Risks associated with acts of God Essay Example for Free

Risks associated with acts of God Essay There are various approaches that can be used in assigning probabilities of acts of God. This includes drawing of risk impact/probability chart which helps the risk manager to decide which type of risks requires more attention. Scientific approach can also be used in assigning probabilities of acts of God. Scientific approach is an appropriate approach in managing risks and making decisions under conditions of uncertainty such as acts of God. Risk managers can also use lay people response to occurrence and probability of risks as a result of acts of God (Attar, 2010). As a risk manager, I prefer using risk impact/probability chart because it demonstrates both the probabilities of the risk occurring which ranges from anywhere just above 0% and below 100%. The probability of risks associated with acts of God is also expressed. Additionally, the impact as a result of the risk is shown. The approach that cannot be used in assigning probabilities to acts of God is use of lay people response; this is because it is biased, unscientific and ill-informed approach. Part 2 . The source of valid data for estimating chances of a single act of God is history records that are already kept showing the frequency in which the events occurred in the past. From these records, the risk manager is able to estimate the chances of an act of God occurring in the present. According to the concept of conditional probability, it argues that the probability of an event or outcome occurring is mainly based on the occurrence of a previous event or outcome. In risk management, conditional probabilities are mainly contingent on a previous result. In the exposure of due intelligence, I will apply the concept of conditional probability by multiplying the probability of the preceding event by the updated probability of the succeeding event. References Attar, H. (2010). The Scientific Approaches to Risk and Risk Management: A Critical Review. Retrieved August 16 from http://scialert.net/fulltext/?doi=tasr.2011.386.393org=10

