My Values in Life

Values are qualities that one considers to be worthwhile and as such, act as the driving force in their lives. A person’s values take precedence over other qualities and therefore dictate the manner in which an individual may act in particular instances. In my life, I have a number of values that I hold dear.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on My Values in Life specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More These values are as a result of my upbringing, my principles in life as well as my socialization. In this essay, I shall identify the core values that I hold and the manner in which they influence my everyday choices, actions and plans that I make. One of the educational values that are fundamental to me is achievement. This is as a result of my belief that what defines me most as a person is my determination to succeed and my desire to make a positive contribution to society through my career. Achievement is therefore one of the values that is most important to me since in today’s world, achievement and success are mostly tied together with educational success. As a result of this, I hold my educational exploits in high esteem since education is one of the avenues where one’s determination leads to quantifiable success. I greatly value close relationships with my friends and constantly seek to cement the same. This is because good friends can assist one achieve his/her goals in life and can sometimes even be closer than family. For this reason, I invest a lot of time and effort in my close friends. I make it a priority to be a part of the significant moments in my friends’ lives such as their birthdays, wedding days and even baby christening ceremonies. In addition to this, I always ensure that I inquire as to their well beings periodically. Growth and personal development for me is a very fundamental value and its importance in my life cannot be understated. It is my believe that my life is not worth much if I do not strive to constantly improve on my achievements as well as in becoming a better person. This value of personal grown and development greatly impacts on my day to day living especially when it comes to establishing new relations. It is generally my rule that if a new relation will not add any value to my life, then I should not waste my time exploring it. One of the constant realities in human life is that we will always be surrounded by needy people. As such, on a social level, I always strive to give my services to the less fortunate. In my opinion, a life well lived is one that is lived in such a way that it makes a difference to someone else’s life. This is the philosophy with which I have led my life up to this point and at all times, I try to make a difference in the lives of the people that surround me. Helping other people is therefore a value that I value not only in myself but also in other people. While modern day living h as somewhat lead to a degradation of the value of family from what it used to be in gone years, I still hold the value of family to be very important in my life. To me, one’s family members are the ones who will stand by you no matter the situation and encourage you through life’s troubles.Advertising Looking for essay on philosophy? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More While I reckon that family may not always be supportive or as ideal as I envision it, in my experience my family is closely knit and always stands up for me. I therefore always have my family in mind when making my decisions and consider how my actions will affect them. In addition to this, I try seek guidance from members of the family who are more experienced than I am before making monumental decisions in my life. It has been argued that honest men and women are a dying breed. This statement holds true in our capitalistic society where profits and p ersonal gains are the primary objectives. The means by which one goes to achieve success is often overlooked and as such, the ends justify the means. Even in the midst of such an environment, I still hold honesty as one of my core values. Without a doubt, this is mostly as a result of my upbringing whereby honest was applauded and dishonesty shunned. Also, I have come to realize that when one achieves success though honesty, the level of satisfaction that comes with it is truly unrivaled by any other feeling. Owing to my upbringing, I have a huge regard for religion. As such, one of my spiritual values is engaging myself in some religious organization. While it is true that most of my religious values are as a result of my upbringing, I have over time come to embrace them as my own and therefore make it my personal duty to be actively involved in my religious organization. To me, this brings about a sense of balance and helps me be more reflective and appreciative in my life. My rel igious values impact on my decision making since I try not to make choices which are contrary to my religious beliefs. In this paper, I have identified some of the values that I hold dear to me. I have also identified how this values impact on the choices that I make as well the actions that I take. From this deep exploration of my values, I have come to the realization that my values greatly dictate how I treat the people around me as well as how I prioritize on matters. I believe that as a result of my values, I strive harder to achieve the things that I want in life and as such, I am a better person as a result of them. This essay on My Values in Life was written and submitted by user Carl J. to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

