UNIT 4 DISCUSSION BOARD Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

UNIT 4 DISCUSSION BOARD - Essay Example This is why managers should base their pricing decision on solid ground. Major factors that should be considered are the market (i.e. customer demand), cost, actions of competitors, and political, legal, and image related issues. The process of determining customer demand is critically essential and continuous. It is even necessary to conduct market research. Though internal and production aspects such as quality are vital, managers must make certain that the product is not priced out of the market. The function of costs is based almost completely on market forces. Producers must meet the market by charging prices below the market price. Generally, both market forces and cost factors greatly affects prices. If a manager wants to effectively decide on pricing, he or she must keep an eye on the market. However, it should also be noted that costs must be covered in the long run. (http://www.canberra.edu.au/uc/lectures/mantech/accounting/sem981/unit4827/Lecture_Week_3_-_Pricing.txt). The pricing decisions that a manager makes should achieve the firm’s financial goals (i.e. profitability); meet up with the realities of the marketplace (by evaluating whether the consumers will buy at that price?); and keep up with the positioning of a product and with the other variables in the marketing mix. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pricing#A_well_chosen_price_should_do_three_things:) However, legal issues should still be considered in pursuing these ends. Legislative restrictions are necessary because they prevent the possible setbacks or damages that individual firms’ pricing decisions could cost other firms, the consumers, or the economy in the aggregate. The law influences pricing decisions to entail responsibility. It creates awareness on the part of the firm to evaluate the consequences of their pricing decisions in a greater perspective. Moreover, the law influences pricing decisions in the sense that given price restrictions,

