Most Opposition to Abortion Relies Essay

A Defense of Abortion Author(s): Judith Jarvis Thomson Source: Philosophy and Public Affairs, Vol. 1, No. 1 (Autumn, 1971), pp. 47-66 Published by: Blackwell Publishing Stable URL: http://www. jstor. org/stable/2265091 Accessed: 10/01/2010 00:54 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR’s Terms and Conditions of Use, available at http://www. jstor. org/page/info/about/policies/terms. jsp. JSTOR’s Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at http://www. jstor. org/action/showPublisher? publisherCode=black. Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor. org. Blackwell Publishing is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Philosophy and Public Affairs. http://www. jstor. org JUDITH JARVISTHOMSON A Defense of Abortion’ Most opposition to abortion relies on the premise that the fetus is a human being, a person, from the moment of conception. The premise is argued for, but, as I think, not well. Take, for example, the most common argument. We are asked to notice that the development of a human being from conception through birth into childhood is continuous; then it is said that to draw a line, to choose a point in this development and say â€Å"before this point the thing is not a person, after this point it is a person† is to make an arbitrary choice, a choice for which in the nature of things no good reason can be given. It is concluded that the fetus is, or anyway that we had better say it is, a person from the moment of conception. But this conclusion does not follow. Similar things might be said about the development of an acorn into an oak tree, and it does not follow that acorns are oak trees, or that we had better say they are. Arguments of this form are sometimes called â€Å"slippery slope arguments†-the phrase is perhaps self-explanatory-and it is dismaying that opponents of abortion rely on them so heavily and uncritically. I am inclined to agree, however, that the prospects for â€Å"drawing a line† in the development of the fetus look dim. I am inclined to think also that we shall probably have to agree that the fetus has already become a human person well before birth. Indeed, it comes as a surprise when one first learns how early in its life it begins to acquire human characteristics. By the tenth week, for example, it already has i. I am very much indebted to James Thomson for discussion, criticism, and many helpful suggestions. 48 Philosophy ; Public Affairs a face, arms and legs, fingers and toes; it has internal organs, and brain activity is detectable. 2 On the other hand, I think that the premise is false, that the fetus is not a person from the moment of conception. A newly fertilized ovum, a newly implanted clump of cells, is no more a person than an acorn is an oak tree. But I shall not discuss any of this. For it seems to me to be of great interest to ask what happens if, for the sake of argument, we allow the premise. How, precisely, are we supposed to get from there to the conclusion that abortion is morally impermissible? Opponents of abortion commonly spend most of their time establishing that the fetus is a person, and hardly any time explaining the step from there to the impermissibility of abortion. Perhaps they think the step too simple and obvious to require much comment. Or perhaps instead they are simply being economical in argument. Many of those who defend abortion rely on the premise that the fetus is not a person, but only a bit of tissue that will become a person at birth; and why pay out more arguments than you have to? Whatever the explanation, I suggest that the step they take is neither easy nor obvious, that it calls for closer examination than it is commonly given, and that when we do give it this closer examination we shall feel inclined to reject it. I propose, then, that we grant that the fetus is a person. from the moment of conception. How does the argument go from here? Something like this, I take it. Every person has a right to life. So the fetus has a right to life. No doubt the mother has a right to decide what shall happen in and to her body; everyone would grant that. But surely a person’s right to life is stronger and more stringent than the mother’s right to decide what happens in and to her body, and so outweighs it. So the fetus may not be killed; an abortion may not be performed. It sounds plausible. But now let me ask you to imagine this. You wake up in the morning and find yourself back to back in bed with an unconscious violinist. A famous unconscious violinist. He has been found to have a fatal kidney ailment, and the Society of Music Lovers 2. Daniel Callahan, Abortion: Law, Choice and Morality (New York, 1970), p. 373. This book gives a fascinating survey of the available information on abortion. The Jewish tradition is surveyed in David M. Feldman, Birth Control in Jewish Law (New York, i968), Part 5, the Catholic tradition in John T. Noonan, Jr. , â€Å"An Almost Absolute Value in History,† in The Morality of Abortion, ed. John T. Noonan, Jr. (Cambridge, Mass. , 1970). 49 A Defense of Abortion has canvassed all the available medical records and found that you alone have the right blood type to help. They have therefore kidnapped you, and last night the violinist’s circulatory system was plugged into yours, so that your kidneys can be used to extract poisons from his blood as well as your own. The director of the hospital now tells you, â€Å"Look, we’re sorry the Society of Music Lovers did this to you-we would never have permitted it if we had known. But still, they did it, and the violinist now is plugged into you. To unplug you would be to kill him. But never mind, it’s only for nine months. By then he will have recovered from his ailment, and can safely be unplugged from you. † Is it morally incumbent on you to accede to this situation? No doubt it would be very nice of you if you did, a great kindness. But do you have to accede to it? What if it were not nine months, but nine years? Or longer still? What if the director of the hospital says, â€Å"Tough luck, I agree, but you’ve now got to stay in bed, with the violinist plugged into you, for the rest of your life. Because remember this. All persons have a right to life, and violinists are persons. Granted you have a right to decide what happens in and to your body, but a person’s right to life outweighs your right to decide what happens in and to your body. So you cannot ever be unplugged from him. † I imagine you would regard this as outrageous, which suggests that something really is wrong with that plausible-sounding argument I mentioned a moment ago. In this case, of course, you were kidnapped; you didn’t volunteer for the operation that plugged the violinist into your kidneys. Can those who oppose abortion on the ground I mentioned make an exception for a pregnancy due to rape? Certainly. They can say that persons have a right to life only if they didn’t come into existence because of rape; or they can say that all persons have a right to life, but that some have less of a right to life than others, in particular, that those who came into existence because of rape have less. But these statements have a rather unpleasant sound. Surely the question of whether you have a right to life at all, or how much of it you have, shouldn’t turn on the question of whether or not you are the product of a rape. And in fact the people who oppose abortion on the ground I mentioned do not make this distinction, and hence do not make an exception in case of rape. 50 Philosophy ; Public Affairs Nor do they make an exception for a case in which the mother has to spend the nine months of her pregnancy in bed. They would agree that would be a great pity, and hard on the mother; but all the same, all persons have a right to ife, the fetus is a person, and so on. I suspect, in fact, that they would not make an exception for a case in which, miraculously enough, the pregnancy went on for nine years, or even the rest of the mother’s life. Some won’t even make an exception for a case in which continuation of the pregnancy is likely to shorten the mother’s life; they regard abortion as impermissible even to save the mother’s life. Such cases are nowadays very rare, and many opponents of abortion do not accept this extreme view. Moreover, in killing the child, one would be killing an innocent person, for the child has committed no crime, and is not aiming at his mother’s death. And then there are a variety of ways in which this 3. The term â€Å"direct† in the arguments I refer to is a technical one. Roughly, what is meant by â€Å"direct killing† is either killing as an end in itself, or killing as a means to some end, for example, the end of saving someone else’s life. See note 6, below, for an example of its use. 51 A Defense of Abortion might be continued. i) But as directly killing an innocent person is always and absolutely impermissible, an abortion may not be performed. Or, (2) as directly killing an innocent person is murder, and murder is always and absolutely impermissible, an abortion may not be performed. Because unplugging you would be directly killing an innocent violinist, and that’s murder, and that’s impermissible. † If anything in the world is true, it is that you do not commit murder, you do not do what is impermissible, if you reach around to your back and unplug yourself from that violinist to save your life. The main focus of attention in writings on abortion has been on what a third party may or may not do in answer to a request from a woman for an abortion. This is in a way understandable. Things being as they are, there isn’t much a woman can safely do to abort herself. So the question asked is what a third party may do, and what the mother may do, if it is mentioned at all, is deduced, almost as an afterthought, from what it is concluded that third parties may do. But it seems to me that to treat the matter in this way is to refuse to grant to the mother that very status of person which is so firmly insisted on for the fetus. For we cannot simply read off what a person may do from what a third party may do. Suppose you find yourself trapped in a tiny house with a growing child. I mean a very tiny house, and a rapidly growing child-you are already up against the wall f the house and in a few minutes you’ll be crushed to death. The child on the other hand won’t be crushed to death; if nothing is done to stop him from growing he’ll be hurt, but in the end he’ll simply burst open the house and walk out a free man. Now I could well understand it if a bystander were to say, â€Å"There’s nothing we can do for you. We c annot choose between your life and his, we cannot be the ones to decide who is to live, we cannot intervene. † But it cannot be concluded that you too can do nothing, that you cannot attack it to save your life. However innocent the child may be, you do not have to wait passively while it crushes you to death. Perhaps a pregnant woman is vaguely felt to have the status of house, to which we don’t allow the 53 A Defense of Abortion right of self-defense. But if the woman houses the child, it should be remembered that she is a person who houses it. 1 should perhaps stop to say explicitly that I am not claiming that people have a right to do anything whatever to save their lives. I think, rather, that there are drastic limits to the right of self-defense. If someone threatens you with death unless you torture someone else to death, I think you have not the right, even to save your life, to do so. But the case under consideration here is very different. In our case there are only two people involved, one whose life is threatened, and one who threatens it. Both are innocent: the one who is threatened is not threatened because of any fault, the one who threatens does not threaten because of any fault. For this reason we may feel that we bystanders cannot intervene. But the person threatened can. In sum, a woman surely can defend her life against the threat to it posed by the unborn child, even if doing so involves its death. And this shows not merely that the theses in (i) through (4) are false; it shows also that the extreme view of abortion is false, and so we need not canvass any other possible ways of arriving at it from the argument I mentioned at the outset. 