African Storytellers, By Chinua Achebe s Things Fall...

African storytellers utilize a variety of techniques as a way to convey a message to the intended audience. Illustrating the specific gender roles dictated by African society while explaining why they must be broken is a technique used to validate the importance of women in society. While most African societies are male led or dominated, storytellers craft social commentary to establish the relevance of feminine influence on the success of these societies. Both Chinua Achebe in Things Fall Apart and Sembene Ousmane in God’s Bits of Wood employ the technique of exploring the defined gender roles while pushing their limits to achieve success as a society. While Achebe focuses on a male character, Okonkwo, and Ousmane focuses of a group of female characters, both storytellers are using the technique to reveal the same message; the importance of femininity in African society. The technique employed by both storyteller’s is essentially the same, despite the fact that it is being applied to characters of opposite genders. The storyteller examines the gender roles set forth by African societies while making arguments for why these roles must be challenged. In the case of examining a male character in Things Fall Apart, Achebe portrays what occurs if these gender roles are kept as society dictates. In contrast, in God’s Bits of Wood, Ousmane depicts a potential outcome if women challenge their gender roles. While these situations are very different, both storytellers reveal

Why Study Ethics Free Essays

http://faculty. polytechnic. org/gfeldmeth/4. We will write a custom essay sample on Why Study Ethics? or any similar topic only for you Order Now ruggiero1. pdf Ruggiero 1 Why Study Ethics? If we have laws and religion, why do we need ethics? Ethics is the study of right and wrong. Everyone makes decisions each day that are essentially choices. For some, choices are considered strictly personal and no one else’s business: Should I have a strip of bacon with my eggs? But for some, even that simple choice has ethical ramifications: Should I eat meat? Is it anyone else’s concern that I eat meat? Other choices confront us as the day progresses: Should I call in sick? Should I obey the speed laws as I drive to work? Should I answer a friend’s question honestly or lie and potentially hurt her feelings? Should I be faithful to my spouse? How does one find answers to these questions? For some, laws and religion provide the answers. But for most, those two sources are insufficient. Ethical Relativism In the past for most people and even for many people today, an objective moral standard that is binding on all people for all times exists. While there might be disagreement on what the standard was, most acknowledged that there was a â€Å"right† choice. But in the last half-century, there has been considerable erosion in the idea that a standard exists or is even needed. For many, decisions about what is right and wrong are complete personal and completely subjective: what is right for me may not be right for you. This is known as ethical relativism. It asserts that whatever an individual deems morally acceptable is acceptable for that person. To judge that is often considered unacceptably intolerant. As relativism or situation ethics, as it was called by some, grew in the 1960s, some critics warned that an attitude of complete toleration would make it difficult, if not impossible to reasonably discuss ethical issues. If no one view is better than another, how can one distinguish civilized from uncivilized behavior, or good and evil. If ethical choices are essentially the same as aesthetic or taste choices, then pursuing one choice of action is essentially no different that preferring a work of art or an author or a singing group. It is all just a matter of taste and your taste is as good as mine. One result of the growth of relativism is the reluctance of many to pass judgment on an individual or a deed. If the choice is between absolutism (â€Å"that is absolutely wrong† or relativism (â€Å"in some cases, for some individuals, that action may be wrong’), many opt for relativism as it seems more tolerant, more reasonable, less black-and-white. Many civilizations in the past practiced human sacrifice in religious rituals. Is it right to judge that practice as wrong? After all, freedom of religion is a pillar of American beliefs. Should I judge another culture’s practices even if I find it abhorrent? To cite a modern example, some cultures allow marriage of girls as young as 12 years old or a husband to have multiple wives. Are those issues that should be left up to a nation or people-group to decide or are there universal principles that apply? To get even more relevant to students living in American society, is it ok to download copyrighted music or movies? How about copying and pasting a paragraph from an Internet source such as Wikipedia into a paper? If I want to do that, isn’t it my choice? Who are you to say it’s wrong? Ethics and Laws One might wonder why we need ethics if we have laws? If we have a comprehensive set of laws that are consistently enforced, isn’t that enough? Of course, we need to ask who makes 1 Ruggiero 1 the laws and how do they decide whether a behavior is criminal. Consider sexual harassment. Because a legislator or even a number of them might say â€Å"I would never commit such an act† would not be enough reason to