Martin Luther King Essay

America was experiencing a situation of chaos in the 1950s when the African Americans and the people of color began to rise for the fight of equality and freedom, and racial differences were realized. Initially, blacks and colored were widely discriminated. There were separate restaurants for white and the colored; separate educational institutes and likewise, separate hotels and motels and other public places. Blacks were not given employments on the basis of race and color and the ratio of black working men was almost negligible. They were not even given the right to vote. Cases of police violation on blacks were tremendous. As a result, gradual frustration began bottling up in the blacks. Finally, much to their relief, a decision by the Supreme Court, Brown v. Board of Education was issued in favor of the blacks. This decision given on May 17, 1954, recognized the discrimination against blacks in the field of education and declared that separate educational institutes resulted in unequal educational opportunities. Thus, it ordered all states to combine the blacks and white into same classrooms. However, the country, particularly the Southern part of America, was reluctant in carrying out the court order and hence, many years passed but the order failed to be put into operation. That is when Martin Luther King Jr. appeared. King had been working for equality and justice of blacks for a long time and was one of the prominent leaders in this movement. In order to spring the court order into action and protest for freedom, King along with other more than 250,000 individuals led a march to Lincoln Memorial on August 28, 1963, also known as the March on Washington. This rally included many other eminent characters such as actor Sidney Poitier, and labor leader Walter Reuther. All these influential heads addressed the audience and expressed their feelings individually; however, it was King’s speech; ‘I have a dream’ marked a landmark in civil right movement history. (Wikipedia, 1) About Martin Luther King Jr Born in January 15, 1929, in Atlanta, Martin Luther King was the son of Reverend Martin Luther King, Sr. and a brother of two siblings. He earned his Bachelors degree in 1948 in sociology and then completed his Bachelor of Divinity degree afterwards. In 1955, he did his PhD from Boston University. Afterwards, he became a Baptist minister but then turned his focus towards the civil rights movement and fighting for the freedom of the blacks. He contributed to the establishment of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and also led the Montgomery Bus Boycott. He was the orator of the memorial speech ‘I have a dream’. He received Nobel Peace Price for his efforts to eliminate racial discriminations. He was also declared â€Å"Man of the Year† by Times Magazine. King was shot dead on April 4, 1968 in Lorraine Motel in Memphis. Martin Luther King Jr. Day was later established in his memory. (Wikipedia,1) Analysis of the Speech Style There is an element of emotional appeal in King’s speech. Rich in vocabulary, it is drenched in symbolism. The speech begins with an attention-grasping phrase and positive connotations. In fact, in the entire speech, whenever the future of blacks is mentioned, King has used strong and healthy words reflecting hope and an optimist approach. The first half of the speech; however, exposes the horrible reality the blacks faced. It narrates the story of thousands of blacks who were divested of their basic rights because of their coloring. King has made use of several phrases to describe the gloomy life of African Americans such as â€Å"the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. † (Alvarez, 339) King’s background as Baptist also came useful in his speech as it reminds many of the blacks’ Baptist sermons. It contains references from Bible; for example, his sentence, â€Å"It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity’ in the second stanza indicates to Psalm 30:5. Other allusions are found from Amos 5:24 and Isaiah 40:4. † (Wikipedia, 1) At the same time, the speech also reflects the Abraham Lincoln’s style in his Gettysburg Address when he uses the term, ‘Five score years ago’. (Public broadcasting service,1) Here again, the purpose of alluding to Lincoln in the commencing lines of speech is symbolic that is, he refers back to a leader who had fought the Southern states over the issue of slavery. In this way, King is reminding the whites that the slaves of in the 19th century and the blacks of 20th century shared a similar tragedy and the same repressive power. After emptying out his feelings of sorrow and despair for the African Americans, the speech then moves to the phase mirroring hope and about demanding their rights. Here, King uses the term ‘check’ to refer to their rights. (Heath, 146) His expressions such as ‘bank of justice’ and ‘riches of freedom’ compel any man of heart to melt and feel their pain. (Heath, 148) They are also an evident of his literacy exposure and knowledge which was rare in blacks at that time. Plus, these words depict a feeling of hope thriving in the speech. The way King demands for blacks’ right is purely beautiful and saintly as he says, ‘And so, we’ve come to cash this check’. (Alvarez, 352) Next, the speech emphasizes the significance of democracy and need to work together to achieve that state of democracy. Here, ‘Now is the time’ has been accentuated four times in the entire paragraph to demonstrate the critical requirement of acting promptly, without any further delay. (Alvarez, 355) He then refers this discrimination as a weakness of America that needs to be removed in order to achieve the nation’s mutual objectives. Here, King has used the technique of reaching the subconscious by using such words such as ‘children of God’ which itself defines that all blacks and whites are brothers. (Wikipedia 1) Hence, in this way, he didn’t have to say it directly and the message was also conveyed. While he talks of brotherhood and the need to put aside the differences and work together, he also issues a warning for the conflicting parties of the consequences if such circumstances failed to occur and promises the nation that they will struggle to fight and rebel until they were not granted their rights. This is evident from this sentence, ‘The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges. ’ (Alvarez, 338) Nevertheless, King was against violence and sermonized the message of peace. Hence, the main objective of King in this rally was also to communicate his message in a non-violent manner. After encouraging the blacks to continue the fight, the speech moves to its second half – the part about his dream –an American dream. Here, ‘I have a dream today! ’ is repeated at intervals to indicate that the dream must be accomplished immediately and not in some future time. The most popular phrase of this speech ‘I have a dream’ is repeated eight times. (Wikipedia, 1) In this part of the speech that is about his dream, he has offered the image of a united country; a country free of discrimination and hatred; a liberal state. This part is highly rhetorical and lulls the audience into another world the world he yearns to create. His words carry such weight that the audience is bound to share his dream even if they deny it. At the end of the speech, he has named several different states of America. The reason was to make it clear that they want respect, dignity and equality in not just some parts of America but in fact, the entire country. This point was explicitly a clear indication for the Southern states. The concluding stanzas contain a stimulating phrase, ‘Let freedom ring! ’ and ‘Free at last! ’ (Alvarez, 351) The absorbing aspect of this speech is its rhythmical flow. The speech begins with a background of the black citizens’ existing situation and the crisis they are facing. It then proposes the solution to their dilemma; followed by the explanation of the reason of why this solution should be implemented. For this part, King uses number of tools such as facts and emotional appeal. At the end, in order to provoke the feeling of urgent execution of his solution, he shares with the audience a stirring dream i. e. his vision of the ideal situation that would prevail if his proposed solution was put into practice. Techniques Used The climax of the speech is distressing yet uplifting. The beginning stanzas reveal the sad state of blacks in America but the approach of the speech is highly optimistic and inspires the blacks to continue their struggle and the whites to bury their axes and embrace their black brothers. The technique of anaphora has been widely employed. Anaphora is the repetition of same word or phrase again and again at the beginning of sentences. For example, the most extensively used anaphora, also the title of this speech, is ‘I have a dream’. Similarly, other examples of this tool are ‘One hundred years ago’, ‘Let freedom ring’, and ‘With this faith’, along with many others. (Wikipedia, 1) The speech is filled with metaphors. For instance, ‘long night of their captivity’ refers to their sufferings and ‘nation’s capital to cash a check’ points to their purpose of protest. At the same time, ‘this nation will rise up’ is again an indication of the coming revolution. Similarly, ‘I have a dream that my four children’ refers to the black community in reality and the word my gives it a personal touch. (Heath, 160) In fact, King has personalized the entire message by using the words you, my and me. The wealth of this speech is its exquisite vocabulary. Words are skillfully manipulated in such a way that they attach a new meaning to every phrase. The popularity of this speech also owns to this factor. In addition, the quantity and quality of information and words reveal King’s extensive research done before delivering the speech, plus his vast knowledge since it contains references from the Bible, The Gettysburg Address and the US Declaration of Independence. (Public broadcasting service,1) Hence, King has used various techniques and tools in this address including facts, anaphora, metaphors, motivation, visualization, arguments and persuasion. The entire speech is highly figurative and symbolic. In fact, the rally outside the Lincoln’s Memorial is symbolic in itself: they were standing outside the steps of Lincoln Memorial i. e. the memorial of a leader who abolished slavery in the Southern states. (Wikipedia, 1) Conclusion The most distinguished fact about this march was its non-violent approach and this speech is its leading example. While its majority of audience was black; its main target was the white people. While he talked of revolution; his speech contained a message of peace. It was able to answer the meaningless questions of the opposing parties and warn them of the consequences of denying the blacks their rights without any form of hostility. In other words, it instilled in the whites a feeling of guilt and humbleness which proved to be enough to achieve their objective. At the same time, it prodded the colored citizens to keep their hopes high and not to rest until they were ‘free at last! It also motivated President Kennedy to extend his support for this issue. The context of the speech and of the surroundings also became one of the reasons for the popularity of the speech. His speech articulated the feelings of all colored citizens and his voice became the voice of all black citizens. To sum up, King’s speech ‘I have a dream’ touches the depth of the hearts and captures the minds. Its words were able to bring tears in the eyes at that time and carry a captivating effect on the readers even today. With tools such as anaphora and metaphors employed, the speech holds an air of charisma. It shakes the souls of the slumbering and the unjust alike. All in all, the linguistic power of the speech is what makes it stand out from the rest and gain the status of one of the most influential speeches ever delivered. Bibliography Alvarez, Alexandra. â€Å"Martin Luther King’s ‘I Have a Dream’: The Speech Event as Metaphor,† Journal of Black Studies 18 1988: 337-57. Heath, Robert. â€Å"Black Rhetoric: An Example of the Poverty of Values† Southern Speech Communication Journal 39 1973: 145-60

