Hofstede analysis Essay Example for Free

Hofstede analysis Essay 1. Power distance: the extent to which the less powerful members of institutions and organisations within a country expect and accept that power is distributed unequally. 2. Individualism- the degree of interdependence a society maintains among its members. 3. Masculinity / Femininity-The fundamental issue here is what motivates people, wanting to be the best (masculine) or liking what you do (feminine).†¨ 4. Uncertainty avoidance The extent to which the members of a culture feel threatened by ambiguous or unknown situations and have created beliefs and institutions that try to avoid these †¨ 5. Long term orientation- the extent to which a society shows a pragmatic future-oriented perspective rather than a conventional historical short-term point of view. Power distance Thailand scores 64 on PDI index, slightly lower than the average Asian countries (71). It is a society in which inequalities are accepted; a strict chain of command and protocol are observed. Each rank has its privileges and employees show loyalty, respect and deference for their superiors in return for protection and guidance. This may lead to paternalistic management.†¨Thus, the attitude towards managers are more formal, the information flow is hierarchical and controlled. †¨Ã¢â‚¬ ¨Individualism With a score of 20 Thailand is a highly collectivist country. This is manifest in a close long-term commitment to the member group (a family, extended family, or extended relationships). Loyalty to the in-group in a collectivist culture is paramount, and over-rides most other societal rules and regulations. The society fosters strong relationships where everyone takes responsibility for fellow members of their group.†¨In order to preserve the in-group, Thai are not confrontational and in there communication a â€Å"Yes† may not mean an acceptance or agreement. An offence leads to loss of face and Thai are very sensitive not to feel shamed in front of their group. Personal relationship is key to conducting business and it takes time to build such relations thus patience is necessary as well as not openly discuss business on first occasions. †¨Ã¢â‚¬ ¨Masculinity / Femininity Thailand scores 34 on this dimension and is thus considered a feminine society. Thailand has the lowest Masculinity ranking among the average Asian countries of 53 and the World average of 50. This lower level is indicative of a society with less assertiveness and competitiveness, as compared to one where these values are considered more important and significant. This situation also reinforces more traditional male and female roles within the population.†¨Ã¢â‚¬ ¨ Uncertainty avoidance Thailand scores 64 on this dimension indicating a preference for avoiding uncertainty. †¨In order to minimize or reduce this level of uncertainty, strict rules, laws, policies, and regulations are adopted and implemented. The ultimate goal of this population is to control everything in order to eliminate or avoid the unexpected. As a result of this high Uncertainty Avoidance characteristic, the society does not readily accept change and is very risk adverse. Change has to be seen for the greater good of the in-group. †¨Ã¢â‚¬ ¨Long term orientation With a score of 56 Thailand is a Long Term Oriented culture though not as much as for most Asian countries. †¨LTO is manifest on their respect for tradition and inequality between people. †¨Amongst the values that are praised, working hard and having a sense of moderation are dominant. The investment in personal relationships and network is paramount. Protecting one’s face is key and a protocol in their non confrontational behavior.†¨Their concern is not to look for one truth which helps them be flexible and pragmatic in negotiations.†¨Thai favor long term oriented perspective and thus Thailand deadlines and timescales are fluid.

