ShantanuT01/DACTYL-Pretraining huggingface dataset:
This is an analysis of impacts of the expansion of higher education on income inequality in China. Introduction Education is often an imperative predictor of a person’s future income (Lee 2006, 1). Basing on the Horace Mann tradition, Lee adds that education paces the society towards achieving a stable equality (1). Qian and Smyth note that the unraveling of the connection between education and income has attracted scholarly attention (3). The need for the scholarly attention cannot be underestimated since an access to education is one of the basic human rights for everyone. From economic and social perspectives, quality education is one which facilitates an individual’s capability to increase income as well as general well-being. In other words, education should cushion against widening income gap across the society. Qian and Smyth (2005) explain the empirical finding that irregular access to education across a populace impacts negatively income distribution and economic growth (2). Globally, China is the most populous nation. A World Bank assessment revealed that China contributes the largest portion of poverty to the world, especially those people living in the rural areas (Borooah et al. 2005, 2). The pursuit to gain equality through education throughout the last century has had a fast diffusion of public education. In the contemporary society, education continues to be an undisputed tool for social mobility and expansion (Lee 2006 3; Wu 2007 3). Nevertheless, the impact of education as a social bottom line can be likened to a double edged sword meaning that a scholar from a disadvantaged background can have a turnaround in regards to his/her future income. On the other hand, the turnaround depends on the investment made towards the attainment. Arguably, this could be the underlying reason why the Chinese Government decided to adopt the Law on Nine-Year Compulsory Education in 1986 to make it possible for all children at school to have nine years of schooling (Lee 2006, 2). According to World Bank (2009) , the Education Gini coefficient based on gender and ethnicity, inequality pattern in China’s education had a positive trend from 0.57 in 1978 to 0.26 in 2004 (2). Qian and Smyth (2005) state that in China the literacy levels among the adults rose from 60 percent within a period of 40 years to 85.5 percent in 2001 (3). In 1999, the student enrollment in primary schooling of 135 million and a teacher capacity staffing of 582 000 made China boast the largest primary school program. China has diversified the secondary schooling to offer more than just general secondary education. Others include skilled labor, specialized, adult as well as vocational schooling (Qian and Smyth 2005, 3). At the tertiary level, the number of undergraduate enrollments and individual in
Introduction and Meaning of Business Ethics The term ethics means inquiry into the state and basis of morality. Primarily, morality refers to right decisions, principles, and rules of demeanor. In some cases, ethics has been termed as the discipline that deals with the human behavior, with an emphasis of verifying right and wrong. The distinction between a normal choice and an ethical one is that the latter requires one to exercise the duty of weighing virtues and arriving at a judgment in a case that is unique from the others that he or she has encountered prior to this. Another distinction relates to the amount of accent placed by decision makers on their own principles and accepted ways of doing things in their own company. Accordingly, values and principles play a significant part when people or organizations have to make decisions that are ethical in nature. It is an agreeable fact that elevated ethical standards is determined by the ability of both persons and businesses to ascribe to sound moral values. Nonetheless, some things must be put into consideration when using ethics in the business setting. First, businesses must make profits to continue surviving. If profits have to be made through ways that are morally questionable, then the survival of such businesses is jeopardized. For example, companies like Enron and WorldCom went bankrupt after making scandalous headlines regarding their business transactions. Secondly, businesses must hold an equilibrium perspective between their gains and the societal demands. To address this challenging feature of the business community, the society has devised both legal and implicit regulations to direct businesses in their attempts to make gains in ways that do not adversely affect other people and the society. Building on this on this fundamental understanding of ethics, business ethics may therefore be defined as the values and standards that direct demeanor in the business world. Investors, workers, clients, the legal framework and the society normally dictate whether a certain action is acceptable or not based on certain agreeable ethical perspectives. Although these parties may not necessarily be correct, their decisions affect the way in which the society accepts or refuses a business and its dealings (
Guaman Poma witnessed the injustices of the colonial government and personally suffered by its hands. He was the descendant of Incan noblemen who grew up after the conquest of Peru by the Spanish. His family was stripped of their lands and titles, and his attempts to regain them were continuously rebuffed by the colonial government (Kilroy-Ewbank, n.d.). Although he initially worked with the colonialists, Poma was exiled for supposedly false claims of nobility and then decided to publicly denounce the Spanish treatment of natives. He published a 1200-page illustrated document addressed to the Spanish king, chronicling the Andean way of life before invasion and the abuses they had suffered since under the Conquistadors. Poma’s manuscript illustrates the full horrors of colonialism and argues that the Spanish were foreign settlers who had no right to take control of the land God had given to Peruvians. He proposes a system of political organization wherein the government is representative of its people and adapted to their practical needs (Kilroy-Ewbank, n.d.). Poma has thus made a significant contribution to the discussions of liberty, political representation, social responsibility, and self-determinacy of individual states. His notion that the government should be created for and by the people that have historically occupied the land it rules over is strikingly modern. Furthermore, Poma’s work completely refutes the idea that Europeans brought civilization and political organization to the Incas. This interpretation is revealed as only a hypocritical pretense to justify violence, economic exploitation, and cultural erasure as a means of political control. It portrays how an entire way of life was completely destroyed and lost as its people were deprived of their freedom and forced to assimilate. Although Poma admires the moral standards the Spanish purport to uphold, he shows that they have not actually measured up to them.
