Why People Should Read Books Essay Example for Free

Why People Should Read Books Essay It is a disappointment that people read books less often in these days of widespread technological reliance. Books were the primary source of intellectual entertainment just a hundred years ago, but with the invention of radio, television, cinematography, and the Internet and computer games, it seems that reading books is no longer a popular leisure activity. However, I believe that books are an irreplaceable part of our lives, and the role that masterfully-written books play on the personal growth and development of a particular person throughout one’s life is a remarkable one. Books directly expand our consciousness of how we live and where we live, enrich our power to express ourselves, supply us with inspiration in a way that other mediums cannot compete with. Books expand our knowledge and conception of the world around us. One may argue that films and TV documentaries do that too, but I believe that books are a much better alternative, since they allow each reader to experience the same story using one’s own imagination. When a hundred people watch a film or a TV show, they see the same content – whatever the director and the producer wish to show. Books are different. The experience achieved through reading is richer and more personal, since the same description and the same word choice will result in as many different interpretations as there are readers. We are all unique, and books allow us to experience whatever is narrated in the light of our own personal values, through our ideas and our imagination. In addition, books enrich our vocabulary, introduce us to new notions and offer a wider choice of words to us. With every book we read, we become more intelligent. Even reading one seemingly more primitive pulp fiction book per month can enrich one’s personal vocabulary with dozens of new words, help us build more concise sentences on our own and express oneself better, make one’s speech more intelligent. Watching certain TV programs and documentary films can also widen one’s vocabulary, but hardly as effectively as books do, since reading operates with both more sophisticated visual and audio (if reading aloud) receptors. Moreover, our imagination reproduces mental pictures of what we are reading about, so a new word automatically links to a certain image and a particular feeling that it relates to. Therefore, reading books is a wonderful tool when it comes to learning and developing one’s vocabulary at any age. Books are a fantastic source of inspiration. Unlike fine art, architecture or travelling, books help us create our own mental illustration for what we read on paper. In a way, books make us all artists and creators of our own mental cartoons, movies or illustration collections. Every image we create ourselves is automatically allotted a certain emotion, whether a simple or a more complicated one. Every mental image that a written word projects is vibrant with feelings and emotions. This is what makes books powerful and memorable. Books are an endless source of inspiration and motivation to become a better person. I am certain that creating a system of symbols and eventually an alphabet, words, and books was the greatest series of inventions of humankind. The books I am talking about are classics, those that do not have an expiration date and will be priceless for any generation. They will continue sparking new ideas, inspiring new deeds and enriching the lives of every generation to come. I am positive that books will eventually regain their popularity with today’s youth, since unlike the popular kinds of entertainment in fashion today, books are those roots to which people will go back, in search of the motivation, inspiration and aspiration, to find the true meaning and value of life.

Ontological And Cosmological Arguments The Existence Of God Philosophy Essay

Ontological And Cosmological Arguments The Existence Of God Philosophy Essay Since the very beginning of human life, man has tried to identify the source of everything. Who am I?, What made me?, Did man create the stars? If not, there must be a higher being than humans, but who? Humans have always felt the need to rely on a higher being, a god, each culture identifying him either as one or many gods working together, but ultimately they provide protection, resources and strength to everyone and everything. But who IS God? Questions such as these prompted philosophers to ponder on the existence of a God; two of the arguments produced in reference to Gods existence shall be discussed. The two approaches of the arguments are based around the a priori and a  posteriori  reasoning. An a priori argument is one where the truth of the proposition does not depend on prior experience. It relies on knowledge collected outside of our own experiences. This is said by some to be an innate knowledge. The ontological argument is based around this reasoning. The basis of the argument itself depends on ones understanding of the nature of God. The Cosmological argument on the other hand, is a  a posteriori  based argument  [1]  . They argue that the truth of a proposition may only be known to be true after empirical knowledge is utilised to prove the statement true or false.  Ã‚  [2]   Renà © Descartes,  often called the father of modern philosophy, developed Anselms argument, in attempting to prove Gods existence from simply the meaning of the word God. The ontological argument is a priori  argument. The basis of these arguments depends upon ones understanding of the nature of God. Anselms definition of God being a supremely perfect being, is the basis of his argument. God must be such a thing that cannot be thought not to exist if he is: Than that which nothing greater can be conceived. (Anslem) Descartes points out that if you imagine a triangle, one of its main properties is that it has three sides and three corners. These are the predicates of a triangle. Descartes expands his point, this time referring to the properties of God. If something perfect is imagined, it must be even more perfect if it was in existence. Furthermore, the most perfect thing has all properties including existence. Descartes, therefore,  believes,  that a supremely perfect being has  all  predicates. Hence, if a perfect being has all predicates one of the properties must surely be existence. Therefore, if God is the greatest conceivable being and has all qualities, he must have all predicates, one of them being existence, therefore God must surely exist. Descartes says that trying to imagine God without the predicate of existence is illogical, like imagining a triangle without three sides!  