Baseball Versus Lacrosse

Baseball Versus Lacrosse Baseball is a sport that is known around the world. Lacrosse is not as popular, but it is still a fun game to play. Although baseball and lacrosse are very different they have some similarities. Baseball is a very fun game to play. While playing the sport the idea is to hit the ball and score a run the more runs you score the better. Baseball is a nine inning game, one inning is when a team hits and plays in the field. When playing baseball try to hit the baseball on offense and on defense try to catch the ball or tag the person out. I know this sounds hard but after a while it gets easier and more fun to play. Baseball and lacrosse have many similarities. Baseball and Lacrosse both involve catching and throwing. These two sports both use a round ball that is thrown to a teammate. These two sports are very fun to play. Lacrosse is a very fun game to play. When playing this sport the idea of this game is to try to score points by throwing the ball into the net. Lacrosse is a sixty minute game, two fifteen minute half’s. While playing this game use the stick and try to throw the ball to a teammate to score or shoot the ball into the net. This game is very dangerous but fun. Baseball and lacrosse have many similarities. Baseball and Lacrosse both involve catching and throwing. These two sports both use a round ball that is thrown to a teammate. These two sports are very fun to play. Baseball and lacrosse are very similar and different. They both involve catching and throwing, but they are played very different. I like baseball more than lacrosse because I have been playing baseball since I was a kid. These two sports are very similar and different

”The happiest days of your life” by Penelope Lively Essay

This is an analysis of the short story â€Å"The happiest days of your life†. The short story is written by Penelope Lively, who was sent away from her home to a boarding school in the rainy England. The short story is with an omniscient narrator, and takes place in the southern England – or more preciously in a area called Sussex. The story stretches over a day while a boy named Charles and his parents is going to visit an boarding school. The Sussex area is a part of the upper class, which indicates that the environment is rich. The boarding school (St. Edwards’s Preparatory School) is very big and luxurious. That can also be seen in the fact that the school is a big mansion with a swimming pool. It’s very formal inside the school, and the parents meets the maid who is all done up – which the mom approaches a lot (page 56, line 15). The school is very expensive, which tells that it’s not middle class area. In the end of the story the parents mentions that the school is a bit pricey, which indicates that they aren’t entirely upper class, but more upper middle class. Something that underlines, that they are upper middle class is that they uses a very formal language. There is no slang, and they are very correct in what they say and with their grammar. In page 56 they are talking about cricket, which is very upper class. They uses direct speech, but most of time the short story are in is past tense. Charles is the main character in the short story, and from the text I would say that he is an only child, since the parents want to send him to a expensive boarding school. Charles parents are both very self-centured. They think they care about Charles, and his feelings but without noticing they don’t see that Charles is not very happy or positive about the boarding school. Charles parents are very positive about the boarding school. The parents have a conversation, where Charles father says â€Å"Wilcox says quite a few City people send their boys here. One or two of the merchant bankers, those kind of people. It’s the sort of contact that would do no harm at all†. Those lines dedicates that Charles’s father is a businessman. The â€Å"City† is probably London, and thinks a lot about his career and to earn money. I think one of the main reasons the father sends his son away to that particular boarding school is to get contacts, because he know that the kids at that school has great families (page 56, line  25-30). He actually mentions that he could play cricket with them, which I already mentioned, is very upper class. The mother is kind of the same way. Also very self-centered, but she don’t have the same reason as Charles father. She is concerned about her son, but not as much as she is concerned about her own image and others opinion about her and their family. When the mother first entered the school she thought about her friend Sally, who bought an entirely new cream-linen-coat just for coming there, so now she has to be fine and live up to the standard. The mother corrects the headmasters wife, when she says â€Å"You live in Finchley, is that right?†. The mentions fast, that they don’t live in Finchley, but in Hampstead instead. Hampstead is for the upper class and rich and important people, when more normal families lives in Finchley. She don’t want the headmasters wife, to get an wrong impression about them. We don’t know much about the headmaster and the headmasters wife, but we know that they are fine people. The kids at the school probably likes the headmasters wife, because when she entered a room they became quiet and when she leaves they hold the door for her. Charles might be about 6-8 years because he is about to start at a preparatory school. Charles doesn’t like the situation and he is very uncomfortable. This can be seen in the beginning of the short story, when Charles sits in the back of the car with an unopened box of chocolate and a folded comic book. That isn’t a normal behavior for at child in that age, because usually they like sweets and comic books. Charles is very quiet, so he doesn’t say much at the boarding school. In the end when he sits in the car he hears the echo of the boy who said they shall mash him next term. The boys seems to appear nice, so maybe it was a joke but Charles really takes it to him and becomes afraid. That really indicates that he is insecure, because he even don’t want to tell his parents about that episode in the short story. The main conflict in the short story is that conflict between Charles and his insecure personality. He can’t say his opinion about the boarding school to his parents. Maybe he can feel that his parents are more interested in business contacts and their own reputation instead of him being happy, and that creates a misunderstood parent-child relationship who can serious consequences later in Charles life. The short story is called â€Å"The happiest days of your life† and that is something you usually says  about the time on a boarding school, but maybe in this case it could mean that those days are over. The time in the story changes, and all before the headmaster’s wife is taking Charles away is in past tense, but after that it goes to present but in this case it could mean that those days are over. The happiest days were until the time at the boarding school and now it is over. The time until the headmaster’s wife takes Charles away is in the past tense and that is what was and is no more. The boarding school is now and in present. The beginning of the boarding is the ending of his happiest days of his lives. Penelope Lively maybe had it at the same day, when she was forced to a boarding school and her life is an inspiration to this short story.

How the bill of rights have been violated Essay

Summary Since September 11, 2001 the fear of terrorism has eroded the rights and liberties that define American society. There have been egregious violations of Constitutional rights and international law related to the government response to the attacks of one year ago. The Executive branch of the Constitution has taken control of the whole situation regarding the war on terror by using the Executive Orders and not compromising with the other two branches resulting in seriously compromised constitutional guarantees of both citizens and non-citizens. Example of Bill of rights The previous example pertained to the first, fourth, fifth and sixth amendment rights of the citizens and non citizens, mentioned in the Bill of Rights. Amendment I Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances. Amendment IV The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized. Amendment V No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime,  unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia, when in actual service in time of war or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation. Amendment VI In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the state and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for his defense. Rights – Enforced / Denied In this situation the previous rights have been denied. â€Å"From the USA Patriot Act’s overbroad definition of domestic terrorism, to the FBI’s new powers of search and surveillance, to the indefinite detention of both citizens and non-citizens without formal charges, the principles of free speech, due process, and equal protection under the law have been seriously undermined.† (from the article attached!)

Use the first of the prompt 1 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Use the first of the prompt 1 - Essay Example Furthermore, the essay also intends to differentiate why or why not the liberal approach has made a difference in Rodriguez’s attitudes as compared to Delbanco. It was in this context that the thoughts of Rodriguez were emphasizing a much liberal form of education as compared to Delbanco. As Rodriguez (597) quoted – â€Å"The boy who first entered a classroom barely able to speak in English, twenty years later concluded his studies in the stately quiet of the reading room in the British Museum†. While on the other hand, Delbanco states - â€Å"The educational imperative is clear: A class should be small enough to permit every student to participate in the give-and-take of discussion under the guidance of an informed, skilled, and engaged teacher†. Again, presenting his views in â€Å"Achieving of Desire,† Rodriguez describes few major difficulties faced by students when balancing life in both academic and working class family stages. His critical emphasis was on learning the attitude of stereotypical students, assuming their relation with a particular working class, who are more likely to spend times in books and class notes rather than spending times with family members or friends. For instance, Rodriguez asserts that a stereotypical student, belonging from a working class family background, often finds a new environment of learning to reward him/her with mental calmness. It is in this context that the findings obtained by Rodriguez rationalize that the school environment as completely different from a working class family. He further asserts that in such a home environment, parents have strong influence on students because of the positive environment, which further increases their chances of academic excellence in their educational career (Rodriguez 597-607). On the other hand, Delbanco in â€Å"College at Risk† provides a distinctive definition of education. Delbanco agrees, â€Å"What those statements have in common—and there is truth in both—is an

Shareholders Value Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Shareholders Value - Essay Example The entries are counterbalanced so that the assets always equal the liabilities and owner's equity. The balance sheets of the company are examined by shareholders. The fundamental principles of economics are optimization and market equilibrium. The optimization principle says that people choose the best consumption patterns that they can afford. The market equilibrium principle states that prices adjust till demand equals supply. A supply curve measures how much of a good will be supplied at a given price. Suppose we reach a price p for the supply of a quantity x. The producer would be willing to supply a smaller amount at a lower price. However the entire quantity is sold at the price p. The producer's surplus measures the gains to the firm by selling all the goods at the higher price p. The concept of surplus enables us to determine the gains and losses for the firm. The consumer's surplus is the difference between the gross benefit of consuming the good and the price paid for that good. This perspective lets us understand the firm from economics theory. The concept of producer's surplus is closely linked to the concept of profit. 9. The accounting approach does not measure the large gaps between the true value of the firm and the observed market value. The economics perspective considers all the variables that influence the market till we find a match between the actual and the calculated market values of a firm. 10. Shareholders in a firm rely on accounting practices more that economic calculations because accounting numbers are easily available for analysis. 11. Every accounting decision has an economic consequence while the changes in the economic picture are not necessarily reflected in accounting. 12. While accounting is a simple process based on conventions and numbers available with the firm, economic considerations are very complex and involve many variables. The values of economic variables are not readily available and are many times external to the firm. 13. While accounting is by nature a short term activity, economic analysis is a long term activity. 14. Accounting has methods in place for auditing the firm. Economic methods do not have established audit procedures in place. 15. While accounting

