Ordinary Or Proportionate Care

In medical terms, ordinary or proportionate care, which is beneficial, useful, and not unreasonably burdensome to the patient, is morally obligatory. On the other hand, extraordinary or disproportionate care, which may include exotic, experimental, or excessively burdensome treatments that are unlikely to benefit a patient or that include unreasonable costs relative to benefits, is not morally obligatory, though a patient may choose to accept it.The categories of proportionate and disproportionate care therefore, allow us to navigate between two dangerous extremes: the fundamentals that would have us preserve life at all costs by any means necessary without regard for the burdens imposed on the patient, and the fatalism that would tempt us to give up on gravely ill patients before their time and violate their rights to life and basic care.In the case of Roger Allen, his directive not to undergo surgery anymore if there is no guarantee that he will recover and assume a normal life is based on his right as an individual to decide what he wants to do with his body and to be protected from unwanted interference from others. In his perspective, Mr. Allen may be thinking that the burdens of treatment in terms pain, effort and costs are disproportionate relative to the anticipated benefits of the treatment.In the first place, there is no guarantee that the surgery will restore his health. If it fails, either he will die or he lives, only to be a burden to his two daughters and relatives in terms of financial costs as well as efforts of caregiving, not to mention the emotional pain that his daughters and relatives will be experiencing due to his condition. On the other hand, if we look at the daughters’ perspective, it is only natural that they will try to exhaust any means to save their father’s life.If surgery fails and in the end their father dies, at least their minds and hearts are at peace knowing that they have done their best to save him rather th an being tormented for the rest of their lives with the idea that they could have tried at that slim chance to save him. In my opinion however, the request of the daughters to monitor their father’s condition after surgery for six months is too long. I think one to two months would be long enough. By that span of time, the medical professionals would be able to assess if there is improvement and a chance that the father will recover.Also in that span of time, the daughters’ decision may also change considering the physical, mental and emotional toll that they had experienced in the care of their father. On the part of the doctor, I think that he has no other choice but to insist the father’s wish. He himself, cannot guarantee the success of the surgery and medical treatment may only be prolonging the agony of everyone concerned. Furthermore, in his perspective, discontinuing medical procedures that are burdensome, dangerous, extraordinary, or disproportionate to the expected outcome can be legitimate.No doubt, Mr. Allen’s treatment falls under this category since the diagnostic tests reveal significant brain damage and internal bleeding of unknown origin, requiring exploratory surgery. In his case, one does not will to cause death; one's inability to impede it is merely accepted. The decision is made by the patient himself assuming that he is competent and able or, if not, by those legally entitled to act for the patient, whose reasonable will and legitimate interests must always be respected.

Convocation Address Essay

As part of his attempts to survive the horrors of the camp, Faludy (a university professor) gave mini-lectures in the barracks at night on a variety of subjects. Some of the fellow prisoners eagerly joined in; others declined. Faludy notes, â€Å"Those who died . . . ere always the men who had been most determined to survive, those who had concentrated on nothing but food, sleep and warmth . . . I was reluctant to admit the obvious: that delighting in a good poem or discussing Plato’s Socratic dialogue could somehow arm the spirit to the point that it could prevent the body’s collapse. † He concludes his address with this realization: â€Å"Our whole fragile tradition of art and thought is neither an amusement nor a yoke. For those who steep themselves in it, it provides both a guide and a goal for surpassing all the half-baked ideologies that have blown up at our feet in this century like landmines . . All we have to guide us in this present is the accumulated thought and experience of those who have lived before us. † This convocation address has had a significant impact on my view of education. Most people agree that there is potentially something noble about teaching, yet Faludy proves it. I am reminded of film critic Roger Ebert’s assessment of the film Life is Beautiful in which Ebert argues that since Jewish prisoner Guido is a clown, comedy becomes his weapon. Faludy was an educator. Education was his weapon. As it is for us all.

Pro-Slavery Argument

Pro-slavery The main issue in America politics during the years of the late 1840's to the late 1870's was slavery. Southerners wanted to keep the tradition of slave labor alive, and were Justifying slavery in any way possible; issue of slavery was a continuing debate in the 1800's. James Henry Hammond, John C. Calhoun, and William Joseph Harper were some of the men most famous for propagating the pro-slavery argument. Slavery was the economic foundation in the southern states during the 1800's.The efenders of slavery in the south had several arguments that they used to rationalize slavery. One argument was that ending slavery would destroy the economy in the south. Another pro-slavery argument was that slavery was a natural state of mankind since it has existed throughout history. The southern states to this day are the agricultural surplus for all of the United States crop production. For centuries, slaves were the most efficient and cheapest way to produce and harvest crops.The eco nomic and political advantages of slaves are what ultimately allowed southern itizens to survive. During the late 1830s through early 1860s, the pro-slavery argument was at its strongest (â€Å"The Proslavery Argument†). After the Civil War, freed slaves often returned back to plantations in search of money, because they did not have the resources to continue. If slavery was not abolished they would remain as property of the owner and would not have starved or been forced to work in low paying Jobs.Even though they did not have the best living and working conditions, they at least were given enough to survive. While I agree slavery is an ill moral, the concept of slavery is an economic plus. Furthermore in 1837, John C. Calhoun gave a speech promoting the â€Å"positive good† outcomes of slavery while also declaring slavery was â€Å"instead of an evil, a good – a positive good† (â€Å"The Pro-slavery Argument†). Today, top nations exploit third wo rld countries resources and economic stability due to the fact they are unable function without exporting.Countries such as China, Taiwan, Thailand, and most countries in Africa, exploit children and women to roduce factory goods for little or no money. With that process occurring, China is expanding and will possibly become one of the next top super nations. Chinas explorations of its citizens allowed the countries expansions, which will ultimately develop the country Just like the United States. While Africa's resources, such as precious metals, are being metaphorically robbed by other nations. Countries will buy their resources for almost nothing, while they are being produced by low paying workers.Although the top nations have abolished slavery, they still manipulate the countries that use slavery. This process allows countries to outsource their money in return of large profits. â€Å"Southern pro-slavery theorists asserted that slavery eliminated this problem by elevating all free people to the status of â€Å"citizen†, and removing the landless poor (the â€Å"mudsill†) from the political process entirely by means of enslavement† (â€Å"The Pro-slavery Argument†). Works Cited â€Å"The Pro-slavery Argument Boundless. Boundless. O

MGMT499 - 1403B - 04 Individual Project 3 Research Paper

MGMT499 - 1403B - 04 Individual Project 3 - Research Paper Example Every supervisor in the department should be honest to ensure that the process is successful (Sargeson, 2009). Additionally, they should follow these instructions: All the supervisors will be graded according to the work they perform, ensuring that their grading is accurate and true. In this case, all their duties will be examined and accessed and their performance will be tracked to ensure that only the relevant information is acquired and filled in the performance grading form (Butera, 2013). The language must be communal on all aspects and the grading criteria must be consistence to enhance easy evaluation of their performances. Through this method, it will be easy to access the frontline supervisor performance. The grading criteria’s to use will include; unsatisfactory, below expectations, meets expectations, exceeds expectations and lastly, outstanding (Weiner, 2010). The supervisor will be graded accordingly, ensuring that the results are genuine. The criterion is very effective since every supervisor fits in one of the criteria’s. Consequently, it is effective in ensuring that all the qualities of a given supervisor, wheth er good, bad or worst are represented. All the weights are equal since every character is important for the supervisor to be characterized as perfect in performing his or her duties (6.67%). Administration: Have quality, effective and perfect administration and organizational skills. Eliminate all the unnecessary activities in the department and handle all activities with caution to enhance success. Communication: Have good communication skills such as listening to the juniors, effectively listening to their pleas and addressing their issues. Be timely while providing important information to the co-workers and the management Teamwork: Does the supervisor relate well with the employees under all conditions, especially, getting along easily with

Understanding eWOM (electronic word of mouth) effect on consumer Research Proposal

Understanding eWOM (electronic word of mouth) effect on consumer purchase decisions - Research Proposal Example Understanding eWOM (electronic word of mouth) effect on consumer purchase decisions Due to such multiplicative applications and benefits eWOM, the subject is getting increasing attention from scholars. Park and Lee argued that eWOM should not be considered as the as extension of digital commercial advertisements created by companies to push the brand rather eWOM should be viewed as non-commercial message created by external stakeholders of the company such as customers. According to Park and Lee, eWOM can be viewed as the word of mouth created by customers through sharing their direct or indirect experiences. Consideration research work of Park and Lee reveals the fact that eWOM might be created by customers to share their experience without having the knowledge that the sharing can influence purchasing decision of other customers who are going through the eWOM. Hennig-Thurau et al. pointed out that most of researches in the field of eWOM focuses on issues like influence of word-of-mouth on purchase decision of consumers, factors directing consumer behaviour to use eWOM as reliable opinion leader, reliability of WOM in contrast to other marketing information etc. Bickart and Schindler pointed out that WOM should not be judged with other commercial advertisement of companies rather WOM should be judged in context to theory of planned behaviour concept. Interesting fact is that most of the research scholars conducted research on eWOM, failed to find any significant difference between effect of WOM and eWOM. These research scholars pointed out that WOM can create favourable or unfavourable message direction that can influence purchase intention and product attitude of customers. Chatterjee (2001) argued that consumers perceive WOM as more credible source to judge performance of the product rather than commercial advertisements. In modern days, eWOM can be used as exact alternative of WOM and customers are using eWOM to make purchase decision. So, is this assumption true that there is no difference between eWOM and WOM? Not actually, Park and Lee (2009) stated that eWOM differs from WOM in three aspects, 1- speed of interaction, 2- level interactivity and 3- communication in the virtual world. However, Golan and Zaidner (2008) criticized eWOM for creating confusion regarding credibility of the message among customers using it to know product experience of others. Yes, that is a basic problem with eWOM because text based recommendation messages are shared by anonymous individuals (in the age of competition, there are cyber professionals who get paid for spreading rumours and negative feedback about a brand); hence, it becomes difficult for readers of the text message to check the credibility of the source. These factors should be considered while discussing role of eWOM on consumer purchase decisions. According to Golan and Zaidner (2008), customers still face dilemma in trusting the online text recommendations or eWOM when it comes to making purchase decision and such level of dilemma is directed by perceived social or psychological risk. It is evident from the above

