The advantages and disadvantages of stratgy alliance Essay

The advantages and disadvantages of stratgy alliance - Essay Example This is achieved through various strategies including forming joint ventures, licensing etc. for example, in Pharma industry, firms tend to issue licenses in various different markets where they may not have the direct physical presence of their manufacturing and selling facilities but their brands may be selling into those markets through licensing and distribution of their products. 3) Forming Strategic alliances provide organizations to create synergies for each other so that resources can be better utilized at their most feasible cost to the organization. By utilizing the more efficient resources of other organizations, firms tend not to achieve only the synergies but also a chance to effectively utilize and take advantage of the resources of their strategic partners. 4) Making Strategic alliances at the global level provide opportunity to the firms to transfer distinctive competencies. As discussed above that the organizations in order to expand and realize it’s potentially, try to take advantage of the distinctive competencies of their strategic partners. 5) By making strategic alliances, organization tends to obtain more access to the capital. Since associating themselves with the firms that have more access to the resources therefore can provide organizations a better and more liquid form of financial resources to tap. (Rushika) 6) Alliances help organizations to exploit vertical markets. By doing so the organizations tend to align themselves vertically also in order to ensure various strategic options. These options can include securing the strategic flow of raw materials to the organization, effective flow of technology and labor etc. (Casseres) 7) Making alliances allow firms to develop new technologies. Since with the help of alliances, firms tend to utilize the services of each other and hence the technologies therefore it provide firms an opportunity to develop new

The Search for Spiritual Identity in Adolescents Essay Example for Free

The Search for Spiritual Identity in Adolescents Essay It’s a puzzle with us trying to find the right fit, size and shape where the pieces will fit to make us whole. So we begin by growing, and developing, and learning and moving, and thinking and tasting, and touching and testing, and hugging and loving! We go through different stages of growth and growing, and learning and maturing and changing and aging and ultimately death. This writer believes we are searching for our spiritual identity. The NIV Bible says that the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living being. Man’s spiritual identity comes from God! Jesus was about twelve years old according to the NIV Bible when he began his quest for spiritual identity. Luke 2:49 reads: Why were you searching for me? he asked. Didnt you know I had to be in my Fathers house? After a female egg becomes fertilized by a male sperm it becomes a zygote. This living organism is a product of each parent’s chromosomes. This zygote begins a two week period of rapid cell division which eventually becomes an embryo. Eventually, this embryo will become a living being which was produced and created by its two parents. This child’s physical identity comes from his parents! I use the term parent’s very loosely because I am aware that his identity comes from his bloodline or his genes. I am making a point. By far the most provocative theory of identity development is Erik Erikson’s. It was Erikson who first understood how central questions about identity are to understanding adolescent development. Erikson’s fifth developmental stage (identity versus identity confusion) says during this time adolescents (between the ages of eleven to young adult hood) are faced with who they are, what they are all about and where they are going. Erikson framed the best of maturity in the ego identity of what he called the moral-ethical, spiritual human. This human is one with a horizontal, earthly identity and a vertical, transcendent identity, meaning an identity both religious and spiritual that embraces non-physical manifestation. As adolescents search for their spiritual identity researchers have found that various aspects of religion are linked to positive outcomes in adolescents. Religion has been proven to play a role in adolescent’s health and whether or not they engage in problem behaviors (Cotton amp; others, 2006). For example, in a recent national random sample of 2000 11-18 year olds, those who were higher in religiosity were less likely to smoke, drink alcohol, use marijuana, not be truant in school, not engage in delinquent behavior and not be depressed as compared to their counterparts with lower religiosity (Sinha, Cnaan, amp; Gelles, 2006). The initiator of the Baha†i movement, Baha†Ã¢â‚¬ u â€Å"llah in 1863 believed that there were seven mystical stages to human development and he believed as does most Muslims today that human development is closely linked to religious development. He referred to those stages as â€Å"The Seven Valleys and the Four Valleys†. They are: * The Valley of Search * The Valley of Love * The Valley of Knowledge * The Valley of Unity * The Valley of Contentment * The Valley of Wonderment * The Valley of the True Poverty and Absolute Nothingness He believed that one has not truly developed unless he has entered in or experienced each of hese stages. During my years of adolescence I was considered somewhat of a spoiled child. My mother sent me to a modeling school to become a trained runway model. By the time I was 13 I have performed in more than 100 different fashion shows in and around Michigan, Illinois and New York. Needless to say my environment consisted of my peers b eing much older than myself. I was constantly traveling and partying and dating older men. When I would return home I would become angry with my mother because she forced me to attend church. Church was always the center of our home. My mother was the secretary at our church for over forty years so we were always there. It seemed as if we were preparing our clothes for church 7 days in advance. So I ravished the opportunity to be out of town or on a modeling assignment on Sundays. When were taught to pray daily, morning, noon and night. My mother always told us the story of Daniel in the bible who prayed three times a day every day. And that is what she expected of us. I was a typical teenager who thought it was a waste of time. By the time I was 16 years old I became pregnant. My worst nightmare had come true. I remember my mother telling us that we should always pray. I began to pray daily asking God to show me how to tell my mother that I had ruined my life. I can almost remember the calm that would come over me whenever I was in prayer. Soon I realized that if God could listen to me and love me and allow that peace to come over me that there really was a God, an everlasting father and a true friend. I got the courage to talk to my mother and tell her how sorry I was and confess to God about the things that I had done knowing that they were not His will. This was the beginning of my transformation. My search had just begun. This began to give me answers to all of my seeking and questioning of myself, my world, my purpose. This bought purpose and stability into my life. Today I can say that I am a Minister of the Gospel and I do not believe I would be where I am not had not I gone through the experience of searching, seeking and finding during my adolescent and young adult years. This is just my story, no theory, just the facts. As man seeks and searches for his spiritual identity his mortality also surfaces. The NIV Bible allows us a peek into ourselves in I Corinthians 13:12, for now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully. As we are seeking to understand adolescent behavior we must remember that they are seeking and searching for who they are and whose they are. During this search they shall encounter experiences that they may not understand, they may even become people that you don’t understand, but with patience, love, guidance, education and prayer you can help them become the person they are looking for and want to become. Sometimes we as parents forget that our children not only need to be educated in the ways of the world and how to become successful healthy, productive adults but they also need to be taught about their spirit man. That part of them they cannot see but they can project in their life style. The part of them that no one else can even know or understand. The loving giving life that was breathed into them by the lover of their soul. The concept of a higher being. The ability to know and to understand that they have to answer to someone greater than themselves. The knowledge of understanding that life does not just revolve around them. This seeking and searching has a beginning but should never have an end. James Fowler believed that one had to go through 6 stages of Faith in order to find their own spiritual identity. | Stage| Description| Simplified version by M. Scott Peck| Stage 1| Intuitive-Projective| This is the stage of preschool children in which fantasy and reality often get mixed together. However, during this stage, our most basic ideas about God are usually picked up from our parents and/or society. | I. Chaotic-Antisocial| People stuck at this stage are usually self-centered and often find themselves in trouble due to their unprincipled living. If they do end up converting to the next stage, it often occurs in a very dramatic way. | Stage 2| Mythic-Literal| When children become school-age, they start understanding the world in more logical ways. They generally accept the stories told to them by their faith community but tend to understand them in very literal ways. [A few people remain in this stage through adulthood. ]| | | Stage 3| Synthetic-Conventional| Most people move on to this stage as teenagers. At this point, their life has grown to include several different social circles and there is a need to pull it all together. When this happens, a person usually adopts some sort of all-encompassing belief system. However, at this stage, people tend to have a hard time seeing outside their box and dont recognize that they are inside a belief system. At this stage, authority is usually placed in individuals or groups that represent ones beliefs. [This is the stage in which many people remain. ]| II. Formal-Institutional| At this stage people rely on some sort of institution (such as a church) to give them stability. They become attached to the forms of their religion and get extremely upset when these are called into question. Stage 4| Individuative-Reflective| This is the tough stage, often begun in young adulthood, when people start seeing outside the box and realizing that there are other boxes. They begin to critically examine their beliefs on their own and often become disillusioned with their former faith. Ironically, the Stage 3 people usually think that Stage 4 people have become backsliders when in reality they have actually moved forward. | III. Skeptic-Individual| Those who break out of the previous stage usually do so when they start seriously questioning things on their own. A lot of the time, this stage ends up being very non-religious and some people stay in it permanently| Stage 5| Conjunctive Faith| It is rare for people to reach this stage before mid-life. This is the point when people begin to realize the limits of logic and start to accept the paradoxes in life. They begin to see life as a mystery and often return to sacred stories and symbols but this time without being stuck in a theological box. | IV. Mystical-Communal| People who reach this stage start to realize that there is truth to be found in both the previous two stages and that life can be paradoxical and full of mystery.

