Life at a Medieval University Essay Example for Free

Life at a Medieval University Essay Life at a medieval university for clerics was in many regards similar to our present day college experience. When college was in session, life was basically split into two categories; life in the books, and life outside the books if you will. Scholars needed to focus their attention to the tasks at hand during learning hours. As we know today, the more time you spend studying, the better grades you’ll achieve. On the other hand, scholars needed a release from the daily grind of constant academic involvement. This may have included some popular pastimes such as drinking, gambling, and wreaking havoc downtown (nothing a modern student would do). The scholars experienced many of the problems that modern day collegians deal with as well. Some of these issues included finding the college that fits you best, shortages of funds, arguments with local residents, feuds with fellow clerics, and finding the path that would be fulfilling to them in their lives. There were only a few major differences being a life centered on religion and discussions based on theology, the fact that only males were accepted to study and the clothing that scholars wore. All in all, being at a university was for the betterment of the individual. Students back then had a similar motivation to go to school. By completing university study, you would achieve a higher status in society and live a better life. Another was to get out of a home town to see what else the world had to offer. College is the best time to explore because you’re housing and food are all accounted for. Wandering scholars took best advantage of this by traveling to different universities and getting a diverse education. One reason not many people went to school was because most were not privileged at this time (the literacy rate was very poor). Academic life was structured fairly well. Rules and rights were clearly laid out by the institution itself. Students were protected from harm by any member of the faculty, as they should be. In the â€Å"Royal Privileges Granted to the University of Paris by the King of France,† it is stated that â€Å"†¦neither our provost nor our judges shall lay hands on a student for any offence whatever; nor shall they place him in our prison, unless such a crime is committed by the student that he ought be arrested. † The article goes on to talk about how under the circumstances that the scholar is found to have committed a crime, he be handed over to an actual judge for further investigation. This shows that the university has governing powers within itself to a certain extent. If an encroachment can be resolved without going to the local or state government authorities, the scholar’s image can be protected. Even today we have University Police on campus who held regulate behavior on campuses, but do not have jurisdiction outside of the college campus. Clothing was another major aspect of scholarly life. Clerics wore long cloaks with nothing fancy that would make them stand out. Master teachers wore cloaks with the addition of a white stole. The stole was used to show status and authority over the rest of the student body. This seems to hint to the fact that all the scholars were on a level field of play, and it distinguished them from the rest of society. Typically our graduates of today’s colleges and universities adorn the traditional gowns when they receive their diploma. On a side note, I attended a private religious elementary school which enforced a policy of uniforms (shirt and tie for the guys, skirts for the girls). I believe that by wearing the same clothing as fellow students, people aren’t so concerned with what each other is wearing, and focus on learning. Religion played a major factor in medieval universities. As in my elementary experience of mass being part of the weekly routine, medieval universities had a major emphasis on religion. Robert de Sorbon tells us in his regulations that religious holidays will be followed strictly in the academic life. No meat would be allowed to be consumed on Advent and other days designated by the church. If you were at a university at this time, you would follow the religious standards, just as I could never get out of going to Friday mass at HGA. Nowadays, religion is a touchy topic. It is left to the discretion of the individual whether or not he or she wants to follow the practices and how closely. Church and state are now separated as to avoid major conflicts. Peter Abelard questions the theological teachings of medieval universities and is criticized for it. He says â€Å"Is God one, or no? † At this time scriptures were not to be questioned and were considered to be true. As we know now, science has become a major source of answers in society. Anyway, Abelard brings a whole new dimension to the table when he questions god’s existence and some of the things that the church stands for. The whole basis is to use logic and reason to ponder things in a philosophical fashion. This faith vs. reason debate involved Abelard and others who felt that god was in a persons being, or heart. Academia took up most of the students daily and weekly lives. Scholars took full advantage of down time to relax and enjoy themselves. Social life was the second major aspect of a cleric’s university experience. As we know, the student body greatly impacts the surrounding town’s economy; however social issues arise as well. When students and townspeople are in the same atmosphere, and drinking, fights are bound to break lose. These battles came to be known as â€Å"town and gown† ordeals. These were actually small wars where people would be killed! As many as three thousand students armed with weapons would flood the streets and begin fighting with townspeople, also armed with weapons. Students were also held fairly high in terms of their rights. This is what fueled most of the battles. The fact that a scholar was in progress of obtaining a degree made many seem untouchable, after all, they were going to make the world a better place with their elevated knowledge. Students were warned ahead of time by their proctors that there was a tension between the people of the town and the student body. Heavy drinking and gambling occurred frequently and poems were written as evidence. This served as a social release where students could let lose for awhile. Even today student go to the bars downtown and mix with the locals. There are rarely any incidents of deaths or injuries because of it though. The money generated by pizza shops, bars, taxi services and businesses due to the student influx is what keeps them afloat. On a lighter note, clerics needed some of the same things that modern students need. Money was a big necessity among students as it is today. In a letter home one student tells his sponsor that he is working very hard in school, and studying often, but he needs some money to pay for food, rent and other â€Å"unspecified† things (possibly beer money?). The way he words his letter makes it sound like he will not be able to go on learning without the timely delivery of some funds. The sponsor’s response shows that he knows the truth behind what the student has said. It humors me how students today do the same thing through emails and phone calls home. â€Å"I’m working so very hard in school, but the weekend is coming † Its all part of growing up and learning responsibility. In the end, life at a medieval university was not that much different from today’s experience. The focus on religion was very important, but reason came into play as well. Scholars were taught to question everything in order to get to the roots of a topic. Over time, there was a major shift from the theological answers to the scientific explanations of today. We test things in science with facts to find if they are true instead of looking toward God and scripture. As in life, there is a time for work and a time for play. We go to college because we know it is good for us, plus it gives us a little extra time in our lives to figure out what we want to be.

