Sunday, August 18, 2019

Contraception Defies Gods Will Essays -- Morals Birth Control Argumen

Contraception Defies God's Will   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The use of contraception was never as widely proclaimed and exhibited as it is now. The use of contraception has become so mainstream, that it is now â€Å"normal† for even teens to use these contraceptives. Schools promote the use of this once taboo practice of artificial birth control, and partake in the distribution of condoms amongst students. This is a clear example of how modern society and its practices can change the way people act morally and physically.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  There are many Catholics who use contraceptives instead of family planning. This is not accepted by the Catholic Church, and is considered to be wrong. Catholics believe that sexual intercourse is a gift that was given to this earth by God, only to reproduce. This belief is clearly over looked by many people today, not only Catholics. Sex is used a tool for pleasure and to fulfill sexual desire. Outside of marriage, sexual intercourse should not be practiced. This is a blatant dishonoring of what God proclaimed to his followers, and is also considered a sin. The predominant reason why people use contraceptives is to avoid the risk of unwanted pregnancy and also to try to avoid sexually transmitted diseases. This is going against the will of God, and in the Catholic community it is unlawful.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  There are many activists who are against the use of contraceptives. Some of these people hold seminars and demonstrations that portray their opinions that are in the nature agai...

Saturday, August 17, 2019

Does Sex Sell

Whether they are on TV, radio, or in a magazine, there is no way that you can escape advertisements. They all have their target audience who they have specifically designed the ad for. This is a multi billion dollar industry and advertisers study many ways that they can attract people's attention. One way that is used the most and is in some ways very controversial is use of sex to sell products. Evan Williams, a company who sells whiskey, released a print ad of a young woman dressed in her Sunday best on one side of the advertisement saying â€Å"the longer you wait†. On the other side they have a picture of the same woman as an adult dressed in a sexual manner saying â€Å"the better it gets†. In the middle of the ad is a bottle of their whiskey and next to that it says â€Å"aged seven years†. An analysis of the Evan Williams advertisement will include the appeals of ethos, logos, and pathos. The target audience is both males and females in their late teens to mid twenties. This company gets the male side of the equation by getting their attention and interest drawn to the attractive woman on the right with bright colors, drawing your attention there, as well as the bottle of whiskey which is right in the middle of the page. One way to try and get the females to look at the advertisement and read it is by showing a very plain girl who seems to be very typical of girls during their younger years. On the side of that picture they show the same girl who now has become a woman, and is very attractive and just seems so much more powerful and sure of herself. One way that you can achieve that is to drink Evan Williams Kentucky straight bourbon whiskey. I feel that this advertisement is not very ethical at all. They send the message that if you do not wear sexy clothes and try and act sexy then you are not good enough. The logic behind the advertisement is almost in all essence, sexual. They are using a woman who is very attractive with bright colors standing next to a bottle of whiskey. As well, they try and use their slogan that goes with their product and apply it to a completely different situation with a woman. They show how much â€Å"better it gets† when it is aged seven years. This is very degrading to the woman because they portray her as being ugly in the first photo, but after seven years, less clothing, and makeup she is much better. There is nothing wrong with the girl on the left who is just plain and simple. When you have to wear something sexual to get noticed it just continues to drain away from the collective respectability of our society. They try to play sexual emotions in this advertisement. They show an attractive woman and a bottle of whiskey. They try and make it seem that if you drink their product that you can get this woman. Also they try and use the emotions of the females talking about how a decent looking woman can become very attractive. The newer picture also is more vibrant plus she is wearing a lot more sexually provocative clothing than her old self, who is covered up and not showing any skin. It also seems to draw onto girls that have a lower self esteem. Showing that you will become a much happier person if you are good looking and dressed very sexually, than if you are not better looking. Personally I think that this is an unethical dilemma that we face in society today. Using sex to sell products is something that companies should stay away from. Depicting images of people for personal gain is not right in my opinion. Unfortunately in our society this form of advertisement is accepted. This ad is although one that does appeal to its targets by using clever wording.

