Living on Campus or Living Off Campus

Living on campus Living on campus Living off campus Living off campus VS. VS. Live on campus or live off campus Recently, one of the most popular issues that students are talking about is where to live in the next academic year. Some students believe that live on campus is a better choice because living in resident halls on campus is convenient and safe. Some other students think that live off campus is better, because it will have fewer restrictions and a better accommodation. Each choice has its own advantages and disadvantages. That’s why I was struggling for this issue for a long time.After careful consideration, I believe that live on campus is a better choice and I have a lot of reasons to support it. First of all, live on campus is safer. Living on campus will dramatically reduce the potential possibilities of accidents on the roads like car accident, robbery and sexual assault. There is a famous murder case, which generated international attention earlier this year. Wu and Qu, two 23-year-old electrical engineering graduate students of University of Southern California who come from China, were shot when they were driving home in a BMW sedan from the library around 1 a. m. on April 11. (nbclosangeles. om) The criminal’s motive of murder is robbery. Just because they lived off campus and had to drive back home, the two young lives stops suddenly in the most beautiful period of their life and left endless sadness to their friends and families. According to a survey from Trinity College, 60. 2% of students indicated that they felt safe on campus and 28. 4% felt unsafe. (Grace Kim). There is another accident just happened around us. A friend of my parents lost his son in a car accident in America. He was a student of Indiana University and at one day he drove home, his car crashed into a big tree and caused a fire.He was burned to death in the car. Safety is always the most important thing for college students, especially for international stu dents, since their parents are thousands miles away and worries about them all the time. Because of safety, living on campus is better choice than living off campus. Besides the reason of safety, resident halls also create a perfect environment to live and study. Taking the example of Michigan State University First, the resident halls supply various kinds of services, which are all very useful and necessary.When you have any troubles and questions, you can go to the front desk to ask for help; When people are ill, they can go to the health center, the nurses and doctors there will give people prescriptions and suggestions for health in time; When you miss lunches or even hungry at midnight, small cafeterias, like the Sparty’s will offer warm food, drink and snacks for you. The staffs in resident halls are always friendly and patient, which make us feel warm. Second, there are a lot of resources in resident halls. Since I don’t know them very well, I interviewed the re sident assistant in our floor.Her name is Doneisha Parker and she is a sophomore in accounting major. She briefly introduced the 23 resources of resident halls on campus and focused on 3 most useful ones. Math Learning center (MLC), which can give you math tuition on every Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Writing center, which can give you suggestions for the papers you are working on by appointment. Yoga and Zumba classes three times a week are good for your health and beauty. All of these resources are very helpful and they are free. Third, people can have their individual place for rest and study between classes.In college study, there is always a large amount of time between classes. People live on campus can go back to their dorms for rest, study, or entertainment. People live off campus, however, have to stay in libraries or some other places during these breaks. According to a study, which investigated the relationship of loneliness, social support, and living arrangements with academic persistence decisions of 401 college freshmen, freshmen living on campus had higher GPAs (M= 2. 85, SD = . 73) than those living off campus (M = 2. 59, SD = . 2)(Nicpon 345-358) Another reason that makes me believe that live on campus is a better choice than live off campus is that we can meet more people and have more friends. There are so many chances to meet new friends if you live on campus. First of all, you will know the people live on the same floor with you since you meet with each other everyday. Also, you will know a lot of people from the activities and clubs in resident halls if you participate in actively. For example, the Hubbard hall in Michigan State University has an international Club.This club organizes activities and meetings every week and creates a perfect environment for communication between students from different countries. What’s more, having meals in cafeteria, studying in public area are also the chances to meet people and make new frien ds. If living off campus, however, most of these will be impossible. Because of the safety, the great environment and more chances to make friend, I prefer to live on campus when I become a sophomore. I hope that I can have a great time on campus. Works Cited Grace Kim, Safety and Education at Trinity College, 20 December 2004Nicpon, Megan Foley, et al. â€Å"The relationship of loneliness and social support with college freshmen’s academic performance and persistence. † Journal of College Student Retention: Research, Theory and Practice 8. 3 (2006): 345-358 Doneisha Parker, Personal Interview, 22 October 2012 Nbclosanglas. com: Police: Forensic Evidence Tied USC Murder Suspects to Earlier Crimes, by Melissa Pamer and Samantha Tata, May 19, 2012 http://www. nbclosangeles. com/news/local/Police-Forensic-Evidence-Tied-USC-Murder-Suspects-to-Earlier-Crimes-152147955. html