Development of the Boeing-797

Development of the Boeing-797 Boeing-797 1.0 Introduction: Boeing is the worlds largest manufacturer of commercial airplanes and military aircraft and worlds leading aerospace company. Boeing operates the space shuttle and international space station for his major client National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Customers of Boeing spread around the world more than in 90 countries. Its head quarter is in Chicago, it employs more than 157000 employees across the United States and in 70 countries. Boeing has made a commercial plane like 767, 777, and his recent successful plane 787 which create history in getting the maximum orders from the customer. Since the late 1990s, the rivalry between The Boeing Company (Boeing) and the European consortium Airbus Industries (Airbus) has been intense. Recently Airbus mounted a direct challenge to Boeings dominance in the large aircraft category (the Boeing 747 Jumbo Jet) with the development of the Airbus A380, unveiled in January 2005. Boeing has only one competitive model in the form of the 787 when compared to Airbus A 380.But after 10-12 years again the need of new plane will emerge which will compete with the rivalrys modern Aircrafts. So for the future perspective Boeing has planned to go for a plane which will start a new era of Aircrafts with its latest blended wing technology, body of composite fiber material and 1000 passengers capacity and create a bench line in the aviation industry for the next generation future aircraft. The Boeing-797 is the double Decker plane which will help the Boeing to make their position much stronger in the aviation industry and capture the largest mar ket share for Boeing. 2.0 Project Roles and Responsibilities: Ø Stakeholders: Stakeholders are those persons who directly-indirectly influence the design of the project. They will provide project requirements and after completions they are the one who will reap the benefits of the project. Primary Stakeholders: Airlines around the world Secondary Stakeholders: Passengers, Crew of Airplane, Employees of Boeing, Government, and NASA (for its blended wing technology). Ø Contractors and Suppliers: Supplier: The organization which supplies parts or services to another organization known as supplier Contractor: People who provide his/her services to another entity according to the term and conditions prescribed in the contract. He/She is not a permanent employee of the organization and doesnt work regularly for the company. This project would require more than 100 contractors including major contractors and sub contractors. For detailed List of suppliers and contractors please see appendix no.2 Some Major Sub contractors: Rolls-Royce or GE aircraft engines which was hired to develop engines for the plane. Green Hills Software of Santa Barbara to write the operating system for the on-board flight-control computers. Astronautics Corp. of America to built instrumentation system. LMI AEROSPACE St. Charles, Mo. LMI supplies sheet-metal parts used on the wings, fuselage, and interior. KREISLER INDUSTRIAL Elmwood Park, N.J. to make fuel lines WESTERN FILTER GROUP Valencia, Calif supplies filtration equipment for the hydraulic-control lines. Honeywell for Navigation Package, Health Management System, and Flight control electronics. Kawasaki Heavy Industries for Main Landing Gear Wheel well. Liebherr Aerospace Toulouse for Environmental Control Systems Kaiser Electro precision (Rockwell Collins) for the pilot controls (i.e. wheel, column) Mitsubishi Heavy Industries a Japanese company for the wings manufacturing Ø Project Team: The project team is the combination of resources like analyst, designer, engineers etc. They can be part time or full time resources. Responsibility: Understand the allocated task Complete the allocated task within assigned budget, time and quality. Ø Project Manager The Project manager is the person who is responsible for the management of the project on the day-to-day basis. He/She ensures that resources are effectively allocated to the tasks through out the life cycle of project. He/she has to manage and monitor the progress of the project against the baseline of the project. According to the PMBOK, the project manager has four major areas of responsibilities: Identify the need for the project Establish achievable objectives Maintain the balance between Scope, Time and Cost. Understand and satisfy the persons involved in a project Ø Designer: Designer understands the business need and designs a solution which will meet the business need. His responsibility is to design model and framework with the help of required technology to achieve the optimum solution of the business need to the client. Customer: People who actually use the deliverable of the project. They help to define the business requirements. 3.0 Communication Plan: A communication plan is a document that defines: Information of what tasks need to finish. The ways in which those task can be finished. To whom the associated information will be addressed. Please see communication plan for Boeing-797 project in appendix no.5 4.0 Project Schedule: Project schedule shows the timing allocate to the work packages in the WBS and it shows the position and timing of milestones and specific events of the project (Lock, 2007) Schedule: Initiation phase 1.5 years Planning Phase 2.5 years Execution Phase 3 years Closeout Phase 1 year Total duration of the project 8 Years Milestones: Milestone is a schedule event which shows the completion of major activity in the project. There are seven major milestones establishes during the scheduling of execution phase: Ø Milestone 1: Concept Approval. Ø Milestone 2: Distribution of work packages. Ø Milestone 3: Completion of Major Assembly Ø Milestone 4: Completion of Power-On stage of aircraft. Ø Milestone 5: Completion of Wing-break test. Ø Milestone 6: Completion of Gauntlet test. Ø Milestone 7: Market Launch of Aircraft. Resource Loading: Resource loading is the process to assign a task to each employee of the working on the project by project manager. For the definition of the Power-On stage, Wing Break test, Gauntlet Test please refers Appendix no. 11 and for the dependencies of activities, resource loading please refers the Gantt chart of Boeing-797 in Appendix no. 4 5.0 Budget: Budget estimation is very important measure to control the cost through out the project life cycle against the estimated cost of the project (Turner, 1999). The estimated budget for the project is 8 billion pound. Approximate 50% of the total budget around  £4 billion is allocated for the research and development of the project. The estimated budget for the Planning and Execution phase is  £2.8 billion  £1 billion respectively. And estimated budget for the closeout phase is  £.2 billon. For the allocation of the budget during execution phase please refer Appendix no.8 6.0 Issues and Challenges at each phase of the project: Issues Challenges in Initiation Phase: Concept Approval: The concept approval is a big challenge for this kind of aircraft. It involves lots of research and development and so many changes in design until the concept get approval. Financial Aid: As this project involves lots of research and development it will need a continuous flow of money for the smooth and uninterrupted completion of this phase. Copyright issues: During RD stage due to the use of highly advanced technology there is chances of copyright issues of technology imposes by another competitor organization. Issues Challenges in Planning Phase: Resource Allocation: This is one of the major tasks involved in planning stage. Allocation of resources to the task need to be very accurate and prices because project cost and speed is depend on the efficiency of the resources used in the project. Efficient Project plan: Development of an effective project plan is a major challenge for the project manager. This is the document on which project success depend. The bad project plan can cause an overrun of the project schedule and cost. Issues Challenges in Execution phase: Supply Chain: Managing a supply chain is a major challenge of this project because delay in one sub assembly or important component from supplier could cause a delay of whole project. Major Assembly: completion of major assembly on time for the first prototype is challenge. Issues Challenges in Close out phase: Market Launch: Market launch of prototype on schedule is major challenge for an organization. As the orders of the product would have already received and the customer is waiting for the product the delay in launch of product could cause a cancellation of orders and damage to the image of the organization. Decommission: Successful decommission of such a big project is a challenge for project manager because decommission of project is very important task of this phase as it involves creation of important documents like closeout reports. These reports will help in same kind of future projects for referencing. If source of referencing is not correct or accurate then it may affect the future projects. 