Lessons from Rs Mcnamara

Walking Along a Familiar Path In Errol Morris’ documentary Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara, we follow the life and times of former United States Secretary of Defense, Robert McNamara. The insightful piece follows his life from birth during World War I, his success at college, cunning business career at Ford Motor Company, to his involvement in World War II and his controversial political career during the Kennedy and Johnson presidential terms.Morris highlights the documentary around these eleven lessons that McNamara passes through during an interview for the film. In my opinion some of these ‘lessons’ are merely some opinions of McNamara and some seem to be spurred along by Morris, who is asking the questions in the background. I believe it is through some of these lessons that Morris uses McNamara’s success and failures to relate them to current issues such as the Iraq and Afghanistan wars; and how we seem to be treading do wn a familiar path.LESSON #5: PROPORTIONALITY SHOULD BE A GUIDELINE IN WAR? â€Å"In order to win a war should you kill 100,000 people in one night, by firebombing or any other way . . . Proportionality should be a guideline in war. Killing 50% to 90% of the people of 67 Japanese cities and then bombing them with two nuclear bombs is not proportional, in the minds of some people, to the objectives we were trying to achieve. † Robert McNamara This comment by McNamara resonated through out the film. I knew that there was some bombing in Japan but not to this extent.Morris puts forth one of the most powerful uses of imagery to captivate the audience and bring these death tolls to a whole other level. McNamara resentfully cites a series of Japanese cities that were partially or largely destroyed and matches them to American cities of comparable size, and asks us to imagine those U. S. communities similarly ravaged. It's a strong point, graphically supported by Morris on screen by flashing names and statistics at accelerating speed. â€Å"In that single night, we burned to death 100,000 Japanese civilians in Tokyo: men, women, and children. McNamara. Through this outrages example, I believe Morris was alluding to the large deployment of troops launched to fight small forces in Afghanistan and Iraq. Having twenty-five thousand troops fighting insurgent forces made up of small groups of guerrilla factions can be scene in some eyes as excessive and ill proportioned.LESSON #6: GET THE DATA and LESSON #7: BELIEF AND SEEING ARE BOTH OFTEN WRONG. â€Å"At one point, the commander of the ship said, ‘We're not certain of the attack. At another point they said, ‘Yes, we're absolutely positive. ‘ And then finally late in the day, Admiral Sharp said, ‘Yes, we're certain it happened. ‘ So I reported this to Johnson, and as a result there were bombing attacks on targets in North Vietnam. † McNamara The important fact from McNamara is that the escalation of the Vietnam War started based on a misinformed from a single crew thinking they had been torpedoed. This seemed to be a decent excuse to start bombing runs, mobilize troops and deploy them in to South East Asia.The parallels between these chain of events leading to the Vietnam War and the actions taken by the US government in launching campaigns against Afghanistan and Iraq are very similar. While the terrorist attacks on 9/11 were a violent catalyst to the conflict in Afghanistan, it was an isolated attack by a handful of terrorist. The US turned 9/11 into a raid on Afghanistan harboring factions of these terrorists, eventually overturning the government in power. Another similar lesson in which McNamara states we should â€Å"Get the data,† can be strongly related to the US government’s poor excuse to invade Iraq.The speculation that Iraq was in the process of making or in possession of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) was largely fabricated o rdeal backed by speculation and no quantifiable evidence. Since 2003, the US has still not found WMDs and have quickly skirted this issue under the rug while they change their war song as an action of freedom against tyrannical Iraqi government. LESSON #8: BE PREPARED TO REEXAMINE YOUR REASONING. ?†Were those who issued the approval to use Agent Orange: criminals? Were they committing a crime against humanity?Let's look at the law. Now what kind of law do we have that says these chemicals are acceptable for use in war and these chemicals are not. We don't have clear definitions of that kind. I never in the world would have authorized an illegal action. I'm not really sure I authorized Agent Orange. I don't remember it but it certainly occurred, the use of it occurred while I was Secretary. † Another one of McNamara’s strong comments that relate to that there is a consequence to every action we take and that we must live with that consequence.His job was tough, and he had to make some critical decisions for the ware fare of millions in which he, â€Å"Never had hindsight in making decisions at the time. † This, I believe, was Morris’ big punch in the mouth to the powers of the George W. Bush administration and their actions surrounding the invasion of Iraq. Now, at the time of release of this documentary the Iraq war was still in the infant stages of development- Morris had no clue how the war would turn out but left us with a strong statement that someone would have to be accountable for starting an unjust war.I was once told in a high school history class that, â€Å"History is written by the victors. † McNamara sums this quote up with a brilliant look back into some of his actions during World War II â€Å"[General Curtis] LeMay said if we had lost the war, we would have been prosecuted as war criminals. And I think he's right . . .. What makes it immoral if you lose and not immoral if you win? † Morris alludes through this lesson that someone will have to answer to these actions and wash the blood off their hands. Can we learn from history? Are we fated to repeat the mistakes that we've made in the past, again and again?Or can we learn from history and from the past? These are some serious questions I believe Morris forces us to ask ourselves. I believe that Morris was trying to bring up similarities of the past rather than actually relating the Vietnam War specifically to the Iraqi War, showing us that we are still treading upon our past mistakes. If we don’t learn from history and the events that pass we will be doomed to repeat history, over and over again. â€Å"Don’t make the same mistake twice†¦one mistake can destroy a nation. † Robert Strange McNamara

