Business Dilemma: CRM and Management of Cafe

Business Dilemma: CRM and Management of Cafe CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT BUSINESS DILEMMA The most influential person in cafà © or in any business are the customers, since without customers, one does not have a business. Everything in a business environment revolves round customers. Similarly, in case of our cafà ©, customers are a key to a successful business at the end of the day. Knowing your customers and providing satisfaction to those customers would gain customer loyalty. Grandfather gave priority to customers thats why he knew all his customers. However, just knowing your customers is not enough; one needs to keep a record of its customers so that its easy to analyze. Since customers are really influential towards a business, business (in our case, cafe) should treat each and every customer as if they were the only customer. While serving each customer, one must keep in mind the needs of that particular customer only and should serve in such a way that the service exceeds their expectation. Giving most priority towards customers would enhance customer loyalty an d keep that customer attached to a particular business. Through customers, a business can improve its business as said by Bill Gates â€Å"Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning†. Customer complains in fact is a key to improve the service, for instance, if a customer complains that the way coffee served was not pleasant and did not met the expectation, that complain can be used as a tool to improve the coffee serving process through further training workshops for employees in that area. Thus, customers complain can be seen as a challenge to be met in future to make him/her (customer) happy and attracted to the cafe. If you treat your customers well, your customers will go out of their way to return to you. Therefore, customer feedback and suggestion can help improve a service. However, the cafà © may not have answers or response for all of customer questions and suggestions. Customers could help or hurt the cafe through viral marketing. Word of mouth marketing is the largest determining factor for a service business image, which can be either online chatting or physical talk. If the service in cafà © is up to the expectation of the customer, it would help the cafà © to attract more customers through viral marketing and gain market share. However, if the products and service in cafà © is very poor which made the customer unhappy can spread negative impression on other customers, hurting the company through losing its current and potential customers. Moreover, online comment or complain on the cafes website can be injurious such as comment on You Tube. Literally, the customer does not intend to harm or hurt the company; they just want their needs to be fulfilled and service is up to their expectation. As already mentioned customer complains can provide an opportunity, thereby, helping the cafà © to improve its service. My employees will agree that customers are the most important part of cafe since thats the reason they are in cafe. If there wouldnt be any customer, there wouldnt be need for employees. Thus, customers determine or secure the period of employment of the employee. If there are fewer customers, employees may be laid off to cut down costs. However, some employees may feel that they are the most important part in a business. Employees are the most important asset of any business. If cafà © doesnt value its staff, it would demoralize them which can impact their performance in service. And as a result, their poor performance can hinder customer growth of cafà ©. Thus, some employees value themselves as the most valuable person in a business when compared to customers. MAKING BUSINESS DECISION Virtual world is a 3D, electronically-generated environment where users can interact, create and communicate just as they would in the real world for example, second life (http://ictwm.org/news/virtual-worlds-help-real-businesses). Virtual world provides people with experiences rather than processing transaction. Once people get attached to virtual experience, they would be excited about experiencing it in real life. This would only be possible through going to the real cafà © which would help the business in transaction processing. It also aids in mass customization as customers design or suggest what they exactly want. Virtual world encourage interaction, collaboration and communication. It can be accessed from anywhere in the world, thus, keeping people and cafà © connected. If cafà © provides continuous updates in virtual world, people nearby the cafà © would go for new and innovative products in that cafà © just because of that cafes presence in virtual world which would enhance the business/cafà © operations. It could also be a marketing tool for the cafe to promote its menus for the day through frequently changing attractive ads in the virtual world. Customer relationship in virtual world is very delicate matters since one does not physically meet to create impression. Virtual world should be designed in such a way that it is appealing and attractive to a customer. In virtual world, cafe business would be better able to meet customer satisfaction with minimum or no cost by changing designs to strengthen virtual customer relationship. Customer wont need to wait in long lines to be served, one can just go to the cafes website and get the taste of coffee or of service in that cafà ©. Virtual world does not restrict the access to any person; any person can access to the website to have a taste. In other words, there is a greater reach and contact to maintain strong customer relationship. Cafà © can be always available to its customer through virtual world without any disruption. Customers would be in a position to demand what they want based on their own specification. This makes the customer feel like king through providing their customized products and enhancing better customer relationship. In traditional customer relationship management strategies, there has been lack of customer experience, co-creation, co-production and collaboration with customers. Thus, our strategy to manage customer in new virtual world is through co-creation and co-production with customers. Co-creation and co-production with customers is different than traditional customer-centric approaches in that the focus is not to learn as much as possible about customers but instead consider them as equal problem solvers(http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb5858/is_200711/ai_n32252899/pg_2/). Giving customers an important role in the value chain can affect customer satisfaction. Value in co-creation derived by customers purposeful interaction cannot be obtained merely from asking the customers to answer questions and leave comments. Virtual worlds may provide an ‘experience space that supports ‘experience networks which go beyond the domain of a single company and its suppliers to one that is experience-centric to the customers. (http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb5858/is_200711/ai_n32252899/pg_3) Moreover, since there is a growing use of internet, it would be easier for company to collaborate with its customers through electronic CRM. Electronic CRM has a wider scope for managing customer relationship in a variety of ways and not just collaboration ranging from designing and pricing of digital products