Thursday, October 31, 2019

The Principles of Job Design Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

The Principles of Job Design - Essay Example A good job design will lead to lower staff or employee turnover as well as less absenteeism. Basically, staff turnover refers to the amount of time a worker spends within an organisation from the first day at that new job to the last (Rollinson et al 2008). When employees are satisfied with their jobs, they will be motivated to stay longer and this will positively contribute to the growth and development of the organisation. This means that there will be lower costs for the organisation and it will make life easier for the HRM. There will also be lower costs in recruiting new employees given that the efforts of the HRM will be specifically focused on training and developing the employees already working in the organisation in order for them to keep pace with the changes that may take place within the company. This will also enable the loyal employees to gain the much needed experience required for them to complete the tasks assigned to them. Job design can affect job satisfaction in many ways. People are more satisfied when certain things are present in a job so it is important for the HRM to identify these things (Rollinson et al 2008). Factors such as opportunity for promotion or the use of an employee’s particular talents or skills can contribute to job satisfaction which will entail lower staff turnover. This translates to mean improved profitability for the organisation as well as general worker satisfaction in the workplace. It can also be noted that job design can affect both physical and mental health of different employees within the workplace. There will be fewer chances of employees suffering from stress related... This paper stresses that the major constraint of adopting a new modern job design is that it may be expensive to the organisation given that a lot of resources would be needed to train the employees to meet the standard expectations of the organisation’s operations. Whilst it is a good idea to give due consideration to the needs of the employees, there is also need for the organisation to have a clearly defined line of authority which can make it easier for the responsible people to monitor and manage performance in the organisation. If everyone is given the power to make decisions in their operations, the organisation may not be able to pull the efforts of all the individuals towards the attainment of the set organisational goals since the individuals have different goals which may not be the same as the organisation’s. Tjis report makes a concluison that the main difference between the modern approach to job design and Tayloristic principles is that the modern job design puts more emphasis on the human needs while the while the mechanist approach is mainly concerned with productivity of the organisation. However, some of the Tayloristic principles are still relevant in today’s organisation depending on the nature of the industry concerned. The likely problem with implementing a modern job design is that it can be expensive for the organisation to train and develop all the workers such that they can be able to make decisions on their own. The other problem is that they may have different views about the organisational goals.

Tuesday, October 29, 2019

Anti death penalty Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Anti death penalty - Essay Example An example from the history tells us that in 1975, two African American men in Florida named Freddie Pitts and Wilber Lee were granted commutation after twelve long years awaiting death-penalty for the murder of two white men. Their conviction was as a result of constrained confessions, spurious testament and an adduced bystander. After a long time of nine-years of battle in the courts, a white confessed his guilt and Pitts and Wilber were granted absolution by the governor. Had their death-penalty not been delayed due to the court-battles, they would have naively executed (Bedau, November 10, 1999). The history of death penalty can be traced back to the eighteenth century (B.C) when the laws for it were established. As years passed these penalties were used all over the world to kill the guilty people. After the World War II the United States protected pregnant women, elders and children from these death penalties but did not abolish it completely. Over these years many countries ha ve abolished it but the United States still follows it to a certain extent (Death Penalty Information Center 2011). The proponents of the death-penalty justify it by biblical quotations to use death penalty as the ultimate punishment for murders and equivalent crimes. The bible says that the murders must be vindicated: life for life is what the bible says about murders. But the justifications presented cannot be applied in the modern world because of the ethics that apply these days. The bible’s quotation about life for life was for that time when the unjust and violent people were killing innocent and exemplary people. According to most of the people, the death-penalty should be abolished from the U.S and that the criminals must be given a chance to change themselves. Death row inmates can spend their time in the law library and interact with each other and somehow get the wind of the crime of what they have done and accept to change from the bottom of their hearts. The proc ess of death qualification was constitutionally challenged in Lockhart v. McCrea on the basis that it produces unrepresentative and doctrine procumbent juries. The United States Supreme Court rejected such challenges by questioning the truthiness of the relevant social science research. But according to me, the challenges made were completely just and the government should have had taken suitable steps in order to eradicate this barbaric act from the society (Guernsey 2010) The moral disengagement is also an aspect worth discussing in this regard. According to a study by Osofsky, Bandura and Zimbardo in 2005, they took direct words from the executioner. The executioner said that the ECG monitors are in front of him when he carries out the process. His duty is to push the syringe in the veins of the guilty and lower the heart beat of the guilty until it becomes flattened. The harder he pushes, the more flattened is the graph and once he empties the last injection, the pulse rate reac hes zero indicating that the guilty is now dead. He adds further that it is distraught to see someone die in front of him and leaves a great impact on him even after some days. This research helps to conclude that the executioner has vivid thoughts about the incident too as it is a harsh process to be carried out (Osofsky et al 2005). The opponents believe that death-penalty should be abolished because it is a barbaric act of murder which involves the death of an individual in a

Sunday, October 27, 2019

Affordable Housing and Income Inequality

Affordable Housing and Income Inequality Liz White-MacDonald Abstract Nurses are faced with daily challenges to deal with an increased in acuity and complexities in regards to patient health outcomes. Nurses participate in advocacy and policy making in adjusting affordable housing to meet the demands of their patients. Policies by nurses have seen drastic changes in the housing communities which has seen an upsurge of low income families managing to secure affordable housing. These drastic changes are in realtion to the exceptional work done br registered nurses in adviacting and offering teacjing to these patients. Nurses are aware that health and poor hosuing had detrimental facets to our patients, and by provind hope and resilience to patients who are low income and lack hosuing security, we are forging an excellent nrand of nurisn gpreactice Keyword: communication, caring, interaction, therapeutic relationship Affordable Housing and Income Inequality Access to affordable housing is a serious concern facing many households in Canada, particularly for low incomes households that are trying to keep up with the high rise of housing costs. This concern with the issues related to the supply of affordable housing have focused their approach to income inequality, unfair housing markets, lack of a national housing strategy in Canada , lack of growth in affordable housing options relative to low income families. In this paper, I intend to examine the link between income inequality and affordable housing in Canada and its effect on the quality of life of the residents using a family systems approach. An important aspect of the current Canadian economy is that of the dual income family. Many dual income families in Canada require both partners to work in order to provide secure housing, childcare and food security. Most Canadians that have a decent job and roofs over their heads and the income to afforde groceries do not hesitate to argue for affordable housing. However, for low-income families, whose income can be gone in trying to keep their family sheltered in an appropriate and acceptable home, this can be faced with many economical and health issues. Consequently, many families are working full time far below the poverty line in jobs that are unstable, without security, benefits or flexibility for family related responsibilities. To qualify for subsidized housing in Edmonton , an applicant must have a gross household income of atleast $48,000 for a two bedroom, 59,000 for a three bedroom and $64,000 for a fourn bedroom, besides the gross household income potential buyers must also possess a vefication letter of job and successfully pass a criminial background check, have thhe downpayment, and credit rating. In addition, during my interview, the interviewee insisted that if housing prices fall within a decent price range for a 3 bedroom house , she will be more than happy to adjust and prioritize her list of wants/needs to fit what they can afford, however housing costs are fluctuating every year in Edmonton, and recently the Canadian Mortgage and Hosuing Corpation( 2015) stated that, â€Å" Effective June 1st, 2015, the mortgage loan insurance premium for homebuyers with less than a 10% down payment will increase by approximately 15% (Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation [CMHC], 2015). This new change will make it tougher for low income families to access first time homes. Despite the relatively attainable steps in achieving homes in Canada, families are still facing economic issues in accessing homes. This is due to the fact that mortgages and hous ing policies have not been flexible in modifying their approach to allow low income households better options to buy newer homes. Nurses Role Nurses can be advocates in helping patients achieve affordable housing and a safer health status by connoting policies or engaging in design standards that enable families of diverse economic means, racial/ethnic backgrounds or family compositions to live in housing and neighborhoods that enable then exercise to the fullest extent possible personal choice in housing, education and employment. This choice enables families to enjoy equal opportunity for economic and social mobility and enables communities to smoothly adapt to inevitable changes over time in employment, infrastructure and demographics .Affordable housing and income inequality involves nurses participation at all levels of their scope of practice, in doing so, nurses recognize factors that prevent and/or are detrimental to their patient’s health and attempt to address the social, economic( salary and wages) and environmental aspects ( neighbourhood and services available). In their article, Anderson et al. (2003) supports the idea that Affordability of housing is linked to the health and well-being of individuals and families. When a market lacks a sufficient supply of affordable housing, lowerincome families are often forced to limit expenditures for food, medical care, and other necessities in order to pay rent.The lack of affordable housing within a community can contribute to family residential instability, as families are forced to move frequently, live with other families in overcrowded conditions. (Anderson et al., 2003) To be effective advocates, Registered Nurses will need to rely on their education and self-reflection on their own beliefs and practices surrounding income and poor housing and the effect it has on health. Nurses also need to bring awareness of poor housing and its complication on their patients’ health to the policy table. For the purpose of understanding our patient’s health it critical to advocate through policies on behalf of our patients. Advocacy presents a benchmark where health issues can be forwarded to the appropriate municipal, regional or government offices which may require policy changes. According to Goodman (2014), Opportunities for advocacy abound. Whatever one’s personal interests, commitments, and skills, there is an opportunity for every nurse to participate actively in shaping the future of nursing (p. 668). Despite the lack of affordable housing crunch, federal, municipal and government agencies have attempted to address issues related to af fordable housing. However, polies or market changes have not been met to prevent the housing crunch. Nurses through advocacy can be an important mediator in this emerging issue. Role of Advaocacy In nursing Nursing Advocacy has been one of the most vital and basic roles of the nursing profession. Despite bring intricate in nature it promotes a form of representation for our patients, supports autonomy and respect for our patients regardless of their diagnosis. In addition, advocacy acts as a mediator between the patient and the health system. In our nursing profession, advocacy is guided by CARNA through its ethical codes. These codes influences the profession in a organize and professional way. In nursing literature and research on the subject, Cole, Wellard Mummery (2014) states, â€Å" advocacy in nursing is defined as a nurse actively supporting patients in relation to their rights and choices, clarifying their healthcare decisions in support of their informed decision-making and protecting basic human rights such as autonomy. (p. 577. Nursing advocacy is usually discussed within the realms of patients right and the philosophy of nursing as a whole, however, it is critical to recognise that nursing advocacy can also be discussed as a professional approach that falls outside the therapeutic nurse patient relationship . There is always a constant call for nurses to be advacates in affordable hosuing for their patients, however most nursing advocacy are done within the span of the unit and hospital, Affordable housing advocacy encourages nurses to go beyond their normal physical space to municipal, government and federal meetings. To achieve this nurses must possess emotional strength and the right education to perform the needs of patient advocacy successfully. Using a family center approach, Nurses must work with the family to develop strategies that provided opportunities for patients. By looking at factors that affect each family member and also be able to identify each family member strength and which helps in the sustaiblity of good hosuing. Despite the strength of the Canadian housing market, affordable housing and stable vvibrant communities remain unequally distributed. These inqualities stems from the shortages of affordable hosuing communities, income inequality and current state of the country’s economy. Bryant (2003) in his article argued that , â€Å" The availability and affordability of housing plays an important role in relationship to other social determinants of health. People can go without many things, but going without housing is potentially catastrophic. If citizens are required to spend increasing proportions of available resources on maintaining a roof over their head, the resources available to support socia l determinants of health such as food and educational resources are diminished. (Bryant, 2003, p. 55). Practice Development Research by Krieger Higgins (2002) supports the increasing body of evidence that has associated housing quality with morbidity from infectious diseases, chronic illnesses, injuries, poor nutrition, and mental disorders (Krieger Higgins, 2002) . Affordable living and low income is a critical need in mitigating the devastating effects of poverty. People that lack adequate income fall prey to many diseases such as chronic diseases, hypetension, tuberculosis etc. For nurses to be successful advacates for patients in having affordable hsouing policies impemting. Nurses need to be educated and seek further nursing practice development.

Friday, October 25, 2019

Robert Louis Stevenson :: essays research papers

When one reads the nonfiction work of Robert Louis Stevenson along with the novels and short stories, a more complete portrait emerges of the author than that of the romantic vagabond one usually associates with his best-known fiction. The Stevenson of the nonfiction prose is a writer involved in the issues of his craft, his milieu, and his soul. Moreover, one can see the record of his maturation in critical essays, political tracts, biographies, and letters to family and friends. What Stevenson lacks, especially for the tastes of this age, is specificity and expertise: he has not the depth of such writers as John Ruskin, Walter Pater, or William Morris. But he was a shrewd observer of humankind, and his essays reveal his lively and perspicacious mind. Though he lacked originality, he created a rapport with the reader, who senses his enthusiastic embrace of life and art. If Stevenson at first wrote like one who only skimmed the surface of experience, by the end of his life he was pa ssionately committed to his adopted land of Samoa, to his own history, and to the creation of his fiction. Robert Louis Stevenson was born to Thomas and Margaret Isabella Balfour Stevenson in Edinburgh on 13 November 1850. From the beginning he was sickly. Through much of his childhood he was attended by his faithful nurse, Alison Cunningham, known as Cummy in the family circle. She told him morbid stories about the Covenanters (the Scots Presbyterian martyrs), read aloud to him Victorian penny-serial novels, Bible stories, and the Psalms, and drilled the catechism into him, all with his parents' approval. Thomas Stevenson was quite a storyteller himself, and his wife doted on their only child, sitting in admiration while her precocious son expounded on religious dogma. Stevenson inevitably reacted to the morbidity of his religious education and to the stiffness of his family's middle-class values, but that rebellion would come only after he entered Edinburgh University. The juvenilia that survives from his childhood shows an observer who was already sensitive to religious issues and Scottish history. Not surprisingly, the boy who listened to Cummy's religious tales first tried his hand at retelling Bible stories: "A History of Moses" was followed by "The Book of Joseph." When Stevenson was sixteen his family published a pamphlet he had written entitled The Pentland Rising, a recounting of the murder of Nonconformist Scots Presbyterians who rebelled against their royalist persecutors.