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The ontological argument, in whichever version, has been the object of a great deal of philosophical criticism. Traditionally, the objection posed by the 18th-century philosopher Immanuel Kant has been thought to be one of the most decisive. Kant argued that the problem with the argument lay in its claim that existence is a predicate. (A predicate term describes something done by a subject; so, in the sentence John is eating the predicate is eating describes something that the subject, John, is doing.) Kant argued that existence cannot be a predicate because it does not add any new information to an understanding of the subject. To be told  that John is bald, that he is eating, and  that he is angry is to add three things to the stock of information about him. However, to be told that he exists does not genuinely communicate something about him. Likewise with God; to state simply that Gods existence follows from thinking about him is to have said nothing other than that God exists. Kant argued that nothing of philosophical consequence has been learnt. It is for this reason that many modern-day philosophers have held the ontological argument to be in error. In conclusion to  Descartess  argument, if the most perfect thing has all predicates, then one of those properties must be existence. God is the most perfect and flawless being, hence, he must exist. Similar to the ontological argument, the cosmological argument, also known as the first cause argument, is a classical argument for the existence of God. However, unlike the ontological argument, it derives the conclusion that God exists from a posterior premise (with evidence), as it is based on what can be seen in the world and the universe. It points the belief that there is a first cause behind the existence of the universe. The cosmological argument is based on contingency (dependent on something else) and points out  that things  come into existence because something has caused them to happen. The argument also states that things are caused to exist but they do not have to exist and that there is a chain of causes that goes back to the beginning of time. Time began with the creation of the universe, which came into existence about 15 billion years ago. Plato argued one of the Cosmological arguments earliest forms. He argued that the power to produce movement logically comes before the power to receive it and pass it on  [3]  Ã‚  This basically means that if there if movement, then something has to have caused this. This could not logically go on for infinity, so there has to be a single solitary being that caused this chain of events. This he calls the First Mover. Aristotle also believed in the Prime mover, the uncaused cause, the original cause. In this respect the two arguments are very similar. St Thomas Aquinas developed the cosmological argument. He developed five ways, the Demonstratio, to prove the existence of God. The first three ways forms the cosmological argument as a proof of the existence of God. These three ways are, motion or change, cause and contingency. In the first way, Aquinas states that anything which is in motion is moved or changed by something else. The object causing this push in movement is also given motion by another object. According to Aquinas, infinite regress is logically impossible, and because of this there must be something at the beginning which caused this motion, without being affected itself. This is God. It is certain, that in the world some things are in motion. Now whatever is moved is moved by another (Aquinas Summa  Theologica  [4]  ) From this quote, Aquinas clearly points out that, an object only moved when an external force was applied to it. He continued that objects only changed because some external force had brought about the change. He spoke of things achieving their potential through an external influence.  Ã‚  Aquinas used the example of fire making wood hot. When fire is applied to wood, it changes the wood to achieve its potential in becoming hot. Aquinas, in relation to the fire, stated that in order for a thing to change, actuality is required. If it did not, the thing would have to start the change itself, hence it would require both actuality and potential. However, Aquinas saw this as a contradiction, i.e. if wood could make itself hot then it would be hot already. Wood cannot be hot to beginwith,  otherwise it would not change and become hot. Therefore, Aquinas is emphasising the fact that wood is not hot already is its actuality. Moreover, something must have made the fire change and come  about,  hence each change is the result of an earlier change. However, Aquinas reported that these early changes did not go on to infinity, so there must have been a prime mover He concluded this first mover to be no other but God. In the second way, Aquinas says that God must be an uncaused causer, because if God were the efficient cause, and physically giving the object a push, rather than being The Final Cause, the push would affect God, meaning it would be contingent rather than necessary. To help explain this argument of motion, Aquinas uses the idea of dominoes. One force knocking domino causes the whole line of them to fall. For the objects to go from Potentiality to Actuality there needs to be something in the beginning which has already possessed Actuality. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦it is necessary to arrive at a first mover, moved by no other; and this everyone understands to be God (Aquinas) In the third way, Aquinas brings up the point of contingency of matter in the universe. He identifies that things come in to existence but then stop existing. He states that there must have surely been a time when nothing existed, however, for these to start existing,  the universe must have always existed. Aquinas states: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦if at one time nothing was in existence, it would have been impossible for anything to have begun to existà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦therefore we cannot but admit the existence of some being having of itself its own necessityà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ Furthermore, there must have been a necessary being to bring about this existence, this being God. He evaluated that if God did not exist, then nothing would exist. In conclusion, Aquinas presents in his three ways of proving the existence of God that nothing could have existed without the existence of another. Moreover, something else must have caused the existence of this cause. Hence, a chain of causes is brought about. However, Aquinas emphasises that there must a beginning to the chain of causes. If the chain of causes is finite, then it means that this being does not have to rely on anything else to come into existence. There is only one such beingà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦God.

