Privacy issues Essay Example for Free

Privacy issues Essay What it is? Privacy is the right of individuals to conceal things, related to them, from others and prevent non-relevant persons/authorities from gaining access to it. Â  An individual wishes to hide his/her personal information since the latter is an invaluable asset. Anyone gaining access to it can cause harm to the individual. For example, an individual has the right to keep his/her credit card number private. Anyone gaining access to it can cause financial damage to the individual. (Alba, Stay , Lorenzen and Scoble , 2008) A breach of privacy occurs when an unauthorized person gains access to the information. This breach can only occur at a place where there is a large volume of information about the individuals. In this report we shall look at privacy issues related to the government, retail stores, hospitals, banks, organizations, or social networks like ‘face book’. Privacy Issues Faced By the Government: Governments collect a lot of information of people. Information regarding citizens of the country is required to avoid any act of illegal activities, terrorist attacks, etc. Information of people helps track people involved in criminal activities. More over information is also required to estimate or to calculate the taxes that the residents in the country will be giving in the proceeding year. Information of people is also required to plan for future developments in the country by looking at the people’s age, sex, etc. For example, in order to provide better healthcare to its people, the government collects information on people’s age, sex, illness records etc. (Freeman and Peace, 2004) Many important benefits occur from people gaining access to this information. Public records can help bring people close together. They can be used to link people who share common activities or hobbies. They can be used to track down missing family members such as finding parents for kids. Access to these records by businesses helps them to serve consumers better. This improves the quality of goods and services in the country and increases expenditure by consumers. Through this the overall economy prospers. (Chander , Gelman , and Radin , 2008) Access to these records by law-enforcing agencies improves safety of people. Records of criminal arrests and convictions ensure that such people are not hired at jobs. However, these benefits do not fully justify the breach of individual’s privacy. There are many ways that governments destabilize and threaten the privacy of citizens. Governments have numerous incentives to collect, store, and use information about their citizens. And they bear very little when they abuse information about citizens. Public records are one way that threatens the privacy of individuals. Information such as on property and loans of an individual , driving license information , criminal record and tax record are some of the example that can be mishandled by the government and other authorized persons and may become a serious issue . Individuals may even commit frauds and violent crimes using the private data available to the government. For example, public records contain information on people’s bank account. Any one gaining access to it can commit a fraud using this information and then the person bearing the account will be held responsible. Governments take a lot of steps to prevent unauthorized access by people to this information. All these steps are implemented at the points where the information is extracted and recorded. For example, all vehicles traveling on highways are required to have black boxes fitted into them. These record invaluable information on what individuals do inside the vehicle. So the authorities need to ensure that these black boxes are not easy to break into. Â  Similarly, all cell phones broad cast information on locations that the cell phone user visits. This is also an invaluable asset. The government needs to ensure that cell phone companies do not disclose this information to other companies or individuals. Similarly, governments collect a lot of information on financial standings of people. This is done in the name of performing tax calculations. These records, if mishandled, can clearly reveal extremely confidential information like income, savings, investments etc. Thus it is utmost important that governments ensure that financial information is only accessed by concerned authorities. Privacy Issues Faced By Retail Stores: Retail outlets – Real and Online, in pursuit of serving their customers better than their competitors, allow credit services to their regular customers. To effectively run this scheme, they need to record a lot of personal information such as credit card numbers and social security numbers. Misuse of these can cause a lot of damage to the individual. For example misuse of credit cards can even make an individual bankrupt. (Solove , Rotenberg , and Schwartz , 2006) Not only it is important information like credit card number that is to be kept concealed, even information like address and phone numbers are important. This if leaked out can be used by spammers and junk mailers. Already people are facing this issue. A lot of regulations are imposed by law-enforcing agencies upon retailers to ensure that they handle the personal information appropriately. For example the Retail Council of Canada has established a comprehensive privacy policy on what information is collected at retail stores, how it is collected, how it is used and what should be done to protect it . (Holtzman, 2006) This is not just the duty of retail stores , etc to protect and individual personal information but the individuals are also at the same time responsible for protecting their own person information that can have the potential to be used in illegal activities . Individuals should give only limited and relevant information to the retail stores in order to protect their privacy . Moreover a go through on the copy of retailers privacy policy can also be helpful to find out what information can be leaked out from the retail store or to find out which information they should not give out to the stores . Privacy Issues Faced by Social Networking Websites like ‘Face book’: Social networking sites are new dimension of internet these days. Their aim is to connect an individual with all his friends and colleagues with just a click. Also they help an individual meet new people and make new acquaintances. With the busy and fast running life of today these sites have become enormous hits. However, these sites are huge repositories of information relating individuals all across the globe. And when there is information there is the risk of privacy being breached. Thus the need for a privacy policy arises in this case too. Most websites ensure that the information is maintained on computers that are safe from unauthorized access. Moreover they also need to ensure that there are no leakages of information while it is being transmitted from the server to the user or vice-versa. (Atwan , Lushing, and Andrews, 2008) The ‘Face book’ has two core privacy principles. First, it gives choice to its users to put in whatever information they want. And individuals can control who can see how much information. Second, it aims to make sharing of information easier and less time consuming. Â  However, the website does reveal that the user information will be revealed to the third parties. by stating that the information in the profiles can be used by the third party without indentifying the name of that individual. Privacy Issues Faced by Organizations: Organizations, both public and private collect and maintain a lot of information on their customers. Customer Information can have several uses that can be very valuable especially for organizations. Some of the benefits of having customer information is that it can help learn the needs and wants of their customers – potential and current. It can be used to more efficiently offer their products to customers and also , the customer information can be used to predict the future demand of the company’s product and future cash flow . Like at all the other sources, this information is equally likely to be misused and individual’s privacy will be breached. The best way to regulate organization’s privacy is at government