Financial Conservatism. Determinants of cash and leverage conservatism Dissertation

Financial Conservatism. Determinants of cash and leverage conservatism in USA firms - Dissertation Example Microsoft, Exxon, Apple are all examples of non-financial firms that have held huge stockpiles of cash1. According to a recent San Francisco Chronicle report, Apple reportedly has a stockpile of $137 Billion, and the company justifies this by saying that it is â€Å"preserving its options†2. In financial literature, a firm which holds more cash reserves or lower leverage than is optimal according to capital structure is known to be financially conservative. To avoid having to depend on costly external sources of debt, having spare debt capacities by maintaining low liabilities to total asset ratios is important. Also for the same reason, retaining adequate cash reserves is also important. From 1980 to 2004, the average cash-to-asset ratio for industrial US firms has increased by 129 percent. During the same time period, net debt for these firms has fallen substantially (Bates et al, 2009). Therefore, on average these firms seem to have adopted more financially conservative pra ctices in both senses by reducing leverage and increasing cash holdings simultaneously. However, much of the reduction in net debt is attributed to higher cash holdings rather than any reduction in liabilities. In general financial conservatism has become a very relevant topic of study in this backdrop. In this context, this paper studies the characteristics of financially conservative firms. The main objective is to see whether financially conservative practices can protect firms from being distressed and what effects the financial crisis had on financially conservative practices. Barring Iona, Leonida and Ozkan (2004), Prior research has focused on analysing conservative behaviour of firms from either the perspective of holding excessively high cash balances or from the perspective of maintaining lower than optimal leverage levels. Iona, Leonida and Ozkan (2004) look at non-financial financially conservative UK firms that adopt both these practices simultaneously. No work prior wo rk has examined the coexistence of both cash conservative and leverage conservative practices for US firms. Using a large sample of industrial US firms over the period of 2002-2011, I enquire into the nature of financial conservatism. Since a firm is financially conservative if it is conservative in terms of holding extra cash reserves as well as maintaining low leverage, I start off by looking at the determinants of cash conservativeness and the determinants of leverage conservativeness. Then I look at what are the important characteristics of firms that contribute to making its financial practices conservative in general. In particular, I ask, what factors influence the probability of a firm being both cash and leverage conservative at the same time. After determining the important factors, I turn to the critical question of how financial conservatism affects the probability of a firm being financially distressed. The major contributions of this paper are twofold: first, extending the literature on conservative firms which adopt both cash and leverage conservatism simultaneously and second, applying the theory of jointly cash and leverage conservative practices to characterize conservative US firms which have not been examined in literature at all. The rest of the paper is structured as follows. Section II presents a review of the relevant literature. This section lays out the

Network Infrastructure Basics Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Network Infrastructure Basics - Assignment Example Dial-up networking facilitates computer connection to remote networks. It is usually used in home computers, but in some cases, it is used as a business or the Internet network. Unlike the Dial-up modem uses phone lines in sending and receiving data, the DSL uses regular phone lines to send digital broadband signals. ISDN network connection allows internet connections or direct communication between computers. This connection sends digital signals, and in some cases, it uses regular telephone wiring with distinctive ISDN networks (Graziani and Johnson, 2008). Finally, a wireless connection uses infrared lights or radio waves for sending data between hosts. Wireless network connections are common in airports, homes, business, and hotels. In most cases, wireless network connections are through larger wired networks that are connected to the internet. Protocols are sets of standards that facilitate communication between network hosts. They usually provide services including e-mail and file transfers. Most protocols are not designed to use independently but with interaction with other independent or complementary protocols (Graziani and Johnson, 2008). This often constitutes a group of protocols that function as a unit, and they are referred to as protocol suite. An internet protocol suite is referre d to as TCP/IP and is the widely used protocol suite. There are numerous TCP/IP protocol suites, and the wider category include web browsing, security protocols, file transfer, E-mail, network services, network management, transport protocols, and control protocols. The TCP/IP protocol suite works independently of the physical network architecture (Dye, McDonald, and Rufi, 2008). There are numerous parameters required for TCP/IP network connections. The most influential parameters include IP address, Subnet mask, Default gateway, DNS server, and Hostname. The IP address is used to identify the logical host and the logical address network  addresses. On the other hand, the subnet mask identifies the IP address portion that deals with a network address. The default gateway identifies the router, and the DNS server address is used to resolve host names to IP addresses.

Discrimination in Education Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Discrimination in Education - Research Paper Example From the discussion it is clear that  discrimination in education on the basis of sex segregation, without doubts, takes place in other countries. The vivid example of the infamous Malala Yousafzai, a Pakistan girl who fought for rights of children to get equal educational opportunities proves that the issue exists. Even though her peers did not probably understand what she was fighting for, Malala kept working for justice and children’s rights in Pakistan. She claimed that girls had the right to get their education and attend schools; she argued that Pakistan girls should have got their basic human right, which had been suppressed for a long period of time in her country. It was obvious that her actions were rebellious for the Taliban regime and that the cost for her fight was her own safety, Malala risked her life.  This research discusses that  another crucial kind of discrimination in education that definitely exists in modern society is the racial one; perhaps, this kind of discrimination is the most widespread and problematic, as the society is trying hard to overstep racial prejudices and get transferred into a new level of interpersonal relationships. Even though more than a half century ago it was stated by the U.S. Government that segregated schools should be eliminated, still the statistical data of modern educational sphere shows that a big part of Latinos and Blacks are still attending the schools which work separately for them.

History of the Vietnam Wars Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

History of the Vietnam Wars - Essay Example eneva, in which Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam received their independence and Vietnam was temporarily divided between an anti-Communist South and a Communist North. In 1956, South Vietnam, with American backing, refused to hold the unification elections† (Learn about the Vietnam War, 2010). It is difficult to understand what the French and the Americans tried to achieve. If they felt they could impose their might through superior military prowess, they had difficult time proving it in the marshy soil of tropical Vietnam. In the first place, the military preparation was nothing short of disaster. The huge pile of weapons stocked by the French and the Americans was of little avail to the Vietnamese. The weapons only served to aggravate or spoil things for the French and the Americans by adverse reactions from their own homelands. Nothing much is known about adverse public reaction to the Indo-China war in France. The protests were largely muted and it was left to the politicians to take action as they deemed fit. The French defeat in Dien Bien Phu was a substantial eye-opener to the French government and they did not waste time in tactfully concluding the war with a peace conference in Geneva. The Americans were, however, more noisy. In the United States, opposition to the war was vociferous. As the years progressed, the media was pregnant with news of public protests and atrocities committed on American soldiers. Politically, both President Johnson and President Nixon faced angry crowds swearing by anti-war statements. The American Presidents were sensitive to adverse political decisions and had no idea the chaotic situation at home might cause in the present or in the future. In the latter years of President Nixon, he was too caught up with the Watergate scandal to think clearly on issues with regard to Vietnam. His frustrations compounded issues and the failure of the Americans in the Vietnam was the result of political wrangles that only added to the

Analysis of Private Prisons Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Analysis of Private Prisons - Research Paper Example These and many other factors cause an increase in the number of illegalities, increased crime rates and thereby overcrowding of prisons. With the increase in the number of offenders, there is a need to substitute government (public) prisons, hence, the need for private prisons (Shefer & Liebling, 2008). The second factor that led to the increase in privatization of prisons is capitalism. Previously, prisons were a form of social cleansing as it was a way of getting rid of extreme deviants regarded as a threat to social tranquility. However, capitalism saw the change of this view; people regard prisons as a business entity and, therefore, a means to make a living (Shefer & Liebling, 2008). Evidence shows that the government, through respective states, aggressively bids for the incarceration of offenders in private prisons. The reasons remain similar to the onset of privatization of prisons. The government wants to reduce overcrowding in prisons and cut the costs of running the penal j ustice system. The government also argues that hiring private contractors is cheaper than training state employees so as to make them proficient (Shefer & Liebling, 2008). ...The companies that run private prisons amass wealth and build political ties. With these powers, the companies influence politicians and other political entities to pass policies that support higher rates of incarceration. Secondly, these prisons somewhat handpick their inmates (Shefer & Liebling, 2008). This allows them to engage low-cost offenders while the backlog of high maintenance offenders goes back to the public sector. High maintenance can include patients suffering from costly diseases such as diabetes or those incapable of labor due to a disability (Reisig & Pratt, 2004). The privatization of prisons has a negative effect not only on the inmates but also society. Nurge (2004) reports that at the onset of privatization of prisons, there was a cordial relationship between the prison guards and the pris oners. The management of the prisons was also better or matched the standards of public prisons. However, in recent times, new statistics show that private prisons are facing the same negative issues as public ones. This is in regard to prisoners’ relationship with the guards and the adequacy of prison facilities (Shefer & Liebling, 2008). There are several possible explanations for this situation. Some researchers claim that previously, the prison guards in private prisons were free of the penal system corruption. With time, however, they got assimilated and developed the survival for the fittest technique common in public prisons. The guards now mistreat the inmates and engage in other forms of corruption detrimental to the safety of the inmates.