Josephus essays

Josephus essays Josephus Flavius (37A.D - Unknown) is recognised internationally for his recount of the amazing story of the events on Masada. Although Josephus gave a detailed profile in the, Bellum Judaicum, The Jewish War, of the battle of Masada due to, life-experiences archaeologists and historians must be aware of certain biass. Josephus was not the most courageous of people. He was brought up in an orthodox Jewish home on Jerusalem, being educated in a rabbinic school from a young age, he claims that, by the age of about fourteen he had become such an authority on the intricacies of the Jewish Law that even senior priests and laymen prominent in the administration of the city came to him for the elucidation of knotty points... (BJ, Introduction, pge 10) which may have certain biass in itself. At an age of 26 Josephus decided on going to Rome on a diplomatic mission, to free some fellow priests which had been captured by Emperor Nero due to an unspecified, trivial charge. En-route Josephus was astounded s wife Poppoea. The experiences which he has in Rome, left an everlasting scar of the power, might and glory of the Roman empire in Josephuss mind. When he returned to Jerusalem, Jerusalem As a result Josephus was appointed commander of the most northerl ...

English Longbow - Hundred Years War

English Longbow - Hundred Years' War Longbow - Origins: While bows have been used for hunting and warfare for thousands of years, few achieved the fame of the English Longbow. The weapon first rose to prominence when it was deployed by the Welsh during the Norman English invasions of Wales. Impressed by its range and accuracy, the English adopted it and began conscripting Welsh archers into military service. The longbow ranged in length from four feet to in excess of six. British sources usually require the weapon to be longer than five feet to qualify. Longbow - Construction: Traditional longbows were constructed from yew wood which was dried for one to two years, with it slowly being worked into shape over that time. In some cases, the process could take as long as four years. During the period of the longbows use, shortcuts were found, such as wetting the wood, to speed up the process. The bow stave was formed from half of a branch, with the heartwood on the inside and the sapwood to the outside. This approach was necessary as the heartwood was able to better resist compression, while the sapwood performed better in tension. The bow string was typically linen or hemp. Longbow - Accuracy: For its day the longbow possessed both long range and accuracy, though seldom both at once. Scholars estimate the longbows range at between 180 to 270 yards. It is unlikely however, that accuracy could be ensured beyond 75-80 yards. At longer ranges, the preferred tactic to unleash volleys of arrows at masses of enemy troops. During the 14th and 15th centuries, English archers were expected to shoot ten aimed shots per minute during battle. A skilled archer would be capable of around twenty shots. As the typical archer was provided with 60-72 arrows, this permitted three to six minutes of continuous fire. Longbow - Tactics: Though deadly from a distance, archers were vulnerable, particularly to cavalry, at close range as they lacked the armor and weapons of the infantry. As such, longbow equipped archers were frequently positioned behind field fortifications or physical barriers, such as swamps, which could afford protection against attack. On the battlefield, longbowmen were frequently found in an enfilade formation on the flanks of English armies. By massing their archers, the English would unleash a cloud of arrows on the enemy as they advanced which would strike down soldiers and unhorse armored knights. To make the weapon more effective, several specialized arrows were developed. These included arrows with heavy bodkin (chisel) heads which were designed to penetrate chain mail and other light armor. While less effective against plate armor, they generally were able to pierce the lighter armor on knights mount, unhorsing him and forcing him to fight on foot. To speed up their rate of fire in battle, archers would remove their arrows from their quiver and stick them in the ground at their feet. This permitted a smoother motion to reload after each arrow. Longbow - Training: Though an effective weapon, the longbow required extensive training to use effectively. To make sure that deep pool of archers always existed in England, the population, both rich and poor, were encouraged to hone their skills. This was furthered by the government through edicts such King Edward Is ban on sports on Sunday which was designed to ensure that his people practiced archery. As the draw force on the longbow was a hefty 160–180 lbf, archers in training worked their way up to the weapon. The level of training required to be an effective archer discouraged other nations from adopting the weapon. Longbow - Usage: Rising to prominence during the reign of King Edward I (r. 1272–1307), the longbow became a defining feature of English armies for the next three centuries. During this period, the weapon aided in winning victories on the Continent and in Scotland, such as Falkirk (1298). It was during the Hundred Years War (1337–1453) that the longbow became legend after it played a key role in securing the great English victories at Crà ©cy (1346), Poitiers (1356), and Agincourt (1415). It was, however, the weakness of the archers, which cost the English when they were defeated at Patay in (1429). Beginning in the 1350s, England began to suffer a shortage of yew from which to make bow staves. After expanding the harvest, the Statute of Westminster was passed in 1470, which required each ship trading in English ports to pay four bow staves for each ton of goods imported. This was later expanded to ten bow staves per ton. During the 16th century, bows began to be replaced by firearms. While their rate of fire was slower, firearms required much less training and permitted leaders to quickly raise effective armies. Though the longbow was being phased out, it remained in service through the 1640s and was used by Royalist armies during the English Civil War. Its last use in battle is believed to have been at Bridgnorth in October 1642. While England was the only nation to employ the weapon in large numbers, longbow-equipped mercenary companies were used throughout Europe and saw extensive service in Italy.