Friday, August 16, 2019

Alexis de Tocqueville Essay

What is Alexis de Tocqueville’s assessment of the state of race relations in the US? What kinds of futures did he predicts for the different ethnic groups? Were his predictions accurate? Alexis de Tocqueville was seen as the first real sociologist to appear in the United States. His studies were based on the American society and cultures. He was the first individual that reflects his studies were based on everything he had seen in society to show state of race relations in the U.S conditions of new American world. Tocqueville’s book Democracy in America in 1830s which he described America as â€Å"absolute democracy† [3]. He uses comparative method in order for him to observe, compare American with Europe, as well as ethnography research achieve an insight of American political system, racial structure on different ethnic groups. Tocqueville’s assessment of the state of race relations in the United States is understand people’s lifestyles e.g. individuals from different ethnicity such as Native Americans and African-Americans. However, Tocqueville was writing in the 1830s where slavery was abolished in the North but the â€Å"preoccupatio n †¦ minds† has not changed [4] majority of white individuals has not changed their ideas about slavery so they were very hostile towards African-Americans and Native Americans. Although he argues that north were far more accepting of American-Americans to granted their freedom than the south because they still see the â€Å"black race is relegated† therefore, increase its rigors as they’re disgusted by the idea of slavery abolishment. Tocqueville will argue that this creates unsettled environment in the United States. In this essay, I will be arguing, Tocqueville’s perspectives, opinions and predications on the United States to see if it was/is accurate, or one-sided. This will be done in a comparative, coherent argument to analyse argument compared with the current contemporary affairs of the United States. The purpose of this essay to use contemporary information to compare and contrast the current situations of both African-Americans and Native Am erican in the United State to sees state of race relations, ethnic groups is still the same, has there been improvement or deterioration since Tocqueville’s writing period. Tocqueville believes that democracy could be the main reason of state of race relations in American because it builds on the idea of racial differentiations. He believes that Democracy views other races as  substandard. This will then contribute the ideas of the oppressions and segregation of ethnic groups like the Native Americans and African-Americans because according to white individuals they had no rights, no freedom and opinion in society. It creates a division between races, constructs racial hierarchy leads to ethnic minority groups like Native Americans and African-Americans bottom of the racial hierarchy. Consequently, Tocqueville views on state of race relations as apprehensive but, yet he believes that the â€Å"white man, European man [race is] excellence, below him appear the Negro and the Indian [4].Tocqueville supports the idea that some races such as European races were at the top because they were superior, has highly intellectual skills. While, other races like, Native Americans and African-Americans viewed as inferior because he believes that they had lower intellectual skills. Because of this Tocqueville is biased, because, he, himself is part of the white European race which makes superior. Although, he suggests that democracy destroys the mind sets of ethnic minorities which makes individuals forgets about their ancestors [African-Americans] and their descendants [Native-Americans] so, leads to ethnic groups who does not have any identity/identities. He argues that this is what is happening in America in terms state of race relations because the white individuals has manipulated, corrupted the minds of other ethnic groups. During, the Tocqueville writing period Native Americans were seen as savages and African-Americans were seen as properties, in hard labour. He argues that both race groups were seen as dispute, dispossessions, and considered as inhuman. Ethnic groups were viewed as part of the animal kingdom he believes the reason why they were treated like an animals. For instance he describes the â€Å"European[s][ as the top] man of other races is to [make] them animals? [White Europeans] serve his purpose and when he cannot bend them he destroys them† In other words, Tocqueville implies that perhaps no-one from white race will ever sympathises with the two ethnic races, so it was acceptable for any white individual to do whatever they intended to do with native Americans and African-Americans because their race, thei r lives were seen as irrelevant, unimportant living in the land of America. Both ethnic minority groups did not have any rights or equalities like the white individuals did. Tocqueville see Native Americans and African-Americans (slaves) are connected to democracy because they were both socially excluded part of  democracy side of society. Tocqueville argues that opinions like this then leads to democracy being based on the idea slavery of African-Americans viewing it as satisfactory. Democracy subsidises the idea of racial segregation, racial superiority and divisions of races which he suggests could be a great danger to society. In addition, Tocqueville saw the state of race relations against Native Americans was overwrought, they had an â€Å"instinctive love of their native country attaches them to the soil that has seen them born and they now find nothing there but misery and death†. (4). In other words, Tocqueville believed that their homeland is now occupied by the white individuals until the end of their lives or, perhaps, the inevitable destruction of the Native Americans. For the reason that the idea of westward expansion meant that Native Americans had been forced to move somewhere else â€Å"move out; they go to inhabit new wilderness, where the whites will hardly leave them in peace for ten years† [4]. Tocqueville supports the idea that Native Americans inhabited North America well before the white Europeans did, they lived by their own tribal customs, norms, values, religious beliefs and laws. However, Native Americans are now seen as dispossessed through the formalities of the law â€Å"it is impossible to destroy men with more respect for the laws of humanity† [4]. Tocqueville argues that the government will not grant them their own enjoyment of Native-American leaving in freedom so they had no elite but to possess this crucial primarily for lifestyle of civilisation. This could be one of the reasons of their segregation in American- they chose not to be civilised because they had planned on keeping their own cultures, customs and traditions. Native Americans â€Å"repels civilisation perhaps less in hatred of it than in fear of resembling the European’ [4]. Although, Tocqueville implies that it is challenging for Native- Americans to acquire it- this could be bec ause they are not used to white cultures perhaps see white customs and lifestyles as dishonour, perhaps evil this could be the reason why native Americans did not accept civilisation or seen as part of the race relations. Even if they did accept civilisation there will be prejudices against Natives American which will prevent them from becoming civilised which then obliges them to it. In contrast, Tocqueville suggests that Native Americans still had some  acknowledge their identities cultures compared to other races such as African-Americans because America is their homeland therefore native Americans will do anything but to be assimilated perhaps so they can their sense of pride, and dignity. Furthermore, Tocqueville juxtaposes the view of African-Americans in terms of state of race relations compared to his views on Native Americans. He believes that African-Americans had lost all their sense of cultures, traditions, identities and individualism because â€Å"the habit of servitude has given him the thoughts and ambitions of slave†Ã¢â‚¬ ¦..[African Americans] had no longer understands the language that his [fore] fathers spoke†¦creasing to belong to Africa†. Tocqueville argues that it will very challenging for African American to regain their cultures and identities because they are now trapped between two societies being divided from their homeland means that they have nothing to gain in American society. Tocqueville emphasises that African-Americans knowledge has not developed properly therefore, they cannot think of anything more of themselves than to view themselves as a slave. Even when they are freed or grant their own freedom African-Americans wi ll themselves as below the white Europeans/Americans because it what they have been taught, or perhaps they had little knowledge of civilisation which will lead to still respects them rather than despising against them .Tocqueville suggest that even if African-Americans are freed they will still face prejudices- deep racism which they will have to face in on daily basis with jobs, educations. Tocqueville questions their freedom because they are still oppressed and segregated from society just like other ethnic minority groups because even though it might be illegal to enslave African-Americans there are still white individuals who has reinforced ideas that you cannot abolished. Tocqueville’s predictions for ethnic minority groups is that they will still face three main prejudices which will be more intangible, more tenacious than before the abolishment of slavery. This will be the prejudice of the master, the prejudice of race and the finally the prejudice of the white individuals. He argues that it will difficult for white individuals to accept ethnic minorities groups, even though, the law has changed their mind  sets have not changed. He believes that it is not the interests of African-Americans but the interest of the white individuals for the reason why slavery has been destroyed in the United States. Although, Tocqueville believe that in the future black and white will mix creating an inter-racial society however, this will still leads to unsettled tensions in America because the future of white individual in American especially south of America is connected to narrow-minded whites slave owners who will see freedom of African-Americans slaves as outnumbered. On the other hand, to contradict Tocqueville predications about ethnic groups. Native Americans one could say in contemporary Untied States Natives Americans have become more civilised as well as trying to keep their own traditions and customs. Plus, Native Americans are more accepted, and respected by the white Americans than they did in Tocqueville’s writing period. They now have their own freedom, independence and laws to support them against any racial prejudices for instance the National Indian Youth Council was formed in the early in 1961 which consists of sixty tribes, who formed their own treaty rights in disputed waters and territories, stand up for their rights such as the Native American Grave Protection and Repatriation Act 1990. Some Native Americans are even known as ‘Red power’ which is a new language that set ethnic minorities apart and against the undifferentiated white America. [1] However, to support Tocqueville is predictions of Native American s it seems that even in the contemporary society they are still been viewed as â€Å"savages standing in the way of civilisation†.[1] As well as the Native Americans in post-modern society are being more extinct than before. This proves that Tocqueville is predictions were perhaps accurate because Native Americans are still not accepted by the American society. African-Americans are still being seen as inferior to white races such as the Ku Klux Klan who were perhaps are the most extreme methods to prevent black and white desegregation and integration.[1] This proves that Tocqueville predictions on African-American could have been accurate with the integration of black and white could cause some institutionalized segregation in the American society. In opposition Tocqueville’s predictions on African-Americans it seem that African-Americans in the contemporary United States has had importance  contributions to the American society and rest of the world with highly respected significant Black leaders such as Civil Rights main leader Martin Luther-King [2] who fights for his rights, equalities of other black Americans so that will see treated and respected in the same way as white American. Tocquev ille predictions of African-American could be far from accurate as the current president of America who is African-American, Barack Obama who rules over the whole United States shows that African-American has now their own identities, well-educated and potentially the white collar job of the American society. Overall, it seems that Tocqueville’s writings and ideas on race relations on ethnic groups is still being used today to show how far ethnic minority groups have improved within society even though there might be still some discrimination against them however, society has integrated with Native-Americans and African-Americans than in Tocqueville’s period. References 1. Bayor, R(2003),Race and Ethnicty in America, United States, Columbia University Press, [7-206] 2. Kessing, R (1970), Race Relations in the USA 1954-63, Kessing’s Publications Limited, America[255] 3. Nimtz A, (2003),The â€Å"Absolute Democracy or Defiled Republic† , Lexington Books,[cover] 4. Mansfield H, Winthrop, D [1830] [2000], ‘Some Considerations on the present state and the probable future of the three races that inhabit the territory of United States,’ in Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America, University of Chicago press, United states, [308-348]

