Prelude to Foundation Chapter 18 Overthrow

THALUS, EMMER-†¦ A sergeant in the armed security forces of the Wye Sector of ancient Trantor†¦ †¦ Aside from these totally unremarkable vital statistics, nothing is known of the man except that on one occasion he held the fate of the Galaxy in his fist. Encyclopedia Galactica 87. Breakfast the next morning was served in an alcove near the rooms of the captured three and it was luxurious indeed. There certainly was a considerable variety to the food and more than enough of everything. Seldon sat at the breakfast table with a mound of spicy sausages before him, totally ignoring Dors Venabili's gloomy predictions concerning stomachs and colic. Raych said, â€Å"The dame†¦ the Madam Mayor said when she came to see me last night-â€Å" â€Å"She came to see you?† said Seldon. â€Å"Yeah. She said she wanted to make sure I was comfortable. She said when she had a chance she would take me to a zoo.† â€Å"A zoo?† Seldon looked at Dors. â€Å"What kind of zoo can they have on Trantor? Cats and dogs?† â€Å"There are some aboriginal animals,† said Dors, â€Å"and I imagine they import some aboriginals from other worlds and there are also the shared animals that all the worlds have-other worlds having more than Trantor, of course. As a matter of fact, Wye has a famous zoo, probably the best on the planet after the Imperial Zoo itself.† Raych said, â€Å"She's a nice old lady.† â€Å"Not that old,† said Dors, â€Å"but she's certainly feeding us well.† â€Å"There's that,† admitted Seldon. When breakfast was over, Raych left to go exploring. Once they had retired to Dors's room, Seldon said with marked discontent, â€Å"I don't know how long we'll be left to ourselves. She's obviously plotted ways of preoccupying our time.† Dors said, â€Å"Actually, we have little to complain of at the moment. We're much more comfortable here than we were either in Mycogen or Dahl.† Seldon said, â€Å"Dors, you're not being won over by that woman, are you?† â€Å"Me? By Rashelle? Of course not. How can you possibly think so?† â€Å"Well, you're comfortable. You're well-fed. It would be natural to relax and accept what fortune brings.† â€Å"Yes, very natural. And why not do that?† â€Å"Look, you were telling me last night about what's going to happen if she wins out. I may not be much of a historian myself, but I am willing to take your word for it and, actually, it makes sense-even to a nonhistorian. The Empire will shatter and its shards will be fighting each other for†¦ for†¦ indefinitely. She must be stopped.† â€Å"I agree,† said Dors. â€Å"She must be. What I fail to see is how we can manage to do that little thing right at this moment.† She looked at Seldon narrowly. â€Å"Hari, you didn't sleep last night, did you?† â€Å"Did you?† It was apparent he had not. Dors stared at him, a troubled look clouding her face. â€Å"Have you lain awake thinking of Galactic destruction because of what I said?† â€Å"That and some other things. Is it possible to reach Chetter Hummin?† This last was said in a whisper. Dors said, â€Å"I tried to reach him when we first had to flee arrest in Dahl. He didn't come. I'm sure he received the message, but he didn't come. It may be that, for any of a number of reasons, he just couldn't come to us, but when he can he will.† â€Å"Do you suppose something has happened to him?† â€Å"No,† said Dors patiently. â€Å"I don't think so.† â€Å"How can you know?† â€Å"The word would somehow get to me. I'm sure of it. And the word hasn't gotten to me.† Seldon frowned and said, â€Å"I'm not as confident as you are about all this. In fact, I'm not confident at all. Even if Hummin came, what can he do in this case? He can't fight all of Wye. If they have, as Rashelle claims, the best-organized army on Trantor, what will he be able to do against it?† â€Å"There's no point in discussing that. Do you suppose you can convince Rashelle-bang it into her head somehow-that you don't have psychohistory?† â€Å"I'm sure she's aware that I don't have it and that I'm not going to get it for many years-if at all. But she'll say I have psychohistory and if she does that skillfully enough, people will believe her and eventually they will act on what she says my predictions and pronouncements are-even if I don't say a word.† â€Å"Surely, that will take time. She won't build you up overnight. Or in a week. To do it properly, it might take her a year.† Seldon was pacing the length of the room, turning sharply on his heel and striding back. â€Å"That might be so, but I don't know. There would be pressure on her to do things quickly. She doesn't strike me as the kind of woman who has cultivated the habit of patience. And her old father, Mannix IV, would be even more impatient. He must feel the nearness of death and if he's worked for this all his life, he would much prefer to see it done a week before his death rather than a week after. Besides-â€Å" Here he paused and looked around the empty room. â€Å"Besides what?† â€Å"Well, we must have our freedom. You see, I've solved the psychohistory problem.† Dors's eyes widened. â€Å"You have it! You've worked it out.† â€Å"Not worked it out in the full sense. That might take decades†¦ centuries, for all I know. But I now know it's practical, not just theoretical. I know it can be done so I must have the time, the peace, the facilities to work at it. The Empire must be held together till I-or possibly my successors-will learn how best to keep it so or how to minimize the disaster if it does split up despite us. It was the thought of having a beginning to my task and of not being able to work at it, that kept me up last night.† 88. It was their fifth day in Wye and in the morning Dors was helping Raych into a formal costume that neither was quite familiar with. Raych looked at himself dubiously in the holomirror and saw a reflected image that faced him with precision, imitating all his motions but without any inversion of left and right. Raych had never used a holomirror before and had been unable to keep from trying to feel it, then laughing, almost with embarrassment, when his hand passed through it while the image's hand poked ineffectually at his real body. He said at last, â€Å"I look funny.† He studied his tunic, which was made of a very pliant material, with a thin filigreed belt, then passed his hands up a stiff collar that rose like a cup past his ears on either side. â€Å"My head looks like a ball inside a bowl.† Dors said, â€Å"But this is the sort of thing rich children wear in Wye. Everyone who sees you will admire you and envy you.† â€Å"With my hair all stuck down?† â€Å"Certainly. You'll wear this round little hat.† â€Å"It'll make my head more like a ball.† â€Å"Then don't let anyone kick it. Now, remember what I told you. Keep your wits about you and don't act like a kid.† â€Å"But I am a kid,† he said, looking up at her with a wide-eyed innocent expression. â€Å"I'm surprised to hear you say that,† said Dors. â€Å"I'm sure you think of yourself as a twelve-year-old adult.† Raych grinned. â€Å"Okay. I'll be a good spy.† â€Å"That's not what I'm telling you to be. Don't take chances. Don't sneak behind doors to listen. If you get caught at it, you're no good to anyone-especially not to yourself.† â€Å"Aw, c'mon, Missus, what do ya think I am? A kid or somethin'?† â€Å"You just said you were, didn't you, Raych? You just listen to everything that's said without seeming to. And remember what you hear. And tell us. That's simple enough.† â€Å"Simple enough for you to say, Missus Venabili,† said Raych with a grin, â€Å"and simple enough for me to do.† â€Å"And be careful.† Raych winked. â€Å"You bet.† A flunky (as coolly impolite as only an arrogant flunky can be) came to take Raych to where Rashelle was awaiting him. Seldon looked after them and said thoughtfully, â€Å"He probably won't see the zoo, he'll be listening so carefully. I'm not sure it's right to thrust a boy into danger like that.† â€Å"Danger? I doubt it. Raych was brought up in the slums of Billibotton, remember. I suspect he has more alley smarts than you and I put together. Besides, Rashelle is fond of him and will interpret everything he does in his favor. Poor woman.† â€Å"Are you actually sorry for her, Dors?† â€Å"Do you mean that she's not worth sympathy because she's a Mayor's daughter and considers herself a Mayor in her own right-and because she's intent on destroying the Empire? Perhaps you're right, but even so there are some aspects of her for which one might show some sympathy. For instance, she's had an unhappy love affair. That's pretty evident. Undoubtedly, her heart was broken-for a time, at least.† Seldon said, â€Å"Have you ever had an unhappy love affair, Dors?† Dors considered for a moment or two, then said, â€Å"Not really. I'm too involved with my work to get a broken heart.† â€Å"I thought as much.† â€Å"Then why did you ask?† â€Å"I might have been wrong.† â€Å"How about you?† Seldon seemed uneasy. â€Å"As a matter of fact, yes. I have spared the time for a broken heart. Badly cracked, anyway.† â€Å"I thought as much.† â€Å"Then why did you ask?† â€Å"Not because I thought I might be wrong, I promise you. I just wanted to see if you would lie. You didn't and I'm glad.† There was a pause and then Seldon said, â€Å"Five days have passed and nothing has happened.† â€Å"Except that we are being treated well, Hari.† â€Å"If animals could think, they'd think they were being treated well when they were only being fattened for the slaughter.† â€Å"I admit she's fattening the Empire for the slaughter.† â€Å"But when?† â€Å"I presume when she's ready.† â€Å"She boasted she could complete the coup in a day and the impression I got was that she could do that on any day.† â€Å"Even if she could, she would want to make sure that she could cripple the Imperial reaction and that might take time.† â€Å"How much time? She plans to cripple the reaction by using me, but she is making no effort to do so. There is no sign that she's trying to build up my importance. Wherever I go in Wye I'm unrecognized. There are no Wyan crowds gathering to cheer me. There's nothing on the news holocasts.† Dors smiled. â€Å"One would almost suppose that your feelings are hurt at not being made famous. You're naive, Hari. Or not a historian, which is the same thing. I think you had better be more pleased that the study of psychohistory will be bound to make a historian of you than that it may save the Empire. If all human beings understood history, they might cease making the same stupid mistakes over and over.† â€Å"In what way am I naive?† asked Seldon lifting his head and staring down his nose at her. â€Å"Don't be offended, Hari. I think it's one of your attractive features, actually.† â€Å"I know. It arouses your maternal instincts and you have been asked to take care of me. But in what way am I naive?