2. The extreme view could of course be weakened to say that while abortion is permissible to save the mother’s life, it may not be performed by a third party, but only by the mother herself. But this cannot be right either. For what we have to keep in mind is that the mother and the unborn child are not like two tenants in a small house which has, by an unfortunate mistake, been rented to both: the mother owns the house. The fact that she does adds to the offensiveness of deducing that the mother can do nothing from the supposition that third parties can do nothing. But it does more than this: it casts a bright light on the supposition that third parties can do nothing. Certainly it lets us see that a third party who says â€Å"I cannot choose between you† is fooling himself if he thinks this is impartiality. If Jones has found and fastened on a certain coat, which he needs to keep him from freezing, but which Smith also needs to keep him from freezing, then it is not impartiality that says â€Å"I cannot choose between you† when Smith owns the coat. Women have said again and again â€Å"This body is my body! † and they have reason to feel angry, reason to feel that it has been like shouting into the wind. Smith, after all, is 54 Philosophy & Public Affairs hardly likely to bless us if we say to him, â€Å"Of course it’s your coat, anybody would grant that it is. But no one may choose between you and Jones who is to have it.We should really ask what it is that says â€Å"no one may choose† in the face of the fact that the body that houses the child is the mother’s body. It may be simply a failure to appreciate this fact. But it may be something more interesting, namely the sense that one has a right to refuse to lay hands on people, even where it would be just and fair to do so, even where justice seems to require that somebody do so. Thus justice might call for somebody to get Smith’s coat back from Jones, and yet you have a right to refuse to be the one to lay hands on Jones, a right to refuse to do physical violence to him. This, I think, must be granted. But then what should be said is not â€Å"no one may choose,† but only â€Å"I cannot choose,† and indeed not even this, but â€Å"I will not act,† leaving it open that somebody else can or should, and in particular that anyone in a position of authority, with the job of securing people’s rights, both can and should. So this is no difficulty. I have not been arguing that any given third party must accede to the mother’s request that he perform an abortion to save her life, but only that he may. I suppose that in some views of human life the mother’s body is only on loan to her, the loan not being one which gives her any prior claim to it. One who held this view might well think it impartiality to say â€Å"I cannot choose. † But I shall simply ignore this possibility. My own view is that if a human being has any just, prior claim to anything at all, he has a just, prior claim to his own body. And perhaps this needn’t be argued for here anyway, since, as I mentioned, the arguments against abortion we are looking at do grant that the woman has a right to decide what happens in and to her body. But although they do grant it, I have tried to show that they do not take seriously what is done in granting it. I suggest the same thing will reappear even more clearly when we turn away from cases in which the mother’s life is at stake, and attend, as I propose we now do, to the vastly more common cases in which a woman wants an abortion for some less weighty reason than preserving her own life. 3. Where the mother’s life is not at stake, the argument I mentioned at the outset seems to have a much stronger pull. â€Å"Everyone 55 A Defense of Abortion as a right to life, so the unborn person has a right to life. † And isn’t the child’s right to life weightier than anything other than the mother’s own right to life, which she might put forward as ground for an abortion? This argument treats the right to life as if it were unproblematic. It is not, and this seems to me to be precisely the source of the mistake. For we should now, at long last , ask what it comes to, to have a right to life. In some views having a right to life includes having a right to be given at least the bare minimum one needs for continued life. But suppose that what in fact is the bare minimum a man needs for continued life is something he has no right at all to be given? If I am sick unto death, and the only thing that will save my life is the touch of Henry Fonda’s cool hand on my fevered brow, then all the same, I have no right to be given the touch of Henry Fonda’s cool hand on my fevered brow. It would be frightfully nice of him to fly in from the West Coast to provide it. It would be less nice, though no doubt well meant, if my friends flew out to the West Coast and carried Henry Fonda back with them. But I have no right at all against anybody that he should do this for me. Or again, to return to the story I told earlier, the fact that for continued life that violinist needs the continued use of your kidneys does not establish that he has a right to be given the continued use of your kidneys. He certainly has no right against you that you should give him continued use of your kidneys. For nobody has any right to use your kidneys unless you give him such a right; and nobody has the right against you that you shall give him this right-if you do allow him to go on using your kidneys, this is a kindness on your part, and not something he can claim from you as his due. Nor has he any right against anybody else that they should give him continued use of your kidneys. Certainly he had no right against the Society of Music Lovers that they should plug him into you in the first place. And if you now start to unplug yourself, having learned that you will otherwise have to spend nine years in bed with him, there is nobody in the world who must try to prevent you, in order to see to it that he is given something he has a right to be given. Some people are rather stricter about the right to life. In their view, it does not include the right to be given anything, but amounts to, 56 Philosophy & Public Affairs and only to, the right not to be killed by anybody. But here a related difficulty arises. If everybody is to refrain from killing that violinist, then everybody must refrain from doing a great many different sorts of things. Everybody must refrain from slitting his throat, everybody must refrain from shooting him-and everybody must refrain from unplugging you from him. But does he have a right against everybody that they shall refrain from unplugging you from him? To refrain from doing this is to allow him to continue to use your kidneys. It could be argued that he has a right against us that we should allow him to continue to use your kidneys. That is, while he had no right against us that we should give him the use of your kidneys, it might be argued that he anyway has a right against us that we shall not now intervene and deprive him of the use of your kidneys. I shall come back to third-party interventions later. But certainly the violinist has no right against you that you shall allow him to continue to use your kidneys. As I said, if you do allow him to use them, it is a kindness on your part, and not something you owe him. The difficulty I point to here is not peculiar to the right to life. It reappears in connection with all the other natural rights; and it is something which an adequate account of rights must deal with. For present purposes it is enough just to draw attention to it. But I would stress that I am not arguing that people do not have a right to lifequite to the contrary, it seems to me that the primary control we must place on the acceptability of an account of rights is that it should turn out in that account to be a truth that all persons have a right to life. I am arguing only that having a right to life does not guarantee having either a right to be given the use of or a right to be allowed continued use of another person’s body-even if one needs it for life itself. So the right to life will not serve the opponents of abortion in the very simple and clear way in which they seem to have thought it would. 4. There is another way to bring out the difficulty. In the most ordinary sort of case, to deprive someone of what he has a right to is to treat him unjustly. Suppose a boy and his small brother are jointly given a box of chocolates for Christmas. If the older boy takes the box and refuses to give his brother any of the chocolates, he is unjust to -him, for the brother has been given a right to half of them. But 57 A Defense of Abortion uppose that, having learned that otherwise it means nine years in bed with that violinist, you unplug yourself from him. You surely are not being unjust to him, for you gave him no right to use your kidneys, and no one else can have given him any such right. But we have to notice that in unplugging yourself, you are killing him; and violinists, like everybody else, have a right to life, and thus in the view we wer e considering just now, the right not to be killed. So here you do what he supposedly has a right you shall not do, but you do not act unjustly to him in doing it. The emendation which may be made at this point is this: the right to life consists not in the right not to be killed, but rather in the right not to be killed unjustly. This runs a risk of circularity, but never mind: it would enable us to square the fact that the violinist has a right to life with the fact that you do not act unjustly toward him in unplugging yourself, thereby killing him. For if you do not kill him unjustly, you do not violate his right to life, and so it is no wonder you do him no injustice. But if this emendation is accepted, the gap in the argument against abortion stares us plainly in the face: it is by no means enough to show that the fetus is a person, and to remind us that all persons have a right to life-we need to be shown also that killing the fetus violates its right to life, i. e. , that abortion is unjust killing. And is it? I suppose we may take it as a datum that in a case of pregnancy due to rape the mother has not given the unborn person a right to the use of her body for food and shelter. Indeed, in what pregnancy could it be supposed that the mother has given the unborn person such a right? It is not as if there were unborn persons drifting about the world, to whom a woman who wants a child says â€Å"I invite you in. † But it might be argued that there are other ways one can have acquired a right to the use of another person’s body than by having been invited to use it by that person. Suppose a woman voluntarily indulges in intercourse, knowing of the chance it will issue in pregnancy, and then she does become pregnant; is she not in part responsible for the presence, in fact the very existence, of the unborn person inside her? No doubt she did not invite it in. But doesn’t her partial responsibility for its being there itself give it a right to the use of her 58 Philosophy ; Public Affairs body? 7 If so, then her aborting it would be more like the boy’s taking away the chocolates, and less like your unplugging yourself from the violinist-doing so would be depriving it of what it does have a right to, and thus would be doing it an injustice. And then, too, it might be asked whether or not she can kill it even to save her own life: If she voluntarily called it into existence, how can she now kill it, even in self-defense? The first thing to be said about this is that it is something new. Opponents of abortion have been so concerned to make out the independence of the fetus, in order to establish that it has a right to life, just as its mother does, that they have tended to overlook the possible support they might gain from making out that the fetus is dependent on the mother, in order to establish that she has a special kind of responsibility for it, a responsibility that gives it rights against her which are not possessed by any independent person-such as an ailing violinist who is a stranger to her. On the other hand, this argument would give the unborn person a right to its mother’s body only if her pregnancy resulted from a voluntary act, undertaken in full knowledge of the chance a pregnancy might result from it. It would leave out entirely the unborn person whose existence is due to rape. Pending the availability of some further argument, then, we would be left with the conclusion that unborn persons whose existence is due to rape have no right to the use of their mothers’ bodies, and thus that aborting them is not depriving them of anything they have a right to and hence is not unjust killing. And we should also notice that it is not at all plain that this argument really does go even as far as it purports to. For there are cases and cases, and the details make a difference. If the room is stuffy, and I therefore open a window to air it, and a burglar climbs in, it would be absurd to say,†Ah, now he can stay, she’s given him a right to the use of her house-for she is partially responsible for his presence there, having voluntarily done what enabled him to get in, in full knowledge that there are such things as burglars, and that burglars 7. The need for a discussion of this argument was brought home to me by members of the Society for Ethical and Legal Philosophy, to whom this paper was originally presented. 