University Application

I would like to explain about work experience. From 2005 to 2007, I worked as a help desk technician for a high school affiliated to Korea University in Korea. I maintained roughly 400 desktops and supported technical works including backup, error corrections of desktops and printers, and unskilled user’s mistakes. I formatted and installed Windows OS and replaced main-board’s condenser, VGA, RAM, HDD, LAN card, and ODD. I installed a LAN line for new class rooms to be internet accessible. In 2008, as a system operator I worked for one of the biggest securities companies in Korea.I implemented a daily batch job involved opening and closing a stock market, processing deals in stocks, ERP, marketing and whole stock task with Solaris UNIX. I was involved in discussion on a modification of a batch job scheduling and maintained a batch job by documenting on a scheduled manual record and analyzing the dependency while recording the elapsed time. The next job that I worked for one of the biggest telecommunication companies in Korea, where I discussed about annual operational plan and held the responsibility of including DB running on AIX UNIX and CTI, IVR and recording servers running on Windows 2000.I did first-level troubleshooting and informed a person in charge of a server when the issues arose. I continued to work as a technical support specialist for Apple in 2011 in Singapore. I provided front line support via live web-chat and email for Apple Care certified technicians. I drew on technical information from groups such as Apple care engineering, service training and documentation with a predominant focus on assisting field technicians with the repair of Apple Products.I identified potential engineering issues and trends in escalations by ongoing analysis and tracking of escalations, and analysis of reports. Currently I am working for Seagate as a technical support specialist. I answer to inbound customer inquiry calls and emails for individual and business Seagate hard drive customers. I work cross-functionally to resolve complex issues in Windows and MacOS environments. One day, I participated in a project in designing a team website to implement integrated trouble shooting.It became a great internal knowledge base for our team. It is also very helpful as all articles written by hands on experience for specific issues. After designing the project, I have trained team members for trouble shooting steps for Apple products, and it was a good opportunity for me to utilize my previous working experience at Apple. I am quite interested in UNIX system administration and database. I want to be a computer science professional who delivers environment friendly, convenient and secure life to the world.Special achievements I have made is that I was promoted to be an advanced network product support team member in Feb 2013. I was Chosen as a top 10 agent of all agents around the world in 2011. My personal aim is to know essential comput er knowledge to lay down the foundation. Furthermore, I wish to learn the computer and its related fields in depth. Actually, that was my hope when I was working as a system operator in a big data center. This was because I ran shell scripts daily but sometimes I did not fully comprehend how it works.I monitored SQL queries yet sometimes I had difficulty to understand it. I would like to build my career at business computer related. However, the requirements I applied were asking a degree in computer science. In addition, I hope to discover a potential and interesting area in computer filed through BCS. I would like to study with Adelaide University as they provide high quality teaching. I believe after graduation of this degree, I will be highly skilled and adaptable with the ability to design computer-based solutions to the problems of information management and processing.

