Organization Leadership Experience, Communication and the Power of Essay

Organization Leadership Experience, Communication and the Power of Questions - Essay Example In my organizations coaching process, good communication is demonstrated through effective use of technological aids, and conduction of surveys regularly to get the reviews and insights from the coach as well as the coachees. These surveys reveal information about the level of satisfaction of both the coach and the coachee with the coaching process, and their proposed measures for making the communication more effective. â€Å"What [the coachees] do want is ongoing communication with their executives concerning the "big picture" -- how their work is making a difference and suggestions on how they can improve† (Goldsmith, 2009). In my high school, I had experience of coaching as I had to prepare myself for a Football match between my school and another school’s team. I was assigned a coach who was very good at communication. By telling us hand symbols and their meanings, he provided us with a way to communicate with each other over long distances and in loud and noisy grounds. Our coach remained curious as to whether we were all able to understand him from a distance; â€Å"Curiosity on the part of coaches empowers teachers to find their own answers, to be more resourceful, and to discover new possibilities for moving forward† (Tschannen-Moran and Tschannen-Moran, 2010). At the end of each session, the coach would ask us what we understood when he made a certain symbol, and our responses reassured him that we had received his messages correctly. Contrary to this, another coach with whom I worked in the sports complex employed the use of mobile phones for communication over long distances, whic h was impracticable since we either ran out of signals or something else would happen to disrupt the communication or the quality of game such as accidentally dropping the mobile phone while running. Rather than asking us whether we found communication over mobiles effective or not in

Budgeting issues in criminal justice systems Essay Example for Free

Budgeting issues in criminal justice systems Essay One of the reasons why jails still exist despite overcrowding is the budget allotted for the criminal justice administration. But the sudden rise in the number of prisoners posed a problem when it comes to budgeting. The article on policies and procedures of correctional facilities operated by the Multnomah County clearly shows that it has been experiencing financial shortage due to faulty budgeting. The article shows that it is very expensive to accommodate a prisoner, which costs $157/day in Multnomah County. This is expensive compared to the rate of jail systems in other counties. This was attributed to the labor contracts which resulted to raised labor costs, extraordinarily high medical costs which led to high cost of the overall system in jail, ineffective jail staffing pattern, abuse of sick leave, overtime and compensatory time and increase in the Sheriff’s budget. Aside from all of these, the Multnomah County has a very expensive juvenile detention facility. It costs $401/day to accommodate a juvenile. The article further shows that the Sheriff’s Office has practiced budgeting techniques which hid the management practices of the organization. This resulted to difficulty of finding out the different organization functions. Even the district attorney’s office has to seek the help of a financial analyst to make sense of the financial outline of the jail system. What the county requires is a program called â€Å"priority-based budgeting. Each department of the jail system must present program offers for the county commissioners to fund. However, some of these program offers are rejected. The Sheriff’s office has a total of 66 funding program offers that the county commission has approved. The priority-based budgeting was applied so that the commissioners can make an informed decision from an accurate financial picture of the different programs. This enabled the commissioners to be knowledgeable in whether funding or rejecting a particular program. The article concluded that the outside help of a financial consultant was necessary to analyze the Sheriff’s costs and budgets. It was noted that â€Å"it is a natural and understandable inclination of a government agency† to do the budgeting practices discussed in the article. The DA’s office thought that similar practices have been done by other government agencies in the county. It was suggested that the commission should collaborate more with the Sheriff. The county commissioners should understand the operations that they fund so that the problems might not occur again. The workgroup of the jail systems should focus on the Sheriff’s cost reporting and budgeting practices so that they can partake in any decisions to make. The commission should also found a work group that will inspect the jails and report frequently to the commissioners. This work group must consist of representatives from the law enforcement agencies in the county, the County Chair, the County Commissioner, the United States Attorney, the administrator for the federal facility at Sheridan, representatives from the business community, a representative from the medical community, the Department of Corrections, an independent financial analyst and the District Attorney. The law also requires that the county should include the state Department of Corrections in every operation of the local jails. However, whatever responsibilities the Department of Corrections is assigned by the law should not be carried out by the Sheriff’s Association. The article strongly advises that a healthy relationship must be established between the county Sheriff and the Board of Commissioners. Any solution to the problems must start from this perspective since all other problems stemmed from a breakdown to that relationship. The other article addressing budgeting issue is titled â€Å"Will part-time prison cut crime or costs? † by Nick Morrison. The article says that British Home Secretary David Blunkett proposed that some inmates be given freedom on weekends to relieve the growing population of prisoners in jails. Those inmates who are dangerous could be provided with electronic tags and they could stay out of jail for a month. They could also work during the week and spend the weekend in jail. Many questioned this proposal