level. People expect government to formulate laws that will ensure that organizations do not breach away with consumer’s privacy. (Solove , Rotenberg , and Schwartz , 2005) Another way is to regulate through the market regulation. In this the business that is successful in retaining the customer information private and confidential becomes successful whereas business that do not offer satisfactory privacy guarantees to the customer are ignored and put out of the business. Privacy Issues faced by Hospitals The question is why privacy is important in hospitals. Privacy in hospitals is needed to ensure that personal health information can be shared for core health activities, with safeguards to limit the inappropriate use and sharing of patient data. Â  Any deviation from this law will hurt the hospitals reputation as patients will stop trusting hospital to safeguard their sensitive personal records. Therefore hospitals are required to take critical steps towards building security and privacy of healthcare providers, patients and all others involved in health care. (Gaston , 2003) Some steps taken towards safeguarding patient’s privacy include: 1. Patient’s written and explicit authorization is required to disclose personal health information to employers. The authorization must include what information is to be shared, person allowed to use data and for what purpose information is to be retrieved. 2. However, hospital administration is permitted to utilize patient’s personal health information for treatment. 3. If the patient is present, the hospital may disclose medical information to such people if the patient does not object. If the patient objects to disclosure the hospital may determine whether the disclosure is in the best interests of the patient. The professional judgment of the health care provider should inform any decision regarding disclosure of protected health information to a family member or friend who is involved in the patients care, as these disclosures are permitted, but not mandatory. 4. Disclosure of protected health information has always been permitted for purposes such as national security, public health monitoring, and law enforcement, as well as many others. 5. The health information custodians policies must be readily available to patients and should include information about practices and procedures. The right of privacy and consent are essential to the trust and integrity of the patient-physician relationship. Privacy Issues in Banks – Real and Online . Customer’s personal privacy is extremely important to banks. Bank should be committed to protecting customer information. Banks should not share nonpublic information about customers with third parties without their consent. Â  Information banks should collect from customers should help serve only the financial needs of customers, provide customer service, offer new products or services, and fulfill legal and regulatory requirements. These types of non-public, personal information may include: 1. Information we received loan or insurance applications or other forms. 2. Information about transactions with affiliates of banks. 3. Information from outside companies. Banks should collect only the information necessary to deliver quality products and services to customers. All of internet sensitive information of customers should be protected by data encryption technology. (Luna , 2004) References: 1. Alba, Jason , Stay , Jesse , Lorenzen , Lee Scoble , Robert (2008). Im on FacebookNow What: How to Get Personal, Business, and Professional Value from Faceboo. Happy About. 2. Alderman, Ellen , Kennedy , Caroline (1997). The Right to Privacy.Vintage . 3. Atwan , Greg , Lushing, Evan , Andrews, Aurora (2008). The Facebook Book . Abrams Image. 4. Chander , Anupam , Gelman , Lauren , Radin , Margaret Jane (2008). Securing Privacy in the Internet Age . Stanford Law Books. 5. Freeman, Lee, Peace, A. Graham (2004). Information Ethics: Privacy and Intellectual Propert.Information Science Publishing . 6. Gaston , S. J. (2003). Protecting Your Money, Privacy and Identity from Theft, Loss and Misuse. Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants . 7. Holtzman, David H. (2006). Privacy Lost: How Technology Is Endangering Your Privacy. Jossey-Bass. 8. Levine, John R. , Church , Ray Everett-, Stebben , Gregg (2002). Internet Privacy for Dummies . For Dummies . 9. Luna , J.J. (2004). How to Be Invisible: The Essential Guide to Protecting Your Personal Privacy, Your Assets, and Your Life. Thomas Dunne Books. 10. Solove , Daniel J. , Rotenberg , Marc , Schwartz , Paul M. (2006). Privacy, Information And Technology. Aspen Publishers. 11. Solove , Daniel J. , Rotenberg , Marc , Schwartz , Paul M. (2005). Information Privacy Law. Aspen Publishers.

Thomsons Argument Of The Trolley Problem Philosophy Essay

Thomsons Argument Of The Trolley Problem Philosophy Essay A utilitarian is concerned with providing the greatest happiness for the greatest amount of people, so in this first case a utilitarian would agree with Thomson and would say that it is mandatory to pull the lever and save the greater number of people. An opposing view would say that pulling the lever constitutes as a moral wrong, and would make the bystander partially responsible for the death. One has a moral obligation to get involved in these cases just by being present in the scenario and being able to change the outcome. Deciding to do nothing would be considered an immoral act if one values five lives more than one. In the first case, the bystander does not intend to harm anyone; the harm will be done regardless of which way the trolley goes. In the second case, pushing and harming the large man is the only way to save the five people on the trolley. in contrast, Thomson argues that a key distinction between the first trolley problem and the second case is that in the first case, you simply redirect the harm, but in the second case, you actually have to do something to the large man to save the five workers. Thomson states that in the first case, no worker has more of a right than the other not to be killed, but in the second case, the large man does have a right not to be pushed over the bridge, violating his right to life. To put the first trolley case in a different perspective I will present a similar case. Something has gone terribly wrong on an airplane and is inevitably about to crash and is heading straight to a heavily populated area. The airplane pilot knows that regardless innocent people will die so he turns the plane towards a less populated area, killing less innocent people. Was the pilots action to steer the plane in a different direction morally permissible? Thomson would say that the pilots actions were correct, because the greater populated are has the same right to live as the less populated area, and you are merely deflecting the harm to kill less people which is morally permissible because no rights have been violated. Thomson presents an alternative case to the second trolley problem to better illustrate her argument. In this case, a surgeon has 5 patients that are all in need of organ transplants, and they will die without the organ, but since they all have a rare blood type there are no organs available. A traveler comes into the office for a check up, and the doctor discovers that this traveler has the necessary organs that could save these five dying patients. The doctor asks the traveler if he would donate and but he sincerely declines. Would it be morally permissible for the doctor to kill the bystander and operate anyway? Thomson would argue that it is not permissible to operate on the traveler, because the doctor would be violating his right to life. This differs from the first trolley case because in the first case you are simply deflecting the harm as opposed to the second trolley case, and the transplant case, you have to act and do something to an innocent person in order to save the f ive people. In the first case none of the workers have more of a right than the other not to be killed, but in the second case the large man has a right not to be killed. In the transplant case, a utilitarian is concerned with the greatest happiness for the greatest number of people, so just like in the first case where a utilitarian would say to pull the lever to kill one and save five, he would