Business Letter to the Editor for Western Herald Essay

Overview: With the previous unit, we explored personal writing suitable for academic audiences by reading scholarship from monographic texts and academic journals. For this unit, we’ll shift our emphasis to public writing that is also suitable for academic audiences. While we’ll plan to read academic scholarship, we’ll also explore different genres for which academic texts are suitable, including editorial publications. More specifically, we’ll look at opinions and letters to the editor published by the Western Herald. As we plan to work specifically with the letter to the editor genre, we’ll pay close attention to how argumentation styles, uses of evidence, and consultation of sources differs when writing a scholarly autobiographical academic essay. To prepare for the composition of editorials, we’ll read sample letters to the editors, and arguments pertaining to cultural diversity. The Task Your task will be to compose a letter to the editor that is suitable for publication in Western Herald. For this letter, you will select an issue that you are passionate about on Western’s Campus or the surrounding Kalamazoo area. Your letter should respond to the following questions: What specific issue matters most to me right now? Why should this issue matter to readers of Western Herald? To complete this assignment, you’ll first want to become familiar with the  editorial requirements for submitting letters to Western Herald. These requirements can be found on http://www.westernherald.com/letter-to-the-editor/ Next, you’ll want to read a few letters to the editor published by Western Herlad to get a sense of the stylistics conventions and argumentation strategies authors used to compose these editorials. Finally, you’ll consult course texts that discuss multiculturalism and diversity. You’ll also plan to locate, evaluate, and consult additional editorials and academic essays that address issues of linguistic diversity. In essence, you’ll need to reference sufficient and appropriate evidence necessary for persuading readers of your argument.

Muscle Milk Essay

Father and son; Mike and Greg Pickett, Founded Cytosport Inc. in 1988. The product with good taste targets bodybuilders and athletes. Muscle Milk is not only designed with athletes or body builders in mind, but can be beneficiary to a wide range of individuals seeking to be stronger, healthier, leaner, livelier or bigger. CytoSport just obtained its NSF Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) for Sport Registration, showing credibility that it does not contain any substances on the banned list recognized by the World Anti-Doping Agency, the National Football League, Major League Baseball, etc. (Bloomberg Business Week, 2008). Unlike other companies, Cytosport condemns the use of performance enhancing drugs, and through its efforts with IOC, NFL, and NCAA, will never include chemicals like steroids amongst their ingredients (article Base 2010). CytoSport, one of the company’s best selling products, Muscle Milk, is designed to provide nutrients that will naturally build up bodily tissue. Muscle Milk has several extension brand, including powder products, pre-blends products and power bars. Muscle Milk RTD (Ready to Drink) which comes in five delicious flavors : Chocolate shake, Vanilla creme shake, Strawberry and creme, Banana creme shake, Chocolate malt. Every bottle contains 25g of premium proteins for sustained energy including, Calcium and Sodium Caseinate, and Milk Protein Isolate (Cytosport 2010). The 14 oz. serving of Muscle Milk is gluten and lactose free and contains precisely 25 grams of protein to sustain energy, carbohydrates and functional fats for energy metabolism, and all essential amino acids in 20 vitamins and minerals. Combining science with performance Muscle Milk allows for rapid muscle growth, high energy, and increased metabolism of fat. The creators of Muscle Milk listen to the needs of their consumers and offer a variety of options for their product, such as Muscle Milk Light, their low calorie blend, or Muscle Milk Naturals which omits the use of artificial sweeteners (all business 2008). Competitive review, Muscle Milk is currently the leader in RTD protein shakes (Bloomberg Business week 2008). However there is a quickly rising competitor named Isopure, although at the moment it has not yet had as much sales as people who have been in the market for a while they have a formula which provides them with 100% all isolated natural protein (All Business 2008). In All business week article explains the distribution review, the product can be found at stores such as GNC, 7 Eleven, Costco, Vitamin Shoppe, and Fitness First Gyms. It is also available in several popular online sites such as bodybuilding. com, prosource. net, keysupplements. com and several others. Partnered with Pepsi Beverages Co. to distribute the RTD line of Muscle Milk and Muscle Milk Light in its territories in the US and Canada. The strengths of the company are since, Established in 1998 Cytosport has valuable sales experience in performance enhancing market. Our brand name is very well liked and recognized by bodybuilders and partners