It 210 Week 3 Checkpoint Tax Calculation Essay Example for Free

It 210 Week 3 Checkpoint Tax Calculation Essay NetSalary = GrossSalary – BaseTax – (GrossSalary – BaseSalary * AddlTax) If GrossSalary 0.00 1,500.00 Then BaseTax = 0.00 BaseSalary = 0.00 AddlTax = (Gross Salary – BaseSalary) * 0. 15 End if If GrossSalary 1,500.00 3,000.00 Then BaseTax = 225.00 BaseSalary = 1,500.00 AddlTax = (Gross Salary – BaseSalary) * 0.16 End if If GrossSalary 3,000.00 5,000.00 Then BaseTax = 465.00 BaseSalary = 3,000.00 AddlTax = (Gross Salary – BaseSalary) * 0.18 End if If GrossSalary 5,000.00 8,000.00 Then BaseTax = 825.00 BaseSalary = 5,000.00 AddlTax = (Gross Salary – BaseSalary) * 0.20 End if If GrossSalary 8,000.00 15,000.00 Then BaseTax = 1,425.00 BaseSalary = 8,000.00 AddlTax = (Gross Salary – BaseSalary) * 0.25 End if If GrossSalary 15,000.00 Then BaseTax = 1,425.00 BaseSalary = 8,000.00 AddlTax = (Gross Salary – BaseSalary) * 0..25 End if GrossSalary – BaseTax – (GrossSalary – BaseSalary * AddlTax) End CaclulateNetSalary Module DisplayGrossSalaryBaseTaxAddlTaxNetSalary Module Print â€Å"Employee Gross Pay, Tax and Net Pay Breakdown† Print â€Å"Gross Salary† GrossSalary Print â€Å"Base Tax† BaseTax Print â€Å"Additional Tax† AddlTax Print â€Å"Net Salary† * NetSalary End DisplayGrossSalaryBaseTaxAddlTaxNetSalary Module Test Values Input Expected Output Comments Salary = 0.00 Tax = 0.00 Lowest salary in salary range 1 Salary = -1,000.00 Error Message Out of range condition Salary = 1,000.00 Tax = 150.00 Midrange salary in salary range 1 Salary= 1,499.99 Tax = 225.00 Highest salary in salary range 1 Salary = 1,500.00 Tax = 225.00 Lowest salary in salary range 2 Salary = 2,250.00 Tax = 345.00 Midrange salary in salary range 2 Salary = 2,999.99 Tax = 465.00 Highest salary in salary range 2 Salary = 3,000.00 Tax = 465.00 Lowest salary in salary range 3 Salary = 4,000.00 Tax = 645.00 Midrange salary in salary range 3 Salary = 4,999.99 Tax = 825.00 Highest salary in salary range 3 Salary = 5,000.00 Tax = 825.00 Lowest salary in salary range 4 Salary = 6,500.00 Tax = 1,095.00 Midrange salary in salary range 4 Salary = 7,999.99 Tax = 1,425.00 Highest salary in salary range 4 Salary = 8,000.00 Tax = 1,425.00 Lowest salary in salary range 5 Salary = 11,500.00 Tax = 2,300.00 Midrange salary in salary range 5 Salary = 14,999.99 Tax = 3,175.00 Highest salary in salary range 5 Salary = 15,000.00 Tax = 3,175.00 Salary that exceeds the highest salary in salary range 5 by 0.01 Salary = 100,000.00 Tax = 24,425.00 Salary that exceeds the highest salary in salary range 5

The Advantages And Disadvantages Of Colonialism

The Advantages And Disadvantages Of Colonialism The colonialism has a lot of advantages and disadvantages which will be explore in this essay but before going to that let know what colonialism is a lot about. Colonialism is the total control or governing influence of nation over a dependent country or people or condition of being colonial. The colonized countries were mostly Africans because of the way they lived and behave so the colonizers were using the excuse of them not civilized and religious. But the colonial masters aim was to exploit the colony economy and move them to their country making the colony depend on them. The disadvantages of colonialism is far more than its advantages, the main advantage is the civilization while the disadvantage is the economic dependent. But let talk of the advantages before its disadvantages. Advantages of Colonialism However, the advantages are the stop of killing twins especially among the Igbos and the reason behind the killing of them was the beliefs which says is against nature and inherently evil just because it rare occurrence. So when the colonial masters came it was seen as an act of early age practice, which needed to be stopped because, is in human. Also the equality among the men and women in a public opinion with education for everyone in Christian theology and academic field. In particular the education because is the best aspect of the colonialism, most of early age people were not educated, dress themselves with leaves hunt food in forest and so on. Why education is important part of colonialism is that it brings about civilization because when the people are educated they will definitely be civilize and the country too because they both work together. Also the newborn and toddler deaths that were dealt with because the death of young children and infants were seriously occurring a nd the Africans do not know the cause of them more or less prevent or cure it because of lack of education, so the coming of the colonizers help the Africans to solve the problem. Also, the way women were treated by sexism and violence was stopped, they were treated like property to the men, they were not allow to speak in public nor listen to their opinion and they were harass by the men. So when the colonial maters came they saw that as an act of immorality because both men and women are humans with equal rights and they stopped it too. Another advantage is the development from the colonizers such as infrastructure that is electricity, telecoms roads and water which impacted a lot to African people because