Tuesday, December 24, 2019

Poverty Is Not A Task Of Charity Essay - 2521 Words

INTRODUCTION â€Å"Overcoming poverty is not a task of charity; it is an act of justice. Like slavery and Apartheid, poverty is not natural. It is man-made and it can be overcome and eradicated by the actions of human beings. Sometimes it falls on generation to be great. You can be that great generation. Let your greatness blossom.†-Nelson Mandela. Poverty at its worst involves hunger leading to starvation, inadequate shelter or housing and lack of clothing. Justice is the idea that all people, everywhere in the world, have the right to a life of dignity. This means a life free from poverty, violence, discrimination or human rights violations. A world where justice exists in a world where all people are included in a society and all people can claim their rights to education, shelter, and health care regardless of how poor or rich they are. Whenever we speak of poverty we must speak of injustice. But more than that, we must speak of HOPE. To give hope we must have it and if we are to build hope in others it will require something of humanity. It is found in our actions. Poverty is a state of deprivation, or a lock of the usual or socially acceptable amount of money or material possessions. The most common measure of poverty in the U.S is the â€Å"poverty threshold† set by the U.S government. Almost half of the world over three billion people live on less than $2.50 a day. The poorest people will have less access to health, education, and other services; such as: problems ofShow MoreRelatedThe Problem of Poverty in Famine, Affluence, and Morality by Peter Singer1112 Words   |  5 Pagesincluding poverty and famines. In his â€Å"Famine, Affluence, and Morality†, Singer (1972) discusses the problem of poverty and hunger, as well as the way this problem is treated in the developed world. Singer believes that charity is inseparable from morality, and no distinction can be drawn between charity and duty. The philosopher offers possible objections to his proposition and relevant arguments to justify his viewpoint. The modern world does not support Singer’s view, treating charity as a voluntaryRead MoreGough’s Definition of Needs and His Differe nt Categories for Basic Human Needs1027 Words   |  5 Pagesthe ways in which Iran’s government attempts to provide these rights for its citizens. This then leads me to consider the criticisms made against Iran’s government for its lack of support and the rising number of people living below the absolute poverty line. As according to Gough’s study on human needs, human needs differ from their wants in the sense that wants are more inclusive and although an individual can be harmed as a result being denied of their wants, one is in risk of significant harmRead MoreSocial Work And Its Impact On Society Essay1571 Words   |  7 PagesThe basis of social work in the society at large trying to manage the effects of poverty and inequality. Social work has a complex connection with charity work. Charity has been practicing provision of social welfare dating back in the ancient times. Religion played a major role in providing poor relief long before the establishment welfare systems. However social work has modern and scientific origins form the nineteenth century. Pre - Modern Social Work. Church provided social services for theRead MoreReligion, Poverty, and Wealth Essay1190 Words   |  5 PagesReligion, Poverty, and Wealth Christians believe strongly in world equality, as they feel that they have a responsibility to care for the poor and needy. These responsibilities are based upon the five key Christian ideas 1. Stewardship Genesis (1: 28 – 31) In this story God creates Adam and Eve. He builds a beautiful house and a beautiful garden with trees laden with ripe and delicious fruit for them to live in. ‘Pick the fruit and eat it freely,’ God told Read MoreThe Catholic Church and Charity1333 Words   |  5 Pagesis one of the world’s largest sources of charity. The Catholic Church serves billions of people all over the world every year with a large range of services. The Catholic religion is dominated by the theological philosophy that one must be a good person, but also give back during the course of their lifetime. With charity being one of the core values of the Catholic religion, it is no question that the Catholic Church is quite probably the largest charity in the world. The Catholic Church providesRead MoreThe Problem Of Poverty On A Macro Level1194 Words   |  5 Pagessentences that describe poverty. If we closed our eyes and envisioned poverty, we think of children in the second-largest continent, Africa, standing around with no clothes or shoes on. We think of the kids looking mal-nutritious or with other sicknesses and flies flying around their faces but they are too weak to brush them away. We think of people with no education, no skills, or no ideas. These statements are far from facts. I will take you through the ongoing issue of poverty from a macro-level andRead MoreThe Poverty Of The United States959 Words   |  4 PagesIntroduction â€Å"Poverty in America!