Personal Goals Essay Example for Free

Personal Goals Essay Setting goals should not be just for school assignments but should be part of one’s everyday life. Developing goals gives people something to strive toward and allows an individual to keep going forward in life. Without goals, it is very easy to give up when things get rough. According to Bishop, Carter and Kravitis (2011), â€Å"Setting goals involves defining what an individual is aiming for in both long-term and short-term time frames. Long-term goals are broader objective an individual wants to achieve over a long period, perhaps a year or more. Short-term goals are smaller steps that move an individual toward a long-term goal, making it manageable and achievable, piece by piece (p. 98). Smart Goals is a tool that helps to focus and create effective goals. Smart Goals is an acronym that consists of five steps: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time frame (Carter, Bishop, Kravits, 2011). Examples of using these acronyms for writing this paper are Specific – by receiving a B grade in every nursing class, Measurable – by completing each class for a step closer to receiving a degree, Attainable – by commitment and many hours of study, Relevant – achieving a B grade is not unrealistic with commitment and determination; the goal is to think positive and know that I can achieve anything, and Time frame – every five weeks completing a class. The following are the specifics of my personal and professional short and long-term goals along with the challenges in achieving them. Short-Term Personal Goals One of my short-term personal goals is to control my overspending. Most of my overspending is a result of depression, hence the compulsive purchases. The way I deal with depression is to go out and buy things. It makes me feel good for the moment but when I get the bill I become depressed and stressed. I believe in dealing with this issue will allow me a sense of peace. Since, I started back to school, there is no better time to start on this goal because attending school and studying is a tremendous distraction that will take up a majority of my time. My boyfriend manages his money very well and pays off all his credit cards every month and has no debt. I decided that I will have him help manage all my credit cards and bills to achieve my goal. The next step will be to cut up my credit cards and keep one for an emergency. Another strategy I am going to use, the days go out with my friends I will make them aware of my goal and solicit their help to keep me on track. When I am about to buy something, I will have them remind me about my goal of getting out of credit card debt. My milestone for this goal is one week to get the above strategies in effect. Long-Term Personal Goals One of my long-term personal goals is to pay-off all my credit cards. The first thing I need to do is to create a picture of how much debt and recurring bills I have in a month. This involves adding up all my credit card debt to see how much I owe, adding the monthly minimum payments, and adding up all my monthly recurring expenses: i.e. car loan, car insurance (divided by six), gas Family Fitness fees, ATT bill, and groceries. The next step is to add up all my income in a month. From here I can subtract the minimum amount due on all my credit cards and recurring bills from my income with an outcome of my maximum monthly income. With this result, I will decide how much more I want to contribute to paying down my highest interest rate credit card first, putting some away in my savings account for unexpected emergencies, and some for a little pleasure. The next step is to decide a realistic milestone to achieve this goal. I am giving myself one and a half years, my expected graduation date, so I have a clean slate to start paying off my school loan. To keep myself on track to my target date, I am starting an expense log that will allow me to monitor exactly where my money is going. By doing this I should be able to adjust my numbers to meet my goal. Another way to achieve this goal is by staying in school believe it or not. If I am in school and studying a majority of my time, I will have less time to go out and spend money. By doing and implementing all the above, I will be on my way to being debt free by the time I graduate. Short-Term Professional Goal One of my short-term professional goals is to complete the HCS/301 class with at least a B grade. My milestone achievement date is set for two weeks. To reach this goal I am taking several courses of action. The first is to manage my time. Managing my time will be challenging to say the least. I will be juggling my time between work, school, keeping up my home and spending a little time with my longtime boyfriend and dog. Oh wait, I forgot to list time to sleep. To do this, I will write down how many hours of work and commuting time I do each week (average 56 hours), time for boyfriend, dog, and home management (17 hours), and. time for school (39 hours). With my learning challenges, 39 hours per week is enough time for school. Another course of action is to form a study/support group. This group will help in discussions on schoolwork, to reinforce the in class material, and to discover different ways of doing and thinking regarding school assignments. A third way to achieve this goal is to take advantage of all the resources available at University of Phoenix. This would include using the university library, disability services, technical services, and taking workshops just to name a few. By consuming all these resources, I am sure it will reduce the amount of time and stress it takes me to complete each assignment. Long-Term Professional Goals One of my long-term professional goals is to obtain a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) degree. Working as a Registered Nurse (RN), I have experienced many roadblocks in obtaining another job and have fought going back to school for the past year. I finally have come to the realization that to make myself more employable in today’s job market that a RN with a BSN degree has a distinct advantage over a candidate with only an AA degree. According to Williams (n.d., p. 1), a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, and reported by the American Association of Colleges of Nursing, â€Å"surgical patients treated by greater percentage of nurses holding Bachelor’s Degrees had a survival advantage† over those patients who did not have nurses with BSN. It was also reported that there has been a 10% increase in nurses with BSN degrees, and this increase in BSN-prepared RNs has decreased the risk of patient death by approximately five percent.† a BSN will give me more credibility, put me in a position of higher demand, increase my opportunities, and in a position to obtain higher pay. I have already started toward this goal by enrolling at University of in their BSN program will take one and a half years to complete the curriculum. As mention previously, I plan to succeed academically by continuing with my study/support groups, staying organized, continuing using resources at University of Phoenix, and completing each course in a the curriculum with at least a B grade. Challenges Everyone will face challenges and roadblocks throughout their lifetime. What sets up apart is how deal with them. If one allows it, challenges can stop us from achieving our goals. The major challenge I am facing at this time starting University of Phoenix is my negative thinking. I do not want to go back to school but have to out of necessity to keep my job. My negative thinking is due to my learning disabilities some of which are a lack of skills in reading and writing that seem to be a requirement in obtaining a BSN degree. Adding all these challenges together greatly contributes to my lack of confidence. A good support group at school and home is easing my negativity. Conclusion In conclusion, this paper was about personal and professional short and long-term goals. With each one, I discussed strategies on low to achieve each goal and the expected milestone for each. Reaching each milestone is empowering, to know that we are one step closer to achieving the next goal (Morisano, 2008). From researching on the subject of goals, when settling on goals, one should have positive outcome expectations regarding their ability to actually achieve these goals or they are unlikely to be highly motivated in following through with goal-relevant behavior (Williams, n.d., para 1). The importance of setting goals is that it gives me something I to have. When a goal is achieved, it gives me a little self- satisfaction and more confidence that I can achieve anything that I put my mind to if I have a clear vision of what I want. References Bishop, J., Carter, C., Kravits, S.L. (2011). Keys to Effective Learning. Study Skills and Habits for Success (6th ed.). Morisano, D. (2008). Personal goal setting in university students: Effects on academic achievement, executive functioning, personality, and mood. McGill University (Canada)). ProQuest Dissertations and Theses, 235. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/762858991?accountid=35812. (762858991). Williams, M. (n.d.). Is a BSN important? Nurses Speak Out. Retrieved from http://www.workingnurse.com/articles/Is-a-BSN-Important-Nurses-Speak-Out