alike and is already being marketed via sports teams such as the Yahoo cycling team and the Under Armour Football Combines. There are over $200 million in sales within the last accounting period (Article base 2010). It has the financial resources to study the market trends; thereby, plan for the future, train sales personnel and to effectively market the brand. There are several weakness of our product, Brand recognition, even though Cytosport is an established and renown by the gym population, the general public still doesn’t know of their products. Some people may experience diarrhea, abdominal cramps and nausea after the consumption of Muscle Milk (Livestrong 2010). Some of the opportunities of our product; we are currently proud to be supporting 24 colleges by improving over 125 athletic programs. We do this by providing our Muscle Milk line of products to assist in their strength training (livestrong 2010). In March, CytoSport introduced Muscle Milk Protein H2O in GNC stores and Costco, two of their biggest partners. The Protein H20 comes in a variety of fruit flavors including Grape, Grapefruit, Orange and Raspberry. The product contains 60 calories and is sugar-free. In today’s gym obsessed world, Cytosport is utilizing this is an opportunity to promote muscle milk, thus increase its market share, whilst creating value for the customers. Unfortunately there are several threats, Nestle USA is currently suing Muscle Milk saying that they do not have any actual milk in their product and that is â€Å"eceptively misdescriptive† (All Business 2008). A third party medical group may come out with research indicating that this type of product is unhealthy (all Business 2008). There are also over fifty other competitors in this Market including CNP professional Proslam, Strength Systems USA Muscle Blast, and AllMax Nutrition ISOFLEX. Pepsi Co might start their own line of product if they see this as a good revenue line That can also be a threat. Future FDA regulations on the product may cause us to cease operations. SO Strategy, we use strengths to take advantage of opportunities Use of their efficient R&D team to develop new products quickly to respond to new distribution channels demands. We also use of experience and knowledge to create and address the specific needs of new segments of the market. Ex. Female athletes and children. WO Strategy, overcoming weaknesses by taking advantage of opportunities. Gaining brand recognition through the partnership with Pepsi Beverage Co. also improving their logistics specifically their product distribution. ST Strategy, use of strengths to avoid threats. Using the experience and product knowledge to successfully compete with any new competition entering the market. These are the TOWS analysis building strategies. Brand Positioning strategy, We currently have a benefits positioning strategy. Our product gives consumers a better way to quickly recuperate after a tough workout. For example, while working out, drinking muscle milk helps promote nutrients in your body to gain energy. Another benefit for the consumers are since we target mainly body builders, They have to maintain a healthy diet to stay in good shape, muscle milk have all the proteins and vitamins for the body needs, and consumers can replace their meal by drinking muscle milk. Product Branding strategy, Muscle Milk is a co-brand product with Cytosport. Both companies work together to make this product the best for our consumers. Line Extensions, we have already made several changes to the formula to create a variety of RTD protein shakes such as Muscle Milk light and diet Muscle Milk. For the pricing strategy, we reviewed the category performance and competitive items using Safeway SmartTraks, risk reports and the bump chart to show the price sensitivity for Muscle Milk and the competitive items. We then provided Safeway with an in depth data analysis which included a price market survey for all nine Safeway divisions versus the competi- tion for the entire category to allow them to evaluate and consider a strategy change for sports nutrition in their stores on a national basis. Our strategy was to move Muscle Milk from a high-low promotional program to an everyday low cost program. In order to do this, we needed to approach CytoSport to present our findings and see if they would be interested in providing funding based on our analysis that at a lower retail price, they would see an increase in product move- ment. This process also involved providing Safeway with projections to show them that the increased unit and dollar sales at a reduced retail price would increase their overall adjusted gross margins. With the VP of Sales at CytoSport we successfully developed and presented a plan to Safeway where CytoSport would provide the incremental funding and Safeway would reduce their margins in order to bring Muscle Milk’s retail price down. The Distribution strategy, we will reduce the cost of production, transportation and other costs associated in the process by creating a partnership with Pepsi. On the Marketing communication strategy, we used Shaq as an advertisement and created a limited edition bottle. Goal of this strategy: Muscle Milk is