Leading Change

â€Å"The harder you push, the harder the system pushes back† is the 2nd law in The Laws of the Fifth Discipline.   These laws are the core of a process called systems thinking and the concept is that it’s â€Å"best to manage the system, not just the individual processes.†Ã‚   (West & Cianfrani, 2004, p. 69)   Corporations have a tendency to look at the â€Å"direct linear cause and effect relationships,† rather than looking at â€Å"interactions.†Ã‚   (West & Cianfrani, 2004, p. 69)   Peter Senge’s book The Fifth Discipline identified 10 laws that defined systems thinking. The 2nd law in The Laws of the Fifth Discipline can be interpreted as â€Å"Compensating feedback.†Ã‚   Senge defines this as â€Å"when well-intentioned interventions call forth responses from the system that offset the benefits of the intervention.†Ã‚   (Senge, 1990, p. 58) In other words, the more effort exerted to change or improve the current organizational processes, the more effort it requires. Organizations have experienced this process when, for example, a product or brand suddenly begins to lose its popularity within the market.   When organizations begin to push new marketing strategies aggressively it often turns out that more revenue is spent on the marketing efforts with only a temporary pay back.   This process is not only limited to the business market, it can also be illustrated in personal experiences.   Senge uses the smoker as an example – if a person who is a regular smoker suddenly quits he or she might begin to gain weight, become frustrated with personal appearance and then suddenly begin smoking again.   (Senge, 1990, p. 59) As humans it is natural for us to get drawn into the process of compensating feedback.   We push harder and it’s exhausting and we often â€Å"glorify the suffering that ensues.†Ã‚   (Senge, 1990, p. 59)   When our efforts to produce change fail initially, we push harder and often have the belief that our hard work and effort will overcome all of the obstacles in front of us. However, compensating feedback is a process where we become blind to the fact that our efforts are actually contributing to the current obstacles we are facing as well as creating others we must overcome. (Senge, 1990, p. 59-60) Over the past two decades information and communication technology has continuously evolved and has empowered small businesses and large corporations with new emerging markets and tools.   The Internet has become the information highway and has impacted both social and economic relationships in various sectors such as education, health, government, trade and tourism.   (Waddell & Singh, 2003, p. vii) In order to maintain its impact on society the information technology must continuously evolve to compensate for future needs for both local and global societies.   (Waddell & Singh, 2003, p. VI)   Focusing on one idea or concept that does not elicit long-term success consumes time and effort that is imperative to online success. The consistent evolution of technology and the platforms provided are numerous and are impacting our society regularly.   These newly emerging technologies affect the way we do business, communicate with others, daily entertainment, study and do research.   (Waddell & Singh, 2003, p. VI)   Ecommerce is the largest growing platform of the World Wide Web and it has provided a â€Å"new momentum of doing business in the digital economy.†Ã‚   (Waddell & Singh, 2003, p. VI) In order to compensate and adjust to the constant change through the internet environment we must be able to identify the implications. At the end of 2004 it was estimated that 750 million users represented the Internet community worldwide.   (Waddell & Singh, 2003, p. VI) The e-marketplaces consist of various products and services that market their products both from Business to Business and Business to consumer.   These products and services provide value for both buyers and sellers. In order to create a successful ecommerce venture processes must be transformed from the traditional ways of doing business to modern Internet transactions that are efficient to both the buyer and the seller.   The biggest challenge for internet businesses is adapting to the virtual environment and integrating their current business processes into the e-marketplace. (Waddell & Singh, 2003, p. 97) The Internet environment has its benefits as well as disadvantages, or threats.   On a local business level it immediately provides â€Å"easy and fast entrance to new markets,† 24/7 business hours, less physical structure maintenance, and the possibility of sales increasing.   (Waddell & Singh, 2003, p. 99) For buyers this offers more selection of products and services, 24/7 business access and easy comparison between the various seller’s offers.     (Waddell & Singh, 2003, p. 99) Threats for businesses as a whole are the loss of direct customer face to face relationships, increased competition and the extra funds required for consistent upgrading of products and platforms.   (Waddell & Singh, 2003, p. 99)   For buyers there is the same lack of direct face to face relationships, the unknown reliability of the seller and lack of trust in products and services.   (Waddell & Singh, 2003, p. 99) E-commerce is about â€Å"rediscovering the individuality of the customers and their needs, and the creation of frictionless modes of commercial interaction with them.†Ã‚  Ã‚   (May, 2000, p. 4)   Businesses must approach change in an internet environment carefully, as in the traditional business model the direct interaction allows the consumer to feel important.   Ecommerce does not provide the close interaction; therefore it is imperative that the online business practices allow the consumer to feel like a person, not a type.   (May, 2000, p. 5) A great example of ecommerce success is Amazon.com.   This company has proven its ability to implement change and business growth without affecting its customer base or falling behind the competition.   The vision of the â€Å"Earth’s biggest bookstore† (May, 2000, p. 52) was to offer a range and large quantity of products that would dominate traditional booksellers and to â€Å"achieve market ubiquity without acquiring retail real estate.†Ã‚   (May, 2000, p. 52) Jeff Bezos identified books as an ideal product for selling online because the number of books the traditional bookseller could offer was limited; therefore, if these products were offered online the number available would be unlimited.   In a sense the book trade has always been â€Å"virtual† – any customer can enter a traditional bookstore and order any book in print. Amazon.com brought a new online concept to the book trade and improved the efficiency of a traditional process.   However, though this insight was extraordinary introducing the concept into the ecommerce marketplace meant that consistent change was necessary and that customers must receive the same attention and personal relationships currently experienced in the traditional environment.   (May, 2000, p. 53-54) In order to change the ecommerce impersonal environment Amazon.com had to introduce a new strategy into maintaining and increasing its customer base.   Changing the internet environment is not a simple display creation or the addition of a personable salesperson to physically approach customers.   Amazon.com had to approach this change with a technology based solution that offered a personal approach to its customers.   The applications Amazon implemented offered their customers a positive experience. Customers are now able to access their portfolios at any time and without interaction with a sales representative.   These portfolios are personalized and address customers on a first name basis, provide purchase history and even suggest similar titles that might be of interest to the customers.   This change provided a personal touch, saved Amazon on staff time and clearly benefits the customer.   (May, 2000, p. 54) Rick Berry, CEO of ICGCommerce.com, an Internet-Based procurement business, describes leading an e-commerce business as â€Å"driving a Ferrari with a cinderblock on the accelerator.†Ã‚   (Pandya, 2004)   This fast-paced environment requires consistent change, as â€Å"E-Procurement is a $10 trillion market worldwide.†Ã‚   (Pandya, 2004) Berry states that building a procurement business in the traditional sense would take at least 10 years to become successful; however within the internet environment they are making an attempt to establish credibility within six months.   Their goal is â€Å"to grab a chunk of that market before the competition moves in.†Ã‚   (Pandya, 2004) Berry believes that talent is what businesses require to provide effective leadership and the ability to change quickly within Internet based businesses.   Leadership must have the ability to â€Å"attract teams of talented risk-takers.†Ã‚   (Pandya, 2004)  Ã‚   The speed of the working environment in an e-commerce structure means that very little time is available to train staff; therefore leaders of e-commerce ventures â€Å"must strive to create a specific type of work culture† that is high-energy and results-oriented.   (Pandya, 2004) Because little time is allowed for training and communication in an internet environment is more direct than others, changing the actions of others as well as effectively communicating the vision of change is difficult.   â€Å"You communicate directly, and you must build a team that can cope with that.†Ã‚   (Pandya, 2004) If an internet company is to be successful it must begin with establishing a visionary culture with the ability to attract and retain talented staff.   Talented staff members have the ability to effectively introduce change within the internet environment effectively and without disrupting business flow. David Perry, founder of Chemdex says that creating a successful business with the ability to adapt to the constant change of the internet environment is â€Å"raising money, so you can hire good people, so you can make and sell good products, so you can raise more money.†Ã‚   (Pandya, 2004)   These staff members must be â€Å"enthusiastic, passionate and share the organization’s values.†Ã‚   (Pandya, 2004) In his article titled The True Value of Change Management, George Spafford quotes â€Å"The only constant is change.†Ã‚   (Spafford, 2005)   He believes that many IT organizations â€Å"lack a fundamental understanding of the need to manage change† and that these organizations feel that change management stops at budgetary planning. When introducing change into the internet environment organizations must understand that this process has huge impacts on business operations – the more complex the change is within the system the â€Å"effective change management processes† increase.   (Spafford, 2005)   As most change within the internet environment is technology based, it’s imperative to know that 80% of security breaches have been caused by human error. (Spafford, 2005) Potential solutions in technology have three parts â€Å"people, technology and process.†Ã‚   (Spafford, 2005)   Most organizations have processes in place where change requests are â€Å"submitted, reviewed, planned tested, scheduled and then implemented.† (Spafford, 2005)   The procedures are put into place to ensure that proper thought and planning have been applied and the implications assessed before introducing it within the business structure. Spafford believes that many organizations lack the resources to implement change and that many simply give up once the implications have surfaced with unsuccessful results.   He believes that companies must learn from their mistakes and work continuously to improve and implement future successes.   Developing one simple model of change in an internet environment can also be devastating.   â€Å"The point is to be flexible, keep costs down and remain responsive, adopting multiple change models.†Ã‚   (Spafford, 2005) The ability to manage change within the internet environment will always be a challenge for organizations.   Effective leadership is the key to any organization’s success as well as leadership’s ability to attract talented staff members who are constantly looking to the future, rather than traditional one-sided ideas. Technology is constantly evolving and introducing new competitive strategies into the ecommerce marketplace and little time is available to adapt to the competition.   Looking back at The Laws of the Fifth Discipline, â€Å"The harder you push, the harder the system pushes back† we see that it’s imperative to remain open-minded and constantly looking to the future where new concepts and ideas will introduce positive changes to the Internet environment. References May, P. (2000). The Business of Ecommerce: From Corporate Strategy to Technology. New York, New York: Cambridge University. Pandya, M. (2004). Center for Leadership and Change Management:   Leadership in E-Commerce:   What does it Take to Lead an E-Commerce Venture? Retrieved from http://leadership.wharton.upenn.edu/ecommerce/articles/Wharton_ECommerce_Forum.shtml Senge, P. M. (1990). The Fifth Discipline. New York, New York: Doubleday Dell Publishing Group. Spafford, G. (2005, August 15). Datamation:   The True Value of Change Management. Retrieved from http://itmanagement.earthweb.com/service/article.php/3527471 Waddell, D., & Singh, M. (2003). E-Business Innovation and Change Management. London: Idea Group Inc (IGI). West, J., & Cianfrani, C. A. (2004). Unlocking the Power of Your Qms: Keys to Business Performance Improvement. Milwaukee, Wisconsin: American Society for.          