Questions to answer on Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words

Questions to answer on Management - Essay Example The patent right enables an individual to own the idea or invention for substantial period of time so that it can be developed sufficiently into a real invention or business. Patent rights provide protection for the idea or invention from being copied or reproduced by others. Firstly, the idea or invention has to be explained in brief through an application made to the Government Patent Office by an agent or lawyer. This will be reviewed and approved if original and new. Once the first application is approved, a date will be given to the application during which he/she can work on the idea; this date is referred to as the ‘priority date.’ Once approved, a plan for its development must be prepared and produced to the patent office for further approval within 12 months. During this period, the inventor can advertise or publish the idea. After one year, the inventor needs to produce a detailed plan for its development, which is referred to as the ‘Final Specification. ’ If this idea is completely new and does not match with any of the other patents, then it is approved. If it finds any similarities with others, it is rejected. Rejection is accompanied with sufficient explanation. The applicant can also modify it in case it resembles any other idea. If the inventor fails to abide by the confidentiality of the idea or leaks the idea in some way, the patent will be subject to cancellation. Hence, confidentiality is very important during the period when first application is sent for approval. Secondly, if the idea or invention resembles or already exists in the market, then patent rights may be rejected. Patents applied in the United Kingdom are valid only within that country. To obtain patent protection in different countries, separate patents must be filed according to the respective country’s regulations. Obtaining international patents are very expensive. However, the International Convention on Patents provides a common priority da te for all patents during which ideation and development in different countries can be prepared. One common committee governing European patents is the European Patent Office (EPO), which provides patent protection in all European countries at the same time. Hence, patents issued by the EPO are enforceable by individual nations within the European Union and few other countries that come in the purview of EPO. Moreover, the patents issued by the EPO are governed by laws related to various international committees. Patents are divided mainly into 3 categories namely utility patents, design patents, and plant patents depending upon the idea or invention. In the engineering sector, utility and design patents are more common ones. National patents issued within European countries are governed by national legislation and could include aspects related to filing the patents, examination, scope of grants, invalidation, breach and revocation. Patents obtained on methods or ideas related to pr ocedures and certain products are not same in all countries. For instance, patents approved in the United States for certain products or procedures may not be approved in the United Kingdom and other countries. Under an employment agreement, ideally all inventions that are made during the employment and related to the job during working hours and with the use of official resources are owned by the employer. Therefore, if an employee invents something related to his/her job, then the rights to that invention are with the

Wild Animals As Pets Essay Example for Free

Wild Animals As Pets Essay How many of you have ever said you wanted a pet monkey when you were at the zoo last time? Or imagined how great it would be to have a tiger sleep at the foot of your bed instead of just a dog? That all sounds wonderful at first but how many people do you know that have ever had an exotic pet and not regretted it immediately? Its not really as great as you think. According to the Human Society of the United States in one of their recent surveys, 90% of exotic pets die within the first year and 90% of the remainder die in the second year. That means that only 1% lives past the age of two. Every year wild animals seriously hurt or kill people, usually their owners or family members. Big cats have killed many children and even grown men, not to mention the dogs’ people think their cougar will be friends with, they never survive. Monkeys are always the pet people wish they could have. However, they can never be trained, tamed, or basically domesticated like people think. Take Louie for example, a Black-capped capuchin born in August 2004. He was bought by a family in Chicago when he was just a baby. Within months he had bitten their daughter several times severely, but when he finally bit a child outside the family, his life was in danger. Louies owner found herself in court fighting against the parents of the child who demanded that his head be sent off for rabies testing.

India during The Great Recession

India during The Great Recession India during the ‘Great Recession Introduction: Economists called the financial crisis of the 2007 2009 as the â€Å"Great Recession†, since it is a critical factor and vital cause for the failure of many businesses and significant influencer that has worsened many economies. After US busted out the housing bubble, this raised the rates of sub-prime and mortgage rates. India, the country which is fully an export driven economy like many other countries, the GDP of India mainly relies on domestic consumption. If a countrys GDP is based on domestic consumption, then how this financial tsunami did left vestige in India. The software industry, though not a prime deterministic factor for Indian economy, contributes notable financial transactions towards Indian economy. This brought flow of foreign funds in to the economy. The portfolio investments are visible in the Indian stock exchanges where foreign borrowings and FDI inflows remain less visible. When the global economies started decelerating, all these three factors bound t o decease, which caused an impact on Indias emerging economy. The following essay is presented in a macroeconomic perspective, when the period of growth alternated to a period of stagnation, how Indian economy faced the crisis and how government and Reserve Bank of India responded by taking various steps to handle the economic downturn. Effects in Indian Economy India, after a subsequent growth, experienced a decline in its economy due to the global economic downturn. Faced many uncertainties like stumbling industrial growth, reduced foreign exchange and diminishing rupee value. This economic instability gave a worst hit in Indian economic portfolio by acutely affecting Indian banks. Many public sector units and banks, who invested money into derivatives, were funded by Lehman Brothers Inc and Meryl Lynch Inc for the exposure in the derivatives market. As Lehman Brothers Inc dissolved, many companies including leading banks in India filed losses for few hundred million dollars. The impact of this huge financial crisis affected not only the financial markets primarily, but also the Indian IT industry, availability of global funds, and decrease in exports. Reduced Availability of Global Funds The availability of the global funds, which is accounted as one of the major driving force of the emerging economies like India, was considerably less. The initial stage experienced a rise in the interest rates and the equity prices were affected as the funds transformed into bonds. This less inflow didnt affect the GDP of the Indian economy, since it holds the larger share on its domestic household savings. Indian companies, which relied on the foreign funds for its trading activities, were allowed less access, which affected corporate profitability due to high interest rates, created large demand for the domestic fund access and peer supply pressure restricted from capacity increase. Effects in Indian Exports India faced a sudden decline in its exports during this economic crisis, as a piece of Indian economy is a sole dependent on exports. In October 2008, after 35% growth in the previous months, filed its decrease in exports calculated to 15%, and shipments decreased to 33.33%, recorded to be a largest drop ever. This drop affected many industrial sectors right from the manufacturing goods to jewellery exports. This fall in the exports which lead to many job losses estimated to be 1million and closure of many small units. Effects in Indian IT Industry As discussed above, one of the main tools to transact and access the flow of foreign funds is the Indian IT industry, which contributes significantly a mind share towards the Indian GDP. Indian IT companies are well accredited for its quality software and services, well stated to be a major employment opportunity creator. Since, India has abundant labor resources and plays a major service provider across the globe. Many foreign companies are attracted to the Indian IT companies for its software development and for its service outsourcings. The recent outsourcing boom into India from the foreign countries mainly from US left an impact in the in the IT industry, which is accounted to be a major player in employment and foreign exchange. Approximately 60% of the Indian IT sectors revenue is fully based only on the US suppliers. Around 30% of the industrys revenue is generated from the financial services companies from US. Indian companies were appreciated for its flexibility in work, Qu ality product deliveries and for its efficient services. As there were no intense partnering between Indian firms and major financial services, major share of the IT firms were saved from the impact of the recession. Even though, some Indian IT companies partnered with US financial companies like Lehman Brothers Inc and Meryl Lynch Inc affected a little. This slowdown in the US economy lead 70% of the firms to negotiate for lower rates with their suppliers and nearly 60% have cut back the contracts. The sudden fall in the US economy reduced the growth of Indian IT firms down by 2-3%. Now and then many new outsourcing opportunities were given to the Indian companies from the US firms, which involved in mergers and acquisitions, since the companies would look forward to reduce its selling, general and administrative costs through offshore developments. Even when some firms were affected a little in the economic downturn, however this crisis created equal opportunities in the outsourcing side of the IT industry. Effects in Indian Financial Industry The Indian financial market remained resilient, when the foreign institutional investors disappeared. As the impact of the economic crisis, the mental attitude of investors took a drift to withdraw from risky markets ended with substantial capital outflow that led to a liquidity crunch putting Indian stock market under huge pressure. Indian market continued to be healthier since its prime drive is through domestic consumption which includes productivity in agricultural sector, domestic infrastructure products and through small medium enterprises. Indian banks have gained the investors trust and have most of the deposits, since most of the banks are nationalized and the investments are protected by the Indian Government. Even though the domestic banking is secure as the nationalized banks remain the core of the system. This economic crisis created fragility as many banks invested the investments of US financial firms into the derivatives. Many other factors like decline in the foreign exchange reserves held by Reserve Bank of India, diminished value of rupee with respect to US dollar value, and decline in the share value of the stocks. Steps for the Recovery Efforts made by the Reserve Bank of India to stop the depreciating rupee value led to a proportionate fall in the foreign reserves value of India. The Indian economy experienced a high inflow of money in the form of capital investment. This decreased the value of rupee with dollar; India faced a large trade deficit and factor payments abroad such as debt repayment and profit repatriation. Along with this the stock market side also showed a decline after its steady increase during previous months. The government of India and the Reserve Bank of India started responding to this challenge by following various efforts and procedures in order to maintain a free flow position of rupee liquidity, maintain the foreign exchange liquidity and maintain it credit tracks through strict monetary policies to avoid inflationary pressures. But however, it changed its current approach towards the current scenario eased the monetary constraints by reducing the interest rates, reduced the quantum of bank reserves impounded by central bank and expanded with liberalization to refinance facilities for export credit. To manage the foreign exchange, the Reserve Bank of India made an upward adjustment on interest rate ceiling on the foreign deposits by non-resident Indians. Substantially relaxed the external commercial borrowings regime for corporate. It allowed access to foreign borrowing to non banking financial companies and housing companies. The Reserve Bank of India even took many unconventional measures to boost up the economy from the liquidity scenario. Many Indian banks were given a currency swap facility especially for Indian rupee and US dollar to fulfill the short term fund requirements. IT also supported many non banking financial organizations through an exclusive refinancing channel. Housing and exports were boosted to reach higher levels by enabling the lending resources even to small industries. In addition to the various efforts of the Reserve Bank of India, the Central Government of India constituted the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act to make the fiscal sustainable in the global economic crisis. The emergency act by the government of India seeks a relaxation from the fiscal targets. Two fiscal acts were launched. Both the fiscal acts valued around 3% of the GDP, which included agricultural farmer loan waiver, infrastructure investments, additional coverage for SMEs and public spending. These fiscals were injected to stimulate demand. As the result the amount accounting to 7% of the GDP made available in the financial system. India is witnessing a mixed result of growth prospects in this economic downturn. The services sector which accounts for the 57% of the Indias GDP and has been the prime growth engine in the last five years is slowing mainly in the construction, transport, communication, trade, hotels and restaurants. Indias exports which account for 15% of the economy grew 3.4% to 168.7 billion in the fiscal year ended march 3108, missing a target of 200 billion set by the government. Corporate margins were down due to the high input costs and the weakened demand. Business confidence had been affected due to the uncertainty in the economic condition. India certainly had some advantages in this financial crisis. The inflation fell sharply, faster than expected, which is measured by the wholesale price index. Thus the fall in inflation should revive consumer demand and reduce costs for the corporate. Fiscal prices will open up the spending on the infrastructure developments as the decline in the global crude oil and naphtha prices will reduce the amount of subsidy given to the oil and fertilizer companies. Imports are expected to shrink more than the exports, to keep the current account deficits at some modest levels. The banking system in India with its well capitalized and prudently regulated measures, helped to sustain the financial market stability to a larger extent. Gaining confidence from the foreign investors on Indian economy is an additional plus, due to the comfortable levels of foreign reserves. The negative impact of the wealth loss effect in the capital markets that have plagued the developed countries will not affect India because majority of Indians have bordered themselves away from assets and equity markets. Credit for agriculture will also remain unaffected because of Indias mandated priority sector lending. The farm waiver package from the government acts as an additional insulation to the agricultural sector. Indias several social safety and awareness programs e.g. the rural employment guarantee program, will protect the poor and migrants from ill effects of global crisis. Conclusion Thus the global financial crisis made a hit in the Indian economy. After severe uncertainties in various sectors such as IT industry in India, Financial market in India, Non availability of global funds and impact in the export business have given broader outlook to the impact of the global financial crisis, starting from US and how it had en route to India. All the fields were discussed with several insights on how the various industries have been affected by this economic downturn, some had opportunities to grow and some were flattened, since the Indian economy is one of the emerging economies in the world, which recorded to be the least affected by this economic crunch. Even government faced a wide range a problems during this credit crunch. The Indian Government and The Reserve Bank of India, worked collaboratively with consultation and coordination, after initiating and implementing various processes, rules and acts, kept this huge economic problem under control. Thus the global economic crisis is inevitable till the economy of the developed, developing countries become stable and self sustainable. The effects of the economic downturn are a test to check the financial stabilities in market and regulations across the global economy.