not only a good source for protein for your workouts, it can now make you feel like Shaquille O’Neal. We plan on using this strategy in the future with other athletes such as Brandon Roy, Ryan Hall, and etc. (Promo Magazine 2009). Since college sports are very popular we started creating limited-edition bottles themed after some of the most famous college football teams such as Georgia Tech, University of Miami, UCLA and etc. For example in UCLA wee created a bottle just for the theme of their football team using the colors of their school which are gold and blue. The 7,500 bottles produced are expected to be on shelves in November (Promo Magazines 2009). Creating value, We plan on improving our website so that we have a premium buyers page where you can get your product shipped faster the more you buy. Our partnership with Pepsi Co. makes this possible. These preferred will also be receiving special offers, such as if they pay their account balances within 15 days they get a 2% discount. Value proposition, Cytosport will provide quality product to its customers at low prices, Establish good customer relationship and loyalty, In turn maintain and/or increase the market share, and satisfying consumer needs with superior quality products, efficacy and reliability. Reference Quiton. B. (2009). Muscle Milk Energizer with Shaq. Promo Magazine, retrieved from http://promomagazine. com/news/muscle-milk-energizes-shaq-0114/ Odell. P. (2010). Muscle milk Debut college Theme bottles. Promo Magazine, retrieved from http://promomagazine. com/news/muscle-milk-debuts-bottles-0928/ All Business (2008). Retrieved from http://www. allbusiness. com/marketing-advertising/marketing-techniques/12590370-1. html Bloomberg Business Week (2008). Retrieved from http://investing. businessweek. com/research/stocks/private/snapshot. asp? privcapId=6925027 Livestrong (2010). Retrieved from http://www. livestrong. com/article/123243-side-effects-muscle-milk/ CytoSport (2010). Retrieved from http://www. cytosport. com/.

Leading and Developing a Work Team

UNIT 9 LEADING AND DEVELOPING A WORK TEAM Distinguish between management and leadership and assess the implications of each on effective team performance. Managers depend on their people. They cannot do without their wholehearted commitment and support. But gaining that support, motivating and engaging them and ensuring that they know what they are expected to do and how to do it is down to managers and it is a difficult task.This book How to Manage People of Michael Armstrong 2008 is designed to make it easier by going into the main actions that managers have to carry out to get things done through people, namely: managing effectively overall, leading, motivating, team building, delegating, interviewing, managing performance, developing and rewarding people, managing change and handling people problems. As a manager you are there to get things done through people. You are engaged in a purposeful activity involving others.But you are concerned with defining ends as well as gaining th em. You decide what to do and then ensure that it gets done with the help of the members of your team. You deal with programs, processes, events and eventualities. All this is done through the exercise of leadership. People are the most important resource available to you as a manager. It is through this resource that other resources are managed. However, you are ultimately accountable for the management of all resources, including your own.When dealing with immediate issues, anticipating problems, responding to demands or even a crisis, and developing new ways of doing things, you are personally involved. You manage yourself as well as other people. You cannot delegate everything. You frequently have to rely on your own resources to get things done. These resources include skill, know-how, competencies, time, and reserves of resilience and determination. You will get support, advice and assistance from your own staff and specialists, including human resources, but in the last analy sis you are on your own.It is important to examine particular aspects of managing people, such as leadership, organizing and motivation including teamwork. There is a need to exercise your people management responsibilities effectively. It starts with an overall look at the criteria for managerial effectiveness. This is followed by a review of the attributes of effective managers. The rest of the chapter deals with a number of the key aspects of management. As a manager and a leader you will be judged not only on the results you have achieved but the level of competence you have attained and applied in getting those results.Competence is about knowledge and skills – what people need to know and be able to do to carry out their work well. You will also be judged on how you do your work – how you behave in using your knowledge and skills. These are often described as ‘behavioral competencies’ and can be defined as those aspects of behavior that lead to effec tive performance. They refer to the personal characteristics that people bring to their work roles in such areas as leadership, team working, flexibility and communication.As a manager of people your role is to