† These words really sound conflicting and mismatched. The U.S.A. is assumed to be a land where numerous growth and development opportunities are available in a gross amount. It is a nation with prodigious and abundance resources, ability and materials which enables people to live and fulfil their dreams. The prevalence of poverty in this country is hard to believe, but unfortunately it is a fact (Rank, 2004). There are many people in the U.S.A. who cannot affordRead MorePeter Singer And John Arthur s Views On Famine And Affluence1451 Words   |  6 PagesSinger,† Arthur disagrees with Singer; he believes that we should help the poverty-stricken but, it is not morally imperative to do so. The main point Singer is trying to show his audience is that we should try to prevent unfortunate circumstances to arise for others but we should do so without losing something of equal importance to us. This means that we should help the less fortunate but without putting ourselves in poverty too. Singer’s starting argument is that the people in East Bengal areRead MoreCharities And Its Impact On Society1029 Words   |  5 PagesCHARITIES Charities can be defined as non-profit organizations created to raise money from the public to support humanitarian causes that will benefit the society at large. Their structure differs from that of the profit corporations because it does include many unpaid positions in which volunteers carry out services without a wage. Charities are governed by a board of directors, and charity law requires that, at least three directors for an incorporated charity in most jurisdictions. The governmentRead MoreBtec Buisness Level 3 Unit 11034 Words   |  5 Pagesprofit companies would be charity and sometimes government run organisations. Any money earned must be retained by the organization, and used for its own expenses, operations, and programs. An example of a non profit sector would be Oxfam because they use the money invested in their organisation to help people suffering poverty poor housing in third world countries globally and to invest also using the money to use on their expenses p rograms etc. Their aims are to improve poverty and lifestyle in third

Monday, December 16, 2019

Forward the Foundation Chapter 16 Free Essays

6 Hari Seldon was fighting off melancholy. He was lectured in turn by Dors, by Raych, by Yugo, and by Manella. All united to tell him that sixty was not old. We will write a custom essay sample on Forward the Foundation Chapter 16 or any similar topic only for you Order Now They simply did not understand. He had been thirty when the first hint of psychohistory had come to him, thirty-two when he delivered his famous lecture at the Decennial Convention, following which everything seemed to happen to him at once. After his brief interview with Cleon, He had fled across Trantor and met Demerzel, Dors, Yugo, and Raych, to say nothing of the people of Mycogen, of Dahl, and of Wye. He was forty when he became First Minister and fifty when he had relinquished the post. Now he was sixty. He had spent thirty years on psychohistory. How many more years would he require? How many more years would he live? Would he die with the Psychohistory Project unfinished after all? It was not the dying that bothered him, he told himself. It was the matter of leaving the Psychohistory Project unfinished. He went to see Yugo Amaryl. In recent years they had somehow drifted apart, as the Psychohistory Project had steadily increased in size. In the first years at Streeling, it had merely been Seldon and Amaryl working together-no one else. Now ** Amaryl was nearly fifty-not exactly a young man-and he had somehow lost his spark. In all these years, he had developed no interest in anything but psychohistory: no woman, no companion, no hobby, no subsidiary activity. Amaryl blinked at Seldon who couldn’t help but note the changes in the man’s appearance. Part of it may have been because Yugo had had to have his eyes reconstructed. He saw perfectly well, but there was an unnatural look about them and he tended to blink slowly. It made him appear sleepy. â€Å"What do you think, Yugo?† said Seldon. â€Å"Is there any light at the end of the tunnel?† â€Å"Light? Yes, as a matter of fact,† said Amaryl. â€Å"There’s this new fellow, Tamwile Elar. You know him, of course.† â€Å"Oh yes. I’m the one who hired him. Very vigorous and aggressive. How’s he doing?† â€Å"I can’t say I’m really comfortable with him, Hari. His loud laughter gets on my nerves. But he’s brilliant. The new system of equations fits right into the Prime Radiant and they seem to make it possible to get around the problem of chaos.† â€Å"Seem? Or will?† â€Å"Too early to say, but I’m very hopeful. I have tried a number of things that would have broken them down if they were worthless and the new equations survived them all. I’m beginning to think of them as the achaotic equations!† â€Å"I don’t imagine,† said Seldon â€Å"we have anything like a rigorous demonstration concerning these equations?† â€Å"No, we don’t, though I’ve put half a dozen people on it, including Elar, of course.† Amaryl turned on his Prime Radiant-which was every bit as advanced as Seldon’s was-and he watched as the curving lines of luminous equations curled in midair-too small, too fine to be read without amplification. â€Å"Add the new equations and we may be able to begin to predict.† â€Å"Each time I study the Prime Radiant now,† said Seldon thoughtfully, â€Å"I wonder at the Electro-Clarifier and how tightly it squeezes material into the lines and curves of the future. Wasn’t that Elar’s idea, too?† â€Å"Yes. With the help of Cinda Monay, who designed it.† â€Å"It’s good to have new and brilliant men and women in the Project. Somehow it reconciles me to the future.† â€Å"You think someone like Elar may be heading the Project someday?† asked Amaryl, still studying the Prime Radiant. â€Å"Maybe. After you and I have retired-or died.† Amaryl seemed to relax and turned off the device. â€Å"I would like to complete the task before we retire or die.† â€Å"So would I, Yugo. So would I.† â€Å"Psychohistory has guided us pretty well in the last ten years.† That was true enough, but Seldon knew that one couldn’t attach too much triumph to that. Things had gone smoothly and without major surprises. Psychohistory had predicted that the center would hold after Cleon’s death-predicted it in a very dim and uncertain way-and it did hold. Trantor was reasonably quiet. Even with an assassination and the end of a dynasty, the center had held. It did so under the stress of military rule-Dors was quite right in speaking of the junta as â€Å"those military rascals.