to loyalty programs. Supporting Second Life customers differs from supporting website customers as well as traditional customers. In second life, cafà © can design and create those products and services that a particular customer wants. It allows basically for customization as well as reaching out to customers for ideas, prototyping and feedback in a particular area giving cafà © a better competitive advantage. This means that customer support in second life would need to be met in real time especially to a customers demand. Second life is basically everything being electronic whereas traditional revolves around physical presence. Moreover, collaboration between customers and company is a major support in second life unlike traditional customers. Website supports customers with visitor information and product review. It does not allow a customer to get the feeling of being in cafà ©. However, second life gives a customer a virtual feel of being part of that cafà © in addition to visitor information. To make the experience of a virtual world customer great, second life location should offer free virtual coff ee, music, and chairs with tables for customers to hang out. In the traditional (physical) environment, the cafà © needed to be closed off at a particular time, even though customers were involved in deep discussion. This does not happen in second life. Second life supports customers to continue with whatever they are doing in the virtual cafà © without any time limit and can chat as late as they want. Furthermore, upcoming events, artwork and music should be available to customers visiting second life so that it becomes interesting and encourages them to explore the site. Another difference between traditional and second life customer support is in terms of advertising. In past, business would use advertising agency to promote their products but now the cafà © can do in house advertising in virtual world attracting wider range of customers all round the world. Second life does not provide authentication of a persons identity. There is no access control and anyone can easily get into the second life and if there is any confidential information for customers only, that can be easily leaked and used to the disadvantage of the business, that is, the cafà ©. Moreover, phishing can easily take place whereby an intruder who is against the cafà © business can create a website similar to the cafà © site and trick the customers into inputting confidential data. This confidential information can be used as a tool to harm the image of the cafà © through missing the customers information which would tremendously impact on the cafà © business. Similarly, misrepresentation can be another issue just like phishing, whereby someone designs an avatar that looks just like the avatar of a customer service representative. Other issue involves the obsolesce of real life location. Since people get attached to second life, they dont go or visit the real life cafà ©. Second life cafà © can be visited by anyone but real world cafà © may not be. People in a region would only be visiting the cafà © and if those limited people get attached to second life cafà ©, there wont be much importance of real life cafà ©. Thus, issue arises that second life should be positioned and designed in such a way that real life cafà © does not get obsolete and people remain attracted to it as well to have real currency flow in business. Due to lack of authentication, privacy concerns arise. Maintaining customer confidentiality becomes an ethical issue and a challenge for businesses. MAKING BUSINESS DECISION II You Tube can be an important vehicle to communicate with the cafes customers. It is a popular free video sharing website where people can also comment on a particular video. We would design and create video clips of the cafes products and the way service is provided in cafà © and then share it on You Tube, using cartoon characters and other imaginary characters making the clip funny, interesting and informative. Through these clips, we can conveniently show our customers how we have minimized the problem of long wait lines. Firstly, we would make clips showing more counters for serving as well as drive in windows. Long wait lines are basically because of few or only one counter, thus showing a clip with more counters can be seen as a reasonable rectification to the problem. Moreover, for travelers who want to be served instantly while in their vehicle, drive in windows would be a solution to avoid waiting in lines when in rush as in case of McDonalds in Fiji. Clip can show a custome r ordering and being served in just few seconds through drive in windows. Furthermore, online ordering and tele-ordering can also be a rectification to long waiting lines. Through virtual world or cafes website, customers can order online as well as through phone calls before actually going to cafà © so that on their arrival, their order is prepared and no waiting is required. These solutions can be depicted on You Tube through videos using animated characters. You Tube as a communication vehicle, is free and easy to use. Unlike advertising over television, which is associated with costs, You Tube provides this for free whereby anyone can watch the videos and pass comments about how they feel about that particular video. As already said, it saves money on marketing since advertising can be done through clips to promote the cafà ©. You Tube has a wider reach in terms of customers and markets. It is not restricted to a particular geographical region or location. Customers all around the world and in different market can get access to You Tube and learn about the cafà ©. Also through You Tube, cafà © can get a great deal of information to many people in a short amount of time just through one clip. These benefits show that You Tube can be an efficient communication vehicle for any business whether it be cafà © or a car dealer. However, there are various disadvantages for You Tube as well. Since it can be viewed by anyone in the world, it may capture unwanted attention, for instance, is a person does not love coffee, he/she may not like the clip based on coffee and would comment negatively which would create bad impression to other customers. You Tube also in some cases compresses the content of clips and other files, making it unappealing to customers as its not presented in the right way intended and information can be chopped in that compression. Products may not be clear to customers, thus, proper communication of that product such as coffee maybe hindered. Also due to missing information or half information, it could become difficult to understand what the file tries to reveal to customers. Issues of privacy concern and copyright infringement can be cons of You Tube. Privacy can be made vulnerable as amount of information on video can be dangerous such as unintentionally showing where an employee lives or showing someones bio-data while promoting the product or service. Therefore, before starting to use You Tube as a medium of communication vehicle, one must clearly study the pros and cons of it to see whether benefits are there or not. Other new technologies that can be used as a customer communication vehicle that would be more effective than You Tube are social networking sites such as twitter and facebook. It allows more than just posting video. One can post comments, pictures, update information and create events on