Stace & Dunphy Essay Example for Free

Stace Dunphy Essay Five dilemmas that have characterised decisions about organisational change: 1. Adaptive V rational strategy development 2. Cultural change V structural change 3. Continuous improvement V radical transformation 4. Empowerment V leadership and command. 5. Economic V Social goals Having discussed the five dilemmas, Dunphy and Stace (1996) differentiate them in terms of `soft and `hard approaches to managing change: Soft approaches are characterised by: adaptive strategy, cultural change, continuous improvement and empowerment. while hard approaches are characterised by: rational strategy, structural change, radical transformation and leadership and command. Introduction to Cultural Change Structural Success in business is often determined by how effective an organization manages cultural change. That is success is not achieved by an executives skills alone, nor by the visible features the strategy, structure and reward system of the organization. Every organization has an invisible quality a certain style, a character, a way of doing things that may be more powerful than the dictates of any one person or any formal system. This invisible quality the corporate culture dictates how effective the organization is in the marketplace. Achieving cultural change to maintain a prime market position has to be a key preoccupation of every chief executive. To understand the soul of the organization and the cultural change required necessitates us probing below the below what is visible, e.g., charts, rule books, machines and buildings and into the underground world of peoples feelings, beliefs, perceptions, attitudes, behaviors, only then can the corporate culture be defined and cultura l change initiatives be identified. To provide meaning, direction and mobilisation, i.e., the social energy that moves the corporation into either productive action or destruction requires constant cultural change to keep abreast of current management thinking and technology. Many organisations however simply do not recognise the need for cultural change and therefore this social energy has barely been tapped; whether diffused in all directions or even deactivated, it is not mobilised to help the company. Most members seem apathetic or depressed about their jobs and no longer pressure one another to do well. Even cultural change pronouncements by top managers that they will improve the situation fall on the deaf ears of employees who have heard these promises before. Consequently, without cultural change being itself part of the culture, the soul of the organisation slowly dies. The crucial role of corporate cultural change in shaping behaviour, and the especially powerful effects of group norms, one way to turn around a maladaptive company is to effect cultural change by managing its norms. Even cultural norms that dictate behaviour, opinions style and attitudes, etc., can be brought to the surface, discussed and altered by cultural change initiatives. Experience of corporate consulting work, has revealed it helpful to have all group members (generally in a cultural change workshop setting) list the actual norms that currently guide their behaviour and attitudes. This can be done for one or many cultural change groups, departments and divisions. Sometimes, it takes a little prodding and a few illustrations to get the process started, but once it begins, cultural change group members are quick to suggest many norms. In fact, they seem to delight in being able to articulate what was never written in any document and rarely mentioned even in casual conversation between themselves. What is Structural Change Structure is the place where culture grows. The structure of the organization, its physical structure, its work processes and systems support and create the behavior of the people who work there. Often organizations distribute new mission statements, beautiful posters with new values on them, but since the structure of the workplace does not support the mission or values, they are doomed to disappear. The networks of an organization function as culture maintainers organization members who communicate in predictable ways about predictable things based on history. Fundamental and lasting change requires the transformation of the networks that are the foundation for communication and relationships within the organization. By changing the way people sit, the processes they use, the structure of relationships between departments new networks form and old ones fade away. The structural changes should be small, many and high leverage. The changes should be small so that small numbers of volunteers can implement them quickly. Changing many things at the same time destabilizes the old, out-dated systems and processes. High leverage changes have a profound impact on the whole system. New structure forces new behaviors, just as changing the position of a wall in a room, or taking it away all together, causes people in the room to move and to change their focus. (Ref: Johnson Gerry and Scholes Kevan, (2002), exploring corporate strategy, 6 e/d, Printice Hall, UK) Structural change is enduring and difficult to undo. Once new walls, new systems and new processes are built to replace old structures, it is hard to return to the old way of doing things. Remember when the typewriter and the computer sat in side-by-side in the offices and how the people continued to use their typewriters? As soon as the typewriters were gone, people switched to computers. A test for structural change is an econometric test to determine whether the coefficients in a regression model are the same in separate subsamples. Often the subsamples come from different time periods. CNN has picked up on a report by the New York Federal Reserve Bank that suggests that the recovery is jobless because there is a restructuring beginning to happen. In a recent report, economists at the New York Fed suggest that what is happening is structural. In past recessions job losses were far more cyclical: The economy turned down, your company laid you off, but as soon as things got better you got hired back. Lets discuss an issue on structural and cultural change on The causes of Poverty in U.S. There are many competing theories about the causes of poverty in the United States with mountains of empirical evidence to justify support for each. The debate among theorists and policymakers is primarily divided between advocates who support cultural/behavioural arguments and those who support structural/economic arguments. This