PRACTICAL REPORT ON THE ISOLATION AND IDENTIFICATION OF CODEINE AND PARACETAMOL Essay Example for Free

PRACTICAL REPORT ON THE ISOLATION AND IDENTIFICATION OF CODEINE AND PARACETAMOL Essay Codeine or methyl morphine, an alkaloid, was first isolated in 1832 from raw opium. It concentration ranges from 0.2% to 0.8%. Mostly used for its analgesic, anti-tussive and anti-diarrheal capabilities (Tremlett, Anderson and Wolf, 2010). Paracetamol also known as acetaminophen (n-acetyl-p-aminophenol, APAP) on the other hand, is a useful non- steroidal anti- inflammatory drug (NSAID). It is commonly used in the management of pain and fever in a variety of patients (Kamberi, et al., 2004). Fig 1: Codeine[NCBI, 2009] Fig 2: Acetaminophen[NCBI, 2009] One of the technique involved in the extraction of codeine and paracetamol from its matrix, is the solvent extraction otherwise known as liquid – liquid extraction. This process entails the use of two immiscible liquids usually chloroform and water; in dissolving the sample for two distinctive layers to form after the mixture had been thoroughly shaken together (Rubinson and Rubinson, 1998). Separating the components of the extract, is done through the use of Thin Layer Chromatography. It is one of the standard procedures used in many forensic laboratory when analysizing unknown drugs or mixtures (Howlett and Steiner, 2011). Separation of the mixtures occur based on the pH, polarity of its components, solvent and the thin layer stationary phase (Howlett and Steiner, 2011). METHODS: The finely divided sample was dissolved in 20ml of distilled water. This was then basified with NaOH solution to pH 12 using litmus paper. The resulting solution was later filtered. 1.0ml of chloroform was pipetted into the filtrate. After shaken and combined, two distinctive layers was observed. The bottom layer was extracted thrice using a micro- pipette. On a thin chromatography plate, five spots were placed ( as shown in table 2) and the  plate was developed using chloroform/methanol. This was later visualized with dragendorff’s reagent under the UV light. All separated components were observed, identified and recorded. RESULTS: Table of observed pH SOLUTIONInitial pHFinal pH Basified sample1012 TABLE 1 Table of Retention factor (RF value) Rf = Distance travelled by the substance (cm) Distance travelled by the solvent (cm) SUBSTANCEDistance travelled by substance (cm)Distance travelled by Solvent (cm)Retention factor value (Rf) Chloroform extract3.04.00.75 Codeine positive control3.04.00.75 Paracetamol positive control4.04.01.00 Chloroform (negative control) 3.54.00.86 Diluted sample4.04.01.00 TABLE 2 DIAGRAM: Fig 3: The Developed Chromatographic Plate. DISCUSSION: Running the chloroform extracts and diluted sample together with two positive controls and a negative control on a single chromatographic plate simultaneously, the retention factor(Rf) of five different samples were determined. The RF value of the chloroform extract(0.75) tallied with that of the codeine positive control and that of diluted sample(1.00) with the paracetamol positive control. This tentatively shows that, codeine and paracetamol were present in the sample. The solvent front(i.e distance travelled by the mixed solvents) is 4cm, this is quite close to the distances covered by all separated components(between 3 – 3.5cm), which makes the retention factors, not a true representative of their actual values. It was later discovered that, this is due to not allowing the  chromatographic plate to develop for a longer period of time in the solvent tank. The solvent front also dried up quickly when the plate is taken out., making drawing a line at that point quite diffic ult. Fortunately, this was overcome by the use of visualizing spray and UV lamp. Solvent extraction(liquid-liquid), involved selective movement of components of a substance in microgram to gram quantities between two immiscible liquid phase; its separation and selectivity is based on solubility differences and pH control respectively (Fifield and Kealey, 1995). This was observed when chloroform was added to the basified filtrate. After vigorous shaking and settling down, chloroform being more dense, composed the bottom layer, with the aqueous phase up. Liquid-liquid extraction often involved high volume of organic solvents and poor resolution of mixtures of organic materials (Fifield and Kealey, 1995). Thin Layer Chromatography is usually employed in the qualitative analysis of mixtures of non-volatile compounds like pharmaceuticals (Skoog, et al., 2000). TLC can also be used to confirm the identity of an unknown sample ( Lewis and Evans, 2011). Dissolution of the codeine and paracetamol tablet in distilled water without weighing, shows that, TLC was never designed for semi- quantitative analysis. This is due to difficulties in reproducibly applying aliquots of the mixture to the plate and then recovering all of the separated components from the plate (Skoog, et al., 2000). CONCLUSION: Using the Rf values obtained in the table 2 above and t he visual indicator reaction with the substances under the UV light, codeine was extracted to a high degree during the solvent extraction, tentatively identified by TLC (due to its positive control having the same Rf values with the chloroform extract(0.75) and both were the only one that were seen under the UV light) while paracetamol was extracted to a low degree (due to its positive control having the same Rf with the diluted sample). Multiple compounds can share the same retention factor(Rf) or produce similar chromophores when sprayed with detection reagents (Howlett and Steiner, 2011). The study by Lewis and Evans( 2011) shows that if a spot from an unknown substance is developed on a TLC plate together with a spot from a substance that is suspected to be the unknown, and the two substance are found to have the same Rf value, they are probably the same substance. FUTURE SUGGESTIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS: Due to the limitation that is associated with using TLC to exactly identify a given sample, minimum standards for drug testing and reporting in the forensic community are recommended by the Scientific Working Group for the Analysis of seized drugs (SWGDRUG) (Howlett and Steiner, 2011). In order for a drug identification to be confirmed to SWGDRUG specification, additional tests must includes, Infrared spectroscopy and GC-MS (Howlett and Steiner, 2011). REFERENCES: Fifield, F. W. and Kealey, D. 1995. Principles and Practice of Analytical chemistry. (4th ed) Glasgow, Blackie Academic and professional. Howlett, S. E. and Steiner, R. R. 2011. Validation of Thin Layer Chromatography with AccuTOF-DARTâ„ ¢ Detection for Forensic Drug Analysis*. Forensic Sciences [e-journal] 56 (5), pp. 12611267. Available through: Anglia Ruskin University Library website http://libweb.anglia.ac.uk [Accessed on 11 March 2014]. Kamberi, M., Riley, C. M., Huang, C. C. and Xiaoyan, M, 2004. A validated, sensitive HPLC method for the determination of trace impurities in acetaminophen drug substance. Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Analysis [e-journal] 34 (1), pp. 123128. Available through: Anglia Ruskin University Library website http://libweb.anglia.ac.uk [Accessed on 18 March 2014]. Lewis, R. and Evans, W. 2011. Chemistry. 4th ed. Hampshire, Palgrave Macmillan. NCBI, 2009. National Library of Medicine. [online] Available at : http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pccompound [Acc essed 7 April, 2014]. Rubinson, J. F. and Rubinson, K. A. 1998. Contemporary chemical analysis. Upper Saddle River, NJ, Prentice Hall. Skoog, D., West, D., Holler, F. and Crouch, S. 2000. Analytical Chemistry- An introduction. (7th ed). Boca raton, Thomson Learning Inc. Tremlett, M., Anderson, B. J. and Wolf, A. 2010. Procon debate: is codeine a drug that still has a useful role in pediatric practice? Pediatric Anesthesia [e-journal] 20 (2), pp. 183194. Available through: Anglia Ruskin University website http://libweb.anglia.ac.uk [Accessed on 29 March 2014].

The implementation of strategic change at Microsoft Canada

The implementation of strategic change at Microsoft Canada The Organization Development literature has directed appreciable attention at in being able to lead and manage change. The major portion of the material is highly normative, advising managers about how they should be planning and implements organizational changes. For example, one study suggested that successful managers in ceaselessly changing organizations should first; provide clear responsibility and priorities with extensive communication and freedom to improvise. Second, explore the future by experimenting with a wide variety of low cost probes; and thirdly, link current projects to the future with predictable intervals and choreographed transition procedures. Traditionally the main focus of change management is on identifying sources that resist change and offers ways to overcome them. Most of the recent contributions have been challenging the focus on resistance and have shifted the aimed at creating vision along with gaining political support for them, and managing the trans ition of the organization toward them. The various ways in which managing change can be classified are in figure below. MOTIVATING CHANGE Creating Readiness for Change Overcoming Resistance to Change CREATING A VISION Describing the Core Ideology Constructing the Envisioned Future EFFECTIVE CHANGE MANAGEMENT DEVELOPING POLITICAL SUPPORT Assessing Change Agent Power Identifying Key Stakeholders Influencing Stakeholders MANAGING THE TRANSITION Activity Planning Commitment Planning Management Structures SUSTAINING MOMENTUM Providing resources for Change Building a Support System for Change Agents Developing New Competencies and Skills Reinforcing New Behaviors Staying the Course The above mentioned activities contribute a lot to effective change management and have been listed in the order in which they usually are performed. The first amongst the activities involves motivating change and also includes creating a readiness for change amongst the members of the organization and which indeed helps them to address resistance to change. Initially motivation is a critical issue for change process because a lot of evidence indicates that people as well as the organizations want to preserve the status quo and are willing to change only when there are strong powerful reasons to do so. The next activity is considered with creating a vision and is closely alignment with leadership activities. The vision has the sole purpose of providing a purpose and lay out for change and it describes the desired future state of the organization. The next activity involves the task of developing political support for the change. Organizations of all kinds are composed of powerful ind ividuals as well as groups that can either block or promote change, and it is the task of the leaders and the change agents to gain the support and permission of the higher authorities in order to implement changes. The fourth activity is concerned with managing movement from the current state to the desired level in the organization. It involves designing a plan for managing the change activities as well as planning particular management structures for working of the organization during this transition. The next and the final activity involve sustaining the flow or momentum for change so that it is being able to be carried to completion. The final activity includes task such as providing resources for implementing the changes, building a support system for change agents, developing new competencies and skills needed to implement the changes. Unless man-to-man are motivated and bound up to change, unfreezing the status quo will be very difficult. Without vision, chances are there th at change will be disorganized and diffused. Along with the fast moving pace of global, economic, and technological development change becomes an inevitable feature of the life of the organizational. But change that happens to an organization externally by the environment is quite different from the change that is planned and incorporated by the members of the organization. The main motive of Organizational development is to bring in changes in the organization in a planned manner so as to be able to increase its effectiveness and this organizational change is usually initiated and implemented by managers, with the help of professional OD practitioners. Conceptions of planned change have tended to focus on how change can be implemented in organizations. In order to implement change in any organization, certain frameworks are used as models that describe the activities