Erp implementation and change management

Erp implementation and change management ERP Implementation and Change Management Abstract In this research paper, we will analyse the problems and issues faced by a business / enterprise during the ERP project implementation project. And why is there a need for a proper change management as part of their ERP project implementation. As businesses are reengineering their business processes, they are expected to readjust their business methodology to suit the need or demands of market. Business will need a highly reliable management system to support their daily business processes, to reduce inefficiency and inaccuracy within the organisation business process. During the project implementation process, organization will commonly faces unwanted resist from the potential users. The study wills reveals what are the pitfalls and approach needed when organisation are facing resistance to ERP, which could lead to implementation failures. INTRODUCTION As business getting more competitive in today world, it is not enough for business to get content with producing only better and more reliable product and services. In order to provide better customer service internal or external, minimise or reduce overhead, daily production and operation costs, they need the assistance of a better, highly reliable information system to provide a more efficient management over the business processes. ERP Systems are introduced to handle more complex transactions as a highly dependable system. (Lukman Susanto, 2003) The enterprise resource planning (ERP) system is a set of integrated Business Applications that provides support for core business process activities such as Manufacturing Production and Logistics, Finance and Accounting, Sales and Marketing, and Human resources. An ERP system integrated and helps the different departmental units of the organization to share data and knowledge, reduce costs, and improve management of the business Processes. (Adel M. Aladwani, 2001) Despite of having so many benefits, lot of ERP projects still fail (Stratman and Roth, 1999). Most of the ERP system implementation that fail are due to workers resistance. A good and careful change management strategies are requires facilitating a successful ERP implementation. (Adel M. Aladwani, 2001) The goal of the this paper is to show how â€Å"change management† could play a significant roles, how to market the ERP within the organization and what are strategies available that are useful to overcome workers resistance to ERP implementation. What is change management? Change Management is a planned change approach within an organization. The goal of Change Management is to maximize the benefits and lower the potential risk for the organization related to changes due to ERP implementation. In any ERP implementation undertaken by a business, Change management is one of the biggest tasks are heavily involved by the organization. Not only that this require a significant amount of funding from the organization but also require a high level of commitment throughout the whole organization. It is a deliberate approach to ensure a change in peoples expectations towards the major changes in the work process bring about by the implementation of ERP to move the business forward smoothly. (Commonwealth of Pennsylvania). An effective change management must touches on all aspects of psychological reaction, such as resistance within an organization, which the potential users are going through. Measuring attitudinal changes are part of the key process in Change Management in the ERP implementation to record how people feel and their expectation towards the anticipated changes in the technology implementation. This will definitely help the organization to know how to manage the shift. Huge amount of communication, and training for the users are needed. WHY IS IT CRUCIAL TO AN ERP IMPLEMENTATION? The whole concept of change management involvement in ERP implementation is building mutual trust and understanding between the organization and its employees throughout the business component, during the implementation phase. The focus of change management in the business should be customer oriented managing expectation of the potential end user rather than technology or product oriented. End user will not be amazed with the state-of-the-art equipment, if the new ERP system or business process failed to fulfil peoples expectation. While ERP implementation requires the business to standardise its business processes, change management will be needed to make sure the damages can be avoided / minimised that are caused by transformation. With proper change management strategy in place, businesses can minimise costs involve due to rapid changes to bring in new system within the organization, while trying to maintain the consistency and existences of its employees. Change management can also help the company to deal with future changes with increase in the business flexibility, thus increase the business productivity as well. (Mark Schweiker Jeff Beatty) REASONS FOR RESISTANCE TO CHANGE This is part of the human nature to resist. According to Bonnie Mincu   â€Å"resistant to have their expectation disrupted† (Bonnie Mincu, 1999). How the top management handle and deal with the resistance is important. Resistance are unavoidable but can be manage. The two basic reasons why people are resisting change are(Bonnie Mincu, 1999): Ø Lack of motivation If the employee are not well informed on the purpose of the change and how it may beneficial for them, people will not feel motivated to change and support the new system. A good communication and vision sharing are needed to resolve these issues. Ø Lack of ability People may understand and agree on the reasons on why there is a need for change, but if they do not have the needed ability, this will add unnecessary resistance and anxiety to all the mist of changes around them. Good proper structure job base training is needed for individual who will be operating the business on the ground within the organization. Ø Change in Habit People who are so used to do their daily job in a familiar business process, will find it a hesitant and hard to break out of it and need some time to adjust to the new system and business process. Majority of people by default would prefer to do their jobs in ways they used to, instead of being innovative or to find a better way to get things done. (Adel Aladwani, 2001).   