Management of queues Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Management of queues - Essay Example Thus, this type of model is time efficient because the service rate, which is the number of customers attended within a given time interval, increases. A good example is of customers waiting in queues to get their checks cashed in front of multiple counters in a bank. No Customer Frustration Multiple queues put an end to customers’ frustration which they have to face in case of single queues. The frustration that single queues offer has an impact on the customer satisfaction and good will and thus costs the company a lot in the long run. Thus, with multiple queues this problem can be eliminated since customers are quickly attended to within least possible time. For example, when there are multiple check outs in a grocery store, a consumer feels good when he does not have to wait in long single queue with grocery on the trolley which he has to guard too. Multiple queuing model is a blessing at grocery stores. Fitzsimmons and Fitzsimmons gave the example of McDonalds which †Å"feared that customers would balk on seeing a long line† (454) and therefore implemented multiple queues. Switching of Queues Customers can always switch onto the queue which seems to be shorter and in which he feels that he will be attended much sooner. For example, when a new movie is going to be released, there are multiple queues in front of the ticketing counters. Some queues are long and some are short. A customer from long queue can come out and join a shorter one to save time and energy. This way, the queues also get managed themselves and the load on each counter is distributed among all the counters. Enjoyment One benefit that multiple queues have on single queues is that when customers make multiple queues, they are free to chat with each other and have fun while they are waiting for their turns. This makes them comfortable with the situation they are in and they pass their waiting time happily. Example is of people queued up for tickets in front of the cinema hall and chatting about the new movie. Disadvantages Cost Multiple queues with multiple services facilities sometimes adds too much to the set up cost because it may happen that the customers are being attended too efficiently and thus some servers remain idle for some time which also results in some employees being idle resulting in low morale. Multiple queues require a lot of service capacity in order to be efficient. No First-come first-served In case of multiple queues, since it is the customer’s choice which queue to join and since he can always switch onto the queue which seems shorter, the rule of first-come, first-served or first-in, first-out cannot be applied. A good example is that of traffic jam, where a driver can leave his line and enter one which seems shorter and running faster. This way, even if he came later than other drivers, he has chances of getting out of the traffic sooner. Also, when a queue is switched, the previous queue always seems to have become fast er and shorter. This is an out of logic stigma attached to multiple queues which cannot be explained. Alertness Although the customers in multiple queues can have an extra fun of chatting and gossiping with each other, yet they have to remain extra alert so that they can hear their number. They can be careless about their turn or number more than if they were in a single queue. Example is of fast food centers as McDonalds where people engage in socializing and may become forgetful of their numbers. Psychological