ensure that the members of your team give of their best to achieve a desired result. In other words you are a leader – you set the direction and ensure that people follow you. It is necessary to distinguish between management and leadership: Management is concerned with achieving results by obtaining, deploying, using and controlling all the resources required, namely people, money, facilities, plant and equipment, information and knowledge.Leadership focuses on the most important resource, people. It is the process of developing and communicating a vision for the future, motivating people and gaining their engagement. The distinction is important. Management is mainly about the provision, utilization and control of resources. But where people are involved it is imposs ible to deliver results without providing effective leadership.Describe the processes of team formation, and evaluate strategies for encouraging team formation and development One of your most important roles as a manager is to act as a team builder – developing and making the best use of the capacity of your team so that its members jointly deliver superior levels of performance. Team building takes place when you clarify the team’s purpose and goals, ensure that its members work well together, strengthen the team’s collective skills, enhance commitment and confidence, remove externally imposed obstacles and create opportunities for team members to develop their skills and competencies.A team is a group of people with complementary skills who work together to achieve a common purpose. Their team leader sets the direction, provides guidance and support, coordinates the team’s activities, ensures that each team member plays his or her part, promotes the le arning and development of team members, consults with the team on issues affecting its work and, in conjunction with team members, monitors and reviews team performance.However, some organizations have developed the concept of self-managing teams which are largely autonomous, responsible to a considerable degree for planning and scheduling work, problem solving, developing their own key performance indicators and setting and monitoring team performance and quality standards. The role of their team leaders is primarily to act as coordinators and facilitators; their style is expected to be more supportive and facilitative than directive.An effective team is likely to be one in which its purpose is clear and its members feel the task is important, both to them and to the organization. The structure, leadership and methods of operation are relevant to the requirements of the task. Team members will be highly engaged in the work they do together and committed to the whole group task. The y will have been grouped together in a way that means they are related to one another through the requirements of task performance and task interdependence.The team will use discretionary effort – going the extra mile – to ensure that its work gets done. The main features of well-functioning teams as described by Douglas McGregor (1960) are that the atmosphere tends to be informal, comfortable and relaxed; team members listen to each other; most decisions are reached by consensus; when action is taken, clear assignments are made and accepted, and team leaders do not dominate their teams – the issue is not who controls but how to get the work done.The performance of teams should be assessed in terms of their output and results and the quality of team processes that have contributed to those results. Output criteria include the achievement of team goals, customer satisfaction and the quantity and quality of work. Process measures comprise participation, collaborat ion and collective effort, conflict resolution, joint decision making, planning and goal setting, interpersonal relations, interdependence and adaptability and flexibility.How you and your team apply these criteria will be related to the following factors that affect team performance: the clarity of the team’s goals in terms of expectations and priorities; how work is allocated to the team; how the team is working its processes in terms of cohesion, ability to handle internal conflict and pressure, relationships with other teams; the extent to which the team is capable of managing itself – setting goals and priorities, monitoring performance; the quality of leadership – even self-managed teams need a sense of direction which they cannot necessarily generate by themselves; the level and range of skills possessed by individual team members; the extent to which team members work flexibly, taking advantage of the multi-skilling capabilities of its members; the syste ms and resources support available to the team.Good support to your team-building efforts will be provided if you conduct regular team performance review meetings to assess feedback and control information on their joint achievements against objectives and to discuss any issues concerning team work. The agenda for such meetings could be as follows: general feedback review of the progress of the team as a whole and problems encountered by the team which have caused difficulties or hampered progress, and helps and hindrances to the