Effect of the 19th Century on Children

Effect of the 19th Century on Children How did the lives of children change during the 19th century? Until the start of the industrial revolution, children were seen as small adults with few rights of their own. By the end of the nineteenth century childhood was a very different experience. The following essay will explore how this change came about. Children of the poorer classes had been part of the labour force for centuries, but with the rise of the factories, their work conditions changed. Children made up ‘two-thirds of the workforce on powered equipment in 143 water mills in England and Scotland’ [1] Conditions in factories were harsh, discipline strict and sometimes cruel, and hours were long. A mill worker is quoted in the Parliamentary Committee of 1832: I worked from five in the morning till nine at night. I lived two miles from the mill. We had no clock. If I had been†¦a quarter of an hour too late, a half an hour would have been taken off. I only got a penny an hour, and they would have taken a halfpenny.[2] In 1833 the Royal Commission on the Employment of Children reported many instances of children being strapped or hit, often because a child had fallen asleep towards the end of a fourteen hour day.[3] The Government tried to enforce some age restrictions in the early 1800s, but they were mainly ineffective because of the difficulty in proving children’s ages.[4] In the 1830s factory owners argued that the reduction of hours would result in higher prices, but in 1833 the Althorp’s Factory Act reduced working hours further, and by 1847 the ten-hour day was in place. In 1842 the Royal Commission carried out a Mines Report that revealed horrific conditions: I’m a trapper in the Gawber pit. It does not tire me, but I have to trap without a light and I’m scared. I go at four and sometimes half past three in the morning and come out at five and half past. I never go to sleep. Sometimes I sing when I’ve light, but not in the dark; I dare not sing then. I don’t like being in the pit. Sarah Gooder, aged 8[5] Lord Ashley (later Shaftesbury) pointed out that in Wales ‘it is not unusual to take them into the pits at 4 years’[6] The use of ‘climbing boys’ for cleaning chimney flues was also horrifying. There were reports of horrendous burning or suffocation accidents, sometimes fatal. Campaigners against this practice included Charles Dickens, and Charles Kingsley’s The Water Babies created further awareness, and it was a year after its serialised publication that the use of children for chimney cleaning was banned.[7] However, census returns show that child labour did not reduce significantly until at least the 1880s. The figures for boys working in mines show that there was no decline in figures until 1881 when the figures decreased from 36,000 in 1871 to 26,000.[8] The reason why so many families put their children to work was due to poverty. Henry Mayhew was told in 1851: ‘My little girl began about six†¦She never goes to school. We can’t spare her.’[9] The growth of the population in the cities and towns, plus the immigration of the Irish during the potato famine, and further immigration from Africa and Asia, had led to massive overcrowding and hardship, and the existing Poor Law legislation was no longer effective. Children growing up in urban slums were surrounded by dirt and disease, and infant mortality rates were high. Reports from people such as Edwin Chadwick and Henry Mayhew illustrated the squalor of living conditions for the working classes in the cities. The evangelical reformer, Lord Shaftesbury, witnessed the conditions when he visited London’s slums in 1846 and was struck by: †¦the children, whom he described as a race of beings apparently unknown to the outside world: nondescript, unknown, uncared for, begging on street corners, squatting on doorsteps, wading in the gutters. Some had no home. Some had no name.’[10] In these conditions children inevitably turned to crime or prostitution and when caught were punished as adults.[11] Some children might be deported to Australia, where the growing Empire colonies needed extra labour. Social reformers such as Mary Carpenter had some influence in changing the treatment of child criminals, and growing public awareness led to an increase in charities and orphanages. Improved welfare legislation and the new opportunities for education in the 1870s did much to improve the situation.[12] The introduction of state education in 1870 created the most effective change for the lives of working and poor children. Previously the only schooling provision had been Dame Schools, Sunday Schools or Charity Schools, but children who went to these schools rarely received more than the basic three ‘Rs’. In many areas there was no school provision at all.