† â€Å"In thinking that Rashelle would try to propagandize the population of the Empire, generally, into accepting you as seer. She would accomplish nothing in that way. Quadrillions of people are hard to move quickly. There is social and psychological inertia, as well as physical inertia. And, by coming out into the open, she would simply alert Demerzel.† â€Å"Then what is she doing?† â€Å"My guess is that the information about you-suitably exaggerated and glorified-is going out to a crucial few. It is going to those Viceroys of sectors, those admirals of fleets, those people of influence she feels look kindly upon her-or grimly upon the Emperor. A hundred or so of those who might rally to her side will manage to confuse the Loyalists just long enough to allow Rashelle the First to set up her New Order firmly enough to beat off whatever resistance might develop. At least, I imagine that is how she reasons.† â€Å"And yet we haven't heard from Hummin.† â€Å"I'm sure he must be doing something just the same. This is too important to ignore.† â€Å"Has it occurred to you that he might be dead?† â€Å"That's a possibility, but I don't think so. If he was, the news would reach me.† â€Å"Here?† â€Å"Even here.† Seldon raised his eyebrows, but said nothing. Raych came back in the late afternoon, happy and excited, with descriptions of monkeys and of Bakarian demoires and he dominated the conversation during dinner. It was not until after dinner when they were in their own quarters that Dors said, â€Å"Now, tell me what happened with Madam Mayor, Raych. Tell me anything she did or said that you think we ought to know.† â€Å"One thing,† said Raych, his face lighting up. â€Å"That's why she didn't show at dinner, I bet.† â€Å"What was it?† â€Å"The zoo was closed except for us, you know. There were lots of us-Rashelle and me and all sorts of guys in uniforms and dames in fancy clothes and like that. Then this guy in a uniform-a different guy, who wasn't there to begin with-came in toward the end and he said something in a low voice and Rashelle turned to all the people and made with her hand like they shouldn't move and they didn't. And she went a little ways away with this new guy, so she could talk to him and no one could hear her. Except I kept paying no attention and kept looking at the different cages and sort of moved near to Rashelle so I could hear her. â€Å"She said, ‘How dare they?' like she was real mad. And the guy in the uniform, he looked nervous-I just got quick looks because I was trying to make out like I was watching the animals-so mostly I just heard the words. He said somebody-I don't remember the name, but he was a general or somethin'. He said this general said the officers had sworn rel igious to Rashelle's old man-â€Å" â€Å"Sworn allegiance,† said Dors. â€Å"Somethin' like that and they was nervous about havin' to do what a dame says. He said they wanted the old man or else, if he was kind of sick, he should pick some guy to be Mayor, not a dame.† â€Å"Not a dame? Are you sure?† â€Å"That's what he said. He like whispered it. He was so nervous and Rashelle was so mad she could hardly speak. She said, ‘I'll have his head. They will all swear allegiance to me tomorrow and whoever refuses will lave cause to regret it before an hour has passed.' That's exactly what she said. She broke up the whole party and we all came back and she didn't say one word to me all the time. Just sat there, looking kinda mean and angry.† Dors said, â€Å"Good. Don't you mention this to anyone, Raych.† â€Å"Course not. Is it what you wanted?† â€Å"Very much what I wanted. You did well, Raych. Now, go to your room and forget the whole thing. Don't even think about it.† Once he was gone, Dors turned to Seldon and said, â€Å"This is very interesting. Daughters have succeeded fathers-or mothers, for that matter-and held Mayoralties or other high offices on any number of occasions. There have even been reigning Empresses, as you undoubtedly know, and I can't recall that there was ever in Imperial history any serious question of serving under one. It makes one wonder why such a thing should now, arise in Wye.† Seldon said, â€Å"Why not? We've only recently been in Mycogen, where women are held in a total lack of esteem and couldn't possibly hold positions of power, however minor.† â€Å"Yes, of course, but that's an exception. There are other places where women dominate. For the most part, though, government and power have been more or less equisexual. If more men tend to hold high positions, it is usually because women tend to be more bound-biologically-to children.† â€Å"But what is the situation in Wye?† â€Å"Equisexual, as far as I know. Rashelle didn't hesitate to assume Mayoral power and I imagine old Mannix didn't hesitate to grant it to her. And she was surprised and furious at encountering male dissent. She can't have expected it.† Seldon said, â€Å"You're clearly pleased at this. Why?† â€Å"Simply because it's so unnatural that it must be contrived and I imagine Hummin is doing the contriving.† Seldon said thoughtfully, â€Å"You think so?† â€Å"I do,† said Dors. â€Å"You know,† said Seldon, â€Å"so do I.† 89. It was their tenth day in Wye and in the morning Hari Seldon's door signal sounded and Raych's high-pitched voice outside was crying out, â€Å"Mister! Mister Seldon! It's war!† Seldon took a moment to swap from sleep to wakefulness and scrambled out of bed. He was shivering slightly (the Wyans liked their domiciles on the chilly side, he had discovered quite early in his stay there) when he threw the door open. Raych bounced in, excited and wide-eyed. â€Å"Mister Seldon, they have Mannix, the old Mayor'. They have-â€Å" â€Å"Who have, Raych?† â€Å"The Imperials, Their jets came in last night all over. The news holocasts are telling all about it. It's on in Missus's room. She said to let ya sleep, but I figured ya would wanner know.† â€Å"And you were quite right.† Seldon pausing only tong enough to throw on a bathrobe, burst into Dors's room. She was fully dressed and was watching the holo-set in the alcove. Behind the clear, small image of a desk sat a man, with the Spaceship-and-Sun sharply defined on the left-front of his tunic. On either side, two soldiers, also wearing the Spaceship-and-Sun, stood armed. The officer at the desk was saying, â€Å"-is under the peaceful control of his Imperial Majesty. Mayor Mannix is safe and well and is in full possession of his Mayoral powers under the guidance of friendly Imperial troops. He will be before you soon to urge calm on all Wyans and to ask any Wyan soldiers still in arms to lay them down.† There were other news holocasts by various newsmen with unemotional voices, all wearing Imperial armbands. The news was all the same: surrender by this or that unit of the Wyan security forces after firing a few shots for the record-and sometimes after no resistance at all. This town center and that town center were occupied-and there were repeated views of Wyan crowds somberly watching Imperial forces marching down the streets. Dors said, â€Å"It was perfectly executed, Hari. Surprise was complete. There was no chance of resistance and none of consequence was offered.† Then Mayor Mannix IV appeared, as had been promised. He was standing upright and, perhaps for the sake of appearances, there were no Imperials in sight, though Seldon was reasonably certain that an adequate number were present just out of camera range. Mannix was old, but his strength, though worn, was still apparent. His eyes did not meet the holo-camera and his words were spoken as though forced upon him-but, as had been promised, they counseled Wyans to remain calm, to offer no resistance, to keep Wye from harm, and to cooperate with the Emperor who, it was hoped, would survive long on the throne. â€Å"No mention of Rashelle,† said Seldon. â€Å"It's as though his daughter doesn't exist.† â€Å"No one has mentioned her,† said Dors, â€Å"and this place, which is, after all, her residence-or one of them-hasn't been attacked. Even if she manages to slip away and take refuge in some neighboring sector, I doubt she will be safe anywhere on Trantor for long.† â€Å"Perhaps not,† came a voice; â€Å"but I'll be safe here for a little while.† Rashelle entered. She was properly dressed, properly calm. She was even smiling, but it was no smile of joy; it was, rather, a cold baring of teeth. The three stared at her in surprise for a moment and Seldon wondered if she had any of her servants with her or if they had promptly deserted her at the first sign of adversity. Dors said a little coldly, â€Å"I see, Madam Mayor, that your hopes for a coup can not be maintained. Apparently, you have been forestalled.† â€Å"I have not been forestalled. I have been betrayed. My officers have been tampered with and-against all history and rationality-they have refused to fight for a woman but only for their old master. And, traitors that they are, they then let their old master be seized so that he cannot lead them in resistance.† She looked about for a chair and sat down. â€Å"And now the Empire must continue to decay and die when I was prepared to offer it new life.† â€Å"I think,† said Dors, â€Å"the Empire has avoided an indefinite period of useless fighting and destruction. Console yourself with that, Madam Mayor.† It was as though Rashelle did not hear her. â€Å"So many years of preparation destroyed in a night.† She sat there beaten, defeated, and seemed to have aged twenty years. Dors said, â€Å"It could scarcely have been done in a night. The suborning of your officers-if that took place-must have taken time.† â€Å"At that, Demerzel is a master and quite obviously I underestimated him. How he did it, I don't know-threats, bribes, smooth and specious argument. He is a master at the art of stealth and betrayal-I should have known.† She went on after a pause. â€Å"If this was outright force on his part, I would have had no trouble destroying anything he sent against us. Who would think that Wye would be betrayed, that an oath of allegiance would be so lightly thrown aside?† Seldon said with automatic rationality, â€Å"But I imagine the oath was made not to you, but to your father.† â€Å"Nonsense,† said Rashelle vigorously. â€Å"When my father gave me the Mayoral office, as he was legally entitled to do, he automatically passed on to me any oaths of allegiance made to him. There is ample precedence for this. It is customary to have the oath repeated to the new ruler, but that is a ceremony only and not a legal requirement. My officers know that, though they choose to forget. They use my womanhood as an excuse because they quake in fear of Imperial vengeance that would never have come had they been staunch or tremble with greed for promised rewards they will surely never get-if I know Demerzel.† She turned sharply toward Seldon. â€Å"He wants you, you know. Demerzel struck at us for you.† Seldon started. â€Å"Why me?† â€Å"Don't be a fool. For the same reason I wanted you†¦ to use you as a tool, of course.† She sighed. â€Å"At least I am not utterly betrayed. There are still loyal soldiers to be found.-Sergeant!