Case Study Analysis Ppaer Essay Example for Free

Case Study Analysis Ppaer Essay Introduction A number of problems were made during the recent hiring process. This case Study is an attempt to identify and recommend ways to improve this process. From the information that has been obtained, I believe that a lack of employee experience and a lack of prior planning and follow up resulted in a failure to accomplish all the task necessary to hire the new employees in a timely fashion. ?Background Carol Robins, a new campus recruiter for ABC, Inc. , in early April he was able to hire 15 new trainees who were destined to work for Monica Carrolls,  the operations supervisor. From the interviews that were conducted, it appears that Carl was unable to accomplish all of the tasks necessary so that the new hires could begin work. These tasks included documentation, drug testing, material preparation for the orientation, and facility scheduling. Monica Carrolls did contact Carl on May 15 concerning his process with the hiring process. Other employees had failed to keep the paper copy of the master orientation manual current so that it can be quickly copied. Another factor appears the rapid expansion of the company. Alternatives With more than one problem a major focus on a number of different Solutions, such as, Prior planning by Carl could have eliminated some of the issues; however, Carls in experience would probably still have resulted in there being some problems. The company has failed to provide relatively inexperienced employees, like Carl, with comprehensive procedures and job practices. Under the topic of supervision, Monica Carrolls could have made contact more often with Carl. But her job, as operations manager, does not include his supervision. Another solution to the supervision problem could be to increase the staff in the human resources department. However, on examination this does not appear to be the most efficient solution due to the increased costs. Another solution would be to maintain the master New Employee Orientation manual in electronic format. Having the manual in electronic form allows for easy updating of the policy and procedures, and prevents inadvertent loss or damage to that document. This method is cost effective and easily implemented. ?Proposed Solutions. A New Employee Checklist will be created with all pre-employed tasks listed on it. ?The Employee Orientation manual will be maintained in an electronic format. ?Some of the pre-employment tasks will become the responsibility of the potential employees to accomplish. Potential employees will report when the tasks have been completed. A member of the human resource staff will confirm that the task has been completed correctly. ?Employees like, Carl Robins, will be required to submit weekly reports detailing the current status of all potential employees. ?Recommendations New employees are the only way the work of this organization gets accomplished. Everyone efforts to sustain the continued growth and profits of this company cannot be ignored. With the continued growth of the company the proposed solutions that the employee will make on that day may need to be modified as the company becomes larger. I would recommend that a periodic review of the hiring process; looking for ways to improve it. And also a review should be done on an annual basis.

The Identified Problems In Yahoos Strategy

The Identified Problems In Yahoos Strategy Strategy considered being the lionized, under the lights word of business environment. A German proverb states, What is the use of running if you are not on the right road. Well crafted! Every business needs a strategically focussed plan to achieve its vision. Above all, an efficient management of the strategy under practice, bags the maximum concentration. This report extensively discusses the need for strategies and their characteristics in various distinct business environments and their implications in organizations. Beginning with the scrupulous analysis of the Yahoo!s peanut butter manifesto, It explains about the diverse theories and different levels of strategies embroiling with the various organizational levels in the pursuit of decision-making. Competitive Advantage is a yet another concept that storms every organization, to either sustain or improve their position in the market. The relationship between strategy and competitive advantage and its influence in the process o f making it have been deeply probed. Along with that, several other factors like situational and environmental analysis techniques such as SWOT, PESTEL etc influencing strategy and the concerned multi-dimensional perspectives of them are also congruently explored. Besides that it brings out a broad understanding of the contrasting differences of strategy in accordance with the industry and also exhibits the differences in control mechanisms applied to preside over and direction of the strategy. Finally, it concludes with a detailed spectacle of the trends in business strategies. 2. Yahoo!s Peanut Butter Manifesto Yahoo! Its You the company that emerged out hardly 16 years before, have been managing to long stand with its Internet services in the competitive business world. Their growth across the world prevents even an introduction. The scenario of this analysis assumes their case of Peanut Butter Manifesto [1]. 2.1 Identified Problems: Right from their start they enjoyed the triumphant position until few giants started competing in the war (business) field. For a period now, they are experiencing a slack due to few internal reasons, Lack of a focussed vision Lack of clarity of ownership and accountability Lack of decisiveness [1]. All these are absolutely strategic issues faced by them. Either their strategy is completely affected or they never had one in the first place. The Memo written by Mr. Brad Garlinghouse [1] provides evidence of the internal problems. They are completely related to the Leadership, Accountability, and Resource Management etc. 1.2 Analytical Expository: The views about the issues faced are strategic. Strategy is an all-embracing framework to take advantage of the resources to substantiate a favourable position. On mapping the identified problems to the corporate strategy model [1], The strategic position encompasses the environment, purpose, culture and capability factors. The issues faced match with majority of these factors. The strategic position of the organization is very weak and is majorly affected by the internal problems. The organizations span of growth proves it clearly. Internet, the field that can be ranged over at any angle would still provide profits. Yahoo! has overly exploited this opportunity and stretched far widely. This eventually had reduced their concentration on their competitive advantage. The company has about 41 Branded services outnumbering any other Internet services. Further down, they have 7 Non-Branded services and a length of 22 obsolete services. This totals about 70 ventures, which shows how inordinately they have been corporately entrepreneurial to fail in sustaining their competitive advantage. This could be their main problem. They need to have a proper vision in succeeding their position and advantage over others, just like Bill Gates Trustworthy Computing back in 2002. An organic redesigning of the organization has to take place to overcome present hurdles. This anal ysis would be stretched over the entire phase of explaining strategy and its dimensional levels in the remaining sections of the report. 