operation of the team. Work reviews of how well the team has functioned. The group problem solving, including an analysis of reasons for any shortfalls or other problems and agreement of what needs to be done to solve them and prevent their re-occurrence.Update objectives – review of new requirements, opportunities or threats and the amendment of objectives as required. Evaluate the stages of development of their work group as a team and select and e mploy strategies to improve and develop team working. One of your most important, if not the most important, responsibilities as a manager is to ensure that the members of your team achieve high levels of performance. You have to ensure that they understand what you expect from them, that you and they work together to review performance against those expectations and that you jointly agree what needs to be done to develop knowledge and skills and, here necessary, improve performance. Your organization may well have a performance management system which provides guidance on how this should be done but ultimately it is up to the manager. You are the person on the spot. Performance management systems only work if managers want them to work and are capable of making them work. You have to believe that your time is well spent in the process of managing performance as described in the first part of this chapter. You need to know about performance planning (agreeing what has to be done), m anaging performance throughout the year and conducting formal performance reviews as covered in the next three parts.You should have no problems in appreciating the importance of the first two activities. It is the third activity – performance reviews – managers often find hard to accept as necessary and even more difficult to do well. The process of managing performance is based on two simple propositions. First, people are most likely to perform well when they know and understand what is expected of them and have taken part in defining these expectations. In other words, if you know where you are going you are more likely to get there. Second, the ability to meet these expectations depends on the levels of knowledge, skill, competency and motivation of individuals and the leadership and support they receive from their managers.As a manager or team leader you need skilled, knowledgeable and competent people in your department or team. You may appoint able people from within and outside the organization but most of them will still have a lot to learn about their jobs. And to improve your team members’ performance you must not only ensure that they learn the basic skills they need but also that they develop those skills to enable them to perform even better when faced with new demands and challenges. Most learning happens at the place of work, although it can be supplemented by such activities as e-learning (the delivery of learning opportunities and support via computer, networked and web-based technology) and formal ‘off-the-job’ training courses.It is your job to ensure that favorable conditions for learning ‘on the job’ exist generally in your area as well as taking steps to help individuals develop. To do this job well you need to know about: the conditions that enable effective learning to take place; the importance of ‘self-managed learning’, i. e. individuals taking control of their own learnin g; the contribution of formal learning; the advantages and disadvantages of informal learning and development approaches; how you can contribute to promoting learning and development in your department or team; the use of such learning and development aids as coaching, mentoring, learning contracts and personal development plans; how to instruct people in specific tasks should the need arise. Set standards and targets and review performance.Managing performance is about getting people into action so that they achieve planned and agreed results. It focuses on what has to be done, how it should be done and what is to be achieved. But it is equally concerned with developing people – helping them to learn – and providing them with the support they need to do well, now and in the future. The framework for performance management is provided by the performance agreement, which is the outcome of performance planning. The agreement provides the basis for managing performance th roughout the year and for guiding improvement and development activities. It is used as a reference point when reviewing performance and the achievement of improvement and development plans.You should treat your responsibility for managing performance as an integral part of the continuing process of management. This is based on a philosophy which emphasizes: the achievement of sustained improvements in performance; the continuous development of skills and capabilities; that the organization is a ‘learning organization’ in the sense that it is constantly developing and applying the learning gained from experience and the analysis of the factors that have produced high levels of performance. You should therefore be ready, willing and able to monitor performance and define and meet development and improvement needs as they arise. As far as practicable, learning