If businesses fail to handle such conditions, this might upset the employees and valued employees might leave the company. Thus a good project leader must be able to carry a good change management to avoid this unfortunate scenario. Change management Strategy Just like other system implementation, the role of change management is to build trust and understanding throughout the organization, so that the potential users in different separate functional area, where the change will be applied, such as finance, human resources and manufacturing, will understand the benefits and are well prepared to accept the change will be applied. (Island Consulting, 2000). Problems will surface the moment when the actual implementation of the system started, and for a successful implementation its use would require a lot of communication and collaboration within the well-established departmental organization. Although they maybe aware that the purpose of implementing the ERP system was to eliminate unnecessary double or redundant operationally work within whole organizational structure. (Kemppainen, Ilkka, 2000) Most of the project implementation potential risks related to the company are connected with the factors like the level of acceptance or support from company personnel and the top management. Factors like working skills, knowledge, and experience will also affect the outcome of the ERP project implementation. One typical potential risk factor is the resistance to change. People who are going to run the business or potential user may not see how the benefits of the system will help in their own work and, may not be fully committed to the new business model. With the mindset of resistance to change in place, people will not be using the system in a disciplined manner. Normal daily business activities also disturbs the ERP implementation, and people working on the ground may not be willing to put time or effort to assist the development work due to busy schedule. Without strong top management support for the ERP project, the project is set for failure. Beside those factors having a good project manager is also critical for ERP project implementation success. (Pà ¤ivi Iskanius, 2009) In change management things like synchronisation or communication between management and operation level with the project team are very important. The management need to focus and prepare a proper appropriate strategies, communication channels or plan to gather feedback and market the new ERP system that is going to be implement and a proper structure training program or schedule for the potential users to ensure the daily business activities are not being disrupt and able to achieve the desire expected outcomes / results. The organization needs to make sure that the employees are carefully instructed to help them overcome all the challenges during the mist of changes during the ERP project implementation. Effective change management strategies are (Island Consulting, 2000): Ø Communications Strategy Constant communication is a need between the key person in the management and those in working in the daily business operation. The organization needs to ensure a thorough approach in their project strategy such as preparing for their project plans, project costs analysis, project progress reports as well as employees training to prepare the workers for the new system. Good working collaboration will help in resulting a better outcome of the project. The purpose of communicating is not to make everyone happy and it is not possible to make everyone happy, but to deliver the message and request for possible cooperation within the organization. Constant communication can effectively help in reducing the worries and anxiety on the management and the people on the ground on the changes. Ø Impact Analysis Impact Analysis is a method to determine the impact on the current business system and how the business environment will be affect by the new ERP system. Data flow / work flow diagram will be included as part of those formal and informal information to show how business flows and tasks are being run and carried out within the organization. Information like job description and history are being documented will help the project team to make comparison on how the actual business processes to what has been documented (Island Consulting, 2000). With all the information gather above, the project team can analyse the impact the ERP implementation may bring, who are the personnel that will be affected by the implementation and the sort of training are required to ensure a smooth transition to the new system that is being implemented. Ø Skill Analysis Proper training program and schedule are very important in ERP implementation as well. With the implementation of a new system, majority of the operator / end user will need to go for specific job training to get them ready to work on the new system. In order to find who are the individuals need to be train, the project team need to work with all stake holders, usually departmental head to perform skills analysis. Those employees who might need to work with the new ERP system will be audited by their qualification, skills and experiences to allocate the most suitable and best position for each of them. And at the same time, to ensure the business process operates adequately, the company might need to hire new staff or external consultants. The analysis will produce a list of detailed results on appropriate personnel for each position, training required and the cost in training.   CASE STUDY Case Study 1 Marine Cargo Specialist (Kemppainen, Ilkka, 2000) Marine Cargo Specialist is a relatively small global company, which provides marine cargo flow handling solutions and products. Their customer base mainly consists of companies like shipyards that provide services such as building of new ship, modernisation or upgrading and conversation of older ships for the ship owners or ship operators. All the old existing operational IT systems were deliver, maintained or supported by the local IT departments and their local suppliers. No common standards were established for such systems, thus the decentralised information systems architecture made it very difficult to share information on a global basis. Global business activities are often delays due to unavailability of quality, accurate and timely information. Due to the complexity of the new ERP system, problems started to surface gradually. The ERP project team did not place too much attention to these problems initially, as they are considered not critical. Instead, the main focus was on getting the system configuration completed and the system up as soon as possible. But to their dismay, for the potential users of the new ERP system, proper coordination and communication were fundamental. Soon frustration between the project and reference teams start to surface. With the numbers of unsolved issues keep increasing; mistrust and frustration start to grow among the project team and reference team. And project team find it harder to get approvals from the reference teams for crucial design due to other outstanding unaddressed issues. Eventually the system configuration was not being able to be completed, due to inadequate information and resources. And there was a clear indication that the consultants hire did not had a true knowledge and understanding of the system. Majority of the external consultant were kicked out of the ERP project in the process. The level