Restricting Free Speech Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Restricting Free Speech - Essay Example This research will begin with the statement that freedom of speech or rather freedom of expression is the political right to communicate one’s ideas or opinions. While freedom of speech is used synonymously with freedom of expression, the latter includes all acts of seeking, receiving or imparting ideas or information, regardless of the medium use. In this case, it may entail the use of newspapers, the internet, radio, televisions, fliers, and so on. In most cases, governments restrict, with varying limitations, how citizens may express themselves. Some of the most common limitations of speech may be related to obscenity, right to privacy, slander, libel, sedition, pornography, fighting words, hate speech, incitement, copyright violation, trade secrets, non-disclosure agreements, right to be forgotten, public nuisance, public security, public order, classified information, oppression and campaign finance reform. There are those that support freedom of expression and believe th at there should be no way the government should limit it. On the other hand, there are those that believe that freedom of expression may not be an exquisite idea of any community and that the government should limit the citizen from expression themselves or rather communicate their thoughts. This paper will be looking at the second scenario, why free speech should be restricted. The world is made up of a very diverse group of people. There are Africans, Asians, Europeans, Americans, Latinos, and so on. There are also several different races. In some unfortunate instances, there are people from particular races that believe they should not integrate with the other races as they are superior to them. Such groups of people have existed. If people were allowed to practice absolute freedom of expression, then it may turn out gruesome. People would be spouting racist, homophobic, nationalist, and very offensive views about others and on their defense, they would say that they are practici ng ‘free speech’. This is not a very pleasant situation. With the freedom of expression, racial abuse still exists, the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) legally exist and the Neo-Nazis prove particularly difficult to stop. All these are groups of people that preach contempt and hatred towards the minority group that spurs conflicts that sometimes lead to loss of lives. In reality, freedom of speech just exists to promote liberty among different groups of people. Unfortunately, there are those who do not realize this and most of the time misuse the freedom.

Gorbachev's Reforms Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Gorbachev's Reforms - Essay Example Through these structural reforms which were meant to broaden the opportunities for the popular movements and the political parties so as to gain influence, Gorbachev made it easy for the orthodox communists, populist forces and nationalist to go against his wishes and oppose his efforts to revitalize and liberalize the soviet communist. This led to different opinions with some advocating for the liberalizing of the Soviet Union, others wanted the republics to be independent while the rest demanded for the restoration of old ways of the soviet union. These forces from below, top and sideways could not be compromised by Gorbachev leading to the consequent fall the Soviet Union.1 Between the year 1969 and 82 is when the reforms for Soviet Union stalled but generational shift introduced these demand s for the reform. There was change on the relations with the US after Reagan was elected and was against the Soviet Union and further termed it as the evil empire and his initiative to build a strong defense system (star wars) which the Soviet Union could not compete with. The public was not satisfied with the Moscow government because of the war in Afghanistan and the Chernobyl catastrophe gave the Glasnost and Perestroika which were introduced by Gorbachev gain momentum but eventually led to fall of the Soviet Union.2 After many years of stagnation new thinking younger communists emerged and after the death of Chernekno Konstantin made is ease the elected general secretary rise to leadership. Though he was relatively young he introduced a new momentum that advocated for economic and political liberation with better trade relation with the west. By 1866 when Gorbachev was introducing the Glasnost and Perestroika programs, the union was already suffering from supply shortages and inflation due to black market practiced by official economy. The state subsidies and cost of superpower were not proportional to the economy of the soviet and the union was craving for the unmatched western technology.3 One of the radical economic reforms was put in place in May 1988, the cooperative law that allowed the private ownership of manufacturing, retailing and al l other business including the foreign business and this became the soviet scene. A conference convened in 1987 by an economist who was as adviser to Gorbachev concluded that political openness was essential to pressure those who were opposing his economic reforms, the conservatives, to support his initiatives. This resulted to increased freedom of press and speech, many political prisoners were released, and public opinion polls could be conducted without restriction. The government records became accessible and gender studies were introduced. Gorbachev introduced democratization which came had in had with multi party elections in January 1988 in the Soviet Union. This was followed by the CPSU's 19th party conference that reduced the ruling party's control of the government. A legislative body (congress of people's deputies) was approved in December 1988 and the elections to that congress were held the following year in March-April. The first president of the Soviet Union was Gorbachev who was elected on 15th of March 1990. Flow of uncontrollable events made it inevitable to dissolve the Soviet Union despite efforts to by Gorbachev to meet his promises as

Indian Education Essay Example for Free

Indian Education Essay A strong education system is the cornerstone of any countrys growth and prosperity. Over the last decade, India has made great strides in strengthening its primary education system. The District Information System for Education (DISE) reported in 2012 that 95% of Indias rural populations are within one kilometer of primary schools. The 2011 Annual Status of Education Report (ASER), which tracks trends in rural education, indicated that enrollment rates among primary-school-aged children were about 93%, with little difference by gender. However, behind the veil of such promising statistics, the learning outcomes of Indias children show little progress. The country ranked 63 out of 64 in the latest Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) study, with some of its best schools ranked about average among those surveyed. The 2011 ASER stated that only 48. 