all this were not in advanced in the country. And in the field of medicine is was very important because the infants death was cure through it, the African people now buy preserved food which are manufactured with development in agriculture, mining and manufacturing which stopped the hunting of food because they hunt before they can eat. All this happen with the help of modern farming methods and food security that were invented to the country. There was a lso development in politics bringing democracy system of government which is to make everyone vote and be voted for. There were trade opportunities making the African people to have access to external trade around the world which expose them to other ways of trading. There are advantages but some of the important ones were explored in the essay. Disadvantages of Colonialism Moreover, the disadvantage are far more than the advantages been through with the advantages let move on to the disadvantages. There was loss of culture because the colonial masters were trying to bring their ways of life, behave and culture making the African cultures to go down living their own ways. The African way was the loyalty to the royal rulers with members of parliament and followers among the ethnics groups but the coming of the colonial masters made them to have complete loss of culture. With that happening it brought about lack of respect for Africans traditions with submission to the colonizers ways and behavior. Another disadvantage is the lost of land which were forcefully collected from Africans with guns on their heads making them to have nothing on their own and some of them are with families to feed but for their lives they have to let go of the land which were given to the Europeans un Africa. On snatching those lands making them homeless and struggling to surviv e the colonial masters imposed tax on them which forced the Africa to work for some of the colonizers settling in Africa to enable them pay the taxes which made them loss ownership in general of their land. With that there were more and more settlers in Africa which was making them to be exposing to new diseases such as ablepsy, malarial fever, yellow fever, malnutrition and so on. Those diseases were also killing the Africans because they are yet to develop medically to know what those diseases are and to treat them. There was economic dependent; before the colonial masters came they were managing their economy and the recourses the way they came without having problem but when the colonizers came they started exploiting the recourses to their country. Furthermore, the Africas economy was very good but they do not exploit what they cannot use, knowing this by the colonial masters they decided to come and exploit using the excuse of not civilize and religious on doing that it makes the Africans to depend on them when the land is owned by them. There was also the dominant class that is the ones to rule them with the aid of the rulers and also spy on Africans to know whether they are doing what they are asked which made them called the natives savages that is uncivilized people. At that time the living conditions in Africa changed a lot with the forced culture imposed on them bringing their own ways making the people to be westernized that are dressing, clothing, behavior and act of doing everything in their ways. There was also slave trading; Africans were carried from their homes to the colonial masters country to go and work for them and also fight in wars for them which when they will come back they will only given recommendation but if it is their countrymen they were treating them like they fought actively than the Africans while they know it was not so. Also lack of moral compass that is not been concern with rules of right conduct within the determined directions by colonial masters and paying allegiance to them. Finally, some of this disadvantages are still in existing in Africa especially Nigeria because we are still paying the loyalty to the colonial masters. There are more disadvantages but the little of them was explored in the essay and as for the advantages it really has impacted a lot on African people. In medical field; the African people are trying their possible best to be like the colonizers, most of the diseases in Africa are from them such as measles, malaria and recently Hiv/Aids but both the colonizers and their colony are working on the treatment. In Nigeria colonialism ended when it got is independent which a lot has improved such areas are industries, mining, agriculture and so on but the first two are the one focused on making agriculture to go down which is not suppose to be so because Nigeria is a fertile land. So if agriculture is given attention too will also improve the economy of the country because there are both political and economical instability in the country s o the only way is to improve in more aspect of the economy and they should also be a nationalist in whole Africa to make it a better continent. The advantages and disadvantages of colonialism is a very good aspect of history because it made someone to know what happened in the past and what is still happening in the country.