of commitment and support for the project from the top management, started to diminish ad the project was clearly running into problems. CFO of the company as example, who used to be the true sponsor or supporter of the ERP implementation project, seem to be trying to move away from the project involvement. In 1997, due to the result of ownership change in the company, a new board of directors together with a new company CEO was appointed. The new CEO evaluated all the projects carefully and appointed an external consultant to assist him. The new CEO clearly demonstrated and shows his commitment towards the ERP implementation. And with the CEO support, the ERP project was back on the agendas of the senior management. The new CEO even made it clear on his vision of having a more integrated business system with a common, shared values and culture. He even initiated a management development program to address all openly cultural and trust related problems. Thus after the adjustment of implementation methodology result in better match for the changed circumstances. After so many struggles in the project, the implementation was now considered successfully amazingly, by not just the organization itself, but by other external parties from consulting companies as well as SAP. Case Study 2 WZM Werkzeugmaschinen GmbH (Benjamin R. Hoetzel, 2005) WZM Wekzeugmaschinen GmbH (pseudonym name) is a German manufacturing company that specialise in producing tools for presses in the automotive sector. It has two production sites in Germany, which employs 120 people. In 2004, driven by the fast expanding business growth and second plant being set-up. The company faced additional pressure to expand its production. But the growth also mean there was a need to redesign their business process with the implementation of a new ERP system in order improves control over the processes, and the need to reduce costs. Resistance started to evolve as the project advanced. Especially from the key administration users, who were not willing to do their daily work with the ERP system. Reasons for the resistance were clear: Ø The computer experience of some of these employees who 50 years old and above were limited. Ø Due refusal to abandon old habits, some employees are not ready to accept the change of their processes. Due to changes in the workflow, there was strong resistance during the post-implementation phrase from the finance department, including the financial director.   Some employees for example are not willing to accept the new screen layout of the ERP software and it will be difficult to let those employees to abandon their old habits and adapt to the new system. Without realizing the importance of this change, WZM Werkzeugmaschinen GmbH, started the project without a full time project leader to lead the project. Instead, tasks were divided to some of the employees on top of their daily operational work. Beside that, they engage the services of two consultants to assist and lead the project in the integration of the new ERP into the company workflow. To make things worse, the employees were also not convinced that the consultants were competent. WZM Werkzeugmaschinen GmbH fail to identify what are the problems and evaluate actual needs, and be attentive to people and their social behavior before implementing and adapting a technical solution. The company also fails to provide proper support, education or training to its employees in the ERP modules. The finance department of WZM Werkzeugmaschinen GmbH for example, opposed the change heavily due the very fact that they lack the necessary skills for using the new ERP system. In the case of WZM Werkzeugmaschinen GmbH, People focus was missing, which explain why their ERP projects fail. Conclusion This research paper has show that in order for any ERP system implementation to be successfully, good fully functional change management must be establish within the organization or company. Strong and committed support from the management, and a good change management strategy and plans are required for preparation of any existing businesss resources such as human resources and infrastructure to match ERP system needs and requirement. There are various aspects that need to be considered when establishing change management. For example the nature or type of the business, size of the company and the geographical area of the business. Rush implementation of ERP is not recommend as ERP itself is a complex system, which requires a lot of careful analysis or study as well as depth understanding before proceeding to implement. Without a proper change management planning in place, ERP implementation will cause disaster and big lost for the company.

High-Dose Chemotherapies (HDC) and STAMP as Cancer Treatment

High-Dose Chemotherapies (HDC) and STAMP as Cancer Treatment STAMP Since the 1960s, high-dose chemotherapies (HDC) had been successful in curing acute leukemia and Hodgkins disease, but not that successful in curing solid tumors such as lung cancer and breast cancer. Chemotherapists were now wondering whether by increasing the power of the dosage, they could make HDC effective for treating solid cancer. But for most chemotherapy drugs, the dose limit depended on the bone marrow. How can one increase the drug dosage by five or ten times without destroying the bone marrow? Bone Marrow Transplantation In the late 1960s, Donnall Thomas had shown that bone marrow could be harvested from one patient and transplanted back either to the same patient (called autologous transplantation) or into another patient (called allogeneic transplantation). Allogeneic bone marrow transplantation was tricky, often deadly. It could lead to a deadly complication called graft-versus-host disease if the foreign marrow turned and attacked the body of the recipient. Autologous bone marrow transplantation (ABMT), on the other hand, was less risky. Here, the patients own marrow was harvested, frozen, and transplanted back into his body. STAMP By harvesting and freezing bone marrow, then implanting the marrow after HDC, doctors were theoretically able to break through the limit of toxicity; the so-called red ceiling. It was now possible to give five- or even tenfold the typical doses of drugs. Among the first proponent of this strategy was Emil Frie, who was now the director of Farbers institute. By early 1980s, Fred had convinced himself that a high dose chemotherapy combined with autologous bone marrow transplantation (HDC/ABMT), was the only conceivable solution in cancer therapy. He called this protocol Solid Tumor Autologous Marrow Program, or STAMP. To develop this protocol, Frei recruited William Peters as a fellow at the institute in 1982. By December 1984, 32 women had completed the Phase I study of the regimen, designed to investigate safety. The researchers proceeded with Phase II trials, which showed very promising results. But randomized controlled trials (Phase III) were needed to confirm the benefit