ORGANISATION AND BEHAVIOUR Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words

ORGANISATION AND BEHAVIOUR - Essay Example Out of various strategies, and techniques that are used to enhance greater productivity of human capital, motivation is a valuable psychological tool that promote people to be high performers. The first part of the assignment talks about the motivational theory in practice at Tesco, and explains concepts of change and leadership styles in relation to the motivational theory. Tesco is UK’s leading grocery and general merchandising retailer operating through more than 2000 stores in UK alone (Tescoplc.com, 2012). Motivation and Non-financial motives Schermerhorn, Hunt and Osborn (2005) defined motivation as â€Å"forces within an individual that account for the level, direction and persistence of efforts expended at work† (p. 120). An individual can be motivated by a number of different factors such as pay, reward, appreciation, promotion in the work, better working condition and so on. When an individual is motivated by any such method, he is mostly found to work harder and show sincere gratitude towards his job task and thus to be highly productive and be high performer. A company may use various types of non-financial motives such as 1) promotion, 2) safety at work, 3) reward and recognition, 4) better working condition, 5) health support, 6) education for children, 7) friendly atmosphere within the workplace, 8) organizational learning, 9) cooperation and 10) multicultural workplace. Effects of unmotivated workforce ... A company may use various types of non-financial motives such as 1) promotion, 2) safety at work, 3) reward and recognition, 4) better working condition, 5) health support, 6) education for children, 7) friendly atmosphere within the workplace, 8) organizational learning, 9) cooperation and 10) multicultural workplace. Effects of unmotivated workforce Unmotivated workforce will not work harder and therefore they will not be high performers or high productive in the workplace as compared to those who are motivated. Unmotivated workforce will not help the company create a brand loyalty among the customers as they are very likely to make mistakes and this will adversely impact the business. Unmotivated employees are found to show increased absenteeism and high turnover which in turn affecting the quality of business operation. Tesco benefiting from motivated workforce At Tesco, the management is highly concerned about customers as well as staff. The company supports its staff with its s pecially adjusted work and life balance through rewards and recognition. Flexible working, reduced health expenses, membership in gym, competitive salary, staff discount and company’s share options are some of Tesco’s attractive motivation incentives it offered to its people. From these incentives, Tesco has been benefiting to create trust and respect among its people. At Tesco, the motivated staffs are found to be in a partnership relation with managerial staff and thus they effectively accomplish their expected goals (The Times 100, 2012). Taylor’s motivation theory as not relevant to 21st century According to Taylor’s motivation theory, people are motivated by financial incentives as he argued that people worked purely for money. In early years, Taylor

Chinese Immigration Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 1

Chinese Immigration - Assignment Example The vast open spaces, the lack of social and class distinctions, the dynamic tempo of our growth, the westward progression, and the mobility of the population promoted the acceptance of the newcomer2. In times of crisis such as wars or economic depressions, the moving equilibrium might be disturbed. Immigrants’ movements created tensions around the presence of the foreigner, but at least until the latter decades of the nineteenth century, these tensions were usually dissolved by accommodation on a new level without restrictive legislation. The American Constitution made the United States the first national state to proclaim the principle that there should be no religious test for office holding. Furthermore, only the President was required by the Constitution to be native-born. The Federal government, as a matter of policy, utilized the principle of religious freedom to stimulate immigration. A guarantee of religious freedom had been included in the ordinance for governing the Northwest Territory, partly in the hope that it would stimulate migration into that region3. Similar to other immigrants, See’s a grandmother and her family occupied a low paid job and low social class position4. She worked at a Chinese underwear factory. It is not surprising that the changes in American society after 1890 affected attitudes toward the immigrant and that a strong movement for the restriction of immigration.

Marketing Project Essay Example for Free

Marketing Project Essay China with its population of over 1.3 billion and the GDP growth rate of 7.7% is obviously a major player in the global market based on its size and growth potential. In recent years, the consumer food service industry in China has significantly grown, driven by the change in consumption patterns of urban Chinese consumers amid the robust Chinese economic growth. A number of Western-style franchise chains are increasingly crossing national boundaries and looking for growth among customers in China. In provinces and regions of better economic development and faster lifestyles, quick service restaurants make up a large share of the total food-service sector. Guangdong province can be chosen as a potentially profitable market where the fast-food market contributes about 90% of the total food service sectors revenue. Mad Mex, as a new entrant in the quick service restaurant (QSR) industry, is ambitious to penetrate this promising market with the goal to open the first franchise restaurant in February 2014. Situation analysis: ACMR-IBISWorld (Jan, 2013) estimates that the fast-food restaurant industry in China will generate revenue of $89.60 billion in 2012, up 14.1% from 2011. The pace of urbanization and the higher disposable income urge lifestyle changes and the increase in demand for fast-food. Chinese people have less leisure time to eat in traditional full-service restaurants and prefer to treat themselves in fast-food establishments. Moreover, the rapid development of fast-food service providers and new brands and food styles with improved chain store contribute to the strong growth of the industry in China. The geographic popularity of Chinas fast-food restaurants industry is consistent with Chinas economic development level. Beijing, Shanghai and Guangdong are three of the most developed provinces and regions in China, which account for about 45% of total industry revenue in 2012 (ACMR-IBISWorld, Jan 2013). These regions witness the relatively well developed franchise operation s. Porter’s Five Forces Industry Analysis Figure 1: Forces driving industry competition Source: Porter (1980) â€Å"Industry structure has a strong influence in determining the competitive rules of the game as well as the strategies potentially available to the firm.