Thursday, October 24, 2019

An Analysis of Dylan Thomas “ Do not Go gently into that Good night” Essay

Dylan Thomas wrote this poem for his dying father, it   was published on December 16, 1952, along with six other poems in â€Å" In Country Sleep â€Å". The Poem is a villanelle. It is made up of five tercets, a unit of three lines of verse, followed by a quatrain, a unit of four lines of verse. It is a lyric poem. It makes of rhymes on every other line of the poem. Dylan also makes use of the repetition of a particular line to put his point across.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   â€Å"Do not go gently into that good night† is a passionate poem about fighting death. Dylan Thomas uses metaphors in describing the agony of death and how one must fight against it. He compares death to darkness, as a line recurring   points to this †Rage, rage against the dying of the light†. In this poem, Dylan Thomas talks about life, and reminds the reader why life is worth fighting for. He suggests images that call to mind, days in a life of   a man, when there was laughter and merriment,   as seen in such lines as these â€Å"Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight†.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The poem’s main theme is fighting for life. It is an impassioned plea to his father to cling on to existence and not be carried into the darkness. Dylan Thomas words reverberates in one’s head as he seems to plead desperately that life not be given up so easily.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The poem can also be applied in the lives of people who are not in danger of dying. It seems to call out to the living to live their lives to the fullest and not succumb to the darkness of ignorance and fear. This lyrical poem appears to be something a young person may write, for it is full of bravery and invincibility- much like what teenagers or young ones would feel. Dylan then uses the elements of age. A young person, full of life asks someone to hold on a little longer in the same way that he probably held vigil beside his beloved father.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Dylan’s seemingly simple poem is actually very inspiring because it holds a message of hope. It draws the audience in and then encourages them to examine their existence and ask if one is happy or contented. If not, then Dylan’s battle cry is more than enough to kindle a light in a reader’s heart. It is his proclamation of existence, his fervor to â€Å" Rage against the Dying of the Light† that is contagious and that enables him to engage readers and hold their attention and truly fight the darkness within and with out , much like how Dylan continuously did for his father, to whom this poem was written for.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   â€Å"Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night: Critical Overview. REFERENCES † Poetry for Students. 1998. Ed. Marie Rose Napierkowski. Vol. 1. Detroit: Gale, eNotes.com. January 2006. 1 May 2008. .   Thomas, Dylan. â€Å"Do not go gently into that Good Night† 2007. Poets.org, from the Academy of American   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Poets. Retrieved 29 April 2005 from http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15377

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

EBay In China Study Case Essay

Question 1 eBay first entered the Chinese market in 2002 by acquiring a 33% stake in its local counterpart, EachNet, followed by a full acquisition a year later in 2003. Critically assess eBay.s choice of market entry strategy for China (use Key Country Matrix), listing both the advantages and disadvantages of its acquisition strategy (use Drivers (YIP) -CAGE Matrix). 30% Key Country Matrix Looking at the structure of â€Å"key country matrix†, we notice that this matrix has two axes (the x-axis that shows the â€Å"competitive strength† observed in the country that we are studying; the vertical axis represents the â€Å"country atractiveness†). For China, we can say that among many others, there is a top 6 of factors that drive investment there (China is an attractive investment country): 1. Capital Availability; 2. Competitiveness; 3. Regulatory Environment; 4. Stability; 5. Local Chinese Market and Business Climate; 6. Openness to Regional and International Trade. Analyzing China’s competitive strength, we conclude that this is a country still developing. China has shortages of infrastructures and services in several markets (China’s competitive strength is not that high). Drivers (YIP) Location of activity is a crucial source of potential advantage and one of the distinguishing features of international strategy relative to other diversification strategies. Given internationalization’s complexity, international strategy should be underpinned by a careful diagnosis of the strengths and direction of trend in particular markets. George Yip’s drivers of globalization’ framework provides a basis for such diagnosis. CAGE 1. Culture distance; 2. Administrative and political distance; 3. Geographical distance; 4. Economic distance. The differences between the US and China are huge when evaluating the â€Å"culture distance†, the â€Å"administrative and political distance†, the â€Å"geographical distance† and the â€Å"economic distance†. When a company like eBay assumes intend to expand its business should be aware of these differences and adopt strategies that prevent these differences to interfere in business success. Vantages/Disadvantages of the acquisition strategy When a company like eBay assumes intend to expand its business to China should be aware of the differences between both countries and adopt strategies that prevent these differences to interfere in business success. As a disadvantage, we can consider the risk of the company not adapt in a positive way to the new market (there is the possibility of being rejected by the Chinese market). As an advantage, we can consider the possibility of this acquisition became a huge success and the sales can increase abruptly (as the Chinese market is really big, this means that eBay’s profit would be really high after this â€Å"movement†). Question 2 Assess the potential benefits and risks of eBay.s joint venture with Tom Online (use Global/Local Matrix). 20% The Global / Local Matrix assesses the volume of international trade and the volume of foreign direct investment in an industry. The industry in which it operates eBay is located in the upper right corner as shown in the figure. It is a global industry which revised the philosophy â€Å"Think Globally, Act Globally† and where there are high levels of international trade and foreign direct investment. In recent years the market for e-commerce in China has recorded tremendous growth. The joint venture on analyzing is based in the relationship between TOM Online and Skype communications company online at eBay Inc. EBay is one of the largest brands of e-commerce in the world and TOM Online is a provider of excellent services to Chinese consumers. Both companies will make financial contributions online, and the new market being built by a joint venture between eBay and TOM Online will provide a great experience for users. This joint venture will promove the connection between users and channels of distribution. Therefore, in our view this joint venture has everything to be a success. Question 3 Advantages / Disadvantages of JV international strategy On one hand, a Joint Venture strategy has several advantages, mostly when it is done on a market like Chinese one, which is very protective with its national firms and little accommodative for foreign companies. TOM online is one of the largest wireless service providers and the fifth-largest internet portal in China, which allows Ebay to penetrate the market faster and easier thanks to its existing brand-awareness among Chinese population, generating for ebay a time saver. TOM online has also a strong political asset by being supported by Li Ka-shing, the biggest holder of the company, who has also strong connexions with hugh-ranking officials both in Chian and Hong Kong. This success on the Chinese market shows that the firm has a great expertise on the specificities of this business area, and decrease the  risk for Ebay to make mistake with its strategy. Also, by making a JV, the financial risks and costs decrease because they are shared between the two firms and a synergy is created between the two sides, increasing the financial power of the firms and allowing them to launch project with shared financial participation. On the other hand, with a JV, the earnings have to be shared, so they are lower. To make this partnership happen, it demand a lot more work and energy than with the other type of partnership. That includes heavy research about the law and the compatibility between the two structures. This setting of the JV comes with a lot of impact on the management of the new entity. There is risk of disagreement on how the dividends should be shared, disagreement on the managerial model to adopt and on the global strategy. All these problemes can bring to conflict of interest and make the JV losing market shares. Question 4 : Strategic recomendation on International Commercial Strategy for E-Bay: â€Å"Alliance, Acquisition or Abandon Strategy† : Cf Excel document for QSPM Matrix.  Due to this QSPM analysis, we can see that the acquiring method is still more than the expanding method, but from close, thus we know that Ebay is the auction website, so we can council them to continue acquiring the other companies†¦

Tuesday, October 22, 2019

Free Essays on Soldiers Home

In the short story â€Å"Soldier’s Home† by Ernest Hemingway, Harold Krebs is a lonely, almost purposeless man who has returned home from war. In the short story â€Å"The Eighty-Yard Run† by Irwin Shaw, Christian Darling is a married ex-football player now living in New York. These two men have many similarities in their lives as well as some differences. Krebs and Darling both had some very close similarities. First, both stories took place during the1920’s. Krebs and Darling both played in some type of field. One was a football field, the other was a battlefield. They both had an interest in women, to say the least. The saddest similarity these two men had was that they both seemed so terribly lonely and complacent after their days on the field. Often, both Krebs and Darling sat at home and let life slip by as they reflected on their past. Krebs would enjoy sitting on his porch at home and watching the young women walk down the street. After losing his job, Darling enjoyed sitting at home drinking and staring at his wife’s paintings that he disliked. I felt badly that both of these men chose to live their lives like that. These men also had some things in their lives that were very different. Darling seemed to have advanced a little farther in life than Krebs. He played football and graduated from Princeton; he also had a rich girlfriend who was very much in love with him. He went on to get a job with her fathers’ company and married his college girlfriend, Louise. He also moved out of his home-town and ended up living in New York City. After Harold’s days in the field, he continued living at home without a job. He seemed very interested in girls but not in actually pursuing them. Harold seemed to want everything to be as simple as possible after fighting in the war. He didn’t really seem to have any motivation. But, Krebs did have a closer relationship than Darling with his immediate family; although at times he ... Free Essays on Soldiers Home Free Essays on Soldiers Home In the short story â€Å"Soldier’s Home† by Ernest Hemingway, Harold Krebs is a lonely, almost purposeless man who has returned home from war. In the short story â€Å"The Eighty-Yard Run† by Irwin Shaw, Christian Darling is a married ex-football player now living in New York. These two men have many similarities in their lives as well as some differences. Krebs and Darling both had some very close similarities. First, both stories took place during the1920’s. Krebs and Darling both played in some type of field. One was a football field, the other was a battlefield. They both had an interest in women, to say the least. The saddest similarity these two men had was that they both seemed so terribly lonely and complacent after their days on the field. Often, both Krebs and Darling sat at home and let life slip by as they reflected on their past. Krebs would enjoy sitting on his porch at home and watching the young women walk down the street. After losing his job, Darling enjoyed sitting at home drinking and staring at his wife’s paintings that he disliked. I felt badly that both of these men chose to live their lives like that. These men also had some things in their lives that were very different. Darling seemed to have advanced a little farther in life than Krebs. He played football and graduated from Princeton; he also had a rich girlfriend who was very much in love with him. He went on to get a job with her fathers’ company and married his college girlfriend, Louise. He also moved out of his home-town and ended up living in New York City. After Harold’s days in the field, he continued living at home without a job. He seemed very interested in girls but not in actually pursuing them. Harold seemed to want everything to be as simple as possible after fighting in the war. He didn’t really seem to have any motivation. But, Krebs did have a closer relationship than Darling with his immediate family; although at times he ...

Monday, October 21, 2019

How to Write SMART Goals and Objectives

How to Write SMART Goals and Objectives The  term SMART goals was coined by in 1954. Since then, SMART goals have become popular with business managers, educators and others because they work. The late management guru  Peter F. Drucker  developed the concept. Background Drucker was a management consultant, professor and the author of 39 books. He influenced many top executives in his long career. Management by objectives was one of his primary business theories. Effectiveness, he said, is the foundation of business, and the way to achieve it is to gain agreement between management and employees on the businesss objectives. In 2002, Drucker received the highest civilian honor in the U.S.- the Medal of Freedom. He died in 2005 at age 95. Instead of creating a Drucker legacy from his archives, Druckers family decided to look forward instead of backward, and they gathered distinguished business people to form  The Drucker Institute. Their mandate, states the institutes website, was to  transform the archival repository into a social enterprise whose purpose is to strengthen society by igniting effective, responsible and joyful management. Though Drucker was for years a successful business professor at  Claremont Graduate University, the institute helped to show how his management ideas- including SMART goals- could be applied to other areas, such as public and adult education. Goals for Success If you have been to a business management class, you have likely have learned how to write goals and objectives in Druckers way: SMART.  If you havent heard about Drucker, you are in for a treat that will help you achieve what you want  and be more successful, whether you are a teacher trying to help your students achieve, an adult learner or a person who seeks to achieve your dreams. SMART goals are: SpecificMeasurableAchievableRealisticTime-bound Writing  SMART  Goals Writing SMART goals for yourself or your students is a simple process if you understand the acronym and how to apply the steps it prescribed, as follows: S stands for specific. Make your goal or objective as specific as possible. Say exactly what you want to achieve in clear, concise words.M stands for measurable. Include a unit of measure in your goal. Be objective rather than subjective. When will your goal be achieved? How will you know it has been achieved?A stands for achievable. Be realistic. Ensure that your goal is feasible in terms of the resources available to you.R stands for realistic. Focus on the end results you desire rather than the activities necessary to get there. You want to grow personally, so reach for your goal- but be reasonable or youll set yourself up for disappointment.T stands for time-bound. Give yourself a deadline within a year. Include a timeframe such as a week, month or year, and include a specific date if possible. Examples and Variations A few examples of properly written SMART goals might be helpful here: Research tuition reimbursement and enroll in a degree program before the next employee review period.Complete a continuing education course in using spreadsheet software by June 1. You will sometimes see SMART with two As- as in SMAART. In that case, the first A stands for attainable and the second for action-oriented. This is just another way to encourage you to write goals in a way that inspires you to actually make them happen. As with any good writing, craft your goal or objective in an active, rather than passive, voice. Use an action verb near the beginning of the sentence, and ensure that your goal is stated in terms you can actually attain. As you achieve each goal, you will be capable of more, and in that way, grow. Personal development is often one of the first things to get deleted from the priority list when life gets hectic. Give your personal goals and objectives a fighting chance by writing them down. Make them SMART, and youll have a much better chance of attaining them.