3. Strategic Business Planning in Global Environment: Strategic Business Planning is the process of defining an organizations strategy and determining on dispensing its resources like investments, employees etc to achieve the defined goal. This includes the complete phase of the following, Analysis Choose and Generate Strategy Implement Strategy Directing and controlling it. In the global environment, there are numerous industries under which billions of businesses operate. They exhibit a myriad nature by orientating their focus. 3.1 Need for Strategic Business Planning: Numerous businesses become obsolete or show financial crisis in short fail to survive in the market, mainly because they fail to find themselves in the future. Which means they neither have a realizable vision nor succeeding in implementation. In other words they are not prepared for the uncertainties. There have been around 134,000 firms [2] showing strong manifestation of distress. Decision Making in the global environment is so intricate for an organization to tackle it effectively for profits. This requires Strategic Business Planning and Management. It helps them realize the vision by planning, organizing, directing and controlling every step they grasp. Organizations without strategic planning would lose its address in this crowd. In the global environment, been filled with public organization, the main need of a strategic is to fulfil stakeholder expectations. Global Environment has become a place, where customers alone are not the primary focus, but attracting stakeholders has major contribution, because the resource that any organization possess is been provided by the stakeholders rather than customers. The business input model has significantly changed. This kind of a competitive atmosphere ensures that businesses should have a robust competitive advantage over their competitors thereby making strategic planning as imperative. 3.2 Characteristics of Strategic Business Planning: Characteristics of Strategic Planning are deeply rooted. In general it posses various features like providing, Direction Business intending to be, Scope Markets to compete, Refining Activities to be undertaken, Advantage Better performances, Resources skills, assets, finance, relationship, technical competence etc. Environment Predicting the uncertainties [1], Back to our case in concern (Yahoo!s Peanut Butter Manifesto) [1], had they practiced a sinewy strategic business plan, they would have had better visions, completely refined activities by narrowing down their concentration, advantageous decisions, and an healthy distribution of the resources in accordance to their spectrum. Most striking characteristics of strategic business planning to achieve the competitive advantage are 3.3 Dimensions of Strategic Planning: In the Global environment, it is becoming increasingly inflexible as the stakeholders have increased and the customers have been attracted worldwide. Here it has 6 dimensions, where Senior Managerial decisions Huge resource dispenses Affect the long term welfare of the company Highly concerned about the future Strategic Business Units will be heavily affected Consequences due to the external environment [4]. 3.4 Levels of Strategy and Organization Decision Making: Organization basically has 3 decision-making levels, on each level strategy is integrated to deliver potential to the higher hierarchy. Johnson et al., say levels as, Corporate Level Business Level and Operational Level [1]. This could be well explained with the differing views of the organizations levels and nature of the decisions, Decision-making needs to be creative. Strategy in action makes sure that relevant activities are carried out and no redundancy or resource frittering happens. The previous practice of Yahoo had many trifling services, invoking lots of redundancies. The New strategy could refine them and decide on activities that signify the target. Any decision taken is not unescorted; it triggers the resistance in the succeeding level. Thus strategy has high influence on the decision-making phase evidencing why they need to be realizable; else it would disrupt the entire organizations culture and structure. 3.5 Difficulties in Global Environment External Drivers: Global Environment poses increased difficulties for any strategic planning and management. Various external factors play a vital role. External environment of any organization could be well understood by the situational analysis techniques, where PESTLE Analysis would help us in determining them. The external factors that intricates strategy planning in global environment are mainly, Strategic Global Alliances, Collaboration and Authority of Global Marketing Trade barriers Communication International Strategy selection Government Unions Legalization Culture Highly fluctuating currency trade-offs Gap between the globalization parameters Technological Revolution Financial Markets Here they are left with only two choices Cost Leadership differentiation International strategy National amenability or limited market Regional Strategy. Further they need to consider various expanding operators, which are 4. Strategies and Competitive Advantage: Competitive advantage forms the base of the strategy. The entire strategy is generated to realize the favourable position for the organization. 4.1 Differing theories and practice: Patterns of Strategy and Planning do not always follow the rational route. Exactly, Most of the time, the vision dreamt by the organization is seldom reachable. This gives rise to 2 different theories in practice. The Intended Strategy and The Emergent Strategy. The Intended or the designed strategy is the one that manager develops, whereas emergent strategies are those that evolve in the organization [5] like the Honda effect [6]. Intended strategy does not always work, whereas the realized strategy would work for sure, but it does not give a chance to every organization. The intended strategy is been designed for the company by a strong leadership capability. Intended or planned strategies have chances of failure, because we might delusively predict or anticipate the future, which could happen otherwise. Secondly, once when implemented, it will be hard to disengage ourselves. Finally, it could lead to improper definition of the structure of the future. 