† She might have even gone farther in her accusations without being wrong. Nevertheless, they were holding the Empire together and would continue to do so for a time. Long enough, perhaps, to allow psychohistory to play an active role in the events that were to transpire. Lately Yugo had been speaking about the possible establishment of Foundations-separate, isolated, independent of the Empire itself serving as seeds for developments through the forthcoming dark ages and into a new and better Empire. Seldon himself had been working on the consequences of such an arrangement. But he lacked the time and, he felt (with a certain misery), he lacked the youth as well. His mind, however firm and steady, did not have the resiliency and creativity that it had had when he was thirty and with each passing year, he knew he would have less. Perhaps he ought to put the young and brilliant Elar on the task, taking him off everything else. Seldon had to admit to himself, shamefacedly, that the possibility did not excite him. He did not want to have invented psychohistory so that some stripling could come in and reap the final fruits of fame. In fact, to put it at its most disgraceful, Seldon felt jealous of Elar and realized it just sufficiently to feel ashamed of the emotion. Yet, regardless of his less rational feelings, he would have to depend on other younger men-whatever his discomfort over it. Psychohistory was no longer the private preserve of himself and Amaryl. The decade of his being First Minister had converted it into a large government-sanctioned and -budgeted undertaking and, quite to his surprise, after resigning from his post as First Minister and returning to Streeling University, it had grown still larger. Hari grimaced at its ponderous-and pompous-official name: the Seldon Psychohistory Project at Streeling University. But most people simply referred to it as the Project. The military junta apparently saw the Project as a possible political weapon and while that was so, funding was no problem. Credits poured in. In return, it was necessary to prepare annual reports, which, however, were quite opaque. Only fringe matters were reported on and even then the mathematics was not likely to be within the purview of any of the members of the junta. It was clear as he left his old assistant that Amaryl, at least, was more than satisfied with the way psychohistory was going and yet Seldon felt the blanket of depression settle over him once more. He decided it was the forthcoming birthday celebration that was bothering him. It was meant as a celebration of joy, but to Hari it was not even a gesture of consolation-it merely emphasized his age. Besides, it was upsetting his routine and Hari was a creature of habit. His office and a number of those adjoining had been cleared out and it had been days since he had been able to work normally. His proper offices would be converted into halls of glory, he supposed, and it would be many days before he could get back to work. Only Amaryl absolutely refused to budge and was able to maintain his office. Seldon had wondered, peevishly, who had thought of doing all this. It wasn’t Dors, of course. She knew him entirely too well. Not Amaryl or Raych, who never even remembered their own birthdays. He had suspected Manella and had even confronted her on the matter. She admitted that she was all for it and had given orders for the arrangements to take place, but she said that the idea for the birthday party had been suggested to her by Tamwile Elar. The brilliant one, thought Seldon. Brilliant in everything. He sighed. If only the birthday were all over. Dors poked her head through the door. â€Å"Am I allowed to come in?† â€Å"No, of course not. Why should you think I would?† â€Å"This is not your usual place.† â€Å"I know,† sighed Seldon. â€Å"I have been evicted from my usual place because of the stupid birthday party. How I wish it were over.† â€Å"There you are. Once that woman gets an idea in her head, it takes over and grows like the big bang.† Seldon changed sides at once. â€Å"Come. She means well, Dors.† â€Å"Save me from the well-meaning,† said Dors. â€Å"In any case, I’m here to discuss something else. Something which may be important.† â€Å"Go ahead. What is it?† â€Å"I’ve been talking to Wanda about her dream-† She hesitated. Seldon made a gargling sound in the back of his throat, then said, â€Å"I can’t believe it. Just let it go.† â€Å"No. Did you bother to ask her for the details of the dream?† â€Å"Why should I put the little girl through that?† â€Å"Neither did Raych, nor Manella. It was left up to me.† â€Å"But why should you torture her with questions about it?† â€Å"Because I had the feeling I should,† said Dors grimly. â€Å"In the first place, she didn’t have the dream when she was home in her bed.† â€Å"Where was she, then?† â€Å"In your office.† â€Å"What was she doing in my office?† â€Å"She wanted to see the place where the party would be and she walked into your office and, of course, there was nothing to see, as it’s been cleared out in preparation. But your chair was still there. The large one-tall back, tall wings, broken-down-the one you won’t let me replace.† Hari sighed, as if recalling a longstanding disagreement. â€Å"It’s not broken-down. I don’t want a new one. Go on.† â€Å"She curled up in your chair and began to brood over the fact that maybe you weren’t really going to have a party and she felt bad. Then, she tells me, she must have fallen asleep because nothing is clear in her mind, except that in her dream there were two men-not women, she was sure about that-two men, talking.† â€Å"And what were they talking about?