Introduction Today, companies have to adapt to a flexible environment and implement new strategies that may at times completely transform the working process. Some of these new policies, such as salary increases, are welcomed by employees. However, changes in an organization do not always receive a positive response from workers. To transform the employee attitude towards change, an HR specialist must recognize such negative responses and apply specialized skills and knowledge to prevent or react to them. Globalizing Business Many Western companies outsource their workforce to cut costs. However, working under multicultural conditions can create additional problems, especially ones associated with the need to change the existing work structure. The book by Shyni and Thattil discusses how Indian workers often do not respond appropriately to changes that are brought on by their Western employers (2). Their corporate culture differs from the requirements imposed by its managers, which increases the level of discontent. The HR department in this case must address the differences that make employees unhappy about the new policies. Usually, this process must include the company’s corporate culture statements. Outsourced workers must realize that they are employed by an organization with foreign standards and understand that they have to comply with them in order to keep their position. However, it is also the role of an HR manager to find alternatives that would make workers psychologically more comfortable with the changes. The Role of Trust and Justice Recent research suggests that employees wish to be well informed about new policies and their effects (Heuvel et al. 414). In fact, strong relationships in the workplace can create a positive attitude toward change or at least ease the stress of their implementation. For instance, a management team may decide to more strictly control the time that employees leave the facility. However, an understanding head of the department may let them leave whenever all their tasks have been finished. The job of an HR representative is to ensure that all employees are satisfied with their relationships in the workplace. In addition, he or she is responsible for tracking the employees’ level of motivation, as it serves as one of the signs that a psychological contract is not working. One of the most important features regarding the process of change is justice. Employees tend to evaluate whether the process of change implementation was fair to all participants, and a negative answer typically results in resistance to the new policies (Georgalis et al. 91). HR managers must monitor the level of employee satisfaction and conduct interviews prior to or during the change process to determine whether workers find the new policies fair. Works Cited Georgalis, Joanna, et al. “Change Process Characteristics and Resistance to Organ
Lisa Ko’s book The Leavers may be analyzed under different angles: as the narration of an abandoned child or as the account of a woman who had to mature too soon. However, apart from these personal feelings, The Leavers is also a story of another tragedy: the fear of not knowing where one’s place in the world is. This inability to relate oneself ethnically does not concern only geography. Rather, the main character cannot understand who he is spiritually, which culture he feels more comfortable in, and what nationality he should consider as his native one. One of the hooks the author uses to make the book unusual is the number of narrators and the organization of their accounts. Two people are central speakers in The Leavers : Daniel, or Deming, and Polly, or Peilan. Many settings are described throughout the book: home and school, the Bronx and upstate New York, and Fuzhou and Beijing. Ultimately, The Leavers is a story of how tragic one’s life can be when one does not know how to settle down and cannot realize where he or she belongs. The first thing that stroke me when reading was that the mother abandoned her son and started pursuing her life-long dream of living a better life and traveling. For me, it was impossible to understand why Polly had not taken her child with her or at least had not talked to him about it or left a note. The boy was so attached to his mother that he even lied about a school assignment so that she would leave work earlier and he could spend some extra time with her (Ko 3). The boy, whose name was still Deming at that point, was very fond of having walks with his only close person in the whole world and of having conversations with her. For me, it was a very sad point when I realized that Polly had gone. However, later, it became obvious that the woman’s freedom-loving nature could not let her act differently. Thus, instead of accusing Polly, I started sympathizing with her. Ko not only makes the reader feel sympathetic and understanding but she also speaks through her characters to push the audience to such a change of feelings. Polly remarks that Deming would not blame her so much and could understand her if he knew more about her (Ko 122). Having lost her mother to cancer at the age of only six months, the girl was raised by her strict father. The man “used to say women yapped too much,” so the girl had grown up “eating her words” (Ko 121). Later, the Polly realized that she had too man