4.2 Best Route Does Singularity Exists? The strategies need not be always designed; it can develop in queer ways. Mintzberg says that strategies are either plan for the future (intended) or patterns of the past (emergent) [7], it is the responsibility of the organization to wisely choose which suits them the best. On evaluating both the process, it seems that intended strategy and emergent strategy both have their own limitations. Mintzberg suggests that learning [7] would be the best way, but global environment does not give enough time, which again contradicts. Hence the best route to develop strategy could be by developing a synergy between the two processes. The resource allocation is the root concern on both processes, therefore on evaluating the factors affecting resource allocation like organizational context and structural context, the synergy could be brought thereby leading to designed emergence to suit comfortably to achieve competitive advantage. 5. Different Strategies Different Dominance: There is no defined strategy; it needs to be changed as we change. As Marshall Goldsmith states, What got you here, will not take you there [8]. Strategy got the same rules. 5.1 Necessity of Different Strategy Views: Strategies are flexible and depend on the state of the market. Similar to products, competitive advantages behave as well, with emerging, maturing and declining. Strategy is structured and chose using various techniques called strategy formulation techniques. They are, porters 5 forces model, porters generic strategies etc., choosing between the three main porters strategies segmentation, cost leadership and differentiation. Here cost leadership and differentiation suit well for emerging competitive advantage. The BCG matrix and the ansoffs matrix help as well. Whereas the mature competitive advantage requires a sustaining strategy, like fortress defense, flanker brands or niche strategy to maximize the flow of profits to the remaining life, maintain and protect the business market. This involves customer loyalty retention as well. Market penetration could be a wise example. Cost leadership, differentiation and service quality model would be very source of sustainable competitive advantage. Thirdly on considering the declining competitive advantage, strategies like Harvesting, Maintenance, profitable survivor or niche could support the remaining life. The selection of strategy depends on the condition of the market share. 6. Strategy Various Scenarios of Action This section attempts to bring the contrasting features of the perceived competitive advantage and strategy deployment among profit based and non-profit based organization. 6.1 Contrasting Perspectives of Competitive Advantage: The basic differences between the two different types of organizations are The Organizational Purpose Profit Motive Assets The results of the Strategic Planning are orientated to the above-mentioned 3 categories. Difference between Non Profit and SME: Table S.No Non Profit SME Primary motive is serve common good Primary motive is to earn profit. Strategies focused on sticking with the mission definitely Depends on the external and Internal environments Intended strategy works most of the time Strategy is often realized. Concentration towards board development, fundraising and volunteer management Concentration towards profit, customers, stakeholders and brand. Treats employees the same Employees get more focus by salary or promotion Time is less significant in monitoring the strategic plan as long as we stick with the service. Time is the dominant factor, and if anything is not achievable, the vision could be modified to accept the realizing strategy. Priorities not changed to achieve goals. Priorities can be changed if needed. Frequency of monitoring is less Frequency of monitoring is high Control over employees performance is low Control over employees performance is high. Strict adherence to the strategy, since it was built upon the missionary values Strategy adherence is libertarian Highly accountable to the board comparatively Not so high Highly motivated by community service Highly motivated by profits Tends to serve who could not afford Serves only to those who afford. Concentrates on services offered Concentrates on organizational growth Goals are often vague Goals are highly defined. 6.2 Customary and Current trends: The term strategy has evolved over a long period of time. Strategic Business planning has changed the way the world looked at business evidently. In the mid of 1950s, budgetary was the theme of business, whereas now strategic innovation is the theme of business. Multinational companies, conglomerates, efficient business model, and virtual integration etc has changed business was once. The history of strategic business planning is phenomenal. Early 21st century, the stock value depended only on the profits, then people started excessive short-term earnings and managed stock valuations through reported earnings. This had led to the evolution of complicated and hard to achieve sources of competitive advantage. This encouraged the quest for the new model of the corporation [9]. This further led to the massive redesigning of the organization with capability-based, process based, and project based structures. New leader jumped into the field of business and drifted it away from the traditi onal methods save for profit earning objective. Table 1950s 60s 70s 70s 80s 80s 90s 2000s Theme Budgetary, Planning Control Corporate Planning Positioning Competitive Advantage Strategic Innovation Organizational Implications Coordination and Control Planning divisions Diversification, Strategies, Matrix Restructuring, Outsourcing Networks, Virtual Organization 7. Conclusion: The detailed view Strategic Business Planning and Management had been explored, including the theories under practice. The case of Yahoo! appeared to be quite interesting as such a multinational organization spanning over 70 businesses did not have a proper vision to align themselves at their services. There are numerous competitors with strong vision and robust plans have entered the market, for them to take redesign their organization and its culture. The need for strategic planning in the global environment is mandatory. Though there happens to be various difficulties it would be a hindering for the future as the business world has always accepted changes. This report critically analyzed the strategic planning differences for profit and non-profit organizations and the primary motives of control. Maree Conway says that the value of futures approach in Strategic Planning. It actually positions the organization in the time ahead of it by dynamically and rationally providing an appro ach to exploit the resources and opportunities, along with the warning signals of the uncertainties. And recent researches say the strategic planning would give way to process over product conceptualization, which might bring a radical change in the businesses are now.