Dogmatism Character of Religion Essay -- Religion

â€Å"Plato’s Dream† is a short story written in 1756 by the French philosopher and satirist Franà §ois-Marie Arouet who published under the name of Voltaire. In this story, He explained the doctrine taught by Plato to his disciples. The scene is about Demiurgos, the creator of the infinite space, who wanted to test the geniuses of his supreme creatures. He gave each one a planet to organize. One of his creatures, Demogorgon, received the earth. He worked on it and arranged it as well as we have it today. Because of the magnificent job he did, he believed he would receive the utmost praise from his brothers; instead, he was ridiculed and criticized because of his imperfections that they noted supposedly. The brothers not only criticized Demogorgons’ work, but also seem to have a critique towards each other’s work. Since they were not able to agree with each other’s work, they kept going back and forth in their disputes. To put an end to it, the cre ator Demiurgos called for peace amongst his supreme creatures and decided to be the ultimate judge. Through his examination of their work he found both great discoveries as well as flaws, which was not a surprise to him since his creatures had a lot of knowledge and imperfections as well. Demiurgos concluded and stated that he is the only one who could create perfection and had the power to give immortality. This fable written by Voltaire is a sharp philosophical criticism of religious doctrine. He is known as a deist, which is a belief or doctrine that declares the existence of a god and its influence in the creation of the universe without relying on sacred scripts or being a member of a formal religion. â€Å"Plato’s Dream† portrays the dogmatic character of religion, and argues for principles ba... ...not sponsor a blind belief in God in the darkness of its mysteries. Works Cited Englander, Alex. â€Å"Kant’s Aesthetic Theology: Revelation as Symbolisation in the Critical Philosophy.† NeueZeitschriftfà ¼rSystematischeTheologie und Religionsphilosophie.53.3 (2011). 304. Academic Search Complete. Web. 25 April 2012. Rist, John.† Morality and Religion: Some Questions about First Principles.† Philosophical Investigations.34.2. (2011). 215. Academic Search Complete. Web. 24 April 2012. Voltaire. â€Å"Plato’s Dream.† Trans. Literature a World of Writing: Stories, Poems, Plays, and Essays. Ed. David L. Pike and Ana M. Acosta. Boston: Pearson 2011. 429-430. Print. Wittgenstein, Ludwig Josef Johann. â€Å"Wittgenstein and religiousdogma.†International Journal for Philosophy of Religion. Ed. Hoyt, Christopher.61.1 (2007). 42. Academic Search Complete. Web. 23 April 2012.

Oryx & Crake Summary Essay

Xenotransplantation is the transplantation of living cells, tissues or organs from one species to another such as from pigs to humans ( Medical grafting). Such cells, tissues or organs are called xenografts or xenotransplants. The term allotransplantation refers to a same-species transplant. Human xenotransplantation offers a potential treatment for end-stage organ failure, a significant health problem in parts of the industrialized world and worldwide shortage of organs for clinical implantation. It also raises many novel medical, legal and ethical issues. A continuing concern is that pigs have different lifespans than humans and their tissues age at a different rate. Disease transmission (xenozoonosis) and permanent alteration to the genetic code of animals are a cause for concern. Genetic engineering, recombinant DNA technology, genetic modification/ manipulation (GM) and gene splicing are terms that are applied to the manipulation of genes. It involves the isolation, manipulation and reintroduction of DNA into cells or model organisms, usually express a protein to reach desired effects. Cloning is the process of creating an identical copy of something. Genetic recombination is the process by which a strand of DNA is broken and then joined to the end of a different DNA molecule. A genetically modified organism (GMO) is an organism whose genetic material has been altered using the genetic engineering techniques generally known as recombinant DNA technology. Why Oryx and Crake Was Written â€Å"Every novel begins with a what if and then sets forth its axiom. The what if of Oryx and Crake is simply What if we continue down the road we’re already on? How slippery is the slope? What is our saving graces? Who’s got the will to stop us?