Structure of the continuous improvement Essay

Matrix organization structure is a hybrid divisional and functional structure. As this company is starting to grow, using this structure will help it develop and manage well. The matrix structure allows for the benefits of functional and divisional structures to exist in one organization. The matrix organizational structure divides authority both by functional area and by project. In a matrix structure, each employee answers to two immediate supervisors: a functional supervisor and a project supervisor which is very needed in this company. Communication is very important for new structure, as clear guidance and information are need between management and employees. The matrix structure has several advantages such as resource coordination, which allows supervisors to focus on their areas of expertise. Functional supervisors focus on hiring, training and managing employees in their field, while project supervisors can focus on achieving the goals of their specific projects or products. Employees will be more specialization as they are placed in functional areas allows them to specialize in a particular field. Instead of being good at variety of tasks, specialized employees can excel at tasks in their field of focus. Matrix structure also allows employee is to develop wider set of skills by working in team with other department member in a project team. Employees have constant contact with members of different functional areas, the matrix structure allows for information and resources to travel more fluidly between those functional areas. The collaboration between functional areas allows projects team to better handle complex challenges and objectives which one the weakness of old structure make them delay delivery causing them to lose major clients. Also this allows for human resources to be shared flexibly across different projects or products. Functional areas maintain a stock of talented employees to meet projects requirements. his organizational structure can help improve the company structure and weakness so that the mistakes made in the past cannot repeat again by employee and continue to improve business and expanded across Australia. As in the detail says that lot of mistakes happen such as missing major accountant with engineering spare parts supplier due to the lack of support that the current IT system could offer in tracking deliveries, also employee are nervous as the impact that losing the major client have on business, which shows lack confidents and professionalism. There have been many formal complaints made to management on the lack of information that is being discussed with them and that they do not feel valued anymore. There is a site manager in each state and they hold a phone conference meeting each month, but the meetings with site department manager and their teams do not occur regularly. First IT system need to improved and handle by experts as it’s very important to keep records and track of business clients. It will also help to see weak areas and improve them. Also help them save the delivery time. The human resource need to provide training to the employees so they can know the work well and feel confident on what they are doing. They need to know how to handle clients and work like professional. This will help them to provide good service to the clients and make company image good in the eyes of clients. The communication is very important in the organization so because of the lack of communication between the information flow between the employees and management has been effective which cause work problems and misunderstandings. So the communication between the employee and management need to be improved. Another problem is meeting, the meeting needs to take place once a week, and meeting is good way to discussed ideas and share problem. It is also good way to improve the relationship. The management should encourage employees to voice their opinion and support them to be more creative. The organization should handle complaint from client sincerely because this can help to organization to improve their service and this also improves the relationship between company and clients. Effective mentoring and coaching process The basic communication skill of a mentor or coach is not only a certain level of verbal communication skill but as well as the non-verbal  communication skill. The difference between coaching and mentoring are that, the purpose of coaching is to improve the individual’s performance on the job, which involves either enhancing current skills or acquiring new skills on areas in which the employee is in need of coaching but only for a short period of time, maybe even just a few sessions. The coaching lasts for as long as is needed, depending on the purpose of the coaching relationship, and once the coachee successfully acquires the skills, the coach is no longer needed. However, the purpose is to develop the individual not only for the current job, but as well as for the future job. It seeks to provide a safe environment where the mentoree shares whatever issues affect his or her professional and personal success, though specific learning goals or competencies may be used as a basis for creating the relationship, it’s focus goes beyond these areas to include things, such as work and life balance, self-confidence, self-perception, and how the personal influences the professional. However, this distinction differentiates the role of the immediate manager and that of the mentor, and reduces the possibility of creating conflict between the employee’s manager and the mentor. The coach or mentor is a facilitator, not an instructor. They support and challenge the employees to lean and to develop. The employees learn by acquiring new awareness, insight, skills, idea and knowledge. Development involves integrating their learning into the way they are. It is more important that a facilitator asks good questions than that they have ‘right’ answers. Good questions provoke new perspectives and change in the employees. The effective coach or mentor reviews the learning relationship and the learning process, and does not take those for granted, and finds learning methods that suit the employee. They need to help the employees to clarify how they learn best, and how to make coaching or mentoring work for them. Moreover, effective coach or mentor needs to understand the importance of what happens to the employees between each time they coach or mentoring them. Company strategy In the following case study, it has stated that there is a problem with the  outdated system that they have been implementing throughout the last few months. Systems that relates to management of the company and its groups has been not updated for a long time hence the result in formal policies and procedures not working as planned and not being that effective. As a result, there is a huge decrease in the performance from the employees such as late delivery and delay on products that should have been mailed to the customers. In order to ensure that all systems and processes that are used to monitor operational progress and customer service and see what ways we can use to identify the ways in which planning and operation can be improved, we as a