Thursday, October 31, 2019

Urban tourism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 1

Urban tourism - Essay Example In fact after WWII, Haiti was among the leading countries that had taken advantage of the international tourism that had aroused from the global economic restoration. This had created in Haiti an estimate of more than 60,000 direct and indirect jobs, contributed a 3.5% share to the country’s GDP, and earned an annual income of $50 million. (International Monetary Fund 34) According to Americas, during 1950s and ‘60s Haiti had been one of the strongest competitors in the tourism industry in the Caribbean (qtd. in Pawlowski 1). However, the development of tourism in Haiti has been historically lopsided and marred with many setbacks. Even during the most auspicious times, Haiti’s tourism has never attracted a significant portion of the total Antilles tourist market. Only Labadie on the northern coast has achieved consistent success, being the docking site of tourist cruises in the Caribbean (Lundahl 64). It was in Labadie where the Royal Caribbean Cruise Line has been landing in Haiti for nearly 30 years, without informing tourists that it is actually part of Haiti, instead referring to it as an ‘island’ on Hispaniola (Lazar, par. 12-3; Pawlowski 2). Furthermore, the worsened political and social instability since the ending of Jean-Claude Duvalier’s dictatorial regime in 1986 (Hudman and Jackson 134) plus the inadequate infrastructure needed by a flourishing tourist industry – the focus of Duvalier’s later investments, have greatly pulled Haiti’s tourism indu stry backward, leaving a mere 800 hotel rooms available for tourists by the latter part of 1990s (Street 5). After Duvalier’s fall, though Haiti’s political leadership remains unstable, the second ascension to Presidency of Renà © Prà ©val in 2004 has brought a slow yet better changes to Haiti, such as, a stabilizing Haiti’s political climate; a

Tuesday, October 29, 2019

Windows Server 2003 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Windows Server 2003 - Essay Example They need to know and understand the benefit of upgrading to Windows Server 2003 so they can make the right decision. A company with an already stable system perhaps would wonder why I should upgrade my system when it seems fine and sufficient. Some will also probably ask why I should spend some more when I already have what we want. What's new What is the benefit Shall I gain from it Microsoft Windows Server 2003 for the comprehension of a typical user is simply an enhancement to Microsoft's previous server products such as NT 4.0 and Windows Server 2000. However, this latest operating system contains over 340 (Eurodata, 2004) improvements for Windows 2000 Server and the capability to handle different server functions that can significantly increase productivity and security that will give businesses added benefits. Similar to its predecessor, Server 2003 was built in the same tradition of strengths, superiority, and cost effectiveness to sustain business growth. In the real world, business are constantly changing, expanding, and seeking new ways to improve and support the demands of their organization. Growing organizations that are heavily relying on their computer network are looking for flexible and scalable systems that can greatly reduce their operating and administration cost. In addition, to ensure greater success, an organization wants real value on the ir investment and demand greater reliability and innovative functionalities with their server operating systems. Microsoft is much aware of these necessities and since the released of Windows 2000 Server substantially reviewed and studies all possible bugs and weak points to produce a much better operating system. According to Microsoft's Server 2003 White Paper (Microsoft, 2002), this operating systems provides various utilities, services, and features that could convince users to upgrade. One of the enticing new features of Server 2003 aside from being stable is its integrated platform that can be easily deploy and manage without security implications. This is to a certain extent viable considering the real world situation of company networks where combinations of Intranets and Internet are being used and continually being stretched to satisfy the organizations growing requirements. When an operating system is stable, it means more uptime and secured. This is exactly what Microsoft wants to sell; a fast, reliable, and secured platform with advanced connectivity that can provide a company gre ater competitive advantage in global marketplace (Eurodata, 2004). Improved Reliability, Windows Server 2003 provides device driver's resiliency that prevents defective drivers (that are known to be incompatible) that could unfavorably harm the server and holdup the company's operation. Furthermore, similar to XP, the Server 2003 is capable of device rollbacks (Ivens, 2003), restoration of last known good configuration, file protection, and application compatibility options. These features will ensure more uptime for the company network eliminating the possibility of system shutdown due to maintenance and restoration works (Microsoft, 2002). Improved Availability further fortifies network operational stability by