whether it is a way to fight the crimes or to cut costs, particularly Norman Brennan, director of the Victims of Crime Trust. He sees this proposal as the government’s admission to defeat in solving crimes, even though Blunkett promised to be tough on car-jackers and phone thieves. Brennan thinks that it has to do with money problems and not reducing crime why Blunkett allowed this kind of arrangement for the prisoners. It was hard for the government to spend a lot of money in keeping prisoners. Moreover, Brennan argued that it is more important to keep the prisoners in jails and out of the streets to protect the victims of crimes and the public, even though it is expensive to do so. Apparently, Blunkett’s proposal did not make this possible. Criminals were allowed on the loose, and they could strike again since they have freedom. With the growing population of prisoners in jails, Brennan says that the criminal justice system is no longer effective. A crisis in the criminal justice system has to appear before people do something to solve it. He recognizes that the problems will be harder to solve later on. Even more, there were less police officers on the beat to prevent crimes even though these crimes have been getting worse for many years now. The government also has not done something to reduce crime. He couldn’t see how Blunkett’s proposal could solve any of the problems. Brennan mentions that the country has more people inside prisons than any countries in Europe. He says it is so because there are more crimes here than anywhere else. The government, he adds, has resorted to different measures to solve the rising number of crimes. Sadly, none of these measures worked, and this showed a â€Å"disgraceful record on crime and law and order. † On the other hand, the Howard League for Penal Reform agreed with Blunkett’s proposal. The spokeswoman says that â€Å"anything †¦to reduce the prison population is a good thing. † She added that the programs set to keep the prisoners with a two or three months term away from their criminal behavior are not often available, that’s why they offend the second time after they are released. The article recommends that a community penalty is more effective as a form of punishment for the prisoners than sending them over to prison. The article quotes Brennan recommending that the government should deal with the crimes head on rather than making lots of promises and pledges that it cannot meet. People should also be aware of these problems and how serious they are so that they can be a part in solving them. Brennan is correct in saying that criminals should be sent to prison whether it is expensive or not. The most important thing to consider here is the protection of the public from these offenders. The government should look more into these problems because this is getting worse every year and it has bad records of crime. The government should also look into the budgeting systems of the federal and local governments. It should consider that budgeting systems can be a part of the ineffective services it offers to the public. Changes in budgeting systems should be an important part in reform. REFERENCES Morrison, Nick. (2002, February 05). Will part-time prison cut crime or costs? Newsquest (North East Ltd. , p. 8. Available at: http://yukon. actx. edu:2083/libweb/curriculum/do/document? set=topicgroupid=1requestid=conquesttopicresultid=48ts=57673F035D3E975120F685A75E3514BA_1187860483640urn=urn%3Abigchalk%3AUS%3BBCLib%3Bdocument%3B76740234. The Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office. (2006). Independent review of policies and procedures of correctional facilities operated by the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office. Available at: http://www. mcda. us/articles/GJ_CORRECTIONAL_FACILITIES_2006. pdf.

Effects of the Government on the Economy

Effects of the Government on the Economy This essay articulates the principles, relationship between micro economic and macroeconomic by doing research in regard to this essay we can assume that government play a major role in economics such as price control, policies, increasing wages of employees and making decision in the market place however we can also assume economic policies are not influenced if they are not almost generally determined by acceptance of some of these mistakes. Perhaps the shortest and surest way to an understanding of economics is through segmentation of such errors, and particularly of the central error from which they stem. In addition economics is all about policies how society decides what, how, and for whom to produce. INTRODUCTION Human being intend to be able to solve living basic problem such as what goods and services to produce, how to produce these goods and services and for whom to produce these goods and services. Economics is the study of how society decides what, how, and for whom to produce. Economics is also about human behaviour we also could describe it as a science rather than a subject within the arts or humanities. This reflects the way economics analyse problems, not the subject matter of economics. Economist aim to develop theories of human behaviour and to test them against the facts moreover good economics retains an element of art, for it is only by having a feel for how people actually behave that economists can focus their analysis on the right issues. But what exactly is economics? Task1: Most modern definitions of economics involve the notions of choice and scarcity. Possibly the earliest of these is by Lionell Robbins in 1935: Economics is a science which studies human behaviour as a relationship between ends and scarce means which have alternative uses. Virtually all textbooks have definitions that are derived from this definition. Although the exact wording differs from author to author, the standard definition is something like this: Economics is the social science that examines how people choose to use limited or scarce resources in attempting to satisfy their unlimited wants. Scarcity means that people want more than is available. Scarcity limits us both as individuals and as a society. As individuals, limited income (time and ability) keep us from doing and having all that we might like. As a society, limited resources (such as man power, machinery, and natural resources) fix a maximum on the amount of the goods and services that can be produced. b) Concept of opportunity cost: This concept