A Modest Proposal by Jonathan Swift Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

A Modest Proposal by Jonathan Swift - Article Example Jonathan Swift begins with the vivid imagery of the plight of poor children and is able to evoke sympathy.  An important aspect is that this is so sincerely done that the most skeptical person would want to read on. Then he moves with calculated precision and creates a logical assessment of the condition of the poor. He also professes to have â€Å"maturely weighed† his calculations and proposal giving confidence to the reader to reach further down the narrative. Swift then smoothly places a dramatic twist by immediately following his preamble with the first shocking suggestion of â€Å"eating† all the penniless children in this manner: â€Å"a young healthy child well nursed is at a year old a most delicious, nourishing and wholesome food, whether stewed, roasted, baked, or boiled, and I make no doubt that it will equally serve in a fricassee or a ragout.†. After this point, Swift begins to target the moneyed class of that period. He not only enrages the reader by the cold irony of his suggestions but also forces him to think by using startling imagery and saddening but stark realities of life. In a formal and methodical manner, he gives solutions to visible problems of poverty by calculating the worth of children’s flesh offered as food to â€Å"persons of quality and fortune† and other rich members of the society of that time. With striking prose filled with sarcasm, he challenges human emotions by recommending â€Å"buying the children alive and dressing them hot from the knife† as is done in roasting piglets. The subject of his criticism, the moneyed class, is woven in with a detached and mathematical precision by drawing parallel examples of their lavish spending and the worth of the poor considered as meat. In his cynicism, Swift does not spare any member of the society of that time that has contributed to or closed eyes from the causes and reasons of poverty. These include the pseudo-patriots, the clergy as well as royalty.

Reasons for Closing Quantanamo Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Reasons for Closing Quantanamo - Research Paper Example These detainees are to offer intelligence that will help the American government deal with the crimes of war and terror. There have been very many reasons why the facility should be closed. Some are from the policy standpoint while others are legal reasons. To date, the facility’s closure has proved to be very difficult. The American government’s main aim is to show the whole world that even in the face of their troubles, they still uphold their values. Keywords: Guantanamo, Closure, Detainees, Detention, Facility Introduction Following the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001 in the United States, it was passed by the Congress that there was need for Authorization to Use Military Force (AUMF) (Garcia, Elsea, Mason & Liu, 2009). The military was given the mandate to use all the necessary and appropriate force against those who had planned, committed, or given any assistance in the terrorist attack. Individuals from Afghanistan and other parts of the world, who were ca ptured by the United States Military force during this operation, were relocated to Guantanamo Bay, US Naval station. This facility was used to detain them, and prosecution would follow before the military tribunals (Garcia, Elsea, Mason & Liu, 2009). Since 2002, nearly 800 persons have been brought to Guantanamo. In order to continue their detention, majority of these detainees have been transferred again to a third country. A substantial number of released detainees have also been transferred from Guantanamo. Despite the transfer, there are a number of detainees who remain in the facility. They include: Those who have been placed in preventive detention so as to bar them from going back to the battle field. The nature of this preventive detention is non-penal and must be terminated upon the cessation of hostilities (Garcia, Elsea, Mason & Liu, 2009). Those waiting to be brought before a tribunal, so that they can face charges filed against them such as â€Å"alleged violations of the law of war† (Garcia, Elsea, Mason & Liu, 2009, p. 1). If convicted, these people may be sentenced to life imprisonment or execution. The last category includes those who have been cleared for release or transfer to a different nation. Such persons are such as those who are believed not to have contributed to the hostilities or those who are no longer regarded as threats to US security (Garcia, Elsea, Mason & Liu, 2009). Closing Guantanamo was a stated desire and policy in the administration of President Bush. It was supported by both the republican and the democrat presidential candidates. These were John Mc-Cain and Senator Barack Obama. Guantanamo has been used as a detention facility for terrorist suspects, but there has been the argument that it has been damaging the US national security. In 2008, there was widespread consensus within policy circles that it was supposed to be closed. There is lack of specificity on how to close the institution and at the same time, se ek to protect the real national interests and the security of the citizens of the United States (Mendelson, 2008). This policy of closing the facility has been one of the most difficult and most confronting issues in the United States of America. The current administration has been unable to implement the goal of closing the facility because it has received a lot of opposition. Even though it is the goal of the Americans to close Guantanamo, the United States cannot

The History of Hospitals, Delivery of Inpatient Services Essay

The History of Hospitals, Delivery of Inpatient Services - Essay Example The agencies of the Public Health Service are the Health Administration, the Food and Drug Administration, the Centers for Disease Prevention, the Agency of Health Care Research and the Agency Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. Wherever numerous publicly funded health care programs help to provide for the elderly, disabled, military service families and veterans, children, and the poor and federal law ensures public access to emergency services regardless of ability to pay, however, the main goal wasn't implemented. Significant goal was approached through Massachusetts, implementation of a near-universal health care system by the Massachusetts 2006 Health Reform Statute, mandating that residents purchase health care coverage with little or no control over how much the health insurance policies cost. Problems as rising cost have been contributed by increasing per capita spending by an aging population. One reason for this is the large number of babies