Saturday, October 19, 2019

Black And White Women Of The Old

South Essay, Research Paper Minrose Gwin? s book, Black and White Women of the Old South, argues that history has jobs with objectivity. Her book brings to life interesting readings on the position of the adult females of the old South and movable bondage in historical American fiction and autobiography. Gwin? s chief statements discussed how the white adult females of the South in no manner wanted to expose any sort of compassion for a fellow adult female of African descent. Gwin described the sistership between black and white adult females as a violent connexion ( pg 4 ) . Not merely that, Gwin? s book discusses the thought that for most of the eighteenth and 19th century, a black adult female normally got subjected to supplanting of sexual and mental defeat of white adult females. Gwin discusses how these black adult females, because of the sexual and mental maltreatment, felt looked down on more by Whites and hence reduced to even a lower degree than that of white adult females? s position of being a a dult female. . A southern white female slave proprietor merely saw black adult females as another slave, or worse. White adult females needed to make this in order to maintain themselves from experiencing that they were of higher position than every one else except for their hubby. White adult females as, Gwin describes, ever proved that they had complete control and black adult females needed to bow to them. Gwin? s book discusses that the white male slave proprietors brought this onto the black adult females on the plantation. They would ravish black adult females, and so alternatively of the white adult females covering with their hubbies. They would travel after the black adult females merely since the married womans had no power over the hubbies, but they maintained entire control of the slaves, the white adult females would assail the black adult females and do their lives really diffucult. The white adult females would do certain that the black adult females understood that the white adult f emales wholly hated the black adult females for being raped and wanted merely hurting for the them. This is how the black adult females of that clip got the stereotypes of being really sexual existences and hated by there oppressors. You can see grounds of this when Gwin discussed the worlds of such hatred in the book Absalom, Absalom by William Faulkner. The chief character, Clytie, sexual assaults by her male maestro disturbances her because she doesn? t desire to be involved with him, but her female maestro feels that she should be punished for it. So the white female slave proprietor beats her and abuses her every bit much as possible. The transition goes on to demo how colza, gets Clytie labeled as a prostitute. The book discussed how one of the rule grounds as to how the white adult female or kept woman and the black adult females got along, depends on whether or non the slave adult females appeared to endanger the societal position of the adult females. When the white work forces tried to ravish the black adult females it made the white adult females socially look like nil more than a slave. This made the white adult females experience forced to turn out to the black adult females that power still remained in the white adult female? s corner regardless of the maestro? s sexual desires. The kept womans made certain that the slave adult females understood that they valued less than any white adult females, for the chief ground that the white adult female had true power every bit long as the chief wanted her. An illustration of this that I read would be when a white adult female externally expressed that she worried chiefly about her loss of power, non really about matrimony. Saphire, a ficti onal character that Gwin analyzes, says # 8230 ; chiefly concerned with her power # 8230 ; she views her hubbies fondnesss for a slave as an undercutting of her power over him in their relationship which. As the hubby himself describes every bit, what makes her the maestro and him the Miller. ( pg 133 ) The slave that caused this disquieted normally received many whippings and unneeded overworking of the slave. At the clip, this intervention was non unheard of and needed, the white slave proprietors used it as an illustration to demo all slaves that they were non deserving the air they breath except in the Fieldss. And even those who were non involved were treated as sub-human and found that life remained difficult for them. Gwin describes the black communications with their oppressors as a alternate female parent and her kids that demand counsel, looking after, and strong subject. The black adult females knew that no affair what she did she would acquire whippings from the white adult females and their kept womans, they took movable bondage to its boundaries in how the adult females treated the black adult females when they felt threatened. White adult females didn? T merely physical ly abuse the black adult female they besides mentally abused her. The slave adult females were associated with sex and loss of control, sexually implicative, and wild Negroes. ( pg 119 ) These derogative names were what most white adult females came to pigeonhole as being the definition of the mean black adult female. So they to had it difficult when they were being worked by the adult female of the house. Bing that the mere thought that if you were a black adult female your kept woman or lady of the house felt threatened by your presence, so they did at that place best to do certain the black adult females got to pall and to moo of self-pride to make anything. In are category we discussed how adult females, during the 1700? s A ; 1800? s, began to conflict with their functions in society. Our category observed how adult females? s lives began to alter during this clip period. The adult females of this clip period were raised to believe in a patriarcle system because it promised to protect, privilege, and subordinate them. We took note in our category room lectures that finally this system gave adult females a great sum of power being they had what their hubby wanted. This book gives good illustrations of what happened to this system and how it starts to alter from its manner. The slave adult females? s sexual relationship with the white hubbies had made it really hard for the adult females to hold the power they had in their places, and the system was non functioning them as it should, so the adult females made a alteration. This illustration of how the adult females had gone from a life style that they enjoyed to taking some duty over th eir life. The adult females had to get down do certain for herself that she still remained at her proper lady position no affair what her hubby does, and that is why they beat and made the lives of African adult females much harder. But more significantly you can see how the white adult females of the South were get downing to do the alterations needed to acquire what they needed from society, by utilizing their ain system that works the best for them. This shows the alteration from entire power to obtaining things on their ain. Because of these alterations in their life styles adult females found they needed change their individuality in order to maintain some sort of power. Gwin? s book goes on to speak about how the white adult female? s lifestyle alterations. And how they got straight involved in their lives, and get down looking out for themselves, being that the system of the hubby looking out for her began to vanish. The white adult females of the south felt threatened by wha t they felt could be a definite challenge to their power and they needed to get down to alter so that they could still be able to accomplish the ends that they need fulfilled in life. The southern adult females during this clip period were holding to go much independent and get down to acquire occupations and all become more active in the ways of working because the South could non stay the same with the release of the slaves. Womans had began to acquire occupations and work along side of her hubby, and get down to go more involved in the mundane ways of life. I think that Gwin? s book is a good illustration of what has and still is go oning to adult females. Their life style is ever altering. Gwin? s statement that life was neer a sistership between the inkinesss and white in the alleged American fiction and autobiography seems prove true. These adult females were really much different and the ethnocentrism in a white adult female keeps her from of all time acquiring past the dark tegument, and makes the white adult females experience more like the Africans were more of an animate being so an existent individual. The white adult females ever feels that the slave must understand that the adult male may rank higher than her but even if her hubby wants to mess around so mistake goes to the slave non the hubbies. And the slave will neer be to her degree, because the black slave will neer be a lady. And in the book you can see how the white adult females lost there power in the house and that their system of life that they received didn? t prove to work out any longer for them so they had to try to set to a manner life took would take them. I feel that Gwin argues that the chief ground for the confrontations for the battle of power became apparent in that it had gotten to indicate that certain black adult females would non allow their ain female proprietors hit them. This is an illustration of how non merely how the Whites adult females challenged the system, but besides how the slave adult females started to do alterations in how they willed to be treated. Bibliographic commendation Gwin, Minrose. Black And White Women Of The Old South. Knoxville: Tennessee Press, 1985.

Friday, October 18, 2019

Corporate finance Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words - 2

Corporate finance - Essay Example Last, the third objective is to maintain a dividend payout ratio of 40%. The objective is suitable because it helps prevent agency problems and respond to the investors’ preference to certain earnings (dividends). The cash flow analysis indicates a strong financial position of the company. In addition, the financial plan takes into consideration the shareholders’ interest of wealth maximizing through payment of high dividends. Food for life, a company incorporated in the United Kingdom, operates locally. The company was established 25 years ago and since its establishment, it has been providing services to various customers such as schools, colleges, hospitals, businesses and retirement homes. The company faces strong competition from only one company, the Organic Foods. Its rival company is a much larger and has expanded into various international markets. The establishment of Food-For-Life was made by two young women who currently own 75% of shares, whereas, the other 25% of shares are owned by a venture capital firm. The end of the financial year 2014 is on the horizon and the customary board meeting is expected any time. Among the most critical issues to be discussed during the board meeting are the company’s objectives. The following are the three objectives to be reviewed during the meeting: first, the company wishes to maintain the company’s profit margin of around 24%. Second, the company seeks to uphold the current strong financial position. Last, in order to satisfy the interest of the shareholders, the company is planning to maintain the current dividend payout ratio of 40%. In addition, the company anticipates an increase in the sales levels to  £ 270 million in 2015,  £ 310 million in 2016 and  £ 350 million in 2017. However, the sales growth rate is expected to be zero for the subsequent years. Based on the company’s financial objectives and other

Corporate Restructuring Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Corporate Restructuring - Case Study Example Organizations need to be more efficient and effective to ward off the challenges of deregulation and hence increased competition. As a result of increased market pressures, it is unavoidable that organizations analyze and redesign all aspects of their business to remain competitive. Companies around the world are awaking to new realities of an intensively competitive domain and have been undertaking extensive restructuring both at the operational and at the strategic levels. Organizations around the world need to make more decisive choices and take the challenges to leap frog to the next phase of growth. Business portfolios need to be restructured and realigned to assimilate the effects of globalization and deregulation. Companies all over the world are exploring various restructuring methodologies such as Cost cuttings, better customer relationship management, Resource Planning, mergers, takeovers and buy-outs to pursue focused growth. Citicorp: Citicorp was the descendant of City Bank of New York which was founded On June 16, 1812, with $2 million of capital, later, in 1968 renamed as First National City Bank. Large corporate banking was the core business of Citicorp and was one of the largest banks in the United States at the time of its merger with Travelers Group. Traveler Traveler Group: Insurance titan Travelers was founded in 1864 in Hartford, Connecticut. In the 1990s, Travelers went through a sequence of mergers and acquisitions, First with Primerica in 1993 and then Aetna's property and casualty business in 1996. Traveler was the first company in America to insure against accidents and to introduce automobile insurance policy. Making of the Giant - Acquisition In October 1996, Citigroup, Inc. was formed after a $70 billion Merger between Citicorp and the Travelers Group. The Travelers Insurance acquisition added property and casualty, and life and annuities underwriting capabilities to the group. It also brought along the Travelers red umbrella logo, which they applied to all the businesses within the group. One notable exception is Citibank, whose logo is Citibank with a red arc over the't'. The Citicorp-Travelers merger has represented a new era of inorganic growth. Motives behind Merger The merger of Citicorp and Travelers Group took place in 1998 against the prevailing US laws such as Glass-Steagall Act which prohibited the merger of a bank with an insurance underwriter. In year 1999, before the trial period provided by Glass-Steagall Act could end, new law, Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act which invalidated previous law was framed, this validated the merger. The main official motive behind this merger was expanding their product mix, customer base and ", achieve cost savings and synergies" and "to leave a bigger footprint". Restructuring after Merger Weill, then CEO of Traveler Group, proposed a structure of co-CEO's, in order to convince Citicorp to merge, consisting himself and John Reed, CEO of Citicorp. This strategy was believed unworkable by many business research analysts. Former Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin was brought in as a moderator between Reed and Weill . But, conflicts within the company eventually forced Reed to come out of the conglomerate. Later three co-CEO's were inducted

Child Labor and Economic Development Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Child Labor and Economic Development - Essay Example As the paper declares children who were supposed to be inside the classroom learning and preparing themselves to have better tomorrow, or that they are enjoying their natural rights to play with other children or helping family chores at home by their own sense of responsibility and initiative, are now being laden with works which and most of the time beyond their capacity. Their young bodies are not prepared yet for such burden. This essay stresses that the irony is that, we adults or the society in general seems to tolerate this malpractice of child labor. There are even business establishments that deliberately hire young children, sending them to work in factories often with very poorly working conditions. Ventilations are not sufficient giving more hazard to these young laborers. In the third world countries, this is common, and children who are working at their young age are usually considered lucky or privilege since employment is difficult for adults. Thus, when one member of the family gets a job, regardless of age, it is an opportunity. But what does this reflect the society? This paper aims to answer what child labor reflects on economic development. It will also attempt to answer three things: the rise of child labor, the economic consequences of child labor, and, policies that can help put an end to child labor. Professor Glen Perusek reported a case of child labor in the Strait of Malacca which is known as Jermals. This report is one of the extreme cases of child labor that was recorded (Child Labor in the World Economy). "Conditions on the jermals are abysmal. The structures are flexible, to be able to absorb the shock of the sea during storms. Nausea is a common complaint. Not only do children haul in the nets, sort and boil fish, they must also cook their own meals. Children, the report says, "are given little food, of poor quality" and no variety to speak of. Nearly every meal consists of rice with fish. Only once every two months are there fresh vegetables. Children are so desperate for food that they will "submit to (homo)sexual relations with one of the older workers" for extra rations. The working hours leave children chronically short of sleep. "Worse than almost anything else is the misery caused by lack of sleep. Some foremen pour boiling water on children who inadvertently doze at their post or fail to wake promptly when summoned." There are no beds for the children on the Jermals -- this privilege is reserved for the foremen, often the only adults on board. Instead, children sleep on damp board floors or in makeshift shelters on the shanty roof, or on beds of brown paper. Causes of Child Labor Child labor has many causes but the main driving force of child labor is poverty due to unemployment. According to Basu and Tzannatos, "the role of poverty has been the cornerstone of a lot of thinking regarding child labor"(Basu and Tzannatos, p.15). This is best explained through the two crucial assumptions such as the luxury axiom and the substitution axiom wherein child labor is connected with poverty although there are some distinctions between the two as the level of poverty is to be measured. Luxury axiom "asserts that household sends their

Thursday, October 17, 2019

ECONOMIC PRINCIPLES Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

ECONOMIC PRINCIPLES - Assignment Example For good which are substitutes (eg. Tea and coffee), the increase in price of one product leads to an increase in demand for others and this therefore gives a positive figure for cross elasticity of demands. For complementary goods like DVD player and DVDs, the cross elasticity of demand is a negative figure since when the demand for one product goes up, the quantity demanded of the complement also falls. The most major determinant of demand in such cases is price of the substitute / complement good. Income elasticity of demand is an economic concept which measures the responsiveness in the quantity demanded of a product to a change in the the income level of a person. It can simply be measured by the formula : percentage change in quantity demanded / percentage change in income level. There are two types of goods, normal goods and inferior goods. The demand for normal goods goes up as income rises and this gives a positive income elasticity of demand. Then there are inferior goods, the demand for which goes down as income level rises (eg. People would prefer eating chicken meat as compared to raw onions when their income rises) and they result in a negative figure for income elasticity of demand. Our product, the Magpie has a price elasticity of demand of 2.7. What this figure means is that the demand of this product is highly sensitive to a change in its price. To put it very simply, if the price of Magpie goes down by 1% then its demand would go up by 2.7% and viceversa. It is somewhat difficult to change the price of the products that have an elastic demand as such a step might cause the demand to fall my a huge margin. Same is the case with Magpie. In this case an increase in price might mean we lose out our sales to out competitors and this face a decline in profits. It also means that if we decrease out prices we would be able to sell a

Strategic Analysis of BP Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3750 words