Existentialist View Of Human Condition :: essays research papers

Existentialist View of Human Condition Two of the main principles of Existentialist Human Condition are: That man exists and then creates himself and what man chooses for himself he chooses for everyone else as well. Lets examine the first principle: man exists and then defines himself. What it means is that man is created on this earth and is nothing but a body, blood and guts. What he chooses to do and to be is what makes him a man. If a man comes into this world and chooses to steal, cheat, kill and lie then that is what that man has made himself to be. While society may see him as a "evil" person, that is what is right for him. Now on the other hand if a person chooses to be generous, kind, honest and loving, society may see him as a "good" person while it is still right for him. According to the Existentialists, a person is placed on this earth with no predisposed "good" or "evil" values, one man is not created with any more good or evil than the next. By the decisions we make in life we create ourselves. Next the second view, what man chooses for himself he chooses for everyone else. This is a view I really believe in. Everything we do in life effects someone else, whether we no it or not. Every time we drive our car. Every time we eat something, spend money, go for a jog someone else is effected. For an example: a man goes to the store and buys a stereo. First of all the clerk the clerk is effected because they have to check you out, so you have taken some of their time. The store is effected because they are minus one radio from their store. The manufacturer now has to make one more to replace the one that was bought from the store. The manufacturing employees are effected because put the radio together, and so on. On the other hand a man who chooses to steal that same stereo will effect even more people.

Social Attitudes Toward Vietnam Veterans Essay -- Exploratory Essays R

Social Attitudes Toward Vietnam Veterans I have always been interested in the Vietnam War and the results of â€Å"the longest war in America.† Therefore, I have decided to examine the social attitudes toward Vietnam veterans. Since I feel so passionately about the way that Vietnam veterans are viewed, the purpose of my paper is to inform others about the way that the veterans have been criticized and misrepresented. Personally, I hope to gain a further understanding of the attitudes and views towards Vietnam veterans, especially since my father is a veteran. After reading my paper, I hope that my audience will walk away with more respect and reverence for those that fought in the Vietnam War and gave their lives for their country. My audience will consist of my peers, my professor, and any other person interested in learning more about the sentiment towards Vietnam veterans. My research has involved searching the Internet, going to the University Library and looking through books, and even interviewing my father, who fought in the Vietnam War. I have also examined the lyrics to Billy Joel’s ballad, â€Å"Goodnight Saigon.† Thus far, the most valuable sources have been a few books I took out from the library. These books include information about the history of the Vietnam War as well as about the aftermath. In addition, several of these books include powerful pictures and images from wartime to the present time. After examining the lyrics to Billy Joel’s song, â€Å"Goodnight Saigon,† I realized that it does not directly relate to my topic about the sentiment towards Vietnam veterans. However, it does provide a clear insight into the way the soldiers felt while they were fighting in Vietnam. At first I was unsure about the lyrics sin... ...port my beliefs about the changing social attitudes toward Vietnam veterans. As the writing process continues, I plan to gather more research materials such as new books and articles. The social attitudes towards Vietnam veterans has proven to be an extremely interesting subject to me and I hope that through my discussion of these views, my audience will gain a new understanding of some of the bravest and most heroic men of the century. Works Cited Doyle, Edward, et al. The Aftermath. The Vietnam Experience. Boston: Boston Publishing Co., 1985. Greene, Bob. Homecoming. New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1989. Gustainis, J. Justin. American Rhetoric and the Vietnam War. Westport: Praeger Publishers, 1993. Joel, Billy. â€Å"Goodnight Saigon. â€Å" The Nylon Curtain. 1982. Katakis, Michael. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial. New York: Crown Publishers, Inc., 1988.