Continuous Improvement Manager who has been hired by the Fast Forwarding company should create a company strategy that can improve the bad situation that has been occurring in the company. First of all, we can suggest that the company can use the KPI indicator system which can be very helpful to identify each and every person in the office and how they are performing. Recording each and every action and converting the performance of how well they are doing, the company can understand what the weakness of the employees and the workers are as well be able to identify the needs and requirements that they have to complete to reach the indicated priority that they want to be in. The indicators also tell the company how well they are doing and also measure the overall performance of the business itself. By applying Key Performance Indicator as a company strategy, they will be able to update every members of the company about the objective and therefore find and solve the weakness that has been affecting the performance of the company. Second of all, the use of SWOT analysis can help indicate and scan the company’s strength, weakness, opportunity and threat. If the company uses the analysis to effectively figure out the weakness and threats of the company itself, they might be able to see what problem is occurring and how much effect it has on the business performance and sales. After they find out what the weaknesses are and what threats might be there that has been creating a barrier from any improvements in their business. They can  implement different alternatives and solution to minimize the problems or completely wipe it out. Apart from the above use of the systems and analysis, there must be a custom of creating a daily check and updates on the system so that it doesn’t get outdated and create a big problem later on for the future. Since it affected formal policies and procedures as well as the whole system that the company is using for the business, the employees are unable to keep up with current system and therefore they lack enough information to be able to hold their performance in a stable way. Other alternatives to be able to improve the company’s problem, the organization can use the Management information system which provides information that the organizations require to manage themselves efficiently and effectively. Since the IT system of the company Fast Forwarding has been outdated for a long time and haven’t been reviewed by any of the company’s men, we suggest that they apply the MIS to be able to update any information that they have crucial need in. It provides a fixed schedules and reports regularly which can provide vital updates to the company when they need it. The MIS also contain systems such as Decision Support System (DSS), Executive Information System (EIS), Office Automation System (OAS), School Information Management Systems (SIMS) and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP). 1. Decision Support System (DSS): It’s a system that helps in the decision making for the middle and higher management to complete information from a wide range of sources to support in problem solving and decision making. It mostly helps in structured and unstructured problems. 2. Executive Information System (EIS): This is a system that concludes all the information that has been provided by all the departments and organizations so that they are able to summarize them with ease and convenience through proper order. 3. Office Automation System (OAS): The system supports the communication and  productivity in the enterprise by automatically sending all the information and work flows for each of the employees easily. This helps in an efficient way to spread all the working information to everyone in the workplace at the same time and as fast as possible. 4. School Information Management Systems (SIMS): This system covers the administration on teaching and learning materials that can help in assisting the employees with the training and experience providing necessary materials for them to utilize during the session for training and mentoring. 5. Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP): The system facilitates the flow of information inside the organizations throughout each departments as well as mange the flow and connections of stakeholders that are outside the boundaries of organization. To conclude, the system that they used had many flaws because they haven’t updated or review for a long time. Therefore, as given solution regarding company strategy up above, if they implement it with care, the company can overcome the problems that they have having and finally be able to improve the performance and the status of the business. How to informing Stakeholders are those person, group or organizations that are interested in the project that the company has been working on and therefore have trusted them enough to invest on the company. So in order to inform all the stakeholders about the new company strategy, we can use different communication strategy to be able to give them all the details and information concerning the new changes. Firstly, we can create a schedule for all the stakeholders so that they can be gathered up for the meeting. We can provide all the stakeholders with the notice through person, all the stakeholders can gather up in a precise location and discuss the new changes and be able to confirm that everybody gets it. Another way is to use technological factors to inform all the stakeholders. Different alternatives such as mailing the information to the stakeholders can also be used as one of the communication strategy to immediately inform every stakeholder as well as give them a softcopy of everything that needs to be included as changes of the new company strategy. As a conclusion there can be different ways to use communication strategy to forward different details and information to the stakeholders so that they can be updated every now and often. Future planning One of the biggest challenges faced by any kinds of companies and organizations are how to plan for the future, what to invest in, where to place your bet? It is really hard to perfectly predict the coming future and prepare for those upcoming situations, but we do have the creative thinking skills and behaviors to build an imaginative look at the future and to help the company to create powerful future scenarios and plan appropriate implications create powerful future scenarios and plan appropriate implications. I believe, the only way to lead a company to succeed is to be able to build new, advantaged knowledge that others do not know but we discover through powerful designs. Also, it is important to discover the unknown future opportunities that we do not know. In order to higher the chance to be successful, we have to do more than long term strategy, which an advanced model for foresight requires treating it as much more than the prediction of futurists or a technology development exercise. It should involve both analytical and imaginative thinking, which reaches beyond typical corporate approaches to strategic planning. However, it typically does not have a single answer, so we must consider multiple scenarios and make some collective bets in order to avoid worse-case scenario.