7.0 Project Environmental Appraisal: It is the systematic and comprehensive method to review the project in terms of environment, technical, social, and economic aspect to find out whether project will meet its objectives or not. SWOT Analysis: The SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) analysis is the analysis of factors that will the impact the effectiveness of the organization. Ø Strengths: Highly skilled trained engineers: Boeing has highly skilled and trained engineers to work on this project. The certified and highly experienced engineers and scientist are the strength of Boeing. Strong and efficient RD teams have been delivered many big and complicated projects in the past. Employees are enthusiastic about this project: The enthusiasm of employees toward this project is big strength of this project. This project provides a platform to the engineers and scientist to learn the new technologies. Specialized Crew Training: Boeing has the highly advanced training rooms and highly skilled trainers to train the teams of this project with the latest tool and technologies. A comparatively large scale use of composites material: The uses of composite materials make this plane lighter in weight, and help in less fuel consumption. Boeing has already used composite material in its recent aircraft so they have experience of using the composite material. Advanced Design and technologies: The expertise of Boeing in latest technology like fly by wire technology and blended wing technology ensure the success of the project. Boeing has already used fly by wire technology in its recent plane 787 successfully. This plane unique design accommodates 1000passengers without much increase in shape as compared to Airbus A380. Up front involvement with airlines and engineering: This project needs strong relations with the stakeholders and customers, which Boeing already has. The Boeing understands the requirements of each airline very well and regular communication with the airlines regarding their requirements help Boeing to plan their future planes. The regular updating in engineering field is one of the strength of Boeing which helps this project to become successful. Foundation for the future aircraft designed for long journeys: With the help of this plane the Boeing will start a new era of planes in the aviation field. The designed of this plane used as a milestone for the next generation future aircrafts which travel the long journey with the less fuel consumptions at higher speed. Ø Weakness: †¢ Big capital expenditures on manufacturing facilities and Training: To train the employees on specific high end technologies for this project requires a high class infrastructure training rooms. Also require a expensive tools and machinery help in manufacturing the plane. †¢ If the 797 failed, Boeing may have difficulty in obtaining money for future aircraft development: This project involves a large amount of money and the failure of this project could cause a big financial damage to the Boeing. In future project stakeholders might not get ready to invest on this kind of big projects. †¢ Extensive outsourcing strategy led to major delays: The use of innovative supply chain strategy of â€Å"buying more, make less† increase a dependency on the suppliers. The delay of major sub assembly could lead to a delay in major assembly. These delays affect the planned schedule and could incur an extra cost. †¢ RD prices are high: The RD cost of this project is very high. Approximate 65%-70% of the total project cost is going to use in RD phase. The research and development of new technologies and materials for this plane require large amount of time and money. †¢ Matching with defined Timescale, deadlines and pressure: Delays in supply chain or any other department can cause a delay in production of plane which increases the pressure of completing the project within the specified timescale. Ø Opportunities: †¢ Projecting the airline and passengers needs: This project is the opportunity to project the airline and passengers need and filling the holes of requirement in market not met by existing planes. This project attracts the customer due to its capability of meeting the requirements or needs of the user. †¢ Acquiring a long range market: By launch of this plane Boeing will able to acquire the aviation market for a long time as there is no another plane in the market which can compete with Boeings 797 plane. †¢ Market poised for growth: This project boost the market growth by strengthens the place of Boeing in market. †¢ Fulfill the need of change in aircraft market and get large market shares to Boeing: From a long time the need of change in aircrafts is emerging, this plane not only showing changes in its shape also in its design too. The changes can be seen in the use of technology and process used in the manufacturing of the plane. All these changes results into a unique plane which fulfill the need of customer and as there is no such kind of plane is available in the market it helps the boeing to get market shares. †¢ Global influences: Influence the world with the capability of Boeing in aircraft manufacturing. This project provides a platform where Boeing has an opportunity to show his capability to build such a unique plane with the use of high end technology. Ø Threat: Reaction of passengers of plane: Not sure how passengers would react on a plane which looks completely differently what they used to travel. It may time to adjust them with this design and understand the benefit of this design. Restriction of use at old airports: This plane face a problem of parking due to small size aircraft stands at old airports. Due to its size and requirement of modern tool and techniques for maintenance and repair this plane face problem at the old airports. Legal threat: The Legal threat from the competitors over technology or information issues is very common in such kind of big project. As sometime competitors try to slow down the speed of project or stop the project so that they can make they ready for the competition and speed up and modified their projects to compete with Boeing plane. Changes of Government policies: The changes in regulation and policies imposed by government like new environmental act, noise standards etc could lead to a delay or stop the project. Sometime change in policies and regulation also cause the change in design of the plane which incur the extra cost and time to the project. Lose of Key Staff to the competitive organization: There is a risk of lose of key staff working on the project to the competitive organization. This may slow down the project speed and progress, risk of leakage of sensitive and important information to the competitors. 8.0 Investment Appraisal for Boeing-797 NPV of this project is positive and IRR of this project is more than the standard Rate of interest or Weighted Average Capital Cost (WACC) of company. Suggestion: As the value of calculated IRR is more than the standard Rate of interest, NPV is positive and early returns of the investment shows that project is favorable and organization must take for a organizations future growth and benefit. 9.0 Procurement Plan: Procurement Plan is the document which provides information regarding the purchasing of goods and services, criteria to choose the supplier, type of contract, procedure to manage the suppliers. The Boeing procurement plan governs the purchase of the material in right quantity of right quality at right time and at right price from the right sources. All procurement actions follow the all applicable laws, regulations and contractual obligations. All suppliers and their representatives are treated fairly and impartially. For faster and effective procurement Boeing used an e-procurement technique known as Exostar. This website provides a platform for Boeing to share the information, the technology and help to maintain an effective communication with contractors and suppliers. Exostar is a online aerospace and defense trading exchange and its co-founded by Boeing with other aerospace and defense equipments leading manufacturers like BAE Systems, Lockheed Martin Corp., Raytheon Co. and Rolls Royce. Following are the important procurement steps followed by Boeing during different phase of the project life cycle: I) Initiation Phase: Requirement Step Requirement Step: In this step Boeing conducts a â€Å"make vs. buy† analysis, if company decides product (equipment, services, project resources, etc.) will be purchased, then company go to the Requisition Step. Company creates a statement of work, define the product specifications (e.g. design, performance, functional), and identifies major project milestones. II) Planning Phase: Solicitation Step Solicitation Step: This step includes receipt of proposals, negotiation with vendors, evaluation of the proposals and award of contract. III) Execution Phase: Contract Administration Contract Administration: In this step company manages the contract by working closely with vendors and by regular reviews to ensure that terms, conditions and requirement of the contract are met. IV) Closeout Phase: Closeout Closeout: In this step company receive the product and verify it with the contract requirements, if it is met the requirements then accept the product or service. And company makes final payment after ensuring that there are not any outstanding invoices. 