[13] Without income protection, wealthier families could fall victim to hard times. John Shinn, whose father fell ill and could not afford to send him to school, said: ‘The greatest and most serious misfortune of my life has been the loss of schooling or education’[14] There was some debate on whether the education of the labouring classes would improve or damage society, but reformers such as the philosopher, John Stuart Mill, argued that knowledge produces understanding and sensible behaviour.[15] The extension of the vote to working class men in 1867 caused a greater awareness of the importance of education. However, there was still a laissez-faire argument that the state had no right to be involved in education. The 1870 Education Act did not make schooling compulsory, or free. However, compulsory education was in place by the end of the 1870s, and the age for this rose over the next few decades until by the mid-twentieth century education was compulsory until the age of 16. With education and fewer working hours, leisure time improved. As literacy increased, so did the availability of books and magazines for children. By 1900 clubs and youth movements had been set up to provide entertainment – and to ensure that youngsters with time on their hands did not get into trouble.[16] For children of the middle and upper classes, life was different. Not required to earn an income, most children received regular education, either at home or at a private school. However, educational provision for girls was usually poor or non-existent, and the prevailing attitude was that girls were of less importance. Molly Hughes, the daughter of a stockbroker said: I was never taken to anything more exciting than a picture gallery, not even to a pantomime at Christmas†¦My father’s slogan was that boys should go everywhere and know everything, and that a girl should stay at home and know nothing.[17] Due to the campaigns concerning equal rights for women, girls’ education improved considerably during the century, with schools and colleges being set up in the 1850s, and university education from the 1870s. Looking back to his childhood in the 1840s, Charles Shaw wrote in 1893: I wonder whether it is true that I was allowed to be worked for fourteen hours a day when a little over seven years of age†¦whether it is true that even poor children now receive a better education than†¦Tom Hughes;†¦ if the rags, and squalor, and severe labour and long hours of those days, as contrasted with the leisure, and plenty, and recreation of these days are all illusions?[18] This quote illustrates the changes for some children over the course of the century. Children were now regarded as a separate entity to be protected and cared for. They were no longer ‘mini-adults’ to be used as another source of income, or left to roam the streets as orphans. Childhood, as a separate experience to adulthood, had been created. Bibliography Avery, Gillian, The Echoing Green: Memories of Regency and Victorian Youth, Collins, 1974 Best, Geoffrey, Mid-Victorian Britain 1851-1875, Fontana Press, 1990 Burnett, John, Destiny Obscure: Autobiographies of Childhood, Education and Family from the 1820s to the 1920s, Penguin, 1984. Duckworth, Jeannie, Fagin’s Children: Criminal Children in Victorian England, Hambledon London, 2002 Galbi, Douglas A., ‘Child Labour and the Division of Labour in the Early English Cotton Mills’, 1994 Golby, J. M. (Ed), Culture and Society in Britain 1850-1890, Oxford University Press, 1990 Hansard, Parliamentary Debates, July 7, 1842, in Turral, J., (Ed) A Source-Book of British History, Oxford, 1925 Horn, Pamela, The Victorian Town Child, Sutton Publishing, 1999 Rubinstein, David, Victorian Homes, David Charles, 1974 Steinbach, Susie, Women in England 1760-1914, Weidenfeld Nicolson, 2004 Wilson, A. N., The Victorians, Arrow Books, 2003 www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk www.victorianweb.org www.wikipedia.org 1 Footnotes [1] Galbi, Douglas A., ‘Child Labour and the Division of Labour in the Early English Cotton Mills’, 1994 [2] quoted in www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/IRtime.htm [3] Taylor, D, Mastering Economic and Social History, Macmillan, pp.196-7 [4] ibid. p.200 [5] quoted in www.victorianweb.org/history/ashley.html [6] Hansard, Parliamentary Debates, July 7, 1842, in Turral, p.294 [7] Wilson, A. N., The Victorians, Arrow, p.295-299 [8] Best, G., Mid-Victorian Britain 1851-1875, Fontana, pp. 130-1 [9] quoted in Steinbach, Susie, Women in England 1760-1914, p.166 [10] Duckworth, Jeannie, Fagin’s Children: Criminal Children in Victorian England, p.3 [11] ibid, p.6 [12] ibid, pp.135-6 [13] Taylor, pp.278-9 [14] Burnett, John, Destiny Obscure: Autobiographies of Childhood, Education and Family from the 1820s to the 1920s, Penguin, p.136 [15] Golby, J. M. (Ed), Culture and Society in Britain 1850-1890, OUP, p.136 [16] Horn Pamela, The Victorian Town Child, pp153-179 [17] Horn, p.20 [18] Avery, Gillian, The Echoing Green: Memories of Regency and Victorian Youth, p.117