† (Michael E. Porter 1980, P.3) The Porter’s Five Forces Model introduced a concept of structural analysis as a framework for understanding the five basic competitive forces in an industry. These forces, which are shown in Figure 1- new entrants, rivalry among existing competitors, threat of substitute products or services, bargaining power of buyers, and bargaining power of suppliers, reflect that the competition â€Å"goes well beyond the established players† (Porter 1980, pp. 6). Both potential and established players can influence average industry profitability. The threat of potential entrants is balanced by the entry barriers like economic of scale, product differentiation, capital requirements, access to distribution channel, etc. The intensity of rivalry determines industry attractiveness but figures out the extent to which the value created by an industry will be dissipated through competition. Sharon M. Oster (1999) asserts that subsitute products or services play an uneven role in industry dynamics. They can play a modest role in highly competitive industries or during periods of excess production. But subtitutes become significant when demand rapidly increasing or in markets with few competitors. In these cases, the availability of good substitutes influences the profits of the existing firms in a market. Buyer power is varied across markets and constituted by the most important determinants of buyer power in a market, which are the number of buyers and the distribution of their purchase, characteristics of product (for instance, standardization of products increases buyer power). In an industry, powerful suppliers can affect their bargaining power over firms by controlling prices or qualities of supply. Depending on each industry and the particular conditions of the industry, different forces will be more or less prominent in the industry competition. And the collective strength of these forces determines the intensity of competition in the industry and the potential profitability. â€Å"Knowledge of these underlying sources of competition in an industry highlights the critical strengths and weaknesses of the company, animates its positioning in its industry, clarifies the areas where strategic changes may yield the greatest payoff, and highlights the areas where industry trends promise to hold the greatest significance as either opportunities or threats† (Poeter 1980, pp.4). Once understanding these forces and their strategic implications, the company can formulate an effective competitive stratey, which enables it to defend itself from the existing array of competitive forces, affect them in its favour thereby improves the firm’s position in the market. Porter’s Diamond Model Figure 2: Porter’s Diamond Model The theorical framework, which examines the competitive position of a nation and its industries, consists of four determinants: factor conditions, demand conditions, related and supporting industries and firm strategy and rivalry. According to Porter (1998), factor conditions refer to production endowment that players need to compete in an industry. These factors are discriminated into basic factors versus advanced factors, and generalized factors versus specialized factors. A basic factor is passively inherited, for example natural resources and unskilled labour. Meanwhile advanced factors include what nations can create during their industrial growth like capital, infrastructure and highly educated labour forces. The standard for production factors is gradually rising due to the improvement of knowledge, science and technology. A nation can possess competitive advantage in an industry when it is able to create new competitive factor conditions and/or upgrade the needed factors. Demand conditions refer to the nature of home-market demand for an industry’s product or service considering in terms of quantity and quality. The size of the home market, the presence of demanding and sophisticated domestic buyers pressure companies to innovate and upgrade, meet high standards in order to respond to more diverse and higher levels of customer needs. â€Å"The presence of suppliers and related industries within a nation that are internationally competitive provides benefits such as innovation, upgrading, information flow, and shared technology development which create advantages in downstream industries† (Porter 1998). A nation thereby gains competitive advantage in an industry when it has competititve edge in the number of related industries. Another determinant is firm strategy, structure, and rivalry, referring to firms’ organizational structure, management situations and the performance of competitors in domestic market. The presence of intense rivalry in the home base is important, because it is powerful stimilus to creation and persistence of competitive advantage. Two external factors are chance and governments. Chance can discontinue the possibility of some companies to gain competitive position and some lose. Governments have an overarching effect on all the players. In many industries, government is a buyer/ supplier and can influence the competition of the industry by its policies. Government can also affect the relation between an industry and subsitutes through regulations and other means. They play a role in shaping the context and institutional structure surrounding companies and in creating an environment to support companies to gain competitive advantage. SWOT Analysis Internal analysis: Strength: Mad Mex is known as a gourmet restaurant with a healthy, fresh approach to Mexican cuisine. Its philosophy is to offer food servicing in a fast paced environment to create a high volume takeaway business but a unique and high quality product offer that is sufficient to command a premium price point. This concept will bring it the competitive advantage in food service industry relative to other global QSRs in China at present. By remaining true to the founding principles: Fresh and Healthy, Fast and Delicious, Authentic and Exciting, Mad Mex gradually broadens its business with 15 stores opened in just over four years and makes effort to arm itself with a team of business savvy, hands-on, franchisees. Weakness: Established in 2007, Mad Mex is still a baby to global giant fast-food restaurants like Mc Donald’s or KFC with its limited presence in three states of New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland within Australia. It is regarded as a strange brandname to the worldwide food service industry and particularly the Chinese market. External analysis: Opportunities: Chinese consumers are believed to have a positive image of quick service restaurants (QSRs) and good perception of their meal quality and customer services. The average level of consumer satisfaction yet high loyalty of Chinese customers is attracting to Western fast food restaurants franchise to engage their business in this market. According to a study on International Journal of Quality and Reliability Management regarding perceived service quality in the fast food industry in China, â€Å"reliability, recoverability, tangibles, and responsiveness were all significant dimensions of perceived service quality†( Hong Qin, 2010). As the study mentioned, all these positive perception in turn influenced the customer behavioral intentions in the industry. Despite the increasing customer preference for Western-style â€Å"to-go† restaurants in the Chinese market, the QSRs market share accounts for only 9.8 percent of Chinese sales for outside meals (Datamonito r, 2007). This means the unprecedented opportunity for Western restaurant chains to operate in China. Threats: The segmentation of QSRs in China is witnessing a tougher competition between international brands like MacDonald’s and KFC and myriad domestic companies like Yum!Brand and Ajisen. Besides, Asian QSRs are the largest sub-sector in the QSRs in China, in which Chinese cuisine is dominant. It is explained by the fact that Chinese people prefer their tradition rice-based dishes and their price sensitivity when choosing the lower dishes in the Chinese restaurants. Furthermore, for the first time penetrating foreign market, the inability or unwillingness of the company to face dietary and cultural challenges will lead to the failure in the image of Mad Mex in the global market. To succeed in the Chinese market, Western-style QSRs are required to examine Chinese customer behaviours and develop marketing strategies that adapt to the Chinese cultural environment.