Management Control: Purpose and Strategies

Management Control: Purpose and Strategies Controlling is one of the four main functions in management. It is important to managers in order to ensure all planning, organising and leading run as smoothly as desired. If managers are able to ensure that each plan made and every task given to the employees are carried out perfectly, and the results expected is what had been planned, control is not required. Unfortunately, managers are not able to ensure these conditions will run smoothly without the occurrence of any problems since most planning is done by humans and humans are known to be diverse in terms of abilities, motivation and others. In a rapidly changing business environment, not only the expected results must be controlled, planning must also be monitored and controlled. 11.1.1 Definition of Control Management control is a systematic effort to fix or establish the standard of performance through planning objectives, designing information feedback systems, comparing true performance with the fixed standard, determining whether there are any disadvantages or weaknesses and taking suitable actions to ensure all resources within the organisation can be used in the most effective and efficient way in achieving the objective of the organisation. Control is the process of ensuring that organisational activities are running according to plan. This process can be carried out by comparing the true performance with the standard that has been established and taking corrective actions in order to rectify any distortion that does not comply with the standard. The main purpose of control in management is to prepare managers to face future or existing problems before they turn critical. In general, an organisation with a good control mechanism will have the advantage of competing strength compared to organisations without a good control system. The following are several examples of the importance of control for organisations: 11.1.2 Quality Assurance The smooth running of a particular process can be monitored and problems can be avoided by having control. Control is able to stimulate the organisation to monitor and increase the quality of products and services offered. Through the activities related to the control process, members of the organisation will always be driven to act according to the plans that have been established. 11.1.3 Preparation to Face Changes Change cannot be avoided. Change in environmental factors such as markets, competitors, technology and legislation makes the control process important for managers in responding towards opportunities and threats. Control helps the organisation to suit its products to the needs and wants of consumers in the market. 11.1.4 Steps in the Control Process A control process has three basic needs: fixing of standards to be used in measuring the level of growth; monitoring decisions and comparing it to the standards, that is, the comparison of the organisationà ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢s true performance with the planned performance; and finally, taking corrective actions in rectifying any disadvantages and weaknesses that occurred in achieving the performance that has already been set. Establishing Standards Standard is the base for comparison to measure the level of performance of a company in order to find out whether the company is compliant. Standard is the point of reference in making comparisons to another value. Standard can be defined as what is required out of a particular job or an individual. In management control, standards are usually derived from the objectives. Standards should be easy to be measured and interpreted. A specific objective that can be measured makes it more suitable to be used as a standard. If this standard is not clearly and specifically stated, it may be interpreted in a different way and will then raise various difficulties that can affect the goals of the organisation. In general, there are three types of standards: physical standard such as quantity of products and services, number of customers and quality of products and services; financial standard which is stated in the form of money, and this includes labour cost, sales cost, material cost, sales revenue, profit margin and others; and lastly, time standard which includes the performance rate of a particular task or the time period required to complete a particular task. Measuring Performance and Making Comparisons Performance measurement is a type of control. Actual results need to be monitored to ensure that output produced is according to the specific standard. The main purpose of performance monitoring is to gather data and detect deviation and problem areas. Measurement has no meaning if it is not compared to the standard. The next step is performing the comparison of standards. Comparison of standard is a process where comparison is made between the true performances with the standard set. This step is important because it allows any deviation or distortion to be detected and corrective actions can be taken in order to achieve the goals that have been set. Corrective Actions It is often found that managers establish standards and monitor decisions but do not take suitable actions. The first and second steps in control will be meaningless if corrective actions are not taken. Before taking any steps in correcting, detailed analysis must be carried out in order to find out the factors that caused the particular deviation. This corrective action may involve change in one or more operation activities of the organisation such as modification, repairing of machines, preparation of certain courses and others, or it might also involve a change in the fixed standard. Corrective action is a process of identifying the distorted performance, analysing the distortion and developing and implementing programmes in order to rectify it. 11.2 THE CONTROL PROCESS The running of a control process is a continuous act. This process cannot be done only once in order to gain the achievement expected. This is considered as a dynamic process. This dynamic process begins with looking at the true performance and measuring the achievement level of that particular performance. Managers will then compare the performance achieved with the performance that has been fixed. If there happens to be any difference, it must be analysed in order to identify the cause of the differences and this is followed by the correcting act. This process must be done repeatedly and must be given full attention by the manager in order to achive the performance goals set. 11.2.1 Basic Methods of Control According to Williams (2000), a control process consists of three basic methods which are identified as future control, concurrent control and feedback control. 11.2.2 Future Control This type of control is also known as prevention control. This involves the use of information, including information from the latest results, is to forecast what will happen in the future so that preventive measures can be taken. It is implemented to prevent the occurrence of deviation between what had really happened with what is expected to happen. Prevention is carried out through detailed analysis on the input before it is accepted into the process of organisation transformation. Input is ensured to comply with the quality standards established so that the results obtained are as expected. One example of the use of this control is when a manager ensures that the sample of raw material that is going to be used complies with the standard established by the organisation or based on certain specifications to avoid damage towards the product in the future. 11.2.3 Concurrent Control Concurrent control is carried out during the process of transformation. When this control is carried out, restoration actions, corrective actions or modifications are done after distortion is detected. For a production-oriented organisation, this controlling action is taken while input is being processed while for service-oriented organisations, it is taken while service is being provided. Through this method of control, organisations will monitor their operations and simultaneously take the necessary corrective actions before the transformation process is completed. This will help to reduce mistakes in the outputs being produced. Examples of this method of control are mid-term examinations, control of accounts, control of inventories and others. 