Sunday, October 27, 2019

Cross Cultural Awareness in Management

Cross Cultural Awareness in Management Task 1 The FIVE most important competencies for managing internationally in my country, Hong Kong, for these three American managers of TDS are: Interpersonal Skills – If this is not the most important skill of all, it is the crucial one. This skill helps the expatriate managers to establish relationships, coordinate with others, satisfying the needs for friendship and intimacy when they are abroad. It also helps in building trust and form relationships with the people around them. The expatriate managers are often experiencing uncertainties and getting stressed when dealing things with work and personal life in a new environment. So with good interpersonal skills will be able to reduce the stress coming from every angle. Referring to a recent book (Schneider Barsoux, 2003, 190-1), the primary selection of many companies for the expatriate managers in practice is their track records on reaching their targets or getting their jobs done. Companies also would like to send those that are eager to climb further on their career ladders or those with technical or conceptual abilities instead of those with interpersonal skills abroad. These expatriates are often too focused on their personal agenda to make things happen and ignore the pressure that are given to the local staffs which would create tension at work. Moreover, feelings of mistrust and resentment of the local staffs towards the head office will also be exacerbated. Therefore, interpersonal skills should be taken into account when the American managers are being chosen to manage in a foreign country like Hong Kong. Motivation to live abroad – It is a key factor for the expatriate managers and their families to adapt into the local culture successfully (Schneider Barsoux, 2003, 192). Basically they should have real interests in the country they will live in, in order to have the curiosity to get to know it better and experience it well. It is the desire that makes them easier to understand the culture with ease. Patience and respect – Different countries have different cultures so it is necessary that the international managers have the patience and respect when dealing with the new culture. It takes time to cope and learn the differences between the culture at home and the culture of the new place so the international managers should be patient (Schneider Barsoux, 2003, 193). They also need to have respect for the local of how the things happen in some ways when dealing with different circumstances in any aspects. Cultural empathy – This is a not skill that can be easily acquired because it is deeply rooted in someone’s character to have the mentality of empathy for others with cultural differences (Schneider Barsoux, 2003, 193). It is required in order to respect the local staffs by the international managers to be a good listener to focus on what they have to say. Being non-judgmental is also important for those managers to be able to understand others’ points of views. The psychological development of a human being allows narcissism to be evolved to a point that interfere the capacity for empathy (Kets de Vries, M. and Mead, C. 1992). Managers that are narcissistic usually are self- centred and think that others are paltry or just the extensions of their own. They make the values of others hard to be recognized, let alone appreciate, because they see others as objects or tools for them to get what they want in order to achieve their goals and they also think of others as the mirrors to reflect their own glory. This type of managers would use all their efforts to prove their worth instead of considering the needs and the existing values of the other staffs. Flexibility, tolerance for uncertainty and ambiguity – These managers also need to have the flexibility, tolerance for uncertainty and ambiguity. Changing circumstances that are unexpected makes the managers face with thread of uncertainty and ambiguity because the reactions and the behaviors of the local staffs may be unpredictable. Managers are intended to reinforce greater controls and restrict on the information flow when they face this kind of tread especially during an international assignment (Schneider Barsoux, 2003, 192-3). It often results in a stereotypical response and not well adapted to the situation on hands. Although it is difficult for the managers that are usually awarded by being in charged and staying on top of things, expatriates need to ‘go with the flow’ and let go of control. Everyone doesn’t always need to go by the book because actions are often taken base on insufficient, unreliable or/ and conflicting information. Task 2 Controlling model and Adapting model are the names and characteristics of two specific models of strategy related to cultural assumptions and approaches in adapting to external environment as discussed in the literature. The differences between controlling and adapting approaches are described below: Controlling model is based on active search that is focused and systematic. The planning system of the controlling approach is formalized and centralized using expert consultants to assist in devising strategy. The information being used by the controlling method is objective, quantitative and impersonal also interpreting information relies on formal models and methods like strategic forecasting with scenario planning. The people involve in this model are those from the top management or the experts of the particular area. The decisions for the controlling approach would be made by the top management and pass down to be implemented. The strategic goals and action plans are clearly defined, articulated and it would be explicitly measured and rewarded in this controlling method. As it assumes that the environment is known to reduce environmental uncertainty. This approach is usually sequential and short term (Schneider Barsoux, 2003, 124). Adapting model is broad, sporadic, decentralized and mostly based on monitoring. It is the opposite from the controlling model, informal and decentralized. The adapting approach is personal, subjective and qualitative; the information would be interpreted by some informal methods with discussions and debate. It would have the employees involved from all across the ranks. The decisions for the adapting approach would be made by the front lines staffs, neither the people from top management nor the experts. The strategic goals tend to emerge and action plans are broad, implicit and vaguely monitored. Also it assumes that the environment cannot be readily known or controlled. This approach is long term and simultaneous (Schneider Barsoux, 2003, 124). The model of adapting approach is more appropriate in this situation with TDS because TDS is new to town and not quite familiar with the culture and environment in Hong Kong. Also the environment cannot be controlled or readily known, it would be wise to have the responsibilities to be diffused throughout the organization to make all the staffs from different ranks to get involved. Strategic direction tends to emerge when different people come with different perspective on the business point of view. The implementation should be locally determined to keep it within this strategic frame. Strategy can be refined on an ongoing basis and the adjustments can be made to any unexpected circumstances. TDS should be flexible in order to deal with any sort of unforeseen events or sudden change in any situation. A broad scan is needed in case of any subtle change in the environment and also accountability should be assigned to the collective too because everyone is involved to contribute to make things happen. Task 3 The Five methods of discovery that I would recommend to the three American managers transferring into my country, Hong Kong, are: Architecture and design – According to a recent book (Schneider Barsoux, 2003, 24-6) the most obvious artifact is the architecture and design of the building when you enter the organization. In the United States, most of the office design would be opened space with partitioned off by half walls with each individual cubicles personalized by personal interested items such as photos, plants or aphorisms. By not being able to see each other directly allows a sense of privacy to be established. Also opened doors are usually signaled as accessible and available while closed doors are indicated as a sign of privacy desire in the United States. To the contrary, Japanese prefer to have some of the walls knocked off so informal communication would not be inhibited. On the other hand, Germans experience difficulty to work in an open-plan office due they feel it is lack of privacy. Although Hong Kong has a majority of 95 percent Chinese people according to a website (The American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong, 2008), and was also a British colony for over 150 years, the main business partner of its own is still the United States as shown by the figures provided from the Business Expectation Statistics Section, Census and Statistics Department, (2007a) (2007b). Therefore, most of the office design in Hong Kong is followed to the same style as those in the United States. Greeting rituals – In the United States, the greeting rituals are tended to be paid less attention according to a recent book (Schneider Barsoux, 2003, 26-7). But for the other countries, the protocol is taken quite seriously. There are different forms of way in greetings such as showing respect by exchanging and inspecting business cards in Japan, greeting individual by name, shaking hands and making eye contact by French. The degree of body contact expected in greeting creates a fair amount of confusion in another part of the rituals too. In the United States, people might greet others with a hug even when the acquaintanceship is ordinary. In some countries like France, kissing hello and goodbye are common while people from countries like Hong Kong might feel uncomfortable and uneasy about it. According to a website (The Economist Newspaper Limited, 2008), handshaking followed by an immediate swapping of business cards is the most common form of greeting in Hong Kong. Dress Codes – It is another cultural artifact varies from the degree of formality. Schneider Barsoux (2003, 29) pointed out that Anglo and Asian managers do not want to get too much attention or stand out by the way they dress while the Latin managers really care about their personal style. Moreover, corporate dress seems to be color coded in some countries. For example in the United Kingdom, some women are advised not to wear suits and dresses in bright color to work such as red and some bankers of a Dutch bank even avoid to wear suits in brown. It also signals task orientation. In the United States, rolled up shirt sleeves is considered as a signal of hard working while in France means ‘relaxing on the job’. Not to mention that some US companies have designated days to encourage people to appear in casual clothes at work such as Fridays. According to a website (World Business Culture, 2008), dress codes differ base on the size of company and industry sector in Hong Kong. Men mostly wear dark suits, shirts and ties while women wear conservative suits and dresses. Trousers and causal wear are tended to be worn only on informal occasions or designated days. Written versus verbal contracts – In different parts of the world people have different definitions toward the sealed business agreements as mentioned in a recent book (Schneider Barsoux, 2003, 30). In some places, one’s word means more than a legal document while others need to put down all the details on a paper in black and white. Problems would appear when the contracts are expected by the head office to be signed, sealed and delivered from a place where one’s reputation and honor are way more valuable than some legal documents. Figures from Schneider Barsoux (2003, 30) for the estimated numbers of lawyers per capita of some countries like United States, United Kingdom, Germany, France and Japan reflect the differences on expectations. American managers will bring it to the legal department to retrieve whenever a business deal has been fell through while some other countries would sort things out through the relationship. Since Hong Kong is a Common Law Jurisdiction like most of the United Kingdom, Ireland and the United States (Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 2008a), people most likely to expect to have a written contract over a business deal. Criteria for success – It depends on the importance of stakeholders whether it is the benefit of the shareholders, the customers or the employees. Beliefs and values differ when there are different stakeholders; there are different criteria for success. Schneider Barsoux (2003, 31) claimed that American companies only exist for the benefit of the shareholders. This might be disagreed in Japan or even shock the Japanese as they believe customers have the divine rights. Some countries in Europe such as Germany or Sweden believe that the employees have the divine rights instead. Although all these factors are crucial to the business success, you still need to have a closer look to the cultural preferences in different countries like Hong Kong. Task 4 In my opinion, the key functions for managing people and human resource management are recruitment and selection, compensation and rewards, employee relations, and career development. Recruitment and selection – This can be the most challenging and important function for managing people and human resource management. It is because finding ‘the right people for the right job’ is essential. It is often a challenge as well especially when the nature of the local labor market or the available human resources is not familiar. The company needs to understand how to access the local labor pool in order to get the equivalent people to work for the company. So finding those candidates who have the abilities and requirements to finish the task and get the job done is also hard and essential, not to mention to get those who seem to likely match with the existing corporate culture. Moreover, the standard profile of one country might be very different from another in terms of representation and the differences in education systems also play a part to make the selection difficult in selecting which person fits the profile for the job (Schneider Barsoux, 2003, 151). Compensation and rewards – The cultural differences play a role when it comes to determine the terms of reward and who gets it. Different cultures have different type of value in relations to the reward and vary to the extent in the belief that reward should be collective or individual. Pay for performance is assumed to be based on contribution or ‘equity’ instead of the belonging to the group or ‘equality’ (Eretz and Early, 1993). In the contractual view of employment, the notions of equity, ‘you get what you deserve’, are embedded while the notions of equality, ‘you deserve what you get’, correspond to the social view (Pennings, 1993). According to Susan Barsoux (2003, 165), the current trend of linking salary payment to working performances is especially suspect to be cultural related. It has been discovered that in some countries like France, it would be shocked for the French executives to have clearly stated quantifiable objective relating increased performances to increased