debate tends to manifest itself across political party lines with republicans supporting the cultural/behavioural thesis and democrats looking more to structural causes. (Ref: http://www.canberra.edu.au) Structural Causes Supporters of the structural school of thought argue that most poverty can be traced back to structural factors inherent to either the economy and/or to several interrelated institutional environments that serve to favor certain groups over others, generally based on gender, class, or race. Of the various institutional environments that tend to sustain a multitude of economic barriers to different groups, it is discrimination based on race and gender that create the most insidious obstructions. The disproportionately high rate of poverty among women may be viewed as the consequence of a patriarchal society that continues to resist their inclusion in a part of society that has been historically dominated by men, and as a consequence, welfare programs have been designed in ways that stigmatize public support for women as opposed to marital support; both arrangements tend to reinforce patriarchy. In this regard, the rise in poverty among women is an important structural level variable t o consider, but the lack of reliable data going back to 1947 makes testing difficult. This view is in part analogous to spatial mismatch theory, which generally hypothesizes that the location and relative access to jobs of the disadvantaged group is more operable than race per se. In a comprehensive literature review, Holzer concludes that spatial mismatch has a significant effect on Black employment and is primarily due to the low availability of well-paying jobs in the inner-city; a situation brought on by job decentralization and increasing commute times to distant jobs. However, Holzer suggests that the root cause of higher unemployment among inner-city Blacks may not be clearly distinguishable between the characteristics of the people who reside in each place as opposed to the problems created by location per se.. Structural economic factors include the level and variation in unemployment, median income, and measures of income inequality. The effects of unemployment and rises in median income are well documented and their relationship to poverty is intuitive. The rate of poverty tracks very closely with median income and in general, rises in median income has positive benefits for all classes, including the poor. Over the last half century, as median income has risen, the rate of poverty has decreased in close correlation. This relationship lends credibility to the argument that work is the best mechanism for lifting people out of poverty. Indeed, one of the clearest strategies for fighting poverty should be to focus on ensuring a strong and growing economy. However, for individuals to take full advantage of a strong and changing economy, they need education. Rises in income are positively correlated with educational attainment. Yet education is not equally accessible by all members of the pop ulation. Since property taxes represent the largest share of local school funding, the quality of education will necessarily vary relative the economic wealth of the locality. Federal and State funding represent smaller shares and are meant to level the playing fields somewhat, but they do not. It is education that allows people to adapt to changes in the economy and by extension changes in the demand for labour. During the latter half of the 20th Century, the American economy shifted from one based on manufacturing to one based on services. The gains in wages and working conditions that were made in the manufacturing sector have been weakened by the service economy. For example, Wal-Mart offers its employees one of the weakest wage/benefits packages of any corporation of its kind and continues to fend off unionization; it is now one the most powerful corporations with a huge market share and monopsony power over its suppliers. The gains in US GDP are in part due to the success of a consumer economy that rewards Wal-Mart and its cousin conglomerates, but at what cost to the Americans working low wage/benefit jobs. The barriers created by these trends are difficult for the poor to overcome. How is the poor parent supposed to take care of his/her family based on a near minimum wage job with poor and/or expensive health coverage and child care? A publication by the Institute of Womens Policy Research demonstrates that many among the poor rely on several sources of income in order to get by, including government assistance, income from other family members, child support, and job income. These multiple sources of income along with the stresses inherent to the pursuit of each would not be as needed if sufficient employment were available for livable wages and benefits. Economic Vs Social goals Some obstacles to the development of new forms of work organisation have been recently reported : low level of awareness, poor access to evidence-based resources, ountervailing trends, distribution of the relevant competencies. When thinking of the impact of industrial relations on organisational innovation, another sociological factor may be stressed: Whatever the necessary roles of the collective social actors in the work organisation, employees are now definitely the key actors in this respect. However, in many countries, the history of industrial relations systems, the actual balance of power between employers and employees in companies and the growing social insecurity based on flexibility, lead many employees to wonder about the aim and the effects of the new forms of work organisation. They consider that companies are asking them for more efforts in their single interests (productivity, quality of product) without any evidence that it may improve employees ones ( working conditions, job security, wages, industrial democracy). For them and for some of their unions, closing the gap with stakeholders is an illusion, and improving workers involvement requires a real balance between economic and social goals in organisational innovation. Therefore, in some industrial relations systems, even more than technical tools, learning processes, used rhetorics or formal provisions, this balance is a basic precondition for most employees to implement and develop new forms of work organisation. In order to meet this precondition, i.e. to ensure both economic and social goals in work organisation, a major tool is employee representatives participation in the decision making, the monitoring and the evaluation of