Globalization and development Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

Globalization and development - Essay Example For example, the government liberalized agriculture at the margin, such that farmers were only allowed to sell their surplus freely at prices determined by the forces of demand and supply if they met their state obligation. Guthrie attributes the increase in economic growth in China to the process of market reformation in the country. The transition from planned to market economy, lies in the political reforms that have been taking place in the country, from communism to capitalism. However, according to Rodrik, the Republic of China is still mostly communist since the government controls most of the people’s resources. This is however advantageous, as according to both authors, privatization is not necessary in market reformation, though it is advised. Control by the government has ensured a form of direction and regulation in the economy, making it steady. However, the development of China is somewhat of a paradox since economists predict that there will be future consequences to the entire international market. For instance, since it is the most populous country in the world, the fact that its food reserves are inadequate to cope with the rising population will lead to crippling of the grain market by the year 2030. Also, China is the second largest consumer of oil in the world, due to its high demand; the prices of oil have been constantly on the increase creating artificial shortage in the international market (Guthrie, 2006). Developing countries can learn a lot from China, which took 25 years to do what others would have taken 30 years or more. The source of its success according to the two authors is the fact that there has to be government involvement in the process of growth. Countries should not adopt reforms from the Washington Consensus without taking to regard the uniqueness of their own economies (Rodrik, 2007). Those having planned economies should also consider the adaptation of

Application of concept analysis to clinical practice Essay

Application of concept analysis to clinical practice - Essay Example The concept applied in clinical practice is confidentiality. It is an essential element in clinical practice because all aspects of participation of the patient and medical practitioner revolve around confidentiality and consent.The medical practitioner is responsible for ensuring that all medical records are kept in a confidential manner. The reliability of information and data is an important keystone to good medical practices. In most cases, patients are content with undergoing clinical tests as long as they can entrust confidential information and data to medical professionals. The distinguishing feature of clinical practice is that most of the information affects patients and their family members (Pinch, 2000). Therefore, the principles of data protection and confidentiality are crucial in the provision of services within the healthcare sector. This also gives the patient assurance that the clinical practitioner can reassure privacy. It is vital to note that this is not always a ssured in the clinical context where results of a clinical test may provide information about the patient and their family members. For instance in genetics, the results of a clinical test provides information about the patient and his family members. As the scope of clinical trials and practice increases, it is paramount for the clinical practitioner to ensure that information is managed in a proper manner. The management of clinical information may present challenges to healthcare professional and patients. Patients expect clinical professionals to access their medical information, and use their clinical experience and expertise to interpret the information and data in order to provide appropriate medical advice (Brown & Stobart, 2008). The information used in the clinical context may be private and personal. Intrusion into patient privacy is generally justified by the assumption that the patient has authorized access to the information (Pinch, 2000). The information obtained may generate inferences to other family members. The views of the other family members may be unknown. Additionally, they may disapprove access to such information. This means that the information is generated in confidential circumstances to one individual, but it is significant to other people. Clinical practice may want to use this data and information to help the patient and other people involved. However, clinical practice is unsure whether it is acceptable within the precincts of confidentiality and data protection. Method of Analysis In this case, the authors of the article examine confidentiality from a theoretical perspective. The article uses concept analysis and clinical based empirical investigations. A review of literature and clinical practices defines consequences, attributes, antecedents and empirical references (Pinch, 2000). The article relied on the themes from the definitions of confidentiality. These were provided by participants in various projects within the scope of genetics and HIV/AIDS. The method of analysis provides updated guidance on the issues of confidentiality and consent in clinical practice. The method focused on clinical professionals. The methods were resultant features of proposals that focused on the use of clinical tests, trials and results (Pinch, 2000). The method also recognized that the issue of confidentiality in clinical practice was becoming relevant. Most importantly, the article introduced the principles of confidentiality and consent in clinical practice. This was expanded using clinical cases and illustrations. Steps of the Process The steps for ensuring confidentiality in clinical practice are based on the code of standards of conduct, ethics and performance for midwives and nurses. According to such codes, clinical practice must respect the rights of people to confidentiality. Clinical professionals must also ensure that people are informed about clinical process (Pinch,

Toward Stronger Marketing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Toward Stronger Marketing - Essay Example After the dismal initial performance of the brew, Lang was invited to lead the Nespresso team. Lang was highly motivated and creative in its approach and favored aggressive marketing techniques. He believed that the core business strategy of any business heavily relies on new products and innovative market strategy that facilitates in creating a niche market for their products and services. He used various marketing metrics to explore and exploit new markets. The marketing initiatives for Nespresso can be broadly described as follows. The compulsions of the rapidly transforming societal paradigms and technological advancements are important factors that require more comprehensive and innovative approach to market strategy. Strategic marketing plans are a crucial part of promoting products and services of an organization and establish market credibility. An effective market strategy promotes the use of SWOT (strengths, weakness, opportunities, and threats) analysis on a periodic basis. The awareness of strengths and weaknesses in the company’s resources would help to act timely and efficiently so that opportunities and threats can be effectively met to provide a competitive edge to their rivals. Consumer psychology and analysis of a database of customers are an important part of a market strategy which helps one to know the changing preferences of the customers in the rapidly changing times. Analysis and identification of the changing trends of the customer requirements are important ingredients to gain leverage against their rivals. The market strategy should be totally focused on the needs and requirements of the people and make continuous efforts to update its products line with that of the changing public demands. Understanding of consumer psychology, therefore, plays a vital role in the development of marketing strategy and planning.

