Ernst and Young LLP. The annual reports of AT&T and Verizon Essay

Ernst and Young LLP. The annual reports of AT&T and Verizon - Essay Example Coincidentally, both of the companies under consideration utilize the service of a single auditing firm Ernst and Young LLP. Ernst and Young LLP prides itself in being a "global leader in assurance, tax, transaction, and advisory services (Ernst and Young 2008)" having the overall aim of extending a "positive impact on businesses and markets, as well as on society as a whole" (Ernst and Young 2008). With this commitment for excellence, it currently employs a pool of 130,000 professionals with diverse background and specialties each contributing to the success of the business organization. As an auditing firm, it maintains high standard in its undertaking and promotes overall transparency in financial reporting (Ernst and Young 2008). With the growth of financial fiascos and controversies involving huge corporations like Enron, Ernst and Young upholds its integrity in the market through its dedication to high ethical standards in its operations (Ernst and Young 2008). The annual reports of AT&T and Verizon both comprise four important financial statements each highlighting different aspects which give users of these information a thorough knowledge on their financial standing.

Sam Houston Book Review Essay Example for Free

Sam Houston Book Review Essay Houston and the American Southwest were written by Randolph B. Campbell. Currently Professor Campbell teaches at University of North Texas in Denton. He has written many other books including Gone to Texas The history of the Lone star state. This is one of my favorite books; Sam Houston had a very interesting life. As a child he was relentless and rebellious. He had little formal education, but loved to read. He eventually tired of Tennessee and ran away. He crossed the river and lived among the Cherokee Indians. While living with the Indians Sam Houston learned a valuable lesson that would soon come to use to him later in life, peace first and war second. He lived among the whites and the Indians for a time. When the War of 1812 broke out Sam did not volunteer to join, he instead wanted to study mathematic but in 1813 he decided against a teaching career and joined the 7th US Infantry where he quickly became third Lieutenant. In the battle of reek War he courageously charged toward a well-guarded Creek fortification. He was wounded with arrows twice in the shoulder and once in the thigh, they won the war. Afterwards he petitioned to remain in the army. Andrew Jackson and Sam became good friends he later appointed him as a Federal Agent, and assigned him the task of removing the Cherokees from Tennessee. He resigned from the army in 1818 at age 25. He became an attorney in a mere six months when he returned to Tennessee. He remained friends with Andrew Jackson and even supported his campaign in 1822-1824 and 1823. He was even elected to the House of Representatives. He was even challenged to a dual, he won and the other person was shot but did survive. In 1827 he campaigned for and won governorship of Tennessee. He married Eliza in 1829, a girl 15 years younger than him, and sadly soon after their union she left Sam and after he went into a voluntary exile. In 1829 he officially became a part of the Cherokee nation, and served as a representative in Washington D. C for them. Sadly during this time Sam Houston became an alcoholic and the Indians even named him â€Å"Big Drunk†. He married and Indian wife, Tiana although he was never formally divorced from Eliza. She refused to return to Texas with him so he left her. He later married Margaret Lea in 1840; this was his third and final wife. She was a great influence on him, convincing him to stop drinking all together. He and Margaret had 8 children, one of which was named after his dear friend Andrew Jackson and he became a Senator for Texas. I think it is so neat to see that no matter where life to Sam Houston, he always remained so committed to Texas. No matter what he always made it back to Texas and fought for it! He was a man of many talents and he held the position of Lieutenant, lawyer, teacher war hero, Congressman, and even President of Texas! He also ran for Governor of Texas in 1857, but due to his unpopular views he was defeated. This book is so interesting to me. I think that this book was written for anyone who wants to know more about the history of Texas and Sam Houston. It is also written for college students. It is a great read. He was once quoted saying â€Å"It is a matter of great satisfaction to me to hope that my children will be in circumstances to receive a good education. Mine was defective and I feel the inconvenience, if not the misfortune of not receiving a classical education. Knowledge is the food of genius, and my son, let no opportunity escape you to treasure up knowledge. He knew the importance of good education and it honestly intrigues me of how intelligent he was and well-rounded despite his lack of one. On his tombstone it reads: A Brave Soldier†¦A Fearless Statesman†¦A Great Orator– a Pure Patriot A Faithful Friend†¦A Loyal Citizen†¦A Devoted Husband and Father†¦A Consistent Christian– an Honest Man. After reading this book I would have to agree with that and I wish we had more people like Sam Houston in government today!