Leading Change Introduction Intense global competition, rapid technological change, and international capital markets are creating more demand for change leadership than at perhaps any other time in history. These forces, combined with the complexity of new and more global organizational forms that span nations and unite organizations through alliances, joint ventures, and mergers and acquisitions, make the job of leadership increasingly difficult. No wonder it is popular to suggest that leadership is in short supply in most organizations. Moreover, we have a limited understanding of the role that leaders should play in making effective change a reality. This is the motivation for this essay. In the pages that follow, I discuss how leaders can help organizations change to meet the challenges of the twenty-first century.Body of the Essay It is one thing to argue that organizations need to reinvent themselves and develop new, more effective approaches to organizing, and quite another to accomplish it . Large-scale organizational transformation is, at best, a developing art that has yet to produce any clear formulas for success, but more and more attention is being turned to executives as the principle agents of change and adaptation. It is increasingly common to assume that leadership plays the crucial role in an organization's successful adaptation to a changing world. Companies are paying record compensation to attract the best and brightest executive talent to lead them safely through today's turbulent business environment. Many boards and executive recruiters assume that there exists an elite corps of individuals who possess leadership skills that have almost universal application.The subject of leadership and organization change is embedded deeply in the lexicon and discourse of business executives, management consultants, and organizational scholars. Business periodicals, the trade press, and academic publications are brimming with information and knowledge about leading o rganization change. Widespread attention to leading change is largely a reflection of the times. Fueled by unprecedented changes in technologies, markets, and economies, organizations are experiencing rapidly changing environments and enormous competitive pressures. Responses to these challenges are resulting in a virtual revolution in new organizational forms and systems. Organizations are increasingly seeking to transform themselves to become more adaptable and competitive, with leaner, more flexible structures, more empowered and committed employees, and more performance-driven human resource practices. (Lawler et al., 1995)As organizations strive to implement these innovations, they discover that change is incredibly arduous, requiring a great deal of expertise, resources, and luck. The sheer difficulty of transforming organizations is evident in their enormous inertial qualities as well as the scope and magnitude of the required changes. Organization transformation typically in volves radical changes in strategy and structure, in work practices and methods, and in members' perceptions, norms, and work behaviors. As many observers have pointed out, because transformational change involves the total organization including strategic relationships with the competitive environment, top leaders or CEOs need to lead the change process and are essential to its success. (Tichy & Devanna, 1986; Greiner & Bhambri, 1989; Nadler, 1997)â€Å"The Harder You Push, The Harder The System Pushes Back† Any organization has its own corporate culture and the employees in all hierarchies are accustomed to that particular culture. Bringing about any change at any level is bound to shake the status quo and bring in an element of disturbance within the smooth functioning of the organization. Keeping that in mind, the change leader has to be extremely careful in doing the job and allowing ample space and time for the employees and other variables to adjust to the change being brought about. If the change process is accelerated too much and transformation is imposed hard on the people and the system as a whole, it will result in increased resistance from the system and mounting difficulties in the process of change.â€Å"Change involves moving from the known to the unknown (Cummins/Worley, 1993). Because the future is uncertain and may adversely affect people’s competencies, worth, and coping abilities, organizational members generally do not support change, unless compelling reasons convince them to do so. Similarly, organizations tend to be heavily invested in the status quo, and they resist changing it in the face of uncertain future benefits. Consequently, a key issue in planning for action is how to motivate commitment to organizational change, such as Business Reengineering. This requires management attention to two related tasks: creating readiness for change and overcoming resistance to change.† http://www.prosci.com/w_4.htmPeople c an be made ready to accept and contribute towards change once they themselves get to feel the need for change. This means making people so discontented with the status quo that they are provoked to try new ways of performing. Generating such discontent can be to a certain extent difficult. People who have been functioning and behaving in ways that have become norms for them now, may find it difficult to the level of hurt, prior to their undertaking the change seriously. In a situation as sensitive as such, the change has to be led very cautiously providing room for delay. The many issues related to change leadership could be structured around multiple themes. They include leader behaviors for effective change, sources of change, different change strategies, whether leadership really matters, and the development of change leaders.Most leadership scholars emphasize the importance of developing a vision or direction as the first step in leading change. This direction is critical in mak ing sure that everyone is moving in the same direction. It is, however, an open question whether a vision is really necessary for leading change. A key issue, particularly in the literature on charismatic leadership, is how to create a sense of empowerment and ownership for employees.One argument is that this requires giving employees the autonomy to determine appropriate means for implementing the vision. (Conger, 1989) Prior research has shown that employees are most motivated when they have the freedom to determine what works best given their talents and skills. (Spreitzer et al., 1997) However, in order for such autonomy to work employees must have access to the resources necessary for implementation and to information about the competition and the financial situation of their organization; without these they are likely to feel helpless in bringing about change. Also, rewards may be particularly helpful in building a sense of ownership. (Lawler, 1986)Leaders in crisis organizati ons facing a revitalization challenge must devote considerable effort at the front end of their transformation to the creation of resources. Individuals' resistance to change builds in direct proportion to the magnitude of the gap they perceive between the level of effort expected of them as part of the transformation process and the resources available to get the job done. Often this initial resource-generating step involves closing and consolidating peripheral or under-performing operations, trimming employee payrolls, reducing corporate staff overhead expenses, and suspending or deferring programs so that current operations can generate more cash to be redeployed to the launch of the corporate transformation process. Leaders attempting to revitalize their organizations also need to seek new external resources as they launch their transformation process.For example, at General Electric during the early 1980s under Jack Welch, the creation of slack resources was not so much a probl em as was the reallocation of existing resources to the corporate transformation effort. So the initial transformation issue was less one of resource creation than one of resource reallocation. Businesses that did not fit the vision had to fix, sell, or close themselves, and resources that would otherwise be consumed by these ill-fitting businesses were reallocated to enhance productivity and automation initiatives and to fuel capital investments in businesses that offered greater promise for achieving Welch's lofty vision of being first or second in their chosen global markets. (Aguilar et al., 1985)It might be argued that the key role for the leader is setting context; he or she must create a culture that embraces the importance of change. The leader then needs to create an organization structure that will support the new vision. This might, for example, involve a team-based design to reduce centralization, hierarchy, and bureaucratization. The leader must select and hire top-notc h people who have the skills necessary to bring the new vision to actuality. If the vision involves globalization, for example, this might involve hiring or promoting people who have international experience. The leader must also create a reward system that encourages behaviors appropriate for the new vision. For example, if the vision requires more focus on the customer, then employees must be rewarded for actions that improve customer satisfaction. In other words, the leader's most important role may be to devise an organization that sustains the vision.Implications For Change In An Internet Environment Sebastian  and Samuel  (2004) â€Å"explore the challenge that technology will deliver to management at both the tactical and strategic level. Changes in communication, content of communication, globalization of communication, are critical to these changes. The environment will support a greater degree of discontinuities in planning which is brought about by the globalization of management activities. Successful management must encompass the management of these discontinuities but use information in an artificial intelligence environment. The integration of these data and the actions that come from that integration must be understood within a moral framework.† (Sebastian  & Samuel, 2004)In the present era of technological innovation and globalization, when the world’s business is coming closer to work as a network, when the logistics are being designed in a way that encompass the ever so easy access of technology, communication and information, when a single business is catering to the markets around the globe, the changes within the organization become more important than those ever were. It is the international culture that the employees have to work in, the greater than ever expansion plans and newer and faster service demands that they have to attend to. All these developments and enhancements come as part and result of the Internet en vironment in which virtually all businesses are operating these days.ConclusionLeading change in such circumstances become an even more demanding and challenging of a task for the managers or leaders. As the trade of goods and services around the world is getting faster and easier, the need for as fast a change continues. However as mentioned in the preceding pages that such changes cannot be brought overnight, nor can those be imposed or pushed hard on the individuals. The system pushes back even harder and poses even more resistance to the change. Instead, the vision once established has to be communicated to the people properly, make them ready for the change by suitably establishing the loopholes of the current state and furnish the future expectations of being technologically sound and equipped.ReferencesAguilar, F. J., Hamermesh, R. G., and Brainard, C. General Electric, 1984. (1985) Boston: Harvard Business School Press (9–385–315, Rev. Mar. 24, 1993).Conger, J. A. (1989) â€Å"The Charismatic Leader† San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.Greiner, L., and Bhambri, A. (1989) â€Å"New CEO Intervention and Dynamics of Deliberate Strategic Change.† Strategic Management Journal, 10, 67–86.Lawler, E. E. (1986) â€Å"High-Involvement Management† San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1986.Lawler, E., Mohrman, S., and Ledford, G. (1995) â€Å"Creating High Performance Organizations: Practices and Results of Employee Involvement and Total Quality Management in Fortune 1000 Companies† San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.Nadler, D., (1997) â€Å"Champions of Change† San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.Spreitzer, G. M., Kizilos, M., and Nason, S. (1997) â€Å"A Dimensional Analysis of the Relationship Between Psychological Empowerment and Effectiveness, Satisfaction, and Strain.† Journal of Management, 23 (5), 679–704.Tichy, N., and Devanna, M. (1986) â€Å"The Transformation Leader† New York: Wiley.Wolf D. Schumacher â€Å"Ma naging Barriers To Re-engineering Success.† http://www.prosci.com/w_4.htm Accessed January 31, 2007.