born in the lost years and so contribution was increasing expenditure. Another thing is that try improving health care on old population has tended to delay the onset of serious illness and high health care expenditures and medical malpractice; also, resulting defensive medicine has slight contribution of care cost. And so the need of health care system on an aging population has been established since 1960 through Medicare, provider of health care insurance for all Americans age 65 and older. It covers hospital care and physician fee and prescription drug benefits. Medicare takes important steps to reduce long-term health care cost through providing up-to-date preventive benefits and programs that lower overall cost for benefices with chronic illness by preventing complication. Also development of better information on quality and costs of health care through implementation of competitive reforms in durable medical equipment. But Medicare funding has issued warning when financing will exceed 45 percentage of total expenditure with seven years. Such a warning triggered an expedited process to reduce general revenue financing, in which the President is required to propose legislation to address the issue in the next Budget, and Congress is required to consider the proposal on an expedited basis. So crises will run in 2018 because the hospital insurances will run of money. Most health economist believe that the primary causes of increasing spending of health care is development of new technologies, try which could be established improvement of patient care. Estimating the efforts on overage the benefits are expending opportunities of effectiveness of care. Physicians, nurses, and other health profession hospitals and manufactory of pharmaceuticals and device and researches are key input into the health care system. Right investning in any of them can establish effective health care system or effective key output. The pharmaceutics and the medical device industry are most impotent aspects of modern health care system and so supply many of the products are most responsible for improvement on public health, such as medication and devices such as joint replacement and artificial lenses. The developing and the right marketing are the right way to established effective health

Chaucer creates humour Essay Example for Free

Chaucer creates humour Essay The Merchants Tale is only rarely seen as humorous; most often it is noted for its darkness, its unrelieved acidity; it is said to offer a perversion of the courtly code.1 I disagree with this statement made by J. S. P. Tatlock. Chaucer was successful at creating humour within his narratives, which is partly why his works were, and still are, so popular. Humour can be achieved through a variety of elements including plot, characterisation, language, timing and circumstance. Chaucer used of all these, but largely drew upon the satirical portrayals of both the courtly love genre and religion within The Merchants Tale. The tale opens with The Merchant who is envious and astringent of all people that are of a higher class than he; therefore, in his narrative, he targets and satirizes the traditions of the knightly class, including the romantic conventions of courtly love often attributed to the upper classes.  Another of Chaucers tales is The Knights Tale which is about two knights and close friends, Arcite and Palamon, who are imprisoned by Theseus, duke of Athens. Whilst in prison they fall in love with the beautiful sister of Hippolyta, Emily (Emelye). The sense of competition brought about by this love causes them to hate each other. They eventually get let out of prison and fight each other to win the girl.  Arcite wins the battle, but dies before he can claim Emily, so Palamon marries her. The story introduces many typical aspects of knighthood such as courtly love and ethical dilemmas. The Merchants Tale begins with a description of Januarie who is presented, satirically, as A worthy knight. The Merchant however attempts to display to the audience that this knight is not worthy at all. He contrasts him to the knights in The Knights Tale. Theseus was tough, forceful, confident and young but Januarie is portrayed as old and fading, old and hoor. He is also shown as an exception to many knightly virtues, as he folwed al his bodily delit On women, thereas was his apetite. This portrayal of him shows the audience that he is in fact obsessed with women and sex. In the tale he attempts to gain himself a young wife, despite the warnings of his advisors. Chaucer uses the dialogue of the characters to explain to Januarie that a young wife will be difficult to keep happy at his age. He makes Januarie exclaim that She shal nat passe twenty yeer, certain Thanne shoulde I lede my lif in avoutrye,/ And go straight to the devel whan I die. Chaucer portrays him as a character envious of youth, so much so that if he cannot have a young wife he will have no choice but to sin. In other words, he must have a young wife for his own moral safety. This is not the image of a strong and powerful knight like Theseus. Januarie fails in the area of courtly love and ends up having his courtship mocked by the Merchant. This not only creates humour in the audiences eyes as we see how dim-witted Januarie really is, but it also creates sympathy for the character as he cannot help how he is portrayed. Another example of the use of satire is the whole incident with Damien, May and Januarie and the adultery issue. One could argue that May does not love Damien any more than she loves January. He could perhaps just be a suitable alternative for May to love. When she receives a love-letter from Damien, she disposes of it in the toilet (privy) which could show this lack of love for him. Therefore, her motivation for adultery could be seen as an action of revenge, as January assaulted May by marrying her, and not out of affection for Damien. This is satire on the whole theme of courtly love. This feeling of revenge on her part is further demonstrated in the cuckold scene. May deceives January in the garden and we, as the audience, cannot blame her for doing so. January built the garden so that he can have May sexually in the way he wants her. She feigns pregnancy and then steps onto Januarys back to have sex with Damien in the tree. She has been stepped on by January and now she gets to do the same to him. When Januarys sight is restored by the Gods, he rightfully accuses her of adultery. In response she acts impertinent and insulted: This thank have I for I have maad yow see/ Allas, quod she, that evere I was so kinde!'. This creates humour as the audience knows that Chaucer is satirising the idea of courtly love and cannot believe that Januarie is so dense that he believes Mays excuse.