organisational changes at every regulatory level. Proposals are already on the table that actors should build coalitions or should have a proactive role in developing these changes. But in many countries, such proposals cannot be implemented if employers or managers remain the only decision makers in work organisation. Confirming this approach, the EPOC results (Employee Participation in Organisational Change, a programme including a survey on 5800 European companies) reported that, from most managers point of views, the more employee representatives are involved in the regulation of direct participation, the more this participation is efficiently implemented, with a good impact on cost reduction, improvement of quality of product/service, absenteeism. In the same way , in France, reducing working time by law finally was, in many companies, the best way for actors to co-operate in changing work organisation. The deal was clear, with advantages for both partners. Such a social actors involvement in regulation of work organisation is now converging with a more general trend in industrial relations systems towards what may be called a multilevel model of regulated autonomy, involving social partners in co-producing rules at most interlinked levels of work regulation, from the European level to the workplace one. Moreover, this model itself between deregulation and old top-down regulation- is clearly aimed at introducing regulatory flexibility at local levels while common rules may be kept at upper levels. The Auroux Law was the first example in France of such a model. So, in order to establish balanced goals and advantages in organisational change, and more generally in order to co-produce work regulation, employees representatives are or should be at the core of the system. But a major problem then appear. Their weakness in many countries, specially at company level, is often leading to u nbalanced situations in which they dont have the power to play their roles of counterpower. In the long run, the results of the bargaining between unbalanced partners often look unbalanced and not satisfactory for workers, for instance about employment, precariousness or working conditions. (Ref: Lynch Richard, (2000), corporate strategy, 8 e/d, Prentice Hall, England.) Empowerment Leadership and command Empowerment evaluation is part of the intellectual landscape of evaluation. It has been adopted in higher education, government, inner-city public education, nonprofit corporations, and foundations throughout the United States and abroad. A wide range of program and policy sectors use empowerment evaluation, including substance abuse prevention, HIV prevention, crime prevention, environmental protection, welfare reform, battered womens shelters, agriculture and rural development, adult probation, adolescent pregnancy prevention, tribal partnership for substance abuse, self-determination and individuals with disabilities, doctoral programs, and educational reform (the Accelerated Schools Project a national educational reform movement). Descriptions of programs that use empowerment evaluation appear in Empowerment Evaluation: Knowledge and Tools for Self-assessment and Accountability (Fetterman, Kaftarian, and Wandersman 1996). Foundations of Empowerment Evaluation presents a complete description about how to conduct an empowerment evaluation (Fetterman, 2001). The definition of a leader is someone who has followers. To gain followers requires influence but doesnt exclude the lack of integrity in achieving this. Indeed, it can be argued that several of the worlds greatest leaders have lacked integrity and have adopted values that would not be shared by many people today. Empowerment evaluation has three steps. The first step is establishing a mission or vision statement about the program. Some groups do not like the terms mission or vision and instead prefer to focus on results. They state the results they would like to see, based on the outcome of the implemented program and map backwards endash;- specifying activities required to achieve those processes and outcomes. The second step, taking stock, involves identifying and prioritizing the most significant program activities. Then program staff members and participants rate how well the program is doing in each of those activities, typically on a 1 (low) to 10 (high) scale, and discuss the ratings. This helps to determine where the program stands, including strengths and weaknesses. The third step involves charting a course for the future. The group states goals and strategies to achieve their dreams. Goals help program staff members and participants determine where they want to go in the future with an explicit emphasis on program improvement. Strategies help them accomplish program goals. These efforts are monitored using credible documentation. Empowerment evaluators help program staff members and participants identify the type of evidence required to document progress toward their goals. Evaluation becomes a part of the normal planning and management of the program, which is a means of institutionalizing and internalizing evaluation. Empowerment evaluation is fundamentally a democratic process. The entire group not a single individual, not the external evaluator or an internal manager is responsible for conducting the evaluation. The group thus can serve as a check on its own members, moderating the various biases and agendas of individual members. The evaluator is a co-equal in this endeavor, not a superior and not a servant; as a critical friend, the evaluator can question shared biases or group think. Conclusion on Dilemmas While measurement issues remain, including the applicability of a national level analysis to various regions and cities each with potentially differentiated forms and causes of poverty, the final Model V of this analysis provides a useful framework for understanding the general causes of poverty at the national level. Contrary to the hypothesis of the paper, the cultural variables employed could not be integrated with the structural/political variables into a larger model that demonstrated the dynamic interrelation between the structural environment, cultural processes, and behavioral outcomes as theorized by Orlando Patterson Empowerment evaluation has three steps. The first step is establishing a mission or vision statement about the program. Some groups do not like the terms mission or vision and instead prefer to focus on results. They state the results they would like to see, based on the outcome of the implemented program and