59 A Defense of Abortion burgle. † It would be still more absurd to say this if I had had bars installed outside my windows, precisely to prevent burglars from getting in, and a burglar got in only because of a defect in the bars. It remains equally absurd if we imagine it is not a burglar who climbs in, but an innocent person who blunders or falls in. Again, suppose it were like this: people-seeds drift about in the air like pollen, and if you open your windows, one may drift in and take root in your carpets or upholstery. You don’t want children, so you fix up your windows with fine mesh screens, the very best you can buy. As can happen, however, and on very, very rare occasions does happen, one of the screens is defective; and a seed drifts in and takes root. Does the person-plant who now develops have a right to the use of your house? Surely not-despite the fact that you voluntarily opened your windows, you knowingly kept carpets and upholstered furniture, and you knew that screens were sometimes defective. Someone may argue that you are responsible for its rooting, that it does have a right to your house, because after all you could have lived out your life with bare floors and furniture, or with sealed windows and doors. But this won’t do-for by the same token anyone can avoid a pregnancy due to rape by having a hysterectomy, or anyway by never leaving home without a (reliable!army. It seems to me that the argument we are looking at can establish at most that there are some cases in which the unborn person has a right to the use of its mother’s body, and therefore some cases in which abortion is unjust killing. There is room for much discussion and argument as to precisely which, if any. But I think we should sidestep this issue and leave it open, for at any rate the argument certainly does not est ablish that all abortion is unjust killing. 5. There is room for yet another argument here, however. We surely must all grant that there may be cases in which it would be morally indecent to detach a person from your body at the cost of his life. Suppose you learn that what the violinist needs is not nine years of your life, but only one hour: all you need do to save his life is to spend one hour in that bed with him. Suppose also that letting him use your kidneys for that one hour would not affect your health in the slightest. Admittedly you were kidnapped. Admittedly you did not give 6o Philosophy & Public Affairs anyone permission to plug him into you. Nevertheless it seems to me plain you ought to allow him to use your kidneys for that hour-it would be indecent to refuse. Again, suppose pregnancy lasted only an hour, and constituted no threat to life or health. And suppose that a woman becomes pregnant as a result of rape. Admittedly she did not voluntarily do anything to bring about the existence of a child. Admittedly she did nothing at all which would give the unborn person a right to the use of her body. All the same it might well be said, as in the newly emended violinist story, that she ought to allow it to remain for that hour-that it would be indecent in her to refuse. Now some people are inclined to use the term â€Å"right†in such a way that it follows from the fact that you ought to allow a person to use your body for the hour he needs, that he has a right to use your body for the hour he needs, even though he has not been given that right by any person or act. They may say that it follows also that if you refuse, you act unjustly toward him. This use of the term is perhaps so common that it cannot be called wrong; nevertheless it seems to me to be an unfortunate loosening of what we would do better to keep a tight rein on. Suppose that box of chocolates I mentioned earlier had not been given to both boys jointly, but was given only to the older boy. There he sits, stolidly eating his way through the box, his small brother watching enviously. Here we are likely to say â€Å"Youought not to be so mean. You ought to give your brother some of those chocolates. † My own view is that it just does not follow from the truth of this that the brother has any right to any of the chocolates. If the boy refuses to give his brother any, he is greedy, stingy, callous-but not unjust. I suppose that the people I have in mind will say it does follow that the brother has a right to some of the chocolates, and thus that the boy does act unjustly if he refuses to give his brother any. But the effect of saying this is to obscure what we should keep distinct, namely the difference between the boy’s refusal in this case and the boy’s refusal in the earlier case, in which the box was given to both boys jointly, and in which the small brother thus had what was from any point of view clear title to half. A further objection to so using the term â€Å"right†that from the fact that A ought to do a thing for B, it follows that B has a right against A 6I A Defense of Abortion that A do it for him, is that it is going to make the question of whether or not a man has a right to a thing turn on how easy it is to provide him with it; and this seems not merely unfortunate, but morally unacceptable. Take the case of Henry Fonda again. I said earlier that I had no right to the touch of his cool hand on my fevered brow, even though I needed it to save my life. I said it would be frightfully nice of him to fly in from the West Coast to provide me with it, but that I had no right against him that he should do so. But suppose he isn’t on the West Coast. Suppose he has only to walk across the room, place a hand briefly on my brow-and lo, my life is saved. Then surely he ought to do it, it would be indecent to refuse. Is it to be said â€Å"Ah, well, it follows that in this case she has a right to the touch of his hand on her brow, and so it would be an injustice in him to refuse†? So that I have a right to it when it is easy for him to provide it, though no right when it’s hard? It’s rather a shocking idea that anyone’s rights should fade away and disappear as it gets harder and harder to accord them to him. So my own view is that even though you ought to let the violinist use your kidneys for the one hour he needs, we should not conclude that he has a right to do so-we should say that if you refuse, you are, like the boy who owns all the chocolates and will give none away, self-centered and callous, indecent in fact, but not unjust. And similarly, that even supposing a case in which a woman pregnant due to rape ought to allow the unborn person to use her body for the hour he needs, we should not conclude that he has a right to do so; we should conclude that she is self-centered, callous, indecent, but not unjust, if she refuses. The complaints are no less grave; they are just different. However, there is no need to insist on this point. If anyone does wish to deduce â€Å"he has a ight† from â€Å"you ought,† then all the same he must surely grant that there are cases in which it is not morally required of you that you allow that violinist to use your kidneys, and in which he does not have a right to use them, and in which you do not do him an injustice if you refuse. And so also for mother and unborn child. Except in such cases as the unborn person has a right to demand it-and we were leaving open the possibility that there may be such cases-nobody is morally required to make large sacrifices, of health, of all other interests and concerns, of all other duties 62 Philosophy & Public Affairs and commitments, for nine years, or even for nine months, in order to keep another person alive. 6. We have in fact to distinguish between two kinds of Samaritan: the Good Samaritan and what we might call the Minimally Decent Samaritan. The story of the Good Samaritan, you will remember, goes like this: A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead. And by chance there came down a certain priest that way; and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on him, and passed by on the other side. But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was; and when he saw him he had compassion on him. And went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him. And on the morrow, when he departed, he took out two pence, and gave them to the host, and said unto him, â€Å"Take care of him; and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee.(Luke I0:30-35) The Good Samaritan went out of his way, at some cost to himself, to help one in need of it. We are not told what the options were, that is, whether or not the priest and the Levite could have helped by doing less than the Good Samaritan did, but assuming they could have, then the fact they did nothing at all shows they were not even Minimally Decent Samaritans, not because they were not Samaritans, but because they w ere not even minimally decent. These things are a matter of degree, of course, but there is a difference, and it comes out perhaps most clearly in the story of Kitty Genovese, who, as you will remember, was murdered while thirtyeight people watched or listened, and did nothing at all to help her. A Good Samaritan would have rushed out to give direct assistance 63 A Defense of Abortion against the murderer. Or perhaps we had better allow that it would have been a Splendid Samaritan who did this, on the ground that it would have involved a risk of death for himself. But the thirty-eight not only did not do this, they did not even trouble to pick up a phone to call the police. Minimally Decent Samaritanism would call for doing at least that, and their not having done it was monstrous. After telling the story of the Good Samaritan, Jesus said â€Å"Go, and do thou likewise. † Perhaps he meant that we are morally required to act as the Good Samaritan did. Perhaps he was urging people to do more than is morally required of them. At all events it seems plain that it was not morally required of any of the thirty-eight that he rush out to give direct assistance at the risk of his own life, and that it is not morally required of anyone that he give long stretches of his lifenine years or nine months-to sustaining the life of a person who has no special right (we were leaving open the possibility of this) to demand it. Indeed, with one rather striking class of exceptions, no one in any country in the world is legally required to do anywhere near as much as this for anyone else.