The Relationship Between Our Senses And Architecture

The Relationship Between Our Senses And Architecture à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦. we all begin as hearing beings our four and a half month baptism in a sea of sound must have a profound and everlasting effect on us but from the moment of birth onward, hearing seems to recede into the background of our consciousness and functions more as an accompaniment to what we see. Why this should be, rather than the reverse, is a mystery: why does not the first of our senses to be activated retain a life long dominance of all the others? -Walter Murch In modern times, the eye has become the central point of the perceptual world. The primal dominance of hearing has been progressively replaced by the sense of vision. The hierarchy of the senses was not the same as it is today, where the eye, which dominates today, was in third place behind the sense of hearing and touch. The eye which is the governing organ of today was not the superior organ of the time which preferred hearing. Walter J Ong points out that the shift from oral to written speech was essentially a shift from sound to visual space. (Pallasmaa, 2005, pg 24). The will to power is very strong in vision. There is a very strong tendency in vision to grasp and fixate, to reify and totalize: a tendency to dominate, secure and control states David Michael Levin(Pallasmaa, 2005, pg 17). Architecture is considered to be the mother of all arts as it provides spaces for daily activities of life unlike the other forms of art. But it should be more than simply just for utilitarian purposes; it should also appeal to our aesthetic sensibilities. By combining colours, materials and shapes together, architects give out their artistic message in the structures that we see, hear and feel. (Blesser and Salter, 2007) Nonetheless the architecture of our time is turning into the retinal art of the eye: architecture has greatly become an art of the printed image. Instead of experiencing our being in the world, we behold it from the outside as spectators of images projected on the surface of the retina. (Holl, Pallasmaa and Gomez, 2006, pg 29). Archdaily and other such websites are daily reminders that architecture is a slave to its image. The callousness of contemporary architecture has resulted in an outcome of the negligence of the body and the senses, leading to an imbalance in our sensory system. The suppression of the other senses due to the domination of the sense of sight has resulted in the isolation, detachment and alienation of the individual (Pallasmaa, 2005). The aim of most architects is to have their buildings looking great in a set of photographs. However anyone who has visited a great piece of architecture knows that the experience is very different and often much better than that of seeing it in photos. This is not only because of the added dimensions of depth and time are absent in the photographs, but because touch, taste, smell and, of course sound are also missing. The mission of architecture in general is to renovate the experience of an undifferentiated interior world, in which we are not mere spectators, but to which we inseparably belong. In their book, Questions of Perception; Phenomenology of Architecture, Holl, Pallasmaa and Gomez imply that architecture involves all the senses interacting and infusing with each other. In compariso n to a painting which is only two-dimensional, the painter will have to express his world with his system of colours which must generate this invisible complex of impressions. Sight is solitary and tends to separate us from the world where as the other senses unite us with it. A walk through a forest is said to be invigorating and healing because it interacts with all of our senses and not just a few. We can hear the sound of the leaves rustling in the wind, get the scent of berries or raisins, and feel the warmth of sunlight filtering through the leaves. Blesser and Salter point out that, similar to poetry, architecture also contains symbolic meaning which portrays the culture and background of the architect, which he would depicts through spatial elements. Not only poetry, but even music is compared to architecture. Libeskind refers to the relationship of music and architecture not only by metaphor, but also through concrete spaces. He goes on to say, Every building that I have admired is, in effect a musical instrument whos performance gives space a quality that often seems to be transcended and immaterial. Goethe refers to architecture as being frozen music as architecture and music share the same vocabulary; rhythm, proportion, harmony, repetition and contrast. In architecture these 5 elements can be represented in form, layout, circulation and site location. Zaha Hadid designed a music chamber which holds the solo performances of composer JS Bach, and the design is a visual representation of Bachs music. Yet architects generally consider the visual aspect of the building. The writings of modernist architect Le Corbusier state: I exist in life only if I can see and one needs to see clearly to understand (Pallasmaa 2005, pg 27). The gestalt laws of visual perception are frequently used to analyse the experiences and perceptions of architectural form. Very rarely is the aural perception or acoustic aspect considered. This is because the modern culture has essentially adapted towards visual communications and has little appreciation for the emotional influence of hearing, and hence attaches little or no value for the art of auditory spatial awareness. Secondly, the aural experience of a space is continuously fleeting and disappearing instantly. There is no method of capturing and storing the aural experience of a space in museums, journals or archives. In contrast, the visual aspect of architecture can be recorded by means of sketches or photographs, and in this way the works of the prev ious generations can be learned about, even if the building does not exist anymore. Also the aural architecture of a space cannot be experienced without having dynamic events that produce sound, and inhabitants who complete the aural architecture. Another reason for the overlooking of aural architecture is that for most people the aural memory of the space and the language for describing this memory is weak and insufficient. Think about describing the sounds of a place, other than describing the events that caused the sound. Finally, most architects are awarded with prizes based on their visual portfolio, and they in turn train the next generation of architects to concentrate on the visual experience of a space. Questions about acoustic architecture are generally not familiar and professional architecture and design schools provide little or no training in aural aesthetics (Blesser and Salter, 2007) Nevertheless the aural experience of a space is very important as it has significant influence on the mood and behavior of the people within those