Explain and illustrate this with reference to examples drawn from at Essay

Explain and illustrate this with reference to examples drawn from at least two chapters from Book 1 - Essay Example The chapter also debates how the inequality is contested and what the demands of social justice are. There are many movements that are given as examples to support the topic. Welfare state is the concern of every society and inventing a welfare state is the responsibility of politics, policies and resources. The demands of a welfare state are equality, justice and security. But at most of the times an ideal welfare society or social justice cannot be maintained as they are bound of place and time. So there are compromises and settlements made in regards to let the system of the society work. There are different kinds of populations in a society like rich and poor. Not every society has the same needs and demands thus the concept works and lies within the society. It depends on the society but it may not fit a welfare state as a welfare state demands much more than just justice. When inequality exceeds its limits then the term used is exclusion. It is when the society becomes so unjust that groups do not even get considered as a part. The chapter answers questions that arise about social justice. The notions of social justice are based on two concepts, well-being and harm. Both of them affect the meaning of social justice and they are applied to a welfare state too. They frame the welfare state and crime control. The writer discusses the relationship between the well-being harm and social justice and talks about capabilities and capacities that are engaged to shape individuals, communities and social groups. Care is another factor involved as it fulfills functions of well-being of a society. Thus care and harm are opposition and are discussed in the chapter on contrasts. Care is associated to both welfare state and social justice. The chapter also discusses the harm and crime that is made at the work areas and explains it well with examples. The injustice made at work needs justice, making work places safe, regulating labor problems, labor mobilization,

Participation 4 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 3

Participation 4 - Essay Example Probability sampling uses random sampling method, where the researcher selects parties to the study randomly. This ensures that the study eliminates bias and makes it easier for the researcher to estimate the sampling error. In his article painter describes the use of probability sampling in research. The example he focuses on is on selection of households from a certain cross section area. The study may focus on selecting all households, which will include even newer households. Alternatively, in selecting a sample the researcher can exclude the newer households and consider those that have resided in the area for a while. The study, therefore, will use a cluster sample, which will focus on areas with old residents. The focus was on European waters and their efforts to improve the status of these waters. In this study, they use judgmental sampling method. In their research, they have selected certain water bodies that they intend to examine and come up with ways of improving their status. The rationale for using judgemental sampling method is that the water bodies are certain and; therefore, the researcher has to focus on a certain area of

Event Critiques Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

Event Critiques - Article Example ng of the Light: Film as Medium and Metaphor done by a group of six American artists and In Transit: Between Image and Object by Dike Blair, Hugh Scott-Douglas and others. The venue was aptly decorated to capture an artistic mood as well the American heritage through wall paintings, choice of curtains, stage arrangement and arrangement of sits. Everyone was carried into the mood of the occasion by merely looking at the setting. The stage presentation of the various art works marked the events climax with their sophisticated stage coordination and presence. The themes of their works, Waterston depicting inequality and economic disparities in the society, artists behind the Dying of the Light portraying art and particularly film as symbolic work while In Transit exploring parallel between physical movement of art and visual information flow engaged the audience in a super awesome manner. Audience was actively invited artistically to think visually about the society, the impact of art w ork on our cultures and entertainment as well as politics. In my reaction therefore I conclude that the event was perfectly planned, timed and executed. It is an important event to our art industry as people come to meet artists exhibiting their works on live stage and therefore appreciate the potential of art in entertaining, educating and highlighting society’s inefficiencies. Such events promote peace as people meet, enjoy together and support the industry art together and as such should be encouraged at all costs. Security should also be heightened in venues of such events to bar ill motivated individuals from

AT&T MOBILITY LLC v. CONCEPCION ET UX Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

AT&T MOBILITY LLC v. CONCEPCION ET UX - Essay Example The Ninth Court held a 5-4 decision that was written by Justice Scalia. The majority held that the provision was unconscionable under the provisions of California law as held by the Discover Bank. Laster v. AT&T Mobility LLC, 584 F.  3d 849, 855. This paper will analyze this case by explaining the issues involved, the majority opinion and also provide a stand on whether the minority dissent was better than the majority opinion. In the AT&T Mobility LLC v. Concepcion et ux. case, the Supreme Court in U.S ruled against the use of a state judicial doctrine that made the enforceability of an arbitration agreement limited. This decision dealt a blow to consumers but proved a success to corporations and merchants. The Supreme Court ruled that the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) obstructs the application of a judicial doctrine (Discover Bank rule) used in California that gives courts the permission to hold unconscionable class action arbitration waivers in agreements with consumers concerned. The above doctrine applies in cases where the class proceedings involve an adhesion consumer contract, when disputes attract small amounts of damage and that the superior party in the contract has deliberately conned many consumers’ large sums of money. The Supreme Court ruled that the FAA obstructs the California rule, thereby eliminating strong basis for protecting consumers (Sergeant, 2012). This paper will discuss t he AT&T Mobility LLC v. Concepcion et ux. case and the ethical issues in it. Vince and Liza Concepcion made a cell phone agreement contract with Cingular Wireless in February 2002. This contract had an arbitration clause that mandated all claims to be brought in the individual capacity of the party as opposed to a plaintiff or class member in ant representative proceeding or purported class. The agreement gave the service provider permission to make unilateral amendments willingly. AT&T Mobility LLC took over Cingular in 2005 with all its consumer

Depend on business plans you analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Depend on business plans you analysis - Essay Example Scottish Enterprise Business plan and the AMREF Business plan are the two online sources that were obtained. The AMREF Business plan was written for the period between October 2011 and September 2014 while the Scottish Enterprise was written for the period between 2012 and 2015. The outline given in class is different from the two online documents that I obtained. The financial analysis is the only similar element in the business plans of the textbook, and the two online sources. However, there are varied differences with the Scottish Enterprise and AMREF business plans. The business plan by the Scottish Enterprise business plan has the Chairman and chief executive’s foreword. It also contains the economic challenges facing the company and the globally competitive companies, sectors and business environment. A financial summary, performance evaluation and delivering a low carbon economy are contained in the document. This plan focuses the long-term goals of the company while a ddressing the immediate challenges the company faces in the current economic times On the other hand, AMREF has an executive summary that has a description of the companies plan. An introduction, values, and mission of the company follow the executive summary. The strategic fundraising, strategic directions, partnership descriptions, management of the business planning process, monitoring, evaluation and costing are the elements in the plan. The style used in business plan writing is the official recommended style of writing. In the two online sources, they capture background information about the company. It also contains the business details of the company, products, and services, and financial analysis of the company. The two plans were written using first pronoun with no references cited. A solid business plan must be written in first-person, in official format, and in cases where information is outsourced, it should be well referenced. The details of a business plan are critica l. The presentation of the business plan should be considered. It should be flawless, well organized, and arranged in a systematic way. If the plan is to be submitted to a group of donors or investors interested in a company, the plan should be convincing (Pinson, 20). This means that it should have a title page with the company’s name, current date and the implementation period of the plan. The content in a business plan will always vary. The executive summary follows the title page (DeThomas, 11). It should contain the basic business of the company, the company’s immediate and forecasted success. It should also contain the company’s products and services, their intended market and the sales potential in these areas. It should also contain brief information of the finances required to implement the plan and the competitive advantage of the company (DeThomas, 11). A management plan is a plan showing the employees that should be involved in the implementation of the plan. The suitable persons to help in the implementation process should have a set of skills and experience. The Human Resource management should recommend this skills and requirements. The management plan should have well outlined ways showing the sales and marketing required, production of goods, and the financial administration. Every segment in the plan should have adequate allocated time (Pinson, 25). A business plan should contain a market research analysis. It contains details