Culture Analysis of Toyota Essay

ABSTRACT This case study analyses the corporate culture of Toyota by using two theories and then analyze the national cultures of Japan and USA by using two theories and its impact on the corporate culture of Toyota. The models of â€Å"Edgar Schein† and â€Å"Charles Handy† will be used to analyze the corporate culture of Toyota while the models of â€Å"Greet Hofstede† and â€Å"Fons Trompenaars† will be used to analyze the national cultures. Afterwards the case study will discuss the climate of Toyota and the impact of the same to its success. Also the case study will analyze the reasons as to why the Toyota Company had to face failures and whether the company culture had any impact in the same. It will also point out on how the culture of Toyota had become inflexible over a period where the company was facing rapid expansions in to other countries and how it had impacted the success of the company. Finally the author will provide with suggestions and advice as to how Toyota could do in the future on developing their corporate culture. Toyota was established as a commercial vehicle manufacturer in 1937 with a capital of  ¥ 12 million. By 1948 Toyota’s debt was 8 times than its capital value. In 1950s Toyota studies US plants, including Ford, and supermarkets during a 12 week study visit. They see little improvement since his previous trip but use supermarkets as a model for just-in-time production. Toyota entered the US in 1958 by launching its model the Toyopet. It established its first overseas production unit in Brazil in 1959 and entered the European market in 1963. Besides manufacturing, the company started a global network of design and R&D facilities covering the three major car markets of Japan, North America, and Europe. The company underwent rapidexpansion in the 1960s and exported fuel-efficient small cars to different countries across the world. By the early 1970s, Toyota‘s global vehicle production was behind that of only GM and Ford. The oil crisis in the late 1970s gave a major boost to Toyota, with many people shifting to smaller, fuel-efficient cars, where Toyota had a significant presence. In 1988, Toyota opened its first plant in North America in Georgetown, In 2000, Toyota‘s global production exceeded five million vehicles. By November 2003, Toyota‘s market capitalization touched US$ 110 billion. In 2006, Toyota became the third largest car and truck seller in the US, surpassing Chrysler Group LLC13 (Chrysler). In 2007, Toyota with sales of 2.6 million vehicles overthrew Ford from the second position in the US auto market. About two-third of Toyota‘s workforce was located outside Japan at that time. In July 2008, Toyota replaced GM15 as the largest automaker in the world. In the financial year 2008, Toyota emerged as the largest automobile manufacturer in the world. 2. National Culture & Toyota Culture 3.2. What is Culture â€Å"Culture is not something you can manipulate easily. Attempts to grab it and twist it into a new shape never work because you can’t grab it†- Prof.John P. Kotter â€Å"Culture† could be defined as â€Å"the sum total of the beliefs, values, rituals, rules & regulations, techniques, institutions, and artifacts that does characterize human populations†. Sociologists generally talk about the term socialization process, referring to the influence of parents, friends, education, and the interaction with other members of a particular society as the basis for one’s culture. These influences result in learned patterns of behavior common to members of a given society. 3.3. National Culture 3.4.1. National culture according to Fons Trompenaars model Fons Trompenaars teamed with Charles Hampden-Turner and developed a theory on culture. Universalism vs. Particularism – Universalism cultures are strictly rule-based behavioral cultures where particularistic cultures tend to focus more on the exceptional nature of present circumstances. Toyota had been a company who was working on relationship based culture where they have even treated the suppliers as of their own. They value these relationships and trusts that through such practices they will achieve success. Specific vs. diffuse – This the manner which the organization or the culture handles their communications (Low context vs. High context) it is obvious that the Japanese belongs to low context and it was the case in Toyota as well where they value long term relationships with employees and its suppliers. Individualism vs. Collectivism – Individualism is about the rights of the individual. It seeks to let each person grow or fail on their own, and sees group-focus as denuding the individual of their inalienable rights. Communitarianism is about the rights of the group or society. It seeks to put the family, group, company and country before the individual. It sees individualism as selfish and short-sighted. It is clearly proven that Japanese works as groups and all team members and senior managers altogether will decide together on many strategies. Inner-directed vs. Outer-directed (â€Å"Do we control our environment or work with it?†) – An inner-directed culture assumes that thinking is the most powerful tool and that considered ideas and intuitive approaches are the best way. An Outer-directed culture assumes that we live in the ‘real world’ and that is where we should look for our information and decisions. The Japanese culture had strong beliefs on thinking power. Even at Toyota they created their own environment through introducing TPS and Toyota way. 3.4.2. National culture according to Greet Hofstede’s model National cultures can be described according to the analysis of Geert Hofstede. It has five dimensions –†¢ Power Distance, †¢ Individualism, †¢ Masculinity, †¢ Uncertainty Avoidance, †¢ Long-Term Orientation. Japanese national culture had a huge influence in corporate culture of Toyota even though they had their operations stretched towards the other parts of the world. Power Distance – By means which you could understand â€Å"the extent to which the less powerful members of institutions and organizations within a country expect and accept that power is distributed unequally†. As per the table given below, it shows that Japan has more power distance than of USA culture. It’s clear as where all the strategic decisions were taken through the head office of Japan through a hierarchical layer who had more authoritative power. Most of the decisions were dependent on fewer individuals. Individualism – Individualism is the one opposite of collectivism that is the degree to which individuals are integrated into groups. â€Å"Individualism pertains to societies in which the ties between individuals are loose: everyone is expected to look after himself or herself and his or her immediate family.