Relay Services for the Deaf Essay -- essays papers

Relay Services for the Deaf In America, there are more than 28 million deaf people but there are many different services available to meet their needs. A hearing person can have a casual conversation without even realizing the difficulties that 202,613 (5.58%) hard of hearing people might face in the world (Stat. on Deafness). It doesn’t have to be so difficult for a deaf/hard of hearing person to have a conversation even if the person they are talking to is in another state. With popular services such as Maryland Relay, the TTY and various telecommunications relay services- it is now possible for deaf people to have a phone conversation. In 1984, of the 85 million telephones in the United States and Canada, less than one percent were used regularly by deaf people (Lang). Advocates for deaf, Robert H. Weitbrecht, James C. Marsters and Andrew Saks â€Å"started the process that led to deaf people around the world having an affordable phone system they could use† (Lang). The new technology that is coming out assist deaf people is amazing and very helpful. Robert H. Weitbrecht led the way to developing one of the most popular technology services for the deaf- the teletypewriter using shortwave radios. If more than 1/3 of the U.S. population has a significant hearing impairment by age 65, it is evident that something needed to be done to help people in the world better communicate with the deaf/hard of hearing population (Stat. on Deafness). One advancement in the world of relay services is the teletypewriter-TTY, also called text telephones, which looks similar to a typewriter with a text screen. It enables deaf or hard of hearing people to make phone calls that they wouldn’t normally be able to make on a standard teleph... ....rm Overview of the Maryland Relay. (2003). Retrieved October 17, 2004, from http://www.mdrelay.org/relay/mdrelayoverview.htm PR Newswire. "Hands on Expands Video Relay Services to include Videophone Users." Deaf Today. http://www.deaftoday.com/news/archives.html. â€Å"Statistics on Deafness & Hearing Disorders in the U.S.† (n.d) Deaf and HOH culture information. Retrieved December 5, 2004, from, http://members.aol.com/deafcultureinfo/deafstatistics.htm. Texas School for the Deaf goes to the head of the class...with Installation of Sprint Empowered EducationSM. (n.d.). Retrieved October 17, 2004, from, http://www.relaytoday.com/admin/previewnewsletter.php?ID=2#27 â€Å"Ultratec Public TTY Hearing Impaired Telephones -Vandal Proof Motorized or Shelf Top Units.†(n.d) Phone Merchants. Retrieved December 4, 2004, from http://www.phonemerchants.com/ulpubttyhear.html.

Case Study Nike Essay

1. How does Nike’s decision to retain an in-house arm of ad agency Wieden & Kennedy exemplify the concept of organizational design? The decision to retain an in-house arm of ad agency exemplify the concept of organizational design, makes you look at how both companies interpret organizational design. Organizational design is the process of creating structures that accomplish the company’s missions and objectives. First looking at the text, you interpret the Nike’s mission is to design products that will have an outcome of a positive image and that positive image will encourage consumers to purchase Nike products. This shows you that Nike’s image is one of the most viable and important aspects for their company’s success. Which would leave to the following aspects of customer satisfaction, because without that I could potentially ruin Nike’s positive image that they strive so much for. Another factor that plays into this positive image would be advertising. Advertising is an important factor because helps the company showcase their â€Å"consumer-aimed† designs to the public. â€Å"Nike recently spent nearly $2.5 billion annually on advertising.† This textbook reference perfectly displays Nike’s commitment to their positive brand image. Nike’s current advertising agency, Wieden & Kennedy has portrayed this image successfully in the past and currently. This success was show by Nike providing them with â€Å"in-house arms† at the Nike headquarters. By Nike displaying this affection of placing a core contributor to their mission of having a positive image and taking placing them into their headquarters, embodies the concept of organizational design. Not only does is embody the concept is gives the advertising agency the opportunity to have access to Nike’s executive officers, all other employee’s that fall under the top-down and bottom-up structures of change. Which will stimulate Weiden & Kennedy form to better and personalize  marketing strategies and divisional structure for Nike’s mission and purpose to give them the competitive advantage that they have and strive for. 2. Given the problems Nike has had with sweatshop labor being used by some of its foreign contractors, are there parts of the firm that need to be run with a mechanistic rather than organic design? Give examples to support your answer. In my opinion, Nike should run with a mechanistic design rather than organic. They should do this because when looking at the manufacturing departments that Nike employs it is common knowledge that they companies may not provide nor have the basic necessities that would be implemented by labor laws. Now, seeing that mechanistically control is exceedingly bureaucratic is only proves that this needs to happen within outsourcing departments. Nike should have more restricted limits of control to keep them on task when employing these realities of outsourcing. The association with sweatshops is a big deal alone, and Nike is being accused of allowing then to be employed within their company. Looking back at the question above, this would impact their mission of having a positive image as a while. Referring to the text: Nike refused and refuted to comments made by the critics. Nike will destroy their mission of wanting a positive image, when being associated with allowing sweatshops and unsatisfactory work conditions. When looking at prevention of this negative image, you would have to go to the employees who watch the outsourcing and construct and organize the business dealing with the manufacturing firms. Like stated before they should have personalized and centralized tasks and authority at all times. A way they could implement this in there current situation would be appointing Hannah Jones a Nike executive to watch over the efforts of improvements in the factories working and labor conditions. She could do this by simply appointing a position below hers to watch over a specific issue at a time and report back to her. This would give her department power of what is occurring in these manufacturing companies that Nike as a whole  has decided to outsource to. The manufacturing companies involved with Nike’s brand image and business, as a whole should be required to follow Nike’s standards of ethics. When referring back to organizational design, extreme use of supervision is key. Even if Nike were to implement the idea of taking action of supervising every factory to focus of labor issues alone, it would give them the information needed to know if they should be outsourcing with those manufacturing departments. This could lead to the manufacturing departments actually taking that information and collaborating to have well trained and the proper authority to give them the expectations needed.

What Is Ethics

1. What is ethics? What is morality? Ethics is the philosophical study of morality. Morality refers to the belief of right and wrong, good and bad, beliefs that can include judgments, values, rules, principles and theories. 2. In what ways are we forced to do ethics? What is at stake in these deliberations? A person is forced to do ethics every time they exam any feeling, choice, or action concerning right or wrong. The thing that is at stake when doing ethics is a person’s values. 3. What is the unfortunate result of accepting moral beliefs without questioning them? Some of the unfortunate results of accepting moral beliefs without questioning them are it undermines your personal freedom meaning if you just accept belief from someone else without thinking about them they are not truly your beliefs. Another result of blindly accepting belief of someone else is when asked to defend these beliefs the person may have no sound argument to back it up. Finally it limits intellectual moral growth. 4. Can our feelings be our sole guide to morality? Why or why not? Feelings should not be sole guide to morality because by solely following feelings a person is not critically examining the problem. 5. What is descriptive ethics? In this field, what do researchers study? Descriptive ethics is the moral study of belief and practices. Researchers in this field try to explain how people actually behave and think. 6. What is normative ethics? Applied ethics? Normative ethics is the study of principles, rules, or theories that guide our actions and judgments. Applied ethics is application of moral norms applied to a specific moral issue. . What is metaethics? What is the difference between normative ethics and metaethics? Metaethics is the study of the meaning and logical structure of moral beliefs. Normative ethics job is to assume certain things about the meaning of moral terms and the logic relation among them but the job of meteethics is to question all assumptions. 8. What is the difference between judgments of value and judgments of obligation? Ju dgments of value judges what is morality good, bad, blameworthy, and praiseworthy. While judgments of obligation deal with actions and things a person feels what they should do. 9. What is the difference between moral and nonmoral value? Moral Value refer to value in the sense of morality while nonmortal value refers sense of good and bad that are not morality bad or good but rather quality. 10. What is the difference between instrumental value and intrinsic value? Instrumental values are things that are valuable as a means to something else. While intrinsic values are things that are valuable for its own sake. 11. To what does the â€Å"preeminence of reason† refer? The preeminence of reason refers to being able to critically think and logically argue a claim. 12. What is the principle of universalizability? The principle of universalizability states that if a moral statement applies to one situation it must apply to relatively similar moral situations 13. What is the relationship between morality and religion? The relationship between morality and religion is very important because same way critical reason is used to exam moral norms it can be used to exam religion. What is Ethics? Ethics are standards that differentiate right and wrong and how people should conduct themselves. Ethics refer to standards that would prevent someone from doing something wrong, like murder for example. Is it ethical to commit murder? Society has deemed murder as an unacceptable. In the same way ethics help to determine what are appropriate behavior at home, school, and the work place. How we interact with others can be considered ethical, treating others with respect, hospitality, sharing, and helping others in need would be considered good ethical behavior. Ethical standards also include virtues of honesty, compassion, and loyalty. The Virtue Theory The virtue theory deals with the individual, the expectation is to â€Å"cultivate excellence in all that you do and all that others do (Boylan, 2009). † It deals with the character of an individual. Qualities of a virtuous person would be considered an upstanding, trustworthy, dependable, and honest. In contrast an unethical person would be selfish, unreliable, devious, or careless. People are characterized as â€Å"good† or â€Å"bad† or a combination of both, it does not leave room for a good person to make a bad choice. Once a person commits an unacceptable act, he or she may be branded as a bad person even if they have high morals and ethics instead of a good person who made a bad decision. An example of this would be of a person who drinks and drives. This is bad choice and the consequences of this choice can lead to accidents and death, but does this mean that this is a bad person? More than likely there would be no negative consequence unless the person is caught or there is an accident causing physical or property damage. The Utilitarianism Theory Utilitarianism is an ethical theory that places right and wrong on the consequence of the action that will be for â€Å"the greatest good for the greatest number† (Boylan, p. 133, 2009). The utilitarianism moves from the individual’s interest and takes into account the interest of others. An example of this would be when a team member knows that another person is a better fit for a job and steps down so that person can take the lead, which would benefit the whole team in the process. An example of this that comes to mind is: during the plot to kill Jesus, John 11:49-50 â€Å"Caiaphas, being high priest that year, spoke up, you know nothing at all! You do not realize that it is better for you that one man should die for the people than the whole nation perish. † This is an example of the sacrifice of one to benefit the whole group or nation† (â€Å"Caiaphas – High Priest Of The Jerusalem Temple†). The Deontological Theory Deontological theory questions right and wrong by action instead of consequences. It is considered to be wrong when the action intentionally harms others. The deontological approach defines ethics as either right or wrong, there is little or no middle ground for exceptions (â€Å"Deontology Ethics,† 2008). With the utilitarianism theory it is acceptable to lie if it is to prevent hurting a person, with the deontological theory it is wrong to lie because it is a lie. Conclusion The similarities between the ethics theories concern the idea of right and wrong, and good and bad. The differences constitute on how they interpret right from wrong, and good from bad. With the virtue theory deals with the individual, whereas the utilitarianism focus on the group where actions are right when they provide the greatest good to the largest group. The deontology determines rightness by actions not the consequences; deontology is more of an absolute, stealing is wrong, lying is wrong, and murder is wrong, anything that causes harm to another person. All three theories have a place in present society and are used interactively without conscious effort. From a young age people are taught right from wrong from parents, teachers, church, and other people they come in contact with. What Is Ethics? Ethics is not equivalent to feelings. We feel on whether a certain thing is right or wrong. Feelings actively affect our daily choices. It may sometimes prevent us from making the right ethical choices. [Peter Zafirides, 2012]. Some may feel remorse when an unethical deed is done. This can be mainly attributed to persons’ different needs and desires. In 1992, Dr. Cox, a 70 year old, with a lethal injection of potassium chloride had what rheumatologists’ described as the worst case of rheumatoid arthritis ever seen. Conventional medicine was unable to relieve her pain and repeatedly requested to die. The Independent, 1992]. In that case, Dr. Cox was charged with attempted murder. It may seem to some people that it is ethically and morally â€Å"alright† to end a persons’ suffering and misery by taking his/her life, if requested. However it is unethical to end a persons’ life for whatever the reason so. Hence, an ethical standard cannot be judged by feelings alone. Ethics is not religion as well. Many people are religious but not all are ethical. The same applies to people who are not religious are not necessarily ethical as well. However, most religions do practice an ethical code of conduct. Faith in religion does not require ethics but ethical principles apply to everyone. For example, during the 9/11 incident, what happened a decade ago was raging a â€Å"holy war† against the Americans and other western democratic nations in the name of their religion. Although the Islamic religion advocated good ethical standards, some deviate from the path and become corrupted, even in the name of their religion. Al Qaeda and the leader had taken the religion to its extreme. [Scholastic; Natalie, no date] A law abiding person may not necessarily be ethical. Although the law does embody high ethical standards generally accepted by the public, it may easily deviate from ethics as well. The law may become ethically corrupt under totalitarian regimes and turn it into a form of power to serve the interest of certain people or groups. For example, abortion is made legal in certain states and countries. Like China, where abortion is not a criminal offence but in turn is available on request by the patient and is even done by the government as a public service. Furthermore they are able to receive 2 weeks to a month of sick paid leave for abortion. [Act Now AU 2008][UN Abortion Policy, no date]. It may have been made legal by the law but that does not mean it is ethical to do so, unless in certain situation, it may affect maternal health or life. In Malaysia, an abortion is legal when there is risk of life or threat of injury to the pregnant woman. [WAO, 2011] Ethics is also not parallel to socially and culturally accepted norm. Although many cultures are ethical, some are very corrupted and even blind to ethical concerns. One good example would be the Netherlands Drug Law and Cultures. In the Netherlands weed or pot (common name of the drug marijuana/cannabis) is openly traded and consumed every day. There are even specific places (the coffee shops) in the Netherlands where they specifically cater to drug consumption. [Mark Owoll, 2000] Although it is widely accepted culturally, socially and legally in Netherlands, it is still unethical to consume cannabis/marijuana as it does harm to ones’ body through lung diseases, heart diseases, weakened immune system and many more and it is unethical to do harm to oneself. [WebMD, no date] Ethics is not a science as well. Ethics is not based off accurate calculation and scientific formulas and most certainly is unable to certainly predict the correct action to every ethical issue. However, social science and natural science are able to aid in making a better ethical decision. Science may provide the explanation but ethics provide the reason as to how we should act. For example, Cheryl, a mother of one and was pregnant with another at that time, was diagnosed with cancer while she was pregnant. Science had given her the option to have an abortion, and then proceed with chemotherapy or continue without chemotherapy and save the baby, but endangering her own life. Cheryl then decided to have the baby and died shortly after giving birth to her second child in an emergency caesarean birth.