French Existentialism Philosophers Essay

Gabriel Marcel is known to be one of the more religious philosophers who was a French Existentialist. He was a committed Catholic Philosopher and he believed that by being connected to others he will be connected to god. He believed that philosophy should be about hope and wanted to portray the more positive aspects of human characteristics through his writings and thoughts. Marcel has a belief that problems and mysteries were two separate ideas where problems exist outside and apart from ourselves and mysteries were unsolved queries that were more internal to one’s self. For example determining what a body is, is a problem and determining what my body is, is a mystery. He believes that we can use primary and secondary reflections in order to seek a solution to the problem or mystery being faced with. Primary reflections use analytical skills to separate the thinker from the problematic object in order to find a resolution. Separating the thinker from the problem is important in order to effectively reflect and create intellectual and moral means to a solution. Primary reflections use means of abstracting data and using it in order to manipulate the world and deal with the problem that is not always black and white or a right or wrong answer. Primary reflection approaches problems from an objective standpoint where the thinker is separate from the problem while the secondary reflection begins with the experience of existence within the problem and is used with reflection of a mystery. The secondary reflection is open to contemplation by looking at it as a unique presence. The existence within the world is not a problem that needs to be solved because humans and their bodies are intrinsically related to the world and they are in relation to each other, not objects or problems that can be manipulated. Marcel believed that Philosophy is a part of reflecting on a mystery and the mystery requires participation of the person reflecting because it is an experience of presence itself. A mystery involves you as an intrinsical part of the question which is a question of yourself and requires a solution by secondary reflection. A question becomes a mystery when it takes itself into the subject. Marcel believes that humans are increasingly becoming defined by their problems which cause alienation of themselves from themselves and also causing separation from others. The questions of â€Å"being† and humans are mysteries within the Marcel philosophies. When something is recognized as â€Å"not being† it cannot be a mystery. As humans we have a need for â€Å"being† with â€Å"ontological exigence† which consumes â€Å"being† upsurges of joy, happiness, hopefulness, expectations and desires. â€Å"Being† as a human means existing and experiencing the world and the subjects within it. Having something means exercising power over that thing by possession and rights to those possessions. By having rights over a possession can also enables that person to have the ability of disposal of that subject as well. Having something is different from experiencing that thing, for example having a body is different form experiencing your body because you cannot rid yourself of your body without ceasing to be. Life is not identical to a person’s â€Å"being† because â€Å"being† is the whole self which is more than life and it is what a person aspires to be. Humans can only evoke the fullness of â€Å"being† by engaging with others and coming together as a community. Marcel promotes the idea of living I-Thou which opens up and enhances a person’s â€Å"being† which God being the ultimate Thou. The I-Thou idea requires a person to be open to the â€Å"being† of others within their lives and not living only for themselves. Marcel has an interesting stance on the subject of love and how it should be defined. He believes that love has to do with inner subjectivity and it is about seeking and experiencing the â€Å"being† of the other. Love is not about possession or having another person which is commonly thought to be the main definition of what love means. Marcel believes that a self does not love, but it is the self that is constituted by love. When we attach predicates to a thou we limit our love for another and it’s trust and faith which constitutes love in the â€Å"being† of the other. I always thought that love had to do with possessing and labeling a person or subject as yours. However, Marcel’s philosophy on love has changed my point of view into believing that love is about fully accepting a person as who they are instead of trying to possess them and changing them into being an object of your desire and control. Part B: In Simone Beauvoir’s writing of The Ethics of Ambiguity she begins to elaborate on ethics and the importance of a moral obligation to overcome oppression. Moral acts and willing one’s self free is an obligation of a person in order to become a moral person. With moral freedom a person is not free unless they can deal with free individuals. We all should strive for our freedom as well as the freedom of others and the freedom of all. The freedom to choose is shaped by social and political freedom of people. Beauvoir believes that in order to free all we must take a stand for justice especially in the political sense. We ought to respect freedom when it serves freedom, but not when freedom distances itself from itself. For example when freedom is used in the oppression and the abuse of others, we ought not to respect it in cases such as a dictatorship oppressing the freedom of its people. Oppressing an oppressor is justified even when it requires violence and in cases of people rising up and rebelling the person or the system that has been oppressing them it is justifiable. In such cases casualties of war with sacrifices is justified when fighting for freedom because it makes it a just war. Simone Beauvoir states â€Å"the truth is that if division and violence define war, the world has always been at war and will always be; if man is waiting for universal peace in order to establish his existence validly, he will wait indefinitely: there will never be any other future. † (Beauvoir ) With this she means that if the only reasons for war are for violence to annihilate the other opponent because of division then war will never end and people will never reach complete liberation. However, oppressing and oppressor should never be driven by blind faith. The actions must be considered fully well and deliberate over choice. Each circumstance should be considered on a case by case basis and analyzed by practical problems. Ethics emphasize physical and social interaction in relation to other human beings because of freedom. Authentic morality involves engagement with the world that is not abstract intellectualism. People who sit by and talk about the problems and the circumstances that accustom the world are not engaging with the world directly. Beauvoir stresses that in order to achieve authentic morality people must do something to engage with the world not intellectualize the problems within it. Humans have a moral commitment to liberate the oppressed individuals because it causes limited liberation of their own freedom. Oppressed individuals may not even know that they are being oppressed and this why it is important for others to enlighten them and help them become liberated from their situation. With an oppressed individual, their own judgment that they are oppressed is what counts and this is why it’s an obligation of others who recognize the oppression to give them knowledge of their situation. Oppressed people are cut off from the future without the power of liberation to decide what is next for them in their lives. With liberation a person must be able to question values and oppressed individuals are not able to do this. Being oppressed does not gain moral character because character is not built by suffering. A person cannot say that they are a strong person because they have been accepting oppression and the suffering that comes with it. A person is strong when they take a stand for their liberation and fight for their own values as well as the liberation of others. However, power is limited within liberation, Beauvoir enforces this by stating that â€Å"to be free is not to have the power to do anything you like; it is to be able to surpass the given toward an open future; the existence of others as a freedom defines my situation and is even the condition of my own freedom. † (Beauvoir ) Power is a foundation of moral freedom and in order to engage the world a person must have power, but it is a limited power. Not only individuals of the world, but state also has an obligation to ensure that it’s people have a minimum level of well-being because this is necessary to freely act within the world. External help is needed in order to alleviate oppression and once an oppressed individual is placed within the presence of freedom they must pursue freedom for themselves and one cannot force freedom upon them or it would not be recognized as freedom at all. Works cited Beauvoir, S. D. The Works of Simone de Beauvoir. Zuubooks. com, 2010. Print. Marcel, Gabriel. A Gabriel Marcel Reader. 1st edition. St. Augustines Press, 2011. Print.

English Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 43

English - Essay Example There is a systematized industry and motif working behind the embalming of bodies and Jessica wanted to bring these points before the common mass, just to make it stronger that the procedure considered inevitable is not at all mandatory. An expert on death and dying, Jessica Mitford is completely against embalming dead bodies after death and puts forward many valid points in support of her contention. Her motive of writing this essay is explicit from the very beginning of the literary piece. She has placed a strong objection regarding the secrecy maintained during embalming. Another major purpose of writing this essay was to make it clear that the process of embalming is barbaric and it is evident that her real goal in writing this essay was to reach the common mass so that common people should understand, how barbaric the practices are and the mystery that actually lies behind the closed doors of the funeral parlors. She clearly claims that the ritual of embalming in North American funeral tradition is grotesque. Yet, people seem to remain ignorant about it. By highlighting these points, she wanted to create a common awareness against these rituals and tried to correct them. She brings out evidences to make her contentions more concrete. She wanted to show that a planned industry works behind these traditions which try to make burial a pleasurable thing. This ritual, according to Jessica, only prevails in North America and does not occupy any place in the tradition of other areas apart from it. She writes with specific examples. She brings forth the example of the ritual of open - casket ceremony only common in North America. She ends her essay with the following line that completely complements her intentions behind writing the essay:   Ã¢â‚¬Å"He has done everything in his power to make the funeral a real pleasure for everybody concerned. Consequently well over 90

Reflections on Connection of Chemistry to Franciscan Values Research Paper

Reflections on Connection of Chemistry to Franciscan Values - Research Paper Example In school, the value of transformation transcends what is merely physical for the necessitated change comes with spiritual maturity and accountability for others since our transforming thought and act affects not only our state of well-being but as well as our circle of influence within the society. It is, however, saddening to learn that in the modern world of the present, transformation rather bears with it a more physical meaning or something identified as chiefly material in nature. There widely exists, for instance, an extensive research on chemical substances and methods by which to reverse spontaneous reactions and defy aging thereafter yet the main underlying objective has been to improve the quality of commerce and trade for further acquisition of profits by prominent industries. Through recent discoveries in chemistry, majority of us have managed to obtain knowledge and experience of the latest in anti-aging technology and beauty phenomenon. As such, the market of chemical and pharmaceutical goods largely consist of items like BB creams, firming and lifting gels, reconstructing serums, whitening soaps and pills, and other skincare products or services coupled with attractive laser technologies that most people particularly the female population buy into. In the article â€Å"One Chemist’s Accidental Anti-Aging Discovery† by Nina Elias, the author expresses â€Å"What if there was a single naturally occurring ingredient that could fuel a plane, replace saturated fats in baked goods, and repair wrinkles?† Herein, she makes reference to the environment-friendly algae that addresses both health and beauty concerns and somehow, her illustration of the value of transformation coincides with the Franciscan’s insight into transformation with responsibility as the biotech company Solazyme, according to Elias, has come up with innovative solutions which ensure no hazardous impact toward the ecological surroundings. On the other hand, the cosmetic inventions presented via the brand Etude House exemplify a kind of transformation focused on the sole enhancement of external looks and which makes no sensible agreement to the Franciscan attribute of change which ought to include internal foundations of beauty. Moreover, the findings demonstrated in the article â€Å"Can This Drink Save Your Skin?† by Kiera Aaron, nevertheless, may be claimed credible compared to the aforementioned sources in being further responsible to convey the truth despite the product benefits. While Aaron’s composition recognizes the advantage of transformation with respect to drinking collagen, he criticizes the product by using perspectives of other specialists who performed cross-examination of it. Based on this picture, one must have observed the attitude of courage to reveal the truth besides regard for transformation which also constitutes a Franciscan principle. â€Å"Diversity†, as another Franciscan value of choice may be perceived in the flexibility of allowing student body to be variedly comprised of distinct socio-cultural backgrounds to serve the dynamic interest of globalization in helping youth from all over the world unite with each