and work should be integrated.This means that encouragement should be given to your team members to learn from th e successes, challenges and problems inherent in their day-to-day work. You should carry out the process of monitoring performance by reference to agreed objectives and to work, development and improvement plans. You have to decide how tightly you monitor on the basis of your understanding of the capacity of individuals to do the work. Identify own leadership style and skills, and assess own effectiveness in leading and developing the team and its performance. Self-managed learning style involves encouraging individuals to take responsibility for their own learning needs.The aim is to encourage ‘discretionary learning’, which happens when individuals actively seek to acquire the knowledge and skills required to perform well. It is based on processes of recording achievement and action planning, which involves individuals reviewing what they have learned, what they have achieved, what their goals are, how they are going to achieve those goals and what new learning they n eed to acquire. The learning program can be ‘self-paced’ in the sense that learners can decide for themselves, up to a point, the rate at which they work and are encouraged to measure their own progress and adjust the program accordingly. Self-directed learning is based on the principle that people learn and retain more if they find things out for themselves.But they still need to be given guidance on what to look for and help in finding it. Learners have to be encouraged to define, with whatever help they may require, what they need to know to perform their job effectively. They need to be provided with guidance on where they can get the material or information that will help them to learn and how to make good use of it. Personal development plans as described later in this chapter can provide a framework for this process. People also need support from their manager and the organization, with the provision of coaching, mentoring and learning facilities, including e-lea rning. The leadership style I would apply is the combination of a Transformational and Transactional Leader.As a leader I can be both arouse emotions of my followers which motivates them to act beyond the framework of what may be described as exchange relations at the same time be aware of the link between the effort and reward. I can be proactive and form new expectation and be responsive from the basic orientation in dealing with present issues. Transformational leaders are distinguished by their capacity to inspire and provide individualized consideration, intellectual stimulation and idealized influence to their followers while transactional leaders rely on standard forms of inducement, reward, punishment and sanction to control followers. Leaders create learning opportunities for their followers and stimulate followers to solve problems at the same time they can motivate followers by setting goals and promising rewards for desired performance.A trait that a leader should posses s good visioning, rhetorical and management skills, to develop strong emotional bonds with followers and depends on the leader’s power to reinforce subordinates for their successful completion of the bargain. Lastly, leaders motivate followers to work for goals that go beyond self-interest.REFERENCES: http://www. ehow. com/how_5485211_evaluate-team- performance. html#ixzz1sqUbPZyH accessed on July 18, 2012 How to Manage People. Michael Armstrong 2008 accessed on July 24, 2012 How to Evaluate Team Performance | eHow. com accessed on August 3, 2012 http://www. ehow. com/how_5485211_evaluate-team-performance. html#ixzz1sqUbPZyH accessed on August 10, 2012

Air Transport Management and Operations Dissertation

Air Transport Management and Operations - Dissertation Example Airline industry profitability leans towards the elusive, and a need exists for rapid restructuring to retain the competitive advantage. Operational management of air transport operations now confronts new challenges because competition, increased fuel prices, security threats, recessionary and inflationary pressures, requirements for integrating well in the global transport system and employee union expectations present substantial pressures to deliver service excellence economically without compromising on safety or security. This dissertation presents a discussion about air transport management and operations in the new age. Declaration I certify that, except where cited in the text, this work is the result of research carried out by the author of this study. _____________________________________________ Name and Signature of Author January 2011 This write - up is for a dissertation on Air Transport Management and Operations. ... table accidents by phase of flight 21 Figure 6: Worldwide reportable accidents by occurrence category 21 Figure 7: Worldwide fatal accidents by occurrence category 22 Figure 8: Worldwide fatal accidents by operator region 22 Figure 9: Worldwide jet and turboprop fatal accident rate by type of service 23 Figure 10: Primary causal factor categories for accidents 24 Figure 11: Impact of relational coordination on airline