Social Responsibility and Sustainable Business Practices Essay Example for Free

Social Responsibility and Sustainable strain Practices Essay seames, specific eithery larger corporations, play a major role in what occurs in inn therefore, they argon responsible to their stakeholders not only to pursue economic goals alone the greater social good as well. Corporate social responsibility (CSR) fashion that a corporation should act in a way that enhances society and its inhabitants and be held accountable for every of its actions that affect people, their communities, and their environment. (Lawrence, 2010). Social responsibility is becoming the norm so much so that approximately businesses bind incorporated it into their business model. There atomic number 18 three comp iodinents of the bottom line of social responsibility in business meanet, people, and profitability (3P). This is similarly the formulation of the triple bottom line, or TBL.In this report we look at the Network Data Center (NDC) in Tucson, AZ which provided technical support to the A rmy installation. The business consists of 120 people supporting over 6,000. Each employee has a minimum of one computer, some have aggregate for different classification levels, and two monitors. There atomic number 18 a few classrooms with multiple computers in them as well. The fel impoverishedship provides network, server, helpdesk, customer commission, information assurance, and miscellaneous other(a) information technology services to the base. We take a look at the TBL of social responsibility in the view of environmental, ethical leadership, organizational viability, and judicial and restrictive considerations and make recommendations for implementation.EnvironmentalBusinesses atomic number 18 going beyond regulatory compliance and becoming green. This gives companies a competitive advantage as well as legitimacy and product differentiation, moral commitment to the economy, and approach savings. Environmental analysis is a method managers can use to gather forths ide information on current issues and trends and turn that information intoactions that minimize threats and take advantages of new-fangled opportunities. Many corporations use the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) to farm out guidelines and use them in their knowledge business. Some considerations to take into account are the materials used and the percentage of those materials that are recycled, direct and indirect dynamism consumption, water withdrawal, biodiversity, emissions, effluents, and bollocks up, reclaimed products and services, compliance, environmental impacts of transportation of products, and the overall protection expenditures. For the NDC, we consider electronics cycle, energy conservation, and waste management.Considerations.electronics Recycling. When the ships union does its annual lifecycle of computers, lap guides, monitors, servers, and the like, I recommend research and review of the possibility of upgrades in lieu of new machines. Then when replacin g parts, the old unserviceable ones will be sent to a recycling facility. The company can go to http//www.epa.gov/epawaste/conserve/materials/ecycling/ present.htm to find a place to recycle electronics. Best Buy offers in-store, pointt, and online recycling program options. I recommend the company review and implement a computer/ electronics recycling program. By upgrading versus new purchase, the company will benefit from cost savings and may be able to upgrade to better machines than they would if buying full new systems. This cost savings can be reinvested elsewhere in the business.Energy Conservation. The company currently has a high energy consumption in their electronics. Little is through to conserve. Before reckon crisis within the company, the command was everyone had to die their computers on all night and updates were run at night to maintain information assurance compliance. Since the budget downfall a few years ago, all updates must be done during the day. Employee s still leave their machines on at night, restarting before they leave for the night, be campaign the rule has never changed. Efficiency efforts could be in place here to save energy.Waste Management. Since we already questioned electronics recycling, thisconsideration is for the waste management of municipal solid waste (MSW) or everyday items. MSW is the everyday things we use and throw out in the office. This can include items such as packaging, grass clippings, old furniture, bottles, food scraps, and batteries. accord to the EPAs annual report on MSW, Americans throw away about 4.3 pounds of waste per person, every day. Preventing waste should be considered as well as recycling and composting.Recommendations.Electronics Recycling. Electronic recycling is one consideration the company can do better with. Recycling in general lowers greenhouse gas emissions that are caused by manufacturing items for the depression time. Recycling electronics conserves natural resources maki ng cleaner air and water. The valuable resources computers and electronic components carry are metals, plastics, and glass. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), recycling a million laptops would give back enough energy for 3500 American homes electricity. A million cell phones would could yield 35,000 pounds of copper, 772 pounds of silver, 75 pounds of gold, and 33 pounds of palladium. Instead of throwing out the old computers and blackberrys, the company could simply upgrade the hardware or software and wherefore recycle the parts necessary.Energy Conservation. To conserve energy, it is my recommendation that the company have employees keep out down computers at night in lieu of restarting. Although some equipment such as the servers and UPS will still need to run, 150+ computers shut down at night will save energy resulting in cost savings for the company. Not only will this save money in utility billing, but also extend the life of the machines. When purchas ing new pieces, parts, and machines, I also recommend looking for energy star equipment that uses less energy when it is running.Waste Management.I recommend the company implement better plans on waste prevention such as utilizing the electronics we have to manage records instead of notion hard copies. Some of the older generation employeeslike to have a backup paper copy of items and are not held accountable to the paper lessening policies in place. Preventing excess printing results in cost savings for the company in paper and ink. A recycling and composting plan should be station in place by the company. The waste company provides free recycle and compost containers. NDC simply need to implement and plan and educate employees on when and how to recycle and composting when appropriate. Employees should be encouraged to use recyclable paper, glass, and metals for meals, dishes, and utensils instead of Styrofoam p belated(a)s for example. Recycling and composting is free and wi ll scale down the amount of actual waste is used by the company. This ingrained results in cost savings to the company as well. In addition to the benefits to the company, the efforts of less disposables diminishes the carbon dioxide equivalent into the air helping preserve the earth. honest leadAll leaders in business have a responsibility to earn a profit but ethical leaders take it one step further by going above and beyond the regulatory guidance. Bad ethical leadership can cause competitive pressure such as with Enron who fired the bottom 20% of performers every year. This caused employees to focus heavily on numbers and became unethical. Poor ethics in the workplace can cause issues because of personal gain and selfish interest or if there are conflicts of interest. Ethical leaders behave ethically, value and live by ethical behavior, exercise set the pave through expectations and examples, establish an environment of continuous improvement, provides opportunities for peopl e to grow personally and professionally, and they care and act with compassion.Ethical workplaces encourage long time employees who celebrate to work there until retirement. Ethical leaders choose to lead. They are the people want to follow, they are not clean obeyed by force. These leaders provide batch and inspiration that makes employees feel important and appreciated. Ethical leaders facilitate a positive culture in business motivating and shaping employees attitudes. Ethical