bonus. It is because the French executives found that discussion about money and finance is such a turned off. It also provoked outcries when the merit pay was attempted to be introduced in Japan. It created uproar as the Japanese executives were scared that it would ruin the harmony of the group and might also encourage short term thinking especially when the employees only focus on the performance in order to get the bonus. On the other hand, the dominant influence in American managerial thinking is the principle of equity that each one should be rewarded based on the solely contribution by that particular person. Nowadays in the view towards team management that demands group cooperation instead of competition among individuals finds the merit-based pay in the United States demotivating (Susan Barsoux, 2003, 167). The preference between financial or non financial incentives is also related to the culture. The motivating potential of money, status, vacation time is also affected and changed across countries. Swedish would prefer to have some time off rather than a bonus because they are more concerned with the quality of life and monetary rewards are less motivating while giving time off might seem to have not much point in Japan when most of the employees only take half of their holiday entitlement (Susan Barsoux, 2003, 167). So the internationally operated companies should learn to appreciate the different values and evaluate the potential impact as well because the remuneration package is a very strong indicator of the culture and the behavior expected and also can be used in order to encourage cooperation or competition, risk taking or conservatism, and information sharing or information hoarding. The remuneration package is also a very important signal when it comes to aspiring recruits. When the company wants to attract local elite, it can choose to align itself with the local norms or the alien one when the preference of the company changes to attract the less mainstream or adventurous or those that are frustrated with the local practices and looking to be rewarded for their efforts and success (Susan Barsoux, 2003, 168). Employee relations – It is important to have a good relations and mutual understanding between the management and the staffs of the company. Any staff grievances of the company should be dealt with and well listened to in order to promote a harmony environment. An open dialogue is needed to be promoted between the management and the unions of the company to eliminate any conflicts or fictions that may occur between the staffs and the management specially when there is a new implementation of company policies. Also the employees’ political standing should be respected and well listened to especially when it is toward the company policy and issues. Good employee relations help increasing the engagement of the employees to the company so as their commitment and involvement as well. It also helps with the staff retention which is necessary for a company setting up in a new country like TDS (CIPD, 2008). Career development – National culture has an impact on career development and the natures of the managerial tasks on what management should do or be are depended on assumptions of being versus doing. The determinants for success varies across cultures when some places have it based on achieving results like the United States while in the United Kingdom having good interpersonal skills and personal connections are the keys for success at the career front. Favored career paths also differ culturally and it is bound up with cultural assumptions regarding the importance of the individual versus loyalty to the company, doing versus being, and tolerance for uncertainty. So a multinational company should make sure that the perceptions of what it takes to get to the top and the patterns of career development would include people with different skills, abilities, knowledge and perspectives (Susan Barsoux, 2003, 168 -70). With the references to managing people and HRM, I feel the four department managers, two from the United States and two from Hong Kong, should focus on during their first three months is selection because it is vital to get the right people for the right job in any organization (Schneider Barsoux, 2003, 151). Local talent may have different types of abilities, skills, knowledge and strength owing to the national values differences placed on the education so it is also a challenge to get the right people who fit the requirement for the particular job and also fit with the company culture. The managers should consider the differences in attitude towards the hiring practices in Hong Kong and also the cultural differences will influence on how to recruit as well. So getting access to the local labor pool to get the people that match with the job criteria is important too. Therefore, selection should be focused by four department managers for the first three months to get the right people in place and help them to adjust and fit into a new culture and way of life in order to make the launch of TDS in Hong Kong a success. The trade unions in the United Kingdom has a culture as a collective bargaining tool with management while the one in the United States has more of a hire and fire culture. In Hong Kong, there are four trade unions and the largest one among them is the Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions and their main slogans are patriotism, solidarity, right, welfare and participation (Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 2008b). Although the unions in Hong Kong are focused on the rights and welfares of the workers as much as those in the United Kingdom and the United States but they are still at the stage of establishing as the largest unions in Hong Kong was founded in 1948 while those in United Kingdom have been existed for over 100 years like the General Federation of Trade Unions (UK) (Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 2008c) and so as those in the United States like the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations was founded in 1886 (Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 2008d). Since the United States is the biggest trade business partners of Hong Kong, most of the companies would contain the culture of the United States to remain individual. Task 5 The benefits of creating and working within the context of a multicultural team are given the larger complexity and speed of change in the international business environment. It seems obvious that bringing people together from different cultures enhance the quality of decisions taken. These multinational cultures contribute a greater range of perspectives and options with even more successful marketing strategies and ideas to attract different types of customers. It can also provide a different or new way of looking at the old or existing problems and help to promote the chances for greater innovation and creativity with the cultural differences as well (Schneider Barsoux, 2003, 218). Combining people from different cultural backgrounds also benefits the organization integration and learning so as the managerial development. It improves lateral networks for the communication and information flow. Also when bringing the people with the different cultural backgrounds together, it can be a solution to help minimize the risk of uniformity and pressures for conformity which can appear in the company when there are too many like minded people working at the same company together at the same time (Janis, 1971). Also teams that are composed by members with different profiles are far more effective than teams that are made by the best and the brightest performers or with the members who are having the similar profiles. Teams that have included a mixture of members with profiles of different areas performed better as they have the balance of roles. Different cultures have different assumptions toward the business issues and also have different ideas about the reasons of teams. So that to share information and discuss about any problem at work with people from different cultural background would often generate greater results in a dynamic way. Furthermore to the benefit of the combination with people from different cultures background would enhance the productivity for the organization. The challenges of creating and working within the context of a multicultural team are that bringing people together from different cultures is given more ambiguity and uncertainty in decision making. Also it would be much more complex in the organization from the procession to implementation due to the cultural differences in assumptions. People with different cultural backgrounds work together might create interpersonal conflict and communication problems at work. Also it would create greater potential for frustration and dissatisfactions that might lead to higher turnover of team members within the group (Schneider Barsoux, 2003, 231). The choice of language using within the multicultural team might also creates friction and misunderstanding especially when the native language for the three American managers is English while the native language for the local managers is Chinese, there is a huge scope for misunderstandings that could hamper the cohesion and effectiveness of the team no matter how fluent the local managers could speak in English (I-change, 2008). According to the personal upbringing and values, technical background and training, and also the national backgrounds can distort and filter the messages in many layers of meaning within a multicultural team that can lead to further misunderstanding and frustrations. Barriers would also be created for the multicultural team due to the direct versus indirect communication; trouble with accents and fluency; differing attitudes toward hierarchy and authority and so as the conflicting norms for decision making (Brett, Behfar Kern, 2006). Direct versus indirect communication is that in western cultures, the communication is typically direct and explicit. The listener does not need to know much about the speaker in order to interpret the context because the context of the meaning of the conversation is on the surface while the meaning of the conversation is embedded in the way the message is presented in many other cultures. Although the language of international business is English, the trouble with accents and fluency may lead to deep frustration and misunderstanding because of nonnative speakers’ accents, problems with translation or usage and lack of fluency would also influence the perceptions of status and competence. A challenge inherent in multicultural team with differing attitudes toward hierarchy and authority is that by design, teams have a rather flat structure. But team members from some cultures that people are treated differently according to their status in an organization probably are uncomfortable on flat teams. If they defer to higher status team members then their behavior will be seen as appropriate when most of the team members are came from a hierarchical culture; but they may damage their stature and credibility and even face humiliation if most of the team members are came from an egalitarian culture. Cultures differ enormously when it comes to decision making due to the conflicting norms for decision making particularly on how much analysis is required beforehand and how quickly the decisions should be made. American managers like to make decisions very quickly and with little analysis relatively when compared to the managers from other countries that may also be the challenge too. Task 6 Management Approach The four profiles are Village Market Well oiled machine Family or tribe Pyramid of people Ethical considerations: Managers and companies need to access how different spheres of cultural influence contribute to ethnical behavior. Ethical considerations could include such things as ‘harsh capitalism’ which could include laying off workers, breakdown of psychological contract, corruption, codes of conduct, and the Sullivan Principles. Common rationalizations in explaining unethical behavior can be: It is not really illegal or immoral It serves the best interest of the individual or company It is safe because it will never be found out or publicized The activity helps the company and therefore it will be condoned and protected References: Brett J., Behfar K. Kern M.C. (2006) Harvard Business Review[online]. Available from:http://web.gsm.uci.edu/~kbehfar/Behfar-HBR%202006.pdf [Accessed 27 July 2008] Business Expectation Statistics Section, Census and Statistics Department. (2007a). Hong Kong Statistics – Statistical Tables [online]. The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. Available from: http://www.censtatd.gov.hk/hong_kong_statistics/statistical_tables/index.jsp?htmlTableID=133excelID=134chartID=tableID=133ID=subjectID=5 [Accessed 29 June 2008] Business Expectation Statistics Section, Census and Statistics Department. (2007b). Hong Kong Statistics – Statistical Tables [online]. The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. Available from: http://www.censtatd.gov.hk/hong_kong_statistics/statistical_tables/index.jsp?htmlTableID=134excelID=chartID=tableID=134ID=subjectID=5 CIPD. (2008) Employee Relations: an overview [online]. Available from: http://www.cipd.co.uk/subjects/empreltns/general/emprelsovr.htm [Accessed 13 July 2008] Eretz, M. and Early, P.C. (1993) Culture, Self-identity, and Work, New York: Oxford University Press. I-Change. (2008) Multicultural teamwork Communication[online]. Available from: (http://www.i-change.biz/multiculturalteamworkcommunication.php [Accessed 27 July 2008] Janis, I.L. (1971) Victims of Groupthink, Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin. Kets de Vries, M. and Mead, C. (1992) Development of the global leader, in V. Pucik, N. Ticy and C.Barnett (eds) Globalizing Management, New York: John Wiley, pp.194-205 Pennings, J.M. (1993) Executive reward systems: A cross – national comparison,, Journal of Management Studies, 30(2), pp.261-80, p.264. Schneider, S.C. and Barsoux, J.L. (2003), Managing Across Cultures 2nd edition, pp.24-6, Prentice Hall. Schneider, S.C. and Barsoux, J.L. (2003), Managing Across Cultures 2nd edition, pp.26-7, Prentice Hall. Schneider, S.C. and Barsoux, J.L. (2003), Managing Across Cultures 2nd edition, p.29, Prentice Hall. Schneider, S.C. and Barsoux, J.L. (2003), Managing Across Cultures 2nd edition, p.30, Prentice Hall. Schneider, S.C. and Barsoux, J.L. (2003), Managing Across Cultures 2nd edition, p.31, Prentice Hall. Schneider, S.C. and Barsoux, J.L. (2003), Managing Across Cultures 2nd edition, p.124, Prentice Hall. Schneider, S.C. and Barsoux, J.L. (2003), Managing Across Cultures 2nd edition, p.151, Prentice Hall. Schneider, S.C. and Barsoux, J.L. (2003), Managing Across Cultures 2nd edition, p.165, Prentice Hall. Schneider, S.C. and Barsoux, J.L. (2003), Managing Across Cultures 2nd edition, p.167, Prentice Hall. Schneider, S.C. and Barsoux, J.L. (2003), Managing Across Cultures 2nd edition, p.168, Prentice Hall. Schneider, S.C. and Barsoux, J.L. (2003), Managing Across Cultures 2nd edition, pp.168-70, Prentice Hall. Schneider, S.C. and Barsoux, J.L. (2003), Managing Across Cultures 2nd edition, pp.190-1, Prentice Hall. Schneider, S.C. and Barsoux, J.L. (2003), Managing Across Cultures 2nd edition, p.192, Prentice Hall. Schneider, S.C. and Barsoux, J.L. (2003), Managing Across