Strategic Analysis of BP - Research Paper Example An extensive literature review based on the firm’s strategic capabilities has been devoted in this study. Dynamic capability of a firm refers to the capabilities of strategic management in a competitive environment particularly in a perfect competition market where strategic insight is highly essential. This paper has described that theories are not sufficient to analyze the competitive performance of BP in the oil and gas industry. But a combination of study from both the field of strategic management and organization studies can show how a firm can develop symbolic capital by the social reputation and commitment. Theoretically it is called license to act which is critical activity of a firm. BP was involved in the incident of Deepwater Horizon spill in Gulf of Mexico. For this instance BP has to pay a huge amount of interest as the affected country was US and thereafter BP lost billions of its market shares. BP’s turnaround has been based on its performance and it was a symbolical event to this industry since 2005. BP managers followed a strategic activity which is theoretically called license to act which represented through the company’s acquisition of symbolic act. Discussion of theories & models from literature Three theories from the literature have been synthesized for effective discussion and analysis of the BP case. These are dynamic capability, discursive environment and symbolic capital. ... Resource based competitive advantage represents the efficient selection and optimum allocation of resources in the form of asset creation to gain capabilities that are rare and valuable for the firm itself. Organizations are aware of their internal capabilities which is analyzed by the performance and evaluated by the outcomes of the adequate level of performance. People in the organization learn new things with their work which summarized and termed as experience but when they gain experience through codification and articulation then it is termed as dynamic capability not only the general experience (Makhija, 2003, p.435). Organizations are typically constituted by past routines and patterns of different activities which the organization has followed earlier. Dynamic capabilities help the organization to realize the essential strategic objectives which can be imnp0limented through value addition in different activities. Apart from this strategic benefit, the firm can gain some othe r qualitative advantages. Differentiation of brand recognition is enhanced through effective strategic framework i.e. how fast and in what extend the developed strategies is implemented. The firm faces different obstacles in the way of implementation of different activities and for this reason it need to create an alternative framework for maintaining sustainable performance of the firm. The firm essentially needs dynamic capabilities for this type of effective performance strategy. It is reflected through the ability to gain new competitive advantage in the market dynamics. It is possible only through changes in the operational capabilities regarding implementation of activities. So the main aim of a production firm

Wednesday, October 16, 2019

Child Labor and Economic Development Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Child Labor and Economic Development - Essay Example As the paper declares children who were supposed to be inside the classroom learning and preparing themselves to have better tomorrow, or that they are enjoying their natural rights to play with other children or helping family chores at home by their own sense of responsibility and initiative, are now being laden with works which and most of the time beyond their capacity. Their young bodies are not prepared yet for such burden. This essay stresses that the irony is that, we adults or the society in general seems to tolerate this malpractice of child labor. There are even business establishments that deliberately hire young children, sending them to work in factories often with very poorly working conditions. Ventilations are not sufficient giving more hazard to these young laborers. In the third world countries, this is common, and children who are working at their young age are usually considered lucky or privilege since employment is difficult for adults. Thus, when one member of the family gets a job, regardless of age, it is an opportunity. But what does this reflect the society? This paper aims to answer what child labor reflects on economic development. It will also attempt to answer three things: the rise of child labor, the economic consequences of child labor, and, policies that can help put an end to child labor. Professor Glen Perusek reported a case of child labor in the Strait of Malacca which is known as Jermals. This report is one of the extreme cases of child labor that was recorded (Child Labor in the World Economy). "Conditions on the jermals are abysmal. The structures are flexible, to be able to absorb the shock of the sea during storms. Nausea is a common complaint. Not only do children haul in the nets, sort and boil fish, they must also cook their own meals. Children, the report says, "are given little food, of poor quality" and no variety to speak of. Nearly every meal consists of rice with fish. Only once every two months are there fresh vegetables. Children are so desperate for food that they will "submit to (homo)sexual relations with one of the older workers" for extra rations. The working hours leave children chronically short of sleep. "Worse than almost anything else is the misery caused by lack of sleep. Some foremen pour boiling water on children who inadvertently doze at their post or fail to wake promptly when summoned." There are no beds for the children on the Jermals -- this privilege is reserved for the foremen, often the only adults on board. Instead, children sleep on damp board floors or in makeshift shelters on the shanty roof, or on beds of brown paper. Causes of Child Labor Child labor has many causes but the main driving force of child labor is poverty due to unemployment. According to Basu and Tzannatos, "the role of poverty has been the cornerstone of a lot of thinking regarding child labor"(Basu and Tzannatos, p.15). This is best explained through the two crucial assumptions such as the luxury axiom and the substitution axiom wherein child labor is connected with poverty although there are some distinctions between the two as the level of poverty is to be measured. Luxury axiom "asserts that household sends their

Strategic Analysis of BP Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3750 words

Strategic Analysis of BP - Research Paper Example An extensive literature review based on the firm’s strategic capabilities has been devoted in this study. Dynamic capability of a firm refers to the capabilities of strategic management in a competitive environment particularly in a perfect competition market where strategic insight is highly essential. This paper has described that theories are not sufficient to analyze the competitive performance of BP in the oil and gas industry. But a combination of study from both the field of strategic management and organization studies can show how a firm can develop symbolic capital by the social reputation and commitment. Theoretically it is called license to act which is critical activity of a firm. BP was involved in the incident of Deepwater Horizon spill in Gulf of Mexico. For this instance BP has to pay a huge amount of interest as the affected country was US and thereafter BP lost billions of its market shares. BP’s turnaround has been based on its performance and it was a symbolical event to this industry since 2005. BP managers followed a strategic activity which is theoretically called license to act which represented through the company’s acquisition of symbolic act. Discussion of theories & models from literature Three theories from the literature have been synthesized for effective discussion and analysis of the BP case. These are dynamic capability, discursive environment and symbolic capital. ... Resource based competitive advantage represents the efficient selection and optimum allocation of resources in the form of asset creation to gain capabilities that are rare and valuable for the firm itself. Organizations are aware of their internal capabilities which is analyzed by the performance and evaluated by the outcomes of the adequate level of performance. People in the organization learn new things with their work which summarized and termed as experience but when they gain experience through codification and articulation then it is termed as dynamic capability not only the general experience (Makhija, 2003, p.435). Organizations are typically constituted by past routines and patterns of different activities which the organization has followed earlier. Dynamic capabilities help the organization to realize the essential strategic objectives which can be imnp0limented through value addition in different activities. Apart from this strategic benefit, the firm can gain some othe r qualitative advantages. Differentiation of brand recognition is enhanced through effective strategic framework i.e. how fast and in what extend the developed strategies is implemented. The firm faces different obstacles in the way of implementation of different activities and for this reason it need to create an alternative framework for maintaining sustainable performance of the firm. The firm essentially needs dynamic capabilities for this type of effective performance strategy. It is reflected through the ability to gain new competitive advantage in the market dynamics. It is possible only through changes in the operational capabilities regarding implementation of activities. So the main aim of a production firm

Tuesday, October 15, 2019

Apple Swot Essay Example for Free

Apple Swot Essay Apple is a brand which is being recognized for good reasons through out the world. â€Å"Brands are unlikely to become successful if their end motive is simply to be different, consumers demand that brands become different in a meaningful way which means delivering on that difference† (Helen Fern 2010). Apple has a great sense of creativity especially in connecting with consumers and this can be seen from the fact that even the most generic products can still be perceived to be different. There are many smart phones out there in the market but the iphone is the most recognized today. From the fact that Apple maintains a good range of products which compliment each other from the itunes online store which is an excellent source of revenue derived from sales of music and applications for Apples iphone, ipod and ipad touch devices, this is bound to bring good customer loyalty buying multiple products from Apple, some of whom may well be influenced by other people as Apple seem to have an aggressive presence on the social media networks such as facebook and twitter where the majority of consumers spend a lot of their time these days. This increases further awareness and adds strength to the brand. Apple has not in many years use celebrities to strengthen its brand which is a great deal in saving money. Instead it is the celebrities who tend to use Apple now in order to increase their income and diversify their business. This in return increases the strength of the brand almost effortlessly. A good example to this will be the Will i.am iphone cases. â€Å"Will.i.am has officially unveiled four â€Å"i.am † iPhone cases, designed to improve the Apple smartphone’s camera capabilities. The Black Eyed Peas frontman took to London’s Selfridges department store to show off the â€Å"foto.sosho† range, with the press release claiming the device, which comes in several variants, to be â€Å"the world’s first digital camera accessory and app combination designed to turn an iPhone 4 or iPhone 4S into a sophisticated point and shoot digital camera.† http://www.trustedreviews.com/news/will-i-am-launches-i-am-foto-sosho-iphone-cases Apple has won several awards in recent years and has been â€Å"voted the  overall winner of the 2012 CMO survey awards for marketing excellence, yet again Apple has been selected as a winner or co winner for five consecutive years by the sample o0f top marketers†. Christine Moorman 2012. Apple had originally followed the following points in order to create success. * Epathy – Making sure that customers needs are truly been understood more than any other company in this competitive industry. * Focus – Time management in terms of eliminating unimportant opportunities therefore a good job can be done on the chosen tasks for example deciding what to produce and then focusing on product differentiation from other producers. * Impute – Product presentation is of high importance since people always judge a book by its cover therefore, high quality product and most usefull software has to be presented in a creative proffessional manner. Apple is an innovator and technology leader Strategic Management Assignment references. http://edition.cnn.com/2011/10/24/tech/mobile/heart-monitor-smartphone-app/index.html Accessed on 28-12-2012 http://techpinions.com/apple-as-innovator-three-contributions-that-changed-computing/9863 Accessed on 28-12-2012 http://www.millwardbrown.com/Global/Blog/StraightTalk.aspx http://www.investopedia.com/financial-edge/0312/why-pay-the-high-price-for-apple.aspx#axzz2HJhClMRf Accessen on 29-12-2012 Price http://www.trustedreviews.com/news/will-i-am-launches-i-am-foto-sosho-iphone-cases. Accessed on 28-12-2012 http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2254300/Has-Google-finally-taken-bite-Apple-App-developers-switching-allegiance-search-giants-Android-software-dominates-Christmas-sales.html Accessed on 29-12-2012 http://www.millwardbrown.com/Global/Blog/Post/2012-11-14/Apple-tablet-wars-and-the-Red-Queen-Effect.aspx http://www.millwardbrown.com/Global/Blog/Post/2012-11-14/Apple-tablet-wars-and-the-Red-Queen-Effect.aspx Steve jobs being a good leader.

Monday, October 14, 2019

Looking At The Effects Of Online Gaming

Looking At The Effects Of Online Gaming Introduction In order to find out a relation between online games and various aspect of players life such as learning, behaviour, social life, and others, many studies have been done. When considering, how can online gaming effect on the player, we come to the four main domains. These are learning in the game based environment, relation between violent games and aggressive behaviour, minors and inappropriate content and addictive behaviour. Aim of this essay is to focus on game addiction as it itself affects many aspects of the life. What motivates player to play and why some players become addicted whilst others do not? Further, what from psychological point of view makes the games addictive and what addiction is? Also aim is to identify differences between game genres and the amount of time they are being played and to answer question if and why online games are becoming so much more popular then games played offline. Is an interaction with other people the only reason? LITERATURE REVIEW If there is speech about addiction, there is also need to mention a motivation. As these two go hand in hand. There is no game addict, who has no motivation to play. First to mention is Bartles model (Seay, 2006) of types of players. It defines four types of players and their specific motivations. They are : achiever, explorer, killer and socializer [see appendix C for explanation]. Yee later derived five motivational facets as opposed to Bartles player types. (Seay 2006, Yee 2002) They are : relationship, immersion, achievement, grief, leadership. [see appendix C for explanation]. These were further modified and are being referred to as Facets ÃŽÂ ± (Seay, 2006) They are : Achievement players place an emphasis on feeling like and being regarded by others as accomplished players. Escapism players value gaming as an opportunity to get away from the pressures of the real world. Role playing players enjoy the fact that gaming allows them to become part of a fantasy world. Manipulation manipulation players are characterized by a desire to annoy and exploit other players. Relationship Relationship players are attracted to the social aspects of gaming. [for full description see Appendix] Challenge and skills are interrelated and the diagram below helps to understand difference between online and offline games in relation to addiction. (Hernà ¡ez, 2006) used this diagram based on the study of psychologist Csikszentmihalyi, to demonstrate relation between skills and challenge. According to Csikszentmihalyi (1990) flow is the state in which people are so intensely involved in an activity that nothing else seems to matter; the experience itself is so enjoyable that people will do it even at great cost, for the sheer sake of doing it. If applied on video game, it is clear that game should increase challenge equally to players skill, to keep the player within the flow. According to annual report (Nielsen 2008) 56% of light gamers and 78% of heavy gamers play online games. In most offline games the difficulty is set at the start and will remain on the same level till the end of the game. What leads to player moving from flow to control and eventually to boredom, when he losing interest. Whereas online games, particularly massively multiplayer online role playing games (MMORPGs) are designed to keep player in the flow by increasing challenges accordingly to abilities. MMORPGs are most often connected to the game addiction. Yee 2002 wrote about attraction and motivation factors of MMORPG games. Motivations are mentioned above, so lets explain attraction factors. There are three main attraction factors of mmorpg that encourage time investment and personal attachment. Briefly these are : Inherent reward cycle player is always close to some reward, whether it is level, skill or quest Network of online friends that player accumulates over time. They encourage playing to remain at the same level so they can keep playing together Immersive nature of virtual environment which encourage players to become attached to their virtual characters and tries to enchant player with a fantasy, and make him feel that he is part of something grand and extraordinary Parker 2009 defines addiction as : psychological disorder that affects the way the brain functions by impacting chemical processes related to motivation, decision making, learning, inhibitory control, and pleasure seeking. Behavioural addictions like gambling and sex are forms of psychological dependence; addictions to substances like drugs and alcohol are forms of both psychological and physical dependence. [ for full description see appendix B] When it comes to particular effects as a consequences of addictive behaviour these can be divided into two categories. First is the one which contain physiological consequences, which are mostly the same as with general excessive use of computer whatever the reason (work, games, internet..) and these count back problems, dry eyes, repetitive stress injuries, negative changes in sleep patterns, irregular eating, leading to starvation or obesity, and drowsiness and depression of immune system from lack of sleep (Grabianovski, 2010). These are the same for everyone. The second category represents psychological effects. These are mainly connected to change in the social life of the player and may be various for every player, depending on what type of player it is and what are his motivations for playing. Seay 2006 assumes that players driven by achievement and escapism are most likely to get addicted. Low ability of self regulation is another factor contributing to addictive behaviour. Bandura (1999 cited in Seay 2006, p. 44-45) defines in his social cognitive theory term self-regulation as : the ability of an individual to manage his own behaviour through observation, evaluation, and consequation. Increased amount of play hours leads to loneliness, decreased social support and decreased size of social network (Seay, 2006. p. 54) and these factors contribute to development of depression. Freeman 2006 defines massively multiplayer online role-playing games as : a particular genre of online games in which players from around the world create their own characters that interact with other players in the games virtual world. Players gain points with which to buy powers and advance in the never ending game played in real time. As all players are consistently improving the challenge for others remains on high level even when playing for long time. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY Data were collected for the research through questionnaire, because aim was to get a larger amount of quantitative data rather than smaller amount of qualitative data. Twenty five participants (six women) aged in range between eighteen and thirty one years participated. Questionnaire was made anonymous and self-administered in order to maximize rate of honest answers, since some people may feel embarrassed for their answers and thus prefer to answer not honestly if identity is known or when talking face to face on interview. Care was taken to avoid questions, which could cause embarrassment, anger, sadness or frustration. Idea of using observation seems to be not appropriate at all, since it is very time consuming and natural behaviour of observed participant is very questionable. The questions used are closed except of two. Because of the nature of questions, three of them contain option of multiple answers. Reason is to make it easier for participants, by listing the most expected answers and add field for other__ answer, for the case appropriate answer was not included in the list, rather than make question opened. Likely participants would instead of writing full list of their reasons just leave some out. Open question is No.5, which asks for reason why participant prefer online games as this may be more very specific reasons. Also question No.8 is open, asking participant for three favourite games. Purpose is to determine favourite games genre in relation to playing time. To confirm that online MMORPG are most popular among heavy players. To get a further information relating to motivations, it would be useful if participants filled out a online test for Bartles types. DESIGN METHODOLOGY Idea was to prove that mmorpg games are most popular among heavy and hard-core players, as they cover motivation elements of all four player types defined in Bartles model. Further to identify what are the factors, that lead player to addictive behaviour. RESERACH RESULTS Three quarters of participants stated they prefer to play online games. More than one third play video games for more than 15 hours a week. More than half of them consider main reason to be higher challenge and nearly the same number stated the reason to be socializing with people online. Other reasons occur only marginally. See appendix A for charts. EVALUATION OF RESULTS The main reason for playing online games in general is higher challenge, what matches with Csikszentmihalyis diagram and adds credit to its validity. The most popular game played online is first person shooter, but when it comes to hardcore players the mmorpg games become dominant. MMORPG offer open end gameplay in virtual world which is virtually endless, that is the reason why, heavy (more skilled) players are more engaged in online games. Half of the participants for this research, play for less than 8 hours a week, so it is hard to demonstrate relation between playing time and mmorpg online games based on data gathered. But comparison was done to demonstrate what part of these occasional or light players play MMORPG games online. Not surprisingly very small part [see chart 4, appendix A]. On question what aspects of life are most affected by playing, the mostly affected are other hobbies and sleep. This was also predictable, when taken to account that number of heavy players FINDINGS AND RECCOMMENDATIONS Increasing popularity of online games is related to Csikszentmihalyis diagram, which defines the flow (challenge/skill). This is what players look for in games and find mostly in online virtual environments (mmorpg). CONCLUSION Game addiction is very dangerous and may lead to social isolation, broken relationship, divorce, job loss, health problems and depression. Well designed MMORPG contain elements for every player type so, whoever plays it, whatever the motivation is, it is somehow included, that is why these games are most addictive.