First law of motion Essay

I have come to a point in life that many people have not. I have made a firm decision to recommit myself to pursuing my dreams. While there are those who believe that with an ounce of luck and a ton of persistence anything can be accomplished, I believe that there is no reason to expend so much energy and rely on luck. I believe in taking hold of my destiny and carving out a future for myself based on the decisions that I make in life. Life is simply too short and too precious to be left to luck alone. This is why I have chosen to apply at (Selected University Here). An object at rest tends to stay at rest and an object in motion tends to stay in motion with the same speed and in the same direction unless acted upon by an unbalanced force. This is how the first law of Newton is often stated. An object remains at rest unless an external influence interacts with it and either gets it moving again or alters its direction. I prefer to think of myself as one of those objects that are at rest. There has never really been any motivation or desire on my part to try and do something drastic in my life. The problems of other people do not concern me unless there is some sort of benefit that I can gain through my actions or disadvantage that will happen through my inaction. This has always been my way of dealing with things when I was much younger and admittedly more selfish and naive. As every story concerning a spoiled child goes, I always felt that I was the center of everyone’s attention. I was the most important thing in this world. There was no need for me to raise a finger to do anything as everyone around me was at my beck and call, servants who catered to my every whim and desire. These thoughts of greatness and power however were also the same thoughts that made it very difficult for me to adapt to my school environment as I constantly found myself alone in school with no friends and nobody to talk to. Things took a turn for the worse before they got any better however as I was also performing terribly in school. I would get into scuffles with my classmates and get on the bad side of everyone in my school. These were very difficult times for me because I could not understand why these people had such an intense dislike for me. The worst part was yet to come however. One day when I was one my way to my classroom I saw a couple of my classmates breaking into the lockers of a few of the students. Unsure of what I was supposed to do I decided to watch them. A few moments later a young kid, much smaller and younger than me, told these bigger kids to stop what they were doing because it was bad. These bullies merely laughed at the kid and decided to have some fun with him and push him around. Forgetting how much bigger they were than the young child, they became too rough and pushed the child so hard that he rolled down the stairwell. Instead of helping the young kid out I decided to make a run for it and not say anything to anyone. It wasn’t my problem, I recall telling myself. Indeed it wasn’t but soon enough it became a problem of mine when I learned a week later that the young boy who I refused to defend would never be able to walk again. My inaction, my selfishness was the reason that a young boy would never be able to walk again. I could not live with myself. It was then that I decided to approach my mother and ask her why things were that way. Like every mother, my mom adored me and always had my best interests in her heart. But I was surprised when she told me the truth; I was selfish, arrogant and self centered. A person destined for greatness must learn to be humble and must also learn to stand up in the face of adversity. She then told me a story a great person, a person she admired, former President Ronald Reagan. While not exactly the most intelligent of all people, Ronald Reagan endured many trials in his life and was able to weather them all thus earning himself the nickname â€Å"The Teflon President†. Not only was Ronald Reagan able to endure all of his challenges, he was also well loved by many, which is largely attributed to his persuasive quotable speaking style. The Great Communicator was able to charm the hearts of many and in doing so became one of the most effective Presidents in the history of the United States. After that talk, I decided to learn more about this person who my mother thought so highly of and found that he had done so many things during his administration. I could not understand how a person who wielded such power never chose to abuse it but instead chose to use the power to help other people and improve the welfare of every American; Powerful and influential but at the same time well-loved by the American public. From that forth I resolved to discard my selfish and self-centered ways and decided to focus more on helping other people and becoming more altruistic in my deeds. While I certainly will not become the next Ronald Reagan, I have him to thank for motivating me to become a better person not only for myself but for others as well. He has inspired me to lead a life of service for the public and fueled my passion for politics. I may not be able to accomplish the things that this great person has done in his lifetime but I will be happy knowing that I have made a difference in this world. To have even inspired a single person to do good things and to devote his life to a life of service for others as Ronald Reagan has done for me will be a great accomplishment. While I personally believe that â€Å"there is no such thing as a free lunch† and that everything a person has in life must come from hard work and perseverance, I also believe in charity. I believe in helping others who do not have much in life. I believe in helping people regardless of their nation, race or creed. I believe in being a better person so I can best help myself and others around me. I believe that (Selected University) is the best place for me to turn these beliefs into realities.