Caesar and Cleopatras Affair at the Expense of Calphurnia :: Caesar Cleopatra Papers

Caesar and Cleopatra's Affair at the Expense of Calphurnia Abstract In the trailer to his 1934 film "Cleopatra", Cecil B. DeMille confidently suggests that the romance between the Queen of Egypt and Julius Caesar is one of history's grandest love affairs. Perhaps this statement is in a way true, but when buying into the tradition of this romance many disreputable elements of the affair are often overlooked. One such component of the romance that if looked upon with a critical eye can serve to lessen the grandeur of the affair is the ill treatment of Caesar's wife Calphurnia. However, audiences and artists alike often have little problem ignoring the plight of Calphurnia, and Caesar and Cleopatra are rarely ever referred to as adulterous individuals. Neglecting to remember how Calpurnia was virtually thrown to the wayside in the midst of Caesar and Cleopatra's extra-marital relationship is possibly a way of lessening the guilt felt by those who choose to become surrounded by the supposed splendor of Caesar's love affair with the Egyptian Queen. Those who choose to proclaim the glory of Caesar and Cleopatra must be cautioned to remember Calphurnia's situation as an abandoned and insulted wife. If attention is given to faithful Calphurnia's desertion by Caesar and inferior treatment by Cleopatra, it becomes evident that Calphurnia is deserving of sympathy while Caesar and Cleopatra's relationship is not so grand and sophisticated as many wish to think. Faithful Calphurnia History tells us that Calphurnia invested twelve years of her life in wedlock to Caesar. Although a political marriage, Calphurnia treated Caesar with a caring attitude and loving attachment which legitimizes their relationship and for which she deserves respect. The most telling times of Calphurnia's faithfulness toward her husband is her care for his safety in the final days before his assassination, regardless of her being aware of Caesar's adultery. According to Arthur Kahn's historical narrative The Education of Julius Caesar, Caesar had grown "gaunt and haggard" as he lost the support of his colleagues in the Roman Senate. In his final days he often stared into space and spoke with little coherence. In his time of need Calphurnia glued herself to his bedside and although Caesar could not make conversation with anyone, Calphurnia listened attentively as he recited Homer's poems of Odysseus after he had returned home to Penelope.1 This narrative illustrates the luxury Julius' had to depend on his dedicated Roman wife in times of need. Caesar and Cleopatra's Affair at the Expense of Calphurnia :: Caesar Cleopatra Papers Caesar and Cleopatra's Affair at the Expense of Calphurnia Abstract In the trailer to his 1934 film "Cleopatra", Cecil B. DeMille confidently suggests that the romance between the Queen of Egypt and Julius Caesar is one of history's grandest love affairs. Perhaps this statement is in a way true, but when buying into the tradition of this romance many disreputable elements of the affair are often overlooked. One such component of the romance that if looked upon with a critical eye can serve to lessen the grandeur of the affair is the ill treatment of Caesar's wife Calphurnia. However, audiences and artists alike often have little problem ignoring the plight of Calphurnia, and Caesar and Cleopatra are rarely ever referred to as adulterous individuals. Neglecting to remember how Calpurnia was virtually thrown to the wayside in the midst of Caesar and Cleopatra's extra-marital relationship is possibly a way of lessening the guilt felt by those who choose to become surrounded by the supposed splendor of Caesar's love affair with the Egyptian Queen. Those who choose to proclaim the glory of Caesar and Cleopatra must be cautioned to remember Calphurnia's situation as an abandoned and insulted wife. If attention is given to faithful Calphurnia's desertion by Caesar and inferior treatment by Cleopatra, it becomes evident that Calphurnia is deserving of sympathy while Caesar and Cleopatra's relationship is not so grand and sophisticated as many wish to think. Faithful Calphurnia History tells us that Calphurnia invested twelve years of her life in wedlock to Caesar. Although a political marriage, Calphurnia treated Caesar with a caring attitude and loving attachment which legitimizes their relationship and for which she deserves respect. The most telling times of Calphurnia's faithfulness toward her husband is her care for his safety in the final days before his assassination, regardless of her being aware of Caesar's adultery. According to Arthur Kahn's historical narrative The Education of Julius Caesar, Caesar had grown "gaunt and haggard" as he lost the support of his colleagues in the Roman Senate. In his final days he often stared into space and spoke with little coherence. In his time of need Calphurnia glued herself to his bedside and although Caesar could not make conversation with anyone, Calphurnia listened attentively as he recited Homer's poems of Odysseus after he had returned home to Penelope.1 This narrative illustrates the luxury Julius' had to depend on his dedicated Roman wife in times of need.