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Business accounting Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 3

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Salem Witch Trials Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

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Financial Analysis for Ipplepen Plc Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Financial Analysis for Ipplepen Plc - Case Study Example As such, the potential of a stock as a profitable investment is often linked to the company's ability to maximise shareholder value which in turn, is mirrored in its financial statements. Financial analysis has gained wide acceptance as a tool in assessing the health and well-being of a business entity. This is also considered as a helpful technique which aids investors in ascertaining the gains and the risks involved in buying and holding company's stocks. This report aims to evaluate the viability of investing in the stock of Ipplepen through the utilisation of an in-depth financial analysis. In so doing, this report will give a brief introduction of the company, its operations, and the recent significant corporate changes. To get a profound evaluation of the financial situation of the organisation, it will diagnose the important aspects of Ipplepen's financial health which include profitability, liquidity, gearing, working capital utilisation, investment, and cash flow. In order to come up with a comprehensive and accurate assessment of Ipplepen, this report makes use of the company's financial statements which include the consolidate income statement, balance sheet, and cash flow statement for the fiscal year 2006. The required data for the financial ratio computation are transcribed in Microsoft Excel spreadsheets in order to facilitate more accurate and more convenient data processing. For a more adequate assessment, 2005 is used as a comparative year. After the computations, the financial data and computation are double checked in order to ensure correctness. The interpretation of the computed financial ratios are aided by the concepts and theories presented in various finance books, journals, and articles. 3.0. Company Background Ipplepen Plc operates in the UK fashion industry through the wholesale and retail of clothing, footware, and leisure equipment in the British Isles and Ireland. The business organisation has two core areas of operation: stores, which denotes to its retailing activities of clothing, footwear, and leisure equipment; and Manaton, which refers to its activities as a distribution channel of Manaton products. Aside from these operations, Ipplepen generates income from sub-let property and other property related activities. During 2006, its main operation accounts for 99% of its total turnover. Ipplepen currently employs 3762 part-time and 1786 full-time employees to man its operations. 4.0. Financial Analysis Financial ratio analysis is a very essential tool in assessing the financial health of a business entity. Financial ratios are grouped into five categories, each showing a different aspect of a company's financial operations. These are profitability ratios,

Radioactive Emissions Essay Example for Free

Radioactive Emissions Essay Radioactive emissions are electromagnetic radiations which occur due to the spontaneous disintegration of unstable nuclei. Natural elements with atomic number greater than 83 and isotopes of some lighter elements are found to be radioactive. They are categorized as alpha, beta and gamma radiations. Alpha particles are positively charged helium-4 nuclei , beta particles are high energy-high speed electrons while gamma rays unlike alpha and beta radiation have no mass and charge and are short electromagnetic waves consisting of high energy photons. While alpha and beta radiations have low and moderate risk of damage, gamma rays can cause severe damage to internal organs and even death on skin exposure. A brief description of various types of radioactive emissions is given below – i)Alpha radiation – alpha particles are helium nuclei with 2 protons and 2 neutrons and hence are positively charged due to which they readily interact with material. Natural alpha radiations have very low penetration power and cannot harm through skin exposure but inhalation of source substances can be quite dangerous. ii)Beta radiation – they are high speed- high energy electrons with penetration power greater than alpha particles due to which the risk of harmful effects to the health of living beings is more. iii)Gamma radiation – they are electromagnetic waves of very short wavelengths with highest penetration power. Unlike alpha and beta radiation they are high energy photons which do not possess mass and charge. They are very harmful for living beings and can cause severe damage to internal organs, DNA mutation and even death. In case of coal based thermal power plants people’s and authority’s concern seem to be limited to environmental pollution caused by pollutants like carbon dioxide(CO2) ,methane, CFCs( which are responsible for greenhouse effect), oxides of nitrogen and sulphur (which increase atmosphere acidity) and soot particles, organic chemicals( which cause lung problems to the people in the vicinity of plant).

The Development Of The Us Two Party System Politics Essay

The Development Of The Us Two Party System Politics Essay There may be many reasons why we have problems in the government today, but the only problem we dont have are about ideas and laws. The reason why it is like that in that particular area is because of the Two-Party System. Despite the several disagreements in the government now, the politics was a lot simpler before. The era I am talking about is the Hamiltonian and Jeffersonian era of politics. This was where the two-party system was formed. The system boosted the government to a higher level of working. The system had begun around the late 1770s and early 1780s. The system is important because it helps separate ideas and makes it easier to choose which idea would be better. The two-party system was important because it introduced major issues into regular local politics. The creators of the two-party system, The Federalists and Republicans, were men who looked upon parties as. Those who had supported the policies of the Washington  Administration  became known as  Federalists  because they supported a strong national government as a counterweight to the States. The Presidents two principal advisors, Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson, were the founders of this system. What began as a personal dispute between the two men evolved into the formation of primitive political parties.  It usually allows government to move forward because in cases of gridlock, the majority party can take the lead. But it stifles debate and forces a widely diverse country to be represented by only two ideologies. Furthermore, it creates division and bitterness as the two sides battle for control of government. The raging battle between these two stubborn and forceful men was not only personal, but political. The first two party system developed between the two opposite groups called the Federalists and the Democratic Republicans. The main issue between the two parties was how they believed the Constitution should be read and interpreted. The federalists, such as Hamilton, Adams and Jay, were loose constructionists who believed that more power and jurisdiction that was not specified in the Constitution should be placed in the hands of the Federal government. They were also passionate believers in the idea of a strong central government that had the power to regulate domestic and foreign affairs, while having the ultimate authority over the states. Both were loyally committed to individualism, freedom, and equality of opportunity. The disagreement between Jefferson and Hamilton formed the foundation of the American two-party system, with either party more or less defined and distinguished by its view of the nature of the federal government. The two-party system has produced a heightened two-party competition everywhere. Today for example there remain no substantial pockets of one-partyism in the United States. The births and deaths enable us to count at least about six major parties in our history, from the Federalists, Jeffersonian Republicans, and short-lived National Republicans to the Democrats, Whigs, and Modern Republicans. The Federalist Party was essentially composed of nationalists. Politicians like Hamilton favored a strong federal government, administering a united group of colonies with a dynamic economy based on international trade. The Federalists sought to wield this power through a liberal or loose interpretation of the Constitutions strictures. The Federalists viewed the Elastic Clause of the Constitution in particular as a license to do whatever was not specifically forbidden by the document. The Federalists traditionally hailed from the financially powerful northern states of New England and the mid-Atlantic. They favored a powerful government that would protect the interests of the merchant class. In fact ardent Federalist, John Jay was fond of quipping, Those who own the country ought to govern it. The United States needed both influences. It was the countrys good fortune that it had both men and could, in time, fuse and reconcile their philosophies. One battle between them, which occurred shortly after Jefferson took office as secretary of state, led to a new and profoundly important interpretation of the Constitution. When Hamilton introduced his bill to establish a national bank, Jefferson objected. Speaking for those who believed in states rights, Jefferson argued that the Constitution expressly enumerates all the powers belonging to the federal government and reserves all other powers to the states. In 1828, the popular war-hero Andrew Jackson became the first President from a new party, the Democrats, the true party of the people.  Ã‚  With the exception of one term when the Whigs won the Presidency, the Democrats held the White House until 1860. Thomas Jefferson founded the Democratic Party of the United States in 1792 and was elected as the first Democratic President in 1800. The Party was called the Democratic-Republicans until after 1830 and was initially established as a Congressional Caucus to fight for peoples rights and to oppose the elite Populist Party. Founded in 1854, the Republican Party was organized as an answer to the turmoil that plagued the many existing political parties in the United States. The Free Soil Party, asserting that all men had a natural right to the soil, demanded that the government re-evaluate homesteading legislation and grant land to settlers free of charge. The Conscience Whigs, the radical faction of the Whig Party in the North, alienated themselves from their Southern counterparts by adopting an anti-slavery position. Two political parties had come of age from the Jeffersonian age of republicanism, the Whigs and the Democrats. Both these two parties extended toward the radical ends of the narrow spectrum of Jeffersonian political beliefs. The Whigs clung tightly to Jeffersons ideals about community and societal harmony, and they firmly believed in the power of the government to gain their goals. The Whigs saw Jacksonian philosophies regarding the engendering of conflict among classes and individuals as the enemy. The Democrats, by contrast, were big proponents of Jeffersonian ideals regarding states rights and the restraint of federal interference into economic and social lives of Americans. Whigs favored going back to Hamiltonian federalism in the banking system of the America as well as being reliant on federal tariffs and the internal improvement of the school system and other institutions. The Whigs were also at the forefront of prohibition of liquor and the abolition of slavery, all things that the Democrats were against more or less. Also the Kansas-Nebraska Act, which allowed territories to determine whether slavery would be legalized in accordance with popular sovereignty and thereby nullify the principles of the Missouri Compromise, created a schism within the Democratic Party. The Whigs and Democrats traded elections every four years from 1836 through 1852; in fact no president between Jackson and Abraham Lincoln was reelected. Beginning with the log cabin and hard cider campaign of 1836 elections be gan to take on the feel of modern politics, utilizing mudslinging, slogans, songs and rallies to drum up support for candidates. The Whigs won only two presidential elections but in each case the winning Whig president died and was succeeded by his Vice-President. Whigs were successful initially as the champions of the economic powers of the United States and the common people at the same time. Finally I would like to conclude on the stand that the Two-Party system was developed by to main men, Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton. Many problems have erupted between the two, which has brought this major impact in Americans lives and Americas government. Despite the fights in the government now, the Hamiltonian and Jeffersonian era of politics is where the two-party system was formed. The Development of the Two-Party System Work Cited Page 1. Walsh, James P. The Rise of a Two-Party System.  Connecticuts Heritage Gateway. Web. 14 Apr. 2011. . 2. Kutler, Stanley I.  Dictionary of American History. New York: Charles Scribners Sons, 2003. Print. 3. Allison, Robert J.  American Eras: Development of a Nation, 1783-1815. Detroit: Gale Research, 1997. Print. 4. Axelrod, Alan. The Complete Idiots Guide to American History; Fifth Edition. New York, NY; Penguin Group, 2009. Print 5. McGeehan R., John. The Everything American History Book; 2nd Edition. Avon, MA; Adams Media, 2007. Print 6. Chambers, William Nisbet. The American Party Systems: Stages of Political Development. New York; Oxford University Press, 1967. Print 7. Hofstadter, Richard. The Idea of a Party System: The Legitimate Opposition in the United States; 1780-1840. Berkeley: University of California, 1969. Print 8. Greenstein, Fred I. The American Party System and the American People. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1963. Print