Sunday, October 13, 2019

Cyber-Communism: The New Threat in the New Millennium :: social issues

Cyber-Communism: The New Threat in the New Millennium My expedition into cyber-communism began when I read Brock Meeks' "Hackers Stumble Toward Legitimacy"[1]. The article addressed a recent hackers' convention. Interestingly, the keynote speaker was Eric Boucher[2] (alias Jello Biafra[3]), a rock star with no technical background. Numerous questions ensue. Who is Eric Boucher (alias Jello Biafra)? What does he believe? More importantly, why schedule someone with no technical background to speak at a hackers' convention? Addressing his beliefs, his proposed Green Party platform[4] is not inconsistent with the "Manifesto of Libertarian Communism"[5]. This answer produces a more troubling question. Was his speech against corporate America mere socialist babbling or was his speech part of something more sinister, a subversive cyber-communist movement? I am not the first to see possible communist subversion of the digerati[6]. Corey Winesett's "Are Linux Users Really Communists?"[7] questions the nature of the relationship, if any, between open source and communism. Scott Billings' "Heresy and Communism"[8] ponders that the Linux community's knee-jerk reaction to negative opinions about Linux could be the result of being "under the [communists'] spell." Before I can evaluate cyber-communism's merits, I must define communism's true nature and communism's real threat to America. Communism Revisited Theoretical communism and practical communism have long been held as different political sociologies. Despite Marx's call for the working class to revolt, the communist revolution's leaders always ascend from the intelligentsia. John Stormer's "None Dare Call It Treason" supports this fact saying: "Fidel Castro was a product, not of the cane fields of Cuba, but of the halls of Havana University." "Joseph Stalin was not a simple peasant rebelling at the oppression of the Czar. He became a communist while studying for the priesthood in a Russian Orthodox seminary." "The membership of the first Communist spy ring uncovered in the U.S. Government was not spawned in the sweat shops of New York's lower east side or the tenant farms of the South. [The conspirators] came to high government posts from Harvard Law School." Communism's fallacy is the belief in everyone's benevolence; yet, human nature proves otherwise. Communism cannot create a perfect society with imperfect people. Hence, to direct Utopia, communism produces a totalitarian government over the less-perfect people, ruled by the perfect people - communists. Thus, communism's true nature creates a controlling government in the name of a better world. Not every supporter needs be a knowing conspirator.

Saturday, October 12, 2019

The Impact of European Diseases in the New World Essay -- American Ame

The Impact of European Diseases in the New World If science has taught us anything, it is that one event invariably effects countless others. This is no more evident than when a species is introduced into a new environment. Once a foreign species finds itself in new surroundings, it can either die or adapt. Often, these introduced species take over the environment, irrevocably changing it to fit their needs. This usually leads to a serious deteriorating in the well being of species currently existing there. Such is the case as when the Europeans introduced themselves to the New World. The new arrivals not only brought themselves, their technologies, and ways of life, but, most disastrously, their diseases arrived as well. When the Europeans crossed the Atlantic, they not only fought and killed many natives; they slaughtered countless more without even knowing it, signing the death warrants of millions simply by meeting . The real detrimental effect to the Indians was their exposure to the diseases inadvertently brought over by the colonists; these "most hideous enemies†¦invisible killers which those men brought in their blood and breath." (Stannard, xii) The effect of these diseases in the New World (and in fact, many diseases have in general) is rather ironic. The pathogens that cause disease are not out to kill anything, quite the opposite. The whole purpose for anything existing in this world is to pass its genetic material on to offspring. This concept is called fitness. For an organism to be optimally fit, it must survive so it can successfully multiply as often as it can, creating numerous kin so that its genes will live on generations past its own death. For viruses to live, they need a host. They infect an org... ... Stannard, David, E. 1992. American Holocaust: Columbus and the Conquest of the New World. Oxford University Press. 385pp Cowley, Geoffrey. 1992. "The Great Disease Migration." Newsweek. Fall/Winter, vol. 118. Pg. 54(3) Crosby, Alfred, W. 1986. Ecological Imperialism. Cambridge University Press. 368pp Meltzer, David J. 1992. "How Columbus sickened the New World." New Scientist, Oct. 10. Vol.136, pg.38 (4) Linton, Alan. 1982. Microbes, Man and Animals: The Natural History of Microbial Interactions. John Wiley & Sons. 342pp Sale, Kirkpatrick. 1991. The Conquest of Paradise: Christopher Columbus and the Columbian Legacy. Plume. 453pp. Unknown, Discover Staff. 1996. "The origin of Syphilis." Discover. October. Vol. 17, n10, pg23 (3) Glick, J, Schaffer, C. 1991. "The Indian Homeland." U.S. News and World Report. July 8, vol.111, n2, pg26 (6)

Friday, October 11, 2019

Bw Manufacturing Essay

CASE SUMMARY The owners of BW Manufacturing, a small manufacturer of gas grills, have prepared a preliminary budget for the upcoming year and would like to assess the financial impact of several alternative scenarios, including dropping a product; changing the price on a product, with a resulting increase in volume; and shifting advertising focus, with a resulting shift in volume from one product to another. A new budget must be prepared. At year-end, the actual results are better than had been planned, but not necessarily better than what should have been, given actual sales volumes. TEACHING OBJECTIVES This short case addresses the topic of contribution analysis as an easy way to analyze profit-planning issues such as adding or dropping a product or service; changing a price; adding or decreasing expected volumes; or preparing a profit budget. In this situation there are three products, each with different proportions of variable and fixed costs. The product with the highest profit per unit on a full cost basis has the lowest contribution per unit on a variable cost basis, and vice versa. Four different marketing plans are proposed before one is finally adopted as the plan for the year. At year-end the actual results can be compared with the budget and with a flex or adjusted budget based on the actual product volumes realized. The numbers are simple and the students can readily see the benefit of variable costing. 2. Calculate the impact of reducing the Grill C price to $75, with the expectation that the volume of that product will increase to 220,000 units. Assume no other changes to the plan. 3. Calculate the impact of a 10,000-unit decrease in Grill A and a 10,000-unit increase in Grill C volume due to a change in advertising focus. Assume no other changes to the plan. 4. Calculate the impact of a $5 decrease in Grill C‘s price and a change in advertising focus, leading to a 10,000-unit decrease in Grill A volume and a 30,000-unit increase in Grill C volume. Assume no other changes to the plan. 5. Prepare a revised 2009 profit budget assuming the owners chose Option 2—lowering the price of Grill C to $75 and expecting sales volume of that grill to increase to 220,000 units. 6. The actual results for 2009 are shown below. Was 2009 net income more or less than what should have been expected given these actual volumes and prices? If the results were different, why?

Thursday, October 10, 2019

Dark Matter: a Basic Understanding

Dark Matter: A Basic Understanding Introduction Many people, from the inquisitive, to those involved in the astronomical sciences have questioned the existence of Dark Matter. While it is called many things today, I will continue to refer to this unseen substance by its original name, Dark Matter. As it is still a theory being researched today to validate its existence and make-up, the discovery of dark matter was first presented to the world some time ago by two very intelligent astronomers. In coming to understand this matter, some of the most common questions we find ourselves asking are: What is it?And, How was it discovered? The most difficult question we all seem to face is â€Å"Does it really exist? † While quite tricky, this question is one that each of us have to conclude an answer to on our own. Therefore to start, I will address the more common questions first, and then I will provide my own answer to the question of its existence. Dark Matter: What is it? When fir st being introduced to Dark Matter, the first question we find ourselves asking is what is it? In and out of the scientific community dark matter is commonly referred to as â€Å"the source of extra gravity,† or the â€Å"mysterious form of matter that is unseen. A more refined scientific definition for dark matter is â€Å"a nonluminous, undetectable, invisible material in the universe that makes up about 70%-80% of its mass. † In short, dark matter is an unseen form of material that contains its own gravity which affects its surrounding materials; i. e. gases, stellar, and celestial bodies. With truly dedicated astronomers and cosmologists focused on the structure and composition of the cosmos, this brings me to explaining how this invisible matter called â€Å"dark matter† was discovered. Dark Matter: How Was It Discovered?In 1932 and 1933, astronomers Jan Hendrick Oort and Fritz Zwicky were the first to postulate the idea of the existence of dark matter. In studying the stellar motions of stars within the galactic plane of the Milky Way galaxy, Astronomer Jan Oort observed that the rotational velocity of stars on this outermost part of the galaxy (galactic plane) was actually increasing versus decreasing. This in itself presented a reason to question this stellar movement further since, based on Newton’s law of gravity, the rotational velocity of stars should steadily decrease the further they are from the galactic center.Oort continued his observations on stellar motions, while astronomer Fritz Zwicky carried out his studies and observations on galactic clusters and how they remained gravitationally bound. During Zwicky’s observations, here is where dark matter was discovered on a much more massive scale. Through Zwicky’s research, he found that there needed to be 10 times as much mass as observed in the form of visible light in order to keep galaxies clustered together. This observation was clear to Zwicky, as i t had been to Oort, that there was a large sum of mass existing within the cosmos that was simply â€Å"non-visible. At this point, astronomers simply referred to this material as â€Å"missing mass. † Being that the peculiar stellar movement counters Newton’s law of gravity, and occurs in the outermost part of the galaxy known as â€Å"galaxy halo’s,† both Oort and Zwicky hypothesized that this â€Å"dark matter† must exist in a spherical form that enshrouds the outermost part of galaxies, thus keeping them from flying apart. In understanding how this matter was discovered, this brings me to the final and most important question, and that is determining if it really exists.Dark Matter: Does It Really Exist? The evidence supporting the existence of dark matter today is very convincing, yet in the scientific community, it is still a theory. Giving a definite answer as to whether it exists is solely up to the individual. Despite this, astronomers ar e continuing to find more convincing information that supports the dark matter theory. For instance, an August 2012 article published in â€Å"Science News Today,† discussed evidence of dark matter filaments (fibers or threads of dark matter) discovered by astronomer Jorg Dietrich and his colleagues.Dietrich and his colleague’s x-ray observations of a pair galaxy clusters called Abell 222/223, revealed a ribbon of hot gas between the clusters. This, along with the galaxies distorted shapes and how light was bent was the first hint of the presence of dark matter. Continued observation of the galaxy clusters revealed a thick cord of invisible matter with a mass comparable to that of a small galaxy cluster. Dietrich states that gas can account for only about 9 percent of that mass, dark matter appears to make up the rest. Conclusion:In understanding that dark matter is an unseen material which contains its own gravity, the theory alone provides a unique way of understandi ng the structure of our universe. Most importantly, the work of astronomer’s Jan Oort and Fran Zwicky set the stage for astronomers to seek out and understand possible unseen forces at work within our cosmos. This is exactly what astronomer J. Deitrich and his colleague’s did. While there is a host of significant evidence supporting the theory of dark matter, Deitrich and his colleague’s evidence was eye-opening.In concluding if it actually exists, in my opinion its presence is already confirmed. Works Cited Jones, Andrew, and Daniel Robbins. â€Å"The Universe’s Dark Matter and Dark Energy, String theory for dummies. † Dummies. com. Dummies. biz. 2012. Web. 14 Nov. 2012. NASA. What is Dark Matter? Washington: Institute for Global Environmental Strategies, 23 Feb. 2012. Web. 14 Nov. 2012. Powell, Devin. â€Å"Dark Matter Filament Illuminated. † Science News Magazine 11 Aug. 2012: 9+. Print. White, Mark. â€Å"Rotation Curves. † Berkel ey Astronomy Department. University of California at Berkeley. 2011. Web. 15 Nov. 2012.