settings. Sound is necessary for the social and emotional well-being of the user. It has the ability to touch our souls and speak to us at a vey profound level. It has the power to calm us, inspire us, uplift as well as heal. The way we experience a space is largely determined by our aural perceptions of that space. Unfortunately, as mentioned earlier, modern culture has little appreciation for the emotional influence of hearing. Without music in movies, there would be no suspense, no excitement and no horror. Architecture without its aural properties would be like a movie without music (or sound track). There is no such thing as a silent room. Sound always exists in a space, and every space has acoustic properties which influence and change the sound. For this reason sound never exists in pure form because the space it exists in will alter it. Move a symphony orchestra to the forest and it will not sound the same even though the sound source is consistent. It would loose the aural impact and intimacy of a concert hall. Ever wondered why you sound better when singing in the bathroom in comparison to the living room? This is due to the acoustic properties of the bathroom, which is taking advantage of the resonance of a small space. Likewise every space has aural qualities which have the ability to affect the social and emotional well-being of the inhabitant although they may not be consciously aware of it. The acoustics of a grand cathedral can create an exalted mood; those of a chapel can enhance the privacy of quiet contemplation; those of an elevator can produce the feeling of encapsulation and, in the extreme, claustrophobia (Blesser and Salter, 2007). The aural architecture of a space could have a social meaning as well. The marble floors and walls of a lobby would indicate an approaching visitor by the loud echo of their footsteps. In contrast, the materials used in the living room would be thick carpeting, heavy draperies and upholstered furniture which would tone down the sound of footsteps. The aural aspects of the lobby therefore verify whether one is entering a public of private space. If these same materials were applied to the living room, the acoustic attributes would convey a different feeling; c old, hard and barren, in comparison to warm, soft and intimate. (Blesser and Salter,2007,) Many times the visual and aural meaning of the space goes hand in hand, and reinforce each other. The vastness of the cathedral can be related through vision, whilst the engulfing echoes communicate through the ears. However this is not the case all the time as there are instances where the visual and aural aspects are not mutual. For instance an expensive restaurant may give the visual impact of having a relaxed and elegant atmosphere, but the echo of clattering produces stress, anxiety and tension, making it difficult to socialize. (Blesser and Salter, 2007) The natural ability for human beings to sense a space by listening is hardly ever recognized. Many people think that sensing spatial attributes requires a special skill, but all individuals do it almost naturally and on a daily basis. Observing that ordinary people hear dormant objects and sense spatial geometry needs a valid explanation (Blesser and Salter, 2007). Architecture does not radiate light and yet it can be seen. This is because it reflects light, and this gives us knowledge about the form and material of the building. This same principle applies to sound, where we hear the sound that is reflected off the surfaces of the building and this too gives us an impression of the form and material of the building (Steen Eiler Rasmussen). The reverberation is the auditory mean by which we become conscious about spaces around us, and their properties. The space becomes audible. We then begin to see with our ears (Blesser and Salter, 2007). Each building or space will reverberate dif ferently depending on the material used and the shape of the rooms. Sound is invisible, but has the power to change the character of the space we occupy. -Julia Schulz-Dornburg Aural architecture refers to the properties of space that can be experienced by listening. These properties are volume (or form) and material, and they help an individual in perceiving an aural space. By viewing the form and size of a space, one may be able to speculate what kind of aural intensity it possesses. But the visual perception does not prepare us for the actual aural experience the space reveals. Some spaces may seem to be acoustically impotent, but may surprise us with astonishing sound properties. An individuals behavior in a space as well as their perception of the significance of the space are greatly influenced by the sonic quality that the spaces possesses (Mateo Zlatar, 2003). For instance, the acoustics of a governmental chamber strengthens the importance of the speeches held within the space. The amount of sound a material will absorb or reflect depends on it properties. Not only do materials evoke different feelings, but they can be combined and manipulated in di fferent

Analysis of Langston Hughes Harlem (Dream Deferred) :: Hughes Harlem Dream Deferred Essays

Analysis of Harlem (Dream Deferred) Langston Hughes's poem "Dream Deferred" is basically about what happens to dreams when they are put on hold. Hughes probably intended for the poem to focus on the dreams of African-Americans in particular because he originally entitled the poem "Harlem," which is the capital of African American life in the United States; however, it is just as easy to read the poem as being about dreams in general and what happens when people postpone making them come true. Ultimately, Hughes uses a carefully arranged series of images that also function as figures of speech to suggest that people should not delay their dreams because the more they postpone them, the more the dreams will change and the less likely they will come true. In the opening of the poem the speaker uses a visual image that is also a simile to compare a dream deferred to a raisin. The speaker asks the question, "Does it [the dream] dry up / Like a raisin in the sun?" (2-3). Here we can see the raisin, which used to be a moist, taut, healthy-looking grape, has shriveled up to become a raisin. The speaker does not emphasize the appearance of the raisin, so the description isn't as significant as an image as it is as a simile. Why compare a dream deferred to a raisin? Like a raisin, a dream deferred shrivels up and turns dark because the sun has baked it. The emphasis on the sun is important because it stresses time-we measure time by the sun's movement. Like the raisin, the dream has been on hold for a long time-consequently, it has transformed into something very different than it once was. Because they look so different, few people would believe that raisins were once grapes unless they had been told. Similarly, a dream that contin ues to be postponed will go through an evolution as well-it won't be the same as the original.