Impact of Globalisation on the Nation-State

Impact of Globalisation on the Nation-State Introduction The discussions of globalization have become topics which are in the great demand. Especially with the development of information and technology and the form of global economy, the global affairs have become more and more complicated. It is hard to distinguish the internal affairs and external affairs. People found that the distances between different countries are shorter than before. After the Cold War, a great amount of countries publish their economic policies to develop their economies. Take American 11th September for example, 11th September is an event that New York America attacked by the terrorists. However, the global aviation, finance, technology all has been affected as well as the international business. Even the central banks in mostly countries have taken the action of decreasing the interests to make the effects of 11th September not to be so serious. Those phenomenon show that globalization has growth rapidly, and has deeply influent the development and vicissitude o f the situation of global politics and economy. To observe it deeply, different countries and institutions have different influences. As the matter of fact, it is to some extent a relationship of gain and lost. Whatever the existence of globalization or the debates of scholars on globalization, those all illustrate that globalization is a development of process. However, the importance of globalization has already drawn the attention of countries. This essay will be divided into three sections. Firstly, the definition of globalization will be analysed. Through the compare of different definitions, a clear sense of globalization will come out. After that the process of globalization will be briefly introduced from some aspects, the geography and time period, the global economy and culture and politics. Secondly, nation-state will be discussed. In this section, five aspects will be analysed. This section includes the definition of nation-state, the influence of politics, economy and culture on nation-state. Moreover, the role of media in global condition will be discussed. Thirdly, this essay will discuss if globalization destroyed the nation-state or not. Then finally a conclusion will be made. Globalization What is globalization? Globalization could be argued to be a process, which the flow of substances and spirit products destroy the area and the boundaries of countries, and effect the peoples life around every corner of the earth. The globalization also includes the immigrations. It could be seen from the table, it is not easy to define what globalization is. It is a phenomenon which influenced peoples life. Based on Busch (2009), globalization is a continuing process of intensity not only the economy, but also culture, social life and politics. From the definition above, it could be argued that the definition of globalisation could be analysed into two parts. The first one is the space. As the Buschs and Waters view, globalization means that the boundaries of countries are being decreased. Although this does not mean the compression of geography, it is the economy and culture make the distances between different countries decreased. Secondly, it is something about relationships. Robertson (1995) indicated that the conflict and unity of homogeneity and heterogeneity make globalization. The globalization makes the people from all over the world getting more and more close in culture, economy and politics. The countries are more relied on each other. The process of globalization Basically, the process of globalization could be divided into three moments. The first one is in geography filed. The first emergence of globalization could be dated back to 1492 A.D. according to Butzer (1992), the European encounter discover the American continent. Then after a period of time, Britain colonized India, the world has changed from a large scale to small size. The second moment, Holton (1998) indicated that from 1960s the advent of globalization has more developed. The words globalization and global village are newly added into the dictionary. Take American foe example, in the post-1945 ear, American constructed a hegemonic order (Ikenberry, 2007). To some extent it could not be denied that the hegemonic order of America pushed the economic globalization within the global condition. The third moment is after the history steps into the 21st century more opportunities are produced to people, so that the people flow cross the countries to seek more comfortable life. Howev er, this might be harmful to some of the countries. For instance, the U.S. was the most opened country in the world before 10th September 2001. On 11th September 2001, the U.S. has been attacked by terrorists. After that Americas border was quite closed (Alden, 2008). The widely discussions of globalization is the global economy. Based on Wills, Samli and Jacobs (1997), the world economy is trending globally. And there are three major economy regions in the world, the European Union, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the Pacific Rim (Bennett, 1995). The economic groups indicated that the economy in each country has more closed. Culture and politics globalization are also notable. Take American culture for example, because of the development of technology, the communication within the world is getting easier and easier. Movies which are made by Hollywood are very famous among the countries. Now Hollywood movies are trying to absorb the actors from different countries to gain more global audience (Robertson, 1995). However, politics are more closed with economy. The hegemonic order which constructed by America, the policies which published, most of them are aims to support the development of economy. Nation-state What is nation-state? According to Grossberg (2006), nation-state could be argued to provide some securities for people, such as economic, social and physical. Grossbegy (2006) went further that nation-state also means that the sovereign is under control of its own leadership or people, but not under control of some other external aspects. It could be identified that nation-state is a political community. Within the nation-state, the country has the power to set up its own laws to make sure its territorial autonomy is integrated and political sovereignty is not encroach by some other countries else. The social cohesion within a nation-state has its unique society. Moreover, the people in a nation-state share the same culture, religion language and so on. The influence of politics on nation-state. Politics has great influences on nation-state. Politics is an activity and relations. Politics could be seen as the treatment of the relationship between people. Vitally, politics could influent the nation-state economy. Without a steady, health condition of political atmosphere, the economy will not be developed. Take Japan for example; in the years of Meiji era, the government gave the great support for the economy. Therefore, Japan became richer and richer. At that time, the government encouraged people to develop the economy; the policies the government made were more concentrate on economy. Many companies have grown