Law Brief

Law Brief Assignment Case: Fans v. New York Highlanders Inc. Facts: The New York Highlanders are building a new stadium, offered a first come first serve season ticket special. In order to be eligible, buyers would have to pay a $10,000 licensing fee which would guarantee a specific seat as identified in a stadium seating diagram. About 10,000 fans signed up and sent in their seating choices at the 50 yard line (the most desired seats) and received confirmation from the Highlanders that their seats were reserved.Unfortunately, after the licenses were sold to the 10,000 fans, the stadiums dimensions were reduced and only had 5,000 available seats on the 50 yard line. The Highlanders announced that 5,000 of the 10,000 would get the preferred seating based on a lottery, and the remaining 5,000 would be given other seats. Issue: The plaintiffs are suing the defendant to reimburse a $10,000 fee which guaranteed a specific seat in the new stadium. Due to reduced dimensions, the New York Hi ghlanders Inc. would give the plaintiffs different seats Application: Referring to the case of Yocca v. Pittsburg Steelers Sports Inc. Yocca was sent a brochure granting the right to buy annual season tickets to games thru stadium building licenses. Yocca applied for the stadium building license and listed his seating preference. The Steelers sent him a letter notifying him of the section in which his seat was located. A diagram was included with detailed parameters of the section, but it differed from the original brochures diagram. The Steelers also sent Yocca documents including a clause that read,† This agreement contains the entire agreement of the parties. † Yocca signed the documents, and the Steelers told him the specific location of the seats.When he arrived to the stadium, the seat was not where he expected it to be. Yocca filed a suit against the Steelers, the defendants appealed to the state supreme court. Since the parties, without any fraud or mistake, have purposely put their arrangements in writing, the law states the writing to be the only evidence of their agreement. All previous negotiations, conversations and verbal agreements can not be combined or added to evidence. â€Å"Once a writing is determined to be the parties entire contract, the parol evidence rule applies and evidence of any previous written negations or agreements nvolving the same subject matter as the contract is almost always inadmissible to explain or vary the terms of the contract. Because the plaintiffs based their complaint on the claim that the defendants violated the terms of the brochure, and the court held the brochure as not part of the contract, the case was dismissed. The Yocca v. Pittsburg Steelers Sports Inc case is similar to the Fans v. New York Highlanders Inc, in which the fan(s) paid for specific seats that they were guaranteed to have.The fans signed up for their seat choices and received confirmation that the seats were reserved, same as Yoc ca’s agreement with the Steelers. A few differences between these two cases are that Yocca signs a clause that reads, â€Å"This agreement contains the entire agreement of the parties. † But this clause was signed AFTER he applied for the SBL documents. With the Highlanders case, we are not giving enough information as to what the fans signed off to, but we can make an assumption that the fans signed off to a similar clause because they both are applying for stadium building license.Also, in Yocca’s case the stadium was not reducing its dimensions. Both cases had plaintiffs purchasing â€Å"specific† seats in which they were guaranteed and resulting in having a different seat or wanting reimbursement. With the fans v. Highlanders, there was no brochure or previous negations; the plaintiff’s signed off on the SBL which is the only evidence of their agreement. Seeing as to the defendant violating the agreement, the plaintiff’s are subject to a reimbursement. Decision: In a court of law, the parties’ entire contract (the Stadium Building License Document) is the only evidence of their agreement.All negations, conversations, and brochures cannot be added to parol evidence. Because the plaintiff’s based their case complaint that the defendant violated the terms of the Stadium Building License, the defendants owe the fans a reimbursement of $10,000. Citations: 1. Clarkson, Miller. Business Law. 11. Yocca v. Pittsburg Steeler Sports, Inc. , Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 2004 578 Pa. , 854 A. 2D, 425: Pages 313-314. 2. http://www. associatedcontent. com/article/23473/how_to_write_a_legal_brief_pg2 Law Brief Law Brief Assignment Case: Fans v. New York Highlanders Inc. Facts: The New York Highlanders are building a new stadium, offered a first come first serve season ticket special. In order to be eligible, buyers would have to pay a $10,000 licensing fee which would guarantee a specific seat as identified in a stadium seating diagram. About 10,000 fans signed up and sent in their seating choices at the 50 yard line (the most desired seats) and received confirmation from the Highlanders that their seats were reserved.Unfortunately, after the licenses were sold to the 10,000 fans, the stadiums dimensions were reduced and only had 5,000 available seats on the 50 yard line. The Highlanders announced that 5,000 of the 10,000 would get the preferred seating based on a lottery, and the remaining 5,000 would be given other seats. Issue: The plaintiffs are suing the defendant to reimburse a $10,000 fee which guaranteed a specific seat in the new stadium. Due to reduced dimensions, the New York Hi ghlanders Inc. would give the plaintiffs different seats Application: Referring to the case of Yocca v. Pittsburg Steelers Sports Inc. Yocca was sent a brochure granting the right to buy annual season tickets to games thru stadium building licenses. Yocca applied for the stadium building license and listed his seating preference. The Steelers sent him a letter notifying him of the section in which his seat was located. A diagram was included with detailed parameters of the section, but it differed from the original brochures diagram. The Steelers also sent Yocca documents including a clause that read,† This agreement contains the entire agreement of the parties. † Yocca signed the documents, and the Steelers told him the specific location of the seats.When he arrived to the stadium, the seat was not where he expected it to be. Yocca filed a suit against the Steelers, the defendants appealed to the state supreme court. Since the parties, without any fraud or mistake, have purposely put their arrangements in writing, the law states the writing to be the only evidence of their agreement. All previous negotiations, conversations and verbal agreements can not be combined or added to evidence. â€Å"Once a writing is determined to be the parties entire contract, the parol evidence rule applies and evidence of any previous written negations or agreements nvolving the same subject matter as the contract is almost always inadmissible to explain or vary the terms of the contract. Because the plaintiffs based their complaint on the claim that the defendants violated the terms of the brochure, and the court held the brochure as not part of the contract, the case was dismissed. The Yocca v. Pittsburg Steelers Sports Inc case is similar to the Fans v. New York Highlanders Inc, in which the fan(s) paid for specific seats that they were guaranteed to have.The fans signed up for their seat choices and received confirmation that the seats were reserved, same as Yoc ca’s agreement with the Steelers. A few differences between these two cases are that Yocca signs a clause that reads, â€Å"This agreement contains the entire agreement of the parties. † But this clause was signed AFTER he applied for the SBL documents. With the Highlanders case, we are not giving enough information as to what the fans signed off to, but we can make an assumption that the fans signed off to a similar clause because they both are applying for stadium building license.Also, in Yocca’s case the stadium was not reducing its dimensions. Both cases had plaintiffs purchasing â€Å"specific† seats in which they were guaranteed and resulting in having a different seat or wanting reimbursement. With the fans v. Highlanders, there was no brochure or previous negations; the plaintiff’s signed off on the SBL which is the only evidence of their agreement. Seeing as to the defendant violating the agreement, the plaintiff’s are subject to a reimbursement. Decision: In a court of law, the parties’ entire contract (the Stadium Building License Document) is the only evidence of their agreement.All negations, conversations, and brochures cannot be added to parol evidence. Because the plaintiff’s based their case complaint that the defendant violated the terms of the Stadium Building License, the defendants owe the fans a reimbursement of $10,000. Citations: 1. Clarkson, Miller. Business Law. 11. Yocca v. Pittsburg Steeler Sports, Inc. , Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 2004 578 Pa. , 854 A. 2D, 425: Pages 313-314. 2. http://www. associatedcontent. com/article/23473/how_to_write_a_legal_brief_pg2

Fortune Global 500 Corporation Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Fortune Global 500 Corporation - Case Study Example Samsung electronics started in 1969 manufacturing products such as Television sets, radios, computer accessories and security appliances. Mobile phones came later on in the 90’s. In the 90’s (Business Week, 2006), the company established factories in Britain, United States of America, Thailand, Mexico,china and Spain. South Korea is Samsung’s mother country but the company has opened up subsidiaries in many other countries, that total up to about 67. 2 In most countries where Samsung operates, the mixed economy market system is in place. The system blends free enterprise as well as elements of state control. Some resources are owned by the state and others are owned by private entities (Lindblom 2002). The other element of mixed economy system is that the state is most active in influencing tax regimes and laws. The private businesses are allowed to operate within these laws when making and implementing their in house decisions. Lawful systems that exist in count ries where Samsung operates in are based on religious law, civil law and common law or a blend of the three. Market systems and legal systems can affect a company’s operations, in this case, the Samsung Company. The type of the market system in a country of operation can either propel growth for the company or spell doom for the company in that particular country. For example, if a country subscribes to the planned economy, where the state decides everything as well as controlling all businesses, the company operating in that country is most likely to close shop since the business environment is not conducive. The same case applies to the legal systems. If a country has detrimental and rigid legal systems that do not favors business initiatives and ventures, companies operating in that particular country are bound to face numerous difficulties in there day to day operations (Kritzer and Silbey, 2003). Therefore, success of companies operating in various countries is dependent on favorable market and legal systems. 3 Political risk in this scenario can be described as the risk a host state will make as it formulates and implements political decisions and these decisions prove to have magnified effects on a multi-national company’s profits and/or objectives. Political risks can be immense property destruction brought about by conflicts or revolutions. Political risk can also be of financial nature, where a state introduces retrogressive laws and tax regimes that hinder capital movement and profit making (Kritzer and Silbey, 2003). Political risks can force a company to increase prices of their products due to the high cost of production. They can also force a company to close shop in that particular country if the investor climate in that particular country is not conducive. If I was a political consultant for a company, I would advice the company to first conduct research on the political risks in a country before venturing into the investments. T herefore, political risks can be related to the market and legal systems that countries have subscribed. 4 A company like Samsung must satisfy a number of stakeholders as it conducts its operations. First, it must satisfy the needs of its clients and learn effectively on how to cope with high demand for its products and services. The company must also take into consideration the welfare of its employees seriously in order to boost morale and Productivity. It is also feasible for the company to satisfy also the host

Economic and Ethical Issues of Pricing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Economic and Ethical Issues of Pricing - Essay Example Using prices may be because every company wants to gain and retain competitive edge at a price level. Pricing cannot be done in isolation considering that there are number of economic issues in the business environment that firms must take into consideration before setting up prices in order to remain relevant (Devan, 2011). Key economic issues that may affect a business’s pricing strategy include but not limited to level of competition, recession, demand, cost of services, elasticity and government policy. The level of competition will definitely affect the organization’s preferred pricing strategy (Martins, 2010). The tax advisory firm is already facing competition from non-CPA market competitors and do-it-yourself tax-preparation software packages. Provided you are not a market a leader in the industry, competitive pricing will always have a great impact on your service prices. This is because market leaders are renowned for establishing standard prices against which comparisons will be made on other services price offering. It is the wish of every company to sell its services with a high margin but unfortunately, this is not possible in a highly competitive market as existing competitors are likely to offer identical services at considerably lower price. When trying to set prices as in our case where the tax advisory firm is already facing competition, it is not worthwhile to avoid competitors. Devan (2011) asserts that this is because an intense competition will always increase flexibility of company price offering. It is advisable, that the decision to compete with lower price offering should cautious, because competitors often respond with lower prices if they perceive negative impact of your low prices on market share. The level of market demand is another important issue that can affect pricing strategy of products/service (Devan, 2011). Demand in this case refers to the quantity of product that the client is willing and ready to pay for. In case demand exceeds available supply, in our case being service offering then there tend to be an increased rush for the few available service providers and this is likely to inflate product prices. According to Martins (2010), business enjoys when demand is very high in the industry, as this will not significantly influence service prices unlike in situation where demand is low with a high number of suppliers in the market. Recession will often have an impact on the pricing strategy of an organization. During recession, companies tend to set their prices low owing to the consumers low spending power. Clients often demand for lower prices during recession than in normal economic and this force business to cut down their prices to be attractive to clients and avoid closing down owing to lack of business. Elasticity is a vital consideration when designing an organizations pricing. A firm must consider the reaction of clients to its products in case of changes in prices. A high ela stic product/service is that which a slight increase in price will discourage consumers and thus low demand (Devan, 2011). Inelastic products are those, whose demand is not affected by the changes in prices whether upwards or downward. A company needs to consider the type of service offering t

Draw out Your Future Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Draw out Your Future - Essay Example Robbin and Judge states that "companies that make themselves lean can be more agile, efficient, and productive-but only if they make cuts carefully and help employees through the process" (479). It means that an organization should consider internal reinforcements rather than external reinforcements because it is correlated with Clawson's argument on why people behave. Similarly, Clawson believes that the genetic endowment, the unfulfilled emotional holes and the human memes form one's personalities. As a result, Clawson comes up with the rational-emotive model, the reward and punishment model and the self-concept model as reinforcement mechanism designed for organizational structure.Clawson finds one of internal reinforcements accordant with the rational-emotive model. This model claims that we could use events, perceptions and observations, set of values, assumptions, belief and expectation (VABEs) to influence oneself's own conclusion, lead to their emotions and end up with their projected behaviors. For example, an observed behavior results from an absorption of opinion leader's reaction to certain situation and the object act like "a leader's point of view" (Clawson). Moreover, affective events theory suggests "work events trigger positive or negative emotional reactions, to which employees' personalities and moods predispose them to respond with greater or lesser intensity (Robbins and Judge, 135). It drives to analysis that we could correct organizational behavior that a leader should show to complete task to employees.