2% of students in the fifth grade can read at the second grade level. The number of students completing their primary education with inadequate numeracy and literacy skills is startling. To see this manifest in an economic sense, one may attribute Indias productivity growth lagging behind that of East Asian economies to a lack of progress in the foundational elements of countrywide, high-quality education. Indias private-schooled, English-speaking urban elite may attract global attention, but they are in the minority. The vast majority of Indian children attend government-run primary schools in rural areas. In 2008-2009, rural India accounted for more than 88% of Indias primary-school students, of whom over 87% were enrolled in government-run schools. This is where we see some of the nations toughest challenges. A Diverse Set of Problems Indias education system has not achieved strong learning outcomes for reasons that are as diverse and nuanced as the country itself. Key among these reasons is poor teaching quality, which results from a multitude of factors. Inadequate Teacher Qualification and Support: Teachers working in primary schools across rural India have a difficult job. Dhir Jhingran, a senior civil servant in the Indian Administrative Service, with more than two decades of experience in rural primary education, explained the multiple challenges they face: Teachers have to teach multiple grades, textbooks are pitched far above the comprehension level of students, and each classroom has children with different levels of learning achievements. Anurag Behar, CEO of the Azim Premji Foundation, an education non-profit, noted that the average school teacher in India does not get adequate pre-service or in-service education, nor does she get the support to overcome these problems. Compounding this is the relatively low educational qualifications of many teachers themselves. In 2008-2009, on average, 45% of these teachers had not studied beyond the 12th grade. Low Teacher Motivation and High Absenteeism: A key factor affecting the quality of primary education appears to be low levels of teacher motivation. In 2002-2003, 25% of primary-school teachers in rural India were absent on any given day. The impact of absenteeism is exacerbated by the fact that the average primary school in India has a workforce of no more than three teachers. At a school for girls in rural Rajasthan, we observed this problem first hand: Of the eight teachers assigned, only five were present. The three who were actually teaching were juggling eight different grades. The obvious reason remuneration does not appear to be a driver. In fact, both education experts and ordinary citizens argue that government-employed school teachers are paid relatively well. UNESCO surveys from as early as 2004 indicated that the annual statutory salary of primary school teachers in India with 15 years experience was more than $14,000, adjusted for purchasing power. This was significantly higher than the then-statutory salaries of $3,000 in China and Indonesia, and the Indian GDP per capita in 2004, which was $3,100. Indian primary-school teachers may not be underpaid, but some argue that they may be overworked. For Vivekanand Upadhyay, a seasoned educator and language professor at a leading national University, one reason for the lack of motivation is that primary school teachers employed by the government, particularly in rural India, are required to perform a wide range of duties completely unrelated to imparting education. These duties including administering government programs such as immunization clinics, assisting with data-collection for the national census, and staffing polling stations during elections in addition to their teaching responsibilities, place significant demands on teachers time. Another disheartening factor has been a highly bureaucratic administrative system that discourages bold decision making and makes implementation difficult. For example, as Jhingran observed, it is difficult to test new practices on a small scale before rolling them out: If a new program has been developed, the philosophy is that every school must have it. Such indiscriminate application often means that teachers are implementing programs without understanding their key principles and ultimate goals. Flawed Teaching Methodology: In India, rote learning has been institutionalized as a teaching methodology. Primary school teachers in rural India often try to educate students by making them repeat sections of text over and over again, said Jhingran. Often they do not explain the meaning of the text, which results in stunted reading comprehension skills over the course of the childrens education. For example, many students in grades two and three in one particular school struggle to read individual words, but can neatly copy entire paragraphs from their textbooks into their notebooks as though they were drawing pictures. Linguistic Diversity: Finally, Indias linguistic diversity creates unique challenges for the nations education system. The countrys 22 official languages and hundreds of spoken dialects often differ considerably from the official language of the state or region. Jhingran commented that the teacher not only has to account for varying learning abilities within the classroom, but also dialectic nuances which affect students comprehension of the subject matter. Government-school-educated children from rural India struggle to speak even basic sentences in English. Students with rural primary schooling are at a significant disadvantage as they transition to higher education, because Indias best universities teach exclusively in English, said Upadhyay. Part of the problem is that there is no one to teach them. As Chandrakanta Khatwar, an experienced middle school teacher in a rural government-run school in Rajasthan, asked: When teachers themselves know little English, especially spoken English, how will students learn? A Parallel, Non-governmental Education Universe Since the late 1980s, government efforts to augment rural primary education have been supplemented by the emergence of an intervention-based non-governmental system that spans multiple institutional types. While private schools have emerged as a parallel system over the last two decades, their impact is limited because they serve less than 13% of Indias rural primary-school children. However, do private schools really make a difference? Some studies have found a small, but statistically significant, private school advantage in rural India. Behar was skeptical about the superiority of private rural schools over their government-run counterparts, noting, Once we control for a childs socioeconomic background, private schools add little-to-no value. In many ways, private schools are in much worse shape. However, according to Khatwar, more and more parents in small towns are choosing to send their children to private schools if they can afford it perhaps with good reason, because, on average, the number of students in each classroom in private schools is often smaller and school heads exert greater control over teachers. Some organizations are attempting to innovate with new formats and systems of education. Avasara Academy, a new school for girls, is a private institution whose mission is to mold leaders from among the best and brightest girls in India, regardless of their background. While admission is merit-based, the school intends to draw half its students from disadvantaged rural and urban backgrounds, awarding them full scholarships. In addition, it is developing a special curriculum that encourages excellence beyond academics. Avasara seeks to identify high potential young women and guide them along a powerful journey of leadership development. We expect that our graduates will form a network of leaders who will collaborate to drive positive change across the country, explained Mangala Nanda, humanities department chair for Avasara. While still in the early stages of its development, Avasaras successful implementation would provide a viable model for high-quality, accessible education and integration across socioeconomic boundaries. Governmental Efforts The Indian government at every level recognizes the need for educational reform and has made a conscientious effort to achieve it. The midday-meal plan, for example, is a highly publicized nationwide program through which government school children across India are provided with a midday meal every day of the school week. The program is largely considered a success. A study in 2011 by Rajshri Jayaraman and Dora Simroth found that grade one enrollment increased by 20. 