al capone Essay -- essays research papers

Organized crime was not so organized up until the 1920s. When the 1920s arrived, the American lifestyle changed dramatically. People started investing money in home appliances and automobiles, women’s skirts became higher and drinking became very popular. Also, organized crime came to a rise in the 1920’s. And in the high ranks of organized crime was Al Capone. Al Capone ran many illegal businesses including bootlegging, gambling, prostitution, and murders. There were many gangs in the world of organized crime and Al Capone’s was at the top. Al Capone was the most infamous gangster in the 1920’s. Being a big time gangster was big business. Money was made fast and very easily. Bootlegging alcohol was by far the most profitable in the 1920’s, this was because of the prohibition. Gambling was another business that paid off. Gambling stations were set up all over cities. Prostitution and Murders were also crimes that made gangsters money. Alphonse Capone was the biggest force in organized crime. He started his career of crime in Boston, as an apprentice to Johnny Torrio. That is where he earned the unforgettable nickname â€Å"Scarface.† It was in a bar when Capone made some rude comments about a woman. Minutes later, the woman’s brother sliced Capone in the face. D. VanGorder 2 This man was a friend of Charles â€Å"Lucky† Luciano. Al Capone was punished and forced to apologize. Al Capone did not become a leader until he went to Chicago. At the time he was still an apprentice to Johnny Torrio. In the midst of the gang violence and bootlegging was Chicago. Chicago was a great place to start a ring of organized crime. The government was very weak which made it easier to do crime. Capone entered the city of Chicago in 1920. At the time, â€Å"Big Jim† Colosimo ran things. He made about 50,000 dollars a month. Torrio and Capone started their business with four gambling joints/whore houses in Chicago. These underground places were known as deuces. In Chicago Capone met a man who would be his friend for life, Jack Guzik. Guzik was Jewish. His family lived off prostitution. Al Capone never worried about racial issues, his wife was even Irish. After Jack Guzick was roughed up by a Joe Howard, Capone let out his temper. It did not help when Howard called Capone some rude names. Soon after, Capone shot him down. There was no conviction, it was clear that Capone was becoming more... ...n Capone was showing his superiority. As Alva Johnston said in the New Yorker D. VanGorder 6 â€Å"Chicago is the imperial city of the gang world and New York a remote provincial place.† The incident was known as The Adonis club massacre. Prohibition may have caused the highest crime rate ever in organized crime. Frankie yale was a longtime friend of Al Capone and Johnny Torrio. He was used in various hits including the murders of Dion O’banion and â€Å"Big Jim† Colosimo. In 1928 Capone found out that Yale had been hijacking many of his â€Å"booze† trucks. Soon after, Yale was shot down. No other single gangster could be as infamous as Al Capone. Al Capone was the most powerful gangster to ever live. No one could stop his reign of crime, and anyone that got in his way, he would take out, Even when it came to his friends. He was never convicted for any of the hundreds of crimes he committed, this is one of the most important facts that showed how many connections Capone had. It was until the 1930’s when Capone was convicted of Tax invasion. While serving his jail time Alphonse Capone became a victim of the deadly disease Syphilis. Al Capone died but his crime legacy will always live on.