do the same in the transplant case to kill one and save five. Thomson disagrees and states that in the first case killing one is a side effect of killing five, in the transplant case you are violating a persons right where the act could have been avoided to begin with. Thomson states that killing is worse a death caused by letting someone die. In the first trolley case it would seem rational to agree that the person is morally obligated to pull the lever and save the five people. In the second case, the person should not be forced to push the large man onto the track because in this case he is killing the man to save the others where as in the first case it is inevitably one or the other. It would also seem rational that the doctor should not kill the man for the transplant because it is similar to the second case. Although in every case you are sacrificing one to save five, there are situations where it is not morally permissible to kill the one person, such as the second case and the transplant case. In these case the persons right to life is violated, and therefore would make it morally permissible to kill them. In order for Thomson to justify her opinions she needs to identify the differences in both cases that is strong enough to make a valid argument. In short, Thomson identifies that in both cases there is an innocent bystander who is not responsible in any of the events, but has the opportunity to get involved in order to save five people instead of the one. She assumes that there is no relationship or tension at all between the bystander and the workers so he has a clear mind on what his decision should be. Thomson states that we need to focus on the rights of the people as a means to an end relationship between the bystander and the workers. She argues that in both cases the bystander does wrong to the person whose life he chooses to sacrifice, but in the second case where the bystander pushes the large man, there is a direct violation of his rights. By performing the act of pushing, the bystander is directly violating on the large mans right not to be killed. This differs from the fi rst case where the bystander pulls a lever to kill one and save five, because it does not violate the single workers rights; diverting a train does not violate anyones rights, but pushing an innocent man does. Thomson feels that this explains why the bystander is allowed to intervene by pulling the lever because the bystander can maximize the utility without violating anyones rights, whereas in the second case, in order to maximize utility the bystander would have to violate someones rights. The problem arises that in the first case, although the bystander is not directly violating the single workers right, he is indirectly violating his right not to be killed. Thomson replies to this concern by saying that although this is true but it being direct or indirect is not relevant when a persons right not to be killed is concerned.

Scenario Of Smoking And Cigarettes Health And Social Care Essay

Scenario Of Smoking And Cigarettes Health And Social Care Essay According to Mackay and Eriksen (2002), since early 20th century, when cigarette was first manufactured, there has been a steady increase in the number of cigarette consumers throughout the whole world. Although there are ups and downs in the graph of cigarette consumption level in certain countries, the number of people who smoke around the world continues to rise and more cigarettes are being consumed every day. As the human race populations keep on expanding and become larger, so will the number of smokers in the world. It is expected that at least 2 billion people will live in this planet smoking cigarette by year 2030. The number of people who smokes will continue to increase, even as the prevalence rates drop. Female smokers are growing in numbers, particularly in developing countries, which will fill the gap of decrease in the prevalence rates among male smokers Goddard (2008), in another study found out that from 1974 until 1982, the popularity of smoking in Great Britain had fallen significantly, from 45% to 35%. This decrease however, began to slow down, where for every two years only approximately one percentage of the rate fell down until 1994 to 27%. The general decrease in smoking popularity mentioned above was caused by decline of both light smokers and heavy smokers. Here, light smokers are identified as people who smoke less than 20 cigarettes per day whereas heavy smokers are people who smoke more than 20 cigarettes per day. There has been a decrease on the number of adult smokers who consume average 20 or more cigarettes per day from 1974 to 2006 with the percentage of 26% and 8% respectively. Over the same period, the female smokers also showed a decline in number from 13% to 5%. Meanwhile, in Mexico, a decrease in smoking trends occurred at the offset of 20th century especially on exposure of smoking, daily smoking consumption as well as smoking frequency among the society, especially among men. In addition, smoking popularity and smoking frequency has shown a significant decline particularly among adult smokers in both genders compared to the younger smokers. Nonetheless, men are facing a worse smoking situation compared to women in both mentioned areas. However, during year 2002, it was found out that daily female smokers smoked more cigarettes than men (Franco-Marina, 2007). Surprisingly, in worldwide, nearly one billion men, consists about 35% in developed countries and another 50% in developing countries, are smokers. The rate of male smoking across the world had reached its peak but is slowly declining. Nevertheless, there declining rate is very slow compared to the current effects it has on human. Although more and more researches had been conducted to reveal the negative impacts of smoking, currently the decrease has been slow. In overall, the ones who give up the smoking habit come from those who are educated and so smoking becomes more popular among poorer and less educated man. (Mackay and Eriksen, 2002). Concern over health issues related to tobacco usage is not a new issue. According to Shafey (2003), not only that health concern is increasing, presently the dominance of smoking also began shifting to low-income and middle-income countries especially in many Asian countries (as cited in Parkinson et al., 2009). This is true especially when tobacco usage among human has become a global outbreak. Cigarettes are manufactured with the amount of five and a half trillion for every one year. This is enough to feed everyone on earth about approximately 1,000 cigarettes for each one of them. The largest tobacco consumers identified are Asia, Australia and the Far East with consumption of 2,715 billion cigarettes, before the Americas with 745 billion cigarettes, Eastern Europe and Former Soviet Economies with 631 billion cigarretes and Western Europe with 606 billion cigarettes (Mackay and Eriksen, 2002). Situation in Malaysia however, is slightly different. According to National Health Morbidity Survey (1986 and 1996), the prevalence of smoking among Malaysian adults has increased from 39% to 49% (as cited in Shahidan et al., 2002). National Health and Morbidity Survey (1996) also states the occurrence of tobacco consumption is roughly 24.8% and among all men, 49.2% of them are smokers, whereas for women only 3.5% of them are smoke (as cited in Parkinson et al., 2009). Meanwhile according to statistic in PROSTAR (2007), in 2000 there are 3.6 million smokers in Malaysia and by 2025, it is speculated that the total will increase to 4.6 million (as cited in Kim et al., 2009). Even though currently no clear evidence exists, some survey had identified that smoking among teenagers is increasing nowadays. (Parkinson et al., 2009). However, according to Thambypillai (1985); Shamsuddin Haris (2000); Naing et al. (2004) and Ahmad et al. (1997), there are no significant changes of trends for t eenage smoking. Several surveys done in different regions found out that smoking habit among male teenagers was between 17% to 36% meanwhile for female it was between 1% to 5% (as cited in Lim et al., 2006). 