fast. As Ikenberry (2007) indicated after the World War ?, the leaders of America made many efforts to rebuild the trade, investment and currency. Although those politicise helped America to construct is hegemonic order; it could not be denied that those policies made the American economy quickly recovered. Moreover, the governors should fully understand the economy. If the government misunderstand the economy, the politics they made will destroy the economy. For example, if a country import a foreign product at a very low price, even lower than the internal price, many people in the same filed within the nation-state will lost their job. The influence of economy on nation-state. The economy influenced the nation-state as well. As the matter of fact that the nation-state economy influent the politics and culture within the nation-state. As Grossberg (2007) indicated that the nation-state has more concentrate on the sovereign and territorial autonomy. However, the economy is the basic construction which could decide if people within the nation-state have a better life or not. Altschull (1997) argued that there are four basic patterns which influence media ownership; one of the four patterns is commercial aspect. From here, it could be seen economy has influenced each part in the nation-state. Economy also influences the national culture. There was an old saying in Chinese culture only you have enough food, you could have time to pay attention on your behaviours. People have enough food; they could do their jobs well or not resist the government. If a scientist is hungry and no food to eat, he would probably not continue doing his research. If a litterateur doe s not have enough food to eat, he has to do some physical work, such as cultivation. He would probably not write those literatures. Without the development of economy, the society members have to cultivate themselves, the society, even the nation-state could not be developed. The influence of culture on nation-state. Culture could be argued as the spirit of the nation-state. People in the same nation-state share the same history, religion, language and so on. It is said that, for a person, his fortune is decided by his personality. The culture could be compared with the personality of a country. Thus, culture could by the actions and response when a country faced some problems. Culture could affect peoples lifestyle (Evans, Jamal, and Foxall, 2009). Take Japan for example; according to Lebra (1974), the spirit of Japanese culture is to respect the person who is perfectly capable. They do not have any sympathizes for the wreakers. Therefore, if one wants to get some respect from other Japanese, the first thing to do is to become stronger. It could not be denied that become strong so as to gain identify of the world. Apart from the correct or incorrect of this spirit in the ethic field of Japan, only concentrate on the development of the nation-state is beneficial to Japanese society. Under this cu lture, Japan could become more and stronger. Culture could be inherited. Therefore; culture would influence the idea of a nation. A perfect culture passed on generation by generation, the later government will become strong and well developed. The role of media in the erosion of nation-state. Media actually helped globalization to shock the national culture, however the globalization of media make the distances of countries shorter and shorter. Firstly, the globalization of media threatens the national culture. As Doyle (2002) indicated that the trends of international media id expansion and the press are controlled by large companies. Sreberny (2000) argued that after American hegemonic order, American values are now stepping into to the hearts and minds of the Third World countries. Take Hollywood movies for example; as it mentioned in previous sections, Hollywood movies have now employed more people with different nationalities to act and produces the movies so as to attract more audiences for outside the U.S. However, the American do not full understand other countries cultures, there always have some misunderstandings in the movies to make other countries people feel uncomfortable. Moreover, with the development of technology, televisions are widely spread. Satellite television could receive hundreds of channels. Young people could learn another culture from the television; but for their own culture, it might be fade. However, the globalization of media makes the distances of countries shorter and shorter. As mentioned above, the development of technology, more families have television. Through television programs, people could learn more things. Especially after the invention of computer and internet, all the information from each country could be checked from them. This made peoples life more comfortable. Has globalization destroyed nation-state? Globalization has not destroyed nation-state. Globalization brings numerous benefits to the world. Some people believed that globalization helped poor people from developing countries out of the poor conditions. Because globalization helped the developing countries opened their markets. Ikenberry (2007) pointed out that after the World War ?, American leaders have promoted to recovered the economy by publishing a series of policies to set up an open system of business, investment and currency. The price of labour in developing countries is much cheaper than developed countries. Therefore, many multinationals have been set up, and provided more job opportunities to the local people. Take China for example, the expending of employment in multinationals have helped many poor Chinese out of poverty. According to Bardhams (2006) research people who live in the rural areas whose daily living cost under $1 per day were decreased from 79% to 27% in China from 1981 to 2001. China is a socialism country, but introduced capitalist business methods in 1987 (Bennett, 1995), and opened its markets to other countries to developed its economy. The capitalist business methods have made great achievements to China. There is another good example from Bangladesh; Barfham (2006) did an interview of a woman call Rahana Chandhuri who works in garment export factories. She said there are many women work in the garment export factories. Although the job is not fair, compare with other people, she still earns much money. A research shows that 86% of women work in the garment industry and their average monthly income are more than their neighbourhoods (Bardham, 2006). Globalization weakens the barriers of geography, but closes the link between different countries. Slagnt, Harben and Pallant (2006) argued that all the countries could share the materials all over the world. People in different countries could buy whatever they want in the local supermarkets and the materials for industry used also could be import and export easily. Fr o example, Chinese students who studies could buy Chinese cooking ingredients in Tesco, and in U.K.s stores, it is not hard to find any products which said made in China. In addition, the development of transportation makes the distance of different countries shorter and shorter. For instance, in the past it might take years to travel from China to Britain. However, now