Thursday, August 15, 2019

Metaphysics: Philosophy and Idealism Essay

Metaphysics is the branch of Philosophy that focuses on the nature of reality, including abstract concepts such as being and knowing. The term literally means ‘beyond the physical. ’ It attempts to find unity across the domains of experience and thought. There are five broad philosophical schools of thought that apply to education today and these general frameworks provide the base from which the various educational philosophies are derived. Idealism is the view that ideas or thoughts make up fundamental reality. Idealism is a label which covers a number of philosophical positions with quite different implications and tendencies, including: 1. Objective idealism asserts that the reality of experiencing combines and transcends the reality of the object experienced and that of the mind of the observer. 2 Objective idealists accept common sense realism but reject naturalism. In other words, objective idealists accept the view that material objects exist but reject the concept that the mind and spiritual values have emerged from material things. * Proponents include Thomas Hill Green, Josiah Royce, and Benedetto Croce. 2. Subjective Idealism describes a relationship between experience and the world in which objects are no more than collections or â€Å"bundles† of sense data in the perceiver. 2 Subjective idealists assert both metaphysical and epistemological idealism while denying that material objects exist independently of human perception and thus are opposed to both realism and naturalism. * Proponents include Berkeley, the Bishop of Cloyne. 3. Transcendental idealism is a doctrine that maintains that the mind shapes the world we perceive into the form of space-and-time. 2 Transcendental idealists are strong skeptics of a mind-independent world, asserting epistemological and not metaphysical idealism. * Proponents include founder, Immanuel Kant, Johann Gottlieb Fichte and Friedrich Schelling. 4. Absolute idealism is the view that in order for human reason to be able to know the world at all, there must be, in some sense, an identity of thought and being; otherwise, we would never have any means of access to the world, and we would have no certainty about any of our knowledge. 6 * Proponents include founder, G. W. F. Hegel. As well as several more minor variants or related concepts, including: 5. Epistemological Idealism asserts that minds perceive only their own ideas, and not external objects; therefore we cannot directly know things in themselves or things as they really are. The only thing we can ever have knowledge about is the world of phenomenal human experience which leaves no reason to suspect that reality mirrors our perceptions and thoughts. 6. Actual Idealism is a form of idealism that contrasted Transcendental Idealism and Absolute Idealism. This system saw thought as all-embracing, and claimed that no-one could actually leave their sphere of thinking, or exceed their own thought. 6 * Proponents include Giovanni Gentile. 7. Buddhist Idealism is the concept in that all existence is nothing but consciousness, and therefore there is nothing that lies outside of the mind. 8. Panpsychism holds that that all parts of matter involve mind or that the whole universe is an organism that possesses a mind. Therefore all objects of experience are also subjects. * Proponents include Gottfried Leibniz. 9. Practical Idealism is a political philosophy which holds it to be an ethical imperative to implement ideals of virtue or good. * Proponents include Mahatma Gandhi. Realism is the view that entities of a certain type have a reality that is completely ontologically independent of our conceptual schemes, linguistic practices, beliefs, etc. There are many different types and degrees of Realism, including: 1. Platonic Realism is the view that universals exist. A universal is a property of an object, which can exist in more than one place at the same time. * Proponents include founder Plato, who formed a solution to the problem of universals. 2. Moderate Realism is the view that there is no separate realm where universals exist, but that they are located in space and time wherever they happen to be manifest. * Conceptualism, initiated by Peter Abelard, is the doctrine that universals exist only within the mind and have no external or substantial reality. * Modern Conceptualism, as represented by Immanuel Kant, holds that universals have no connection with external things because they are exclusively produced by our a priori mental structures and functions. 7 * Proponents include Aristotle St. Thomas Aquinas, Jacques Maritain and Etienne Gilson. 3. Modal Realism is the view that possible worlds are just as real as the actual world we live in, and not just abstract possibilities. * Propounded by David Lewis. 4. Moral Realism is the meta-ethical view that there are objective moral values which are independent of our perception of them or our stance towards them. Therefore, moral judgments describe moral facts. 7 * Proponents include Plato and Immanuel Kant. There are many others disciplines which are related to Realism, including: 1. Transcendental Realism is the theory that implies individuals have a perfect understanding of the limitations of their own minds. 2. Organic Realism is the metaphysical philosophy in which subjective forms complement Plato’s Forms. The theory holds that change in not illusory or purely accidental to the substance, but rather the very cornerstone of reality or Being. * Propounded by Alfred North Whitehead. Ontology is traditionally listed as a part of the major branch of philosophy known as metaphysics, while being the philosophical study of the nature of being, existence, or reality, as well as their relations. Ontology deals with questions concerning what entities exist or can be said to exist, and how these entities can be grouped and subdivided according to similarities and differences. G. W. F. Hegel Wikipedia. com Wikipedia. com Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel was a German philosopher as well as a major figure in German Idealism. His historicist and idealist account of reality revolutionized European philosophy and was an important precursor to Continental philosophy and Marxism. 19 Without eliminating either pole or reducing one to the other, he developed the concept that mind manifested itself in a set of contradictions and oppositions that it ultimately integrated and united. Hegel attempted to elaborate a comprehensive and systematic ontology from a logical starting point throughout his published writings, as well as in his lectures. In 1801 Hegel moved to Jena to join Schelling at the University of Jena, where Fichte had studied previously; although at that time, the prime of Jena idealism was over. In this same year, Hegel published his first philosophical work, The Difference between Fichte’s and Schelling’s System of Philosophy. He worked with Schelling closely and together they edited the Critical Journal of Philosophy. He wanted to develop a system of science in which he displayed in his writings. Phenomenology of Spirit was considered his project and one of his main works where he speaks of his thoughts on the evolution of consciousness from sense perception to absolute knowledge. He also believed that human cognition changes from one generation to the next; as well as the idea that our experiences are what make us who we are and we make our experiences ours. His thinking can be understood as a constructive development within the general tradition that includes Plato and Kant, as well as Plotinus and Gottfried Leibniz. A common trait that these thinkers share is that they regard freedom or self-determination both as real and as having important ontological implications, for soul or mind or divinity. His concern with Kantian topics such as morality and freedom, including their ontological implications, is omnipresent. He aimed to incorporate it within ‘true infinity’, ‘spirit’ and ‘ethical life’, rather than simply reject his dualism of freedom versus nature. He incorporated it in such as way he rendered Kantian’s duality as intelligible. He saw a relational unity as well as a metaphysical unity between Jesus and God the Father. Jesus is both divine and human, according to Hegel. He further attested that God not only died, but that a reversal had taken place, that is to say that God maintained himself in the process and the latter is only the death of death. He claimed God rose again to life and thus things are reversed. 