† Sergeant Emmer Thalus entered with a soft cautious step that seemed incongruous, considering his size. His uniform was spruce, his long blond mustache fiercely curled. â€Å"Madam Mayor,† he said, drawing himself to attention with a snap. He was still, in appearance, the side of beef that Hari had named him-a man still following orders blindly, totally oblivious to the new and changed state of affairs. Rashelle smiled sadly at Raych. â€Å"And how are you, little Raych? I had meant to make something of you. It seems now I won't be able to.† â€Å"Hello, Missus†¦ Madam,† said Raych awkwardly. â€Å"And to have made something of you too, Dr. Seldon,† said Rashelle, â€Å"and there also I must crave pardon. I cannot.† â€Å"For me, Madam, you need have no regrets.† â€Å"But I do. I cannot very well let Demerzel have you. That would be one victory too many for him and at least I can stop that.† â€Å"I would not work for him, Madam, I assure you, any more than I would have worked for you.† â€Å"It is not a matter of work. It is a matter of being used. Farewell, Dr. Seldon. Sergeant, blast him.† The sergeant drew his blaster at once and Dors, with a loud cry, lunged forward-but Seldon reached out for her and caught her by the elbow. He hung on desperately. â€Å"Stay back, Dors,† he shouted, â€Å"or he'll kill you. He won't kill me. You too, Raych. Stand back. Don't move.† Seldon faced the sergeant. â€Å"You hesitate, Sergeant, because you know you cannot shoot. I might have killed you ten days ago, but I did not. And you gave me your word of honor at that time that you would protect me.† â€Å"What are you waiting for?† snapped Rashelle. â€Å"I said shoot him down, Sergeant.† Seldon said nothing more. He stood there while the sergeant, eyes bulging, held his blaster steady and pointed at Seldon's head. â€Å"You have your order!† shrieked Rashelle. â€Å"I have your word,† said Seldon quietly. And Sergeant Thalus said in a choked tone, â€Å"Dishonored either way.† His hand fell and his blaster clanged to the floor. Rashelle cried out, â€Å"Then you too betray me.† Before Seldon could move or Dors free herself from his grip, Rashelle seized the blaster, turned it on the sergeant, and closed contact. Seldon had never seen anyone blasted before. Somehow, from the name of the weapon perhaps, he had expected a loud noise, an explosion of flesh and blood. This Wyan blaster, at least, did nothing of the sort. What mangling it did to the organs inside the sergeant's chest Seldon could not tell but, without a change in expression, without a wince of pain, the sergeant crumbled and fell, dead beyond any doubt or any hope. And Rashelle turned the blaster on Seldon with a firmness that put to rest any hope for his own life beyond the next second. It was Raych, however, who jumped into action the moment the sergeant fell. Racing between Seldon and Rashelle, he waved his hands wildly. â€Å"Missus, Missus,† he called. â€Å"Don't shoot.† For a moment, Rashelle looked confused. â€Å"Out of the way, Raych. I don't want to hurt you.† That moment of hesitation was all Dors needed. Breaking loose violently, she plunged toward Rashelle with a long low dive. Rashelle went down with a cry and the blaster hit the ground a second time. Raych retrieved it. Seldon, with a deep and shuddering breath, said, â€Å"Raych, give that to me.† But Raych backed away. â€Å"Ya ain't gonna kill her, are ya, Mister Seldon? She was nice to me.† â€Å"I won't kill anyone, Raych,† said Seldon. â€Å"She killed the sergeant and would have killed me, but she didn't shoot rather than hurt you and we'll let her live for that.† It was Seldon, who now sat down, the blaster held loosely in his hand, while Dors removed the neuronic whip from the dead sergeant's other holster. A new voice rang out. â€Å"I'll take care of her now, Seldon.† Seldon looked up and in sudden joy said, â€Å"Hummin! Finally!† â€Å"I'm sorry it took so long, Seldon. I had a lot to do. How are you, Dr. Venabili? I take it this is Mannix's daughter, Rashelle. But who is the boy?† â€Å"Raych is a young Dahlite friend of ours,† said Seldon. Soldiers were entering and, at a small gesture from Hummin, they lifted Rashelle respectfully. Dors, able to suspend her intent surveillance of the other woman, brushed at her clothes with her hands and smoothed her blouse. Seldon suddenly realized that he was still in his bathrobe. Rashelle, shaking herself loose from the soldiers with contempt, pointed to Hummin and said to Seldon, â€Å"Who is this?† Seldon said, â€Å"It is Chetter Hummin, a friend of mine and my protector on this planet.† â€Å"Your protector.† Rashelle laughed madly. â€Å"You fool! You idiot! That man is Demerzel and if you look at your Venabili woman, you will see from her face that she is perfectly aware of that. You have been trapped all along, far worse than ever you were with me!† 90. Hummin and Seldon sat at lunch that day, quite alone, a pall of quiet between them for the most part. It was toward the end of the meal that Seldon stirred and said in a lively voice, â€Å"Well, sir, how do I address you? I think of you as ‘Chester Hummin' still, but even if I accept you in your other persona, I surely cannot address you as ‘Eto Demerzel.' In that capacity, you have a title and I don't know the proper usage. Instruct me.† The other said gravely, â€Å"Call me ‘Hummin'-if you don't mind. Or ‘Chetter.' Yes, I am Eto Demerzel, but with respect to you I am Hummin. As a matter of fact, the two are not distinct. I told you that the Empire is decaying and failing. I believe that to be true in both my capacities. I told you that I wanted psychohistory as a way of preventing that decay and failure or of bringing about a renewal and reinvigoration if the decay and failure must run its course. I believe that in both my capacities too.† â€Å"But you had me in your grip-I presume you were in the vicinity when I had my meeting with His Imperial Majesty.† â€Å"With Cleon. Yes, of course.† â€Å"And you might have spoken to me, then, exactly as you later did as Hummin.† â€Å"And accomplished what? As Demerzel, I have enormous tasks. I have to handle Cleon, a well-meaning but not very capable ruler, and prevent him, insofar as I can, from making mistakes. I have to do my bit in governing Trantor and the Empire too. And, as you see, I had to spend a great deal of time in preventing Wye from doing harm.† â€Å"Yes, I know,† murmured Seldon. â€Å"It wasn't easy and I nearly lost out. I have spent years sparring carefully with Mannix, learning to understand his thinking and planning a countermove to his every move. I did not think, at any time, that while he was still alive he would pass on his powers to his daughter. I had not studied her and I was not prepared for her utter lack of caution. Unlike her father, she has been brought up to take power for granted and had no clear idea of its limitations. So she got you and forced me to act before I was quite ready.† â€Å"You almost lost me as a result. I faced the muzzle of a blaster twice.† â€Å"I know,† said Hummin, nodding. â€Å"And we might have lost you Upperside too-another accident I could not foresee.† â€Å"But you haven't really answered my question. Why did you send me chasing all over the face of Trantor to escape from Demerzel when you yourself were Demerzel?† â€Å"You told Cleon that psychohistory was a purely theoretical concept, a kind of mathematical game that made no practical sense. That might indeed have been so, but if I approached you officially, I was sure you would merely have maintained your belief. Yet I was attracted to the notion of psychohistory. I wondered whether it might not be, after all, just a game. You must understand that I didn't want merely to use you, I wanted a real and practical psychohistory. â€Å"So I sent you, as you put it, chasing all over the face of Trantor with the dreaded Demerzel close on your heels at all times. That, I felt, would concentrate your mind powerfully. It would make psychohistory something exciting and much more than a mathematical game. You would try to work it out for the sincere idealist Hummin, where you would not for the Imperial flunky Demerzel. Also, you would get a glimpse of various sides of Trantor and that too would be helpful-certainly more helpful than living in an ivory tower on a far-off planet, surrounded entirely by fellow mathematicians. Was I right? Have you made progress?† Seldon said, â€Å"In psychohistory? Yes, I did, Hummin. I thought you knew.† â€Å"How should I know?† â€Å"I told Dors.† â€Å"But you hadn't told me. Nevertheless, you tell me so now. That is good news.† â€Å"Not entirely,† said Seldon. â€Å"I have made only the barest beginning. But it is a beginning.† â€Å"Is it the kind of beginning that can be explained to a nonmathematician?† â€Å"I think so. You see, Hummin, from the start I have seen psychohistory as a science that depends on the interaction of twenty-five million worlds, each with an average population of four thousand million. It's too much. There's no way of handling something that complex. If I was to succeed at all, if there was to be any way of finding a useful psychohistory, I would first have to find a simpler system. â€Å"So I thought I would go back in time and deal with a single world, a world that was the only one occupied by humanity in the dim age before the colonization of the Galaxy. In Mycogen they spoke of an original world of Aurora and in Dahl I heard word of an original world of Earth. I thought they might be the same world under different names, but they were sufficiently different in one key point, at least, to make that impossible. And it didn't matter. So little was known of either one, and that little so obscured by myth and legend, that there was no hope of making use of psychohistory in connection with them.† He paused to sip at his cold juice, keeping his eyes firmly on Hummin's face. Hummin said, â€Å"Well? What then?