that must take place to initiate and carry out successful organizational change. Let us now discuss change that Microsoft Canada tried to implement in its organization by implementing Strategic Change. MANAGING STRATEGIC CHANGE AT MICROSOFT CANADA Microsoft Canada is a subsidiary of Microsoft Corporation responsible for the service, marketing and the sales of the full range of software products, including the Windows operating system, the office productivity suite, a variety of Net products, and the Xbox game console. The organization marketed to a variety of segments, such as software application developers, small and medium business and large enterprises, through a broad range of partners that worked directly with the client organizations to install and optimize the software used. A small service organization provided consulting support to clients with the partner. Before 2001, Microsoft Canada had been part of North American subsidiary. Under this structure, large US market was clearly the focus of attention from Microsoft server, desktop, other software products. However, Frank Clegg, President of Microsoft Canada, argued that the Canadian market was different and under developed. It had a different mix of customers that did a United States, different competitors and different growth opportunities. Moreover, software sales and personnel computers shipments as a percentage of markets size and growth were below worldwide averages. These differences, Clegg argued warranted a specialized strategy. As the fiscal year ended Clegg and his newly appointed Director of Strategic Planning, Sandra Palmero, wanted to cease the opportunity to define a uniquely Canadian strategy. Before becoming Director of Strategic Planning, Palmero had been Director of Marketing and Corporate Communications in Microsoft Canada. There with Richard Reynolds, her Senior Marketing Manager, they had planned and implemented a participative process of strategic planning. Sandra conducted the OD practitioner who had worked with them and contracted to design and implement a Strategic planning process for the Canadian organization. Over a 2 month period, Sandra conceived of a series of workshops involving the Canadian leadership team. This team represented a broad cross section of the organization including representatives from legal staffs, human resources, service business and Microsoft consultant, marketing managers, customer support and managers responsible for different segments of Microsoft business inclu ding enterprise customer, small and medium business, the Microsoft Network and the Xbox. The strategic analysis phase consisted of preliminary work by several members of the Canadian leadership team as well as initial exercises during the first workshop. Member of Canadian Leadership team each prepared an analysis of their respected areas of responsibilities. For example, the enterprise sales manager provided historical growth rates in the revenue, developed forecast for market growths and Microsofts share, described current levels of Customer satisfaction and technology road map of products being developed by the Redmond headquarters organization. In addition to this specific analysis, Sandra contracted with a market research firm to provide overall description of Canadian information technology market. Finally a competitor analysis was performed to develop and understanding of likely strategies, goals, and initiatives from key competitors such as IBM, Sun Micro System, and Oracle as well as competitive threat posed by the Linux Operating System Software. During first workshop the Canadian Leadership team used the pre work data to perform an environmental scan. They discussed, debated, and ultimately came to some agreements about the trends affecting the organization. Based on that scan, the group engaged in a vision and value formation exercise and set out an initial list of short and long term goals. These activities let to several important decisions for new marketing organizations. For example, the vision and values exercised produced important insight about what the Canadian organization stood for, its uniqueness compared to the marketing subsidiaries within the Microsoft Organization, and its strengths in competing as a Canadian organization. The values also informed discussion about future goals and strategy to achieve them. Importantly, the Canadian leadership realized that customer loyalty would and should become a driving force for the organization. This realization led to passionate discussions about the relative emphasis i n the organization on revenues versus customer satisfaction and loyalty. It also led to development of Big Hairy Audacious Goal (BHAG) that the members of the Canadian Leadership Team believed would be challenging but achievable. The first workshop ended with a number of assignments, unresolved issues, and excitement about the future. In between the first and second workshops, members of the Canadian Leadership Team worked with their own organizations. Issues, decisions and questions that were addressed within the Canadian Leadership Team were discussed throughout the organization. The most important discussion concerned the Big Hairy Audacious Goal and the relative emphasis of revenues and customer loyalty over the short and long term. A consensus began to emerge that the right and proper strategy for Microsoft was to argue for a slower growth rate in revenues the short term, invest in customer satisfaction and then leverage that loyalty for a more secure stream of revenues in the future. Frank Clegg took this idea to the executives in Redmond and discussed the implications of this strategy, including revenue projections, risk involved, the budget implications, and how the strategy aligned with corporate and other marketing organizations initiatives. The result of these conversations became the subject of opening discussions at second workshop. The cautions but positive support from the corporate organization allowed the Canadian leadership team to move forward on its strategic intent. In second workshop, the organizations mission and values were finalized; year by year revenue goals were agreed upon to achieve the Big Hairy Audacious Goal, and these goals were broken down and assigned to specific groups and managers. Finally, key customer and partner loyalty programs were