My Brother and I :: Example Personal Narratives

My Brother and I My brother and I did not have a great adult relationship. Due to his hurtful teasing of me when we were teenagers and some very hurtful things he said to me the day of our mother's funeral, we had not communicated well in the four years since her death. In May, 2000, my father and I spent four days with my brother, sister-in-law and their two daughters. When I spoke with my brother on his birthday a month earlier, I asked if he and I could have some "alone time" when Daddy and I visited the following month. My brother said we could find time alone. That time came the evening before Daddy and I left to return home. My brother and I settled on the screened-in porch. I was about to read a letter I had written him, outlining my reaction to what he had said to me in 1996 and giving him the necessary background information he needed to know BEFORE he spoke to me the way he did. He offered to read the letter himself. I gladly let him. I had no idea how he would respond to the letter. After many drafts, it stated exactly what I needed and wanted to say to him. I had no expectations at all about the route this conversation would take. I told myself I was capable of handling anything that came up for discussion. My brother's first comment was, "Well, I will have to change some perceptions I have had about you." I was flattered and thanked him. He said he would always be my brother and would always say what he felt. He launched into some observations he had made about me in the four days we had been there...I acknowledged them and said my goals for the summer was to actively address those observations and make necessary changes. (I am proud to say I have achieved the major goal of weight loss and plan to keep it off.) I made some observations of my own and assured my brother that, contrary to his beliefs, I was not dependent on our father back home. (Our father lives about ten minutes away. He is 75, in fairly good health and does help me on occasion) I also made some observations of my own and expressed concerns I had about my brother.

Externalities in Business

Definition of externalities: Externalities recently became an important and a popular term in the business world, especially with the risen of debates and arguments about the externalities’ costs and benefits, and the ethical issues related to it. Almost everybody deals with an externality everyday but without being aware of it (kaydee, 2008). The simple definition of says that Externality is the effect of an economic transaction which impacts somebody who was not involved in that transaction. The more complicated definition sates that Externalities can be defined as the different types of effects which impact some parties (individual or entities) as a consequence of other parties’ activities. These effects occur without any choice of the affected party and without taking their interest into account by the affecting party (kaydee, 2008). When any economic trade occurs between two parties, they both benefit from the trade. Sometimes, a third party is being affected as well by this trade, the effect can be a negative effect or a positive one; and these effects are what we call externalities (Anon. nd). For example, if we take any business organization as one party and the customer is the other party, they both have the trade of the organization sells or provide goods or services, and the customer pays to obtain this good or service. However, the society as a whole could be considered as a third party, any external costs the society pays or any external benefits it gai ns from this trade (costs and benefits not included in the market price of the goods or services) are then considered to be an externality. By breaking down this example, the business organization or the customer can be considered to be the affecting party, the society, the third party, is thus will be the affected party, the external costs and benefits are the externalities (Anon. , nd). Types of externalities: There are two types of externalities, the positive type and negative type. The external benefits are always considered to be positive externalities, these benefits affect the outsiders in a positive way, give some advantages and without any payment required. The external costs are considered as negative externalities, these costs affect the outsider negatively, impact them in disadvantageous way, and the outsiders are forced pay these costs without any choice (Jonson, n. d. ). There are lots of examples to clarify each of the two types. The negative externality which is some analysts call it as external costs and some other call it as external diseconomies can be seen in the global warming which is considered to be number one negative externality; the change in the climate came as a result from the emissions of burning the oil, coal and gas. The water pollution as a result of adding poisons to the water or the several contaminated chemicals which are dumped by industrial plants in lands or lakes participates in harming the people, plants and animals. The over fishing which comes as a consequence from the over harvesting of a fishing company harms other fishing companies harvesting in the same ocean. The company trucks using a road may create congestion or traffic jam which impacts negatively other road users. In the animal production, the industrial farms which generate huge outputs of animal products generates a negative externalities in the form of increasing the antibiotic resistant bacteria, contamination of rivers and waters by the disposal of the animal waste. These farms as well result in another externality of the animal welfare reduction due to the close quarters where the animals are kept. The problems which may be caused by the nuclear plants when storing the nuclear waste in impropriate way, and the radioactive waste which is generated thorough the energy production of the nuclear power plants may affect the current and new generations. The external cost of health decline which is a consequence of smoking, the external cost in the form of car accidents due the consumption of alcohol by drinkers which may lead to pedestrians killing or injure, are all considered as negative externality. All the previous negative externalities examples harm the environment and the inhabitants. The environment, the people, plants and animals are the parties which are affected negatively without any choice from their side and without taking their interests into consideration by the externality generator (Shaprio, Khemani, 2003; Anon. , nd). There are many examples also to be mentioned to describe the positive externality. When someone buys a certain product, it would increase the product value to other people who already have this product, the increase of the value is considered to be an external benefit for these people, this type of positive externality sometimes called the network externality or the network effect. When an invention is discovered or information is made more accessible, then other people will externally benefit from using this invention or the information. The education also gives a positive externality to the whole society, the more are the educated people in the society the more the whole society better off even people who are not educated as the rate of crime will decline which means more safety. Another example of positive externalities is when a foreign company opens a new branch in another country, although the deal is between the foreign