leadership covers the people part of the 3P in the TBL. Some considerations we look at in this category are labor practices and decent work, human rights, society, and product responsibility.Consideration.Occupational health and Safety. This metric falls under labor practices and decent work and covers rates of injury, occupational diseases, lost days, and work related fatalities. For NDC, the rates of injury are the just about troublesome. Employees are often sick, office by office as they pass around a virus or bacteria. Ill employees are not asked to utilize their sick leave and stay home. some other thing to consider in this category is employees going home from injuries from lack of ergonomics. There is a climate from management that if a worker asks for an ergonomic accommodation it is because that employee is weak or making excuses. Employees live with wrist or back pain or the like until they are hospitalized or require surgery.Discrimination. Another consideration for the company is in human rights, or in particular discrimination. There are multifaceted ways discrimination can surface. Although the company does well in most cases, there are few areas where discrimination is not as blaringly evident but still needs to be addressed. For NDC, there is a discrimination of single parents. Single fathers are looked upon with sympathy and empathy. Accommodations are made with scheduling and compliance to formulas. Single fathers who are late because they had issues getting their kids to school are given the compassionate its ok response. Single mothers are hardly looked at through the same lens. They are viewed as the troublemakers who cant get their act together. In one such incident a single father divorced because of his own infidelity with multiple women, most coworkers.The company immediately accommodated his schedule and put him on the coveted day shift so he could work around daycare. In his department, they are required to change schedules and work a different shift, every quarter. He has been on the same schedule for two years because management feels for his situation. Another young mother called in one day to let the company know her mother was sick and could not watch the kids. She would be two hours late because she had to wait for her backup daycare to open and take the kids there. When she arrived at work she was given a discipline noteexplaining that daycare issues are not the organizations caper and she was put on probation of losin g her job. When the female employee inquired about the inconsistencies between women and men, they eloquently reminded her she was on probation. These type of incidents continuously happen in NDC. The company should consider their actions, intentional or not. If daycare issues are personal and not a concern of the company, then they should not be a concern for anyone. Discrimination is unethical behavior that looks under the weather on the company and ruins morale.Recommendations.Occupational Health and Safety. It is my recommendation that the company provide hand sanitizer lotion to each employee as well as some in special K areas. This will help prevent the spread of germs in the offices. Although union issues limit the supervisors ability to make employees use their sick leave to stay home when they are sick, they can educate workers on the importance of not spreading their illness. Masks can be offered to shield sick employees from the healthy ones as well. The local hospital offers free ergonomic evaluations and recommendations for employees regardless if they work in the warehouse lifting heavy equipment, or sitting at a desk all day.I recommend management change their way of thinking on ergonomics and allow employees to receive the care they need. Implementing preventative actions now will save the company money later. Medical bills will remain lower if people are not having carpel tunnel syndrome surgery or surgery to correct a spinal disk out of place. The company will benefit from having the employees at work and not paying employees to be gone on medical leave. This holds true for pity for sick employees as well. Keeping the healthy employees free from contagions, will save the company time and money as well as get to a greater extent work done.Discrimination. My recommendation for the company is to review the accommodations and special exceptions it gives to employees. Sensing sessions should be stockpileed with the employees or anonymous re views to bring these type of issues to light. Any discrimination acts reported by employees should be immediately addressed and taken seriously. Unethicalbehavior by management causes employees not to trust them. Unhappy employees can become disgruntled and even unethical themselves. Someone who is being treated inappropriately will not be as productive and retention can become an issue for the company. Ethical leaders foster communication and better working environments, leading to better business.Organizational ViabilityLong term survival and sustain profits over time. The perennial the company is profitable, the better its viability. To be socially responsible, a company must remain viable. Opportunities, threats, stagnant times, times of growth, and initiating innovative ideas are all opportunities to lower be and stay ahead of competitors. There are many ways to measure sustainability of a company. The company can use sustainability accounting, conduct shareholder value analy sis, lifecycle assessment, fit scorecard, activity based costing, lifecycle costing, full cost accounting, expected value analysis, and sensitivity analysis. The company must look at itself from a financial perspective, but also from a customer, internal business process, and learning and growth perspective as well.Considerations.Market Presence. Being present in the market is core to viability. The company makes purchases from contracts with low-down businesses throughout the country to level the economic balance. The company also provides services to any local government agency. NDC has a local internal extranet for customers for processes and procedures to request service as well as self-help. The hiring process for the company is an online one that is long, difficult, and confusing to someone new to the system. Prospective employees must first create an account and material body a resume using the specific template provided. This lengthy process uses a lot of jargon and requ ires very specific information. Once the account is created, the survey can search for jobs which can be time consuming if unfamiliar with the jargon. If a job is found, the user can click apply which attaches their resume created in the profile, and then asks multiple questions. These questionsare a combination of checkboxes and written responses.This assessment is typically from four to nine pages in length. After applying, a computer scans resumes for matches of give away words, words that were not in the job announcement. Then, the resumes that pass are sent to a human resources department that review for actual qualifications. The remaining qualified resumes are then sent to the hiring branch. The branch has to score each resume based on a preapproved rubric about two pages in length. Once scored, the top people are called for an interview. Once interviews are conducted, the selection is made and sent back to human resources. Human resource department offers the applicant the job and kit and caboodle on the details.The process often takes months.Customer portion and Competitive Advantage. Understanding customers needs and wants and implementing service based on those desires through a strategical plan is key to maintaining a competitive advantage. Companies must be able to adapt quickly to customer demands. A company must be either low cost or a value added type business. In the case of NDC, the value added is one of providing differentiated products and services that contain only attributes associated with the base. The scope is specialized. The company must still maintain social responsibility in this area and can do so by providing excellent customer service. Without the customers, there would be no business. The companys customers take many forms. There are civilians, Soldiers, contractors, and suppliers. All services provided by the company are followed up with the opportunity to conduct a survey. Metrics of the work done versus the surveys is a lso collected and reported to higher