10.0 Contract Strategy: The contract strategy determines the level of integration and complexity of design, construction and ongoing maintenance of the project, and it should support the prime objectives of the project in terms of risk allocation, delivery, incentives etc. There are a number of different contract strategies, but each company has its own specified contract strategies for the specific projects because one contract and its strategy will not be able to meet with the requirement of each project. The Boeing contract strategy emphasizes on the importance of competitive bidding as they believe its a very effective business practice. Before awarding a contract they consider the ability, capability, financial status, integrity, reliability, geographical conditions and performance, quality of product offered, delivery and overall relations with the customers of the potential supplier. 11.0 Administration of Contract: The purpose of the contract administration is to ensure that supplier/contractor delivering the product or services met with the requirement of contract. There are some important steps of contract administration: Interpret the specifications. Ensure the quality of the product or service. Manage the Administrative, Budget changes and contract modification if needed. Resolve the contract disputes. Terminate the contract if supplier or contractor failed to met the requirement of the contract. Manage the risk associated with the contract. The Boeing Company administers the contract with the help of different kind of forms, which contains all the conditions and regulations help to administer the contract successfully. For e.g.: To administer the purchase contract the Boeing has a Form D1 4305 1500 (Rev. 2/96). This form consist 46 terms and condition to review and administer the purchase contract. For further information of this form please refer Appendix no. 10 II) Boeings Contract Administration Form 12.0 Supply Chain Strategy Issues: Supply chain is the entire network of different entities like organization, resources, People etc to supply the end product to the final customer. Strategy: Design and Efficiency are not the only things about this new aircraft this project contains a production supply chain strategies which make it possible for Boeing to complete this aircraft in a record time. This kind of projects requires a very effective and efficient supply chain because the slightest delay at any point in supply chain can paralyze the production of the aircraft. For Boeing this new aircraft means the revamped supply chain. Traditionally Boeing used a strategy in which it is a main manufacturer and contracting with the thousand of suppliers for individual parts and systems later when parts and supplier reached to Boeing they labouredly assemble them into finished product. But for the 787 project they had used new supply chain strategies which includes major suppliers will design build the entire sections of the aircraft and later shipped them to the Boeing for the final assembly and testing i.e. â€Å"Making less, buying more†. In this way major portion of the aircraft will actually be built by Boeings global partners. To speed up the assembly Boeing need to achieve a whole new level of collaboration with key suppliers around the word. For effective Supply chain process Boeing used a internet trading exchange tool known as Exostar. All the suppliers need to register on the Exostar and direct procurement of design and part can be done on Exostar. Exostar is an e-tool which ensures that all the partners and suppliers of the project were in close communication about every aspect of Production, logistics, and design. For effective supply chain process the visibility of updated and latest data from Boeing to the required suppliers is very important. It helps suppliers to ensure that they are adhered to the production plan. On the Exostar the supplier can view the information regarding the engineering changes, production delays, part orders and the like. Whenever there is a specific major changes in the process or design suppliers came to know about it and do the changes within specified time without incurring extra cost to the project. With the help of Exostar the Boeing can have a better control of the whole supply chain. Exostar allows a Boeing to control and limit the flow of information to the tier1 or tier 2 suppliers. The Exostar work as an â€Å"Early warning system† it warns any disruption and error in a supply chain so that Boeing knows about the potential problem in advance to head off the impacts of those problems further along the chain. E.g.: If the supplier delivered an invoice through the Exostar with wrong unit price then Exostar identify the discrepancy between invoice and purchase order and send it back to the supplier. Issues and Challenges: The supply of the major sub assemblies from the different suppliers for the major assembly of the aircraft need to arrive on time and in precise order so that plane can roll out the assembly line on the schedule. Major risk involved in the supply chain is Schedule risk. The issues like delay in one major subassembly could cause delay in the production of the aircraft and increase and change in defined schedule. Some of the major issues are as follows: Design changes of the aircraft leads to the supply chain delays. Limited engineering resources inside the Boeing. Improper communication leads ambiguity between supplier and client. It could cause delay in supply of sub assemblies or parts. Some of the major challenges are as follows: Synchronizing thousand of suppliers and deliveries to build an aircraft. Assuring safe and on time deliveries of the sub assemblies from the supplier. Benefit of this strategy: Strategy focuses on making less buying more, driving the supply-chain complexity and supplier dependency. But with this strategy Boeing set out to do something revolutionary by tapping suppliers not only for parts, components and material but also innovation. And this helps Boeing to set out the new platform to market as soon as possible. It also help to reduced the business risk by reducing its dependence on its own operations like organized the labor in the production process. Some other benefits of this strategy are as follows: Control on spending the money. Performance Incentives and Delivery reliability. Focus on partnerships- Best practices, data exchange etc. Early problem detection, to implement control measure in advance. 13.0 Type of Contract: Boeing used a FFP (Firm Fixed Price) contract and they have their own specified designed contract forms based on FFP contract type. A firm-fixed-priced contract is a type of contract which made for a price that is not subject to pay any extra cost on the basis of contractors cost experience during performing the contract. This contract type places maximum risk to the contractor and full responsibility for all costs resulting profit or loss. It provides maximum incentive for the contractor to control the costs and perform the task effectively and imposes a minimum administrative burden upon contracting parties. 14.0 Type of Contract Form: Boeing does not have any traditional contract form. Boeing has different specified contract form, each contract form especially designed according to the product or goods. For procurement of goods or services for defense helicopter or for commercial plane they have different contract forms. Each contract form varies according to their product or services but all the contract forms are based on the prime contract i.e. â€Å"FFP Contract†. There is a sample contract form of Boeing is attached in Appendix no. 10, I) Boeings Procurement Contract Form for further information. 15.0 Legal Issues: Following Legal issues might arise during this project:  · Financial: The financial laws of any business are many in number and they varied from location to location. There are always new rules, regulation and taxes are imposes by government and they are changing regularly so its necessary for us to keep update with the latest tax laws and other financial regulation. This project involves large amount of money so its necessary for the Boeing to follow all the financial laws to protect themselves from any financial laws infringement which can cause an extra cost to the project.  · Contractual: This is the most common legal issue in any business. In this project where the suppliers and contractors are more than hundred in numbers the legal issues are very common. To minimize these issues it is necessary for both the parties involved in contract should read and understand the contract properly. * Advertising: Advertisings legal issues arise when a company says pretty much anything they want to in advertising to sell their product. These legal issues arise generally in small business where the product is small and cheap, and then it is easy to fool the public. But its not easy to do in the big projects like making of aircraft for the world renowned company because the big product like aircraft is not going to advertise on the television for the general consumers.  · Operations: The way company runs his business is one of the most important legal aspect need to be consider. Company must make sure that his business operations are governed by federal, state and local laws. In the organization there are so many laws of different department need to be considered during operation of the company or project like laws regarding human resources, tax reporting deadlines, and required insurance. The common saying â€Å"better safe than sorry† definitely applies to laws that govern the business of the organization because company needs to be extra careful as competitors are always ready to pick this kind of mistake or error so that they can highlight this issue and damage the brand image of company and fail the project. 16.0 Disputes between Stake holders and Competitors: Disputes: The dispute between stake holders will arise when there is disagreement between the stakeholders regarding their personal interest or when interest of one stakeholder is opposite to another stakeholder. If the dispute between stakeholders will not solve early then it may lead to the change in projects definition, scope and objectives. Mostly dispute between stakeholders resolved by any one of the form of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) method i.e. Arbitration, Mediation and Negotiation. Usage of ADR form depends on the complexity of the dispute. â€Å"Litigation† is the last option for the company to solve the dispute as it involves lots of money and time. Disputes between stakeholders can be reduced and solved by following methods: Improved communication: More attention need to be given to dispute management in the organization so that it helps to increase more open relationship with the stakeholders. Stronger relationships: The relationship between stakeholders will improve with the help of effective communication between the stakeholders. The stronger relationship helps to build a better understanding between the stakeholders. Encouragement of appropriate solution: Problem and issues should identify at early stage and dealt with appropriate and most satisfactory outcome for the stakeholders. Corporate culture: The culture of the organization should be flexible and solution oriented. And the management and the employees take the responsibility to solve the problem or issue at their level. Early ide

Honda: SWOT and PESTEL

Honda: SWOT and PESTEL Introduction of Business Environment Business Environment is individual and organization that exist outside the business and have influence direct and indirect to the business. Business Environment refers to all those internal and external factors which impact the functioning or performance of a firm and its decision making particularly strategies in the organisations. According to Gerald Bell: An organization external environment consists of those things outside an organization such as customers, competitors, government units, suppliers, financial firms and labour pools that are relevant to an organizations operations Thus, it can be said that environment as the set of external factors such as the economic factors, social factors, and government factors legal factors, political factors, which are uncontrollable in nature and affects the business decisions of organisation or company. Types of Business Environment: The business environment are divided into two ways. Micro Environment Macro Environment MICRO ENVIRONMENT The micro environment of business consists of the forces in the companys environment that affects the performance of the company. These forces are more closely linked with the business than the macro factors. According to Philip Kotler: The micro environment consists of the actors in the companys immediate environment that affects the performance of the company. These include the suppliers, marketing intermediaries, competitors, customers and the public. Micro environment factors are related Suppliers Competitors Public Labour Financiers Customers Macro environment: The macro environment of business includes activities which are uncontrollable and need proper attention on the part of a business enterprise. According to Hill and Jones The macro environment consists of the broader economic social, political, legal and technological setting within which the industry and the company are placed. Macro environment factors are related Political factor Economical factor Social factor Technological factor Environmental factor Legal factor Environmental factors internal to the firm classified SWOT as strengths and weaknesses, and external firm classified as opportunities or threats. Such an analysis of the strategic environment is referred to as a SWOT analysis. It is provides information that is helpful in firms resources and capabilities to the environment in which it operates. As such, it is helpful in strategy formulation and selection. Introduction of Company Hero Honda Motors Ltd. is an Indian manufacturer of motorcycles and scooters. Hero Honda is a joint Venture that began in 1984 between the Hero Group of India and Honda From Japan. It has been the worlds leading manufacturer of 2-wheeled motorized vehicles since 2001.During the 80s, Hero Honda became the first company in India to prove that it was promising to drive a vehicle without polluting the roads. The company introduced new age group motorcycles that set industry benchmarks for fuel saving and low emission. A legendary Fill it Shut it Forget it campaign captured the imagination of commuters across India, and Hero Honda sold millions of bikes on the commitment of better mileage. Hero Honda has developed at double digits since foundation; and today, every second motorcycle sold in the country is a Hero Honda. Every 30 seconds, someone in India buys Hero Hondas top -selling motorcycle Splendor. This celebratory season, the company sold half a million two wheelers in a single m onth-a feat supreme in global automotive history. Hero Honda has a massive network of sales and service network now over 3000 customer touch points. These touch points cover of dealerships, service stations and spare parts stockiest and authorized representatives of dealers which are located across different places. Hero Honda has a proper value system and hence it cares for its relationship with its customers. It has a unique CRM initiative i.e. Hero Honda Passport Program which is one of the key programs of this kind in the world. The program has not only helped Hero Honda understand its customers and deliver value at different price points, but has also created a reliable society of brand ambassadors. Vision The Hero Honda story began with a simple vision the vision of a transportable and an empowered India, powered by Hero Honda. This vision was driven by Hero Hondas commitment to customer, quality and excellence, and while doing so, maintaining the highest values of principles and societal responsibilities and they are believes that the fastest way to turn that dream into a reality is by outstanding focused on that vision. Mission Hero Hondas mission is to effort for synergy between technology, human resources and systems, to produce products and services that get together the performance, price and quality aspiration of its customers. At the same time maintain the highest standards of principles and social responsibilities. Strategy Hero Hondas key policy has been driven by innovation in every field of activity building a strong product portfolio across categories, exploring new markets, aggressively expanding the network and continuing to invest in brand building activities. Manufacturing Hero Honda bikes are manufactured across globally manufacturing facilities. Two of these are based at Gurgaon and Dharuhera which are located in the state of Haryana in northern India. Technology In 1980s Hero Honda company pioneered the introduction of fuel-efficient, environment friendly four-stroke motorcycles in the country. Today, Hero Honda continues to be technology pioneer. It became the first company to launch the Fuel Injection (FI) technology in Indian motorcycles, with the launch of the Glamour FI in June 2006. Products Hero Hondas product series includes variety of motorcycles that have set the industry standards across all the market segments. The company also started manufacturing scooter in 2006. Hero Honda offers large no. of products to wide variety of requirements across all the segments. Key milestone of HERO HONDA Year Event 1983 Joint partnership Agreement with Honda Motor Co. Ltd. Japan. 1984 Hero Honda Motors Ltd. Incorporated. 