8% simply if a midday meal was offered. According to Behar, The Indian government has worked very hard to provide rural schools with adequate infrastructure, something that was critically lacking a few decades ago. For instance, DISE reported in 2012 that more than 91% of primary schools have drinking-water facilities and 86% of schools built in the last 10 years have a school building. However, there is still a long way to go: Only 52% of primary schools have a girls toilet, and just 32% are connected to the electricity grid. In 2012, the Central Government enacted the Right to Education (RTE) Act, under which every child between the ages of six and 14 receives a free and compulsory education. In addition to regulating access to education, the act contains certain provisions that could positively impact the quality of education. According to Jhingran, one of its major achievements has been the dramatic reduction of non-teaching duties assigned to government school teachers, freeing up valuable time and lowering absenteeism. Partnering with the Government Over the past few decades, many organizations have begun working with government schools and teachers to improve learning outcomes. Pratham, a joint venture between UNICEF and the Municipal Corporation of Mumbai, runs multiple programs to supplement school education, such as learning support classes, libraries and additional learning resources. A hallmark of these initiatives is that Pratham engages volunteers from local communities and trains them to run these programs. Another important initiative that has resulted from Pratham is the annual ASER, an assessment that measures reading and arithmetic abilities by surveying more than 600,000 children across 16,000 villages in India. This remarkable exercise in data-gathering constitutes the foundation for informed decision-making and benchmarking. Other initiatives address teaching quality by placing specially trained teachers in government schools. Teach for India, modeled after the Teach for America program, was introduced in 2006. Young, motivated Indian college graduates and professionals apply for two-year fellowships to teach at government-run and low-income private schools that lack sufficient resources. An important distinction of Teach for India is that instruction is, by design, always in English. As Mohit Arora, fellowship recruitment manager for Teach for India, noted, the organizations philosophy on this point is that learning English is essential to future success, as English in todays world is more than just a language. It is a skill set. Students who do not speak English may have some difficulty initially, but the organization has made learning at these schools experiential and therefore engaging. The dynamics of one particular grade 3 Teach for India classroom were in stark contrast to other classrooms at the same school students were listening intently, contributing in class, answering questions beyond the textbook and demonstrating a strong command over English. The challenge is scaling this model to rural India. Still other organizations focus on capacity development of teachers in government schools, such as the Azim Premji Foundation. As CEO, Behar is categorical in his view that the foundation works in partnership with the government, and that it does not believe in supplanting the government school system. The foundation has established scores of institutes at the district level that provide in-service education and also empower teachers to learn from each other. For example, Behar described a voluntary teacher forum in a district of Rajasthan, initially organized by the Azim Premji Foundation, but now being run increasingly independently by teachers in the district. The Future of Primary Education in India Education in India has improved dramatically over the last three decades. Schools are accessible to most children, both student enrollment and attendance are at their highest level, and teachers are adequately remunerated. The RTE Act guarantees a quality education to a wider range of students than ever before. However, challenges in implementing and monitoring high standards in teaching and learning outcomes across regional, cultural and socioeconomic subsets prevent India from fully achieving this goal. In addition, teacher support and scalability of high-performing teaching professionals in disparate areas, funding allocation for schools in remote districts and limited use of technology in the classroom remain barriers to reforming primary education. Indias growth story remains one of the most anticipated global economic trends, and its fulfillment relies on a well-educated and skilled workforce. Improving education is a critical area of investment and focus if the country wants to sustain economic growth and harness its young workforce. A weak foundation in primary education can derail the lives, careers and productivity of tens of millions of its citizens. Already, a significant proportion of the adult workforce in India is severely under-equipped to perform skilled and semi-skilled jobs. As Rajesh Sawhney, former president of Reliance Entertainment and founder of GSF Superangels, noted, No one is unemployed in India; there are just a lot of people who are unemployable. Furthermore, in order to develop India as a consumer market of global standards, it is imperative that all of its children reap the full benefits of a high-quality education. Otherwise, large segments of the population in rural India will continue to have low purchasing power, find themselves in highly leveraged scenarios and, more often than not, continue to make a living through agricultural means. While some of this can be attributed to deficiencies in secondary and tertiary education, the root of these issues lies in low-quality primary education.

Project Report On Wipro Limited

Project Report On Wipro Limited Scope Though Wipro Limited is a group of companies, our main focus in this report will be on the IT services business segment of Wipro Limited. IT Services account for more than 70% of Total Revenue and more than 90% of Operating Income for the Wipro Limited. Wipro Limited Wipro Limited (NYSE:WIT) is amongst the largest global IT services, BPO and Product Engineering companies. In addition to the IT business, Wipro also has a profitable presence in niche market segments of Consumer Products, Lighting, Furniture, Eco Energy, Water treatment and Hydraulics. The company has been listed since 1945 and started its technology business in 1980. Today, Wipro generates USD 6 billion (India GAAP figure 2009-10) of annual revenues. Its equity shares are listed in India on the Mumbai Stock Exchange and the National Stock Exchange; as well as on the New York Stock Exchange in the US. With more than 100,000 associates from over 70 nationalities and 72 plus global delivery centres in over 55 countries, Wipros products and services span financial services, retail, transportation, manufacturing, healthcare services, energy and utilities, technology, telecom and media. Wipros focus has been on business transformation with innovation in service delivery and business models. More than 800 active clients that include governments, educational institutes, utility services, and over 150 Global Fortune 500 enterprises have benefited from this approach. Strategy Wipro is in more than one line of business, so it has got a Corporate Level Strategy. This corporate level strategy has identified following business lines for Wipro. http://www.wipro.in/img/comp_org_wipro_heading.gif Each of the above business lines has its own Business Level Strategy. The business level strategies, that determine the products and services that each division offers and the customers it caters to, are listed for each division below. Wipro Technologies Wipro Technologies is the global IT services business division of Wipro Limited. With over 20 offices around the world, Wipro Technologies is a provider of integrated business, technology and process solutions on a global delivery platform. Wipro Infotech Wipro Infotech is the strategic IT partner for companies across India, the Middle East and Asia-Pacific offering integrated IT solutions. Wipro Consumer Care and Lighting Wipro Consumer Care and Lighting, a business unit of Wipro Limited, has a profitable presence in the branded retail market of toilet soaps, hair care soaps, baby care products and lighting products. Wipro Infrastructure Engineering Wipro Infrastructure Engineering was Wipro Limiteds first diversification in 1975, which addressed the hydraulic equipment requirements of mobile original equipment manufacturers in India. Over the past 25 years, the Wipro Infrastructure Engineering business unit has become a leader in the Hydraulic Cylinders and Truck Tipping Systems markets in India. Wipro GE Medical Systems Limited Wipro GE Medical Systems is a joint venture between Wipro and General Electric Company. Wipro GE is Indias largest exporter of medical systems. Wipro GE manufactures Ultrasound and