† â€Å"She doesn’t know exactly. You know how difficult it is to remember details under such circumstances. But she says it was about dying and she thought it was you because you were so old. And she remembers two words clearly. They were ‘lemonade death.'† â€Å"What?† â€Å"Lemonade death.† â€Å"What does that mean?† â€Å"I don’t know. In any case, the talking ceased, the men left, and there she was in the chair, cold and frightened-and she’s been upset about it ever since.† Seldon mulled over Dors’s report. Then he said, â€Å"Look, dear, what importance can we attach to a child’s dream?† â€Å"We can ask ourselves first, Hari, if it even was a dream.† â€Å"What do you mean?† â€Å"Wanda doesn’t say outright it was. She says she ‘must have fallen asleep.’ Those are her words. She didn’t say she fell asleep, she said she must have fallen asleep.† â€Å"What do you deduce from that?† â€Å"She may have drifted off into a half-doze and, in that state, heard two men-two real men, not two dream men-talking.† â€Å"Real men? Talking about killing me with lemonade death?† â€Å"Something like that, yes.† â€Å"Dors,† said Seldon forcefully, â€Å"I know that you’re forever foreseeing danger for me, but this is going too far. Why should anyone want to kill me?† â€Å"It’s been tried twice before.† â€Å"So it has, but consider the circumstances. The first attempt came shortly after Cleon appointed me First Minister. Naturally this was an offense to the well-established court hierarchy and I was very resented. A few thought they might settle matters by getting rid of me. The second time was when the Joranumites were trying to seize power and they thought I was standing in their way-plus Namarti’s distorted dream of revenge. â€Å"Fortunately neither assassination attempt succeeded, but why should there now be a third? I am no longer First Minister and haven’t been for ten years. I am an aging mathematician in retirement and surely no one has anything to fear from me. The Joranumites have been rooted out and destroyed and Namarti was executed long ago. There is absolutely no motivation for anyone to want to kill me. â€Å"So please, Dors, relax. When you’re nervous about me, you get unsettled, which makes you more nervous still, and I don’t want that to happen.† Dors rose from her seat and leaned across Hari’s desk. â€Å"It’s easy for you to say that there is no motive to kill you, but none is needed. Our government is now a completely irresponsible one and if they wish-â€Å" â€Å"Stop!† commanded Seldon loudly. Then, very quietly, â€Å"Not a word, Dors. Not a word against the government. That could get us in the very trouble you’re foreseeing.† â€Å"I’m only talking to you, Hari.† â€Å"Right now you are, but if you get into the habit of saying foolish things, you don’t know when something will slip out in someone else’s presence-someone who will then be glad to report you. Just learn, as a matter of necessity, to refrain from political commentary.† â€Å"I’ll try, Hari,† said Dors, but she could not keep the indignation out of her voice. She turned on her heel and left. Seldon watched her go. Dors had aged gracefully, so gracefully that at times she seemed not to have aged at all. Though she was two years younger than Seldon, her appearance had not changed nearly as much as his had in the twenty-eight years they had been together. Naturally. Her hair was frosted with gray, but the youthful luster beneath the gray still shone through. Her complexion had grown more sallow; her voice was a bit huskier, and, of course, she wore clothes that were suitable for middle age. However, her movements were as agile and as quick as ever. It was as if nothing could be allowed to interfere with her ability to protect Hari in case of an emergency. Hari sighed. This business of being protected-more or less against his will, at all times-was sometimes a heavy burden. 8 Manella came to see Seldon almost immediately afterward. â€Å"Pardon me, Hari, but what has Dors been saying?† Seldon looked up again. Nothing but interruptions. â€Å"It wasn’t anything important. Wanda’s dream.† Manella’s lips pursed. â€Å"I knew it. Wanda said Dors was asking her questions about it. Why doesn’t she leave the girl alone? You would think that having a bad dream was some sort of felony.† â€Å"As a matter of fact,† said Seldon soothingly, â€Å"it’s just a matter of something Wanda remembered as part of the dream. I don’t know if Wanda told you, but apparently in her dream she heard something about ‘lemonade death.’ â€Å" â€Å"Hmm!† Manella was silent for a moment. Then she said, â€Å"That doesn’t really matter so much. Wanda is crazy about lemonade and she’s expecting lots of it at the party. I promised she’d have some with Mycogenian drops in it and she’s looking forward to it.† â€Å"So that if she heard something that sounded anything like lemonade, it would be translated into lemonade in her mind.† â€Å"Yes. Why not?† â€Å"Except that, in that case, what do you suppose it was that was actually said? She must have heard something in order to misinterpret it.† â€Å"I don’t think that’s necessarily so. But why are we attaching so much importance to a little girl’s dream? Please, I don’t want anyone talking to her about it anymore. It’s too upsetting.† â€Å"I agree. I’ll see to it that Dors drops the subject-at least with Wanda.† â€Å"All right. I don’t care if she is Wanda’s grandmother, Hari. I’m her mother, after all, and my wishes come first.† â€Å"Absolutely,† said Seldon soothingly and looked after Manella as she left. That was another burden-the unending competition between those two women. 