Week 1 Essay

Week 1 Essay Week 1 Essay POL 201 Quantitative Research Methods in Political Science  © Colin Whelan 2013 THE BASICS POL I 201: Research methods in political science am Colin Whelan cew6@sfu.ca Tentative ofï ¬ ce hours: Tuesdays 12:30-2:15 (after class) or by appointment Labs start week 2 FORMAT OF THE COURSE Labs Homeworks Quizzes Exams R R is the statistical software we will use in this course Instructions syllabus to download and install it are included in the It is a difï ¬ cult software to learn but I use it for two main reasons: It is free It forces you to understand what you are doing KELLSTEDT AND WHITTEN The main textbook for the course Readings Make There are not too long, generally easy to read sure to read thoroughly though! are readings for week 1 and 2 (sorry!) For week 1: Focus on 1.3; and 2.2-2.4 The rest is important; but is mainly good background info First quiz next week! SOME VOCAB Research Question: an empirical question about why or how some phenomenon varies Research questions should be general Research questions should be about all relevant cases Notice that we are studying variation. Variation can be over time or across different cases. Each case is a unit of analysis We measure the concepts as variables VARIABLES Variables require some variation in the concept of interest If our unit of analysis is people, than species is not a variable; if it were animals, species would be a variable Variables map a concept to a measurement, we call this operationalization For any research question we differentiate between: The Dependent Variable; and Other Independent Variables VARIABLES EXAMPLES We use the term variable to refer to both the concept in theory, and the measurement of the concept in our dataset. Here are some examples: Concept Measure Economic status GDP per capita Ideology left-right scale Rights and freedoms POLITY IV Policy preference A Likert scale TWO EXAMPLES DO VOTERS GET MORE CONSERVATIVE AS THEY AGE? Source: 2008 Canadian Election Study DO

Lab Report on Ventilation and Oxygen Consumption in Fish Essays

Lab Report on Ventilation and Oxygen Consumption in Fish Essays Lab Report on Ventilation and Oxygen Consumption in Fish Paper Lab Report on Ventilation and Oxygen Consumption in Fish Paper Within fish, the counter-current exchange system allows for the efficient extraction of oxygen from the water by the gills. Basically when a fish takes in water, the flow of it is opposite to the flow of blood. As they rush by each other oxygen from the water is given to the blood (metabolic rate is also effected in animals that remain active because tend to consume more oxygen than those at rest). The size of a fish is relevant to oxygen consumption as larger fish consume more oxygen overall than smaller fish. The primary objective of this experiment is to note the effects of temperature on the oxygen consumption and ventilation rates of goldfish. We hypothesize that the ventilation rate of those fish that are subjected to warmer water temperatures versus colder temperatures will have a higher ventilation rate. The Fish in the warm water will consume more oxygen than the fish in the cold water. Overall oxygen will be mostly consumed by the fish that are in the warm water. MATERIALS METHODS Split into groups of two, we were given Goldfish fairly similar in weight. We then transferred the fish to the appropriate jar from the beaker that was used to sigh them and added sufficient amounts of water to fill their capacities. After about 10 minutes, we hastily added the sponges to the jar pushing it halfway down the jar to assure no oxygen had entered the empty spaces between the water and the sponge. We then refilled the jars with the appropriate amounts of water and allowed a small amount to overflow. We then quickly placed the calibrated oxygen probes on and took the initial readings for the ventilation rate (Ventilations per minute), oxygen concentration (MGM/L) and temperature (co) for O minutes. Ventilation rates are in direct correlation with temperature. Graph II. Oxygen Concentration of Group and Class. Warm water shows a trend f less oxygen concentration while cold water shows a higher concentration of oxygen. Graph Ill. Oxygen Consumption of Group and Class. The trend shows that fishes consume more oxygen in warm water, except after the 30 min. Interval. DISCUSSION In Graph l, as predicted the fish in the warm water will have a higher rate of ventilation compared to fish in the cold water. The Class Mean of Ventilation Rates showed an overall significant difference where the fish in warm water has a high ventilation rate than the fish in the cold water. In Graph II, as predicted the fish in warm water used up more oxygen and thus ad a lesser concentration than the fish in the cold water as their body processes slow down and oxygen is conserved itself. There was an error as oxygen concentration increased after 30 minutes for the fish in warm water as some how it seemed as if more oxygen was added in the closed container. The result of the fish in the cold water, as predicted showed that oxygen gradually decreased which itself as the body processes of fish slowed down. In Graph Ill, in general the results showed that both the fish in our group and by the class standard had something go wrong as for the warm fish, oxygen munitions should have remained stable over periods of time, and the oxygen consumption of the fish in the warm water should have over all been higher as the fish in the cold water slow down their metabolic and respiratory processes. In both interpretation of the data, oxygen consumption increased and decreased repeatedly. Meaning oxygen was somehow added to the beaker containing the fish. This error may have happened through individual groups not properly securing that their sponge had no air bubbles within it, before replacing it back into the beaker with the water. This may have possibly been responsible for the Geiger concentration of oxygen therefore interfering with our results. Also for every group their opposing fish in similar weight, were not identically the same size, each fish was a mere estimate one another. This may have tempered results as fish that are generally larger in size consume more oxygen. As a fish ventilates, it absorbs oxygen and within a closed chamber (as conducted by this experiment) the amount of oxygen present decreases. Metabolic rates depend on temperature. As temperature increases the rate of oxygen consumption increases too, although an increase in temperature demands efficient amount of oxygen. ABSTRACT Oxygen is just as fundamentally vital for fishes as it is for the well-being of Humans. In this Lab we examined if varying the temperature of the water had caused a change in the ventilation rate and oxygen consumption of Goldfish. In this experiment we hoped to demonstrate the effect of temperature variance on the ventilation rates of Goldfish. This was done by having two fish (similar in weight) respectively placed in tanks of differing water temperature. One tank filled with water 25 degrees Celsius (room temperature) and another tank with eater of 15 degrees Celsius. We then measured ventilation rate and oxygen consumption. The results showed that the fish placed in the warmer water had a higher ventilation rate than those that were placed in the colder water. They also expended more oxygen having lesser concentration than the fish in the colder water. There is however, a probability of error. Firstly, because our fish were not completely identical in weight and secondly, when placing the sponge into the jar containing fish there may have still been oxygen bubbles within it that may have manipulated our results.