map backwards endash;- specifying activities required to achieve those processes and outcomes. The second step, taking stock, involves identifying and prioritizing the most significant program activities. Then program staff members and participants rate how well the program is doing in each of those activities, typically on a 1 (low) to 10 (high) scale, and discuss the ratings. This helps to determine where the program stands, including strengths and weaknesses. The third step involves charting a course for the future. The group states goals and strategies to achieve their dreams. Goals help program staff members and participants determine where they want to go in the future with an explicit emphasis on program improvement. Strategies help them accomplish program goals. These efforts are monitored using credible documentation. Empowerment evaluators help program staff members and participants identify the type of evidence required to document progress toward their goals. Evaluation becomes a part of the normal planning and management of the program, which is a means of institutionalizing and internalizing evaluation. Empowerment evaluation is fundamentally a democratic process. The entire group not a single individual, not the external evaluator or an internal manager is responsible for conducting the evaluation. The group thus can serve as a check on its own members, moderating the various biases and agendas of individual members. The evaluator is a co-equal in this endeavor, not a superior and not a servant; as a critical friend, the evaluator can question shared biases or group think. As is the case in traditional evaluation, everyone is accountable in one fashion or another and thus has an interest or agenda to protect. A school district may have a five-year plan designed by the superintendent; a graduate school may have to satisfy requirements of an accreditation association; an outside evaluator may have an important but demanding sponsor pushing either timelines or results, or may be influenced by training to use one theoretical approach rather than another. Empowerment evaluations, like all other evaluations, exist within a context. However, the range of intermediate objectives linking what most people do in their daily routine and macro goals is almost infinite. People often feel empowered and self-determined when they can select intermediate objectives that are linked to larger, global goals. In addition, a self-evaluation is more meaningful when linked to external requirements and demands. Empowerment evaluation also empowers external evaluators. Specifically, the external evaluators role and productivity is enhanced by the presence of an empowerment or internal evaluation process. Most evaluators operate significantly below their capacity in an evaluation because the program lacks even rudimentary evaluation mechanisms and processes. The external evaluator routinely devotes time to the development and maintenance of elementary evaluation systems. Programs that already have a basic self-evaluation process in place enable external evaluators to begin operating at a much more sophisticated level. References * Lynch Richard, (2000), corporate strategy, 8 e/d, Prentice Hall, England. * Channon Derek f., (1999), Encyclopedic Dictionary of strategy management, Blackwell Business, UK. * Lynch Richard, (2000), corporate strategy, 8 e/d, Prentice Hall, England. * Channon Derek f., (1999), Encyclopedic Dictionary of strategy management, Blackwell Business, UK. * Johnson Gerry and Scholes Kevan, (2002), exploring corporate strategy, 6 e/d, Printice Hall, UK. * Robson Wendy, (1997), strategic management and information system, 2 e/d, Prentice Hall, England. * http://www.canberra.edu.au * http://www.drew-associates.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk

Asymmetry In Facial Emotional :: essays research papers

Asymmetry in Facial Emotional Expression. Abstract Research in the past has demonstrated that the right hemisphere of the brain is dominant in the perception and expression of emotion. As a result of crossing of the nervous system, the expectation was that the left side of the face would express emotion more intensely than the right. This was tested by using left and right composite faces, showing them to participants, asking them to rate which of the two faces was more intense. The finding was that participants judges the left composites to be more emotionally intense than the right composites, thus supporting the hypothesis that there is asymmetry in the facial expression of emotion. This finding leads to the conclusion that the right hemisphere is dominant in the perception, expression and general procession of emotional information. Crossing over of the nervous system occurs at the decussation of the pyramids , this is a site just above the medulla-spinal cord junction at which the nerve fibres from either side of the brain cross over to the contralateral side of the body (Marieb, 1998). This means that the sensory information from the right side of the body goes to the contralateral side of the brain, in this case the left hemisphere, and vice versa. Due to this cross over, each hemisphere has motor control over the contralateral side of the body.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The brain’s hemispheres are specialised in their functions, amongst others, the left hemisphere is dominant in language, mathematical reasoning and logical thinking. The right hemisphere is dominant in facial recognition, expression and spatial thinking. These findings that the different hemispheres are specialised in their function have come from experiments performed on those with damage to specific parts of the brain thus being able to isolate the particular damaged area and experiment upon this.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Because the hemispheres are specialised in their functions, the psyhcologists in the past have developed theories on asymmetry in emotional perception and expression. It has been found from previous studies that the right hemisphere is dominant in facial recognition and expression. It has been proposed that the right side of the face is more openly expressive, while the left side of the face is ‘private’ (Sackheim, Gur, 1978). Darwin first proposed the importance of expression as a form of communication that had survival value for the human species (Atkinson, Atkinson, Smith, Bem, Nolen-Hoeksema, 1996). Later studies found that there were six distinct emotions that can be reliably recognised universally in the human face.

