The tensions inherent in the public representation of complex issues Essay

The tensions inherent in the public representation of complex issues - Essay Example The newspapers, television channels and the internet were filled with various speculations about the incident. As usual the inefficiency of the government was criticized heavily. The lack of transparency in the Malaysian governments operation, their subdued efforts to keep the relatives of the missing informed and the lack of any guaranteed report about hijack or crash fueled the media wheels effortlessly. They represented the issue as if it was the sole mistake of the Malaysian government. The frustrated relatives of the missing people were shown mourning constantly in every TV channel. The issue was represented in such a way flight travel in South Asian countries is risky, as the governments there function passively and are non-transparent. The discretion of President Razak in handling the issue with the domestic means he had and his timely decision to use the help from Australia, a country quite near the crash site rather than the US situated on the other half of the world, went unmentioned in nearly all the reports. As John Berger (1972) mentions, "what the modern means of reproduction have done is to destroy the authority". The international media reproduction about a flight crash simply crushed the image of a well developed country into that of a poor backward country without any authorization of proof. The influences of such representation were so high, that even the stock market of the country underwent a great blow. The way the issue was represented in the international media was absolutely partial and judgmental. The media highly overshadowed the diplomatic efforts taken by the Malaysian government to search for the flight on a multinational level, highlighting its efforts to decline help from the US government. This led to the extent of the US President Obama reconsidering his trip to Malaysia due to security reasons. Several rumors about a couple of people travelling

Do Organisations Need Managers Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Do Organisations Need Managers - Essay Example Currently, debates have risen as to whether organizations really need managers for the purposes of achieving their goals and objectives. This paper is to examine the functions and purpose of managers in organizations and there relevance in organizations. Traditional and Modern Managers Managers have existed in traditional and modem organizations and there are certain conventional functions and roles that such managers were executing. The conventional activities that managers are involved in organizations including building and maintaining relationships, getting and giving information, influencing people and decision making (Waldron, Vsanthakumar, & Arulraj, 2011). The functions and purpose of managers in the traditional management was restricted to the liaison between the owner and all the staff of the organization (Cieslinska, 2007). According to traditional and modern management principles, the functions of a manager are identified as interpersonal, informational, and decisional. I nterpersonal roles entail the development, building, and maintenance of contacts and relationships with variety of people both within and outside the organization or department. Interpersonal role requires managers to acts as a symbol for their organizations or departments and to liaise with other people outside the department or organization. The informational role requires managers to monitor and assess organizational operations through data collection and analysis and disseminating information to employees and other stakeholders and acting as a spokesperson for the organization (Puckett, Byers, & Green, 2004:32). Managers are also charged with decisional role where they are required to make innovative decisions, handle conflicts, and resolve problems and resource allocation (Yadav, 2009). Planning Managers are involved in the planning of the business environment in organizations. The planning aspect for managers entails the identification of goals and objectives that the organiza tion seeks to achieve. They also determine the methods and strategies to be used in the achievement of the pre-set goals and objectives of the organizations in which they head (Rondeau, 2011). It is the responsibility of the manager to ensure that the goals and objectives of organizations are met and achieved within the stipulated time frame. To ensure that the objectives are realized, the managers ensures that the organization runs smoothly and any impediments and obstacles that might derail the organization from achieving its goals and objectives are removed. In the traditional organizational management system, managers were preoccupied with the running of the day to day business with the sole responsibility of increasing profitability for the organizations. The responsibility of meeting the organizational goals such as the provision of safe place for employment, provision of quality products, adherence to the mission, vision and values of an organization and providing the expecta tions, wants and needs of customers squarely lies within the functions of managers (Puckett, Byers, & Green, 2004:37). The current environment in which most organizations