Koppen Climate Classification

Koppen Climate Classification Giving a talk some years ago at a convention of bankers in some remote resort in Arizona I showed the Koppen-Geiger map of world climates, and explained in very general terms what the colors represent. The corporation’s president was so taken by this map that he wanted it for his company’s annual report - it would be so useful, he said, in explaining to representatives posted overseas what they might experience in the way of climate and weather. He had, he said, never seen this map, or anything like it; of course he would have if he had taken an introductory geography course. Every textbook has a version of it... - Harm de Blij Various attempts have been made to classify the climates of the earth into climatic regions. One notable, yet ancient and misguided example is that of Aristotles Temperate, Torrid, and Frigid Zones. However, the 20th-century classification developed by German climatologist and amateur botanist Wladimir Koppen (1846-1940) continues to be the authoritative map of the world climates in use today. Origins of the Koppen System Introduced in 1928 as a wall map co-authored with student Rudolph Geiger, the Koppen system of classification was updated and modified by Koppen until his death. Since that time, it has been modified by several geographers. The most common modification of the KÃ ¶ppen system today is that of the late University of Wisconsin geographer Glen Trewartha. The modified Koppen classification uses six letters to divide the world into six major climate regions, based on average annual precipitation, average monthly precipitation, and average monthly temperature: A for Tropical HumidB for DryC for Mild Mid-LatitudeD for Severe Mid-LatitudeE for PolarH for Highland (this classification was added after KÃ ¶ppen created his system) Each category is further divided into sub-categories based on temperature and precipitation. For instance, the U.S. states located along the Gulf of Mexico are designated as Cfa. The C represents the mild mid-latitude category, the second letter f stands for the German word feucht or moist, and the third letter a indicates that the average temperature of the warmest month is above 72Â °F (22Â °C). Thus, Cfa gives us a good indication of the climate of this region, a mild mid-latitude climate with no dry season and a hot summer. Why the Koppen System Works While the Koppen system doesnt take such things as temperature extremes, average cloud cover, number of days with sunshine, or wind into account, its a good representation of our earths climate. With only 24 different subclassifications, grouped into the six categories, the system is easy to comprehend. Koppens system is simply a guide to the general climate of the regions of the planet, the borders do not represent instantaneous shifts in climate but are merely transition zones where climate, and especially weather, can fluctuate.

Literature review and starbucks case study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 2

Service Marketing Issues - Case Study Example As the paper outlines the company gave more priority fir three components. That was coffee, service and finally the atmosphere within the organization. The organization termed the concept of service as ‘customer intimacy’. The goal of the company is â€Å"to create an uplifting experience every time you walk through our door†. In the earlier days it was easy for the company to sell its products, but as the scenario changed the marketing process became more complex in nature. Baristas was responsible for producing and selling the products. But the problem aroused when the taste and preferences of the customers changed. The only way to solve this problem was to hire more number of baristas and train them well, but due to the current economic condition the company is not in a situation to carry out this function. The company was facing serious issues related customer satisfaction, centralised marketing system, managing human resources and failure in meeting the custo mer expectations. From this study it is clear that the important service marketing issue in this case is that the company wants to increase its quality in delivery, but due to the poor economic condition, it is not able to perform at its best. The one and only solution for the company is to increase the number of baristas. And for the time being the company trained the existing baristas and eliminated all the unwanted tasks done by them so that their productivity can be increased. Starbucks is the biggest coffee company in the globe. Service marketing in any business is focused on promoting its products and services. Since star buck is a coffee company, the service marketing in star bucks is proposed to market its coffee.

The Battle of the Bulge Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The Battle of the Bulge - Essay Example It had the aims of annexing and capturing France, Luxemburg and Belgium. The major front through which the encroachment was made included the Ardennes Forest. The aims were to take the enemy by surprise. Since the Germans had a knack of taking the rivals by surprise and gifted with the Blitzkrieg and other war instruments, the aims were to repeat the heroics that they had done so in the first phase of the Second World War when it overtook the minnows of the war in no time. Over two hundred and fifty thousand troops were engaged in this battle by the German high command and the point was clear, it had been done to break the sequence of frustration pouring events that had recently taken place in the course of Second World War. The battle had its repercussions upon the Western powers, United States of America and Germany. Each was deeply moved through the battle, it is therefore termed as one of the most critical points of war in those days of the entire episode of Second World War. The significance of this battle was the fact that the Western powers and their allies were caught completely off guard, they had little expected this and had no war insight of this one coming, as a result the impact fell upon the number of casualties suffered and other major losses incurred in the entire events that unfolded in this particular battle. United States also suffered damages in this particular battle. The battle had a direct impact on the German side as well. Having invested heavy in to this expedition, the Germans had to compromise on other fronts and in other battles in order to compensate for the manpower and the financial funds and armaments that were made for this particular endeavor undertaken. The main target was the American army’s 106 Division (Spiller, p 79). It did not enjoy great expertise or experience of such critical moments and it thereby failed to provide and deliver the heroics that were expected of

WRITE ON OAU ORGANAISATION OF AFRICAN UNITY PROVIDING A SUMMARRY OF Essay

WRITE ON OAU ORGANAISATION OF AFRICAN UNITY PROVIDING A SUMMARRY OF THE MAIN RATIONALE,PURPOSE,AND OBJECTIVES OF THE ORGANAISATION AND INCLUDE A DESCRIPTION O - Essay Example I start this paper with why I define the OAU and the AU as an IO. I continue with a brief overview of the history of the OAU that paved the way for the establishment of the AU. In the paragraph that follows, I give a brief description of how the OAU became the AU. I continue with the vision and objectives of the AU followed by an assessment of the structure of the AU and discuss the six most important bodies of the AU and its three financial institutions. The budget of the AU will then discussed where I identify several reasons why it is hard for the AU to find the necessary funding. I end this paper with a brief summary of this paper and a conclusion about the AU as an IO. Many scholars from the International Relation realm have studied IO. From the widely available literature about the study of IO, one can identify various definitions of IO. Both terms can be analyzed as being intertwined or as two independent terms. In the case of the OAU and the AU, to what extent can one see the OAU and the AU as IO It is clear that its member states are from the African continent as like the European Union (EU) and are all sovereign states. In addition, the OAU and the AU are based on a convention that was designed by the founding members of the OAU and the AU and which all member states have to ratify. ... Therefore, one can not reject the notion of the OAU and the AU not being an IO and by the same token accept the notion of the EU to consider an IO. The History of the Organization of African Unity The OAU was established on 25 May 1963 with the formation of two groups namely the Casablanca group and the Monrovia Group. The objectives of the OAU during the decolonization period were to support African states to gain their independence, to promote the unity and solidarity and to strengthen cooperation among the member states of the OAU. In addition, the OAU also ensured that its member states uphold sovereignty and territorial integrity among member states. On an international level, the OAU promotes international cooperation and to protect the interests of Africa (OAU 1963). The OAU charter that formally established the OAU was signed by 32 governments of African states in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Since the establishment of the OAU in 1963, the OAU made considerable progress in implementing the objectives and one can see the progress as the foundation for the establishment of the AU. However, it is beyond this paper to scrutinize the historical strengths and weaknesses of the OAU since it development. I, on the other hand, will shed light on several facets of the OAU as an institution that eventually led to the establishment of the AU. From OAU to AU From the objective to support African states for their fight for independence, one can conclude that the OAU accelerated the process of decolonization in Africa and by 1994 all 54 African states were independent. Unfortunately, this has been seen as the only objective that the OAU successfully implemented and realized. Within the widely available literature and

Giant Car case Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Giant Car case - Essay Example In the current case the other elements, intention to create legal relations and consideration, are not in question, but the element of offer and acceptance is. In this respect, it is significant to show first that there was a valid offer and secondly that the offer was accepted. In order to form a contract, the parties involved must reach a mutual consent or meeting of minds. This mutual consent is attained through offer and acceptance that does not alter the terms of the offer.1 The rule applicable in determining if there is mutual consent is the application of the mirror image rule. The rule dictates that an offer must be accepted without altering the terms of the offer. An alteration of the terms of the offer amounts to a counter offer and cancels the initial offer. Lord Langdale in Hyde v Wrench2 ruled that a counter offer acts to cancel the initial offer. In this case, Wrench offered to sell Hyde a farm for ?1,000. Hyde in reply to this offer offered ?950 for the farm which Wren ch refused. Hyde thereafter wanted to accept the initial offer of ?1,000. Wrench refused to sell him the land and Hyde brought an action for specific performance. The question before the court was whether a valid contract between Hyde and Wrench existed. In deciding that there was no legally binding contract, the court noted that when a counter offer is made this offer destroys the initial offer such that the initial offer is no longer open to be accepted by the offeree. ... Additionally, these responses may deal with other issues rather than substitute the original terms of the offer.3 Their language can also manifest an intention to retain the initial offer under consideration, and they should not be considered counter offers. A mere inquiry on the offer does not constitute a counter offer Stevenson v McLean4. In this case, McLean wrote to Stevenson on Saturday with an offer to sell iron ore. The letter indicated that McLean would sell the ore for 40s in cash, and the offer was to remain open till Monday. On Monday Stevenson telegraphed McLean asking if he would accept 40 for delivery over two months and if that was not possible the longest period that was acceptable. McLean later sold the iron ore to a third party after receiving the telegram from Stevenson. McLean later sent a telegram to Stevenson that he had sold the Iron ore, but Stevenson had telegraphed Mclean accepting his offer prior to receiving the telegram indicating the ore was already sol d. The question was whether the telegram sent by Stevenson was counter offer or a mere inquiry to the original offer. In arriving at its decision, the court observed that the wording in the communication did not include anything specific to infer a rejection but was a mere inquiry which ought to have been answered and not considered a rejection of the offer.5 It is, therefore, essential to note that in order to distinguish between an inquiry and a counter offer it is prudent to look at the details of the communication. A counter offer varies the terms of the original offer while an inquiry does not vary these terms. In Simon's case, his communication that he would buy the car at ?5,500 was a counter offer to the