Target audiences and presentational devices Essay Example for Free

Target audiences and presentational devices Essay Newspapers have changed overtime in many ways even though most people are subscribed to at least one newspaper likeThe Seattle Times, The New York Times, The Sun, and The Daily Telegraph and so on. Now, because of the internet and online news publications for nearly every newspaper, newspapers have become a thing of the past. This means that people no longer have to spend money on buying a newspaper and also means that they can be more personalised. But in the early 19th century, many cities in Europe, as well as North and South America, published newspaper-type publications though not all of them developed in the same way; content was vastly shaped by regional and cultural preferences. Advances in printing technology related to the Industrial Revolution enabled newspapers to become an even more widely circulated means of communication. In 1814, The Times (London) acquired a printing press capable of making 1,100 impressions per minute. A wide variety of material has been published in newspapers, including editorial opinions, criticism, persuasion and op-eds; obituaries; entertainment features such as crosswords, sudoku and horoscopes; weather news and forecasts; advice, food and other columns; reviews of movies, plays and restaurants classified ads including display ads, editorial cartoons and comic strips. Most traditional papers also featured an editorial page containing editorials written by an editor and columns that express the personal opinions of writers. Another way they have changed is that they have included more stories which appeal to their target audience, meaning that they will include more pictures and stories depending on what the audience want for example: the sun tends to have lots of people with the socio economic of E-C which can connote that for most male adults and young male teenagers, they are mostly interested in page 3 models and sport. Before the internet, everyone received the good old Sunday paper. There are still some benefits of having a newspaper. You receive all of the news at once, and something that you might not think of clicking on online, you may glance across on a newspaper and find yourself interested in it. Also, the pure fact that a newspaper is a hard copy, easier to read for a longer period of time, counts towards the positives of newspapers. By 2007 there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a day. The worldwide recession of 2008, combined with the rapid growth of web-based alternatives, caused a serious decline in advertising and circulation, as many papers closed or sharply retrenched operations. These days, most people find it a lot easier and quicker to turn on their computer and browse their favourite news website not to mention that online news sites are generally free, compared to newspaper subscriptions. All in all, the newspaper business is slowly fading out of our everyday life, being replaced by various online publications. All the funding and budget they get to make the newspapers is the newspaper is typically funded by paid subscriptions and advertising. There are many different types of newspaper job roles: Journalists reporters editor columnist copy editor meteorologist news presenter photographer political commenter Industrial Revolution Soon, it was adapted to print on both sides of a page at once. This innovation made newspapers cheaper and thus available to a larger part of the population. In 1830, the first penny press newspaper came to the market: Lynde M. Walters Boston Transcript. Penny press papers cost about one sixth the price of other newspapers and appealed to a wider audience. In France, i mile de Girardin started La Presse in 1836, introducing cheap, advertising-supported dailies to France. In 1848, August Zang, an Austrian who knew Girardin in Paris, returned to Vienna to introduce the same methods with Die Presse (which was named for and frankly copied Girardins publication). Impact of television and Internet By the late 1990s the availability of news via 24-hour television channels and then the Internet posed an ongoing challenge to the business model of most newspapers in developed countries. Paid circulation has declined, while advertising revenue which makes up the bulk of most newspapers income has been shifting from print to the new media, resulting in a general decline in profits. Many newspapers around the world launched online editions in an attempt to follow or stay ahead of their audience. However, in the rest of the world, cheaper printing and distribution, increased literacy, the growing middle class and other factors have more than compensated for the emergence of electronic media and newspapers continue to grow. On April 10, 1995, The American Reporter became the first daily newspaper, with its own paid reporters around the world and all-original content, to start on the Internet. The Editor-in-Chief and founder is Joe Shea. The site is owned by 400 journalists. Newspaper typically generates 70-80% of its revenue from advertising, and the remainder from sales and subscriptions. The portion of the newspaper that is not advertising is called editorial content, editorial matter, or simply editorial, although the last term is also used to refer specifically to those articles in which the newspaper and its guest writers express their opinions. (This distinction, however, developed over time early publishers like Girardin (France) and Zang (Austria) did not always distinguish paid items from editorial content. ) Newspapers have been hurt by the decline of many traditional advertisers. Department stores and supermarkets could be relied upon in the past to buy pages of newspaper advertisements, but due to industry consolidation are much less likely to do so now. Additionally, newspapers are seeing traditional advertisers shift to new media platforms. The classified category is shifting to sites including craigslist, employment websites, and auto sites. National advertisers are shifting to many types of digital content including websites, rich media platforms, and mobile. In recent years, the advertorial emerged. Advertorials are most commonly recognized as an opposite-editorial which third-parties pay a fee to have included in the paper. Advertorials commonly advertise new products or techniques, such as a new design for golf equipment, a new form of laser surgery, or weight-loss drugs, the tone are usually closer to that of a press release than of an objective news story. In all, only 39 percent of the stories were related to dangerousness, smaller than the 50 to 75 percent of stories reported in earlier research but consistent with the approximately 30 percent of stories found by Wahl and colleagues. However, more stories fell into the dangerousness category than any other category. Hence, the public is still being influenced with messages about mental illness and dangerousness. Findings suggest the complexity of these results. A majority of stories are about violent crime against others or legal defences related to mental illness. However, stories in this group also included themes of suicidal or self-injurious behaviours and non-violent crimes. Stories related to dangerousness often ended up in the front sections of newspaper, making them more visible to readers. The target audience depends on the section of the paper. The funnies would be children. The sports would (most likely) be men. The economical section would be adults in general; usually newspapers and magazines targeted audience is the General Public. In the case of newspapers, it its own local people. In some magazines, their target audience is business owners and well to do rich folk. Some have specific audiences like music lovers, car lovers, or nature lovers. In most newspapers and magazines theres something in there to read for everyone.