Cross Cultural Influences on Decision Making

Cross Cultural Influences on Decision Making Introduction This chapter introduces the reader to the broader context of the research area with an overview of decision making in cross cultural MA. The purpose is followed by the problem area and research question which will lead the readers through the thesis. Background Decision making is a process that managers face of diverging to explore the probable options and then converging on solutions. As Pratt points out, there is clearly a distinction between what an individual thinks(personality)and the way an individual thinks(cognitive style) (1980). The process is made even more complex when the companies are dealing in decision making in an arena of Merger and Acquisition. Mergers and acquisitions (MAs) have become the dominant mode of growth for firms seeking competitive advantage in an increasingly complex and global business economy(Adler, 1997).Cross-border merger and acquisition has continued to increase at a torrid pace during the last decade and half, to the point that it has become a major strategic tool for growth of multinational cormporations(Cartwright and Cooper,1993). Therefore it is essential for companies to pay attention to the analysis, strategy and planning behind its decision making. The management extent becomes much vast when it comes to different cultures both on the national and even greater on cross border level. The manager chances of successfully dealing with the rapid changes reduces to an extent. Multinational corporations require to hold a varied set of routines if they are to be renouned in a diverse world. Routines and repertotoires are often dependent on the multinational corporations unique institutional and cultural environment, and are therefore not imitated easily by other firms (Barney,1986). As multinational companies increasingly acquire targets in more culturally distant countries, they face new challenges in manageing their external environment (Moren,1980). Along side these encounters it is also important to understand the relation between national cultural distance and cross-border MA performance while devising strategic decisions. The difficulties in MAs are seen due to the lack of strategic decisions makingmade by organization. Managers end up having unrealistic expectations of probable synergies and fail to cope with multiple complexities. Companies now a days publish their cultural norms and values which might not be the real culture of the organization. Anthropoligists have researched that the undertaking of knowledge about a particular organisation culture does not always begin by inquiring the members themselves to identify the particular trait. In reality the cultural norms are recognised by understanding the profundity of cultural influences that are carried out in an interval within an organization. This necessitates to have an insightful long term observation and the foundation of norms,disciplines and new problem solving strategies. The decision-making paradigms have seen to occur in many fields, including management theory, psychology, information systems, management science, and operations research. It is also a fundamental activity of all management, and research and literature concerning decision-making processes.(Stewart, 2003) Problem Companies are equipped to make better decisions if they are more sensitive to cultural differences in a cross-cultural environment. Effective decision-making can enable smootherwork place relationship within and across the border MA, if managers are attuned to cross-culture management. Contextually how do organizations make decisions in a cross-cultural aquisiton is a critical research question in the study of administrative process. Researchers have paid little attention to complexities of decision making, in cross-cultural MAs. Previous research is more concentrated on routine operational decisions that are more available to quantitative analysis and particular descriptions.(Mintzberg, 1999) Additionally other important research questions, especially related to thinking or cognition are prevailing in the dynamic research of decision making, such as; how individuals get benefit from cultural diversity learning, and how do individuals think (Mitchell et al., 2002) and make different decisions. These emerging notions defined our research questions of this thesis. Consequently, we have formulated our research problem in the following questions: 1. What are the cross-cultural difficulties affecting decision-making in the aquired firm? 2. How does these cross-cultural difficulties influence the decision-making of acquired firm? Purpose The purpose of this thesis is to study the influence of cross-cultural implications of MAs on Decsion-Making. Delimitations The study is only concerned with the decision-making process in a cross-cultural acquisition and there is a less emphasis is on the cognitive factors of decision-making but the influence of cross-cultural implications on decision-making behavior in general. Due to time constraint, one case company is used for this analysis consequently the results limit to this Company A only. Moreover, the Company A has agreed to co-operate with an anonymous status of itself and its employees. This also set boundaries to the scope of our analysis and presentation. Further, this research has been conducted on a local Swedish company acquired by an Austiran firm, so analysis and conclusions will be restricted to information obtained locally. As a result, the analysis of Austrian work behavior is also subjective from Swedish employees perspective. Definitions To better understand the research, definitions are presented below to avoid misinterpretation of key concepts used in our study. Decision-making Cross-cultural Company A- It is a company based in Sweden. But has agreed to participate in our research on complete anonymity of itself and its participants and therefore will be refered to as Company A throughout the paper. Its formerly a Swedish organization which was acquired by an Austrian company in year 2000. (More information on Company A and its relevance to our study is mentioned in the Method) 1.6 Disposition The disposition of this thesis will be as follows: This chapter critiques the study and makes suggestions for future research. To fulfill the purpose of this thesis this section answers the research questions. This chapter covers analysis of the empirical findings in connection with theory and results. This chapter present result from the qualitative interviews conducted in Company A. This chapter presents theories within the field of decision-making and cross-cultural acquisitions. This discusses the procedure of collecting data and interviews as our instrument. Reliability, validity and generalizability of the study are also discussed here. Frame of Reference The section will present the previous research and studies in the areas of decision making and Mergers and Acquisitions integration. Further in reference to existent literature this section will discuss the decision making process in MAs. A brief summary of the whole frame of reference is presented at the end of the section in order to make a link with our research questions and to provide a base and guidance for the creation of themes for our empirical data. Frame of Reference Recently, a considerable amount of management research has been developed that focuses on the cultural perspective of international acquisition performance. (Arikan,2004; Rottig and Reu,2005) Researchers argue that a lack of national cultural fit may lead to cultural clashes between the involved workforces (Larsson and Risberg,1998). This may lower employee commitment and cooperation (Cartwright and Cooper,1996), and complicate the post-acquisition integration process (Very and Schweiger,2001) Some studies exposed a negative impact of cultural distance on the performance of international acquisitions (Datta and Puia, 1995, Olie, 1994, Uhlenbruck, 2004), while others identified a positive relationship (Doukas and Travlos, 1988, Morosini, Shane and Singh, 1998). Still other studies indicate that cultural distance either has no direct effect on international acquisition performance (Markides and Ittner, 1994) or is one of the least significant variables affecting performance (Kanter and Corn, 1994). These contradicting views developed the interest in the knowing how much of the cultural differences involved in the decision making in MA. This paper provides a descriptive framework that addresses the complexity of the decision making process of consequences of culture for international acquisition performance. Decsion-making Cross-cultural MAs Methodology A way of gathering knowledge about the social world is the methodology notion refered to by Stauss and Corbin (1998). The specific research methodology we are inspired by for this research is the grounded theory which is consummated by qualitative methods of data collection and analysis. To study the implications that emerge out of a cross-cultural acquisition and its influence on decision making process, we want to take advantage of the theoretical fundamentals and researches that have already been done in the realm of decision-making and cross-cultural acquisition implications. We also want to take that knowledge further through this chosen method by taking into account the case of Company A which was acquired by an Austian firm and has realized decision-making differences between the two units after the cross border Acquisition . 3.2 Research Method Determining the why and how of decision-making in a cross cultural contxt of an acquired frm can be done by finding the first-hand experiences of employees in Company A. To serve the purpose of our study we chose interviews as the primary source of data collection. We felt that person-to-person interaction with semi structured questions will be best in acquiring information. Moreover, considering the characteristcs of our investigation and that all the employees could be reached within a close proximity and in a single premise, the interview schedule was chosen instead of a questionnaire. Since culture can be a sensitive topic and the interviewees could be reluctant in answering, we ensured anonymity at the start of the interview process to make them comfortable as also stated by Kumar, Ranjit (1996). Through primary data we know the reasons behind a certain management decision. Most appropriate way of learning about opinions and behavior that are relative to culture is by asking que stions directly to people involved. (Ghauri Gronhaug, 2010) Information on the Austrian acquisition of a Swedish firm, as Ghauri and Gronhaug also states can only be gathered by asking people who have been involved or have observed the process i.e. of acquisition. Research problems which are focused on uncovering a persons experience or behavior and understand a phenomenon which we know little about are an example of qualitative research(Ghauri, 2004; Marshan-Piekkari and Welch, 2004). Such is the nature of our decision-making and cross-cultural research which includes social and behavioral sciences. The Choice of Research Method The approach is to use use a qualitative research methodolgy of investigation, data collection and analysis. Decision-making is not a fixed and static state to measure and its a cognitive process, besides it is not a steady state phenomenon and changes erratically with time and environment as described by Mintzberg(1997). Quantitative research emphasizes on the quantification of data collection and analysis as argued by Bryman and Bell (2007) and observe social world as an external and objective reality. Holloway (1997) advocated of qualitative research for capturing the way the individuals experience, interpret and make sense of their environment. Bearing this in mind and our focus of discovering and understanding the role of cross-cultural factors in decision-making, we were convinced to use this method. Consequently the choice of our research method, is qualitative and the purpose of the research inquiry is behavioral and therefore interconnected, therefore provides a basis for quantitative analysis. The qualitative study Our approach is purely qualitative. Auerbach (2003) claims that qualitative research involves analyzing and interpreting texts and interviews among others, in order to investigate specific patterns, i.e. examining decision-making amidst cross-cultural challenges in an acquisition. Interviews Interviewing is the most widely utilized method in qualitative approach of investigation, as stated by Bryman and Bell (2007) and this instrument suits appropriately to find answers to our research questions, .i.e. decision-making under the implications of a cross-cultural acquisition. The technique and construction is very important in the formulation of interviews. The interviews can be unstructured, semi-structured or structured (Saunders et al. 2007). As we were more interested in theory of a particular reality Wengraf (2001) instead of the numerical data, we chose to settle on semi-structured interviews. We were very particular in formulating the questions as two cover both aspects of cross-cultural implications and decision-making. On request by the contact person at Company A, we got interview questions reviewed for improvement from our tutor before presenting it to the company. The interview questions were then sent out to the contact person to be distributed to the interviewees in advance. Sampling The choice of subjects that were needed to be investigated for our research questions was crucial. Collins, Onwuegbuzie and Jiao (2006) stated that researchers should decide sample size in both quantitative and qualitative studies. In the sample from Company A, we were looking for all the people cooperating with Austrian counterpart and are making some forms of decisions. It was kind of our contact person at the company, after explaining our research necessity, he arranged ten people from mangers to engineers who were in some way cooperating with their cross border counterpart. Considering this we used purposive sampling technique which as mentioned by Maxell(1997) is used in qualitative studies to select e.g., individuals or institutions based on specific purpose. Data Collection The research design directed us on the empirical data. The empirical data was collected through semi-structured interviews using open ended questions. This permitted us to probe relevant issues which emerged during the interview. We aimed at making the data reliable, to ensure this we recorded the interviews upon permission and also took notes to reduce the chance of misinterpretation. In an attempt to motivate the respondents to co-operate with us and obtain factual data with their trust we ensured the anonymity and confidentiality of responses. We skipped a few questions in two interviews due to shortage of time. We completed a total of ten interviews in a session of three days with an allotted time of thirty minutes each. Reliability and Credibility A reliable and credible data is vital for an authentic research. Throughout our study we took measures to ensure this. During the interviews we did not rely on perceptions which affects the accuracy of our observations and used constant probing to have clear answers. We remained unprejudiced and flexible to have reliable working data. Respondents sometimes perceive risks and may believe interviews to be jeopardizing their emotions and privacy as accounted by McCracken (1988). Knowing this, we