Personal Testimony Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Personal Testimony - Essay Example In China, for example, there some marked differences in the way people act based on where they come from, their level of education and even social class. For example, the lifestyle of people in cities is very different from the provinces; in the former, people are materialistic and always focused on getting blue-collar jobs and other trappings of western life. While this applies to some extent in the villages, people tend to concentrate more and agricultural production and less on modernization making a journey from the heart of Shanghai to my parent’s rural home quiet an exciting stimulation for my cultural palate. A key difference I noticed in one of the visits is that people in the countryside tend to have a more communal mentality than those in towns. The community comes first then the individual; however, the urban mindset is quite different with people giving preference to their needs before they consider those of the community. From these experiences, I learnt that people are different from place to place and it is always good to understand how they think since it makes it easier to interact with them. Consequently, I would say my lesson in culture despite by unawareness of its important has proven very useful in helping me adapt to life when I found myself in a radically different cultural environment. In the United States, everything seemed so distinctly different, and I felt as if I had traveled into a different dimension altogether. My understanding of culture was exponentially broadened by this experience as I realized that even the small things I used to take for granted were an essential aspect of culture. Food, language mannerism and much other distinction that differentiate different peoples from each other are can all contribute to the concept of culture. My objective for travelling to the US was to further my education, my parents wanted me to expand both my intellectual and social-cultural hori zons. To them, there was no better way of doing

Challenges Facing Goodyear Essay -- Business Management Consumerism Ti

Challenges Facing Goodyear Problem Statement There are several challenges facing Goodyear in the current environment. Our sales have leveled off in the past few years and we need to increase our market share in order to improve these numbers. Our debt is high and our interest payments are eating away at our profiles so we need to get more income to pay down this debt. The more immediate question is if Goodyear should launch its new line of Aquatred tires. The trend has been toward higher mileage tires and the Aquatred tire is not in line with this trend, being more of a higher end tire. Additionally, if we do determine that we are going to launch the Aquatred, do we start the advertising during the Olympics when we don’t have all the tire sizes available? We are also determining if remaining with our current distribution channel is the best approach or if we need to expand the way our tires get to market. If we decide that we are going to expand our distribution channels, we then have to determine which tires, we are going to offer in the new channels. Finally, our market share in the replacement market is lacking not sure this is true, and since consumers feel that buying tires is a necessity we have to find a way to make them excited about purchasing our product. Goodyear used to be considered the Gorilla in tire producers, but with increased competition in recent years, that is not longer the case. Issues: Consumer model and expectations Essentially, consumers fall into 4 basic segments. Â § There are Price-constrained buyers who buy the best brand they can afford. They do not show any loyalty toward any brand and tend to shop around for tires so we would have to get our tired in front of them and be the best priced. Â § There are the Value-oriented buyers that shop around a lot to get the best price, but would generally buy major brands only so we would probably be able to capture this buyer because of our brand name, but we would need competitive pricing. Â § There are the Quality buyers who were loyal to the outlet and the brand of tire. These consumers were generally upscale and are going to be our main target audience and the challenge here would be to get the tire to the outlet that the consumer is comfortable buying at and communicating the difference in our tire verses our competitors. Â § Finall... ... and concern was put forth by the company to try to make tires as safe as possible. This is a positive spin on the company as a whole, which should translate to higher sales for our other tire products. In conclusion, we have a unique opportunity to take advantage of a niche market that is as of yet untapped. We have already purchased advertising time at the Olympics for which we are going introduce our new Aquatred tire, as well as promote Goodyear’s continuing quest for safety and quality. We are going to open up new distribution channels for our lower end tires so as to increase market share in these areas, while ensuring that our independent dealers sales are respected and promoted as much as possible. This is a very exciting time for Goodyear and the Aquatred tire. A little long, but I like your plan of action. Most important attributes for consumers when purchasing a new tire: 1. Tread Life 2. Wet Traction 3. Handling 4. Snow traction 5. Dry traction US market for Passenger Tires Replacement OEM Total Industry 152.0 43 195 Goodyear 22.8 16.3 39.1 Goodyear’s percent 15% 38% 20%