Report on Religious Field Research Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 2

Report on Religious Field Research - Essay Example Conversely, conferring to Islam, ‘jihads’ are of different types and they are also non-violent. ‘Jihad’ is also ‘Jihad bilnafs’, one’s tussle with one’s self is among the most essential kinds. Jihad bilnafs includes regularly striving to manage and deal with our animal desires. Safeguarding Muslim women from the ‘oppression’ of Islamic conduct is considered one of the pet assembling exclamations of the folks who reflect Islam to be a force of evil. Similar to several other offenses incorrectly accredited to the name of Islam instead to the specific people who initiate them, biased handling of women is also measured to be the ‘Islamic way’ of treating female folk. Keeping to the side the spiteful publicity, the cause behindhand this error is perhaps the detail that Islamic educations about the part, everyday jobs, rank, position and conduct of females are referred to in accordance to the practices and beliefs of the western world. If nothing else, Islam freed the women in Arabia by openhandedly granting them human rights which were disregarded for most of the era that time in most nations. Numerous Christians come to believe that Jesus and also other prophets are not thought of as Prophets or God’s messengers by the people of Islamic faith. A hasty analysis of Qur’an or other Islamic works of prose display that Muslims reminisce all of the Messengers talked about in the Judaic and Christian Books with utmost esteem and respect. Theindicationof Jesus has been in Qur’an in numerous spaces. Religious narrow-mindedness is tall on the list of charges counter to Muslims and Islam. Numerous non-Muslims trust that Islam is not tolerating towards different religions and beliefs and that it instructions to its followers is to slay wholly the non-Muslims. Associating the activities of a minority of corrupt people with the wisdoms of Islam in regard

Snowblower Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Snowblower - Essay Example Every project faces constraints at the drawing stage. Constraints are the challenges or obstacles that affect an undertaking. It is therefore very important to analyze all constraints that a project may encounter before it begins. However, constraints do not imply a failure but they act as a guide to success. That being said, designing a snow blower is not an easy task because of the various designs in the market. Before we started the project, we were determined in producing an electric snow blower for a start before further engaging in producing gasoline or diesel powered snow blower machines. The following are just but a few of the constraints encountered and their significance (Kolisch, 1995). These constraints generally focus on architecture decisions that have a tendency to limit the project’s solution design. They therefore tend not to be flexible and static. They have a great impact on the implementation of the solution (Kolisch, 1995). Technical constraints in our case included materials, design, whether manual or computerized, type of engine whether electric or gasoline powered and the size of the snow blowers. This was very challenging because the mentioned constraints are very significant for the success of the project. These types of constraints are required due to the fact that the theme of our project aimed at designing something unique and not available in the market. This was a driving force for further innovation in the design of the snow blower. Quality is a vital constraint in a project because in designing a product, quality is fundamental for the customers to accept the product. It was very significant because our snow blower had to be a state of the yard invention that delivers the required workload as expected in a short time frame. Under this constraint, the idea was whether to develop a single stage or a two stage snow blower. Single stage machines use

Report on Religious Field Research Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 2

Report on Religious Field Research - Essay Example Conversely, conferring to Islam, ‘jihads’ are of different types and they are also non-violent. ‘Jihad’ is also ‘Jihad bilnafs’, one’s tussle with one’s self is among the most essential kinds. Jihad bilnafs includes regularly striving to manage and deal with our animal desires. Safeguarding Muslim women from the ‘oppression’ of Islamic conduct is considered one of the pet assembling exclamations of the folks who reflect Islam to be a force of evil. Similar to several other offenses incorrectly accredited to the name of Islam instead to the specific people who initiate them, biased handling of women is also measured to be the ‘Islamic way’ of treating female folk. Keeping to the side the spiteful publicity, the cause behindhand this error is perhaps the detail that Islamic educations about the part, everyday jobs, rank, position and conduct of females are referred to in accordance to the practices and beliefs of the western world. If nothing else, Islam freed the women in Arabia by openhandedly granting them human rights which were disregarded for most of the era that time in most nations. Numerous Christians come to believe that Jesus and also other prophets are not thought of as Prophets or God’s messengers by the people of Islamic faith. A hasty analysis of Qur’an or other Islamic works of prose display that Muslims reminisce all of the Messengers talked about in the Judaic and Christian Books with utmost esteem and respect. Theindicationof Jesus has been in Qur’an in numerous spaces. Religious narrow-mindedness is tall on the list of charges counter to Muslims and Islam. Numerous non-Muslims trust that Islam is not tolerating towards different religions and beliefs and that it instructions to its followers is to slay wholly the non-Muslims. Associating the activities of a minority of corrupt people with the wisdoms of Islam in regard

Economist Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Economist - Assignment Example Marshall started with metaphysics, specifically "the philosophical foundation of knowledge, especially in relation to theology." The Metaphysics led Alfred to ethics, specifically a Sidgwickian version of utilitarianism; ethics, on the other hand, led Alfred to economics. This was so because economics played an essential role in the provision of the preconditions for the improvement of the working class. Marshall’s ethical views continued to be a dominant force in his thinking even though he turned to economics (Marshall & Palgrave Connect, 2013). During his time, Marshall was viewed as the most influential economist. In his book Principles of Economics (1881), Marshall brought out the ideas of supply and demand, marginal utility and cost of production into a single whole. As an extension to what he had done, he brought up the elasticity price of demand. He in addition, contributed to the economic welfare both consumer surplus and producer surplus. He developed the standard demand and supply graph which demonstrates a number of basics that regards demand and supply including market equilibrium, law of diminishing returns, supply and demand curves, law of marginal returns, interrelationship between price and quantity with respect to demand and supply, and the ideas of producer and consumer surpluses (Marshall & Palgrave Connect, 2013). Economists now use this model in various forms using different variables in demonstrating several other economic principles. Ideas and theories that could only be explained in words can now be r epresented visually with the help of this model. Marshall’s models are now critical throughout the study of economics simply because they allow fundamentals or theories being explained to be represented clearly and concisely (Marshall & Palgrave Connect, 2013). Marshall had a vision of dramatic social change which involves the sharp reduction of inequality and the elimination of poverty. He saw that it was

Oedipus The King Essay Example for Free

Oedipus The King Essay Oedipus is written as a play, there is no narrator, Sophocles explains the story line and then runs the story into playwright. I like this point of view because it can sometimes be more clear to the reader. There are many points of view in this play. That is there are many different individuals addressed this playwright. Thus there are many different points of view. I think that Oedipus generally speaks in place of a narrator, because he is the main character. I believe he expresses some of the things that Sophocles is trying to say to the audience. An example of this is when he says: Speak out, speak to us all. I grieve for these, my people, far more that I fear for my own life. (Sophocles, 395) I think that Sophocles is trying to get people to speak their own mind, come together, and establish a community. He is saying this through Oedipus. Oedipus goes through many changes. He goes through a state of innocence or ignorance, then through a state of denial and finally a state of acceptance and guilt. Throughout these different stages in his life, he reveals to his audience who he really is. Oedipus believing he is innocent is part of the form in this play. Oedipus has come to the throne of Thebes by solving the Riddle of the Sphinx. There is a plague upon Thebes which Oedipus desires to heal. Creon returns to the palace after his visit to the Pythian House of Phoebus, an oracle. The oracle has said that the only way to cure the illness in Thebes is to find the man whom killed Laius, the previous king of Thebes. Odeipus tries to discover the murderer and requests that the murderer come forward and promises that instead of being killed, he will be banished from Thebes. If any man comes forward with the murderer he will be rewarded and if any guilty man is found and has not confessed, the murderer will be banished from all aspects of society. Tiresias, an aged, blind prophet is brought to Oedipus to reveal the murderer. Tiresias says that Oedipus unknowingly killed Laius. Disbelieving this, Oedipus blames Creon for plotting this against him to gain the throne  of Thebes. Tiresias states his innocence and before he leaves the palace, he gives Oedipus a riddle: The murderer seemed an alien is really a native to Theban, was once poor and now is rich, is the brother of his children and the child of his wife, the heir to his fathers bed and the cause of his fathers death. The form in this part of the play, plays into the certain buildup of the plot. Now Creon comes to the palace after hearing of Oedipus charges against him. Oedipus questions Creon as to why Tiresias didnt come forward when the initial investigation of Laius death occured. Creon says he is happy with his position in court and has no desire to take the throne from Oedipus. He tells Oedipus that for proof he can go to the oracle at Pytho and ask if Creon is telling the truth. Jocasta, Oedipus wife, tells him that an oracle came to Laius saying that he would die by the hand of his child. Learning this Laius has his newborn son tied at the ankles and taken away to be killed. She says that Laius was killed by robbers on his way to the oracle at Delphi at the place where three roads meet. The content of this play is that of Greek tragedy, son of Laius, king of Thebes, and his wife, Jocasta. Laius had been warned by an oracle that he was fated to be killed by his own son; he therefore abandoned Oedipus on a mountainside. The baby was rescued, however, by a shepherd and brought to the king of Corinth, who adopted him. When Oedipus is grown, he learns from the oracle that he would kill his father and marry his mother. He fled Corinth to escape this fate, believing his foster parents to be his real parents. At a crossroad Oedipus encountered Laius(his father), and killed him. He continued on to Thebes, where the Sphinx was talking and all who could not solve her riddle. Oedipus answered it correctly and so he won the widowed queens hand(his mother). The prophecy was fulfilled. Two sons, Polynices and Eteocles, and two daughters, Antigone and Ismene, were born to the unwittingly incestuous pair. When a plague descended on  Thebes, an oracle declared that the only way to rid the land of its illness was to expel the murderer of Laius. Through a series of painful revelations, the king learned the truth and in an agony of horror blinded himself. His daughters, Antigone and Ismene, are left in the hands of Kreon, who proves to be a true friend of Oedipus. The content of this play regarding time is that the time wasnt very specific, but it does say that Sophocles lived from 496-406 BC. The place on the other hand is very specific, it introduces you saying: The royal house of Thebes. Double doors dominate the facade, a stone altar stands at the center of the stage. Many years have passed since Oedipus has solved the riddle of the Sphinx and ascended the throne of Thebes, and now a plague has struck the city. A procession of priests enters ¦(Sophocles, 392) I think that this introduction leads the reader into a world of curiosity. We really dont know what is going to happen to Oedipus, all we know is there is a plague across the town that Oedipus must do something about. This leads the reader into Oedipus stages of innocence or ignorance, denial and finally guilt. The content in the choice of setting affects the theme because it makes this story more believable, in a time unfamiliar to us, long ago.