of scarcity leads to the idea of opportunity cost. The opportunity cost of an action is what you must give up when you make that choice. Another way to say this is: it is the value of the next best opportunity. Opportunity cost is a direct implication of scarcity. People have to choose between different alternatives when deciding how to spend their money and their time. Milton Friedman, who won the Nobel Prize for economics is fond of saying there is no such thing as a free lunch. What that means is that in a world of scarcity, everything has an opportunity cost. There is always a trade-off involved in any decision you make. The concept of opportunity cost is one of the most important ideas in economics. Consider the question, How much does it cost to go to college for a year? We could add up the direct costs like tuition, books, school supplies, etc. These are examples of explicit costs, i.e., costs that require a money payment. However, these costs are small compared to the value of the time it takes to attend class, do homework, etc. The amount that the student could have earned if she had worked rather than attended school is the implicit cost of attending college. Implicit costs are costs that do not require a money payment. The opportunity cost includes both explicit and implicit costs. C) Microeconomics is the study of decisions that people and businesses make regarding the allocation of resources and prices of goods and services. This means also taking into income taxes and regulations created by governments. MicroeconomicsÂÂ  focuses onÂÂ  supply and demand and other forces that determine the price levels seen in the economy. For example, microeconomics would look at how a specific company could maximize its production and capacity soÂÂ  it could lowerÂÂ  prices and better compete in its industry. Macroeconomics, on the other hand,ÂÂ  is the field of economics that studies the behaviour of the economy as a whole and not just on specific companies, but entire industries and economies. This looks at economy-wide phenomena, such asÂÂ  Gross National Product (GDP) and how it is affected by changes in unemployment, national, rate of growth, and price levels. For example, macroeconomics would look at how an increase/decrease in net exports would affect a nationsÂÂ  capital account or how GDP would be affected by unemployment rate. While these two learning of economics appear to be different, they are actually interdependent and complement one another since there are many overlapping issues between the two fields. For example, increased inflation (macro effect) would cause the price of raw materials to increase for companies and in turn affect the end products price charged to the public. http://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/110.asp Task2: In this particular task I am going to explain the existing relationship between demand and price also will be giving more detail related to market demand curve and factors affecting demand. According to some researchers demand can be defined as the quantity of a good buyers wish to purchase at each conceivable price, market demand could also be defined as a set of arrangements by which buyers and sellers are in contact to exchange goods or services. The relationship between demand and price describes the behaviour of buyers at every price at every particular price there should be quantity demanded the term quantity demanded makes sense only in relation to a particular price for example in everyday language we say that when the demand for a football match tickets exceeds their supply some people will not get into the ground. Demand curve shows the relation between price and quantity demanded the other things relevant to demand curves can usually be grouped under three groups: the price of goods, the income of consumers and consumer tastes or preferences. Price controls are government rules or laws that forbid the adjustment of prices to clear market for example high food prices mean considerable hardship for the poor the government would prefer to impose a price ceiling on food in order to help the poor to continue purchasing adequate food quantities. In order to be effective a price ceiling must be imposed below the free market equilibrium price therefore it is going to reduce the quantity supplied and lead to excess demand unless government itself provides the extra quantity required. The main factor affecting demand is consumer revenues; consumers intend to purchase a product in order to satisfy their due to their incomes however quantities of demand could increase as consumer incomes rise for example low income people satisfy their needs for clothes by buying low quality clothes as their incomes rise they switch to better quality clothes. Market demand curve is the sum of the demand curves of all individuals in that particular market by asking, at each price, how much each person demands. it also could the horizontal addition of individual demand curves Individual Demand Curve By looking at the graph we could what an important role price plays in the market therefore we can conclude in this demand of goods or services depend on the price and also on consumer incomes the graphs summarise the demand responses to changes in incomes it also show us the effect of income increases although income rises increase the quantity demanded of goods by consumers. Task 3: In this particular task I am going to explain how an equilibrium price and equilibrium quantity can be achieved and also the effects of excess supply, demand on market equilibrium. According to David Begg economic equilibrium is a state of the world where economic forces are balanced and in the absence of external influences the (equilibrium) values of economic variables will not change. It is the point at which quantity demanded and quantities supplied are equal, for example, refers to a condition where a market price is established through competition such that the amount of goods or services sought by buyers is equal to the amount of goods or services produced by sellers. Price controls are government rules or laws that forbid the adjustment of prices to clear market for instance we can assume that when price controls are maintained for many years they may have further repercussions. For example many countries have imposed rent controls limiting the rent a landlord can charge for accommodation. Countries such as the UK have had price