The Concept of Efficiency Essay -- Efficiency Philosophy Essays

The Concept of Efficiency This article aims to give an analysis of the concept of efficiency. The importance of such an analysis lies in the fact that the role which efficiency plays in different sectors of our society leads to opposite evaluations resulting in a clash of opinions concerning this role. In order to clarify this situation, I first trace the historical roots of the concept. This brief historical reconnaissance shows that ‘efficiency’ is not a unitary concept. Moreover, I also argue that our use of the concept of efficiency presupposes the decisions which we make with regard to the kinds of costs we recognize. Such decisions do not come out of the blue; they relate to the opposite evaluations of efficiency mentioned above. The decisions concerning what we consider to be costly determine in part the actual content of the concept of efficiency. I argue that this content must be in harmony with the meaning of the different practices in which we are engaged, otherwise this concept can ea sily lead us astray. Therefore, a proper use of the concept of efficiency demands a clear and reliable view of these meanings. 1. Introduction Efficiency is a concept widely used by economists, engineers, organization theorists, consultants, politicians, managers and others. It figures large in the many vocabularies that abound in the world today and it seems that 'efficiency' is one of the focuses of Western culture. Efficiency has met with enthousiasm as well as critique. An early advocate of efficiency is Frederick Taylor (1911). (1) Shortly after, John Dewey made critical remarks on scientific management but considered efficiency to be a "servant of freedom" (Middle Works, Vol. 10, p. 119). Kotarbinsky (1968) defended e... ...8 R.Heilbroner An Inquiry into the Human Prospect. New York 1974. ———Business Civilization in Decline. New York 1977. ———Behind the Veil of Economics. New York 1988. T.Hobbes The English Works of Thomas Hobbes, Vol.3. Aalen 1962, repr.London 1839-1845. F.Klemm A History of Western Technology. New York 1959. T.Kotarbinsky Praxiology. An Introduction to the Sciences of Efficient Action. Oxford 1968. G.W.Leibniz SÃ ¤mtliche Schriften und Briefe. Erste Reihe. Berlin 1950. J.St.Mill Complete Works, Vol. II, III. London 1968. H.Mintzberg Mintzberg on Management. New York 1990. H.Simon Administrative Behavior. New York 19763. Reason in Human Affairs. New York 1983. R.C.Solomon Ethics and Excellence. Oxford 1993. F.W. Taylor The Principles of Scientific Management.19111, New York 1967. Xenophon Memorabilia and Oeconomicus. London 1923.

Changing face of Indian villages Essay

India is a land of villages. It is said that real India lives in villages. About seventy per cent of its population lives in villages. India is undergoing revolutionary changes. Its villages are not untouched by those changes. The changes are reflected in every walk of life. These changes have been brought by various agents. These include science, technology, and spread of education, advent of media in rural areas, industrialisation, urbanisation and migration. Hence the lifestyle, attitude and thinking have changed greatly in rural India. In fact these factors have combined to change the ritualistic rural society into a dynamic society. Traditionally, Hindu society has been caste ridden. Caste-based division has been prominently visible in rural India. The people of upper caste treated themselves superior to the people of lower caste. Discrimination against them was a commonplace event. People of upper caste did not eat or drink anything even touched by the lower caste people. Even they were not allowed to take water from the well used by the upper caste people. They are not allowed entrance in temples. Such unjust distinction based on caste, colour and community was widely prevalent in Indian society. But things are rapidly changing now. People do not care tor any such distinction. There is an interdependence existence in society. There is a close interaction of people of different castes, creeds and religions, among them for various purposes. The outlook of the villagers has undergone sea change. They have begun to see things in broader context. This is a good sign. The access of media has brought big changes in their life. Now they have realised the importance of education. They no longer hold back their girls from going to schools and colleges. They have begun to come out of the four walls of their homes. They have started sharing responsibility with their male counterpart. Naturally, it has a positive impact on society. Agriculture, which is the mainstay of rural economy, is also being influenced  by the winds of changes sweeping across various walks of life. It is no longer left to the mercy of Nature. The agrarian reforms, increasing application of science and technology are bringing sea changes in the faces of villages. Availability of safe drinking water and electricity has made the life of the villagers easier and comfortable. Mass media has also contributed a lot to change the life of the villages. Now rituals and superstitions have begun fading away. People have begun to see things in the light of reason and logic. There is a great awakening in the villagers. They are now politically and economically aware and sound. There is no longer casteism in rural society. These changes are likely to have good impact on overall progress of India.