2.1 Reasons for Smoking According to Baker et al. (2002), smokers give almost the same justifications or rationales for smoking. Apparently, majority of them regard smoking activity as a form of relaxation and a way to cope with stress. It is also an addictive habit which presents smokers with good feelings and lessens the bad feelings through the effects of nicotine. In a way smokers consider cigarette as a helpful tool to them although they are aware of its negative effects. This is consistent with the research done by KaÃ…Å ¸ikà §i et al. (2008) in which they stated that smoking is one way for smokers to have pleasure while at the same time relaxing themselves or easing their stress. Moreover, British American Tobacco Malaysia (2010) reported that an important aspect experienced by smokers comes from the pharmacological effect of nicotine a mild stimulant effect not unlike that of caffeine, and a mild relaxing effect. Baker et al. (2002) also stated that serious cigarette smokers are addicted to to bacco, which lead them to smoke heavily whereas light smokers smoke more for social purpose. On the other hand, according to Jarvis (2004), during early adolescent is a period where people like to experiment with smoking due to psychosocial reason. For people who just started smoking, a cigarette is a symbolic way of saying that they are no longer their mothers child and a way of showing that they are mature. Children who have tendency to smoke usually come from environment that promotes smoking culture. Such environment includes situation where family members and peers are smokers or where smoking is considered common in school and in society. They also have tendency to smoke due to their own internal or external conditions such having low self esteem, overweight, psychologically impaired, or having poor achievement at school. Moreover, it is believed that there is a distinguishable pattern among smokers from different gender group. Parkinson et al. (2009), conform to this idea in which the findings of his study revealed that males tend to believe that smoking makes people look more attractive compared to women and see smoking as a mark of being modern. Furthermore, both genders also similarly tend to believe that by smoking they can control their body weight. This finding however contradicts with Western studies by Cavallo (2006), where the data showed that male teenagers do not worry about their weight as much as female teenagers and so are less likely smoke in order to control weight than females (as cited in Parkinson et al., 2009). 2.2 Review of Related Studies The smoking rate for university students is rising gradually in Turkey as well as the world (KaÃ…Å ¸ikà §i et al., 2008). A research by Cooper et al. (2004) said that there is an increase for the rate of smoking in Turkey in which 64% of the increase is among the men and 23% of it is women. Abolfutuoh et al. (1998) states 40% of the students in Education Council are heavy smokers and only 23% of the Medicine Council students smoke. Meanwhile, Kader and Alsadi (2008) found that most of the students are light smokers (50.6%). They also said that students in the medical school tend to smoke less than their friends in other faculties. Surprisingly, a study by Kypri and Baxter (2004) said that the smoking pattern is higher among Maori women than men, in which the women tend to smoke daily. Sharker (2005) in his study about knowledge, attitude and practice on smoking among students and staff in Universiti Putra Malaysia states that 13.7% from respondents who smoke comes from students while 9.9% was comes from the staff. He also found that Indians and Malays were among the highest percentage due to ethnic groups which comprises of 12.7% and 11.6% respectively; meanwhile Hindus and Muslim were among the highest percentage due to religious group which equal to 13% and 11.9% respectively. According to Azlan (2006) in his study on smoking among secondary school students in Kuantan, the smoking percentage was 43%; with 63.5% comes from males and 17.5% comes female. This study is quite similar to the study done by Rapeah et al. (2008) whereby almost half of the respondents in her study on factors influencing smoking behaviours among male adolescents in Kuantan were smokers (45.8%) and Malays were contribute up to 53.1%. A cross-sectional study of 16-year old secondary school students in Kota Tinggi district reported that 29.7% from the respondents were found to be smoking and the highest percentage of male smokers comes from FELDA (Federal Land Development Authority) areas which comprises of more than 50% (Lim et al., 2006). Meanwhile, the study done by Shahidan et al. (2002) on smoking habits among secondary school students in Kedah reported that the average age for smoking and non-smoking groups were 16 years old the research has reveal that the age of onset smoking among respondents began as early as 13 years old. According to KaÃ…Å ¸ikà §i et al. (2008), 40.2% of the final grade students at the AtatÃ…Â ©rk University smoked. 56.5% from that said that they smoke to release tense while 24.6% smoke for pleasure. Abolfutuoh et al. (1998) states that curiosity was the main reason for initiation of smoking among students in medical students at the University College of Medicine and students of the College of Education. There are findings found in a research by Kader and Alsadi (2008) that say the students smoke because it helps them to concentrate as well as calm them down. They also said that students smoke because they also want to cope with stress and social anxieties. Kypri and Baxter (2004) also stated that students smoke because it helps them to relax. According to Shahidan et al. (2002), matured, attractive and classy are among the reasons students start smoking with percentage of 70.0%, 62.2% and 54.0% respectively. Meanwhile, Sharker (2005) found that the main reason for the onset of smoking among students and staff in Universiti Putra Malaysia was just for fun and it was comprises of 54.2%. In addition, Azlan (2006) revealed that the main reason for students to smoke is because of the influences of friends. Rapeah et al. (2008) states that wanted to try received the highest frequency among reasons for smoking with percentage of 68.9% and peer influence follows behind with percentage of 56.1%. Nonetheless, nearly 70% of the respondents disagrees that trendy is the reason for initiating smoking. There are also findings found in a research by Khairani et al. (2007) that say curiosity and peer pressure are the most common reasons for starting smoking with percentage of 69.3% and 51% respectively. On the other hand, the most frequent reason for continuing smoking reported was stress with percentage of 70% followed by addiction with percentage of 49%. KaÃ…Å ¸ikà §i et al. (2008) stated that one of the factors that encourage the students to smoke is the parents of the students. Most of the students who smoke have fathers and brothers who smoke as well. Friends are also one of the factors that lead to smoking habit among the students. These findings are quite similar with the study by Shahidan et al. (2002) which conducted in Kedah. Their research stated that family members and peers who smoke have great influence to students to start smoking. There is twice higher risk for students who come from smoking family to smoke than those who are not. In addition, there are nearly six times higher risks of smoking for student who have peers who are smokers than those who do not have peers who smoke. Same goes to the study by Khairani et al. (2007), which found out significant connection between smoking among family members and teenager smoking. Sharker (2005) reported that the popularity of smoking was linked with race, family, age, religious, economic status as well as peers smoking habits. These findings are consistent with the study done by Azlan (2006) on the prevalence of smoking among secondary school students and its associated factors in the district of Kuantan. Meanwhile, according to Lim et al. (2006), smoking is associated with factors such as having low academic achievement as well as having a lot of close friends and siblings who smoke. Another finding also discovers that respondents who smoke are linked with factors which are attitude towards smoking, type of class stream and having smoking friends (Rapeah et al., 2008). In addition, among the main factors for students to start smoking are showing off, curiosity and pressure from peers (Abolfutuoh et al., 1998).