† â€Å"Meanwhile, Dors had told me something I call the hand-on-thigh story. It was of no innate significance, merely a humorous and entirely trivial tale. As a result, though, Dors mentioned the different sex mores on various worlds and in various sectors of Trantor. It occurred to me that she treated the different Trantorian sectors as though they were separate worlds. I thought, idly, that instead of twenty-five million different worlds, I had twenty-five million plus eight hundred to deal with. It seemed a trivial difference, so I forgot it and thought no more about it. â€Å"But as I traveled from the Imperial Sector to Streeling to Mycogen to Dahl to Wye, I observed for myself how different each was. The thought of Trantor-not as a world but as a complex of worlds-grew stronger, but still I didn't see the crucial point. â€Å"It was only when I listened to Rashelle-you see, it was good that I was finally captured by Wye and it was good that Rashelle's rashness drove her into the grandiose schemes that she imparted to me-When I listened to Rashelle, as I said, she told me that all she wanted was Trantor and some immediately adjacent worlds. It was an Empire in itself, she said, and dismissed the outer worlds as ‘distant nothings.' â€Å"It was then that, in a moment, I saw what I must have been harboring in my hidden thoughts for a considerable time. On the one hand, Trantor possessed an extraordinarily complex social system, being a populous world made up of eight hundred smaller worlds. It was in itself a system complex enough to make psychohistory meaningful and yet it was simple enough, compared to the Empire as a whole, to make psychohistory perhaps practical. â€Å"And the Outer Worlds, the twenty-five million of them? They were ‘distant nothings.' Of course, they affected Trantor and were affected by Trantor, but these were second-order effects. If I could make psychohistory work as a first approximation for Trantor alone, then the minor effects of the Outer Worlds could be added as later modifications. Do you see what I mean? I was searching for a single world on which to establish a practical science of psychohistory and I was searching for it in the far past, when all the time the single world I wanted was under my feet now.† Hummin said with obvious relief and pleasure, â€Å"Wonderful!† â€Å"But it's all left to do, Hummin. I must study Trantor in sufficient detail. I must devise the necessary mathematics to deal with it. If I am lucky and live out a full lifetime, I may have the answers before I die. If not, my successors will have to follow me. Conceivably, the Empire may have fallen and splintered before psychohistory becomes a useful technique.† â€Å"I will do everything I can to help you.† â€Å"I know it,† said Seldon. â€Å"You trust me, then, despite the fact I am Demerzel?† â€Å"Entirely. Absolutely. But I do so because you are not Demerzel.† â€Å"But I am,† insisted Hummin. â€Å"But you are not. Your persona as Demerzel is as far removed from the truth as is your persona as Hummin.† â€Å"What do you mean?† Hummin's eyes grew wide and he backed away slightly from Seldon. â€Å"I mean that you probably chose the name ‘Hummin' out of a wry sense of what was fitting. ‘Hummin' is a mispronunciation of ‘human,' isn't it?† Hummin made no response. He continued to stare at Seldon. And finally Seldon said, â€Å"Because you're not human, are you, ‘Hummin/Demerzel'? You're a robot.†

Conducting Buinsess Overseas

The Legal and Ethical Environment of Business 11/12/12 Phase 5 Individual Project Professor Ivy When conducting business overseas it is important to know the legal regulations (N/A, N/A) which should be considered as the first part of the business plan. One should do their research about how business is handled to avoid illegal activities that one may not be aware of. Some of the regulations are permits, licenses, requirements, documentation, and laws that apply in that country.There are laws for importing merchandise into another country so therefore one must check with someone who specialize in that area of laws. As an importer one must give customs a complete report on the delivery of goods. On December 8, 1993 the Customs Modernization Act was put into place in order to â€Å"shift legal responsibility (N/A, N/A) from Customs to the importer for declaring, among other things, the value, classification, and rate of duty applicable to entered merchandise†. Importers should u se reasonable care when complying with Customs requirements in order to fulfill their duties as importers.As part of Customs they strongly enforce requirements from other agencies which include Environmental Protection Agency, the Drug Enforcement Agency, and the Food and Drug Administration. All of these agencies are included to make sure goods passes safety requirements before any goods are imported into another country. If it is determined that an importer fail to use reasonable care they could face monetary penalties for not following laws. Any company that has large import activity should have satisfactory procedures in place in order to make sure they’re in compliance with Custom laws.Many importers use Customs Broker (N/A, N/A) to handle their files for them. These agencies are licensed by Customs to deal with files for importers. As an importer there is specific documentation requirements needed before any goods can be imported into another country. So therefore, impo rters use Custom Brokers to gather and file all of the necessary documents for importing the goods. Importers are still responsible for following all rules under the Mod Act. If these laws are broken they can be held liable for criminal or civil penalties under the Mod Act.Criminal Penalties can be defined as anyone who gives false information to Customs officers. Anyone who is in violation of this statue could face two years imprisonment, fines, or possible both for all violation that were related to importation. Civil penalties can be defined as anyone who provide fraud through the use of gross negligence or transmit false data which relates to any fraudulent activities. As part of Customs authority they can seize merchandise to get payment for the violation. As part of doing business oversees one will deal with exporters.Exporter duties (N/A, N/A) include making sure that it is legal to export merchandise from United States to another country. They are also responsible to make su re that all required documentation are in order and filed to proper agency. Before exporting any product one should be sure to check for licenses and other documentation needed to export products. There are certain laws that apply to exporters which include laws such as anti-boycott laws, the Export Administration Regulations, and Economic sanctions.When determining whether or not a license is needed for export the appropriate authority checks for the product’s classification, end-user, and end-use. It is also important that one should know about Free Trade Agreements. Free Trade Agreements (N/A, 2010) is known to be one of the best opportunities to expand the foreign market to the United States. Part of the Free Trade Agreement is to reduce barriers to United States exports which protect the United States interests. This law makes it easier and less expensive for U. S. ompanies to export their goods to trading market partners. So therefore, we could use this to our advantage as a company to export goods to from and to other countries. The ethical code of conduct (N/A, Sigue Corp. , 2012) for employees and vendors is to ensure strong ethical principles govern prevent conflicts that might occur between the employees and vendors. All employees and vendors must abide by the company’s ethical code of conduct. In order for the code of conduct to be enforced each employee or vendor must report any conflicts that relates to the company’s welfare.As part of the company’s policy we are responsible for keeping customers, employees, and vendors satisfied with the services provided from this company. So therefore, we required our employees to maintain a high level professional standard while conducting business in our company. Employees should keep all information confidential about Company, customers, employees, agents, and vendors. If any employee has an issue we encourage them to consult with someone such supervisor, management, or anyone el se in a higher position about any problems they may encounter.If employees or vendor are found to be in violation of Code of conduct will be investigated and immediately terminated. As part of the Company’s policies we report any unlawful behavior to the appropriate agency. This company doesn’t tolerate fraudulent behavior, dishonest, theft, embezzlement, threats, or any other inappropriate behavior. Legal and ethical guidelines (Phillips, 2012) are important in all businesses because they are part of laws that shall be followed. All businesses should have ethical guidelines that they should abide by in order to maintain laws which are enforceable by the state and government.If a business fails to follow guidelines and laws they could be punish or penalized by local laws that weren’t followed. Ethical guidelines is used to protect employees from being unpaid by enforcing laws for wages and hours worked. These laws are put in place to avoid businesses from not tr eating employees fairly such as not paying them for the hours worked or overtime. When distinguishing between right and wrong in business dealings (Merchant, 2006-2012) one must consider is the action true and how it will affect the business.They should also take into consideration whether or not the decision is fair to all parties involved. Another question one should ask is will the decision benefit the outcome of people that have invested in this dealing. After thinking about the outcome of all decision it is important that you chose the action that is legal in order to avoid illegal behavior that will lead to punishment of some type. The punishment could result in termination, fines, or imprisonment depending on what type of wrong doings one has committed.So therefore, when hiring employees one should make sure they are capable of making the right decision that will have a positive outcome for the company. As part of ethical conduct one must be capable of deciding what is right and what is wrong in order to have a good foundation in ethics. Making the right choices in a company could result in the company being successful and kept out of the public eye for unethical behavior. This type of behavior has prompted such an increase in these types of legal and ethical violations (Richard Mauer & Anna M. Tinsley, 2010) because they aren’t being handled appropriate.Many companies aren’t punished to the full extent because they have power and money to get them out of that situation. When other companies see that another company has gotten away breaking the law they think that they can away with it too. Ethical violations are increasing because many companies forget about them and want to get the job done in a short time with a low cost. Many companies in today’s society don’t have morals and good values so this makes it difficult to practice ethical guidelines for companies. If all companies enforced good ethical behavioral some of the u nethical violation could be reduced.This could lead to a more successful reliable business that more people will feel comfortable with. My opinion regarding the impact of the ethical implications (N/A, 2005-2012) and violations on the business itself from the perspective of the consumer is that this company follows rules and regulation to avoid illegal behavior. Some companies seem to think that they can get away with doing things that are not legal and that they won’t be caught. If the court keeps ordering them to pay fines and put them on probation they may not recognize what the consequences are.So I think they should lose money in order to realize that this type of behavior is unacceptable. So therefore, the company should be shut down until everything is corrected. I feel by them paying isn’t enough because they have billions of dollars and money isn’t a problem. Investors may feel that this company is reliable for their actions and may not want to do busin ess with them. The reason why investors may not want to do business with them is because they have a history of illegal and unethical behavior that may cause investors to lose money.