Fundamental Problems of Economic System Essay

Before we further move on we have to know about the sources of economic problems and a brief about the economic system. 1. 2. 1 Scarce Means and Unlimited Wants Want is Want is an effective desire for a thing, which can be satisfied by making an effort for obtaining it. We have unlimited wants and as one want gets satisfied another arises. For instance, one may have the desire to buy a car or a flat. Once the car or the flat is purchased, the person wishes to buy a more spacious and designable car and the list of his wants does not stop here but goes on one after another. As human wants are unlimited, we have to make a choice between the most urgent want and less urgent wants. Thus the problem of choice arises. Means also known as resources are limited. Means are the ways to derive the satisfaction of the various wants. For instance, money is an important means to satisfy many of our wants. As stated, means are scarce and as such these are to be used optimally. In other words scarce or limited means are to be judicially used and economized to get the maximum satisfaction. Another problem which is to be viewed is that resources have alternative uses i. e. the same resource can be used for more than one purpose. For example, money can be used either buying a laptop or a play station, all depends on how you perceive the urge of the desire or want you want to satisfy. 1. 2. 2 An Economic System or Economy The term economic system can be defined as a set of techniques by which a society decides and create balance between resources and unlimited human wants. It therefore clearly signifies that being a part of social system not only natural resources but also man made resources also get included in the economic system. The economic system thus comprises of people and institutions like banks, markets etc. The set of parameters thus used to determine the components of economic system is very dynamic and depends upon various factors like social, political, geographical and climatic etc. This shows that we can distinguish the two economies, no economy in the world will be same. The difference can be judged on the basis of control of the economy For Example: The economic system of the country can also be based on the basis of involvement of society, more involvement of society in the economy and the decision are taken with a view of society and equitable distribution of wealth is characteristic of Socialist Economy. Contrarily if the economy is decentralized and the power lies in the hands of private enterprises then the said economy is capitalist economy. Primarily the difference is done on the basis of the control but other things like growth, production of the economy can also be used to judge the economic scenario of the two economies, the production done in a fiscal year, purchasing power of the people and employment are primarily the factors considered. 1. 2. 3 Economic Agents Economic agents are the key units of the economic system, the whole economy revolves around them. Producers, consumers, institutions and various other bodies come under this category. The agents are considered to be the most critical part of the economy as they guide and drive the economy by their actions. Check your progress A 1. What is an economic system? Ans. Economic system or economy is known a set of principles by which problems of economics are addressed, such as the economic problem of scarcity through allocation of finite productive resources. The economic system thus comprises of people and institutions like banks, markets etc. . 3 FACTORS OF PRODUCTION Production process is an end to end activity which means that there is a relational pedagogy between input and output. Factors of production also known as productive inputs are the resources employed to produce goods and services, thus it constitutes the input part of the production process. Factors of production involve in the production process and improves the working of the process but do not form the ultimate part of the product. Factors of production can be broadly classified as: 1. Land . Labour 3. Capital 4. Entrepreneurship 1. 3. 1 Land In economics, land includes all natural resources which are free gift of nature. Thus, by land economists do not mean only agricultural soil, but also other natural resources such as minerals, water, climate and forests. Payment for use of land per period is called Rent. Land as factor of production implies the ground used to built and start the production moreover it serves as a pool of various minerals and valuable natural resources which facilitates the human mankind. Land is a fixed factor of production and thus it is not possible to increase. Land helps to facilitate the production only if the efficient workforce is used to generate the maximum output out of the limited resource. This means optimum utilisation of resources. 1. 3. 2 Labour Labour represents all physical and mental abilities which people can make available for production of goods and services. Labour is usually measured by the time spent in working during a period. Reward made per period of labour is called Wages. Labour is a non homogeneous factor of production. There are set of people in the underlying category which can be distinguished as skilled and unskilled worker. The workers that are skilled and educated are used in the operations of a more complex job requiring special skills and training and the other category belongs to the lower level working operations. The two factors which highlight the labour are efforts put in and performance which correlates the efficiency. The efforts put in by a labour can be modified with the motivational analysis that can help the person to make the worker work produce more. As land is the natural or passive factor in all production, so labour is the human or active factor. All the production results with the action of labour thus it can be said that labour is producer of all wealth. In economics the labour and capital is said to be the primary factors of production and from their union all of the production comes. 1. 3. 3 Capital Capital, which is not in itself a distinguishable element, but which it must always be kept in mind consists of wealth applied to the aid of labour in further production, is not a primary factor. There can be production without it, and there must have been production without it, or it could not in the first place have appeared. It is a secondary and compound factor, coming after and resulting from the union of labour and land in the production of wealth. Capital refers to man made resources of production. Labour plays an integral role in the capital formation, here too state of labour effects and relates with the capital formation an efficient worker will generate additional capital with additional production. Here the term investment arise which is the amount of capital formation in a year. The capital formation with a viewpoint of economy will include the accumulated part of the production process. The production is a continuous process and hence a halt can hamper the production in a big way, thus there is always some production in progress and some products add to the production of other products appreciating the value of the products will lead to the capital formation. 