Wednesday, October 9, 2019

Law of Tort

4. 0 INTRODUCTION Occupiers' liability generally refers to the duty owed by land owners to those who come onto their land. However, the duty imposed on land owners can  extend beyond simple land ownership and in some instances the landowners may transfer the duty to others, hence the term occupier rather than owner. The term occupier itself is misleading since physical occupation is not necessary for liability  to arise. Occupiers' liability is perhaps a distinct form of negligence in that there must be a duty of care and breach of duty, causing damage.The rules of remoteness apply to occupiers liability in the exact same way that they apply to negligence claims. Liability can arise on occupiers for omissions since their relationship  gives rise to  duty to take action to ensure the reasonable safety of visitors. The law relating to occupiers' liability originated in common law but is now contained in two major pieces of legislation: Occupiers Liability Act 1957   – which imposes an obligation on occupiers with regard to ‘lawful visitors' Occupiers Liability Act 1984 – which imposes liability on occupiers with regard to persons other than ‘his visitors'.Different levels of protection are expected under the two pieces of legislation with a higher level of protection afforded to lawful visitors. NB: Lawful visitors are owed the duty set out in the 1957 Act; non-lawful visitors are owed the duty set out in the 1984 Act. It is for the claimant to prove that he is a lawful visitor and therefore entitled to the more favorable duties in the earlier Act 4. 1 Occupiers( who is an occupier) At common law (and under the statute occupation is based on control and not necessarily on any title to or property interest in the land.Both the Occupiers Liability Acts of 1957 and 1984  impose an obligation on occupiers rather than land owners. The question of whether a particular person is an occupier is a question of fact and depends on the d egree of control exercised. The test applied is one of ‘occupational control' and there may be more than one occupier of the same premises: In Wheat v E Lacon & Co Ltd [1966] AC 522- House of Lords The claimant and her family stayed at a public house, The Golfer’s Arms in Great Yarmouth, for a holiday. Unfortunately her husband died when he fell down the stairs and hit his head.The stairs were steep and narrow. The handrail stopped two steps from the bottom of the stairs and there was no bulb in the light. The claimant brought an action under the Occupiers Liability Act 1957 against the Brewery company, Lacon, which owned the freehold of The Golfer’s Arms and against the Managers of the Pub, Mr. & Mrs. Richardson, who occupied the pub as a licensee. Held: Both the Richardson’s and Lacon were occupiers for the purposes of the Occupiers Liability Act 1957 and therefore both owed the common duty of care. It is possible to have more than one occupier.The quest ion of whether a particular person is an occupier under the Act is whether they have occupational control. Lacon had only granted a license to the Richardson’s and had retained the right to repair which gave them a sufficient degree of control. There is no requirement of physical occupation. However, it was found that Lacon was not in breach of duty since the provision of light bulbs would have been part of the day to day management duties of the Richardson’s. Since the Richardson’s were not party to the appeal the claimant’s action failed.Lord Denning: â€Å"wherever a person has a sufficient degree of control over premises that he ought to realize that any failure on his part to use care may result in injury to a person coming lawfully there, then he is an † occupier † and the person coming lawfully there is his † visitor â€Å": and the † occupier † is under a duty to his † visitor † to use reasonable care. I n order to be an â€Å"occupier â€Å"it is not necessary for a person to have entire control over the premises. He need not have exclusive occupation. Suffice it that he has some degree of control. He may share the control with others. Two or more may be â€Å"occupiers â€Å".And whenever this happens, each is under a duty to use care towards persons coming lawfully on to the premises, dependent on his degree of control. If each fails in his duty, each is liable to a visitor who is injured in consequence of his failure, but each may have a claim to contribution from the other. † Physical occupation is not a requirement: Harris v Birkenhead Corp [1976] 1 WLR 279 The claimant Julie Harris was 4 years old when she wandered off from a children’s play park with her friend. They entered a derelict house which was due for demolition. The house had not been secured and the door was open.They went upstairs and Julie sustained serious injury when she fell from a window. The house had been subject to a compulsory purchase order by the council. The house had been owned by a private landlord and the tenant was offered alternative accommodation by the council. The tenant informed the council that she did not want to take up the offer of accommodation and made her own arrangements and left the property. The council served 14 days notice on the owner of their intention to take possession of the property, but never actually took physical possession at the expiry of the 14 days.Held: The Council had the legal right to take possession to secure the property, actual physical occupation was not required to incur liability as an occupier. The council were therefore liable. 4. 1. 1 Occupiers Liability Act 1957 The Occupiers Liability Act 1957 imposes a common duty of care on occupiers to lawful visitors. By virtue of s. 1 (3) (a), the Act applies not only to land and buildings but also extends  to fixed and movable structures, including any vessel, vehicle or ai rcraft. The protected damage under the Occupiers Liability Act 1957 includes death, personal injury and damage to property. . 1. 1. 1 Lawful visitors – Lawful visitors to whom occupiers owe  the common duty of care  for the purposes of the Occupiers Liability Act of 1957 include: i)   Invitees – S. 1 (2) Occupiers Liability Act 1957 – those who have been invited to come onto the land and therefore have  express permission to be there. ii) Licensees – S. 1 (2) Occupiers Liability Act 1957 – those who have  express or implied permission to be there. According to S. 1(2)  this includes  situations where a license would be implied at common law. (See below) iii) Those who enter pursuant to a contract – s. (1) Occupiers Liability Act 1957 – For example paying guests at a hotel or paying visitors to a theatre performance or to see a film at a cinema. iv) Those entering in exercising a right conferred by law – s. 2(6) Oc cupiers Liability Act 1957 – For example  a person entering to read the gas or electricity meters, a police executing warrants of arrest or search) 4. 1. 1. 2 Implied license at common law In the absence of express permission to be on the land, a license may be implied at common law where there exists repeated trespass and no action taken by the occupier to prevent people coming on to the land.This requires an awareness of the trespass and the danger: Lowery v Walker [1911] AC 10  House of Lords The Claimant was injured by a horse when using a short cut across the defendant’s field. The land had been habitually used as a short cut by members of the public for many years and the defendant had taken no steps to prevent people coming on to the land. The defendant was aware that the horse was dangerous. Held: The defendant was liable. Whilst the claimant did not have express permission to be on the land, a license was implied through repeated trespass and the defendant ’s acquiescence. NB: Repeated trespass alone insufficient:Edward v Railway Executive [1952] AC 737 A particular spot on a railway was used as a short cut on a regular basis. The fence was repaired on several occasions and whenever it was reported to have been interfered with. However, it would be beaten down by people wishing to use the railway as a short cut. Witness testimony was to the effect that the fence was in good repair the morning of the incident. Held: No license was implied. The Defendant had taken reasonable steps to prevent people coming onto the railway. Lord Goddard: â€Å"Repeated trespass of itself confers no license† 4. 1. 1. 3 Allurement principleThe courts are more likely to imply a license if there is something on the land which is particularly attractive and acts as an allurement to draw people on to the land. Taylor v Glasgow Corporation [1922] 1 AC 448 House of Lords The defendants owned the Botanic Gardens of Glasgow, a park which was open to the public. On the park various botanic plants and shrubs grew. A boy of seven years ate some berries from one of the shrubs. The berries were poisonous and the boy died. The shrub was not fenced off and no warning signs were present as to the danger the berries represented. Held: Glasgow Corporation was liable.Children were entitled to go onto the land. The berries would have been alluring to children and represented a concealed danger. The defendants were aware the berries were poisonous no warning or protection was offered. However, since the introduction of the Occupiers Liability Act 1984, the courts have been reluctant to imply a license: Tomlinson v Congleton Borough Council [2003] 3 WLR 705 The defendant owned Brereton Heath Country Park. It had previously been a sand quarry and they transformed it in to a country park and opened it up for public use. The defendants had created a lake on the park which was surrounded by sandy banks.In the hot weather many visitors came to th e park. Swimming was not permitted in the lake and notices were posted at the entrance saying â€Å"Dangerous water. No swimming†. However despite this, many people did use the lake for swimming. Rangers were employed and on occasions sought to prevent swimming but some of the visitors would be rude to the rangers’ attempts to prevent them and many continued to swim. The claimant was injured when he dived into shallow water and broke his neck. At the Court of Appeal it was held that he was a trespasser despite the repeated trespass and inadequate steps to prevent him swimming.They also stated that the warning signs may have acted as an allurement to macho young men. The Court of Appeal was of the opinion that since the introduction of the Occupiers Liability Act 1984, the courts should not strain to imply a license. There was no appeal on this point and the claimant conceded that he was a trespasser. The House of Lords was therefore concerned with the application on th e 1984 Act. The Court of Appeal had held that the council were liable but reduced the damages by 2/3 under the Law Reform (Contributory Negligence) Act 1945.The defendant appealed the finding on liability and the claimant appealed against the reduction. House of Lords held: The Council was not liable. No risk arose from the state of the premises as required under s. 1 (1) (a) Occupiers Liability Act 1984. The risk arose from the claimant’s own action. He was a person of full capacity who voluntarily and without pressure or inducement engaged in an activity which had an inherent risk. Even if there was a risk form the state of the premises, the risk was not one against which the council would reasonably be expected to offer the claimant some protection under s. (3) (C). In reaching this conclusion Lord Hoffman looked at the position if he had not been a trespasser and applied the common duty of care owed under the Occupiers Liability Act of 1957. He was of the opinion that the re was no duty to warn or take steps to prevent the claimant from diving as the dangers were perfectly obvious. This was based on the principle of free will and that to hold otherwise would deny the social benefit to the majority of the users of the park from using the park and lakes in a safe and responsible manner.To impose liability in this situation would mean closing of many such venues up and down the country for fear of litigation. He noted that 25-30 such fractures occurred each year nationwide, despite increased safety measures the numbers had remained constant. 4. 1. 1. 4 Non lawful visitors The 1957 Act does not extend protection to: ? trespassers ? Invitees who exceed their permission ? Persons on the land exercising a public right of way:   Ã‚  McGeown v Northern Ireland Housing Executive [1994] 3 All ER 53 House of Lords The claimant was injured when she tripped in a hole on land owned by the defendant.The land was a public right of way. It was held that the defendan t was not liable as  the claimant  was not a lawful visitor under the Occupiers Liability Act 1957 because she was exercising a public right of way. †¢ Persons on the land exercising a private right of way:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Holden v White [1982] 2 All ER 328 Court of Appeal The claimant, a milkman, was injured on the defendant’s land by a manhole cover which broke when he stepped on it. At the time he was delivering milk to the house of a third party who had a right of way across the defendant’s land.It was held that he was not entitled to claim against the defendant since he was exercising a right of way and was not therefore a lawful visitor of the defendant. 4. 1. 1. 5 The common duty of care The common duty of care is set out in s. 2 (2) Occupiers Liability Act 1957: S. 2(2)   – ‘The common duty of  care is to take such care as in all the circumstances of the case is reasonable to see that the  visitor will be reasonably safe in using the pre mises for the purposes for which he  is invited or permitted  by the occupier to be there. ‘   Thus the standard of care varies according to the circumstances.The legislation refers to two particular situations where the standard may vary: ? S. 2(3)(a) – an occupier must be prepared for children to be less careful than adults ? S. 2(3)(b) – an occupier may expect that a person  in the exercise of his calling will appreciate and guard against any special risks ordinarily incident to it i)   S. 2(3) (a) Child visitors The courts will take into account the age of the child and level of understanding a child of that age may be expected to have. They may be more adventurous and may not understand the nature of certain risks.The occupier does not however have to guarantee that the house will be safe, but only has to take reasonable care. If the child’s parents are present, they must share some responsibility, and, even if they are not present, it may b e relevant to the occupier’s duty that they thought it prudent to allow their child to be where he was. Titchener v British Railways Board [1983] 1 WLR 1427 House of Lords The Claimant, a 15 year old girl, was out walking with her boyfriend who was 16. They took a short cut across a railway line and they were both hit by a train. He was killed and she was seriously injured.There was a gap in the fence at the place where they crossed and there was a pathway leading to this gap which suggested that there was repeated trespass. Also it was accepted that either the Defendant was aware of the gap or would have been aware upon reasonable inspection. The Defendant raised the defense of volenti under s. 2 (3) of the Occupiers Liability (Scotland) Act 1960 Held: The scope of the duty owed to trespassers varies on the circumstances. On the facts of this case the Defendants did not owe a duty to a 15 year old trespasser who was fully aware of the risks.Even if the Defendant did owe a du ty of care the defense of volenti under s. 2 (3) would succeed. Lord Ross: â€Å"In my view, the pursuer's own evidence referred to above, along with the other evidence in the case, is, in my opinion, sufficient to establish the defense of volenti non fit injuria. Such defense is open to the defenders under section 2 (3) of the Occupiers' Liability (Scotland) Act 1960, and no duty under section 2 (1) of the Act is imposed upon an occupier to a person entering on the premises in respect of risks which that person has willingly accepted as his.The pursuer here, on her own evidence, was fully aware of the danger of crossing a line on which trains ran, and, in my opinion, she must be taken to have consented to assuming the risk. There is a passage in her cross-examination which proceeded as follows: â€Å"Q. And you knew that it would be dangerous to cross the line because of the presence of these trains? A. Yes. Q. Well why did you do it if you knew it would be dangerous? A. Because it was shorter to get to the brickworks. Q. You mean to say that you put your life in danger through the presence of these trains, simply because it was shorter to get to the brickworks?A. Well, before my accident I never ever thought that it would happen to me, that I would never get hit by a train, it was just a chance that I took. † â€Å"A person who takes a chance necessarily consents to take what come†   Ã‚  Jolley v Sutton [2000] 1 WLR 1082 Two 14 year old boys found an abandoned boat on land owned by the council and decided to do it up. The boat was in a thoroughly rotten condition and represented a danger. The council had stuck a notice on the boat warning not to touch the boat and that if the owner did not claim the boat within 7 days it would be taken