Computed Tomography systems in India and is a supplier for all GE Medical Systems products and services in South Asia. Now that we have the knowledge of various business units of Wipro Limited, we will analyze the strategy pursued by Wipro using Contemporary Strategy-Structure Theories. We will use following three theories to analyze the strategies of Wipro. Miles and Snows Four Strategic Types Porters Competitive Strategies Millers Integrative Framework Miles and Snows Four Strategic Types If we use Miles and Snows four strategic types to analyze Wipro, its evident that Wipro uses Analyzer strategy. It seeks to minimize risk and maximize opportunity for profit. Knowing that Cloud Computing is becoming the trend and vendors such as Amazon, Salesforce, Microsoft, and Google have invested heavily, Wipro too partnered with leading providers like Salesforce and Microsoft to provide professional and system integration services for enterprises. Wipro did so only after the risk and profits associated with cloud computing was clear to it. Wipro has the ability to respond to the lead of key prospectors. At the same time, it has maintained operating efficiency in its stable product and market areas. With enhanced business performance at the core of its deliveries due to its strong RD and Innovation focus, Wipro gets 95 percent repeat business. Its operating margin has been more than 20% in the IT Services business for last couple of years. Wipro has a structure made of components that provide it both flexibility and stability. It has clearly identifiable verticals dedicated to different industries like banking, automotive, energy, manufacturing, etc. These verticals are highly standardized and they use routine technologies for efficiency. Wipro has different RD and Practice Centers dedicated to new and emerging technologies. They provide the much needed flexibility whenever Wipro enters into new undertakings. Porters Competitive Strategies As per Porters competitive strategies, Wipro follows the differentiation strategy. It emphasizes heavily on the quality, innovation, and its technological capabilities. It is worlds first SEI CMM Level 5 Company. One of the worlds largest third party RD services provider, Wipro has been a pioneer in adopting and adapting several improvement methodologies like Lean, Six Sigma, Kaizen, etc. to further the efficiency of its processes. Wipro was the first to adopt Six Sigma in IT delivery in 1998. Lean methodology was adopted from the world-class Toyota Production System for improving the efficiency of the delivery engine in the year 2005. All these things have clearly set Wipro apart from its Indian counterpart who has been lagging behind Wipro in their RD services and highest standard of certifications. Millers Integrative Framework As per Millers Integrative Framework, Wipro fits best with the strategic dimension of marketing differentiation. Wipro draws its competitive advantage vis-Ã  -vis the other Indian IT service providers from five specific differentiators. Technological Excellence The biggest differentiator for Wipro against its Indian competitors is that Wipro entered IT services through the engineering route, given its entry into hardware in the 80s and then later to positioning itself as an engineering lab for hire to the IT multinationals that entered India in the 90s. The lab-on-hire business was eventually scaled up and today accounts for one-third of Wipros revenues, making it one of the worlds largest third party RD provider. Innovative Solutions Wipro offers its clients customized innovative technological and process solutions. In 2000, Wipro set up an Innovation Initiative with an internal innovation council, which worked like an internal venture capital fund. Today there are more 800 people working on such innovative ideas. This approach has helped the company to position itself as an innovator rather than a commodity provider of technological products. Operational Excellence Over time Wipro has come to stand for operational excellence. The commitment to quality has been a critical part of Wipros product offering. The company is very process-oriented and focused on operational excellence. Today, Wipro has built up its reputation and credibility by being a stickler for process excellence and delivering on quality commitments is a key brand benefit. Global Footprint with Emerging Market Knowledge Wipros global footprint is also an important differentiator among its Indian rivals, especially given its higher portfolio split towards emerging markets. The Asia-Pacific (APAC) region contributes to $1 billion in revenues and is considered to be a key differentiator vis-Ã  -vis Infosys. Company Culture of Linking Values to Business Performance Wipros cultural fit with its clients is also important in the self-selection process. Wipros company culture is less flashy and less aggressive than some of its Indian rivals. This culture resonates with Wipros clients in the manufacturing and retail sector who prefer a more laid-back approach at building a relationship. The companys cultural tone has been set right from the top, with Chairman Azim Premji often being quoted as saying that the brand Wipro is all about humility. We can see that above three theories, Miles and Snows Four Strategic Types, Porters Competitive Strategies, Millers Integrative Framework, clearly indicate that Wipro is practicing differentiation strategy. Structure Wipro has been constantly restructuring itself based on the differentiation strategy that it follows. It has been getting projects in different verticals like insurance, banking, securities, retail, transportation, manufacturing, healthcare, consumer electronics, energy, medical devices, government, etc., so it restructures itself to deliver the projects as per customers specifications. Now, we will analyze the level of complexity, formalization, and centralization that exists in Wipro. Complexity Wipro ranks high on overall complexity. Complexity is the degree of differentiation that exists within an organization. As described earlier, Wipro operates multiple business lines and each business line has its own verticals depending on the industry it provides products and services in. Horizontal Differentiation Nature of the tasks performed by the employees of IT Business unit is different from task performed by the employees of the Infrastructure unit employees which is different from the task performed by the employees of Consumer Care Lighting unit. So, each unit requires specialized knowledge, skills, and trainings. There are more than 20 verticals in the global IT Business Unit of Wipro itself each requiring different functional and social specialization. Due to this high number of specialization, Wipro demonstrates high horizontal differentiation. Vertical Differentiation As can been seen in the figure given below, vertical differentiation is moderately high because of more levels of hierarchy. Average span in Wipro is about 5 to 6 i.e. a manager can direct 5 to 6 subordinates effectively. Spatial Differentiation Wipro has more than 72 global delivery centres in over 55 countries and it employs citizens of more than 70 nationalities. Considering this fact, it can be easily observed that Wipro ranks very high on spatial differentiation. Formalization Jobs within the Wipro are highly formalized. Employees of Wipro Technologies use Wings Within, a job portal for existing Wipro Technologies employees to look for another job within Wipro Technologies itself. Other business lines provide similar job portal for their employees. MyWipro is the intranet portal available to the employees of Wipro Technologies. Clearly defined procedures covering work processes in the organization are available on this portal. These work processes include career progression policies, financial policies, leave policies, attendance policies, timesheet information, etc. Wipro has a well established recruitment policy. Selection of employees is done by the certified interviewers. These interviewers are from the Band C or above and they have passed certain examinations to be an eligible interviewer. Talent Transformation is the training division of Wipro Technologies. It has dedicated full time trainers in almost