organization and the country, and although they both benefit financially from this deal, but as well people will benefit by having opportunities for jobs, salaries and kind of secure life, this extra benefit for the people is considered to be positive externality. Also, when people buy a specific type of a commodity, the demand on these commodity increases, which as well increase the work chances for distributors, or when people buy a car model, then the demand for mechanics of this certain car model increases. Construction as well may give positive externality, when roads and bridges are built and opened; it may give a chance of opening new areas for housing and establishing business entities (Shaprio, Khemani, 2003; Anon. , nd; Anon. , 2007). Externalities and the ethical theories: Generally, externalities are always a term which creates a situation of social injustice, its existence generates socially unbalanced outcomes, regarding the fact that a party may gain external benefits without paying any type of costs, or a party who may suffer from and forced to pay external costs without any choice (Anon. , nd). The question about ethics in all cases of the externalities moves around the universal ethics. The universal ethics are defined as a system of ethics that can apply to every human being. The externality then, with its both types, the positive one and the negative, may lead to a violation of the ethics. If we analyze the negative externality example we mentioned of the radioactive pollution, as such an externality will contain external costs, people who will be affected by the negative outcomes, will consider the harm they will be exposed to as explicit costs which they did not put into account before. The harm could be in the shape of lung and body diseases, and the extra payment for medical checks and medicines. As the radioactive company serves the people by providing utilities, people will see the harm generated by the same company – the negative externality- as a reduction of the utility. The negative externality here then raises an ethical problem as it is simply considered as a violation of ethics as harming others (Anon. , nd). Regarding the positive externalities, it again raises an ethical issue by violating the universal ethics as the positive externalities type is always connected to the term which is called â€Å"free riding†. To explain how positive externality violates the ethics, let us refer to our example of education, when the society as a whole and as a third party, benefits from the education process in the form of being an educated, productive and well being society. Everyone then in the society will benefit, even people who were not educated will benefit without paying any cost. For such people, who will benefit from the educated, productive and well being society they are living in, it is considered external benefits as they did not pay for education, but on the contrary, they are free riding on the cost of others who had to go through and pay for the education process. Another example is the society health care, when people go and obtain the vaccination, the society will be protected from the transmitted diseases by its vaccinated members, but the people who did not receive the vaccination will still be protected from the diseases and will benefit from the healthy and protected society, actually they are free riding on the costs of the other members of the society. The free riding problem- the positive externality- is considered to be against the ethics and raise an ethical issue of benefiting from the borne of others (Anon. , nd). Also externalities raise an ethical issue due to the problem that the value or equivalent of any externality is difficult to be determined, most of the externalities are hidden, negative externalities are hidden by the traders, and positive externalities are hidden by the third parties benefit from it, which considered cheating, and breach the simple ethical rule â€Å"do not cheat† (kaydee, 2008). With the nowadays absence of ethics, the behavior changed negatively in a dramatic way, People do not think anymore about the externality which they going to create once any product they buy reach the expiry date. Companies do not think about the consequences of their waste disposal of the manufacturing operations. Injustice is considered to be a violation of ethics, when a third party is negatively affected by a transaction which is out of his or her control, there is then a case of injustice. Similar, when someone is affected positively by a transaction which is out of his or her control and he or she does not pay for this benefit, again the injustice takes place (kaydee, 2008). Some analysts have different opinion; some will argue that there is no ethical issue about externalities, meaning that there is nothing to do with wrongdoing. The supporters of this opinion say that most of the businesses are trying to achieve the purpose of their existence; they try to achieve their target whatever it is, making profit, providing goods and services, and keeping the employees employed. The conflict of interests between the businesses’ activities and the different parties around does not mean that businesses are doing anything wrong (MacDonald, 2007). Corporations actually should work under some certain core concepts which most of the time create kind of ethical dilemmas, these concepts are the business ethics rules which each business should respect and follow. But it is clear that these concepts are not strictly followed by business leaders, most of corporations do not pay much attention to business ethics and lots of businesses do not pay attention to the ethical implications of the externalities and its damage of the environment. As it is said: In business, it’s easy to talk about ethics, but it’s damn hard to be ethical. If we look back in time, historically two important ethical philosophies were created, the Western Ethical Philosophy and the Eastern Ethical Philosophy. Generally, philosophers came up with a number of ethical principles that control and guide business activities, these principles can be considered as ethical standards which always get codified into laws. One of the most important and well known ethical systems in the western ethical philosophies was the Hippocratic Oath, these principles was created by the Greek physician Hippocrates, and they are still used today, these principles in total generally direct people to the concept of â€Å"Do no harm. † The eastern example is the karma which adopts the concept of cause and effect, what are the negative and positive results of any conduct. This ethical system simply says that if you harm others, then the harm will eventually return to you; according to that, if the business creates good consequences then this good will return back to the business, and if the business does harm others, then the harm will also return and harm the business (Johannsen, n. d. ). So, both philosophies and some other philosophies not mentioned in this paper, raise the ethical issue of harming others, which is related to the externalities consequences, as one of the five core business concepts from the perspective of the harm and the negative effects that businesses generate. Worth to mention that the five core business concepts from the view of causing harm are: Shareholder Wealth, Profit Maximization, Fiduciary Responsibility, Return on Investment (ROI), and Externalities (Johannsen, n. d. ). In any business, all the accounting figures including