Case Study: Swatch and the Global Watch Industry Essay

Introduction The Swatch Group had many early on successes due to repositioning strategies and a boost from acquisitions. On the surface, the Swatch Group was the world’s leading manufacturer of watches in the late 1990’s. They had 14 percent of the world market share and it appeared that gross sales and net profits were on the rise; however, under the covers, it was a much different story. Swatch was facing a myriad of issues that needed to be resolved in order for success to prevail. Management issues were plaguing Swatch; multiple key figures stepped down from the board in the mid 1990’s citing the CEO’s inability to listen to his staff. In addition to the management issues, Swatch was also facing fierce competition in many market spaces, including the largest consumer base space, the United States. In addition to lack of market penetration in the United States, Swatch had too many products, which equally distracted buyers and sellers. Lastly, manufacturing costs continued to soar in Switzerland, the Swatch Group’s home base. Other competitors were quickly cutting their costs by moving manufacturing overseas. The Swatch Group was at a crossroad; the strategy that had worked so well in the early 1990’s was no longer viable – the question now was what to do about it? Management Issues and Potential Resolutions Although Swatch faced many issues, internal dissension can be the quickest death of a company. Hayek needs to ensure the people chosen to replace the board member’s who stepped down are able to handle his leadership style. Equally as important as selecting a high-performing executive team, Hayek need’s to realize that traditional organizational principles of functional hierarchies will inevitably lead to rifts in management. This is a social issue that Hayek needs to address. If ex-board members continue to bad mouth Swatch it could have an impact on sales. To address this issue, Hayek needs to improve his leadership style and management model to actively involve his staff. As an employee, even an executive employee, being flat out told what you have to do all the time is often the ingredient for an unhealthy work environment, especially when trying to implement change. However, when  employees are involved in making a decision it is often easier to put into action th e decision that was made. There is sometimes a higher acceptance of the decision when it comes from the ground up and there is a higher probability that the decision will be executed efficiently. The outcome of such a change will inevitably be positive. When Hayek has more then one person getting together trying to solve a problem, he will have an increased chance at a better solution then if he were trying to solve it himself. The employees bring a lot to the meeting room with them. For instance, they may have â€Å"inside information† about why production is faltering. By creating a high-performing executive team that works as a cohesive unit versus â€Å"he has to be the big boss alone, and can never share opinions† unit, the Swatch Group should begin to see an improvement in the softer issues, such as employee satisfaction, higher executive employee retention, and a more open communication model. Competitive and Product Mix Issues and Potential Resolutions The Swatch group as a whole had an unparalleled ability to provide consumers with a wide range of products in all market segments. They could provide hi-tech watches that functioned as ski passes, fashion watches such as the Swatch, or an exquisite diamond studded precious metal watch – Swatch provided products at all extremes. However, certain product lines were more successful then others. The Swatch watch in particular was struggling to gain market share in the United States and elsewhere for several reasons including fickle consumer behavior and a product line that was daunting to consumers and resellers. The Swatch product was quickly loosing its competitive edge against other players such as Fossil, Guess, Timex and Seiko. Resellers were dropping like flies and consumers felt like Swatch had saturated the market with too many products. Worse of all, consumer perception was that Swatch was a fad. Swift decisions need to be made to reverse this before the brand becomes part of a MTV or VH1 â€Å"I love the 90’s† television show. Luckily, most of the decisions to be made regarding product mix have very little impact socially and ethically. Omega (part of the Swatch Group portfolio of brands), was facing a similar demise in the early 1990’s and successfully repositioned itself and became a major profit driver for the group. It achieved this by carefully selecting its marketing programs and drastically trimming its product line from 2,500 to 130. This strategy needs to be applied to Swatch, which focuses on the basic and middle-priced market. This is supported by the fact that the number of resellers dropped from 3,000 in the early 1990’s to 1,200 in 1998. Swatch needs to apply a SWOT analysis and determine which product lines are successful in this market space and drop the remaining