Cultures 2nd Cross Cultural Awareness in Management Cross Cultural Awareness in Management Task 1 The FIVE most important competencies for managing internationally in my country, Hong Kong, for these three American managers of TDS are: Interpersonal Skills – If this is not the most important skill of all, it is the crucial one. This skill helps the expatriate managers to establish relationships, coordinate with others, satisfying the needs for friendship and intimacy when they are abroad. It also helps in building trust and form relationships with the people around them. The expatriate managers are often experiencing uncertainties and getting stressed when dealing things with work and personal life in a new environment. So with good interpersonal skills will be able to reduce the stress coming from every angle. Referring to a recent book (Schneider Barsoux, 2003, 190-1), the primary selection of many companies for the expatriate managers in practice is their track records on reaching their targets or getting their jobs done. Companies also would like to send those that are eager to climb further on their career ladders or those with technical or conceptual abilities instead of those with interpersonal skills abroad. These expatriates are often too focused on their personal agenda to make things happen and ignore the pressure that are given to the local staffs which would create tension at work. Moreover, feelings of mistrust and resentment of the local staffs towards the head office will also be exacerbated. Therefore, interpersonal skills should be taken into account when the American managers are being chosen to manage in a foreign country like Hong Kong. Motivation to live abroad – It is a key factor for the expatriate managers and their families to adapt into the local culture successfully (Schneider Barsoux, 2003, 192). Basically they should have real interests in the country they will live in, in order to have the curiosity to get to know it better and experience it well. It is the desire that makes them easier to understand the culture with ease. Patience and respect – Different countries have different cultures so it is necessary that the international managers have the patience and respect when dealing with the new culture. It takes time to cope and learn the differences between the culture at home and the culture of the new place so the international managers should be patient (Schneider Barsoux, 2003, 193). They also need to have respect for the local of how the things happen in some ways when dealing with different circumstances in any aspects. Cultural empathy – This is a not skill that can be easily acquired because it is deeply rooted in someone’s character to have the mentality of empathy for others with cultural differences (Schneider Barsoux, 2003, 193). It is required in order to respect the local staffs by the international managers to be a good listener to focus on what they have to say. Being non-judgmental is also important for those managers to be able to understand others’ points of views. The psychological development of a human being allows narcissism to be evolved to a point that interfere the capacity for empathy (Kets de Vries, M. and Mead, C. 1992). Managers that are narcissistic usually are self- centred and think that others are paltry or just the extensions of their own. They make the values of others hard to be recognized, let alone appreciate, because they see others as objects or tools for them to get what they want in order to achieve their goals and they also think of others as the mirrors to reflect their own glory. This type of managers would use all their efforts to prove their worth instead of considering the needs and the existing values of the other staffs. Flexibility, tolerance for uncertainty and ambiguity – These managers also need to have the flexibility, tolerance for uncertainty and ambiguity. Changing circumstances that are unexpected makes the managers face with thread of uncertainty and ambiguity because the reactions and the behaviors of the local staffs may be unpredictable. Managers are intended to reinforce greater controls and restrict on the information flow when they face this kind of tread especially during an international assignment (Schneider Barsoux, 2003, 192-3). It often results in a stereotypical response and not well adapted to the situation on hands. Although it is difficult for the managers that are usually awarded by being in charged and staying on top of things, expatriates need to ‘go with the flow’ and let go of control. Everyone doesn’t always need to go by the book because actions are often taken base on insufficient, unreliable or/ and conflicting information. Task 2 Controlling model and Adapting model are the names and characteristics of two specific models of strategy related to cultural assumptions and approaches in adapting to external environment as discussed in the literature. The differences between controlling and adapting approaches are described below: Controlling model is based on active search that is focused and systematic. The planning system of the controlling approach is formalized and centralized using expert consultants to assist in devising strategy. The information being used by the controlling method is objective, quantitative and impersonal also interpreting information relies on formal models and methods like strategic forecasting with scenario planning. The people involve in this model are those from the top management or the experts of the particular area. The decisions for the controlling approach would be made by the top management and pass down to be implemented. The strategic goals and action plans are clearly defined, articulated and it would be explicitly measured and rewarded in this controlling method. As it assumes that the environment is known to reduce environmental uncertainty. This approach is usually sequential and short term (Schneider Barsoux, 2003, 124). Adapting model is broad, sporadic, decentralized and mostly based on monitoring. It is the opposite from the controlling model, informal and decentralized. The adapting approach is personal, subjective and qualitative; the information would be interpreted by some informal methods with discussions and debate. It would have the employees involved from all across the ranks. The decisions for the adapting approach would be made by the front lines staffs, neither the people from top management nor the experts. The strategic goals tend to emerge and action plans are broad, implicit and vaguely monitored. Also it assumes that the environment cannot be readily known or controlled. This approach is long term and simultaneous (Schneider Barsoux, 2003, 124). The model of adapting approach is more appropriate in this situation with TDS because TDS is new to town and not quite familiar with the culture and environment in Hong Kong. Also the environment cannot be controlled or readily known, it would be wise to have the responsibilities to be diffused throughout the organization to make all the staffs from different ranks to get involved. Strategic direction tends to emerge when different people come with different perspective on the business point of view. The implementation should be locally determined to keep it within this strategic frame. Strategy can be refined on an ongoing basis and the adjustments can be made to any unexpected circumstances. TDS should be flexible in order to deal with any sort of unforeseen events or sudden change in any situation. A broad scan is needed in case of any subtle change in the environment and also accountability should be assigned to the collective too because everyone is involved to contribute to make things happen. Task 3 The Five methods of discovery that I would recommend to the three American managers transferring into my country, Hong Kong, are: Architecture and design – According to a recent book (Schneider Barsoux, 2003, 24-6) the most obvious artifact is the architecture and design of the building when you enter the organization. In the United States, most of the office design would be opened space with partitioned off by half walls with each individual cubicles personalized by personal interested items such as photos, plants or aphorisms. By not being able to see each other directly allows a sense of privacy to be established. Also opened doors are usually signaled as accessible and available while closed doors are indicated as a sign of privacy desire in the United States. To the contrary, Japanese prefer to have some of the walls knocked off so informal communication would not be inhibited. On the other hand, Germans experience difficulty to work in an open-plan office due they feel it is lack of privacy. Although Hong Kong has a majority of 95 percent Chinese people according to a website (The American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong, 2008), and was also a British colony for over 150 years, the main business partner of its own is still the United States as shown by the figures provided from the Business Expectation Statistics Section, Census and Statistics Department, (2007a) (2007b). Therefore, most of the office design in Hong Kong is followed to the same style as those in the United States. Greeting rituals – In the United States, the greeting rituals are tended to be paid less attention according to a recent book (Schneider Barsoux, 2003, 26-7). But for the other countries, the protocol is taken quite seriously. There are different forms of way in greetings such as showing respect by exchanging and inspecting business cards in Japan, greeting individual by name, shaking hands and making eye contact by French. The degree of body contact expected in greeting creates a fair amount of confusion in another part of the rituals too. In the United States, people might greet others with a hug even when the acquaintanceship is ordinary. In some countries like France, kissing hello and goodbye are common while people from countries like Hong Kong might feel uncomfortable and uneasy about it. According to a website (The Economist Newspaper Limited, 2008), handshaking followed by an immediate swapping of business cards is the most common form of greeting in Hong Kong. Dress Codes – It is another cultural artifact varies from the degree of formality. Schneider Barsoux (2003, 29) pointed out that Anglo and Asian managers do not want to get too much attention or stand out by the way they dress while the Latin managers really care about their personal style. Moreover, corporate dress seems to be color coded in some countries. For example in the United Kingdom, some women are advised not to wear suits and dresses in bright color to work such as red and some bankers of a Dutch bank even avoid to wear suits in brown. It also signals task orientation. In the United States, rolled up shirt sleeves is considered as a signal of hard working while in France means ‘relaxing on the job’. Not to mention that some US companies have designated days to encourage people to appear in casual clothes at work such as Fridays. According to a website (World Business Culture, 2008), dress codes differ base on the size of company and industry sector in Hong Kong. Men mostly wear dark suits, shirts and ties while women wear conservative suits and dresses. Trousers and causal wear are tended to be worn only on informal occasions or designated days. Written versus verbal contracts – In different parts of the world people have different definitions toward the sealed business agreements as mentioned in a recent book (Schneider Barsoux, 2003, 30). In some places, one’s word means more than a legal document while others need to put down all the details on a paper in black and white. Problems would appear when the contracts are expected by the head office to be signed, sealed and delivered from a place where one’s reputation and honor are way more valuable than some legal documents. Figures from Schneider Barsoux (2003, 30) for the estimated numbers of lawyers per capita of some countries like United States, United Kingdom, Germany, France and Japan reflect the differences on expectations. American managers will bring it to the legal department to retrieve whenever a business deal has been fell through while some other countries would sort things out through the relationship. Since Hong Kong is a Common Law Jurisdiction like most of the United Kingdom, Ireland and the United States (Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 2008a), people most likely to expect to have a written contract over a business deal. Criteria for success – It depends on the importance of stakeholders whether it is the benefit of the shareholders, the customers or the employees. Beliefs and values differ when there are different stakeholders; there are different criteria for success. Schneider Barsoux (2003, 31) claimed that American companies only exist for the benefit of the shareholders. This might be disagreed in Japan or even shock the Japanese as they believe customers have the divine rights. Some countries in Europe such as Germany or Sweden believe that the employees have the divine rights instead. Although all these factors are crucial to the business success, you still need to have a closer look to the cultural preferences in different countries like Hong Kong. Task 4 In my opinion, the key functions for managing people and human resource management are recruitment and selection, compensation and rewards, employee relations, and career development. Recruitment and selection – This can be the most challenging and important function for managing people and human resource management. It is because finding ‘the right people for the right job’ is essential. It is often a challenge as well especially when the nature of the local labor market or the available human resources is not familiar. The company needs to understand how to access the local labor pool in order to get the equivalent people to work for the company. So finding those candidates who have the abilities and requirements to finish the task and get the job done is also hard and essential, not to mention to get those who seem to likely match with the existing corporate culture. Moreover, the standard profile of one country might be very different from another in terms of representation and the differences in education systems also play a part to make the selection difficult in selecting which person fits the profile for the job (Schneider Barsoux, 2003, 151). Compensation and rewards – The cultural differences play a role when it comes to determine the terms of reward and who gets it. Different cultures have different type of value in relations to the reward and vary to the extent in the belief that reward should be collective or individual. Pay for performance is assumed to be based on contribution or ‘equity’ instead of the belonging to the group or ‘equality’ (Eretz and Early, 1993). In the contractual view of employment, the notions of equity, ‘you get what you deserve’, are embedded while the notions of equality, ‘you deserve what you get’, correspond to the social view (Pennings, 1993). According to Susan Barsoux (2003, 165), the current trend of linking salary payment to working performances is especially suspect to be cultural related. It has been discovered that in some countries like France, it would be shocked for the French executives to have clearly stated quantifiable objective relating increased performances to increased bonus. It is because