conclude that a law should be passed preventing others from committing that act. From the perspective of an ethical relativist, no one has the right to criticize another’s actions. The only defensible reason for a law against sexual harassment is that the act is wrong, not just for me but for everyone. And sexual harassment was clearly wrong long before it was made illegal. So laws are not possible without ethics. For a law to be passed, a person or a group of people have to make a decision about right and wrong. That has been the case from the start of human society, whether laws were determined by kings, religious leaders, or elected legislators. It does not mean that every law is morally right but every law starts with a concept of right and wrong. In fact, laws change over times. New circumstances arise so that laws must be revised to fit them. New technologies developed the need for new laws. In addition, attitudes change over time. Women were not permitted to vote in national elections until 1920. The 18th Amendment legalized Prohibition in 1919. The 21st Amendment repealed it in 1933. Ethics and Religion Just as laws arise from ethics, ethics arise from religion. Religious thinkers have always spoken to the greater society on issues of moral concern. Sometimes they have assumed that their position is the only acceptable one, which hinders discussion and debate. Faith does not usually provide common ground to discuss ethical issues in a dispassionate or even-handed way. Many religious thinkers are absolutists and turn to an outside authority, God or the Bible or the Koran for their authority. Of course, to say the Bible says something suggests that it is a simple book easy for everyone to interpret. In fact, it is complex and subject to many different interpretations. This is why it is important to distinguish between religious ethics and religious beliefs. Religious ethics examines moral situations from a perspective, a set of principles. It is a starting point, not a defining â€Å"right or wrong† point. Inquiries 1. Canada’s government proposed that color photographs of diseased hearts and cancerous lungs and lips be printed on the front and back panels of every pack of cigarettes sold in that country. Canada’s tobacco industry claimed the practice was illegal. What is the ethical issue in this case? 2. When a Michigan man was arrested for soliciting a prostitute, his car was impounded by the police. His wife, who co-owned the vehicle, claimed that the government’s action was improper because it punished her as well as her husband, even though she had no knowledge or part of his crime. Is her argument morally correct? 3. The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) allows colleges and universities to make millions of dollars each year from the sale of tickets and television rights to games. Yet the NCAA does not permit student athletes to be paid. Is the NCAA’s position morally justifiable? 2 Ruggiero 1 4. A married couple, both drug addicts, is unable to care for their infant daughter. The court takes her from them and places her in a foster home for a number of years and she comes to view her foster parents as her real parents. When she is nine years old, her natural parents, now in drug recovery, ask the courts to return custody to them. The case is decided in their favor and the girl is returned to them, against her will. Does ethics support the court’s decision? 5. A Milpitas, California, boy raped and then killed his girlfriend and dumped her body in a lovers’ lane gully. Over the next few days, the killer boasted to his high school friends and the word quickly spread that the girl was dead and that her body was in the gully. Carload after carload of high school students visited the gully to see the body. Some students prodded it with sticks or kicked it; one girl ripped a decal from the dead girl’s jeans. Only one boy reported the murder to the high school principal, and even after the police investigation was well under way, only two students would identify the killer or volunteer any information. Since failure to report a body or to volunteer to testify is not a crime, the students could not be charged legally. But was the behavior of any of the students morally acceptable? Why or why not? Based on Thinking Critically About Moral Issues by Vincent Ruggiero 3 How to cite Why Study Ethics?, Papers

Management and Business Context Telstra Company

Question: Discuss about theManagement and Business Contextfor Telstra Company. Answer: Introduction One of the leading technology and Telecommunication Company of Australia is Telstra. They are the fastest and largest national mobile network. They offer a wide range of services related to communication and giving a tough competition to all the telecommunication market. They provide fixed voice services to 7.0 million people, mobile services to 17.2 million people and retail fixed broadband services to 3.4 million people. They believe that the people, who are well connected, grab most of the opportunities. That is why they are working towards creating an exceptional connected future for every customer, every day. They are continuously working to improve the technology and content and making them easy to use and simple. Telstra provides not only the digital connection to their clients, but also digital content at the same time. As they are the leading information and telecommunication service provider of