Organizational Behavior, Mintzbergs Managers

Introduction The theory our group will be discussing and explaining in depth is the leadership styles of top management using Mintzberg’s managerial roles. Mintzerg named ten different roles, all separated into three categories. The first category is interpersonal. This includes figurehead, leader, and liason. The second category is informational which includes monitor, disseminator, and spokesperson. The last category is decisional which includes entrepreneur, disturbance handler, resource allocator, and negotiator.These roles are all used in the leadership styles of top management and we will find throughout research which roles are most frequently used and which seem to be the most effective. We have selected five companies in which we will research and in turn, be able to apply Mintzberg’s roles to each company individually. Our company selection includes Nokia, Walt Disney, Apple, Microsoft, and city utilities. We look forward to researching these companies and fin ding exactly which roles are most important to each company specifically, as well as comparatively.Theoretical Identification Mintzberg’s managerial roles are categorized into ten different roles, separated into three categories. The liaison role is under the category interpersonal roles, and it focuses on the manager’s interpersonal work with people that are not a part of his/her own organization. It describes the information and communication that is obligated by a manager, for example that the manager must create networks and engage in information exchange via trade shows, joining boards of directors to gain access to more knowledge.A successful liaison would be networking with the right amount of people in the right circles so that they also would be either a step ahead of their competitors, or at least up to date with the right knowledge. The monitor role is under informational roles, and it focuses on regularly seeking information related to the organization and industry to look for changes that are relevant to the companies’ environment. This is important to the company and to its employees who value being able to adapt to changes that happen in their environment as well.It is also the monitor’s role to be the one to monitor the team in terms of productivity and the team’s well -being to make sure that they always have productive and satisfied employees. Figurehead is considered a symbol, but is required to perform a number of routine duties of a legal or social nature. The figurehead is not always considered a decision maker within a company. Steve Jobs was a perfect example of someone who made business decision, but he was also considered someone that represented the company socially.The other form of figurehead could be Ronald McDonald representing McDonalds, but he has no authority in business decisions. Figureheads are important in helping sell the brand as well as creating a positive image. Figurehead performs ce remonial and symbolic duties. Figureheads are crucial in a company for the brand name, and how they can help build a company. Leader is responsible for the motivation and direction of employees. Every company will have leaders throughout all levels of the company. You will have someone at upper level, middle level and lower level management.Upper level management has someone leading sometimes through board of directors or CEO. Middle Management has a manager in charge of lower level. A leader cannot be taught, but it is a person who has always been a natural born leader. Leaders will direct and motivate subordinates, train, advice and influence. These tasks are crucial in keeping the company flowing smoothly and keeping the product moving out the door. Leaders are crucial in deciding tasks to elevate the company. They are making decisions that the everyday employee has no control over.The disseminator and spokesperson roles, classified under the informational category, are closely r elated. The disseminator role refers to the manager who takes information received from outsiders or employees, and shares it with upper level members of the organization. The spokesperson role takes information from inside the organization and relates it to the public. Good disseminators and spokespersons need to have good communication skills in order to interact with company heads as well as the public.A successful spokesperson needs to be able to speak during conferences with confidence and also be able to maintain a consistent relationship with the media. If a manager is both a spokesperson and disseminator, they are excellent in communicating both inside and outside of the company. The decisional category includes four roles: entrepreneur, disturbance handler, resource allocator, and negotiator. The entrepreneur role is one in which managers take initiative and seek out opportunities that will both benefit the organization as well as create innovation. These managers work on m ajor rojects and are proactive in accomplishing goals as well as bettering the organization. The disturbance handler role refers to managers who are responsible in taking action when problems or disturbances occur. Every organization faces conflict, most of which are sudden and unexpected. The disturbance handler steps in to handle this conflict and attempts to resolve and correct the problem so that the organization can continue successfully. Organizations Identification/ Introduction and Descriptions Disney The Disney Company was founded by its namesake Walt Disney on October 16, 1923.In 1923, Walt Disney left his hometown of Kansas City, Missouri on his way to California with a cartoon of a little girl in a cartoon world called Alice’s Wonderland (Disney). Disney decided to use his cartoon to make some Alice Comedies which first made him successful with his brother, Roy. The Disney Company’s original name in 1923 was Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio which then changed to Walt Disney Studios at the request of Disney’s brother (Disney). After a few years Disney decided to transition to an all cartoon show Oswald the Lucky Rabbit and he made his first business mistake.When he went to his distributor for more money for a second season of the cartoon he realized the distributor sold the rights to a studio who made the cartoons for a cheaper price and that upon further review of his contract he did not own the rights to Oswald the distributor did. However, this was probably a great error because right after this incident Disney created Mickey Mouse, the figurehead for the Disney Company. According to Mintzberg’s managerial role not only is Mickey the figurehead of Disney but so is Walt Disney himself.The Disney Company has expanded greatly over the last 80 years since the company was started by Walt Disney and his brother. The company has moved from cartoons to feature films, amusement parks, merchandise and even Broadway. Walt Disney di ed December 15, 1966 and the company continued with his brother Roy who followed plans Disney left behind (Disney). Once again the Disney Company was not satisfied with its success and decided they should make another theme park on the east coast called Disney World, which opened October 1, 1971. Roy Disney who ran Disney after the death of his rother died in 1971, the company was run for the next decade by people trained by the Disney brothers. The community of tomorrow or EPCOT was one of Disney’s last ideas and it was realized in the larger Disney World Park. The now CEO, Robert Iger, showed that he had what it takes to lead such an innovative company. He became the Disney Company CEO in 2005 and after that the companies stock jumped 42% (Steptoe). In 2007, he increased the fiscal profits almost 80% over the previous year to 2. 63 billion dollars (Steptoe). Disney is one of the most innovated and widely diverse companies around the world.Toyota Toyota joined the automobile industry in 1936 based out of Japan. Toyota has always been a top tier automobile company that has top of the line manufacturing. Toyota will continue to stay top of the line in automobiles with cars such as the Hybrid. The Hybrid has revolutionized the automobile industry to new heights, and that is owed to the management team who has had their struggles. It was large news not too long ago about Toyota recalling several cars, because the accelerator was sticking. The severity cannot be explained in this paper for people involved with this scenario.Mintzberg’s managerial roles might not be the direct idea companies are using, but they are being used by everyone in certain situations. Mintzberg has ten managerial roles divided into three categories of informational, interpersonal and decisional. The crisis Toyota dealt with for the last several years heavily involved the category, decisional. The start was with interpersonal and the leaders to make a decision to go public wit h their apology. It does not make the public happy for the current situation, but it lets the public no Toyota realizes they made a mistake.The leader also had to make some large cuts within the company to show they realized the mistake. The leader also had to motivate employees, so they did not have another lapse that would ruin Toyota. The decisional aspects consume of disturbance handler, resource allocator and negotiator. The negotiator had to deal with all the complaints, and they had to negotiate all the lawsuits aimed at Toyota. The negotiator did pretty well by taking a small hit in the large scheme of the company. They were able to find settlements for over half the cases dealing with the incidents.It took years to uncover a lot of these settlements, but Toyota was willing to take that hit to rebuild the brand name to its original strength. The other two decisional roles are disturbance handler and resource allocator. The disturbance handler is someone who takes corrective action in a crisis and solves problems at hand. This could have been the ending result of Toyota with so many lives in jeopardy, but this person dealt with the problem by confronting it head on. They took the approach of no excuses, and making it publicly none of the problem and recalling the vehicles.It was going to take a hit for taking blame in such large failure of automobiles, but it would save their image in the long run. The resource allocator was in charge of dealing with the issues inside the vehicle to make sure no problem occurs like this again. Toyota continues to bounce back by having top of the line vehicles with minimal complaints. The resource allocator has seemed to done their job in fixing the problem with newly acquired resources. Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington.The company develops, manufactures, licenses and supports a wide range of products and services that’s related to electr onics and software. Microsoft is also one of the world's most valuable companies. As of 2012, Microsoft is a market dominant in both the PC operating system and office suite markets. It was founded on April 4, 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen. Paul Allen was born in Seattle, Washington, Allen attended Lakeside School, a private school in Seattle, and befriended Bill Gates, who was almost three years younger and shared a common enthusiasm for computers. Gates was born in Seattle, Washington, to William H. Gates, Sr. nd Mary Maxwell Gates. Gates father was a prominent lawyer, and his mother served on the board of directors for First Interstate BancSystem and the United Way. Gates graduated from Lakeside School in 1973. He scored 1590 out of 1600 on the SAT and enrolled at Harvard College in the autumn of 1973. Gates joined Paul Allen at Honeywell during the summer of 1974. The following year they saw the release of the MITS Altair 8800 based on the Intel 8080 CPU, and Gates and Allen saw this as the opportunity to start their own computer software company. Gates dropped out of Harvard at this time and that was the start of Microsoft Corporation.Bill Gates management style was very different. Gates's role at Microsoft for most of its history was primarily a management and executive role. From Microsoft's founding in 1975 until 2006; Gates had primary responsibility for the company's product strategy. He aggressively broadened the company's range of products, and wherever Microsoft achieved a dominant position he vigorously defended it. He gained a reputation for being distant to others; as early as 1981 an industry executive complained in public that â€Å"Gates is notorious for not being reachable by phone and for not returning phone calls. As an executive, Gates met regularly with Microsoft's senior managers and program managers. Accounts of these meetings described him as verbally combative and they were worried about the long term agreement with the company because of the way Bill Gates operated things, he was for example very known for the way he would interrupt presentations and be rude and harsh. Gates's role at Microsoft for most of its history was primarily a management and executive role. Microsoft has a top 12 over their management style which is: Total World Domination The Top Five PercentMicrosoft rigorously attempts to hire only the smartest people, those who are within the smartest 5% of the total population. Bet the Company Winning in the game of business is about being willing to make bets at good odds. Require Failure At most companies, to succeed is good, but to fail is unacceptable. This type of policy means that, as a risk/reward scenario, the risk of failure vastly exceeds the reward of success. Managers Are Qualified At Microsoft, the most important qualification for a manager is expertise in the functional area over which (s)he is managing Perform, Perform, PerformPerformance is all that matters at Microsoft, so mu ch so that excuses are flat-out irrelevant â€Å"Shrimp vs. Weenies† Even with its billions upon billions in cash, Microsoft is as frugal as Ebeneezer Scrooge. It's a company that buys canned weenies for food, not shrimp. Commander Steve Ballmer flew coach. (For scheduling Size Does Matter Bill is Watching Esprit de Corps Again alluding to Microsoft being less like a big company than it appears, Thielen asserts that Microsoft has esprit de corps like that of a start-up where everyone involved is focused on a common goal.Stop the Insanity The plague of most big companies is bureaucracy and stupid rules. Home Away From Home Microsoft has a simple way of maximizing its employees' productivity: It allows each individual's office to be as individualized as one desires. Nokia Nokia was founded in 1865 by a man named Fredrik Idestam. He set up two paper mills on the banks of rivers in Finland, the second one on the Nokianvirta River. This is where he came up with the name we all kno w, Nokia. It is ironic that Nokia began by making paper, one of the most important communication tools in history.The first step Nokia took towards the technology industry was in 1912 when Arvid Wickstrom set up Finnish Cable Works. They worked closely with Nokia and in 1962 they created their first electronic device, a pulse analyzer for nuclear power plants. In 1963 Nokia started developing products for the army and shortly after became the biggest computer brand in Finland and the third largest TV manufacturer in Europe. Throughout Nokia’s history there is a trend of innovation and entrepreneurial thinking from its managers.In 1991, the Finnish Prime Minister made the world’s first GSM phone call using a Nokia device. The Nokia President and CEO at the time, Jorma Ollila, decided to focus exclusively on manufacturing mobile phones and telecommunication. This marks the beginning of the Nokia Company that we all know to date. With its aggressive grown strategy and foc us on mobile communication Nokia quickly became the largest mobile communications company in the world. More recently, Nokia has been making many changes due to the increase in competitors in the smart phone market.Fresh blood was brought into management when Stephen Elop was appointed the new President and CEO. He has a history of being a top decisional manager according to Mintzberg’s managerial roles. His job is to keep up with the changing industry and stay competitive in the smartphone market that has been dominated by apple in recent years. In the few years that Elop has been CEO he has made further changes to the management team of the organization. A new vice president of operations has been appointed along with new vice presidents of sales & marketing, mobile phones, and communications.Elop is clearly taking action to make up some of the market share lost to apple in the past years. Apple Apple, a multinational and billion dollar company, was founded on April 1, 1976 by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne. It was incorporated January 3, 1977 without Wayne, who sold his share of the company back to Jobs and Wozniak. Apple is best known for the Mac line of computers, the iPod, the iPad, and the iPhone. It is the world’s largest mobile phone maker after Samsung and Nokia and was named the most admired company in the United States in 2008 and in the world from 2008 to 2012.The Apple market cap is larger than that of Google and Microsoft combined and its worldwide revenue totaled $156 billion in 2012. Apple uses Mintzberg’s managerial roles throughout its corporation to function on a daily basis. Application and Analysis/ Relationships and Inconsistencies Apple While there are many similarities as well as inconsistencies between Apple and Mintzberg’s managerial roles, I find there to be mostly positive relationships between this organization and our topic. The strongest role that Apple focuses on is the leadership role.M intzberg described leading as motivation, direction, and communication from managers to their employees in an effective manner. Steve Jobs was the soul of Apple and his leadership skills and qualities lead this company to extreme success. He was an innovator who focused not only on the needs of the stakeholders, but also on how the organization could reinvent or create new products, markets, customers, and services. Job’s leadership skills followed Mintzberg’s definition of leadership precisely.Along with the similarities of Apple and our topic come inconsistencies. The main inconsistency I found was Apples ability to use Mintzberg’s disturbance handler role effectively. Mintzberg describes this role as the one to take corrective action when the organization faces important, yet unexpected disturbances. Apple has faced many challenges and crossroads in its past and many of these were not solved in the best of manners. A stronger decisional role, such as the dist urbance handler, may have made such challenges easier to handle.Mintzberg’s managerial roles are important and used within all organizations and relationships, both positive and negative, are present. Disney The Disney Company is most well known for its figurehead Mickey Mouse an important role according to Mintzberg. Disney utilizes the figurehead role in a positive way to influence the company and the fans. The Disney Company continued to gain in success after the creation of Mickey Mouse when they realized that they could make more money by selling Mickey merchandise. Then they moved on the first Mickey book and comic strip.In 1934, Disney decided to break into the animated feature films starting with Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Snow White was a huge success and was the highest grossing film of all time until it was surpassed by Gone with the Wind (Disney). Walt Disney knew that his cartoons were successful but the future of his company was in the feature films where he continued to be successful but eventually wanted to expand his company again. This time he moved to amusement parks and Disneyland was opened on July 17, 1955, which fans later called theme parks (Disney).In the 1950’s Disney came out with movies like 20,000 Leagues Under the sea and perhaps the finest culmination of his career Mary Poppins (Disney). According to Mintzberg’s roles, Disney was a great leader by not only running a successful company but by influencing the grand expansion of his company from cartoons to films, amusement parks, and even Broadway. He also knew how to inspire and teach his young proteges how to be good leaders and entrepreneurs. After Disney’s death, the new group of leaders decided to keep the Disney expansion going by building a Disney theme park in Tokyo, the first international theme park.In the 1980’s the new management team began the realization of Disney’s own cable network, The Disney Channel. Over the next tw enty years Disney expanded their movie, television, and theme park networks. In 1994, Disney moved to Broadway with their production of Beauty and the Beast (Disney). In 2005, Robert Iger became the CEO of Disney and he is still the CEO today. Many people were skeptical because Iger was a weatherman who had worked himself up the ranks and was now the leader of a large company (Steptoe).However, Iger showed that he could be a great leader like Walt Disney and it was Iger who changed Disney into a technologically savvy company. Iger proved his business smarts by meeting with Steve Jobs the Apple and Pixar chief executive and Disney bought Pixar in 2006 for $7. 