the French executives found that discussion about money and finance is such a turned off. It also provoked outcries when the merit pay was attempted to be introduced in Japan. It created uproar as the Japanese executives were scared that it would ruin the harmony of the group and might also encourage short term thinking especially when the employees only focus on the performance in order to get the bonus. On the other hand, the dominant influence in American managerial thinking is the principle of equity that each one should be rewarded based on the solely contribution by that particular person. Nowadays in the view towards team management that demands group cooperation instead of competition among individuals finds the merit-based pay in the United States demotivating (Susan Barsoux, 2003, 167). The preference between financial or non financial incentives is also related to the culture. The motivating potential of money, status, vacation time is also affected and changed across countries. Swedish would prefer to have some time off rather than a bonus because they are more concerned with the quality of life and monetary rewards are less motivating while giving time off might seem to have not much point in Japan when most of the employees only take half of their holiday entitlement (Susan Barsoux, 2003, 167). So the internationally operated companies should learn to appreciate the different values and evaluate the potential impact as well because the remuneration package is a very strong indicator of the culture and the behavior expected and also can be used in order to encourage cooperation or competition, risk taking or conservatism, and information sharing or information hoarding. The remuneration package is also a very important signal when it comes to aspiring recruits. When the company wants to attract local elite, it can choose to align itself with the local norms or the alien one when the preference of the company changes to attract the less mainstream or adventurous or those that are frustrated with the local practices and looking to be rewarded for their efforts and success (Susan Barsoux, 2003, 168). Employee relations – It is important to have a good relations and mutual understanding between the management and the staffs of the company. Any staff grievances of the company should be dealt with and well listened to in order to promote a harmony environment. An open dialogue is needed to be promoted between the management and the unions of the company to eliminate any conflicts or fictions that may occur between the staffs and the management specially when there is a new implementation of company policies. Also the employees’ political standing should be respected and well listened to especially when it is toward the company policy and issues. Good employee relations help increasing the engagement of the employees to the company so as their commitment and involvement as well. It also helps with the staff retention which is necessary for a company setting up in a new country like TDS (CIPD, 2008). Career development – National culture has an impact on career development and the natures of the managerial tasks on what management should do or be are depended on assumptions of being versus doing. The determinants for success varies across cultures when some places have it based on achieving results like the United States while in the United Kingdom having good interpersonal skills and personal connections are the keys for success at the career front. Favored career paths also differ culturally and it is bound up with cultural assumptions regarding the importance of the individual versus loyalty to the company, doing versus being, and tolerance for uncertainty. So a multinational company should make sure that the perceptions of what it takes to get to the top and the patterns of career development would include people with different skills, abilities, knowledge and perspectives (Susan Barsoux, 2003, 168 -70). With the references to managing people and HRM, I feel the four department managers, two from the United States and two from Hong Kong, should focus on during their first three months is selection because it is vital to get the right people for the right job in any organization (Schneider Barsoux, 2003, 151). Local talent may have different types of abilities, skills, knowledge and strength owing to the national values differences placed on the education so it is also a challenge to get the right people who fit the requirement for the particular job and also fit with the company culture. The managers should consider the differences in attitude towards the hiring practices in Hong Kong and also the cultural differences will influence on how to recruit as well. So getting access to the local labor pool to get the people that match with the job criteria is important too. Therefore, selection should be focused by four department managers for the first three months to get the right people in place and help them to adjust and fit into a new culture and way of life in order to make the launch of TDS in Hong Kong a success. The trade unions in the United Kingdom has a culture as a collective bargaining tool with management while the one in the United States has more of a hire and fire culture. In Hong Kong, there are four trade unions and the largest one among them is the Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions and their main slogans are patriotism, solidarity, right, welfare and participation (Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 2008b). Although the unions in Hong Kong are focused on the rights and welfares of the workers as much as those in the United Kingdom and the United States but they are still at the stage of establishing as the largest unions in Hong Kong was founded in 1948 while those in United Kingdom have been existed for over 100 years like the General Federation of Trade Unions (UK) (Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 2008c) and so as those in the United States like the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations was founded in 1886 (Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 2008d). Since the United States is the biggest trade business partners of Hong Kong, most of the companies would contain the culture of the United States to remain individual. Task 5 The benefits of creating and working within the context of a multicultural team are given the larger complexity and speed of change in the international business environment. It seems obvious that bringing people together from different cultures enhance the quality of decisions taken. These multinational cultures contribute a greater range of perspectives and options with even more successful marketing strategies and ideas to attract different types of customers. It can also provide a different or new way of looking at the old or existing problems and help to promote the chances for greater innovation and creativity with the cultural differences as well (Schneider Barsoux, 2003, 218). Combining people from different cultural backgrounds also benefits the organization integration and learning so as the managerial development. It improves lateral networks for the communication and information flow. Also when bringing the people with the different cultural backgrounds together, it can be a solution to help minimize the risk of uniformity and pressures for conformity which can appear in the company when there are too many like minded people working at the same company together at the same time (Janis, 1971). Also teams that are composed by members with different profiles are far more effective than teams that are made by the best and the brightest performers or with the members who are having the similar profiles. Teams that have included a mixture of members with profiles of different areas performed better as they have the balance of roles. Different cultures have different assumptions toward the business issues and also have different ideas about the reasons of teams. So that to share information and discuss about any problem at work with people from different cultural background would often generate greater results in a dynamic way. Furthermore to the benefit of the combination with people from different cultures background would enhance the productivity for the organization. The challenges of creating and working within the context of a multicultural team are that bringing people together from different cultures is given more ambiguity and uncertainty in decision making. Also it would be much more complex in the organization from the procession to implementation due to the cultural differences in assumptions. People with different cultural backgrounds work together might create interpersonal conflict and communication problems at work. Also it would create greater potential for frustration and dissatisfactions that might lead to higher turnover of team members within the group (Schneider Barsoux, 2003, 231). The choice of language using within the multicultural team might also creates friction and misunderstanding especially when the native language for the three American managers is English while the native language for the local managers is Chinese, there is a huge scope for misunderstandings that could hamper the cohesion and effectiveness of the team no matter how fluent the local managers could speak in English (I-change, 2008). According to the personal upbringing and values, technical background and training, and also the national backgrounds can distort and filter the messages in many layers of meaning within a multicultural team that can lead to further misunderstanding and frustrations. Barriers would also be created for the multicultural team due to the direct versus indirect communication; trouble with accents and fluency; differing attitudes toward hierarchy and authority and so as the conflicting norms for decision making (Brett, Behfar Kern, 2006). Direct versus indirect communication is that in western cultures, the communication is typically direct and explicit. The listener does not need to know much about the speaker in order to interpret the context because the context of the meaning of the conversation is on the surface while the meaning of the conversation is embedded in the way the message is presented in many other cultures. Although the language of international business is English, the trouble with accents and fluency may lead to deep frustration and misunderstanding because of nonnative speakers’ accents, problems with translation or usage and lack of fluency would also influence the perceptions of status and competence. A challenge inherent in multicultural team with differing attitudes toward hierarchy and authority is that by design, teams have a rather flat structure. But team members from some cultures that people are treated differently according to their status in an organization probably are uncomfortable on flat teams. If they defer to higher status team members then their behavior will be seen as appropriate when most of the team members are came from a hierarchical culture; but they may damage their stature and credibility and even face humiliation if most of the team members are came from an egalitarian culture. Cultures differ enormously when it comes to decision making due to the conflicting norms for decision making particularly on how much analysis is required beforehand and how quickly the decisions should be made. American managers like to make decisions very quickly and with little analysis relatively when compared to the managers from other countries that may also be the challenge too. Task 6 Management Approach The four profiles are Village Market Well oiled machine Family or tribe Pyramid of people Ethical considerations: Managers and companies need to access how different spheres of cultural influence contribute to ethnical behavior. Ethical considerations could include such things as ‘harsh capitalism’ which could include laying off workers, breakdown of psychological contract, corruption, codes of conduct, and the Sullivan Principles. Common rationalizations in explaining unethical behavior can be: It is not really illegal or immoral It serves the best interest of the individual or company It is safe because it will never be found out or publicized The activity helps the company and therefore it will be condoned and protected References: Brett J., Behfar K. Kern M.C. (2006) Harvard Business Review[online]. Available from:http://web.gsm.uci.edu/~kbehfar/Behfar-HBR%202006.pdf [Accessed 27 July 2008] Business Expectation Statistics Section, Census and Statistics Department. (2007a). Hong Kong Statistics – Statistical Tables [online]. The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. Available from: http://www.censtatd.gov.hk/hong_kong_statistics/statistical_tables/index.jsp?htmlTableID=133excelID=134chartID=tableID=133ID=subjectID=5 [Accessed 29 June 2008] Business Expectation Statistics Section, Census and Statistics Department. (2007b). Hong Kong Statistics – Statistical Tables [online]. The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. Available from: http://www.censtatd.gov.hk/hong_kong_statistics/statistical_tables/index.jsp?htmlTableID=134excelID=chartID=tableID=134ID=subjectID=5 CIPD. (2008) Employee Relations: an overview [online]. Available from: http://www.cipd.co.uk/subjects/empreltns/general/emprelsovr.htm [Accessed 13 July 2008] Eretz, M. and Early, P.C. (1993) Culture, Self-identity, and Work, New York: Oxford University Press. I-Change. (2008) Multicultural teamwork Communication[online]. Available from: (http://www.i-change.biz/multiculturalteamworkcommunication.php [Accessed 27 July 2008] Janis, I.L. (1971) Victims of Groupthink, Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin. Kets de Vries, M. and Mead, C. (1992) Development of the global leader, in V. Pucik, N. Ticy and C.Barnett (eds) Globalizing Management, New York: John Wiley, pp.194-205 Pennings, J.M. (1993) Executive reward systems: A cross – national comparison,, Journal of Management Studies, 30(2), pp.261-80, p.264. Schneider, S.C. and Barsoux, J.L. (2003), Managing Across Cultures 2nd edition, pp.24-6, Prentice Hall. Schneider, S.C. and Barsoux, J.L. (2003), Managing Across Cultures 2nd edition, pp.26-7, Prentice Hall. Schneider, S.C. and Barsoux, J.L. (2003), Managing Across Cultures 2nd edition, p.29, Prentice Hall. Schneider, S.C. and Barsoux, J.L. (2003), Managing Across Cultures 2nd edition, p.30, Prentice Hall. Schneider, S.C. and Barsoux, J.L. (2003), Managing Across Cultures 2nd edition, p.31, Prentice Hall. Schneider, S.C. and Barsoux, J.L. (2003), Managing Across Cultures 2nd edition, p.124, Prentice Hall. Schneider, S.C. and Barsoux, J.L. (2003), Managing Across Cultures 2nd edition, p.151, Prentice Hall. Schneider, S.C. and Barsoux, J.L. (2003), Managing Across Cultures 2nd edition, p.165, Prentice Hall. Schneider, S.C. and Barsoux, J.L. (2003), Managing Across Cultures 2nd edition, p.167, Prentice Hall. Schneider, S.C. and Barsoux, J.L. (2003), Managing Across Cultures 2nd edition, p.168, Prentice Hall. Schneider, S.C. and Barsoux, J.L. (2003), Managing Across Cultures 2nd edition, pp.168-70, Prentice Hall. Schneider, S.C. and Barsoux, J.L. (2003), Managing Across Cultures 2nd edition, pp.190-1, Prentice Hall. Schneider, S.C. and Barsoux, J.L. (2003), Managing Across Cultures 2nd edition, p.192, Prentice Hall. Schneider, S.C. and Barsoux, J.L. (2003), Managing Across Cultures 2nd