1985 First motorcycle CD 100 rolled out. 1987 100,000th motorcycle produced. 1989 New motorcycle model Sleek introduced. 1991 New model CD 100 SS introduced. 500,000th motorcycle produced. 1994 New motorcycle model Splendor introduced and 1,000,000th motorcycle produced. 1999 New motorcycle model CBZ introduced. 2000 4,000,000th motorcycle produced. Splendor stated World No. 1 largest selling model. Hero Honda Passport Programme CRM Programme launched 2001 New motorcycle model Passion introduced. One million productions in one year. 2002 New motorcycle models -Ambition and Dawn introduce. 2003 Become the first Indian Company to cross the growing 7 million sales and Splendor has emerged as the Worlds largest selling model for the third calendar year in a rank (2000, 2001, 2002) New model Karizma introduced. 2004 Hero Honda became the World No. 1 Company for the third consecutive year. 2005 Hero Honda is the World No. 1 for the 4th year in a row. 2006 Hero Honda is the World No. 1 for the 5th year in a row 15 million production milestone achieved. 2007 Hero Honda is the World No. 1 for the 6th year in a row New Splendor NXG launched. New Passion Plus launched. New model Hunk launched. 20 million production milestone achieved. 2008 New model Passion Pro launched. New CBZ Xtreme launched. 25 million production milestone achieved. CD Deluxe lauched with power start feature. New Glamour launched. 2009 Splendor completed 11 million production marker. New model Karizma ZMR launched. Silver jubilee celebrations. Hero Honda Business Environment (P)olitical Factors These refer to government policy such as the degree of intervention in the economy. Political decisions can impact on many critical areas for business such as the knowledge of the workforce, the health of and the quality of the infrastructure of the economy, such as Customer protection laws: These laws are designed to protect customers against unfair practices such as confusing descriptions of the product related auto mobile. Opposition laws: These are aimed at protecting small firms against bullying by larger firms and ensuring customers are not exploited by firms with monopoly power. Employment or labour laws: These cover areas such as discharge, working hours and minimum wages. Health and safety: These laws are aimed at ensure the workplace is as safe as is reasonably practical. They face issues such as training, reporting accidents and the appropriate provision of safety equipment. (E)conomic factors Economic Environment refers what is happening within the economy, for example; economic growth, interest rate, exchange rate, inflation rate, demand, wages rate etc. Marketers need to consider the trading economy in short term and long term. Economic factors have major impacts on how business operate and how to they make decisions. Hero Honda has been strongly committed not only to environmental management programmes but also express the increasingly inseparable balance between the economic concerns and the environmental and social issues faced by a business. A business must not grow at the expense of mankind and mans future but rather must provide mankind. (S)ocial factors Social factors include the demographic and cultural aspects of the external macro environment. These factors affect customer needs and the size of possible markets. Changes in social trends can contact on the demand for a firms products and the availability and willingness of individuals to work. Culture is the set of morals and attitudes that are approved by a group of people and transferred from one generation to another. Social factors include health awareness, population rate, age, importance on safety. Hero Honda auto mobile change various management strategies use different strategies related age, gender, categories in society (income of society). Hero Honda has been set up on 40 acres of land along the Delhi-Jaipur Highway. The Centre-complete with wide approach roads, clean water, and education facilities for both adults and children-now nurtures a vibrant, educated and healthy community. Hero Honda taken up by the Foundation includes: Raman Munjal Memorial Hospital Raman Munjal Sports Complex Vocational Training Centre Adult Literacy Mission Marriages of underprivileged girls Rural Health Care : We must do something for the society from whose land we generate our prosperity. A quote from Chairman of Hero Honda Motors Pvt.Ltd. (T)echnological factors Technological factors include environmental and natural aspects, such as Research Development activity, technology incentive. Technology has played a essential role in developing the transportation system. Technology has also positively affected the economic status of some countries. It is generally practical that the countries employing a high level technology is a well advanced state. It has increased productivity and has contributed actually in producing more quantity with quality. Some benefits of technology in production process are: Reducing the record wastage. fewer waiting time. Decreased over production. -Reduces avoidable activities of employees. Hero Honda committed at all levels to achieve high quality in anything they do, mainly in their products and services which will meet and exceed customers growing aspiration through- Innovation in products processes and services. Continuous improvement in our total quality management systems. Teamwork and responsibility. (E)nvironmental Factors Environmental factors include the weather and climate change. Changes in temperature can impact on many industries including agriculture, tourism and insurance. With major climate changes happening due to global warming and with larger environmental awareness this external factor is becoming a major issue for firms to consider. Hero Honda environmental awareness of our employees and dealers , while promoting their involvement in ensuring noise environmental management. Institutionalise resource conservation, in particular, in the areas of oil, water, electrical energy, paints and chemicals. fulfil with all applicable environmental legislation and also controlling their environmental discharges. (L)egal Environment factor Marketing decision is affected by developments in legal environment. This environment is related of different types laws, government policies. Sometimes these laws also create new opportunities for business. (Kotler, p 2003). Legal environment refers to what is happening with changes to legislation. Legal Environment impact resources, import export, taxation, employment etc. It is reflect the policy framework and the move towards of the Governmental structure of the country and ensure that every company is performance as per the legislative structure of the country. SWOT analysis of Hero Honda (S)trengths: Sales Increase: Hero Honda experienced great growth throughout its early days. By 2002 Hero Group had sold 86 million bicycles producing 16000 bicycles a day. Today Hero Honda has many different models of motorcycles available. It holds the most popular bike in the world by sales for Its Splendor model in last many years. b) Fuel efficiency: Over all fuel consumption by its products is less in compare to other brands product. Hero Honda able to give better mileage. Because of this Hero Honda splendor has magical sales record and the reason of mileage. c) Service : Hero Honda offers free services on all their two-wheelers. Customer avail all these service within the time period or kilo metre range. d) High financial performance: The Hero Honda financial information shows that it has strong financial background in terms of sales, profit and assets. Honda Motors Ltd. the worlds largest two-wheeler manufacturer, today reported 31% per cent growth in profit after tax at Rs 275 crore for the third quarter October-December of financial year 2007-08. (W)eaknesses: a) High maintenance: Some of the products of hero Honda like Karizma, CBZ, Hunk require high maintenance. Less promotion and Lack of recycling scrap: The promotions and of Hero Honda are very less to its competitors and they have problem of recycling scrap. c) Labour relations: In Hero Honda Company there is no labour organized and family member of employees. The majority of the production workers, who are hired through contractors, these benefits are out of reach. (O)pportunities: a) Good will of the company: With new launch Hero honda can be benefited at present market scenario like Karizma, CBZ, Hunk has huge attraction in the younger generation because of its style, look, and power at high speeds. (T)hreats: Technical aspect: Competitor bike like Bajaj pulsar and TVS apache are threat to Hero Honda product like Karizma, CBZ and Hunk in respect to fuel economy. So if they dont short out in the new launches and give something extra in its engineering performance it may affect in demand of this company product. Inflation: If inflation increases the cost of raw material used in production will go high and selling price of product may go high that may decrease demand of the two wheeler.