Air France-KLM as Low-Cost Airline Across Europe Essay Example for Free

Air France-KLM as Low-Cost Airline Across Europe Essay Abstract Airline is an important industrial in European economy, with the liberalization and deregulation of European market, it is filled by a number of small-sized and large-sized airlines, recently, the model of low cost carriers is widely spread from America to Europe, the success attracts rivals to adjust business models to enter this market. Air France-KLM also attempts to adopt this strategy. This essay will use PESTEL and stakeholder theory, as well as corporate social responsibility (CSR) concept to analyze general environment and specific environment including customers and suppliers. Main ideas are Air France-KLM (FK) should concern CSR behavior especially including social and environmental perspective to conduct low-cost strategy rather than only consider economic perspective which is short-term financial performance, because it could not bring a sustainable development for company. Furthermore, FK should have operational resilience and strategic resilience under the uncertainty of dynamic environment, and integrate CSR as a organization culture which will become a competitive advantage. The general environment analysis could provide reference for other companies, and analysis of stakeholder theory and CSR concept will give a guidance for sustainable development of companies. Air France-KLM is owned by French airline (Air France) and Dutch airline (KLM). It is the largest airline company in the world, while the profit is continually decreasing in Europe within recent 5 years (Market Line 2014). It is positively seeking a path to maintain competitive position in European airline market. Two largest competitors are Ryanair and EasyJet in Europe who operate low-cost strategy which learn from Southwest in US, and they rapidly capture market share. Air France-KLM is planning to use same strategy to compete with them. Environment is a significant indicator that influences the operation of business. It is dynamic and complex, different elements are interrelated and interacted that bring different influence for present and future activities  of companies. Analysis of environment usually is divided into macro-environment and micro-environment, they separately cover the general environment and specific related environmental factors such as customers, suppliers and regulators (Kew and Stredwick 2005). As Europe is located in a low valley suffering debtor crisis, new business model is encouraged to stimulate the economy and transfer risks for government. This essay will evaluate and discuss the low cost strategy Air France-KLM will adopt, firstly, it will analyze the general environment using PESTEL tool, and using Five Forces model and stakeholder theory further seek the issue and factors that can help company to succeed in a long term. Especially, it will explain the importance of corporate social responsibility in business operation. Finally, it is to find the opportunities and threats that company should notice for future success to combines different factors. Air France-KLM is holding by Air France and KLM which is a Dutch airline, the alliance was formed in 2004. The headquarter is located in Paris, and it obeys the French law. Subsequently, it became the largest airplane company in terms of revenues in Europe, even over the world. However, the operating profit to Air France-KLM (FK) continually decreased from 2012 (MarketLine 2014). Air France-KLM is exploring another strategy to survive in the competitive airline industrial. As BBC reported Alexandre who is CEO of FK claimed company will adopt the Low cost carriers (LCCs) strategy to recover and sustain competitive position in airline industry (Clark 2014). Environmental analysis is an inevitable step to help company identify issues, flexibly and innovatively solve problems, also assist the strategist to improve the decision making process (Kew and Stredwick 2005). The internal and external environment analysis will be required in order to explore fitness of strategy within the whole business environment and internal capabilities; in addition, the analysis on competitive structure of industrial environment and stakeholder will deeply explore the important factors for the sustainable development rather than short-term success, especially CSR concept includes social and environmental perspective instead  of simply economic perspective which presents financial profits (Button 2014). FK will better understand the opportunities and threats under the business environment analysis. The characteristics of Low cost carriers are presented on maximum utilization for facilities and economically provide service that customers themselves need. Usually, it has a high seating density, single class configuration, point-to-point services; it frequently uses second-tier airports on cost saving (CAPA 2014). It also keeps a low maintenance and training costs, as well as eases scheduling and takes advantage of bulk purchases to obtain discounts from manufactures (Budd et al 2014). It generates profits from ancillary revenue such as meal, snack and luggage (Budd et al 2014). This model started from America Southwest Airline in 1978. Nowadays, LCCs as a strategy is widely adopted in Latin America and Europe. The combining analysis between the environment and characteristics above will evaluate the low cost strategy of Air France-KLM. PESTEL as a macro-environment analysis tool helps to understand the complex trend of environment. PESTEL includes political, economic, sociological, technological, legal and environmental. The analysis concerns the longitudinal and cross-sectional changes in time line. Firstly, liberalization events in US market significantly impacted other countries (Fu and Oum, 2014). France has high liberalized operating environment that enable companies to flexibly run any legal business model, it provides environment that FK can practice low cost strategy instead of the whole service provided with high cost (Budd et al 2014). Liberated market will be an advantage for innovation of business and increase the market power of company. It is big opportunity that companies can expand their network, as FK is an alliance to share strengthen and risks between French and Dutch airplane company (Fu and Oum, 2014). However, high-degree liberalization inevitably bring fierce competition. Additionally, the business model of public-private partnership is dominating the European airlines (Cruz and Marques 2011), especially the privatization process of European airlines is salient, government decreased the stake for business,  as French government hold a 16% stake on FK (Stothard and Bryant 2014). As a result, company will obtain less financial support from government, government is able to bear less risk of deficit. Secondly, to considering economic factors, German and France as primary strength motivate the economic recovery of Europe, French government is gradually putting effort to diagnose economic ills (Barber 2014). European countries still have maintained the high unemployment rate since financial crisis occurred in 2008, although it slightly fell in 2014 compared to last year (Statista 2014). Inflation rate had a slight fall in November than that of October, it will be a danger for debtors due to less revenue from sales, incomes or taxes, and debt problems is serious; energy price is falling as well (BBC Nov 2014). The important social indicators is consumer behavior is gradually changing. The increasing number of customers choose the high-speed train for a short journey instead of the airplane as a result of the punctuality and similar price on same time consuming (Dobruszkes 2011). In addition, the strength of unions in this two countries is very high, labour union has strong power such as pilots or crews. The impact of technology is significant, as the big data time is coming (Mark 2014), companies own the large number of data information about consumer, which will rapidly push the innovation of business, if company can dig and utilize the meaning of data. For the most important environmental and legal analysis, climate change is as one of themes in previous G20 conference and future UN conference will hold in 2015, and it will concentrate on a new set of Sustainable Development goals and emphasize the multilateral co-operation on a range of vital issues (FT 2014), which implies France should contribute to same goal, and perhaps the more strict regulation will be adopted, for example, CO2 emission. Additionally, the terrorism is serious problem airplane companies is facing.  In macro-environment, five forces model can identify and analyze the  competitive structure of industrial environment. Forces in relation to stakeholders can be discussed upon priority. The opportunities and threats will be identified further. Firstly, the intensity of rivalry is high, the large number of competitors in Europe is divided into two strategic streams, one is the large-size airplane such as Lufthansa and British Airway which are seeking path to compete in Europe; other representative group is LCCs including Ryanair and EasyJet. Various business models are emerging under the motivation of liberalized market conditions and globalization, airline companies could seek partner including other airlines companies and airports to form network for enhancing market power; additionally, each European country can operate and switch route freely (Fu and Oum, 2014). In contrast, LCCs provide service for customers who have high elasticity for price, it rapidly captured the market share as a result of low switching costs for buyers. To considering new entrants, 77% small-size companies failed which learn from LCCs to enter market, because the established companies with strong reputation and first mover advantages, and their size do not enable them to create the economies of scale (Budd et al 2014). Stakeholder theory claims companies should notice the interests of other groups, not only do companies focus on the interests of shareholder which is financial performance (Jensen 2001). Customer have highest power and interests for company, company usually prioritize them into first post; employees second, managers third, and shareholders last, according to the hierarchy of interests (Kew and Stredwick 2005). Customers have the most power and the highest interests to organization. From production side and demand side of economic perspective, as the analysis of business environment above shows the supply is over than demand, the number of fragmented airlines is more than customers (Budd et al 2014), so that the bargaining power of buyers is powerful, also switching cost is low between airlines. Low-cost strategy of FK is not lucrative in a market with high intensity of rivalry. However, business environment is along uncertainty and dynamics, the growth of Euro area will enable companies to earn the financial obtains as economic perspective. In fact, demand-supply economic perspective is narrow, the increasing demand of LCCs will lead to tragedy of the common for suppliers, because suppliers only consider the economic returns compared to inputs, and plunge themselves into price battle ignoring value creation, the more followers will emerge, obtained profits from one unit of input will be gradually decreased with the increasing rivals, and tragedy probably occur. So only economic perspective can not achieve success. CSR thoughts will benefits the long-term development of companies. It takes account of social and environmental perspective for a sustainable success, maximizing social welfare is an important measure under social perspective, and industrial success is based on sustainable development (Button 2014). Resources is