assured the interviewees about the privacy and academic purpose of interviews. So they were at comfort in providing information conveniently. To avoid potential bias of our preconceived notions and theories we transcribed only what the interviews said, which we stored in the form of recordings and written notes taken at the time of the interview. We calim to have a plausible study, considering all the measures we took responsibly in terms of organizing and conducting the interviews. Qualitative Data Analysis Our analysis was exploratory as asserted by Creswell et al. (2003) with a focus on understanding the influence of cross-cultural difficulties on decision-making by employees in an acquired firm. Like in most of the qualitative analysis we refer to the inductive approach, as claimed by Bryman and Burgess (1994). Raw data was in the form of interview recordings and our notes taken during the interviews. We read the data vigilantly too derive concepts, themes, or a model which is common in qualitative data analyses, especially grounded theory (Strauss Corbin, 1990). In consistency with Strauss and Corbins (1990), our inductive analysis began with an area of study, which was to investigate the influence of cross-cultural factors on decision-making, and let the theory to develop from data. The analysis was organized as follows: Interview description: To begin with, we recorded all the interviews and took notes during the interview. We read the transcripts many times to get familiar with descriptions. Identifying discourses and theme generation: After identifying the accounts from the data, we recognized relevant discourses from the transcribed interviews, and excluded other irrelevant description. Following this we observed the core information and concluded some patterns of behavior/ theme. Later, formed categories with summary of data sets as behavioral, structural and interaction and communication to do a quality analysis and conclusion. Discussion: In this section we explored the meanings explicitly or implicitly included in our empirical findings and looked for links of cross-cultural difficulties and decision-making. We also put forward suggestions of future research in this clause. Empirical Data The Interviewees Total number of ten interviews that conducted, ee found that from technical engineers to line managers including logistics, project and bid manager everyone is cooperating with Austrian counterpart in one way or another after the acquisition. Consequently, employees at different levels of the organization are all involved in some kind of decision-making that accounts for the cross-cultural differences after the acquisition. Following are some themes that we identified that will be of assistance in developing the analysis. Employees organizational behavioural Swedes in an organization generally work in groups and are independent individuals at the same time. They also have a freedom to express views, owing to a less heirarchical system. Mutual agreement, consensus, structure and logical reasoning is very important to them for which they have a lot of meetings and discsussions. This also refers ot the notion of collective decision-making as explained by Melaville, Blank, and Asayesh (1993). Swedes are solution-oriented and are usually calm. The essence of usual Swedes vs. Austrian behavior was narrated by Interviewee 5 as: There is a great difference in the decision-making process. In Sweden everyone should agree and we ask a lot of people of what everyone think. Then we make decision after hearing all the opinions. And its opposite in Austira, you do not ask the employees if you are working as a manager. I think you are seen as a weak leader if you ask people of what they think. Its positive and negative in both ways I think Swedish way is better for working in a team and but in Austira you really make the decision and you come forward. Austrians on the other hand dont have much freedom of expression due to a heirarchical system in the acquired firm view. Another common view observed was that Managers in Austria alone make decisions and value of consensus is less there. Austrains are social and build relationships. A lot more emotion is involed than facts in their reasoning. Moreover, Austrians are problem-oriented and get usually stressed under a problem. This observation can be futher emphasized by few statements of the interviewees. They have a lot more emotions and we like to base our decisions on facts. , Interviewee 2 said. They have much hierarchy. More power distance. There is a very large distance between the manger and the individual member in the group. Interview 4 affirmed. Decision-making process structure The decision-making process depends on the type of decision. If its a higher stake decision, the process is followed through formal procedures of contracts and agreements compared to daily operational level decisions which are simple. In Swedish unit agreement has to be reached through consensus whereas in Austrian unit, managers give a decision which is to be followed. More decision-making authority lies with managers in Austria than Swedish ones who work more as asupport function. Interaction Communication between units Cooperation at the technical or the lower level works well. At the management level cooperation is difficult where decision making takes longer. Some employees expressed that even with electronic facilities available communication across the border is difficult. Employees cooperating for a longer period developed relationships of trust which helps in cooperation amidst the cross-cultutral differences It doesnt work well when we cant sit together and discuss, makes harder to communicate over cross borders even though facilities are provided like skype ,video conferences, but it kills the team spirit as its not the same as for sitting together Interviewee 5 recalled. On a practical point, the interaction between units is informal. But it depends on the type of decision aswell, i.e. starting a project, would follow a formal procedure of interaction. Project mangers have a closer contact compared to the rest. Informal day to day technical decisions are handled on a daily basis. Its is also hard to predict a response to an interaction from across the border, some interviewees responded. Through data it was also understood that is easier to agree on factual information, which all can straightforwardly agree to. Language barrier has seem to affect the agreeability due to misinterpretations sometime. The technical side of the decisions are easier to agree on, compared to the decisions made at management level i.e. commercial issues. This can be analysed from the figure  [1]  below. The tactical decisions have been observed to have most complications whereas operational decisions are easier. decisionmaking_intro.gif Additionally, we comprehended from suggestions put forward by the respondents that, early in the process of post-acquisition integration, communication on the differences in national and company culture can facilitate decision-making. Understanding of adapting to a culture is important. Performace indicators and clarity on who makes which decisions will also assist. Additionally, diversity courses and communication on how to work together has helped in the past and can also facilitate later on. An interesting point observed by an interviewee during a diversity course; One thing I learned from that cultural diversity course is that people is Austria are more problem oriented and here in Sweden we are soultuion oriented and that affects how we are able to communicate and cooperate. Analysis Analysis Unfortunately a lot of merger and acquisitions fail to achieve their hoped objectives. Solutions are of course complex. MA are different along a number of dimensions. Companies fail to realize a blind spot, by keeping their focus mainly on costs, they minimize or defer until too late the human and cultural dimensions of blending two entities into unified growth-oriented business. In any case organization is generally a collection of people sharing a common vision, one or more location and resources such as money, equipment, and similar processes. Still much of the business management persists in believing that the latter is the most important issue, while people are only sort of the less important side of the scenario. The Challenge of Urgent Realization Clearly there is an urgent need to realize, rationalize, restructure and eliminated duplication the first weeks and months of post-merger integration. Nonetheless rationalization only escalates of the new organization making it a greater value to its shareholders. It is one thing to design a new structure and relationship on paper and quite another to bring them to life. No matter how visionary and driven the leaders are the financier, quickly learns that the synergy cannot be generated merely from above or realize and reacting by reducing headcount or vice versa. Synergy requires the commitment and involvement of the entire organizations. That is the most challenging part. Most mergers are seen of confusion, panic, uncertainty, distraction, limitation and dehumanization. The process is painful and the results are costly. When knowledge capital is vanished due to the turnover of key individuals during an MA, when pride in the company and pride in ones work is not appreciated through ill treatment at the hands of merger managers, when innovations are abandoned in favor of outdated practices just because one group is considered the boss and the new one reasoned expendable, the network that make the organization work break down and fall apart. When employees stop caring, they lose interest and motivation in improving the business processes. If they are not asked for their opinions, they have no means or enthusiasm to inform the new system designers the unrevealed secrets of success. When selection processes do not seem to be reasonable and rational, dynamic management does not step into position they take on new challenges elsewhere. These are not the circ umstances which synergistic growth is likely. Fortunately, the situation can be turned around. The MA can become an opportunity for people to learn, grow and have a voice. Shared visioning activities and cross company MA project teams can provide opportunities to meet new people and gain new perspectives and skills. The problem with the acquired organization is that the managers must rearrange strategy, organizational structure, work on staffing of employees, make changes to systems and culture, all on top of the day to day business performances. They feel the pressure to quickly perform and harmonize the decisions by reaching the performance in the changed worked environment. So they do this by restructuring to create economies of scale, streamlining operations, focusing on product and market synergies while eliminating noncore businesses. During the same time they might be looking for the next merger or acquisition opportunity. This does not allow them the time and effort to ensure a synergistic and sustainable basis of people and operations to support the growth. However for continued growth, building a foundation is the key to sustainable success because it defines how the work of creating the new organization will be continued. Regrettably most post MA implementation plans seems to assume that if the financial priorities are comprehensively addressed the human foundation will take care of itself. The synergy created by a successful MA Conclusions Discussion References Auerbach, Carl F. (2003). Qualitative Data : An Introduction to Coding and Analysis; New York, NY, USA: New York University Press. Bryman A., and Bell E. (2007). Business Research Methods Oxford University Press. Denzin, Norman K., and Lincoln, Yvonna S.(2000). Handbook of Qualitative Research. Second Edition. Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks, California. Holloway, I. (1997). Basic concepts for qualitative research. Oxford: Blackwell Science. Kumar, Ranjit (1999). Research Methodolgy: A step-by-step guide for beginners. Sage publications. Regnà ©r, P., (1999). Strategy Creation and Change in Complexity Adaptive and Creative Learning Dynamics in the Firm. Stockholm: Gotab. Richards, Lyn and Morse, Janice, M. (2007). Users Guide to Qualitative Methods.(Second Edition). Sage publications. Saunders, Lewis and Thornhil, (2007). Research Methods for Business Students, UK, Prentice Hall. Smith, J.A., and Osborn M. (2008). Interpretive phenomenological analysis. In Smith J. A. (Eds.) Qualitative Psychology: A Practical Guide to Research Methods (2nd Edition). Sage Publication. Strauss, A. L.,and Corbin, J. M. (1998). Basics of qualitative research: techniques and procedures for developing grounded theory. (2nd Eds.). SAGE Publikation. Thomas, Susan, J. (1999). Designing surveys that work Sage Publication. Wengraf, Tom, (2001). Qualitative research interviewing. Sage Publication. Yin, R. (1994). Case study research: Design and methods (2nd ed.). CA: Sage Publications Reference: Pratt, J. The effects of personality on a subjects information process: A comment. The AccountingReview, 1980, 55, 501-506. Adler, N. J., Re-entry: Managing Cross-cultural Transitions, Group and Organization Studies, 6 (1981), 341-356. Cartwright, S. and C. L. Cooper, The Role of Culture Compatibility in Successful Organizational Marriage, Acad. Management Exec- utive, 7 (1993), 57-70. Barney, Jay B. 1986. Organizational cul- ture: Can it be a source of sustained competitive advantage?. Academy of Management Review, 11(3): 656-65. Arikan, A.M. (2004) Cross-border mergers and acquisitions: What have we learned? in Punnett, B. J. Shenkar, Oded, editors (eds.) Handbook for International Management Research, The University of Michigan Press: Ann Arbor, MI. Rottig, D. Reus, T.H. (2005) The impact of culture on mergers and acquisitions: 25 years of research, Paper presented at annual meeting of the Southern Management Association, Charleston, SC. Larsson, R. Risberg, A. (1998) Cultural awareness and national versus corporate barriers to acculturation, in Gertsen, Martine Cardel, Soderberg, Anne-Marie Torp, Jens Erik, editors (eds.) Cultural Dimensions of International Mergers and Acquisitions: Berlin. Cartwright, S. Cooper, C.L. (1996) Managing Mergers, Acquisitions and Strategic Alliances: Integrating People and Cultures, 2nd ed, Reed Elsevier: Oxford. Very, P. Schweiger, D.M. (2001) The acquisition process as a learning process: Evidence from a study of critical problems and solutions in domestic and cross-border deals, Journal of World Business, 36(1): 11-31. Datta, D.K. Puia, G. (1995) Cross-border acquisitions: An examination of the influence of relatedness and cultural fit on shareholder value creation in U.S. acquiring firms, Management International Review, 35(4): 337-59. Olie, R. (1994) Shades of culture and institutions in international mergers, Organization Studies, 15(3): 381-405. Uhlenbruck, K. (2004) Developing acquired foreign subsidiaries: the experience of MNEs in transition economies, Journal of International Business Studies, 35: 109-23. Doukas, J. Travlos, N.G. (1988) The effect of corporate multinationalism on shareholders wealth: Evidence from international acquisitions, Journal of Finance, 43(5): 1161-75. Morosini, P., Shane, S. Singh, H. (1998) National cultural distance and cross-border acquisition performance, Journal of International Business Studies, 29(1): 137-58. Markides, C.C. Ittner, C.D. (1994) Shareholder benefits from corporate international diversification: Ev