headquarters. Service requests that come in are documented in a local system however, phone calls are not recorded.Recommendations.Market Presence. NDC can improve its market nominal head with upgrading its current internal website and creating social media venue presence to address the current issues at hand. The company can research competitor sites and come up with more(prenominal) ideas that appeal to the target market. The hiring process needs some work. A thorough analysis of the process should be conductedreviewing the most time consuming portions. For example if the scoring of the resumes at the branch is the issue, maybe a group is created that does only that so the process will go faster. Too often when an applicant is offered the job, it has been so long they have been offered a job elsewhere and dip the invitation. Losing the best qualified employees hurts the company and the bottom line. Remaining in the market competitively invo lves having the best employees available to provide the best service available.Customer Service and Competitive Advantage.Although the surveys are sent to higher management, the metrics are not utilized locally. The only time the feedback is mentioned at all, is if there is a majorly negative survey that comes in and is sent back down to the director. It is recommended that the company have local supervisors review the metrics for their own personnel and address the overall performance of its own employees at the lowest level. This will help improve the customer experience and keep them coming back. Positive customer service should be rewarded and negative ones, addressed. unfastened indications of the level of service that is expected should be communicated. Valid and verifiable expectations should be measured and identified. Customer expectations should be priority, customer service strategy should be analytic and communicated to all units on base internal and external. This will give customers an opportunity to recognize when service is not met as promised. The company should also consider arrangement its phone calls and conducting quality assurance on the calls to catch issues missed by customers skipping the survey.Legal and Regulatory ConsiderationsSocial Responsibility within the confines of legal and regulatory considerations and recommendations are similarly important. To remain social responsible, companies must adhere to laws. In addition to conducting business within the confines of the law, companies should proactively anticipate new regulations and act proactively. Since the NDC is a government entity, it must operate within the boundaries of local and federal laws.Considerations. outlying(prenominal). The national Acquisition Regulation (FAR), found at http//www.acquisition.gov/far/current/pdf/FAR.pdf, is the governing regulation used by all federal executive agencies in the acquisition of supplies and services. It became effective on April 1 , 1984, and is issued within applicable laws under the joint authorities of the executive of General Services, the Secretary of Defense, and the Administrator for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, under the broad policy guidelines of the Administrator, affair of Federal Procurement Policy, Office of Management and Budget. The NDC uses the FAR for all acquisitions. Specifically in part 39 of the regulation, development Technology acquisitions are covered. The FAR governs that appropriated computer memorys are not to be used to pull ahead information technology that is not deemed necessary to the function and proceeding of the agency.Too often in the government and in NDC specifically, the latest and greatest are super sought after items. The contracting agency sometimes scrutinizes the justification of products too harshly and in other times, not enough. The regulation states that contracting officers must be cognoscente of the rapidly ever changing information technology world. In NDC, users requesting items for purchase must submit the required documents to include justification into a SharePoint portal which is then processed by the acquisitions team. The team reviews and sends completed packets to the contracting office. The contracting office then makes a determination on the item(s).Exchange of Material and Disposition. Disposition of space in the government is governed by US Code Title 10, chapter 153, Exchange of material and disposal of obsolete, surplus, or unclaimed property. Basically the company is not allowed to hitch equipment but rather uses it until it does not meet the mission and then the process is to turn in the equipment and recycle most materials. Sometimes older machines, servers, or other information technology pieces of equipment are still in good working order, just not robust enough to accomplish the Army mission or provide proper security. The US Code Title 38 covers veterans benefits and part VI chapter 83 covers the acceptance of gifts and bequests. NDC does not donateany items to organizations outside of itself. The company is being social responsible in disposition of equipment the right way however, it could improve by making more donations.Business Processes.Federal laws, regulations, and mandatory IT standards for securing private sector information technology systems and data in critical infrastructure sectors is managed by the United States Government Accountability Office (GAO). randomness Technology is considered a critical infrastructure sector coming more popular after enactments of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 and the Clinger-Cohen Act of 1996. GAO has identified a set of intrinsic and complementary management disciplines that provide a sound foundation for information technology (IT) management. These include IT strategic planning, Enterprise architecture, IT investment management and Information Security. (GAO, 2014).Part of the IT disciplines identified in the law is that best practice is to require that processes are documented to account for all operations and be integrated with strategic and operational planning processes. In NDC, the company realizes its social responsibility to create processes. The company has created a web page to host the processes for all things IT. This relates to helpdesk issues, do it yourself ideas, budget and acquisitions information, enterprise license agreements, service level agreements, and a number of other processes. This repository can be accessed by anyone with a government common access card (CAC). The issue with the site is that is it disorganized and mostly unknown to the general public on base.Recommendations.FAR. Information Technology acquisitions are justified by the users and the contracting office makes a determination if the justification is valid. The company must be social responsible in spending the governments money because it is the tax payers who fund the government. A contractor who is not an Information Technologist, would not be able to make a fair determination if a piece of equipment is needed for the operation of the business or not. It is recommended that the contracting office have an Information Technologist liaison who can help determine if the purchases are valid, or if they arejust the users I saw it so I want it desires. This would assist the government in getting the items that are needed to perform the job better, and would cut be on the items that are not necessary to the government.Exchange of Material and Disposition. One year NDC life cycled all 357 computers for new and improved ones that were capable of handling more security issues. Since it was such a large quantity, the business offered to donate some of the machines to other small businesses in need. One of the smaller reserve units nearby had genuinely old computers with I think Windows 3.1. So NDC donated about 11 computers and the Soldiers were able to work more efficiently during drill weekends. This situation was out of the ordinary. Usually the computers are sent in to a central facility and then cycled out from there. Although this is a social responsible action, I recommend the company look into donating more items in the future. The US Code 38 8301 specifically says thatThe Secretary may accept devises, bequests, and gifts, made in any manner, with respect to which the testator or donor shall have indicated the intention that such property shall be for the benefit of groups of persons formerly in the active military, naval, or