it. Twitter and facebook help bringing customers together. With help of twitter, cafe can send an alert about new deals or offers in the cafà ©. Blogging can also be a publishing medium. If a customer complements the cafes service or the products and food in cafà © in his blog, it would be a free advertising for the cafà ©. But can also harm the image if blogger comments in a negative way. APPLY YOUR KNOWLEDGE To obtain high quality data, systems in the cafà © must be integrated, since quality information does make a difference in any business. Major importance of quality information is that it induces enhanced, accurate and appropriate decision making. The quality of information used to make business decision determines the quality of decision made. Having real time system in cafà © would provide real time information in response to decision makers queries and requests. High quality decisions can significantly impact the cafes bottom line, thus, profitability. For instance, having integrated and real time system, cafà © can provide what customer wants in an instance which would meet customer satisfaction, thus, improve profitability. Moreover, high quality information enables any business to track valuable customers who generate most revenues. Having proper information about a particular customer visiting cafà © frequently can help cafà © identify the loyal customer and could reward him or her so that they keep coming in future. Uses can place confidence on information of high quality since it is reliable. For instance, if cafà © post on its website information generated from its systems, customers could be easily in a position to rely on it. On the other hand, low quality information results in various business effects. Low quality information are those which has missing information example no first name of customer, incomplete information example no street or missing area code, probable duplicate information such as similar name, same address or phone number and potentially wrong information. The effects of this on cafes business would be its inability to accurately track customers, difficulty identifying valuable customers, inability to identify selling opportunities of cafes product, marketing to non-existent customers, difficulty tracking revenue and inability to build strong customer relationship (net: slides). Low quality information would hinder cafà © to follow up with its profitable customers who frequently such as daily visit cafà © since there may be name confusion. Also if systems are not integrated, it becomes difficult to provide accurately what customer wants and may lead to providing wrong products. Thi s will affect the demand and supply of a particular product which would not be reliable. Also cafà © may be marketing and promoting its cafà © and product to a non-existent customer online due to fake or same names who are not cafes usual customers. Overall, low quality information vigorously degrades the decision making quality in managing a customer and the cafà ©. The examples of information that can be used by The Broadway Cafà © to gain better understanding of its customers are customers taste and preferences. If the cafà © gets a picture of what their current and potential customers would like to consume, cafà © can be prepared for the product and provide the customer that product when they actually came and demand. Moreover, having a brief idea about the customers disposable income would help understand the affordability of prices by customers. This would give the cafà © a view as to what prices customers would be willing to pay for the cafes products such as coffee. Changes in environment and weather would also help in getting to know the customers and their wants, for instance, coffee would be largely demanded during colder seasons in Fiji. Some of the data quality issues are as follows. Firstly, dirty data issues due to data errors which can be attributed to human errors or an application error due to legacy systems. Since theres a large quantity of data to be fed in the system, humans are prone to make errors. Missing and duplicate data are other two issues (Turban, E., and Volonino, L., 2009). The cafà © lacks in proper management of its data which can lead the data to be easily lost as well as to be entered twice. This could really affect the output results thus affecting decision making. Moreover, data can be non-standardized and massed up due to lack of standards. The strategies the company can use to avoid such data quality issues are to implement Master Data Management system. It is comprises a set of processes and tools that consistently defines and manages the non-transactional data entities of an organization. MDM has the objective of providing processes for collecting, aggregating, matching, consolidating, quality-assuring, persisting and distributing such data throughout an organization to ensure consistency and control in the ongoing maintenance and application use of this information. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Master_data_management) MDM would reduce or eliminate the data quality issues, giving a unified view of enterprise data. It can also use automated data entry, Web forms for individual entering data with data integrity checks and drop down menus and radio buttons. (Turban, E., and Volonino, L., 2009) having frequent data audits in the system can also aid in preventing the above mentioned issues since data would be continuously reviewed and any errors would be detected and corrected appropriately without further problems in future. CAFES BEST CUSTOMERS** Customer ID Total Sales Amount ($) 3548 18,261.86 4438 26,474.28 5657 11,342.98 6891 10,585.94 13801 33,555.50 13959 19,593.65 270177 14,355.99 294896 11,348.40 305668 49,647.45 540135 16,338.02 1309948 11,401.60 ** We have assumed that the cafes best customers are the ones that bring in sales amount dollars of more than $10000. Listed above are the cafes best customers. The cafà © should offer to its valuable customers loyalty marketing programs such as point programs whereby a customer would get points for every purchase they make and when they reach a certain level and collected enough points, will get a special reward such as Jacks of Fiji which is using this marketing system to keep their loyal customers attached. Moreover, the cafà © can give its valuable customers loyalty cards as MH in Fiji is dong with its flash and gain card. Providing customers with promotional vouchers would also give them a feeling of appreciation for their service. Keeping in touch strategy can also be a way of marketing campaign towards valuable customers. Giving personal attention towards the profitable customers is a way to build relationship and keep them in your business. This can be done by sending them promotional messages personally through email or calls frequently and asking for their feedbacks as to what they would like in future and their expectation from cafà ©. Broadway Cafe Question Name Total What is the best selling product? Music CD $776,813.17 What is the worst selling product? Kids CD $96 What is the best sales month? 3 $569,339.10 What is the worst sales month? 