ceilings for many years in the rental market in also failed to raise insignificant amount with the inflation therefore many private landlord have quit the business. There are many reasons why government wish to intervene in a free market to set prices as a result prices are set the market forces ( where demand and supply vary) but in some cases government will need to set prices for different products. For instance the European Union EU has used minimum prices for farmers it is also could be argued farmers incomes are too low therefore minimum prices can be used to increase prices above the equilibrium however the government decided to have price controls in farming to encourage farmers to supply as much as possible. This graph show us the existing relation between equilibrium price and demand and also how an equilibrium price and equilibrium quantity can be achieved however we could conclude on this task that equilibrium price is the price at which the quantity demanded by consumers and the quantity at which companies offer services and goods . Task 4: Perfect competition: Economist definition of perfect competition is different from the meaning of competition in everyday usage in economic theory a perfect competition can be defined as a description of markets such that no participants are large enough to have the market power to set the price of a homogeneous product. Because the conditions for perfect competition are strict, there are few if any perfectly competitive markets. Still, buyers and sellers in some auction-type markets say for commodities or some financial assets may approximate the concept. Economic markets in many sectors can be described by the term oligopoly this is where few producers dominate the majority of the industry and the market, perfect competition operate on a number of different assumptions. Economist also assumes there a number of a different buyers and sellers in the marketplace this could lead to a perfect competition in the market which could allow price to change in demand and supply. Perfect competition can be characterized by many sellers and buyers, many products that are similar in nature and as a result of many substitutes, for example in a perfectly competitive market a single firm decide to increase its selling price of a good, the consumers can just turn to the nearest competitor for a better price, affecting any firm that increases its price to lose market share and revenues. According to Stanley Fisher An oligopoly is a market dominated by a few producers, each of which has control over the market. It is an industry where there is a high level of market concentration. However, oligopoly is best defined by the conduct (or behaviour) of firms within a market rather than its market structure. Characteristics of oligopoly can be by competition other than price. Price wars , cutting prices in the market where all large firms tend simply to lead to lower profits, changing little market shares, instead , oligopolistic companies intend to charge relatively high prices but also compete through promotion and advertisement but existing firms can be safer from new companies entering the market because entry barriers to the market are high, for example existing successful brands have a number of a products considerably promoted in the other hand it will be difficult for a new company to establish its own new brand in the market. This graph show us how important perfect competition is in the market in order to launch new product firms will need to follow some entry barriers and have some requirements and follow government policies such price control. Task 5: In this particular I am going to give an explanation and evaluation of what is meant by Keynesian, Monetarist economics: According to Keynesian theory, some microeconomic-level actions if taken collectively by a large proportion of individuals and firms can lead to inefficient aggregate macroeconomic outcomes, where the economy operates below its potential output and growth rate. Such a situation had previously been referred to by classical economists as a general glut. Keynesian economics: during recession periods when aggregate demand is insufficient, monetary and fiscal expansion can boost demand, product and employment in 1930 Britain was partly pulled out the slump of Keynesian policy of government heavy spending on rearmament as the threat of war loomed however in the three decades after 1945 governments of both political parties in Britain attempted to implement the Keynesian policy in order to manage the level of aggregate demand but some of the policy did not work perfectly . In the decade after 1965 both inflation and unemployment grew fairly steadily which build up inflation proved to be a costly after effect Keynesian policies. Today we are more doubtful about the success of the activist period of 1950 and 1960. Keynesian economics proceeds on the assumption that price level given but what can happen if the price level change for example when the economy is near full employment and there is no longer space capacity to make companies think before raising price of products or increasing wages of their employees. On the other hand Keynesian government should be able to tackle unemployment issues otherwise effects of unemployment could reduce production of goods. According to Monetarism theory the governments proper economic role is to control the rate of inflation by controlling the amount of money in circulation. It is the view within monetary economics that variation in the money supply has major influences on national output in the short run and the price level over longer periods and that objectives of monetary policy are best met by targeting the growth rate of the money supply . Finally we can conclude that there is much about which all economists agree but there are some important differences of opinion, both in the positive economics of how the world we are living actually works and in the normative economics of how the government should behave in the market. Due to market power economist intend to play a role in the market by solving problem faced by consumers such as price rises therefore they intend to have price ceiling for each product and I have learn economic is just not a science subject it is there to reconcile the conflict between people virtually unlimited demand with society limited ability to produce goods and services to fulfil these demands.