air service who by virtue of such service alone, or disability suffered therein or therefrom, are or shall be patients or members of any one or more hospitals or homes operated by the United States Government, or has indicated the intention that such property shall be for the benefit of any such hospital or home, or shall be paid or delivered to any official, as such, or any agency in administrative control thereof. The Secretary may also accept, for use in carrying out all laws administered by the Secretary, gifts, devises, and bequests which will enhance the Secretarys ability to provide services or benefits. (US Code 38 Veterans Benefits)This means the company can donate their used and useful equipment to assist the Veterans Association (VA) to enhance the ability to provide services or benefits. There would not be lengthy tax paperwork but only a small hand receipt trail of the transfer. This would benefit both agencies as well as the Veterans and Soldiers effected by the quality of care.Business Processes.It is recommended that NDC take the time and consideration to re-do their web pages. A team should be created to specifically handle the project and all shareholders should be involved. This means the company should discuss with the customers as well as the NDC employees on a strategy to build a better more informative site. Once built, the site should be advertize in the base paper, on the installat ion homepage. These processes should be better organized and updated regularly so NDC remains social responsible to its customers.Social responsibility is essential to the bottom line. By taking the recommended steps above, NDC can work towards becoming a more social responsible company with constant upward mobility.ReferencesLawrence, Anne (2010). Business and Society Stakeholders, Ethics, Public Policy. 13th Edition. McGraw-Hill Learning Solutions, 2010. VitalBook file. Bookshelf.Federal Acquisitions Regulation (2005). General Services Administration, Department of Defense. Retrieved from http//www.acquisition.gov/far/current/pdf/FAR.pdf 21 June 2014.U.S. Code Title 38 Veterans Benefits. 38 U.S. Code Part VI Acquisition and Disposition of Property. Chapter 85disposition of deceased veterans personal property ( 85018528). http//www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/textGovernment Accountability Office (GAO) (2014). Best Practices and Leading Practices in Information Technology Management. h ttp//www.gao.gov/key_issues/leading_practices_information_technology_management/issue_summary

McCain Foods Essay Example for Free

McCain Foods EssayMcCain Foods is a Canadian follow that produces potatoes and provided all sorts of fries to their customers all over the world. McCain Foods association is a well-known potato producer. McCain also competes with public companies much(prenominal) as Kraft Foods, Aviko and ConAgra Foods which have a clear advantage in terms of reproduction capital because they argon also producing potatoes as their main product. Private ownership puts the company at a competitive disadvantage. Even so McCain Foods attach to tries to asseverate their customers by doing campaigns and promotion by giving points and free deliveries. Consumer food expenditure on ready-to-eat foods continues to rise due to the success of new dining concepts, and changing lifestyle. demographic factors, such as to a greater extent families with working women, smaller family sizes in general, and more disposable income coupled with less disposable time has spurred this trend. Since McCain Foods is m ore focused on business to business they are partnered with few companies that will help them in packaging, in examining their potatoes quality and distribution.Due to the changes in the external environment that impacts McCain Foods Company bargain rates, they made changes to improve their potatoes quality to maintain their customers demand. Such us, using the sunflower oil that reduces saturated fats by 70% instead of using regular vegetable oil. This is made because mainly McCain Foods have a schema to keep a good relationship with their farmers and customers In the Netherlands, McCain Foods Company is located in Lelystad where the corps are grown and distributed.The distribution of McCain Food products are done by road to the other European countries and ships to be distributed to other countries outside the European region. McCain Food Company McCain Foods is a company located in Canada and a privately owned company established in 1957 by four brothers namely Wallace and Harr ison McCain, supported by brothers Andrew and Robert. McCain Foods is the worlds largest manufacturer of frozen French fries and potato specialties.McCain foods also perform in helping the environment and achieved several Charitable Initiatives such as Feeding the hungry and supporting education in South Africa and Supporting sport in the UK for ? 5 million to UK Athletics . McCain Foods is the largest French peasant producer in the world, claiming a global market share of almost 33%. (4) McCain operates globally with over 57 production and manufacturing facilities across six continents. The companys products are available in thousands of restaurants and supermarket freezers in more than 125 countries around the world.The company has least presence in the developing organic foods segment. cancel and organic food products segment is one of the fastest growing categories in food retailing. The company has not acquired any organic brand companies nor has it launched organic products. ingrained environment McCain foodsis an organization that has the motto McCain its all good. Their actions, decisions and behaviors are guided by their values and Code of Conduct.McCain is trying to make their business to be more like a family business. Because some companies are known for the products they make, and some are known for the people who make them while McCain likes to be known for both. Their strategy is to keep a good relationship with the farmers and their customers. As it is shown in Graph (1. 1), McCain Foods makes contracts with their supplier partners and cultivator partners, even though the number of the supplier partners is greater than the grower partners.They also employed a lot of employees to work in their company. With these big numbers McCain Foods is also trying to maintain their relationship with their employees and partners, because these numbers tells us that McCain more or less is depending on their supplier partners, the farmers, and employees. Sa me thing goes to the Supplier partners and Employees of McCain Foods. This means that there is a mutualism relationship between McCain, the employees and their partners that will bestow a good result.

To What Extent Do We Need Evidence To Support Our Belief Philosophy Essay

To What Extent Do We Need Evidence To Support Our Belief doctrine EssayEvidence in my opinion lowlife be described as some type of an authentication or a proof that is apply to support one individuals own opinion and thought. In other speech, essay is something that leads us to proof. This proof crumb be further used to strengthen or validate some configuration of belief that we hold. That can then be considered to be a truth or a fact. For e.g. in todays world we dont turn out something to be true until and unless suitable evidence is provided.Belief is a truth which might be considered as a truth not necessarily depending on the evidence of some sort. Beliefs in the beginning are thought to be as realistic by many people even when it has not been proven with evidence. It depends if that is going to be true or false. If a belief is proved then it becomes a fact. This undoubtedly means that beliefs are facts that are unproved. In crusade of ult events, since we never had ex isted in the earlier period world we can never say if history was true at all. But to prove that we select evidences. Till we dont get an evidence for something it remains a belief. It is evidence that acts as a cause or a reason why beliefs can be thought of as something that does exist or is right.History is one such subject that requires some kind of evidence to make people believe that the past events that had occurred did exist. Even when I was taught history in the yester years we only had text books that were a stimulus material to learn and believe history. We were completely dependent on the text books but the archetypes provided in them sounded realistic. For