limited in the world, when managers make decisions, they should consider to increase the long-run value for firm rather than a short-run financial performance including equity, debt and stock. Ryanair cancel safety cards stuck on the back of the seats, the legal proceeding is debatable. It requires trade off through time, also among different constitutions. When companies give up present cost of a unit for receiving that at some time in the future. As costs of input come from different resources including labour, capital or material purchased. The company with CSR can attract and retain talents and establish the brand image and reputation for companies. The power of suppliers as one force represents inputs, simultaneously, they consist of important stakeholders including suppliers, employees, aircraft manufactures and fuel as well as airports. Firstly, employee as the most important internal stakeholder has high bargaining power within industrial. It is reported from BBC, the pilots of FK struck due to the reduction of their salary when low cost strategy adopted (Stothard and Bryant 2014). As above mentioned, company should not save cost from input to create short term profit, it impaired the interests of employees, employees will bring less output; on the contrary, if company can give them more care and welfare, they will create more value, such as  company can provide training and individual deportment planning to maintain enough talent pool for future development, employee also will return to company through high qual ity of services and improve the satisfaction of customers. Setting an adverse example, Foxconn as a large manufacturer adopted military management to employees and ignored their normal needs for reducing cost, as a result, employee suicide and reputation of company was impaired, likewise talents are not willing to work here under abnormal management. CSR could be employee and employer relationship, while Legal utilization for employee is only the lowest level of CSR, Low cost strategy with CSR should not only obey legal behavior, but also pursue ethical, economic and philanthropic behavior (Carroll 1991). Aircraft manufacture is another stakeholder group, low cost strategy may squeeze their price and change manufacture process, as FK wants to reduce the weight of seats and increase the intensity of seat. They should â€Å"co-production† with them rather than simply ask them to achieve requirement, otherwise, suppliers will be reluctant to change manufacturing process for FK only. For instance, IKEA uses flat-package for products from manufacturing to selling as core competitive advantage, it desires suppliers of China to satisfy the flat-package manufacturing process, it not only help to upgrade production technology, but also provide training programme for employee (Inge and Claes 2011). IKEA maintains the good relationship with suppliers. These ethical and economic CSR behavior will increase the wealth of stakeholders, simultaneously, it improves itself production efficiency in value chain. For philanthropic behavior as the highest level, company donates to communities for local better development. Company can collaborate employees to contribute this, such as employee regularly participate volunteering activities for 20 hours each year. Also, as environmental and legal analysis above, CSR perspective can stimulate the innovation and initiative of company. For low-cost strategy, FK can try to innovate new technology or operational methods, such as the use of biofuels and the improvement of CO2 emission disposing. The last force is the threat of substitute, the prevalence of high speed rail as substitute has advantages for a short route. Especially, for business  group, they can use telecommunications on high speed train, and company also spend less on business trip. So the business passengers is decreasing. The noisy and pollution are comparative less than airplane. As German Airplane adopts corporate with high speed rail to compete with LCCs. Based on analysis above, Air France-KLM (FK) adopt low cost strategy, the opportunities and threats can be identified. Liberalized market environment and rapid privatization process provide a favourable condition for development of new model, while they also achieve a high competitive market. It represents other large-sized company also can adopt this model to enter the market. Also, existed competitors with first mover advantages and rich experience, and high speed train as substitutes whose advantages are salient gradually capture the market share for a short-route trip. The pressure of legal environment on CO2 emission and labour union is heavy for operation of FK on low cost strategy. Compared to Ryanair, it ignored the CSR behaviour no matter what level about legal, ethical and philanthropic behaviour. It will be a path for long-term sustainable development for FK. CSR more concern social and environmental value that FK could create, it as a large airline company will explore and represent a new and correct path bearing CSR rather than the short development for financial performance, because it will cause tragedy of the common for the whole society, it will more take account of the interests of stakeholders. In detail, it can use biofuel and decrease the CO2 emission, also maintain good relationship with customers and employee, as well as suppliers. Catching the development of technology, FK should utilize the big data to dig needs of customers to innovate the business model. Under the turbulence of terrorism, European countries can corporate together to resist it for the whole society. French domestic CSR policy as a national competitive advantage will support this business model of FK (France Diplomatie 2014), as investment in CSR while it is difficult to receive profit in short-term, so perhaps FK could reduce the short-term financial pressure from support of government. So the policy of government is consistent with corporate strategy will be helpful. A differentiated low-cost strategy could be adopted by FK. CSR can be a culture of company as a competitive advantage to position itself in market, so that it will always stimulate the innovation and learning of organization, and maintain effective human resources management such as attracting and retaining talents. Organization should consider the knowledge management through technology to advocate CSR concept to every internal and external stakeholders in order to better achieve CSR activities. In addition, FK as one of large-size companies, it has enough experience and strengths to compete with other LCCs, even though they have first mover advantages in terms of reputation and economics of scale. On the other hand, as a large-size company has solid organizational institution and vested interested group so that the strategy change of organization is not easy. As the growth of Euro area with uncertainty lead to bigger risk FK will face (Cadman and Giles 2014), it indicates FK should concern the operational resilience and strategic resilience, once it suffers the unexpected adversity. In conclusion, under the analysis of complex and dynamic environment, Air France-KLM should adopt a differentiated low cost strategy. The economic and political market environment with high-degree liberalization and privatization will provide conditions for the development of business model, also increase the market competition due to a large number of rivals emerging under deregulation. Ryanair and EasyJet with first mover advantages have captured the large market share, also they have accumulated more experience, but the weakness of rivals and trend of environment such as regulation on CO2 emission and sustainable development indicate FK should bear responsibility to seek another path, which more concern the interests of stakeholders, CSR behaviour and activities to create long-term value such as the use of biofuel. At the same time, FK can integrate CSR as a culture, also a competitive advantage in order to continually motivate itself to innovation and learning, also improve the effectiveness of human resources management. The development of technology will require FK to utilize data to dig needs of  customers to innovate the business model in big data time. European countries also need to corporate together to resist it for common society under the turbulence of terrorism. Uncertainty of environment also require company have operational resilience and strategic resilience, once it suffers the unexpected adversity. References: Air France-KLM S.A. company profile, (2014) Market Line [Online] Available from: http://0-eds.b.ebscohost.com.pugwash.lib.warwick.ac.uk/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=172f9c2f-747f-4b99-9c37-34a375aa6a06%40sessionmgr110vid=1hid=114 [Accessed: 15 Dec 2014] BBC 2014 Eurozone inflation rate falls to 0.3% BBC 28.Nov. 2014 [Online] Available from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-30243113 [Accessed: 15 Dec 2014] Barber, T., (2014) France shows courage in diagnosing its economic ills, FT, 22,Dec, 2014 [Online] Available from: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/a364d628-86cd-11e4-8a51-00144feabdc0.html?siteedition=uk#axzz3Nmt1hzwF [Accessed: 15 Dec 2014] Button, K., (2012) Low-cost airlines: a failed business model? Transportation Journal, Vol, 5. No.2, pp197-219 [Online] Available from: http://0-muse.jhu.edu.pugwash.lib.warwick.ac.uk/journals/transportation_journal/v051/51.2.button.html [Accessed: 15 Dec 2014] Budd et al (2014) Grounded: Characterising the market exit of European low cost airlines Journal of Air Transport Management Vol, 34, pp78-85 [Online] Available from:http://0-www.sciencedirect.com.pugwash.lib.warwick.ac.uk/science/article/pii/S0969699713001129 [Accessed: 15 Dec 2014] CAPA 2014 [Online] Available from: http://centreforaviation.com/profiles/hot-issues/low-cost-carriers-lccs [Accessed: 15 Dec 2014] Cruz. C.O., and Marques. R.C., (2011) Contribution to the study of PPP arrangements in airport development, management and operation. Transport policy Vol.18 pp392-400 [Online] Available from http://0-www.sciencedirect.com.pugwash.lib.warwick.ac.uk/science/article/pii/S0967070X10001460 [Accessed: 15 Dec 2014] Carroll, A., (1991) The Pyramid of Corporate Social Responsibility. Business Horizons, 42: 39-48 Kew. J. and Stredwick J. (2005) Business environment: managing in a strategic context. London: The Cromwell Press Clark. N 2014 Air France-KLM Restructuring Puts New Focus on Its Low-Cost Airline The New York Times 11. Sept. 2014 [Online] Available from http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/12/business/international/air-france-klm-restructuring-puts-new-focus-on-its-low-cost-airline.html?_r=1 [Accessed: 15 Dec 2014] Dobruszkes F. (2011) high-speed rail and air transport competition in western Europe: a supply-oriented perspective. Transport policy Vol.18 pp.870-879 Fu. X.W., Oum, T.H., 2014 Air Transport Liberalization and its Effects on Airline Competition and Traffic Growth – An Overview In The Economics of International Airline Transport. Vol, 4 pp11-44 [Online] Available from http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/S2212-160920140000004000 [Accessed: 15 Dec 2014] France Diplomatie 2014 [Online] Available from http://www.diplomatie.gouv.fr/en/french-foreign-policy-1/economic-diplomacy/corporate-social-responsibility/france-s-domestic-csr-policy/ [Accessed: 15 Dec 2014] Inge, I and Claes, G.A., 2011 Upgrading in global value-chains: a case study of technology-learning among IKEA-suppliers in China and Southeast Asia Journal of Economic Geography 11 (2011) pp. 731–752 Jensen. M.C., (2001) Value maximization, stakeholder theory, and the corporate objective function European financial management Vol.7 No.3 pp297-317 [Online] Available from