Reconciling Injustice and Necessity: The Statesman in the Practical City :: Essays Papers

Reconciling Injustice and Necessity: The Statesman in the Practical City When Socrates builds up a â€Å"city in speech† from ideals, he allows himself the option of overlooking the more distasteful features of real human cities simply by omitting them from the argument. His is a city whose primary purpose is to shed light on the soul of an individual, and its role as a metaphor allows it to contain logical conclusions which run wholly counter to the feasible practices of men. Aristotle permits himself no such luxury when he sets out to describe politics from the top down; he cannot overlook such thorny issues as slavery and empire because they exist as significant features in the constitutions of men and must be dealt with by statesmen, to whose needs Aristotle is particularly sensitive. Unlike Socrates, he cannot simply label these things unjust in the abstract and remove them from the ideal city. Aristotle, in his own description of an ideal constitution, is scrupulously practical, even when practicality prevents him from endorsing what would s eem to be the logical conclusions of his own arguments. His treatment of empire in the Politics, like his treatment of slavery—empire’s small-scale cousin—reflects this ability to reconcile a concept of absolute justice to the inevitable injustices of political life. It is not immediately obvious what Aristotle’s verdict on empire is. The institution seems to simultaneously violate several of his premises for a good city and promote others, and Aristotle sets up a comparison of the arguments for both sides to address this tension. On the one hand, he perceives injustice in states whose sole purpose is to conquer their neighbors, and chastises statesmen who arbitrarily enslave others for ruling â€Å"without regard to the right or wrong of what [he is] doing† (VII.ii.13) . He also praises the self-contained happiness of the isolationist state when he says, â€Å"It is possible to imagine a solitary state which is happy in itself†¦It will obviously have a good constitution† (VII.ii.16). However, both these lines of reasoning are incomplete condemnations of empire. The first implies only that the statesman is ultimately accountable to right and wrong in his actions and must consider this standard in his decision-making, no t that imperialism is in itself always on the side of wrong. He sees the thorough isolationism of the â€Å"solitary state† as problematic as well, ending his description of it with, â€Å"But it will have no regard to war† (VII. Reconciling Injustice and Necessity: The Statesman in the Practical City :: Essays Papers Reconciling Injustice and Necessity: The Statesman in the Practical City When Socrates builds up a â€Å"city in speech† from ideals, he allows himself the option of overlooking the more distasteful features of real human cities simply by omitting them from the argument. His is a city whose primary purpose is to shed light on the soul of an individual, and its role as a metaphor allows it to contain logical conclusions which run wholly counter to the feasible practices of men. Aristotle permits himself no such luxury when he sets out to describe politics from the top down; he cannot overlook such thorny issues as slavery and empire because they exist as significant features in the constitutions of men and must be dealt with by statesmen, to whose needs Aristotle is particularly sensitive. Unlike Socrates, he cannot simply label these things unjust in the abstract and remove them from the ideal city. Aristotle, in his own description of an ideal constitution, is scrupulously practical, even when practicality prevents him from endorsing what would s eem to be the logical conclusions of his own arguments. His treatment of empire in the Politics, like his treatment of slavery—empire’s small-scale cousin—reflects this ability to reconcile a concept of absolute justice to the inevitable injustices of political life. It is not immediately obvious what Aristotle’s verdict on empire is. The institution seems to simultaneously violate several of his premises for a good city and promote others, and Aristotle sets up a comparison of the arguments for both sides to address this tension. On the one hand, he perceives injustice in states whose sole purpose is to conquer their neighbors, and chastises statesmen who arbitrarily enslave others for ruling â€Å"without regard to the right or wrong of what [he is] doing† (VII.ii.13) . He also praises the self-contained happiness of the isolationist state when he says, â€Å"It is possible to imagine a solitary state which is happy in itself†¦It will obviously have a good constitution† (VII.ii.16). However, both these lines of reasoning are incomplete condemnations of empire. The first implies only that the statesman is ultimately accountable to right and wrong in his actions and must consider this standard in his decision-making, no t that imperialism is in itself always on the side of wrong. He sees the thorough isolationism of the â€Å"solitary state† as problematic as well, ending his description of it with, â€Å"But it will have no regard to war† (VII.

Fine Arts of Spain at the end of the Golden Age Essay

The Spanish society during the late 1600s seemed to be a confused society as there were some developments that were so dominating. First is the series of defeats in war against France that had given Spain it first taste of what it means to be a conquered nation, second is the decline of Castile hegemony resulting to the weakening of the imperial state prompting Castilian aristocracy to take advantage of a weakened monarchy, and began to take affairs of the imperial states in their own hands, and third, is the shift of gender emphasis which may have caused all this declines and defeats. Feminization spread all through out Spanish society. According to Sedney Donel (2003), the â€Å"fear of imminent feminization of the general male populace in Imperial Spain is especially visible in certain pictorial images of the spiritual disintegration of Castilian hegemony† (Donell 2003, p. 152). According to Donell, during most artist painting illustrates â€Å"the feeling of despair and fatalism that swept over Spain as its empire began to crumble† (Donell, p. 152) What does it mean when stated that a System of Values was arising†¦? I would say that the above statement refers to the gender problems that gripped Spain during the so-called ‘golden age. ’ The rise of cultural anxiety over gender brought about by feminization has created a new value