Drugs And Alcoholism: Why Are Teenagers Involved? :: essays research papers

Adolescence is much like a midpoint in ones life; when a person is neither a kid nor an adult. At this period, teens have passed the age when they were called kids but are not yet qualified to be adults. Teenagers want to think like adults, behave like adults and also start to view themselves as independent beings in decision making. All this hormonal changes also come with the negativity of maturity such as drugs and alcohol. The statistics below show that the percentage of teenagers using drugs and alcohol in the last decade has increased. Why is this? The answer is that teenagers are under pressure by their peers, mass media and also the influence of parents. 8th-Graders10th-Graders12th-Graders Marijuana22.2%40.9%49.7% Cocaine4.77.79.8 Inhalants15.417.019.7 LSD4.18.512.2 Heroin2.02.32.3 Alcohol52.170.680.0 Cigarettes44.157.664.6 Peer pressure plays a major role in the harmful behavior of teens. Teens who want to fit in among their friends are most especially prone to this. They try to make friends and they get friends as much as possible. Of these friends there are the good ones who give them the knowledge and information you want need or inquire and there are the ones who give them information about not too good things like drug, alcohol, parties, e.t.c. This influential communication between a teen and his/her peer may be directly or indirectly. Directly such as conversations with their friends or indirectly such as listening to classmates discussing of a party which occurred a night before. Then they begin to mention alcohol, drugs and violence obviously from what have experienced they talk about it in a way possible. Then you would like to see how good it is the next weekend you go to that kind of party. If you can not resist such as a temptation you will begin to do harmful deeds that will definitely ha ve adverse results in the future. Let’s not put all the blame on teens and their peers alone. The mass media is also responsible in an understandable way. The media has proven to be a lot damaging than useful in the type of information meant for mature audience but end up with the immature audience. Soap operas and frivolous shows shown on TV contain immoral and untrue images of the world as it is more of the writer’s imagination or the way directors direct them to act. Most teenagers are probably old enough to watch this shows but not mature enough to comprehend with the fictitious nature of movies and soap operas.