Leadership Case Study: Virgin Group

Leadership Case Study: Virgin Group Founded in 1970 as Virgin Records, the company has expanded to a humongous organization comprising of more than 200 companies in 2007. Its business portfolio ranges from air travel, fitness centers, and mobile telephony. Since its inception, the culture and image of Virgin Group has been directly attributed to the personality and efforts of its owner and founder, the high-ranking executive and entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson. It makes no sense to delink Virgin Group from Sir Branson. In fact, the name Branson is almost becoming synonymous with Virgin Group. This essay aims to provide several aspects of Virgin group. These include the critical analysis of its organizational model, the leadership of Sir Richard Branson and eventually organizations communication. Discussion Virgin Group is made up of more than 200 companies, which employ nearly 50,000 people all over the world. The business has witnessed continual growth since it was started. The revenues reached a record mark of 10 billion sterling pounds in the year 2006. This reveals the magnitude and level of business in which Virgin Group is operating. The nature of leadership in existence in Virgin Group draws many features from the personality of Sir Richard Branson. The business philosophy postulated by Sir Richard Branson believes that the ultimate results of customer satisfaction and shareholders gain is the responsibility of every individual. He believes that if the staffs are kept happy then the customers are going to be happy meaning that the shareholders will be happy too. Consequently, the management of Virgin Group does not fall in to any particular model. It has a unique management structure whose characteristics do not fit those of the existing models. The amalgamation of concepts make s it distinctive. A critical review reveals that the success witnessed by Virgin Group can be attributed to the uniqueness of its management styles. Management Theorists like F Taylor first created the concept of scientific management. This scientific concept postulates that there are six main features of management, namely; experiment, observation, selection, standardization, and training. Scientific philosophy of management expects that rewards and employee compensation should be pecked on performance and co-operation. Although some facets of this theory are outdated, some of its features are still applicable in the business structure of modern times. As a good illustration, Virgin group may be having what appears as a relaxed working environment but some features of scientific management are in application. Such aspects of scientific management used in Virgin Group include training, selection, and payment pecked on results. Some employees are compensated because of their outstanding entrepreneurial ambition and innovative thinking. Outstanding performance in Virgin Group is not only measure by the amount of financial input an employee has brought but also creativity and ability to think outside the box. Another model of management is bureaucracy, which sees the organization of business as one unit. The pioneers of this school of thought believed that family practices could not be delinked from the organization. Therefore, there a need to merge family goals with those of the entire organization. Organizational goals of Virgin Group cannot be dissociated with those of Sir Richard Branson. This is enough reason to conclude that the management style in the organization has some elements of bureaucracy in leadership. Max Weber first formulated this kind of management approach. The impact of entire society is given considerable attention by the management. In this model, the organization is considered as an integral part of an amorphous society. Despite having some draw backs, this model has found its way in to the Virgin Groups management style. In a bid to meet the needs of the society it is serving, virgin management give priority to the impact, its strategies will have on the society. This is the reason as to why Virgin Atlantic, an airline company under Virgin Group, has been on the frontline on the crusade for environmentally friendly jet fuel. Furthermore, there is an element of administrative theory in the management of Virgin Group. Propounded by Henry Fayol, administrative theory view management as a chronological process comprising of planning, organization, training, and coordination of functions. This model represents the transitional theory between the traditional and modern models. It is characterized by rigid and mechanistic tenets. Virgin Group has a little bit of these management principles. It has deviated from it by allowing liberalized management at departmental level. However, at the departmental levels, there is need to advance the principles of management. The thoughts of employees should remain to be customized to suit these principles. The management of Virgin group with a heavy weight is contingency approach. The decision-making and plans executions are done with close reference to the problem at hand. This has seen the group attain notable milestones in streamlining its management, which eventually translates in to revenues. In this management model, the dynamics of business environments is appreciated. It recognizes the fact that different environments require different management approaches. Concisely, it is true to argue that Virgin Groups success story of many years is a factor of many things including it optimal management model. The group has been able to amalgamate the presets of every model to suit its present needs. What is emerging vividly from this global organization is the fact that the efficacy of management is determined by its ability to move away from conventional and rigid requirements. Moving with the trends in the market has been proven beneficial in optimization of profits. From the descriptions given above, it is evident that Virgin Group leadership is a transformational. In transformational leadership the management looks beyond the compensation to the employees. The model, which is in use at Virgin Group, explores the inner factors, which enhance performance of employees through motivation. On contrary to transactional model, which look at compensation alone, transformational leadership looks at way of achieving high-level loyalty and commitment from the followers. The brand in the name of Virgin was founded in 1968. Since then it has grown beyond borders and become a worldwide product. Its venture into many different industries is a true reflection of success. Sir Richard Branson is the present chairperson of the group. He is well known for his stylish but competitive leadership skills. Many analysts and scholars attribute the success of Virgin Group to the creative leadership skills of Branson. In the process of expansion, he took over several risky ventures in a more to diversify and improve his business. In most of his business plans, he focused on minute segment of a specific market and provided quality products or services. This approach allows for creation of small monopolistic markets with high profit margins. One major contributor to Bransons success story is his ability to lead people in exploring innovative and profitable ventures. Therefore, the leadership style depicted by Branson is a topic to be investigated in the following disc ussions. The kind of leadership philosophy advocated by Branson has been infiltrate into the entire company. Sir Richard Bransons leadership style falls in the category of transformational. He has an outstanding ability of bringing out the best out of humanity. Interpersonal and relational skills possessed by Branson are impeccable. He has close touch with the day to day activities of various companies within his group. The most common feature that has made him achieve great milestones in business development is the ability to motivate and rally fellow partners in pursuit of a business opening. If the recent acquisitions are taken as an illustration, he managed to convince fellow stakeholders in adoption of new strategy. In his ventures, he looks for people who are outgoing and willing to start new businesses. His capacity building nature has made him an admirable leader of modern business. His focus spans beyond the orthodox perspective of employees where the management expects the workers to perform to deserve compensation. The interest of Branson surrounds asking the question as to whether a partner or employee is optimizing his or her capacity. He is interested also with people who are willing to take risks and the best in their tasks. For a long time, he has succeeded in bringing out the best out of his staff, a core character of transformational leader. There is no doubt about the fact that Bransons success since 1970s is directly attribute to his attitude towards management of a team. In his approach, the barrier existing between the employees and management is broken. In fact, many people working with him approaches business issues with a philosophy of achieving through innovative thinking and not adhering to the preset rules. Because of the ideologies propagated by Branson, all participants in the organization share similar values. He formulated his own style of leadership, priding himself on integrating the employees in to his style and seeking their thoughts on ways of improving value to customers. Employees are expected to internalize these values and respond in accordance to them. Integration of corporate values in leadership strategies means that there is little interference by external forces. Nevertheless, Sir Bransons approach does not mean that the employees are entirely dependent on the chairmans thoughts. They are equally accountable of their actions like fellow employees under transactional leadership. In order to motivate his employees, Branson and his management team, especially human resources management department have systems of enhancing commitment of employees through bonuses, stock options and profit sharing, and internal promotion wherever possible. Apart from Sir Bransons input in the success of virgin Group, there is a contribution of organizational culture in the company. Organizational culture existing in Virgin Group in fairly complex. The Group serves more than 100 companies operating separately in the industries which are not entirely related. The common feature within ever company in the group is the glamorous Virgin Brand. The brand remains unchanged in all companies operating in different businesses. This is a similarity, which puts a heavy responsibility on each department or division to positively represent the brand. The image reveals an overall image of quality and innovation inherent in the group. Through the creation of an exclusive brand, the company has been able to consolidate and maintain desirable loyalty levels among the customers. The diverse business portfolio evident in Virgin Group businesses is helpful in building and maintaining loyalty in various industries. This is the main reason as to why the company has witnessed high levels of success. The managers in the company employ the concept of creativity to encourage employees to enhance their contribution to the group in whatever level of hierarchy. They discourage the scenario where employees sit back to execute instructions. Employees have the capacity of producing cutting-edge products, which the whole company will be able to deliver to the market. They can also formulate ways of improving efficiency in the company. This is an outstanding feature of Virgin Group. Every individual has a say when it comes to products development. The management style in application at Virgin Group encourages members of staff to be competitive. This will eventually build a desire in the hearts of employees to see the company succeed so that they can be recognized as contrib utors to new and innovative business model. There is no clear cut between management and leadership within Virgin Group. Transformational leadership emanates from executives and top managers in the company. There are harmonized goals set by Sir Richard Branson and fellow company executives. Various companies within the group will work towards achieving those goals. These ambitious goals range from utilization of new technology, expansion in international markets, joint venture with other existing companies and loyalty among customers. Goals formulated at this level of management are communicated to every employee in the company. This is a beneficial strategy, which gives every employee a task to accomplish in fostering the groups mission. The senior management implores the employees to output their skills in such a way that they are going to complement the company. The notion behind this effort is to advance the philosophy that the entire benefits of the group will eventually lead to individual gains for every person involved. The contribution in the group will ultimately result in rewards for managers, employees, shareholders, executives, and customers alike. One desirable feature of Virgin Group is its organizational structure. Through its structure the company has succeeded in overcoming the challenges related to expansion. An expansive organization like Virgin Group must explore ways of handling the massive information within the company. Through its flat organizational chart, Virgin Group Limited has been able to handle it expansive business portfolio with much ease. The reduction of horizontal chain of command means that interdepartmental communication is enhanced. As the level of hierarchy moves down, the lower levels of management tend to concentrate more keenly on the management of the company. Although leadership is always encouraged among the managers, it requires some levels of strict management to make sure that the task has been accomplished. Different divisions within the company have different management function. At Virgin Group, managers have several goals of wide scope. Because of the fact that different divisions of the company are specialized in their operations, well-trained and qualified mangers are required to manage it effectively. In most cases, managers employed by the company have a firm background in their sector of specialization. They must also prove that they are capable by showing a successful record of accomplishment. It is the sole responsibility of managers within Virgin Group to ensure that day-to-day operations needed to keep the division running are executed effectively. Organization is a vital ingredient in the success of Virgin companies. Since the group in an amorphous company comprising of several companies, organization is very critical in putting together the processes. To start with, the company has many goals to be achieved like expanding the global presence and building of customer loyalty. The top executive are responsible for determining these goals and making them available to the entire company. The same executive must ensre that these goals are