Case Report On British Airways Ba Management Essay

Case Report On British Airways Ba Management Essay The fast changing technological advancement and unpredictable economic situation are forcing businesses to respond quickly to adapt to change. Failure to manage change will cause organisation lose its competitiveness and disappear from the market. In order to meet the challenge, British Airways has to review their development approaches, especially those related to the organisational behaviour, structure, culture and other human resource issues. The organisations vision of being worlds global premium airline can only be sustained and supported through continual review and improvements in the aspects mentioned. It is important to note that the change in the organisation is very much related to the role of managers in developing strategy. Though there is a pressing need for the organisation to undergo change, peoples need should not be sacrificed. This report aids the improvement process in British Airways by providing discussion on the key frameworks in the HRM issues and recommendati ons for future. 2.0 Introduction This is a report for the management of British Airways Plc which present, analyze and evaluate the change management issues in the organisation. Factors such as organisational structure, behaviour, culture and technology, political and social aspects as well as economic strengths and weaknesses are made throughout the whole report. It is hoped that this report would provide an insight to the human resource activities for future improvement. 3.0 Organisations Strategic Plan 3.1 Organisations Background British Airways Plc (BA) has a long history beginning from the launching of words first schedule air service by its forerunner company, Aircraft Transport Travel Limited (AT T) on 1919. In 1924, Britains four airlines merged to form Imperial Airways Limited. Later in the 1930s, some smaller UK air transport companies started their operations and merged to form the original privately-owned British Airways Limited. Following a government review in 1939, these two companies were then nationalized and formed the British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC). BOAC, together with a new airline, British European Airways (BEA) were the main British operators in the industry in the 1950s. However, these two separate airlines eventually merged to form British Airways in 1974. With the execution of Civil Aviation Act 1980, the government sold its shares in British Airways and Lord King was appointed as the chairman. Many changes were carried out since then to bring British Airways to its presen t status as one of the worlds leading global premium airline (British Airways 2010). The company is principally base in London, with hubs at Heathrow, Gatwick and London city airports. Its core activities are to carry out the operation of international and domestic scheduled air passengers and cargo services. In 2009/10, the company carried nearly 32 million passengers and 760,000 tonnes of cargo to different destinations. Together with its partners, BA flies to over 300 destinations throughout the world. It also has a strong fleet operation with 238 aircrafts in service at the end of March 2010 (British Airways 2010). 3.2 Organisations Vision and Mission The companys long term vision to be the worlds leading Global Premium Airline is constantly leading the company moving towards higher achievements in the future. BA has plotted different mission statements in pursuing toward this vision. These mission statements are: Be the airline of choice for long haul premium customers Deliver an outstanding service for customers at every point of touch Build presence in key global cities Build on leading position in London Meet customers needs and improve margins through new revenue streams (British Airways 2010) 3.3 Industry Overview The aviation industry has a big global economic impact. Few key facts provide the evidence of the worldwide influence of this industry. According to Capoccitti, Khare and Mildenberger (2010: 67), more than 2.2 billion vacation and business passengers flew on the worlds airlines. Over one-third of the values of worlds manufactured exports were carried through air freight. 32 million jobs opportunities were created for people in different countries. Moreover, the aviation industry contributes nearly 8% to world gross domestic product. In general, airline industry can be divided into four categories: International companies with annual revenue of $1 billion or more National companies with annual revenue between $100 million and $ 1 billion Regional companies with short-haul flights and less than $100 million revenue Cargo companies that generally transport goods only (Investopedia 2010) Though the degree varies with the category that an airline belongs to, air companies need to cope with various complicated issues. Some of the major issues include airport capacity, route design, technology, costs to buy or lease the aircrafts, weather, fuel price, and employees (Investopedia 2010). Despite these challenges, competition remains lofty as more and more airliners enter into the market by offering cheaper prices to customers. 3.4 SWOT Analysis Figure British Airways SWOT Analysis (Euromonitor International 2011) The figure above shows the current SWOT analysis of British Airways. Further explanations are made as follow. STRENGTHS Strong Fleet Operations British Airways has a strong fleet with more than 200 aircrafts. The fleet includes Boeing 737, Boeing 747- 777, Airbus A319 and Airbus 320. Recently, the company had also ordered additional 23 new Boeing 787 to replace the current Boeing 767. These new aircrafts will join in the long haul fleet from year 2012. With such a strong fleet, the airline covers all the continents around the world (Euromonitor International 2011). Online Services British Airways also seizes the opportunity of the widespread of internet to boost its business performance. With the implementation of online services, passengers obtain the convenience to book flights, hire cars, book hotels and access travel information in a quick and safe way. This has not only greatly reduced the companys operating costs, but also help it to attract more customers (Euromonitor International 2011). WEAKNESSES Labor Dispute The dispute over pay and condition of its cabin crew has caused an industrial action to take place in 20-22 March and 27-30 March 2010 (Euromonitor International 2011). The strikes held by Unite, which represents about 25,000 workers at British Airways, had incurred more than  £150 million loss to the company in year 2010. Poor Brand Image Apart from the above incident, the chaos that happened during the opening of Heathrow Terminal 5 airport also diminished the companys brand image. Cancellations, delays of flights and lost of baggages had led to huge disappointment on many loyal customers. This weaken the companys competitive advantage and loss many businesses to its rival. Poor Performance in All Geographic Regions Due to global financial crisis and high fuel prices, British Airways has a poor performance in all its geographic regions. The business revenues in its largest geographic market had decreased 12.9% in March 2010. The sales in its second largest market, America had also shown a decline of 4%. It is concerned that the continuity of such performance would lead to business collapse in no time (Euromonitor International 2011). THREATS Disrupt Operation With the unstable restructuring and changes policies, British Airways faces strong opposition from its workforce. The extension of labour dispute into future will continue to disrupt the companys normal operation. Huge amount of time and money will have to be spent on devising contingency plans to resolve the issues. Increased Competition Poor management strategies in handling labour dispute and the opening of Terminal 5 makes the company vulnerable to its rivals. Better offers made by competitors such as Virgins, Ryan Air and Easyjet will cause British Airways losses its premium passengers. Bankruptcy Poor performance in all geographic regions increases the risk of bankruptcy in BA. OPPORTUNITIES Reward Packages/Employee Relations Opportunities to offer better reward packages and to improve employee relations can be identified in the case of British Airways labour dispute. The restructuring and changes process will get into a better shape if two ways communication is to be built up. Monitor Operational Performance British Airways is currently monitoring its customer views on the Think Customer Survey (British Airways 2010). This offer great opportunity for the organisation to improve its business performance as it can find solution to improve its departure punctuality, which is one of the main concerns of the passengers. Merger Agreement with Iberia The entering into a merger agreement with Spanish airway Iberia offers opportunity for BA to step into Latin America market. This merger will also save the airline  £350 million a year (BBC 2010). 4.0 HRM Issues 4.1 Leadership and Management The terms leadership and management have been used interchangeably by many people. In fact, these two terms denotes two different meanings. From a general point of view, leadership can be defined as a relationship through which one person influences the behaviour or actions of other people. Management, on the other hand, is usually defines as getting things done through other people in order to achieve stated organisational objectives (Mullins 2010: 373). A major study of the nature of leadership has been developed by a political scientist, James MacGregor Burns in 1978. Burns states that organisation states can be categorized into two convergent (stable condition) and divergent (dynamic condition). He contends that the best approach for the convergent state is the transactional management style. The managers will aim at completing tasks, achieving companys goal, and striving for the companys performance through gradual changes (Burnes 2009: 498). On the other hand, transformational leaders are most appropriate in the divergent state. They will introduce radical change and use the influence of their personality to gain the trust and commitment of their followers (Burnes 2009: 499). The figure below shows Burns theory on leadership. Figure Burns Contextual Approach to Leadership (Burnes 2009: 499) Along with Burns theory, the diagram below also shows the distinctive activities between managers and leaders (Burnes 2009: 492). In fact, in real life situation, leaders need to possess both transactional and transformational characteristics, depending on the circumstances. Figure Distinct Activities between Managers and Leaders (Burnes 2009: 492) In relation to the theories above, BAs present Chief Executive Officer, Willie Walsh is considered to be a manager rather than a leader. This can be seen from the way he transformed his former company Aer Lingus, a nearly bankrupt airline into one of the most profitable one in Europe by cutting one-third of its workforce using the power of his position (The Independent Business 2011). This action had caused him to win an uncomplimentary nickname Slasher Walsh, thus revealing his sturdy personality trait. Partly because of this, he was attracted into the board of BA (The Wall Street Journal 2011). However, as the company is in a dynamic state, the transactional characteristic that Willie Walsh possessed is seemed to be unsuitable. In the dispute with the Unite Union, Willie Walsh is entirely focused on the present organisations need reduce costs but ignored the need to create a culture of shared value in the long run. His managerial approach will only enable him to carry out his du ty and fail to gain followers. The management should realize that the pressing need of British Airways is to have leader who is capable to win trust and support from its members in order to implement change. 4.2 Organisational Structure In order to ensure the organisation meets its goals and objectives, organisation usually has a formal structure to divide the work and responsibilities. This formal structure is presented in the organisation chart. Different roles and relationships are incorporated in this process to direct, control and carry out the tasks and activities (Armstrong 2009: 365). People in these groups are usually bound by certain formal rules, relationship and norms of behaviour. Formal work group can be differentiated by basis of membership, tasks to be performed, nature of technology or positions within the organisations and etc. (Mullins 2010: 311). Though the formal groups are planned and created by management, informal structure will also arise during the day-to-day interactions of the staffs. Unlike the formal structure which is based on a defined role, the informal groups are based more on friendships. The goal is to satisfy psychological and social needs rather than achieving the tasks (Mullins 2010:312). Both formal and informal groups are crucial as the formation can contribute to the enhancement of work performance. The higher the group cohesiveness, the more likely they can progress in the stages of group development and form teams. However, tasks at team level require higher level of coordination, control and trust. From the organisational chart in Figure 4 below, it can be seen that the division of work in the organisation is based on individuals different tasks and functions, such as sales and marketing, engineering, investments and etc. This institution is important as members tend to follow the established values and norms of behaviours. However, as group size increase, it will increase the difficulty for managers to handle. In general, group cohesiveness is hard to achieve when a group exceeds 10-12 members. Absenteeism, conflict over incentive payment and differences in opinions are some of the normal phenomena that can be seen in a group. Therefore, groups should be divided into sub-groups when the numbers go beyond 12 (Mullins 2010: 315). Managers should also be sensitive on the balance of work performance and social interactions in the informal groups. Sometimes, groups may be inclined toward social processes and spend too much time talking rather than working (Mullins 2010:314). Managers therefore need to be capable to observe and create a better climate in the groups. Figure British Airways Organisational Structure (The Official Board 2010) 4.3 Organisational Culture Organisational culture plays an important role to bring in change in organisation. According to Armstrong (2009:384), organisational culture is the unspoken ways that shape the ways in which people in organisations behave and things get done. Drennan (1992) also defines culture as typical of the organisation, the habits, the prevailing attitudes, and the grown-up pattern of accepted and expected behaviour (Brown 1998: 8). One of the factors that formed the organisational culture is the influence of visionary leaders. British Airways had undergone many waves of culture change since late 70s. Under the leadership of Collin Marshall, the companys chief executive during 1983, the company was transformed from a disastrous loss-making company into a profit-making world class organisation. He introduced Putting People First program and had successfully overturned the atmosphere in the organisation. He challenged the hierarchical and militaristic culture that existed at that time by asking the staffs not to wear uniform to work. He also constantly motivated the staffs to have positive attitudes in themselves, set personal goals and dealing with stress. Members of the organisation are very much encouraged by the families atmosphere promoted during that period (Irena and Adrian 2002). British Airways experienced few more restructuring processes in the hands of different leaders following Collin Marshall. It is believed the organisation is also undergoing a major culture change under the current leadership of Willie Walsh. The organisational culture is changed from people-oriented to power-oriented under the management of Willie Walsh. Members in the organisation became more competitive and responsive to personality as the values and beliefs are changed. Although it cannot be concluded by saying one culture is better than the other, the culture that Willie Walsh introduced into the organisation seems to be inappropriate and hinder its performance (Armstrong 2009: 398). 