Comparison of Capital Flows in Asia

Comparison of Capital Flows in Asia 1.1 Background of the Study Capital controls were widely used to prevent the free flow of funds between countries until the late 1970s. A cautious relaxation of such controls during the 1980s proved consistent with greater economic integration among advanced countries and strengthened the case for capital market opening more generally. By the early 1990s, capital controls appeared to be finished as a serious policy tool for relatively open economies. The conventional view about international financial integration is that it should enable capital to flow from high income countries, with relatively high capital labor ratios, to low income countries with lower capital labor ratios. If investment in poor countries is constrained by the low level of domestic saving, access to foreign capital should boost their growth and it would also allow residents of richer countries to get higher returns on their savings invested abroad. Openness to capital flows can expose a country’s financial sector to competition, spu r improvements in domestic corporate governance as foreign investors demand the same standards locally that they are used to at home, and impose discipline on macroeconomic policies and the government more generally. So, even if foreign capital is not needed for financing, financial openness, to both inflows and outflows, may create ‘collateral benefits’ such as domestic financial sector development which could enhance growth in total factor productivity[1]. Capital account liberalization in financially repressed economies often leads to a period of rapid capital inflows followed by financial crises with international financial integration and policy agenda for further liberalization of capital inflows. Concern has also been expressed as to whether the costs of increased vulnerability to financial fragility might not outweigh the gains from financial integration. But most of the countries continue to progress in dismantling capital controls to integrate their financial markets with the rest of the world. 1.2 Justification and Relevance of the Study Economic growth is thought to be a function of investment and other factors. The conventional belief is that foreign capital inflows bring new investible funds and foreign exchange with which the recipient country can achieve higher rates of investment and therefore growth. The role of foreign capital in economic growth is an issue that has provoked continuous debate. Foreign capital augments the total resource availability in a country, but its impact on investment and economic growth is controversial. If judiciously used, it could have favorable effects on economic growth through higher investment and other positive effects. But it is also possible that foreign capital investment might not yield any net benefit to the host country. Economic liberalization and globalization have resulted in rapid mobility of resources between nations as to reap the comparative advantage of the respective country. The 1990s saw a number of capital account crises in emerging market economies. The cris es, which were precipitated by a sudden reversal of capital inflows, occurred against the background of financial market deregulation, capital account liberalization, and financial sector opening. Deregulation and liberalization have undoubtedly brought about benefits in the form of greater financial resource mobilization for domestic investment and economic growth. At the same time, this has created new sources of vulnerabilities in the balance sheets of commercial banks, corporations, and the public sector. For Countries that are still in the process of opening the capital account, how best and how fast to proceed remains an unresolved issue. There is no presumption that the resource requirements of implementing a quick transition are either smaller or larger than those of managing a long transition process or administering capital controls. Developing effective regulatory framework takes time, but a lengthy process may create wrong incentives and distortions. A big-bang approach may be appropriate if a prolonged transition is likely to create resistance from vested interests or if different elements of the existing system are so dependent upon each other that a piecemeal reform is not possible without creating significant distortions. International capital movements can support long-term growth but are not without short-term risks. The long term benefits arise from an efficient allocation of saving and investment between surplus and deficit countries. However, large capital inflows may challenge the absorptive capacity of host countries in the short run by making them vulnerable to external shocks, heightening the risks of economic overheating and abrupt reversals in capital inflows, and facilitating the emergence of credit and asset price boom-and-bust cycles. The inflows expanded the available resources for funding productive investments and privatization, and for raising export capacity and helped finance current account deficits. They contributed to the development of domestic financial markets and the efficiency of banking systems. Foreign participation in domestic government securities markets contributed to liquidity of secondary markets and greater sophistication of financial services such as in Hungary an d Poland. FDI helps in transferring the managerial and technological skills, and strengthen domestic institutions. For the European Union accession countries, capital inflows are a mutually reinforcing factor in the process of integration into the European Union[2]. The long term capital flows, particularly of direct investment have been an important factor in the capital account surplus, and the trend of higher long term inflows has intended to be sustained. A major reason for this has been the success of adjustment programes adopted in Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand in the mid 1980, after a period of instability. In these three countries, an overvalued currency was depreciated, large fiscal deficits pattern was repeated in the Philippines in the early 1990s. In all four countries, macroeconomic stabilization was accompanied by policies to open the economy to foreign trade and reform the financial sector[3]. As a consequence of the foreign capital surge experienced by a number of developing countries, since the early 1990s international economists and policy makers have been debating about whether foreign capital flows should be the object of specific policy. The debate crystallized around two opposite stances. On the one hand, there were those who claimed that capital flows were largely exogenous to the recipient countries and, in addition, very destabilizing. The implication of this view was that the economic authorities should design and implement policies to dampen the impact of capital flows on domestic macroeconomic variables. The opposite position departed from the assumption that capital flows largely respond to domestic variables, be they long-term i.e., those affecting the country’s risk premium, or