1. 3. 4 Entrepreneurship Entrepreneur represents a special human resource which provides his entrepreneurial abilities to the enterprise. Entrepreneur plays a crucial role in a free market economy it integrates all the factors of production land, labour and capital to produce the output with a view of anticipating all the losses if the output fails in the free market. Entrepreneur always is in the risky situation as he is the one who bears all d cost of inducing the other factors of production into the production process and the profits are the rewards of the entrepreneur at the end of everything. Nowadays Venture Capitalists and other financer are willing to diversify the risk of the new entrepreneur. The existence of the entrepreneurship as a part of factor of production is still debatable. Check Your Progress B 1. List the major factors of production? Ans. Major Factors of production are as follows: a. Land b. Labour c. Capital d. Entrepreneurship 1. 4 FUNDAMENTAL PROBLEMS OF AN ECONOMY Every economy has to face some problems as scarcity of resources having alternative uses in relation to demand give rise to the choice problem. The allocation of resources is the fundamental problem of the economy. These Fundamental problems are: 1. What to produce? 2. How to produce? 3. For whom to produce? 4. The choice between current consumption and growth through saving and investment. 1. 4. 1 What to produce? This question arises from the fact of limited resources in the society now apparently society has to decide which goods have to be produced and in which quantities, now it is clear that some of the goods have to be produced and some have to be foregone. This lead us to take an intermediate solution of what we must produce and what we must not as the goods that are foregone also have some wants associated with it which leads some of the customers dissatisfied. Another problem attached with the production is allocation of resources like for example if we have to produce product A and product B, both of them will require the exhaustion of the resources, here the problem of allocation of resources comes into picture as to how much resources we must allocate to which product. This is necessarily not an issue of the developing countries as developed countries can also face the problem of allocation of resources. 1. 4. 2 How to Produce? This is the problem of choosing method or technique of production which means that what combinations of factors a society decides to produce goods. For example if the economy decides to produce product A then how the production will take place and allocation of resources has to be decided. A combination of factors in appropriate amount for the production is known as the technique of production. The things that come into consideration while taking the decision of how to allocate the factors and which factors to be used can be decided with the current economic scenario. For example in developing countries where there is abundance of labour and relatively lesser amount of capital there we can use Labour Intensive Technique for the production and similarly in developed countries where labour is relatively less and capital is more, then Capital Intensive Technique can be adopted for the production purposes. The basic criteria of choosing the different types of technique in the different kind of scenario would be based on 1. Availability of the supplies of resources 2. Prices of the different resources which must lead to most cost effective way of production. The problem here is that the scarcity of resources which requires that the available resources must be used judicially and efficiently, if not economy has to face the inefficiency and thus productivity will hamper. 1. 4. 3 For Whom to Produce? This is the problem related with the issue of the distribution of the national product among the society. Society is a very vast term and includes a lot of components and consumers which include the ultimate consumers of the national produce thus it is very critical to state an effective distribution strategy, society thus itself decides how much is to distributed in what quantities. In a free market economy it is the income of the individual which is the deciding factor that how much he can purchase out of the available resources, Higher the income higher is the power to utilise the resource in his favour. The distribution strategy is also not free to operate in the economy on the basic principles of demand and supply there are certain factors which governs the marketing mechanism like from socialist perspective focus is on the providing basic necessities to all and generate motivation in the people to generate additional income by doing additional work, Similarly there has o be different strategies to be adopted in case of different economic structure. The problem of distribution does not have an easy way out it implies that there is always conflict of ideologies in setting up of the distribution strategy. 1. 4. 4 The Problem of Growth Economic growth suggests that there is an increase in the production of goods and services on a continuous basis. Growth thus i mplies that the economy must move on with increase in the substantial amount of the investment. Capital formation is thus necessary and for the expansion of the stock there has to be a sacrifice in the present level of consumption. If all the stock is used up and nothing is there for the future use, there will be no capital formation and thus no growth. 1. 4. 5 Choice between Public and Private Goods 1. Public Goods: It is those types of goods that can not be restricted and bounded by the use of an individual. The basic characteristic of these types of goods are: a) Consumption of the good by one person does not lead to the reduction in the availability for the consumption of others. b) No body can not get excluded from using the good. Free to air television channels are the examples of these types of goods. These are the goods available to all and anybody can see without getting obstruction in a way these goods comes as a right to a person. These goods satisfy a collective want of the society. 