performance 25 Figure 12: Percentage of employees represented by unions at major US airlines 26 Figure 13: Labour conflict at the major US airlines: number of strikes and arbitrations, mediations and releases since 1985 27 Figure 14: Average months required to reach contract agreement at major airlines 28 (This page intentionally left blank) Chapter 1 – Introduction In the present day and age, the most complex transportation systems and the most complex manufactured systems in the world support commercial aviation (Barnhart, 2007, Pp. 1 – 2). The worldâ₠¬â„¢s airlines and air cargo movers are the largest players in national and global air transportation systems, with the aerospace industry providing the planes and aerospace systems that make things happen (Wensveen, 2007, Chapters 1 and 4). Although the military aviation sector presents substantial statistics, general aviation is by far the largest segment of aviation based on the number of aircraft, the number of pilots and the number of airports and communities served (Wensveen, 2007, Pp. 111 – 112). According to Wensveen (2007, Pp. 112), in the year 2007 general aviation presented an industry worth US$ 40 billion, which generated more than US$100 billion in annually. This discussion focuses on the management aspects of air transport operations, with an emphasis on general management, human resource

First-hand experience of developing a market entry and a product Assignment

First-hand experience of developing a market entry and a product launch strategy for an international market - Assignment Example Launching a new effective pharmaceutical drug will take much time due to a long process of clinical trials. Moreover, for any Mexican company it will be difficult to enter the competition with other Latin American and North American pharmaceutical companies on equal positions. So it is possible to concentrate on cosmeceuticals and nutraceuticals, the sectors of pharmaceuticals, which have not been universally recognized yet but are extremely promising. Cosmeceuticals incorporates cosmetics and pharmaceuticals and produces cosmetic products (lotions, creams) with biologically active ingredients, such as anti-oxidants, peptides, enzymes, that can be medically beneficial to humans. There also exist pharmaceutical technology companies, which have special subdivisions specializing in cosmeceuticals. Nutraceuticals is a blend of nutrition and pharmaceutical implying products which give certain therapeutic effect and can potentially aid in diseases treatment or prevention (Kalra 1). Such pr oducts as dietary supplements and functional food are usually referred to nutraceuticals. In Latin America the market of â€Å"healthy ingredients† is developed on the retailer levels. Plants, leaves, roots, seeds are popular among locals as they are perceived as ethnic and natural. Local home-made oils, powders, and extracts from these valuable plants are also demanded due to their easy access and low price (Lajolo 2). The products that would be optimal to launch can be dietary supplements received from local Latin American plants, such as asai, guava, camu-camu and others, which are not recognized in the world but are well-known to the regional consumers (Lajolo 3). All these plants are not examined thoroughly but even preliminary research suggests that they have huge potential. Certain subdivision of pharmaceutical company can arrange scientific research and manufacture of these products. Among the variety of dietary supplements I would advise to dwell on

Sociological Philosophy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5000 words

Sociological Philosophy - Essay Example Plato suggests powers exercised by a ruler are governed by customary and community rules. Decisions are made by the minds of the rulers and their delegates. Humans have some innate knowledge of what is important and good in human life and because of this, we should not be constrained by laws and rules but by what our minds tell us what is right and just in the circumstances. The laws do not expressly provide on how to deal with this specific situation and judgment must then be made on moral principles. Permanent laws are incompatible with changing demographics and technology. Laws must change at the same pace with the rest of society to maintain society's current perspective of justice and righteousness, but time delays in passing laws precludes this. Still now, the public waits for tougher dog laws to be passed on pit bulls and others alike. Even worse, there is no guarantee administration will be efficient. Here, Plato argues, rules fail to meet the differences of time and there is a need for rulers to exercise discretion as it encourages efficiency. Where rules fail to take into account of specific, exceptional cases, Aristotle claims, equity should apply. Judges should correct errors of the law, rising from oversight by the lawmakers, given there are rules to be corrected in the first place. This is therefore, an argument to being ruled by laws. He favours rule by democracy where government by a collective of good men is better than being ruled by an absolute king. Decisions ought to be made by a democratically-elected assembly. Unlike