History of the Internet :: Expository Essays Research Papers

History of the Internet The internet has been a fast progressing technology. It is not quite known who exactly invented it because many people helped invent it. The development of the Internet began to progress very quickly after the invention of the satellite. The Russians put sputnik, the first satellite, into space and the US got scared. The cold war helped facilitate the internet because the US had to compete with other technologies being developed by Russia. Versions of the internet were around at the time (like in Britain), but the government wanted the Internet to be explored more because the US saw benefits of it for the military. In order to make a more effective way for military to communicate the US brought in some of the most brilliant people to improve and invent the Internet. Some intentions of researching the networking of computers was potential nuclear war. The government wanted a way that people could communicate and store information without it being destroyed by nuclear war. The scientis ts could not figure out a way for a medium of communication to not be harmed by nuclear explosion but the developers thought that the if the information was not centralized that it would not be able to be destroyed completely. The theory was if the information could be traveling at all times to different nodes and then in turn could not be destroyed by completely. The internet was created through out the 60s by the Department of Defense's Advanced Research Project Agency (ARPA). This team of inventors worked relentlessly to make a backbone of the internet that we have today. The internet started out very small but now it is huge. It first only networked a few nodes but now it can has been networked to several nodes including personal computers.   Ã‚  Ã‚   Scientists take advantage of this free system of sharing information because a scientist can access a powerful computer million miles away with little or no cost. Educators can bring the Internet into the classroom to research information that was inaccessible a decade ago. Mostly the internet is used to email and look at news.

Sex in Othello and Hamlet Essay -- Sex Gender Feminine Essays

Sex debases men. They begin to struggle when they feel they are losing control of their emotions in any way. For a woman to easily change the way a man feels or the way he acts just by being female and attractive is enough to drive men insane. William Shakespeare's plays, Othello and Hamlet, demonstrate on paper, on film, and in other art forms that female sexuality and beauty are a threat to patriarchal society and that they must be controlled. Showalter affirms this in her essay by quoting David Laverenze's essay, "The Woman in Hamlet." In this essay he asserts that, " Hamlet's disgust at the feminine passivity in himself translated into violent revulsion against women and into his brutal behavior toward Ophelia" (Showalter 222). As men begin to see feminine aspects within themselves they will go to great lengths to not only deny, but also control these undesirable changes. Shakespeare's two plays are a direct commentary of the male insecurity that exists within relationships. Shakespeare's message concerning the male preoccupation with masculinity and their resulting fear of feminine sexuality has been portrayed in film, photography, and drawings. The way the women are represented in each genre clearly demonstrates the power of female sexuality. Though separate in style, each artwork clearly shows how the men of the play see the women as sexual powerhouses. The other genres help to reinforce my analysis of the text. In film we can watch hamlet's facial expressions as he reacts to Ophelia's obvious pull over his emotions. Every picture is taken for a reason in photography. Through each frame we are able to analyze the split second of action the photographer intended to capture. Here we are able to see an emotion or movement w... ...he become and the deeper into his insecurity he falls. Shakespeare's plays, the movies of his plays, and representations of his women through art all work together to create this great social commentary on men in relationships. The plays are obviously extreme since every man who is in love does not kill his lover. The point of the extremity however, is to reveal the gap that may otherwise go unnoticed. Desdemona and Ophelia are far from role models for women. They die and we do not want that. Once again, however their cases are extreme. We learn from them that acting blind to your lover's issues is not what we should strive to achieve. Rather, we should work together to make our sexuality a less foreign object to men. The more comfortable they are with it, the less intimidating it will seem and the more enjoyable it will be for both participants in the relationship.

