grup Yorum had released countless recordings which created conflictions with government, and often resulted in group members ending up in jail. All of these happened because of the groups political stand, but these events made them the #1 protest group in Turkey. In addition, Woodstock music festival was the biggest event of its time, showing youths resistance to government, while uniting the general young population. Bennett stated that Woodstock 69 is remembered as much for its bringing together of counter cultur al generation, as for the music performed. The festival was a milestone for the political use of music and it opened the way for events (Williams, 2009). Woodstock 69 festival spread to the world the concepts like free love, civil rights and anti war stance. Just like this, summer of 1967 was called Summer of Love, due to the events going on in that summer, as freedom or anti war thoughts, similar to Woodstock. Music was one of the main parts of these events, it helped to re shape the community, united youth and resisted to the existing reactionary thoughts. Music created a better way of living for us, starting from these events. For many times, music was used to inform the society about various issues. Soul music in 1930s demonstrated the hardships of anguished Afro Americans. Folk singer Woodie Guthrie wrote many songs about the lives of black people, especially in rural areas, where black people were used as slaves. An example for this, is the song I Aint Going to Be Treated Like This Way. His outspoken lyrics caused him to be labeled un American, but his work informed the US society and influenced many artists to follow his way (Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Museum, 2012). There are also much more peaceful attempts, just as the USA for Africa. Many famous artists including Michael Jackson, Bruce Springsteen etc. founded this group and recorded We Are The World. It made the community aware and raised millions of dollars to stop the growing famine in Africa. Some artists wrote a song called Sun City, criticizing the Apartheid in South Africa. Bob Geldof can be considered as the father of charity concerts, su ch as Live Aid, which was also started for the poor living standards in Africa. These concerts raised hundreds of millions and created conscious in society, while giving immeasurable pleasure to its audience. Grossberg stated that so many attempts are being made to articulate rock with politics, although these attempts mainly have little or no impact on society (Shuker, 1994). Some might say that music is irrelevant with politics and the political stance of a musician does not need to be shared by its listeners. This is partly true, considering the apolitical youth in 2000s and so. But they are forgetting something. People identify themselves with music. They want to connect with the artist, and if the artist is not on the same page with its audience in politics, the songs wont be listened. Dixie Chicks, which is a then famous country music group, created a confliction, regarding to Iraqi War and US President Bush. Lead singer Natalie Maines said that she was ashamed of her president, because of Bushs war policy (Dixie chicks: Shut up and sing! [DVD], 2006). The words were incendiary and the US society jumped on this. They were criticized in every possible way and eventually, they lost t heir popularity. This wouldnt have happened if the listeners were not considering the groups political stance. Another example for this is the music following 9/11. John Parales said that People wanted to hear something to comfort them. They wanted to hear something that captured the anger people felt. (McMasters, 2003). Any song irrelevant with the political stand of the US society, which was supporting war then, would not be listened. Also, rock music in 1960s integrated the black and white youths. Since they were all listening to the same songs, they supported the same political views. This was not viewed as a good thing by the government and the parents at that time. Still, it opened a way for future, and its a wonderful example of the political relevancy of music. Music is closely connected with politics. In conclusion, political use of music is being done by the governments, protest groups, literally every single group in every society. Music is a reflection of people, and the political issues at a certain time, as seen in the examples that were mentioned. Music brings support to various causes. Plus, it connects people and opens a way for a better future, also raising money and consciousness in societies. It is being said that music is irrelevant with politics, but people define themselves with music and search for same political views in artists, as written here in examples. All these points emphasize that music is an effective political tool, and the political use of music should be done strongly and continuously.

