Managing And Leading Change

Managing And Leading Change Ashland Case Study Assignment Company background Ashland Inc is a Fortune 500 and Standard and Poors (SP) Midcap 400 company, providing specialised chemical, technologies and insights through Ashland Aqualon Functional Ingredients, Ashland Hercules Waters Technologies, Ashland Performance Materials, Ashland Consumer Markets (Valvoline) and Ashland Distribution. The firm has operations in more than 100 countries worldwide. In 2010 the companys revenue equated to $9bn, but its beginnings in 1924 were far more humble and it has   been though many changes since it was founded in 1924 as part of the refining arm of the Swiss Oil company, and it was then known as the Ashland Refining Company. The company takes its name after the town of its inception, namely Ashland, Kentucky in the United States. In 1936 both companies merged and Ashland General Manager, Paul G. Blazer, became the newly merged companys president and the company achieved $4.8m in sales, and by the entry of the United States into the Second World War they had grown to $12m. During the period a new refinery is built at Catlettsburg to produce aviation fuel. After the war the Ashland brand is developed, and products are sold under the companys name. This enables sales to further rise to $20.4m, and the company makes further strides in 1950 by acquiring the Freedom-Valvoline Oil Company and the contributed to a further boost to sales by 900 per cent. By 1959 the Valvoline brand had begun to reach the top of the lubricants world, thanks to an increase in the firms growing workforce, advertising campaigns, investments in infrastructure and it is highly featured in motorsport to this day. The growth in its petro-chemicals business led to further growth, leading to the acquisition of R.J Brown of St. Louis, Montana and sales grew to $280m. However, in 1966 the company diversified and it purchased Warren Brothers and Ashland Paving And Construction Inc. was born. The firms sales reached $699 million as a result of this acquisition. Furthermore the company continued to evolve during the 1960s with the acquisition of ADM Chemical Group and the formation of Ashland Chemical, making Ashland a leading chemical supplier. In 1969 Ashland Petroleum was formed, a year after the company had reached the milestone of having achieved an annual revenue of $1bn. However, the company further diversified and it enters into the coal-extraction market with the launch of the Arch-Mineral joint venture.   The following year the companys name is changed further to gaining shareholders support, and it became Ashland Oil. It also purchases a refinery, adding the SuperAmerica petrol station and convenience store chain to its holdings. The next milestone appears in 1986 with the establishment of Valvoline Instant Oil Change, which provided a service for lubricating vehicles across 70 units. Since then it has become the second-largest franchised quick lubrication business in the US, and it can be found at 870 locations. The table below, according to the company, shows its other important milestones: Year Event 1992 Ashland acquires most of Unocals chemical distribution business, becoming North Americas leading distributor of chemicals and solvents 1994 Zerex vehicle antifreeze and coolant, the No. 2 brand in the U.S., is added to the Valvoline product line-up. Sales reach $10.3 billion. 1995 Shareholders approve changing the companys name to Ashland Inc. to better reflect our diverse operations. This same year, more than $368 million is invested in 14 acquisitions to strengthen related energy and chemical businesses. 1998 Ashland and Marathon Oil merge their petroleum refining and marketing assets into a joint venture. Eagle One auto appearance products join the Valvoline brand line-up. 1999 Ashland celebrates its 75th anniversary. The company relocates its headquarters from Ashland, Ky., USA, to Covington, Ky., USA, adjacent to Cincinnati, Ohio, USA. 2002 Ashland introduces Envirez resin, the first commercially available unsaturated polyester resin containing a significant quantity of renewable materials. 2004 Ashland reorganizes into two sectors, Chemical and Transportation Construction. This lays the foundation for the companys transformation into a global specialty chemical company. 2005 Ashland divests its joint-venture oil and refining business to partner Marathon Oil, and also acquires Car Brite, a leading marketer of professional auto reconditioning products. Sales are $9.3 billion. 2006 The transformation into a specialty chemical company continues. Northwest Coatings, a technical leader in the development of innovative Waters-based and energy-curable adhesives and coatings, is acquired and Ashland Paving And Construction, Inc. is sold. 2008 Ashland acquires Hercules Incorporated in a $3.3-billion transaction. The deal moves us into the top tier of global specialty chemical companies. 2009 The Nanjing Technical Center opens in China. The applications lab supports customers in the coatings, construction, energy, food, personal care and industrial specialties markets. Sales reach $8.1 billion. 2010 Natrosol hydroxyethylcellulose rolls off the line at a new plant in Nanjing, China. Ashland launches a global joint venture in foundry chemicals with Sà ¼d-Chemie AG and announces plans to sell Ashland Distribution in 2011. 2011 Ashland and our people continue to set the standard for good chemistry and all of the great things it creates around the world. Table data source: Ashland Inc. Ashland vision, mission, values and operating principles The firm aims to be a leading global specialised chemical company by inspiring and engaging with its employees and adding value to everything it does. The company describes its mission as follows: â€Å"We satisfy our customers by delivering results through quality chemical products and services. Our desire to grow drives our passion to win in the marketplace. With a unified, low-cost operating structure, well remain competitive across every business and in every geographic region.