of STAMP. In 1985, William Peters left the Faber institute to set up the trial at Duke University in North Carolina. He also persuaded the Cancer and Leukemia Group B (CALGB) to sponsor a multi-center, randomized controlled trial. AIDS In March 1981, a team of doctors reported eight cases of Kaposis sarcoma in a cohort of men in New York. All eight of the men were homosexual. One of the men was also diagnosed with a rare pneumonia called PCP, which only occurs in humans when the immune system is severely compromised. Between June and August 1981, additional clusters of PCP, cryptococcal meningitis, Kaposis sarcoma, and rare lymphomas were reported in young men in cities throughout America. The common pattern behind all these diseases, aside from their bias towards gay men, was a total collapse of the immune system. A letter in Lancet called the disease gay compromise syndrome. Others called it GRID (gay-related immune deficiency). In July 1982, it was called acquired immuno-deficiency syndrome, or AIDS. In January 1983, Luc Montagnier, a virologist at the Institut Pasteur in Paris, discovered a virus in a lymph node biopsy from a young gay man with Kaposis sarcoma. Montagnier soon deduced that this was an RNA virus that could convert its genes into DNA and lodge into the human genome-a retrovirus. He called his virus IDAV, immuno-deficiency associated viruses, arguing that it was likely the cause of AIDS. Montagniers discovery was corroborated in the spring of 1984 by Robert Gallo at the National Cancer Institute. Margaret Heckler, the Health and Human Services secretary, made this discovery public in the spring of 1984. We hope to have a vaccine ready for testing in about two years, she said. But AIDS activists, facing an epidemic that was decimating their community, could not afford to wait. In the spring of 1987, a group of volunteers form a group named the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power, or ACT UP. Led by a writer named Larry Kramer, ACT UP promised to transform the landscape of AIDS treatment using a kind of militant activism unprecedented in the history of medicine. The Map and the Parachute While William Peters was investigating the efficacy of the STAMP protocol, many oncologists had long assumed that the regimen was so effective that no trial would be needed. By the late 1980s, hospitals and private clinics offering high dose bone marrow transplantation (HDC/ABMT) for breast cancer had sprouted up all around the US, UK, and France. Insurance and Litigation Costs from $50,000 to $400,000 per patient, HDC/ABMT is an expensive therapy. Health maintenance organizations (HMOs), a popular form of health insurance in America, had refused to pay for these therapies because they regarded them as experimental and investigational. However, this would change after the landmark case, Fox v. Health Net in 1993. In 1991, a 38-year-old public-school teacher named Nelene Fox was diagnosed with breast cancer. She requested Health Net, her HMO, to pay for HDC/ABMT to treat her cancer. Health Net declined her request, stating this therapy was an unproven, experimental therapy. Foxs brother, an attorney named Mark Hiepler, took Health Net to court. By the summer of 1992, when Health Net refused yet another request for coverage, Fox went ahead with the therapy on her own. By then she had raised $220,000. On April 22, 1993, less than a year after the therapy, Fox died. Mark Hiepler sought damages from Health Net for delaying his sisters treatment. The crux of his case rested on the definition of the word investigational. HDC/ABMT could, he argued, hardly be considered an investigational procedure if every major clinics in the nation was offering it to patients. On December 28, 1993, a Californian jury awarded Foxs family $89 million. In late 1993, because of the lobbying efforts from a 47-year-old cancer patient named Charlotte Turner, the state of Massachusetts mandated coverage for HDC/BMT for eligible patients within the state. By the mid-1990s, seven states required HMOs to pay for HDC/ABMT, with similar legislation pending in seven other states. Between 1988 and 2002, 86 cases were filed against HMOs that had refused to pay for transplants, of which 47 were successful. Research Misconduct Werner Bezwoda, an oncologist at the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa was one of the most prominent and successful HDC/ABMT therapists. In May 1999, Werner Bezwoda presented his results at the annual meeting of the American College of Clinical Oncology in Atlanta. His results were spectacular: Eight and a half years after HDC/ABMT, 60% of his patients were alive, whereas only 20% survived in the control group. In contrast, the results presented from three other trials in the afternoon were not good. In one study, the researchers found not even a modest improvement, and complication rates considerably higher than the control arm. How do one reconcile these disparate results? In December 1999, a team of researchers flew off to South Africa to take a look at Bezwodas data. Upon arrival, they requested the log books for the 158 patients Bezwoda reported treating. He gave them log books for 58 and said the rest had been lost. The data he gave them was shoddy. Many records had unsigned, handwritten entries and there was no evidence that Bezwoda had randomly assigned patients. There were no records showing that any patients had received the standard treatment. One of Bezwodas purported breast cancer patients was actually a man. The entire thing had been a sham. Bezwodas protocol was completely fabricated and the whole thing was a fraud. A Final STAMP Trial In the summer of 1999, a final trial was designed to investigate whether STAMP might increase survival among patients with metastatic breast cancer. Results came in four years later: There was no discernible benefit. Cancer Undefeated In May 1997, eleven years after the 1986 Bailar-Smith analysis, Bailar was back with another appraisal of the progress on cancer. His article, entitled Cancer Undefeated, depicted the War on Cancer as a dynamic, moving battle against a dynamic, moving target. Between 1970 and 1994, cancer mortality had increased by about 6 percent, from 189 deaths per 100,000 to 201 deaths. Cancer mortality had increased among people over 55, but decreased by the same proportion among people under 55. Death rates from colon cancer, cervical and uterine cancer had decreased, mostly due to earlier detections (colonoscopy and Pap smears). Death rates for most forms of childrens cancer, Hodgkins disease and testicular cancer had also declined. Lung cancer was still the biggest killer, responsible for 25 percent of all cancer deaths. Overall death rates had increased by 6 percent. Death rates among men had peaked and dropped off by the mid-1980s, while death rates among women over the age of 55 had increased by 400 percent. The incidence of lung cancer was highest in people older than 55 and was lower in people under 55.