A Comparison of Last Man Standing and Street Fight Essay example --

In a world where the strong survive and the weak plunder, running for public office can be a more daunting task then holding the actual office itself. The films, Last Man Standing and Street Fight, depict two separate elections in two separate states as fierce battles. The films provide contrasting views of the struggle to reach public office, and the tactics used to get there. Though the films paint the similar process of brutal campaigning and numbing elections, these films have clearly different stories. In Central Texas, incumbent Republican Rick Green and Democrat rookie, Patrick Rose, ran a tight race for a seat inside the Texas House of Representatives. This close race was delineated inside the film Last Man Standing. Rick Green, a conservative Christian and law school graduate from the University of Texas, held the house seat since 1999. As the incumbent candidate up for re-election, Green held majority voter support through out the race. Rick Green rallied support in local events and church functions, asserting his faith to gain support. In Green’s opposition was young Democrat Patrick Rose. Rose was new to politics but eager to win the fight. Rose allowed himself to be portrayed as a new comer and young candidate, this played in his favor especially among women voters. Rose, a graduate from Stanford and the University of Texas, held the firm belief that this election could be won one voter at a time. Last Man Standing opens with Patrick Rose meandering through a suburban community knocking on doors and handing out campaign fliers. Most that answered the door were unaware of who Rose was, or that he was running for election. To most voters Rick Green was seen as the candidate that was easy to vot... ...ing and Street Fight outline the momentous fight for the title of public office. The road of campaigning and winning votes is long and narrow. Candidates have various tools at their will in attempt to win a seat of their own inside public office. These documentaries show tremendous differences and various similarities of the process to hold such coveted titles. The differences in the types of elections expressed in the films shows the tremendous differences of campaigning and elections across the country. Works Cited Last Man Standing: Politics Texas Style. Dir. Paul Stekler. PBS, 2004. DVD. "POV - Last Man Standing . Film Description | PBS." PBS: Public Broadcasting Service. July 2004. Web. 08 Nov. 2011. . Street Fight. Dir. Marshall Curry. Marshall Curry Productions LLC, 2005. DVD.

A Modern Synthesis of Science with Eastern Christianity Essay -- Philo

Introduction Since the dawn of consciousness, humans have strived to understand the world around them and their place in it. From the first naturalistic surveys of the flora and fauna of the earth painted on the rocky walls of fire-lit caves millennia ago to the enormously complex investigations into quantum physics ventured at today’s particle accelerators, human curiosity has known no bounds. By way of organizing the countless questions posed and answers sought, broad conceptions of "science," "reason," "philosophy," and "religion" have been created and debated by humankind for centuries. Beginning in earnest during the Age of Reason following the Renaissance, two distinct ways of understanding the world seemed to form. On one hand, understanding could be realized by rational thought, reason, and the applications of science. On the other, understanding could be achieved by faith in some divine presence, the application of religion. A philosophical conflict quickly developed between the t wo camps: what should reign supreme in human understanding of the world—science or religion? The debate had no clear-cut answer, and only tautological methods of prioritizing one over the other. Various ways of relating science and religion have been proposed and adopted in the past century or two. As summarized by Ian Barbour in his Religion and Science, philosophers concerned with the interaction (or lack thereof) of science and religion have been left with four broad options: Conflict, Independence, Dialogue, and Integration. The divisions proceed from fundamental ideas about how science and religion, in very general terms, operate and work in the world. Conceptions separating science and religion philosophically, arguing that they serve... ...otheses, models, experience, intuition, hypotheses, models†¦) . That the priorities of science and religion, and the pathways that each entity uses to progress, are so similar, and yet the entities themselves so separate, leads quite nicely into the dialogue position. Any consideration (investigations into the character of some object or an answer to some question) can involve both types of inquiry: "Nothing excludes the co-existence of faith and science when faith is not imaginary and science does not falsify its positive character with the use of metaphysics." Though full and harmonious integration may not be possible, a very useful, satisfying, complete dialogue between the right religious tradition and most scientific philosophies may easily produce a harmonious, complementary, synthesis to grant a better understanding of humanity and its place in the world.

Philosophy Of Torture Essay

Defining Torture Torture is any act where severe pain and suffering which is either mental or physical is intentionally inflicted into a person for the purpose of obtaining from him confession or information, by punishing him for the act he or third person is suspected of committing or has committed. It can also be intimidating or forcing him for the reason which is based on discrimination when such suffering is inflicted with consent of or at the instigation of public official or another person who is working in an official capacity. This excludes pain and suffering from incidental or lawful sanctions. In state sponsored torture, groups or individuals inflict torture on one another; in this case, torture is for the motive of sadistic gratification of torturer. There is prohibition of torture under international law and in domestic law in most countries. Amnesty international says that, in world governments, 75% of them currently practice torture. In history, torture has been used to effect political re-education. 