Classification of Outsourcing

Classification of Outsourcing Outsourcing can be classified as moving all or part of an organizations activity to a third party business. The activity could be in the form of producing a good or the performance of a service. In some type of industries, outsourcing may well be the only feasible business model, either for all businesses or for a subgroup of businesses. The general example is newspapers outsourcing their news gathering service (especially, collecting information in other countries) to Third party service providers such as Reuters and the Associated Press. (Varadarajan, R. 2009) Outsourcing is one of the measures a company takes to cut costs by moving their jobs to an outside vendor on an ongoing basis. The organisation was providing these services internally before outsourcing them to the third party vendor. A company that effectively engages in cost cutting would be in a better position in the market. Companies with low cost leadership are able to gain the potential market share. (Oza, A., and K. H ill. 2007) Outsourcing is a trend that will carry on over a period time. Cost reduction cannot be the only motivation for outsourcing since cost reductions is only possible in specific conditions, e.g. the third party provider is be able to achieve economies of scale that the outsourcer does not. Business do not simply indulge in the process of outsourcing to perform the same task at lower cost, as this could be achieved through reorganising internal activities.(Quà ©lin, B. Duhamel, F. 2003) Businesses have hired vendors for particular jobs or to level off peaks and troughs in their workloads for years. In the recent years outsourcing has been employed with great success by companies such as General Electric and Procter Gamble. Even though in general most companies would indulge in outsourcing to either cut costs or reduce the head count, today the drivers are more strategic and it focuses on keeping value-added activities in house where an organization can better utilize its own core competencies. Many companies are discovering that outsourcing is about corporate growth, making better use of skilled staff and even job creation, not just cheap wages abroad. (Brent, P. 2009) Based on the above arguments there are two types criteria that a company would bear in mind before making any decisions on outsourcing. The first is known as tactical outsourcing wherein the decision is often taken based on cost with no consideration to other benefits or risks associated with that decision. The second is strategic outsourcing where other aspects are taken into consideration. These include quality improvements and unavailability of resources. (Espino-Rodrà ­guez, T.F. Padrà ³n-Robaina, V. 2004). There are also some possible disadvantages of outsourcing if not done correctly. Outsourcing has to be done for the right reasons as mentioned above. The company has to carefully assess the possible benefits which could be in the form of cost reduction or increased customer satisfaction before making any decisions on outsourcing. Some of the other possible disadvantages could be losing staffs that have been trained in the process that may be outsourced or failure to meet th e desired criterion as agreed by the third party vendor. (Jones 1997) It is true that there some disadvantages associated with the process of outsourcing but a carefully crafted rational decision based on logical thoughts would help companies to get the extra bit of competitive advantage through lower cost disciplines, at the same time improving their quality of service and product delivery capability (Domberger, 1998). Globalization is the key word and today companies compete in the global market and not in regional or national market. The new developments in information and technology means that production processes could be separated in and place. Also customers have a wide range of products to choose from and this in turn would reduce customer loyalty. All this adds to complexity and one response to above changing needs is outsourcing. (Pedersen, H.S. Jenster, P.V. 2000). Outsourcing was first observed in the manufacturing industry, and China was the front runner in terms of attracting jobs and foreign investment. In this phase of outsourcing, it was noticed that organisation in order to take the advantage of cheap labour would set up its manufacturing plant in the Far East or Mexico. As outsourcing become more widespread, more and more functions were capable of being outsourced. The biggest upsurge in outsourcing was observed when service activities were outsourced. What began as a process for cutting costs has evolved into a means of growing a companys business value. Transferring non-core company processes off to experts not only helps in delivering increased efficiencies, it delivers the potential for enhanced performance. The important thing is to combine the right people, processes, and technologies to gain maximum efficiency and achieve competitive advantage. (Oza, A., and K. Hill. 2007) International Data Corporation (IDC) has done some analysis of the top outsourcing deals in the current years and the data reveals contract expenditures of almost U.S. $56 billion. The scale of outsourcing has reached astonishing proportions, as seen in the case of Fiats U.S. $7 billion deal and NTLs U.S. $2 billion deal with IBMs Global Services. (Kakabadse, A. Kakabadse, N. 2005) Outsourcing worldwide has now topped US $ 1 trillion per annum. (Oza, A., and K. Hill. 2007) In the service industry, outsourcing was initially restricted to basic support activities but recently outsourcing has entered all non-core service functions. In 1997, 34% of enterprises. Outsourced all or part of their information technology (IT) and this proportion is expected to increase to 58 % by the year 2010. Similar increases are expected for activities such as telecommunication, accounting and human resources. (Oza, A., and K. Hill. 2007) Outsourcing has evolved in the past few years and a new industry called Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) has come to age. It is expected to be â€Å"the next big wave† in information technology services. Business process outsourcing is a more specialised form of outsourcing in which an entire business process, such as accounting, procurement or human resources, is handed to a third party vendor(RAMMOHAN RAO. 2004). According to Gartner Group, which is one of the top IT consulting firms, a BPO can be defined as delegating one or more business processes to an third party provider which in turn owns, facilitates and manages the particular process based on a clear and measurable performance criteria. As per a study done by International data corporation the BPO market is expected to reach 1 .2 trillion in the coming years. In terms of market share the United States leads the BPO market followed by Europe and the Asia pacific region. (Yang et al 2007). Call centres constitute the biggest part of this BPO market. (RAMMOHAN RAO. 2004) â€Å"Call centres are defined by Richardson and Gillespie (2003, pp. 88-89) as having three distinct characteristics: 1. workers are employed in specialist activities which put together telecommunications and information systems technologies; 2. Their work is administered by automated technology which virtually simultaneously distributes work, manages the speed of that work and monitors their performance; and 3. Workers are directly interacting with the customer either through in-bound calls, making out-bound calls or a combination of the two.† The National Association of Call Centres, a non-profit organization serving the call centre industry, categories different sectors in the call centre industry. These are: 1. financial services/banking/insurance; 2. telecommunications; 3. medical services 4. government 5. directory services/job placement (Jobs et al. 2007) According to industry estimates, there were over 300,000 call centres worldwide at the end of 2002, employing around 18m people. (RAMMOHAN RAO. 2004) Call centres can in the form of contact centres which are part of the company (‘‘inhouse call centres) or Third party call centres (‘‘service bureaux) which interacts with customers on behalf of several companies. Basically, with the help of call centres companies try to provide an extended form of customer service, and try to ensure their clients satisfaction and commitment (Zapf et al 2003). Employees in call centres are not just taking out-bound and in-bound calls, but they would also interact with customers through e-mails and online chat as well. With the advent of technology customers are increasingly using email to correspond and there are incentives to do so since there is no charge for postage and emails can be easily stored. The advancement in IT systems enables a customer service agent to interact with customers through voice and email and service both at the same time. Online chat is a real time text conversation between agent the customer. E-mail and chat service may be used by clients who cannot use a traditional telephone due to disability. (Irish 2000) Outsourcing in financial service industry Financial Services Industry at the Forefront The financial industry is not new to idea of outsourcing, and its use, prompted by need to lower cost and the need to focus on core business area, is increasing sharply. As per a report, 15% of the financial services sector in the US, which is approximately about $356bn, would be outsourced in the next few years. The growth in this sector would help in reducing cost for certain services provided by the financial institution and at the same time would help in increasing efficiency. (Singh, D. 2005). A study conducted of 31 European banks reported that the majority intended to increase their level of outsourcing, particularly of BPO. Banks that already opted for BPO had a strong focus on efficiency while mostly ignoring the impact of BPO on the effectiveness of business processes (Gewald, H. Dibbern, J. 2009). There has been a growth of 15% to 20% in revenues from outsourcing activities in the financial institution. Even very large Financial Institution that have stayed away from outs ourcing activities are now moving towards it for greater efficiency. According to estimates nearly half of all financial institutions have outsourced at least a part of their services functions. (Lowell, M. 1992.) They are now concentrating on core competencies (activities or services which provide a strategic advantage or competitive edge) and outsourcing other activities to the best or most efficient provider of a product or service. To be sure, adopting an outsourcing approach impacts an organization dramatically. Prior to analyzing this impact, it is important to understand the trends within outsourcing. (Siemers, R. 19 95). The financial services industry was among the first industries to adopt large campus-style call centres. Customers needing information about their bank account or information on their credit card balance are likely to get an odd look if they call into a branch and ask for help instead of picking up a phone and getting in touch with their banks call centre. Just as banks and insurance firms were quick to see the potential for saving money by consolidating branch office functions in a central call centre, they have also been the first to look further afield in an effort to cut costs. (www.callcenteroutboundcalls.com) Most companies in the financial services industry started their own call centre known as captive call centres. Captive call centres require huge capital investment and at the same time cost involved in running the centre is very high. In captive call centres all the capital expenses such as infrastructure development are borne by the parent company, third-party call center services outsourcing firms do not require businesses to do so. Third-party call center services outsourcing firms, especially those that have been operational for more than five years, have their own infrastructure, systems, and equipment and they do not charge businesses for these. So, choosing a third-party call center service would help the parent company to save plenty in terms of capital investments. (Figgat, D. Dove, M. 2008) Third-party vendors are usually preferred over captive outfits because of substantially lower costs, flexibility and the ability to enforce price and quality competition. (www.infotech.indiatimes.com) Banks and financial institutions depend upon telephone call centers to meet the needs of a changing and ever more demanding consumer for 24/7 access. Call centers serve as a source of service recovery, added value, market intelligence, and strategic advantage. (Feinberg et al 2002) The call centre industry is a very big industry and there are a lot of companies that handle projects for majority of the banks and financial institution. These companies have to make distinct marketing strategies so that they could approach banks and financial institution for outsourcing. Through this project we are trying to identify what strategies a call centre needs to have in place if they are to receive projects from banks and financial institution. GEM is a call centre based in Belfast and this project would help in developing a marketing fit for GEM position it as a key customer contact service provider for the UK financial market. Information about Gem It is one of the leading providers of outsourced customer service via email, telephone, sms and live chat and in Europe and they operate in 29 different languages. It is considered to be one of the primary developers of best practices in contact centres in U.K. Gem was originally designed to provide services for outsourced email handling and was essentially an email ‘call centre. Since then, the company has extended its range of activities and now provides services which include customer care, technical support and sales to back office processing. In addition to providing