Construction of Desire in Sapphic Poetry Essay -- Sappho Poem Poet Ess

Construction of Desire in Sapphic Poetry Many scholars in the past, looking at Sappho through the eyes of male experience, have heaped lukewarm praise on Sappho’s "chaste" poems, have translated them with an unyielding heterosexual bent. However, when read through a woman's experience, when read through people who do not wish to hide Sappho's desire for other women or hetero-sexualize it, Sappho's writing takes on a new light, and we can begin to piece together her desire and its contexts. In the work of Sappho, the goddess Aphrodite is frequently given homage, making her a kind of patron (a matron perhaps?) of lesbian desire. Sappho constructs her desire with three distinct components: a visual component, a physical component, and a repetition and renewal component. She also modified traditional mythological viewpoints to enhance the image of her view of desire. Through this woman-centered interpretation of Sappho, I want to place emphasis on Sappho's lesbian identity and reconstruct the desire that she felt towards other women. Sappho frequently gives poetical space to Aphrodite, the goddess of Love and Desire. In fragment 2, Sappho creates this space by inviting Aphrodite in. "... to this sacred/temple, where you have a pretty grove/of apple trees, and alters smoking with incense/here icy water echoes through the apple/boughs, shadows of roses cover/the ground, from shimmering leaves/a heavy sleep descends." Author Jane Snyder, in her own translation of Sappho's works, remarks that "lesbian desire, as Sappho envisions it, blossoms in a nurturing space under the benevolent patronage of the Cyprian goddess [Aphrodite] herself." Snyder also states that "Sappho fragment 2 creates a private 'female' space in the descripti... ...helming force that resembles a wind with the force of a tornado, which completely overpowers the body. Sappho's view of lesbian is very unique and unmatched, for indeed we have very little else that gives us the language of desire between two women in the ancient world. Under Aphrodite's homage, with components of visual, physical, and repetitious components, and with her unique view on traditional narratives, Sappho gives us her view of desire between two women. I hope that my woman-centered reading of Sappho helped reconstruct her lesbian identity and conceptualize her desire and passion for other women. Works Cited Bing, Peter and Rip Cohen. Games of Venus: An Anthology of Greek and Roman Erotic Verse from Sappho to Ovid. London: Routledge, 1991. Snyder, Jane McIntosh. Lesbian Desire in the Lyrics of Sappho. New York: Columbia University Press, 1997.

Elie Wiesel :: essays research papers

Near the end of Elie Wiesel’s time in the concentration camps, Wiesel began to question many things. He had questioned G-d, not because he believed in him so much, but because he almost had no belief left. He also questioned himself when thoughts of leaving his father came to mind. Had Wiesel left his father, life would surely have been easier for him to survive. But throughout all these immoral thoughts going through his head, he â€Å"had done well to forget† them. (87)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  His time in the Holocaust left him questioning G-d many times. Wiesel went from a religious young man to a near atheist adult by the end of his torturous time at the camps. Wiesel felt that G-d was powerless and silent during the Holocaust. G-d wasn’t going to save anyone this time. The only people who were going to get out of this alive were the ones who were physically and mentally strong enough. Wiesel was lucky enough to be one of the very few who made it out to tell his story. However, he still watched as his mother and sister were taken away to the crematory and his father died in his bed.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Wiesel’s weakest point mentally was when he heard that Rabbi Eliahoo’s son abandoned him during the death march from Buna. He also heard that a nameless child beat his father to death for a small portion of bread. It was there an then that he gave minor consideration to getting rid of his father. It is the brutality of the entire Holocaust that led Rabbi Eliahoo’s son and the unnamed child to do such things to their fathers. A father/son bond is one of the strongest bonds known to man. But, for both children, their own survival came first. Eventually, Wiesel was forced to make the same kind of decision. He had taken some of his father’s food during the last couple of nights he was living because he knew that he would most likely die anyway. He gave up hope on his father just like the others.

Ashurnasirpal Ii

Unit One Assignment: Ashurnasirpal II I have entered into the palace of the great Ashurnasirpal II, and am approaching the throne room to await my meeting with the king. In front of me are two Lamassu figures that guard the entrance, Colossal statue of a winged lion from the North-West Palace of Ashurnasirpal II (Fig. 1). I am immediately in awe of the sheer size of this pair of sculptures, they each stand over ten feet tall, towering over individuals who would like to enter the throne room. The pair is enormous and intimidating as they are approached. When I first advance I see this combination of man, lion, and bird frontally.I notice the proud lion’s chest and huge paws. These elements show the strength of the beast and are representative of the power of Ashurnasirpal II and his empire. The body of the lion is adorned with the face of a man, which signifies the intelligence that the kingdom possesses. The face wears the traditional beard of the king, and the traditional hor ned crown indicating the divinity of the king. Associating the king and his domain with the all-powerful gods, shows the connection with absolute power of the divine with the total power of the empire (Reade).Making my way around to the profile view of the statue I continue to see the massive body of the lion, and now see the beautiful feathered wing. The intricate details and pattern of the wing are impressive. The wings represent the swiftness of the ruler (Reade). From the side I see all four legs of