Essay --

Fear and respect, Firstly, is there a fixed difference between fear and respect? Well before we can answer this question we need to have a clear definition and understanding of what fear and respect are. Fear is an unpleasant and distressing emotion induced by a threat to one’s physical health or mental health, imposing danger or a sense of uncertainty. Respect on the hand defined as a courteous consideration of another person. If someone respects someone else they are giving value and worth to them. However genuine respect is not to be confused with fealty. Fealty is where one acts in a respectful manner towards someone else because they owe them duty and has nothing to do with ones feelings for another. So from these definitions it is evident that there is in-fact a difference between fear and respect. â€Å"Fear is toxic whereas respect is nurturing. Fear destroys self-confidence while respect builds it. Fear is life-threatening yet respect is life-enhancing. Fear is forced whereas respect is gained and fear is learned whilst respect is earned.† A New York City gang member was asked ...

The Issues Surrounding the Amazon Rainforest Essay -- Environmental Am

The Issues Surrounding the Amazon Rainforest   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The battle for the Amazon rainforest is a daunting task. It’s a long going battle between miners, loggers, and developers against the indigenous people who call it home. It’s a battle like any battle in a war; it affects lives, families, the economy, politics, and the environment amongst other things. The main topic of this debate is the effects of the Amazon deforestation on the people who live in it, this will be the focus of this research paper. In this paper, I will discuss the history, causes, effects and solutions for the Amazon rainforest deforestation.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The environmental problems of today started a long time ago, before automobiles, electricity, and the Industrial Revolution. From ancient times to present day, humans have changed the world in which they live. As population increase and technology advances, more significant and widespread problems arise. The Amazon rainforest has not been spared from this. The Amazon region has long been seen as a land of great riches. â€Å"Early Europeans and others have long been fascinated by the Amazon, with early visions of a land of gold, the legend of ‘El Dorado’† (Faminow 32). The European invasion bought with it the increased population and new technologies that had a drastic effect to the Amazonian region, which was once considered safe from exploitation. This problem has continued to the present, with higher consequences. Ehrlich explains, â€Å"today, unprecedented demands on the environment from a rapidly expanding human population and from advan cing technology are causing a continuing and accelerated decline in the quality of the environment and it’s ability to sustain life† (98). As a result, the Amazon rainforest is being destroyed at an alarming rate, affecting all those that live in the region.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  To understand the scope of the changes taking place, Howard Facklam has come up with some staggering statistics, he says, â€Å"it was estimated at one point in the 1980’s that the Amazon basin was being cleared at the rate of 50 acres a minute; another estimate put the rate at 78,000 square miles per hear† (53). These are astronomical numbers when you come to think of it, to put it into perspective, that’s roughly the size of the state of Idaho. Such deforestation has an alarming affect, â€Å"it means the loss of a multiplicity of products: Food, fibers, medicine... ...e papers about it. It doesn’t mean that the problem has gone away, it’s still very much alive. It’s just not getting the coverage and attention it has before and that’s where the shame lies. People need to know about this, the more the better. It’s a valuable resource that mankind cannot afford to lose. Bibliography Ehrlich, Anne et al. Earth. New York: Watts. 2007. Facklam, Howard. Plants: Extinction or Survival?. New Jersey: Enslow. 2000. Faminow, Merle D. Cattle, Deforestation, and Development in the Amazon. New York: CAB International. 2002. Gradwohl, Judith & Russel Greenburg. Saving the Tropical Forests. Washington D.C.. Island Press. 2003. Hecht, Susanna. The Fate of the Forest. London. 2001. Hornaday, Anne. â€Å"Earth’s Threatened Resources.† Congressional Quarterly. 2 Sept.   2003: 28-29. Linden, Eugene. â€Å"Paradise Lost?† Time. 19 July 2000: 50-51. Smith, Duane A. â€Å"My Trip to the Rain Forest.† Mining America: The Industry and The Environment. 3 Sept. 2001: 66. Stewart, Douglas Ian. After the Trees. Austin: University of Texas Press: 2004. Tropical Deforestation: the human dimension. Ed. Leslie E. Sponsel. New York: Columbia UP. 2006.