all domains and technologies Wipro Technologies operates in. This division provides one to three months of induction training to campus recruits. It also provides training on demand. Centralization Centralization in Wipro is moderate. Each business unit in Wipro Technologies has many accounts. Each account acts as a development centre for a dedicated customer and gets a business target from its corresponding business unit. Decisions on what projects to work on are taken at the account level. Decisions on how to work on the projects are taken by the project managers, team leads, and team members. So, concentration is not at a single point in the hierarchy. So, we can see that the high complexity, high formalization and moderate centralization support the differentiation strategy of Wipro. Organizational Design Design Components These are the five basic components of the organisational design at Wipro. The Operating Core The operating core at Wipro consists of the various professional and technical experts relating to the different 24 verticals of the Wipros business. These are highly trained specialists working in various fields such as Aerospace, Automotive, Banking, Business Consumer Services, Communication Service Providers, Computer Peripherals, Computer Software, Computing, Consumer Electronics, Consumer Packaged Goods, Energy, Government Healthcare, High-Tech, Hospitality Leisure, Insurance, Manufacturing, Media, Medical Devices, Mobile Devices, Pharmaceutical Life Sciences, Public Infrastructure, Retail, and Securities Capital Markets. The Strategic Apex It consists of one Chairman, 2 Executive Director Joint CEO, IT Business, 1 Executive Director CFO. And apart from this, there are 8 independent non-executive directors forming the strategic apex of the company. The Middle Line This part consists of the team of highly motivated individuals who anchor the organization to relentlessly provide world class IT and business solutions. The management team comprises global leaders, with excellent domain knowledge and across-the-board cross-functional experience, who nurture successful relationships with the client community. It includes 7 business unit heads, 8 service line heads and 6 geographical heads. The Techno Structure However, this part has very small role to play at IT Business line of Wipro but in the consumer care and other business lines of the Wipro it forms the core part, hence giving rise to machine bureaucracy type of organisational design. And here we are referring to the organisational analysis of the Wipro Technologies and Wipro Infotech. The Support Staff This part consists of the supporting functions of Wipro which handles the general management functions and administrative functions to smoothen out the working of the various business units. There are 7 functional heads under it such as technology, quality, information, financial, marketing, global delivery (logistics) and human resources. Internal Complex Clustering and Inter-Relationships At Wipro, Business divisions are highly overlapping, so the add on growth and problems arising from the uncertain environment add to the complexity of inter-relationships between these 5 components. And specially the business units (service wise and geographical), verticals in each and the functional heads are having overlapping projects and relationships are thus complex. Domination of Operating Core Analysing the various components of organisational design, we found that most of the technical capabilities to perform the various projects is with the operating core. However, the decisions flow from top but there is considerable amount of autonomy with the operating core in view of their highly specialized and professional knowledge. This is what is in the fashion or trend in the IT industry as a whole. Also it has become internally consistent and hence selected out naturally as most sustainable in the field of IT. The Organization Design (Present) The Professional Bureaucracy Professional bureaucracy fits well for Wipro Limited as a group of organization. It is consistent with its requirement of high formalisation/standardisation and moderate to low centralisation. Wipros vertical structure divides the company into units such as Telecom Service Providers, Product Engineering Solutions, Finance Solutions, and Enterprise Solutions. These units further cater to industries such as banking, insurance, securities, and so on. Each vertical is like a self-contained business. It is like a mid-sized company even by U.S. standards, because each vertical generates about $300 million in annual revenues. Though they work under a common structure, with resources such as Finance, HR, Quality and Marketing, each vertical has people who represent these functions. So, in effect, each vertical is like a separate company. There is intention to delegate more authority and responsibility to these self-contained companies. Matrix in Functional Terms (For IT Business Only) Wipros organizational design is complex and sometimes baffles outsiders. The IT business has two organizations Wipro InfoTech and Wipro Technologies. The latter handles the global business while Wipro InfoTech serves India, West Asia and Asia Pacific. In functional terms, the company has a matrix structure with three verticals and two horizontals. The verticals are the $1.06 billion technology business (which is in the product engineering and the telecom service provider space); the $1.4 billion enterprise business (targeted at manufacturing, healthcare, retail, etc.); and the $799 million financial services business. The two horizontals are the $1.1 billion global practices business (testing, package implementation and technology infrastructure services) and the $290 million BPO (business process outsourcing) operation. Major Transformations: Radical Changes and Transformation in the Organization Structure in 2005 After Mr. Vivek Paul left the company, the then CEO, the company went through major transformation process. The reorganization, tried to bring Wipros leadership closer to the customer. In the process, there was de-layering the organization and empowering business leaders with a much higher degree of PL and growth responsibility. The reorganization also brought the mainstream of the company, which is really our global technology business, closer in alignment with the original corporate staffs, which has now become our business staff. Leadership at this level speeds things up and gets decisions made faster. It empowers people more, and it allows them to further empower those who report to them, because their jobs have suddenly become much more responsible. Future Prospects for Organisational Design and Structure The 21st Century Virtual Corporation! With more supply of products and services than there is demand, the customer is in a position to demand an ever changing array of tailored products and services. In order to be successful, businesses need to be much more client centric and far more agile and flexible than ever before. Wipro is responding to this need for radical change by taking an objective approach to the matter. By lending a patient ear to clients and analyzing dozens of outperforming companies, Wipro has realized that businesses must become far more customer centric and develop a highly flexible value chain that can sense and respond with new products and services quickly as market conditions change. The changing needs of the 21st Century Virtual Corporation demands new business designs that facilitate faster and more extensive collaboration on a global scale. Given this demand, Wipros mega alliance strategy of 360Â ° relationships is a unique differentiator. Environment The environment is the set of forces surrounding an organization that have the potential to affect the way it operates and its access to scarce resources. Wipros transaction with its environment can be analyzed based on the forces in specific and general environment. Specific Environment The specific environment consists of forces from outside stakeholder groups that directly affect an organizations ability to secure resources. Forces in specific environment, that affects Wipro and how it handles these forces, are described below. Competitors As