the lion, the artist uses the idea of most informative viewpoint, to give an accurate view of the most important aspects of the creature from every angle. From the side the lion appears to be striding forward, perhaps symbolizing aggressiveness (Hedin).The proportions of the elements from each animal are not true to scale. The overall size of the piece is much larger than the animals and human depicted. The wings are much larger than that of any bird, the body larger than any lion, a nd the human head far bigger than any human. What is interesting is the proportion of these elements as they relate to each other. They are of equal importance, the wing is just as large as the body of the lion, and the human head is just as tall as the height of the torso.This shows the equal importance of strength, intellect, and swiftness to the power of the king. This piece focuses on the importance of human and animal anatomy, and shows how advanced artistically this society has become (Atac). There is elaborate attention to detail in the hairs of the beard. This same detailed carving is replicated in the intricate feathers of the wing. The repetition emphasizes the importance of the bearded king figure. Visually I am drawn to the elaborate design in these elements on such a massive statue.The cuneiform shows that this culture is educated and values literacy enough to include it within its art. The engraved writings record ideas about Ashurnasirpal II and are possibly meant to immortalize him within this permanent art piece. As I enter the throne room, I notice an interesting relief located directly behind the throne of Ashurnasirpal II, Stone relief from the throne room of Ashurnasirpal (Fig. 2). This piece is clearly important in depicting elements about the king, because it is so prominently displayed.The throne room is the area of the palace where the king addresses the public and this room would often hold audiences of people who have come to see the king (Cohen). I find it very interesting that Ashurnasirpal II is as tall as the entire relief itself, but the god figure that is shown is much smaller in comparison to each of the king. The Assyrian empire does not require the people that they conquer to convert to their religion, but most certainly require their new subjects to pledge allegiance to Ashurnasirpal II (Mackenzie).Perhaps the larger scale of the king represent which loyalty is more important. The symmetry in this piece is very important. D irectly in the middle is situated a date palm tree which is the lifeblood of this culture (Hedin). On either side of the plant Ashurnasirpal II is shown, in fact, each figure appears twice in this relief. This repetition further emphasizes his importance, but also shows a sort of dichotomy and balance in his power. Each figure is shown from most informative view point.Both images of the king, I see his legs in profile, but his upper body is turned to show both shoulders completely and the actions of each arm. On the right side the king is holding a mace, which I recognize as a weapon with a heavy top that could be used to beat enemies. The gestures of each version of Ashurnasirpal II seem extremely important. The figure on the left side is motioning towards the tree, and associating the king with the abundance of the land. As if it is the king who has brought great prosperity to this civilization (Reade).This theme seems to be repeated with the winged protector figures standing behi nd each representation of Ashurnasirpal II. These figures are ritualistically blessing the king, and reiterating his intense connection with the gods. This relief seems to be stressing that all that is good in the Assyrian empire is because of Ashurnasirpal II himself and that the gods have provided this righteous ruler for the people (Reade). I make my way out the throne room, towards the temple of Ishtar Sharrat-niphi. Here I can see a life sized statue of Ashurnasirpal II, Statue of Ashurnasirpal II (Fig. ). The statue is in the goddess Ishtar’s temple to remind her of the piety of the king. I notice that there are no protruding appendages or any outreaching elements of this statue, but that it is one solid mass of magnesite (Reade). The solid appearance of this portrait symbolizes the secure and stable king and empire. The complex pattern on the beard of the king points out the importance of the beard. The beard clearly symbolizes masculinity, but perhaps it also implies wisdom and power. The size of the beard on this statue is very large in comparison to the rest of the face.It is geometric and structured, but with beautiful ornate detailing. Ashurnasirpal II is shown with the sickle in his right hand, and with the mace in his left hand. The arms are not symmetrical in form, but the rest of the statue’s shape is. The sickle is the weapon that in mythology, the gods used to fight monsters. The mace is shown again, similarly to the depiction of him in the relief, as a weapon that represents authority. Both objects have divine association, which echoes the god like authority that Ashurnasirpal II has over the empire.I find it interesting that he is lifting his arm that holds the mace, perhaps as though he is about to actively us this weapon. Again I see cuneiform used in the art of this culture. Across the chest of the statue of the king, there are etchings that announce the accomplishments of the king as well as his genealogy (Reade). Included in these writings are the recent invasions of surrounding villages. This is clearly just another way to intimidate and boast about not only the power of the Assyrian empire, but the power of Ashurnasirpal II himself.All of the statues and reliefs that I have observed throughout the royal palace seem to reaffirm the importance and power of Ashurnasirpal II. Many of these works were created â€Å"by the initiate for the initiate† (Atac). The content was intended for the audience who would see it in its original form, all of the pieced mentioned have a similar purple. It would be very difficult to not understand the message that the king is sending with all of the decoration. That the king is of divine power and possess the greatest influence over all of the land of Assyria.