† The following are its values and operating principles: Our Values: Who we are We act with integrity and honesty. We focus on customer and shareholder success and compete to win. We recognize each person for the difference he or she makes. We drive innovation and results by understanding the market and its opportunities. We are committed to the values of responsibility, sustainability and transparency. We create safe and health-conscious work environments, require compliance and embrace environmental stewardship. Our Operating Principles: How it happens We operate in compliance with the law and adhere to high ethical standards. We assess the impact on customers and society when making decisions. We are externally focused. Our businesses are defined by markets. We are process-centred. Our processes are designed to optimize global performance. Ashland leaders are first responsible to Ashland and second to a business, resource group or process. We are led by an Executive Committee that enforces our principles, sets our strategy and manages our capital. We are united by our common vision, mission, values and operating principles. Case Study Background Ashland Incs earnings were off track in 2002. The company was also troubled by high levels of redundancy and operating costs throughout its business groups. The annual net results were also lower than the companys share value. Even though the company has evidently gone through a number of transformations and evolutions since 1924, the vice-president of HR at the time felt that the firms troubles because it had turned it into a change-averse organisation. There was apparently no desire for change, and this person felt that as a company they didnt do it well. Doing something different was thought of as change. Between 1998 and 2003 Ashland had gone through a resource group restructuring exercise, relocated its head office, sold its oil exploration business, and it engaged in marketing and refining joint ventures. Dwight King, Ashland Chemicals President for HR, said that there was a lot of rubble left behind, which led to unwanted turnover and reductions in performance. â€Å"As our previous VP of HR would say, a lot of wreckage results from somehow not executing our plans correctly†, he said before explaining that the elements of a previous failure were impacting severely on the business. There was also a new and critical project on the table, and the leadership team recognised that they were not being very efficient due to a lacking of understanding of what it means to be change leaders.   Dwight therefore felt that he was about to watch another car accident occur. What was missing was not the what and why, but the how to change the organisation for the better. So in 2003 the firms senior executives recognised that they hadnt changed direction as well as they could have done. So the organisation was nearly broken when the company tried to implement its first Enterprise Resource Planning system in its distribution unit, and this led to a shut down of west coast operations. The implementation hadnt gone as well as everyone had expected. Change was therefore vital, and so Dwight initiated a change management programme. The company needed to build change into the organisation as a competency. The objectives were to ‘retro-fit several of its major initiatives to a change management methodology, integrate project and change management, to create a training curriculum and to build competencies within the following groups: managers, supervisors, practitioners, intact project teams and employees. He recognised that this had to start from the top of the organisation, and so he arranged an executive briefing with all of the firms business unit presidents. He succeeded in gaining sponsorship for his initiative at the meeting. The programmes focused on HR, project managers and the distribution leadership team. By 2005 this had created tremendous momentum, including the adoption of change management terminologies and a new change management approach. However, the first investments in change occurred in 2004 when Dwight facilitated a conversation with the chemical sector leadership team. He asked them a number of questions to find out where the company should be in five years time, and what it should look like. The discussion also analysed, from that particular hypothetical perspective, how the company got there, and what they would have to do to arrive at their perceived ‘destination. There was also some in-depth discussion about the obstacles theyd face and how they would overcome them. The SAP implementation moved forward too. It was now fully implemented, and Ashland formed its GlobalOne project team for SAP to begin a worldwide roll-out. Dwight convinced the SAP project manager that he needed to include a change management element in its deployment. In fact he said that ‘change needed to go well beyond that which was defined by the SAP consultants. â€Å"There were plenty of people who gave lip-service to the word ‘change, including the consultants, two of the largest consulting firms in the world†, said Dwight. He added that their idea of change involved â€Å"documenting the new physical competencies of change around what new buttons you had to push, what new levers you had to pull, what new screens you were seeing in order to enter or bill an order, or service an account.