What were the aims and objectives of the Baghdad Pact and why did it Essay

What were the aims and objectives of the Baghdad Pact and why did it fail - Essay Example In 1955 Iraq signed mutual defense agreement with Turkey. Several other countries such as the United Kingdom, Pakistan, and Iran joined the treaty throughout the year 1955. The pact was based on the mutual security and defense obligations, with the provision that stated that nations would not interfere in internal affairs of each other. In spite of the fact that the pact was destined to include several other Arab states, especially the nations of the Arab League, none of other countries of the region would join the alliance. 2. The aim of the pact was to contain the spread of communism in the region and check Soviet influence in this area. Despite the fact that the pact did not explicitly state it, it was designed with this aim in mind. The pact consisted of nine articles; the first article of the treaty stipulated cooperation between the states in various defense measures. The second article stated that these measures should become operative once the governments of the nations members of the treaty had agreed on the actions that must be taken. 3 In this respect Baghdad treaty was less explicit than the provisions of the treaty of NATO which stipulated that an attack on any member of the treaty should considered as an attack on all of them. In spite of officially proclaimed common intentions of the members of the alliance to fight communisms it was clear right from the start that most of the nations had disagreements on several important regional issues such as Middle East process. The meeting of all members of new military alliance, except the United Kingdom, was hold on November 8 , 1956; it called for immediate withdrawal of all Israeli troops from Egypt territory, release of all military Egyptian prisoners as well as restoration of the independence of Egypt. The statement also urged French and English governments to cease the hostilities in Egypt and called for the beginning of negotiation process on the Suez issue with active participation of the

George Patton's perception by German public Research Paper

George Patton's perception by German public - Research Paper Example The Second World War was the highest point of his military culmination in his life. He did not fight due to any principle nor did he fight because he wanted freedom, he simply fought because he loved to fight. During his early life, he had fear of flunking out of the West Point due to terrified prospect since he was sure that he could not make anything better than being a general. Thesis General Patton was the most outstanding, the most daring, original, and honest allied general in the history. General Patton had an account of superb fiery in integrity, intelligence, was exceptionally brave and feared no authority (Patton 254). He realized great successes, which ultimately made him a legend of his time. For his demise, General Patton was murdered by what translated to be commercial assassinators from the office of the Strategic Services. Germans perception towards George Patton General George S. Patton, the commander of America’s third army, became the military governor of th e greater portion of Germany occupied by Americans. He had qualification to become the field commander and suited for higher command in the strategic planning (Patton 287). These were the assumptions of Germans but Patton corrected them as he emerged as a superior leader of the European theater during the Second World War (Rice 184). ... Patton, according to Germans, gave his understanding and apprehensions for the future of the nation to his acquaintances and government officials (Brown 346). He bitterly disagreed with the fearful danger posed by the Soviet Union several months before the end of the Second World War. He supported the idea of having his army held back to wait for the Red Army to occupy the vast stretches of Germany. According to Germans, George Patton was a colorful military leader in the 20th century and is the most much-written-about American general. He was the most outstanding, original and the most honest allied general of the Second World War. He has credit of an account of being fiery of integrity, brilliant and exceptionally brave (Hirshon 97). Patton realized a lot of success during his regime, which made him a legend of his lifetime. The true person of General Patton Characteristics of Patton depicted him as a contradictory man. He had a unique brand of leadership, a role he cultivated and fully exercised. Patton managed to get a supreme effort from the fellow military men. As a leader, Patton was exceptional. His character explains his treatment for men. He was always considerate to those who were wounded during a battle but he was merciless to those who could not stand the horrible strains of the war imposed upon them. Patton did not comprehend that other people did not like his passion for violence. This character of violence was very evident in the life of Patton. Patton had immense talents and natural ability; hence, he could antagonize everybody within his reach. He also had a lovable characteristic of turning on his subordinates once they surpassed him in their careers. Patton demonstrated fear and respect for the higher compliment. Despite his

Soft Path Energy vs. Hard Path Energy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Soft Path Energy vs. Hard Path Energy - Essay Example On the contrary, champions of soft path argue that soft path energy ensures quality energy in that the energy is environmentally friendly (Botkin and Keller, 2010). More so, soft path policy leads to production and delivery of flexible and sustainable energy (Parkins, 2001). Such sources of energy, therefore, include, wind, sunlight and biomass. Unfortunately, many nations, including developed nations, such as the United States, have energy policies that are more oriented to hard path than the soft path. Therefore, an understanding of the advantages and disadvantages of soft path energy, as compared to the hard path energy, is crucial in deciding whether to exploit soft path energy. Soft path energy alternatives are more environmentally friendly than their hard path counterparts. In particular, they have less harm to their environs than hard path energy (Parkins, 2001). For example, the electricity used to light houses and drive air conditioning systems can be produced from hydroelectric power plants comprised of large dams, which pose a risk to people living around them. Electricity can also be produced from nuclear power plants, which are health hazards and consume large amounts of water for cooling purposes. Sunlight can be used for lighting purposes, in its raw form through opening windows or using transparent iron sheets, or electrically using solar panels that convert sunlight to electric energy. Wind turbines can also be used to harness wind energy and convert it to electric energy for lighting purposes. These lighting methods do not pose as much harm to the environment or risk animal, plant and human life as is the case with hard energy. Moreover, they contribute less to global warming because they emit fewer gases and carbon (if any) to the atmosphere. Soft path energy alternatives are also renewable in that their sources cannot be exhausted, which is not the case with hard path energy sources. For