Compare the way Andrew Marvell and William King present relationships :: English Literature

Compare the way Andrew Marvell and William King present relationships between men and women in To His Coy Mistress and The Beggar Women. If we look at the 2 poems we can see some quite significant similarities between them about the relationships between men and women. We see in both poems the desire for sex from the two men, but both attempt to acquire it through different methods due to the difference in class between the women. First we must look at the difference in forms of the two poems. To His Coy Mistress is a dramatic monologue and so we can therefore see the narrator's attitude towards the lady he is trying to seduce. The Beggar Women is a ballad (so it is telling a story) this means that you can find a moral to the story; however, you are unable to see the attitude of the 'gentlemen' towards the women as easily. I both poems we see that neither of the men have much respect for the women. In The Beggar Women we see that the 'gentlemen' views the women very low which is perhaps given the historical context of the poem. In the poem he refers to her as "game", comparing her to the animals he was hunting, almost saying that she isn't considered important enough to be human. It then says, "her cheeks were fresh, and linen clean" which may suggest that the situation is not what it seems. In To His Coy Mistress we also see the narrator has little respect for the lady; however in this poem it seems quite unnecessary because she is a respectable lady. He mocks her for being a virgin - her "quaint honour" but in those times being virginal was the only way for a women to maintain a good reputation. In The Beggar Women the initial rhyming scheme is "rhyming couplets". The pattern deteriorates as the beggar woman begins to take control over the situation without the man realising. In To His Coy Mistress, if we look at the rhythm of the first 4 lines, it is in iambic quatrametre. This is a very powerful rhythm and may reflect just how hard the narrator is trying to seduce the women. In both poems there is also the obvious similarity of the men's one desire of sex and nothing else and how much they will do to achieve this. To His Coy Mistress shows the narrator taking a kind and adoring approach to getting the lady into bed with him in the first part of the poem (up to line 20). In this part he uses time as a positive

Formal Letter

Poor Maintenance of Taman JayadiriI am writing this letter on behalf of the residents of Taman Jayadiri to complain about the dismal conditions we have been putting up with for the past three months. 2. One of the main grouses of the residents concerns uncollected rubbish (point 1). Initially, rubbish was collected three times a week. However, since June this year the garbage collectors have only been coming once a week. Our litter bins are always filled to the brim and we have no choice but to leave our bags of rubbish next to the bins. The rotting waste causes a terrible stench (point 2). Worse still, stray cats and dogs scatter the rubbish (point 3) while looking for food. This is not only unpleasant but also unhealthy.3. Most of the drains in Taman Jayadiri are clogged (point 4) with rubbish resulting in the water becoming stagnant. It is not uncommon to see plastic bags, bottles and dry leaves in these drains. There is an urgent need to clear these drains as the stagnant water i s an idealbreeding ground for mosquitoes (point 5). The residents are worried as there has been a sharp increase in dengue cases (point 6) in the last two months.4. The street lights along several roads are also not working (point 7). This has caused several accidents at night (point 8), mostly involving motorcyclists as they are unable to see in the dark. Unfortunately, the dark streets have also led to another problem – an increase in crime (point 9). Several residents, especially women, have fallen victim to snatch thieves. 5. The one and only playground in our area is also not well-maintained (point 10). The grass is  overgrown (point 11) as it has not been cut for almost three months. Besides, the playground equipment is damaged (point 12). Many of the see-saws and swings have been spoiled by vandals. I hope the council will look into our complaints and take prompt action to solve our problems. Thank you.Yours faithfully,Raisya Zahraa Binti Hairul Hisyam Suggestions On the Changes Need To Be Done To The LibraryMy intention of writing this letter is to inform you that our school library needs changesto attract more students to visit it. In relation to that, I would like to offer my suggestionson the changes need to be done to the library. 2. The number of novels should be increased as the fiction section lacks books. Manystudents feel disappointed because they cannot find their favourite novels in the library.Besides, the library needs to have dictionaries of the latest edition since the present dictionaries are not up to date and they are not really helpful to students in completing the English assignment 3. The shelves and furniture should be rearranged because the positions are notconducive to reading.During peak hours many students have to sit on the floor and between shelves and this hinder them from reading comfortably. The wall need to berepainted as well for the reason that the dull wall colour kills the students’ inter est inspending their free time in the library. Some said the colour encourages them to sleep while reading. 4. Apart from that, the library needs more fans or be air-conditioned due to   poor ventilation. Many students cannot stand the heat especially during the afternoon hours.Moreover, more librarians should be placed at the counter because of the long queue during recess.A few will miss their meals and might lose concentration later in class due to hunger. 5. It is my hope that you will view my suggestions and comments constructively anddo something to upgrade the conditions of the library in order to create a conducive reading environment. Thank you.Yours faithfully, Raisya (RAISYA ZAHRAA BT HAIRUL HISYAM)Letter of ComplaintRaju a/l Lingam, 123 A, Lorong Bahagia, Taman Sentosa, 07231 Bandar Baru Sentol, KelantanThe President, Bandar Baru Sentol Council, Kompleks Utama, 07200 Bandar Baru Sentol 16 JUNE 2011Dear Sir, Uncollected Rubbish and Clogged DrainsI am writing this letter is to attract your attention to the above title. As the representative of the community, I am calling to tell you that the 300 odd residents living in Taman Sentosa are extremely unhappy about the lackadaisical attitude of the local town council towards the uncollected  rubbish and clogged drains in our area.2. The rubbish in our area has not been collected for more than a week. The rubbish is supposed to be collected on alternate days but this has not been the case. The town council workers collect the rubbish according to their own whims and fancies. The uncollected garbage has attracted not only flies and mosquitoes but also wild dogs which had attacked the residents on several occasions. These stray animals also scatter the rubbish and make the roads dirty and smelly. As a result, residents have to bear the discomfort of stench from the garbage and risk their health.3. We are also disappointed with the town council workers for not clearing the clogged drains which are filled with rubbish. The drains would usually overflow when there is heavy rain and the rubbish would then flow into the compounds of our houses. Besides, putting up with the unbearable stench emitted from them, the residents have to spend hours cleaning their compounds of rotten vegetables, food leftovers and other rubbish.4. Due to dengue outbreak recently, we are really concerned about the residents’ health especially the children. Fogging service also was not done accordingly to the schedule. The fogging authority only did their job whenever a case of dengue aroused. They even fogging the neighbourhood late at night that caused us to leave the residents. They need to consider the residents who have babies and also to those who need to wake up early in the morning for work. The fogging also caused the people to have breathing problem when we were not told the exact time of fogging.5. We have made numerous appeals to the Municipal Council to look into our complaints but to no avai l. We have been putting up with this predicament for more than a week. We hope the health authorities would do something to check these health hazards.Thank you.Yours faithfully,