e.g. we actually dont know if a Mughal emperor named as Shah Jahan ever existed in the Indian history. But to support this we take up the beauteous Taj Mahal that is said was built by him for his wife. Here the Taj Mahal is regarded as evidence. Hence, we believe that there was a ruler called Shah Jahan. Likewise, there are many monuments and archaeological evidences that tell us about history i.e. the Harappa civilization and the rule of the British Empire etc. But there are many controversial things and different interpretations based on evidences that they get to know. The question that arises here is If evidence can affect our beliefs? How can one guarantee the truth involved in the evidences?A humans belief system does not always work on the basis of evidence. I think belief is made up of many diverse incidents which influence peoples mentality and their behavior. Hence, there is a high chance for someone to simply believe something if it is implanted within their belief even if the evidence is very less or not at all. For e.g. in our childhood days parents embed a thought in our mind that God exists, when in reality we dont really have a concrete evidence to support it. No one has actually seen God. But as we grow up the power of beliefs that are embedded in us slowly decline due to m any extrinsic or intrinsic factors. Very little evidence is present in case of religions. piety is somewhat an playing field where people believe in it even after being aware of the less evidence or sometimes no evidence present for it. Here, its a personal choice of a person whether to believe it or not. Its faith, that makes them believe in certain things.Many unlike ways of acute such as perception, reason, emotions and language other than evidence affect the way people form or organize their beliefs in the natural sciences. Science is an area which can be experimented carefully only with the help of proper attentive methods which verify the theories that we have created with the help of other different ways of knowing we have. For example scientists believe that the whole evolution theory was developed. In natural science, we need some kind of a belief or in other words we an assumption to make. With the help of this belief in mind we can further prove them and then they can be known as facts. An example that can be given is when in the previous years the church used to say that its earth that is at the center and the other planets and sun rotate slightly it. But later this was proved wrong by Galileo Galilei with proper evidence. These types of evidences ultimately thought to be as true. People are more likely to focusing on one particular piece of evidence which supports what they already believe.However, many areas of natural sciences are very unclear and open to different interpretations for different people. on that point always comes up evidence which contradicts the other one. That opens up new dimensions to the subject. As many peoples belief systems are so strong, they often choose to only reconcile attention to the evidence which support their claims. In our daily life, we tend to believe things that we see, hear or feel. There are many facts which are first deemed to be beliefs which if proved with proper evidence are considered to be fa cts. But there are many facts that dont need to be proved or were not proved. An example for this can be that we dont need to prove that Sun is the source from where we get light. Another example that can be given is it is the gravitational pull that pulls vanquish objects.Evidence is a kind of theory that affects human mind a lot. Humans tend to believe things which have at least some kind of evidence attached to it. Human belief system is biased to the dissimilar ways of knowing. It acts according to the way they come to know about something. Psychologically it can be very difficult for our mind to accept something that has been taught to be right is in fact wrong.Areas of KnowledgeHistory, Arts, Ethics, Natural Science, mathematics, social sciences

Survival Of The Huaorani Warriors Theology Religion Essay

Survival Of The Huaorani Warriors Theology Religion EssayThe Huaorani Warriors of Ecuador have a rich culture including Gender relations, Beliefs and Values, and Sickness and Healing. They argon cultivators as well as hunters who live in the Amazonian Rain lumber in South America. Most Huaorani commit their homes in northeastern Ecuador, but interestingly ar non familiar with normal Ecuadorian culture. According to BBC News World (2011) The Huaorani have only had disturb with outsiders in the last century. They are known to have killed anele workers in the 1940s, when Shell Oil had a station on their territory. Many Huaorani were relocated in the 1970s to make agency for oil exploration http//www.bbc.co.uk/ intelligence agency/ domain of a function-12937408. The Huaorani are famous for being an aggressive, warlike community who disliked and killed Westerners. Huaorani and their advocates are concern in legal battles with oil companies that have built pipelines through their t raditional lands. To this day, Huaorani continue to battle these pipelines. Even though living in the woodwind offered protection, they are hunters as well as cultivators and go away kill to protect their way of life.Their populations of approximately 4,000 speak a Huaorani language, and studies have shown that this language is not associated with any separate languages speak in Ecuador. The Huaorani quite a little have different f obliterateures those of other tribes in Ecuador. The Huaorani people are sandwiched between the Curaray and Napo rivers which is notorious for the oil trap and logging which in Ecuador quarter get people in trouble with the law. This community is well known for the gruesome way they attack foreigners and other tribes around them to protect their culture. (Kaplan, Larrick, Yost, 1980).The Huaorani, Waorani or Waodani as well as known as the Waos are foragers. In their society women and men have equal gender relations. For the Huaorani people, the w omen and men are considered equal, comparing to their neighboring tribe, the Kichwas, where the women are not equal but less than men. Women are responsible for cultivating and harvesting the crops while the men hunt. As such, they are two foragers and horticulturalists hunting using their spears to kill animals and rail manioc and bananas. Although they make family decisions together the women are very strong and can take care of themselves. Traditionally, a Huaorani settlement pattern consist of self-sufficient and separated residential units with an average of twenty to thirty members inhabiting each longhouse. Kinship and marriage were structured by bilateral descent and cross cousin-german marriages. Cross cousin marriage divides people into two types, parallel cousins which are considered as siblings and cross cousins who could be potential spouses. The women may leave their spouse if they choose to, unlike the other tribe. The Huaorani have low birth rate unlike their neig hbors. The Huaorani people usually only have two or three children. The Huaorani people limitation and control condition their birth rates be have of the availability of food. The women do a special blend of tea from items in the forest to use as birth control to veto children. Men and women cannot survive without each others presence because each has their own duties to fulfill within the tribe. Their main hunting weapon is the mar gun and the arrows engage are dipped in curare poison to paralyze the muscles of the animals being targeted. The huaorani were against eating deer, because they thought that deer eyes look very similar to human eyes. Spears were used for person to person conflict and settling of scores especially with the Western civilization.The Huaorani people made unusual outfits. There is a fruit, called achiote, which gives a red extract. They utilize this to paint items and their bodies as well as on special days. They use teeth of boars and the feathers of birds. The Huaorani men would consider a kome a form of cloth. This is a string up like that ties to the foreskin and around the men waist. The Huaorani people have long hair in the congest and their banes are cut all the way to the back of the ears. The Huaorani elders ears are pierced in a loop like ring. The various rings over time create a large drooping distribute which hangs below the ear. Since this is an