Ethics Reflection Paper Term Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Ethics Reflection - Term Paper Example This situation does create the impressions that businesses do not really have a set of ethical principles to follow as it conducts it operations and that these do not feel any responsibility toward society. Such notions may be the result of certain corporations that are indeed callously advancing activities that negatively affect people while reaping great profits at the same time. One proof is the prevalent concept that, â€Å"from an economic point of view, one can only afford to be ethical as long as one remains competitive† (Duska 2007, p.62). In order to reduce the intensity of the conflict between business and other sectors of society, as well between it and the employees, there is a need to focus on the education and reeducation of the management and the owners on business ethics and social responsibility. Ferrell, Fraedrich, and Ferrell explain that â€Å"business ethics comprises the principles and standards that guide behavior in the world of business† (2010, p. 6). This definition emphasizes the need for companies to refer always to such moral precepts and standards as they embark on activities related to their respective businesses.

Inflation and Debt Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Inflation and Debt - Term Paper Example Cochrane basically talks about how budget deficits and large amounts of debt results in inflationary threats, or that those lead to heightened risks of what Cochrane describes as the â€Å"run on the dollar†. The gist is that deficits in the future impact current inflation rates upwards, and Cochrane asserts that the Federal Reserve is powerless to deal with this reality. The Fed view of inflation is basically anchored on Keynesian concepts, and Cochrane further asserts that this, together with monetarist inflation concepts, is incapable of dealing with the inflationary threats that deficits bring to the table. Cochrane notes that the fiscal situation is dire in several respects, chief among them is that the culture of entitlement that lies at the core of American society ensures that the deficits in the future will continue to be large, as the expenditures to fund the â€Å"entitlements† alongside other expenditures are poised to dwarf government revenues. This is a re cipe for sustained deficits that need in turn to be funded either by debt or by printing more money. In the event that the public sees printing money as an inevitability, then the consequences include the greater likelihood of that â€Å"run on the dollar† (Cochrane). II. Fiscal Inflation Fiscal inflation in gist is simply inflation caused by fiscal policy, as when the government spends more money than it has, leading to borrowing, and to the printing of money to fund the deficits. Fiscal inflation can be seen as the flipside of large government spending leading to deficits in the budget, and the literature finds support in the assertion that the inflationary effects of large amounts of debt and of budget deficits are beyond the control of the Fed, which operates under the assumption that there can be no lasting inflationary pressures from activities that do not introduce liquidity to the market via the printing of new money (Cochrane; Ferguson). Debt and deficits, according to the view of the Fed, is not similar to printing fresh money, and does not have the same inflationary effect as the latter. This contrary view is borne out by the thinking that as long as there is no new money printed, and where the government has the power to issue debt to finance deficits in t he budget, then there is no threat of inflation. This notwithstanding the established correlation between increased government spending and the reduction in taxation to induce economic growth as

Can and should the arts be used for emancipatory or progressive Essay

Can and should the arts be used for emancipatory or progressive purposes Answer this question drawing on relevant cultural theories on the relationship between the arts and politics - Essay Example In this regard, the arts are usually associated with recreation, distractions and amusements (Wolff & Geahigan, 1997, p. 1). Proponents of the arts argue however that the arts are embodied knowledge and quite often interprets, constructs and criticizes life. In this regard, the arts like the sciences, also transfers knowledge. The arts aids in shaping an â€Å"understanding of the world† as it is or as it should be and as such can and often does, guide progress and emancipation (Metallinos, 2009, p. 146). Therefore, the arts can be powerful communication sources and may transfer knowledge relative to social, political and cultural realities and in doing so can raise consciousness and lead to progress and emancipation. The purpose of this research paper is to explore and analyse the assumption that the arts are powerful social, political and cultural communications and whether or not the arts should be used for progressive and emancipatory purposes. This is a particularly complex issue as arts are not all expressive and some are wholly aimed at creating pleasure and economic investment. Even so, given the communication associated with the arts, this research paper explores whether or not it is fair to impose emancipation and progressive responsibilities on artists. In order to determine whether or not the arts can and should be used for emancipatory and progressive purposes, cultural and political theories of the arts will be analysed. The arts are often defined as representations and expressions of life, nature, objects and human feelings and activities. Art as a representation and/or an expression is immediately defined as a communication between the artists and the audience to which it is directed or exposed. In this regard, art is said to be reflective in that it often invokes human emotions and thoughts. At the same time, some arts such as instrumental classical or any

Writing for Different Cultures and Audiences Annotated Bibliography

Writing for Different Cultures and Audiences - Annotated Bibliography Example For this kind of research, it plays the role of acquainting the research with the basic information on Australian culture and how culture has changed from time to time. Clancy talks about the evolution of Australia from the time when it was only inhabited by the Aboriginals to the moment when immigrants began arriving and settling in the Island. The book traces the arrival of Europeans in the 18th century and also examines the people of Anglo=Irish origin who migrated to Australia. It sort of talks about the Australian identity and highlights the popularity of Christianity and how globalization has led to urbanization of the bush that Australia was. Apart from giving a chronological account of the metamorphosis of Australia, the book also covers tourism, sports and its significance, national barbeque and the influence that Indians and Europeans have on the country. The book is important for the research because it covers the fundamental issues of Australian culture and it evolution. It, however, fails to properly cover the Aboriginals who form the basis of Australian culture. It, however, still forms the basis of the research and will be used toget her with other books to get a conclusive research on Australian culture. In this book, Colson covers the culture of the Aboriginals. The Aboriginals are the indigenous people of Australia, who have complained about the atrocity committed against them by the immigrants who moved to Australia. Their culture was affected by the influx of people into Australia. However, they form a significant basis of Australian cultural history. Colson chronicles the culture of the Aboriginals their ceremonies, art and how their culture has influenced Australia. It also covers the family structure and society of other indigenous Australian cultures. It is a short book but has important information on the culture of Aboriginals. Since it is

Families that work Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Families that work - Essay Example The policy failures are attributed to a false dichotomy in terms of minimal public commitment and participation in care giving. Notably, US working families policies are based on privately based and market driven labour market demands, instead of citizen-based social policy frameworks. This has then made US to have the highest wage-gap between working males and females, in addition to having the highest family poverty levels compared to European nations and other English-speaking countries families. Overall, Gornick &Meyers argues that US has a rather pathetic parental and maternal employment structures coupled with a relatively restricted cash allotment to families (2005). Consequently, this has made American working parents especially mothers to face competing responsibilities, which not only leaves them reprimanded in their workplaces but also overburdened and drained at home. Gornick & Meyers also take issue of how childcare in US is mostly privately driven and left entirely to w omen, which is something that makes US to have a smaller portion of working mothers operating part-time and with high working hours (2005). Although the US has elevated maternal employment levels compared to Scandinavian nations, Canada and some continental European nations, there is minimal policy to shore up mothers in their labor-market commitment. Gornick &Meyers observes that even existing legal frameworks such as Pregnancy Discrimination Act or the Temporary Disability Insurance Act does not enforce provisions such as maternal or parental paid-leave (2005). There is low level and even lack of policy frameworks, which can enable mothers to take a couple of days off from their work after birth without sacrificing their job security or paycheques. Consequently, working mothers are faced with job interruptions, forgone earnings, and reduced career opportunities. Moreover, families experience extremely high out of pocket child-care expenditures, parents spending extensive hours at work, in addition to experiencing stressful adjustments to job schedules. Even though the US has progressive policies on work gender equality such as fathers being given leave rights, Gornick &Meyers observe that the nation has no provision that allows fathers to spend a considerable amount of time with the mother and child during the first year of the child birth without having to sacrifice their wages (2005). There are no provisions, which will ensure that both new working mother and father are allowed to work part-time without shifting employers or even losing their health benefits until the child goes to elementary school. Gornick &Meyers also tackle the fact that the US lacks provisions that will ensure that childcare expenses are offered to working parents at a much lower cost (2005). They observe that working family’s earnings do not balance the requirement of care, especially in meeting the needs of modern families. This is attributed to the failure of the traditional American employment-forcing outcomes identified by the lack of options for employees in deciding labor-market wages, granting of health insurance only via employment, and a labor structure,