9 Tamwile Elar was thirty-six years old and had joined Seldon’s Psychohistory Project as Senior Mathematician four years earlier. He was a tall man, with a habitual twinkle in his eye and with more than a touch of self-assurance as well. His hair was brown and had a loose wave in it, the more noticeable because he wore it rather long. He had an abrupt way of laughing, but there was no fault to be found with his mathematical ability. Elar had been recruited from the West Mandanov University and Seldon always had to smile when he remembered how suspicious Yugo Amaryl had been of him at first. But then, Amaryl was suspicious of everyone. Deep in his heart (Seldon felt sure), Amaryl felt that psychohistory ought to have remained his and Hari’s private province. But even Amaryl was now willing to admit that Elar’s membership in the group had eased his own situation tremendously. Yugo said, â€Å"His techniques for avoiding chaos are unique and fascinating. No one else in the Project could have worked it out the way he did. Certainly nothing of this sort ever occurred to me. It didn’t occur to you, either, Hari.† â€Å"Well,† said Seldon grumpily, â€Å"I’m getting old.† â€Å"If only,† said Amaryl, â€Å"he didn’t laugh so loud.† â€Å"People can’t help the way they laugh.† Yet the truth was that Seldon found himself having a little trouble accepting Elar. It was rather humiliating that he himself had come nowhere near the â€Å"achaotic equations,† as they were now called. It didn’t bother Seldon that he had never thought of the principle behind the Electro-Clarifier-that was not really his field. The achaotic equations, however, he should, indeed, have thought of-or at least gotten close to. He tried reasoning with himself. Seldon had worked out the entire basis for psychohistory and the achaotic equations grew naturally out of that basis. Could Elar have done Seldon’s work three decades earlier? Seldon was convinced that Elar couldn’t have. And was it so remarkable that Elar had thought up the principle of achaotism once the basis was in place? All this was very sensible and very true, yet Seldon still found himself uneasy when facing Elar. Just slightly edgy. Weary age facing flamboyant youth. Yet Elar never gave him obvious cause for feeling the difference in years. He never failed to show Seldon full respect or in any way to imply that the older man had passed his prime. Of course, Elar was interested in the forthcoming festivities and had even, as Seldon had discovered, been the first to suggest that Seldon’s birthday be celebrated. (Was this a nasty emphasis on Seldon’s age? Seldon dismissed the possibility. If he believed that, it would mean he was picking up some of Dors’s tricks of suspicion. Elar strode toward him and said, â€Å"Maestro-† And Seldon winced, as always. He much preferred to have the senior members of the Project call him Hari, but it seemed such a small point to make a fuss over. â€Å"Maestro,† said Elar. â€Å"The word is out that you’ve been called in for a conference with General Tennar.† â€Å"Yes. He’s the new head of the military junta and I suppose he wants to see me to ask what psychohistory is all about. They’ve been asking me that since the days of Cleon and Demerzel.† (The new head! The junta was like a kaleidoscope, with some of its members periodically falling from grace and others rising from nowhere.) â€Å"But it’s my understanding he wants it now-right in the middle of the birthday celebration.† â€Å"That doesn’t matter. You can all celebrate without me.† â€Å"No, we can’t, Maestro. I hope you don’t mind, but some of us got together and put in a call to the Palace and put the appointment off for a week.† â€Å"What?† said Seldon annoyed. â€Å"Surely that was presumptuous of you-and risky, besides.† â€Å"It worked out well. They’ve put it off and you’ll need that time.† â€Å"Why would I need a week?† Elar hesitated. â€Å"May I speak frankly, Maestro?† â€Å"Of course you can. When have I ever asked that anyone speak to me m any way but frankly?† Elar flushed slightly, his fair skin reddening, but his voice remained steady. â€Å"It’s not easy to say this, Maestro. You’re a genius at mathematics. No one on the Project has any doubt of that. No one in the Empire-they knew you and understood mathematics-would have any doubt about it. However, it is not given to anybody to be a universal genius.† â€Å"I know that as well as you do, Elar.† â€Å"I know you do. Specifically, though, you lack the ability to handle ordinary people-shall we say, stupid people. You lack a certain deviousness, a certain ability to sidestep, and if you are dealing with someone who is both powerful in government and somewhat stupid, you can easily endanger the Project and, for that matter, your own life, simply because you are too frank.† â€Å"What is this? Am I suddenly a child? I’ve been dealing with politicians for a long time. I was First Minister for ten years, as perhaps you may remember.† â€Å"Forgive me, Maestro, but you were not an extraordinarily effective one. You dealt with First Minister Demerzel, who was very intelligent, by all accounts, and with the Emperor Cleon, who was very friendly. Now you will encounter military people who are neither intelligent nor friendly-another matter entirely.† â€Å"I’ve even dealt with military people and survived.† â€Å"Not with General Dugal Tennar. He’s another sort of thing altogether. I know him.† â€Å"You know him? You have met him?† â€Å"I don’t know him personally, but he’s from Mandanov, which, as you know, is my sector, and he was a power there before he joined the junta and rose through its ranks.† â€Å"And what do you know about him?† â€Å"Ignorant, superstitious, violent. He is not someone you can handle easily-or safely. You can use the week to work out methods for dealing with him.† Seldon bit his lower lip. There was something to what Elar said and Seldon recognized the fact that, while he had plans of his own, it would still be difficult to try to manipulate a stupid, self-important, short-tempered person with overwhelming force at his disposal. He said uneasily, â€Å"I’ll manage somehow. The whole matter of a military junta is, in any case, an unstable situation in the Trantor of today. It has already lasted longer than might have seemed likely.