Computer Hacking Essay

AbstractRecent discourses of data processor hacking im patch explicit reference to the disproportional familiarity of insipids in this form of estimator iniquity. While miserable aloneice, calculating machine security measure, common and popular reections on hacking seldom refer to formal criminological analyses of callowness anger, they n whiztheless purpose a freewheel of explanations for the over-representation of unsalted hatful amongst reckoner taxis. much(prenominal) accounts of hacking earth-closet be seen to gipverge with criminological analyses, by stressing a range of causal incidentors related to gender psychology, adolescent target lesson development, family dysfunction and fellow-group and sub cultural railroad tie. The homologies among gear up, administrative, expert, popular and criminological discourses, it is raiseed, bring home the ba check substantial scope for developing a vital, academically-informed, and policyoriented debate on new-fashioned hoi pollois participation in figurer curse.It has been noned that juvenilityfulness or being a teenager appears as a constant source of fascination and concern for politicians, media commentators and academic analysts (Muncie 1999, p.2), not least when involvement in supposedly whitlow, abnormal and anti- social activities is concerned. Whenever anxieties erupt nigh new holy terrors to the moralistic and social order, y come step forwardh be seldom far away from the line-up of societys usual suspects. Societys timeless fascination with juvenility and crime has itself bugger off the object of sociological and criminological analysis, furnishing numerous geographic expeditions of the shipway in which youngish spate and their cultural commitments cod become the folks music devils in successive waves of moral panics most crime and disorder (Young 1971 Cohen 1972 Hall et al. 1978 Pearson 1983 convert 1995 Springhall 1998).Since the 1990s, acad emic commentators moderate observed how the earnings has emerged as a new locus of criminal activity that has become the object of prevalent and governmental anxieties, sometimes leading(p) to over-reaction (Thomas and Loader 2000, p.8 Littlewood 2003). Yet again, the category of youth has gured centrally in newss of the threat, especially in relation to estimator hacking, the unauthorised admission to and manipulation of data processor systems. Politicians, constabulary enforcement ofcials, computing device security experts and journalists have identied hacking as a form of criminal and deviant behaviour closely associated with teenagers (see, inter alia, Bowker 1999 DeMarco 2001 Verton 2002).This linkup has been cemented in the realm of popular cultural representations, with Hollywood lms much(prenominal)(prenominal) as Wargames (1983) and Hackers (1995) constructing the navvy as a quintessentially teenage reprobate (Levi 2001, pp.467). While hacking in superior general has garnered considerable aid from academics working in the emerging eld of cybercrime studies (see Taylor 1999, 2000, 2003 Thomas 2000), and some attention has been given to questions of youth (see Furnell 2002), few connections be made with the rich and extensive criminological literature of delinquency studies. On the separate hand, those specialising in the study of youth crime and delinquency have largely ignored this app atomic number 18ntly new area of young offending (for an exception, see Fream and Skinner 1997).The indicate of this oblige is not to offer such a new account of hacking as juvenile delinquency nor is it to contender or deconstruct the public and popular association between youth and estimator crime. Rather, the article aims to map out the antithetic modes of ratiocination by which the purported involvement of juveniles in hacking is explained crosswise a range of ofcial, expert and public discourses. In other words, it aims to reconstruct the folk aetiology by which different commentators look to to account for youth involvement in hacking. Substantively, I suggest that the kinds of accounts offered in fact map clearly onto the existing informative repertoires comprising the criminological canon.Implicit within most non-academic and/or non-criminological accounts of teenage hacking are identifiable criminological assumptions relating, for prototype, to adolescent psychological disturbance, familial breakdown, peer inuence and subcultural association. Drawing out the latent or implicit criminological assumptions in these accounts of teenage hacking will help, I suggest, to gain both greater critical purchase upon their claims, and to introduce academic criminology to a set of substantive issues in youth offending that have thus far largely escaped sustained erudite attention.The article begins with a brief discussion of denitional disputes about reckoner hacking, arguing in particular that competing constructio ns can be figureed as part of a process in which deviant labels are app consistd by governing and oppose by those young mass subjected to them. The second section considers the shipway in which motivations are attributed to nags by experts and the public, and the ways in which young ward-heelers themselves construct substitute narrations of their activities which riding habit common understandings of the problematic and conict-ridden relationship between youth and society.The triad section considers the ways in which discourses of dependence are mobilised, and the ways in which they with drag on associations with illicit drug routine as a behaviour comm further attributed to young people. The fourth section turns to consider the drift attributed to gender in explanations of teenage hacking. The fth part explores the ways in which adolescence is wont as an explanatory category, drawing variously upon psychologically and socially oriented understandings of developmental crisis, peer inuence, and subcultural belonging. In concluding, I suggest that the apparent convergence between lay and criminological understandings of the origins of youth offending offer considerable scope for developing a critical, academically-informed debate on young peoples participation in computer crime.Hackers and Hacking Contested Denitions and the Social Construction of divergenceA few decades ago, the toll hacker and hacking were bedn only to a comparatively small military issue of people, mainly those in the technically specialised serviceman of deliberation. right away they have become common companionship, something with which most people are familiar, if only through hearsay and exposure to cud media and popular cultural accounts. Current discussion has coalesced around a comparatively clear-cut denition, which understands hacking as the unauthorised entranceway and subsequent use of other peoples computer systems (Taylor 1999, p.xi). It is this widely t rue sense of hacking as computer stash away, and of its perpetrators as break-in artists and intruders, that structures most media, governmental and criminal justice responses.However, the term has in fact undergone a series of changes in meaning over the years, and continues to be deep contested, not least amongst those within the reckoning community. The term hacker originated in the earthly concern of computer programming in the 1960s, where it was a positive label used to fall upon someone who was lavishlyly skilled in developing creative, elegant and effective solutions to calculation problems. A hack was, correspondingly, an innovative use of technology (especially the production of computer mandate or programmes) that yielded positive results and benets. On this understanding, the pioneers of the Internet, those who brought computing to the masses, and the developers of new and exciting computer applications (such as video gaming), were all considered to be hackers p ar excellence, the brave new pioneers of the computer revolution (Levy 1984 Naughton 2000, p.313).These hackers were said to form a community with its own clearly dened ethic, one closely associated with the social and political values of the 1960s and 1970s counter-culture and proclaim movements (movements themselves closely associated with youth rebellion and rampart Muncie (1999, pp.178 83)). Their ethic emphasised, amongst other things, the right to freely opening and commute knowledge and selective information a belief in the message of science and technology (especially computing) to enhance individuals lives a distrust of political, military and bodied authorities and a resistance to conventional and mainstream lifestyles, attitudes and social hierarchies (Taylor 1999, pp.246 Thomas 2002). While such hackers would ofttimes suck in exploration of others computer systems, they purported to do so out of curiosity, a longing to learn and discover, and to freely share w hat they had found with others damaging those systems plot exploring, intentionally or otherwise, was considered both fumbling and unethical. This earlier understanding of hacking and its ethos has since largely been over-ridden by its much detrimental counterpart, with its stress upon intrusion, violation, theft and sabotage.Hackers of the old indoctrinate angrily confute their depiction in such terms, and use the term cracker to distinguish the spiteful type of computer enthusiast from hackers proper. Interestingly, this conict between the old and new is much presented in inter-generational terms, with the old school lamenting the ways in which todays youngsters have lost touch with the more principled and idealistic motivations of their predecessors (Taylor 1999, p.26). Some have suggested that these differences are of little more than historic interest, and insist that the current, negative and criminal denition of hacking and hackers should be adopted, since this is the dominant way in which the terms are now understood and used (Twist 2003). in that location is considerable value to this pragmatic sanction approach, and through the rest of this article the terms hacking and hackers will be used to consult those illegal activities associated with computer intrusion and manipulation, and to denote those persons who get hold of in such activities.The contested nature of the terms is, however, worth pram in mind, for a good criminological reason. It shows how hacking, as a form of criminal activity, is actively constructed by governments, fair play enforcement, the computer security industry, businesses, and media and how the equation of such activities with crime and guilt is both overcompensated and challenged by those who engage in them. In other words, the contest over characterising hackers and hacking is a prime example of what sociologists such as Becker (1963) identify as the labelling process, the process by which categories of cr iminal/deviant activity and identity are socially produced. Reactions to hacking and hackers cannot be understood on an individual basis from how their meanings are socially created, negotiated and resisted. Criminal justice and other agents propagate, disseminate and utilise negative constructions of hacking as part of the war on computer crime.Those who nd themselves so positioned whitethorn reject the label, insisting that they are misunderstood, and try to persuade others that they are not criminals alternatively, they may seek out and embrace the label, and act accordingly, thereby setting in motion a process of optical aberration amplication (Young 1971) which ends up producing the very behaviour that the forces of truth and order are pursuance to prevent. In extremis, such constructions can be seen to make hackers into folk devils (Cohen 1972), an apparently urgent threat to society which fuels the kinds of moral panic about computer crime alluded to in the introduction. As we shall see, such processes of labelling, negotiation and resistance are a central feature of on-going social contestation about young peoples involvement in hacking.Hacker Motivations Insider and Outsider Accounts Inquiries into crime have long dwelt on the causes and motivations behind offending behaviour in the words of Hirschi (1969), one of the most frequently asked questions is why do they do it?. In this respect, deliberations on computer crime are no different, with a range of participants such as journalists, academics, politicians, law enforcement operatives, and members of the public all indicating what they perceive to be the factors underlying hackers dedication to computer crime. umpteen commentators focus upon motivations, effectively viewing hackers as rational actors (Clarke and Felson 1993) who consciously choose to engage in their illicit activities in first moment of some kind of reward or satisfaction. The motivations variously attributed to hackers are wide-ranging and often contradictory.Amongst those concerned with combating hacking activity, there is a vogue to emphasise maliciousness, vandalism, and the disposition to commit indulge destruction (Kovacich 1999) attribution of such motivations from law enforcement and computer security agencies is unsurprising, as it offers the most clear-cut way of denying hacking any socially recognised legitimacy. Amongst a wider public, hackers are sensed to act on motivations ranging from self-assertion, curiosity, and thrill seeking, to rapacity and hooliganism (Dowland et al. 1999, p.720 Voiskounsky, Babeva and Smyslova 2000, p.71). Noteworthy here is the convergence between motives attributed for involvement in hacking and those unremarkably attributed to youth delinquency in general the framing of hacking in terms of vandalism, hooliganism, curiosity and thrill seeking clearly references socially visible(prenominal) constructions of juvenile offending and offenders (on hooligani sm see Pearson (1983) on thrill seeking see Katz (1988) Presdee (2000)). angiotensin converting enzyme way in which commentators have move to rene their understandings of hacker motivations is to chivvy from hackers themselves their reasons for engaging in computer crimes. There now exist a number of studies, both popular and scholarly in which (primarily young) hackers have been interviewed about their illicit activities (for example, Clough and Mungo 1992 Taylor 1999 Verton 2002). In addition, hackers themselves have authored texts and documents in which they elaborate upon their ethos and aims (see, for example, Dr K 2004). Such insider accounts cite motivations very different from those cited by outsiders. In fact, they consistently energize a rationale for hacking that explicitly mobilises the hacker ethic of an earlier generation of computer enthusiasts.In hackers self-presentations, they are motivated by factors such as intellectual curiosity, the desire for expanding the boundaries of knowledge, a commitment to the free ow and exchange of information, resistance to political authoritarianism and corporate domination, and the aim of improving computer security by exposing the laxity and ineptitude of those charged with safeguarding socially sensitive data. However, such accounts corking from the horses mouth do not necessarily furnish insights into hacker motivations that are any more objectively true than those attributed by outside observers. As Taylor (1999) notes it is difcult . . . to separate cleanly the ex ante motivations of hackers from their ex post justications (p.44, italics in original). In other words, such self-attributed motivations may well be rhetorical devices mobilised by hackers to justify their law-bre resemblingg and defend themselves against accusations of criminality and deviance. Viewed in this way, hackers accounts can be seen as part of what criminologists Sykes and Matza (1957) call techniques of neutralisation. consort to Sykes and Matza, delinquents will make recourse to such techniques as a way of overcoming the inhibitions or guilt they may otherwise have when embarking upon law-breaking activity. These techniques include strategies such as denial of injury, denial of the dupe, condemnation of the condemners and appeal to higher loyalties. The view of hackers self-narrations as instances of such techniques can be supported if we examine hacker accounts. A clear illustration is provided by a now famous (or infamous) document called The scruples of a Hacker authored by The instruct in 1986, now better know as The Hackers Manifesto.In the Manifesto, its author explains hackers motivations by citing factors such as the boredom experienced by unfermented kids at the mercy of incompetent school teachers and sadists the experience of being constantly discount by teachers and parents as damn kids who are all a identical the desire to access a service that could be dirt-cheap if it wasnt run by pr oteering gluttons the desire to explore and learn which is denied by you who configuration atomic bombs, . . . wage wars, . . . murder, cheat and lie (The Mentor 1986). Such reasoning clearly justies hacking activities by re-labelling harm as curiosity, by suggesting that victims are in some sense getting what they be as a consequence of their greed, and turn tables on accusers by claiming the moral high ground through a quote of real crimes committed by the let political and economic establishment. Again, we see an inter-generational belongings that references commonplace understandings of misunderstood youth and the profane and neglectful nature of the adult world.Thus young hackers themselves invest in and mobilise a perennial, socially available discourse about the gulf between society and its youth. Discourses of colony Computers, Drugs and the foxy Slope A second cosmic string of thinking about hacking downplays motivations and choices, and emphasises instead the ps ychological and/or social factors that seemingly sell certain individuals or groups toward law-breaking behaviour. In such accounts, free choice is sidelined in favour of a view of gentlemans gentleman actions as fundamentally caused by forces playacting within or upon the offender. From an individualistic perspective, some psychologists have attempted to explain hacking by viewing it as an extension of determined computer use over which the actor has limited control.So-called Internet Addiction Disorder is viewed as an addiction akin to alcoholism and narcotic dependence, in which the sick person loses the capacity to exercise restraint over his or her own habituated desire (Young 1998 Young, Pistner and OMara 1999). Some accounts of teenage hacking draw explicit parallels with drug addiction, going so far as to suggest that fighting in relatively innocuous hacking activities can lead to more serious infractions, just as use of soft drugs like marijuana is commonly claimed to constitute a slippery slope leading to the use of hard drugs like crack cocaine and heroin (Verton 2002, pp.35, 39, 41, 51).