21 century considers torture as violation of human rights and is unacceptable to the United Nations article 5. Torture and ill treatments are considered to be immoral by the international legal prohibitions. Torture is ordinarily and accidental discomfort for example, it is torture to be stuck in traffic jam for five hours. The paradox o torture is used where the methods used to inflict pain and humiliations are similar. For example, in games, players endure torturous discipline. This is also true with genitorture which is used in virtual parody because the real things have medical risks that are unacceptable. (Miller, 2006). Doctrine of Double Effect With Respect To Torture In doctrine of double effect, we encounter conflicts of right whereby there is right for a person not to be tortured and right to life and to be secure. The rights set limit to calculations of utilitarian override benefits of utilitarian but the rights themselves can conflict. Question arises as to whether there are some rights which are more basic compared to others, because of being more important to human life. Perhaps, right to liberty is taken to be more important than right to property and right to life more important than right to liberty. Right to life is the most basic right and is a precondition for existence of any other right. Some rights should never be overridden because they are basic. This can help in resolving possible conflicts. There is a contrast in killing an innocent person with the killing of someone in self defense. If someone threatens my life, he has already forfeited his right to life, if I can defend my own life by killing him, then I can do so. Therefore, if there is absolute right to life for an innocent person, it is wrong to kill him except in self defense. If a driver has five people working on his right hand track, and one person on the left hand track. If a tram is steered on left hand track, it would kill one person and if nothing is done, tram will kill five people. The question is as to whether he should steer on the left hand track and kill one person in order to save five people on the left hand track. The doctrine of double effect does not say it is okay to people who are innocent if you don’t intend it. It says that, it is right to do an action that result to unintended death of people who are innocent as the only way of preventing worse evil from happening. This means there is conflict between negative duty and negative duty, in this case, it is right to kill fewer than many. (Miller, 2006) argues that, there exists a moral difference between killing someone and allowing him to die. Some doctors can perform involuntary euthanasia in order to provide organ transplant. The overall benefit produced may be the greatest but the doctors can not just do that to people. Negative duties always correspond to negative right. For example right not to be killed. Positive ideas correspond to positive rights. For example right to give aid to save someone’s life. Duties that are negative are stricter than positive duties. For example, it is our duty to prevent deaths but it is not strict like duty not to kill. Failing to help people who are starving is bad but it is worse if you give them poisoned food. The terrorists announce that, they will use weapons to kill a city unless a young lawyer who is politically active kills his mother. The gang has already murdered several people and their threat is credible. The question is as to whether the lawyer is supposed to torture his mother up to death for him to prevent the terrorist attack. According to doctrine of double effect, if the lawyer does not torture his mother to death, he is not responsible for the murdered people because, terrorists are the ones responsible. The lawyer should not torture his mother to death because; this will encourage the terrorists to make similar threats later. What Is Wrong With Torture Torture inflicts pain that is unspeakable into the body of fellow human being who is at our mercy. A person who is tortured is helpless and bound. The person who is torturing stands before the person to be tortured with instruments. The question of unilateral disarmament is not there because the victim has no arms, even no use of two arms he was born with. Torture results to inequality because killing and abusing a person is as radical and denial of humanity. Torture is widespread, rationalized and sanctioned in memorandum that is long and is written by people who serve in high government authorities. It is easy to ratify this record through voting in order to confirm the chief authors in highest legal office in executive arm of government. Torture causes destruction to the soul and destroys body of the victim. There is boundary between humane treatment in prisons and the clear boundary is torture that exist between civilization and barbarism. Torture threatens the safety of someone’s family and inflicts suffering on the family in front of that person. Torture makes someone care for nothing other than the cessation of suffering. It breaks autonomy of someone by manipulating them in a manner that is dehumanizing. The cruel treatment is bad enough and is like slavery and lacks respect to someone’s humanity. Torture demoralizes someone and makes the tortured become anxious to spear out what tormentors would like to hear. He will be willing to remove the pressure by saying anything. Torture makes it easy to extract a confession of guilt through being ruthless that makes the innocent give in quickly. The process of dehumanization quickly obliterates the distinction between falsity and truth. All what will matter is what stop the torture. Torture make people who are tortured desire to end suffering, as a result, they can say anything and therefore they can not be taken to be truthful. This is opinion of many observers who are involved in interrogations. Torture results to flattering one another where senators showered each other with compliments, senator Hatch said that senator specter who is new judiciary chairman is the best lawyer who has ever served in senate of United States. This was agreed upon by Senator Biden who called Senator Specter, the finest lawyer of constitution in the country. This was laughter because; it is not in the country but in the senate. Torture hurts the image of United States to the whole world according to Senator Lindsey Graham. When United States wins the hearts and minds of the Arab world, this will be important for them to succeed in the world of terror. There are photographs that hurt their efforts. Gonzales refused every opportunity for repudiating the policies that brought about torture, it was agreed that, the person who was responsible for harming United States image is Abu Ghraib. This means that torture is unacceptable. (Miller, 2006). Dynamics of Torture According to united nation convention against torture, when people imagine torture, what they imagine is they being the victim. Perpetrator is seen as a sadist, diabolical in manner, someone inhuman, most likely male, foreign in accent and uncivilized. Yet the available evidence shows that, most of the torturers are normal people. We could be barbarians of our dreams as easy as we become victim. Many perpetrators take torture as a job and nothing more. In notorious case of police brutality, a prisoner was burned with a radiator and a cigarette; he then suffocated after the plastic bag was put over his head by police officers. His fingers, nose, ears and genitals were electro shocked. Goldstone argues that, the described type of abuse was not in any way limited to the usual beatings but went to esoteric areas such as planned torture and psychological techniques. Other members in the command were aware of systematic abuse and they actively participated in the same or failed to put that action to an end.   