5 $58,501.06 What is the best selling product during the best month? Music CD $235,054.45 What is the worst selling product during the best month? Kids CD $64 What is the best selling product during the worst month? Music CD $33,684.43 What is the worst selling product during the worst month? Food $63.2 * For answering the above questions, we have taken our base as sales amount values to reach an answer. SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT BUSINESS DILEMMA Broadway Cafà © can reinvent the cafà © by making use of demand planning software. This software would enable the cafà © to be prepared in peak hours of business since it would capture and give information as and when a customer enters either the cafà © or the car park of the cafà ©. For instance, as part of software set, a camera can be attached at the roof of the cafà © to capture information on people entering the car park and determine what they would normally order at that particular time of the day. Also, it would allow the cafà © to keep track of its regular customers and their demands, thus, have the items available for them without having them wait in lines. This can be done before a customer enters the cafà ©. The software would also enable in ensuring whether the cafà © has enough of the products that that would be demanded by the customer such as a particular type of coffee. Although the implementation of such a software would be costly at its initial stage, it w ould be beneficial for cafà © in future as it is located in Suva, to obtain customer satisfaction and where people are always in rush. Thus, demand planning software would be a great benefit for the cafà ©. Like Netflix, we would not see cafà © becoming a supplier in another business supply such as hotel industry since our cafà © itself is very small at this stage. First, it needs to widen its customer base with the help of demand planning software and online ordering system (electronic ordering). Since our cafà © has a website, we could include in that a feature where customers order online, paying through credit cards or paying subscription fee for being in that account. The cafà © can based on customers order deliver the items to the customer within the Suva area if large quantities are ordered such as Pizza King which delivers pizza to people living in urban and suburban areas. Moreover, a customer would also order online so that before their arrival in cafà ©, the items are prepared for them before hand such as coffee. Thus, innovating ordering system would also attract more customers in the cafà ©. With the help of these supply chain technologies, the cafà © can expand its customer base and from there on can think bigger and better options such as becoming supplier of coffee/coffee beans to hotels or other businesses such as MacDonald. MAKING BUSINESS DECISION I The success of any business depends on its ability of short and long term planning. As a concerned business operator, I would always maintain some inventory in my warehouse for such unexpected events especially coffee beans which are in demand. Since not being able to meet customer demand would lead to losing out customers. Thus, our cafà © would keep with its operation regardless of disruption in supply chain du to dockworkers strike and would run on warehouse inventory (Brazil Beans, China Tea and custom Coffee press machines). Moreover, based on available inventory analysis in the warehouse, we would determine how long supply would last. Is our warehouse inventory wouldnt be able to meet up with the disruption period, we would resort to redundant suppliers since all suppliers wont be affected at once with the same problem. We would consider our temporary local suppliers such as Nestle to supply us with similar products as long as we are able to operate efficiently, although the cost in emergency need may be higher than usual price paid to our fixed suppliers. Since the cafà © has been going towards demand-driven manufacturing, Radio Frequency Identification Technologies (RFIT) would be the newest and most efficient solution to supply chain problems. RFIT is the most valuable technology to track inventory. If inventory level in any case would be low, it would trigger automatic alert to our suppliers. It is an important device in global transportation both land and sea. It ensures that inventory level are checked and replenished on need by need basis. Although this strategy would be bit costly for the cafà © in the initial stage at present, it would provide benefits in the future. Another strategy I would recommend is to create a position as freight specialist whose job would be to enable transportation of products in whatever the situation maybe and at any cost. The freight specialist would guarantee that products would reach the cafà © on time to meet customer demand and if not than they would be responsible for the loss. MAKING BUSINESS DECISION II Broadway cafà © No move Broadway Cafà © Units sold per month: 20,000 Unit variable costs: $0.50 Average unit sales price: $2.20 Current fixed costs: $5,000 Added lease payment, new offices: $2,500 Projected fixed costs: $7,500 Sales month Units Sales Fixed Costs Variable Costs EBIT January 6,582 $14,480 $5,000 $3,291 $6,189 February 11,121 $24,466 $5,000 $5,561 $13,906 March 14,178 $31,192 $5,000 $7,089

michael jordan :: essays research papers

Michael Jeffrey Jordan is the son of Deloris and James Jordan. He has three siblings, Ronald James, Deloris, and Larry. Mike was born on February 17th, 1963 in Brooklyn Hospital. He grew up in North Carolina. Before basketball Mike enjoyed playing the game of baseball. I chose him because I knew little about him, like he played with the Chicago Bulls and he got married and had a son. Before I didn’t know he got a divorce. He is currently playing with the Washington Wizards in his fifteenth season of basketball. He is the fourth player to score 30,000 points. Besides basketball, Michael Jordan opened his own school and training camps called Michael Jordan Flight School.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   One day Mike’s father made a full basketball court in their backyard where Larry and Michael always played there. He started playing around the age of eight. Every time the two brothers played it made Mike’s skills get better and made him into a better player. He wasn’t sure if basketball fitted his talents, so he went to baseball, football, and track. However, Mike found his love in the game of basketball. He wanted to work on his game to become a pro player so he skipped school to practice, but unfortunately he got suspended. His mother made him study all day. Mike never said an unkind word to anyone and was liked by everyone, even his teachers. When he needed help, he’d come after school to learn more. Some people would make fun of him in front of girls. In that way no one would marry him.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  A basketball scout picked him in Division I. No one from his school had ever played in Division I. His experience gave him more confidence to play the game of basketball. He played for the University of North Carolina Tar Heels where he made both team and starting lineup. At age 20 Michael was 160 lbs., six foot six inches and could run the 40-yard dash in 4.3 seconds. His confidence and carelessness improved his game and made him into a great decision maker to lead in all areas of the game. He loss to St. John’s University, University of Missouri, and Tulane University in 1982-1983. The Sporting News named Michael Jordan College Player of the Year. Michael Jordan was drafted to the NBA by the Chicago Bulls in 1984 in the first round (third overall) to start his amazing career as a pro basketball player.