Environmental Engineering :: essays research papers

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Engineering is defined as the science based profession by which the physical forces of nature and the properties of matter are made useful to mankind in the form of structures, machines, and other products or processes at a reasonable cost of money and time. An engineer is a person trained or skilled in designing and planning the performance of such equipment as machines and structures and in supervising their performance.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  An Environmental (or sanitary) Engineer is concerned with the water and sewage treatment as well as the resi- dential and industrial wastes. Environmental engineers are trained in preventing, evaluating, and solving environmental problems. To be successful, environmental engineers must combine technical knowledge with effective communication skills in day-to-day work and be able to communicate effictively with people of all types if they are to succeed in solving all of the problems facing them. The protection of rivers and lakes is part of their responsibility. In this profession, a know- ledge of chemistry and biology must be added to the engineering base. There are many different jobs that the enviorn- mental engineers have to do. First, there is Water Quality. Protecting the quality of water required for human use and environmental protection is an important role for environmental engineers. Increasingly severe quality standards for drink- ing water, wastewater, pollutant, and groundwater require engineers and scientists trained in the theory and practice of water and wastewater treatment. In addition, environmental engineers must be able to predict the fate of contaminants in multimedia enironments in order to measure the effects of pollution on humans and ecosystems. Water quality engineering involves the application of environmental chemistry, microbiology and physics together with modeling and process engin- eering to address these areas.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Second, there is Hazardous Waste Managment. Many industrial societies produce and dispose of significant amounts of hazardous materials. In sufficient treatment, storage and disposal have resulted in many uncontrolled contami- nant releases to the environment. Innovative engineering solutions are needed for liquid, gaseous and solid hazardous waste streams as well as for contaminated site remediation. It is the job of environmental engineers to understand and solve these waste problems.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Third, there is Air Quality. Air pollution is a big problem in society today. Environmental engineers solve air pol- lution problems across a range of scales, with particular focus on indoor environments and urban air basins. They also have to understand the physical and chemical processes that determine the concentrations, fates, and effects of air pollutants; they

Macbeth, A Spy For Macduff At The Banquet Hall :: essays research papers

Dear Macduff, A short while back you hired me to complete a task for you. This was to spy and collect information about Macbeth. I have now completed this and have some quite shocking news as you will soon be aware of as you read on. It all started at Macbeth’s banqueting hall which I was subsequently invited to. We all sat round a wooden table in the main hall waiting for Macbeth’s feast he had prepared for us. Macbeth and his queen wife, Lady Macbeth, They were both upon their thrones which were raised from the ground. Macbeth stepped down and soon the low hum of mumbling grew to a halt. He told us to sit and welcomed us to his feast. What happened next I found unusual, he announced he was going to join us at our table instead of sitting with his wife at the throne. Lady Macbeth kept her place as the banquet went on. From the corner of my eye I then noticed someone entered the room. At first glanced I presumed it to be Banquo as he had not arrived yet, but then I took a closer look and found it to be no one I knew. Macbeth also had seen this strange man at the doorway and arose and proclaimed that he would be away for a few minutes. It interested me why Macbeth left so abruptly and why it was of such importance. I glanced around and saw my fellow lords deep in conversation so I used the chance to slip away from the table. I leant against the wall so I was just out of Macbeth’s sight. I joined them mid conversation and attempted to settle into their quiet chat. As I joined them my astonishment rose as I heard Macbeth mutter the words ‘ There is blood upon thy face’. I was extremely startled to hear the disturbing news which followed. ‘Tis Banquo’s then’. I was absolutely amazed to hear what was being said. I stayed close to the wall listening in on what was said. Macbeth utterly stunned me by saying ‘Is he dispatched?’. These words could incriminate Macbeth and he would be lynched for having this carried out. I was totally confused, because as far as I knew, Macbeth and Banquo had been friends longer than anyone could remember. They had shared all sorts of experiences together. This sickened me to hear that Macbeth had carried out such a terrible deed.