† â€Å"Have we been testing that? I was not aware that we were making stability decisions on the junta.† â€Å"Just a few calculations by Amaryl, making use of your achaotic equations.† He paused. â€Å"By the way, I’ve come across some references to them as the Elar Equations.† â€Å"Not by me, Maestro.† â€Å"I hope you don’t mind, but I don’t want that. Psychohistoric elements are to be described functionally and not personally. As soon as personalities intervene, bad feelings arise.† â€Å"I understand and quite agree, Maestro.† â€Å"In fact,† said Seldon with a touch of guilt, â€Å"I have always felt it wrong that we speak of the basic Seldon Equations of Psychohistory. The trouble is that’s been in use for so many years, it’s not practical to try to change it.† â€Å"If you’ll excuse my saying so, Maestro, you’re an exceptional case. No one, I think, would quarrel with your receiving full credit for inventing the science of psychohistory. But, if I may, I wish to get back to your meeting with General Tennar.† â€Å"Well, what else is there to say?† â€Å"I can’t help but wonder if it might be better if you did not see him, did not speak to him, did not deal with him.† â€Å"How am I to avoid that if he calls me in for a conference?† â€Å"Perhaps you can plead illness and send someone in your place.† â€Å"Whom?† Elar was silent for a moment, but his silence was eloquent. Seldon said, â€Å"You, I take it.† â€Å"Might that not be the thing to do? I am a fellow sectoral citizen of the General, which may carry some weight. You are a busy man, getting on in years, and it would be easy to believe that you are not entirely well. And if I see him, rather than yourself-please excuse me, Maestro-I can wiggle and maneuver more easily than you can.† â€Å"Lie, you mean.† â€Å"If necessary.† â€Å"You’ll be taking a huge chance.† â€Å"Not too huge. I doubt that he will order my execution. If he becomes annoyed with me, as he well might, then I can plead-or you can plead on my behalf-youth and inexperience. In any case, if I get into trouble, that will be far less dangerous than if you were to do so. I’m thinking of the Project, which can do without me a great deal more easily than it can without you.† Seldon said with a frown, â€Å"I’m not going to hide behind you, Elar. If the man wants to see me, he will see me. I refuse to shiver and shake and ask you to take chances for me. What do you think I am?† â€Å"A frank and honest man-when the need is for a devious one.† â€Å"I will manage to be devious-if I must. Please don’t underestimate me, Elar.† Elar shrugged hopelessly. â€Å"Very well. I can only argue with you up to a certain point.† â€Å"In fact, Elar, I wish you had not postponed the meeting. I would rather skip my birthday and see the General than the reverse. This birthday celebration was not my idea.† His voice died away in a grumble. Elar said, â€Å"I’m sorry.† â€Å"Well,† said Seldon with resignation, â€Å"we’ll see what happens.† He turned and left. Sometimes he wished ardently that he could run what was called a â€Å"tight ship,† making sure that everything went as he wished it to, leaving little or no room for maneuvering among his subordinates. To do that, however, would take enormous time, enormous effort, would deprive him of any chance of working on psychohistory himself-and, besides, he simply lacked the temperament for it. He sighed. He would have to speak to Amaryl. How to cite Forward the Foundation Chapter 16, Essay examples

Sunday, December 8, 2019

Understanding The Factors Responsible of Success of a Business

Questions: 1. Factors Responsible for Success? 2. Relationship among Management Knowledge, Entrepreneur and New Venture? 3. Stages in the Life Cycle of a New Venture? Answers: Introduction Entrepreneurship is among vital procedure in the contemporary economy. In present time, the big companies are focusing more on commencing new initiatives related to entrepreneurship. This is done to maintain a competitive advantage with innovative ideas with fresh as well as finest talent. Smart firms are actively catering to aspiring entrepreneurs, enabling employees to pitch their concepts as well as providing funds for the same (Jovanovic Lach, 1997). At the same time, aspiring entrepreneurs could acquire much knowledge regarding important lessons and develop expertise about adequate manner to run a business successfully, within the big company that is guiding these skills. In addition, working for a firm prior to commencing one's individual company holds great advantages. This is because a new entrepreneur has to consider all pros and cons to take right decisions, but an individual without any training would be less efficient to handle every bit of work. So, in this assignment, we would critically evaluate that how big companies with its employees having years of experience can put an aspiring entrepreneur on the right track to become a successful entrepreneur in the future. 