† There was no understanding about the resistance that would be created by any change programme implementation; their views didnt even consider the creation of a body of knowledge about expectations and then reinforcing them through training. This meant that there would need to be some systems training in place, and so a change management consultant was hired for the GlobalOne team. Previously they had implemented SAP Global One in Canada, and even though there was a good change management plan in place, some issues arose. The trouble was that the assets were only there for just two weeks, and then the team left to implement it in the US. Out of this situation came the realisation that you need a dedicated change management structure within the project to make sure that it succeeds. It was also recognised that certain people were needed in order to be responsible for the change effort. Around the same period the company implemented an organisation-wide rewards scheme, called Total Rewards, which redesigned the firms salary and incentive schemes. This migrated the company to a single incentive scheme. Previously each group had had their own. Ashlands CEO and Board Chairman, Jim OBrien, was introduced to the change leadership tools, and he used them to identify the champions within the company. Working collaboratively with HR and Communications he developed a strategy to target the change sponsors. â€Å"It went incredibly well†, said Dwight before adding that it was â€Å"fraught with potential landmines and we missed most of them, so Jim, our CEO, became an advocate for change competency.† They also adopted a change management methodology and 150 people attended a workshop. The companys distribution managers and projects leaders, upon participating in the workshops, thought that they had at last struck on what change was all about. Subsequently this marked a change in Ashlands deployment strategy. There was no longer a requirement to apply change management to one project at a time. An enterprise-wide approach was sanctioned by OBrien instead, and he selected Hank Waters to be the Ashland Enterprise Change Management Executive sponsor. Dwight King and Hank Waters then set about creating an organisational structure and identified key players within the ECM Deployment Team. The ECM Deployment Team was created in May 2006, and it began to implement the change management programme across the company from this point. While Hank Waters was at its leader, the team also included Pam Yost, Carol Chistobek, Jerry Prochko, Lisa Ireland, Mark Lambeth, Stacy Dunbar and Vondar Melton. An ECM Steering Committee was also formed to provide oversight for the ECM Deployment team, and it became an important catalyst for driving change further into the organisation. Two members of the team also undertook a course to become change management trainers in a change management methodology. The Steering Committee included heads of HR, Corporate Communications, IT, EHS and two business unit leaders. Its purpose was to provide direction to the change management programme. Together they achieved substantial change between 2003 and 2008, and the company made significantly more inroads than it had done previously to achieve their vision to construct a platform for growth. This exercise was repeated across the globe, and it was helped when a former business unit head and a member of the ECM steering committee, Peter Rijneveldshoek, became president of Ashland Europe. He requested that all members of the 200 plus European management team attend change management training in preparation for the SAP implementation. Dwight says that the company lost momentum at one point due to moving a key executive from change management deployment over to Ashlands Waters division, but the aim was to make change part of the organisations DNA. Therefore European project leaders were also required to undergo change management training. However, this was more embedded in the US more than in Europe. The training also occurred with project managers in China. In April 2007 a series of assessments were conducted, and there were also a number of professional development sessions held with the 12 members of the Operating Committee and the CEO. The aim of the assessments was to help the senior executives to understand the true meaning behind sponsorship of change, and it gave them an insight into how they were fulfilling their roles. Coaching sessions followed these ones, and sponsorship development roadmaps were created to enable the leadership team to develop their skills as sponsors of the change management programme. The project was deemed to be successful with 95% of the participants in a survey about the change management programme reporting that the training and tools helped them to provide support for their employees during the SAP EMEA implementation. An online training course was also provided, and 331 employees took part in it. Again 96% agreed strongly or just agreed that the course had been worth the time it took to take it. However, at one point it was felt that the ECM team required another 6-12 months to ensure that 90% of the organisation would be more change-ready. Problems arose due to members of the team being moved to more permanent roles within other parts of the organisation. Nevertheless, change became more part of Ashlands dictionary than it was previously, and more awareness of what change means was created. TASK: You are a change management consultant whose been asked to come into Ashland to assess the companys change programmes. Critically analyse and evaluate the success of the programme mentioned in the case study, consider other approaches that the firm could have taken, and think about what recommendations for change youd make for 2011 onwards based on the your knowledge of the companys history and previous change management efforts. Use the information contained in the case study, plus further primary and secondary research to form your assessment of Ashlands future strategic direction and explain how it will need to adopt new change management programmes. Consider all of the aspects of Managing and Leading Change that were discussed in your lectures, including the theoretical models and approaches to managing, leading and implementing change within an organisation. Compare your approach to the one taken by Ashland between 2003 and 2008, and explain how you would measure the success of your change management programme. For example, which metrics should Ashland be using to assess the success of its change programmes?