Plato's idea of 'permanence', offices and positions will be rotated; enforcing the idea that everyone is equal and everyone should both rule and be ruled. The practice of using legal precepts to decide disputes was criticized by American Legal Realists as either redundant or pernicious. Disputes, it is said, should be decided justly. Where legal precepts dictate the same outcome as that of justice, and then legal precepts are redundant--acting justly will achieve the same results as following the precept. Where legal precepts recommend a different result than that recommended by justice then following the rules are pernicious. The result is, in the words of Jerome Frank, "injustice is according to law." (Frank, 1936) Most people are of a similar opinion when confronted with what appears to be the "unjust" application of a rule to a particular situation. One assumption underlying this objection is that, because they are formulated before a dispute arises, legal precepts cannot take into account the specific facts of a dispute that may argue in favour of a different "just" result than that recommended by the legal precept. Only after the fact can we know enough about the actual dispute to do real justice between the parties. As Frank argued, The judge, at his best is an arbitrator, a "sound man" who strives to do justice to the parties by exercising a wise discretion with reference to the peculiar circumstances of the case. He does not merely "find" or invent some generalized rule which he "applies" to the facts presented to him. He does "equity" in the sense in which Aristotle--when thinking most clearly--described it. "It is equity," he wrote in his Rhetoric, "to

The Rogerian Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The Rogerian - Research Paper Example After completing the essay, I have acquired a balanced perspective regarding the two positions. The only difficulty I found in the writing of the assignment is reconciling the two views and giving a balanced position without being biased. This was only possible after considering the weaknesses and strengths of the each side. This was difficult because initially, I had my bias. In this assignment, I have enjoyed acting like a judge in trying to take a position that ensures justice to the disputing sides. I also enjoyed the additional knowledge I got from the advocates of both sides. I have also enjoyed learning about the topic because I have an interest in children rights. As I already said, I have an interest in children rights. We have never discussed his topic in another course. However, the topic concerns me as a scholar and as an advocate of children’s rights. No, you are, however, welcome to request any suggestions for improvements. THE ESSAY Terminating Parental Rights T erminating parental rights is a legal action that involves taking away parental right that a person has towards a child or children. In some cases, only one parent may have his or her rights terminated if there is sufficient ground for such an end. Sometimes, the real parents of the child are denied this right, and the child is put under the care of a foster parents. A person whose parental rights have been terminated has no responsibility over a child. Moreover, they do not owe disciplinary actions to that child, or any other form of child support. The termination of parental rights renders the parents or the parent affected to be strangers to the child, and they are not allowed to contact such a child (Dane County Juvenile Court 3). A parent is the best person who can look out for their children naturally and without complains. In fact, courts are extremely reluctant to terminate parental right until they have enough bases to do that because of this natural right. However, it is i nevitable to terminate the rights of a parent to his or her child if it has been proved that he or she is overly abusive to the child. In some cases, a child is better off under the care of different people such as relatives or foster parents (Barone, Weitz and Witt 396). Regardless of the justifications in favour of such an action, this experience can be psychologically damaging to both parties. This is because children and parents have a biological bond that cannot be replaced by placing children under the care of different people. Terminating of parental rights is an activity that has recently escalated in the United States. The act is justified because it has been considered to help vulnerable children hope for quality lives. Terminating parental rights is an activity that takes place voluntarily or involuntarily. Voluntary termination takes place when both parents agree to give up their parental right. This is, for instance, for the sake of adoption. If parents cannot meet the needs of a child and they want the child to be adopted, it is required that they terminate their parental rights in order to give the foster parents full rights and responsibilities over the child (Genty 5). Involuntary termination, however, happens when a parent has subjected the child to some unacceptable conditions such as sexual abuse and child labor (Schmidt 19). It is, however, challenging to separate a child from their parents. Terminating par