established and outlined. Ownership for different initiatives was assigned and a strategic change plan originated. Frank Clegg pressed the group on its decision to emphasize customer loyalty and challenged the group with several scenarios that tempted them to trade off satisfaction for revenue. These scenarios helped fix the Canadian leadership teams commitment to their strategy. The important part of the strategic change plan that came out was a discussion and decision to tie the individual performance appraisals of Canadian leadership team as a whole also staked their end of fiscal year bonuses to the achievement of customer satisfaction, instead of revenue goals. The strategic change efforts at Microsoft Canada are important for few reasons. First, the Canadian organizations realization of the benefits of customer satisfaction and loyalty was influential in moving the larger Microsoft Corporation to examine its values in this area. Business Week reported on the changes Steve Ballmer was making in the organization; they reflected the increased importance of customer loyalty in Microsofts strategy and structure changes. Second, the organization learned how to organize a strategic planning effort. In the second year since this effort began, Sandra Palmero did built a stronger strategic planning organization and taken more and more responsibility for driving the strategic planning process. Even as the corporate Microsoft organization was making important changes in its reporting structure, business process, financial systems, the Canadian organization was able to adapt using its own resources and knowledge. Finally, the Big Hairy Audacious Goal h as become an institutionalized part of the organization that drives thinking and decision making in the organization. In context with the case in hand we are suppose to work on a few task related to the case in hand. Firstly, let us discuss the history of the organization in hand, which is Microsoft Canada. Microsoft Canada Inc. was established in 1985. It is the Canadian subsidiary of Microsoft Corp. the worldwide leader in services, software and solutions that help inhabit and small business realize their full potential. Microsoft Canada provides nationwide sales, marketing, consulting and local support services in both French and English. It has its headquarters in Mississauga and has nine regional offices across the country dedicated to empowering people through great software- anytime, anywhere and on any devise. Secondly, let us now discuss the circumstances that led the organization to undergo strategic change. Frank Clegg, President of Microsoft Canada, argued that the Canadian market was different and under developed and it had a different mix of customers. Thus it demanded for different co mpetitors and different growth opportunities. Another circumstance was that the percentage of markets size and growth of software sales and personnel computers shipments were below worldwide averages. These circumstances demanded a specialized strategy. Thirdly, the type of change that was implemented in the Microsoft Canada was basically strategically. The change has been incorporated in such a way that every aspect of the organization starting from legal staffs, human resources, service business and Microsoft consultant, marketing managers, customer support and managers responsible for different segments of Microsoft business including enterprise customer, small and medium business, the Microsoft Network and the Xbox were taken into consideration. The senior members of the organization have tried its best to formulate and design the strategically change in such a manner that it helps Microsoft Canada to increase its percentage market share and gain better growth. Fourthly, in orde r to incorporate the strategically change into the organization the involvement of every member of the organization is very necessary. The strategically change was initiated by Frank Clegg, President of Microsoft Canada and Sandra Palmero, Director of Strategic Planning. Sandra Palmero along with Richard Reynolds, her Senior Marketing Manager, had crafted and implemented a participative process of strategic planning. Sandra conducted the OD practitioner who had worked with them and contracted to design and implement a Strategic planning process for the Canadian organization. Fifthly, the methods used in implementing the strategically change were basically workshops, assignments and discussions of issues related to work. Canadian Leadership Team was formed by members of various departments of the organization that were focused on developing and implementing strategically change in the Microsoft Canada Organization. During the first workshop the Canadian Leadership team used the pre w ork data to perform an environmental scan. They discussed, debated, and ultimately came to some agreements about the trends affecting the organization. Based on that scan, the group engaged in a vision and value formation exercise and set out an initial list of short and long term goals. These activities let to several important decisions for new marketing organizations. The Canadian leadership realized that customer loyalty would and should become a driving force for the organization. A consensus began to emerge that the right and proper strategy for Microsoft was to argue for a slower growth rate in revenues the short term, invest in customer satisfaction and then leverage that loyalty for a more secure stream of revenues in the future. In second workshop, the organizations mission and values were finalized; year by year revenue goals were agreed upon and these goals were broken down and assigned to specific groups and managers. The important part of the strategic change plan that emerged was a discussion and decision to tie the individual performance appraisals of Canadian leadership team as a whole also staked their end of fiscal year bonuses to the achievement of customer satisfaction, rather than revenue goals. Steve Ballmer increased the importance of customer loyalty in Microsofts strategy and structural changes and also the organization learned how to organize a strategic planning effort. Microsoft organization has made important changes in its reporting structure, business process, financial systems; the Canadian organization was able to adapt using its own resources and knowledge. Big