Being a Global Citizen

Global citizenship is a term that is widely used for different purposes and meanings. There is no single agreement on the meaning of global citizenship. As we all know, the world is changing faster than most of us can keep up with, technology is one of those drivers of change and people are becoming more connected to each other around the world than ever before through internet usage. As people become more connected they begin to see themselves becoming a citizen not only through their natural birth place but a citizen of the world. There are many ways to understand citizenship or being a global citizen.Based on the legal-political view, citizenship is a status granted on individuals by political communities that they belong in. It can also be defined as people giving allegiance to a country, they have to accept and uphold the duties, responsibilities and exercise the rights that they are entitled to as citizens such as obeying the laws, paying taxes, serving in the military forces i f they need to, and have rights to participate in the political life by voting and participating in elections. As a citizen it is important to maintain law and order to society.Students around the world are embracing cultural diversity and the school system is teaching the students about them. Throughout global media and technologies, virtually everyone on earth is exposed to foreign ideas and even our own communities are more diversified than ever before. The most important thing to understand about cultural globalization is it is largely driven by corporations, rather than countries. A citizen of the world is someone’s awareness of the world as a global community and recognizing the rights and responsibilities of citizens within it.As a citizen of the world we must stand up to solve poverty, stand up to environmental degradation that is tearing apart our land, stand up and protect our country if it is being threatened, and be an activist against anything that deprive anyone from their rights, life, and pursuit of happiness. It is important to recognize we are not just citizens of our respected countries but citizens in a larger global community. Economically, with the rise of a global economy, we are now more dependent upon people who don’t live in our local communities.Businesses are not restricted to one geographic area or group of the people instead they are everywhere. We are no longer a citizen of our own country, but citizens in a global community. These changes provide opportunities for great collaboration and we can find a way to work together. Global citizenship is seen as a way to reduce differences in quality of life among countries, reduce poverty, and protect the environment. Globalization is seen as a cause that could address worldwide issues such as hunger, malnutrition, and clean water. Protecting the environment and natural resources also becomes part of this concept of citizenship.Being a global citizen is not necessarily bein g a good global citizen. By saying that I mean, we don’t have to be a really rich or anything to be global citizens; just the little step to do something is all it takes. Standing up for something you believe in, helping out the unfortunate, stopping someone from saying a racist comment is all part of being global citizens. A citizen of the world would be one who sees an opportunity to influence a global decision and accepts the behavior that comes with it. All individuals have duties and responsibility of doing that.