achievable for them to be received well by employees. However, caution should be exercised to ensure that the employees are not underutilized. Challenging goals are important for the employees to feel that they are engaged in meaningful tasks. Organization of these goals within the division will ensure that specific targets are made. Every division have separate and specialized goals aimed at increasing market share and improvement of product and services. As the hierarchy advances to the junior staffs, goals become more precise and short lived. The targets set at implementation levels are easily achievable because they are very specific. These specific goals are formulated by division managers with close reference to those of the entire group. This system of information transfer enables the company to remain on track on the journey to meeting the targets set by executives. Virgin is a living evidence for the fact that this kind of organization is a major prerequisite for business success. Breaking down of general goals in to actionable points is a desirable feature revealed in Virgins organization. A healthy and workable organizational structure witnessed in Virgin Groups businesses is attained with many varying strategies. Transformational leadership is one of these strategies that have seen the company attain great heights of success. This strategy enables people of diverse backgrounds and ability to share a common goal. Through working together, a team can combine its members efforts and work towards achieving common goal. Transformational leadership gives everyone an equal chance to output his or her ability without reservations. A critical review of Virgin Group business reveals that its versatile and innovative workforce is due to the transformational leadership in place. This is in contrast with transactional leadership in which employees are compensated according to performance. The draw back with this kind of leadership is that it breeds greedy employees whose goal will be to amass rewards as much as possible. Conclusion In conclusion, there are many things to be learned from leadership and management of Virgin Group Limited. The company has cut itself a niche in various industries. It has also proven that all things are possible with dedication and commitment. Through the able leadership of its Chairman, Sir Richard Branson, the management team has come up with a unique formula of managing large scale businesses like Virgin Group. To a large extend, the success of Virgin Group is directly attributable to the input of Sir Branson. He has succeeded in opening a new chapter of management, which deviates from conventional methods. His liberal and all accommodating approach is desirable. There is a formidable blend between management and leadership. A critical review of these two elements reveals that there is no clears cut between the two: a feature that has worked well for the company. Chemical bonds: An introduction Chemical bonds: An introduction Introduction A chemical bond is an attraction between atoms brought about by a sharing of pair of electrons between to atoms or a complete transfer of electrons. There are three types of chemical bonds: Ionic, Covalent and Polar covalent. In addition chemists often recognize another type of bond called a hydrogen bond. Among all these three chemical bonds the strongest bond is covalent bond and weaker from covalent bond is ionic bond and weakest among all is polar bond. The main condition for a covalent bond to be formed is that both atoms forming covalent bond should have equal electro negativity or nearly equal electro negativity. For example: carbon can form covalent bond with oxygen and carbon but a covalent bond between carbon and nitrogen is never possible because there is high difference between electro negativity of carbon and nitrogen. Explanation Chemical bond A chemical bond is an interaction between atoms or molecules and allows the formation of polyatomic chemical compounds. A chemical bond is the attraction caused by the electromagnetic force between opposing charges, either between electrons and nuclei, or as the result of a dipole attraction. The strength of bonds varies considerably; there are strong bonds such as covalent or ionic bonds and weak bonds such as dipole-dipole interactions, the London dispersion force and hydrogen bonding. Since opposite charges attract via a basic electromagnetic force, the negatively-charged electrons orbiting the nucleus and the positively-charged protons in the nucleus attract each other. Also, an electron positioned between two nuclei will be attracted to both of them. Thus, the most stable configuration of nuclei and electrons is one in which the electrons spend more time between nuclei, than anywhere else in space. These electrons cause the nuclei to be attracted to each other, and this attraction results in the bond. However, this assembly cannot collapse to a size dictated by the volumes of these individual particles. Due to the matter wave nature of electrons and their smaller mass, they occupy a very much larger amount of volume compared with the nuclei, and this volume occupied by the electrons keeps the atomic nuclei relatively far apart, as compared with the size of the nuclei themselves. In general, strong chemical bonding is associated with the sharing or transfer of electrons between the participating atoms. Molecules, crystals, and diatomic gases— indeed most of the physical environment around us— are held together by chemical bonds, which dictate the structure of matter. * Main types of chemical bonds In the simplest view of a so-called covalent bond, one or more electrons (often a pair of electrons) are drawn into the space between the two atomic nuclei. Here the negatively charged electrons are attracted to the positive charges of both nuclei, instead of just their own. This overcomes the repulsion between the two positively charged nuclei of the two atoms, and so this overwhelming attraction holds the two nuclei in a fixed configuration of equilibrium, even though they will still vibrate at equilibrium position. In summary, covalent bonding involves sharing of electrons in which the positively charged nuclei of two or more atoms simultaneously attract the negatively charged electrons that are being shared. In a polar covalent bond, one or more electrons are unequally shared between two nuclei. In a simplified view of an ionic bond, the bonding electron is not shared at all, but transferred. In this type of bond, the outer atomic orbital of one atom has a vacancy which allows addition of one or more electrons. These newly added electrons potentially occupy a lower energy-state (effectively closer to more nuclear charge) than they experience in a different atom. Thus, one nucleus offers a more tightly-bound position to an electron than does another nucleus, with the result that one atom may transfer an electron to the other. This transfer causes one atom to assume a net positive charge, and the other to assume a net negative charge. The bond then results from electrostatic attraction between atoms, and the atoms become positive or negatively charged ions. All bonds can be explained by quantum theory, but, in practice, simplification rules allow chemists to predict the strength, directionality, and polarity of bonds. The octet rule and VSEPR theory are two examples. More sophisticated theories are valence bond theory which includes orbital hybridization and resonance, and the linear combination of atomic orbitals molecular orbital method which includes ligand field theory. Electrostatics is used to describe bond polarities and the effects they have on chemical substances. Valence bond theory In the year 1927, valence bond theory was formulated which argued essentially that a chemical bond forms when two valence electrons, in their respective atomic orbitals, work or function to hold two nuclei together, by virtue of system energy lowering effects. In 1931, building on this theory, chemist Linus Pauling published what some consider one of the most important papers in the history of chemistry: â€Å"On the Nature of the Chemical Bond†. In this paper, building on the works of Lewis, and the valence bond theory (VB) of Heitler and London, and his own earlier work, he presented six rules for the shared electron bond, the first three of which were already generally known: 1. The electron-pair bond forms through the interaction of an unpaired electron on each of two atoms. 2. The spins of the electrons have to be opposed. 3. Once paired, the two electrons cannot take part in additional bonds. His last three rules were new: 4. The electron-exchange terms for the bond involve only one wave function from each atom. 5. The available electrons in the lowest energy level form the strongest bonds. 6. Of two orbitals in an atom, the one that can overlap the most with an orbital from another atom will form the strongest bond, and this bond will tend to lie in the direction of the concentrated orbital. Bonds in chemical formula The 3-dimensionality of atoms and molecules makes it difficult to use a single technique for indicating orbitals and bonds. In molecular formulae the chemical bonds (binding orbitals) between atoms are indicated by various different methods according to the type of discussion. Sometimes, they are completely neglected. For example, in organic chemistry chemists are sometimes concerned only with the functional groups of the molecule. Thus, the molecular formula of ethanol (a compound in alcoholic beverages) may be written in a paper in conformational, 3-dimensional, full 2-dimensional (indicating every bond with no 3-dimensional directions), compressed 2-dimensional (CH3-CH2-OH), separating the functional group from another part of the molecule (C2H5OH), or by its atomic constituents (C2H6O), according to what is discussed. Sometimes, even the non-bonding valence shell electrons (with the 2-dimensional approximate directions) are marked, i.e. for elemental carbon.C. Some chemists may a lso mark the respective orbitals, i.e. the hypothetical ethene−4 anion (/C=C/ −4) indicating the possibility of bond formation. Strong chemical bonds Typical bond lengths in pmand bond energies in kJ/mol.Bond lengths can be converted to by division by 100 (1 Ã… = 100 pm).Data taken from Bond Length(pm) Energy(kJ/mol) H — Hydrogen H-H 74 436 H-O 96 366 H-F 92 568 H-Cl 127 432 C — Carbon C-H 109 413 C-C 154 348 C=C 134 614 C≠¡C 120 839 C-N 147 308 C-O 143 360 C-F 134 488 C-Cl 177 330 N — Nitrogen N-H 101 391 N-N 145 170 N≠¡N 110 945 O — Oxygen O-O 148 145 O=O 121 498 F, Cl, Br, I — Halogens F-F 142 158 Cl-Cl 199 243 Br-H 141 366 Br-Br 228 193 I-H 161 298 I-I 267 151 Strong chemical bonds are the intramolecular forces which hold atoms together in molecules. A strong chemical bond is formed from the transfer or sharing of electrons between atomic centers and relies on the electrostatic attraction between the protons in nuclei and the electrons in the orbitals. Although these bonds typically involve the transfer of integer numbers of electrons (this is the bond order), some systems can have intermediate numbers. An example of this is the organic molecule benzene, where the bond order is 1.5 for each carbon atom. The types of strong bond differ due to the difference in electronegativity of the constituent elements. A large difference in electronegativity leads to more polar (ionic) character in the bond. Covalent bond Covalent bonding is a common type of bonding, in which the electro negativity difference between the bonded atoms is small or nonexistent. Bonds within most organic compounds are described as covalent. See sigma bonds and pi bonds for LCAO-description of such bonding. A polar covalent bond is a covalent bond with a significant ionic character. This means that the electrons are closer to one of the atoms than the other, creating an imbalance of charge. They occur as a bond between two atoms with moderately different electro negativities, and give rise to dipole-dipole interactions. A coordinate covalent bond is one where both bonding electrons are from one of the atoms involved in the bond. These bonds give rise to Lewis acids and bases. The electrons are shared roughly equally between the atoms in contrast to ionic bonding. Such bonding occurs in molecules such as the ammonium ion (NH4+) and is shown by an arrow pointing to the Lewis acid. Molecules which are formed primarily from non-polar covalent bonds are often immiscible in water or other polar solvents, but much more soluble in non-polar solvents such as hexane. Ionic bond Ionic bonding is a type of electrostatic interaction between atoms which have a large electro negativity difference. There is no precise value that distinguishes ionic from covalent bonding but a difference of electro negativity of over 1.7 is likely to be ionic and a difference of less than 1.7 is likely to be covalent Ionic bonding leads to separate positive and negative ions. Ionic charges are commonly between −3e to +3e. Ionic bonding commonly occurs in metal salts such as sodium chloride (table salt). Bonds in chemical formula: he 3-dimensionality of atoms and molecules makes it difficult to use a single technique for indicating orbitals and bonds. In molecular formulae the chemical bonds (binding orbitals) between atoms are indicated by various different methods according to the type of discussion. Sometimes, they are completely neglected. For example, in organic chemistry chemists are sometimes concerned only with the functional groups of the molecule. Strong chemical bonds: Strong chemical bonds are the intramolecular forces which hold atoms together in molecules. A strong chemical bond is formed from the transfer or sharing of electrons between atomic centers and relies on the electrostatic attraction between the protons in nuclei and the electrons in the orbitals. Although these bonds typically involve the transfer of integer numbers of electron some systems can have intermediate numbers. Aromatic bond In organic chemistry, certain configurations of electrons and orbitals infer extra stability to a molecule. This occurs when Ï€ orbitals overlap and combine with others on different atomic centres, forming a long range bond. For a molecule to be aromatic it must obey Hà ¼ckels rule, where the number of Ï€ electrons fit the formula 4n + 2, where n is an integer. The bonds involved in the aromaticity are all planar. In benzene, the prototypical aromatic compound, 18 (n = 4) bonding electrons bind 6 carbon atoms together to form a planar ring structure. The bond order (average number of bonds) between the different carbon atoms may be said to be (18/6)/2=1.5, but in this case the bonds are all identical from the chemical point of view. They may sometimes be written as single bonds alternating with double bonds, but the view of all ring bonds as being equivalently about 1.5 bonds in strength, is much closer to truth. In the case of heterocyclic aromatics and substituted benzenes, the electronegativity differences between different parts of the ring may