Assess the view that we are now living in a secular society Essay

Secularization is described by Bryan Wilson as, ‘the process whereby religious thinking, practice and institutions lose social significance’. Contemporary sociologists argue that society is becoming more secular due to science and rationality, the decline of traditional values and the specialized division of labour. This appears to be confirmed by statistics, who claim that church attendance has fallen from 1,200,000 in 1980 to 850,000 in 2001. However, David Barrett has documented the emergence of some 6,300 New Religious Movements since the 1960s and the number of UK Muslims has increased from 40,000 to 1,400,000 which suggest that religion is developing to meet the needs of people in a modern society rather than decreasing altogether. On an international level Gilles Kepel states that there is little evidence of a general trend towards secularization and that in fact there is much evidence, such as the popularity of the Christian New Right in the US, Islamatization movements in Algeria and the Jewish political group Lubavitch in Israel, to suggest a religious revival. Item A agrees with the views of Gilles Kepel and is critical of the secularization thesis. It cites the popularity of churchgoing in the USA (40% of US adults attend church on a Sunday compared to 10% in England), New Age Movements in Western Europe, the growth in fundamentalist movements and the evangelical revival in Latin America as examples of ‘religious health and vitality’. It also mentions the ‘upsurge of ethno-religious conflict in international affairs’, with all recent conflicts such as the Jews and Arabs in the Middle East, the Protestants and Catholics in Northern Ireland and the Muslims, Serbs and Croats in Bosnia all being based on religion. Islamic terrorism has also ensured that religion is consistently at the forefront of current affairs. However, many sociologists have found that religion is incompatible with modern society. Weber predicted desacrilization in his idea of disenchantment, whereby magic and myth would be less important in modern society. Bryan Wilson felt that the rational organisation of society and greater knowledge of the social and physical world have encouraged the development of a rational view, and that due to this religion is difficult to accept as it cannot be quantified, tested or proven. Steve Bruce agreed, claiming that scientific beliefs undermine religion and that technological advances reduce the number of things that need to be explained in religious terms. Bruce also claims that religion has become less important in society as the majority of its previous functions, such as education, health, social welfare and social control have been taken over by other, non-religious, institutions. Bryan Wilson partially supports this view in terms of the loss of the social welfare and control functions, stating that due to societalization the church is no longer a focal point, people no longer rely upon the local priest for advice and cannot decide what to believe due to cultural diversity. David Matin blames disengagement for society allegedly becoming more secular, saying that the wealth, influence and prestige of the church has declined, it is no longer a major employer (one in thirty adults were employed by the church in previous times) and its ideological power has decreased. Functionalist Talcott Parsons disagrees, arguing that although the church may have lost its functions and become disengaged from the state and politics, religion can still be significant in everyday life and encourages shared values in society. However, Bruce did admit that religion is still used as a last resort when all rational and scientific options have been exhausted, stating that, ‘when we have tried every cure for cancer, we pray†¦ ‘. Postmodernists suggest that society has begun to move beyond the scientific rationality of modernity as they have started to mistrust science, due to its failures and negative effects such as disease and global warming. This suggests that the society we are living in is not secular, and will not become so. However, it is difficult to determine the extent to which society has become more secular. Although statistics suggest that this is the case, with church attendance decreasing from 40% in 1850 to 8% in 2000 and the amount of Christians in the world decreasing by one million between 1970 and 2005, they are unreliable. For example, church attendance is measured in different ways (varying from telephone polls to counting the amount of cars in car parks) and churches have motives to over or underestimate the congregation (for example, the Roman Catholic Church reduce their number to lessen capitation fees). Furthermore, different sociologists have different meanings for the concepts of religiosity and secularization, with those defining religion in terms of the structure and content of people’s beliefs (substantive definitions) being more likely to agree to the secularization thesis that those who consider the functions performed by religion for individuals and society (functional definitions). Glock and Stark believe that in order to measure the degree of religiosity in society (essential for determining whether or not society is secular) the five dimensions of religion must be applied. These are the essential beliefs of society, the acts of worship and ritual, the substantive feelings of being associated with a higher power or being, the depth of understanding of religious teachings and beliefs and the impact of being religious on daily activities. However, these dimensions further illustrate the difficulties of measuring religiosity, such as what needs to be taken into account, whether religion has to satisfy all of these dimensions, and which is the most important. To conclude, the secularization process cannot be proved or disproved, with the term ‘secularization’ being used in many different ways by sociologists. As Glock and Stark pointed out, as we have not adequately defined religion or religiosity, one cannot accurately test the secularization thesis and many sociologists also agree that religion varies according to national, regional, ethnic and class differences and so it is difficult to relate the secularization thesis to the whole of society. Therefore how secular contemporary society has become cannot be determined. However, society is not entirely secular, and with the emergence of New Religious Movements and New Age Movements religion appears to be developing and changing rather than declining altogether.

ASIA PACIFIC BUSINESS Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

ASIA PACIFIC BUSINESS - Essay Example The business and economic strategy based on chaebols took an export and outward-oriented model to boost the country’s economy through business associations. Today, the chaebols have become global powerhouses that have made the economy of South Korea become one of the greatest in the world. Chaebols are multinational conglomerates that are controlled by certain families in South Korea. The chaebols have received immense government support in South Korea resulting in fast economic growth and an increase in the country’s GDP of about 10 percent between the years 1962-1994 (Powers, 2010). The Korean chaebols have resulted in enormous economic growth of South Korea from early 1960s to early 2000. The economic growth in South Korea was due to the effects from industrial and other services sector. The industrial sector increased its contribution to the country’s economy from 20 to 37 percent while the services sector increased from 43 to 60 percent from 1965 to 2008. To boost economic growth, the South Korean government fully supported the chaebols. The government nationalized all commercial banks so that the banks could channel all their finances to the chaebols. The chaebols had a great share of the total credit produced by financial institutions. As a result, the chaebols had to fulfill most of their export obligations thus, increasing economic growth in South Korea. The government also developed an export strategy to promote export of goods and at the same time substitute imports that favored the conglomerates. The government also restricted direct foreign investments and used this as a chance to get new technologies and business expertise. As a step to support fast economic growth, the government allowed the chaebols to access foreign loans. In contrast, the government curbed any outflows in domestic capital. Government support of the chaebols was of a great magnitude to the extent that the chaebols expanded unprecedentedly in size. The cha ebols had

MANAGEMENT OF CORONARY HEART DISEASE, EXPLORING KEY CONCEPTS IN CARE Essay

MANAGEMENT OF CORONARY HEART DISEASE, EXPLORING KEY CONCEPTS IN CARE DELIVERY - Essay Example id blockage is referred to as plaque which can be composed of different types of materials that can be carried by the blood including fat, cholesterol, calcium, etc. The blockage of the arteries then is one of the main causes of the CHD thus it is often referred to as atherosclerosis. Other terms that are applied to the said diseases are coronary artery disease, hardening of the arteries, heart disease, Ischemic heart disease and narrowing of the arteries. There are different causes of the disease such as smoking, high levels of fats and cholesterol in the blood, high blood pressure and high blood sugar. Unhealthy lifestyle and the effects of the modern human activities can lead to such effects in the heart. For that matter, vigilance and medical attention is one of the basic and most important methods to prevent and save patients (National Heart Lung and Blood Institute, 2008). In addition, there are different related conditions to the occurrence of plaques in the arteries such as angina or heart attack or chest pain, heart failure and arrhythmias. It can also be connected to other diseases such as diabetes. Due to the said relationship, increase in cases lead to the being the leading cause of Death in the US for both sexes (National Heart Lung and Blood Institute, 2008). The study undertaken is aimed to present a study in the care delivery and management of patients with CHD. Upon the achievement of the said goal, the analysis of the different concepts that are related to cardiology nursing can be achieved. This is with special focus on the empirical and evidence-based approach. Incorporated in the study are the results of clinical trials on the said field. In addition, the study of case of a patient with a particular aspect of care and provision of the different forms of interventions is one of the main issues included. The patient is a 55 year old woman who is discomfort for the past 6 months in relation to pain of the chest, back and neck. It

See below Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words - 1

See below - Essay Example For instance, it has never been established that illicit drugs manufactured in Australia have been exported to other countries like the United States (Bureau for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, 2007). In Australia, the Commonwealth, the States and the Territories cooperate with each other in making legislation that addresses the supply, distribution, possession and use of narcotics. These bodies share the responsibility for enacting relevant legislation. There is a trans-state supply of illicit drugs in Australia, which has no geographical boundaries within the nation. Moreover, it is also evident that in certain incidents there had been cross national supply of drugs (The Attorney - General, 1989). The courts and the police employ drug diversion initiatives to treat drug addicts. These initiatives attempt to divert users from taking drugs. Education and compulsory assessment are two major diversions provided to drug abusers. After completion of the assessment, drug users are shifted to the appropriate education or treatment program. In April 1999, the Council of Australian Governments or COAG implemented the national strategy, by which concrete and concerted action was to be taken against drug peddlers and possessors (Crime Prevention and Community Safety Learning Circles). The National Illicit Drug Diversion Initiative provides early intervention measures for first time abusers and other less serious offenders; which provide either treatment or education, without involving the criminal justice system. The aim of this strategy is to encourage and motivate drug users to identify their drug addiction, at an early stage, and obtain appropriate treatment. This enables them to rejoin society without causing any adverse impact and ensures safety. Proponents of diversion schemes argue that educating users and providing subsequent treatment measures for first time users in the early