† –Margaret Atwood Settings in Oryx and Crake Pre-Catastrophic Society: Games With Virtual Reality And Virtual Violence Society Fixated on Physical Perfection and Longevity, Virtual Elimination Of The Middle Class (produced a gap between rich and poor), Disappearance Of Safe Public Space, People Live In Either Tightly Controlled Compounds Of The Elites Or Dangerous Pleebands, Almost Everything Is For Sale, Medical Advancements, Life Is In The Hands Of Large Corporations, Private Security Forces, Scientific Advancements: Genetic Engineering & Xenotransplant, Technologically Driven, Extreme commercialization and commodification of life and the commodification of human life and sexuality in prostitution and online child pornography. Jimmy and Crake spend a lot of their free time playing online computer games such as Kwiktime Osama (a reference to Osama bin Laden) and Blood and Roses, or watching live executions, Noodie News, frog squashing, graphic surgery and child pornography. Post-Catastrophic Society: Naturalistic society Science vs. Anti-Science â€Å"Please don’t make the mistake of thinking that Oryx and Crake is anti-science. Science is a way of knowing, and a tool. Like all ways of knowing and tools, it can be turned to bad uses. And it can be bought and sold, and it often is. But it is not in itself bad. Like electricity, it’s neutral. The driving force in the world today is the human heart – that is, human emotions. (Yeats, Blake – every poet, come to think of it – has always told us that.) Our tools have become very powerful. Hate, not bombs, destroys cities. Desire, not bricks, rebuilds them.† –Margaret Atwood Plot Summary of Oryx and Crake The protagonist of Oryx and Crake is Snowman, clad only in a bed sheet and a Red Sox cap, who appears to be the last human being on Earth. He’s not entirely alone, however; strange hybrid beasts such as wolvogs, pigoons and rakunks are roaming freely. As well, a group of what he calls Crakers—strange human-like creatures—lives nearby. They bring Snowman food and consult him on matters that surpass their understanding; thus, Snowman comes across as a post-apocalyptic hermit guru. As the story develops, these assorted lifeforms are revealed to be the products of genetic engineering. In flashbacks, we learn that Snowman was once a young boy named Jimmy, who grew up in the early 21st century. His world was dominated by multinational corporations which kept their employees’ families in privileged compounds separated from a global lower moiety of pleeblands. Shortly after Jimmy’s family moved to the HelthWyzer corporate compound (where his father worked a s a genographer) Jimmy met and befriended Glenn (later known as Crake), a brilliant science student. Atwood’s satirical take on current society is presented most pointedly in the jaded activities of these two youths. Jimmy and Crake spend a lot of their free time playing online computer games such as Kwiktime Osama (a reference to Osama bin Laden) and Blood and Roses, or watching live executions, Noodie News, frog squashing, graphic surgery and child pornography. One of Glenn’s favourite pastimes is an online game called Extinctathon, a trivia game which requires immense knowledge of extinct animal and plant species. Using the codenames Thickney (Jimmy) and Crake (Glenn), they both play as teenagers. It is not until they are both in university that Jimmy discovers that Crake has worked his way up to become a Grandmaster. On another trip through the dark underbelly of the Web, they come across an Asian child pornography site, where Jimmy is struck and haunted by the eyes of a young girl. Unknown to Jimmy, Crake is similarly affected by the sig ht of this young girl. Crake eventually finds this girl (or a woman who could be her) and hires her, as both a prostitute and a teacher of the Crakers. Her name is Oryx. Jimmy identifies the haunting memory of the young girl with Oryx, though it is never made clear as to whether or not the two are the same person. Oryx eventually becomes intimately involved in the lives of Jimmy and Crake, and both fall in love with her. Oryx, however, views their relationship as strictly professional and only admires Crake as a scientist and â€Å"great man†. For fun and affection she turns to Jimmy, though her feelings for him are not as clear. The two hide their relationship from Crake, and Jimmy is often plagued with the thought of Crake finding out about his betrayal. Crake uses his prominent position at a biotech corporation to launch a project to create the Crakers. His goal is to create a peaceful society that will live harmoniously with each other and nature. These genetically engine ered humans are leaf-eating herbivores and they only have sexual intercourse during limited breeding seasons when they are polyandrous. Thus, many of the apparent conflicts in human culture are replaced with a mockery of intelligent design. At the same time, Crake creates a virulent genetic pandemic that, apparently, killed off all humans except for Jimmy. Jimmy was unknowingly vaccinated with the intention of acting as a guardian for the Crakers. Thus, Crake represents a mad scientist; he is maddened by the troubled society that he lives in. His rationale is that he is heroically saving intelligent life from an inevitably