PBGC Company Profile Essay

PBGC is an abbreviation of a Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation. The purpose of this federal corporation is to protect American’s pension. Its mission is related to protection: Forty four million American workers retirement income is currently being protected in more than 30000 benefit pension plans of private single-employer and multiemployer. Its formation is the result of an act of 1974 by the name Employee Retirement Income Security Act. It has the following objectives: First It helps private-sector define benefit pension plans to be continued and remain well maintained. Second is to provide pension benefits payment time to time, without any interruption. Its third objective is to keep minimum pension insurance premiums. The defined benefit pension plan gives pension on a monthly basis to the retirees but the pension amount is depended upon the salary and the year of services the retirees have rendered. The corporation does not only give monthly payments to retirees up to the guaranteed maximum but also the multiemployer plans participants and one who have not retired yet get financial assistance from it. General Tax Revenues don’t give any kind of fund to this corporation. Insurance premiums financed the operations of this federal corporation which was being set by Congress. Insurance premium is being paid by the sponsors defined for each benefit plan that are basically employers. The recoveries are being made from the companies which would be responsible for the plans in the past. Earnings come from investments for this corporation. According to the plan ended in 2008, workers will get $4,312. 50 monthly when they will get retire at the age of 65. It serves the range of customer’s e. g. general public, media and so on. Board of directors including the Secretaries of Labor (Chair), Commerce and the Treasury guided the operations of PBGC. The two highest priorities of this administration is to reform the defined benefit pension system and bring improvement in retirement security. It contributed in the development of Pension Protection Act of 2006. Since PBGC has worked over the last 33 years for the protection plan of participant’s interests and also to support private pension system’s growth; millions of American workers can now think about secured retirement along with their families. Both the benefit plan and the guarantee by PBGC have made a difference in the lives of the diligent Americans. Annually about $4 million is being given by this corporation to 44 million Americans. The development of the 2006 act not only improved the status of funding of many defined benefit plans but also pension system is being strengthened. Competitive advantage: The corporation has been very effective throughout in managing change over the past few years,’ pension insurance programs have faced many unexpected challenges. The corporation also won an award of managing its work force superbly in this changing business environment. The executive director said: â€Å"We are pleased to be recognized for having the right people, processes and systems in place to manage a doubling of our customer base with no diminution in the quality of our customer service. † (www. pbgc. gov,2008). It was being a first federal agency which got the full certification for its executive evaluation system. It got plenty of awards presented in magazines. These are as under: General Excellence, Service, Competitive Advantage, Global Outlook, Innovation, Managing Change, Financial Impact, Partnership, Ethical Practice and Vision. Weaknesses of PBGC: Weaknesses of PBGC’s certification and accreditation (C&A): This would impact the accuracy and completion of information which would affect the credibility of the corporation. It also affects the capability of the corporation to take and manage risks. It compromises agency’s personnel and assets too. There should be an effective C&A system to assure security of assets, personnel and operations and that could assure that the corporation is capable enough to meet its functional requirements. The National Institute of Standards and Technology Special