has already been described in the section on Millers Integrative Framework, Wipro draws its competitive advantage vis-Ã  -vis the other Indian IT service providers from five specific differentiators. They are technological excellence, innovative solutions, operational excellence, global footprint with emerging market knowledge, and company culture of linking values to business performance. Customers Wipros customers remain cautious after the downturn prevalent in western economy about technology spending, with budgets flat to slightly higher as they look for transformational projects. Customers are taking a lot more time making decisions than spending. A geographic breakup of Wipros revenues from customers: Wipros US based customers decision to spend less has forced Wipro to divert its effort towards some other areas like knowledge management. The company is now more focused on building technical competencies in its work force. All its employees below band C are mandatorily required to successfully clear the assessments mapped for them in a particular appraisal year. Customers are also demanding more robust Business Continuity Plan (BCP) for their accounts operating off shore. This led Wipro to launch an organization wide BCP revamping plan. Emphasis was more on the Banking, Finance, Securities, and Insurance (BFSI) customers as they are the most vulnerable verticals of Wipro due to the inherent nature of their businesses. For Wipro, changes in customer information technology budgets year on year ranged from flat to an increase of 4%. Company is increasingly focused on technology projects that yield long-term changes in their operations, such as cloud computing, as opposed to those that merely made existing processes more efficient. Today Customers are looking for partners versus suppliers. Wipro has started a new initiative that is aimed to build better client understanding, business alignment and consultative selling in large accounts, called the Client Engagement Manager (CEM). It has already delivered incremental growth in existing accounts and the increased sales in these accounts are a sign of the success of the initiative (rolled out in 52 key accounts). Wipro plans to move beyond the market perception of a low price bidder to occupy a position that is viewed as operating in multiple models to offer assets to clients through professional service. The company is also orienting towards providing more business value for clients, consulting led account development. Wipro is also creating Customer Satisfaction Leaders. In 2009, Wipro also undertook a key initiative to strengthen the consulting and customer management skills of our frontline employees by running an academy. The Customer Leadership team of CHRD in conjunction with Enterprise Application Services (EAS) business, in its drive to create world-class consultants launched the EAS Consulting Academy. Suppliers Distributors As Wipro diversified into different sectors it has changed its distributors and suppliers as it best suited for business development. Being an old company, having its presence in India since independence, it has developed a good network of suppliers and distributors all over the country. As the time passed by, based on the need of the business, efficiency and the nexus the company has created; it went for different strategies of distributing its products like in case of its hydraulic products, Wipro has its own dedicated department which takes care of the distribution. Similarly after 2000 when it studied the use of internet and mobile in marketing and distribution sales, it started distributing its products online especially in case of products where customers prefer online transactions over retail if available like Baby care products. The network of distributors is based on the sales of products, for example in case of Santoor soap which is more sold in Southern part of the country, the distributors network is more dense here rather than in other part of the countries. In service sector as Wipro is acting as a mediator, using mediating technology, it does not have a dedicated suppliers or distributors, but it changes with the changing parties which are being served. Product Distributor SmartLite (CFL lights) Sales and Sales Lion Industry Inc Dentsply Infant hygiene products ( Baby soft soap and diapers) US2guntur.com (Online distributors) Farsons Marketing Company Personal Care Products (Santoor soap and talc) Wipro Consumers Care pvt Ltd (self organized distribution network) Hydraulic Products Wipro Infrastructure Engineering Ltd (self organized distribution network) Government Exchange Rate Falling exchange rate increases the exports and price of imports. Reducing the price of exports by decreasing the exchange rate makes them more attractive and competitive in export market. Hence demand for export increases. Same applies to It services industry as well. Hence by controlling exchange rate and appreciation for currency, government plays a role in dynamics of this industry. Outsourcing Policies President of USA Barrack Obama has proposed an anti outsourcing policy suggesting increasing the tax on the benefits gained from outsourcing the jobs from U.S. The idea is to provide lesser incentive to the companies to outsource their jobs. The policy mainly aims at creating and conserving jobs in US market but it has implications on Indian outsourcing industry as well. The policy will greatly affect the foreign companies that are operating in U.S. if this is applied it will mean that the foreign companies will have to pay heavy tax on the labour imported by them. WSJ and LA estimate a tax rate of 55% on foreign companies. That will be a setback for countries like India, which is the biggest player in outsourcing industry. A present slump in number of H1B visas taken up is also a reflection of the same. In the long term, it will hurt all the economies, since U.S investment is a big factor and reduced investment from U.S means reduced money in all the markets, especially India. But there is a high likelihood that comparative cost advantages that countries like India might still provide, would outweigh the loss incurred by the tax loss that the companies are going to face in the US. General Environment The general environment consists of forces that shape the specific environment and affect the ability of all organizations in a particular environment to obtain resources. Forces in general environment, that affects Wipro and how it handles these forces, are described below. Demographic and Cultural forces India Demographics Population:1,180,166,000 (2010 estimated) Age Structure: 0 14 years 31.1%; 15 64 years 63.6%; 65+ years 5.3% Languages: 14 official languages Bengali, Telugu, Marathi, Tamil, Urdu, Gujarati, Malayalam, Kannada, Oriya, Punjabi, Assamese, Kashmiri, Sindhi, and Sanskrit (2001 census) Literacy Rate: 61% (2001 census) Per Capita GDP: USD 2941 (2009 estimate) Labour Force: 523.5 million (2008 estimate); 60% Agriculture, 12% Industry, 28% Services Number of colleges for general education 11549; number of colleges for professional education 4991; number of universities, deemed universities and institutes of national importance 350 (HRD Ministry, 2005-06) English enjoys associate status but is the most important language for national, political, and commercial communication Wipro reflects the Indian demographics. It has a young and experienced work force having average age of 24 to 25 years. 35% of the employees are having less than one year of work experience in Wipro. Average tenure of top 100 managers in Wipro is 11 years. Its workforce comprises of 66% of university graduates. 