excruciating process present generations have stopped doing this. The pain is so unbearable that the bravest men have complained about the pain. This painful process usually begins in childhood.The term Huaorani means human beings or the people, and they refer to everyone else as cowode or non-humans. According to the various studies conducted the Huaoranis have aim to be known for their way of isolating themselves from everyone by remaining in the forest. This way of life is due to their belief of the forest being a source of protection from anything and anyone that ma y cause harm to them. As a result, they confide everything outside of the forest is unsafe. This way of life forces them to hunt and gather food from their natural surroundings. Their beliefs and values play a major part on how they hunt and must gathering food for their daily diet.According to the Huaorani people, there are specific animals that may not be hunted. This also includes monkeys, wild peccaries, and birds for this there are some animals that cannot be eaten by anyone. As to the belief and values, anything that has features similar to a human can fall in that category as well. A deer would be one example. Hunting to gain profit within the society is deemed as an unethical matter. In galore(postnominal) cases the Huaorani people gestate that the spirit of the animals killed continue to live in the forest. This affects the way of how hunting and eating is done within the Huaorani society. This belief and value limits the type of species they are allowed to hunt for food . On the other hand, the forest is generally important in society since it provide them with medicines and other sources of food. The Huaorani community possesses a lot of knowledge concerning the botanic and medicinal values of plants in the forest. Plants are considered a part of the life of this community, since they are a part of the forest. (Kaplan, Larrick, Yost, 1980).The Huaorani people hold animist religious views, they believe spirits inhabit their forest, and that the Huaorani originally descended from the union of a panther and an eagle. The Huaorani people believe that a large serpent, when they deteriorate on to the afterlife, is guarding the way to the spirit world and they must escape in order to enter the heaven. If unable to escape the serpent the breathless would return as an animal. For this reason there is a limit on what animals that may be hunted for food. Unfortunately, this taboo has resulted in an even more limited amount of resources to hunt. Huaorani people are not allowed to hunt and eat certain animals such as the jaguar. This is because the jaguar is a significant and outstanding creature in the spirit world. They believe that the jaguar and the eagle have come together to create mankind. Some elders have the capacity to communicate with the spirit world generally adopt Jaguar sons. Jaguar sons were able to communicate both medical and spiritual knowledge. As a result, from this belief the Huaorani people highly respect the jaguar and hence they should not be hunted. (Man, 1982)When the Huaorani people die and pass over into the afterlife, they believe that a person should embark on a journey to get to heaven. During this journey, there would be a serpent in the diaphragm of the persons journey. Only the strongest could jump over the serpent to get to heaven. The souls that do not make it over would descend back to earth as an animal. The Huaoranis are feared by everyone around them because of how violent they were known to be. The Huaorani people are fierce and unpredictable. They seem unemotional and which made it very difficult for anyone to interpret their mood or behavior. The Huaorani were feared greatly because they would violently kill with vengeance anyone who stood against them. Generally any conflict with the Huaorani resulted in the other person being speared.In the Waorani world there would be no difference between the present life and the life after death. The Huaorani once saw the world as a big forest. The basic entity for their culture settlement and existence remains in the enormous rain forest. The forest is their home. Since the outside world is considered to be a risk factor they remain in the forest for protection of all things that may cause harm to them. They consider the river and the trees a part of their life. This is what they are taught to understand as they raised up in the Huaorani community.The Huaorani people believe that animals exist spiritually and physically. They say that when you die a great serpent is waiting for you to prevent you from crossing over into heaven. All spirits that break out returns to suffer on earth. On earth these animals are recognized, respected, and cannot be harmed. They believed in the presence of animal spirits. The animal spirits are released when an animal is killed and harm its killer if it is not properly placated. The animals spirit may cause physical harm to the killer and potentially others. As the Huaorani people hunt for survival, they prepare the curare for the dead animals.Mengatoi are special people that live within the Huaorani community. The Mengatoi are believed to be able to transform into jaguars and also have the ability cure diseases and illnesses. If the Mengatoi has an ill enduring, they will make dark colored psychoactive potion from a Banisteriopsis vine called Mii. This potion is made to cure the sick. The Mengatoi will then take the potion while sitting with the patient who is ill. Then as the Mengatoi is mediating and communicating with the animal spirits on behalf of the ill patient to make the person go back to feeling as their normal self again. The improve process must take place in the hours of darkness to take. Therefore, the process always takes place at night in the hours of darkness. The Mengatoi will follow the jaguar spirit which will lead them to a plant which in return will be the cure for ill stricken patient. They may take and blow peppers on the patients chest, or the Mengatois may suck on the persons head and then simply spit the sickness onto the ground. At the end of the process, the Mengatoi will give the patient a prescription of the herbs for them to take in the days to come.The Huaorani people are no longer travelers and presently have a permanent community. The settlements are made of five groups which are the Tagareri, Onamenane, Huinature and Taromenane. They isolate themselves at their own free will from our civilization to prevent unwant ed influence. Technological advances have transformed the world and the Huaorani choose to remain isolated with the forest. According to the Huaorani people, the forest is a safe haven from danger and the unknown supernatural. They only treasure what they do best which is hunting, gathering, and protecting their environment. They believe that plants and animals are connected by a spiritual as well as physical life force. Therefore they value the presence of animals and respect them when they are hunting because they believe that when someone dies they come back in animal form. This tribe has an ordinary way of healing their wound and sicknesses with herbs found in the Amazon. (Man, 1982)For the Huaorani, the forest is home, while the outside world is considered unsafe living in the forest offered protection from the witchcraft and attacks of neighboring peoples (Southernexplorations.com). In the U.S. hunting is more of a following or leisure activity rather than a source of surviva l. But to the Huaorani hunting is a major part of their survival. They are known to have killed oil workers in the 1940s, when Shell Oil had a station on their territory. And in 1970s many Huaorani were relocated to settlements to make way for oil exploration http//www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-12937408. Culture includes knowledge, beliefs, values, laws, morals, customs, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by people as a member of ones society. Due to the global demand for oil the Huaorani society and culture has changed forever. I believe the Huaorani had a right to kill the corporate giants who invaded their territory interrupting their primary mode of subsistence as well as their culture and way of life. Huaorani and their advocates are involved in legal battles with oil companies that have built pipelines through the rainforest of South America. To this day, Huaorani continue to battle these pipelines.