morgan horses :: essays research papers

Justin Morgan was a living legend. Born in 1789, Justin Morgan started life as a small, rough-coated colt known as "Figure." Gradually, the local population began to talk about the feats of "the Justin Morgan horse". Justin Morgan also proved to be one of the greatest breeding horses of all time. While most breeds develop by breeding horses of similar characteristics to each other, Justin Morgan's ability to pass his characteristics to his offspring for generations to come allowed this single stallion to found an entire breed in his likeness. Today, every registered Morgan traces back to Justin Morgan through his best-known sons Bulrush, Sherman, and Woodbury. As America grew so did the feats of the Morgan. During the Civil War, Morgans served as cavalry mounts and artillery horses. A cavalryman was only as good as his horse and the Morgan is mentioned in many sources as a highly desired horse during the Civil War. The First Vermont Cavalry, mounted entirely on Morgans, gained a wide spread reputation as a fighting unit. The first Morgan Horse Register was published in 1894. In the Civil War, the famed Vermont Cavalry was mounted on Morgan horses. Not only did the Union's General Sheridan ride his Morgan Rienzi, Stonewall Jackson rode his Morgan, 'Little Sorrel,' for the Confederacy as well! In the Indian Wars, the only survivor in the Battle of the little Big Horn was Keogh's Morgan-bred horse Comanche. Crosses to the fastest Morgan blood produced the great speed of today’s racing Standard breds. The foundation sire of the Tennessee Walking horse, Allen F-1, was a grandson of the Morgan stallion Bradford's Telegraph. The oldest of all American breeds the Morgan was strong enough to contribute greatly to almost every other American light horse breed while retaining its own identity across two centuries. In barns and show rings across the country, the Morgan show horses flash by with heads high, eyes bright, and nostrils wide - Morgan quality showing in every hair on their gleaming, muscular bodies. The Morgan legend has also spread around the world. Morgans worked along side their owners clearing fields and forests. By locating second, third, and fourth generation descendants of the original Morgan horse, they established the foundations of the breed. The majority of Morgans, however, did their daily work willingly and efficiently. They were highly regarded as general-purpose horses capable of performing a wide variety of tasks.

Augustine Vs. Aquinas Essay

Saint Augustine of Hippo, as he is most commonly referred, of the early fifth century and Saint Thomas Aquinas, of the thirteenth century, are considerably well-known for their philosophical and theological discoveries. Even though both are famous for venturing to integrate Christianity with their philosophical thoughts, they took completely different paths in doing so. Aquinas took an Aristotelian path, being a strong follower of Aristotle while Augustine, took a Platonic path, considering Plotinus as his mentor. Both delved deeply into the concept of ethics dichotomy, the human nature, and the human’s ability to know, and to do, the good. Christianity does hold true to the fact life after death exists. (Bray, 2003). Augustine’s view on the nature of the human beings states that each individual is â€Å"trapped by sin in immorality and untruth† (Clark & Poortenga, 2003, Pg. 39). A human being cannot access that after-life unless they devote themselves fully to G od. It is only through the process of â€Å"illumination† and â€Å"divine assistance† that an individual can be truly fulfilled as a human being. Basically, only through the love of God can one reach to the ultimate truth about themselves and learn to see and do the good. â€Å"Divine assistance is necessary to rid us of vice, turn our hearts towards God and enable us to acquire virtue† (Clark & Poortenga, 2003, Pg. 42). He believed that the man’s â€Å"corrupted desire’s† to knowledge stemmed from the Garden of Eden, where man’s thirst to be â€Å"like God† led to feeling pride and then led to the fall of that individual. When an individual stirs their attention away from the realm of God is when they get plundered by temptations such as pride, power, wealth, fame, and even human love. He believed that an individual remains disordered if he places his temptations above the love of the God. â€Å"Wherever the human soul turns itself, other than to you, it is fixed in sorrows, even if it is fixed upon beautiful things external to you†¦Ã¢â‚¬ Ã‚  (Vaught, 2005). As a result of these disorderly desires, or â€Å"cupidity† as he called it, Augustine came to reject a â€Å"man’s desire for common knowledge† concluding that such desire drives an individual away from God. This was a complete opposite the Aristotelian belief that â€Å"all men by nature desire to know† (Aristotle, 1966). He believed that these temptations blind an individual’s ability to know and to do the good. In simple terms, â€Å"that which was spiritual was good and that which was â€Å"of the flesh† was evil† (Campolo, 2007). As an alternative, Augustine emphasized on divine illumination, conversion and faith, which were the true means of happiness and salvation. (Clark & Poortenga, 2003, Pg. 40). It is important fathom that Augustine was against spe cifically to the type of knowledge that enticed the â€Å"lusts of the eyes.