4 billion (Steptoe). Robert Iger uses Mintzberg’s role of negotiator in a positive way by making a deal with Steve Jobs for Pixar which really helped expand Disney’s company and increase their profits. Iger uses a laid back management style different from his predecessor and encourages the senior executives to entr epreneurial.The hardest roles of Mintzberg’s to see if they are being utilized by Disney are the informational ones, monitor and disseminator because it is hard to tell if Iger is good at the interoffice communication. Disney has been a thriving company for almost 80 years, starting with cartoons and blossoming into a company with diverse roots in television, movies, theme parks, and Broadway. The Disney Company utilizes the entrepreneur role positively throughout the company’s history from Walt Disney all the way to the leaders of the company today.Implications and Conclusions The concept of Mintzberg’s managerial roles is one that is used throughout every organization on a daily basis. The roles that Mintzberg describe are crucial to the success of any organization and they directly relate to the real world. These roles, although unique in their own, come together to form a single working unit that creates effective and productive employees. Without the knowle dge of Mintzberg’s managerial roles, organizations will struggle to understand how to work together as well as how to form a useful system for success.While learning about Mintzberg’s managerial roles, our group retained information that will further help our understanding when working in an organization. We studied three important categories: interpersonal, informational, and decisional. It is important to be able to distinguish the differences in these categories and to be able to see the significance of each. Each individual role plays an important part in the success of an organization. The more organizations focus on these roles and allocate them to their employees, the more successful and organized they will be.

Macro Environmental Factors Essay

Lancaster (2011) defines the macro environment as ’those global elements over which the organization has no control over but which affect the organization’s ability to serve its customers profitably.’ There are six major macro environment forces: cultural, demographic, economic, natural, political, and technological. The cultural environment includes institutions and other forces that affect the basic values, behaviours, and preferences of the society-all of which have an effect on consumer marketing decisions. The demographic environment includes the study of human populations in terms of size, density, location, age, sex, race, occupation, and other statistical information. The economic environment consists of all factors-such as salary levels, credit trends, and pricing patterns-that affect consumer spending habits and purchasing power. The (ecological) natural environment involves all the natural resources, such as raw materials or energy sources, needed by or affected by marketers and marketing activities. The political environment includes all laws, government agencies, and lobbying groups that influence or restrict individuals or organizations in the society. The technological environment consists of those forces that affect the technology and which can create new products, new markets, and new marketing opportunities. This is a way a country is governed, and they are usually more than one political party in a country thus bring in threats and opportunities to the businesses operating in such an environment. There two possible out comes from political environment are stability and changes in the ruling government. When a country has a multi-party system the environment is most likely to be associated with political instability as parties are battling for power. Political unrest is destructive to any business activity. In most cases these unrests results in loss of assets without compensation. The decision by the ruling party in Zimbabwe in 2000 was the land reform program which in principle was to redress the imbalance of land ownership between the black majority and white minority. The effect was a sharp decline in agricultural output as the white commercial farmers were mostly replaced by either politician or high ranking government officials most of whom were not really passionate about farming or by peasant farmers who had neither the technical knowledge nor resource to undertake farming at commercial level. For example, Delta as a result of poor agricultural season sorghum beer volumes declined with 8 percent as the supply of raw materials have been affected and the black majority in the farms could not cope up w this change in the season(The Sunday Mail Business ,page B7, 19 may 2013). Political instability is a favourable environment for an organization to operate in because they will be able to strategically plan and set objectives and they will be SMART. In Zimbabwe since the GNU the economy has stabilizes that firms such as delta could set themselves goals to achieve within a specific time frame and Delta has been pouring cash into re-tooling, re-capitalization and strategically positioning its business. Changes in government, as governments are formed by political parties. Government exert pressure on business through enactment and enforcement of legislation and formulation and implementation of government policies. For example government that might come onto power may cause threa ts to delta in the sense that it may be The social cultural factors are those factors which are considered to be socially acceptable in a society. These include the attitudes of the society to foreign goods and services, the dominant religion in that area, population structure-older generation wealth and pressure groups etc. as a firm it has to be aware of the dominant region in the area it is operating. For instance in Zimbabwe there are more than 60% Christians therefore it has to sell more of soft drinks to beer thereby affecting their decisions on what quantity to produce and their pricing strategies. It is unwise for DELTA to market its products in a market it is not aware of what’s being socially acceptable in that area, taking this scenario when DELTA tried to market its products like scud lion lager in the market of Mozambique. In Mozambique people prefer beer in small containers but with high alcoholic percentages, thus their products did not make t in the Mozambique cane market. Therefore a firm has to fir st consider the social cultural factors of the market it wants to operate in for there are the potential customers of tomorrow for their business. This is the application of scientific knowledge to convert resources of an economy into outputs. On the technological aspect will be looking at the entrance of better and effective +ways in terms of machinery and products etc. Technology is vital for competitive advantage, and is also a major driver of globalization. This involves the creation of new markets and opportunities were a firm can easily adopt a new innovative way of doing operation and this enables it to compete globally. The uses of better advanced technology have a greater impact on the processes and performance of a firm. Technology is vital for competitive advantage, and is a major driver of globalization. The Delta Beverages has moved into modern packaging like the light 300mml bottle which uses fewer materials in production. The bottle was 25% heavier than the new one. The new plant for the bottle reduces rejects and output was enhanced to 42000 per hour Let’s take for instance Delta it needs to switch from being labour intensive to capital intensive in order to produce more quality efficiently and effectively as new advanced machinery will be introduced in the market. It means that if there were twenty employees who were mixing the contents and filling containers of coke they are automatically going to be eliminated. Therefore their way of doing operations need to be reorganised .As a result of using modern communication Medias like video conferencing and Skype managers can now make decisions whilst on holiday and it also enables exchange of vital information among workers at different geographical location easily. Organisations are also affected by the ecological 3factors; these are environmental factors that affect the businesses. It involves factors that occur naturally like drought, tsunami, floods etc. These factors have a greater impact on the operations of a business. For example if Zimbabwe is being affected by drought this means that the agricultural sector will have little to produce and for Delta which rely on sorghum as raw materials to manufacture beer , it will have to export those resources from other countries .Therefore this will affect the decisions ,strategies ,processes and their performance . A worker who will be involved in production will absent themselves from working search of food to sustain their families. Floods have also a negative impact on the operations of businesses as they result in deaths, destruction of infrastructure or the premises of the organisations leading to closure of some business and deaths of personnel. And the legal factors can be classified as polices, laws, rules and regulations adopted by the Government ruling at that time. These factors may have a greater impact on the decisions and strategies to be adopted by a firm. The Government they may adopt pricing policies. For instance the Government may put a price ceiling say a king-size bottle of soft drinks should not go above $0,50c so as DELTA it has to abide to the laws of the Government for it to continue operate in the market of Zimbabwe. The pricing policies impose on the farm produce also had an impact on the performance of DELTA as a firm. Say sorghum is said that its price should not precede $2 per kilogram, these means that the farmers will not be willing to sell their produce to the market thus leading DELTA to import in order to operate at their expected production line and experience an increase in their cost of production. So we can safely say some of the policies adopted by the Government may lead to an increase in p rices or reduction in production causing shortages in the market. However there are some of the legal factors imposed by the Government to the economy which affect the performance, decisions, strategies and processes of DELTA as a firm. For example the ‘MURAMBATSVINA’ policy which resulted to an increase in unemployment meaning to say that it also lead to an decrease in the level of spending of people. So DELTA as a firm sell more like luxuries goods so people are likely to reduce their consumption of such like products, thus may result in the reduction of prices of the products in order to lure the customers to buy and maintain their market share. Be that it may, not all the policies, rules and regulations set by the Government and laws will have an effect on the operations of DELTA.