related to short-term demand management. In either case, there is no need to worry explicitly about capital flows. Policy makers concentrate exclusively on improving domestic policies. An early, and influential, analysis of the capital surge to developing countries ascribes it mostly to the effect of falling international interest rates[4]. There were other factors as well, most of them exogenous to emerging economies. In particular, the recession in developed countries reduced rates of return on capital and made investors look for higher returns elsewhere. Likewise, since the Asian financial crisis, foreign capital has retreated from most emerging economies, regardless of the quality of domestic policies. In some cases, the sudden stop[5] has been particularly traumatic e.g., in case of Argentina and Chile. In Argentina, the sudden stop in capital flows created the fiscal and financial problems. In Chile, it has had less disastrous, although still quite unfavorable, effects. But in all cases, the reversal of the 1990s inflows has been dramatic, and it has been accompanied by a sharp deterioration in growth performance. Building upon Ricardo, the welfar e gains from the international partition of labor are widely acknowledged. The economic policy implication has been to remove exchange rate volatility to foster trade and growth. The impact of exchange rate volatility on trade among two or a group of countries has both a micro and macroeconomic dimension. From a microeconomic perspective exchange rate volatility, for instance measured as day to day or week to week exchange rate fluctuations is associated with higher transactions costs because uncertainty is high and hedging foreign exchange risk is costly. Indirectly, fixed exchange rates enhance international price transparency as consumers can compare prices in different countries more easily. If exchange rate volatility is eliminated, international arbitrage enhances efficiency, productivity and welfare. These microeconomic benefits of exchange rate stabilization have been a detrimental motivation of the European monetary integration process. Low transaction costs play an importa nt role for international and intra-regional trade and capital flows. 1.3 Research Questions We have discussed above about the need of international financial integration, liberalization of capital accounts and potential benefits of capital flows. Many countries in the world opened their capital account to reap the benefits of international capital flows for their economic development and growth. A number of studies have been done so far for the study of capital flows on different issues. Some studies are related with benefits and liberalization of capital account which are: does capital account liberalization lead to growth? by Quinn and Toyoda in 2008; why capital account convertibility in India is premature? by Williamson; financial liberalization and the new dynamics of growth in India by Chandrasekhar in 2008; analysis of the capital account in India’s balance of payments by Ranjan et al in 2004; capital account liberalization and economic performance: survey and synthesis by Edison et al. Some are about the capital flows and economic growth such as; FDI and econ omic growth relationship: an empirical study on Malaysia by Mun in 2008; and what makes international capital flows promote economic growth? an international cross-country analysis by Shen et al, in 2010. While others focused on the impact of capital flows on different macroeconomic variable which are; capital flows and their macroeconomic effects in India by Kohli in 2001; differential macroeconomic effects of portfolio and foreign direct investment by Gunther et al in 1996; effects upon monetary conditions, saving and the domestic financial sector by Henry and Tesar in 1999 and many others. An empirical study of the impact of capital inflows upon output growth has been done by Gruben and McLeod in 1996. The studies mentioned above give an idea about the capital flows and their relation with many economic indicators. These topics of capital flows give us keen interest to explore more and study extensively what could be the possible relation and effects with other variables. Capital inflow to Asian countries brought substantial benefit to them. These flows permitted higher levels of investment, facilitated the transfer of technology, enhanced management skills, and enlarged market access. The Asian countries adopted their policies to translate capital flows into capital formation and related imports, and thereby mitigated pressures on exchange rates. By successfully managing foreign capital flows, the East Asian countries could achieve high growth rates. Moreover, capital inflows which were a blessing to the East Asian economies in their development process, created problems in the nineties due to mismanagement. Countries with sound macroeconomic policies and well functioning institut ions are in the best position to reap the benefits of capital flows and minimize the risks. Some countries are gaining from the capital inflows while some others are having negative impact of this on their economies. India and China are the two emerging economic giants of the developing world. Both the economies have immense natural resources, skilled and unskilled, cheap but quality labor force, huge domestic market and above all the relatively stable political environment. Both the economies hence have vast potential to attract Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) to serve the local market and to become a more important part of the global integration. After China’s entry into World Trade Organization (WTO) China has emerged into the most attractive FDI destination in the developing world. India’s FDI is far below than that of China. Hence, to know more about capital flows in China and India, we have selected these countries for the study of their capital flows and managem ent. Apart from China we have selected Malaysia for the study. Foreign direct investment has been an important source of economic growth for Malaysia, bringing in capital investment, technology and management knowledge needed for economic growth. The most important benefit for a developing country like Malaysia is that FDI could create more employment. In addition, technology transfer is another benefit for the host countries. These three Asian counties attracted capital flows to reap the benefits of financial integration. Capital flows affect a wide range of economic variables such as; exchange rates, interest rates, foreign exchange reserves, domestic monetary condition and the financial system. The developments, which have been done in many Asian countries, have stimulated a keen interest to understand what have been the nature, trend, pattern and economic effects of capital inflows as well as the appropriate policy responses comparatively in the selected Asian Countries. Therefore, here, we are interested to know what have been the surges of capital flows in Asian countries. What caused a need of financial sector reforms in India? How and why liberalization was done and what are the recent trends and composition of capital flows in India? What has been the pattern of capital flows in selected Asian countries? And, further what is the relation of capital flows with exchange rate in selected Asian countries? What could be the policies to manage the flow of capital? To get the answer of the questions mentioned above, some objectives have been set to study and discuss in an appropriate manner. The objectives of the present study have been given below. 