28% of employees are having master degree. Technology The study of effect of changing technological factors in the general and specific environment of Wipro led to the following analysis: Identification of Wipro technology on the basis of various theories proposed to understand the relation between technology and the structure of organization is given below, but due to the conglomerate nature of Wipro different businesses are analyzed separately to avoid any kind of confusion: Theory Infotech Technology Consumers and lighting Infrastructure Engineering Medical System Woodward Process Process Mass Mass Process Perrow Engineering Engineering Routine Routine Routine Thompson Mediating Long-Linked Long-Linked Long-Linked Long-Linked Future Technologies Technology Adaptive strategy/Structure Development of LED technology for domestic lighting As it is already in the domestic lighting sector, Wipro can definitely take advantage of this technical development by taking the first mover advantage, by being the first company to introduce LED based lights in India. Use or development of Mobile-phone based supply chain Would support in reducing the investment in IT, especially in distribution sector Virtualization software technology for reducing the power consumption Since Wipro is trying to produce environment friendly products, it would be a landmark effort if it introduces the virtualization software technology which combines various different machines into single virtual machine running on a single powerful base system. Political Forces In the near future, the Central IT spending is projected to grow positively. A positive overall growth in the macroeconomic environment of India projects an increase in the central IT spending. For instance, central IT spending is expected to reach about $75.5 billion in 2010. This total spending will consist of civilian agencies accounting for $41.5 billion and the defense department for $34 billion on IT goods and services. Indian political structure seems to be stable for IT industry but due to lack of clear majority in the parliament, fears of hung parliament are created leading to the change of consumer psychology in relation to investing and thereby reducing the capital for IT industry. The decision of Indian government to contract IT job to Indian IT companies will create more opportunities for the IT companies and the IT industry at large. With the growth of offshore outsourcing receiving increasing political and media attention there have been concerted efforts to enact new legislation to restrict offshore outsourcing or impose disincentives on companies which have been outsourcing. This may adversely impact Wipros ability to do business in these jurisdictions and c

Airports & Pollution Essay -- essays research papers

Airports and Pollution Abstract How do airports affect the environment and the area surrounding an airport? Transportation through the air is an ever-growing portion of the way people get to their destinations these days. But how many people know about the forms of pollution that occur at an airport. Noise pollution, water pollution, and air pollution are some of the effects at airports and the area around them that are occurring today. Airports and Pollution   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The many effects of the ever-growing aspect of airports and the rapidly demanding growth of transportation through the air may be spoiling the environment that we live in today. The most noted form of pollution that occurs from airports and the planes that fly in and out of them everyday would be noise pollution. To express sound we often refer to the word decibel. Decibel is a shorthand way to express the amplitude of sound. Prolonged exposure over 85 decibels that could occur at any point of your daily routine could signal the beginning of hearing loss. Just to give you a few examples of the decibel values of some common everyday activities, at the clothing department of a large store you could experience 53 decibels. Normal everyday conversation with someone sitting next to you exposes you to 60 decibels. Heavy city traffic exposes you to 92 decibels. A jet liner traveling 500 feet overhead from you exposes you to 115 decibels. That’s 30 decibels over th e point where hearing could be damaged if there is a prolonged exposure.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Water pollution at airports is another major concern for us as citizens. Water pollution affects more people that just the ones located near an airport. 45 of the 50 busiest airports in America today are located within three miles of a major waterway according to the National Resources Defense Council. The major pollutant, a substance called ethylene glycol or propylene glycol, is one of the major substances that are getting into our waterways. Glycol is used for de-icing the airplanes during the winter weather season. At 93 airports during the 1989-1991 timeframe, more than four million gallons of glycol was used for de-icing purposes. With well over 500 certified airports in the United States, the actual amount emitted is much higher than reported. During de-icing, the airlines mi... ... cost twenty five hundred dollars.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The final pollution issue is the air pollution aspect from the airports. The airplanes that are taxing could reduce fuel consumption and engine emissions by taxiing on only one engine. Single engine taxiing saves fuel and reduces emissions substantially. Delta Airlines Pilot generally only use one engine to taxi, and at their hub in Atlanta, this strategy saved more than 5.9 million in fuel costs in 1995 alone. References Aviation Noise Effects (March 1985) Comparative Noise Levels. Retrieved February 21, 2005 from the Noise Pollution Web site: http:www.nonoise.org/library/ane/ane.htm Environmental Health Perspectives (1997) Environmental Health Issues. Retrieved February 18, 2005 from the Environmental Health Perspectives Web site: http://ehp.niehs.nih.gov Nader, R., & Smith, W. (1994). Collision Course: The Truth About Airline Safety. Blue Ridge Summit, Pennsylvania: McGraw Hill Hardaway, R. (1991). Airport Regulations, Law, and Public Policy. Westport, Connecticut: Quorum Books Linton, R. (1970). Terracide; America’s Destruction of Her Living Environment Hampstead, Maryland: Little Brown & Company

An Analysis of Baldwins, Sonnys Blues :: Sonnys Blues Essays

An Analysis of Baldwin's, Sonny's Blues Sipiora identifies the critcal issues in Sonny's Blues with the character giving his self-reflections. Sipiora also says that literary characters sometimes perceive or not perceive the relationships or circumstances. We also have to judge characters in how they react to other characters whether they acted in good faith or not in good faith. We have to ask ourselves when we read literature if the character is being objective looking for personal qualities in a character when they come in contact with another character or is the character looking at another character in a judgemental, stereotypical, or preconceived way of thinking. Also is the character allowed the opportunity to share the similar things that are in common with another character or characters in the story. The main thing in reading literature in an Ethical Criticism is to take note on how a character interacts with another character or characters in a story. Also, take note on relationships of one character with anothe r character. In Sonny's Blues, the narrator is self-reflecting his experiences with various family members such as his mother and his younger brother, Sonny. Sonny and the narrator are brothers with a 7 year difference between them. The narrator was disappointed with Sonny at first due to his interest in becoming a musician. He thought it was a phase he was Sonny was going through and maybe it would pass. The older brother patronized Sonny with his insincere interest in music at first until it angered Sonny and he told his brother "don't do me no favors"(82). The narrator had a judgemental, stereotype, predetermined way of thinking when it came to his past. The narrator's thoughts and feelings were cruel and hard for the drug addict childhood friend of Sonny's when he told him he did not want to hear his "sad story"(81). Yet, he realized they both have something in common. The narrator has Sonny's drug addiction and the friend has his own addiction to deal with. The narrator realized that everyone has a sad story. When Sonny was trying to express how he felt on the inside and reveal his drug abuse, the narrator did not want to accept his younger brother's drug abuse and he 'kept putting them away. I told myself that Sonny was wild, but he wasn't crazy"(79). Just as Sonny felt alone and helpless, he could not talk about it to anyone.