† In compliance with the views of Plotinus, Augustine maintained that it is through God that an individual inherits true knowledge. It is imperative for the human being to become reasonable and use that knowledge in limits. It is the only method that can help them disregard the temptations and strengthen their mind for divine illumination. In his book, Confessions, Augustine states that â€Å"If we love God first, we will love the right things in the right way, our loves will be properly ordered, and we will find fulfillment† (Clark & Poortenga, 2003, Pg. 41). Aquinas on the other hand, believed that human goodness depends on the actions performed by an individual that are in agreement with our human nature, which also defines the morality of an individual. He further explains that an individual consists of a specific cognitive power, which is the â€Å"intellect† that enables us to fully comprehend the goodness of a thing. Human action’s are always in pursuit of human fulfillment, which Aquinas believes, is happiness, even though those actions may not always be right. â€Å"We desire what fulfills us as human beings although we might be wrong about what fulfills us. The right understanding of and orientation towards human fulfillment is the foundation of morality† (Crook & Poortenga, 2003, Pg. 45). Similar to Augustine’s temptations, Aquinas refers to â€Å"external goods† such as wealth, honor, fame, glory, and power and states that these are easily secured by evil individuals. â€Å"These cannot be th e highest good because fulfillment is incompatible with evil and wicked people can secure any of these goods† (Clark & Poortenga, 2003, Pg. 45). â€Å"Internal goods† such as relationships, morals, and knowledge have the capability of providing  fulfillment since such goods are infinite. Hence, Only God can completely satisfy such desires. Moreover, it is only God alone that is sufficient for human fulfillment. Like Augustine, Aquinas believed that without a divine assistance, an individual is â€Å"morally incapable† to reach God since each person is in â€Å"bondance to sin.† Without divine assistance, no one can achieve happiness nor can get a vision of God. â€Å"So we must know God in order to be happy but we, by our natural powers cannot know God. The hope for attainment of fulfillment lies not in our natural capacities but must lie in supernatural grace to heal us and direct us toward God† (Clark & Poortenga, 2003, Pg. 46). It is really hard to determine which philosopher I would agree with the most. Even though both took different routes in explaining their philosophies, their ultimate goal was to explain human fulfillment, which they further explained can only be attained by means of God. Even though each individual desires for knowledge, both philosophers, in one way and the other, theorized that â€Å"God is superior to any concept that we humans could understand or apply† (Clark & Poortenga, 2003, Pg. 39). God is the main origin of all happiness, intelligence and knowledge that exists in a human being. I would agree more with Aquinas’s view that a man’s natural desire for knowledge is the main supply to fully understand God and his capabilities. All in all, both medieval philosophers cultivated their beliefs significantly influenced by Christianity even though they both satisfied their ideals by approaching them in completely different ways. Aquinas followed the footsteps of Aristotle whereas Augustine’s views relied upon the influences set forth by Platonius. Sovereignty of the ancient philosophers can clearly been seen in the works of both Augustine and Aquinas, whether it was human nature or the ability of the human knowledge to know and to do the good. Despite multiple differences in theory and the paths taken to explain their theories, it must be taken into consideration that God was the ultimate concept the two philosophers were in agreement with. References Aristotle. 1966. Aristotle’s Metaphysics. Grinnell, Iowa: The Peripatetic Press. Bray, G. (2003). AUGUSTINE’S KEY. Christian History, 22(4), 42. Clark, K. J., & Poortenga, A. (2003). The story of ethics: Fulfilling our human nature. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. Campolo, T. (2007). How Jewish was Jesus? Tikkun, 22(6), 26-28. Vaught, C. G. (2005). Access to God in Augustine’s Confessions: Books X-XIII. Albany, N.Y.: State University of New York Press.

English in my life Essay

In my language, English has only a small part. First of all, I speak tagalog all the time and my dominant language is tagalog. For example at home, we rarely speak English. Most of the time my family and I speak in tagalog and taglish. So, I’m really adjusting during my social interactions, most of my friends speak in English. However, I know how to speak in English but the problem is I lack practice that leads me to being inconsistent in speaking in English. Now in school, this is the place where I most often speak and practice English. The school is very helpful and encouraging for me to always speak in English at all times. In short, the school makes me realize how important English is. My English usage is very minimal. Truly, that means I’m really not that fluent in speaking in English. That’s why sometimes I tend to stutter, mispronounce and say sentences incorrectly. For me, that’s so shallow and embarrassing so instead I choose to speak in tagalog. But for me I will also consider my mistakes to be my motivation to improve my English. Addition to this is that I may be hesitant to speak in English but at least I’m trying to practice it. Therefore, I will continue practicing it so I will gain more confidence to speak more fluently in English. As we all know, English is helpful, useful and important to our future. Firstly, we are in an English-speaking country. So in order to communicate and interact with other people effectively, we should have to learn how to speak in English. Personally, it is important for me to enhance my English language for it will help me to future endeavors and in order to socialize I have to fully understand the languages that engaged in so I easily understand ones feelings. In short, I will never stop learning, improving and practicing my English language for this will help me in my profession in the near future.