1.4 Objectives The broad objective of the present study is to analyze the capital flows comparatively in selected Asian countries. To fulfill the broad objective, there are some small objectives such as: To study the surges of capital flows in Asia; To study the financial sector restructuring, liberalization and capital flows in India; To analyze the trend and pattern of capital flows in India, China and Malaysia comparatively; To analyze the impact of net capital flows on real effective exchange rate and management of capital flows comparatively in selected countries; and To give policy implications. 1.5 Research Design and Methodology The present study is designed to have eight chapters including Introduction and Conclusion. The first chapter is an introductory chapter where the background and justification of capital flows has been given. This chapter gives us a glimpse of the whole study design including the methodology. Liberalization led to greater capital mobility to all the Asian countries and so we are interested to explore more about capital flows. Some objectives are set based on the research questions. To fulfill the objectives, chapter outline has been made. In the second chapter, theoretical perspective of capital flows has been given on various issues related to capital flows. In this chapter a literature survey of existing studies on capital flows has been done and explored what has been the nature, causes and outcomes of capital flows and what kind of financial system and policies are the best suitable to reap the benefits of capital flows. Then, in the third chapter, analysis of surges of capital f lows into Asia has been given. Causes of Asian crisis, consequences, restructuring and improvement of the financial system under various programemes has been given. Average annual growth rate of FDI flows in Asia had been calculated and analyzed to know the surges of capital flows in different regions of Asia. In the fourth chapter, financial sector restructuring in India under various schemes has been given. With the report of Narsimham Committee in 1991, various reforms have been done in money market and capital market. The details of these reforms, different policies improvement in financial sector and their impact on different market indicators has been discussed in this chapter. A discussion of liberalization of the market for international trade and capital mobility in India has been elaborated in the fifth chapter. In this chapter, the trend, pattern and composition of capital flows in India has been analyzed. Percentage of source-wise and industry-wise capital flows in India has also been calculated and analyzed in this chapter. In the sixth chapter, background of capital flows in India, China and Malaysia has been given. Origin and starting of capital mobilization and changing trend of different capital flows in these countries have been analyzed in this chapter. A comparative analysis of trend and pattern of capital flows in India, China and Malaysia has been done in this chapter. A comparative analysis of the relationship between exchange rate and capital flows in India China and Malaysia has been done in chapter 7. For the purpose of empirical analysis to see the impact of net capital flows on real effective exchange rate with some other explanatory variables, OLS method of multivariate linear regression model has been used. Unit root test to fulfill the stationary condition of time series has been done based on three methods; one is ADF test, second is Phillip-Perron test and third is KPSS. A comparative analysis of capital flows and the behavior of real effective exchange rate have been done and then the management of capital in these three countries has been discussed. Conclusion and Policy Implications is the eighth chapter which includes the crux of the present study followed by Bibliography and Appendix. 1.5.1 Countries for the Study The countries for the study of capital flows are chosen from Asia. Selected countries are: 1. India 2. China 3. Malaysia 1.5.2 Data Sources The data for the present study has been taken from various secondary sources. The data sources which have been used in the present study are given below: 1. World Development Indicators (The World Bank). 2. International Debt Statistics (The World Bank). 3. International Financial Statistics (IMF). 4. World Economic Outlook (IMF). 5. Publications of Reserve Bank of India like: i. Report on Currency and Finance. ii. Handbook of Statistics on Indian Economy. 6. UNCTAD database. 1 [1] Eswar S. Prasad and Raghuram G. Rajan, â€Å"A Pragmatic Approach to Capital Account Liberalization†, Journal of Economic Perspectives, Volume 22, Number 3, Summer, 2008, pp. 150-153. [2] See Inci Otker Robe, Zbigniew Polanski, Bany Topf and David Vavra, â€Å"Coping with Capital Inflows: Experience of Selected European Countries†, IMF Working Paper, WP/07/190, 2007, pp. 7. [3] Linda M Koenig, â€Å"Capital Inflows and Policy Responses in the Asian Region†, IMF Working Paper, WP/96/25, 1996, p. 6. [4] Also see Calvo, Leiderman, and Reinhart, 1993. [5] Calvo, Izquierdo, and Talvi, have felicitously labeled this term, 2002, pp. 3-4

The Impact Of Organisational Structures

The Impact Of Organisational Structures This section discusses the influence and the impact that organizational and departmental structure and culture has generally and with special reference on the team working in the Haiti. The discussion covers first the overall structure of the Oxfam which is followed by the organization of the Oxfam team at Haiti for carrying out charitable work. The Oxfam has the Council as the governing body that meets seven times a year (International, 2010). It is made up of between 10 and 12 unpaid Trustees and is ultimately accountable for the overall management of Oxfam. Then there is the post of Director who is the Chief Executive and is responsible to the Trustees for the management of Oxfam. Then there are six Deputy Directors each is responsible for a Division. The Deputy Director of the Marketing Division is responsible for fundraising, communications and campaigns. The deputy Director International is responsible for developing and implementing Oxfams programmes in over 70 countries. The Deputy Director Trading is responsible for shops and recycling in Britain and the Fair Trade operations. The Deputy Director Finance and Information Systems is responsible for finance and IS throughout the organization. The deputy Director Corporate Human Resources is responsible for advising other divisions on Human Resource matters. The deputy Director Campaigns and Policy is responsible for advocating policies to