Friday, October 25, 2019

Gay Parenting Should Not Be Encouraged Essay -- Sociology Same Sex Mar

Gay Parenting Should Not Be Encouraged Statistics from the United States (ACLU Fact sheet, 1999) estimate the there are between 6 and 14 million children being raised in same sex parent families. Whilst some significant advances have been made by the pro gay parenting movement, current legislation is for the most part geared against same sex marriage and adoption, this status quo should be maintained. Gay parents rights group argue that being raised by two parents of the same sex provides a balanced and healthy approach to parenting. This is untrue, being raised by gay parents means that the family unit has an unbalanced ratio of male and female role models in the home environment, you could reasonably expect that this imbalance would spread into the parents circle of friends and the people that the family socialise with on a regular basis. Children look for both a mother and a father and benefit from having both in the home. Ellis (2001) stated, "Gender plays a large role...we may not think these differences are politically correct but, by God, they're developmentally correct. One argument that gay parents have is that children don't need two sex couple role models. Having two parents of the same sex deprives the children of the chance to see how males and females interact in a family situation. Even though gay parents argue the children are exposed to their fair share of traditional male and female relationships, these may be somewhat censored as the visiting child is not part of that family and most families tend to keep certain things within the family. Parents are very strong role models and children are known to mimic what they see. "Men and women parent differently, each contribute different and positive ... ...y.proquest.com">http://gateway.proquest.com Schiffen, L. (2004, 29 Feb). How the judges forced the President's hand. New York Times. Retrieved Jul 30, 2004 from http://gateway.proquest.com Throckmorton, W. (2004). Do gay parents influence the Sexual Preferences of Children?. Retrieved Jul 30, 2004 from http://www.narth.com/docs/influence.html Unknown. (1999, Apr 6). Overview of gay and lesbian parenting, adoption and foster care. Retrieved Jul 30, 2004 from http://archive.aclu.org/issues/gay/parent.html Unknown. (2004). Facts and figures about kids with gay parents. Retrieved Jul 30, 2004 from http://www.colage.org/research/facts.html

Thursday, October 24, 2019

How Stalin Became a Leader of Russia

How and why did Stalin win to be the leader of Russia? Stalin's manipulative personality Joseph Stalin was known to have a manipulative personality. He was persuasive, educated, determined however also arrogant (due to his role as General Sectary). Also Lenin is rude as Lenin said in his testament â€Å"Stalin is too rude†. After Lenin died during the struggle for power Stalin was reasonably quiet at the beginning. This makes him sly and sneaky because we get the impression he is up to no good. Stalin also lied about the date of Lenin's funeral to Trotsky.This meant that Trotsky didn't ttend the funeral which made Trotsky look really bad and disrespectful. Lying about the funeral date makes Stalin look cunning and his personality doesn't seem like a nice person. However these factors aided him to become future leader of Russia. Stalin's choices of policies (NEP and socialism in one country) During the beginning of the struggle for power after Lenin died Stalin formed an allian ce with Zinoviev and Kamenev in 1923, this was purely to keep Trotsky out of power.However in early 1925 Zinoviev and Kamenev split from Stalin, he Joined with Bukharin instead because Stalin said he was in favour of NEP. Zinoviev and Kamenev were removed from the party because they were against NEP. However in 1928 Stalin ended his alliance with Bukharin and rejected NEP; he had more communist ideas which appealed to young communist followers which helped him win the vote in 1929 which meant he won and became the leader of Russia.During the beginning of the struggle for power he was neither left not right wing (of communist ideas, all members of communism were left wing) – Stalin stayed in the middle. By doing this he didn't seem like a threat to anyone as he slowly crept up to have power. Stalin's use of General Sectary Stalin being General Sectary he was able to promote his followers but also demote and even fire people who opposed him. In my opinion without his General Se ctary post many of his rivals who were in the power struggle wouldVe defeated Stalin early on.He allied himself with whoever seemed strongest at that point and because he was General Sectary he had authority to spy on people using secret police and another murder not Just the person who had opposed him, but also their whole family. Lenin almost predicted that Stalin's role of General Sectary is a bad thing because he has too much power â€Å"Stalin has unlimited authority concentrated in his ands† Also as he was General Sectary this made him popular with the communist followers because he had a big role in the communist party.Stalin's use of Lenin's legacy Betore Lenin died ne nad written a testament about Stalin, Trotsky, Bukharin, Zinoviev and Kamenev. In the testament Lenin hadn't said any good things about Stalin. Lenin said negative things such as â€Å"l am not sure whether Stalin will always be capable of using that authority with sufficient caution† and as seen in future events Stalin didn't use his role of General Sectary properly, he used it to promote his followers and fire his opponents. He also used it as an excuse to murder which isn't acceptable. l suggest the comrades think about a way of removing Stalin from that post and appointing another man in his stead being more tolerant, more loyal, more polite, and more considerate to the comrades† Lenin suggested that Stalin should be removed from his General Sectary post, if he was he may have not become leader of Russia at all? However Stalin kept his post as General Sectary. All of the members of the communist party decided to keep Lenin's testament a secret because Lenin had said bad things about all of them so it would be a better idea not to tell the public.At Lenin's funeral Stalin spoke about Lenin which is strange, because Lenin and Stalin never got along. Stalin had an argument with Lenin's wife before Lenin had died. Because Stalin had spoken at Lenin's funeral this make s people respect Stalin more, and he gained more popularity. Stalin's opponent's weaknesses TROTSKY In Lenin's testament Lenin described Trotsky with outstanding ability, very able and intelligent. However he was very arrogant and there was an element of mistrust. Trotsky decided to stay on his own during 1923-24 which also made him weaker.He ecame an enemy of Stalin and Stalin lied to him about the date of Lenin's funeral which then meant Trotsky was unable to turn up which made him very unpopular. He was also very ill which meant that he missed important meetings. BUKHARIN Lenin described Bukharin as very popular and likeable. However he wasn't fully communist and his commitment must be questioned. During 1923-24 Bukharin was in the right wing (of communist ideas) but he didn't play a big role in the struggle for power. However he teamed up with Stalin during 1925. Bukharin became an enemy of Stalin in 1928 and delayed Bukharin's plane so he missed an important meeting.However he was still considered the favourite of the party until he arranged a secret meeting with Zinoviev and Kamenev, Stalin found out and told everyone so Bukharin became unpopular because people couldn't trust him which weakened him greatly. ZINOVIEV AND KAMENEV Zinoviev and Kamenev were described as too cautious because they didn't play a big role in the October revolution. This means that their commitment must be questioned. They allied with Stalin very early on in 1923 however they ended their alliance with Stalin at the end of 1924 because they no longer wanted NEP and ntended to become more industrialised.However they became unpopular because they challenged Bukharin's authority in 1927 (this is when Stalin and Bukharin were together). A vote proved this which made them weaker. They were never re-elected after that vote and feared Stalin and Bukharin more than Trotsky. However they made an alliance with Trotsky and were in favour of left wing communism (world revolution). Because of this the three of them were expelled from the party. This weakened them the most, they were re-admitted after they publicly apologised but Stalin only used Zinoviev and Kamenev for their tactics.