system that is associated with the love of art had contributed to the decline of the Spanish nation. Donell noted that aristocracy had embraced feminization, and even most members of this group â€Å"no longer had the means to build lavish palaces, but they consumed lavishly and became ostentatious patrons of the arts† (Donell, p. 157), which resulted in the unfolding national tragedy. Donell aptly calls this â€Å"a paradox between an economy in ruin and a cultural production that had entered a golden age† (Donnel, p. 157). It means that the values that were in Spain during this time were about the love of arts and female gender appreciation. Both Philip III and Philip were lovers of drama and did not spend much time on governing but on leisure and court fiestas. Characteristics that can be seen in El Greco Paintings The characteristic of El Greco’s paintings defect his deep devotion to Roman Catholicism and his wide knowledge of his religion. His painting also defect masculine character probably in response to the prevailing gender emphasis attracting men even in the aristocracy. Quoting Marcelin Defourneaux, Donell described the scenario, he stated â€Å"The fashion of short hair had given place to the wearing of it long, or a wig; the use perfumes and even make-up was common among of high distinction that you no longer know whether you are talking to men or to their sisters† (Donell 2003, p. 156) Thus the characteristic of his paintings seemed reminds the role that men ought to be in the society. The Paintings of Diego Velasquez Based on his available paintings, Diego Velasquez interest in paintings was not focus on religion alone. Obviously he loves to paint monarchs depicting their everyday lives, and many of his paintings were of the princess and prince and king and queen of Spain. His relation to El Greco was that he was a disciple of El Greco about modern arts. Beyond this nothing more was said about their relations. The Paintings of Bartolome Esteban Murillo Most of Murillo’s paintings expressed the childish figures and expression of serenity, sweetness, innocence, faith, tranquility, and devotion. He would also love to present the cheerful aspect of spiritual life. His religious compositions emphasized the main subject usually surrounded by angels with vaporous background to accentuate the central theme. Murillo’s painting has some similarities with that of Velasquez and El Greco. Murillo and Velasquez both created paintings that depict everyday living having children as the central subject. Both had influence of Italian way of paintings. El Greco’s painting could be considered similar with that of Murillo in such a way that they loved painting religious images. The Habsburg Kings and their Rule in Spain The Habsburg refers to the royal family that ruled Europe for over six centuries. They were known for their contribution in the advancement of Roman Catholic Church. Their regime started in old Switzerland (Swabia) and extended its holdings to other parts of Europe. The Habsburg kings in Spain that began in 1516 contributed in the centralization of Spain and the advancement of Roman Catholicism in that county. During this period, Spain reached the pinnacle of its power to many nations such as Philippines and many American colonies. Castile and Separatism Castile or Castilla is a former kingdom in Spain, which derived its name from the large castles built in that place. It was under the rule of Moors from 8th century to 1035 until Ferdinand I conquered it. The kingdom expanded when Ferdinand II married Isabella I of Castile in 1469. The merging of the two kingdoms strengthened Catholic religion and weakened the Arab strongholds, and even to the point of vanishing of them. It was during this period that Spain had divided political structure because of religious values and regional identity. Moriscos Morisco is a term given to Moslems in Spain and Portugal who were converted by force to Catholicism but continuously practicing their own faith. These Moriscos suffered from discrimination and persecution so they were driven out to North Africa. Prior to expulsion, these people were given religious freedom under the Treaty of Granada though; they were persecuted, which caused rebellions in 1499 and in 1568 to 1571. And in 1609 to 1614, these Moriscos with an estimate number at around 300,000 were totally expelled from Spain Religiosity Spanish people’s religiosity is articulated in such a way that parents transmit this belief to their offspring. It has often seen in this country some religious practices that are performed by almost all family members such as attending mass and festivities. As a practice, Spanish people observed religious festivals in remembrance of saints. Religion has the biggest contribution in the development of their culture as a country. The State of the Spanish Society Spanish society was characterized by strong regionalism and religiosity. However, a unified Spain was achieved when they finally confided themselves in one religion and one political structure especially during the reign of Ferdinand II and Isabella I. Most of the members of their society comprised the knights, bishops, nobility, and townspeople. During the reign of Ferdinand II, they had a unified Spain with advancement in trade, centralized institutions, central banking system, and advance science and discovery. Philip IV, His Son Charles, and the Pope: The French to the Spanish Crown Philip IV inherited the crown in 1621, at the age of 16, and through his reign the dream of hegemonic Spain was pervasive despite the kingdoms vulnerability both internationally and domestically. Though he implemented several economic reforms yet his reign was characterized as the end of Spain’s hegemonic era, and Castile experience utter defeat. After Philip IV’ death his son Charles II inherited the throne in 1668. However his reign was characterized by weak monarchy, and was known as golden age for the privileged classes particularly the Castilian aristocracy who took advantage of the weak monarchy. According to Charles Knight (1840), the Pope’s interest in Spain was that he wanted to restore Spain to her rank and power among nations (Knight1840, p. 78). It can be recalled that Spain under Philip IV suffered humiliating defeat and lost her prestige as hegemonic nation. Reference List Donell, S. (2003) Femenizing the Enemy: Imperial Spain, Transvestite Dramma, and the Crises: USA: Bucknell University Press. Knight, Charles. (1840) Penny Cyclopaedia of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge. London: Encyclopedias and Dictionaries.