profits and costs are always shown on the financial statements, but in the case of the externalities (which some financial analysts call it financial liabilities) the financial statements do not show the external cost or the external benefits of the corporation. Some will argue that this is considered to be a manipulation and a breach of ethics, and that the businesses should, clarify, confess, be responsible and pay for the externalities they cause. But some others will argue that the externalities are so hard to be described as a number or figure, and thus cannot be shown in the financial statement as liabilities, and so it can not be described as a manipulation or a breach of ethics. One of the important and well known ethical theories that may describe the externalities in a better way could be the utilitarian ethical theory. The utilitarianism refers to the idea that the moral worth of any action, whatever this action is done by an individual or by an entity, the moral worth will be determined only by how the action’s consequences participates to the overall utility. Thus, the utilitarianism indicates a type of consequentialism, as the moral worth of the action then will be judged according to its results and its effects on people. The utility here is considered to be the overall pleasure and the absence of pain. The utilitarian ethical theory describes the different types of actions, any action is considered to be an ethical action- in other words to be morally right – if its moral worth is positive, meaning, the action’s outcomes contribute in developing the overall utility or the overall happiness or pleasure among people. However the action will be considered as an unethical action- or morally wrong- if its moral worth is negative and its consequences are decreasing the overall utility of people and cause them suffering or pain (Anon. , nd). If we put externalities in practice according to the utilitarian ethical theory, then both types of externalities, the positive and the negative, are to be considered as unethical actions. The negative externality affects the third parties by reducing their utility, in all our previous examples of negative externalities, environment and people end in suffering and pain. Talking about the positive externalities, they are as well considered unethical as the third parties are affected positively but without paying any cost for these benefits which in a way increase their utilities but on the account of others. Although this ethical theory was successful for a period of time, it was faced with lots of criticism which came up later. One of the important criticisms was that the utilitarian ethical theory described the positive and negative externalities as symmetric in nature, and those externalities will lead to non optimal outcomes which call for the necessity of government intervention. Mr. Murray Rothbard wrote in his book, Man, Economy, and State, a good criticism of the utilitarianism approach of externalities. He stated that the positive and the negative externalities are not symmetric from the ethical perspective of property rights. He says that the two externalities types are completely different in nature; he argued that the injustice in the case of the negative externalities is due to the failure of the authorities in protecting the property rights of every party involved. Opposite, in the case of the positive externalities, there is no violation of the property rights of the party who gives the external benefits but only when the authority tries to extend this benefits (Cleveland, 2002). Another ethical theory which can explain the externalities is the social responsibility theory. The corporate social responsibility term- which is divided into four parts, the legal, the discretionary, the economic responsibility, and finally what we are interested in, the ethical responsibility- refers to the obligations of the business to work and conduct the operations in ways which achieve its own interests and the interests of all its stakeholders. Thus, the business is to be considered as a socially responsible if it pays attention and make sure that its activities do not harm or affect negatively its stakeholders (Sandy Millar, Christopher Theunissen, 2008, P69) (Anon. 2008). When we look at externalities from this theory’s point of view, especially the negative type of externalities, any business which causes harm to the environment, people and society in total, should not be then considered as socially responsible business. This business often works on achieving its own interests and purpose of existence (making profit and satisfying the shareholders), but it fa ils in keeping its social responsibilities and obligations towards the rest of the stakeholders and thus lead to externalities. As mentioned, the most important interest and the main target for most corporations are to satisfy their shareholders needs, and that comes by making profit. This aim is the most argued that it is the reason for corporation to act unethically and not paying attention to the social responsibility and lead to unethical practices which cause the externalities. At the end the corporation is just a legal structure and its moral responsibilities comes from the moral responsibilities of the corporation’s shareholders, employees, and managers. If the managers are being unethical conducting unethical activities, and if the shareholders are being unethical by approving and giving the green light to the managers to go ahead in such unethical practices, then it at the end reflects on the overall corporation of being ethical or unethical, of being socially responsible or not (Anon. , 2008). This leads to another approach, which is the general ethics theory. Ethics is what examines and judge the human behavior; regarding what is right and what is wrong, regarding what is just and what is unjust, and regarding what is fair and what is unfair. To behave ethically is to behave in a manner which is right or moral. The behavior then is considered to be ethical if it is right and the vise versa. But what does determine if the behavior is right or wrong? What does determine if the behavior ethical or unethical? Generally, the society comes on the top of the list of what determines what is right or wrong, even if societies are sometimes different from one another in some of specific rules and determinations of the morally correct behavior, but at the end they all agree some general standards and principles which should be followed. When combining the two theories together, the social responsibility and the general ethics, we find that externalities happen due to many reasons. There is no one agreed moral code, and people, including top executives, have weak sense of good moral especially that nowadays people are mostly far from religion and their morals come often from their experience. This conflict of good behavior and gaining high profit is a good example, when choosing between being socially responsible or profit in the existence of weak sense of morals, the business represented in its official will chooses the profit. In multinational companies, externalities are more likely to happen as these companies operate in different countries; each has its own people and its own culture and moral codes which may conflict with each other. Individuals in such companies, when working with different groups with different values and moral codes, tend easily to break their own values, ethics, and behavior which they believe to be the right