Advanced Microeconomics Essay

Question 1 Consumer system1.1In both the Marsh anyian and Hicksian consumer optimisation hassles, it is delusive that consumers ar supposed to be rational. The master(prenominal) focus of these problems atomic number 18 cost minimization and progression maximisation, which play a vast part in consumer demand, save in real life, these are non the solo problems that are considered. Also, it is assumed that every consumers calmness curve for two goods would be the analogous they are very talk models, and do non take into study separate factors. For example, non many consumers would pass their entire cypher on tell goods one(a) thing to consider would be a consumers marginal aptness to consume and save. Though both of the problems basis a framework and model of consumer decisions, they are not plausible when applying them to real-life depots, because we devour debile knowledge.1.2The convention bowl overn up over in the question, is the rearranged un alikeial gear of the Hicksian demand being equal to the Marshallian demand, when income from the reckon constraint is equal to minimised expenditure, whereby m=ep, . This is crack upn by dDdp= dHdp- dDdm . dedpusing m = e.Shephards Lemma provides us an alternative sort of deriving Hicksian demand functions, using e. It is given by dedp= x*It is important to raze that e is strictly increasing in p, due to Shephards Lemma, and x* 0,by assumption. substituting this into the above expression gives dDdp= dHdp- dDdm x*This expression now represents a complete honor of demand, as it has combined both Marshallian and Hicksian demand, whereby income from the bud write down constraint of Marshallian demand, is equal to minimised expenditure of Hicksian demand. Therefore, it has exploitd inferior and minimised cost simultaneously, to create an trounce sum of demand in x*. The firstly term, dDdp, content that Marshallian demand (maximising gain) increases, relative to the cost o f the good. dHdp represents the Hicksian part of the expression, whereby expenditure is minimised, relative to the cost of thegood.Question 3 Adverse Selection, example Hazard and Insurance3.1Insurance securities industrys are destinyed when adventure is present. Risk occurs when on that point is uncertainty nigh the republic of the world. For example, machine drivers do not know if they al commencement for crash their car in future, and own a bolshie of wealth so they would purchase damages to eliminate this seek of sacking, and protect them if they were to ever crash their car. doers ( purchasers of policy insurance) lead use restitution marketplaces to transfer their income in the midst of different states of the world. This allows redress markets to trade find amidst high- jeopardy and low-risk operators/states. These can be described as Pareto movements. A Pareto improvement is the allocation, or reallocation of resources to make one individual fail off, without making another(prenominal)(prenominal) individual worsened off. Another term for this is multi-criteria optimisation, where vari sufficients and parameters are manipulated to result in an optimal situation, where no further improvements can be made. When the situation occurs that no more improvements can be made, it is Pareto in force(p).A specialise for readiness is the least risk-averse actor bears all the risk in an insurance policy market. If a risk-averse federal cistron bears risk, they would be leading to pay to reach it. A risk-averse gene has a decrease marginal utility of income whereby his marginal utility is different crosswise states, if his income is different across states. The agent would give up income in high-income states, in which his marginal utility is low, to get under ones skin more income in low-income states (e.g. bad state of the world causing a passing game of wealth), where his marginal utility would be high. If the insurance ma rket is risk torpid, they pass on conduct insurance to the customer, as long as the payment received is higher(prenominal) than the evaluate value of pay-outs that the in au thuslyticr is trained to give to the customer in different states of the world.Whenever the agent bears some risk, unexploited gains from trade exist. absence of unexploited gains from trade is a undeflect equalness in an good insurance market, then the situation moldiness arise, whereby the agents income is equalised across the states of the world. A risk neutral insurance social club can blossom a pension to equalise the agents income across states of the world, in the best interests of the risk-averse agent. Also, for an insurance market to beefficient, a tangency condition is implied. The tangency of the nonchalance curves of a risk-averse agent, and a risk-neutral agent, is where efficiency occurs. At this point, one cannot be made better off, without the other being made worse off (Pareto eff iciency).However, an insurance high society get out never be completely efficient in real life, as learning instability exists. The first grammatical case of data asymmetry to arise in an insurance market is moral hazard, whereby the actions that an agent whitethorn take after signing the take away cannot be observed. This gives the company a tradeoff decision between giving skilful insurance or religious offering incentives for the agent. broad(a) insurance is first-best in the absence of un bilateral information, when the insurance company is risk-neutral and the agent is risk-averse. However, if the agent is spaciousy lookd by the company, they progress to no reason to pr levelt a bad state of the world from happening. To sour this problem, the insurance company pass on not offer amply insurance, in rove to provide the agent with an incentive to avoid losses.The second figure of information asymmetry to occur in an insurance market, is wayward selection. This is when the agent has private information about his risk type and characteristics, and agents in the market are heterogenous. As the insurer doesnt know which agents are regretful or low risk, the company will not offer different types of just insurance to match risk-types, as high-risk agents will like contracts that are intentional for low-risk agents. To exploit this, the insurer will offer low-risk agents little insurance this encounters that high-risk types do not have the incentive to consider a contract for low-risk customers, as they will pauperization more insurance, because they know they will need to claim more.This ensures that the insurance company maintains non-negative profit, as high-risk individuals cost more to insure. However, these solutions stockpile agency costs, because the result is less efficient than if symmetric information was present. I desire that risk disinterest of an insurance company is a sufficient condition for insurance to take place. Insurance companies are risk-neutral to maximise anticipate profits, and then as the principal, will design contracts to achieve this, as head as making certain that the agent picks the desired effort (i.e to prevent a bad state of the world) for that contract, and to make sure that the agent even picks thecontract in the first place. Making sure incentives are compatible, and ensuring participation by the correct risk types, are constraints on maximising expected profits.If an insurance company was risk-averse, without the availability of symmetric information, they cannot differentiate between different risk-types, and thitherfore would not want to take on the risk of possible high-risk agents get low-risk contracts. They would charge a higher premium to offset this, which would discourage low-risk customers to sign a contract with the company, as it would not be maximising their own utility. This would lead to a missing market, where trade would be prevented, because other r isk-neutral companies would offer better contracts, and they would be able to