Employee Portfolio: Motivation Action Plan Essay

Motivation Action Plan Determine the motivational strategy or strategies that would likely be most appropriate for each of your three employees on basis of their individual characteristics. Indicate how you would leverage their employee evaluations to motivate each of the three employees. Describe one or more of the motivational theories and explain how the theories connect to each of your selected motivational strategies. Kellen has a high level of both positive emotions and | | | | |emotional intelligence, which allows him to be deliberate in his| | | | |decision-making. Motivational strategies for Kellen should | | | |include both intrinsic and extrinsic incentives such as | | | | |supporting his growth and development within the organization | | | | |and providing recognition where due. Maintaining an interesting | | | | |work environment for Kellen as well as allowing him some freedom| | | | |of choice where decisions are concerned will maintain his high | | | | |level of job satisfaction and motivation. | |Preston |Preston has a strong ability to stay focused and |Preston’s Overall performance rating is low and requires change | Goal-Setting Theory | | |remain on task and finishes projects on time. |in many areas. Preston has a high level of negative emotions | | | |Preston is overall dissatisfied with his job. In |that may be the cause to his blended style in regard to | | | |order for Preston to feel accomplished he must stay |effective decision-making. These negative emotions have resulted| | | |on a project and have something to stay focused on. in a high level of dissatisfaction with his job. Based on his | | | |We will create a plan for Preston that includes |assessment results, Preston also has trouble regulating his | | | |having an alternative work arrangement in place. For|emotions. This may be the direct cause to his overall job | | | |Preston we will create a core list with times so |dissatisfaction. Strategies in increase motivation and job | | | |that he can have something to focus on visually. dissatisfaction with Preston may include openly recognizing his | | | | |accomplishments as well as including his in some sort of job | | | | |rotation. Preston’s dissatisfaction may just be the result of | | | | |â€Å"overroutinization. By allowing Preston to rotate jobs, the | | | | |company may discover an area that suits his skills and knowledge| | | | |better; ultimately increasing his motivation and satisfaction | | | | |levels. | |Bambi |Bambi is overall satisfied in the work place. She is|Bambi has a strong ability to stay engaged despite her job |Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Theory | | |usually able to evaluate and express feelings. Bambi|dissatisfaction. We will need to create a position in which she | | | |is thorough and deliberate in her actions bringing |is challenged mentally so there is not time to focus on her | | | |forth positive outcomes. Bambi has worked hard to |emotions. We will need to keep her involved with different | | | |keep motivated to reach the goals of the company. programs so that she has the opportunity to benefit and grow | | | |She works well when she sets tasks and goals to work|from her job position | | | |towards. | | |

An Analysis of 13 Days

Professor O’Neill Atlantic Worlds II April 16th 2010 Characterizing the First World War as an epidemic of miscalculation, President John F. Kennedy pondered, â€Å"they somehow seemed to tumble into war †¦ through stupidity, individual idiosyncrasies, misunderstandings, and personal complexes of inferiority and grandeur† (49). Reflecting upon these miscalculations, Robert F. Kennedy’s Thirteen Days documents the Cuban Missile Crisis and catalogues the President’s contemplative action amidst potential disaster.Considering the misjudgment that drove conflict in the early twentieth century, and the socio-technological paradigm shift of war, President Kennedy found remedy in the maintenance of open channels of external communication, while regarding the international domino effect of each action, and exhibiting constant skepticism in pursuit of a peaceful resolution. German sociologist Max Weber wrote of the Great War, â€Å"this war, with all its ghastl iness, is nevertheless grand and wonderful. It is worth experiencing† (EP 768).Embellishing the heroism of warfare, Weber reflects a common acceptance of war in the early twentieth century as one of sport and necessity. However, with the development of nuclear arms came a paradigm shift concerning war and its role amid international powers. Acknowledging the destructive potential of nuclear warfare, Kennedy adamantly stated, â€Å"We were not going to misjudge or challenge the other side needlessly, or precipitously push our adversaries into a course of action that was not intended† (75).Using historical precedent as his guide, President Kennedy acts upon the belief that war is rarely intentional, while also recognizing the evolving dynamic of war as one of an arms struggle. The application of this lesson exists in Kennedy’s resolution to utilize quarantine as opposed to armed conflict at the Soviets Union’s initial threat. Foreign ships given orders to re treat would be afforded such an opportunity, any vessel refusing to stop would have its rudders disabled to avoid loss of life, and ships not belonging to the Soviet Union were the irst and only to be boarded, as to not incite a military response. Executing such action demonstrates the President’s clear understanding of past misjudgment, and the paradigm shift that now characterized war as something not of sport, but of mass destruction. Robert Kennedy reaffirms such in declaring, â€Å"If we erred, we erred not only for ourselves and our country, but for the lives of those who had never been given an opportunity to play a role† (81). This statement epitomizes the overwhelming burden of nuclear war, and the cognizance necessary to avoid it.Vital to the avoidance of miscalculation and the development of a mutual understanding were open channels of communication during the Cuban Crisis. President Kennedy recognized the importance of consistent communication to evade impu lsive action, and promote logically sound decision-making. Such an example exists in Robert Kennedy’s Thirteen Days in which Soviet Chairman Khrushchev and President Kennedy exchange messages outlining the guidelines towards peaceful resolution. We must not succumb to petty passions, or to transient things, but should realize