The Birth of Rock N’ Roll – a Case of Racial Conflict

THE BIRTH OF ROCK n’ ROLL – A CASE OF RACIAL CONFLICT The term rock ‘n’ roll has been traced back as far as the 1920s in black music, but it became an accepted when disc jockey Alan Freed began used it to describe the character of the rhythm and blues he played on his radio program in the mid-‘50s. The term â€Å"Rockin' and Rollin† were originally used as slang for sex, in black pop music. However, it went on to become the name for a new, salacious musical genre.Innovation in audio technology, new instruments, fresh talent, business savvy record producers, and a young population of new consumers created by post-war economic prosperity helped turn â€Å"race music† into â€Å"rock and roll†. The roots of Rock & Roll can be traced back to rhythm and blues and country rock. We must note the political context of the rock n' roll movement before delving deeper into the recesses of the genre.Black people were beginning to identify and assert themselves racially supported by a series of Supreme Court judgments in favour of integration and the Black community in general Rock n' roll became a symbol of Black empowerment to the Whites, especially to the segregationists who were accustomed to and valued a separation of the races, but were now legally forced to operate against those segregationist values. The resistance to rock n' roll music, highly enjoyed by young White kids, was a culmination of all the hostility and tension of the Civil Rights movement.There was a certain White resistance to such music in the form of The Ku Klux Klan and other White-supremacist organizations that openly preached the exaggerated consequences of listening to rock n' roll music. The term â€Å"jungle music† was used to describe the rock n' roll beat, declaring it would cause the White youth to lose their sense of humanity and dignity while mixing races. This kind of resistance to the rock n' roll movement often came to physical assaults on Black performers. There have been reports of assaults such as the one on Nat King Cole, arguably one of the most docile African American performers of the time.While performing at a Whites-only venue, a mob rushed the stage and beat him. Nat King Cole not only suffered the bruising from the White audience who ambushed him, but also a tongue lashing from Black activists who reprimanded him for not demanding integrated venues. The conflicts of rock n' roll music are direct reflections of both the institutional resistances of Whites to integration and the widespread exploitations of Blacks across the country in many industries. The post-war economic boom ushered in a new era in radio broadcasting.With greater competition, national radio networks gave way to a horde of new independent, locally based stations hosting a variety of entertainment programs. White radio producers would hide Black performers from White audiences. They would often choose a tune with potential from a Black artist, and have a White singer perform the song without the provocative dancing or emotive moaning of the original version. This proved to be a multiple win for the Whites as the Black artist would be kept away from the spotlight, the White producer was making the money, and White kids were idolizing the White singer.It is widely believed that iconic artists like Pat Boone, Elvis and Georgia Gibbs began by assisting in the exploitation of Black artists who were replaced by more-polished, White impersonators. Many observers suggest that rock n' roll would never have been so controversial had it not been for the sexual revolutions and conflicts going on throughout the mid 1900s. The rock n' roll revolution coincided with the institutional revolution of acknowledging youth sex. Rock n’ roll music often ended up portraying sex as a new, fun activity, something that normally happens when young people fall in love.The older generations were quite averse to such music and u sed many tactics to resist the trend. Magazine campaigning became very popular among the older generations; parental guides and â€Å"girl talks† were printed to show that people still valued pre-marital abstinence. The situation eventually escalated into full censorship, until disc jockeys and music hall owners refused to play Black records in general. There were petitions and requests for radio stations to not play sexually-explicit lyrics, but the response was relatively weak. The truth is that the White artists, who impersonated the Blacks, saved the movement.They cleaned up the sound and look of rock n' roll, until White parents would accept it. Parents did not want their sons and daughters listening to wild rocker Little Richard Penniman, but would let them listen to Pat Boone. Soon, White faces like Elvis Presley and Jerry Lewis were reintroducing the sexuality of rock n' roll music and launched it into mainstream legend. Black popular music—everything from jazz and blues to boogie-woogie and rhythm and blues—stood at odds to the white pop songs and artists that epitomized post-world war conservatism. By comparison, rock n’ roll was raunchy, unrestrained, rowdy, and even evolutionary. That which was categorized by the record industry as â€Å"race music† stood as a powerful cultural alternative to the tight-lipped, conformist values. Black Rock n' Roll music also reflected major social and cultural changes brought on by post war urbanization, including youthful rebellion. By contrast, white pop music had ignored or watered down these transformations. American youth, inspired by nonconformist icons like James Dean, Marlon Brando, and Natalie Wood, naturally gravitated toward the more edgy black tunes which they felt spoke of their frustrations.These young whites made black music their own by learning the dances, memorizing the slang, and copying the cool swagger of African-American boogie-woogie and rhythm and blues art ists. They claimed as their own a genre scorned by most whites born before World War II. Thus, Rock n' Roll was indeed reflective of the Civil Rights movement. It stirred up a whole generation and shows that a culture conflict usually always has a deeper context to be found.