History of Womens Football in England Essay

I have chosen to do my essay about the history of women’s football in England. I’ve chosen to write about this because it is a topic which I am interested in as I play for a girl’s football team inside school and out. Also I would like to find out more about women’s football and where and when it all started. In this essay you will find out about the basic history of women’s football heading all the way back from 1895 to present day. I will also write a comparison between men’s football and women’s and share my opinion about 1895-1920 On the 6th April 1895 the first ever women’s football game took place at Preston Park, Brighton. The event was organised to raise funds for local medical charities. In the match North beat South 7-1. Up to 1920 no more women’s matches took place until the first women’s international game when Dick Kerr’s English ladies took on the French Ladies. The result was a 2-0 victory to England; this game had a huge audience of 25,000 people. On Boxing Day 1920 a match took place between Preston and St Helens, Preston winning 4-0. It was the biggest crowd to date for a women’s match with 53,000 spectators. 1921 In 1921 another big match was supposed to take place between London and Paris. This match never went ahead due to the FA. The FA issued a ban against womens football. They stated ‘the game of football is quite unsuitable for females and ought not to be encouraged’. This meant any women caught playing football on the grounds of an affiliated club would be punished for breaking the law. Many women were disgusted by the decision and thought it was very unfair to do this. If I was around in this time I would also be very aggravated by the decision and I would be offended that they still allow men to play. 1969-1971 After 48 years of womens football being banned women wanted to change this. They started to become very annoyed a started campaigning. After a few campaigns 44 women got together to form The Womens Football Association (WFA). They were hoping that they would slowly gain back the right to play womens football. Two years later in 1971 the FA council lifted the ban against women which allowed women to play football once again. It had been fifty years since they had been allowed to play so they knew that the game would be no longer as popular as it was and it would take a while to get it back to the way it was. Not long after the ban was lifted women were advertising for football teams all around the country. 1991-1994 Since 1971 womens football slowly grew bigger and bigger with many small local leagues playing all around the country. In 1991 the WFA launched a national league. It started off with 24 clubs from all around the country it was pretty similar to the womens league we have today. Two years later they found that the league had been very successful so the WFA decided to host a cup competition. In 1993 the WFA held a national cup competition with 137 teams entering from across the nation. Womens football was slowly becoming bigger and gaining popularity. In 1994 the FA took on the administration of the Womens Nation League and the League Cup competition. The league then became The FA Womens Premier League (FAWPL). 1997-1998 In 1997 the FA decided that they were going to develop womens football from the grassroots to the elite level. This meant that more young girls could get involved to gain popularity. In 1998 the first 20 Centres of Excellence were established for young girls. Sponsors were gained for the league and the cup competitions; this raised the profile of the women’s game. Also in 1998 Hope Powell was appointed as the first full-time coach for the England’s Women’s international side. This was a very big thing for the nation. I think this helped the game increase its popularity because it got more people involved in the game from an early age which meant in the future decade’s womens football should be a very popular game. 1999-2002 In 1999 England entered their first Fifa World Cup. The competition was held in the USA and which saw tickets sold out for most matches and over 90,000 at the Final. There had been a competition called the Women’s World Championship. This was just like a world cup and it was held in 1991 but England didn’t participate. In 2002 researchers found that football had become the top participated sport for girls and women of England. The FA had not planned for this to happen for another 3 years, so they were well ahead of schedule. 2005-Present In 2005 the UEFA Womens Championship was held in England. The opening matches attracted around 29,000 spectators per game, with around 2.9 million people watching the games live on BBC Two. The tournament was attended by over 115,000 fans within 15 matches. England went out in the group stages, but got a lot of recognition across the nation. Since then womens football has gradually become more popular and has reached the level it is at today. I think it has done well to regain its popularity after the fifty year ban, but I don’t think it will ever get back to the popular state which it was in before the game got banned. FA’s Plan for the Future of Women’s Football The FA has many plans to increase the growth of womens football. They are introducing it to younger people across the country by holding taster days and trials for many football clubs. Also the FA is trying to expand the womens football league into two different leagues just like the men’s. Here is an extract from the article the FA released ‘The Football Association is considering introducing a two-tier Women’s Super League (WSL) in 2014. The eight teams that took part in the inaugural WSL season, which ended in August with Arsenal winning the title, have been offered new licences. Sixteen teams had initially applied for membership in 2010, with Sunderland and Nottingham Forest missing out. An FA statement said: â€Å"Plans being discussed include exploring the introduction of a second tier in 2014.†Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ I think this is a good idea because it will make the game become more popular across the co untry. Also with more leagues being introduced this means more spectators which will mean more money is being funded into the association. What I think of the Future of Women’s Football I think womens football has done very well to get back to where it is today due to the ban for fifty years. However, I don’t think that womens football will ever get to the stage like men’s because men’s football has had a lot more time to reach this popularity. Also there is a huge amount of money in the association and it would be practically impossible for women to get to that amount. I do think that womens football will grow bigger and younger girls will start to get involved. The only problem with this is it will take quite some time but they have to make up the time from the ban. Comparison When it comes to football men and women play the exact same game but one seems to be a lot more popular, the men’s. Men’s football was first found in 1314 which is nearly 700 years ago and womens football was first found in 1895 which is not even 120 years ago. Therefore there was 581 years between men and womens football. Somehow this has managed to affect the popularity in the game as it is very rare to find womens football on television when it is averaged that there is one male football match per week shown on television. If you wanted to be a professional footballer whatever sex you are you would get paid, but there is a significant amount of money difference between the genders. The average male Manchester City player would receive around  £86,280 per week plus bonuses and the average female Arsenal player would receive around  £3,000 per week that means that there is  £83280 different in the wages they receive each week. Opinion I think that womens football is different today than men’s because the FA banned it. I think if women were able to play football all the way through the 20th Century I think womens and men’s football would be similar in popularity and the wages. I also think that is very silly that the games are treated differently because they both play the same game, 90 minutes each week and the male are treated much better and receive the better pay when they both do the same job.