away. The council never took it away.The boys had been working on the boat for 6-7 weeks when one of them suffered severe spinal injuries, resulting in paraplegia, when the boat fell on top of him. The boys ha d jacked the boat up to work on the underside and the jack went through the rotten wood. The claimant brought an action under the Occupiers Liability Act 1984. The trial judge found for the claimant. The Court of Appeal reversed the decision, holding that whilst it was foreseeable that younger children may play on the boat and suffer an injury by falling through the rotten wood, it was not foreseeable that older boys would try to do the boat up.The claimant appealed. House of Lords held: The claimant's appeal was allowed. The risk was that children would â€Å"meddle with the boat at the risk of some physical injury† The actual injury fell within that description. Lord Steyn: â€Å"The scope of the two modifiers – the precise manner in which the injury came about and its extent – is not definitively answered by either The Wagon Mound ( No. 1) or Hughes v. Lord Advocate. It requires determination in the context of an intense focus on the circumstances of each ca se. † Taylor v Glasgow Corporation [1922] 1 AC 448 House of LordsThe defendants owned the Botanic Gardens of Glasgow, a park which was open to the public. On the park various botanic plants and shrubs grew. A boy of seven years ate some berries from one of the shrubs. The berries were poisonous and the boy died. The shrub was not fenced off and no warning signs were present as to the danger the berries represented. Held: Glasgow Corporation was liable. Children were entitled to go onto the land. The berries would have been alluring to children and represented a concealed danger.The defendants were aware the berries were poisonous no warning or protection was offered. Phipps v Rochester Corporation [1955] 1 QB 450 A 5 year old boy was walking across some open ground with his 7 year old sister. He was not accompanied by an adult. He was injured when he fell into a trench. The Corporation were not held liable as an occupier is entitled to assume that prudent parents would not all ow their children to go unaccompanied to places where it is unsafe. Devlin J on duty owed to children â€Å"The law recognizes a sharp difference between children and adults.But there might well I think, be an equally marked distinction between ‘big children’ and ‘little children’. †¦The occupier is not entitled to assume that all children will, unless they are allured, behave like adults; but he is entitled to assume that normally little children will be accompanied by a responsible person. †¦The responsibility for the safety of little children must rest primarily upon the parents; it is their duty to see that such children are not allowed to wander about by themselves, or at least to satisfy themselves that the places to which they do allow their children to go unaccompanied are safe.It would not be socially desirable if parents were, as a matter of course, able to shift the burden of looking after their children from their own shoulders to tho se persons who happen to have accessible pieces of land. † ii) S. 2(3)(b) Common calling ( Trade Visitors) This provision applies where an occupier employs an expert to come on to the premises to undertake work. The expert can be taken to know and safeguard themselves against  any dangers that arise from the premises in relation to the calling of the expert. For example if an occupier engages an lectrician, the electrician  would be expected to know the dangers inherent in the work they are employed to do. Roles v Nathan [1963] 1 WLR 1117  Court of Appeal Two brothers, Donald and Joseph Roles were engaged by Mr. Nathan as chimney sweeps to clean the flues in a central heating system at Manchester Assembly Rooms. The flues had become dangerous due to carbon monoxide emissions. A heating engineer had warned them of the danger, however, the brothers told him they knew of the dangers and had been flue inspectors for many years.The engineer monitored the situation throughout the day and at one point ordered everybody out of the building due to the levels of carbon monoxide. The brothers ignored this advice and continued with their work. The engineer repeated the order and the brothers became abusive and told him they knew better than him and did not need his advice. The engineer forcibly removed them from the building. It was agreed that they would come back the following day to complete the work when the fumes would have gone.They were also told they should not do the work whilst the fires were lighted. However, the next day the brothers were found dead in the basement having returned the previous evening to complete the work when the fires were lit. Their widows brought an action under the Occupiers Liability Act 1957. Held: The defendant was not liable. The dangers were special risks ordinarily incident to their calling. The warnings issued were clear and the brothers would have been safe had they heeded the warnings. Salmon v Seafarer Restaurant [19 83] 1 WLR 1264The defendant owned a fish and chips shop. One night he left the chip fryer on and closed the shop for the night. This caused a fire and the fire services were called to put out the fire. The claimant was a fire man injured in an explosion whilst fighting the fire. He had been thrown to the ground whilst footing a ladder on a flat roof. The defendant sought to escape liability by invoking s. 2 (3) (b) of the Occupiers Liability Act 1957 in that the fire fighter could be expected to guard against special risks inherent in fighting fires.Held: The defendant was liable. Where it can be foreseen that the fire which is negligently started is of the type which could require firemen to attend to extinguish that fire, and where, because of the very nature of the fire, when they attend they will be at risk even if they exercise all the skill of their calling, there is no reason why a fireman should be at any disadvantage in claiming compensation. The duty owed to a fireman was not limited to the exceptional risks associated with fighting fire but extended to ordinary risks.Ogwo v Taylor [1987] 3 WLR 1145 House of Lords The Defendant attempted to burn off paint from the fascia boards beneath the eaves of his house with a blow lamp and in so doing set fire to the premises. The fire brigade were called and the Claimant, an acting leading fireman, and a colleague entered the house wearing breathing apparatus and the usual fireman's protective clothing and armed with a hose. The two firemen were able, with the aid of a step- ladder, to squeeze through a small hatch to get into the roof space. The heat within the roof space was intense.The Claimant suffered serious burn injuries to his upper body and face from scalding steam which must have penetrated his protective clothing. Held: A duty of care was owed to a professional fireman. There was no requirement that the risk be exceptional. The defense of volenti had no application. Lord Bridge: â€Å"The duty of p rofessional firemen is to use their best endeavors to extinguish fires and it is obvious that, even making full use of all their skills, training and specialist equipment, they will sometimes be exposed to unavoidable risks of injury, whether the fire is described as â€Å"ordinary† or â€Å"exceptional. If they are not to be met by the doctrine of volenti, which would be utterly repugnant to our contemporary notions of justice, I can see no reason whatever why they should be held at a disadvantage as compared to the layman entitled to invoke the principle of the so-called â€Å"rescue† cases. † iii)   Warnings and warning  signs It may be possible for an occupier to discharge their duty by giving a warning some danger on the premises(‘Loose carpet’; ‘slippery floor’) – See   Roles v Nathan [1963] 1 WLR 1117 above)   However, S. (4)(a) Occupiers Liability Act 1957 provides that a warning given to the visitor  will not b e treated as absolving the occupier of liability unless in all the circumstances it was enough to enable the visitor to be reasonably safe. The occupier i. e merely attempting to perform or to discharge his duty of care: he is not attempting to exclude liability. Is something slippery has been spilt on the floor of a shop, the occupier can (a) close the shop, (b) clean up the spillage or (c) give a warning so that the visitor can avoid the spot or step gingerly.The warning must  cover the danger that in fact arises: White v Blackmore [1972] 3 WLR 296 Mr. White was killed at a Jalopy car race due negligence in the way the safety ropes were set up. A car crashed into the ropes about 1/3 of a mile from the place where Mr. White was standing. Consequently he was catapulted 20 foot in the air and died from the injuries received. Mr. White was a driver in the race but at the time of the incident he was between races and standing close to his family. He had signed a competitors list whic h contained an exclusion clause.There was also a warning sign at the entrance to the grounds which stated that Jalopy racing is dangerous and the organizers accept no liability for any injury including death howsoever caused. The programme also contained a similar clause. His widow brought an action against the organizer of the event who defended on the grounds of  volenti  and that they had effectively excluded liability. Held: The defence of  volenti  was unsuccessful. Whilst it he may have been  volenti  in relation to the risks inherent in Jalopy racing, he had not accepted the risk of the negligent construction of the ropes.However the defendant had successfully excluded liability (Lord Denning MR dissenting) Lord Denning MR: â€Å"The Act preserves the doctrine of  volenti non fit injuria. It says in Section 2(5) that: â€Å"the common duty of care does not impose on an occupier any obligation to a visitor in respect of risks willingly accepted as his by the vi sitor†. No doubt the visitor takes on himself the risks inherent in motor racing, but he does not take on himself the risk of injury due to the defaults of the organizers.People go to race meetings to enjoy the sport. They like to see the competitors taking risks, but they do not like to take risks on themselves, even though it is a dangerous sport, they expect, and rightly expect, the organizers to erect proper barriers, to provide proper enclosures, and to do all that is reasonable to ensure their safety. If the organizers do everything that is reasonable, they are not liable if a racing car leaps the barriers and crashes into the crowd – see Hall v. Brooklands (1933) 1 K. B. 206.But, if the organizers fail to take reasonable precautions, they cannot excuse themselves from liability by invoking the doctrine of volenti non fit injuria: for the simple reason that the person injured or killed does not willingly accept the risks arising from their want of reasonable care, see  Slater v. Clay Cross Co. (1956) 2 Q. B. 20B; Wooldridge v. Summers (1963) 2 Q. B. at page 69; Nettleship v. Weston    (1971) 2 Q. B. at page 201. † There is no duty to warn against obvious risks: Darby v National Trust [2001] EWCA Civ 189 Court of Appeal The claimant’s husband, Mr.Darby, drowned in a pond owned by the National Trust (NT). The pond was one of five ponds in Hardwick Hall near Chesterfield. Two of the ponds were used for fishing and NT had taken steps to prevent the use of those ponds for swimming or paddling. However, with regards to the pond in which the fatality occurred, NT had done nothing to prevent visitors using the pond and it was common for visitors to use the pond for paddling and swimming during the warm summer months. On the day in question Mr. Darby had been paddling with his children around the edge of the pond.He then swam to the middle to play a game he had often played whereby he would go under water and then bob up to the surfa ce. However, he got into difficulty and drowned. The claimant argued that because  of NT’s inactivity in preventing swimmers using the pond, both she and her husband had assumed the pond was safe for swimming. Held: NT was not liable. The risk to swimmers in the pond was perfectly obvious. There was no duty to warn of an obvious risk Cotton v Derbyshire Dales District Council [1994] EWCA Civ 17 Court of AppealThe claimant, a 26 year old man, had gone out for the day with a group of friends and his fiance over the Easter bank holiday. They had visited 3 pubs where the claimant had drunk about 4 pints. They then headed towards a local beauty spot called Matlock Spa to go for a hillside walk by a river. The parties were in high spirits and became separated. The claimant and his fiance drifted from the pathway and he was seriously injured when he fell off a cliff. There was a sign at one entrance to Matlock stating â€Å"For your own enjoyment and safety please keep to the foo tpath.The cliffs can be very dangerous, and children must be kept under close supervision. † However, there was no such sign at the entrance used by the claimant. The claimant brought an action based on the Occupiers Liability Act 1957 for the failure to adequately warn him of the risk. Held: There was no obligation to warn of an obvious risk. The claimant would have been aware of the existence of the cliff so such a warning would not have affected events. Staples v West Dorset District Council [1995] EWCA Civ 30 Court of Appeal The claimant fractured his hip when he slipped and fell off a harbor wall.The harbor wall was known as The Cobb and was a well-known tourist attraction commonly used as a promenade. The edge of The Cobb was covered with algae and extremely slippery when wet. The claimant had crouched in the area affected by the algae to take a photo of his friends, when he slipped and fell off a 20 foot drop landing on rocks below. He brought an action based on the Occ upiers Liability Act 1957 arguing that no warning signs were present as to the dangers of slipping. Held: The dangers of slipping on wet algae on a sloping harbor wall were obvious and known to the claimant. Therefore there was no duty to warn. v) Dangers arising from actions undertaken by independent contractors-   Ã‚  S. 2(4)(b) Occupiers Liability Act 1957   An occupier is not liable for dangers created by independent contractors if  the occupier acted  reasonably in all the circumstances in entrusting the work to the independent contractor and took reasonable steps to satisfy himself that the  work carried out was  properly done and the contractor was competent. Ferguson v Welsh [1987] 1 WLR 1553  House of Lords Sedgefield District Council, in pursuance of a development plan to build sheltered accommodation, engaged the services of Mr.Spence to demolish a building. It was a term of the contract that the work was not to be sub-contracted out. In breach of this term, Mr. Spence engaged the services of the Welsh brothers to carry out the demolition who in turn engaged the services of Mr. Ferguson to assist. Mr. Ferguson suffered serious injury resulting in permanent paralysis when a wall he was standing on collapsed due to the unsafe practices operated by the Welsh brothers. He brought an action against the Council, Mr. Spence and the Welsh brothers. The trial judge held that the Welsh Brothers were liable but that Mr.Spence and the Council were not liable. Mr. Ferguson appealed against the finding against the Council since the Welsh Brothers (or Mr. Spence) had the funds or insurance to meet liability. Held: The appeal was dismissed. Mr. Ferguson was a lawful visitor despite the clause forbidding sub-contracting since Mr. Spence would have apparent or ostensible authority to invite him on to the land. However, the danger arose from the unsafe system of work adopted by the Welsh Brothers not the state of the premises. Whilst there was evidence t hat Mr.Spence had sub-contracted demolition work to those executing unsafe practices on  previous occasions, there was no evidence that the Council were aware of this. Gwilliam v West Hertfordshire Hospital NHS Trust [2002] EWCA Civ 1041  Court of Appeal The claimant, a 63 year old woman, was injured at a summer fair hosted by West Hertfordshire Hospital. She was injured whilst using a ‘splat wall’ whereby participants would bounce off a trampette against a wall and become attached to the wall by means of Velcro material. The injury occurred as a result of negligent set up of the equipment.The equipment was provided by  a business called ‘Club Entertainments’ who were an independent contractor engaged by the Hospital. Club Entertainment’s public liability insurance had expired four days before the incidence and thus they had no cover for the injury. They agreed to settle her claim for ? 5,000. Mrs. Gwilliam brought an action against the hospita l based on their failure to ensure that the entertainment arranged was covered by public liability insurance. She claimed the difference between the ? 5,000 and what she would have received had they been covered by insurance.Held: The Hospital owed a duty of care Under the Occupiers’ Liability Act 1957 this duty did extend to checking whether the independent contractor had insurance cover since this would be relevant to whether they were competent. However, there was no breach of duty since the Hospital had enquired and had been told by Club Entertainment that they had insurance cover. There was no duty to inspect the insurance documents to ensure that cover was adequate. 