In torture of the republican sympathizers, Ordinary people become torturers and feel that society condone and protect the abuse and know who the victims are how their response to torture is and how citizens are bystanders who have the knowledge of what is happening and can never act. In totalitarian states, the appearance of torture in United States is thought to be free from that kind of thing. Many people want various places to be visited that are known to use torture; many people think torture is done in some backward civilization by ignorant and barely human people. But torture is something that everyone is capable of doing. Complicated perception of torture gives room for moments of identification with perpetrators and does not loose sight of moral center. There are two separate incidents of Israel raids into Palestine and questioning of the murder suspect in Chicago. Credible details were examined by policemen and torture was acknowledged as being necessary by the authority and was carried out methodically by policemen and soldiers. The torturers said that, extraordinary evil becomes an act which is casual to the torture when combination of personal frustrations and official duties are achieved. Any person can become torturer if he has the right opportunity, most torturers are bewildered by what has been done and their reluctance to accept full personal responsibility and how those seem to realize futility and inhumanity of the acts they have done. The important thing about unspeakable acts ordinary people is not in the unspeakable nature of neither act nor people ordinariness but the way people admit the torture fails to produce desired effects. The fact of torture being done and will continue to be performed despite available reasons is an argument which is very powerful. (Conroy, 2001) Torture for a Political Purpose Torture is used for political reasons, it is enforced through the policy of state and means of law administers it. It raises problems to people in the whole world and gives and indication of new responsibility. It is part of long struggle of mankind out of the shape of civilization that gives permission to full flowering of human rights. The state uses its powers to torture through the capacity it has to incarcerate and its monopoly on force. There are long campaigns of agitation that produce restraints which curtail them eventually. (Levinsion, 2004). The torture of prisoners under saddam Hussein was widespread and ended in death. This is also true with dozens of other regimes all over the world because torture is torture. It puts permanent scars in the victim even if reasonable marks are not seen in the body and other scars are left in the lives of those who perform it and those who allowed and encouraged it and these scars last for a long time. In Zimbabwe, independent journalists work under severe restrictions on whatever they report; those who criticized Mugabe in their article or offend the government are subject to arrest, imprisonment and are unofficially subject to torture. Every time a story is written, a journalist is likely to be arrested according to the words he used. Those words that do not please the government are not taken lightly and can result to arrest of the journalist. The European said, pressure against Mugabe would be increased if elections were stolen but have not done so because, there is a feeling that Zimbabwe crisis goes beyond responding to the diplomatic pressure. The united nation seems to be blind to the crisis, Security Council and human rights spoken and acted out against Mugabe’s tyranny. After Reeler requested human rights commission to help, they noted there were more killings in Gaza than Zimbabwe. Torture is used in punishment of prisoners. Prisoners in the United States are routinely treated as animals, they are brutalized and degraded. There are very few Americans who have raised their voices in the opposition to the shameful prison policies due to the inmates being viewed as being less than human. Torture is a vile and the dignity and right of individual is depraved, it is crime against humanity with no possible justification due to need to obtain information from a terrorist or a prisoner. It is sad because, in such instances, torture is inexcusable and overshadowed by due to the fact that it is regarded a punishment. (Miller, 2006) Social Context and Ethics of Torture   According to the United Nations convention against torture, prisoner abuse and other institutional violence blame a few isolated individuals. Social psychology put emphasis on the social contexts, which can make anyone confront, oppress and obey in abetting social behavior that is destructive. Meta analysis demonstrates quantitative reliability and imports of social context. The recent data indicates that the reaction to low status and oppositional out-group involves contempt, disgust and consistent with abuse. Together, social prejudices and social pressures are helpful in explaining recent scandals of abuse. Torture is never justifiable because, it depends on the context. A direct target of command of an enemy and control center with smart bomb with intention of killing is justifiable in combat. Even when you shoot an enemy, it is also justifiable in combat and nobody will have an argument that, when you kill somebody somehow, it causes less permanent damage than electrocution. However, in the torture of prisoners, they are in unique position and are not able to fight back. There are rules of protecting combatants so that they can surrender willingly. If an enemy can kill you or torture you if you surrender, you can fight to the last minute which cause loss of life. However, if intelligence indicates that major attacks averted by successful interrogation and holding back of information by prisoners can cause loss of life, then torture of last resort may be justified but not in a legal manner. It is unethical to take an action which is aggressive against a person with action that can result to loss of life. Legitimate government function is to protect the people from violence and force, if government consigns its people to death by protecting people who initiate violence, the government is failing in its responsibilities. We seek to offer protection to people who are innocent and protect their freedom. Sharia law tries to take our freedom away and enemies should not be allowed to achieve their goals. When we are not dealt with rationally, we can deal aggressively with initiators of war against us as the only moral response. Never initiate force but be against those who do and show them the true meaning of their violence. It is