Atacama region border dispute between chile and bolivia

Atacama border conflict is one of the longest border conflicts in the world.   It was a border conflict between Chile and Bolivia in the 1800s and ended up with signing of the Peace Treaty between Chile and Bolivia in 1904 and Chile and Bolivia in 1929.At the end of the conflict, Chile annexed all the coastal strip of Bolivia and the southern tip of Peru.   At a point in the course of the conflict, Argentina was drawn into the conflict resulting to its annexation of Bolivian territory which as controlled by Chile.Even after the signing of the peace treaty, the conflict seems to be going on since Bolivia still claim to be granted the sovereign access to Pacific Ocean even after annexation of its costal strip.   Although the area as owned by Bolivia and Peru, Chile continued with mining mineral rights even after the signing of the treaty which as Bolivia list it entire coastal line making it landlocked country.The main cause of the conflict was the abundance of mineral in the Ata cama Desert. Atacama Desert is the driest desert on either with little human inhabitation. However, it is very rich in minerals especially sodium nitrate.This paper will review the Atacama Desert conflict. The paper will first review the geographical background of the Atacama Desert before going into details of the course of the conflict.   The paper will review the main factors that may have fueled the conflict, the course of the conflict and the results of the conflict.Geographical background of the regionThe region of conflict was lying in the Atacama Desert.   Atacama Desert it located in Chile and it covers more than one third of the northern side of Chile stretching for more than 1000 Km. It straddles the Southern border of the country with Peru.The desert is bound on its Westside by dry hills and mounts and on the pacific cost side extending eastward to the Andes Mountains (MundonAndino, 2009).   Atacama is about 13,000 feet high making it the highest and the coldest de sert in the world.The atacama is the direst place on earth.   It is very sterile since it is blocked from the getting moisture by the Andes Mountain and the coastal Chilean Coast Ranges.The center of the  Ã‚   desert has been referred by climatologist as the absolute desert on earth. As long as climatologists have recorded rainfall in the world, there is no rain that has been recorded in the central part of the desert.   However, some areas in the desert have recorded annual average rainfall between 0.6 and 2.1 mm leading to growth of sparsely distributed vegetations.In the area where no rainfall has been recorded, the only moisture in these areas comes from the dense fogs which are called camanchaca formed from the association of cold air and ocean currents which originate from the Antarctic regions.   Life in Atacama is one of the most complexes since this fog is harvested by both plants and animals alike.   The human beings living in Atacama harvest the fog and use the fog nets which capture the fogs and turn it to drinking water (Veblen and Kenneth 2000, p. 26).The landscape is the same as it meteorology.   The landscape consists of plateaus covered by lava flows and basins of salt.   From the image above, the conspicuous white area is a Salt Flat which is located few miles south of one of the small village in San Pedro which is regarded as the epicenter of the desert.Atacama is one of the sparsely population areas on earth.   However, there is an oasis at the middle of the desert which is elevated 200 meters where the village of San Pedro De Atacama lies.   Apparenlty this is a church which was constructed by Spanish conquerors around 1577 (Fernand 1984, p. 59)).Before the conquest by Spanish, the area was mainly inhabited by Atacameno tribe which is credited with the construction of the some fortified towns referred to as pucaras. With the coming of Spanish Empire, there was remarkable growth of cities and tow along the coast  Ã‚   wh ich were mainly due to growth of silver trade mined in Potosi and other mines around the desert.Archeological evidence also shows that San Pedro de Atacama could have been the center for Paleolithic civilizations. Other important mines which are located in the desert include Escondida mine and Chuquicamata mines.Despite the ragged and dry landscape, Atacama is very rich in minerals.   It is a rich source of copper and nitrates which has been the subject of conflict for along time.The whole desert is awash with abandoned nitrate mines. Apart from this, the desert has scientific importance as it is being used by scientists to study the possible survival tactics used by the inhabitants (Absolute Astronomy, 2009). Scientists have showed that the soil at the center of the Atacama Desert is like that in mass and the life in the desert could give important clues to possibility of life in mars.

Children and parents Essay

A new age man is a man that a man that believes in equality and shares all household chores with is partner exactly and contributes equally as much as the women. This is different from a house husband because this is a man who has had a complete role reversal and takes on the traditional role of a house wife and stays at home full time. We cannot generalise about role relationships across society because changes in role relationships have not occurred at the same pace or to the same extent through all sectors of society. Role relationships vary according to social class and ethnicity. Home based entertainment, for example DIY give spouses’ things in common which gives them a friendlier and more loving relationship. Contraception has allowed couples to have children later and also it means that a lot of couples choose to have smaller families or no children at all. This does not apply to some religions such as Catholics who do not believe in using contraception. Women can now plan when to start their families and to have children resulting in them planning them around their careers. Feminism is an approach that fights for the equal rights of women. This is a large factor in the changing equality in the home because more women demand to be treat as their partner’s equal. It has lead to the rejection of the housewife role. There is an increase in male unemployment more men have become more involved in domestic tasks. Jane Wheelock (1990) conducted research into this topic and found that men undertook a lot more housework and childcare while unemployed. One survey showed that mothers that also worked outside home had it worse because they still spend more hours on housework a week then they do at their paid place of work. On average these women spend 62 hours a week on house hold tasks were fathers who also worked only spent 23 hours on house work. Another survey shows that some traditional gender role are still being passed down to the younger generations( 1992-93) such as girls still taking more of a part in cooking, cleaning and child care but boys are doing more things for themselves like cleaning their own rooms, making beds and washing their own clothes. Sometimes sociologists say that social class and ethnicity change role relationships. It is suggested that working class families are more male dominated (patriarchal). Evidence proves that middle class conjugal relationships are more equal than working class ones but it is also said that working class fathers are more involved in childcare. It is believed that Asian families are usually based on unfair patriarchal relationships. Westwood and Bhachu (1988) challenge this idea arguing that images of the Asian family are usually based on prejudice and prejudgement. They point out that Asian families are in fact British families and are a strong source of resistance against the racism of British society. In reality there are ethnic differences between Asian people in Britain according to religion and social class, which makes it hard to generalise about the Asian family. Henriques and Slaugher talk about the patriarchal relationships between men and women. This means that the relationship is male dominated. They talk about the two different segregated roles. Relationships between children and parents have changed over time but it has always varied between working, middle and upper class families. Throughout the nineteenth century life chances varied a lot for different classes for children. A paid employee such as a nanny would often look after higher-class children. This would often separate their children from their parents and so it would be harder for them to develop a strong bond. Working class children on the other hand, especially boys would often have to start work very young. There was a wider range of jobs for boys were available but girls would often have to work in cotton factories. The hours would be long and the pay and conditions would often be unfair. Poverty prevented parents sending their children to school and sometimes they would only send their boys but keep the girls at home to teach them how to be a good housewife. Mothers would often have a close relationship with her daughter. People used to have children so they could send them out to work to earn money for the family. Sometimes parents thought that education just blocked this. Another reason why people used to have children was so they had someone to take care of them in old age. Factors that changed these relationships included the growth of the welfare state, which meant people no longer needed children to look after them in old age. Parents could no longer send children out to work at such a young age because of protective legislation, this meant that law including factory and mine acts stopped it. There was a growth of the meaning of childhood and they remained children for longer because of the state of education in 1870 meant you had to attend school. Children were given more attention by parents, media and toys invented a new childhood and children and parents spent more time together. Today the relationship is usually warmer and more caring than in the past. Children are seen as more important and taken a lot more seriously. There have been changing attitudes towards discipline and laws against hitting children in Scotland. It is now seen as wrong to hurt a child, if they do organisations (social services) get involved. There is more of an emphasis on freedom and children’s rights. Relationships are more children centred and because family sizes are smaller children get more attention. In 1976 a law was passed to say that the minimum age of leaving school was 16 and though a child can work before then the hours and law restricts times. This means that children are financially dependent on their families for long periods of time especially if they go on to further education. Children are fully dependent on their parents and this can sometimes bring stress and tension to the family. Not all relationships between child and parents have improved as sadly cruelty to children is still widespread and the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) estimate that around 600 children are intentionally harmed by their parents each year.