Investment Advice Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Investment Advice - Essay Example The share prices of the stocks which are being traded in the market, are decided by incorporating and reflecting all associated information (Quiry, Dallochio, & Vernimmen, 2011). The supporters of the Efficient Market Hypothesis are of the idea that the stocks or shares are always traded at their fair value, which in turn makes it almost impossible for the investors to manipulate the overall stock market by either indulging in the purchase of low priced stocks or selling the high priced stocks. According to this theory, it is not possible for the investors to manipulate or outperform the stock market as the market is efficient in terms of incorporating all relevant information.Efficient market hypothesis is believed to be applicable in the real stock markets by some of the analysts. Many of the financial analysts and economists are of the view that the stock markets are always efficient in terms of reflecting the complete information associated with the different stocks and the overa ll stock market. This school of thought is of the view that it is possible for the stock market to be efficient, as any new information in the market is passed on very rapidly and hence this information is incorporated in the prices of the stocks. This makes it impossible for the investors and financial analysts to take advantage through the techniques of technical analysis or fundamental analysis. This concept of efficient market hypothesis is directly related with the concept behind the ‘random walk’.... EFFICIENT MARKET HYPOTHESIS Efficient market hypothesis is one of the famous financial or investment theories, which tries to explain the general behaviour and trend in the stock market. According to this theory, it is not possible for any investor, either big or large, to beat the market because the stock market is efficient. The share prices of the stocks which are being traded in the market, are decided by incorporating and reflecting all associated information (Quiry, Dallochio, & Vernimmen, 2011). The supporters of the Efficient Market Hypothesis are of the idea that the stocks or shares are always traded at their fair value, which in turn makes it almost impossible for the investors to manipulate the overall stock market by either indulging in the purchase of low priced stocks or selling the high priced stocks. According to this theory, it is not possible for the investors to manipulate or outperform the stock market as the market is efficient in terms of incorporating all rele vant information. Efficient market hypothesis is believed to be applicable in the real stock markets by some of the analysts. Many of the financial analysts and economists are of the view that the stock markets are always efficient in terms of reflecting the complete information associated with the different stocks and the overall stock market. This school of thought is of the view that it is possible for the stock market to be efficient, as any new information in the market is passed on very rapidly and hence this information is incorporated in the prices of the stocks. This makes it impossible for the investors and financial analysts to take advantage through the techniques of technical analysis or fundamental analysis. This concept

The Role of Promotion In Marketing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The Role of Promotion In Marketing - Essay Example Sales were up 22% last year, twice as much more than the growth in the automobile industry overall. The strong image of reliability, coupled with national brand identity, Ford has made consumers trust them and thus choose their products over others. Lexus is a higher priced brand and appeals to a more affluent customer. Famous for their luxury sedans they have also introduced SUVs, sports coupes and hybrids into their product line. The Lexus LS was ranked highest in the industry by the Initial Quality Standard study. Beginning with the first introductory year of 1990 until 2011, it has ranked highest in 13 of the last 22 years. Advertising Ford advertises on network TV, in print publications and online. Since 2009, under the direction of Marketing Director, Jim Farley, they have increased advertising spending considerably. The gains were phenomenal. Farley, at first apprehensive because he aspires to bottom-up methods, wasn’t sure how his tactics would fit in with the company. You can see Ford cars advertised on the major networks like CBS, NBC and ABC and in the most popular consumer and news magazines such as Time magazine, Harper’s and Newsweek. Their online advertising efforts are focused on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and Flickr with a heavy concentration on mobile marketing. They attribute the success of using these platforms to their popularity and achieve an immeasurable amount of exposure themselves. One consumer expressed his favorable opinion of Ford’s advertising by applauding their focused message, appealing to not only interested buyers but also to current customers and the many ads on television and direct-mail campaigns. The public opinion of Ford Motor Co. has grown so high in recent years as others automobile companies were faced with needing government funds to survive. Lexus’s advertising is as sleek and modern as their cars. They are so beautifully designed they have a tremendous appeal to consumers and inspire pu rchases by those who want to attain the level of sophistication the car implies. As with Ford their ads can be seen on all of the major networks and in the most widely read magazines. They are more apt to place ads in magazines like Town & Country and Vanity Fair because of their brand identity as a luxury car. Alongside Ford, Lexus is seen as having a high public profile in social media outlets. They can be seen in commercials on YouTube, have a strong Twitter following and Facebook fan base. The Promotional Mix A Detroit firm, Team Detroit, manages Ford’s advertising campaigns. There with Chief Creative Director Toby Barlow, Tom Farley and he explore their creativity. For each campaign they come up with a new idea and pick a new creative team. The unexpected ideas and fresh perspectives always add up to great campaigns. On the Internet, Ford has launched new campaigns with across the board exposure and signed an unprecedented 12-month media commitment with a company called Specific Media. They attribute the success of their advertising to their superior demographic and behavioral targeting that more effectively reaches current owners and prospective buyers. In 2010, Advertising Age ranked Ford Motor Co. as the number 1 marketer in the country. Lexus’s advertising is revolutionary in its high tech appeal and positions itself as the leader in innovation. This works well for a glamorous identity but their customer’

Literacy, Culture, and Group Harmony Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Literacy, Culture, and Group Harmony - Essay Example Even if a person is not fluent in the foreign language used by those they are working with, they must have literacy in cultural symbols in order to understand what is being expressed. My personal experience with literacy involves working with diverse individuals from countries in the Middle East in a business context. During the course of our experience together, people were grouped together in order to problem solve and role play scenarios as they might occur in an academic and/or business environment. Some of the individuals in my group had English as their second language and were not very fluent and tended to grow frustrated while they were trying to communicate effectively. Especially when the elements of the group were involving role play exercises, they did not seem to be very productive and it impacted the quality of the group and its intentions. People who come from collectivist countries tend to look out for group needs and respect concepts, culturally, such as identifying with the family structure, ritual and tradition (Blodgett, Bakir & Rose, 339). These are social processes that often change people’s personality and behaviors and make it difficult for them to work well with others, especially when there are disagreements. Added to this is the problem of having a poor grasp on English literacy that can create many misunderstandings. During one role-play exercise, I was brainstorming ideas about how to handle a problem at a workplace that involved theft from low-level employees. My role was a manager and the foreign individual was a senior manager with authority over me. Together, we were to come up with a solution on how to handle the problem and stop theft since it was becoming a cost issue. While the foreign person from Saudi Arabia was attempting to communicate effectively, the group continued to laugh at her because of her poor English literacy. She did not take well to this at all since she came from a collectivist culture where group ne eds are usually taken seriously first and foremost. Those that were laughing at her were from the United States and spoke English fluently. During the first break in the role playing exercise, I took the foreign person aside and explained to her that we could use symbolism as a means to communicate better. She attempted to express her frustration over the poor manners of the group and I simply informed her that some people are not literate about the different cultural problems that English-as-a-Second Language students maintained. However, this did not satisfy her and she was growing clearly upset over how she had been treated by her group members. â€Å"The symbolic nature of language may complement or support a story’s theme or meaning† (Madden, 93). I realized that in order to be successful with this group and make the foreign group member comfortable, I would have to think of a way to communicate using symbolism. Next week, when the group reassembled for the same r ole play exercises as part of this training program, I was prepared with a new cultural literacy. Before the meeting, I informed all of the group members about the respect for group goals and for tradition that people from the Middle East carried. I had found a great article on the Internet that described many cultural dimensions common in Saudi Arabia, including

The Hunger Games movie Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The Hunger Games movie - Essay Example ates that the capitol do not care about the livelihood of the people living in the districts but only care about the gains they get from the games and they underline the importance of them even though the participants might be living in dire conditions. Filckerman and crane are two characters that represent the capitol in the games and the exuberance with which Flickerman conducts his business in the games delights many viewers as he is determined not to fail apparently aware of the implications that come with failure in the capitol. Crane on the other hand shows a level of naivety in the handling of games that makes him to fail in the end as he fails to realize the implications of the decisions he made until it was too late and there was no way back for him to redeem himself. The part that would entertain the people most is the reaction of the president when he heard that Crane had failed in his role of making the games successful in terms of operations and turnouts. The transition from the introduction of the capitol in the movie to the beginning of the story is flawless and the main characters of the movie are quickly introduced to the scenes where the audience gets to meet Katniss and Prim. In the district 12, the camera quality is a bit wanting because the motion is disturbed by the camera being hand held hence making the movie to rattle the eyes of the viewers before they get to the core of the movie. The setting is ok as it shows just enough poverty but it would be better if more starving people were showed in the movie as it would appear more authentic and engaging to the viewers. The fact that there is a lot of hunger in the area makes it hard to believe when the number of people starving in the area is small, making the number bigger would be more convincing and enable the viewers to see the much talked about starvation in district 12. The most fascinating character here is Katniss Everdene who is the heroine of the movie. She resides in district 12 and

Riordan Manufacturing Staffing Strategies Essay Example for Free

Riordan Manufacturing Staffing Strategies Essay One of the most difficult challenges an organization can face is the ability to find the right employees to do the job. A well developed staffing strategy can help an organization eliminate problems before they start. A staffing strategy provides overall guidance on how an organization deals with staff. This can include how the organization identifies with new staff, the types of people the organization wants to staff, and how to retain them. Once this strategy is decided upon, the human resource department should build some policies and procedures to support the strategy. This paper will evaluate the recruitment and staffing strategies and the legality of the staffing strategies of Riordan Manufacturing. History of RiordanRiordan Manufacturing, Inc. is one of the industry leaders in the plastic injection molding field. Founded by Dr. Michael Riordan, a chemistry professor, Riordan Manufacturing, Inc. is owned by Riordan Industries which is considered to be a Fortune 1000 company. The initial focus of the company was on research and development but expanded into the production of plastic beverage containers. The company has earned international acclaim for their innovative plastic designs. Riordan Manufacturing headquarters is located in San Jose, California where the research and development is done. The company also has plants in Georgia, Michigan, and China. Recruitment Strategies PamStaffing Strategies PamLegal Compliance TracyConclusion TracyReferencesRiordan Manufacturing. (2007). Virtual Organization. Retrieved on April 26, 2007from the World Wide Web: athttps://ecampus.phoenix.edu/secure/aapd/CIST/VOP/Business/Riordan/RioMfgH ome002.htm