products. In addition, the Swatch Group needs to look at their consumer base and determine if it would be profitable to launch a new product line that captures past consumers who have now progressed to the next stage of their lives and are desiring a more expensive and sophisticated watch. A marketing campaign needs to be chosen that helps attract new consumers in the basic and middle price market focusing on the smaller number of brands and a separate campaign should be created that focuses on keeping their existing customer base. These campaigns should be replicated to other countries to ensure the Swatch brand remains visible. Neither of these resolutions will be easy to implement; however, if done successfully Swatch will decrease their production costs because there are fewer product lines and increase their sales based on marketing campaigns to two separate groups: new customers and existing customers. Manufacturing Issues and Potential Resolutions Driven by high demand, offshore manufacturing centers are appearing throughout the world. Many of the Swatch Group’s competitors have switched their manufacturing to centers overseas and decreased their fixed costs, which resulted in an increase in profit. The Swatch Group had always remained committed to its home base, partly because their home base possessed centuries of expertise in watch making and partly because a timepiece cannot be stamped with â€Å"Swiss Made† unless at least 50% of Swiss manufactured products by value are present in the  timepiece. Although the mix of factors raising the possibility of outsourcing varies from company to company, there are a few themes that the Swatch Group needs to explore regarding the pressures to outsource. The Swatch Group needs to recognize that general concerns regarding cost and quality are the main drivers for outsourcing. In addition, outsourcing can turn a fixed cost into a variable cost, which will significantly help a company with varying volumes. Although most businesses can benefit hugely through outsourcing or manufacturing in another country, the Swatch Group needs to determine if it will be successful and profitable for them. Outsourcing a portion of their value chain is not a quick-fix response to production costs or performance lags. Additionally, the choices for outsourcing locations are many, they are not all equal, differing in several critical areas. Selecting the right option requires balancing factors such as cultural affinity, geopolitical risk, cost, and resource availability. To help narrow their focus in their analysis, initially, the Swatch Group should look to India for their outsource location. India has a large talent pool of skilled, experienced watch workers. These workers have hands-on experience supporting Titan industries. Titan is continuing to grow as a company and the pace of resource expansion is dramatically improving in keeping up with current as well as future technologies. Additionally, the Swatch Group should center their outsourcing attention to the assembly portion of the value added chain. This will ensure that 50% of the manufactured parts are still completed in Switzerland. The design, marketing, and most of manufacturing of the watches still remain where the expertise is located. The assembly of a watch is an extremely repeatable and easily controllable task, which will increase the success for outsourcing. Outsourcing assembly to India will have many positive effects for the Swatch Group. Cost reduction remains the primary objective of outsourcing; the Swatch Group will have the ability to provide a good at a lower cost and should be able to make the assembly cost more predictable and controlled. Ethically and socially, outsourcing has a caused many individuals and  increase in job insecurity. Lower labor standards in other countries are forcing many companies to outsource much of their manufacturing. This is especially unsettling for individuals who lack the skills to make themselves difficult to replace, such as in manufacturing. If the Swatch Group decides to outsource assembly, there will be no easy way to redeploy the assembly workers. They can setup a redeployment pool for those resources and try to redeploy them elsewhere in the company. However, if this is not possible, a business decision will have to be made to lay those workers off. The utmost sensitivity will be required as it is possible that generations of families have worked for the Swatch Group. The Swatch Group will need to carefully balance the outsourcing cost reduction possibilities with the social ramifications that may exist. Conclusion There are many issues facing the Swatch Group and there is no right way to solve any of the issues. Each issue comes laden with ethical and social consequences that will also impact the company. The Swatch Group will need to take steps to ensure that international integration does not cause domestic social disintegration. Regardless of how the issues are resolve, the greatest challenge is going to be finding the right balance between markets and societies. References Swatch and the Global Watch Industry