Hairy Audacious Goal has become an institutionalized part of the organization that drives thinking and decision making in the organization. Finally, the main changes that have been seen in the performance level of the employees getting better along with rise in the percentage of market share which led to its growth both internal as well as external. Also, the Canadian Leadership Team and the Big Hairy Audacious Goal was permanently incorporated in the structure of the organization. (b) Strengths of Bureaucratic organizations are as follows: Higher level of consistency is maintained in decisions and implementation of projects. The control exerted by the head quarters or top level management ensures that the systems and delivery of services to the beneficiaries are in line with the laid down procedures. The major and important final decisions made by top management, considering various perspectives of organization. In this aspect the powers and interests of various stakeholders also taken care in delivering the final outcome. Another benefit is better cost control and management. Weaknesses of Bureaucratic organizations are as follows, The higher level of bureaucracy leads to lack of innovation and development in the organization, which leads to loss of competitive advantage in certain circumstances. Another disadvantage is that higher the structure and communication ladder impedes the speed of communication and decision making, and speed of response in emergency situations. The motivation of employees drops because of the lower level of delegation of duties and responsibilities and lower empowerment.. What must be realized is only that the strait jacket of bureaucratic organization paralyzes the individuals initiative, while within the capitalist market society an innovator still has a chance to succeed. (c) Managing change is an inevitable part of Organizational Development. Organization Development is about how people and organizations function and how to get them to function better. The field is based on knowledge from behavioral science disciplines such as psychology, social psychology, sociology, organizational behavior, organization theory and management. OD programs are long-term, planned, sustained efforts. Various definitions of OD are: Organization development refers to a long-range effort to improve an organizations problem solving capabilities and its ability to cope with changes in its external environment with the help of external or internal behavioral-scientist consultants, or change agents, as they are sometimes called. (Wendell French) Organization development is a system-wide process of data collection, diagnosis, action planning, intervention, and evaluation aimed at (1) enhancing congruence among organizational structure, process, strategy, people, and culture; (2) developing new and creative organizational solutions; and (3) develop the organizations self renewing capacity. It occurs through the collaboration of organizational members working with a change agent using behavioral science theory, research, and technology.(Michael Beer) Thus, Organization development is a system based and wide application that transfers behavioral science knowledge to the planned improvement, and reinforcement of the process that lead to effectiveness and efficiency of the organization. All OD programs have three basic components: diagnosis, action and program management. The symptomatic component represents a uninterrupted collection of data about the total system, its subunits, its processes, and its culture. The action component consists of all the activities and interventions designed to improve the organizations functioning. The program management component encompasses all activities designed to ensure success of the program. The process of Organizational Development is quite complicated and the completion of the change process consumes a lot of time with a minimum of one year and sometimes keeps indefinitely. There are different approaches to the process but the usual process consists of seven steps, which are initial diagnosis, data collection, data feedback and confrontation, action planning and problem solving, team building, inter group development and evaluation and follow up. organizational development process The following steps are vital steps taken into consideration while implementing any alternative forms of organizational development: Communications patterns, styles and flows. Goal setting. Decision making, problem solving, and action planning. Conflict resolution and management. Managing interface relations. Superior- subordinate relations. Technological and engineering systems. Strategic management and long-range planning. Vision/ Mission formulation. Organizational learning. Task 2 (a) The key stakeholders in Microsoft Canada can be people from any of the departments and levels of the organizations. But in general, the following people are the stakeholders of Microsoft Canada: Financial analysts Business analysts Forecasting or sales individual contributors Controller IT specialists and administrators. Legal staffs Human resources Service business and Microsoft consultant Marketing managers Customer support Managers responsible for different segments of Microsoft business including enterprise customer. Etc. (b) As discussed already it has been seen that the above cited stakeholders are the main members of the Canadian Leadership Team and plays a very significant role in the successful formation and implementation of Strategically Change in Microsoft Canada. The stakeholders, most of whom are also the members of the Canadian Leadership Team have played important role in the workshops, assignments, and discussions that was basically done to decide upon implementing new strategically changes required by Microsoft Canada to achieve its long term and short term goals. Also in the beginning of this report we have discussed three different models that are usually used in any organization as models for implementing and managing change, which are, Lewins Planned Change Model, Action Research Model and Positive model. After going through the entire case in hand it is seen that the Action Research Model best suits the procedure in which implementation of strategical change was carried out in Microsoft Canada. As the Action Research Model of change suggests, Microsoft