dying society. In the story’s climax, Crake’s perfected â€Å"hot bioform,† present in one of his company’s products, is activated and spreads throughout the world. When called to account for his actions by Jimmy, Crake kills Oryx by slitting her throat. In rage and panic, Jimmy shoots Crake, resulting in his being left to obsess over his vanished world and unanswered questions. Jimmy contemplates abandoning the Crakers but is constantly haunted by the voice of Oryx, and reminded of his promise to her to watch over them. Though Crake opposed and belittled human religion, Sn owman instills the Crakers with his own invented religion revolving around Crake and Oryx. Oryx becomes the guardian of the animals and Crake the creator god. Crake suffers from unremembered night terrors. During visits, Jimmy hears Crake screaming in his sleep. Crake claims to not remember them. This forms one of the book’s most profound ironies. Crake is a leader in the most advanced (and corrupt) health care system in human history, and Jimmy is unable to save humanity by simply getting Crake’s head examined. At the same time, however, Crake attends a university referred to as Asperger’s U, referring to the university’s high population of incredibly intelligent, socially awkward people, which might suggest that his idea was not the product of insanity or something ‘wrong’ with him, but rather the knowledge that everything else around him was wrong. During Snowman’s journey to scavenge supplies, he is uncomfortable wearing shoes now that his feet have become toughened without them. He cuts his foot on a tiny sliver of glass. Infected by who-knows-what descendant of transgenic experiments, his body cannot fight back, and his leg becomes inflamed.Returning to the Crakers, he learns that three ragged true humans have camped nearby. He follows the smoke from the fire and watches as they cook a rakunk. Uncertain of how he should approach them (Blast them to bits to protect the Crakers? Approach with open arms?) he checks his now unworking watch and thinks, â€Å"Time to go,† leaving the reader to speculate as to what his actions and future will be. Literay Works Coral Ann Howells argues that Oryx and Crake is in some ways a sequel to Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale in that it carries the national catastrophe in the earlier novel to global level[5]. A major reference seems to be to the â€Å"Last Man† topos in science fiction, which was inaugurated by Mary Shelley’s The Last Man, also a post-apocalyptic novel, whose main character is the only survivor of a plague that has killed off all other humans. George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949) had a working title that relates it to Shelley’s book: â€Å"The Last Man in Europe†[6]. Other references, of course, include Shelley’s Frankenstein (1818/1831) as well as Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels[7] (1626/1635). Gulliver’s Travels is also the source of one of the two epigraphs and puts emphasis on the claim that the speculation about the near future in Oryx and Crake serves to make a point about the present state of the world. Swift’s speaker as quoted by Atwood says: â€Å"my principal design was to inform you, and not to amuse you† (Oryx and Crake, Epigraph). The second quotation from Virginia Woolf’s To the Lighthouse (1927) refers to the absence of safety in the word, pointing to Snowman’s existence in the world af ter Crake’s catastrophe.

An Argument in Favor of Stem Cell Research Essay - 1507 Words

Abortion, gay marriage, and illegal immigration are all hot button topics currently being faced by Americans. As ardently as each side defends their stance on a controversial issue, an opposing side fights with equal diligence for the beliefs they feel should be valued by our nation. Perhaps nowhere is this battle more heated than in the fight over stem cell research. While supporters of this new field of science tout it’s potential to cure everything from blindness to paralysis, those against stem cell science liken the procedures used by scientists to murder. It is my intention to bring to light the positive benefits of stem cell research as well as counter the claims used by many Pro-life groups who believe the scientists driving this†¦show more content†¦In essence, pluripotent cells are a universal building block within the human body, capable of becoming an eye, an arm, or even a nervous system. While few can debate the potential â€Å"miracle cure† aspect that seems to be wrapped within stem cell research, the method for obtaining such cells has been a topic for debate. The process of extracting pluripotent cells destroys their host embryo, and as yet, no pluripotent cells have been found in older adult tissues. Opponents of research on embryonic cells claim that embryos – from the moment that fertilization occurs – are sentient human