Ethics of the USA PATRIOT Act Essay -- Foreign Intelligence Essays

Ethics of the USA PATRIOT Act Another week, another series of patches to download from Microsoft. It seems like every week, Microsoft is under siege from one virus or another. The complexity in the billions of lines of code embedded in its products make it impossible to be error-free. If it is this easy for hot-headed M$ haters to breach the world’s largest software maker, one has to ask: how hard would it be to expose vulnerabilities in the most sophisticated and technologically dependent country in the world? That is exactly what the US government is mulling about. The Information Age has brought unparallel speed of communication plus an immeasurable breadth of information to our fingertips. On the same token, it is also seeing the birth of newer and cleverer ways to create weapons that are too small to detect, too easy to produce, and too widespread to catch them all. For years, the government tried expanding its powers, first in the Reagan Administration, then the Bush (I) Administration, only to be rejected in the Legislature time after time. However, after the 1996 Oklahoma Bombing, the executive branch received some powers. But not until 9/11 did the government win unprecedented expansion of powers from the USA PATRIOT Act (Incidentally, Congress was going to pass a law to repeal those won in 1996 prior to 9/11). [1] The USA PATRIOT Act stands for â€Å"Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act† (USAPA). It entrusts government agents to a whole new arsenal of weapons to counter terrorism. Besides fully upgrading many watered down surveillance laws, it also promotes the use of the pen register, trap and trace devices, carnivore, sneak and pea... ...p because I wasn't a Jew. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist. Then they came for the Catholics and I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant. Then they came for me, but by that time, no one was left to speak up." 2 [1] http://www.globalissues.org/Geopolitics/MiddleEast/TerrorInUSA/USAPA.asp [2] http://www.epic.org/privacy/terrorism/usapatriot/ [3] http://www.yellowtimes.org/article.php?sid=444 [4] http://www.aclu.org/Files/OpenFile.cfm?id=14799 [5] http://www.eff.org/Privacy/Surveillance/Terrorism/PATRIOT/safe_act_analysis.php [6] http://www.lifeandliberty.gov/subs/q_support.htm [7] http://www.lifeandliberty.gov/subs/s_articles.htm [8] http://www.lifeandliberty.gov/ [9] http://www.lifeandliberty.gov/subs/p_congress.htm [10] http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/55/33106.html

Destiny, Fate, Free Will and Free Choice in Oedipus the King - Power of Fate :: Oedipus the King Oedipus Rex

The Power of Fate in Oedipus the King The Greek tragedy Oedipus the King, by Sophocles, was written to show the common people of Greece how powerful the gods are and that your fate is pre-determined and nothing you do can change that. He does this by showing how people in this story try to escape their fate and how it is no use because in the end, what the oracles predict comes true. In the story there are many occasions in which people try to escape their fate. The first time that one of the characters in the story tries to escape their fate is when Jocasta and Laius have a child. After the oracles tell Jocasta and Laius of their fate, Jocasta and Laius try to get rid of their new born baby by sending him off to a shepherd who in turn will put the baby on a mountain to die, however in the end their child (Oedipus) becomes a prince of another city and ends up killing his father (Laius) in an altercation and marries his mother (Jocasta). Another example is when Oedipus tries to run away from those who he thinks are his real parents because he does not want to kill his father or marry his mother, however he ends up doing so when he meets his real father in a intersection of three roads and kills him. The third example is when Oedipus continues on his journey to escape his fate and comes across the sphinx. The sphinx was a horrendous monster that was terrorizing the city of Thebes and it was said that whoever could solve the riddle of the sphinx would become king of Thebes. Oedipus solved the riddle and became king thus marrying the queen of Thebes (Jocasta) who was his real mother. By doing this he committed what he tried to get away from. In the end of the story, when Oedipus and his wife/mother find out that the prediction of the oracles has came true, Jocasta kills herself and Oedipus kills himself when he sees his mother/wife dead. This part of the tragedy is to show that if you try to escape your fate, you will be punished by the gods.