Model Of Planned Organizational Change Management Essay

Model Of Planned Organizational Change Management Essay These changes require that we alter what we expect from the people we work with. We have to change the values we live by. Values like awareness, teamwork, tolerance, responsibility and information are paramount just as flexibility and change readiness. Overview Change management can be describe as the act of changing the current state of affairs to new ways of doing things through a series of activities including communication and education, leadership, and team work When switch from manual system to automate system we have to consider about the change management because organizational changes typically involve many different types and levels of personal loss for the people in the organization. For example, change always requires the effort to learn the new, which is a loss in terms of time and energy that could have been used elsewhere. Although some may welcome the learning opportunity, many of us dont want to invest that time and energy unless we are dissatisfied with the current arrangements or see powerful advantages to the proposed change. Upgrading to new software in which the future benefits may not be seen as sufficient to outweigh the short-term investment required to learn the new programs. Second, people want to feel good about themselves Ideally, people are able to take pride in their work, feel responsible for a job well done, feel they are part of a high-quality enterprise, and feel that their time has some significance. In many work situations, the work itself and the organizational culture make it difficult for people to feel good about themselves. In these poorer situations, people usually invent strategies to help them feel better about themselves, and these strategies involve getting some sense of control, belongingness, and significance out of their work. Sometimes this involves opposition to management, on the assumption that management is always up to no good. More commonly, the worker-management relationships are not completely alienated. Still, the workers strategies for achieving good feelings are unknown to or quite misunderstood by management. Therefore, change initiatives, unknowingly and unintentionally, threaten to cause the workers serious personal loss. Not surprisingly, the workers resist and do all they can to sabotage such change initiatives. Third, change initiatives often require large losses for middle managers. Generally, people perceive that information systems increase the ability of top executives to know more about what is going on and to exert more direct control. New systems require us to learn a new set of behaviors. Reasons for Change Factors may lead to a necessity for change To improve performance To reduce waste and inefficiency To improve management control and satisfaction of the employees To improve the quality and productivity of an organization To compete in the changing market environment To achieve the desired business results as early as possible Model of planned organizational change Change can be managed. By observing external trends, patterns and needs, managers use planned change to help the organization to adapt to external problems and opportunities. When organizations are caught flat footed, failing to anticipate or respond to new needs, management is at fault. Four events make up the change sequence: Internal and external forces for change exist Organization managers monitor these forces and become aware of a need for change; and The perceived need triggers the initiation for change, which Is then implemented. How each of these activities is handled depends upon the organization and managers styles. Organizational Development Organizational development (OD) is the application of behavioral science knowledge to improve an organizations health and effectiveness through its ability to cope with environmental changes, improve internal relationships, and increase problem-solving capabilities. Organizational development improves working relationships among employees. The following are three types of current problems that OD can help managers address. Mergers/Acquisitions Culture differences should be evaluated during the acquisition process, and OD experts can be used to smooth the integration of two firms. Organizational Decline/Revitalization OD techniques can contribute greatly to cultural revitalization by managing conflicts, fostering commitment, and facilitating communication. Conflict Management Conflict can occur at any time and place within a healthy organization. Organizational development efforts can help solve these kinds of conflicts. OD Activities. A number of OD activities have emerged in recent years. Some of the most popular and effective are as follows. Team-Building Activities Team building enhances the cohesiveness and success of organizational groups and teams. Survey-Feedback Activities Survey feedback begins with a questionnaire distributed to employees. Employees are engaged in problem solving based on the data received from questionnaire. Intergroup Activities These activities include retreats and workshops to improve the effectiveness of groups or departments that must work together. Process-Consultation Activities Organizational development consultants help managers understand the human processes within their organization and how to manage them. Symbolic Leadership Activities This approach helps managers to use the techniques for cultural change, including public statements, ceremonies, and slogans. Forces for Change Forces for organizational change exist both in the external environment and within the organization. Environmental Forces External forces originate in all environmental sectors, including competitors, technology, economic forces, Internal Forces Internal forces for change arise from internal activities and decisions. If top managers select a goal of rapid company growth, internal actions will have to be changed to meet that growth. Change Process Unfreezing: Moving: Refreezing: Breaking from the Instituting the reinforcing and old ways of doing change supporting the things new ways Unfreezing stage, Management realizes that its current practices are no longer appropriate and the company must break out of (unfreeze) its present pattern by doing things differently (Bateman Snell, 2004:559). This could be triggered by the environmental changes or the performance gap (drivers of change). In this stage, people need to move towards recognizing that some of the past ways of thinking, feeling and doing things are outdated. Bateman Snell (2004:559) state that the most effective way to do this is to communicate to people the negative consequences of the old ways by comparing the organizations performance to its competitors. However, care must be taken not to arouse peoples defensiveness by pinning the blame directly and entirely to them. Moving Institute change begins with establishing a vision of where the company is heading (Bateman Snell, 2004:560). The organization needs to get the vision right. This could be done by getting the people to establish a vision and strategy to focus on emotional and creative aspects necessary to drive service and efficiency. It is of critical importance to inspire people to move and make objectives real and relevant. In addition, a team has to be built with the right people in place with the right emotional commitment, and the right mix of skills and levels. This is complemented by Van der Linde (2002:47) in his highlight of the importance of visionary leadership in instituting change. Van der Linde (2002:47) contends that visionary leadership is engaged through clarity, commitment, communication, capabilities, organization culture, configuration and continuous learning. Refreezing Refers to the enhancement of the new behaviors that support the change The changes are spread and stabilized throughout the organization in order for people to identify and behave accordingly. During this stage, control measures, corrective and rewarding measures that support the change are implemented to change behaviors. Bateman Snell (2004:560) highlight the importance of guarding against refreezing rigid behaviors that might be problematic in future. Bateman Snell (2004:560) contend that, the behaviors that should be refrozen are those that promote continued adaptability, flexibility, experimentation, assessment of results and continuous improvement. Implementing Change Creative culture, idea champions and new-venture teams are ways to facilitate the initiation of new ideas. The other step to be managed in the change process is implementation. A new, idea will not benefit the organization until it is in place and being fully utilized. One frustration for managers is that employees often seem to resist change for no apparent reason. To effectively manage the implementation process, managers should be aware of the reason for employee resistance and be prepared to use. Techniques for obtaining employee cooperation are: Why Do Employees Resist Change Idea champion often discover that other employees are unenthusiastic about their new idea. Members of a new-venture group may be surprised when managers in the regular organization do not support or approve their innovations. Several reasons for employee resistance are: Self-Interest. Employees typically resist a change they believe will take away something of value. A proposed change in job design, structure, or technology may lead to a perceived loss of power, prestige, pay, or many company benefits. The fear of personal loss is perhaps the biggest obstacle to organizational change. Lack Of Understanding And Trust. Employees often do not understand the intended purpose of a change or distrust the intentions behind it. If the previous working relationships with an idea champion have been negative, resistance may occur. Uncertainty. Uncertainty is the lack of information about future events. It represents a fear of the unknown. Uncertainty is especially threatening for employees who have a low tolerance for a change and fear the novel and unusual. Different Assessment And Goals. Another reason for resistance to change is that people who will be affected by innovation may asses the situation differently from an idea champion or new-venture group. Managers in different departments pursue different goals and an innovation may detract from performance and goal achievement for some departments. The reasons for resistance are legitimate in the eyes of employees affected by the changes. The best procedure for managers is not to ignore resistance but to diagnose the reasons and design strategies to gain acceptance by users. The strategies for overcoming resistance to change typically involve two approaches: the analysis of resistance through the force field technique and the use of selective implementation tactics to overcome resistance. Force Field Analysis Its the process of determining which forces drive and which resist a proposed change. To implement a change, management should analyze the change forces. By selectively removing forces that restrain change, the driving forces will be strong enough to enable implementation. As restraining forces are reduced or removed, behavior will shift to incorporate the desired changes. Overcoming Resistance to Change The other approach to managing implementation is to adopt specific tactics to overcome employee resistance. The following five tactics have proven successful: Communication and Education. Communication and education are used when solid information about the change is needed by users and others who may resist implementation. Education is especially important when the change involves new technical knowledge or users are unfamiliar with the idea. Participation. Participation involves users and potential resisters in designing the change. This approach is time consuming, but it pays off because users understand and become committed to the change. Negotiation. Negotiation is more formal means of achieving cooperation. Negotiation uses formal bargaining to win acceptance and approval of a desired change. Coercion. Coercion means that managers use formal power to force employees to change. Resisters are told to accept the change or lose rewards or even their jobs. Coercion is necessary in crisis situation when a rapid response is urgent. Top Management Support. The visible support of top management also helps overcome resistance to change. Top management support symbolizes to all employees that the change is important for the organization. Benefits and significance of change management Some of the unique benefits of change management from organizational perspective are given below: Understanding environment (society, government, and customers) it is important for organization to understand, assess and gauge the dynamics in its external environment in order to envisage and establish an appropriate relationship with various actors like government, customers and society. Therefore managers by knowing the subject of change management can better be prepared to understand whatever is going on in the environment. Objectives, strategy formulation implementation (to develop competitive advantage) second is consequent upon knowing the impact of change at extraneous level on its own internal dynamics, and the foremost is objective setting and seeking competitive advantage. Employees (trained, high performing work practices, reliable organization) The employees are the recipient of change plan. One such perpetual concern of senior managers is to make organization highly reliable; therefore employees ought to be trained and high performing one in todays hyper competitive world Technology Issues Technology is considered the engine of growth in todays world. Perhaps the greatest challenge for contemporary organizations is the acquisition and integration of technology in its strategy, structure and process. CONCLUSION change management and its impact during the implementation of a new business model including a shared service. The implementation of shared services requires a significant integration and coordination, including human resources, to ensure success. To be a partner to the business, the shared services unit and its employees must understand profoundly what capabilities drive successful implementation and how the nature of work affects those capabilities.