The current business environment is characterized

The current business environment is characterized by intense competitive rivalry and businesses have to undertake aggressive marketing initiatives in order to counter this threat. The importance of marketing in ensuring that a business organization can develop and maintain a competitive edge is growing exponentially.Corporations are now pouring millions into their promotional campaigns in order to create an image for themselves in the customer mindset. This trend of massive financial resources being thrown into marketing is particularly evident in the area of sports marketing. In this area, massive opportunities exist in terms of public relations events which have global reach.Thus any corporation that can have its logo associated with events like the Olympics which are broadcast throughout the world stand to gain substantially out of investing in the rights to have its logo associated with the event. This is called corporate sponsorship. However the benefits of corporate sponsorship have led to the rise of unethical marketing practices called ambush marketing.Ambush marketing is defined to have taken place when a marketer has its products associated with a sports event without having paid for any of the rights to association (cited in Ironside, 2007). Thus the ambush marketer enjoys all the benefits of being a legitimate corporate sponsor without paying a cent.The trend of ambush marketing has been growing steadily in the last few years as shown in figure 1. As shown in the figure, sports organizers have been experiencing massive revenue losses as result of the phenomenon of ambush marketing which keeps going strong despite efforts to counter the threat.The threat is particularly detrimental because the actual corporate sponsors have hardly anything to gain by seeking recourse to legal means because courts usually rule in favor of ambush marketers.This happens because ambush marketers never engage in any activities that could be defined as infringement of inte llectual property rights (cited in Meenaghan, 1996). Ambush marketers operate through hints and allusions which do not qualify as infringement of rights in legal vernacular.As a result corporate sponsors have to devise pre-emptive strategies on their own and this adds to the cost of buying rights to the sponsorship (cited in Uphoff, 2006).The process of devising counter strategies requires an understanding of the ways and means by which ambush marketers take advantage of their opportunities. However there are so many ways and means in this regard that it is difficult to develop contingency plans for all of them.There are at least six recognized opportunities which ambushers take advantage of from time to time such as purchasing broadcasting rights to an event or broadcasting time around the time of the event broadcast, sponsoring an event other than the organizing body, purchasing advertising space, thematic advertising and counter attraction (cited in Crompton, 2004).What all of th is means is that if the trend of ambush marketing is allowed to go on unmitigated, it will discourage corporate sponsors from sponsorship spending and major sports events will lose an important source of revenue. Therefore sports property owners have the duty of making ambush marketing difficult and expensive for the competitors of official corporate sponsors.ReferencesAaker, David A. (2004). Strategic Market Management. McGraw Hill/Irwin.Crompton, John L. (2004). Sponsorship Ambushing in Sport. Managing Leisure, 9, 1-12.Ironside, Sue. (2007). Combating Ambush Marketing. NZ Marketing Magazine, 26, 26-27.Retrieved March 15, 2008 from Business Source Elite database.Kolah, Ardi. (2005). Essential Law for Marketers. Prentice Hall.Kotler, Philip., and Gary Armstrong. (2005). Principles of Marketing. Prentice Hall.Meenaghan, T. (1996). Ambush Marketing – A Threat to Corporate Sponsorship. SloanManagement Review, 38, 103-13. Retrieved March 15, 2008 from Business SourceElite databas e.Uphoff, Boris., et al. (2006). Kick-off to Ambush Marketing at World Cup. ManagingIntellectual Property, 156, 91-92. Retrieved March 15, 2008 from Business Source The current business environment is characterized The current business environment is characterized by a considerable level of uncertainty and therefore businesses have to continuously reengineer their internal processes in order to build and maintain a sustainable competitive advantage.In this respect, the critical success factor is to build an organizational culture that is built to change. This is a critical consideration because, given the high level of uncertainty, the management in a business organization is no longer in a position to forecast future changes meaningfully.Therefore the organizational structure must be flexible enough to absorb unexpected changes. The question that should be answered is how this flexibility can be built into the organizational structure. In this respect, it is the duty of the management to build the right performance management system.Through this system the management can communicate with the employees regarding which aspects of their work are vital to the strategic focus of the organization. T he right performance management system is a critical consideration in terms of addressing issues related to employee motivation and empowerment.Capital One