† In Toyota all employees were treated equally important, referred as knowledge workers and everybody was given the freedom to come up with ideas. As per the table given below USA can clearly been seen as individualistic culture where as Japan is more towards Collectivism culture. Masculinity – is the degree to which ‘masculine’ values like competitiveness and the acquisition of wealth are valued over ‘feminine’ values like relationship building and quality of life. According to the table, both Japan and USA are having high Masculinity characteristics but it’s much higher on Japanese cultures. In Toyota, they were obsessed to overtake their competitors and become as the largest automaker in 2008 simply to prove their power proving masculine approach towards their competitors. Uncertainty Avoidance – focuses on the level of society’s tolerance for uncertainty and ambiguity. A High Uncertainty Avoidance ranking indicates the country has a low tolerance for uncertainty and ambiguity. This creates a rule-oriented society that institutes laws, rules, regulations, and controls in order to reduce the amount of uncertainty. Japanese try to avoid uncertainty by planning everything carefully. Japan is a culture that depends on rules, laws and regulations. Japan wants to reduce its risks to the lowest and proceed with changes step by step. The United States scores a 46 compared to the 92 of the Japanese culture. Uncertainty avoidance in the US is relatively low, which can clearly be viewed through the national cultures. In Toyota, you could see that they make all the related parties (Supplier, Designers, Engineers, Dealers and Partners) involved in the manufacturing process right from the designing stage to marketing the product so that they produce exactly what is needed with minimum risk. Long-Term Orientation – focuses on the degree the society does or does not embrace long-term devotion to traditional values. High Long-Term Orientation ranking implies that the country embraces to the values of long-term commitments and respect for tradition and where long-term rewards are expected as a result of today’s hard work. This is very evident as Toyota has spent much revenue and focus on R&D activities even at tougher times. Hofstede’s Dimension of Culture Scales When considering these factors, it is obvious that Toyota (which comprises with Japanese culture embedded to its organizational culture) will have a significant impact to its culture when working in USA as USA culture is much more different to than Japanese culture. 3.4. Culture of Toyota 3.5.3. Toyota’s culture according to Edgar Schein’s Theory Schein’s three levels of culture model were developed in the 1980s. Schein identifies three distinct levels in organizational cultures: 1. Artifacts and behaviors 2. Exposed values 3. Basic Assumptions Artifacts of Toyota – Artifacts are the visible elements in a culture. Artifacts can be easily recognized by people. Artifacts can be dress codes, furniture, art, work climate, stories, work processes, organizational structures etc..Toyota’s artifacts could be * Fuel efficient vehicle manufacturer * Concentrated highly on maintaining quality and minimizing waste. Basic Assumptions of Toyota – Basic Assumptions reflect the shared values which are within the specific culture. These values oftentimes will not be especially visible to the members of the culture or the external parties. Assumptions and espoused values are possibly not correlated, and the espoused values may not at all be rooted in the actual values of the culture. This may cause great problems, where the differences between espoused and actual values may create frustrations, lack of morale and inefficiency. Toyota, when they ventured in to U.S. is when conflict in culture start to appear. Japanese corporate culture often conflicts with American management styles is partially due to a basic underlying assumption of Japanese culture. * Japanese Corporate Decision-Making involves group where Americans make decisions as individuals. * Japanese management is much more focused on relationships with their employees than rules to ensure corporate goals are met. * Managers in Japan depend on the honor system to get work done, relying on their workers’ trust and good will * The traditional structures and the hierarchy maintained by Toyota * Functional managers acting as mentors to other staff to understand the values and the culture of the organization * Chief engineers played a vital role in the organization’ * All employees of all levels were treated as knowledge workers * Encouraged all employees to communicate in simple language and encouraged them to be a part of different clubs & groups to share ideas amongst them. * Personal relationships were valued on a higher level 3.5.4. Toyota’s culture according to Charles Handy Theory Charles Handy gave a classification to the organizations culture into range of four cultures. The four cultures he discusses are Power’, ‘Role’, ‘Task’ and ‘People’. Power Culture – Power is concentrated in a smaller group. Power radiates out from the centre, usually a key personality, to others in the organization who send information down to other departments, functions or units. After the Toyota Company had established after global expansion over different continents, the main decision making power was still with headquarters which reflects the control was centralized to Japan headquarters. Role Culture – This culture comprises with several functional units of the organization which have to implement the decisions. The strength of the culture lays in specialization within its theses functional units. Interaction takes place between the functional specialism by job descriptions, procedures, rules and systems. Toyota showed lot of signs of role culture. During the Manufacturing process, they got the Engineers, suppliers and all the other related parties involved from the designing part to the sale of vehicle. Also they treated all employees as equal and each employee were given the opportunity to give their suggestions or express their feelings. Also Toyota had separate divisions operating for separate functions such as Sales, Finance, Legal, Manufacturing and R&D. Task Culture – Such cultures are of organizations which are much involved in R&D activities. They will create temporary task teams to meet their future needs. Information and expertise are the skills that are of value here. In Toyota it was not much shown this type of culture but since Toyota were very aggressive in intensive R&D activities and they emphasized the fact that engineers to spend more time on core engineering and technical skill acquisition, it shows a little bit of task culture in existence in Toyota. 3. Corporate Climate 4.5. What is corporate climate? Climate is defined as the recurring patterns of behavior, attitudes and feelings that characterize life in the organization. Climate impacts employee attitudes and motivation which directly impact on business performances. 