A Value Based Society for Our Future Essay

Present day society has seen its share of the erosion of values ever since the dawn of technology. It is as if these values were being thrown aside for technology to take its place. And technology like a dark mist shrouding the values of a person making what we know today as materialism. This obviously puts forth proof of how flawed society can be without values being the base of it. The vision of how our future society is intended to be is undoubtedly a utopia where peace and harmony is above all else. Currently our world and society faces violence, on a general scope of this issue would be the occurrence of war, Wars in the past have been fueled by a difference of values. Now what are values you might ask, as defined by the oxford’s advanced learner’s English dictionary, values are beliefs about what is right and wrong and what is important in life. Since values are a belief on what is important in life, it is necessary that the right belief is instilled within an individual of a society, so as not to create any forms of false society norms. The topic which I intend to highlight today would be the examples of values that communities in the society should practice and apply. As well as reasons to support my points of view. From my perspective on the topic, I feel that it is important to have the values of Change, Tolerance, Teamwork and Honesty First and foremost, Change, a value portraying the will of an individual to undergo a course of development for the better. Before dwelling on what type of values should be instilled in an individual or how do we apply these values, We have to first realise the importance of possessing this will for a better change, because without this most important criteria, the instilling of new values to improve our society is impossible. Allow me to give you an analogy, what is the use of knowing what is a value which benefits society when you have no will to act so? This depicts how actions speak louder than words, and in this case the will to act is indeed very important. Secondly the value which I would like to highlight on is Tolerance. Tolerance is the willingness to accept somebody/something, especially opinions or behaviour that you may not agree with. This value plays a key role in creating an environment of peace and harmony, Because tolerance is the solution for the difference of values of which people possess, and definitely the first step to achieving peace between individuals of different values would be the acceptance of one another. To apply this in a real-life situation, when someone sees things in a different perspective, don’t discriminate or brand him weird, instead try and see things from that person’s perspectives to understand him. And if both or more parties understand and can tolerate each other, misunderstandings will be reduced and harmony on the other hand will be promoted. Moving on, I would like to emphasize on the value of teamwork. Teamwork is cooperative or coordinated effort of a group in the interests of a common cause which is usually effective. And if a value based society is the goal to reach, then it would suggest that those who are a part of the society should chip in their efforts in order to make the goal a reality instead of continuing to encase it in dreamland. Teamwork is definitely a very dear value if a better future is the main focus of the goal in the future. Teamwork can be easily applied in everyday life, for instance, when you and another person are made in-charge of something. Do not do that ‘something’ alone, because this would lead to poor results due to miscommunication. With teamwork, everything would be set just right because the resources to accomplish something are multiplied. Lastly I would like to bring forth the value of Honesty. Honesty is the quality of never hiding the truth of something. And in a value based society for the future, honesty plays a big role as well. Because through honesty, will trust be promoted. To explain this, honesty means that everyone is truthful with one another, this can break down the cautious barrier between people which has been inhibiting them from understanding and trusting each other well for a long time. And without trust let me remind everyone here, a good society is impossible to be achieved because people of both sides spend their time and effort on the precautions about one another. As a conclusion, Society in the future will have no improvement if values such as change, tolerance, teamwork as well as honesty are not what the society is based on. And society will continue to fall if these values continue to be seen as negligible in the eyes of the modern society.

Discuss Why Culture Is Important To The State In Asia

Culture is very important to the state in Asia because most of the activities of the people in the region are deeply rooted in the cultural beliefs they hold. Indeed, most of the interactions that take place in the region especially the rising economy of China and the North Korea Nuclear program are deeply entrenched in the fabric of culture. This permeates both the local and international deals most of these countries have. Culture is the way of life of a group of people. This includes their behavior, their beliefs, societal norms and foundational tenets.It includes customs, lifestyles specificities, eating habits, party organization, religion, community activity and everything that forms part of interactive activities of people in a particular geographical location. Culture is specific to a group of people and varies from place to place. I can be adjusted or modified for the benefit of better erupting behavioral patterns or community development. The current situation in Asia is ma rked by wars and conflicts in the Middle East, terrorism in some parts of same location, increased and perpetual religious autocracy.In the same place, countries like Japan and China are improving the technological facilities while the Koreans are busy maintaining ‘peace’. In all the circumstances that surround the state of Asia, one realizes that culture has a major part; indeed it forms the only fulcrum upon which all acts are carried. The culture in China supports communism and individual multinational companies are only allowed to work or operate in this nation if they are ready to abide by existing rules and regulations of the country. The religious affiliation of people of this country also allows them to work effectively in the team, and even cater for the elderly.Every one is working for the good of the ‘colony’; and as such respected for that service. These factors have been responsible for the economic prowess of this emerging superpower. Another nation is United Arab Emirates. This is dominated by the ‘skeihic’ rulership method wherein there is no election,. It is deeply rooted in Islamic tenets, and most of the policies of the government of these emirates are governed by the content of the Holy Quran. One even realizes that there is segregation in work based on cultural beliefs directly linked to customary religion.One of the Emirates, Dubai, is a growing economy because of the accommodative approach to government and globalization it encourages. In the midst of this, contemporary culture little affected by Westernization is affected by this. As part of the culture of this people is the respect for the rule for the elders, responsibilities to the state and resistance to intrusion to cultural sanity. These factors form a bulk of the impetus for the current state of art and acts within Asia. This drives home the point that culture in intrinsic to events within Asia.