Canada firstly, identified the problem that the organization was facing and having done that it was discussed upon by the experts of the organization and data was gathered from various sources to analyze the problem in order to be able to provide with the best possible solution. Finally, The Canadian Leadership Team acted as the Action team that helped to implement the solutions and bring in the Change in Microsoft Canada. Thus, the above report is a good example of implementing and managin g change in an organization. Task 3 (a) UnfreezingLewins Planned Change Model Refreezing Movement Action Research Model Data Gathering after Action Action Joint Action Planning Joint Diagnosis of Problem Feedback to Key Client or Group Data Gathering and Preliminary Diagnosis Consultation with Behavioral Science Expert Problem Identification Positive Model Design and Deliver ways to create the Future Envision a Preferred Future Discover Themes Inquire into Best Practices Initiate the Inquiry There are various types of change that an organization may implement. (b) It is often remarked that the only constant thing in the world is Change and having said that in todays so fast moving world and economy, every organization needs to implement change in its working structure and structure to be able to cope up with the changing environment. Today, organizations basically go for a change in order to be up to date with the current world and also are able to cope up with the increasing competition. Change suiting to the organization helps the organization to attain better brand name and a increased market share. Also change in the structure and working environment usually helps the organization to provide its employees to be happy and satisfied working in the organization and give maximum effective result to the output of the organization. Thus there may be a number of reasons that might have led to any organizations decision to implement change in the organization. In case of Microsoft Canada, Frank Clegg, President of Microsoft Canada, argued that the Canadian market was different and under-developed and it had a different mix of customers. Thus it demanded for different competitors and different growth opportunities. Another circumstance was that the percentage of markets size and growth of software sales and personnel computers shipments were below worldwide averages. These circumstances demanded a specialized strategy. Thus this was the major reason that led Microsoft Canada to decide to implement Strategic Change in the organization.

W.B. Yeats and the Importance of Imagination Essay -- Biography Biogra

W.B. Yeats and the Importance of Imagination The poetry of the Irish writer WB Yeats celebrates how the human imagination gives meaning to life's struggles. Yeats's vision of human creative power evolves with his writing, broadening from seeing the imagination as the embodiment of human desires to understanding the power of the imagination to inspire others and immortalize the creative spirit. Yeats's work, by embracing this power, embraces the human condition itself, giving dignity to hardships and suffering by transfiguring 'dread' into 'tragedy.' The inevitable suffering described in poems like "Adam's Curse," "The Wild Swans at Coole," and "The Circus Animals' Desertion," is transfigured into works of art which immortalize the human spirit, as in "The Lake Isle of Innisfree," "A Dialogue of Self and Soul," and "Lapis Lazuli." In Yeats' poems, human life is an experience wrought with sorrow and suffering. "Adam's Curse," for example, defines the human condition in terms of the twin hardships of labor and mortality. Just as the Biblical Adam was cursed with toil and death when he was exiled from Eden, all people in "Adam's Curse" must struggle to live, only to ultimately die. Like the "old pauper" who must "scrub a kitchen pavement, or break stones" to survive, all people labor in life, especially when making a work of beauty: the poet, for example, works "hours" at "stitching and unstitching" lines in order to create "sweet sounds," only to be called an "idler," and every woman is "born...to know" that she must "labour to be beautiful." The "curse" of labor is made more bearable when it informs the creation of beauty, as in a poem, a woman's "sweet and low" voice, or a "love...compounded of high courtesy," but the curs... ...g the inflexible realities of life, Yeats's works come to appreciate the greater powers of the creative soul to inspire others to embrace their own suffering, to see and balance all parts of the human experience and transfigure even hardship into art. The imagination thus empowers man to defy with his spirit what his body cannot- he finds spiritual timelessness, perfection, and immortality in a world where he will decay, fail, and perish. It is the imagination which allows this discovery, transfiguring the deepest anguish of bounded life into free and eternal "gaiety." Works Cited Finneran, Richard, ed. The Collected Works of W.B. Yeats. 2nd ed. New York: Scribner, 1997. Frye, Northrop. The Educated Imagination.Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1964. Parkinson, Thomas. W.B. Yeats: The Later Poetry. University of California Press: Berkeley, 1964.

Essay --

Elaine Tyler May’s Homeward Bound addresses two ideologies that ran rampant during the 50s, just after the conclusion of World War II. These Ideologies were anti- communism and suburban domesticity, both of which were sought to be resolved by the Americans through marriage and parenthood in a suitable and stable household. May discovers that domestic revival was key in addressing the ‘cold war ideology’; her book seeks to discover why post war Americans looked unto household stability as a means of solving the threat of communism at the time. It was, as she describes; â€Å"postwar Americans' intense need to feel liberated from the past and secure in the future." She believes that â€Å"Domestic containment† originated from the 30s and 40s, where people started to view the family structure in two different ways, â€Å"one with two breadwinners who shared tasks and the other with spouses whose roles were sharply differentiated." Society at the time chose the latter. Things like new deal programs aimed to improve employment opportunities for men. The American dream was at this time available to whit...