11.2.4 Feedback Control Feedback control involves gathering information related to the weaknesses of controlling measures after an incident takes place. This type of control is implemented after the transformation process has been completed with the purpose of finding out whether the whole activity ran properly with results as expected. This control is also able to determine whether the plan that is going to be carried out has the continuity with the previous programme. It is also able to evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of the involved parties in performing the activities of the organisation. An example of this method of control is the use of low-quality raw materials that resulted in the production of low-quality products. The act of changing the raw materials used is one of the examples of feedback control. 11.2.5 Types of Control According to Williams (2000), there are five forms of control that can be used by managers in implementing the process of control à ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬ bureaucratic, objective, normative, concertive and self. Figure 9.3 illustrates these five forms of control. Bureaucratic Control This method uses hierarchy authority to influence employees. Rewards are given to employees who obey and punishment is meted out to employees who do not obey the policies, regulations and procedure of the organisation. Objective Control This method uses the measurement of observation towards the behaviour of employees or output produced to evaluate work performance. Managers are more focused on the observation or measurement towards the behaviour of employees or outputs rather than the policies or rules. Objective control consists of two forms of control; behaviour control and output control. Behaviour control Behaviour control is the rule of behaviour and actions that controls the behaviour of employees in their tasks. Output control Output control is the form of control that controls the output of employees by granting rewards and incentives. Important features in the implementation of output control are reliability, fairness and accuracy, convincing employees and managers to achieve the expected results while rewards and incentives depend on the performance standard that has been established. Normative Control Normative control is a method that arranges the behaviour of employees and results through norms and beliefs shared together among all the members within the organisation. There are two main substances in this type of control which are, sensitivity towards selection of employees based on their attitude and norms, and obtaining inspiration based on experience and observation of employees. Concertive Control This is a method that uses the norms and behaviour discussed, formed and agreed by the work group. This form of control plays a role in an autonomous work group. An autonomous work group is a work group that operates without the presence of a manager and is fully responsible for the control of process, task group, output and behaviour. Autonomous work groups gradually grow through two stages of concertive control. First, members work and learn from each other, supervising the work of each member and develop norms and beliefs that guide and control them. Secondly, the appearance and acceptance of objectives as guide and control of behaviour. Self Control It is a system where managers and employees control their own behaviour by establishing their own goals; monitor their own progress and their own achievements of goals, and reward themselves when goals have been achieved. EXERCISE 9.2 11.3 FACTORS THAT NEED TO BE CONTROLLED Determining the matters to be controlled is as important as making decisions on whether to control or in what method should control be done. There are several perspectives that need to be controlled by a manager in order for the organisation to be able to achieve the goals expected. 11.3.1 Financial Perspective One of the important areas that need to be controlled is finance. There are times when the financial performance does not reach the expected standard. If this condition remains undetected and relevant actions are not taken, the existence of the company might be in jeopardy. Financial perspective is generally related to activities such as sales, purchases and others. Financial statements are important sources of financial information for an organisation. A balance sheet shows how strong the financial position, assets, liabilities and the position of the equity holder for a certain financial period. A profit-loss statement or income statement shows the summary of the operational activities and the relationship between expenditure and revenue for a particular financial year. There is a new approach in the financial perspective known as economic value added. Economic value added is the total profit of a company which exceeds the capital cost in a particular year. In this perspective, a manager must impose control so that the total profit of a company always exceeds the capital cost for the company to continuously gain economic value added. 11.3.2 Human Resource Perspective The control towards human resources is vital for organisations. If an organisation is unable to control its human resources properly such as losing expert workforce hence it will jeopardise the performance and achievement of the company. Organisations need to have planning that is able to motivate the employees. For example, organisations need to be concerned regarding the problems faced by the employees by creating harmonious discussions between the management and the employees union. 11.3.3 Quality Perspective Internal operations of organisations are usually measured through quality. Operations control is very important for every organisation especially for manufacturing firms. This is because efficiency and effectiveness of operations control will determine the level of production and organisational performance as fixed by the standard. The quality value of products and services produced based on the standard will be able to strengthen the perception of the customers towards the quality of goods that they had purchased. For example, the control of product quality is able to reduce waste and product defects and this will further save cost. Inventory control is also effective in reducing the costs of investments related to inventory 11.3.4 Consumer Perspective In order to measure the performance of customers, an organisation needs to impose control on customers who leave the organisation and not based on the survey of customer satisfaction. In this perspective, the manager will make evaluation by measuring the percentage rate of customers who left the organisation. By controlling customers from leaving the organisation, a company will be able to increase profits. For example, the cost in obtaining a new customer is five times more compared to the cost of retaining an existing customer. SUMMARY The main purpose of management control is to prepare managers to face existing or future problems before it becomes critical. Management control has three basic needs: establishing standards; monitoring decision and comparing it to the standard; and making corrections on any distortion that occurred between the true decision and the standard. Control is a dynamic process because it is a continuous process. Control process consists of three basic methods: future control which is also known as prevention control; concurrent or present control; and feedback control. There are five forms of control that can be used by managers in implementing the control process: bureaucratic, objective, normative, concertive and self. In order to ensure that the organisation can achieve its goals, several important perspectives must be controlled à ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬ finance, human resource, quality and customers.