from Beijing to London, it only takes less than 10hours by direct flight. Globalization of economy bring many benefits to the countries within the world, so as the culture. Still take Hollywood movies for example,, many people with different nationalities work together to produce movies suitable for the audience from all over the world. Globalization has destroyed nation-state. Globalization also brings many disadvantages to the nation-state. Firstly, for example, after the multinationals enter the developing countries, it could not be denied that human is greedy, in order to make more money, the owners of export and import factories even hired children work for them. Based on Bardhams (2006) research, in Bangladesh, the garment export factories used to hire children to work for them; because children is much cheaper than adult labours. If the owners of those factories employed children work for them they will gain more profits. In 1993, the U.S. has banned on importing products using children labour, the garment dismissed about 50000 children. However, only few of them went back to school, most of them went to stone breaking or even child prostitution. Secondly, the economy of developing countries was helped by large international organisations such as economic groups. Those developing countries need to change something in order to fit those economic group s. It could be easily lost the autonomy of those countries. China enter WTO in 1999, nine hundred laws would need to be changed to adapt the world economy (Nolan, 2001). This might be the biggest challenge to Chinese retailers, for they have using the original laws for a long time, the changing of laws might make some of the small retailers go bankrupt. Moreover, changing laws could make China loose the autonomy in charting the complex path of economy reform. Thirdly, the globalization of culture destroyed local culture. Islam culture is a unique culture, and different from western culture. Turner (2007) argued that the development of global mass communication has influenced the Islam world. It is an extension of westernization, and will weaken the local culture. With the American hegemonic order, the Americanization has appeared many places all over the world. For example, many Chinese students or even adults are huge fans of NBA, a basketball association in America. Those fans eve n look down upon their own countries basketball association. Another example, McDonalds are in every part of China. Children like this American fast food than Chinese dishes. Fourthly, English is using wildly; people could travel to any other countries whose native language are not English; however, English is still workable there, the same as Chinese. Since the English and Chinese are widely use all over the world, some language whose native speakers are really few will be endangered. When a language disappeared, the culture will soon disappeared, and could only be finding in the books. Conclusions This essay is aiming to discuss if globalization has destroyed nation-state or not. This essay was divided into three parts. The first part focuses on globalization. There were many definitions of globalization; they are defined from different aspects. From compare different definitions of globalization given by scholars, then an idea of definition of globalization is being cleared. Globalization is not only a pheromone within the world of politics, economy and culture, but also a process. The earliest emergence of globalization could be dated back to the year of 1492. In recent times the construction of hegemonic order of America pushes the speed of the globalization. The second part was concentrated on nation-state. Globalization is a kind of process; the nation-state is more focus on the political sovereignty and territorial autonomy, social cohesion and culture. Politics, economy and culture all have the influence on nation-state. Media has two sides; it has erosion on nation-sta te, but also makes the distance of countries shorter. The third part discussed if globalization destroyed nation-state or not. Globalization is a sword with two sides. For one aspect, the globalization made the developing countries out of poverty. People in those countries lived in a more comfortable life. Globalization also weakens the barriers of different countries, and makes the links of different countries. The distances of different countries are getting closer. However, globalization made some destroys of nation-state. For example, in some developing countries the factories owners hired children. Some developing countries have to change their laws to enter the economy groups to make more profit, so that those countries will probably loose their autonomy. The widely spread of American culture and English language will make some local culture and language endangered. As mentioned above, globalization is a sword with two sides, if the nation-state makes the proper polities and p rotections of culture, the benefits of globalization will make the countries become stronger. References Alden, E. (2008) The Closing of the American Border: Terrorism, Immigration, and Security Since 911, Harper. Pp35-50 Altschull, J.H. (1997) Boundaries of Journalistic Autonomy, Berkowitz, D. (eds). Social Meanings of news: a text -reader. London: Sage. Pp259-268. Bardhan, P (2006, April). Does Globalization Help or Hurt the Worlds Poor? Scientific America, [Magazine, online]. Retrieved March 5, 2008, from http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=does-globalization-help-o accessed on 31.11.09 Beck, U. (2000), Introduction. what is Globalization? Cambridge: Polity. Pp1-16 Bennett, R. (1995) International Marketing: Strategy, Planning, Market Entry and Implementation, London: Kogan Page Limited. pp157-209 Busch, A. (2009) Introduction, Globalization and State Capacity, Banking Regulation and Globalization, Oxford:Oxford University Press. Pp 1-22 Butzer, K.W. (1992) From Columbus to Acosta: Science, Geography and the New world, Annals of the Association of American Geography. Vol 82, NO.3, The American before and after 1492: Current Geographical Research (Sep. 1992). Pp543-565 Doyle, G. (2002) Media Ownership: The Economics and Politics of Convergence and Concentration in the UK and European Media, London: Sage. Pp141-153, pp171-179 Evans, M., Jamal, A. and Foxall, G. (2009) Culture and Subculture, Consumer Behaviour, 2nd Edition, Chichester: John Wiley and Sons, Ltd. Pp284-291 Giddens, A. (1990) The Globalising of Modernity, The Consequences of modernity, Cambridge: Polity. P64 Grossbery, L., Wartella, E., Whitney, D. C. and Wise, J.M. (2006) Globalization, the Nation-state and Culture Imperialism, Media Making: Mass Media in Popular Culture, California: Sage Publications Inc. pp424-425 Held, D. (2002) Governing Globalization: Power, Authority and Global Governance. Held, D. and McGrew (eds), Oxford: Polity. P1 Holton, R.J. (1998) Globalization and Nation-state. Hampshire: Macmillan Press Ltd. Pp21-25 Ikenberry, G. J. (2007) Globalization as American Hegemony, Held, D. and McGrew, A. (eds) Globalization Theory, Cambridge: Polity. Pp41-58 Lebra, W.P. (1974) Introduction, Japanese Culture and Behaviour: Selected Readings,Revised Edition, Lebra, W.P. and Lebra, T.S.