A PESTLE analysis is an in depth assessment of the different factors that directly or indirectly affect the operations of a given industry and are usually external meaning that they are out of the corporations control. Furthermore, these factors are analyzed either as threats or opportunities. Generally, there are variations of this kind of analysis but touching on the same basic components. A PESTLE analysis examines the political, economic, social, technological, legal and the environmental factors. The discussion below is an in-depth look at the factors affecting the hotel industry in China. Political factors depend on the government controls and obligations imposed on an industry. The government of China has a policy of non interventionism on all businesses and believes in the operation of a free market system. This is both an opportunity and a threat as the prevailing conditions in the different regions of the massive Chinese frontier are different from place to place. The government has a disjointed policy in the way that it affects tourism and the hotel industry as a whole since, the Hong Kong sector seems to be autonomous of the rest of mainland china. This has had a negative impact on the general growth of the industry since, while some areas are booming with high average room occupancies, some are experiencing slumps. The Chinese economy is the second largest in the world and it is the fastest growing in the developed world at over 10% annually. This has been characterized by a high Gross Domestic Product to the benefit of the industry. Consumers therefore have a higher purchasing power but this has somewhat been curtailed by the global economic crisis experienced recently. The unemployment rate in most of china is low and therefore, the cost of labor is moderate. However, the costs of operation in the hotel industry in china are very high in many areas especially in major cities like Hong Kong and Beijing. The steady increase in the number of double income families has had an impact on the standards of living by increasing the size of the disposable income. This serves to increase consumer spending and has positively impacted the hotel industry (Cheverton 2004, p. 75). The social context in china is also very stable as the society is very conservative and therefore trends are not likely to change as fast as they do in western societies. China has a very large number of unskilled laborers. This means that skilled labor in the country is expensive. Technological factors refer to the need for people to upgrade their skills and for business to upgrade to newer platforms occasioned by advancements in techno
Oprah Winfrey is an example of women who have risen against all odds to succeed in business. Her success is mainly attributed to her desire to help others. She has particularly taken it upon herself to make a difference in the lives of other people by bringing fulfillment into their lives through her television show. She is the best example of one of the most influential women in the business world. She is the second black lady to become a billionaire. Although Oprah came from a humble background, nonetheless, over the years, she has become an icon of success for women from different racial backgrounds. It has in fact been established that Oprah gives about 10% of her earnings to charitable organizations (Microsoft student, 2007). Oprah is believed to make her business decisions out of her feelings and inspiration. She has made a good brand of herself. She is known for her openness and honesty and this makes her employees to love working with and around her. It has never been easy for those in business to practice what they preach. One needs to make tough decisions during tough times and lead by example. Towards this end Oprah has been a success. She inspires and uplifts her audience by helping them to understand the fact that they are responsible for their own lives. The fact that she is socially conscious makes her an exceptional business person. She has advocated for an end to child abuse given that she was a victim of the same in her childhood. She has built a school in South Africa and has always contributed to charitable organizations. She also plays a big role in helping to create HIV/AIDS awareness to the people and advocating for the help of HIV/AIDS orphans. Branding one’s self is all about what one develops as well as the perception of others about him/her. Balancing people’s perception and reality can be very challenging but it can still be achieved, as evident from the success story of Oprah. She is well known for her positive leadership brand. It is always good to act on principles as this determines the quality of one’s production. She always stands for the right course of action and this has made her employees believe in her and always emulate her. She is well known for her integrity and always treating others with respect no matter their position. She always works for the benefit of her organizations first, putting her interests second. Her actions are always aimed at honoring her work and those that she intends to deliver her services to. She always insists on standing for the course that matters most and this has made her employees to trust her. She is a charismatic leader who manages to convince people to emulate her views and way of thinking and this is mostly influenced by her leadership qualities (Marc, 2006). Bill Gates Leadership Most business leaders look at Bill Gates as their role model in business. He is the most respected business leader. Just like Oprah, he is an inspirational leader. He is an innovative leader who always looks forward to new a