19 Karl Marx Wikipedia. com Wikipedia. com Karl Marx was a German philosopher, economist, journalist, historian and revolutionary socialist. His ideas had a significant influence in the development of social science and the socialist movement. He wrote and published many works but the most important of all was the Communist Manifesto. Being born into a wealthy middle class family, he studied at the University of Bonn as well as the University of Berlin, where he became interested in the Young Hegelians philosophical ideas. After writing for a couple radical newspapers and being exiled to Brussels, he became a leading figure of the Communist League. Once he returned to Cologne, he founded his own newspaper. Even experiencing poverty, he continued writing and formulating his theories about the nature of society and how he believed that it could be improved. His theories about society, politics and economics are known as Marxism and these theories hold that all societies progress through a conflict between ownership class which controls production and a lower class which produces the labor for goods. His view of history, which came to be called historical materialism, certainly shows the influence of Hegel’s claim that one should view reality as well as history dialectically. However, Hegel had thought in idealist terms, putting ideas in the forefront, whereas Marx sought to rewrite dialectics in materialist terms, arguing for the primacy of matter over idea. Where Hegel saw the â€Å"spirit† as driving history, Marx saw this as an unnecessary mystification, obscuring the reality of humanity and its physical actions shaping the world. He wrote that Hegelianism stood the movement of reality on its head, and that one needed to set it upon its feet. 21 He believed that only large scale change in the economic system could bring about real change; he criticized utopian socialists by arguing that their favored small scale socialistic communities would be bound to marginalization and poverty. Engel’s book, The Condition of the Working Class in England in 1844, led Marx to conceive the modern working class as the most progressive force for revolution. In opposition to traditional theology, he believed that human beings had created God in their own image and that worshipping God diverted human beings from enjoying their own human powers. He explains that religion is a response to alienation in material life and that it can’t be removed until human material life is set free, resulting in the deterioration of religion. Epistemology is branch of philosophy concerned with the nature and limitations of knowledge. It addresses mainly the following questions: * What is knowledge? * How is knowledge acquired? * To what extent is it possible for a given subject or entity to be known? 13 Rene Descartes Wikipedia. com Wikipedia. com Dubbed the ‘Father of Modern Philosophy’, Rene Descartes was a French philosopher, mathematician, and writer who spent most of his adult life in the Dutch Republic. He is known for having made an important connection between geometry and algebra, thus allowing a solution for geometrical problems by way of algebraic equations. He is perhaps best known for the philosophical statement â€Å"Cogito ergo sum†, meaning I think, therefore I am. From 1604-1612 he attended Jesuit school, where he learned the standard scholastic, Aristotelian philosophy. In 1619 he embarked on his life’s work of rebuilding the whole universe because he believed everything he had learned was wrong. To do this he used what is known as his method of doubt. He meditated on various possible skeptical scenarios to help him doubt even things that seemed possibly true. First he considered that, when asleep and dreaming, everything seemed just as real and true as when he was awake. This led him to think that perhaps he is dreaming at that very moment, in which case he may not be really sitting in a chair but dreaming that he is sitting in a chair. Descartes, to make his doubting even more radical, considered the possibility that God is evil and has the aim of deceiving him as much as possible by placing fictitious sensory inputs directly into his conscious mind. This resulted in his famous statement: I think, therefore I am. His argument for the existence of God begins with the belief that ‘I have a concept of God, as perfect and infinite. This concept is clear and distinct; therefore an idea must have a cause-even an idea cannot appear from nowhere. A greater object can cause a lesser one but the reverse is impossible. Thus, my idea of God, which is supremely great, can only have been caused by just such a being. Thus God, as I conceive him, must exist. ’16 With his belief in the reliability of his senses restored, he was then able to acquire common-sense beliefs about material objects. He went on to build an elaborate system of mechanics, a theory of planetary motions, among many others. David Hume Oregon State. edu Oregon State. edu The most important philosopher ever to write in English and one of the most important figures in the history of Western philosophy and the Scottish Enlightenment was David Hume. He was also well-known in his own time as a philosopher, historian, economist, and essayist. Among the interesting features of Hume’s empiricist philosophy are a revolutionary view of causality, the problem of induction, and the distinction between fact and value. Hume advocates various forms of moderate or mitigated skepticism. He was a relentless critic of metaphysics and religion. 10 Hume was born in Edinburgh on April 26, 1711 and spent his childhood at Ninewells, the family’s modest estate near Berwickshire. His family thought he was suited for a career in the law, but he preferred reading classical authors and pursuing the goal of becoming a scholar and philosopher. He followed a rigorous program of reading and reflection for three years while pursuing this goal. Hume’s Problem of Causation has remained unsolved for two-hundred fifty years and this uncertainty has greatly prejudiced our belief in the possibility of metaphysics and the certainty of science, and has ultimately led to postmodernism. Hume explains that until we know what exists and the ‘necessary connections’ between these things that exist, it is impossible for humanity to have certainty of knowledge. This in return leads to the Problem of Induction, for if we do not know the a priori cause of events then we have no principles from which to logically deduce our conclusions. Then we are simply left observing that one event follows another and somehow they seem connected, yet we don’t know why or how; therefore we must depend upon induction to determine the laws of nature. This problem of induction can be demonstrated using his simple example of dropping a stone such that when I let go of the stone it falls to earth. And despite the amount of times this experiment is repeated does this inductively infer that the stone must fall the next time I let it go. He argued that it doesn’t, that it is simply a habit of thinking that it does and that it is quite possible that at some point in the future the stone will not fall. Hume stated, ‘The supposition that the future resembles the past, is not founded on arguments of any kind, but is derived entirely from habit. ’11 He believed that a priori ideas did not exist and that they are not innate but derived from experience of perceptions. He believed these perceptions could be divided into impressions and ideas. He believed that humans learned through impressions and if there are no impressions then there is no idea. He also believed that every person’s perceptions were his alone and different from other peoples. 17 For the argument for the existence of God, Hume began by laying down the principle that we can ascribe capacities to a God only if they are evident in the world. He believed humans have no reason to infer an almighty God from the world because the world is manifestly finite and imperfect and any argument from such is unwarranted. He claimed that the hypothesis of a God is useless; that there is no practical gain in positing such a being. 1. Oregon State. â€Å"Section III – Philosophical Perspectives in Education† Web. October 16, 2012. 2. Wikipedia. â€Å"Idealism† October 13, 2012. Web. October 16, 2012. 3. Wikipedia. â€Å"Objective Idealism† May 5, 2012. Web. October 16, 2012. 4. Wikipedia. â€Å"Transcendental Idealism† September 30, 2012. Web. October 16, 2012. 5. Wikipedia. â€Å"Neo-Platonism† October 6, 2012. Web. October 16, 2012. 6. The Basics of Philosophy. â€Å"Idealism† Web. October 16, 2012. 7. The Basics of Philosophy. â€Å"Realism† Web. October 16, 2012. 8. Wikipedia. â€Å"David Hume† October 12, 2012. Web. October 16, 2012. 9. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. â€Å"David Hume† May 15, 2009. Web. October 16, 2012. 10. Oregon State. â€Å"David Hume† Web. October 16, 2012. 11. On Truth & Reality. â€Å"Meta-physics: David Hume† Web. October 16, 2012. 12. Wikipedia. â€Å"Ontology† October 29, 2012. Web. October 30, 2012. 13. Wikipedia. â€Å"Epistemology† October 30, 2012. Web. October 30, 2012.