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

Past and Current Trends Of Use and Abuse of Substances in the United States Essay

Current trends show that illicit drugs are a source of significant cause of mortality in the United States. It accounts for approximately 17,000 deaths annually nearly a thousand in persons aged 12 to 21 years. Illicit drug use is also associated with significant morbidity and has far-reaching public health effects. A National House Hold Survey on drug abuse in 2003 showed that an estimated 19. 5 million Americans aged 12 or over were current users of drugs at that time. The survey showed that marijuana was the most commonly used illicit drug. There was also the use of non-medical use of any prescription-type pain relievers, tranquilizers, sedatives or stimulants. Marijuana even currently is widely used because of its low cost and easy availability. New drugs that have gradually been noted coming into the market include methaqualone in the late 1970s, crack cocaine in the early 1980s, flunitrazepam in early 1990s and most recently Oxycontin (Bulletin on Narcotics, 2003). Teens are the group that is most affected by the drug use in the US. National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) shows that among the drugs highly used in the United States are Marijuana which has a the highest consumption, then followed by Psycho- therapeutics, cocaine, Hallucinogens and inhalants. Alcohol is a substance that has a detrimental effect on peoples’ health and is equally commonly used. The survey shows that over 50% of teens have tried an illicit drug by time of high school completion. This is an alarming percentage bearing the devastating effects drugs have in individuals’ lives. However, there is a notable decline in the use of nicotine among the youth- this trend in the history of survey that began in 1997. This is particularly notable since nicotine is often used before any other drugs of abuse (it is used by armatures), and tobacco addiction is the leading contributor to many of America’s public health problems. It is estimated that 19. 5 million Americans aged 12 or older are current users of illicit drugs. The use of cocaine in the US has equally declined over years while that of crack has increased. This has been attributed to the risk that comes along with injecting of ones’ self thus risking AIDS infection. Marijuana was the most widely used illicit drug, in 2003, with an estimated 14. 6 million people being users of marijuana. 2004 reports show that approximately 23% of the students in grade 7-12 had 5 or more drinks on one occasion during the past year. The rate of binge drinking is decreasing from 27% in 2000 to 26% in 2002. Among the 18 to 25 years old group, about 58% were current drinkers and 40% were binge drinkers. The current drinkers among the older group drops to about 50%. Binge drinkers drops to about 23%, and 5% heavy drinkers. About 14% of students in grades 9 through 12 admitted they had driven a car after having had a good bit to drink at least once in the past year, and 24% of the seniors said so. 11% of students in grade 9 through 12 reported having driving when they were high on drugs and 18% of the seniors said so. Cocaine has high prevalence in the United States especially in Texas State. Approximately 7% of the 18 to 25 years old population reported using cocaine. Use of alcohol, but not cigarettes, marijuana and cocaine, is higher among college students than among non-college youth of the same age. There is a significant difference in the use of cocaine between border and non-border Hispanics. More recently, while the use of crack cocaine was decreasing among some populations, in particular African-American, it was increasing among Hispanic youth. The finding shows that there is a disparity by ethic/racial group. Although African-Americans have lower rates of substance abuse prevalence, they have a higher rate of homicides. The attitudes towards the use of drugs have changed over the period of times in American culture. (Kozel, 2003) argues that substance abuse or use in American society reflects â€Å"a wrenching tension between conflicting ideals of liberation and communal obligation. † This has been noted by the increase of use of drug during the period of national crisis like American Revolution, in the civil war and the 1960s, as drug use was linked to independence and forging of new identities. In one way or another change in prevailing ideological and religious beliefs, fluctuations in norms and values and transformations in technology are some of the cultural fluctuations that affect drug use in American society. The African American music, which glorifies drug and violence, is a significant example of how culture promotes and encourages the use of drugs. It is also the norm in the United State for young people to have alcohol as a regular drink forgetting that alcohol is addictive; this culture works to promote the use of drugs. Drugs use has adverse effects on the health of Americans. Mental health of individuals is affected when people use drugs. Drugs use and abuse has been associated with risk-taking behaviors that leads to multiple consequences, including the on going transmission and acquisition of HIV, viral hepatitis, and sexually transmission diseases. These are some of quite challenging health hazards in the contemporary world. In addition, impairment due to drug use can lead to unintended pregnancy, impacts of which are far reaching, as teenage mothers are more likely to not finish high school or college. Drug use is the source of chronic liver disease. America’s chronic liver disease prevalence rate is high at 9. 5. Over 90% of deaths due to this disease happened to individuals in the older age groups. Hispanics have a greater rate of deaths due to chronic liver disease (25. 5) than other groups, 18. 6 for Whites and 12. 7 for African-American. This reflects the effect of Hispanic culture and the influence it has in encouraging drug use. Tobacco is the leading cause of preventable deaths in the United States. Lung cancer, heart disease, and illnesses such as emphysema, bronchitis, and chronic airways obstruction are responsible for largest number of smoking related deaths. Majority of individuals whose cause of death is lung cancer were in the 65 years old or older group. The age disparity shows long-term effects of cigarette smoking. Alcohol is the substance that is used by the greater percentage of population who use substances. Its use begins early, and the percent of users peaks in early adulthood. Its use continues to be high during adulthood, but the percent of users decline with age. Most hard drug users develop from the use of alcohol and thus alcohol acts as a bridge. Essentially, each drug has its physiological effect on the user. Most drugs are not used in their pure form and may be mixed with harmful substances. In addition the way the drug is used can have health effects. For instance, injecting drugs, in particular with unclean needles, can cause emboli or clots, sepsis and other infections that require medical attention. Sometimes users overdose and die.

Tuesday, October 22, 2019

How To Lead A Remote Team With Sandra Lewis From Worldwide101

How To Lead A Remote Team With Sandra Lewis From Worldwide101 Do you work remotely? A recent Gallup study shows that more than 40% of the American workforce works remotely, at least some of the time. Today, we’re talking to Sandra Lewis, founder and CEO of Worldwide101. It’s a premium subscription staffing company with virtual assists, expert marketers, and others across the world. Sandra shares six keys you need when working with a remote team to amplify their abilities and make them successful. Key 1 Hire for passion: You want them to be interested, passionate, and obsessive in your service and product Key 2 Analyze skill sets and strengths: Worldwide101 has two pillars that categorize someones strength structured or creative Key 3 Amplify those strengths: Amplifying a strength is having someone do what they do best; also look at what can complement a core strength (soft skills) Key 4 Provide ongoing learning opportunities: Keep people engaged and provide a path and cross training for them to grow their strengths Key 5 Provide great tools: Try new tools and build a tool stack that helps workers be more efficient and productive Key 6 Over communicate: Have face-to-face meetings, acknowledge every email, set check-in times to build trust and get to know someone remotely To lead a successful remote team, keep it personal; do little things that make working remotely less isolated; love the people you work with and celebrate them Links: Worldwide101 Upwork Slack Constant Contact Write and send a review to receive a care package If you liked today’s show, please subscribe on iTunes to The Actionable Content Marketing Podcast! The podcast is also available on SoundCloud, Stitcher, and Google Play. Quotes by Sandra Lewis: â€Å"My company allows for successful business owners and executives to subscribe to staff without having to employ them themselves.† â€Å"Over-communicate. That is super important when youre remote, when you cant see each other.† â€Å"The first thing to do to amplify strength is to make sure you give that person what theyre good at.† â€Å"Everyone wants to keep learning, its part of staying motivated in what you do.†

Monday, October 21, 2019

How to get rid of depression

How to get rid of depression Learn the effective ways how to get rid of depression Very often it becomes harder for us to enjoy our lives and be satisfied with the current state of things and the things around us. The thoughts that that we are not satisfied with this or that come into our heads, bringing the feelings that everything is bad and there is no way to solve problem, if any. That is the state of depression and in such a situation it is very important not to let these feelings evolve and become stronger. Below you can find the ways and means how to get rid of depression and enjoy your life. Sports It has been proved a long time before that physical activity helps to keep mental and psychological condition of human’s body. Very often when you feel bad morally or mentally, it is a good means to improve your state by going in for sports. Doing physical exercises requires concentration and dedication, so you need to improve your thinking to do all this. And as a result you can clear up your head of bad thoughts or some irritation and develop your body at the same time. Sport can become your personal psychologist, who will take care of your wellbeing. Food Yes, this is right, food can help you improve your mental state and bring you joy. But at the same time it is very important to have the right approach to it. If you eat unhealthy food or a big amount of it – it will bring you no good. Though, eating something healthy, useful and, of course, tasteful can help you receive those pleasant feelings to conquer the depression and put it off. This can also help you develop new and right approach to nutrition as the means to support your health and physical shape. And this is an effective way to get rid of depression and to enjoy fine food. Travelling Finding out something new in one’s life is very useful to overcome the depression. And in such a situation why not discover some new places around and enjoy visiting them. Changing of surrounding is very effective for improving your mental condition. Also when travelling, you are able to meet new people or new cultures and by interacting with them, you can easily change your life and bring new positive emotions in it. New connections can make your life more interesting and absorbing. Self-education By learning something new we also get things to become better and to change our mindset. New information or skills can improve our thinking and moral condition. No matter if it is reading new books or studying some new disciplines or undergoing particular academic programs – it is very effective for you to become better and more sophisticated. When we conceive new information, we greatly improve our way of thinking and the ability to treat various things in a right manner. The learning process is a good means to obviate depression and make your life better. Right thinking No matter in what conditions we live, we can always be happy. Everything depends on the way we treat this or that thing. Some people have a lot of things in his or her life, or at least a lot more than others, though still thinking that it is not enough or all this is not so good. But pessimistic attitude will never result in anything good for you. The way how we treat everything around us greatly depends on the way of our thinking, so if you want to live a happy life, you should think in a positive way. Engaging in positive course of conduct will help in dealing your problems and bring you optimistic outcome. The above stated things can direct you in the right way to make your life more interesting and full of bright colors. When comprehending something new we evolve and improve ourselves. We hope that these clues will help you get rid of depressive thoughts once and for all.