4.4 Resourcing and Legal Issues Another crucial aspect to achieve the goals of the organisation is people resourcing. Organisations need to make sure they can obtain and retain the right people that can fit into their organisational and perform in a productive way. Therefore, strategies such as human resource planning, recruitment and selection, selection interviewing, selection tests, introduction to the organization and release from the organization are genuinely required to build up the strength of human aspect in the organisation (Armstrong 2001). In devising its strategy on human resource planning, British Airways has to be to be able to forecast future people needs (demand forecasting), forecast future availability of people (supply forecasting) and make plans to match supply to demand (Armstrong 2001). These require the human resource department of British Airways to have thorough understanding of both the internal and external environments of the organisation. Examples of the internal environments include sales forecast and introduction of new technology whereby instances of external environment are such like labour market condition and labour turnover (Wilson 2011). Many organisations tend to promote people from within the organisation when there are vacancies in the upper level. This resourcing policy is known as qualification driven. British Airways is not an exception to this. British Airways advertises internal vacancies to its employees and provide cross training when necessary (British Airways 2011). With the implementation of restructuring programme named Compete 2012, British Airways also encourages its people to move between functions to develop their talents and skills. This once again confirms its usual practice of promoting people internally (British Airways 2010). Despite its focus on internal promotion, British Airways does not neglect the importance of injecting talents and fresh ideas into the vein of the organisation. Its external recruitment is carried out firstly through its recruitment website, which also forms the initial selection process. Applicants are then asked to attend the assessment day. They will then be accessed through different methods such as group exercises, interviews, psychometric tests, presentations, fact-finding exercise or role play (British Airways 2011). As a global organisation, BA is renowned in its workforce diversity. This requires the organisation to comply with different laws and legislations such as Sex Discrimination Act 1975, Race Relations Act 1976 and Data Protection Act (British Airways 2011). In spite of the diversified culture image that it has built up over the years, flaws can still be seen in the way British Airways manage its people. The company was sued for indirect sex discrimination by one of its female pilot in year 2005. Jessica Starmer, BAs female pilot requested to work 50% part time to take care of her newborn baby. However, the organisation can only offered her 75% work, which was unacceptable to Starmer and will cause her to give up her favourite job. It can be seen from this case that British Airways was not ready to accommodate working mothers and possibly exclude females from its pilot. Starmer eventually won this discrimination case and British Airways had to reconsider its way of managing work life ba lance for both men and women (BBC 2005). Employees well being should constantly be examined and improved in the organisation. 4.5 Skills, Training and Development Learning, training and development processes are ways to ensure individuals and organisations can enhance their performance and meet organisations objectives. One crucial framework of understanding how people learn is the work of Kolb. Kolb suggests learning as recurring process with four stages as shown in the diagram below. Figure Kolbs Learning Style (Clark 2008) The four stages (concrete experience, reflective observation, abstract conceptualisation and active experimentation) was then categorised by Honey and Mumford as activists, reflectors, theorists and pragmatists. It is contended that activists prefer to learn by actively participate in activities, reflectors learn through observation and reflections, theorists learn best through linking their experiences with concepts and theories, and pragmatists have a preference in transferring new information to real-life situations (Pilbeam and Corbridge 2010: 357). Understanding how people learn through different HRM frameworks are crucial for British Airways to design the learning for its employees. By examining the training and learning design of British Airways, it is quite satisfactory that British Airways has provide ample training resources such as learning centres, library facilities, reference materials, audiotapes and video based learning (Job Vacancies Advice n.d.). British Airways also develops different training schemes such as Behaviour for Success, Leadership Matters and A Leader Development Portfolio (British Airways 2010). Graduate opportunities and training schemes are also provided to the students and graduates through series of interviews and selections (British Airways 2010). These shows that the organisation is concern about different learning styles of individuals and have provided different designs to match their learning needs. However, In relation to the chaotic opening of Heathrows Terminal 5, British Airways employees claimed that their failure was due to inadequate training days and the lack of essential support (BBC 2008). This incident should provide a little window for the management to realise that there is still a lack the way British Airways evaluate its employees learning activity and process. Furthermore, in dealing with the recent strike issue, British Airways is planning on training its ground staffs who have no flying experience to become cabin crews in 21 days (The Guardian 2010). This is inevitably worrying as these employees might not have appropriate knowledge, skills, and attitude to fill in the positions in such a short period. This hasty decision will only pull the company away from identifying and analysing the learning needs of its employees (Pilbeam and Corbridge 2010: 352). 4.6 Appraisal Performance appraisal is a key attribute in driving an organisation towards competitive advantage. Though it may not be unwelcomed by the participants, it nevertheless provides crucial data for efficient decision-making, identifies training needs, and set levels of reward (Gold and Bratton 2003: 250). An effective appraisal system will also help the organisations to assess their staff against companies objectives, provide opportunities for the organisation to give good feedback to employees and motivate them (Business Link 2011). Appraisal can be carried out in different forms such as top-down schemes, self-appraisal, peer appraisal, upward appraisal and multi-rater appraisal or 360-degree feedback (Pilbeam and Corbridge 2010: 323). The employees progress is monitored both informally and formally in British Airways. Informally, the staffs will have to discuss with their manager about their performance and formally, they will need to go through an annual performance review (British Airways 2011). This top-down appraisal system is designed to encourage continuous improvement in employees performance and behaviour. However, it is questionable whether the appraisal is effective. Due to the linkage of appraisal with pay in British Airways, employees might be reluctant to openly discuss their problems at work with their line managers. Issues such as preferential treatment and lack of partiality may also invalidate the effort taken. Though immediate manager are inevitably in the best position to appraise employee performance, consideration should be given to evaluate performance through peer appraisal or multi-rater appraisal (Pilbeam and Corbridge 2010: 323). 4.7 Coaching and Mentoring According to Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIDP) (2010), coaching is a process to develop an individuals skills and knowledge in order to improve their work performance. Though it may involve the employees private life, the target is on achieving specific skills and goals. Mentoring, which is a method to transfer the knowledge, skills and experience in the challenging workplace, is often used interchangeably with coaching. Comparing to coaching, which is conducted in a shorter period, mentoring tends to describe a long term relationship where a more experienced staff supports the progression of his inexperienced colleague. In fact, coaching and mentoring is very much linked with overall learning and development strategies. According to the 2010 Learning and development survey conducted by CIDP (2010), more than half of the participants felt that coaching is the most effective way of learning and development. British Airways has always been a great success in coaching and mentoring its employees. As mentioned earlier, British Airways embed different training resources and programs to support and sustain the development of its people. Qualified pilots who apply to the Direct Entry Pilot Scheme offered by the organisation will need to attend training courses before they are allowed to join the fleets. They will be put under the supervision of experienced training team until the completion of Line Check (British Airways 2011). This efficient coaching and mentoring thus lead the pilots into the right behaviour and work effectively. 4.8 Performance and Motivation People need to be motivated to work. In order to improve the performance, it is important for managers to motivate and encourage their staffs. Throughout the years, various schools of thoughts on motivation have been established. Some of the well known theories are McGreggors theory X and theory Y, Adams equity theory, Maslows hierarchy of needs and Herzbergs two factor theory (Wilson 2011). This section will focus only the first two theories McGreggors theory X and theory Y and Adams equity theory. A notable study conducted from 1945-1965 revealed that what employees desire the most from a job is security, following by advancement, type of work and company. This is against the common belief that money is the primary motivating factor. However, this should not send the signal to the company to reward employee inadequately (Accel-Team 2010). However, in the recent dispute with its cabin crew, it became obvious that British Airways Chief Executive, Mr. Willie Walsh is incompetent to address this idea. In this dispute concerning the cabins pay condition, Willie Walsh proves that his managerial style falls under McGreggors theory X. Unlike theory Y which encourages participative communication, Willie Walsh cultivates a downward direction communication flow from manager to subordinates (Barnett 2011). This can be seen by his act in snatching the offer of Unite union off the negotiation table in March 2010 without saying a further word (The Guardian 2010). His autocratic managerial style causes British Airways suffers heavy resistance from its employees and eventually leads to the decrease in employees morale. On the other hand, equity theory of motivation reveals the assumptions that individuals hold about what is value and worthwhile (Wilson 2011). This theory holds that a persons sense of fairness is resulting from comparison between his input-to-output ratios to the others see Figure 6 below (Business Balls 2010). According to a former British Airways crew member, the company has not treated its members with a fair view. The organisation compares its cabin crews salaries with low cost carriers such as Virgins and Easyjet. This is viewed as unreasonable since British Airways had been branded as a global premium airline. It is also found out that the organisations proposal for new fleet salaries of  £11,000 basic plus  £2.40 an hour is much lower comparing to other premium airlines such as Singapore and Emirates. Comparing to Singapore Airline (which pay not only  £20,792 to its crew, but also gives them the benefits of one months salary annual supplement plus health and pension p ackages) British Airways offer is apparently diminishing the effort of its members (The Guardian 2010). Equity theory should reminds British Airways management that its people must be managed and treated accordingly as they would compare the way they are treated with their surrounding environment (Business Balls 2010). Figure Adams Equity Theory (Business Balls 2010) 5.0 Future Directions 5.1 Change Management Plan With the fast changing global business environment, organisations have to be capable to respond quickly enough by implementing change. The chance of whether an organisation can survive is very much depending on how effective it deals with the changes such as new government policies, economic fluctuation, new competitors and etc. Changes are initiated by leaders who are clear with the organisations vision and put that vision into reality through medium term mission and deployment plan (Wilson 2010). Kotter and Schlessinger (1979) set out six approaches to manage resistance of change. These include the following: Education and communication inform people about the change effort beforehand Participation and involvement involve people in the change effort Facilitation and support provide coaching and mentoring to deal with adjustment problems Negotiation and agreement deal with resistance by offering incentives Manipulation and co-option give a leader a symbolic role in decision making without really involved in the change effort Explicit and implicit coercion force employees into accepting change by making clear that resistance can lead to losing jobs, transferring or not promoting (Value Based Management 2011) There is no one approach which out-ruled the other approaches. The suitability of the change approach is based upon the situation that an organisation is facing. Therefore, leaders have to exercise their wisdom and discernment when choosing the approach to deal with resistance. Willie Walshs tactic of using explicit and implicit coercion to manage change apparently is destructive to the organisation as it had pushed the resistance even further. As the cabin crews and the Unite union are in the position of power, it is more likely that negotiation and agreement should be applied. 5.2 Organisational Development Organisational development is defined as a process that applies behavioural science knowledge and practices to help organisations achieve g