promoting lasting change. Then each division has HR and Finance teams responsible for those matters. Oxfam is a charitable organization whose aim is to work with others to overcome poverty and suffering throughout the world. Its mission is to work directly for humanitarian relief to those hit by war, natural disasters or poverty. It also campaigns on behalf of poor people around the world who face issues such as debt, trade and the right to education. Its presence in the United Kingdom (UK) is visible through its charity shops run by volunteers, Page 5/17 selling donated items and handicrafts from overseas. Since it is a charitable organization, it has about 22,000 volunteer workers in over 800 Oxfam shops. The managers at these shops are given more authority to look into the needs of the local people where they are operating. The operations of these shops mostly include selling of books and music (International, 2010). Performances Dividing work -Vertical structure -Horizontal structure Structure Coordinating work Elements of Components Organisation Culture Types Figure showing structural and cultural elements of organization Page 6/17 Planning the work activities of the team, to ensure their commitment is gained. The biggest challenge for the team working in the Haiti was race with time to save the lives of the people. It is stated that it was a situation in which thousands of people were covered by the debris of the building; another thousands of people were dead which the figure has confirmed now to be more than two hundred thousands of people were killed; and millions of people became homeless (International, 2010). On top of that the communication system was substantially destroyed by the earthquake. Under such circumstances the planning activities of the Oxfam team demanded high challenge for those who carried out the humanitarian work with full devotion. The team was drawn upon the volunteers who were ready to sacrifice their comfortable life in order to carry out the charitable work in the harsh and challenging circumstances. One of the challenges of the team was to co-ordinate with the other governmental and non-governmental organization so that proper contribution was to be made in t he area. Then the other challenge was for the operational team which had to distribute the food and drinking water in the area where there were no communication. It is stated that the planning work element of the team ensures that the task of the team is carried out in a coherent manner. It discusses the tasks are divided, supervised and coordinated. The object of structure is to give clear idea what the people are going to do as forming part of the organization. This is often they know it when they join the organization. They know what is expected of them and the skills which are to be used by them for contributing the overall aim of the organization but the team working at Haiti had unprecedented challenges. The Oxfam team has effectively responded to the earthquake at Haiti. This is the biggest earthquake in the last 200 years at the Haiti. The Oxfam has responded quickly and effectively to help the victims of the earthquake. It has provided so far 60 tons of emergency supplies a nd equipment. This includes clean water, buckets, water treatment kids, and shelter and sanitation tools in the area. We have successfully operated in seven sites. Page 7/17 This means we have approached with our help and support to almost 85,000 people. It is planning to expand our network to 110,000 people (International, 2010). There were number of challenging tasks which were assigned to the operational team at the Haiti. One of the tasks has been to provide clean and safe water. The problem arises when water gets contaminated because of the virus in the atmosphere which has spread due to large number of deaths of people whose bodies were decomposed on the ground. Moreover, there were no infra structures for people to keep the water safe. The Oxfam has also launched a programme called cash for work so as to get hand of local people with the overall object of providing facilities to the people. The main task of this operation is to build our capacity so that we can help three millions of people who are in desperate need of assistance. The Oxfam is working to provide for the basic needs of these people. These include provision of clean water and latrines. The Oxfam team is also working on the long term projects of the disaster hit people. Its marketing team is campaigning for the cancellation of internationa l debts on Haiti. The Haiti owes $891 million in debts (International, 2010). These amounts include those loans which were taken by the Government prior to the earthquake for its developmental projects. Since almost everything is destroyed in the city, we are trying to persuade donors to cancel the debts. To this end, the Team contacting to the Head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Dominique Straus-Kahn to exert pressure so that the loans should be cancelled. It is stated that the IMF has offered  £100m loan to the Haiti for building infrastructure and other developmental activities. Our analysis reveal that owing to the huge destruction of the area combined with the fact that Haiti is one of the poorest countries in the world; it will be sending tens of millions of dollars to the IMF and other international donors for paying off loan instalments. This will be huge burden on the poor country (International, 2010). Page 8/17 Providing opportunities to meet the identified developmental needs of the team and individuals working within the team. This section of the report discusses about the provision of opportunities to meet the identified developmental needs of the team and individuals working within the team. The report covers the overall developmental needs of the team in terms of the control and the individual developments in terms of his skills and progression in the company. It is stated that when the operations of an organization grow then it needs to divide the work vertically (Boddy, 2005). This means there needs to be more and more delegation to allow for those who are working at lower level to cater for the needs of their specific circumstances (Templar, 2004). It is also pointed out that with the growth of the business the hierarchy becomes more complex but even then there are three levels that always exist. These levels are corporate divisional and operating (International, 2010). The corporate activities in the Oxfam are the Board of Trustees. This is the most senior group which is responsible for managing the overall direction of the organization. This includes not only guiding and monitoring the performance of subordinate levels of the organization but also maintain links with significant external institutions such as banks and political bodies. The other level of the Oxfam is the divisional. There are broadly six divisions which are responsible to the Director who is also the chief executive. These divisions are headed by deputy Director. This is responsible for implementing broad areas of policy and for securing and allocating budgets and