Augustine and Freedom Essay -- Papers

Augustine and Freedom Evil-doing is neglect of eternal things and love of temporal things to the extent of becoming subject to them. This is done by the free choice of the will . . . Free will makes sin possible but it was given that man might live righteously.1 This is a brief summary of what Augustine believed regarding (1) the origin of sin and (2) the purpose for which humanity was endowed with free choice of the will. Though insightful as it may seem, Augustine's statement will not set to rest all the issues raised by the notion of human freedom and divine activity, since with free choice of the will come perplexing questions that continue to rage in philosophical circles. Some questions, however, can be set forth that outline parameters within which to begin understanding Augustine on the issue of human freedom and its origins/causes. If evil originates in the human will, from where does the will come? Are there any limitations to human freedom? Is the human will neutral or does it have a bias toward good? A bias toward evil? Where does free choice of the will come into play when individuals are saved by God's grace alone? What is meant by free will? On these questions, and many more related, Augustine has been an immense help. In this work an attempt will be made to illustrate Augustine's view of free will. Such categories as God's sovereignty in election and salvation, the origin of evil and its impact upon humanity, the justice of God, human responsibility and the providence of God in sanctification of the believer will be utilized. Augustine's understanding of human freedom should corroborate with (1) the nature and character of God, (2) the integrity of... ...God's relationship to time changed when time came into existence see William L. Craig, "God, Time and Eternity" Religious Studies 14 (1978): 497-503. 32.Norman L. Geisler, Philosophy of Religion (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, n.d.), note 10, chapter 14, 331. 33.Cf., Lewis and Demarest, Integrative, vol. 1, op. cit., 310-328. 34. On Free Will," Book II, xv, 48, AEW, 166. 35. Ibid. 36."The Simplican," The Second Question, 3, ALW, 388. 37.Ibid., 12, op. cit., 394-395. 38.AEW, Book III, vi, 18,181. 39."The Simplican," The Second Question, 13, ALW, 395. 40.William L. Craig, The Only Wise God (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1987), 135. Though Craig holds to fallen creatures having power to contrary, it is likely that middle knowledge is still possible given the alternative view of freedom offered here (viz.,

Analysis of Exodus 21-24 Essay -- essays research papers

Exodus 21-24 was definitely quite an instructive piece of literature. It was almost raw in its nature as a text or â€Å"book† but more of reading an excerpt from a piece of non-fiction most similar to an instruction manual of some sort that you get when you buy a dissembled bike or desk. Something like being enrolled in a police academy there was definite sense of a master-slave relationship in the air. It is like something never before seen in the Torah, these chapters showed a whole new YHWH. The YHWH who is feared like the school principal in an elementary school, not even mom and dad has come on so strong as to the dos and donts of living life. It seems as if YHWH was pushed to such a point where YHWH has no choice but intervene into the lives of his children, and set the rules for the pl... Analysis of Exodus 21-24 Essay -- essays research papers Exodus 21-24 was definitely quite an instructive piece of literature. It was almost raw in its nature as a text or â€Å"book† but more of reading an excerpt from a piece of non-fiction most similar to an instruction manual of some sort that you get when you buy a dissembled bike or desk. Something like being enrolled in a police academy there was definite sense of a master-slave relationship in the air. It is like something never before seen in the Torah, these chapters showed a whole new YHWH. The YHWH who is feared like the school principal in an elementary school, not even mom and dad has come on so strong as to the dos and donts of living life. It seems as if YHWH was pushed to such a point where YHWH has no choice but intervene into the lives of his children, and set the rules for the pl...