way, in order to fit, adapt to and be accepted by their group instead of standing up against the wrong behavior, their own interest to be recognized do beat their social responsibility which they are obliged towards the society. Suggested solutions for externalities: There are some solutions which came up to deal with the issue of externalities. Most of these solutions are faced by criticism due to various reasons. Social Conventions, Regulatory Limits, Mergers, and corrective taxes are considered to be the most important answers to deal with the externalities. The social conventions approach aims to deal with externalities through the social conventions and traditions. But it faced with a criticism that it forces people to take into account the externalities they cause, and that it may work with individuals but its effectiveness will not be useful with high cost externalities generated by multinational companies as instance. Merger, another solution for externalities, gathers all the parties involved in the externality to merge, but again it failed to solve all situations, it could solve the negative externalities between some firms by merging them together, but in a situation like a polluter company and the people around this company who are affected negatively by the pollution, how can the company and the people merge together? (Gibson, 1996). The regulatory limits approach is supposed to be the most common approach for dealing with externalities, simply it does not only suggest to impose regulatory limits for the externality amount generated by any party, but as well imposes a fine for any party generates externality which exceeds the regulatory limits. The corrective taxes approach aims to impose corrective taxes in order to push all parties to be socially responsible and limit the amount of externalities produced. If we take pollution as an example, then corrective taxes will be imposed on each unit of pollution equal to the same amount of damage affected the society. The two approaches, which in a way close in concept to each other, aim to force the externalities generators- including businesses- to absorb the cost incurred by them. Still, both approaches are faced with problems which weaken them. The regulatory limits approach has some difficulties especially when it comes to the determination and detection of the firms breaching the limits and by how much is the violation of the limits (Gibson, 1996). The corrective tax approach has lots of supporters who completely agree that externalities generators should pay the full cost for their faults, and by punishing some business, this will work as a red alert to the rest to pay more attention to business ethics and to behave in a better ethical and moral way. But still the ideas is facing lots of criticism, the opponents claim that when implementing such a tax system, the first result will be the price increase as the businesses will try to keep their profit margin stable, especially after the increase of their costs due to paying the corrective tax, this will eventually lead to a decrease in demand and thus economical problems. Also, the opponents argue that in some externality cases, such as pollution, it is difficult to determine the polluter and the amount of harm was caused (same like the regulatory limits). And even if the damage amount can be determined, it appears the biggest problem of externality which is the estimation of the externality effects. Positive or negative externality should be measured and translated into a value which will determine the corrective tax amount (Gibson, 1996). Some businesses, when faced with the problem of externality, and when they are accused by affecting negatively third parties, whatever it was environment, people or other businesses, they sometimes follow what is called the obstructive response, which indicates the lowest degree of social responsibility. According to this type of response, accused businesses tend to deny all the responsibility, and argue that any evidence that they generated an externality is misleading; they also do their best to delay investigations and the conformation of externality evidences, they did not only breach the ethical rule of â€Å"do not harm† by they as well breach the rule of â€Å"do not cheat†. Conclusion and recommendations: Externality with its two types, the positive and the negative, happens all the time in our normal daily life; it has several effects on all parties involved. Environmental harm is the most important and recognized consequence of the negative externality. Several ethical theories can be used to explain the ethical nature of externalities, the utilitarianism, the social responsibility, and the general ethics theories. Generally, externalities are considered to be a violation of ethics. Many reasons cause the externalities, but most importantly is the absence of ethics, and the good moral of people, which lead to absence of business ethics and morals as business at the end consists of groups of people. There are businesses which pay attention to the social responsibility and the good moral, these businesses try to meet their obligations towards their business environment, sometimes through setting up special committees or professional experts in order to discuss and solve their ethical problems. But most businesses are clearly tend to ignore their social responsibility and act mostly in the way which serves their own interests and deny any claim or evidences about the externalities and harm they may cause to their business environment. There are several possible approaches to deal with the problem of externalities, but each approach has its weaknesses. There is a strong support for persuading businesses to fully take the responsibility and pay for the externality’s cost incurred by them. The opponents of this opinion argue that this cannot be done as it is difficult to determine the amount of harm produced and as well difficult to translate it into a value. Some other opponents claim that businesses do offer to the society and the business environment more benefits than harm in the shape of better economy, employment, utilities and welfare. Top executives and managers and generally business officials should work and ethically apply the core concepts in ways which prevent the externalities and the harm which could be generated by their decisions. They also have to solve the problem of interests’ conflict and act in a way that balance and achieve both interest as much as possible. Business officials have to establish moral principles to determine an organizational core value to control and guide the organization’s practices and to set a moral climate within the organization. Any business that violates the ethics should then be suspended from continuing its operation for a period of time; at least till correction step is taken. People should return and relive the ethics and values, and they have to act and behave rationally. Governments must play stronger role to deal with the externality problem. Many approaches can be followed like a well define for property rights, Criminalization, Civil Tort law, and Government provision. References: Anonymous. , nd. Definition of Externality. (Online). Available at: About. om: Economics. http://economics. about. com/cs/economicsglossary/g/externality. htm. (Accessed 20 July 2009) Anonymous. , nd. Externality. (Online). Available at: Wikipedia, Answer. com. http://www. answers. com/topic/externality-1. 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