Transnational Social Movements, International Nongovernmental Organizat

Transnational Social Movements, International Nongovernmental Organizations and Our State-centric World The 1999 Seattle protests brought the apparent proliferation of anti-globalization grassroot sociopolitical movements into the limelight of the world stage. Transnational social movements (TSMs), international nongovernmental organizations (INGOs), as well as the loose transnational activist networks (TANs) that contain them—all these came to be seen as an angry and no less potent backlash that's directed at the powerful states and increasingly towering economic IGOs such as the WTO, the IMF, and the World Bank. In the field of international relations, some regard this as a prophetic watershed event that signals the weakening and perhaps even collapsing of the state-centric system of international relations, while many others insist that Seattle is but an eventually insignificant episode in the book of globalization and state power, as evidenced by the Doha success. This paper attempts to address two questions that are at the heart of this dispute: Do TSMs and INGOs have any real power in today's international political arena against the traditional view of state dominance? And, if the answer to the previous question is yes, then does such a change merit a fundamental revision of the state-centric model of international relations? My answer to these two questions is threefold: First, I assert that TSMs and INGOs can and have posed substantial normative challenges to state hegemony, most commonly the notion that the state enjoys a monopoly on representation of its citizens and their interests. Furthermore, TSMs and INGOs that employ the use of violence (particularly terrorism) breach the conventional notion that states... ...ed Arjomand, Said Amir. â€Å"Iran's Islamic Revolution in Comparative Perspective.† World Politics, Volume 38, Issue 3 (1986. 4), 383-414. Griffith, William E. â€Å"The Revial of Islamic Fundamentalism: the Case of Iran.† International Security. Volume 4, Issue 1, 1979, 132-138. Khashan, Hilal. â€Å"The New World Order and the Tempo of Militant Islam.† British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies. Volume 24, Issue 1 (1997. 5), 5-24. O'Brien, Robert, et al. Contesting Glboal Governance. Cambridge, 2000. G. Hossein. â€Å"Legitimacy, Religion, and Nationalism in the Middle East.† The American Political Science Review, Volume 84, Issue 1 (1990. 3), 69-91. Tarrow, Sidney. â€Å"Transnational Politics: Contention and Institutions in International Politics.† Annual Review of Political Science, 2001.4. Weaver, Mary Ann. â€Å"The Real Bin Laden.† The New Yorker, January 24, 2000.

Animal Cruelty in China Essay

Now our eyes are lashed by animal-abusing events nearby: Liu Haiyang, a Qinghua University student, hurt bears by sulphuric acid; tigers in circus troupe died of tiredness; thousands upon thousands of pet dogs in Guangzhou have them vocal cords cuthere are still countless such examples too tragic to look upon. The lesson we learn from that is not the transaction to individual event, but the need of some deep-going thinking: why does China have no related laws to ban and penalize similar commitment, when our society is increasingly developed; and why can our citizens turn blind in front of such atrocities when they are kept in a nation with profound Buddhism origin. Few people in China care about the feelings of animals or possess the concept of animal welfare. Some traditional factors play a positive role in this field. From childhood, anything about animals, most Chinese children get in touch with has undoubtedly put man above them. Even some of the children songs have described the nature of animals as malicious, such as slippery fox and ruthless wolf and so on, which not only casts a dark shadow over their hearts, but also leaves a wide gap between animals and children. These can all be taken in at a glance at the old saying: Man is the master of the universe. Disdain in spirit may lead to cruelty in action. As a result, man endows himself the natural rights to dominate the universe at the thought of human rights is gifted by the God, and take the life of animals as trifling matters. The civilized man always divides creatures into mankind and animals. The reason is no doubt that man thinks high of himself. Then is the deep-rooted human priority really true? Why should we insist on the inferiority of animals? Darwin has particularly compared the intellect of man and lower orders animals. He hold the opinion that we now know that the sensory organs, intuition, all kinds of emotions and functions, such as, love, memory, attention, curiosity, imitating and reasoning abilities, etc. Scientists have proved that animals possess sense perception as man does, which makes us have to ask ourselves a question: in the past 200 years, why did men keep extending the idea of ethics from state to nation, then to race, and finally to all individuals? Of course, morality has economic limitation. The reason because we found the former practice unfair. History shows that the category of ethical ideas is continuously expanding, and its extent keeps deepening. Man will finally break each kind of discovered unfairness, but we still exclude most perceptive species. Man could not communicate with animals in language, nor could they by other means. Therefore, man could not understand their agony and thereby took it as granted that animals could not sense pain. But now, man can measure whether an animal is suffering pain by some quantified standards. Experiments also proved the ability of animals to sense pain. If man still disregards their feelings in such a case, then it can by no means be considered a noble thing. A Chinese proverb says that never give anything to the others unless you like the thing. It may be changed into never give anything man dislike to them. Then how should we judge the suitable category of ethics at present level? I believe that the profit of each object involved in an action should all be considered. Therefore, we should extend the category of ethics to all species that are able to sense pain, joy and happiness. Why cannot man recognize animals in real life? The