different kinds of services in multiple languages, gem captures important customer and staff feedback and uses this unique information to consult on enhancing a clients brand. Exports account for 98% of gems business, which includes 38% to the US, 38% to the UK and 15% to mainland Europe. Gems has a wide range of client base from media, e-commerce, travel, hi-tech and government sectors. Current customers include Cisco Systems, King.com, Match.com, Microsoft, Play.com and Channel 4 television. In terms of certification Gem was accredited with ISO 9001:2000 in October 2006.Since the company has been operating its business with such high values and they are also one of the major players in the BPO industry in U.K. they have received some industry awards to name a few. 1) Belfast Business Top 50, Belfast Media Group 2) Gold Award Winner for Best Online Customer Service Team (Figleaves), People in Retail Awards 3) Gold Award Winner for best UK Call Centre Manager of the Year Awards, Call Centre Management Association (www.the-gem.com) To segment, identify and profile the key players in the financial market within United Kingdom. U.K has one of the most varied and competitive financial services sectors in the world with both specialist and non-bank providers offering services such as credit cards, insurance and loans. (Farquhar, J. Panther, T. 2008). The financial services industry is going through a massive change and is fast becoming highly competitive. Traditional players are offering new services to protect their client base and at the same time are competing with new players for a share in the financial services market. The industry in particular is going through a change and new tools, techniques and services have been developed which were traditionally offered via bricks and mortar channels (Boyes, G. Stone, M. 2003). The major banks have undergone a considerable degree of consolidation, and supermarkets such as Tesco and Sainsburys, as well as online banks have entered the market for financial services. Some building societies have become banks. Some banks have taken over building societies, insuran ce companies and indeed other banks. The type of services has expanded into credit cards, mortgage lending, insurance, and so on.The banking services industry could be divided into four distinct groups: traditional high street banks and former building societies, online banks, credit card companies, and retailers providing financial services. (www.capco.com) In the UK, High street banks traditionally enjoyed a dominant retail market presence because of their tight control over the payments system. The huge branch system coupled with less use of technology meant that major high street banks like Royal bank of Scotland, Barclays bank, Lloyds banking group, HSBC bank, standard chartered and building societies like Nationwide enjoyed a dominance in the UK financial services industry.(Consoli, D. 2005) But with the recent crisis in the U.K. banking industry, with the examples of northern rock and RBS there is a lot of distrust among the general public. (Butler, S. 2009). At the same time, high street banks have come under lot of pressure from new entrants to the financial services sector such as Prudential (Egg), Virgin, MBNA and CapitalOne and supermarket chains like Tesco and Sainsbury (Harden, G. 2002). New entrants who have entered the financial services industry have gained a competitive advantage through the use of technology. New entrants have information from the customers of their traditional activity, and with CRM they can integrate their information sources and exploit aggregated data on the clientele. It could be argued that access to such high level consumer information should enable banks and other financial institution to give a more personalised and more efficient service. For consumers, the high personal convenience that a bank offers higher would be the possibility of a closer bank customer relationship and enhanced customer satisfaction (Harden, G. 2002). In recent years new entrants into retail banking sector like supermarket banks and online banks have threatened the dominance of major players. (Essvale Corporation Limited). Supermarket banks The reasons why these companies wish to start up in banking are diversification of their business, looking for new sources in order to increase their profitability and a desire to offer a complete service to their customers with the expansion of their current financial services complementary to their main activity. In the UK, the main supermarkets, by means of alliances with banks, have created their own bank subsidiaries, which allow them to offer a whole range of financial products. Some of these are Tesco, Sainsbury and Marks and Spencer. (Gonzà ¡lez Guerrero 2004) Among the major supermarket brands eying this banking business, the most high-profile is undoubtedly the supermarket chain Tesco, which is already the countrys largest food retailer and has a longstanding personal finance arm that sells car, home and travel insurance, savings accounts and credit cards. It has also been running a pilot scheme providing banking sections inside five of its existing 2,200 supermarkets for the last few months, and plans to launch current accounts and mortgages over the next couple of years ((MarketWatch: Global Round-up).Tesco has been creating strategies to capitalise on customers disenchantment with traditional high street banks by aggressively launching new products to counter the ones offered by banks. U.K.s largest retail chain plans to open 30 branches which is likely to be branded Tesco Bank within existing supermarkets in the coming few months.(Bradshaw, T. 2009) Another leading supermarket chain, J Sainsbury, already has a Sainsburys Bank arm offering loans, credit cards, savings and insurance, while the pharmacy chain Boots has expressed interest in financial services. Like Tesco, Sainsbury sees a big opportunity in the financial services market. According to Darren Shapland, Finance director of Sainsbury, the supermarket chain is a challenger and not as big as some of the other financial service providers but the there is a huge potential since 1.8 million customers walk into their shops every week (Butler, S. 2009). The UKs leading bookseller, stationer and newsagent chain WHSmith, meanwhile, has Post Office branch facilities in 80 of its stores, with services that extend to savings accounts and foreign exchange. Another retailer Alliance Boots wants to get into the financial services industry and coincidently or not has hired former HBOS CEO as its new boss. But in the case of Boots they have no tradition of offering financial services products apart from travel insurance and it may them a few years before they could be regarded as force to reckon with. (Butler, S. 2009). At the other end of the spectrum are overseas interests that see an opportunity for a tightly focused banking operation in the UK, running a few branches and targeting a very specific market. The most high-profile among these is Vernon Hill, the US entrepreneur who founded Commerce Bancorp in 1973 and grew it into a business that he eventually sold to Toronto-Dominion for $8.5 billion in 2007. Hill has applied for a banking license with the countrys regulator, the FSA, and has gone public with plans to open the doors of an institution called Metro Bank (MarketWatch: Global Round-up) The highly competitive nature of the financial services market has resulted in new. Developments and banks are creating strategies to utilize alternative delivery channels. One of the delivery channels that have been in existence for some time now is electronic or online banking. Many of the financial institution in the UK have launched or developed transactional electronic banking services. Internet banking services were first introduced in the UK in the early 1980s with the Homelink service provided by the Nottingham Building Society and the Bank of Scotland. But this service was not very popular then and was discontinued after some time (Daniel, E. 1999). Since the rapid development in internet based services, Customers now are more prone to use this service it is possible for them to use banking services anytime and anywhere at their own convenience and with lower fees as compared to traditional banks. Internet banking has given rise to a relatively new concept called internet on ly banks where these organizations dont have a physical set up like traditional banks but provide all types of products and services through internet, Telephone and ATM machines. (Sayar Wolfe 2007). First Direct was not one of the first banks to launch internet only bank in the summer of 1997.Egg is still the most popular internet only bank with a market share of 5.9% in the online banking sector. Internet banks like Egg, Smile, Cahoot and First Direct have a simple banking principle keep costs low and undercut competition. Credit Cards Credit card helps the card holder to obtain credit from the card issuer and allows him to repay the debt over a flexible time period usually 90 days and user can even to add to the debt by paying a certain amount of interest; this is the so-called revolving credit facility. Majority of the banks in the UK provide credit card facilities. The other financial institutions which provide credit card facilities are monocline banks. Monocline banks are credit card issuers who focus on credit card as their main product lines. Companies such as MBNA, Capital One and Morgan Stanley and types of Monoline banks operating in UK (Worthington Edwards. 2000). The competition in the credit card market in UK has intensified in the last few years. The result of this has been the emergence of flexible credit cards. These types of credit cards allow users to select the features of their card which includes the colour of their card and the APR and they also have the option of changing the features based on their circumstances. Virgin and Cahoot are some of the card issuers who are offering such features. (M2 PRESSWIRE 2003.). U.K. is one of the largest users of credit card, with more than half in U.K. as compared to entire Europe and two thirds of total value transactions. (Irish News 2004). Other financial services Personal Loans are one of the other services provided by the financial industry. They help customers to borrow credit from banks and other financial institutions and they pay interest for using the credit over a period of time. Personal Loans are available either against collateral or in some cases with out collateral. Some of the major players in the Personal loan market in the U.K are Nationwide, Sainsbury, HSBC and Abbey (Santander). Insurance Insurance is a service where the insurer is covered for risks by paying a premium to the insuring company. The premium is either paid on a monthly, quarterly or yearly basis. Some of the major insurance companies in U.K are Norwich Union, Standard life and Legal and General. To identify what processes or departments in financial companies can be outsourced. The advent of technology has meant that customers have multiple sources to contact their service providers. The first service that was launched by banks was telephone banking wherein customers could contact their banks 7 days a week and 24 hours a day. Most banks started with their in house call centres called captive call centres to provide service to their customers. As discussed above due high fixed and operation maintaining a captive call centre is an expensive proposition. That is where third party call centres come into picture. The services that are offered in call centres are customer service where customers query about his bank accounts, credit cards, personal loans or mortgages are serviced. Marketing of banks products is another service that call centers provide. Popularly known as telemarketing, this service helps banks to make customers aware of different products and services they offer and also any discounts that they could be eligible for. Banks also face a lot of situation where customers have either used their accounts over the agreed overdraft limit or they havent paid their regular installments for their credit cards, personal loans or Mortgage loans. Most banks have a separate department to handle these type of situations which would help them to contact the customer for debt. recovery. These departments are known as collections teams, and would call customers to remind them that they have failed to make their regular installments. Online banking is another service that banks offer and as discussed above offers anytime banking to customers at the click of a button. Call centres provide customers service for online banking services as well so that if the custom ers face any issue while they are online they could be guided in the right direction. Chat service is another part of online banking, and even though most banks have not introduced it for customer service in bank accounts and they are used for mortgage servicing. All the banks do their best to satisfy customers either through good customer service or through different types of products, but inspite of this there a small number of customers who remain unsatisfied and these types of customers would like to express their dissatisfaction. Complaint handling teams would normally service these types of customers and they would thoroughly look at customers complaints and would try to resolve them with the business policies of the bank. Back office process like processing of bank accounts, personal loans and mortgages are some of the other services that call centres provide to financial institution. In case of insurance companies claims handling would be would be one of the services offered by Call centres. Some of the financial institutions that have indulged in outsourcing are HSBC, Abbey and few others banks. Most of these banks have outsourced their operations to offshore locations like India. A complete list is mentioned in Appendix 1.