Philip Morris Ethical Issues Essay

The Philip Morris founded a cigarette company in 1847 London. They specialized in hand-rolled cigarettes and were very much a small, family ran business. In 1902 the company moved to New York City and had a new demographic in a new country. The company remained small and was actively only the sixth largest tobacco company in the United States. With the famous â€Å"Marlboro Man† advertising campaign the company gained popularity and in 1983 Philip Morris was the largest cigarette company in the United States. From there, the company began to expand into other businesses expanding on its international market. Philip Morris acquired Miller Brewing Company in 1970 and General Foods in 1985. The same year Philip Morris Companies was incorporated as a publicly traded company. Philip Morris continued their expansion with the takeover of Kraft in 1988 and the merger between South African Breweries with Miller Brewing in 2002. Philip Morris Companies changed its name to Altria Group Inc. in 2003 and spun off Kraft Foods in 2007. (4) They then gained the international business of Philip Morris as a separate company and acquired U. S. Smokeless Tobacco Company. The holding company owns Philip Morris USA, U. S.  Smokeless Tobacco Company, Philip Morris Capital Corp and Nu Mark, a new company that produces Nicotine Lozenges. Company Success and Campaigns Today Philip Morris is still top in the cigarette market. The company’s cigarette brands have about half of the cigarette market in the United States. The other Philip Morris brands include Parliament, Virginia Slims, Merit, Cambridge, and Basic. The majority of the company success comes from their genius advertising in the 1950’s. (4) Widely regarded as one of the most successful marketing campaigns of all time the â€Å"Marlboro Man† helped Philip Morris bring itself to the top of the industry. Marlboro used the image of a rugged cowboy enjoying a cigarette on horseback quickly adapt men into enjoying their brand. Released in 1955 the success of the advertisement was incredible. In 1954 Marlboro sales accounted for $154 million in cigarette sold. From there the campaign expanded into other professions including sports stars, racing drivers, and other â€Å"manly-men† to boost bran recognition. (6) The campaign continued through 1999 and is still widely recognized in today’s pop-culture. A lot of Philip Morris’s success can be attributed to the fact that their product is addictive. Having customers with a physical dependency to their product makes customer loyalty an easy thing especially when demand is high. Tobacco Regulation and its Effect on the Company While Philip Morris enjoyed uncontested financial success throughout the latter half of the 20th century it appears trouble is coming. Through the 60’s smoking was a lifestyle in the United States. It was associated with a life of glamor and practically had everyone smoking. By 1963 American adults were smoking an average of 12 cigarettes per day. In 1963 the Surgeon General released the linking of cigarette smoking and cancer. Since then the tobacco industry has only become more regulated. A year later the Cigarette Labeling and Advertising Act was passed which required all cigarettes sold to carry the Surgeon General’s warning. As research into the negative effects of smoking grew stronger the regulations and bans began. In 1990 smoking was banned on buses and domestic flights the first movement in the prohibition of smoking and its dangers to others. With these regulations came lawsuits against the industry from individual smokers and various parties. The tobacco companies settled in 1998 to gain immunity from future lawsuits from government groups in return for $246 billion to be paid out over the course of 25 years. (4) While big tobacco was able to avoid these trials general concern for health caused sales to fall. At first Philip Morris and other tobacco companies publicly disclaimed any link between lung cancer and smoking but this was not enough. To combat these health claims cigarette companies released filtered cigarettes that claimed to limit the amount of dangerous particles in tobacco smoke. The filtered cigarettes were in fact just as harmful as regular cigarettes because consumers would take bigger drags to make up for the lack of smoke. In 2006 the District of Columbia District Court ruled the tobacco companies had made many offenses including lying about health risks and marketing to children. (8) As a result tobacco companies are now required to remove misleading statements about filtered cigarettes being safer and to provide more insight into company procedures. Increased regulation has had Philip Morris dealing with a constantly increasing tobacco tax. The government directly taxes cigarettes in all state owned property. These taxes have led to the drastic increase in cigarette prices. Philip Morris and other companies push the tax down towards their customers. The current state of the tobacco industry is not what it use to be but Philip Morris remains profitable with their large involvement in all markets. (4) Despite a clear public understanding of health risks millions of addicted smokers continue their habit. As Philip Morris continues to make money off a product that is addictive and damaging to its customer it is easy to question the moral roots of the company. An Ethical Look on a â€Å"Evil† Company With full speculation as corporations go Philip Morris is certainly on the list as a â€Å"Evil company. The fact is that the company sells a harmful addictive products that kill almost 20% of Americans each year. In addition the company has long known about the dangers of smoking despite repeatedly denying the medical claims. Although these accusations Philip Morris is taking steps to change their business outlook. The steps to gain a more favorable public opinion shows that the company is not acting unethically. When the reports about health issues came along with smoking Philip Morris made an unprecedented decision. Instead of targeting the health problems and looking to manufacture â€Å"safer† cigarettes Phillip Morris began marketing to the younger crowd. (6) While not necessary breaking the law by physically selling to minors it is clear that the company believes that targeting a younger more impressionable crowd