reason is that morality also has limitation of society. In reality there are usually conflicts between man and animal. Once man thinks an animal is harmful to him, he will show defense and hostility, considering not at all its welfare. Humans treat other humans still like this, let alone towards animals incapable of communicating in human languages. Therefore, powerful binding force is needed to seek welfare for animals. From the legal point of view, the inheritance of excellent Chinese traditional morality should be absorbed by newly discussed Chinese Animal Welfare Laws. Although it is easy to learn from abroad, it still needs persevering efforts of several years to really make the idea of animal welfare go deep into the hearts of most Chinese citizens. Since China has now been one of the members of World Trade Organization, the legal system and civilization level must catch up with the steps of economy linked to international developed countries. Thus, the development is wholesome, up-going and full-scale. It will be a great victory of global animal welfare cause to realize its popularization in China, a country that takes up one fifth of the world population. Up till now, most countries have enacted related laws and regulations. Many experience shows that in a society, the more advanced the economy, and the deeper the democratic idea goes into people heart, the much easier the concept of animal welfare is popularized and accepted by its citizens. Whether a person owns a kind heart can also be judged by his treatment toward animals. It is said that some criminologists point out that the maltreatment toward animals in childhood is a sign of the risk of committing crimes after grown up. Law is the minimal morality. The love and attention to animals should be from the bottom of hearts, instead of the regulation at legal levels. Maybe when human society reaches the stage of, in the word of Confucius, every life being equal, it is the time that animals finally be liberated. Universal love has no distinction between species. This is a world shared together by man and animals. China has started fairly late, but we may not escape or be absent in the trend of universal love. The future is bright but the way is zigzag. I would like to cite this Chinese proverb to describe the situation of Animal Welfare Law in China and I hope all the animals live happier life in the future, in China.

Privacy and Security Breaces at Acxiom

concealment and Security Breaches at Acxiom Case appear Chapter 4 Privacy and Security Breaches at Acxiom Case Study Chapter 4 Acxiom magnate be the more or less measurable organization that most of us restrain never heard of. They be the worlds largest processor of consumer entropy, collection and analyzing more than a billion records a day (Bigdoli, 2012). Acxiom was founded in 1969, and its headquarters is situated in Little Rock, Arkansas ( active Acxiom, 2013). Its customers all in allow in nine of the countrys top ten credit-card issuers, as soundly as nearly all the major retail banks, insurers, and automakers (Behar, 2012).Unfortunately, Acxiom has been faced with rough breaches of certificate that wear led the connection make some important shelter changes/upgrades. In 2003, Daniel thick, a 24 stratum old computer-systems administrator was found to have stolen the data of millions of individuals from Acxioms databases. He worn-out(a) two years collectin g this study and stored it on compact discs (Behar, 2004). He broke into their system by simply snap bean passwords (Behar, 2004). Bass was non the only literary hack to crack Acxiom however. date authorities were investigating Bass, they at last discovered an additional hacker chemical group from Boca Raton, Florida, who had cracked the passwords for the same server that Bass had gotten into as well. While they entrywayed selective cultivation for millions of lot it did not appear that either hacking happening resulted in the defrauding of any of the individuals whose data was stolen (Behar, 2012). Acxiom unquestionably needed to do something to beef up their security measures and protect their customers data.They first hire a chief security officer, which had not been a position until these incidents. The chief security officer instituted mandatory encryptions, as well as working to prevent cybercrimes. Acxiom to boot began to conduct security audits (both conducted from inside and outback(a) firms) to test for weaknesses in security. As removed as secretiveness is concerned, Acxiom is considered to have single of the most stringent privacy policies there are. You can read it here http//www. acxiom. com/about-acxiom/privacy/.They had a privacy officer tenacious before they had a security officer. In terms of privacy, we are left sceptical whether the government should have introduction to the information that is collected. I believe that the government should have only limited access. Acxiom was able to support the government with the investigation of the terrorist 9/11 attacks (Behar, 2004). The government should only be apt(p) access to information relevant to important cases, not just have bump reign to interpret all of the data any way they pass fit.Other organizations might also find out they need access to this tete-a-tete data for security reasons. While I do not see how this could ever happen, the possible organizations th at might feel they need access to such information might be school districts, private security firms, real estate professionals (especially luxuriously end), colleges and universities. While safety is an important issue at all of these places (and most others), having access to this sort of information does not secure safety, but in fact places raw targets on many harmless individuals.References About Acxiom. (2013). Retrieved from Acxiom http//www. acxiom. com/overview/ Behar, R. (2004, February 23). Never comprehend Of Acxiom? Chances Are Its Heard Of You. How a little-known Little Rock companythe worlds largest processor of consumer datafound itself at the center of a very tough national security debate. Retrieved from CNN Money http//money. cnn. com/magazines/ quite a little/fortune_archive/2004/02/23/362182/index. htm Bidgoli, H. (2012). MIS2. Boston Cengage Learning.