How to Develop Leadership Skills Essay Example for Free

How to Develop Leadership Skills Essay Malaysia is one of the countries that practice democratic system. Many countries around the world practice democratic system such as United States, India, South Africa, Singapore, Australia, Canada, Japan and United Kingdom. In â€Å"Democratic Style,† (2008), the democratic leadership style means encouraging people to share their ideas, and then collect all the available information into the best possible decision. This leadership style consists of the leader sharing the decision-making with the group members. This style of leadership includes discussion and sharing of ideas and encouragement of people to feel good about their involvement. The democratic leadership style is very open and collegial style of running a team. Leaders who practices democratic style can organize company effectively. To be a good leader, there are three ways to develop leadership skills in an organization through democratic style such as a leader should practice positive attitude, listen to other people’s opinions and always motivate the subordinates. Firstly, a leader should practice positive attitude in the workplace. According to Robert Christopher (2007), there are some positive attitudes that someone should practice as a leader. For example, he has to have an open mind. As an example, he would not easily punish the employees for their mistakes until he knows the reason. To explain more, one staff who comes late due to emergency care would not be punished. Therefore, a good leader should investigate first before make a decision. Another point is a good leader should also have a wisdom and confidence. Thus, he can make a good decision to lead the organization without doubts. For example, he must select which type of investment the company should choose. Therefore, he must be confidence to make this important decision to ensure the company’s success. In addition, a good leader should be a positive role model to subordinates. Besides, a leader as a role model in an organization can affect the attitude and give a positive impact to subordinates. The subordinates will follow the attitude that their leader shows to them. Secondly, in â€Å"3Cs of Exemplary Leadership,† (2012), a leader should listen to other people’s opinions because it is one of the criteria of a democratic leadership. In that case, a thoughtful leader should listen and accept the opinions of subordinates in order to share ideas. When the leader listens to employees’ opinion, they will appreciate more and feel like they are parts of team. In this way, a leader would gain more respect by subordinates. A good leader should not ignore and must respect the subordinates’ ideas because they will be hurt and think a leader is selfless. In addition, a leader should accept the opinions from subordinates and evaluate it with the committee members. In that case, having a committee member is important in order to make justful decision. This can be done through an evaluation form, suggestion box, and doing informal meeting every week. Moreover, a leader should not be too sensitive and he needs not only to listen to other people’s ideas but also their complaints. Therefore, a problem may be solved through their complaints. He must not be emotional; instead he should be wise to make a decision. Therefore, to be democratic leaders, they must to accept any opinion of subordinates to improve their leadership skills. Finally, to be a good motivator through the democratic style, a leader should motivate the subordinates. All employees must be motivated to work for a company or organization in doing daily tasks. If no motivation is present in an employee, their quality of work will deteriorate. According to Robert Christopher (2007), a leader should provide motivation to encourage the subordinates to get into action. For example, a leader has to act professionally to help employees complete the task given by carefully organize and sequence the components of each task to be assigned for employees. One main responsibility in educating employees is to make instructions as clear and precise as possible. A leader should not get angry easily because employees need to train. Therefore, a leader must understand employees situation. Besides that, a good leader should reward their subordinates for their outstanding performances for they may establish certain reward. Rewards can be in the form of token or gift, be one-time bonuses or pay increments. In this way, employees will be appreciated and feel more motivated to work better. So, if good leaders want their employees to be good in all work, they must motivate their employees to achieve organizational excellence through the democratic leadership style. In conclusion, democratic style is one of the ways for an organization to succeed. The democratic style will enable the leader to maintain relationship with the subordinates. This leadership style is one of the most effective and it has created advanced productivity, better contributions from subordinates and boost group morale (Woods, 2010). It can also lead to betters ideas and creative solutions to certain problems. The democratic style train all staff in the company to communicate with each other, play a part and participate in the group’s discussion chaired by the leader. In short, a leader will be more responsible to perform his duty and lead the organization to succeed in the future through democratic style. Reference Cherry, Kendra. (Ed.). (n.d.).What is democratic leadership?.Retrieved August 1, 2012, fromhttp://psychology.about.com/od/leadership/f/democratic-leadership.htm Gill, Roger. (2006). Theory and practice of leadership. London: SAGE Publications Ltd. Leadership styles: democratic leadership style. (n.d.). Retrieved August 1, 2012, fromhttp://www.leadership-toolbox.com/democratic-leadership-style.html Lussier, N. Robert, Achua, F. Christopher. (2007). Effective leadership. United States: South-Western. Transformation Academy.(n.d.).3 Cs of exemplary leadership (even if youre not the boss!).Retrieved August 1, 2012, from http://www.transformationacademy.com/?p=1651