(eds). Hawaii: University of Hawaii Press. Pp xi-xix Nolan, P (2001), China and the Global Economy. Wales: creative Print and Design Ebbwvale, PP195-196 Robertson, R. (1995) Globalization: Time-space and homogeneity-heterogeneity. In: Global Modernities, Featherstone, M., Lash, S. and Robertson, R. (eds). London: Sage. Pp 25-41 Slagnt, J, Harben, P and Pallant, A (2006), The Global Village: Challenges for a shrinking planet-Source Book, Reading; Garnet Publishing ltd. PP44-45 Sreberny, A. (2000) The Global and the Local in International Communication. In Mass Media and Society, 3rd Edition, Curran, J. and Gurevitch, M. (eds), London: Arnold. Pp118-136 Turner, B.S. (2007) Islam and Consumerism, In: Part 2 Global Consumerism, Tourism and Identity, In Globalization: The Reader, Oxford: Blackwells. Pp141-163 Waters, M. (1995) Globalization, London: Routledge. P3 Wills, J., Samli, A.C., Jacobs, L. (1997) Developing Global Products and Marketing Strategies: A Construct and A research Agenda, Doole, I. and Lowe, R. (eds). International Marketing Strategy: Contemporary Readings. London:Tomson International Business Press. Pp45-50

digital photography artists :: essays research papers

Famous Digital Artists   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Jody Dole is one of the featured artists in the book â€Å"Digital Image Creation†. He is a fine-art and advertising photographer. His first successful piece was an ad campaign for Smirnoff Vodka. In five years he was able to become a successful, well=known artist, gaining international recognition for his still-life photography.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Nash Editions is a company built up of artists. Its founders are Graham Nash and Mac Holbert. The company has the best reputation within the fine-art digital printmaking world. The reason for this is because they use their own custom built scanner along with Macintosh computer systems and iris printers. Some of Nash Editions featured artists are David Byrne, Eileen Cowin, Carol Flax and Olivia Parker. Nash Editions is constantly staying up to date with their state-of-the-art technology and with the creativity of their staff.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Another famous digital photographer is Charly Franklin. He specializes in a surreal style. Most of his images are of landscapes, and a lot take place on the beach. At first, Frankin had to set up elaborate sets to get the desired image, but with the technological advances with computer programs, he is now able to do most of his work on the computer. Every image he has produced since 1991 has been digitally manipulated. His work is in high demand, by corporate companies, and some of it has been published in Communications Arts, Print, Photo Metro and even on the cover of Graphics Design Annual.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The last artist we researched is Joyce Neimanas. Joyce is a member of the faculty at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago since 1973. Her work has been in the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the California Museum of Photography and many others.

A Summary of Quine’s Problems with Carnap’s Philosophy Essay

In his Two Dogmas of Empiricism, Quine addresses what he views as problematic claims made by Carnap. The first problem Quine has with Carnap’s epistemology is about his definition of state-descriptions. The problem is in two parts: first Quine says that Carnap’s version of analyticity is conditional, because it requires atomic sentences in a language to be mutually independent. The second part of the problem is that, Carnap’s attempt to explore analyticity by way of his state-descriptions results in a problematic definition of analyticity, which ends up being more indicative of logical truth. In conclusion, Quine presents a solution to his problems with Carnap positing that the boundary between synthetic and analytic is imagined. In his attempt to define analyticity Quine encounters a problematic attempt at defining the term, by Carnap. Carnap â€Å"has tended to explain analyticity by appeal to what he calls state-descriptions†(195). Carnap’s state-descriptions are problematic for two reasons; one reason is that â€Å"a statement is †¦ explained as analytic when it comes out true under every state description†(195), this necessitates every atomic sentence to be mutually independent- meaning that two statements that mean the same thing are supposed to exist as two completely separate meanings. However, as Quine points out this would mean â€Å"there would be a state-description which assigned truth to ‘John is a bachelor’ and falsity to ‘John is married’, and consequently ‘All bachelors are married’ would turn out synthetic rather than analytic under the proposed criterion†(195). This truth gives rise to the second problem of Carnap’s state-descriptions, that analyticity as it refers to state-descriptions only works for languages that do not contain synonymous words such as bachelor and unmarried. So, Quine submits that Carnap’s state-descriptions are indicative of logical truth, not of analyticity. To generalize, these problems that Quine has with Carnap’s philosophical system equate to a single point of disagreement, that there is an absolute distinction between analytic and synthetic. Quine points to our â€Å"pragmatic inclinations to adjust one strand of the fabric of science rather an another in accommodating some particular recalcitrant experience†(207). Quine believes that Carnap’s drawing a distinction between analytic and synthetic points to our quest for simplicity in science, possibly deriving from a deconstructionist belief that everything can be equated to simplified smaller elements that make up a whole. Quine challenges Carnap’s methodology as well as his philosophical system. To conclude, Quine notes that he understands the philosophical approach attempted by philosophers like Lewis, and Carnap, but does not think that it is a beneficial one. â€Å"Total science, mathematical and natural and human, is similarly but more extremely underdetermined by experience. The edge of the system must be kept squared with experience†(207). Carnap’s constructed language is a scientific one, and since science is based on our experience, when Carnap attempts to encompass our world using his language with strict rules, he does an injustice to science’s close relationship to experience, making his language based on the rules of arithmetic instead. Finally, Quine points to Carnap’s employment of pragmatism as one that comes up short, and does not justify the strict division between synthetic and analytic. â€Å"Their pragmatism leaves off at the imagined boundary between the analytic and the synthetic. In repudiating such a boundary I espouse a more thorough pragmatism†(207). Quine feels that the division between synthetic and analytic has been too hastily assumed, and that a more thorough approach to the relationship would be helpful. He believes that the boundary between analytic and synthetic is too harshly drawn, and that the difference is only in degrees. He asks Carnap to suppress his foundations in our traditional scientific method and suggests that sometimes it is not always pragmatism that shapes our perception.