Beckett :: essays research papers

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   1   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  BECKETT   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   King Henry II was a very extreme and shallow ruler. The king had a harsh method that only aided himself. He was not the best family man, king, or friend. He was he was surrounded by an obsession of one person, his best friend, Beckett. King Henry reigned with a tyrannical attitude, manipulative persona, and had a severe obsession for Beckett.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  King Henry II ruled his country to an unnecessary extreme. The majority of the king's time was spent benefiting his own welfare. Only close family, friends, and nobility were taken care of. The king blatantly took care of himself and his supporters, overlooking the people who needed the most help. Henry spent too much of his time waiting for Beckett's consent.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  King Henry possesses a manipulative mind-set. Henry attempts to manipulate Beckett, but does not succeed. Beckett is too intelligent to be controlled by the king. Unfortunately King Henry's family is manipulated by him. The King's family is aware of his manipulation, but attempting to do anything about it will only result negatively. The queen tried this at supper, but she was yelled at and sent out of the room by the king.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   2 King Henry has an intense obsession with Beckett. The king desires Beckett's love and approval. Without Beckett's direction and care for King Henry, the King will not even bathe. After Beckett devoted his life to God, King Henry's obsession grew stronger. King Henry exiled his best friend out of his country. Beckett was not supposed to leave the country, but secretly did. Henry indirectly told his guards that he did not want Beckett leaving. After reuniting on a French beach, they argued, and went their separate ways. But before the King headed back, he yelled Beckett's name one last time with no reply.

Taste of Honey by Shelagh Delaney :: Taste Honey Shelagh Delaney

"Taste of Honey" by Shelagh Delaney I am going to explain how Shelagh Delaney presents the changing facets of Jo’s character. The play was written in the 1950s and was first performed in 1958. The play is about a girl and her mother move to a grubby flat and area with no men in their life, but all changes when Helen meets Peter and Jo meet Boy. Then Jo gets pregnant with the black boy, and then meets and shares a flat with Geof, a young homosexual. He takes and the role as caring and protecting Jo and they get on well. Geof brings Helen back to visit Jo, and Helen kicks Geof out. Jo’s is the main character in the play; she is the daughter of Helen. She falls for a man called Jimmie who is in the navy, and then he makes her pregnant and goes way leaving her with this black baby. Then she meets Geof who takes on the role of caring for Jo, and then brings back her mother and he leaves. At the beginning of the play Jo is organized, capable and critical of her mother, we know because she says ‘ You’re knocking it worst than ever’. This makes us think that Helen has a drinking problem in the past. Also in Act one scene one Jo shows she is organized by saying ‘ I’m going to unpack my bulbs. I wonder where I can out them’. Then she changes when she meets Peter and becomes more jealous, quarrelsome and annoying. When Helen leaves Jo becomes more resentful and feels hurt and unloved. When she meets Jimmie she becomes much more flirtatious we know this because she says to him in the play ‘glad you like it. It’s my schoolgirl complexion’. She also becomes coy and likes the attention when she meets Jimmie. The play writer use dramatic devices to show the changes in Jo well, as in when she has quarrels and fights between the other characters. In the 1980s it was not common to be a single parent family, and Britain was not a multicultural society. Jo changes though the play one example of this is her opinion on poor housing. At the start of the play she say ‘And I don’t like it’ expressing her self about the