4. 1. 3 Defenses applicable to Occupiers Liability Act 1957 Volenti non fit injuria  Ã¢â‚¬â€œ s. (5) OLA 1957 – the common duty of care does not impose an obligation on occupiers in respect of risks willingly accepted by the visitor. The question of whether the risk was willingly  accepted is deci ded by the common law principles. Contributory negligence – Damages may be reduced under the Law Reform (Contributory Negligence) Act 1945 where the visitor fails to take reasonable care for their own safety. Exclusion of Liability   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã¢â‚¬â€œ s. 2(1) OLA 1957 allows an occupier to extend, restrict, exclude or modify his duty to visitors in so far as he is free to do so.White v Blackmore [1972] 3 WLR (discussed earlier) Where the occupier is a business the ability to exclude liability  is subject to the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977 4. 1. 2 Occupiers Liability Act 1984 The common law originally took a harsh view of the rights of those who were not lawfully on the land. (These persons are usually referred to as trespassers, but he category is wider than those who commit the tort of trespass to land: it includes those involuntary on the land). The Occupiers Liability Act 1984 imposes a duty on occupiers in relation to persons ‘other than his visitors' (S. 1 (1 ) (a) OLA 1984).This  includes trespassers and those who exceed their permission. Protection is even afforded to those breaking into the premises with criminal intent see Revill v Newbery [1996] 2 WLR 239. Whilst it may at first appear harsh to impose a duty on occupiers for those that have come on to their land uninvited and without permission, liability was originally recognized at common law for child trespassers where the occupier was aware of the danger and aware that trespassers, including children would encounter the danger. British Railway Board v Herrington [1972] AC 877   overruling Addie v. Dumbreck [1929] AC 358.Addie v Dumbreck  [1929] AC 358  House of Lords the defendant owned View Park Colliery which was situated in a field adjacent to a road. There was a fence around the perimeter of the field although there were large gaps in the fence. The field was frequently used as a short cut to a railway station and children would use it as a playground. The defendant would often warn people off the land but the attempts were not effective and no real attempt was made to ensure that people did not come onto the land. A child came on to the land and was killed when he climbed onto a piece of haulage apparatus.Held: No duty of care was owed to trespassers to ensure that they were safe when coming onto the land. The only duty was not to inflict harm willfully. Viscount Dunedin: â€Å"In the present case, had the child been a licensee, I would have held the defenders liable; secus if the complainer had been an adult. But, if the person is a trespasser, then the only duty the proprietor has towards him is not maliciously to injure him; he may not shoot him; he may not set a spring gun, for that is just to arrange to shoot him without personally firing the shot.Other illustrations of what he may not do might be found, but they all come under the same head—injury either directly malicious or an acting so reckless as to be tantamount to malicious acting. † ‘Occupier' is given the same meaning as under the 1957 Act (S. 1 (2) OLA 1984). Since the Occupiers Liability Act 1984 applies to trespassers, a lower level of protection is offered. Hence the fact that  death and personal injury are the  only protected forms of damage and occupiers have no duty in relation to the property of trespassers. (S. 1 (8) OLA 1984). Also the duty only arises when certain risk factors are present. . 1. 2. 1 The circumstances giving rise to a duty of care S. 1 (3)  Occupiers Liability Act 1984 an occupier owes a duty to another (not being his visitor) if:   (a) He is aware of a the danger or has reasonable grounds to believe that it exists   (b) He knows or has reasonable grounds to believe the other is in the vicinity of the danger or may come into the vicinity of the danger   (c) The risk is one in which in all the  circumstances of the case, he may reasonably be expected to offer the other some protection If all three of these are present the occupier owes a duty of care to the non-lawful visitor.The criteria in s. 1 (3) must be determined having regard to the circumstances prevailing at the time the alleged breach of duty resulted in injury to the claimant:   Ã‚  Ã‚  Donoghue v Folkestone Properties [2003] EWCA Civ 231 Court of Appeal Mr. Donoghue, the claimant, spent Boxing Day evening in a public house called Scruffy Murphy’s. It was his intention, with some of his friends, to go for a midnight swim in the sea. Unfortunately in his haste to get into the water he dived from a slipway in Folkestone harbor owned by the defendant and struck his head on an underwater obstruction, breaking his neck.At his trial evidence was adduced to the affect that the slipway had often been used by others during the summer months to dive from. Security guards employed by the defendant had stopped people from diving although there were no warning signs put out. The obstruction that had injured the claiman t was a permanent feature of a grid-pile which was submerged under the water. In high tide this would not have posed a risk but when the tide went out it was a danger. The claimant’s action was based on the Occupiers Liability Act 1984. Mr. Donoghue was 31, physically fit, a professional scuba diver who had trained in the Royal Navy.It was part of his basic knowledge as a diver that he should check water levels and obstructions before diving. The trial judge found for the claimant but reduced the damages by 75% to reflect the extent to which he had failed to take care of his own safety under the Law Reform (Contributory Negligence) Act 1945. The defendant appealed contending that in assessing whether a duty of care arises under s. 1(3) each of the criteria must be assessed by reference to the individual characteristics and attributes of the particular claimant and on the particular occasion when the incident in fact occurred i. . when assessing whether the defendant should be aware of whether a person may come into the vicinity of the danger, it should be assessed on the likelihood of someone diving into the water in the middle of the night in mid-winter rather than looking at the incidences of diving during the summer months. Held: Appeal allowed. The test of whether a duty of care exists under s. 1(3) Occupiers Liability Act 1984 must be determined having regard to the circumstances prevailing at the time of the alleged breach resulted in injury to the claimant. At the time Mr.Donoghue sustained his injury, Folkestone Properties had no reason to believe that he or anyone else would be swimming from the slipway. Consequently, the criteria set out in s. 1 (3) (b) was not satisfied and no duty of care arose. 4. 1. 2. 2 Standard of care S. 1 (4) OLA 1984 – the duty is to take such care as is reasonable in all the circumstances of the case to see that the other does not suffer injury on the premises by reason of the danger concerned. Revill v Newber y [1996] 2 WLR 239 Court of Appeal Mr. Newbery was a 76 year old man. He owned an allotment which had a shed in which he kept various valuable items.The shed was subject to frequent breaking and vandalism. Mr. Newbery had taken to sleeping in his shed armed with a 12 bore shot gun. Mr. Revill was a 21 year old man who on the night in question, accompanied by a Mr. Grainger, and went to the shed at 2. 00 am in order to break in. Mr. Newbery awoke, picked up the shot gun and fired it through a small hole in the door to the shed. The shot hit Mr. Revill in the arm. It passed right through the arm and entered his chest. Both parties were prosecuted for the criminal offences committed. Mr. Revill pleaded guilty and was sentenced. Mr. Newbery was acquitted of wounding. Mr.Revill brought a civil action against Mr. Newbery for the injuries he suffered. Mr. Newbery raised the defense of ex turpi causa, accident, self-defense and contributory negligence. Held: The Claimants action was success ful but his damages were reduced by 2/3 under the Law Reform (Contributory Negligence) Act 1945 to reflect his responsibility for his own injuries. On the application of ex turpi causa Neill LJ: â€Å"For the purposes of the present judgment I do not find it necessary to consider further the joint criminal enterprise cases or the application of the doctrine of ex turpi causa in other areas of the law of tort.It is sufficient for me to confine my attention to the liability of someone in the position of Mr. Newbery towards an intruding burglar. It seems to me to be clear that, by enacting section 1 of the 1984 Act, Parliament has decided that an occupier cannot treat a burglar as an outlaw and has defined the scope of the duty owed to him. As I have already indicated, a person other than an occupier owes a similar duty to an intruder such as Mr. Revill. In paragraph 32 of their 1976 Report the Law Commission rejected the suggestion that there should be no duty at all owed to a trespa sser who was engaged in a serious criminal enterprise. Ratcliff v McConnell and Harper Adams College [1997] EWCA Civ 2679  Ã‚   Court of Appeal The claimant was a student at Harper Adams College. One night he had been out drinking with friends on campus and they decided they would go for a swim in the college pool which was 100 yards from the student bar. They climbed over a locked gate into the open air swimming pool. The pool had a notice at the entrance which stated the pool would be locked and its use prohibited between the hours of 10pm -6. 30am.There was a notice at the shallow end in red on a White background stating ‘Shallow end’ and a notice at the deep end stating ‘Deep end, shallow dive’. However, the boys did not see the signs because there was no light. The three boys undressed. The claimant put his toe in the water to test the temperature and then the three of them lined up along the side of the pool and dived in. Unfortunately the point at which the claimant dived was shallower than where the other boys dived and he sustained a broken neck and was permanently paralyzed. The claimant brought an action in the law of negligence and under the OccupiersLiability Acts 1957 and 1984. The trial judge held that the claimant was a trespasser since he was not permitted to go into the pool and that the College owed a duty of care under the 1984 Act since the pool had often been used by students in the prohibited hours so the College should have been aware that the claimant was within a class of persons who may come into the danger. The breach was in not taking more preventative action to prevent use of the pool. The claimant’s damages were, however, reduced by 60% under the Law Reform (Contributory Negligence) Act 1945.The defendants appealed contending the evidence relied on by the claimant in terms of repeated trespass all took place before 1990 before they started locking the gates. Held: The appeal was allowed. The cla imant was not entitled to compensation. The defendant had taken greater steps to reduce trespass by students since 1990. The only incidence of trespass to the pool in the four years prior to the claimant’s injury, related to students from a visiting college and therefore there was no reason for the college to suspect the students had come into the danger so no duty of care arose under s. (3) (b) Occupiers Liability Act 1984. Also the trial judge had incorrectly identified the danger. The pool itself was not dangerous it was the activity of diving into it which was unsafe. This was an obvious danger to which there was no duty to warn. By surrounding the pool with a 7 foot high fence, a locked gate and a prohibition on use of the pool in the stated hours the College had offered a reasonable level of protection. The duty may be discharged by giving a warning or discouraging others from taking the risk S. (5) Occupiers Liability Act 1984 – note there is no obligation in re lation to the warning to enable the visitor to be reasonably safe – contrast the provision under the 1957 Act. Tomlinson v. Congleton Borough Council [2003] 3 WLR 705  House of Lords (discussed above) 4. 1. 2. 3  Defenses Volenti non fit Injuria – s. 1 (6) OLA 1984 – no duty of care is owed in respect of risks willingly accepted by the visitor. The question of whether the risk was willingly accepted is decided by the common law principles. Contributory negligence – Damages may be reduced under the Law Reform Contributory Negligence) Act 1945 where the visitor fails to take reasonable care for their own safety. Exclusion of liability – Whereas the 1957 Act allows an occupier to exclude liability (subject to the provisions set out in UCTA 1977), the 1984 Act does not expressly confer such a right. This may be an oversight by the legislature and it may be possible to exclude liability since it is not expressly forbidden or it may be that the legis lature  was of the opinion  that it should not be possible to exclude liability for the basic level of protection afforded to trespassers. . 2 Liability for Manufacturers The narrow rule in Donoghue v Stevenson [1932] AC 562 recognizes that manufacturers owed a duty of care to ultimate consumers of the manufactured products. Over the years this duty was extended and refined and took on in practice some of the characteristics of strict liability. Parliament has now imposed such a strict liability on manufacturers under the Consumer Protection Act 1997.Although this act does not expressly have effect in place of the rules of common law( in the way that the Occupiers’ Liability Act do, in practice it affords more satisfactory remedies , and the narrow rule in Donoghue v Stevenson need no longer be studied in detail. 4. 3 Liability for employers An employee injured at work has three possible actions against the employer. i) An action in negligence for breach of the employerâ €™s duty of care. This is the concern this chapter ii) An action for breach of statutory duties imposed by parliament on the employer. The principles of the tort of breach of statutory duty will be explained later.The content of the various regulations prescribing safety equipments, clothing, procedures and so forth fall outside the syllabus and are part of a specialist course in employment law. iii) The employer may be vicariously liable for the torts committed by another employee. The principle of and the justifications for vicarious liability will be explained in detail later. For the present if is enough to note that an employer (even if not personally at fault) is in law answerable for the torts committed by employees in the course of their employment. The inter- relation between these actions is of some interest.Before 1948 an action based on vicarious liability was not available because of the doctrine of ‘common employment’. If A, an employee of X Ltd, tortu ously injured B, another employee of X ltd, then X Ltd would be liable to C, but not to B, because A and B were in the ‘common employment’ of X ltd. This doctrine provided protection for the employer against possible expensive tort claims. To offset this however the courts (a) modified the common law negligence action in a way that favored the employee and (b) permitted civil action for damages to be brought for breaches of safety regulations.The doctrine of common employment was abolished by statutes in 1948(Law Reform (Personal Injuries) Act 1948. So employees now have a vicarious liability claim and also the benefit of the modified common law action and actions for breach of statutory duty. The Nature of the Common Law Action The employer’s common law duty of care differs from the ordinary duty of care. It is said to be ‘non-delegable’. This is most clearly explained by Lord Hailsham of St Maryleborne in McDermid v Nash Dredging[1987] AC 906 as fo llows this special sense does not involve the proposition that the duty cannot be delegated in the sense that it is incapable of being the subject of delegation, but only that the employer cannot escape liability if the duty has been delegated and then not properly performed’. The facts of the case were that M was employed as a deckhand, by the defendants, but was sent by them to work on a ship operated by a different company (in fact the parent company of the defendants). He was seriously injured when the captain of the ship (not an employee of the defendants) carelessly operated the safety systems.The defendants were liable because their duty had been delegated to the employees of the parent company and not properly performed. Details of this area would be discussed when looking at vicarious liability. But in summary it is worth noting that employers owe a duty of care to their employees, but this duty is different in nature from the normal duty of care, being described as non-delegable. Court are now developing principles under which employees can also recover for the effects of work related stress. ==================================END========================================