unethical if defenders shirk their duties to people through pulling punches with the people who would enslave and at the same time murder us. As we conduct ourselves in war on terror, we should always remember the meaning of true victory for the enemy. (Levinsion, 2004). Does Torture Work? Proponents insist that, it does while opponents say it doesn’t. The truth is somewhere between that it would give rise to key information in some cases, but it would be harmful in others. If a harsher interrogation yields valuable intelligence, the benefit must be weighed against enormous strategic cost. If reliability of a given argument is a wash, meaning no side will win, torture may or may not work as intended. The question that arises is the exact method that is used to extract information from suspects of terrorism and whether it is considered morally acceptable. Building trust is recommended method if there is enough time to build it. According to high court of justice in Israel, it was ruled that torture is illegal in spite of it being immediate threat to terrorist attack. If torture is used as last resort in order to save lives of enormous members, it should be done in the open; it should have accountability and be approved by Supreme Court of justice. Once torture is committed, the person should plead guilty to criminal charges. If there is a situation that is grave enough to give warrant resort to torture, it should be enough to loose job and go to jail. According to Palestinians detainees, there exists significant difference between abuse and methods used by Israel interrogators. In Israel they have rules and sophisticated techniques of breaking down prisoners. Prisoners are done much more than beatings. This is by going without food and sleep for three days which make them become eager to say anything. In social contract, an individual would surrender his liberty to exchange for protection but United States does not believe in that. Therefore, social contract is an agreement between government and people. (Miller, 2006). Are There Moral Justifications For Torture? Historically, psychologically and physically, torture is being used to suppress dissents, extract confession, force denunciation of other people, humiliate, punish and gather information. Torturers claim state of necessity. Other claim to get significant information that is why they justify torture. They emphasize on significance of information they gain than the torture itself. Torture is taken to be an evil that is necessary in fighting battle against greater evil. There exists information that is of moral significance and can only be discovered through torture. Torture is justified by state of necessity. The ticking time-bomb gives a crude utilitarian justification as to the use of torture. One man is tortured to save many innocent people. This serves as the basic claim of absolute prohibitionist. If one man can provide information about the timing of bombing, why not torture him in order to uncover information that is morally significant and of priority. If the information today justifies torture, there must be trained torturers and trainers and administrative and legal apparatus. Many professional say that there are better methods of obtaining actionable intelligence than by use of torture even if it is conducted under time constraints. When justifying morally significant information, it demands prior knowledge as to whether torture victim has information. Information must be actionable and avoid serious, imminent threat. For one to justify information using torture, the information must be previously unknown. It may not be meaningful information until someone has tortured, gotten the information and verified it for it to be meaningful. Should Torture Ever Be Justified? Failure to use interrogational torture is immoral and coldhearted. It is coldhearted because, in cases of true catastrophe, the failure to use preventive interrogative torture can lead to death of people who are innocent. When rights of suspects are upheld, it negates the rights and even the right to life of innocent people. Refusal to use torture is hypocritical especially when we are faced with serious threats to the life of Nation. Measures which are necessary in order to abate crisis should be taken. An uncompromising prohibition of torture may result to unrealistic standards that no one can wish to meet when in circumstances that are extremely exigent. (Miller, 2006) REFERENCES Miller S. (2006): Torture, Stanford encyclopedia of philosophy: Stanford university. Levinson S. (2004): ethics and politics of torture: Oxford University press. Conroy J. (2001): the dynamics of torture: university of California press. RL 32276, the UN convention against torture: CRS report.

Do average people have an impact on the course of history? Essay

I most certainly agree with the position that average people have the ability to change history. Take for example Martin Luther, Bill Gates and Adolf Hitler. These people have changed history I both a good and bad way. Without a shadow of a doubt average people have a significant impact on the course of history. Martin Luther changed history in a religious way. He started off as a poor man, and then later in his life became a small time priest. As he became a monk, he saw that the pope and the church were misleading the people in order to make a bit of money. He went against the church and did everything in his power to set people back on the right path. Even though he was excommunicated, he still held on, and that is how Martin Luther has a great impact on the course of history. Bill Gates, as many of you may already know is a very rich man, if not the richest man in the world. But this was not the case when he was a young man. In fact he was very poor and he dropped out of school at a young age. A couple of years later he created Microsoft, the largest computer company in the world. Today he has over forty billion dollars and donates billions of dollars to charity. Although some people don’t agree that he has changed history and still is, I think otherwise. I mean take a look at the number of computers in the world; you will see that most of them are powered by Microsoft. Adolf Hitler, in my opinion has changed the course of history in a bad way that any other person in the world. Although he wasn’t rich at a young age, he became rich and very popular in his later life. He developed a strong hatred for the Jews which led to him killing thousands of them. This was known as the holocaust. Although many people don’t know what happened to Hitler after these events, many speculate that he poisoned himself. Over role these three historical icons have changed history in a significant way. Just to answer your question about average people having a significant impact on the coarse of history, my answer is without a shadow of a doubt average people can have a significant impact on the course of history.