Wednesday, August 14, 2019

Monopoly and marginal cost Essay

Practice Questions and Answers from Lesson III-3: Monopoly Practice Questions and Answers from Lesson III-3: Monopoly The following questions practice these skills: ? Explain the sources of market power. ? Apply the quantity and price affects on revenue of any movement along a demand curve. ? Find the profit maximizing quantity and price of a single-price monopolist. ? Compute deadweight loss from a single-price monopolist. ? Compute marginal revenue. ? Define the efficiency of P = MC. ? Find the profit-maximizing quantity and price of a perfect-price-discriminating monopolist. ? Find the profit-maximizing quantity and price of an imperfect-price-discriminating monopolist. Question: Each of the following firms possesses market power. Explain its source. a. Merck, the producer of the patented cholesterol-lowering drug Zetia b. Chiquita, a supplier of bananas and owner of most banana plantations c. The Walt Disney Company, the creators of Mickey Mouse Answer to Question: a. Merck has a patent for Zetia. This is an example of a government-created barrier to entry, which gives Merck market power. b. Chiquita controls most banana plantations. Control over a scarce resource gives Chiquita market power. c. The Walt Disney Company has the copyright over animations featuring Mickey Mouse. This Is another example of a government-created barrier to entry that gives the Walt Disney Company market power. Question: Skyscraper City has a subway system, for which a one-way fare is $1. 50. There is pressure on the mayor to reduce the fee by one-third, to $1. 00. The mayor is dismayed, thinking that this will mean Skyscraper City is losing one-third of its revenue from sales of subway tickets. The mayor’s economic adviser reminds her that she is focusing only on the price effect and ignoring the quantity effect. Explain why the mayor’s estimate of a one-third loss of revenue is likely to be an overestimate. Illustrate with a diagram. Answer to Question: A reduction in fares from $1. 50 to $1. 00 will reduce the revenue on each ticket that is currently sold by one-third; this Is the price effect. But a reduction in price will lead to more tickets being sold at the lower price of $1. 00, which creates additional revenue; this is the quantity effect. The price effect is the loss of revenue on all the currently sold tickets. The quantity effect is the increase in revenue from increased sales as a result of the lower price. Question: Consider an industry with the demand curve (D) and marginal cost curve (MC) shown in the accompanying diagram. There is no fixed cost. If the industry is a single-price monopoly, the monopolist’s marginal revenue curve would be MR. Answer the following questions by naming the appropriate points or areas. Practice Questions and Answers from Lesson III-3: Monopoly a. If the industry is perfectly competitive, what will be the total quantity produced? At what price? b. Which area reflects consumer surplus under perfect competition? c. If the industry is a single-price monopoly, what quantity will the monopolist produce? Which price will it charge? d. Which area reflects the single-price monopolist’s profit? e. Which area reflects consumer surplus under single-price monopoly? f. Which area reflects the deadweight loss to society from single-price monopoly? g. If the monopolist can price-discriminate perfectly, what quantity will the perfectly price-discriminating monopolist produce? Answer to Question: a. In a perfectly competitive industry, each firm maximizes profit by producing the quantity at which price equals marginal cost. That is, all firms together produce a quantity S, corresponding to point R, where the marginal cost curve crosses the demand curve. Price will be equal to marginal cost, E. b. Consumer surplus is the area under the demand curve and above price. In part a, we saw that the perfectly competitive price is E. Consumer surplus in perfect competition is therefore the triangle ARE. c. A single-price monopolist produces the quantity at which marginal cost equals marginal revenue, that is, quantity I. Accordingly, the monopolist charges price B, the highest price it can charge if it wants to sell quantity I. d. The single-price monopolist’s profit per unit is the difference between price and the average total cost. Since there is no fixed cost and the marginal cost is constant (each unit costs the same to produce), the marginal cost is the same as the average total cost. That is, profit per unit is the distance BE. Since the monopolist sells I units, its profit is BE times I, or the rectangle BEHF. e. Consumer surplus is the area under the demand curve and above the price. In part c, we saw that the monopoly price is B. Consumer surplus in monopoly is therefore the triangle AFB. f. Deadweight loss is the surplus that would have been available (either to consumers or producers) under perfect competition but that is lost when there is a single-price monopolist. It is the triangle FRH. g. If a monopolist can price-discriminate perfectly, it will sell the first unit at price A, the second unit at a slightly lower price, and so forth. That is, it will extract from each consumer just that consumer’s willingness to pay, as indicated by the demand curve. It will sell S units, because for the last unit, it can just make a consumer pay a price of E (equal to its marginal cost), and that just covers its marginal cost of producing that last unit. For any further units, it could not make any consumer pay more than its marginal cost, and it therefore stops selling units at quantity S. Practice Questions and Answers from Lesson III-3: Monopoly Question: Bob, Bill, Ben, and Brad Baxter have just made a documentary movie about their basketball team. They are thinking about making the movie available for download on the Internet, and they can act as a single-price monopolist if they choose to. Each time the movie is downloaded, their Internet service provider charges them a fee of $4. The Baxter brothers are arguing about which price to charge customers per download. The accompanying table shows the demand schedule for their film. Price of download Quantity of downloads demanded $10 0 $8 1 $6 3 $4 6 $2 10 $0 15 a. Calculate the total revenue and the marginal revenue per download. b. Bob is proud of the film and wants as many people as possible to download it. Which price would he choose? How many downloads would be sold? c. Bill wants as much total revenue as possible. Which price would he choose? How many downloads would be sold? d. Ben wants to maximize profit. Which price would he choose? How many downloads would be sold? e. Brad wants to charge the efficient price. Which price would he choose? How many downloads would be sold? Answer to Question: a. The accompanying table calculates total revenue (TR) and marginal revenue (MR). Recall that marginal revenue is the additional revenue per unit of output Price of download Quantity of downloads TR MR demanded $10 0 $0 $8 1 $8 $8 $6 3 $18 $5 $4 6 $24 $2 $2 10 $20 $-1 $0 15 $0 $-4 b. Bob would charge $0. At that price, there would be 15 downloads, the largest quantity they can sell. c. Bill would charge $4. At that price, total revenue is greatest ($24). At that price, there would be 6 downloads. d. Ben would charge $6. At that price, there would be 3 downloads. For any more downloads, marginal revenue would be below marginal cost, and so further downloads would lose the Baxters’ money.e. Brad would charge $4. A price equal to marginal cost is efficient. At that price, there would be 6 downloads. Practice Questions and Answers from Lesson III-3: Monopoly Question: Suppose that De Beers is a single-price monopolist in the market for diamonds. De Beers has five potential customers: Raquel, Jackie, Joan, Mia, and Sophia. Each of these customers will buy at most one diamond—and only if the price is just equal to, or lower than, her willingness to pay. Raquel’s willingness to pay is $400; Jackie’s, $300; Joan’s, $200; Mia’s, $100; and Sophia’s, $0. De Beers’s marginal cost per diamond is $100. This leads to the demand schedule for diamonds shown in the accompanying table. Price of Diamond Quantity of Diamonds Demanded $500 0 $400 1 $300 2 $200 3 $100 4 $0 5 a. Calculate De Beers’s total revenue and its marginal revenue. From your calculation, draw the demand curve and the marginal revenue curve. b. Explain why De Beers faces a downward-sloping demand curve. c. Explain why the marginal revenue from an additional diamond sale is less than the price of the diamond. d. Suppose De Beers currently charges $200 for its diamonds. If it lowers the price to $100, how large is the price effect? How large is the quantity effect? e. Add the marginal cost curve to your diagram from part a and determine which quantity maximizes De Beers’s profit and which price De Beers will charge. Answer to Question: a. Total revenue (TR) and marginal revenue (MR) are given in the accompanying table. Price of Diamond Quantity of Diamonds TR Demanded $500 0 $0 $400 1 $400 $300 2 $600 $200 3 $600 $100 4 $400 $0 5 $0 MR $400 $200 $0 -$200 -$400 The accompanying diagram illustrates De Beers’s demand curve and marginal revenue (MR) curve. b. De Beers is the only producer of diamonds, so its demand curve is the market demand curve. And the market demand curve slopes downward: the lower the price, the more customers will buy diamonds. c. If De Beers lowers the price sufficiently to sell one more diamond, it earns extra revenue equal to the Practice Questions and Answers from Lesson III-3: Monopoly price of that one extra diamond. This is the quantity effect of