other resources. The Finance department which is headed by the deputy Director in the Oxfam is responsible for working on fund raising and collecting donations (see appendix about how to donate for Haiti earthquake victims). Then there comes an operational level. This level is responsible for doing the technical work of the organization. This includes in case of the Oxfam implementing the policy in practice such as supplying food, water and sanitary services to the earthquake victims in the Haiti. Page 9/17 So, the key issue that arises in establishing what decisions should be taken at each level of the organization. It will be considered to be centralization when those at the top make most of the decisions. In such circumstances the management at the divisional level ensures that the decisions of the Trustees are implemented by those working at the operational levels. On the other hand, if the system is based upon decentralized organization then there is clear demarcation of the span of authority for making decisions according to their specific needs. However, these decisions are taken in consonance with the broad policy of the organization. The operational work at the Haiti was carried out by the team which was given more power to decide the operational aspect of the relief services. It set units in the Haiti in co-ordination with other governmental and non-governmental organizations so that it can carry out overall co-ordin ated work with all charitable work carried out in the area. This enabled the team to focus on those areas where it undertook its responsibility to look after the particular section of the people. It operated at eleven units initially which covered almost 86,000 people. Then the relief operations were extended towards more people the figure which was raised up to 110,000 (International, 2010). It is stated that the Oxfam motivated local people at Haiti to work either voluntarily or to work for money (Templar, The Rules of Work A Definitive Guide to Personal Success , 2002). The members of the Oxfam team provided short training to the local people regarding their motivation to work. The motivation was either to appeal their humanitarian mind or to provide them money so that the aid can be provided to all the people. The team members consulted with the local workers regarding how the humanitarian aid could be distributed effectively. The rewards for this work were both psychological as well as financial (Owen, 2009). It was psychological because the nature of work appealed humanity which is part of value structure of our human beings. It also produced monitory benefits for the team. The team members were also taken on board by asking them to make proposals for Page 10/17 carrying out these services effectively. It was according to the flat tall and flat charts of the organi zational developments. The figure below describes how individuals can develop itself in an organization which either follows the tall structure of the organization or the flat structure (Owen, 2009). A tall structure, with narrow spans of supervision A flat structure, with wide spans of supervision Figure showing Tall and flat organization structures The structure of the organization is key indicator of the development of the members of the team. Page 11/17 Involving the Team in fairly and objectively assessing work activity progress against task performance objectives and individual developmental objectives. The managements use teams as a way of organizing work for the purposes of more flexibility, lower costs and faster response (Cole, 2009). This technique is applied by the Oxfam in its operations at Haiti. This is because the task at Haiti needs more powers to make decisions on the ground. There is also involvement of humanitarian issue involved in the operations which needs decisions to be made on the spot. This technique is also applied by other organizations such as Johnsons or Philips with the same object of getting flexible and lower costs and faster responses. In such structure the team is drawn from various divisions which are given authority to decide the view of their individual division (Owen, How to Manage: The Art of Making Things Happen , 2009). The members of the team are mutually accountable for results. They are sometimes called self-managing teams to emphasise the relative absence of hierarchical relationships. But there are also many potential disadvantages such as t endency to take on their own purpose and to spend time in debate rather than action. It is stated that the Oxfam has joined hands with fourteen other organization in its common cause of helping out the sufferings of the people of Haiti (International, 2010). It is stated that this is also growing practice of the organizations to remain independent but agree to work together to deliver product or services (Bacal, 2004). It happens when managers of the organizations arrange for other companies to undertake certain activities on their behalf, usually those that they do not use as being core to the business. The remaining organization concentrates on setting strategy direction and managing the core units. There has also practice in the business world in which the managers sell one of their services to another company, but still deliver the service to customers under their own name (Stettinius, 2007). The humanitarian work at Haiti needs to be coordinated to achieve the intended results without it wills there be confusion and poor performance. The direct supervision is provided where a manager ensures coordination by directly supervising his Page 12/17 or her staff to ensure they work together in line with company policy. The differences in t his situation lie in the idea of the span of control and the number of people whom a manager can effectively supervise directly. It is also stated that the rules of business provide hierarchy of command if the problem arises in terms of any kind of dispute between the members of the team. In such circumstances, the dispute is taken to the common boss in the hierarchy. It is the bosss responsibility to reach a solution (Maginn, 2004). The Oxfam team also make sure that what goes into the system and what managers expect it to produce are standardised. So, if the operational cost of one unit Haiti can be minimized by involving people by requesting them to become volunteers can be obtained then those savings can be used for obtaining more aid in terms of water and other things can be obtained. The team makes sure that the suppliers meet the specification and coordination between those who use the parts will be easier. The other method applied for ensuring effective team work is the rule s and procedures are prepared or guidelines are published on how to perform the work (Burns, 1978). As discussed above this technique at Haiti is hardly applied where lot of local workers are volunteers and the demand of the supply of humanitarian aid is really high. Finally, the technique of keeping up-to-date information systems help to co-ordinate effectively from team level management to the top level management and vice versa. Information systems help