2. Private Goods: These types of goods are the just opposite of what we have just read Public Goods. The main characteristics or the Private Goods are: a) Consumptions by one consumer prevent simultaneous consumption by other consumers. b) It is reasonably possible to prevent a class of  consumers from consuming the good. Private goods are produced and marketed with a perspective of profit and it just satisfies an individual want. Bread can be one of the examples of Private Goods. 1. 4. 6 The Problem of Merit Goods The merit goods are those goods which follow the concept of need, rather than ability and willingness to pay. For example: Health Services it helps the society on the whole and caters the need at individual level, but since it is a costly merit service the same has to be privatised which results in the acquisition of services only by those whom have the power to pay the more money. Thus Merit Goods merit remains effective till it helps the individual as well society on a holistic level. Check Your Progress C 1. What is capital formation? Ans. Capital formation is the term used to coin the additional things added into the economy on account of growth. Capital stock added in the financial year counts on account of capital formation when it comes to real and tangible products and in case of services the additional value generated by rendering services that appreciates the value of Gross National Product. 1. 5 PRODUCTION POSSIBILITY CURVE Production possibility curve is also known as Production Possibility Frontier or Transformation Curve. Production Possibility curve is a curve which depicts Graphical  representation  of the alternative combinations of the amounts of two goods or services that an economy can produce by transferring resources from one good or service to the other. As the total productive resources of the economy are limited, the economy has to choose between different goods. The resources can be put into different types of goods it is therefore necessary to decide which product to be produced more and which has to be less. Assumptions underlying: 1. Given or fixed amount of resources available in the economy. 2. Given resources are being used fully and with utmost efficiency. 3. Technology does not undergo any change. Production possibility curve can be drawn with the help of a schedule that can be depicted between the two goods which can be produced with the full utilisation and efficient employment of given resources. This can be drawn on the basis of schedule for example we take Cloth and Tanks. Production Possibilities| Cloth| Tanks| A| 0| 15| B| 1| 14| C| 2| 12| D| 3| 9| E| 4| 5| F| 5| 0| This schedule when depicted on a graphical format takes a convex shape and depicts the optimum number of combinations of the two products with the given level of resources in hand. 1. 6. 1 Resource Allocation in a Capitalist Economy Capitalism, broadly speaking, is the economic system in which financial considerations dominate. It is a system in which the quest for financial reward is the driving force shaping what is done, by whom, how, where and when. This concept basically works on two dimensions: freedom of economic choice and freedom of enterprise. Freedom of choice means that in a world of scarce resources the individual is free to make his own decisions. Freedom of enterprise is usually more narrowly defined as the freedom to own and operate a business. Price Mechanism plays an important role in the role of determining the process of buying and selling. Market forces determine the price and quantity to be produced in the economy with the interaction demand and supply. In such economy the goods and services produced in the society with the aim of generating profit and thus the resources are allocated to the goods which provide better results on account of profit. The biggest concern een and faced in this type of economy is of income inequality, due to the price mechanism and profit motive the goods are not supplied to the poor and the philosophy rich is become richer and poor becomes poorer prevails. 1. 6. 2 Resource Allocation in a Socialist Economy Socialist economy is a structure of the economy which aims at providing great er equality and giving the working class greater ownership over the means of production. In a socialist economy or a socialist state believes that socialism is the most equitable and socially serviceable form of an economic arrangement designed to achieve human potentialities. Socialist economies are characterized by the means of production owned by the state or by the workers collectively called socialism. The authorities decide in a planned economy how the resource must allocate in a profitable manner which benefits the society at large, market forces are not allowed to influence the decision at all. It is the government who takes control of all the resources and decides what to produce and in what quantities. They produce with the perspective of the society at large and not with the view of the earning profit. 1. 6. 3 Resource Allocation in a Mixed Economy A Mixed Economy is an economy in which the decisions are taken in the combined manner some is taken by the market forces and some are taken under government regulation. The mixed economy as an economic ideal is supported by social democrats as a compromise between classic socialism. The production process is governed in a semi segregated manner, Critical sectors which are important with respect to the country as a whole is kept in hands of the government and rest consumer goods are kept open in the economy to kept work accordingly to the market mechanism. Check Your Progress D 1. What is production possibility curve? Ans. Production Possibility curve also known as Production Possibility Frontier is a curve which shows the combination of two or more goods or services that can be produced while using all the available factor resources efficiently. For Example: We can allocate the resources in the production of the cloths and tank. 1. 