Management and Smart Criteria

University of Phoenix Material Goal Setting Worksheet Review this week’s resources (for example SMART criteria, and the Career Plan Building Activities). Respond to the following in 50 to 100 words each: 1. Describe one academic goal that you have created using the SMART criteria. How do SMART criteria contribute to your academic goals? One academic goal that I am using with SMART is passing my classes with a least a C. SMART contribute to my academic goals by helping me to improve in my classes, help me to allocate time to important activities such as my family and help me reduce stress due to college life work and personal life. . Describe one professional/career goal you have created using the SMART criteria and Career Plan Building Activities results. How did the results of the Career Interest Profiler and Career Plan Building Activity on Competencies contribute to your professional goal development? One professional goal that I have created with using SMART is to win empl oyee of the year at my job. It contributes to my professional goal because I am a good listener. I like to work with people and I follow my employer’s rules. 3. Related article: Example Essay How to Study SmartDescribe the stress and time-management strategies you have learned this week that will help you achieve your goals. Stress and time management strategies that I have learned this week that will help me achieve my goals are to prepare myself for that goal. When study I should take breaks so that I will not be stressed. I will also adjust my plan each day. 4. Describe how you will balance academic expectations and your personal and professional responsibilities. I will balance my academic expectations, personal, and professional responsibilities by Equally I will give my attention to them all.I would come up with a schedule where I would set time slots to give my time to each . I think by doing this I will not feel overworked and over whelmed. 5. How can understanding the importance of SMART criteria and your career interests and competencies help you move towards your career and academic goals? Understanding the importance of SMART and my career interest can help me move in my career and academic goals by helping me to stay focus and take control of my life direction. Using SMART can help me to be and stay motivated to see if I am succeeding in achieving my goals.

Case study -Edward Essay

It was developed by his past experience from infancy up to present. The subject would feel depressed whenever he is experiencing paranoia and suspicion. This will lead for the subject to be deprived of sleep, lose his appetite and experience extreme sadness. He also experience feeling of hopelessness and worthlessness. When he was an infant, his father was always busy at work as a utility man. His mother is the only one who is always taking care of him. Although the subject was loved by his siblings, he still deeply longs for the love of a father; it is the main reason for the development of his impairment in interpersonal functioning. When the subject reaches his early childhood up to puberty, his longing for the love of a father is still with him. This longing for love of a father developed his hatred. He thinks that his father doesn’t love him because he is not spending so much time with him. There was an instance where he embarrassed his father in front of his friends by answering back without respect. The subject feels guilty after that incident. He knows that he should have not done that. And when he was in college, he was accused of being involved in a  fight between two fraternities because of his tattoo. This triggers his suspiciousness and paranoia. He thinks that people around him are talking about his involvement in that fight. In fact, he even thinks that some of his friends are NBI agent trying to spy on him. He becomes very depressed because of his anxiousness. He even experience visual and auditory hallucination. This affects his perception towards himself and the environment. As a result, his overall functioning became impaired by making him deviate from what he believes is real from unreal and right from wrong. Abnormal content of thought The patient’s content of thought was abnormal. It is deeply depressed and anxious. Because of his visual and auditory hallucinations, his paranoid ideation was developed for he believes that what he sees and what he hear is true. The patient has delusion of persecution. He would think that people around him are always talking about him. He even hears voices from television and radio talking about him. He thinks that people around him are planning something to destroy him. This resulted for the subject to became depressed and be emotionally unstable. Because of his paranoid ideation, the subject becomes very anxious about people around him. He thinks that vendors and door-to-door salespersons are NBI agents trying to get information about him. He even thinks that his friends, classmate and relatives are conspiring against him. The subject also has a delusion of grandeur. He thinks that he is very popular worldwide. He is also having a suicidal thought but is afraid in acting upon it. The patient is also having a feeling of hopelessness and worthlessness as he says â€Å"wala nang kwentang mabuhay†. He even feels that he has no allies and everyone is against him, he said that, â€Å"wala na kong kakampi†. This also triggers his impairment in overall functioning. Illogical form of thought The patient has a thought insertion. He is calling it â€Å"dagdag