is the solution. It’s hard to pinpoint the moral beliefs of Philip Morris. The company is still extremely successful and their success comes with the expense of the well being of their customers. Philip Morris and Positive Ethical Behavior Philip Morris a company speculated for its concerned about its stakeholders has also still had initiatives that benefit society. Unlike most of its smaller competitors Philip Morris has never manufactured flavored cigarettes. Other tobacco companies came under serious fire for flavored blends like Twista Lime, Mandarin Mint, Beach Breezer. These flavored cigarettes provided a way to appeal to a younger crowd. Philip Morris has never engaged in this kind of behavior and in some cases has made an effort to even deter minors from smoking. Since 1998 the company has spent a self reported $1 billion on youth smoking prevention including its â€Å"Think Don’t Smoke† campaign that was started in the 2000’s. (3) The Philip Morris website is packed with information on the dangers of smoking and the company even supported FDA regulation of tobacco which was eventually allowed by the Tobacco Control Act in 2009. Most recently Altria was listed on Fortune Magazine’s Top 100 most admired companies of 2011 for positive business behavior. In the Socially Responsible category they ranked fourth. The company donated $54 million to multiple nonprofit organizations including the Red Cross, the Smithsonian, and the United Negro College Fund. Looking at the company they engage in parts of an ethically sound corporation that values the impact it can have on society. However once the nature of the business that Philip Morris is engaged in is known only then will the company be hindered. Company Views and the Utilitarian Approach There is no doubt that Philip Morris’s public relation division are hard at work. Despite their social outreach its intention is misguided. The company’s social agenda is arguably just another operating cost to help improve the reputation of Philip Morris as the best of the worse. The company’s support of FDA tobacco regulation might have seemed like a moral move but FDA regulation of tobacco ends up helping Philip Morris. FDA regulation makes it much harder for smaller cigarette companies to survive. Only Philip Morris has the supply chain and brand recognition to remain profitable as cigarettes become more regulated. Additionally FDA regulation makes the industry unattractive heightening the barriers that Philip Morris’s has gaining a competitive advantage. (1) Applying the Utilitarian approach provides an interesting insight into the ethical breakdown of the company. The Utilitarian thinking is the ideal society that starts in an original position where everyone is equal. From there changes in equality should be open to everyone and the changes in equality are to everyone’s advantage. Essentially this approach with an unequally high proportion of wealth, assets, or abilities would have an affect on this type of company. With an equal chance to have an unequal proportion of wealth, assets, or abilities every individual would fight to make unequal distribution to benefit society. Looking at Philip Morris through the Utilitarian approach shows that the company is not acting fairly. Philip Morris engages in many business activities to help maintain their competitive advantage including supporting FDA regulation that would kill their competitors. On a more broad scale the inequality of wealth that Philip Morris has amassed over the years has not been to the advantage of society as a whole. In fact the success of the company has come at the expense of the health and well being of society. While it’s apparent that Philip Morris does not abide by this approach it is hard to blame the company. The Fact of the Matter for Philip Morris Because the negative effects of smoking are widely known and well supported the right to a healthy life falls on the individual to uphold in this situation because smoking is known to be detrimental to that right. That being said the addictive properties of nicotine make this argument known. Philip Morris for years repeatedly denied claims about the health issues of smoking and released filtered cigarettes that claimed them to be healthier. In many ways avoiding helping to deprive people of their right to live healthily would have been directly in opposition of their business. This makes Phillip Morris an interesting situation. Tobacco has been in western culture for around 500 years and for the majority of that time it was a large part of culture and was celebrated as a luxury. It helped bring the colonies money. Today tobacco is frowned upon and the companies that were once so wildly successful and respected in America are being asked to limit business. To ask Philip Morris to act completely ethically would be asking them to shut down operations completely. They sell a product that takes years off of lives and is responsible for 440,000 deaths each year. (4) While they can continue to pursue â€Å"healthier† forms of smoking and ingesting nicotine there is no way for the company to operate without harming someone. What makes tobacco an anomaly in the business ethics debate is the willingness for their customers to purchase products that will end up harming them. When we think of business ethics it is normally thought of as creating negative actions in the environment. In the case of Philip Morris the negative actions fall on the company’s customers who willingly accepts them. The solution to this problem does not lie in the hands of Philip Morris or any of the other tobacco companies. In Conclusion While in the past the company has made unethical business decisions like covering up health concerns or trying to convince the public that their cigarettes are safer the industry is at a point now where they are acting as ethically as possible.  They are simply providing a product that has strong demand. It is within our government’s duty to protect citizens when they are incapable of making smart decisions as individuals. From this report the real danger here is nicotine the addictive substance in cigarettes. This matter should be controlled by the FDA and needs to be limited. Until then tobacco and its and its suppliers will always be contested and Philip Morris will continue doing what they have been doing.