Homeland Security Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Homeland Security - Assignment Example It was upon this failure that calls for reorganizations were intensified, leading to the development of the establishment of the Post-Katrina Emergency Management Act of 2006 (CRS, 2006a). As a result of this Act, FEMA became a more independent entity. The Act also provided a framework for the qualifications, roles, responsibilities, and authority of the Director of FEMA. This included having experience of not less than five years of management and executive leadership, experience in management of crises or a different relevant field. In addition, the director ought to have demonstrated the ability to manage a budget and substantial staff. However, unlike initially, the director was expected to report directly to the Secretary of the Homeland security without going through DHS officials. The Director of FEMA was also empowered to be the principal advisor to the president, the Homeland Security Secretary, and the Homeland Security Council on matters of preparedness and response (CRS, 2006b). The Skilled Trades Second Responders Act of 2007 was established to empower construction workers in disaster preparedness and responsiveness. It followed the findings of the Congress concerning the importance of such workers in the healing process after the occurrence of a disaster. According to McGuire, Lee, and Drummond, (2014), the Act was aimed at providing funds in the sum of $35 million for training, registering, certifying, and integrating construction workers into activities related to disaster preparedness and response. The process of enacting the Act was important as it allows for the management of disasters from ground zero. Construction workers have the expertise and tools necessary to assist the first responders to disaster situations in terms of carrying out demolitions, pipe and electrical maintenance, cleanup of hazardous waste and other functions that are important to the disaster recovery process (The Library of Congress, 2008).

PROBLEM STATEMENT Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

PROBLEM STATEMENT - Essay Example At a societal level, difference and its history of institutionalization in apartheid is a constant challenge in South Africa: the most glaring difference being between those who have resources and those who do not. There is also constant awareness of the different losses they struggle to make sense of. Many South African couples struggle to survive economically, or even physically, with illnesses such as Aids and Tuberculosis; others are torn between their traditional and new religion, culture, identity, and family structures. Some might face trauma from the high crime rate, the loss of friends and family through emigration and an uncertain future, with the prophetic words of Breyten, Breytenbach ringing in their ears from across the Pacific: If you Can Stand the Loss, Leave S.A. Now (headline in the Cape Times, November 2008). All change, of course, is typically accompanied by some feelings of loss. (Marris, 1974). The issue of managing difference and loss, most especially when this is extreme, preoccupies many South Africans. In this regard, the words of Charles Waldegrave (2008) come to mind: When you begin to honour different cultures equally, you can expect many cross-cultural collisions. In this paper we suggest that it is in the conscious mourning and reparation following cross-cultural collisions or the confrontation of differences in couple work and in society that the healing of relationships can start to flourish. The differences - death and life, black and white, haves and have-nots can begin to challenge each other in a way which could eventually lead to reflective and responsible introspection, and hence to more grounded reparation. In South Africa, however, this process often seems more complicated. In South Africa the process of mourning is frequently blocked by unconscious processes, most especially in times of trauma and extreme forms of loss. This idea arose

Marketing management and strategy - The UK music industry Essay

Marketing management and strategy - The UK music industry - Essay Example The UK music industry is facing dramatic changes caused by shifts in the patterns people buy music tracks and albums. Online music distribution is changing the rules of the market introducing both major threats and growth opportunities for music labels and distributors. Whereas increased download opportunities and digital format preferences are threatening traditional music specialty stores, legal music websites and music producers have to find creative ways to fight back internet piracy to achieve targeted rates of returns. Online market demand is dominated by teenagers who have shifted their purchases from singles CDs to mostly illegal downloads of singles tracks, stimulated by continually evolving software and P2P networks. In order to survive, market players have to reconsider their strategies and value propositions – by mergers of music labels; flexible pricing and value-added offers by online distributors and active ethical campaigns, the challenge before these companies is to convert the internet medium from a threat to copyrighted material into an effective distribution channel. b. Analysing the competitive impairment using Porter's five forces Rivalry among competing sellers in the industry - rivalry among legal internet music sites is not too intensive, because the legal online download industry is underdeveloped and growing at a very high speed, which means that companies gain market share from a rising number of new customers, converting their downloads from illegal to legal. Apple iTunes has over 70% of the market, which places it into an almost monopolistic position as a market leader. Still, rivalry is expected to increase, as the number of competitors increases, and as customers can easily switch from 1 site to the other (except for Apple and Sony that sell music in formats compatible for their own products). Competitive pressure from substitute products - substitute "products" for online distributors can be considered to be rival traditional distributors for example. The power of substitute distributors is low, because the internet medium provides lower costs, greater flexibility, speed and value propositions as compared to traditional music retailers. Potential entry of new competitors - relatively low costs for set-up and management of web-sites for download mean low entry barriers. Entry of new competitors is likely to be attracted by the growing number of legal sales (from 100,000 to 500,000 by August 2004). The bargaining power of suppliers - suppliers for online music distributors are music producers. Provided there are only 5 major music producers that hold the exclusive rights for famous artistes and musicians, the bargaining power of suppliers is big in terms of price settings - e.g. the music label get 65p of a typical 99 p download. Suppliers include the 5 major labels and smaller independent music labels. Consolidation among big labels (Sony and BMG) is likely to increase bargaining power of suppliers. The bargaining power of buyers of the product - the power of buyers is big in terms that surfers, using new software and P2P networks are shaping the face of the industry. Online distributors have to find ways to attract and retain customers by stimulating them to actually make purchases and switch to legal downloads. c. The impact of the Internet on the competitive environment Internet is the trigger of the digital music revolution. It has changed the whole music industry thus forcing music companies and artistes to reconsider the way music is being sold and distributed. Internet has a number of positive influences on music companies. Through this popular and easily accessible medium artistes and companies have access to a wider global audience and have opened up new revenue streams. Internet has also diminished the bargaining po