to ensure that people who need to work in a consistent way have common information about what is happening (Edwards, 2006). The communication between the management of the Oxfam is carried out by telephonic system as much of communication systems are already damaged. There is also personal contact methods applied to communicate between the team members operating at Haiti (Edwards, 2006). Page 13/17 Modify plans to ensure that performance objectives are met. This section of the report discusses the circumstances in which the plans may be modified in order to achieve the performance objectives (Egerton, 2007). The performance objectives of the operation at Haiti were to carry out relief services in co-ordination with other governmental and non-governmental organizations. It was observed that there was challenge of race with the time to save the lives of the people. There was need of trained people who could provide health facilities to the people. There were needs of not only food but also shelter and medicines. Some of the organizations were carrying out the relief activities by providing tents. Some of them carried out medical and health services to the affected people (International, 2010). In such circumstances the Oxfam team needed to work on those areas in which either the relief operations were not reached or there were inadequate provision of the services in such areas. By analysing the ground realities the plans were modified and the operations of the Oxfam were focused on providing safe water and sanitary services. The Oxfam identified that the inadequate provision of relief services to address sanitary issues resulted in spread of viral diseases. So, the Oxfam team set 11 units initially which provided safe drinking water and sanitary services spread in the area which benefited population of about 86,000 people. The network of the services was then further spread to cover more than hundred thousand people in the area. So, the plans were modified after observing the ground realities. But this didnt mean that the overall objective of the Oxfam was sacrificed. Another feature of the operations was to build pressures on the international donors to provide non-returnable loan rather than giving Haiti loan for restructuring which will be paid by it over the years. This aspect was carried out by taking into account the factual position that Haiti is one of the poorest countries in the world. Its economy is not d eveloped enough to pay back loan which will be used for saving life of people or providing them basic necessities of the life such as food and shelter (International, 2010). Page 14/17 Conclusion The report has taken into account the operational and organizational work of the Oxfam which is charitable organization. The report has focussed upon the current operations of the Oxfam at Haiti. The report discusses the practical aspects of the charitable operation at Haiti by linking it with the theory. It is revealed that organizational activities of the Oxfam were team based work that allowed convenience to carry out the relief operations. It discussed the motivational factors of the team and the influence of organizational culture on its workers. It was found that the Oxfam being itself a charitable organization with thousands of people working as volunteers the motivation of its workers was to carry out the relief work with high motivation. The Oxfam has culture of helping people as the motivating factor itself. Every member of the team is focussed upon high standard of providing humanitarian services to the people suffering from poverty, war or natural calamities. The discussi on also covered the relief activities carried out by the team by employing local workers. It also covered the circumstances in which the plans were modified in order to cope up with the practical aspects faced by the team operating at Haiti. The report with its main focus on highlighting the organization plan and management of the Oxfam at Haiti also sensitizes the humanitarian work carried out by the Oxfam for Haiti earthquake victims. Recommendations The report recommends that when charitable organizations perform relief operations they need more autonomy to operate in the area. This is because as discussion revealed that they know the ground realities because they are operating on the ground under circumstances which involve not only financial aspect but also humanitarian aspect. Although there is successful operation carried out by the Oxfam team at Haiti yet the organizational structure of the Oxfam which is mix of functional and hierarchical needs more decentralization of authority. This will not only serve as an effective motivation for the workers operating in the field but also achieve the overall objective of the charitable organization such as the Oxfam. Page 15/17 Appendices The information about how to donate for Haiti earthquake victims is available at http://www.oxfam.org/en/haitidonate .

The Other Fort Knox :: Personal Narrative Papers

The Other Fort Knox The first Wednesday in July found me crammed into a fourteen-passenger van with enough adolescents to fill it to capacity. Actually, it was only four girls and three boys, plus the three other leaders, but stuffed in the very back with three smelly boys – Jonathan, Andrew, and Aaron – it seemed like the van was about to burst. They could have had more room if they had chosen to spread out, but then they would have been forced to occupy seats adjacent to girls, a horrible situation for any ten year old boy. We were headed to Bucksport, Maine, a two-hour trip from my house, to tour and explore Fort Knox. It is probably not the Fort Knox that one immediately thinks of; there are actually two Fort Knox’s in the United States. James Bond was never at this Fort Knox, nor was any gold. Just in case, though, I told the boys that I would give my car to anyone who found gold. This would have been a threat to person over the age of eighteen, but their eyes got quite large at the prospect of winning something that had four tires. This Fort Knox was built for protecting the independence newly won from the British in the mid nineteenth century. Located at the mouth of the Penobscot River, Fort Knox is a heavily fortified defensive point. The fort boasts of remarkable engineering and a fascinating labyrinth of passageways. With thirty foot high walls of huge granite blocks, and cannons that could fire a four hundred and fifty pound ball a distance of three miles, Fort Knox would have been a brutal foe for the British navy. When we arrived, two of the group leaders, Sarah and Josh, went to go set up lunch, while my wife, Mary Ella, and I took the kids on a brief pre-tour. Since it was only half an hour before lunch, we decided to go down to explore one of the batteries. A battery is a small point outside the fort for artillery. Fort Knox is on a large hill overlooking the mouth of the river. At Fort Knox, there are two batteries located a little way down the hill from the fort. This allows the fort to fire on an enemy from multiple locations, and it allows for more artillery than the fort alone could hold.