Whether the Realism School Still Works Today with the Iraq War

| Analysis on Whether the Realism School Still Works Today with the Iraq War as the Example| Word count : 4056 MB240672 Zhao Tiantian (Daisy)| | ProfileAdmin [Pick the date] | 1. Introduction After the collapse of the Soviet Union, it seems that the Realism school of international relations has been at an embarrassing position. The scholars of realism had not predicted the result of the confrontation of the United States and Russia.At the same time, with the further development of other schools of the international relations, such as the Liberalism, Constructivism and English school, the realism school is regarded to undergoing a weakening trend, for its inability to give a satisfactory explanation of so much cooperation, negotiation and other situation in the ever-changing political environment. While does that really mean the realism school of international relations lose its significance to study? The answer is definitely no.As one of the most classical school, flourishing for suc h a long time, it is bound to have its reasonability on some specific issues. Then does it can still be persuasive in this century and explain some specific events in the world nowadays? Is the realism school still practical in analyzing some situation and worthwhile to keep further study on it? The author thinks it is appropriate to study it with an example of war happened recently to see is there any changed expression of the school.In that way, we can understand the school and the world better to promote the development and keep the relatively stable situation of the globe. Even though after the World War Two, there is rare large scale of wars like that, involving so many states or covering so broad area. The disputes, conflicts and wars happened in different regions and among different states, absolutely cannot be compared with the world war. One of the examples of such kind is the Iraq War. On March 20 2003, the United American firstly started an invasion of Ba’athist Ir aq with its coalition, the United Kingdom.Before the war, the governments of two states claimed that Iraq’s alleged possession of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) posed a threat to their security and that of coalition or regional allies. 1 As we all know, after 9. 11, anti-terrorism has become a top agenda to America, so the US government also condemned Saddam Hussein, the president of Iraq provides the protection and support of Al-Qaeda as well as financial support for the families of Palestinian suicide bombers. On top of this, the human rights abuses of Iraqi government also could be seen as the reason for the US to start the war.While are these reasons really true without other purpose? The investigators of WMD in Iraq did not find any evidence to prove, on the contrary, they got the conclusion that Iraq had already ended its nuclear, biological and chemical program in 1991 and had no active program at the time of the invasion. 2 Even without the permit from the UN, not conforming to the specific rules of international law, the US started a militarily attack to Iraq surprisingly. So is it really a justice war like that announced by the US government, is there any other reason for the start of the war related to the self-interest of the US?This war could embody what kind of information and be relevant to the realism school of international relations? The author would provide a further analysis on it. First, the introduction of the realism school of international relations would be given, which includes the main principles and several branches of the realism school related to the case studied here. Then the author would also present information of the international law and international organizations to show how the US, as the most powerful state today won its purpose and self-interest and protect its security in the â€Å"anarchy† world.And analysis would start from the reason announced by the US government, how they really embody the real in tention of the US. Then try to find is there any other potential reason hided the event in order to prove how the US behaved in line with the realism school. 2. Literature review Realism school of international relations is a kind of theory and practice, focusing on the balance of power among states more than ideality and mortality. There are several fundamental principles of the school.Firstly, the international system is under the state of anarchy which means there is not an authoritarian actor to manage the international society and address the disputes or conflicts among different states. Secondly, the sovereign states are the most significant actors in the international system instead of international organizations, non-government organizations or multi-national enterprises, and sometimes the more attention is given to the great powers which have much more saying in the international interactions.Thirdly, all states within the system are unitary and rational actors. 3Considerin g the other states response to their own behavior, those states would also pay attention to the outside environment and choose the strategic measures to try their best to survive. Because that states always tend to pursue self-interest and groups strive to attain as many resources as possible. 4Fourthly, the most principle goal of a state is survival and security. â€Å"States seek to maintain their territorial integrity and the autonomy of their domestic political order.Survival dominates other motives because, once a state is conquered, it is unlikely to be in a position to pursue other aims. †5 While for this reason, it is possible to lead to a kind of troublesome situation, called â€Å"security dilemma†. It means one state tries to strengthen its military power by increasing its army or other means which could cause the insecurity of another state. Due to the uncertainty of the other’s real intention, lack of information, incentive to misrepresent and some private information, it is very likely for this state to take the same measures to protect itself.Therefore, these two states would be trapped in the â€Å"security dilemma† and that would easily cause the war. Fifthly, power is given the priority by every state, seeking power especially the military power sometimes is regarded as the top agenda for each state. Only with the power, can a state guarantee its security to further pursue other development and stability. Of course, realism is a complex school which could be divided into several specific branches with each distinguished characteristic. First of all, the Classical Realism holds that in the real world, the weak is always falling to the strong.The anarchy to the world means the law of the jungle, so states pursue the maximization of power. Second, Neorealism also called Structural Realism claims that even though the major actor is state, there is not difference in the function of states. What impact the foreign polici es are the various positions of states in the international system structure. Third, Offensive Realism, with the representative of John Mearsheirmer insists on the idea that self-help is the only way to survive without help from the trusted others under the anarchy.Seeking self-interest and establishing its own power are of great importance. What is more, there are Defensive Realism and Neoclassical Realism which the author would not explain too much about them. Then international law should be mentioned here. International law is the set of rules generally regarded and accepted as binding in relations between states and nations. 6It serves as the indispensable framework for the practice of stable and organized international relations. 7Meanwhile, international law is consent-based governance.This means that a state member of the international community is not obliged to abide by international law unless it has expressly consented to a particular course of conduct. 8 Although many k inds of cooperation and negotiation can be seen in the world, it is still reasonable to consider the inherent reason for them. Does that mean a state could learn to become benevolent, doing good things and thinking of others more than of itself? Under such kind of background, because of the only reliable method of self-help in the anarchical world, international law is so weak as well as the international cooperation.With the spread of Fascism and the explosion of the World War Two, classical realism rose rapidly and dominated the theory and practice of international relations during the period of Cold War. Under the great influence of classical realism, not only the study of international law war greatly affected, but also the practices of international organizations were affected negatively. Some scholars of early realism hold that the international law could play part of role in stipulating and constraining the states’ behavior during the fight for power in the internation al relations.But still many scholars keep doubt to the real function of international law, because of the lack of some important properties like domestic law, such as institutions of legislation, jurisdiction and enforcement. In the book of Edward H Carr, The Twenty Years’ Crisis he points out the nature of international law that â€Å"international law differs from the municipal law of modern states in being the law of an undeveloped and not fully integrated community. It lacks three institutions which are essential parts of any developed system of municipal law: a judicature, an executive and a legislature. 9To sum up, they tend to regard the international law as a kind of original law with serious flaw. On the other hand, due to the short of compelling force, the international law is considered as soft. 10 On top of the mentioned shortcomings of it, the limitation from willingness of states whether to accept the rules, ambiguity of the law’s provision and other fac tors decide that there is no room to ply for international law to seek power and secure international relations.Especially in the conflict between the states interests and the use of international law which are strong and weak respectively, law has to submit to the reality, for its pursuit of a kind of â€Å"morality†. If a state’s survival is not a focus of a law, namely, if the existing international system causes the successive problems of survival, it is possible for us to get a pessimistic conclusion that states are still trampling the international law. 1 As for the international organizations, with the increasingly more frequent international interaction and the deeper independence among states, they have also showed new changes, such as the larger scale of the organizations and better network of different states compared with the past. The United Nations is one of the largest and also the most important organizations in the world now with the most members. It i s undoubtedly that in the term of controlling the regional conflicts and relieving the expansion of that.But it still faces with lots of challenges, particularly faced with the powerful states holding the superb position, and then its role shows some degree of being weakened which would embody in the following parts of the thesis. 3. Case study After September 11 attack happened in America, Bush, the president of the US announced the war to the â€Å"terrorism† recognized by the US government and put Iraq into the list of â€Å"Axis of Evil†. While on July the 8th 2002, Bush said that changing the Iraq’s regime is one of the American state policies on a press conference, â€Å"taking every measure to realize this goal†.On September the 12th the US government listed the examples of Iraq’s break of its promise to the international community since the Gulf War and urged the UN to take actions to force Iraq to destroy the weapons of mass Destruction. S o in 2002, the United Nations Security Council passed Resolution 1441 which called for Iraq to completely cooperate with UN weapon inspectors to verify that Iraq was not in possession of WMD and cruise missile. 