that if indeed war should break out, then it would not be in our power to stop it, for such is the logic of war† (66). Stated by Khrushchev in pursuit of mutual amity, such communication demonstrates the importance of clarity and transparency under desperate circumstances. This quotation further exhibits recognition of the warped nature of warfare, and acknowledges history’s wrongdoings that provoked destruction.President Kennedy concluded deliberations in stating, â€Å"the effect of such a settlement on easing world tensions would enable us to work towards a more general arrangement †¦ the United States is very much interested in red ucing tensions and halting the arms race† (79). The clear and concise nature of this exchange lends praise to the diplomatic nature of Kennedy’s tactics, providing both the United States and Soviet Union with the opportunity to ultimately avoid nuclear holocaust. The snowball effect exhibited through the First World War demonstrates the danger of tumbling into conflict through allied obligation and diplomatic stupidity.President Kennedy’s ability to tactfully neutralize the Cuban Crisis demonstrates an awareness of that danger, and an appreciation for the international domino effect that warfare would generate between nations. Strongly stated by Robert Kennedy, â€Å"we had to be aware of this responsibility at all times, aware that we were deciding for the United States, the Soviet Union, NATO, and for all of mankind† (75). Such concern for the global repercussion of warfare can be observed in President Kennedy’s constant scrutiny of military recom mendations and their effect upon the entire western hemisphere.Seeking alternative solutions to war as well as the approval of global powers, Robert Kennedy further states, â€Å"we were able to establish a firm legal foundation for our action under the OAS charter, and our position around the world was †¦ unanimously supported for a quarantine† (40). This diplomatic strategy, founded upon the support of strong European and American allies, aided the United States in considering the implications of all possible courses of action as to ensure a promise of peace for themselves and the global community.A final strategy, central to the diplomatic triumph of the Cuban Missile Crisis, refers to the establishment and success of Kennedy’s Executive Committee of the National Security Council. While each proposed solution held inherent weaknesses, this committee would allow for constant deliberation, argument, and debate. The ability to scrutinize each proposal reinforced a reasonable decision-making process, thereby diminishing the risk of the impulsive miscalculation or misjudgment that had prompted war only decades earlier.Embodying the significance of the Executive Committee, Robert Kennedy declares, â€Å"everyone had an equal opportunity to express himself and to be heard directly. It was a tremendously advantageous procedure that does not frequently occur within the executive branch† (36). Furthermore, President Kennedy is reported to have gone through â€Å"considerable lengths to ensure that he was not insulated from individuals or points of view because of rank or position† (89).While such an arrangement seems idealistic, President Kennedy’s recognition of all available viewpoints provided an extremely broad base of knowledge upon which to draw conclusions. It was this open-minded and reasonable approach that was heavily lacking prior to the Great Wars of the early twentieth century, thereby leading to global disasters t hat may have been averted under more logical circumstances. The measures taken by President Kennedy, as presented through Robert Kennedy’s Thirteen Days, lend overwhelming praise to his diplomatic triumph during the Cuban Missile Crisis.His success is reported as being founded upon the miscalculations of history, and a correction of those past errors in pursuit of peaceful relations. However, the idealistic manner in which the President’s actions are portrayed reek of both brotherly admiration and posthumous praise. Such a utopian presentation only serves to diminish President Kennedy’s heroic role amidst the crisis, and leads the reader to question how pivotal his leadership actually was. A personal memoir of Robert F. Kennedy, Thirteen Days must be read with a grain of salt to properly assess its validity as a historical record.While the President certainly acknowledged the socio-technological paradigm shift of modern warfare in addition to the stupidity from which the First World War emerged, Thirteen Days most obviously dismisses crucial events preceding the Cuban Missile Crisis. The Bay of Pigs Invasion, an unsuccessful attempt by American-trained Cuban refugees to overthrow the government of Fidel Castro, completely contradicts President Kennedy’s supposed cognizance of the dangers of nuclear war and impulsive military action.The failed invasion, initiated only three months after President Kennedy’s inauguration, humiliated the Administration and made communist nations distrustful of the United States. In addition, John F. Kennedy is consistently praised throughout his brother’s memoir for welcoming the viewpoints of not just government administrators, but regular people. For example, â€Å"he wanted the advice of his Cabinet officers, but he also †¦ wished to hear from Tommy Thompson† (89). However, not once throughout Kennedy’s memoir does he mention speaking to field soldiers or their names. The generic label of Tommy Thompson reduces the author’s faith in such sources, and President Kennedy is even shown to mock military figures in stating, they â€Å"lacked the ability to look beyond the limited military field† (90). Such evidence cannot be overlooked in determining the validity of President Kennedy’s success, and reduces the objectivity of this historical source. However, the ultimate success of President Kennedy’s historical reflections and peace-seeking measures cannot be denied.While Thirteen Days nearly emits audible applause for his actions, it accurately reports the measures taken to subdue the Cuban Missile Crisis, the effectiveness of quarantine and the importance of bargaining and communication. These actions, prompted through the establishment of the Executive Committee, resulted in the removal of nuclear arms from Cuba and the reestablishment of the global status quo. Rescuing our nation on the brink of nuclear war, the reader h as no choice but to close Thirteen Days with a deeper admiration for the courage and wisdom of President Kennedy.