7. LETS SUM UP Knowledge has many branches and economics is an important and useful branch of knowledge because problems of poverty, unemployment, lack of growth, inflation which face all economies are best explained and explored and being solved with the help of Economics. An economic system can be defined as a â€Å"set of methods and standards by which a society decides and organizes the allocation of limited economic resource to satisfy unlimited human wants. The precise nature of economic system varies from society to society. Because , Economic system is the economics category that includes the study of respective systems. Means of production are the inputs used for production. The key term production is likely to be explained as the creation of an item or a production that gives maximum satisfaction to the people. Means of production can be classified into groups of homogenous (products having same features and can be substituted) and heterogeneous (products having different features from one another) units. There are various types of productive resources which are also generally called factors of production. Economists traditionally classify productive resources into four types: (a) Land – Includes all natural resources which are free gift of nature. Payment for use of land per period is called rent. b) Labour – Represents all physical and mental abilities which people can make available for production of goods and services. Reward made per period for labour services is called wages. (c) Capital – Refers to sum total of all man – made resources of production. Its formation in a year is called investment. (d) Entrepreneur – represents special human resource which initiates and organises the production process by combining other resources such as labour, capit al and land. In every economy, scarcity of resources gives rise to four fundamental problems of economy. These are: (i) what to produce – means which goods and in what quantity are to be produced, (ii) how to produce – means which methods of production are to be used for the production of goods and services, whether, labour or capital intensive, (iii) for whom to produce – means how the goods produced are to be distributed among the people, (iv) how much to grow – means how much to be saved and invested for increasing the productive capacity of the economy. The problem of what to produce is generally illustrated with the help of Production Possibility Curve (PPC) which is based on some simple assumptions. It gives an idea to the economy about what to produce and in how much quantity with full utilisation of its resources with given techniques of production and thus simultaneous increase in production cannot take place without reducing any one product. With economic growth only, it is possible to move PPC outwards and make simulataneous increase in production of all goods. Allocation of resources is different in every economic system. In capitalist economy, it takes place through relation between supply, demand and price forces wherein the means of production are owned by private sectors. Accordingly, it is the demand pattern in the economy which finally determines the resource allocation. In a socialist economy, the means of production are owned by government which tries to reduce income and wealth inequalities. Individual economic units are restricted in their decisions on the basis of economic rationality. In a mixed economy, both individual economic units and authorities take part in decision making process where even private sectors sometimes work under the government regulations such as price controls, subsidies and so on.

Tennessee Williams Understanding A Namesake - 3723 Words

Tennessee Williams: Understanding a Namesake By Tennessee Mills December 16, 2014 Introduction â€Å"As an artist I seem weak and muddled today.† When I chose this topic, I thought I knew what I was going to get out of the process. I outlined my objectives, and themes, and research, and it was going to be a very straight forward exploration. This of course, like so many re-search pursuits, did not end up being the case. Instead, I found it to be far more frustrating and complex at times than I expected when I fully realized the gravity of this man’s work. It’s beyond sexual politics, or commentary on issues we as an audience find applicable. What I have come to realize, is that this is a life—it’s a life in dialogue, and scenes, and productions. Through every story and character, Williams was cementing his identity the only way he knew how. Through all the possible layers of his work, this analysis looks at how he not only created a role for women, but he how changed the perception of women. Tennessee Williams Thomas Lanier Williams III’s first two plays produced on Broadway found great success, establishing his prowess as a great American playwright. Williams created not only great works, but the character of the tragic southern woman, faded, fallen, and led somewhat astray. To understand this constant character, most vivid in The Glass Menagerie, and A Street Car Named Desire, and Cat On A Hot Tin Roof we mustShow MoreRelatedEssay about Symbolism in A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams1270 Words   |  6 Pages Symbolism in A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams â€Å"Symbols are nothing but the natural speech of drama†¦the purest language of plays.† Once, quoted as having said this, Tennessee Williams has certainly used symbolism and colour extremely effectively in his play, ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’. A moving story about fading Southern belle Blanche DuBois and her lapse into insanity, ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’ contains much symbolism and clever use of colour. This helps the audience to link certainRead MoreEssay about Poetry Analysis of The Second Coming by Yeats2990 Words   |  12 PagesPoetry Research Essay analysis THE SECOND COMING By William Butler Yeats, 1922 Mr. Yeats relates his vision, either real or imagined, concerning prophesies of the days of the Second coming. The writer uses the Holy Bible scripture text for his guide for because no one could explain this period of time without referring to the Holy Bible. He has chosen to present it in the form of a poem, somewhat like the quatrains of Nostradamus. The poem does not cover all the details of thisRead MoreBelonging Essay4112 Words   |  17 Pagesit’s organisation or hierarchy. It also refers to that which is civil, public and of society at large. Context and the sense of belonging that comes from it contributes to a sense of identity, our relationships and processes of acceptance and understanding. We get a sense of belonging (or not belonging and all the degree of belonging in-between) through interaction with: †¢ †¢ people, including groups and broader communities, and, places Students are expected to explore through the study ofRead MoreMarketing Mistakes and Successes175322 Words   |  702 PagesNew Orleans; Beverlee Anderson, University of Cincinnati; Y.H. Furuhashi, Notre Dame; W. Jack Duncan, University of AlabamaBirmingham; Mike Farley, Del Mar College; Joseph W. Leonard, Miami University (OH); Abbas Nadim, University of New Haven; William O’Donnell, University of Phoenix; Howard Smith, University of New Mexico; James Wolter, University of Michigan, Flint; Vernon R. Stauble, California State Polytechnic University; Donna Giertz, Parkland College; Don Hantula, St. Joseph’s University;