Symbolic Interactionism Essays

Symbolic Interactionism Essays Symbolic Interactionism Paper Symbolic Interactionism Paper Symbolic Interactionism is and American branch of Sociology and its founder is George Herbert Mead. Symbolic interactionsim explains social actions in terms of the meanings that individuals give to them. They tend to focus on small-scale interactions rather than large-scale. Mead divided his studies into three core elements of symbolic interactionsim; the symbol, the self and the interaction. Symbols In Meads view, anything which humans do is essentially social and this owes to the fact that humans interact through a number of symbols, most of which are contained in a language. A symbol can define objects and events in a particular way and indicates a response to them. Symbols impose specific meanings to objects/events to avoid confusion. For example the chair can be of metal or wood, it can be used to sit or assault someone but its name it will still be chair even though it is different in each case. Symbols provide a way through which humans can interact with their natural and social environment. They are human-made and they refer to the ways in which people perceive them. Symbols are necessary to guide human interactions and behaviours. Therefore people classify the world around them so as to define both the stimuli and their response to them. Role-Taking Symbols are only useful when they are shared amongst many members of a society otherwise communication is impossible. In order to accomplish human interaction, the people must interpret the meanings and intentions of others. This is possible through common symbols and what Mead called role-taking. This process involves one person imaginatively placing themselves in the position of the person with whom they are interacting so as to understand that persons intentions. On the basis of this interpretation they will make response to the action of the other. For example when a person waves his hand, the second person interprets this gesture as a greeting or a goodbye wave so he/she waves back. Therefore human interaction can be seen as a continuous process of interpretation, with each person taking the role of the other. The Self Mead argued that through the process of role-taking individuals develop a concept of self. By placing themselves in the position of others they are able to look back upon themselves. Symbolic Interactionism How Social Order, Is Possible According To George Herbert Mead’s Symbolic Interactionism Perspective To achieve social order in society, individuals assume that they understand the modes of interactions made by other people so they conduct themselves in a calm way. People assume that they know how other people expect to be treated for instance. This in turn provides a kind of regulation of how people should behave. On a large scale, this translates to order in the society since possible conflicts are now avoided due to that mutual understanding that the other person expects me to treat him or her in a certain way for me to get the same type of treatment from them. There are certain symbols that everyone in the society relates to that connect us to other people. Language as one of these symbols enhances communication among people. Communication is a vital element of conflict resolution and in turn contributes to social order. According to Mead’s theory of Symbolic Interactionism, there are several ascribed meanings that human beings relate to irrespective of their background. There are concepts and objects that have some ascribed meanings connecting all people. An example of these is liberty. Liberty is an ideal that advocates for the freedom of people across all origins. When people from different backgrounds meet for example, they could relate to this concept as a way of identifying the similarity in their culture. This in turn contributes to social order. A merger of individual interpretations of distinct concepts and ideals also contributes to social harmony. When people gather and share their views of certain things, their minds are opened to new things that they had not thought of before. People also share their experiences of how they learnt of something the hard way and use this to advise others against doing some things. These kinds of interactions lead to understanding between people lead ing to peace and order in the society (Ridener, 2007). The Concepts of â€Å"The Self, Self-Interaction, the Development of the Self, And Symbolic Meaning Mead says that there is a special connection between the ‘self’ and the mind of any individual. During our interactions with others, we are socially developed and we give others the first impression of who we really are. Similarly, we also make first impressions of the people we talk to everyday. It is through our interactions with others that we get to understand ourselves and create an impression of ourselves. While creating an impression of ourselves, we also get to know how other people perceive us. These two perceptions of ourselves make us behave in an expected way that in turn enhances our interactions with others. Enhanced interaction leads to peace and harmony in the society (Ridener, 2007). Self-interaction refers to the way we connect what we perceive of ourselves to what other people perceive of us. We should be in a position to reconcile the two in cases where they differ from what we expect. Once an individual is at ease with what others perceive of him and what he perceives of himself, he is in a better position to be at peace with others since there is no point of conflict between him and the others. The symbolic meaning refers to the perceptions of particular concepts or objects that are shared by many people. These meanings bind people together towards a common course for example peace and cooperation. This collective nature of understanding contributes to harmony in the society. References Ridener, L. R. (2007). George Hebert Mead. In Pfeiffer.edu. Retrieved from http://media.pfeiffer.edu/lridener/dss/Mead/MINDSELF.HTML

Were the British Empire’s Influences and Actions in Africa Good or Bad Essay Example

Were the British Empire’s Influences and Actions in Africa Good or Bad Essay Example Were the British Empire’s Influences and Actions in Africa Good or Bad Essay Were the British Empire’s Influences and Actions in Africa Good or Bad Essay Were the British Empire’s influences and actions in Africa good or bad? The British Empire controlled the Southern Africa for a long time until all the colonies of British started to rebel and get independence. Africa got their independence from British too. After the British left, the Africans started to organize and develop. The British left both good and bad impacts to the Africans. In earlier times, British had already invaded the coasts of Africa and started to â€Å"traded† with the Africans.Actually, they traded useless things to Africans, such as plastic, glass. And they took things which were much more valuable from them, such as gold, wood and other resources. Later, when the British was running through the industrial revolution, the technology, medical, army, navy were more advanced and organized comparing with the old times. They had over come the illness in the deeper places of Africa and started to send armies, navies to conquer more areas in the southern Africa.Then the British ruled the blacks and didn’t trade with them. They just took everything they wanted back to British. They caught slaves to sell or trade with the other countries. They thought the blacks were children and they can’t rule themselves. So the British thought it was okay to control and rule the natives with giving no rights to them. The natives had no right to vote in the British and they can just serve the invaders under their advanced weapons.Until the 18 centuries, the British stopped the slave trades and started to give a little bit of right to the Africans. They built railways and developed in Africa. They made connections between the rural areas and the urban areas. Communications were made between the outside world and Africa. Although developments appeared in Africa, all benefits owned by the British Empire and only very few were given to the natives. After the Second World War, lots of colonies’ controls were given back to the natives .Africans ruled their own lands, however, because of the natives didn’t have a chance to learn about the whole system of ruling a piece of land. That made a huge gap between the physical developments and the inside mind developments. Until now, most of the African countries still can’t get a well development on politics and economy. The British Empire did left developments on a very little amount of African countries. In general, the British left extreme negative impacts on Africa and also took away a lots from them.