Deadly Outbreak :: SARS Health Medical Essays

Deadly Outbreak It is March 2003 and my life-long dream of traveling around the world is finally coming true. It seems like since I was born I have longed to visit the far corners of the world, and finally, now that I finished college and I have some time to travel I get to visit Europe and Asia. Yet somehow my visit to Asia is not exactly what I imagined it would be. It is not the diverse culture; it is not the unusual food; it is not the remarkable atmosphere or the people that are marring my trip. It is a deadly outbreak of a disease that only emerged a few months ago. They call it SARS, or Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome. I am in Hong Kong, one of the world's most demanding and most interesting places in the world, yet I am trapped on the 19th floor of my hotel, staring at the busy sidewalks from my window. The busy sidewalks that I see are not nearly as busy as they should be. People are afraid. The World Health Organization says the disease symptoms mimic those of influenza, starting with fever, headaches, cough, and body aches that are hard to distinguish from other respiratory illnesses. That is why this disease went undetected for some time. SARS is a virus from a family of viruses that cause a small percentage of common colds. The average time from when the patient gets infected to when he/she develops the disease is five days; however, the incubation period lasts anywhere from two to ten days. The worrisome fact about this new disease is that it is highly contagious. Studies done at universities in the Netherlands and China say that SARS may even be transmitted through contaminated food and water, sweat, and any other body fluids. Thus, the reasons for my watching the busy sidewalks instead of walking the busy sidewalks. I want to live to travel the rest of the world, so I would rather enjoy the view at this particular moment, rather than join in the cultural activities. It was only a few days ago that I joined the crowds in the swarming subway stations and walked the vendor-filled sidewalks. Nonetheless, the face-masks, gloves, scarves, glasses and other protective gear that are the fashions of the moment made me feel like the best precaution may be to stay away.

The Drummer Boy of Shiloh Essay -- Narrative, Informative

A narrative is specified to amuse, to attract, and grasp a reader’s attention. The types of narratives are fictitious, real or unification or both. However, they may consist of folk tale stories, mysteries, science fiction; romances, horror stories, adventure stories, fables, myths and legends, historical narratives, ballads, slice of life, and personal experience (â€Å"Narrative,† 2008). Therefore, narrative text has five shared elements. These are setting, characters, plot, theme, and vocabulary (â€Å"Narrative and Informational Text,† 2008). Narrative literature is originally written to communicate a story. Therefore, narrative literature that is written in an excellent way will have conflicts and can discuss shared aspects of human occurrence. The essay will concern information pertaining to narrative text. First the essay will discuss the definition of narrative literature. Second, the essay will consist of the advantages of narrative literature. Third, the disadvantages of narrative literature will also be discussed. Fourth, the essay will consist of five possible uses of narrative text in middle school language arts. There are several advantages to using narrative text in the middle school classroom environment. The first advantage is that the reader is entertained when reading narrative text. Second advantage involves narrative text attains and contains the interest of the reader. Third advantage consists of narrative text teaching or instructing the reader. Fourth advantage focuses on narrative text inconstant demeanor or social opinions of the reader. For example soap operas. The Bold and the Beautiful displayed in one of the episodes concerning homeless people and how their circumstances caused these individ... ...in history can increase the interest of students by helping students to understand that history has human perspectives and a more individual meaning. Also short stories can help students interpret history more plainly. Therefore, the teacher can use short stories to help students iterate reading and writing skills. Short stories can enrich a history teacher classroom and make learning history more pleasant and significant for students. An example of one of the short stories associated to the Civil War period is â€Å"The Drummer Boy of Shiloh by Ray Bradbury. This short story distinctly obtains the human passions and agitation during the Civil War period and it also deals with actual history in human details. Therefore, â€Å"The Drummer Boy of Shiloh helps the reader interpret what it was like to be in the Civil War period in American history (White, 1993).