lowering the price. But there is also a price effect: lowering the price means that De Beers also has to lower the price on all other diamonds, and that lowers its revenue. So the marginal revenue of selling an additional diamond is less than the price at which the additional diamond can be sold. d. If the price is $200, then De Beers sells to Raquel, Jackie, and Joan. If it lowers the price to $100, it will also sell a diamond to Mia. The price effect is that De Beers loses $100 (the amount by which it lowered the price) each from selling to Raquel, Jackie, and Joan. So the price effect lowers De Beers’s revenue by 3 ? $100 = $300. The quantity effect is that De Beers sells one more diamond (to Mia), at $100. So the quantity effect is to raise De Beers’s revenue by $100. e. The marginal cost (MC) curve is constant at $100, as shown in the diagram. Marginal revenue equals marginal cost at a quantity of 2 diamonds. So De Beers will sell 2 diamonds at a price of $300 each. Question: Use the demand schedule for diamonds given in the previous question. The marginal cost of producing diamonds is constant at $100. There is no fixed cost. a. If De Beers charges the monopoly price, how large is the individual consumer surplus that each buyer experiences? Calculate total consumer surplus by summing the individual consumer surpluses. How large is producer surplus? Suppose that upstart Russian and Asian producers enter the market and the market becomes perfectly competitive. b. What is the perfectly competitive price? What quantity will be sold in this perfectly competitive market? c. At the competitive price and quantity, how large is the consumer surplus that each buyer experiences? How large is total consumer surplus? How large is producer surplus? d. Compare your answer to part c to your answer to part a. How large is the deadweight loss associated with monopoly in this case? Answer to Question: a. The monopoly price is $300. At that price Raquel and Jackie buy diamonds. Raquel’s consumer surplus is $400 ? $300 = $100; Jackie’s is $300 ? $300 = $0. So total consumer surplus is $100 + $0 = $100. Producer surplus is $300 ? $100 = $200 for each diamond sold; 2 ? $200 = $400. b. In a perfectly competitive market, P = MC. That is, the perfectly competitive price is $100, and at that price 4 diamonds will be sold—to Raquel, Jackie, Joan, and Mia. c. At the competitive price, Raquel’s consumer surplus is $400 ? $100 = $300; Jackie’s, $300 ? $100 = $200; Joan’s, $200 ? $100 = $100; and Mia’s, $100 ? $100 = $0. So total consumer surplus is $300 + $200 + $100 + $0 = $600. Since the price is equal to marginal cost, there is no producer surplus. d. Under perfect competition, the sum of consumer and producer surplus is $600 + $0 = $600. Under monopoly, the sum of consumer and producer surplus is $100 + $400 = $500. So the loss of surplus to society from monopoly—the deadweight loss—is $600 ? $500 = $100. Question: Use the demand schedule for diamonds given in the previous questions. De Beers is a monopolist, but it can now price-discriminate perfectly among all five of its potential customers. De Beers’s marginal cost is constant at $100. There is no fixed cost. a. If De Beers can price-discriminate perfectly, to which customers will it sell diamonds and at what prices? b. How large is each individual consumer surplus? How large is total consumer surplus? Calculate producer surplus by summing the producer surplus generated by each sale. Practice Questions and Answers from Lesson III-3: Monopoly Answer to Question: a. If De Beers can price-discriminate perfectly, it will charge each customer that customer’s willingness to pay. That is, it will charge Raquel $400, Jackie $300, Joan $200, and Mia $100. De Beers does not want to sell to Sophia since she will only buy at a price of $0, and that would be below De Beers’s marginal cost. b. Since each consumer is charged exactly her willingness to pay, there is no consumer surplus. De Beers’s producer surplus is $400 ? $100 = $300 from selling to Raquel; $300 ? $100 = $200 from selling to Jackie; $200 ? $100 = $100 from selling to Joan; $100 ? $100 = $0 from selling to Mia. So producer surplus is $300 + $200 + $100 + $0 = $600. Question: Download Records decides to release an album by the group Mary and the Little Lamb. It produces the album with no fixed cost, but the total cost of downloading an album to a CD and paying Mary her royalty is $6 per album. Download Records can act as a single-price monopolist. Its marketing division finds that the demand schedule for the album is as shown in the accompanying table. Price of album Quantity of albums demanded $22 0 $20 1,000 $18 2,000 $16 3,000 $14 4,000 $12 5,000 $10 6,000 $8 7,000 a. Calculate the total revenue and the marginal revenue per album. b. The marginal cost of producing each album is constant at $6. To maximize profit, what level of output should Download Records choose, and which price should it charge for each album? c. Mary renegotiates her contract and now needs to be paid a higher royalty per album. So the marginal cost rises to be constant at $14. To maximize profit, what level of output should Download Records now choose, and which price should it charge for each album? Answer to Question: a. Total revenue (TR) and marginal revenue per album (MR) is shown in the following table: Price of album Quantity of albums TR MR demanded $22 0 $0 $20 1,000 $20,000 $20 $18 2,000 $36,000 $16 $16 3,000 $48,000 $12 $14 4,000 $56,000 $8 $12 5,000 $60,000 $4 $10 6,000 $60,000 $0 $8 7,000 $56,000 -$4 b. If the marginal cost of each album is $6, Download Records will maximize profit by producing 4,000 albums, since for each album up to 4,000, marginal revenue is greater than marginal cost. For any further albums, marginal cost would exceed marginal revenue. Producing 4,000 albums, Download Records will charge $14 for each album. c. If the marginal cost of each album is $14, Download Records will maximize profit by producing 2,000 albums, and it will charge $18 per album. Practice Questions and Answers from Lesson III-3: Monopoly Question: The movie theater in Collegetown serves two kinds of customers: students and professors. There are 900 students and 100 professors in Collegetown. Each student’s willingness to pay for a movie ticket is $5. Each professor’s willingness to pay for a movie ticket is $10. Each will buy at most one ticket. The movie theater’s marginal cost per ticket is constant at $3, and there is no fixed cost. a. Suppose the movie theater cannot price-discriminate and needs to charge both students and professors the same price per ticket. If the movie theater charges $5, who will buy tickets and what will the movie theater’s profit be? How large is consumer surplus? b. If the movie theater charges $10, who will buy movie tickets and what will the movie theater’s profit be? How large is consumer surplus? c. Now suppose that, if it chooses to, the movie theater can price-discriminate between students and professors by requiring students to show their student ID. If the movie theater charges students $5 and professors $10, how much profit will the movie theater make? How large is consumer surplus? Answer to Question: a. If the movie theater charges $5 per ticket, both students and professors will buy tickets. The movie theater will sell to 1,000 customers (students and professors), at a price of $5 each. Since the movie theater’s cost per ticket is $3, its profit is $2 per ticket for a total profit of 1,000 ? $2 = $2,000. Students will experience no consumer surplus, but each of the 100 professors will experience consumer surplus of $10 ? $5 = $5 for a total consumer surplus of 100 ? $5 = $500. b. If the movie theater charges $10 per ticket, only professors will buy tickets. The movie theater will sell to 100 customers (professors) at a price of $10 each. Since the movie theater’s cost per ticket is $3, its profit is $7 per ticket for a total profit of 100 ? $7 = $700. Students experience no consumer surplus since they do not buy any tickets. Each of the 100 professors experiences no consumer surplus since the price is equal to their willingness to pay. So consumer surplus is $0. c. If the movie theater charges students a price of $5, it sells 900 tickets at a profit of $5 ? $3 =$2 each for a profit from selling to students of 900 ? $2 =$1,800. Charging professors $10, it sells 100 tickets at a profit of $10 ? $3 =$7 each for a profit from selling to professors of 100 ? $7 =$700. So the theater’s total profit is $1,800 + $700 =$2,500. Since each customer is charged exactly his or her willingness to pay, there is no consumer surplus. Question: A monopolist knows that in order to expand the quantity of output it produces from 8 to 9 units that it must lower the price of its output from $2 to $1. Calculate the quantity effect and the price effect. Use these results to calculate the monopolist’s marginal revenue of producing the 9th unit. The marginal cost of producing the 9th unit is positive. Is it a good idea for the monopolist to produce the 9th unit? Answer to Question: The quantity effect is $1 (the increase in total revenue from selling the 9th unit at $1). The price effect is 8 ? (? $1) =? $8 (the decrease in total revenue from having to lower the price of 8 units by $1 each). So the marginal revenue of producing the 9th unit is $1 ? $8 =? $7. Since marginal revenue is negative, producing the 9th unit is definitely not a good idea: it lowers revenue (since marginal revenue is negative), and it increases the total cost (since marginal cost is positive). So it will definitely lower profit. Instead, the monopolist should produce less output.