beings and should therefore be afforded the same protections against abuse as anyone else (â€Å"The Cases For†). But what if a method were readily available were viable stem cells could be extracted from an embryo in a manner that would not deny life – however such life were defined – to the unborn fetus? What if such a potential solution could ease the minds of not only those who oppose stem cell research but also help to quell the dispute of another â€Å"Do Not Kill† issue – abortion ? Across America, doctors in the field of abortion perform perfectly legal and constitutionally protected procedures everyday that result in the removal of unwanted fertilized embryos from a woman. For years these fetuses were terminated and discarded in a safe manner, with no further study or research done on the unborn child. Now, scientists have begun harvesting key cells from the fetuses before they areShow MoreRelatedThe World Of Science And Medicine967 Words   |  4 Pagesdoes not apply, especially when it comes to embryonic stem cell research. These cells come from aborted fetuses; some people believe that abortion is morally wrong, and therefore any result of it, is also immoral. However, medical research revolves around making the human race’s life better. This research resulted in numerous breakthroughs throughout the years, and will continue to unveil new impossibilities for centuries to come. Medical research should not be inhibited, especially by something thatRea d MoreThe Ethics Of Embryonic Stem Cells1201 Words   |  5 Pages Problem The society is not at an agreeable point when it comes to the research of stem cells obtained from human embryos. The disagreement narrows down to a clash between the two fundamental principles of ethics: The duty to prevent and alleviate suffering, and the duty to respect the value of human life. In most situations, both principles can be satisfied. However, in the research of embryonic stem cells, it might not be inherently possible. Generally, the clash between the two principles isRead MoreThe Evolution Of Stem Cell Research1334 Words   |  6 PagesAdult Stem Cells Imagine if you could save the life of a child with cancer, correct a man’s paralysis as a result of a stroke, or give a woman who suffers from infertility the gift of life. 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To obtain these cells will kill the embryo automatically. In other words, the acquirement of the Human Embryonic Stem Cell includes performing an abortion. To obtain these cells, it would kill the embryo. This has created controversy since abortion is suchRead MoreMedical Ethics : Adult Stem Cell Research Essay1565 Words   |  7 Pages Tennisa Saunders Medical Ethics Adult Stem Cell Research Professor December 2016 In this essay I decided to write on Stem. Initially, I began by defining what stem cell is and the different types of stem cell scientist work with. I include the medical scenario of a woman from Huston by the name of Debbie Bertrand who suffered from Multiple Sclerosis. I also included Dr. Lall, discovery of stem cells in baby teeth, because I found the article to be very interesting. Philosophical questionRead MoreThe Federal Funding Of Embryonic Stem Cell Research1554 Words   |  7 PagesThe subject in this article is about the federal funding of embryonic stem-cell research. The argument is about Research on human embryonic stem cells and the development of therapies for chronic and debilitating diseases. The question is should the federal government of the United States provide funding for the stem cell research? The thesis of the argument is â€Å"others worry that even if research on embryos is not wrong in itself, it will open the way to a slippery slope of dehumanizing pr acticesRead MoreStem Cells : Pros And Cons913 Words   |  4 PagesJoshua Thomas Arndt 4th Stem Cells: Pros and Cons When talking about stem cell research, there are many differing opinions. This has been a hot topic for debate over the last several years. It boils down to ethics. Does sacrificing the life of a potential person justify saving another person s life with a fatal disease or illness? To many, the answer is yes. However, for others, the answer is no. Those in favor argue that these cells could possibly help to cure diseases like Parkinson s, AlzheimerRead More Embryonic vs. Adult Stem Cells in Research Essay1615 Words   |  7 PagesEmbryonic vs. Adult Stem Cells in Research    Why is the mainstream media significantly downplaying exciting scientific discoveries with adult stem cells? This essay hopes to adequately answer that question. Heres the scoop: As originally reported late last year in the medical journal Blood, Dr. Catherine M. Verfaillie and other researchers at the Stem Cell Institute, University of Minnesota, have discovered a way to coax an adult cell found in the bone marrow to exhibit many of the attributes