bawas†. He said that there were times that his thought were being taken away and then brought back. His form of thought was illogical. He thinks that people around him are spying and conspiring against him. He is having irrational suspicion about people around him due to his auditory hallucinations that  made him anxious. He is acting accordingly to his auditory hallucinations which are commanding him to do things. He would also rather hear a word which is out of context of what is being said to him or latter added in a word changing the meaning of the sentence. Distorted perception The patient’s perception was distorted; he would think that what he it was made of human flesh. He decided not to eat anymore because he believes that it will make him more of a sinner. He believes that he is an â€Å"aswang† and everything he ate was made up of human flesh. He decided to stop eating because he thinks that it will make him more of a sinner. He also believes that he deserves to die and acted upon it by slashing his wrist with a knife. He views himself differently far from what is real. This resulted for the subject to lose his appetite and loss his interest in things. He also believes that he is known internationally. He would also believe that people around him are conspiring against him to destroy him. This resulted for the patient to withdraw. Increasing his anxiety, and impaired his overall functioning. Mood and affect His mood was deeply depressed and anxious. It is due to his paranoid ideas about his friends and family conspiring against him. He even said that â€Å"wala na kong kakampi† because he thinks that everyone around him are destroying him. He even thinks that his family is spying on him too. He is preoccupied with that thought. His affect was constricted due to his lack of emotional reactivity. It is the result of his depression because he finds it hard to express his emotions and feelings. In fact, in his MSE report, there are no verbal outputs about his speech, thought process, thought content, judgment and insight, and reliability. Impaired sense of self The subject’s sense of self was impaired due to his unawareness of his physical and mental state, he believes that the problem is not in himself but in the environment, although he is somewhat right in that point considering the environmental factors that which have led to his impairment, but in reality the problem was inside himself, he is the only one who can help himself and of course the origin of his disease was his weak sense of  self due to his inability to fight it off, he easily believed his hallucinations and his distorted perception about people, things and his self, in other words he was the one who pushed himself to madness. He believed that he is an â€Å"aswang† making him to decide to stop eating. He also believes that he deserves to die and acted upon it by slashing his wrist with a knife. Altered volition The subject’s course of action was altered by his false beliefs about things around him. He stops on eating because he believes that he is an â€Å"aswang† and everything he ate was made out of human flesh. He also decided to withdraw due to his paranoid ideations about people around him. He viewed most of the people around him to be NBI agent spying on him. He even reacts accordingly to his auditory hallucinations which are commanding him to do things that are harmful to him. He also decided to kill himself by slashing his wrist with a knife because he believes that he deserves to die. Impaired interpersonal function It is first developed when the subject is still a child. His father is not always around him making him envious with other kids which have a good relationship with their father. This longing of fatherly love developed hatred towards his father. He even embarrassed his father in front of his friends by shouting and cursing at him. This incident made his relationship to his father more difficult. And when he was in college, he was mistakenly accused as one of the students who started the fraternity fight because of his tattoo. After that incident, gossip still continues about him being involved about the fight which is believed to be drug related. This made the subject to be very anxious about people around him. He thinks that his classmates are NBI agents in civilian trying to spy on him. Because of his paranoid ideations, his interpersonal activity decreased because he decided to withdraw. It made him depressed and loss his interest in things. Change in psychomotor function There was a drastic change in the patient’s psychomotor function after the incident of being mistakenly accused of being involved in a fight two  fraternities. His suspiciousness towards people around him is extreme to the point that he believes that even his family is conspiring against him. He experience slowing of movements described as â€Å"kilos parang zombie†. This is the result of his loss of appetite and interest in things. He is also having difficulty in initiating and maintaining sleep. It made him unhealthy and affected his psychomotor functions. As a result, his interpersonal relationship was affected because of his condition. He became depressed and decided to withdraw and isolate himself. This made the subject have low self esteem and feels inadequate. Depression Depressed or sad The subject’s depression was due to his past unhappiness. It may be the result of his guilt feelings about his relation to his father and to his brother’s business. He feels guilty about embarrassing his father in front of his friends by shouting and cursing