The legal position of Carter and Beyonce, who are angry about the membership fee Businesses have unfair standard terms in their contracts (The Law Commission and The Scottish Law Commission, 2012). According to the Office of Fair Trading (OFT), “ a standard term is unfair if it creates a significant imbalance in the parties rights and obligations under the contract, to the detriment of the consumer, contrary to the requirement of good faith ” (Office of Fair Trading, 2008). Given this definition, Hillingdon Country House Fitness Centre has some unfair standard terms to its members. For instance, the advertisement has misleading omission to customers. Misleading omissions have the following characteristics:   * Omitted or hidden information   * Unclear information   * Unintelligible information   * Ambiguous information   * Information that a party gives to clients when it is too late In this case, the Hillingdon Country House Fitness Centre had a “Special Offer” for 12 months membership at a 50% discount with no joining fee . Thus, the problem was in what the Fitness Centre had omitted. Carter and Beyonce noticed that, on the membership form, there was a general reference to a joining fee and the payment of monthly membership fees, but there was no indication of the actual amount(s) . The OFT has some provisions on unfair practices of health and fitness centers regarding the membership contracts. The OFT has paid special interest to the unfairness in th
In 2009 the administration of Barack Obama imposed higher tariffs on the imports of tires from China. To a large extent, this decision can be viewed as the policy of protectionist since it aims to shield domestic manufacturers from foreign competition. This paper will discuss the effects of such government intervention into the market; in particular, we will speak about the relation between demand and supply. Overall, it is possible to argue that this decision will have a strong impact on the consumers, who would have to pay higher price for the product. It should be noted that in 2008 Chinese manufacturers represented approximately 17 per cent of the tire industry in the United States (Shedlock, unpaged). The new 35% tariffs forced many of them out of the market. Consequently, the quantity of products, available to US consumers has diminished. It would be better to illustrate these changes with the help of supply and demand curves. This chart shows that the supply of tires diminished while the demand for the product remained at the same level. The only possible outcome of these changes is the increase of prices. The key issue is that after the introduction of higher tariffs, the performance of domestic tire-manufactures did not improve; in fact, they produced the same amount of tires, approximately 136 million as in 2008 (Shedlock, unpaged). The only difference is that now Chinese firms cannot compete with American producers on equal terms. This evidence indicates that poor performance of the US tire industry can be explained not only by the strong Chinese presence. The origins of this decline should be sought in the crisis that engulfed the entire automotive industry, including tire manufacturers. It should be born in mind that not all representatives of the US tire industry support this decision of the Obama administration. Some of them believe that these tariffs will harm a great number of people, who work in this industry, for example, shop owners, technicians, wholesalers, dockworkers and so forth (Tire Industry Association, unpaged). As a matter of fact, it is hypothesized that this government intervention into the market may result in the loss of 25,000 US jobs. As we can see, this is one of those cases, when the policies of protectionism can backfire. Besides, one should take it into account that the United States exports a great number of products to China; namely, we need to mention agricultural goods (Shedlock, unpaged). Thus, if Chinese government decides to respond to the US policies in a similar way, many American farmers will sustain great losses in revenue. Apart from that, some American manufacturers such Boeing may also suffer from this policy, provided that the Chinese customers of this company choose to work with a different supplier. Initially, Barack Obama’ decision to levy higher tariffs was supposed to preserve approximately 5.000 jobs for American workers. However, the potential drawbacks of this policy far outweigh its benefits. First of all, it can lead to the advance in prices for the product. Secondly, it will harm those people, who