Publication 800-37, Accreditation of Federal Information Systems and Guide for the Security Certification provides the framework under 2002 act named as the Federal Information Security Management Act, Public Law 107-347, for how C&A program of this corporation should be implemented. Inadequate security policy and plan: The security policy and plan of the current information of PBGC are not according to the guidance provided by National Institute of Standards and Technology Special (NIST) under Federal Information Security Management Act. NIST has developed guidance and standards. It also includes minimum requirement to provide sufficient security of information for all agency assets and operations Change in organizational structure: In 2006 the reorganization of the OIT i. e. ffice of information technology had badly affected the Information System Security Officer’s ability to ensure appropriate operational security for PBGC’s information system. It affected the clarity for officer in terms of his responsibilities and accountability. It made it hard for the officer to establish security standards and procedures. Internal control weaknesses: High risk is being involved in the PBGC’s single-employer pension insurance program. The program had an accumulated deficit of $5. 4 billion in 2003 which was the largest one in history of the corporation. Under funding also increased dramatically in private pension system. The deficit was due to the following reasons: bankrupt firm’s under funded pension plans were ceased, there was a drawback in funding rules, stock market and interest rates decline, companies went global and economy is turned into knowledge based economy. The company had taken steps to improve the internal control for premiums. This is being done for two reasons. First Safeguard of assets: controls must be establish to ensure that cost and obligation are according to the law applicable and assets are safeguarded against any loss or related factors. Second reason is Financial Reporting: it is to ensure that proper reporting is being done of all the revenues and expenditures so that documentation and reports can be made and are accurate. Data Quality Weaknesses: Incorrect data entry, adjustments, and system-generated balances generate errors. Because of the data quality issue, the corporation is unable to ensure the accuracy and completeness of premium data by utilizing Past Due Filing Notices and Statements of Account. The 1st one used to notify plans which had not yet submitted premium filings and 2nd one is used to ensure that underpaid/overpaid premiums from a plan sponsor could be sort out effectively. During auditing it was being noticed that these two tools are not being used timely as it requires significant resources before mailing. Due to this, premiums could not be collected and errors could not be detected. Additionally policies and procedures have not been documented, communicated, or implemented throughout PBGC which is related to the premium accounting cycle. www. pbgc. gov,2008). Business Strategy: The new investment strategy is being formulated to balance risk and return and to improve chances of reaching full funding over the long run. According to this strategy diversified set of fixed-income investments and diversified equity investments both will be given 45% of its assets each and 10% will be given to alternative investment. Financial Information: A deficit of $18. 1 billion was being posted by insurance program for single-employer pension plans in fiscal year 2006. Due to the airline relief provisions in the Pension Protection Act, the corporation managed to reduce its probable liabilities. This led to a $4. 7 billion net improvement. It announces maximum insurance benefit for 2009. The amount would be higher for those who retire later and vise versa. The corporation had a peak year in 2000 when they had a surplus of $10 billion almost which was followed by surplus of $8 billion in 2001. The corporation got the calls in order to stop charging premiums. It got around $9 billion claims in 2002. The claims were because of airline and steel industry. (www. soa. org, n. d. ).