at him. And the incident of being mistakenly accused of being related to a fraternity fight made him depressed. After that incident, gossip about him still continued and precipitated his illness. He became very anxious about people around him and made him preoccupied with his paranoid ideation. As a result, the subject loss his appetite and interest in things. His interpersonal relationship is also affected and his overall functioning became impaired. Guilt Feelings The subject’s guilt feelings are the result of his past unhappiness. When he was in high school, there was an incident where he embarrassed his father in front of his classmate by shouting and cursing to him. He feels guilty after it but he did not apologize. He also feels guilty to the closure of his brother-in-law’s electronic shop. He thinks that he is the reason why the business became bankrupt and felt guilty about it. This resulted for the subject to become depressed in feel self worthlessness. He thinks that he is good for nothing as the voices in his head telling him that he is â€Å"walang kwenta†. Feelings of worthlessness Because of his paranoid ideations, he becomes very anxious about people  around him. He started to think that everyone is against him and he has no allies. This made him think that it is not worth living and he deserves to die. There are even voices who is telling him derogatory remarks like, â€Å"walang kwenta†, â€Å"lapastangan† , â€Å"gago† , and â€Å"rapist† which made the subject made more less worthy of himself. His feeling of worthlessness triggers his suicidal thought. He acted upon it by cutting his wrist with a knife. Hopeless and helplessness The subject felt hopeless and helpless due to his paranoid ideations. He believes that his classmates are NBI agent in civilian trying to get information about him after he was accused of being involved in the fraternity fight. He thinks that everyone around him is against him. He also thinks that he has no allies left even his own family. He believes that his family is talking about him and saying that he is good for nothing. He was once heard saying â€Å"wala na kong kakampi†. He viewed people around him suspiciously. This worsened his depression and he feels more worthless, hopeless, and helpless and drove him to the idea of suicide. Feeling of inadequacy The subject has feeling of inadequacy because of lack of fatherly love. He feels envious to other kids who have a good relationship with their father. His feeling of inadequacy is also caused by his guilt feelings about his brother-in-law’s business closure. As a result, the subject feels worthless, hopeless, and helpless. There are voices in his head saying that he is â€Å"walang kwenta†. It made him feel that he is really good for nothing. He said that he has no allies left even his own family and he thinks that he deserves to die. This triggers the subject to commit suicide. Suicidal Ideation The subject’s suicidal ideation is due to his feeling of worthlessness, hopelessness, and helplessness. He thinks that everyone around him, even his family and relatives, are conspiring against him. He said that he has no allies left. He feels inadequate and he believes that he is good for nothing. He even heard voices telling him that he is â€Å"walang kwenta† and he  heard a voice calling him â€Å"Judas†. It made him depressed and he decided to commit suicide just the way Judas did. He hanged himself with a rope but he failed in doing so. The thought that he deserves to die trigger him to finally do his suicide attempt by cutting his wrist with a knife. Anxiety His anxiety was triggered after he was mistakenly accused of being involved in the fight of two fraternities. After that incident, gossip about his involvement continued. That is the time when the patient started to think that some of his classmates are NBI agents in civilian trying to get information and spy on him. He became very anxious about people around him. He is preoccupied with the thought of being watched by someone. He suspected even the vendors and door-to-door salesperson to be NBI agents. As a result, his social functioning was affected by his anxiety and paranoid ideations. Social Isolation and withdrawal The patient has a lot of anxiety and paranoid ideas around people around him. There is an incident where he is alone one night, he felt someone touching his ear and calling his name. This made him depressed and made him withdraw. He isolates himself because of the thought that he is being watched by people around him. He feels suspicious even to his family. He thinks that everyone is conspiring against him to destroy him. His feelings of inadequacy also reinforce his attitude of social isolation. He feels that he is good for nothing and he has no allies left even his own family. His delusion of persecution is the main reason of his social isolation and withdrawal. Low Self-esteem The subject has low self-esteem because of lack of fatherly love. He feels envious to other kids who have a good relationship with their father. His low self-esteem is also caused by his guilt feelings about his brother-in-law’s business closure. As a result, the subject feels worthless, hopeless, and helpless. There are voices in his head saying that he is â€Å"walang kwenta†. It made him feel that he is really good for nothing. He said that he has no allies left even his own family and he thinks that he deserves to die. This triggers the subject to commit suicide. His low self-esteem is also caused by his paranoid ideation and illogical thinking about people around him.