Critical Evaluation Of Contemporary Issues In Hospitality Management Tourism Essays

Critical Evaluation Of Contemporary Issues In Hospitality Management Tourism Essays Critical Evaluation Of Contemporary Issues In Hospitality Management Tourism Essay Critical Evaluation Of Contemporary Issues In Hospitality Management Tourism Essay Hospitality is a dynamic industry that is of all time altering as a consequence of several external factors. The industry has become more competitory than of all time before. Some companies frequently fail while others are really successful. Tanke ( 2001 ) argues that successful houses get, manage, and develop resources that provide competitory advantage. They besides control and build up relationships with a big figure of organisations, assorted stakeholders, and groups. Globalization has intensified the fight and for houses to stay competitory they have to spread out their relationship webs and collaborate with each other to stay competitory. Many houses are get downing to supervise and pull off cardinal indexs to cut on cost and salvage money. Harmonizing to Ottenbacher and Gnoth ( 2005 ) There are several modern-day issues in the cordial reception industry which include, human resource direction, strategic direction, usage of ICT and gastronomy and touristry. Much of alterations in issues have been brought about by globalisation. For illustration in the instance of human resource, globalisation has brought diverseness in the human resources. Information communicating engineering has advanced much in development. The high figure of people going to foreign lands has brought alterations in the gastronomy and touristry. Hospitality concerns must therefore manage all these issues to win in their operations. Tanke, ( 2001 ) argues that cordial reception concerns will necessitate to concentrate more on trade name, human resource, emerging markets and information communicating engineering. These are the primary determiners of the victors and also-rans in old ages to come. Strategic direction is therefore of import in finding the success of these houses. Strategic direction has been hailed to supply higher degrees of satisfaction than other direction tools. Literature Review HRM Issues In the Hotel Industry Globally The importance of valuable human resource direction to concern success in any usage of human resources can give an organisation a competitory advantage. The importance of human resources is peculiarly important in cordial reception industry. Duncan ( 2005 ) suggested that there are several chief countries of challenge and concern in the planetary cordial reception industry, associating to employment issues, revenue enhancement degrees and environmental issues. Employee turnover Harmonizing to Hinkin and Tracey ( 2000 ) employee turnover has become one of the challenges in the cordial reception industry. The industry globally suffers from high degree of staff turnover, which result to intangible costs and high direct outgo. Riegel ( 2002 ) argues that turnover is a consequence of several factors such as occupation dissatisfaction, hapless working environment, hapless supervising and deficiency of committedness that influence employee attitude and behaviour. Iverson and Deery ( 1997 ) carried out a research on the labour demands of the cordial reception industry and established that the high turnover rate is one the most hard issues in human resource direction in that context. They reported that the turnover job in big hotels was much worse than in little hotels. Many hotels are be aftering to increase the figure of people employed merely to cover the turnover state of affairs. Hoque ( 1999 ) contends that service quality focuses on the nature of the interaction between the single employee and the client at the point of service, in footings of niceness and overall professionalism. Hoque besides argues that service quality is the chief factor in making competitory advantage in the hotel industry, and that any hotel that does non do an attempt to better continually its service quality will lose land. Competitive advantage generated from internal beginnings includes such features as value rarity, exceptionality, and non-substitutability ( Iverson, A ; Deery 1997 ) , and the employee at the terminal of the service bringing system may good be the lone differentiated and alone plus of a hotel organisation that can non be easy copied. Hinkin and Tracey ( 2000 ) have besides recommended that there are in fact merely two ways to vie in and distinguish between cordial reception services. One is by viing on monetary value and minimizing costs, which locks a hotel into a peculiar market section. The other is to vie by supplying exceeding service. They note that client attention is non a new construct in the service industry, but it is still a complex thing to command and prolong. In the face of the high degree of turnover in the hotel industry, it is possible that some clients are served by employees who are reasonably untrained, less committed, and less capable in their societal accomplishments. But covering with this requires the usage of rather organized attacks to serve quality direction. Huang ( 2001 ) suggested that if an organisation s first and first aim is to supply a service, a holistic attack to serve choice direction must be developed and employed, insightful at all degrees of the organisation from the main executive to the entry degree employees. Training and development Garavan ( 1997 ) argues that preparation and development of employees is linked to service quality because its activities can be used to beef up attitudes and behaviours that lead to effectual service. Several research workers have suggested that developing a service civilization during preparation and development and cognition edifice are good patterns. Employees developing and development of accomplishments help houses to heighten quality of service, addition productiveness, and cut down costs. Elsewhere, Davies, Taylor and Savery ( 2001 ) investigated certain human resource direction maps in bettering employees dealingss in western Australian adjustment industry and found out that sustained preparation and development led to an of import betterment in productiveness, with a decreased turnover of employees. Huang ( 2001 ) argued that in Taiwan preparation and development was the chief important driver for economic development. Staff enlisting and choice Alleyne, Doherty and Greenidge ( 2006 ) contend the due to the nature of the cordial reception industry ; labour demand is much unpredictable and capable to seasonal fluctuation. As a consequence the cordial reception industry has had negative image among prospective employees. Elsewhere Debrah and Budhwar ( 2004 ) argue that alterations in the macro environment for illustration ageing work force, lower birth rates have besides contributed to employees deficit rising the instability between the employee demand and supply. This has made employee resourcing a great job and high spots that effectual direction of demand