Australia, they are always ready to help their clients to improve the ways in wh ich they work and live through connection (telstra.com.au/aboutus", 2016). Emergence of Telstra: Telstra was established in 1901, when Postmaster-Generals Department (PMG) was founded by Commonwealth Government to manage all the postal services, telegraph and domestic telephone. They have a superior past and they are well known about their excellent future. They provide the following services to their clients: Ethernet: Ethernet is providing exceptional and modern communications for various businesses. Ethernet is cost-efficient, reliable and makes the ideal platform for data, voice and video conversation. Using their Ethernet access produce, customers can provide a reliable experience whether their clients are large corporate looking for private line connection or retail stores using private networks to manage inventory or small to medium business, which required corporate internet, collaboration, cloud or video solutions (Hayes, 2013). Transmission: When a customer delivers critical data and voice traffic, they require transmission solution of high quality with uncondensed, clear channel and reliable connectivity. Telstra assure their clients to provide the required level of service. Internet: In todays rapidly growing and competitive global market, business, communications are highly dependent on the internet service. Telstra offers internet services through Big Pond, to their business and personal customers. Telstra provides internet services in the form of retail internet and cable internet. Telstra cable provides their services in selected areas of Australia, such as, Brisbane, Melbourne, Sydney, Canberra, Gold Coast, Adelaide and Perth (Daly, 2016). Impact of environmental forces on Telstra: It is very essential to identify the internal and external aspects of Telstra that have significant impact on the trend and driving forces of the companys business operation. Environmental strategy of Telstra is to minimise its effect on the community and environment, convince their supplier to manage their effects and supply the services and products that will assist the customers to decrease their impact on environment. Their main strategies towards environments are: Minimise impacts of environment: Telstras main object is to minimise the effect of environment. Their journey towards improvement of environment has started 30 years back and now they can move to the next stage of environmental commitment (Epstein Buhovac, 2014). Increase the potency towards customer value proposition: Communication and information technology is the major thing towards low carbon environment. Their clients are also aware on this matter and already requested them to use their expertise and tools to decrease their environmental effects (McLachlan, 2013). Reduce cost of operation and thereby improving productivity: Activation of smarter, simpler and effective benefits to their business will improve not only their environment, but will also reduce the cost of operation (Mller, 2012). Implanting environmental objectives in the development and improvement of products and services and leveraging the benefits to differentiate Telstra will definitely decrease the impact of environment. The ways to achieve these are: Providing Green ICT services at professional level, decreasing the effect of environment on the product and services and Promoting the environmental benefits of their products and services. Risk confrontation of Telstra: Telstra is a dynamic and rapidly growing company with increasing traffic in network and continuous invention in technology and market. This increasing trend involves various risks that face a challenge to achieve their strategic objectives, growth ambitions and future performances (Elfving Urquhart, 2013). The following risks explain the material risks that could affect the company materially with regard to their environmental, economical and social sustainability risk: Business risk: Risk that could not be responded to market developments and technology, in a cost- efficient way known as business risk. Telstras exposure to business risk is rapidly growing due to changes in market conditions, advancement of technology, and competition with customer with regard to simpler and disruptive business proposals and increasing customers expectation in both global and domestic market. Telstras strategy to eliminate these risks involves monitoring disruptive and new technologies, increasing the efficiency of business and invests in technology based and innovative business plans (Daming et al., 2014) Data management risks: Risk of managing, using or collecting corporate and customer data in a way that is not consistent with their strategy are known as data management risk. As business is changing, volumes of data is growing and as cyber security threats are becoming more dynamic, data management risks are also increasing. They have implemented various controls at company level to manage risks related to data security and information security (Gandini, Bosetti Almici, 2014). Regulatory risk: this risk is the requirements of unfavourable regulations that results into complexity and cost of running business. Regulatory risk management strategy of Telstra is concerned with minimising the adverse effect of new and existing regulations to meet the requirements of their customers to eliminate compliance cost Business practices: Telstras business practices involve bringing together their customers with their technology experts and vendors to offer optimum solutions to each of their customer. They focus on significant results and improvement in business practices and offers expert advice throughout the delivery life cycle. Their practice team helps clients to deal with their individual business challenges through professional services and project management (Chen, Cheng Mehta, 2013). They also offer a wide variety of services that help customers to implement their highly skilled labour and investment in modern tools and technology. Their global services involve 5000 professionals, activated in 23 cities and delivering up to $3 billion of revenue per year. They provide their clients with one place access of cloud platforms from providers, so that they can choose the best for their business. They expanded globally by leveraging their reliable, secure and intelligent networks, over their clo ud services (Karim Sarfraz, 2016). Functions of Telstra: Business of Telstra is depended on host infrastructure and cloud. As the requirement for connectivity is growing, they want their network to grow and to be flexible, as they are connected to data services. Interconnection of data centre helps customers to set up and organize network services into hybrid clouds and private within minutes. This gives their customers the freedom to move around data centres and at the same time getting scalability and demand flexibility (Shahiduzzaman Alam, 2014). Their NFV/SDN platform is a modernised way to manage and deliver the enterprise networks. They use the innovative software to define network functions and networking to enable the customers to implement and configure network services quickly. They can: Adjust bandwidth to match the demand, add the virtual appliances like firewalls, Offer public cloud and network services like collaboration tools They will be able to reply to changing market demands and customer needs within minutes instead of weeks or months. They are committed to emerging platform software technology and virtual network functions to take benefits of future progress. They have unmatched expertise and experience of networking to integrate and implement NFV and SDN solutions in their IT infrastructure and business operations. In order to distinguish themselves from their competitors, Telstra converted their marketing plan to include market based management approach (Klein Jakopin, 2014). Conclusions: Telstra has implemented a market-based approach of management to offer improved services to clients and to give them competitive boundary over the telecommunications organizations in the industry. It has reacted to the changing needs of Australian people and changed from a technology-focused company to a customer-focused company. Through wide research and focus on their clients needs, Telstra developed the Next G Network, which is Australias most extensive and fastest mobile network to bring more people together through the service of telecommunications. Australian people are connected to each other through various types of telecommunication systems, such as, telephone, internet, SMS messaging and mobile telephone. Most of the Australians use various technologies to keep them in touch with their loved ones, families and business partners. References: Daly, A. (2016). Net Neutrality in Australia: The Debate Continues, But No Policy in Sight. InNet Neutrality Compendium(pp. 141-155). Springer International Publishing. Daming, Y., Xiaohui, Y., Wu, D. D., Guofan, C. (2014). Option game with Poisson Jump Process in company radical technological innovation.Technological Forecasting and Social Change,81, 341-350. Elfving, S. W., Urquhart, N. (2013). Product service system challenges within telecommunication: Reaching the era of mutual dependency. InThe Philosopher's Stone for Sustainability(pp. 269-274). Springer Berlin Heidelberg. Epstein, M. J., Buhovac, A. R. (2014).Making sustainability work: Best practices in managing and measuring corporate social, environmental, and economic impacts. Berrett-Koehler Publishers. Gandini, G., Bosetti, L., Almici, A. (2014). Risk management and sustainable development of telecommunications companies.Symphonya. Emerging Issues in Management, (2), 16-29. Hayes, A., Mann, S., Aryani, A., Sabine, S., Blackall, L., Waugh, P., Ridgway, S. (2013, June). Identity awareness and re-use of research data in veillance and social computing. InTechnology and Society (ISTAS), 2013 IEEE International Symposium on(pp. 51-58). IEEE. https://www.telstra.com.au/aboutus. (2016). www.telstra.com.au. Retrieved 3 December 2016, from https://www.telstra.com.au/aboutus Karim, S. A., Sarfraz, S. U. (2016). Creativity is everyone's business: How to enhance employee creativity in telecommunication Sector.Annals of the University of Oradea, Economic Science Series,25(1). Klein, A., Jakopin, N. (2014). Consumers willingness-to-pay for mobile telecommunication service bundles.Telematics and Informatics,31(3), 410-421. McLachlan, R. (2013). Deep and Persistent Disadvantage in Australia-Productivity Commission Staff Working Paper. Mller, S. (2012).Assessment and prediction of speech quality in telecommunications. Springer Science Business Media. Shahiduzzaman, M., Alam, K. (2014). Information technology and its changing roles to economic growth and productivity in Australia.Telecommunications Policy,38(2), 125-135.