2 It is easy to get a conclusion that since 2001, there has already been the tight atmosphere or also can be said that the crisis escalated between the US, the only one superpower in the world and Iraq, an important state in the Middle East with great amount of oil reserve. The reason for starting the war as mentioned at the beginning of the paper, firstly, the WMD problem. The US claimed to search and eliminate the weapons of mass destruction. Regardless of the fact that whether Iraq really held the WMD, it is easy to understand the situation that it is the possibility that makes the US really worried.It can be considered as a kind of â€Å"security dilemma†. Iraq may develop the nuclear energy for their own purpose instead of hurting any other states. But due to the preconceived idea of Iraq, regarding it as the â€Å"Axis of Evil† and worry of the potential terrorists of the state to make use of the WMD to continue their destruction, it is understandable for the US to take measures to try to get rid of this crisis in order to protect itself. Why the US does not say too much about the same situation happened in other countries, such as China or Japan?It depends on the real interest relationship between two. The Iraq war also related to the principle of the realism school in which guaranteeing the survival is the most significant goal for a state. The US thought the possession of WMD had become a huge threat to its survival and security. The action that Iraq might have WMD led to the insecurity of the US or the fear for that kind of insecurity. Therefore, two states were trapped into the â€Å"security dilemma†. While as the much more powerful one, the US adopted actions firstly.As to the second reason, to end the human rights abus es in Iraq and to establish an autonomous government for the Iraqi seems really weak. There is no permission for attacking a state for such kind of excuses. Even though such situation existed once, it does not mean that is right. Just from this reason, it is can be seen that the US really regards itself as an indispensable mediator with its strong political and economic strength and superb position in the globe. The author claims that many policies and measures taken by the US stand the emergence of a new kind of hegemony which conforms to the realism school.Why is it said as new? Compared with the traditional hegemony of European countries in different historical periods, like Portugal, Spain, Holland and the UK, the US does not seek the marine hegemony, colonial hegemony or military hegemony, and it has a distinguished theory, purpose and process. In the regard of theory, the US preaches its responsibility of maintaining the international order, emphasizing the moral foundation an d legality of its behavior. In the regard of process, the US is focus on diplomacy, negotiation, economic sanctions and military intervention.The purpose of the military method is to punish those states which violate the international order and human rights instead of conquering the land through military force. And eventually, through the promotion of political and economic system, the influence on lifestyle as well as the spread of ideology, the US would like to maximize the security and interests of itself and lead the world. Before the Iraq war began on 20 March 2003, France, Germany rejected to join the military attack to Iraq with the US.The US only won the support of its old coalition, the United Kingdom. Even on 20 January 2003, French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin declared â€Å"we believe that military intervention would be the worst solution†13 Meanwhile, in March 2003, Hans Bilx, the chief UN weapons inspector reported that â€Å"No evidence of proscribed activities have so far been found† in Iraq, saying that progress was made in inspections which would continue. He estimated the time remaining for disarmament being verified through inspections to be month†. 4 However the US announced that â€Å"diplomacy has failed† and that it would proceed with a coalition of allied countries, called the â€Å"coalition of the willing† to rid Iraq of its alleged WMD. The US government abruptly advised the UN weapons inspectors to leave Baghdad immediately. 15 Under the general circumstances, when the US had not found the evidence of development of WMD and terrorist attack in Iraq, realizing the reason for the war is not sufficient, it should stop its plan invade and turn the follow-up work to the UN and other international organizations.It is regret that America did not do that. What is more, in October 2002 former US President Bill Clinton warned about possible dangers of preemptive military action against Iraq. Speaki ng in the UK on a Labor Party conference he said: â€Å"As a preemptive action today, however well-justified, may come back with unwelcome consequences in the future†¦. I don't care how precise your bombs and your weapons are, when you set them off, innocent people will die. 16 Then what is preemptive war? It means that a war is imminent and appears to be unable to avoid, then one of the states would starts the war, considering the first one would enjoy some kind of advantage. And there is also another kind of theory similar with it, called the â€Å"preventive† self-defense sharing the similar connotation. The Iraq war actually happened in this way. Since September 11 2001, the US had already made preparations for this preventive self-defense.It classified the North Korea, Iraq and Iran as the â€Å"Axis of Evil† and delivered a speech in West Point, saying the victory of anti-terrorism cannot be won by self-defense, we have to launch attack to destroy their pla ns and eliminate the most severe threat in advance. And three months later, Bush’s government issued a document named National Security of the United States explained that even though the US would insist on pursuing support from the international community, it would take measures to practice its right of self-defense and crack down the terrorists preemptively.Therefore, according to the words of President Bush, it is not difficult to find that there are several characteristics of the so-called preventive self-defense. First, only when the US thinks its security is under threat, it has the right to take measures or attack enemies preemptively regardless of the opposition from the international community and objection from the UN. Second, it does not require that the threat is extremely urgent.Maybe a conclusion can be got that the Iraq war is a unilateral military attack taken by the US and the UK, but not being attacked by Iraq or even without solid evidence that the threat i s really serious as well as ignoring the undergoing inspection in Iraq conducted by the Security Council. Moreover, the Article 2 of charter of the United Nations â€Å"All Members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state, or in any other manner inconsistent with the Purposes of the United Nations. 17 should be applied as a basic principle of today’s international law and followed by all states. And different from the self-defense in the Article 51 of Charter of the United Nations in which â€Å"Nothing in the present Charter shall impair the inherent right of individual or collective self-defense if an armed attack occurs against a Member of the United Nations, until the Security Council has taken measures necessary to maintain international peace and security. Measures taken by Members in the exercise of this right of self-defense shall be immediately reported to the Security Council and hall not in any way affect the authority and responsibility of the Security Council under the present Charter to take at any time such action as it deems necessary in order to maintain or restore international peace and security†18 However without getting the authorization from the Security Council to take military sanction on Iraq, enough proof to be at the dangerous position, the US chose to fight. In line of the existing international law, the Iraq War is an illegal use of military force to a sovereign state.In July 2010, Deputy Prime Minister of the UK Nick Clegg, in an official PMQs session in Parliament, condemned the invasion of Iraq as illegal. 19 So return to the realism reflected relevant to the war, it is the strong power of the US that makes it behave in a disorderly manner without fear, making a detour of the UN and violating the international law to realize its own purpose. Even in the 21st century, the international institutions or orga nizations are still very weak in some situation, especially faced with a superpower.Because this world is still a law of the jungle to a certain degree, the reality of anarchy does not change, even there are some organizations or institutions in the world, what the extent of the role it can play is another story. On the other hand, since the World War One and Two, crisis of oil in 1973 and the Persian Gulf War, states’ leaders have noticed that crude oil is the most important fundamental raw material of the greatest strategic significance. However the major reserve and production area gather in the Middle East where the political situation is always unstable with frequent disputes or conflicts.Therefore, that brings the risks of the provision of the crude oil in the global market. And for that reason, it is likely for us to think the fight for crude oil is or will still be the center of the tense situation of international politics and economy now and future. While the US as one of the greatest consumers of crude oil in the world, conducted fierce competition with other states in this area with conflicts of interests. Particularly after September 11, the US launched the global strategic deployment with anti-terrorism in which also implies the strategic deployment of crude oil.That is why some people analyze we cannot rule out the possibility that the eruption of Iraq war also embodies the pursuit of self-interests in energy of the US. The superpower always places the self-interests on the first place, even chooses a war which is illegal, pretending that justice prevails. 4. Conclusion The realism school seeks the elaboration for the reality of the world instead of the ideal situation. One point of view goes like that since the establishment of the formal international study in 1919, the realism once dominated the realm of it, because it could give an arguable explanation of wars in the world.So the author takes the example of a war happened relatively i n recent years to elaborate the role of realism school. As to the Iraq war, firstly attention goes to the reason for the start, even though the excuse is not enough the US still conducted its attack. Secondly, the process of the war, from not getting the permit from the United Nations to violate the international law, becoming an illegal war, proves that the US depends on its own strong national power and the leading role in the whole world without the fear for the sanctions and condemnation from other states or the international organizations.Just like in the argument of realism school, in the law of the jungle, â€Å"power† is a core factor for deciding a state how to behave in the international interaction. Due to the uncertainty to Iraq’s intention, not knowing whether it really holds the nuclear weapons, whether Iraq would use it to do things related to the terrorism, harming the interests and security of the US, the US government decided to take a preemptive war in advance as a rational actor in order to eliminate the potential risks and protect itself.Meanwhile, The US gives the self-interests a priority and tries to affect other states with its great political and economic influence. Therefore, it is natural for us to get a conclusion that even a war happen today could be conformed to the realism school of the international school. Even after the split of the Soviet Union, it is still taking the significant position in the international relations study and can explain much situation in the globe, especially for the war.And of course, even there are more and more international organizations nowadays, but how to ensure they could play the better role in the international community is an urgent problem to deal with the disputes, conflicts and even wars, only by commitment? It still needs to be done more study on that. Bibliography 1. Center for American Progress (January 29, 2004) â€Å"In Their Own Words: Iraq's ‘Imminent' Threatâ₠¬  Senator Bill Nelson (January 28, 2004) â€Å"New Information on Iraq's Possession of Weapons of Mass Destruction Blair, A. (March 5, 2002) â€Å"PM statement on Iraq following UN Security Council resolution† 2.Shrader, K. (22 June 2006) â€Å"New Intel Report Reignites Iraq Arms Fight† Associated Press 3. Realism (International Relations) Wikipedia http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Realism_(international_relations) 4. Realism (International Relations) Wikipedia http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Realism_(international_relations) 5. John I. Mearshelmer (2001) The Tragedy of Great Power Politics pp. 31 6. â€Å"The Free Dictionary Definition of Human Rights†. The American Heritage ® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition copyright  ©2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009.. ttp://www. thefreedictionary. com/international+law. Retrieved 13 September 2011. 7. Slomanson, William (2011). Fundamental Perspectives on Internationa Law. Boston, USA : Wadsworth. pp. 4-5 8. Slomanson, William (2011). Fundamental Perspectives on Internationa Law. Boston, USA: Wadsworth. pp. 4 9. Edward H Carr The Twenty Years’ Crisis (1981) pp. 170 10. Kenneth W. Abbot and Duncan Snidal, Hard and Soft Law in International Governance, International Organization, Vol. 54, No. 3, Summer 2000, pp. 422 11. Robert J. Berk, Anthony Clark Arend and Robert D. Vander Lugt eds,.International Rules: Approaches from International law and International Relations, New York: Oxford University Press Inc. 1996 P. 94 12. Hersh, Seymour M. (5 May 2003). Selective Intelligence, New Yorker. 13. â€Å"Press conference of Foreign affairs Minister Dominique de Villepin (excerpts)†. Embassy of France in the U. S. 20 January 2003. Archived from the original on 27 September 2006. 14. â€Å"Press conference of Foreign affairs Minister Dominique de Villepin (excerpts)†. Embassy of France in the U. S. 20 January 2003. Archived from the original on 27 Septe mber 2006. 15. Iraq War Wikipedia http://en. wikipedia. rg/wiki/Iraq_war 16. â€Å"CNN Inside Politics†. CNN. http://transcripts. cnn. com/TRANSCRIPTS/0210/02/ip. 00. html. Retrieved 23 October 2010. Grice, Andrew (3 October 2002). â€Å"The Independent. â€Å"Clinton urges caution over Iraq as Bush is granted war powers† The Independent (London). http://www. independent. co. uk/news/world/politics/clinton-urges-caution-over-iraq-as-bush-is-granted-war-powers-607775. html. Retrieved 23 October 2010. 17. Charter of the United Nations pp. 4 18. Charter of the United Nations pp. 14 19. Clegg brands Iraq War illegal in his first PMQs – with the backing of No10, Daily Mail, 21 July 2010