is empowering its employees through dissemination of information and by maximizing the surface area. This enables the employees to link their work to the strategic focus of the organization (cited in Zairi, 2005).The fact of the matter is that the management at all levels in Capital One is implementing strategic human resource management. In this manner it is addressing the issues of motivation and empowerment. According to the post-modern theory, business organizations need to maintain the continuous improvement process in order to build a sustainable competitive advantage (cited in Hill & Jones, 2007).However the development of a sustainable competitive advantage depends on access to human capital. Capital One has devised its human resource management policies in order to develop human capital. Even through it is not directly a ddressing the issues of motivation and empowerment, its policies are designed to make these issues the top priorities on the management agenda. Job rotation is one of the examples.According to post-modernism, job descriptions are no longer effective because they create a static organizational structure and therefore do not equip the organization with the abilities to adapt to fast-paced change in the external environment (cited in Besterfield, 2002).According to the post-modern theory, employees have to be groomed to assume a wide variety of positions so that changing organizational structures will not be a problem for them. We see Capital One addressing this issue through creating leadership capabilities throughout the organization. The company’s recruitment and selection strategies are implemented accordingly.For example, during the recruitment process, the most important qualification for the candidate is considered to be his ability to lead a change effort. Because of car efully implemented recruitment and selection strategies, the company minimizes the costs associated with training and development (cited in Ross & Perry, 2002).However the management does communicate with the employees in terms of the extent to which formal training and development programs can be arranged for the employees.A built-to-change organizational structure cannot be built without addressing the issues of motivation and empowerment. According to post-modernism, employees must be involved in the change management process (cited in Brigham & Ehrhardt, 2007). This facilitates the process of addressing employee resistance to change. The management at Capital One addresses this issue through building an effective communications structure which facilitates the dissemination of mission-critical information.As mentioned before, this maximizes the level of surface area. Strategy implementation in this regard has been facilitated through the creation of a flat management structure wh ich enables most employees to work in direct touch with the customers. This enables the employees to make the link between their work and the strategic focus of the company because working in direct touch with the customers means that the employees can see in which direction the organization should proceed in terms of customer relationship management (cited in Dess, 2007).Employee motivation and empowerment is the most critical factor in the post-modernist theory. This is because post-modernism as associated with a sustainable competitive advantage in business emphasizes employee motivation and empowerment.According to Michael Porter’s theory for strategy formulation, a business organization has three strategies at its disposal in building a competitive advantage: differentiation, cost minimization and quick response (cited in Baschab, 2005).However, according to the post-modernist theory none of these strategies will lead to the development of a sustainable competitive advan tage because they can be easily copied by competitor organizations in a fast-changing external environment.Therefore, post-modernism in business focuses on the building of a strategically aligned organizational culture as the source of a sustainable competitive advantage. A strategically aligned organizational culture cannot be built without effectively addressing the issues of employee motivation and empowerment.Employees must be involved in the change management process. In this organizational structure, the issues of employee motivation and empowerment are addressed effectively because they are directly involved in building the strategic focus of the company. This is an example of what we see in Capital One.This is one of the few American companies to have been able to weather the current crisis because of its focus on the built-to-change organizational structure based in employee motivation and empowerment. The company is not consciously addressing these issues as such.However b ecause of its strategies in recruitment, selection, job rotation and training and development, it has been able to involve the employees in the constant process of managing change. This has only maximized their productivity as employees are motivated to work for the company because they are empowered to act on behalf of the company.This has created an organizational structure based in motivation and empowerment which aligns employee interests to organizational interests. This is an example of post-modernism in business.ReferencesBaschab, John., et al. (2005). The Executive Guide