1. Factors Responsible for Success Commencing a new business is a significant stage in any entrepreneur's life. But, prior to taking the prime step, one needs to have certain skills and consider essential factors that are requisite to flourish in the competitive environment. Basically, at the time an entrepreneur starts up a business, a great deal of work is needed for getting the desired results. In fact, there are several factors that eventually contribute to this ratio of success. The big companies, mainly appears to be appropriate here in providing training because they acquaint individual with real and pragmatic experience than what one has learned in the books. The positive outcome of working in the companies is that an aspiring entrepreneur who is like a raw soil becomes familiar with how the whole management is handled (Jones Coviello, 2005). Work organizing skills: An entrepreneur is the person who keeps a record of all forms including registration, potential suppliers and employees, business plan, finance and budgeting, time management and promotion (Kim et al., 2006). The tack about all the things is kept either in paper or by using modern technology like computers and laptops. If an individual is well organized, he can handle work related to all fields properly. The big companies who are performing tasks and dealing with abundant work can provide a good experience to aspiring entrepreneurs. The practical knowledge can teach ways and trains aspiring entrepreneurs to become organized (Keeble et al., 1998). Time management: Time management alludes to administration of time, effectually so that adequate time is allotted to an activity (Knight Csgil, 1996). The study related to New Bain Company depicts that lost time can result in the loss of millions every year. If an aspiring entrepreneur doesn't have the right time management skills, the company can suffer huge deficits. However, big companies like Dell, Amazon and American Express can guide a person to enhance the overall productivity for the business. The two conventional statements that states time and time wait for one as well as time is money are completely true. To have positive outcomes out of business, aspiring entrepreneurs can gauge knowledge about managing this infinite resource in the correct manner. Building networks: Networking is a powerful strategy to escalate and maintain success in a new company. It is about developing connections and relationships with the right individuals and suppliers to expand the area of networking. Big companies are masters who have wide networking range. New entrepreneurs can learn the tactics to build and retain important networks that are required to be successful (Johansan Vahlne, 1977). Appropriate business plan: Every company needs a blueprint to carry out tasks in an adequate manner. An aspiring entrepreneur has to make a business plan that would encompass relevant points related to personnel requirements, marketing process, strategies and skills that are needed. But, a person without any understanding about real world cannot handle everything thoroughly. In fact, training on big companies can teach him the proficient and a dynamic business plan that is essential for an enterprise. Controlling expenses: A business would be successful if aggregate income is higher than aggregate expenses. The expenses associated with production, promotion and other vital operations are inevitable. A beginner with no knowledge regarding the estimate costs needed in each operation can push the company in losses. On the other hand, working and acquiring knowledge regarding cost reduction can help an aspiring entrepreneur to save financial resources so they can be used in accelerating company's growth (Iyigun Owen, 1998). 2. Relationship among Management Knowledge, Entrepreneur and New Venture Management Knowledge refers to the strategies and approaches configured for identifying, apprehending, sharing and leveraging the intellectual strengths to improve the performance as well competitive power of a company. Today, with rise in intricacy level in the competition, entrepreneur is regarded as key asset for the enterprise. All companies require advance and innovative concepts that would take the company to new heights. Management knowledge is a basic essential source for an entrepreneur that can help to realize its exceptional significance in the market. Further, new venture and its performance depends upon the management knowledge that entrepreneur has in terms of market, available opportunities and relationships in and out the organization. Management knowledge, fundamentally, acts as an aid for the new venture to realize its areas of strengths, and the direction in which it should pursue its operations (Katz Gartner, 1988). With this, impact related to the performance is also measured using these knowledge assets by entrepreneur in particular. Besides this, management knowledge is considered as the base of innovation which is perceived as the reason for the competitive advantage. If there is a good scale of competitive advantage, there is higher scope for new venture to be successful. Utilizing management knowledge in the new venture is not just about contemplating new products and services or enhancing their sales, its the knowledge associated with layouts and procedure of products, existing relationships in the company, consumer needs, market, business environment, and other organizational assets. Thus, there is an impervious bond among management knowledge, entrepreneur and new venture that needs provide coherent information regarding how a company can attain the highest level of the success ladder. However, the complexity that exists in the above stated factors contributes in a huge manner to new business development as described below: Customer needs: This is a core factor for a company that decides its success or failure rate. A strong customer base could be achieved if the entrepreneur has adequate knowledge about the requirements of the consumer buying the goods. Having proper feedback to know their common needs can develop a beneficial relationship among new venture and customers. Organizational relationship: It is very critical for a new venture to have a positive and friendly working environment in the company. Entrepreneur can play a major role in development of a healthy environment at workplace. This would only happen if the entrepreneur has proper knowledge regarding the employees and suppliers with which they are working. This knowledge could be attained through formal surveys or by asking questions in informal way which provides an impression of how company is performing. Market: While entering into new market, an entrepreneur needs to have a complete knowledge regarding market and the level to competition. The precise knowledge would lead to success while incomplete knowledge might act as hindrance in the path of success. The market knowledge includes products offered by competitors, their price, strategies adopted by them and level at which you need to compete. Business environment: Change is the basic necessity that occurs in all organizations. But, a new venture has to keep a close check on the change that is occurring inside the organization because of extrinsic factors like technology, politics, economy, and society. A well informed entrepreneur about these transitions will help the company to grow in a positive manner, ignoring all the negative impact (Ireland et al., 2001). 