ACG 2021, Introduction to Financial Accounting, Fall 2000, Exam 2 Explanations :: UFL Florida Business Accounting

ACG 2021 Fall 2000 Exam 2 Answer Key Explanation Based on the Order of Version A 1) A defined contribution program is one with â€Å"Regular, defined contributions to the fund. The fund balance changes in value with the accumulation of contributions and earnings and is decreased by benefits paid. Benefits received depend on the fund balance available at retirement.† (9-21 in the notes on page 247) 2) This is an error because ordinary repairs (ones that do not increase the original useful life, efficiency or capacity of the asset) are to be treated as expenses and entirely reported on the income statement in the year they are incurred. This error overstated assets by adding the $3,000 to the asset account incorrectly and understated N.I. by failing to record the $3,000 as an expense. 3) If the bonds are selling at 98 ½ ($24,625,000) then they are selling at a discount. This means that the market rate is higher than the stated rate. When the bonds were issued the market rate was the same as the stated rate so the market rate must have increased. (10-20 in the notes on page 274) 4) Here we need to consider two issues. Interest is not capitalized when an asset is purchased but it is capitalized when the company constructs its own asset (only for the period of construction). These concepts are discussed in chapter 8. Inventory is not a capital asset and therefore does not include financing costs. (8-3 on page 193 and 8-7 on page 197). 5) Financial Leverage is Average Total Assets/ Average Stockholders’ Equity. It measures how many dollars of assets are employed for each dollar of stockholder investment. It can be increased by increased borrowing or repurchasing outstanding stock. In laymen’s terms it is the proper use of debt to bring a higher return to owners. (Page 266 of the book, letter C of the ROE Profit Driver Analysis) 6) – 8) Segments that are used to answer the three questions have boxes around them. Using the effective method (assumed unless stated otherwise): Interest Expense = Beginning Carrying Value x Market Rate (Carrying Value = Face Value – Discount) The Present Value of the note is: P.V. = 400,000 x factor (using single sum table where i=8 and n=3). 317,520 = 400,000 x 7.938 (the attached table has 7.9383 on it but this gives a number close enough to be able to pick 317,520) The following journal entries would be made throughout the life of the note: 1/1/00 Equipment 317,520 Discount 82,480 Notes Payable 400,000 12/31/00 Interest Expense 25,402* (Question (8)) Discount 25,402 *1/1/00 Carrying value of 317,520 (400,000 – 82,480) x .

Navigational Tools :: Websites Internet Technology Computers Essays

Navigational Tools When designing a website, a web designer must develop and create an effective way of navigating his or her website. When doing this job, the web designer must keep the principle of compensation in mind. According to authors Killingsworth and Gilbertson â€Å"in every revision of a text, something is lost and something is gained† (45). Using this principle of compensation, a web designer must realize the consequences for choosing a picture, icon, or text to represent links on his or her web page. For each one there are advantages and drawbacks, which if weighed or balanced properly can enhance that web designer’s page. Human beings by nature are visually oriented; therefore, the web designer should find a satisfactory medium between the use and placement of either text or graphics. According to Brad Bachetti in his response â€Å"Creating a Roadmap†, â€Å" If both text and graphics are used to represent the button, it is visually appealing to keep the text and g raphics of equal width. This is exemplified on the main page of the WebCT course page† (Bachetti). If we take a look at the WebCT course page, we will find this to be true. The WebCT course page also exemplifies the principle of compensation. The pictures that accompany the text not only compliment each other in width and size, but also enhance each other. Together the pictures and text convey better meaning then they would if they stood alone, thus allowing for easy navigation on the course page. Sometimes though a web designer may only want to use a picture, icon, or text to represent a link or navigational tool on a website. According to Principles of Web Design, by David and Jean Farkas, â€Å"Links must make clear their destinations the page that the link will display† (209). Using this simple principle put forth by the authors, a web designer may encounter problems when dealing with pictures and icons to represent links or navigational tools. According to Farkas, â€Å"to design links that will communicate their destination clearly, you need to think about your audience and their information needs† (Farkas 209). A picture and icon may have different connative or denotative meanings for people of a different age, gender, race, or nationality. That being stated icons and pictures have some significant advantages over text links. For example, a familiar one is processed faster, icons communicate across languages and cultures, they are visually interesting, and they often save space (Farkas 211).

The ENIAC Project: Its Significance in Computer Science and Society Ess

The ENIAC Project: Its Significance in Computer Science and Society â€Å"†¦With the advent of everyday use of elaborate calculations, speed has become paramount to such a high degree that there is no machine on the market today capable of satisfying the full demand of modern computational methods. The most advanced machines have greatly reduced the time required for arriving at solutions to problems which might have required months or days by older procedures. This advance, however, is not adequate for many problems encountered in modern scientific work and the present invention is intended to reduce to seconds such lengthy computations†¦Ã¢â‚¬  From the ENIAC patent (No. 3,120,606), filed 26 June 1947. When World War II broke out in 1939 the United States was severely technologically disabled. There existed almost nothing in the way of mathematical innovations that had been integrated into military use. Therefore, the government placed great emphasis on the development of electronic technology that could be used in battle. Although it began as a simple computer that would aid the army in computing firing tables for artillery, what eventually was the result was the ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer). Before the ENIAC it took over 20 hours for a skilled mathematician to complete a single computation for a firing situation. When the ENIAC was completed and unveiled to the public on Valentine’s Day in 1946 it could complete such a complex problem in 30 seconds. The ENIAC was used quite often by the military but never contributed any spectacular or necessary data. The main significance of the ENIAC was that it was an incredible achievement in the field of comput er science and can be considered the first digital and per... ...) - â€Å"John W. Mauchly and the Development of the ENIAC Computer.† Penn Library Exhibitions. http://www.library.upenn.edu/exhibits/rbm/maucly/jwm6.html (7) - Soulliere, Cynthia. The Women of ENIAC. http://www.gecdsb.on.ca/d&g/women/women.htm (8) - Soulliere, Cynthia. The Women of ENIAC. http://www.gecdsb.on.ca/d&g/women/women.htm Other Sources Used: Moye, William T. ENIAC: The Army-Sponsored Revolution. ARL Historian, January 1996 Goldstine, Herman H. "Computers at the University of Pennsylvania's Moore School." The Jayne Lecture. Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, Vol 136, No.1. January 24, 1991 "Past Notable Women of Computing." http://www.cs.yale.edu/homes/tap/past-women-cs.html "WITI Hall of Fame." http://www.witi.com/center/witimuseum/halloffame/1997/eniac/php "Why Build Computers?" The Military Role in Computer Research