dominate the chemical behavior of aromatic ring bonds, which otherwise are equivalent. Metallic bond In a metallic bond, bonding electrons are delocalized over a lattice of atoms. By contrast, in ionic compounds, the locations of the binding electrons and their charges are static. Because of delocalization or the free moving of electrons, it leads to the metallic properties such as conductivity, ductility and hardness. Intermolecular bonding There are four basic types of bonds that can be formed between two or more (otherwise non-associated) molecules, ions or atoms. Intermolecular forces cause molecules to be attracted or repulsed by each other. Often, these define some of the physical characteristics (such as the melting point) of a substance. A large difference in electronegativity between two bonded atoms will cause dipole-dipole interactions. The bonding electrons will, on the whole, be closer to the more electronegative atom more frequently than the less electronegative one, giving rise to partial charges on each atomic center, and causing electrostatic forces between molecules. A hydrogen bond is effectively a strong example of a permanent dipole. The large difference in electro negativities between hydrogen and any of fluorine, nitrogen and oxygen, coupled with their lone pairs of electrons cause strong electrostatic forces between molecules. Hydrogen bonds are responsible for the high boiling points of water and ammonia with respect to their heavier analogues. The London dispersion force arises due to instantaneous dipoles in neighbouring atoms. As the negative charge of the electron is not uniform around the whole atom, there is always a charge imbalance. This small charge will induce a corresponding dipole in a nearby molecule; causing an attraction between the two. The electron then moves to another part of the electron cloud and the attraction is broken. A cation-pi interaction occurs between the negative charges of pi bonds above and below an aromatic ring and a cation. Global Community Impact on Water Shortage: Article Analysis Global Community Impact on Water Shortage: Article Analysis MA447 Global Management Issues Taking Sides Worksheet Student Name: Jennifer R. Thomas Takings Sides Article Number and Name: Article 2.4 Can the Global Community Successfully Confront the Global Water Shortage? Work Cite: Easton, Thomas A. Taking Sides. Boston: McGraw-Hill Education Create, 2014. Print. Date: 2-21-2017 BACKGROUND What qualifications does the author have for writing the YES article on this subject? (This may also apply to quotes within the article.) William Wheeler, the author of Global Water Crisis: Too Little, Too Much or Lack of a Plan? is a reporter and contributor to The Christian Science Monitor and the Pulitzer Center, among other publications. (p.87, Easton) William Wheeler has a Masters Degree in Journalism and International Affairs from Columbia and has a background in political affairs in Africa, Southeast Asia and the Middle East and immigrant detention in New York City and Virginia. He was the recipient of the Earth Journalism Award in 2009. He partnered with Anna-Katarina Gravgaard on a report on water politics and climate change. http://www.bu.edu/cghd/files/2011/04/Disaster-Conference-Speaker-Bios.pdf When and where the YES article was first published? Does this affect its credibility? The article, Global Water Crisis: Too Little, Too Much, or Lack of a Plan? (Easton) Was published on December 2, 2012, by The Christian Science Monitor. The article was a recently published article, 2012, and William Wheeler has a good background in politics, specifically giving some focus to the politics of water, for which he received an award as noted in the article, http://www.bu.edu/cghd/files/2011/04/Disaster-Conference-Speaker-Bios.pdf What qualifications does the author have for writing the NO article on this subject? (This may also apply to quotes within the article.) Stewart M. Patrick is a senior fellow and director of the International Institutions and Global Governance Program at The Council on Foreign Relations. (p. 89, Easton) The following are a list of his expert experiences according to http://www.cfr.org/experts/international-institutions-global-governance-multilateral-institutions-un-failed-states-sovereignty/stewart-m-patrick/b5863 Multilateral cooperation, International Institutions, and Global Governance United Nations Transnational Threats Foreign Assistance Post-conflict reconstruction Stewart was a graduate of Stanford University. When and where the NO article was first published? Does this affect its credibility? The article, The Coming Global Water Crisis. What Happens When Demands for this Essential Resource Starts Exceeding Supply in many Parts of the World? (Easton), was published on May 9, 2012, in the Atlantic magazine. The author has a good knowledge and background, especially with an interest of weak and failing states. Having said that, and with the article somewhat new, I would say that the publication and the author both are credible. EFFECTIVE ARGUMENT TECHNIQUES See information at the end of this worksheet about creating effective arguments. Students are required to address the issue by exploring both articles and both sides of the argument. SUMMARY OF YES ARGUMENT POINTS SUMMARY OF NO ARGUMENT POINTS William Wheeler, the author of the yes argument, believes that supply or lack thereof, is not a real concern but that it is more about valuing water and how it is used. There is just as much water in the world now as there always has been, water supply has not decreased. The evaporation process has not changed and water is still cycled through the water cycle. Meaning that water is evaporated into the air, it then rains, in lakes, rivers and freezes in the glaciers, plants absorb it and the process starts all over. Water is being used up quicker than it can be replaced. Droughts give reason to fear a water crisis. The phrase Global Water Crisis leaves the impression that there is a major water crisis/shortage. Too much water can be just as devastating as not having enough water. Water feeds crops, powers cities, cools computer servers and is key to the manufacturing of everything from clothes to cars (p. 84) Increase in population will increase demand for water. The better a region is doing economically, the more water they demand all due to the consumption of more meat rather than wheat. Livestock, in which the meat comes from, needs more water than wheat does. Water Resource Group suggest that by 2030 almost half of the world population will be hit with a severe water shortage and by 2050, 1 in 5 developing countries will too. Water shortage is also due to too many tube wells draining the water. Human are living beyond their means, meaning that they are consuming more water than they really have available and at a higher rate than water is being replenished. Leaking infrastructure are also a reason for water shortage. Climate change, increase in global grain prices and droughts, some caused by record high temperatures, are contributing factors to water shortage. Rising sea levels can damage wall protections as well as increase the risk of coastal storms. Poorer regions will be more affected by the water shortages. Global Water shortage should be a concern of everyones not just the region or area affected by it. Climate change will increase the rate that glaciers melt off when regions depend on the glacier water as a resource at the same time that other regions, already distressed by drought, will become more distressed by increase drought. As water shortage becomes more of an issue, regions will use it as an economic source and will build dams to keep it from running off to lower land regions. They will focus on keeping as much water as they can, close to home. This will cause conflict and risk of terrorist attacks. More than 15 countries rely on hydropower to generate at least 80 percent of their electricity (p. 86) and if water shortage is not handled properly, regions could be faced with energy shortage in addition to, food supply being affected and run a higher risk of waterborne diseases. Professor Lalls believe is that water shortage is blown out of proportion and isnt really as bad as it is being made out to be. Professor Lall believes that one way of fixing the crisis is to be more aware of what crops are being grown and where these crops are being grown, reducing waste, recycle water and repurpose flood-control systems, to name a few. He also mentioned involving the government to ensure easy access to rural and urban areas as well as accessing cheap soil moisture sensors are used to improve agricultural water efficiency. Professor Lall states that everyone should be paying more for water as another way to help regulate water usage. Professor Lall states that what the U.S. needs is a policy that incorporates forecasts, trading mechanisms, options, and coordinated use of both surface and ground-water resources. (p.87) Drought in Sahel will threaten 15 million lives. Global Warming will affect global demand for fresh water versus the availability of the supply of fresh water. Population growth also will affect the available supply of water. Regions dealing with major water shortage will eventually run into issues with pollical and social instability. The planets fresh water source is about 2.5% Growing global water demand for fresh water are a result of increase in population, as it will continue to increase in the coming years, reduction in available fresh water due to the melting away of the glaciers as a result of global warming, individuals are consuming more meats over wheat, where it takes more water to feed the livestock than it does to grow wheat, and poor management of the water. Water shortage increases tension amongst regions and they begin to come territorial over their water source, leaving room for issues globally by building dams and things of the sort to keep from losing water to another region. Internationally there are only 263 water basins that are shared. Managing the water source includes stopping the leaks from infrastructures, new irrigation systems and growing crops that use less water and can withstand drought, which would improve agriculture efficiency, pricing water based on its real value and making clear the rights to water sources. CRITICAL THINKING AND REFLECTION ARTICLE-SPECIFIC QUESTIONS *Answer all of the questions listed at the beginning of Exploring the Issue for each set of articles. 1. I believe that the increased demand for future water are 100% real. Both articles bring up many points as to why the demand will increase in the near future. Those include, increase in the population, climate change increases drought in some areas while melting the glaciers in other areas, increasing the risk of hurricanes from rising sea levels and once the glaciers meltdown, there will be no more water source in the future. Water is also underpriced and as mentioned in both articles as well. It was also mentioned that management of water source is a problem. 2. I believe that moderating the distribution of water would help the water shortage but I do not believe that it is the main culprit of global water shortage. I think it is more a combination of multiple culprits. 3. No, I do believe that global warming changes the result of adverse changes in the supply of and demand for water, I believe it has a huge impact on the supply of however. Global warming will soon dry up most if not all of our water resources. 4. I do not believe that just taking any one action will avert the world global water crisis. As I have stated in the above questions, I believe that it will take an all or nothing approach. There are many pieces to the puzzle and by focusing just on one piece, the others may get worse while you think you are working to solve the crisis. 5 I have more faith in focusing on a broader approach of a better integrated water management system for a brighter future global water system than anything else. I believe being broad and giving attention to all of the factors that are attributing to the water crisis is the only way to approach the situation. EFFECTIVE ARGUMENT TECHNIQUES Acknowledge differing viewpoints This technique strengthens your argument in 3 ways: It helps you spot flaws on the opposing side. It can help you spot flaws in your own argument. It establishes your credibility as someone who can address the issue in a reasonable way and at least consider opposing points of view EXAMPLE: The installation of cameras does cost an immense amount of money. They also give no privacy to the students. (This writer is actually in FAVOR of security cameras. In the introduction, however, he raises these two arguments against the cameras to establish credibility.) WARNING! If you acknowledge a differing viewpoint, dont just say the other side has a valid point and leave it at that. Move on to the next step of rebuttal. Rebut differing viewpoints A strong argument points out the flaws in the other sides thinking using reasonable language and examples. INTRODUCTION EXAMPLE: The installation of the cameras does cost an immense amount of money. They also give no privacy to the students. However, they would be convenient for the schools security. CONCLUSION EXAMPLE: Even though the installation of cameras is expensive and offers no privacy to student, it does help the security of the school. Strategies for Writing an Effective Argument. Strategies for Writing an Effective Argument. Triton College, n.d. Web. 12 May 2014. . A 10-STEP PROCESS FOR ANALYZING AN ARGUMENT by Brian W. Carver After you have read the passage carefully, distinguishing between purported facts and opinions, answer the following questions thoroughly. What is the authors conclusion? What premises does the author provide to support this conclusion? What assumptions (unstated premises) are required for the authors argument to be valid? Do the premises seem uncontroversially true? If not, explain. Do the assumptions seem uncontroversially true? If not, explain. Are all terms in the argument adequately defined? If not, explain. Are there other facts, not discussed, that would be helpful to know in evaluating the argument? If so, explain. Does the author appeal to emotion or use words designed to influence our response? (e.g., discounts, hedges, assurances, repetition, etc.) If so, explain. Is your well-crafted version of the argument valid? That is, suppose the premises and assumptions are true, regardless of their actual truth or falsity. Ask yourself, given their truth, does the conclusion have to follow? (If so the argument is valid, if not, it is invalid.) If a clear valid/invalid answer is difficult, explain why. In your opinion, is your well-crafted version of the argument sound? That is, does it both have a valid form and have all true premises and assumptions? (If so, it is sound, if not, it is unsound.) Explain your answer. Retrieved from https://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~brianwc/courses/thinking/2002fall/analyze.html