Realization from the film Muriel’s Wedding

Muriel’s wedding is a tragic-comedy film written and directed by P.J Hogan. This Australian film conveys various aspects related with change.   The main concepts of change seen from this movie are change in perspective and in attitude within the persona, ensuing from the understanding of whom you are and how to get there. Muriel's wedding reveals these concepts through Muriel's discovery of herself, and realizing that real life still continue to possess different trials that needs be overcome in order to achieve real growth. Muriel Heslop, a hopeless romantic, overweight girl who lives in Porpoise Spit, Australia, with her parents and four siblings. Muriel lives her life in the fantasy world of Abba song and dreaming about getting married. She thinks that getting married is the best way for her to find the perfect happiness. Muriel's character is not that positive. She has a low self-esteem and she looks herself as useless being. She lies, she steals and even tries to change her own identity, but in the end, she realized that all the things she had done would not give her the happiness her looking for. Muriel life in Porpoise Spit is miserable. Her relationship to her family is quite undesirable. Bill Heslop, Muriel’s father, is a corrupt politician who is completely despicable man. He always tries to impress people with his connection and still manage to find his time to degrade his family. His slogan â€Å"You Can't Stop Progress† but he manages to stop the progress of everyone in his family, by labeling them as useless and embarrassment, except for Muriel. On the other side, Betty, Muriel’ mother, a painstakingly frightened woman who is treated by her children l and husband like a slave. Like Muriel, her mother was also arrested for stealing. Betty looked to be very lonely and unattached to reality herself because she gets all the blame from Muriel’s father for Muriel stealing their money. Betty died, a speculated suicide, after Muriel’s father wants to have a divorce to live with someone he is having an affair. Both Muriel and her mother appeared to have a lot in common as far as the ability to separate their selves from reality. Another major character in the film was Rhoda, an old friend of Muriel from school that she meets on the trip. They both to get along with each other, then, Muriel realized that now she has more confident in herself and found someone who can call her a real friend. Rhoda has her own problem, she has a cancer and confined on a wheelchair and having her own crisis identity. Although Muriel and Rhoda are always having fun, still Muriel is unhappy because she really thinks that getting married will give her the prefect happiness. So, with the help of Rhoda, Muriel change her identity by changing her name to Mariel. Then, eventually, she got married to an Olympic swimmer who only needs to have an Australian passport. Muriel think that she got the best option because she thinks that she’s hitting a bird in one stone, living in her fantasy of being a bride and wife and at the same time getting money to pay her father back. This perception of Muriel is like a â€Å"falsification of view†; that being a wife is all that she needs because her parents will also be happy, and at the same time, she can live her friend. But when Muriel’s mother died, she came into realization that everything she’ve done really doesn’t give her the happiness she is looking for. She also realized that she never loved her husband at all. She wants to stop lying. She don’t want to â€Å"Mariel† anymore which she created when she was in Sydney. She ended up finding again her happiness in Sydney by helping her friend, Rhoda. She too helped her father realize the mistakes he had made with them. All these she did through discovering her identity (happiness). She no longer needed to be â€Å"Mariel†, Muriel found herself, Muriel. She was always there inside herself not knowing she was inside because she was just too busy looking inside of her fantasy world. Reference: Ebert, Roger.Muriel’s Wedding.March,1995. http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19950317/REVIEWS/503170304/1023   

Cell Permeability essays

Cell Permeability essays Most cells are freely permeable to water that diffuses through aquaporins (water channels) in the selectively permeable plasma membrane. This movement of water is termed osmosis and occurs in response to an osmotic pressure gradient across the cell membrane. The osmolality of a solution is the total concentration of particles of solute, measured by the number of osmotically active particles per kg-1 of water (Boron A solution with a higher osmolarity is hyperosmotic, and one with lower osmolarity is described as being hypoosmotic. The tonicity of a solution describes the effect of that solution on the volume of the cells suspended in it, and is sometimes referred to as the effective osmolality (Boron RBC's placed in a hypertonic solution will lose water, and shrink. This is termed crenation, where the shape of the RBC becomes shrivelled and spikey in appearance (Tortora and Derrickson, 2009). If the RBCs are placed in hypotonic solution, they swell until they are spherical in shape. Further swelling will cause rupture of th...