Uses of Renewable Energy in Rural Areas

Uses of Renewable Energy in Rural Areas 2. Literature Review According to data from 2005, about 90% of the EU-27 territory is considered rural (predominantly rural and intermediate regions) where 54% of the population lives (EU, 2008). Hence, that the EU has constantly developed different policies orientated to these particular regions. Large amount of studies have been done over the years about sustainable development in rural areas, originating different socio economics theories, policies and systems, even some of them have been put in practice with more or less success in different countries. This review will therefore highlight some works which have been done with the aim of achieving a development in so difficult areas mainly dependent on agriculture and farming economies. Due to the big number of studies done over the years, it would be very difficult to include all of them in this study. Consequently, this review is mainly focusing the attention to those European, national or regional policies that concern the topic of this thesis. Principally, this chapter will review those works about development of rural areas; farming co-ops as an important tool for this objective; Common Agricultural Policy and its positives and negatives influences; and the use of renewable energies for a sustainable and local development in rural areas. It is not the aim of this review to analyse all the studies done about sustainable development in rural areas, cause it would be out of the scope of this thesis, or at least it would be too wide subject, and it would need its own study. Consequently, the literature has been reduced to those policies about rural development and renewable energy done by public institutions such as European Union, Spanish ministries and regional administrations. Neither is it the objective of this thesis to do a study about community benefits from renewable energies as a whole, therefore the range of studies treated in this chapter are merely those more related with the topic of this work. As there are different areas in which it is necessary to concentrate on, the review will be divided in different sections according to the field under study: farming coops as and their role in the development of rural areas; Common Agricultural Policy; Rural Development Policy; and Renewable energies in rural areas. 2.1. Farming cooperative systems. There is a large amount of studies done over the years showing the important role that the cooperative systems can play in the development of rural areas or even poverty alleviation (de la Jara y Ayala, 1992; Lele, 1981; Là ³pez and Marcuello, 2005; Monasterios, 2009; Morales, 1995; Nevares, 1963; Novkovic, 2008; Simmons and Birchall, 2008). These model of company contributes to the rural development not only theoretically but also from the reality. The International Cooperative Alliance (ICA) (2007) defines co-operative as â€Å"autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social, and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly-owned and democratically-controlled enterprise. They are based on the values of self-help, self-responsibility, democracy, equality, equity and solidarity. In the tradition of their founders, co-operative members believe in the ethical values of honesty, openness, social responsibility and caring for others†. Là ³pez and Marcuello (2005) not only assume the obvious role that the co-operatives play as an organizational reference, but also, they could not neglect the value of this model as a socio-economic actor. Accoring to their study, joining this two functions co-operatives can be one the pillars of the economy and society, becoming in a fundamental factor of development in rural regions. Simmons and Birchall (2008) used the same reasons exposed to propose the use of cooperative societies by developing countries as an essential tool to achieve a sustainable economic growth and alleviate the poverty. However, not only developing countries are using these models, but also the developed countries do, and try to protect, reinforce and increase the creation of co-operatives. For instance, Spain has put a great effort throughout the years in the growth of the cooperatives, even the article 129.2 of the Spanish Constitution (1978) says that â€Å"the public authorities shall effectively promote the various forms of participation in enterprise and facilitate cooperative enterprises by means of appropriate legislation†. Consequently, Spain count with the law 27/1999 of cooperatives (1999) that foments the creation of this type of organisations as a key to impulse the growth of the economy and employment, highlighting the ethical values that the cooperative principles such as solidarity, democracy, equality and social vocation, have, considering them indispensables to build an enterprise where the members feel identified with. Proof of the investment made in the cooperatives is that they are very well established in different sectors, especially in the agriculture, in which, for instance, in the European Union and North America imply between 30 and 70% of the market (Cropp Ingalsbe, 1989; van Bekkum van Dijk, 1997; Nilsson, 2001). Besides, there are different international organisations that represents this type of societies joining forces in terms of defending their interests out of the local level. Such as the case of COGECA (General Confederation of Agricultural Cooperatives in the European Union) (2009), which it was created in 1959, and nowadays represents about 40,000 farmers cooperatives, employing 660,000 people. COGECA (2009) recognised the importance of the agricultural cooperatives in the rural regions, being the most important development operators and becoming the connexion of the socio-economic in rural regions. COGECA (2009) shows how the figures originated by the agricultural cooperatives in the European Union, such as more than 50% of the share in the supply of agricultural inputs; more than 60% in the collection, processing and marketing of agricultural products; and a global annual turnover of three hundred billion euros; speak by themselves. Going to a more local scale, de la Jara y Ayala (1992) studied the influence of the agricultural cooperatives in the development of the rural region of Extremadura (Spain), taking advantage of his experienced in the area, creating and working with cooperatives since 1975. The study reveals that, in a region affected by the significant emigration of the population to the cities between 1960 and 1981, clearly dependent on the agriculture from the economic and social point of view with a 27,2% of workforce and generating the 20,24% of its GDP by 1987 (while the figures for the whole country were 13,8% and 5,43% respectively); the different policies accomplished by the national or regional authorities, promoted cooperative societies to develop the region and create stable employment. With especial mention to the plan elaborated in 1982, PECOEX (Cooperative Experimental Plan of Extremadura), on the bases of which 98 new cooperatives were created employing more than 1,000 people. All the t rust deposited in this kind of socioeconomic system, made that the 24,71% of the working population in Extremadura was directly linked with farming cooperatives in 1992. Besides, de la Jara y Ayala (1992) made some case studies in populations between 3,000 and 10,000 inhabitants, revealing a significant influence of the farming cooperatives, especially in the smallest villages, as generators of wealth and stable employment. Actually, in the cases studied the workforce dependent on farming coops was between 52 and 83%. And as consequence of the growth of the cooperative societies, the villages have seen the increase of other commercial activities, agricultural industry and standard of living, remarking the role of the agricultural cooperatives as driving force of the development of their communities. However, there is a significant number of studies arguing the efficiency of this kind of organisations. Among others, Katz and Boland (2002); Lele (1981); Là ³pez and Marcuello (2005); Nilsson (2001); Ortmann and King (2007); suggest that cooperatives suffer from technical, scale and allocative infficiency. Basically all these studies have been done analysing mainly the economic point of view, seeing the cooperatives societies as businesses and leaving on the side the social consequences of this kind of organisations in their community. Nevertheless, cooperatives are still competing in different markets prospering and growing. If they were truly uneconomic they would be eliminated of the markets. Nilsson (2001) and Là ³pez and Marcuello (2005), recognised that one of the possible options of the survival of the cooperatives could be the public support that they have. Usually, due to the important social role of the cooperatives, the different governments compensate this organisations with lower taxes and/or interest subsidies, for instance. Là ³pez and Marcuello (2005) analysed the situation of different agricultural cooperatives, trying to identified the link between their economic situation and the subsidies they were getting from the European Union through the CAP (Common Agricultural Policy). The study did not discovered that due to the grants that they received from the CAP the cooperative societies are becoming more inefficient, however, it revealed that these subsidies are allowing some inefficient cooperatives to survive in the market, making them dependent on the European financial support. Consequently with a reduction in the CAP could cause the decease of those inefficient organisations. 2.2. Common Agricultural Policy. CAP. The Treaty of Rome (1957) commence the Common Agricultural Policy in terms of protecting a sector that, by then, employed one third of the population generating the 20% of the GDP (Bureau and Matthew, 2005). The objectives of the CAP set in the Treaty of Rome (1957) were: to increase agricultural productivity by promoting technical progress and by ensuring the rational development of agricultural production and the optimum utilisation of the factors of production, in particular labour; to ensure a fair standard of living for the agricultural community, in particular by increasing the individual earnings of persons engaged in agriculture; to stabilise markets; to assure the availability of supplies; to ensure that supplies reach consumers at reasonable prices. Bureau and Matthew (2005) exposed that the main measure implemented to achieve these objectives was through prices intervention, achieving a stabilisation of the prices and a rapid technological evolution. Consequently, the costs decreased and the production increased significantly, reaching some of the goals. However, the actual consequences were that the population in rural areas decreased due to the low income, and the consume grew, but at a lower rate than the production, generating a surplus disposed in domestic and international markets with almost no competition due to the subsided exports. Nevertheless, the CAP remained untouched until its first great reform, the MacSharry reform that was implemented in 1994. This reform tried to reduce the surplus cutting the intervention prices and compensating the farmers with a direct payment independent of the quantity produced. At the same time it introduced some social policies such as early retirement and agri-environmental scheme (European Parliament, 2001; Fennell, 1993). It would be with the necessity of preparation for the incorporation of the new members to the EU, when the CAP was further reformed with the Agenda 2000 (1999), which introduced new price cuts and reinforced a second pillar of the policy to support environmental and social services and the quality of the products creating a Rural Development Regulation for the following six year. However is in the mid-term CAP reform (2002) when appeared the decoupled payments, called Single Farm Payments (SFP), which depend on the commodity not affecting the production. With this reform, the subsidies do not depend on the volume of production and, to get access to them, it is required to follow the EU regulations regarding environment, food safety and quality, and animal welfare. The SFP and the new cuts in intervention prices started in between 2005 and 2007, depending on the country. Other measures of the reform were, first, to fixed the budget of the CAP for the period 2006-2013, so the nominal quantity would be the same, even with the introduction of Romania and Bulgaria by 2007; and second, to strength the second pillar of the CAP, creating a rural development policy which began to be applied in 2005. All the CAP reforms have been worked out with the aim of reducing the direct subsidies to the prices or volume of production. As Bureau and Matthew (2005) exposed that, after 12 years of reforms, the intervention prices had been cut in more than a 45%, so the support is not being linked to the quantity and to increase the income of the farmers, they will need to do it through the marketplace, and not thanks to the subsidies. Besides, 5% of the SFP was transferred to rural development measures. Although, the scope of the SFP were to reduce the incentives for intensification, this achievement is still unknown. And another issue detected is that the decoupling differs across the different states, and actually, they are allowed to keep part of the previous payments, hence that some countries, like France, still make them, because of the fearing of land abandonment. Despite the attempts of the EU of reforming the CAP to solve the problems caused in the international markets and developing countries, and at the same time maintaining the main objectives within the domestic markets, there are different organisations and studies made, claiming for a further reform of the CAP (Bureau et al., 2005; Redclift et al., 1999; FAO, 2009; Rice, 2003; Butault et al., 2006; WTO, 2006; WTO, 2008). Bureau et al. (2005) summarized the different causes for a further reform of the CAP. Among those are economic, because 40% of the EU budget is going to the CAP, however 50% of it is going to only the 7% of the beneficiaries. Besides there is a growing feeling of spending the money on other sectors like research and development or education. Other reasons are environmental, so making a more ecological CAP, it would be possible to decrease the production farming and intensification. On the contrary, the reality of the EU-27 agriculture, reported by the Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development (2008), is that it represents 6,2% of employment, varying from 1% to 33% in United Kingdom and Romania respectively, while accounting for 1.8% of GDP, differing from 0.4% to 9.5% in the different countries with Luxembourg at the bottom of the list and Romania at the top. It is evident that the importance of this sector is decreasing in EU-27, although there is still a strong and very important agrifood industry. There is a significant number of farmers and agri-cooperatives associations, represented at EU level by COPA-COGECA (2009), that defends the CAP as a measure to ensure food stability and quality; moderate price for consumers and fair earnings for farmers; employment and public services. It is still soon to have clear evidences of the consequences of the last reforms of the CAP, and even more difficult to associate the changes in the agri-food sector exclusively with the modifications of the CAP, cause, as any other sector, it has been affected by the difficult economic situation of the last few years. On the other hand, the consequences cannot be analysed in a European level and it is much clear at a national or even regional level. In this section, several transformation that the Spanish agricultural sector has suffered in the last few years and, predictably, could be linked to the several CAP reforms, are highlighted. The coordinator of farming organisations, COAG, (2003) predicted some of the impacts of the PAC reform done in 2003. Among them, it brought out the possible reduction in the agrarian exploitations incomes and with it the farmers income between 10% and 50% depending on the cultivated crop. It would imply the abandonment of the farming activity estimating the disappearance of about 1.77 million jobs. In terms of the reduction of the cultivated area, the COAG (2003) made an estimation of the area that would not be cultivated depending on the product (2.1) accounting a total area of 1,757,250 ha. More recently, the National Commission of Agriculture, Environment and Fish (2008) showed that the agrarian working population has decreased in an 8% for the previous four years, and at the same time, the agrarian income is about 65% of the average. Also the COAG (2009) has just reported a decrease in the Spanish agrarian income of 26.3% since 2003, the second worst figure for the last 20 years only overtaken by the registered data from 1992, associating the PAC as one of the causes among others. Nevertheless, due to the pressures, the European Commission, Fischer (2009), started to work on the next reforms of the CAP which should come after 2013, recognising the importance of reducing the direct payments dramatically after 2013. But, due to the high value of the sector and the significant number of population dependent on it, or at least living in rural areas, Fischer (2009) also emphasized the importance of reorientating the CAP to its second pillar, rural development. 