4.6. Was the climate correct in Toyota The corporate climate in Toyota was set right at the beginning and lost its way when the expansion process was taking place. As we all know, Toyota has been valued as an organization which been driven through its values, processors and philosophies. Their main focuses were initially on understanding the requirements of the users through intense R&D activities and fulfill the same while maintaining high level of quality. For such they had developed mechanisms such as TPS or Toyota way. The Toyota Way was invented, discovered, and developed over decades as talented Toyota managers and engineers, learned to cope with its (Toyota’s) problems of external adaptation and internal integration. Managers understand the challenges and context that led to active on-the-floor problem solving, not theoretical, top-down exercises. Communications were very strong amongst the functions units. With the rapid expansion and the globalized diversifications being carried out (more broadly in USA), Toyota turned in to an ambition driven company that ignored its traditions. The practice of conveying the Toyota way to an alien culture was an uphill task and a costly exercise. Also there were signs that the top level of the company had its own issues. 1995 when Okuda became the President, he made some dramatic changes to the long lived traditions of Toyota culture by cutting costs, increasing focus on product development and revamping of the product designs. Under his leadership, Toyota went on massive overseas expansion in a rapid phase but the cultural development and the processed values were not conveyed in the same phase. Once the expansions were set the focus/objective of the company became to be the largest car making company in the world beating GM. They were obsessed with this new vision. In parallel to this new vision somewhere in early 2000s, they launched the CCC21 cost cutting program. Due to such many of Japan employees were reduced from overseas plants and due to such the transferring of age old quality practices and corporate philosophy couldn’t be done to its subsidiaries. And finally due to new vision of being the largest car maker, more of production was focused than quality and Toyota looked for suppliers who could produce parts at a lower cost. Due to cultural change and knowledge gap between suppliers and Toyota, series of downfall in quality was observed later in Aug 2009. 4.7. Areas which went wrong with culture As per the case study it is evident that the two countries naturally have different cultures and they will impact the new venture which has cross cultural dynamics. In Toyota culture, they were very concerned on the values and the processor and the people involved. It’s much towards the Japanese cultural influence. But with the expansions, such practices were not effectively transferred to the employees of USA where they were part of a different culture. Even though they set up different division set up in different parts of USA all the main decisions were taken from the headquarters which was in Japan. The overseas divisions were not given much authority. Also another facture was that in Japanese culture they need lot of paperwork to take a decision where in USA culture they take quick decisions. Due to such several crucial decisions could not be taken on time leading to losses and at times up to legal penalties. And the Rigid structures and the Hierarchy were not helping the operations or were not letting the company grow towards the future. As the decision making was solely with the headquarters, it did not empower or give an opportunity to the managers in the USA offices as they were to follow set orders or tasks. 4. Suggestion for way forward 5.8. How could Toyota do better in the future When managing cross cultural issues, it is important that both parties spend a considerable amount of time on understanding each other’s cultures. It is very important that while the top level managers concentrate on the new diversification, the product lines and the bottom lines, they should strategize on how to manage the cultural issues as well. Toyota could have send the senior managers to USA prior to the expansions to really understand the culture of USA and same way they could have brought in the senior managers who were to be recruited from USA to Japan so they could have an deeper understanding of their corporate culture and the values. Same way they must be flexible on the structures and the Higher achy of the company by empowering the other unit heads to take decision and to be innovative from their end and back them on their decisions. Instead of adopting a culture where rewards are given on growth or production, it could be a combination of such and encouragement workers to perform better in order to collectively improve the company. More relationships could have been built with the suppliers and the dealers in order to maximize the production output and to develop the exact required features. The workforce in the USA plants to have a combination of Japanese and USA employees even at the senior levels. This way the touch of the original Toyota values and philosophies will not die fast and could be incarnated to the other employees as well. While trying to be the leader in automobile market, its not advisable to use only the cost leadership. It’s shown in the case study and in many other articles which done by industry experts that due to severe cost reduction practices, Toyota lost its core value which is Quality on its product. Hence it’s always good to have a mixture of strategies when conquering a market. Another aspect is Quick decision making. It is very important that when workings with a culture like USA who are keen on quick decision making, Japanese should react fact to situation otherwise will be at the risk of obtaining losses. R&D activities must be focused on the correct path as such practices will define the future of the company. If the R& D was done properly at Toyota they wouldn’t have acquired so many losses through recalls and poor product designs. And the sharing of information is a definite need when dealing with cross cultural matters. Since both cultural parties are new to each other such communications would bridge the gap. 5.9. Measures which they could take to effectively embed the proper culture to its employees As mentioned earlier, studying the involved cultures is an important process in any organization. For an example, the company which I work for (which is a leading Optical service provider in the country), they closely monitor the culture of the suburb or the region which they think of expanding before taking any key decisions. Same way, Japanese senior managers could have stayed in USA for long enough to get a grasp of their culture and understand their values and way of doing things. Understand