Growing Acme Fireworks Essay Example for Free

Growing Acme Fireworks Essay There is much to consider when expanding a business. How will you make, market, and distribute your product. Are you willing to take full liability for your product and understanding the legalities of what happens if your product is defective? Once that has been established, it’s important to make sure that your business dealings are in order. The strength of the contract and what all it entails. Knowing that the legal document is important more so when things tend to go downhill. Above all is deciding which type of business entity the company will select especially if the company starts out small and looks to expand. Which entity will best serve the growth of the company such as Acme Fireworks? Some years ago I watched a movie called fight club. The movie dealt with a ton of social issues. One of the characters worked for a car company that would fly out their employers out to the areas where there were car accidents. They worked almost as an insurance adjuster that would come and appraise a vehicle once it has been in a wreck and determine, based on the damages how much they would award the car owner. However in the case here the employees would view accidents all over the country and decide if it would cost more to recall the product or pay the total fee for the said accident. If the cost was too much to do a recall then the company would take responsibility for the accident if a law suit is brought forth, however if it is cheaper to recall then the necessary actions would be taken to recall the malfunctioned part. Knowing this it is important that we label the products and its proper uses so if there is an issue then it can be said that the manufacture warned the consumer. In this way, any injury would not be the fault of Acme Fireworks, but the consumer. Just as the example with the cars above, if someone lights a firecracker in a closet and the firecracker goes off and injures the person then the company is not liable being that it is neglect  on the part of the consumer (Rogers, 2012). Now if the same individual uses the firework outside in an open area as is stated on the label and they light the firecracker and it goes off in their hand as soon as the fuse is lit, then that is negligence on behalf of Acme. It must be understood that regardless of the product used, all products have the potential to cause consumer harm (Anthony, 1995). So that is why it is important to make sure everything from the development of the fireworks to the warning labels have been gone over to make sure that the product is not faulty. If a fuse is too short in a product or if the material used to cause the firecracker to explode is too much then that is a defectively manufactured product. Another issue could also be the type of firework that is made. Let’s say for instance that one of the products has the tendency to go off in extreme temperatures and is purchased and placed in areas of storage when the temperatures extreme then that is negligence on the consumer, however if the consumer was not made aware of this by the manufacture then the liability falls to the company. I recall about three years ago when I was in a car accident. Our brakes that we had from the car company had been recalled. We were sent notices in the mail, phone, and email about the recall and were told to bring our vehicle in to make sure the brakes were not faulty and if they were they could be fixed free of charge. The deadline came and went a after it expired I was in a car wreck. I was making a turn in the rain and slammed my brakes and they were locked. I had the repair work done on the vehicle and was told that the brakes were faulty. I informed the dealership of the issue and was told that the company was no longer liable because the deadline had passed. I was outraged and wanted to file a lawsuit against the company, however there are deadlines and limitations to when a suit can be filed and in the state of Georgia, you have up to a year to file such claim. I missed it by 3 months and was unable to file suit against the manufacturer (Day, 2014). Another import issues are the contracts. There are 5 basic elements to a contract: Offer, acceptance, Consideration, Legality and Capacity (Rogers, 2012). Other retailers stated to the owner of Acme Fireworks that they wanted a certain amount of orders filled on a regular bases for an undisclosed time frame and a price was agreed upon, this is the acceptance and offer portion of the contract. The offeror, which in this case are the large retailers, makes an offer which once accepted by  Acme Fireworks, creates a binding contract. Acceptance must be in some way agreed b y all participants; it may be verbal, symbolical, oral or written. The came from the retailers, they had a want from Acme to manufacture a product for them at a certain cost (Stim, 2010). Consideration is another element of a contract and what consideration brings to the table ask the whys and what’s: Why are we entering the contract and are you receiving? In this case Acme gets more money by being able to produce its products and grow their brand and the other retailers receive fireworks from Acme. However in this instance the owner of Acme may have taken on a task bigger than himself. This is a company with only 15 workers and to fill the orders with the new retailers, more employees need to be hired. Not only do they need to be hired, but they need to be trained as well. This must be done while filling out the orders. Here there is not much consideration given by the owner. How many employees do we need, how much will the work flow increase, and how long will we have a contract with the other retailers. No time period was given for the contract. Will this just be one order or is this something that will go on annually. What happen if the orders are not filled on a timely manner is the contract then void? Another question to ask is the capacity and legality of a contract. Capacity to contract means the legal competence of a person to enter into a valid contract. Usually the capacity to contract refers to the capacity to enter into a legal agreement and the competence to perfor m some act. The basic element to enter into a valid contract is that s/he much has a sound mind. Recently there was an issue with an owner of the L.A. Clippers making comments about minorities. The group of owners in the league wanted him to sell his team. He didn’t want to sell and wanted to fight it, however it came out that he does not have the mental faculties to run the organization or make business decision so that responsibility was given to his wife. It came out that he has dementia, but he is fighting this claim as well. Once it is established if he can mentally make these decisions then the wife will not be able to go into discussions to purchase the franchise legally. Acme has 15 full time employees as it stands now. This is without the orders for the new retailers. What we know is that the owner guaranteed that we can take on more business, not considering the staff that we currently have. For the orders to be filled we would have to take on more labor force. Before this  can be done we have to first consider what we have now. We currently have 15 people employed by Acme, to fill the new orders; do we take on double or triple the size? If we do take on more people, would it be something on permanent or temporary ba ses? Employment is very important when business is involved. There are many things to consider when a workforce is involved. When it comes with dealing with explosives it is important that we consider finding individuals who have experience with working with explosives and are well trained as well. This will cost more money for the company when it comes to hiring individuals that are trained to handle explosives. So these can’t be regular workers that one can find at a temp agency. However, we do not know how long to hire these individuals because there is no clarity as to the length of the contract, so the types of workers that we would have to hire would have to come through labor force agencies (Smith, V., Neuwirth, E.B., 2009). The great thing about a temp agency is the large pool of people that they have to choose from. There are times when many corporations view temp agency workers as people who are unskilled, however with the types of agencies that are around today, they can find highly skilled individuals that many companies wo uld be hard pressed to do, being that they would have to exhaust many resources to do so. It has to be understood that this business started out of a garage a couple years ago and is now grown into a company that employees 15 people on staff. Now with the new revenue that will come into the company, Acme Fireworks will have to expand. Acme is a sole proprietorship owned by one individual. This is the simplest organization structure to have. There is less paperwork as well as the tax implications. If there is a loss for that year you can use this loss to offset your other income on your personal return (Fishman, 2014). Though operating as a sole proprietorship is easier, it can also have some setbacks as well. The main problem is that there’s no separation between the individual and the business with the sole proprietorship. That means that if something should happen in the business, like taking on huge contracts with no clear time line and limited planning and staff, you’d be personally liable. For example, if Acme Fireworks business is ever sued or runs int o financial trouble, the owner would be personally on the hook and creditors and lawsuits can come after your  personal assets. That is an issue because if the company profits go to offset the debt, there is little to no money to run the company properly, expand, or take care of the employees. This is just one of the many things to consider when changing your business entity as well as deciding on what is best for the company as a whole. Acme Fireworks started out of a garage, like most businesses it is difficult to raise capital or arranging long term financing because of fewer assets. Also there is one voice and one view which can scare big business opportunities away. This is why a Sole Proprietorship for the future of Acme Fireworks would not be feasible. Being in this type of entity makes it hard to expand. To grow and expand a company needs a formal business structure. So the choice is which entity to choose? With such an undertaking in such a short time, the risk would cause a sole owner to want to form an LLC or incorporate his or her business. In the case of Acme Fireworks, it would be best to change the business entity to a corporation. With the promise of product to these new large retailers, Acme Fireworks would need more capital to grow the business as well as purchase the necessary material to make sure the new orders are able to fill as well as fulfilling previous obligations to the other retailers that we have business with. Choosing this entity protects the owner from legal liability, gives the ability to attract more investors through stocks, and has more structure where there is not just one voice for the business. The juxtaposition to this is the tax liability and the time and how much it cost to incorporate, unlike a sole proprietorship, incorporating a business takes much more paperwork, as well as fee’s that need to be paid to the state the business is in. One of the silver linings for the employees is that even if something happens to the owner, or if he or she retires, the corporation will still be i n tact unlike sole proprietorships. There are many things to consider when it comes to running a company, expanding it, and watching it flourish. There are many businesses that started out in a small garage, Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, even men like John D. Rockefeller. However, growth cannot take place without determination and risk. The best way to make sure that your ready to expand is to be sure where you want to take the company and have a sound plan as to the steps one will take to get there. Once you have a vision and financial backing the  next step is to decide which type of business entity you want to be. There are many entities to choose from and no one is greater than the next. It’s all about how you want to mold and model your business. Reference: Anthony, S. (1995). Warning: marketers must do better with product warnings. Marketing News, (13). 4. DAY, J. A. (2014). Protecting Yourself from Statutes of Repose. Tennessee Bar Journal, 50(1), 33-34. Fishman, S. (2014). CHAPTER 2: Choosing the Legal Form for Your Business. In , Working for Yourself (pp. 15-54). Nolo. Smith, V., Neuwirth, E. B. (2009). Temporary Help Agencies and the Making of a New Employment Practice. Academy Of Management Perspectives, 23(1), 56-72. doi:10.5465/AMP.2009.37008003