Tuesday, August 13, 2019

Human Resource Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words - 2

Human Resource Management - Essay Example strategic way. It is focused on the management of the workforce in an organization and the provision of direction to them. The aim of the HRM is to deal with and solve all the problems, within the organization, that are related to the workforce. These include hiring and recruitment, performance management, appraisals, compensation and benefits, organizational development, communication, training, safety and well-being, employee motivation, administration and conflict resolution. HRM also deals with all the issues pertaining to corporate social responsibility. In addition to this, HRM serves as the only association that a company usually has with the trade union. More than anything else, Human Resource Management is a comprehensive as well as strategic approach of managing not only the employees but the entire workplace culture (Budhwar, 2000). Effective HRM is needed in order to ensure that employees contribute positively and effectively to the goals and objectives of the company. Th us HRM is extremely important if the organization wants to ensure that the employees do not go astray. It provides a policing arm to the organization. SIGNIFICANCE OF HRM It is a very important part of the organization and its significance can be judged from the fact that most organizations now have a separate Human Resource Management department, given that the organization is big enough to afford it. From being a low scale and low scope department, Human Resource Management has now become a strategic business partner of the organization since its function is to provide constant support to the vision and mission of the organization. This also because HRM aims to implement the business strategies and ensuring that they work. HRM is now believed to be the management of people in the organization, not employees. It is responsible for ensuring that the organization complies with the labor as well as employment laws. According to Cheddie (2001) the aim is to gain competitive advantage b y using a wide range of structural, personnel and cultural techniques. THEORIES AND PRACTICES As the discipline of HRM continues to grow and gain momentum across the globe, more theories and studies are being devoted to it. Most HRM theories and practices are directly drawn from the field of behavioral sciences as well as from theories related to strategic management (Som, 2008). For HRM to work effectively there are certain practices that the organization must adopt. Among the first theories on the HRM concept was proposed by the Michigan school. According to this theory, the HR system must be managed in a way so that it is in line with the organizational goals and strategies. This concept became very popular as the ‘matching model’. It was further developed that there is human resource cycle which comprises four functions. These are selection, performance appraisal, rewards and compensation and training and development. Delegation to Line Managers Budhwar and Khatri ( 2001) argue that in