Sunday, October 20, 2019

3D Printing

How amazing would it be that everyone’s life could be saved, from needing a heart or needing an ear to have the ability to look and have a normal life? â€Å"Nearly 120,000 men, women and children currently need lifesaving organ transplants. †( Statistics | Donatelife) And the saddest thing is about â€Å"Every 10 minutes another name is added to the national organ transplant waiting list. †( Statistics | Donatelife) We are in need of organ donors, but not a lot of people want to donate their organs. Thanks to our new science we have new invited the 3D Printer. What is a 3D Printer? How does it work? What type of organs can it create? What is 3D printing? â€Å"3-D printing is a manufacturing process that builds layers to create a three-dimensional solid object from a digital model. †(3-D Printing) You might think this printer was something that was just now created in 2012 or 2013, but amazing the first 3D printer created was the one in 1985 and was given credit by Michael Feygen. â€Å"In the past, the cost of 3-D printing was expensive and the technology was only used by large corporations, but the development of desktop 3-D printers has made the technology more accessible to small and mid-sized businesses and home users. †(3-D Printing) What is cool about them now, is that they have been gifted with the right science to invite the 3D printer that can print out real working organs that can be transplant to people in need. How does it work, real organs for human transplants? â€Å"In two decades, 3-D printing has grown from a niche manufacturing process to a $2. 7-billion industry, responsible for the fabrication of all sorts of things: toys, wristwatches, airplane parts, food. Now scientists are working to apply similar 3-D–printing technology to the field of medicine, accelerating an equally dramatic change. But it’s much different, and much easier, to print with plastic, metal, or chocolate than to print with living cells. †(How 3-D Printing Body Parts Will Revolutionize Medicine) It might be easy creating these organs tissues for the human body, but unfortunately it is not as easy as you think it is. You cannot just randomly created a good 3D organ heart and expect for it to beat. â€Å"â€Å"For some tissues, even the simple ones, we don’t even know exactly what it takes to make the tissue behave like a real tissue,† says Lipson. â€Å"You can put the cells of a heart tissue in the right place together, but where’s the start button? †Ã¢â‚¬ (How 3-D Printing Body Parts Will Revolutionize Medicine) The way they prepare the stuff to make the tissue is can be a little confusing and time consuming. â€Å"They started by pipetting cells into petri dishes by hand. Then, led by Anthony Atala at the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine, researchers began to seed those cells onto artificial scaffolds. Made from biodegradable polymers or collagen, the scaffolds provide a temporary matrix for cells to cling to until they’re robust enough to stand alone. †(How 3-D Printing Body Parts Will Revolutionize Medicine) In 1999 through 2001, Atala has been successful enough to have implanted the first grown lab organs into seven patients at the Boston Children’s Hospital saving their precious lives. What types of organs can it create? â€Å"In labs around the world, bioengineers have begun to print prototype body parts: heart valves, ears, artificial bone, joints, menisci, vascular tubes, and skin grafts. †(How 3-D Printing Body Parts Will Revolutionize Medicine) They are still being made today and maybe at this minute as you read this essay. Only a few have been implanted to real humans like the bladders that Atala has been successful to implant. As our technology and science improves, someday we will be able to replicate a whole human body and make it live life like a regular human. Having this 3D Printer since 1985 and improving from only being able to replicate tools to real working organs has changed our living styles. As the printer gets more science improvements and smarter; maybe later in the years, there could probably be more people surviving and not having to wait for a person to donate their original organs for their transplant. Just imagine the price it would probably be though, just to get 3D Printer Organs for a Transplant. Sooner or later, we will have the technology to give those people that are praying for an organ a chance of survival.

Friday, October 18, 2019

Life of Dementia Patients Research Proposal Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Life of Dementia Patients - Research Proposal Example In the later stages of dementia, patients normally, exhibit signs of time disorientation in the sense that they can say the exact time or even differentiate between day or night. Secondly, at the later stages, dementia patients cannot even be able to tell their exact location, and/ or even identify people they used to know. Thirdly, dementia patients also tend to exhibit a loss of control in their own behaviors as well as emotions. Lastly, dementia patients tend to suffer from impaired problem-solving skills meaning that they cannot also be able to reason properly because of lack of sound mind. Repper and Perkins (2003) noted that for a particular case to be classified as dementia, medical practitioners recommend that the symptoms have to be persistent for a period of more than six months. According to the writings by Repper and Perkins (2003), they stated that persons who have suffered from previous physical impairments are prone to dementia more so those who had a brain injury. Bartlett and O’Connor (2007) on their part stated that most dementia patients are persons above the age of sixty-five i.e. the geriatric population but there have been reported cases of dementia occurring before the age of sixty-five. Because of the unique nature of the dementia symptoms, the nursing requirements for catering for these patients tend to be unique because it is not focused towards ensuring the patients regain their full health back but rather it is focused on enabling the patients to cope with the condition, whilst feel only an insignificant pain or inconveniences caused by the condition. Therefore, it is particularly important to investigate the roles that nurses play in ensuring that dementia patients have a better quality of life despite their condition. The extent, nature, or standard of the nursing care given to dementia patients determines the quality of life the patients have until their death occurs. In this regard, Baldwin (2008) lamented on the fact that because of the rare incidences of dementia cases, there has been a little focus on the role of nurses in providing care to dementia patients.

An Analysis of a Consequentialist Claim in the Dalai Lama Essay

An Analysis of a Consequentialist Claim in the Dalai Lama - Essay Example Issues to do with the rise in population and the advancement of technology are affecting the nature. He says that the environmental disasters being witnessed are due to our irresponsible behavior. Lama gives a case example of Tibet where he grew up and the changes in environment that have undergone in the past years and its consequences (Gyatso 1). According to Lama, Tibet was once a wildlife paradise. The wildlife in Tibet was rarely hunted and hunting only occurred in the remote areas where crops could not be planted. It was a custom for the government officials to make a proclamation on protecting wildlife. He claims that there were no provisions to harm the animals whether on land or in water, in fact, the only animals allowed to do so were the wolves and rats. However, the contribution of hunting in the loss of wildlife is not significant (Gyatso 1). He offers a vivid picture of Tibet when he was young. During his travelling at that time, he used to see a number of species on the way. These species range from mammals to birds. He recalls how he interacted with the animals and other forms of nature (Gyatso 1). The wildlife is long gone and this is due to the loss of habitat and partly due to hunting. Only a small fraction of the habitat remains in Tibet. The forests in Tibet are also gone; he compares the present state of Tibet forest with a clean shaven monk’s head. He says that the solutions lie within us and there is need to fix our behaviors not the environment; technology does not offer most of the solutions (Gyatso 1). The argument of Dalai Lama is valid to some extent. The source of environmental destruction is from the human beings. This is true because most of the activities done by human beings including industrialization affect the environment negatively. Most of the environmental disasters like floods are due to deforestation and the destruction of habitats. Thus, his claim that environmental disasters are due to our irresponsible

Effects of Facebook Usage on the Egyptian Revolution Research Paper

Effects of Facebook Usage on the Egyptian Revolution - Research Paper Example In fact, social networking sites have been the most visited websites in the internet and a lot of news from current events have traversed the connections in these social networking sites. Among the currently existing social networking sites, perhaps the most popular is Facebook. Because of the great advantages and convenience that it offers, Facebook has been part of the ways for people to communicate with each other, from simple personal messages to updates about what is going on with both the local and international communities. As such, this research paper will look into exactly how instrumental Facebook has been in affecting one of the most controversial events of recent times, and that is the Egyptian revolution. This research study and the applied hypotheses are rooted on the Theory of Planned Behavior by Icek Ajzen (1987). The goal of the Theory of Planned Behavior is to provide an explanation as to why people do what they do (Ajzen, 1987). Theorists explain that people do so because they form an INTENTION to carry out the action. Intentions are influenced by the person’s beliefs, the social pressure to conform to the wishes of others, and their perceived ability to carry out the action. These are known as ATTITUDE, SUBJECTIVE NORM and PERCEIVED BEHAVIORAL CONTROL. Thus, the Theory of Planned Behavior is a theory which predicts deliberate behavior, because behavior can be deliberative and planned. According to the theory, the best predictor of behavior is intention. Intention is the cognitive representation of a person's readiness to perform a given behavior, and it is considered to be the immediate antecedent of behavior (Ajzen, 2005). This intention is determined by three things: their attitude toward the specific behavior, their subjective norms and their perceived behavioral control. The theory of planned behavior holds that only specific attitudes toward the behavior in question can be expected to predict that behavior (Manstead & Parker 1995 ; Terry, Hogg and White 1999; Parker, et al 1992). In addition to measuring attitudes toward the behavior, it is necessary to measure people’s subjective norms – their beliefs about how people they care about will view the behavior in question. To predict someone’s intentions, knowing these beliefs can be as important as knowing the person’s attitudes. Finally, perceived behavioral control influences intentions. Perceived behavioral control refers to people's perceptions of their ability to perform a given behavior. These predictors lead to intention. A general rule, the more favorable the attitude and the subjective norm, and the greater the perceived control the stronger should the person’s intention to perform the behavior in question (Aronson, Wilson and Akert 2003). This study is interested in knowing how the actions of people pertaining to using Facebook affected the revolution and partly, the study is also interested in knowing why people re acted as they did and what were the effects after such actions.