Internship in Public Relations Department of an Advertising Agency Essay

Section I Introduction 1.1 Background Internship is one of the essential parts required for the completion of MBA program. It is to provide first hand exposure to the students about the real work scenarios in business organizations. It allows students to imply their theoretical knowledge in the real workplace by enhancing their ability and confidence level in the dynamic business world. Besides, one of the objectives of this program is to enhance student’s interpersonal, communication, report writing skills as well as presentation skills and to understand different viewpoint of the staff and the customer of the organization. 1.2 Objective of the internship The objectives of my internship at Prisma Advertising agency are: To fulfill the requirement of MBA program of Pokhara University. To understand importance Public Relations in corporate world. To understand how public relations enhances brand image. To comprehend successful events. 1.3 Placement For the purpose of internship, the trainee was allowed to perform internship in the organization where she was actively working for past two years. The organization is an advertising agency named Prisma Advertising located in Kalikastha, Kathmandu. The internee had been working in Public Relations Department (PR) as an Executive. 1.4 Expected Learning Experiencing the real life working environment Expand the boundaries of theoretical learning Develop better public relation skills with media as well as in corporate sector Section II Industry and Organization Profile 2.1 Industry Profile There are no records of any kind that tell us about the origin and history of Nepali advertisements. The earliest form of advertising may thus be taken as the trumpet blowing tradition of kings and maharajas to disperse royal messages. The advent of Mass Communication in Nepal can be said to have been through such official proclamations, which were usually accompanied by the use of musical instruments like drums or trumpets. The age-old oral tradition of promotion by vendors selling their wares in the market can also be taken as another early form of advertising. With the national daily  Gorkhapatra churning out advertisements on a regular basis, the advertising sector caught momentum, and the next major development came in the form of an advertising agency, Laxman Upadhaya’s Nepal Advertisers. The main objective of the agency was to publish flashy and attractive advertisements in the print media. Three years later, following in the footsteps of Upadhaya, Keshav Lamichane started Nepal Printing and Advertising Agency owned by Keshav Lamichane. This agency held the accounts of prime clients like Janakpur Cigarette Factory, Royal Nepal Airlines Corporation and Nepal Bank Limited. 2.2 Prisma Advertising Profile Prisma Advertising is the franchisee of Mathew and Ogilvy in Nepal. It is one of the most creative agencies which established in 1991. It is a full service office with team of 47 people which has been growing as creative leader and 360 degree brand stewardship. It provides wide range of services from media, branding, and sales promotion to advertisement. They continuously thrive to provide creative products by giving a consumer touch to what they deliver, also offer fully integrated marketing communication solutions as well as focus on building brand relationship with the consumers. It has been awarded as The Best Agency of the Year 2004-05, 2005-06, 2006-07 & 2007-2008 (four years in a row). In addition to it also has won the only international advertising award for Nepal – â€Å"Bell Ringer 2000† from Johnson &Johnson, USA. Prisma approach to communication: These activities are part of the prisma advertisement agency which is provided to the clients according to the promotion they required for their products and services. 2.3 Importance of Public Relation Department Why does Brand or an Organization need a Public Relation Department? Unless one is a celebrity, good public relation just does not happen on its own. It takes lots of skill and consistent hard work, over a period of time. It’s part art, part science and when practiced correctly the results can be very rewarding. Here are few reasons why Public Relations is important: Media coverage increases credibility Paid advertising increases name recognition; media relations increases credibility. When people read a story about the excellence of a particular organization in a newspaper or see a story praising the company on television, they are much more likely to have a favorable opinion of that particular organization. Media coverage helps to attract â€Å"quality† prospects  Because a public relations increases credibility, it helps to attract those who want the best. When people have heard of the organization or brand and have a favorable impression of it, it is easier to attract and hold their attention while the organization or the brand tell their story. Media coverage makes you a player  Coverage in important publications or on TV can make the organization or brand look much larger than it is. Public relations help to avoid price competition  If people believe that the particular brand is the best, they will understand why it is worth paying the price. A public relations program stretches the marketing budget  Because the media does not charge for news coverage, the relative cost of a good program is a lot less than for paid media or a direct mail campaign. Best way to launch a brand  Public relations are also considered by many as the best way to launch a brand or new product. When something is new the media often will write about it because of its news value. Section III Critical Analysis of Job Performed 3.1 Function of Public Relation Department PR Department functions to maintain and enhance mutual understanding/relationship between its clients and public. The core responsibility of the PR Department is to build and protect the brand. PR communicates client’s views, objectives and purposes to the general mass and at the same time monitors feedback and correcting the public attitudes/ reactions. For this, department focuses on major areas: Crisis Management: To avoid any crisis and its adverse effects to its clients, the PR Department prepares press releases and makes them public through media vehicle. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR): Also known as corporate responsibility, corporate citizenship, responsible business and corporate social performance that forms of corporate self-regulation integrated into a business model. To fulfill these responsibilities the company’s want to conduct events, and any such social events are organized for the client by this department. For example: charity program. Further, they also create social awareness for NGOs and INGOs and other organizations working for the welfare of the society at discount rates. Event Management: Various events such as press conference, product launching events etc. are organized either to provide new information or introduce a new product. In such events, various media houses, guests are invited and are provide with the press release which gives details about the event. Monitoring and tracking current scenario: Either it be country’s current happenings or competitor’s activities, PR Department tracks the entire essential data with the help of media and reports to the internal staff members as well as the client in daily basis as well as a monthly reports. 3.2 Activities Performed The internee was part of a PR Team and there were five members in this team. Public Relation Head, Senior Public Relation Supervisor, Copy Writer and PR Executives are the designations of this team. The internee was working under direct assistance of Senior Public Relation Supervisor. Each team members  had their specific task that they were assigned to and those were mentioned in their job description. Following were the job assigned to the intern. 1. Everyday internee had to make a daily update on country’s news update regarding political, business and social happenings and send it to the clients. 2. Track on competitor’s activities like press ad, news and send it to respective clients. 3. Make Share of Expense (SOE) respective to the competitor’s and send it to clients on monthly basis. 4. Make regular interactions with media as well as clients to enhance better public relation. 5. Make press releases, news articles on client’s activities and send it to media for the coverage. 6. Organized events like Press Conferences, Formal meetings with government bodies, and Cocktail parties as per the clients need. 7. Crisis management of the clients. Bajaj Pulsar 200 NS Launch, Coca-Cola Inter-School National Football Tournament, Coca-Cola ‘Live Positively ‘and Western Union’s collaboration with Mercy Corps to empower 1200 women to be financially literate were some of the major events organized as an internee under PR Department. The major task of the PR Department during these events was to highlight the program as much as possible with the help of media as well as word of mouth publicity. Few of the coverage of these events are attached below. Coverage of the Events Bajaj Pulsar 200 NS launch Coca-Cola Inter-School National Football Tournament Coca-Cola ‘Live Positively’ Western Union’s collaboration with Mercy Corps Activities Performed Working as an intern in PR Department, internee had to face several crisis situations where various brand reputation damaging news were covered by  newspapers and television. To tackle with those situations, crisis management was done. Few examples of Crisis Management are as follows: Nepal Samachar Patra and Sagarmatha Television were continuously showcasing various news regarding faulty products of Bottler’s Nepal Limited. To surpass those negative news, internee with the PR team had undergone the crisis management by flowing the positive news of the company in The Kathmandu Post. This is a technique where PR people do not counter the negative news directly but highlights the positive aspect of the company, person or the brand to put the positive news in the top of the publics mind. Negative News covered by Nepal Samachar Patra Positive News published in The Kathmandu Post 3.3 Public Relation Department Analysis As an internee under PR Department of an advertising agency, 3.4 Problem Identification and Solution Alternatives As every best effort does have a loop hole, PR Department also has to face certain problems at times.