Content Management Systems Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5000 words

Content Management Systems - Essay Example Examples of roles include author, editor, approver, publisher† (University of Wisconsin, 2007) 16 Pennington, L. (2007) Approaches/Practices: Surviving the Design and Implementation of a Content-Management System: Do the Benefits Offset the Challenges? Journal of Business and Technical Communication, 21(1): 62-73 27 This Project Report covers in details the subject I have chosen to cover, which is Content Management Systems. The business of supplying CMC systems is relatively young but a quickly growing technology that business are employing to handle their data repositories and web based content. Some of the areas that are expanded on from my Interim Report are: I decided to cover the subject of Content Management Systems because I have a lot of involvement with them (one in particular) in my career. A CMS is responsible for holding and maintaining the data for our Company Intranet. I have been responsible for testing these systems inline with the company’s technical architecture and ensuring a smooth integration with existing systems. My aim is to fully explain the purpose of CMS and highlight the different functionality some of these systems have to offer, I will look at some individual systems and give an analysis of their purpose and successes. As part of my report I will also cover the system, which I am most familiar with, Stellent. I will give an overview of the project I have worked on and the process I have undertaken in order to successfully implement such a system at work. Content by definition is ‘everything in a collection’, when we talk about Web Content (as we will throughout this report) we talk about the collection of information or data on a site. In the context of the Internet/Intranet, content is basically all the ‘stuff’ on your site. Good content provides useful information and/or direction for the user to

MIH548 - Theory Based Research - Mod 1 Case Assignment Essay

MIH548 - Theory Based Research - Mod 1 Case Assignment - Essay Example This is principally arrived at through deductive and inductive logic and parsimony within the limits and domains of science and related rational presuppositions. It is to be remembered that experiments and observations generate data, and in some point there would be a need for interaction between data and theory, which leads the methodology beyond the realm of deductive rationality to collection of data and their interpretation in such a manner that the whole affair can be replicated (Wilson 1952). John Snow is famous as an epidemiologist who first demonstrated conclusively that cholera is actually caused by microorganisms, and he deductively established that these organisms affect the human beings through transmission by food or water. His epidemiologic work is now considered as the classic reference of modern epidemiology and has been termed by Frost to be a â€Å"nearly perfect model† (Morabia 2001). Snow’s work on cholera epidemic in London would not have been possible without the scientific disease surveillance methodologies enacted by Farr, which indicated the importance of water supply in South London. Based on the data collected by Farr, Snow could reach a conclusion about the causation of cholera epidemics in London. Based on the distribution of mortality data from cholera, it was possible for him to locate the households that were getting comparatively cleaner water and hence lesser incidence of the disease and related death rates (Morabia 2001). The necessity of a controlled experiment in order to implicate the water supply in the London cholera epidemic in 1848-1849 was understood by both, but Snow got an intellectual leap from the data collected by Farr, through the simple method of grouping the households based on a definition of exposure to the causative agent. Despite the thought of controlled experiment