to Information Technology. McGraw Hill/Irwin.Besterfield, Dale H., et al. (2002). Total Quality Management. McGraw Hill/Irwin.Brigham, Eugene F., and Michael C. Ehrhardt. (2007). Financial Management: Theory & Practice. South western college pub.Dess, Gregory G., et al. (2007). Strategic Management: Creating Competitive Advantage.McGraw Hill/Irwin. Hill, Charles., and Gareth Jones. (2007). Strategic Manageme nt Theory: An Integrated Approach. McGraw Hill/Irwin.Ross, Joel E. and Susan Perry. (2002). Total Quality Management: Text, Cases, Readings. Wiley.Zairi, Mohamed. (2005). Excellence Toolkit: Delivering Sustainable Performance. eTQM College Publishing House. The current business environment is characterized The current business environment is characterized by a considerable level of competitive rivalry and as a result, businesses have to maintain a continuous improvement process in order to build and maintain a competitive advantage. In this respect, the development of a sustainable competitive advantage is the critical success factor.However sustainability cannot be achieved unless the company determines the strategic focus.This is why developing a system for adopting goals becomes a critical consideration. In this respect, the management has to build the right organizational culture in which group dynamics can become facilitated.Employees are the most important assets of an organization and therefore the management has to create the right working conditions which maximize employee satisfaction. For this reason, the management might have to manage change on a continuous basis. In managing change, alignment with the strategic focus has to be maintained. In this respect adopting the righ t goals becomes the critical consideration.The question whether group dynamics are better at adopting goals than individual decision making can be answered depending on the situation that the company is in. There is no doubt that when it comes to managing change a cross-functional project management team must be built in order to adopt the right goals.This is because all the departments that are going to be affected by the change must be represented in the project management team. However the problem with group dynamics is that the process delays decision making (http://www.nysscpa.org/cpajournal/old/15703015.htm).One of the reasons for this delay can be groupthink in which the participants withhold views that may not conform in order to maintain membership (cited in Robbins & DeCenzo, 2003). Outside of change management, in the situation in which the decision making process has to be fast, individual decision making is undoubtedly the better option. Individually, the decision maker can speed up the process of decision making because fewer issues are considered.The problem with facilitating group dynamics in decision making is that the decision making process has to be based upon consensus. This has the advantage that the suggestions that are taken into consideration are diverse. As a result, the same problem is viewed from many different perspectives.The result is a process of brainstorming that can generate a lot of valuable ideas. However, in the situation in which the question is one of adopting goals, diversity of ideas can be a hindrance because it delays the process of decision making in adopting goals. In the event that the complexity of the situation is high then group decision making can be advantageous because too many issues will be considered, thus delaying the process.Therefore in the situation in which adopting goals does not have to take too many issues into consideration, group decision making may be the best option. However in the event that the situation is complex, then the individual decision maker will be in a position to do a better job because he can exercise intuition in arriving at a decision.From the above, it is made clear that there is no specific answer as to whether group dynamics or the individual decision maker will do a better job. The effectiveness of either of the tools depends on the complexity of the situation. The current business environment is characterized by a fast state of change.Therefore the decision making process has to be speeded up. In this respect, even in the situation which calls for many issues to be taken into consideration, the individual decision maker can do the best job. However in the event that the management of the company can afford to spend time on considering all the relevant issues, then group dynamics create the best infrastructure in which to conduct the decision making process (http://www.usfa.dhs.gov/pdf/efop/efo38561.pdf).However when facilitating group dynamics, the management must ensure that the decision making process is not affected by the need to reach a consensus. In such a situation, the participants are afraid of creating a conflict and therefore all the relevant issues are not taken into consideration.ReferencesSchwartz, Andrew E. (1994, August). Group decision-making. The CPA Journal Online.Retrieved February 19, 2009 from http://www.nysscpa.org/cpajournal/old/15703015.htm.Barlow, Jeff. (2005, October). Strategic planning for the Bloomington, Indiana, firedepartment. Retrieved February 19, 2009 from http://www.usfa.dhs.gov/pdf/efop/efo38561.pdf.Robbins, Stephen P., and DeCenzo, David. (2003). Fundamentals of Management. Prentice Hall. Â