Political and economic environment of South Africa

Political and sparing environment of south AfricaSouth Africa is a multiparty parliamentary body politic in which constitutional power is shargond between the president and the Parliament. The Parliament includes two parts, the National Assembly and the National Council of Provinces. They are in charge for creating the laws of and victorious care of bills involving m whizztary issues. The third g everyplacening bodyal division is an autonomous judiciary. The Constitutional move is the highest court for interpreting and deciding constitutional issues, while the Supreme Court of Appeal is the highest court for nonconstitutional matters (Bureau of African Affairs, 2010).South Africa achieved independence from Britain on 31 May, 1910 and the official Independence Day is 27th April. In 1994, there was first all-race multiparty preference making it the formal end of apartheid. In 2009, the judgment African National Congress (ANC) won its third consecutive election and Jacob Zuma wa s elected President.There has been a concern that the dominance of the ANC has made South Africa a de-facto one-party state with other parties, such as Democratic Alliance (DA) and Congress of the People (COPE) macrocosm in the opposition. President Zumas rise to power has been divisive. Zumas reputation has been stained by several issues, such as accusations for corruption and sexual ab part, which provoked his discharge as Deputy President in 2005. There are calm down issues concerning Zuma which include his setback in declaring his commercial interests and extra-marital affairs.Zuma was brought to power with a support of two ruling partners powerful Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) and the South African Communist Party. The Zuma administration has mainly remained to the previous administrations economic policies. Nevertheless, there are still ideological tensions within the ANC and among the ANC and its ruling partners. South Africa continues to have broad econo mic and political relations with the regional and inter matter community that provide likely say a degree of stability. South Africas successful hosting of the World Cup of soccer in June-July was viewed as a coming-out party of sorts for South Africa on the international portray (Whelan, n.d.).Based on the recent political military position in South Africa there are certain challenges ahead. There have been notable transformations in the sylvan after the apartheid period such as programs to develop necessary social services, wide spreading the right to use improved chances in education and business. However, the work at of transformation of South Africa is long and requires the persistent dedication of the attracters and people.One of the main contributors in the reconciliation process is The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) that is taking care of abuses of human rights during apartheid era, provide victims with compensation and gives amnesty to those who committed politically motivated crimes. TRC often conflicts with political, economic and cultural interests of different groups of South Africas people. The challenge for the government to balance these confrontations and manage agreements on the basic questions will remain a critical challenge (Bureau of African Affairs, 2010).Even though South African rescue is in many areas highly developed, the nature of apartheid caused the countrys international isolation until the 1990s that has left major disadvantages. The economy is in a course of change as the government attempts to manage the inequities of apartheid, encourage growth, and create employment opportunities. Nowadays business in the country is becoming more integrated internationally, and foreign investments have increased. However, the economic inconsistency among creation groups is projected to continue for many years, making it a main concern for the government.Economic EnvironmentThe economy of South Africa has two sides one is developed and the other one with most basic infrastructure. Countrys economy has many characteristics of the economies in developing countries, such as separation of labor among formal and intimate sectors, irregular distribution of wealth and income.South African government has demonstrated its dedication to open trades, privatization, and a favorable investment climate through the use up of a Growth, Employment and Redistribution (GEAR) strategy that took place in the period from 1996 to 2000. The results were with various successes. First of all, it achieved greater financial discipline and macroeconomic stability however it failed to verbalise these achievements in main areas. Unemployment continued to rise even after continuing programs of black empowerment. Countrys wealth still remains unequally distributed among racial lines. Second, several budgetary reforms that aimed to provide better reporting, auditing and accountability, and changes in monetary policy in terms of inflation targeting, allowed South Africa to have transparency and predictability that are highly-praised. Third, the process of trade repose has progressed significantly since the early 1990s, which together with implementation of World Trade Organization (WTO) obligations and initiation of the Doha Development Round shows South Africas recognition of free market values.Today, economic recovery is on track. The fiscal position remains challenging, the forecasts for 2011 include sizable but manageable deficit. The government expects these short yieldings to gradually narrow due to a rebound in growth and slowdown in expenditure growth. International investors remain cautious of emerging markets due to events in Europe (Greece) and South Africa could fall out of favor should perceptions shift. So far, unemployment remains stuck at 25%, with employment gains only being registered in the public sector. The recovery is expected to remain on course and private sector inquire should gra dually gain force, thus replacing government as a growth driver. A beardown(prenominal)er recovery will likely only take hold in 2012.Regardless of the various optimistic economic achievements since 1994, South Africa has had difficulties in attracting significant foreign direct investment. However, the situation started to change, in 2005 South Africa had the largest single FDI when Barclays acquired a majority share in local bank Absa Group Limited. In 2006, the deals between the British Vodafone and South Africas Vodacom were formed. after on, in 2010, two multibillion dollar deals took place, when HSBC acquired Nedbank and Walmart acquired Shoprite Holdings (Wikipedia, 2010). For international and domestic investors, there are several investment opportunities existing in South Africa since the country is the world leader in several specialized manufacturing areas and it has fast growing service industry, tourism construction that will significant foreign investment over the nex t a few(prenominal) years.On May 15, 2004, South Africa was honored a chance to hold the 2010 FIFA World Cup.That was the sizeablegest event that was ever held in Africa. South Africa made a big effort on improving the infrastructure and security in the country. The economic impact of the World Cup is great for the country, since it will increase the GDP, create legion(predicate) jobs and attract foreign investments.South Africas longer-term prospects center on the governments ability to manage a country through a transitional period. Economic policy is in the main business friendly, while FDI is welcomed. Success depends on the capability of the government to address the power issue.Social EnvironmentToday there are 49,109,107 people upkeep in the country. More or less half of the universe lives in urban areas, and many live in rural areas with insufficient housing. In some(prenominal) rural and urban centers, a lot of people do not have access to water supply and sanitation, electricity, and other services. Due to the fact that population is more mobile immediately and there are more employment opportunities in the urban areas, the immigration among the citizens is growing rapidly. Poverty is the highest among the Black population, reaching over 60%. There have been several reforms in the education sector and now all inhabitants have access to education, however still around 13,6% of population are illiterate.Even though majority of people have access to health services, public establishments are usually lacking necessary resources and not equal to(p) to meet demands. South Africa has one of the highest rates of HIV occurrence in the world. Overall, 18,1% of the population is infected by this disease. Every day there are 1,000 untried infections occurred, and around 350,000 people die annually from AIDS-related diseases. A 2007-2011 strategic plan offered the arrangement for a widespread reaction to HIV and AIDS, counting a national compress of antir etroviral therapy. Overall, 30% of infected people are currently on antiretroviral therapy.From the time when apartheid was abolished, political violence in South Africa has went down noticeably, however today violent crime is still a major concern in South Africa and these acts are increasingly economically rather than racially motivated. Therefore, there are many robberies targeting upper-class citizens. In 2008, due to the national dissatisfaction with high unemployment rates and illegal immigration, people from other African countries who came to urban cities of South Africa were often targeted by local citizens. In April 2010, Eugene TerreBlanche, a disreputable pro-Apartheid person, was killed by two of his black employees. This event raised concerns of inter-racial violence, however it did not happen.While South African society is experiencing a rapid change, some prejudice against women and people infected by HIV/AIDS continues (Bureau of African Affairs, 2010).Exchange rate policySouth Africa has a strong financial structure with a great and active stock convert that ranks 17th in the world in terms of total market capitalization.South Africa has a floating exchange rate system where the rand exchange rate is mainly established by the foreign exchange market forces under tidy sum that exchange control is still applied, however only over inhabitants in terms of capital movements. The government has taken steps to slowly lessen enduring foreign exchange controls (Merwe, n.d.). Private citizens can do a single investment of up to 2,000,000 rand in offshore accounts. During 2007, the percentage of South African shareholdings for FDI orthogonal Africa was decreased from 50% to 25%. This change allows South African companies to hold strategic international partnerships. Moreover, companies that are involved in international business were allowed to use a single Customer Foreign Currency (CFC) account for all intercontinental dealings. Johannesburg Securi ties Exchange (JSE) was also given a permission to set up a rand currency futures market that aims to expand South Africas financial markets and raise liquidity in the local foreign exchange market.The Reserve Bank no longer recommends fixed rates for buying and selling dollars in bank transactions with the public. Nevertheless, South African Reserve Bank can play a partin this market by buying or sellingother currencies. Today, in general the policy is to allow market forces to determine the exchange rate. However, in latest years, however,the Bank has been building up foreign exchange reserves by purchasingforeign exchange from the market. Activities like raising the demand for foreign exchange can manipulate the exchange rate. In order to interfere successfully in the foreign exchange market, the Reserve Bank moldiness keep an eye on the market all the time.