McDonalds wishes to rework on its restaurant interiors Essay

McDonald’s is the world’s leading global foodservice retailer with more than 33,000 locations in 118 countries. McDonald’s has several company owned stores, but uses Franchising for both domestic and international expansion. McDonald’s India was set up as a 50:50 joint-venture between McDonald’s at a global level and regional Indian partners such as Hardcastle Restaurants Private Limited in western India, and Connaught Plaza Restaurants Private Limited in northern India. McDonald’s currently has over 220 restaurants in the country. McDonalds doesn’t provide any financial assistance and absentee ownership of finance is not allowed. Also, the financial requirements are quite steep. MFY- for implementing the MFY (Made for You) option for customers, the franchises are required to upgrade their equipment at their own expense. This caused some problem with maintaining standard service across all outlets. Pricing and menu may also be a point of difficulty for the franchiser and franchisee as prices vary between companies owned and franchised stores. Inconsistent standards- There are several instances of poor service or disgruntled customers complaining about the quality of food served. This is because it is difficult to enforce the exact same standards in all franchised stores. McDonald’s aims to provide 100 percent total customer satisfaction. In order to achieve this goal , McDonald’s relies on its operating philosophy based on QSC & V – Quality, Service, Cleanliness and Value. McDonald’s believes that customer satisfaction is crucial to the success of the brand and all Restaurants must perform to the standards. These standards are used in both company owned and franchised restaurants. QUALITY Best ingredients: This is achieved by its commitment to sourcing all its requirements from local farmers and suppliers. Before entering India, the company spent six years and Rs. 450 crore toset up its supply chain. In India McDonalds pioneered the cold chain management which helpskeep vegetables and processed products safe for a longer time. Preparation Standards: Best quality standardized ingredients ensure standardized preparation standards can be followed. Every product has a fixed procedure of preparation. However, newer McDonald’s stores offer MFY (Made for You) where the product is made only after the order is placed. Other standards: * FIFO: (First in first out) for all inventories. * Reverse osmosis water treatment plant: Best technology for water purification at every outlet to provide water. Strict standards for vegetarian products including eggless mayonnaise and eggless ice-cream. SERVICE * Soft standards: * Welcome every customer with a smile and are genuinely friendly at all times * Deliver consistent standards of hospitality Seize opportunities to interact with customers in a personal and positive way * Be well informed about product contents and nutritional information * Always appear clean and well groomed. * Hard standards: * Serve fresh and hot * Serve within one minute of receiving order or give a free coke. This is implemented in a few outlets and is not applicable during peak hours. * Cleanliness and Hygiene * The counters, tables, floor area are to be kept clean at all times. * All staff required to cover their heads and wear gloves when within preparation area. * All these standards are evaluated by mystery shoppers and rated. This is called a RVR Restaurant Visitation Report) which provides a snapshot of the stores performance over a period of a few hours. The stores are graded either A, B, C or F. Facility Exterior: Exterior Design: McDonalds design exhibits a sense of â€Å"Forever Young† look with bright red and yellow colours appealing to the children and establishing its family restaurant positioning. The building provides a practical, contemporary design that aligns with the McDonald’s brand essence while accommodating the latest operational and consumer experience standards. Their mascot Ronald Mcdonald is also present outside each of their restaurants. McDonalds always have all glass restaurants. McDonalds has always clearly identified and managed the various clues that customers use to form the impressions and feeling about their company. In addition to this, McDonalds has separate take away counters in order to save time of their patrons. Signage: All of McDonalds external signage reads as, â€Å"McDonalds-Family restaurant. Also keeping in mind with the local language, all McDonalds restaurant have their name boards in Hindi. McDonalds strongly believes in adhering to the local sentiments and hence none of the outlets in India sell Beef products and every restaurant has this mentioned. Also McDonalds, strongly believes in glass branding for any new products or services they offer. Most of the communication is designed to cater to local tastes and preferences. Parking/Landscape/Surrounding Environment: All McDonald outlets are located are accessible and present everywhere thus capitalizing on brand recognition. Most of the McDonalds have their own restaurants and hence the seating space available is exclusive to McDonald’s patrons. Also McDonalds offers proper parking facilities for its highway restaurants. Facility Interior All McDonalds outlet are standardized in terms of layout and have proper in-store branding. The â€Å"Young and Cheerful† design concept is a progressive, youthful, and energetic environment with open views for social interaction. All McDonald outlets are huge with proper aisles and passages with appropriate signage for seating arena, lavatories, wet floor and food counters. McDonalds has a Made for You food preparation platform.MFY is a unique concept (cooking method) where the food is prepared as the customer places its order. This cooking method has helped McDonald’s further strengthen its food safety, hygiene and quality standards. McDonalds also has illuminated Menu boards that offer a mix of both vegetarian and non vegetarian burgers along with other savories and drinks. McDonalds also has proper queues for placing order and often there is a executive who assists you in order placing. Also McDonalds gives toys for children thus making them wanting to come back. The other visible cues are color, lighting, in-store music, employee uniforms and trays with literary. McDonalds has ample in store lighting and directly inï ¬â€šuences an individual’s perception of the deï ¬ nition and quality of the space, inï ¬â€šuencing his or her awareness of physical, emotional, psychological, and spiritual aspects of the space. The bright McDonald stores ensure prompt handling and evaluation of products. In all McDonald stores the lighting is perceived as more pleasant than other fast food environments. The color scheme that McDonalds uses exhumes cheerfulness and warmth. Red depicts vibrance, cheerfulness while yellow depicts friendliness and brightness. At McDonalds, music is a positive auditory cue stimulating specific consumer behaviour and emotions. Music appears to influence buyer-seller interaction. There is audio played about the latest offers and products. Also a balance and constant sound creates a pleasant sound environment. All employees at McDonald are provided with uniforms and name badges along with caps with McDonald signature â€Å"M† arch. Employees are also trained with appropriate soft skills to address customers. Every employee or front line executive greets the customer and exchanges pleasantries, which makes them happy. Service quality gap: The five gaps that organizations should measure manage and minimize: Gap 1 (Listening gap) is the distance between what customers expect and what managers think they expect – Clearly survey research is a key way to narrow this gap. Gap 2 (standard and specification gap) is between management perception and the actual specification of the customer experience – Managers need to make sure the organization is defining the level of service they believe is needed. 