the culture of the market which you are entering is a key strategy. Secondly they could have brought in the USA managers whom were to take up senior position in USA plants much prior to the installation of the factories as n induction programme or as an apprentice programme so that the Japanese managers could really transfer the cultural aspects and the values of Toyota which has been practiced for the past decades successfully. In my organization we do such practices as we recruit employees from the region where we are planning to expand to and place them at out head office so that they will be well trained and would really understand our values. Similarly, we send one of our senior staff or Managers to the newly opened branch once its stetted up to be there for a certain period so that he will be an mentor to the others and also he will bring in the details of the prevailing culture of the said region. Another thing Toyota must do is to empower the Managers from the said culture so that the decision making and other practices would be much more effective and related to the actual requirement. For this I could again take my company where all the branches are operated as separate profit centers and the Branch manager is empowered to take decision on behalf of the organization on many operational and at times on some strategic matters. Also for the employees of the two cultures to have much closer ties, Toyota could use the prevailing technologies such as social networking sites whereby they could get the employees of two cultures to meet up on a virtual world and get to know better and even to share ideas amongst them. This way the belongingness and the team work will develop amongst the employees. In our organization, we organize staff day outing, workshops, outward bound training programmes and other get-to-gather activities whereby they will get to know each other better and share their ideas amongst them. 5. Conclusion As most of the solutions are given in the previous paragraphs, the following points to be considered when managing cross cultural issues. When applied to cross cultural management of organizations different corporate cultures can be identified and proactive solutions must be developed to ensure compatibility between all parties and its cultures. And each culture must be valued as they are similarly valuable to both parties. When recruiting new employees it is very important to mentor them about the prevailing corporate culture and the values attached to these cultures. Train and socialize current employees to be more receivable for the coming alien cultures. Change and be flexible on organizational structure to give employees more control. Empower employees to make decision about their jobs. The long lived traditions and the best practices should not be neglected at any time and more importantly the culture plays a very vital role on the organizations success. 6. Reference http://geert-hofstede.com ICBT Study materials www.lindsay-shervin.co.ul www.changingminds.org www.businessmate.org

Honesty and Justice in the Criminal Justice System Essay

Honesty and Justice are words that describe integrity and character of an individual. â€Å"The word Honesty, by its virtue, describes an individual or an entity that doesn’t lie, cheat, steal, or abuse to get ahead for personal or professional gain† (http://www.freeessays123.com/essay24727/honesty-versus-justice-and-due-process-versus-crime-control.html ). When an individual is honest, they stand for what is right and look for a positive outcome. â€Å"Justice is the entity that we depend on as a country and a community, to distinguish between right and wrong, good and evil, legal and illegal† (http://www.freeessays123.com/essay24727/honesty-versus-justice-and-due-process-versus-crime-control.html). Justice is what we depend on to keep us safe from harm to live a better life. In the criminal justice system, there are many ethical issues involved in honesty and justice. Sometimes justice isn’t so honest and individuals make certain decisions that are not e thical, which causes issues and problems for many people. For example, lawyers lie or stretch the truth many times to plea their defendants’ cases by redirecting the focus point on what the prosecution is trying to prove. The reason for the lawyer lying is not to hurt someone else, rather to try to help their defendant not go to jail. I do not agree that this is right because I believe the defendant should pay for the crime they committed. This is where justice and ethics should be presented for the plaintiff. This can be defined as â€Å"pursuing the client’s rights, but not the client’s interests, if those interests are incompatible with the â€Å"truth† (https://litigation-essentials.lexisnexis.com/webcd/appaction=DocumentDispla  y&crawlid=1&doctype=cite&docid=27+Hofstra+L.+Rev.+13&srctype=smi&srcid=3B15&key=194a3f1cb6096596bc374c883c6c206c). â€Å"Integrity and Honesty Integrity can be defined as â€Å"an uncompromising adherence to a code of moral, artistic or other values, utter sincerity, honesty and candor, avoidance of deception, expediency, artificiality or shallowness of any kind† ( http://www.cheathouse.com/essay/importance-integrity-and-honesty-criminal-justice-field#ixzz0jcuzLMOj). This basically means to do what is right at all times regardless of who is watching. We cannot assure that all individuals in the legal system will use integrity and moral values when doing their jobs, but our legal system educates and trains these people to base their work ethics on this type of system. I believe that every case is different and we cannot assure that honesty is maintained and still do justice. For example, every police officer is different and you have those that lie to help catch criminals and those bad cops that lie and use their authority in a negative manner. There will be police officers who go undercover and sell drugs to catch big time drug dealers, and therefore this type of lying is positive because it is for the good of our streets. It is best to be in the situation up close and personal because you can see how the offenders operate and it is easier to catch them. Then you have those officers who use their authority is a negative manner and they do not use ethics in the decisions they make. These kinds of cops are the reason as to why all police officers do not have the best name. It is hard to trust all of them, when they are supposed to be the people who are to protect us. I do not think that justice can be accomplished while maintaining honesty because you must think like a criminal in order to catch a criminal. Criminals will think of every way to commit a crime and get away with it, so the police must be on top of this state of mind to be able to build a case and apprehend these criminals. Coming up with effective strategies to fight crime has always been a debate.