ULTRA VIRES DOCTRINE OF COMPANY LAW IN ZAMBIA

ULTRA VIRES DOCTRINE OF COMPANY LAW IN ZAMBIA INTRODUCTION This assignment examines the debate on the legal issues surrounding the abolition of the requirement to submit a Memorandum of Association when applying to incorporate a company under the Zambian Companies Act 1994 cap 388 of the Laws of Zambia. This debate has been on the â€Å"Objects Clause† which used to be a requirement under the old Companies Act 1921 and was to remain as part of the Memorandum of Association thereafter until the company ceased to exist. ORIGINS OF THE OBJECTS CLAUSE A company on incorporation under the Companies Act cap 388 gives it a corporate personality which means that it gains the status of a separate legal entity from its shareholders or members.[1] However, as an artificial person, the company cannot make decisions and as such has to rely on humans to make decisions on its behalf. Therefore, the decisions and actions by the company officers, employees or indeed its agents will be taken to be those of the company which shall bear the liability. As such, as the company is to be regarded as an artificial person, the courts developed the view that its legal capacity had to be limited to its objects[2] and on incorporation to include the objects clause in its memorandum of association[3] which formed part of the company’s constitution. This was with a view of safeguarding the interests of both the shareholders and the creditors by way of the doctrine of ultra vires. In summing up, it can be said that an objects clause is that provision in a companys constitution which provides for the purposes and the power to undertake only the activities for which the company was formed as was the case before the coming into force of the Companies Act cap 388. THE DOCTRINE OF ULTRA VIRES The doctrine of ultra vires[4] refers to those acts or decisions that a company may undertake which are beyond the scope of powers granted by the company’s objects clause in its memorandum of association. Ashbury Carriage Company v Riche (1875) The ACC was an incorporated company under the Companies Act of 1862. Clause 3 of the memorandum that: The objects for which the company is established are to make and sell, or lend on hire, railway carriages and wagons, and all kinds of railway plant, fittings, machinery, and rolling-stock; to carry on the business of mechanical engineers and general contractors; to purchase and sell, as merchants, timber, coal, metals, or other materials; and to buy and sell any such materials on commission, or as agents. The company agreed to provide Richie and his brother with finance for the construction of a railway in Belgium but later repudiated the agreement. Richie sued for damages. Held That the contract was void and that ratification, even if it had taken place, would have been wholly ineffective. PRESENT LAW Unlike before, the current Companies Act cap 388, does not have a mandatory requirement for companies incorporated under it to have a memorandum of association which should contain the objects clause. POWERS AND DUTIES OF DIRECTORS The Companies Act Cap. 388 provides under section 215 that: (1) The business of a company shall be managed by the directors, who may pay all expenses incurred in promoting and forming the company, and may exercise all such powers of the company as are not, by this Act or the articles, required to be exercised by the company by resolution. (3) Without limiting the generality of subsection (1), the directors may exercise the powers of the company to borrow money, to charge any property or business of the company or all or any of its uncalled capital and to issue debentures or give any other security for a debt, liability or obligation of the company or of any other person. VALIDITY OF ACTS However, section 23 provides that â€Å"No act of a company, including any transfer of property to or by a company, shall be invalid by reason only that the act or transfer is contrary to its articles or this Act† seems to be a contradiction to sections 7 and 22. THE ARTICLES OF ASSOCIATION Before the 1994 Act, the articles of association where classed as being inward-looking and having a purpose of setting out the rules governing the running of the company. The articles hence formed an incorporated company’s constitution[5] which may deal with any matters of the company operations. However, the present Act does not, as stated above, make it mandatory for a company to submit a memorandum of association but provides under section 7 as follows: (1) A company may have articles regulating the conduct of the company. (2) The articles may contain restrictions on the business that the company may carry on. This means that there is no need of an objects clause to be included in the articles of association so as to restrict the business operations to conform to the objects and indeed should not specify its general nature of the company business. This assertion can also be inferred from section 7(4) which provides that â€Å"a company on incorporation may adopt the regulations of the Standard Articles† which do not contain a provision for the general nature of the business to be undertaken or indeed any restrictions. Furthermore, section 7(2) provides that ‘the articles may contain restrictions on the business that a company may carry on’, thus departing from the traditional role of covering mainly issues to do with the internal management of the company for which articles of association are often known for. Therefore, it could be inferred from this section that a company on incorporation may restrict its nature of business to be undertaken as agreed by the shareholders. This inference is asserted to by section 22(3) of the Act which provides that â€Å"A company shall not carry on any business or exercise any power that it is restricted by its articles from carrying on or exercising, nor exercise any of its powers in a manner contrary to its articles.† However, the restrictions that prohibit an incorporated company from carrying on any business in its articles of incorporation are on the preferences of the shareholders and as such the doctrine of ultra-vires whilst not being abolished is not mandatory. Therefore, where a company decides to place some business restrictions in its articles of association then that company is prohibited from carrying on any business or exercising any power that it is restricted by its articles. NOTICE NOT PRESUMED 24. No person dealing with a company shall be affected by, or presumed to have notice or knowledge of, the contents of a document concerning the company†¦.. This means that the interests of the third party who deals with a company is entitled to assume that it has the power to do anything it wishes are not affected[6] unless he was actually aware (notice or knowledge) of the restrictions. Therefore, section 24 basically abolishes the ultra vires rule against third parties who have no knowledge of the company’s objects and are meant to assume that the director, agent or company employee they deal with has the power to make decisions. This has been acknowledged in the case of Freshint Ltd Others v Kawambwa Tea Company [2008] ZMSC 26 at (763) where it was held that â€Å"in practice most people dealing with companies rely on the rule in Turquand’s case and do not bother to inspect the articles. †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ The company’s authorized agents bound the company to comply with the contract and such liability cannot be avoided†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. NO DISCLAIMER ALLOWED 25. A company †¦..may not assert against a person dealing with the company or with any person who has acquired rights from the company that- (a) any of the articles of the company has not been complied with; (b) a shareholder agreement has not been complied with; (c) the persons named in the most recent annual return or notice under section two hundred and twenty-six are not the directors of the company; (d) the registered office of the company is not an office of the company; (e) a person held out by a company as a director, an officer or an agent of the company has no authority to exercise the powers and perform the duties that are customary in the business of the company or usual for such a director, officer or agent; (f) a document issued by any director, officer or agent of the company with actual or usual authority to issue the document is not valid or genuine; or APPLICATION FOR INCORPORATION Section 6 2(i) provides that an application for incorporation shall be in the prescribed form and shall specify †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. the nature of its proposed business†¦.. This means that all the features which could be found in the memorandum of association have now been incorporated into the Articles of Association including but not limited to: (a) The Name Clause; (b) The Objects Clause; (c)Each subscriber confirming their intention to form a company (d)Each member also agrees to take at least one share (e)Physical address of the office to be the registered office CONCLUSION This argument hence concludes that the requirements for the objects clause have actually been retained in through both the articles of association and Companies Form 2 which requires that the applicants specify the general nature of business to include the principal business and any other business (section 2). It could further be concluded that the filing of Form 2 re-enforces the notion that the doctrine of ultra vires has been retained in Zambia through the provision at section 3 that, â€Å"The articles restrict the business that the company may conduct as follows† after which part these restriction will be specified. BIBLIOGRAPHY Davies, L. P., Principles of Modern Company Law, 8th Edn, Sweet and Maxwell, 2008 Dignam A. Lowry J., Company Law, 4th Edn, OUP, London, 2006 1 [1] Salomon v Salomon Co [1897] A.C 22, HL, at 51, per Lord Macnaughten [2] Ashbury Carriage Company v Riche (1875) [3] Guinness v Land Corporation of Ireland (1882) [4] Ultra vires is a Latin expression which lawyers and civil servants use to describe acts undertaken beyond (ultra) the legal powers (vires) of those who have purported to undertake them. Davies P.L., Principles of Modern Company Law, at p153. [5] Davies P.L., Principles of Modern Company Law, 8th Edn, Sweet and Maxwell, 2008, at p62 [6] Royal British Bank v Turquand (1856)