Jungian Perspectives of Shakespeares Hamlet :: GCSE Coursework Shakespeare Hamlet

Hamlet:   Jungian Perspectives  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The term consciousness refers to "one’s awareness of internal and external stimuli. The unconscious contains thoughts, memories, and desires that are well below the surface of awareness but that nonetheless exert great influence on behavior."(Weiten)   In the view of the Jungian analyst, there are two forces that drive Hamlet. One is his anima, which is the "personification of the feminine nature of a man’s unconscious"(Platania). The second is Hamlet’s desire to reach individuation, which will be discussed later. In reference to the anima, Platania states that "we experience the opposite sex as the lost part of our own selves." There is in each man a feminine side hidden beneath his masculinity. The mystery of Shakespeare’s Hamlet is a phantom of literary debate that has haunted readers throughout the centuries. Hamlet is a complete enigma; a puzzle scholars have tried to piece together since his introduction to the literary world. Throughout the course of Hamlet, the reader is constantly striving to rationalize Hamlet’s odd behavior, mostly through the play’s written text. In doing so, many readers mistakenly draw their conclusions based on the surface content of Hamlet’s statements and actions. When drawing into question Hamlet’s actions as well as his reasons for acting, many assume that Hamlet himself is fully aware of his own motives. This assumption in itself produces the very matter in question. Take for example Hamlet’s hesitation to kill the king. Hamlet believes that his desire to kill King Claudius is driven by his fathers’ demand for revenge. If this were true, Hamlet would kill Claudius the moment he has the chance, if not the moment he knows for sure that Claudius is guilty of murdering his father. Why does Hamlet hesitate? One must call into question what Hamlet holds to be true. If Hamlet’s given motivation for killing the king is legitimate, then Claudius should die at about Act 3. Because Hamlet’s actions do not correspond with his given reasoning, one is forced to look for an alternate explanation for Hamlet’s behavior. In doing so, one will come to the conclusion that Hamlet is driven by forces other than what is o bvious to the reader, as well as Hamlet himself. Given this example, one must denounce the assumption that Hamlet is aware of the forces that motivate him, and understand that Hamlet’s true motivation is unconscious This unconscious force is the true reason behind Hamlet’s mysterious behavior.

A diverse and interesting learning environment for all students Essay

Accepting attitudes towards all human beings creates a diverse and interesting learning environment for all students. I recall an incident while at a summer program a few years ago. We, the students, were staying overnight on a college campus to participate in seminars that would further our growth and readiness for the future. As part of the program, we were required to stay overnight in the dorm rooms. We were each paired up with one other person who would be our roommate for the two days. I come from a neighborhood that is primarily white so I was pleasantly surprised to learn that I would be sharing a room with someone who was from the Middle East. We quickly settled into our rooms and prepared ourselves for the first of two days of learning activities. My roommate awoke, got up and spread a blanket on the floor to pray. I watched my roommate kneeling on the floor saying words in a language that I didn’t understand. When finished, I asked my roommate about this practice and learned a little bit about the Muslim religion and why prayers are said several times daily. See more: Satirical essay about drugs I also had the opportunity to share a little bit about my own faith. I had a large amount of respect for my roommate because it isn’t easy to pray in front of other people let alone people one doesn’t even know. I also gained respect because my roommate wasn’t ashamed of praying or of the Muslim faith. This experience has helped prepare me for life in a world made up of people from all over the world with different values, viewpoints and religions. My own background and life achievements would add to the diversity of University because I too have valuable ideas and customs that would add to the interesting mix of University life. My ability to gain respect for people who have different life values enables me to be a student of a University that embraces acceptance for other cultures. Even though I would be considered the majority, I welcome the opportunity to learn alongside people from different places.