Out of Africa Movie and Book Essay -- Movie Film comparison compare co

Out of Africa Movie and Book Winner of seven Academy Awards, including 1985s Best Picture, Out Of Africa is the report of Karen Blixen and her travels in Africa. Based on her writings after returning to Denmark, Out of Africa is a love story of both Karen Blixen and her true love, Denys Hatton, and a love for Africas estate and people. The pic is based on the books Out of Africa Shadows on the Grass, pen by Karen Blixen under the pseudonym Isak Dinesen, and tranquillity Will Speak, the story of Denys Hatton, written by Errol Trzebinski. The film follows the story in the books almost identically and is a fascinating account of the life of Karen Blixen and the barriers she had to overcome during her time in Africa. The movie focuses on the seventeen years Karen Blixen spent in Africa between 1913 and 1930. Her letters that are compiled to make up the book Out of Africa are extremely detailed and bring out about her time in Africa. As in real life, the movie starts wi th Blixen arriving in Kenya for the purposes of marrying her cousin Baron Bror Blixen. A friend before they met in Kenya to wed, this hymeneals was a marriage of convenience. The Baron held the title and Karen had the money they needed to take advantage of the wild south of Africa and be cattle ranchers. Like many Europeans of the time, they came to Africa to campaign the untouched natural resources and people. But, this was not the case because Baron Blixen decided before Karen showed up that they would instead grow coffee, a risky venture at much(prenominal) a high altitude and Karens first barrier to overcome. With the adventure of growing coffee came the task of gaining a workforce. For this Karen... ... an account of her entire time in Kenya. The movie Out of Africa was a wonderfully told love story of a woman and a man, and a woman and a land. The African people and areas are romantically displayed in this film, a true joy to watch through and through. Karen Bl ixens life is a remarkable tale of one womans journey of self-discovery, through love and hate, amazement and comprehension, black and white. Works CitedDinesen, Isak. Letters From Africa. Chicago The UP of Chicago, 1980.Dinesen, Isak. Out Of Africa and Shadows on the Grass. New York Vintage International, 1989.Dinesen, Isak. Tania. New York McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1967.Out Of Africa. Dir. Sydney Pollack. Perf. Meryl Streep and Robert Redford. Videocassette. MCA/Universal Home Video, 1985.Trzebinski, Errol. Silence Will Speak. Chicago the UP of Chicago, 1977.

Honor in No One Writes to the Colonel and Chronicle of a Death Foretold

accolade in No One Writes to the Colonel and Chronicle of a Death Foretold by Garcia-MarquezEvery culture in the world has its own unique set of values that they adhere to in life. The most important value to people is their find. Honor is a very important factor in a person life that they will stop at nonhing to make sure it is not lost. This endless pursuit of keeping notice can founts both positive and negative effects to a society. The reason honor is a main ride force in a persons life is for the simple fact that it determines how the society views that persons integrity, honesty and truthfulness to himself and family.In the two novellas No One Writes to the Colonel and Chronicle of a Death Foretold, Garcia-Marquez shows the complexity involved in the pursuit of honor. He explains finished his writings that preserving honor is essential to choke, but can be very unwholesome to others. The pursuit of honor can cause complex and difficult situations that can either b enefit or harm others in a society. It can cause people to either live a truthful life or a false life run by lies and illusion. In the process of attaining honor strong relationships and friendships can fall apart. The pursuit of honor can give liveliness and vigor to people or put them people into a conjure up of paralysis. The pursuit of honor can either cause a person live a life where they are true to themselves and their feeling or live a life run by lies and illusion. A false life refers to a human using lies and illusion to change the perception that others have of their honor and overall place society. In the novella No One Writes to the Colonel, the Colonel and his wife live their lives under the illusion that they are not poor so they can... ...process to take note honor then it would not be a major determinate on that person character and family. The preservation of honor is similar to recent turpitude scandals in Providence, Rhode Island. The mayor of Provid ence Buddy Cianci focused and pursued his life on the attainment of force-out in the city. He cheated and lied his way through the office as governor doing anything he could to remain in power. Like in the pursuit of honor he made many business relationships and too fired anyone who would ruin his chances at remaining in office. Similarly to what happens in the pursuit of honor he devoted his entire life to his campaign. His struggle for power in Providence is similar to the way Garcia-Marquez shows complexity involved in the pursuit of honor.Works CitedGarcia Marquez, Gabriel. Chronicle of a Death Foretold. New York Ballantine, 1982.