29 Gap 3 (performance gap)is from the experience specification to the delivery of the experience -Managers need to audit the customer experience that their organization currently delivers in order to make sure it lives up to the specification Gap 4 (communication gap) is the gap between the delivery of the customer experience and what is communicated to customers – All too often organizations exaggerate what will be provided to customers, or discuss the best case rather than the likely case, raising customer expectations and harming customer perceptions Gap 5 is the gap between a customer’s perception of the experience and the customer’s expectation of the service – Customers’ expectations have been shaped by word of mouth, their personal needs and their own past experiences. Routine transactional surveys after delivering the customer experience are important for an organization to measure customer perceptions of service Service Quality dimensions Tangibles : Physical evidence of service Reliability : Consistency of performance and dependability Responsiveness : Willingness/readiness of employees to provide service in timely manner Credibility : Trustworthiness, believability, honesty Security : Freedom from danger, risk, doubt, assurance guarantee, Certification Competence : Possession of required skills to perform service Access : Approachability and ease of contact Empathy Courtesy : Politeness, respect, consideration, friendliness Values: They place customer experience at the core of all they do: They believe customers are the reason for their existence. They demonstrate their appreciation by providing them with high quality food and superior service in a clean, welcoming environment, at a great value. Their goal is quality, service, cleanliness and value (QSC&V) for each and every customer, each and every time. They are committed to their people. They provide opportunity, nurture talent, develop leaders and reward achievement. They believe that a team of well-trained individuals with diverse backgrounds and experiences, working together in an environment that fosters respect and drives high levels of engagement, is essential to their continued success. They believe in the McDonald’s System. McDonald’s business model, depicted by their â€Å"three-legged stool† of owner/operators, suppliers, and company employees, is their foundation, and balancing the interests of all three groups is the key. They operate their business ethically. Sound ethics is good business. At McDonald’s, they hold themselves and conduct their business to high standards of fairness, honesty, and integrity. They are individually accountable and collectively responsible. They give back to their communities. They take seriously the responsibilities that come with being a leader. They help their customers in building better communities, support Ronald McDonald House Charities, and leverage their size, scope and resources to help make the world a better place. They grow their business profitably. McDonald’s is a publicly traded company. As such, they work to provide sustained profitable growth for their shareholders. This requires continuous focus on their customers and the health of their system. They strive continually to improve. They are a learning organization that aims to anticipate and respond to changing customer, employee and system needs through constant evolution and innovation. McDonald’s is committed to providing the highest quality food and superior service, at a great value, in a clean and welcoming environment. That’s why we work with their employees, franchisees, and suppliers to serve a balanced array of food choices and provide the nutrition inform ation needed for customers to make sound decisions. At the restaurant level, McDonald’s is focused on energy conservation, sustainable packaging, and waste management. They are dedicated to innovate and improve their operations in order to build an even more sustainable, environment friendly and profitable business. And will continue to re optimize their menu, modernize the customer experience, and broaden accessibility to their brand, so that consumers will always enjoy the maximum McDonald’s experience. Service Blueprint: Loopholes in service operations: A research report released Thursday by Dunnhumby, highlighted by The Wall Street Journal, elucidates that in reality the customer eating experience is becoming more and more important to consumers. With so many fast-food options available, they make their decisions based on loyalty — and a significant portion of this support is garnered through a chain’s friendly customer service and good eating experience. It is without doubt that McDonald’s is still winning over Americans with its cheap Dollar Menu offerings and convenient drive thru service. But its poor customer-service scores are ultimately hurting its sales– a certainty supported by the Dunnhumby report that demonstrates that restaurants with higher customer-service scores tend to show higher comparable sales growth over a two-year period. Thus, if the world’s largest restaurant chain wants to maintain its edge over competitors, it must not only focus on price and promotions, but also the expe rience it offers to customers every day. And McDonald’s executives agree. The Wall Street Journal explains that in a webcast these executives held with franchise owners in March, they called its service â€Å"broken.† The number of customer complaints related to friendliness issues have only increased, and complaints about speed of service also â€Å"have increased significantly over the past six months.† Is it then perhaps possible that customers are becoming more accustomed to the friendly service and loyalty rewards they receive at other growing chains like and then less tolerating of the subpar services they encounter at other fast food chains? With respect to the services provided by McDonalds, the following management issues were observed McDonalds wishes to rework on its restaurant interiors and match up to those of its self owned restaurants, However the problem that they have encountered is that franchisee owners are unwilling to invest in interior design. McDonald’s has introduced MFY (Made for You) whereby the burgers are made after the order is placed. However, the franchises are required to upgrade their equipment in order to follow this. The franchisees are not willing to incur such expenditure which poses a problem to McDonald’s. We normally observe the customary trend of people queuing outside McDonalds especially during the weekends. This is due to the limited capacity space in the restaurants. This has been a persistent management problem for McDonalds. Even though the management at McDonalds has been trying to search for a solution for the same, it fears doing so pertaining to cost issues.