2.3. Rural Development Policy. The OECD (2009) defined rural local units as those whose population density is less than 150 inhabitants per square kilometre. But also classifying in three different categories: â€Å"Predominantly Rural region† (PR): more than half of the dwellers of the region lives in rural communes. â€Å"Intermediate Region† (IR): between 15% and 50% of the inhabitants live in rural local units. And those regions with an urban centre with more than 200.000 inhabitants representing more than 25% of the population in a â€Å"predominantly rural† region. â€Å"Predominantly Urban region† (PU): the population living in rural local units is below 15%. Or when having an urban centre of more than 500.000 inhabitants, this represents more than a quarter of the total population of an â€Å"intermediate† region. According to the Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development of the European Union (2008), about 90% of the EU-27 territory is considered rural (predominantly rural and intermediate regions) where 54% of the population lives. However, rural areas are not only important because of their extension, but also because they offer 53% of the workforce and 42% of the GVA in EU-27 (83% and 74% respectively for the new members). In those terms, the primary sector in the EU-27 provide 6.2% of employment (varying from 1% to 33% in UK and Romania) and 1.8% of GDP (from 0.4% in Luxembourg to 9.5% in Romania). Nevertheless, the socioeconomic indicators of these regions are much lower than those in non-rural areas as it can be observed in the figures of appendix A. Due to the consecutive reforms of the CAP, as it was explained in previous sections, the agriculture was going to suffer significant changes, specially in those situations where it has been clearly dependent on the European subsidies. Being the agriculture the main source of employment and economic development in rural areas, the problems affecting the sector could have repercussions on the entire rural society. In an attempt to compensate the lack of funding on the agriculture, the EU developed a program to support the rural areas. Agenda 2000 (1999) constituted rural development policy as the second pillar of the CAP creating a unique regulation for the whole EU between 2000 and 2006. Although, it would be in the Mid Term Reform of the CAP (2002) where it was decided to completely reinforce the rural development policy transferring funds from the first to the second pillar of the CAP. The Council Regulation (EC) No 1698/2005 (2005) originated the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD), allowing to regulate the rural development policy through one fund, one management and control system. This regulation along with the Council Decision 2006/144/EC (2006) defined the priorities and measures for rural development as well as the objectives and the strategic to follow for the period 2007-2013. The objectives of the new rural development policy are: improving the competitiveness of agriculture and forestry by supporting restructuring, development and innovation; improving the environment and the countryside by supporting land management; improving the quality of life in rural areas and encouraging diversification of economic activity. To achieve these objectives, the Council Regulation (EC) No 1698/2005 (2005) and the Council Decision 2006/144/EC (2006) specified different key actions acting in diverse fields. Those strategies and plans were divided in four axes according to the objective they are aiming to cover: * Axis 1: â€Å"Improving the competitiveness of the agricultural and forestry sector† The agriculture is losing importance as the main activity in the rural areas. However, the value of the agrifood sector in the rural economy and its role as food and services supplier, it is fundamental to preserve it. The growth of the market due to the enlargement of the EU is also increasing the competitiveness. Hence that factors such as efficiency and innovation are keys for the survival and development of the sector. Increasing competitiveness means reduction of costs production, improvement of food quality, value-added products, less pollutant and more environmentally friendly production technology, for instance. * Axis 2: â€Å"Improving the environment and the countryside† Involve all those measures orientated to preserve the EUs landscapes and natural resources guaranteeing a sustainable use of the land. These actions included in the axis 2 should contribute to the fight against climate change, improvement of water quality and biodiversity. * Axis 3: â€Å"The quality of life in rural areas and diversification of the rural economy† The aim of this axis is to help to create new employment possibilities with the diversification of the activities to those non-agriculture related. All those measures associated to improve the access to infrastructure, better environment and basic services, are also included in this axis. * Axis 4: â€Å"Leader†. The leader axis is a continuation of previous programmes implemented by the EU. Basically it contributes to the achievement of the priorities gathered in the axis 1, 2 and 3, by supporting the execution of local development strategies. This axis is created to reinforce the rural development in the long term encouraging actions leaded by local actors. These actions could ascent environmental consciousness, and invest in renewable resources and energy. The Council Regulation (EC) No 1698/2005 (2005) also established that each member state should create its own strategy plan and programme according to its situation and characteristics. Consequently, the Spanish Ministry of agriculture, fisheries and food (2007a) (2007b), recently renamed Ministry of the environment, rural and marine affairs (2008), did its job and created the correspondent documents in terms of establishing the new European policy. Besides, the law 45/2007 (2007) approved by the Spanish parliament, establishes and regulates the diverse measures to support the sustainable development in rural areas. The law takes as a reference the European policy adapting it to its particular social, financial and environmental situation. As the Council Regulation (EC) No 1698/2005 (2005), the Spanish law include measures to improve the diversification of the economy, the quality of life and to protect and recover the natural and cultural resources of the rural environment. 2.4. Renewable energies in rural areas. In terms of establishing a plan to comply the Kioto protocol and create new commitments after 2012 for the reductions of carbon emissions, the European Union (2009) fixed an objective of 20% of the overall energy generation from renewable sources by 2020. The European Union also highlighted the importance of the development of renewable energies to guarantee the energy supply in the Community; to create new employment opportunities; and to produce a regional development, especially in rural areas. At the same time, the European Union (2009) emphasized the value of boosting investment at regional and local levels to promote the renewable energy installations and with it also promote the creation of employment; regional and local development; and social cohesion. In the case of Spain, in its renewable energy plan (2005) acknowledged the importance of investing in those areas where the resources are located according to achieve its renewable energy targets. It assumed that those resources are mainly in rural areas, creating a socio-economic benefit increasing the employment and stimulating the economic development in these specific areas which are suffering from depopulation, contributing to develop sustainably the rural areas. The Spanish renewable energy plan (2005) also expressed the necessity of promoting the renewable energy development taking into account other European policies, especially the common agricultural policy and rural development. Congruently, the Spanish Royal Decree 1578/2008 (2008) recognised the advantages that photovoltaic installations integrated in the buildings may offered as distributed generation and social diffusion of renewable energies, extending this advantages to the farming installations being consistent with the Law 45/2007 of rural development mentioned in previous sections. 2.5. Defining the gap. As it has been described, the CAP has generated positive and negative consequences in external as well as internal markets for years. Hence that the European Union has been trying to correct the problems with consecutive reforms. It seems to be evident that the CAP needs a deep reform in terms to avoid the disruption that it has generated in the international agri-food markets, especially to developing countries. However, the reforms of the CAP have also favoured an intensification in the production and with it to the larger producers whereas the small farming co-ops, family farms or any other small producers have it difficult to survive without any external support. It looks as though there is the challenge of the CAP reform, to adapt the agri-food industry to the world trade liberalisation and at the same time avoid the environmental impact of the intensive agriculture, not forgetting the preservation of the quality of the products. On the contrary, it is the situation of the farmers. Nowadays they have the conflict whether becoming a specialised producer to compete in the market or assuming a function of environmental manager. Nevertheless, it has to be taken into account that about 90% of the European territory is considered rural areas where more than half of the population lives and the agriculture is the base of the socio-economy. Agriculture employs directly more then 12 million people (DG AGRI, 2008). However, it has already been shown in previous sections, how agri-food cooperatives may develop their surrounding community making much more citizens indirectly dependent on the agriculture. According to the last CAP reforms, it seems that the European Union is trying to diversify the economy in rural areas boosting the second pillar of the CAP, rural development, consequently the population it would not be so dependent on agri-food markets. One of the measures to achieve this, it is through renewable energies. Bearing in mind that rural areas are about 90% of the territory and it is there where the resources are located, it seems to be logic the investment in renewable energies, especially if the European Union is aiming to achieve its targets in this field. It is at this point where the agri-food coops and family farms could have a chance, not only of maintaining the production, but also of increasing the incomes that it would allow them to pay attention to the quality of their products. Although it could even create and independence of the agriculture from the subsidies of the CAP. If the farmers use part of their fields, or even the roofs and facades of theirs agri-food industry facilities, to generate electricity thanks to renewable sources, and then, they could sell it to the national grid, it would give them that extra income completely independent on the European Union. It is the scope of this study to analyse the options that small farms could have to substitute the CAP subsidies for the profit they could get becoming also electricity generators using renewable energy systems. In the case it would be possible for the farmers to become independent of the CAP, it would allow to the European Union to invest that 40% of the budget that it is spending in the agriculture in other fields such as education or research and development. And consequently that investment would also go, directly or indirectly, to the rural areas and agriculture. Because if it is possible to maintain the agri-food coop system in rural areas, it would be also possible to maintain the community benefits that this kind of organisations generate. This measures would follow the objectives of the CAP reforms, allowing the EU to reduce its budget in agriculture, but at the same time improving the standard of living in rural areas. In addition, it would also do its bit according to the rural development policy. This measure would fulfil the four axis of this policy maintaining the agri-food sector, diversifying the economy and combating climate change. 3. A European rural region: Extremadura. 3.1. Introduction. As it was commented in the previous section, the use of renewable energy could be an option for the rural areas to achieve its development. All the policies that are being recently formulated at European as well as national level, focused on the promotion of renewable energy and looking for a development in the most unfavourable areas, could be joined together, or at least some of its main points for the improvement of the standard of living in rural areas. In terms of studying the possibility of substitution of the CAP subsidises for the income a farmer can get with a renewable energy installation, more concretely with photovoltaic, it is necessary to find an European rural region. The rural region of Extremadura (Spain) has been selected for its rurality, highly dependency on the agriculture compare to the Spanish and European average and its high potential for photovoltaic systems installation. In the following points this region and its characteristics will be presented analysing its rural condition; the agrarian sector and the consequences of the last CAP reforms; and its photovoltaic potential. 3.2. Rural Development. Extremadura is one of the 17 regions of Spain. It is located in the mid west, bounded on the west by Portugal (figure 3.1.). With a total population of 1,102,410 inhabitants, Extremadura is divided in two provinces, Badajoz (half south) and Cà ¡ceres (half north), and it is defined as a predominantly rural region according to the OECD criteria. Actually, Extremadura accounts with 41,634 km2, entailing a population density of only 26 inhabitants/km2 (INE, 2009). Another peculiarity of this region is its economic structure. The primary sector plays a significant role in the GDP and employm