and supply of best employee is a great job in the cordial reception industry ( Tanke, 2001 ) . Global fight in the cordial reception industry Successful cordial reception houses finally find that their domestic markets are either saturated or that foreign markets offer chances for growing and net incomes which are non available domestically. Several forces are taking concerns into the planetary sphere. These include trade barriers falling particularly in Europe and North America, freshly industrialised states, displacement towards market economic systems, handiness of fiscal capital ; criterions are going unvarying globally and advancement in information engineering ( Tanke, 2001 ) . Organizations that want to stay competitory must therefore get province of the art resources at a lower monetary value, for illustration they may see spread outing to emerging states where labour is inexpensive. The strategic direction reverberations of increasing globalisation are utmost. Directors can non afford to overlook chances in foreign markets. Nonetheless, concern methods and imposts vary from state to state. These disparities make stakeholder analysis and direction even more of import. Analysis of broad environmental forces such as society, engineering, and political influences ought to besides be extended to the different parts in which an organisation carries out concern. Peoples besides vary greatly from part to part. The challenge of an of all time increasing competitory planetary market place can be tackled through a well-devised strategic direction procedure. Nevertheless, tactical planning must non ever lead to the sorts of alterations that are indispensable to remain aggressive over the long term. Technology Although there has been an increasing consciousness of the value of province of the art integrated systems many cordial reception houses still do non take advantage of them. There unequal apprehension of how much competency could be improved via usage of these systems. Tanke, ( 2001 ) argues that cordial reception disposal systems have over the old ages developed into complex, good incorporated tools which help houses to do more gross, pull more invitees, and better effectivity. However, some concern still hang on systems that have are much in front of their competitory utile life. This limits them from holding the benefits that are brought about by these systems. Though several houses are scared of upgrading their systems because they fear that their employees will non be in a place to manage these systems, there is demand for developing the employees how to utilize these systems ( Tanke, 2001 ) . Alleyne, Doherty and Greenidge ( 2006 ) contend that as systems become more inclusive their support and security direction become necessary and complex. However it must be noted that it is about impossible for organisations to hold their ain proficient support staff skilled in all the system they use. Guest study has become an purpose for stealers and onslaughts on computing machines are going more complex. These tendencies call for a displacement towards more professional system direction ; this may be a corporate squad or an understanding party. Elsewhere Debrah and Budhwar ( 2004 ) argue that innermost gross direction squads, for illustration, can supply specializer aid to legion belongingss in a regionally incorporate manner. Centrally-hosted systems permit highly-skilled technicians to offer a far more protected and managed systems environment than would be accessible to an single house. This tendency is expected to protract as understanding grows of the value of keeping systems runing at peak proficiency, and of the possible injury from security misdemeanors. Methodology Harmonizing to Hoque, ( 1999 ) two indispensable inquiries were put to a sample of hotels: What are the cardinal human resource direction issues and concerns in the cordial reception industry of Taiwan? And what are the chief human resource direction functions and patterns used to prosecute with them? Rather than default to a individual issue attack to the interviewees, the interviewer tried to analyze human resource direction in the cordial reception industry in an wholly open-ended manner. The respondents were free to raise any human resource direction issues, concerns, maps and patterns that they thought to be important. This method allowed the research worker to detect what came up in order of precedence for the respondents, or what failed to come up at all ( Hoque, 1999 ) The method used was qualitative and the chief technique was in-depth interviews. Leading inquiries were avoided by the research worker on order to derive a deeper apprehension of some phenomena as experienced by a group of people ( Creswell, 2003 ) . It was non possible to analyze all the hotels in Taiwan because of fiscal and clip restraints. The research worker selected the concatenation hotels which he expected to hold formalized human resource direction patterns than smaller hotels. The research worker farther segmented the hotels harmonizing to figure of suites, geographic location, and trade name. The research worker interviewed senior directors but in some instances some hotels that were approached refused to be interviewed reasoning that they would see questionnaires because of their tight agendas. Although there are few unequivocal regulations for sample size in qualitative question ( Patton, 2002 ) , it has been suggested that 12-20 illustrations are needed when seeking to obtain the broadest scope of information and positions on the topic of survey ( Kuzel, 1992 ) . At the clip this research was conducted, there were 46 concatenation hotel belongingss in Taiwan and the sample selected totaled 14 hotels, which represents 30.43 % of the entire population of such hotels. Analysis The findings were presented together because some issues were common to all the respondents and had cause and consequence relationship. Fourteen take parting hotels identified several chief issues viz. deficit of employees 100 % of the respondents, 64 % of the respondents talked of challenges in attack to preparation and development. While 50 % of the respondents emphasized on the high degree of employee turnover. Deficit of employees Participants pointed out that the overall instruction degree in Taiwan has risen in the last decennary. This has caused a job to the cordial reception houses in enrolling entry degree employees. The increased growing of the cordial reception industry has made the deficit even worse. Respondents nevertheless, believe that at in-between degree the instance is different there is o deficit at this degree. However those who hold these places are non qualified but merely make full these places because a vacancy has to be filled. Shortcoming in Approaches to preparation and development Most of the employees have no cordial reception background this calls for a sophisticated preparation and development attacks. Nevertheless, some hotelkeepers believe that that is non a major job because they believe that accomplishments can