3. Stages in the Life Cycle of a New Venture As we have seen, that there are multiple factors which cone together for a success of a new venture. However, new venture has to confront many challenges and opportunities too. Different issues call for distinct solutions. Identifying and surmounting common pitfalls related to success is highly significant for a business to thrive in an expected manner. Whereas, effectual leadership can create new opportunities for the future. It is true that management of a new venture is more complex than the one which is existing and have to go through many critical stages. Management thinking: For a new venture, management thinking is required or to comprehend the situation in a better way and ameliorate the process of decision making. An effective thinking can help the company to realize the strengths and potential of employees as well as company on the whole. This would help in focusing on the areas that need improvement, which in turn would help in the achievement of set objectives. Concept: Entrepreneurs have important role that acts as fuel in the growth of new venture (McDougall, 1989). He is responsible to analyze the feasibility of concept that is chosen for the company in terms of productivity. This states that an entrepreneur needs to have proper skills, so a right concept fulfilling all demands and fitting all angles should be selected. In addition, pros and cons associated with the chosen concept needs to be analyzed in an exact manner. Prototype: It refers to a sample which is produced prior to release of an actual product or for testing a particular concept. It is basically, configured to improve the precision level in the product that would be offered in the market. It caters specifications in a practical form rather than in theory. This is an important stage in the life of the product that lies between formalization and assessment of a concept. Test: The prototype, thus created is then tested for the quality to understand all associated risks and strengths. This is done to know about the efficiency of the product that is going to be offered. For a new venture, it becomes more important to offer a product that is acceptable in terms of quality as it would decide the ultimate success rate of the company in future. Scanning: This is a critical stage that a new venture faces where the product scanning is done to determine the cost and efficiency level which decides the future of all the hard work that is being put in the new venture (Knight et al., 2004). Startup: Though there are many opportunities like demand among niche audience, huge market, several funding options and technology to create products, however, there are certain challenges that every startup needs to consider (Lu Beamish, 2001). Today there is fierce competition in the market that every new venture needs to face. Secondly, if the product of the company gets acceptance, the demand graph rises in a quick and immediate manner, which will give rise to a need to hire pool of fresh talent. Also, with changing environment each day, the company needs to change and update its technological requirements and products too. Early growth and penetration development: At this stage, new venture has to make crucial decisions that would help in the growth of the company. Here the measurement regarding the popularity of the product is done to estimate the demand level. For this, entrepreneurs should make correct decisions regarding sales and attract new customers. The opportunity here could be identified as the curiosity for new product in the population. Continuation of success: For having a consistent success graph, the company has to work hard each day. They should also male changes as required and give adequate importance to the feedback of the customers. Sometimes the product loses its consumer base due to lack of faults in efficiency that company should recover. Re- positioning: Firms consider re- positioning when the there is declination in the demand of the product. There is a need to make moderation in target market for a product that has been launched before. For this, new plans have to be made and different strategies are adopted to focus a different sector in the market (Leiblein Reuer, 2004). Contingency plan: It is mainly leveraged for risk management which analyzes the risk associated with the situation. A company has to develop a plan for unusual situations that might rise in future. Financial and HRM: For a new venture, managing costs as well as human resources is a big deal. Entrepreneur needs to hire a team suitable for the company that would focus on those departments individually and can report to him in a timely manner. Proper management would lead to success and inadequate management of these vital resources can leave negative effects on the success (Lumpkin Dess, 1996). Conclusion Starting an individual company is a very captivating thought, where a person becomes his own boss. 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