Time Compression :: essays research papers

Thousands of years ago, Man created (discovered?) gunpowder. Sixty years ago, he discovered the power of the atom. Twenty-five years ago, computers were primarily tools of universities, large corporations and government agencies. Now a Personal Computer is commonplace in homes; suburban kids have computers with capabilities 100 fold of their corporate ancestors. The Internet was in a similar state not 10 years ago. It has grown so fast that now the original framework is bursting at the seams, no longer able to handle the needs of the burgeoning â€Å"Internet Community†. Technology and the world around us is moving at a breakneck speed, and it’s getting faster every second. These are examples of a theory known as Time Compression. Time compression is a simple theory, and it is one that I am in love with, as it effects us all on a day-to-day basis. Think of time as a physical presence that is constantly moving. As a physical thing, it has mass, weight, volume, etc. The longer it’s been moving, the more momentum it gains, the faster it goes. Be it technology, moral philosophies or social situations, we are affected by time compression in all facets of our lives. As we speed through our post-modern lifestyles, the increasing speed is becoming more apparent. Every day of our lives, something is being created, improved upon and appraised as no longer being relevant, and scrapped for something newer, faster and better to replace it. Whether this is good or bad is not terribly relevant. Change is one of the few constants. Progress has been occurring before man had a word for it. It’s been moving along at an ever-increasing velocity before man was, by today’s evolutionary standards, classifiable as Man. Even with this apparent truth, some try to grind their heels into the dirt, slow it down just a bit. Sometimes it works out. Thoreau. Sometimes it doesn’t. Unabomber. But regardless of the outcome, both suffer from the same symptom, a sort of desperate escapism. If you disregard all the nobler qualities that have been stacked upon Thoreau, he was a simple man living in a complex world, desperately afraid and unable to cop to his bewildering environment.

Personality Conflicts in Crow Lake

In the novel Crow Lake by Mary Lawson, the reader learns how personalities and habits can either tear families apart or keep them together. Luke the oldest brother and Mat the youngest both learn how to use their opposite personalities to run a successful household. Yet have advantages and disadvantages to their characters. Luke being the oldest he feels that he is responsible for his siblings, but his habits clearly show that he cannot raise them on his own. He was still holding onto the fact that he was able to take care of them. First off, Luke has a laid back attitude.He thinks that everything is going to work itself out and that he does not have to worry about a thing. This kind of attitude has both advantages and disadvantages. One of the benefits was the time that he had to be with his two little sisters. This is evident as he stays home a lot and does not toss them between neighbors to be babysat. Luke’s personality also showed a very optimistic aspect. After Luke anno unced that he was not going to go away to teachers college and that he was going to stay home and get a job, Matt and Aunt Annie were trying to convince him not to make that decision he said; â€Å"I know I can do it.I know it wouldn’t be easy, but neighbors would help and everything. We’d work it out. I know I can do it† (77). Next Luke is very nonchalant about money and job opportunities. This is mainly how Matt and Luke collided. Their attitude about money and jobs were very different. Lawson writes about many fights the brothers have had over one being too stressed or the other not being apprehensive enough. For example, Lawson explains in Kate’s point of view, â€Å"Luke losing his job, for instance; I know that worried mat a lot more than it did Luke.Not that Luke wasn’t concerned, but ever since the day he’d decided to stay home and look after us, he seemed to have an unshakeable faith that everything would work out alright†¦ bu t I think that calm certainty of his drove Matt mad and that was a major cause of the increasing friction between them† (163-164). This quote proves how opposite Luke and Matt really are. The conflict between them always starts when Matt becomes consciously worrisome. Finally Luke seems to have a way of somehow making everything workout.For instance, Luke got a job offer to clear two acres of forestry but he turned it down because; â€Å"he’d said he was going to stay with [Bo] for a year, and he was going to stay with her for a year† (209). Now, â€Å"Luke’s irrationality paid off in the end, almost as if destiny were bending to his will† (210). He ends up accepting the job because Mrs. Stanovich generously offers to help out. â€Å"Two afternoons a week she could look after the girls, do a bit of cooking, maybe a bit of cleaning†¦the Lord had spoken to her and she was going to do his will† (211-212).Matt’s traits display a very realistic person and the ability to foresee problems. To begin with, Matt’s personality causes agitation with Luke as well as helpfulness. If Matt hadn’t thought of the problems in situations, he wouldn’t have been able to help solve them. â€Å"We’ve got to do something, Luke. We’re going through Dad’s money so fast† (175). Secondly, Matt forced the reality that there was no possible way he could go to university. Luke would have been unable to take care of the girls and work at the same time.So Matt got a job at the Hudson Bay Store and enforced a routine. He quotes, â€Å"Even if we make it through this year, how are you going to manage when I leave? It’s impossible. One of us has to work and one of us has to stay home that’s the only way† (178). To end, that Matt stayed at home was a help for Kate who had a strong need to be with her brother. Kate looked up to Matt as a role model. She admired everything about him. It was hard enough on her the news of her parents death, she didn’t need him gone too.Matt became Kate’s best friend and much of what she accomplished in her future was because of Matt. She became a biologist because of all the time they spent at the ponds and Matt teaching Kate about nature. â€Å"Our visits to the ponds, which had formed such a fundamental part of my life†¦The interest which Matt had sparked had developed by then into a deeper curiosity †¦Ã¢â‚¬  (218). Matt’s role is huge in this novel. He affects every character in a great way. Luke and Matt’s differences also have a major impact on their little sisters.For starters, their fights stole some of Kate and Bo’s innocence. The brothers had not learned to solve problems in a healthy manner and so the girls had witnessed multiple fights that scared them. An example of one of the fights is; â€Å"I sat rigid, not breathing. There was a crash in the living room and the y started shouting again. Bo†¦stood there†¦watching them†¦ I looked down and saw Bo shaking so that even her hair seemed to vibrate†¦Her mouth wide open and tears pouring down her face but she wasn’t making any sound. She was so brave, Bo. I thought nothing could frighten her† (179-181).Next toward the end of the novel Luke and Matt seemed to level out and learn how to resolve conflict. They had to be threatened to be separated from their sisters in order to shape up the way they were acting. They started working together to hold back their tongues when they wanted to fight back. Dr Christopherson says: â€Å"What had happened in front of [Kate and Bo] must never happen again. [He] said that as much as he would hate to do it, if he ever had any reason to suspect a repeat†¦he would have no choice but to contact Aunt Annie†(207).In conclusion, the reader learns that opposite personalities eventually brought the Morrison family together. Eve n though it is not potent in the novel that they consciously acknowledge the fact that they are vastly and uniquely different, it is clear that they only wanted to do all they could to stay in Crow Lake with their sisters. Just like Luke quotes multiple times â€Å"something will turn up†. Indeed, something did show up every time. Luke’s laid back attitude really worked itself out in the end. Just like Matt’s ability to see things for what they really are. They finally managed to run a successful household.