be gained on occupation preparation. High degree of employee turnover Participants pointed out that this was ineluctable because of the nature of the cordial reception industry. In certain instances the turnover might be positive to the industry as it may take de-motivated staff. Respondents besides pointed out that older employees led to miss of invention, extract of fresh thoughts and creative activity in the house. Discussion From the in deepness interviews it can be argued that challenges in preparation and development, unequal employees and jobs in internship employment can be attributed to client service quality discussed in the literature. Kuzel, ( 1992 ) argues that using housemans is a solution to the deficits in the cordial reception sector. Interns provide stable employment particularly at the entry degree. Some hotels merely view housemans as supportive force as opposed to long term investings. It is recommended that cordial reception directors should make a sense of belonging to the housemans so that they could come back and work in these constitutions. Most participants in this survey appeared to accept Hoque s ( 1999 ) position that the high degree of turnover is a fact of life and a regular and acceptable phenomenon in the cordial reception industry ( Iverson A ; Deery, 1997 ) . In the fact, turnover still can be improved by better direction, every bit long as human resource directors can see it as an chance, non merely an ineluctable job. Some research workers have recommended that specific human resource direction patterns can better employee satisfaction which in bends minimizes the turnover rate. Authorization is one of the efficient attacks suggested by many research workers ( Enz A ; Siguaw, 2000a, 2000b ; Lashley, 1999 ) . They recommended that it is important to give power to the employees who provide services by concentrating on clients demands. Service brushs are the cardinal activity in a client service concern and employees may meet a batch of diverse alone state of affairss which can non be covered by the organisational policies and actions ( Iverson A ; Deery 1997 ) . If organisations are able to give power to their employees, so they are able to exert prudence in presenting client service and make whatever is required to fulfill clients demands ( Enz A ; Siguaw, 2000a ; Lashley, 1999 ) . It has been disputed that empowered employees besides have a leaning to hold a strong sense of control and person al worth because they can take liability for the service brush and have the power to consequence client satisfaction ( Lashley, 1999 ) . At another degree, it has been recommended that sceptered employees are motivated by making meaningful work that finally enhances their occupation satisfaction and reduces the turnover rate s Harmonizing to Lashley, ( 1999 ) as a consequence of planetary economic alterations at that place has been increased competition and uncertainness, the houses have to be flexible in employee resourcing and reacting to clients. The human resource directors must utilize methods that give them flexibleness to use employees to react to fluctuations. This type of employment helps the organisation to cut on direct labour cost and besides provide flexibleness for employees and employers. One of the possible negative feature is that despatching workers have a limited relationship with hotels in which they will work resulting in low trust and low committedness. These might, in bend, lead to disagreement between direct-hire and despatching workers, and between direction and employees ( Kalleberg, 2000 ) . Another likeliness is that it is more expensive to pull off the outsourcing activity than ab initio expected, so that the end of cost economy is non achieved ( Albertson, 2000 ) . The inclination towards flexible working has become inevitable in such a fluctuating environment ( Purcell A ; Purcell, 1998 ) , and dispatching is one of the agreements which are prone to be a lasting moral force of the hotel industry in the hereafter. While going more popular in Taiwan, but there is no regulation of the procedure at the clip of composing. It has been argued that it is indispensable to modulate dispatching employment, because of the complex triangular employment relationship between despatching company, dispatched worker, and the house to which they have been dispatched ( Kalleberg, 2000 ; Purcell A ; Purcell, 1998 ) . Decision This survey set out to happen out the modern-day issues in the cordial reception industry. Due to its nature the cordial reception industry and globalisation consequence the industry has several modern-day issues. These modern-day issues have a direct impact on the cordial reception industry and for that ground they must be strategically managed for these concerns to win. This survey nevertheless lays accent on the modern-day issues in human resource direction. The findings of this survey suggest that many of the take parting hotels thought and mentality are at the operational degree, instead than the strategic degree. Even though a good figure were able to place peculiar human resource direction issues as critical, it seems that many do non hold strategic attacks to cover with these challenges. Equally, although most perceived specific human resource direction maps and patterns as being really of import, some of these are non utilized in a complicated manner. Some of those interviewed had fresh ideas and originative thoughts but had a limited voice or engagement in decision-making. It seems that their function is seen as being to travel behind the policy that has been already set by top direction, instead than being an active voice or caput in the organisation s thought. It was really unusual for respondents in this survey to hold a place at board degree or to play a cardinal function in making and back uping competitory advantages for the concern. The interviewer concluded that human resource direction is non normally seen as a beginning of competitory advantage, and many look frontward to keep fight chiefly through new installations and comfortss. However, Ottenbacher and Gnoth ( 2005 ) have argued that the efficiency of a hotel s attack to human resource direction is merely every bit important as a beginning of sustainable advantage. This survey has stressed that the extremely competitory nature of the industry affects both clients and staff. In peculiar, gifted people are much preferred in a labour-intensive client service industry. This research has expectantly provided some practical and strategic suggestions for hotelkeepers to traverse the spread between the operational degree and the strategic degree of thought and pattern. However, it is concluded that hotel proprietors need to be cognizant that human resource direction must be managed good in order to maintain up with alterations in the planetary environment. The human resource direction map is no longer one of traditional forces disposal ; alternatively, it must be strategic and proactive in covering with complicated human resource direction issues.