Summary of the Medea Tragedy by Euripides

Summary of the Medea Tragedy by Euripides The plot of the Greek poet Euripides Medea tragedy is convoluted and messy, rather like its antihero, Medea. It was first performed at the Dionysian Festival in 431 BCE, where it famously won third (last) prize against entries by Sophocles and Euphorion. In the opening scene, the nurse/narrator tells us that Medea and Jason have lived together for some time as husband and wife in Corinth, but theirs is a troubled union. Jason and Medea met at Colchis, where King Pelias had sent him to capture the magical golden fleece from Medeas father King Aaetes. Medea saw and fell in love with the handsome young hero, and so, despite her fathers desire to retain possession of the precious object, helped Jason to escape. The couple fled first Medeas Colchis, and then after Medea was instrumental in the death of King Pelias at Iolcos, fled that region, finally arriving at Corinth. Medea Is Out, Glauce Is In At the opening of the play, Medea and Jason are already the parents of two children during their life together, but their domestic arrangement is about to end. Jason and his father-in-law-to-be, Creon, tell Medea that she and her children must leave the country so that Jason may marry Creons daughter Glauce in peace. Medea is blamed for her own fate and told that if she hadnt behaved like a jealous, possessive woman, she could have remained in Corinth. Medea asks for and is granted one days reprieve, but King Creon is fearful, and rightly so. During that one days time, Medea confronts Jason. He retaliates, blaming Medeas banishment on her own temper. Medea reminds Jason of what she has sacrificed for him and what evil she has done on his behalf. She reminds him that since she is from Colchis and is, therefore, a foreigner in Greece and without a Greek mate, she will not be welcome anywhere else. Jason tells Medea that he has given her enough already, but that he will recommend her to the care of his friends (and he has many as witnessed by the gathering of the Argonauts). Jasons Friends and Medeas Family Jasons friends need not be bothered because as it turns out Aegeus of Athens arrives and agrees that Medea may find refuge with him. With her future assured, Medea turns to other matters. Medea is a witch. Jason knows this, as do Creon and Glauce, but Medea seems appeased. She presents a wedding gift to Glauce of a dress and crown, and Glauce accepts them. The theme of poisoned clothing should be familiar to those who know of  the death of Hercules. When Glauce puts on the robe it burns her flesh. Unlike Hercules, she immediately dies. Creon dies, too, trying to help his daughter. Although thus far, Medeas motives and reactions seem at least understandable, then Medea does the unspeakable. She slaughters her own two children. Her revenge comes when she witnesses Jasons horror as she flies off to Athens in the chariot of the sun god Helios (Hyperion), her ancestor.

Revolutionary Leadership in Russian Revolution and the Arab Spring Essay

Revolutionary Leadership in Russian Revolution and the Arab Spring - Essay Example To start with, the general complexity of the given cases is the reason for drawing on their similarities and differences. In fact, it is not right to comprehend all the three revolutions in Egypt, Libya, and Tunisia as a general phenomenon. Moreover, it is hard to comprehend an overall process of the Russian revolution in a sketch too. Thus, it is necessary to determine the key leadership and the starting conditions of these four countries in order to provide any comparison between them. On the one hand, Anderson (2011) believes that Arab countries are different among all in terms of their economic ground and social fabric. In other words, by referring to the Arab Spring countries we consider three different in their internal environment states (Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya). For instance, the main forces for change in Tunisia were the local trade union (UGTT), lawyers, and journalists; but in Egypt, the revolution was headed by linked to the political opposition the April 6 Movement. H ence, the leadership of the Arab Spring is not the same not only in terms of concrete personalities but also in the social background of these forces. Furthermore, the key problems that encouraged these countries to change are also not the same. In the days prevailing the revolution, Tunisia was a tourist-oriented and powerful. In fact, the revolution in this country emerged as a response to the way â€Å"the Ben Ali family plundered the economy and repressed all autonomous attempts at political expressions†.

Ecological Design A strategy for business practice Dissertation - 1

Ecological Design A strategy for business practice - Dissertation Example Development of an eco design through research and subsequently incorporating the same in a business operation is the challenge faced by most companies. This general factors influencing eco design, the areas of change where eco design is applicable, the methods adopted by companies in introducing products and the manner in which an eco design is integrated with business operations form a part of this dissertation. Eco-Design is the design and development of products that are both environment friendly and economically viable. The word derives its origins from the concept of a synergy between design, economy and ecology. (Miriam Borchardt, Leonel A.C.Poltosi, Miguel A Sellito and Gianfraco M.Pereira, 2009) A design which is able to satisfy all three requirements in an effective manner is said to be a successful eco-designed product. With the world globalising at a fast rate there has been a rapid increase in the both the demand and consumption of goods. New players emerging and competin g in the global market, has put a severe strain on the available natural resources and the idea of creating a environment friendly product has been relegated to the background. The three basic issues that an eco-design addresses are (1) The new age customer is getting more information regarding the dangers of environment pollution. He is thus getting more informed regarding the choices he can make while selecting a product. Thus he is able to demand products that are safe and environment friendly which leads to a direct pressure.