Beethovens calling in life - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 1 Words: 333 Downloads: 6 Date added: 2019/07/30 Category People Essay Level High school Tags: Ludwig van Beethoven Essay Did you like this example? Ludwig Van Beethoven was born to be a musician. Beethoven was baptized on December 17, 1770, in Bonn, Germany. Beethovens dad was already a musical composer. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Beethovens calling in life" essay for you Create order His parents wanted to try to make him a musical prodigy, like Mozart, but it didnt work out. By 1783, he was already a player in the Bonn Opera. As a teenager, Beethoven had published his first composition. Mozart once said about Beethoven, this man will make a great name for himself in the world. When Beethoven turned twenty, he met Joseph Haydn, who was a renowned composer. Joseph Haydn took him under his wing. Haydn brought Bethooven to Vienna, Austria to become his student. Some people say that Beethoven is the best composer of all time. He is special because he translates emotion into music. His music was exciting, while songs and sonatas by other composers were bland and without feeling. He was best known for his symphonies. His most famous symphonies are Symphony No.5, Symphony No.9, The Moon Light Sonata, and the Twenty Third Piano Sonata. All of these were very popular during Beethovens life, especially The Moon Light Sonata. Beethoven remains one of the most famous composers of all time. His Fifth Symphony is one of the most recognized classical songs in history. Beethovens life was far from perfect. His mom died when Beethoven was seventeen, and his dad struggled with a drinking problem. Beethoven started going deaf in his twenties. The cause of Beethoven going deaf is still unknown, but people think it may have been from dunking his head in cold water to keep himself awake. It was far easier to compose when he could hear because he could tell the difference between a high note and a low note. So, he formed his songs from the idea of what was high or low. However, after he went deaf some of his greatest works were born. These include The Five Piano Sonatas and The 9th Symphony. Beethoven died from cirrhosis of the liver on March 26, 1827.

Essay on Confucianism vs. Buddhism - 1607 Words

Confucianism vs. Buddhism By Robert Truckle In this essay, two world religions will be compared to see how similar and/or how different they are; these two religions are Confucianism and Buddhism. Confucianism speaks about the wise thoughts that Confucius came across throughout his life. Buddhism speaks about how to acquire great knowledge throughout life. Confucianism was founded by a Chinese man, but Buddhism was founded by an Indian man. These quick comparisons show how the religions differ, but more detailed comparisons will be seen throughout the essay. The origins and founders of these two religions are quite similar, which will be explained in this paragraph. Confucianism was founded by a man named Confucius; which is how the†¦show more content†¦The begging-bowl symbolizes Buddha entering the final steps of enlightenment because it is said that a woman offered him a bowl of milk rice while he was practicing austerity but accepted the bowl because he needed the energy to enter the final steps. The Buddha’s Eyes – especially on stupas – face in all four directions and symbolizes the omniscient mind of the Buddha. Through showing all the main symbols in each religion, you can see that Buddhism has man more symbols and their symbols mean more than a word or phrase in Chinese. The sacred writings differ between Buddhism and Confucianism. In Confucianism the writings are mainly Confucius’ teachings but Buddhism’s writings are mainly written by followers explaining how Buddha lived. Confucianism’s scared writings are mainly written by Confucius himself and are about his teachings to his followers although some are written by followers. Buddhism’s sacred writings are written mostly by his followers and were written and were written so that people could read about Buddha and how he lived his life. Confucianism has two main books for sacred writings the Si Shu (Four Books) and the Wu Jing (Five Classics). The Si Shu is broken down into 4 books which cover: Confucius’ analects, Doctrine of the Mean, Great Learning and the writings of a man similar to Confucius named Meng Tzu. The Wu Jing is broken down into 5 parts which cover: Classic of History, Classic of Odes, Classic of Changes,Show MoreRelatedEvaluate the Changes and Continuities in the Role of Religion in Chinese Society from 600 to 1450.1043 Words   |  5 Pagescertain religions while repressing others. While Buddhism flourished during the Sui and Tang dynasty, it faced opposition from the government during the Song dynasty. Confucianism lost government endorsement during the Sui and Tang but gained momentum during the Song as Neo-Confucianism. 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