Shell Oil Company Case Study

Shell Oil Company is a worldwide group of petrochemicals and energy companies and a subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell that was created in 1907. It is a  multinational gas and oil company that has its origins from Anglo-Dutch and their headquarters is in The Hague, Netherlands. Shell is one of the biggest oil and gas companies worldwide and one of the most profitable. 3% of the world’s natural gas and 2.5 of its oil is insured by Shell. The company is employing more than 80.000 people in more than 80 countries around the world and 22.000 of these employees are based in the US where they have approximately 25.000 branded gas stations. According to its revenue in 2010, (285 129 million dollars) Shell is the second largest company in the world.Shell Oil company has a wide range of activities by operating in regions such as America especially and also in the rest of the world. The activities of the company consist in exploring for and extracting crude oil and natural gas most of th e time in collaboration with international and national oil companies. They provide liquefied natural gas to customers all around the world by cooling it and also convert natural gas into liquids in order to provide cleaner burning fuels. The multinational sells daily a quantity of petrol and diesel sufficient to fuel more than 16 million cars and to furnish electricity for 34 million home globally. Shell also converts bitumen, a thick and heavy oil extracted from mined oil sands into synthetic crude oil and develops wind power with the goal of generating electricity.These activities are all part of the company’s Upstream businesses and it has interests in Europe, Asia, Middle East, Russia, Africa and Oceania. Shell also has a Downstream organization that is made up of a large number of businesses. These activities principally consist in turning crude oil into refined products, which are transported and sold worldwide for domestic, industrial, and transport purpose, fuels, bi tumen and lubricants included. Refining, Distribution and Supply are the main activities of their Manufacturing business. Shell trades crude oil, oil products, and petrochemicals first to optimize raw materials for their Manufacturing business and to supply their Marketing business. The company also has a CO2 organization in charge of coordinating the activities of the CO2 management within the company. Shell Trading’s global network includes its activities in every important energy market around the world.MANAGEMENT TEAM OF SHELLPETER VOSER:He joined Shell in 1982 after his graduation in Business Administration from the Applied Science University in Zurich. He is the Chief Executive Officer of Shell since July 2009. He had occupied many positions such as Chief Financial Officer and had also been an Executive Director of Royal Dutch Shell before being CEO and has a lot of years of experience. He has also served in other companies such as the Asea Brown Boveri. He has been CFO of Shell Europe Oil Products as well from 1999 to 2001.SIMON HENRY:He is the Chief Financial Officer of the company and at the same time a member of the board of Royal Dutch Shell. He has joined it in 1982 after his graduation in Mathematics from Cambridge University. He is also very experimented for having held several positions before his appointment as CFO. From 2004 until his appointment he was occupying the position of Executive Vice President Finance for Exploration and Production.2.0 How Shell is affected by its environment The environment in business is considered as the forces that may affect the current or coming activities of an organization. The environment in an organization includes the specific environment also known as task environment and the general environment.2.1 SPECIFIC ENVIRONMENT The specific environment or internal environment is the one that can be controlled by the business. Its components that include the customers, the suppliers, the competitors and the pressure group can directly affect the business. 2.1.1 Customers:Customer is the main point of any business. The success of any business depends on the importance given to the customers. The impact customers have on Shell vary according to the area. In some countries where people have low income the increase of the oil price that occur most of the time can be a  major problem. Most of the people can’t continually afford the gas needed for their cars because of its high price. In some countries the quality of the service that leaves to be desired is part of the main complains of Shell customers. These factors resulted in a loss of trust of the customers and had an impact on the company’s image profit.2.1.2 Suppliers:A number of various suppliers are needed in any business enterprise. Suppliers provide raw materials and components to the company. Shell suppliers are also its internal stakeholders and partners in the chain of production. Bringing petrol from the oil we ll to the petrol pump is their main duty. A lack of reliability or efficiency in this task can result in a succession of problems affecting directly the company well-being because suppliers are part of the organization’s internal environment.Shell has always been in good terms with it suppliers, but the company is nevertheless preventive concerning its supply chain. Shell has various core values that are important in the way that the company runs. Its suppliers must adapt to these values for a continuous good partnership because any lack in the supply chain could be defective to the company’s good running.2.1.3 Competitors:For a business competitors are the companies that are in the same industry and deliver same products or services to customers. Shell main competitors include Exxon Mobil, PETRONAS, Chevron and CITGO, Total. These companies represent a danger for Shell because they provide the same services and products and often with substantial discount on their pri ce. In the early 90’s Shell was the most profitable company in Europe but it had been in the process of restructuring.The main reason was that the R.O.C (Return of Capital of the company) was lagging behind Exxon the company’s main competitor. Shell had approximately 117,000 employees in 1993 and it decreased to 106,000 in 1994. The net income of the company also decreased to 36% from 1993 to 1994. All these facts occurred because of competition.2.2 GENERAL ENVIRONMENTThe general environment is also known as nonmarket environment, it is composed of the Economic, socio-cultural, political, demographic,  technologic and sometimes global factors that can affect the business performance. It includes the interactions between the firm and the government or global entities.2.2.1 Political factorsPolitical factors include the legislations of a government businesses are obliged to respect.. Government policies on Shell have a big impact on Shell Oil Company, because the produ ction’s rate in Oil business is affected by these policies. Taxes on petroleum applied in the countries where refineries are built also affect the business. Political instability of countries where Shell has its refinery can also be a factor that affects the business. In Nigeria Shell’s profit were higher than elsewhere, but the political instability that occurred in that country in the past years has really impacted the business and its profit in that particular area.2.2.2 Economic factorsFor a business the economic environment refers to the economic factors that can have an effect on the business well-being. These factors include economic systems, policies, resources, nature of economy and the economic legislation. The high unemployment rate in countries where Shell operates is an unfavorable factor. The Gross National Product Trend and the inflation rate are also factors that affect Shell Oil Company. In the last five years the joint venture of the Shell Oil Company in Nigeria has participated about more than $38million to the economy of the country, tax and royalty included and is receiving annually 95% of the profit from the company’s onshore production in the Niger Delta. This is economically affecting the business in terms of income. The corruption pertaining in Nigeria which is one of the most corrupted countries in Africa has its impacts and is preventing the company to do its business ethically.2.2.3 Socio-Cultural factorsShell is operating in almost all the parts of the world, so the company has to deal with the cultural and societal differences. Society and culture influence all the aspects of an overseas business, the business has to be aware of the opinions, feelings and attitudes in the local environment. In Nigeria most of the young people living in the delta where Shell is operating are uneducated and are living in the misery.In 1999 military  youths hijacked sixty four Shell staff and blocked all access roads. This viol ent culture of Nigerians isn’t a good factor for the company that made of this country one of its more important areas of operation. The military youths spilled the oil near the SPDC; Shell Petroleum Development Company areas. The company has been obliged to pay compensation for spoiling the environment and prevent the crash of local social infrastructure. This is one of the multiple socio-cultural factors faced by the Shell worldwide.2.2.4 Technological factorsA business enterprise in order to have competitive advantage over others has to make action plans on time to adjust with technological advancements. Aware of that Shell has over the years tried to accommodate his services according to the technological advancements. They have introduced the Shell Oil Card for payment at Shell station and this was a great innovation. But since technology isn’t available in all the regions of the world there were some drawbacks with the use of the card, for example it is not accep ted in some countries or worst people don’t have access to it. Shell is providing his services in a lot of African countries and most of the time it is in that part of the world that a consequent technological lack is noticeable.2.2.5 Environmental factorsOil companies like Shell have to take particularly care of the environment because they are using substances that can damage the environment. Shell has been accused in the recent years of pollution by farmers in the Nigerian delta where it has one of its most important operations. Even if the court has acquitted the company in that case, that event made people doubting of the social responsibility of the company.Farmer in the Nigerian Delta .3.0 How Shell adapted to the changes in its environment? 3.1 Adaptation to the changes in the specific environment3.1.1 CustomersFor customer satisfaction, speed of service is an important value that needs to be taken in account by organizations. Technology has made it easy for  busine sses to meet the customer needs in a very quick way which is connectivity. Aware of that Shell has set up the Shell Customer Lounge that is a website which makes easy the business between Shell and its customers. This service according to Peter Voser has brought a lot of satisfactions to Shell’s customers and allowed the company to handle some problems that occurred in recent years due to a lack of promptness and speed by the company. Shell is trying somehow to make the price of their services meet the income of their customers according to the area by trying to make it affordable.3.1.2 CompetitorsRelative to its competitors Shell’s performance was very weak and in order to avoid what happened in the 90’s when the company’s return on capital lagged behind Exxon the former head of the company decided to change the strategies. The company realized that the real purpose of effective planning is to change the way the decision makers think. Shell, in order to gain competitive advantage over its main competitors is implementing a strategy that others can hardly repeat. The company came up in the last years with unique skills in terms of technology and integration, and a worldwide set of opportunities for future investments. According to Peter Voser the CEO of the company, Shell’s efforts to expand its pipeline of possible energy projects are already successful and this can be a real way to get competitive advantage over the company’s competitors.3.1.3 SuppliersFor a business it is of a capital importance to develop long term and quality relationships with those taking part in the business process such as suppliers. Shell forces its suppliers to be in accordance with its business principles and core values for a good relationship and good terms of work. The company has made clear in its code of conducts report that they will stop all activities with any supplier that does not match all these qualifications. This is a way to s hift any potential changes relative to its supply chain.3.2 Adaptation to the changes in the general environment3.2.1 Adaptation to the political factorsTo face the political factors that affect its business Shell has revised its business strategies in hostile and turbulent environment particularly in Nigeria. The company made planning to be able to face any identical scenario that could occur in the future by focusing on medium term planning instead of long term planning. Shell has set up a discussion with workshops for a better interaction with the local communities in Nigeria and also pressurized their workers for radical changes in turbulent environment.3.2.2 Adaptation to the economic factorsTo adapt to the economic problems faced in certain of their operating areas, Shell has set up a lot of strategies particularly in Nigeria. The company is facing a lot of problems in that area due to the difficulty of the economy such as the taxes imposed on their business and the corruption . The head of the company said that they have to keep on making huge profit every year because the taxes and government regulations on the company are unavoidable. Shell identifies its own core values as honesty and respect for people to fight against the corruption which is affecting its activities in Nigeria. Shell communicated its anti-corruption principles by providing training programs and also made its workers aware of the importance of having legal and non-corruptive activities. The company has implemented various policies and initiatives to do its business properly without any kind of corruption, illegal or unethical practices.3.2.3 Adaptation to the socio-cultural and technologic factorsFor a company it is of a capital importance to know how to deal with the social and cultural factors in the area of operations. Shell faced a lot of socio cultural factors that affected its business in the past years. These factors had a negative impact on Shell running but the company aimin g to cover a bigger area to implement its activities is still continuing to adapt itself in hostile and violent environment like Nigeria. Since the world knows a fast technological advance businesses must know how to adapt to these changes. This can help to get a competitive advantage on others. Shell is trying to make its oil card available in regions where there is a technological backwardness such as certain parts of Africa.4.0 CONCLUSION4.1 ObjectivesKnowing that without customers a business can’t run in the long term Shell major objectives is to win and maintain customers by providing to them products and services that offer value in terms of price and quality. The company is also aiming to meet customers want value for money that is to provide the highest quality of services at competitive prices. Shell’s people knowing that this can give a quick stop to the achievement of the company’s goals are trying to find solutions to allow the use of the card everyw here in the world. Shell has various core values that are important in the way that the company runs. Its suppliers must adapt to these values for a continuous good partnership because any lack in the supply chain could be defective to the company’s good running. Shell’s main objectives are to extract and deliver oil profitably by respecting the social and environmental norms. The company is looking forward to get a bigger standard of performance and maintain their position in terms of competition in the areas they operate.4.2 RecommendationsThe company should work closer with its customers its partners and its policymakers to proceed to more sustainable use of energy. In Nigeria Shell should go further in their strategies to fight the bad impact the political and economic factors have on the company because the general environment is as important as the specific and all these factors can be really harmful to the good running of the company. Shell Group must engage res ponsibly and profitably in oil and other businesses of their choices, participate in the research of other sources of energy to keep on satisfying customer needs.