steal all the low-risk customers. The magnitude of this would numerate on the number of low- and high-risk raft in the population. This leads me to believe that risk neutrality is also a necessary condition for insurance to take place.3.2An insurance company will sell a policy, c, r, if it makes non-negative profits, then r-pic 0,where c = payout, pi = probability of the loss state, r = premium. Competition in the market drives profit down to zero, thitherfore r-pic = 0 in equilibrium. For the contract to be at equilibrium, it moldiness satisfy two conditions the break-even condition, whereby no contract makes negative profits and absence of unexploited opportunities for profit, because if there was a contract outside of the offered set, with non-negative profit, would mean the offered set is not in equilibrium. If all agents are homogenous, if all agents face the same probability of loss, pi=p, insuranc e companies would know each obtainers pi. The substantial must maximise each agents utility study to the firm breaking even. This would be at the point of tangency of the agents numbness curve and zero-profit constraint. This would be in equilibrium as another profit-making policy could not be offered.Therefore, as they can observe agents risk types, they can offer different policies, to different types i= ri, ci. It follows that each is offered full and sane insurance. In real life, heterogeneousness is usually the case. This is when pi varies with all individuals. expect that there are two types high-risk types, H, and low-risk types, L, where the probabilityof loss for H is higher than for L. Individuals know their own probability of loss i=H, L, provided insurance companies are unable to observe this. In this case, there are two different kinds of equilibria that insurance companies could opt with the aspect pooling equilibrium and the candidate separating equilibrium. The pooling equilibrium is where all risk types buy the same policy. In contrary, the separating equilibrium is ground on each risk type buying a different policy. In the pooling equilibrium, if both H and L risk-types recognize the same policy, the probability of loss is p and the probability of no loss is 1- p.Therefore, the side of the aggregate clean-odds line is -1-pp. The pooling contract must lie on this line to be in equilibrium, to ensure the firm breaks even exactly. The contract must also ensure both types want to buy it it must take both L and H to higher tranquillity curve than the indifference curve they would be on if they stayed uninsured. Agent L ends up below his fair odds line, and H above his, which means L pays more than expected costs, and H pays less both pay the fair pooled premium, but H claims on the policy more. So if L prefers to buy the contract, so will H. This leads me to believe both L and H will be able to get full insurance, though its not co mpletely fair, as the firm does not need H to fill a different policy to keep on breaking even. However, this brings to mind the notion that if full insurance is offered, the agent will not have the incentive to prevent a loss state.Therefore, less insurance will probably be offered, and as both risk types are paying the same premium of the same policy, neither will receive full insurance, as it insurmountable to differentiate between the two they will both choose the same policy offered. In the separating equilibrium, one contract would be offered to L, and another to H. Each risk type must prefer the contract designed for that type (i.e. the incentives must be compatible). The contracts offered should give each type the highest possible utility, subject to the firm breaking even. If full insurance contracts were offered to both L and H, where their respective indifference curves are tangent with their respective zero-profit constraints/fair-odds lines, low risk customers would prefer the policy designed for them, but high-risk customers would also prefer the same policy, not the policy designed for them.So they would not both be offered full insurance, as this gives rise to the problem of preventing H from imitating L low-risk agents are cheaper to insure for the firm (claim lessoften) so they get a better rate. Therefore, instead of offering L full insurance, they are offered C, which is quench on their fair odds line, but on a lower indifference curve, still ensuring the zero-profit constraint.Now, if the high-risk agents were to choose between the policy designed for them, and C, they will choose the policy designed for them, because they prefer to have more insurance for less money. So, in conclusion, in the separating equilibrium, high-risk (H) customers receive full insurance, and low-risk (L) customers only receive partial insurance they pay the price to prevent H from imitating them. L is worse off than if there was symmetric information in th e market, but no difference to H.

My Oedipus Complex by Frank O’Connor

My Oedipus interlacing by abrupt OConnor My Oedipus Byzantine is a story about a boyish boy of 5, Larry, who grows up in his get safe world with exclusively himself and his produce. He is attached to his mother and wants her to belong scarce to him and considers his scram a rival ? for her attention. However, when his set about returns from WWI, a man whom Larry hardly knows, it is a ageless battle between the two for the mothers love and attention.Larry is jealous of losing his mothers undivided attention, and finds himself in a constant struggle to win spikelet her affections. at that place are tree main characters in the story Larry, his mother and pose. Larry is a imaginative and imaginative boy. He gives his legs names Mrs. justifiedly and Mrs. Left and invent dramatic situations for them in which they discussed the problems of the day. They discuss what mother and he should do during the day and what presents Santa Claus should give a confederate for Christmas .He is full of joy, feeling kind of like the sun, ready to illuminate and rejoice. He is a kind-hearted boy, thinking about his mo. The novel My Oedipus Complex written by the famous Irish short storywriter Frank OConner, in my opinion, is more a spiritual exploration of the problems of youth and growing-up than just a simple story told by a little kid. The dramatic grow of Larry (both the narrator and the protagonist of the novel) seems to be the authority of part of our childhood stories.So allow me have a brief compend of the theme of the passage by flavour into Larrys character and what Larry went through in his heart in this story. While his father was fighting in the WW1 and rarely went back home, Larry was enjoying himself and relishing all of his mothers attention and care, just as what he said in the third splitthe struggle was the most peaceful level of my life.However, things started to turn bad when his father came back and stayed at home his mommas love for h im was shared by a stranger, he was told to close up when the stranger was either talk or sleeping, and perhaps worst of all, he forfeited the right of climbing into the plumping bed and sharing his schemes with his mum both morning. These changes so upset and saddened him that, eventually, the boy became unmanageable and declare an open and avowed war against his father, in which the two just contended for the mothers attentions and care.As we know, to Larrys disappointment, nevertheless hard he tried or whatever he did, he turn up to be always on the disadvantage side in the war. indeed the author depicted an interesting dialogue between Larry and his mother, which may be construed as a reflection of the title My Oedipus Complex, but, according to me, it also perfectly reveals a change and maturation of Larrys sexual heart, for to be a husband mean loads of responsibilities. What brought about the next large-mouthed change in this family as well(p) as the climax of t he story was the hold of little sonny.