Main Theories of Aggression

Outline and assess the main theories of aggression Aggression is an act of hostility with deliberate intention to harm another person against his or her will. Some psychologists believe that aggression is an important aspect of our evolutionary ancestry and it is understood better in that context, whereas others believe that aggression is best explained in physiological terms e. g. the imbalance of hormones or neurotransmitters in the brain. There are many definitions used to explain why humans/ animals become aggressive (http://www. essortment. com/all/whatisaggress_rxeo. tm). In the social learning theory (SLT) of aggression, Bandura (1962) suggested that the expression of aggression is learnt through social learning not ignoring the fact that the potential for the human aggression was biological. Bandura claimed that we learn specific aggressive behaviours for example, the form in which the aggression takes and how it is addressed to the target. Skinner, 1953 suggested that a chil d learns the aggressive behaviour through direct reinforcement while Bandura argues that a child learns by observing role models indirectly. Moreover, the SLT can be used to explain other behaviours such as eating disorders, personality etc. Research carried out by Phillip (1986) suggested the daily homicide rate in the US almost increased in the following of a major boxing match this suggested that the viewers were imitating the behaviour they watched from their ‘role models’. This clear shows that the SLT can also be used to explain the behaviour of both the children and adults. This is because aggressive behaviour is witnessed at home and at school as well as through the media i. . reading books, watching television and listening to a certain type of music. By observing the consequences of other’s actions, children learn the aggressive behaviour indirectly. This whole process is known as the ‘vicarious reinforcement’ whereby a child learns the likely outcome of the aggressive behaviour and from that observation; they obtain the behaviour that is considered appropriate. Not only does a c hild learn the behaviour but the child also observes if the behaviour is worth repeating. In the future, the child is likely to repeat the behaviour when the expectation of a reward is greater than the expectations of being punished (Bandura, 1962). Looking at the Bobo doll studies, Bandura et al found that children who watched an aggressive model became more aggressive and imitated the behaviour portrayed by the model. This is clear evidence to support the SLT for the fact a child learnt the aggressive behaviour by observing the ‘role’ model. On the other hand, the aggression was imposed towards a ‘doll’ affecting the reliability of the conclusion because this was a ‘still’ figure that could not use self-defence. As a result to this, Bandura repeated the study using a film of woman hitting a live clown, therefore this influenced the children to also hit a live clown when given the opportunity. This can explain the cultural differences, for the fact that societies such as the US are highly violent compared to other pygmies of central Africa who manage to live in cooperative friendliness (Aronson, 1999). These findings could be explained by the differences due to social learning whereby the different societies influence the behaviour of the two cultures. However, people also react differently in term of different situations because aggressive behaviour is rewarded in certain situations than others (i. e. Competitive sports such rugby, boxing etc. ). The appropriate behaviour is learnt for particular situations. Moreover, aggression could also be explained as a result of the loss of personal identity this could be due to the relative anonymity of being in a crowd or wearing a uniform. The Stanford Prison Experiment illustrates this effect; this is whereby Zimbardo showed how the guards who were deindividuated by mirrored glasses and uniforms behaved aggressively towards the prisoners. The Stanford Prison Experiment is an empirical support for the deindividuated theory because it shows how the behaviour of the ‘normal’ students changed after they had been assigned to adopt the role of guards. However, the brutality could be explained in terms of the perceived social roles because they were not shown the exact way that the ‘actual’ guards behaved. Psychologist Zimbardo believes that deindividuated people are likely to behave aggressively because the loss of a sense in the individual can lead to reduced self- restraint. This in turn leads to impulsive and deviant behaviour and a less concern over negative evaluation from others. Being anonymous in a crowd has the psychological consequence of reducing restraints and increasing behaviours that are usually inhibited. Prentice- Dunn and Rogers (1982) suggested that an increase in aggressive behaviour following deindividuation might be caused by the reduced privacy rather than public self- awareness, i. . becoming less self-aware rather than being anonymous to others. A problem for the theory is that deindividuation does not always lead to aggression, and may actually lead to pro-social behaviour. In a meta- analysis of 60 studies of deindividuation, Postmes and Spears (1998) found that deindividuation does not always lead to aggression for example, an individual part of an angry mo b is likely to behave aggressively while a member of a peace rally is likely to become to peaceful. This clearly shows that frustration leads to aggression. Frustration determines whether aggression is effective in that situation. Dollard et al (1939) outlined the frustration-aggression theory suggesting that frustration leads to aggression and that aggression is forced by the aggression. Therefore, aggression is the consequence of generalised physiological arousal.