Corporations and the Equal Protections Caluse Research Paper

Corporations and the Equal Protections Caluse - Research Paper Example In this paper, I will argue that the â€Å"equal protections† clause of the Fourteenth Amendment was incorrectly applied to corporations, and doing so has had disastrous implications. It is absolutely clear that the equal protection clause was meant to protect individuals, not corporations, from unequal treatment by states. Corporations and equal protection clause Many people are shocked when they first learn that corporations are considered legal persons, entitled to the same rights as the average citizen. Starting with Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad Co., the power of corporations has increased exponentially. Subsequent to Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad Co. in 1886, corporations were consistently granted greater power by the Supreme Court through the equal protection clause. â€Å"Equal protection as a legal concept is the idea that individuals should be treated in the same manner as other individuals in similar circumstances†(Equal pr otection, n. d). However, the courts adopted different standards while dealing with equal protection clauses with respect to individuals and corporations, which include strict scrutiny, intermediate scrutiny, and the rational basis test etc. This is purely because of the rise of corporate power. Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad Company, 118 U.S. ... The above right was already given to the individuals and Southern Pacific Railroad Company argued that they also have the same right just like the individuals and they refused to pay taxes under the new legislature. Southern Pacific Railroad Company sought protection under the Fourteenth Amendment. One of the points made and discussed at length in the brief of counsel for defendants in error was that "corporations are persons within the meaning of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States." Before argument, MR. CHIEF JUSTICE WAITE said: "The Court does not wish to hear argument on the question whether the provision in the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution which forbids a state to deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws applies to these corporations. We are all of opinion that it does "(SANTA CLARA COUNTY V. SOUTHERN PACIFIC R. CO., 118 U. S. 394 (1886), 2011). In other words, court upheld the arguments of Southern Pac ific Railroad Company and declared its verdict in favor of the company. Organizations or corporations are entities which might be created for the purpose of doing business making profits. They are doing so at the expense of the interests of the people or the individuals. In other words, corporations are exploiting the community resources for making profits and it is their duty to pay tax to the government for such exploitation of natural resources. Governments have the moral and legal responsibility of working for the interests of the individuals. Individuals have limited capacity to exploit the natural resources compared to the abilities of corporation.

Agile Port System Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Agile Port System - Essay Example Older ports have to get into alliances and partnerships to coordinate their activities and decrease unnecessary competition. These alliances can lead to the creation of satellite terminals instead of the presence of several redundant old ports. This can help reduce congestion of containers at deep-sea ports and free up space for high-cost facilities in such locations. Through alliances, there can be the better exchange of information, which reduces dwell-time and improves movement (Konings, Priemus and Nijkamp, 2015). Exchange of valuable information helps in security checks and value added logistics, and this is only achievable through partnerships for the common good of making profits. In relation to technology, fast and real-time data processing and sharing are essential for the expansion of infrastructure and superstructure. This is essential to facilitate tracking and tracing of shipments. For example, the Electronic Data Interchange information system can help in recording and sharing of information across ports. Efficient coordination between terminals and inland transportation operations is applicable if older ports adopt modern web applications and systems to facilitate the dynamics of terminal handling operations. In addition, older ports should improve gate operations technology to improve processing time in gate lanes. Construction of dedicated lanes is also essential to save time and improve functionality. In conclusion, several areas mentioned above require improvement to adapt an agile port system.