Gender Related Issues Essay

Complete a search for journal articles (professional) that include gender related cognitive issues. Report back to the group through the discussion forum on an understanding of the gender related cognitive abilities. Look for flaws and strengths in specific examples and applications. Thinking is a normal process in everybody’s life. The activities of the neurons giving signals to the brains are helpful in giving the body commands to act on a certain activity or to feel and even to think. Men and women think in every part of their lives, except when they are under comatose by which patients remain unconscious for over a certain time. Studies often say that men and women think very differently. Many various tests in college and even in high schools show that men are far more different in abilities in math than of women; this is also the same reason why men are more selected on job opportunities, especially to those in depth analysis. Women are often regarded as underdogs in the fields where numbers exist. An article from â€Å"Think Again† says that the old belief of the big thinking difference among men and women is a bluff. It suggests a cultural shaping wherein minds of the people are programmed to expect less from women in terms of thinking. Evidences from the article say that the shaping mentioned above is a controlling factor to the performance of many. With the psychological mind – set that men are better than women, women tend to perform and feel insecure about them and in turn would result to grades that are really degrading. The article focuses on the factors that are apparent in the 18th to the 21st centuries by which the â€Å"shaping† is already present. It could have presented or showed us factors from the time before Christ or in the Middle Ages to greatly describe the so-called cultural reasons. It could have given a proof why girls are often regarded for household chores and not with jobs that they can participate with boys. On the other hand, the article may be a helpful guide to parents and teachers to mold the children without inculcating the notion of men being superior in analyzing and solving things. The statements that tell about performances after giving the biases may be true for people around the world and should be avoided to have optimum performance in different work places. 2. Complete a search for journal articles (professional) that include gender related communication issues. . Report back to the group through the discussion forum on an understanding of gender related communication. Look for flaws and strengths in specific examples and applications. Emotions are part of a well-being. It is also a measure if a person is healthy or not. Girls tend to have more emotions than boys, or have it something to do with the misinterpretation of the crowd? As girls or women are termed to be good in emotions, they are also termed as good communicators than men. Girls are very vocal with their ideas and feelings. An article of Cynthia Burggraf Torppa says that the idea of women having an edge with communicating with other people is a misnomer. It said that men and women just don’t understand each other with the lines that they say. Also, there are terms given such as â€Å"rapport talkers† which women are experts on. Women communicate with other people that trigger emotions and feelings while men are termed â€Å"report talkers† that focus on facts and details about a certain topic. Indeed, there are differences about men and women as also stated in Men are from Mars, women are from Venus. The article mentioned can help readers understand more others. That is to say, men and women should practice listening between the lines so that misunderstandings will be avoided. Since women are really emotional, they must be sensitive also with what their men are feeling. The differences matter mostly on marriages, so I recommend that the article could have started and stated on something that happens in childhood and teenage life so that readers will also be guided when and where to hit their punch lines. Men and women must be treated equally as they are all created with the same will and love of the Lord Almighty. References Cynthia Burggraf Torppa. Gender Issues: Communication Differences in Interpersonal Relationships. 2002. Retrieved 11 April 2008 from http://ohioline. osu. edu/flm02/FS04. html. American Psychological Association. Psychology Matters. Think Again: Men and Women Share Cognitive Skills. 2006. Retrieved 11 April 2008 from http://www. psychologymatters. org/thinkagain. html

Overall Effects of Vietnam War

The overall effects of the Vietnam War The Vietnam War was a military conflict in which communist forces of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam fought with the indigenous National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam along with their allies, mostly the United States of America over a unification of two states to be bonded by one communistic government. The Vietnam war lasted 209384903 years and the United States was involved for 20394032 years. The issue at hand was the possible expansion of communism in Asia.From our democratic viewpoint, and being ethnocentric, the United States felt involvement was necessary and it would benefit not only us, but the world. The war had a huge effect on literally everything that was involved; from the soldiers, the societies, the land, the governments. Almost everyone in the word today can altogether agree that our involvement in the war was a poor decision made by our ethnocentric government. Our government tried to spread democracy by getting involved with a civil issue, as they still do today.One would think that our predestined failure in the past would obviously come to mine once again when a similar situation occurs; such as Iraq or future events. The United States of America was founded on the belief of freedom; our establishment was completely against the English policy and caused wars. We very often engage in hypocritical actions where we try to restrict the type of government and types of policies created around the world even though we feel that we are spreading the correct way. The bad effects of the Vietnam war significantly over shadowed any benefit that the United States thought at the time would come.Our involvement was irresponsible and caused horrific damage to the United States society. The returning troops were battered and abused by citizens as if they had not unwillingly experienced enough over in Vietnam; their events would live on with them until they die. The United State’s involvement in th e Vietnam war conflict was a terrible mistake that caused tragic effects that would live on for decades. The Vietnam war mostly forever affected the lives on the United States soldiers that went into battle in Vietnam. From the horrific sights witnessed over in Vietnam, to the unjustified treatment upon return, the oldiers unarguably suffered the most. Roughly 58,226 U. S. soldiers died for a unsuccessful cause. The draft was instituted in 1969 where thousands of soldiers were unwillingly deployed to fight a losing battle. Nobody wanted to endure the effects of the war personally, and as a result thousands of men fled from the draft. Returning vets were unjustly treated for their service to their country, as if it was their decision to become involved in the Vietnam conflict. The average veteran witnessed friendly casualties on a daily basis, and the death of enemies that was orchestrated by the United States government.During the Vietnam war, the government deployed chemical substa nces, mostly agent orange, who’s purpose was to kill the foliage along the war path. The government, inadvertently poisoned thousands of troops that were exposed to this agent. Upon return, post-traumatic stress disorder started to effect soldiers. PTSD is defined as â€Å"A psychological disorder affecting individuals who have experienced or witnessed profoundly traumatic events, such as torture, murder, rape, or wartime combat, characterized by recurrent flashbacks of the traumatic event, nightmares, irritability, anxiety, fatigue, forgetfulness, and social withdrawal. By definition, a soldier that was sent off to Vietnam suffered from all these experiences. Today, 161,000 soldiers are continuing to receive compensation for their post traumatic stress syndromes. Roughly 37 percent of soldiers from Vietnam are estimated to be suffering from ptsd. An astounding amount of suffrage is being pushed on to the soldiers when it was not even their battle in the beginning.

The governance of international football Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The governance of international football - Essay Example Representative, clean, transparent democracies operating at all levels of the football family, leading to self-regulation within football - FIFA, UEFA, member associations and their components would be sufficiently democratic, transparent and well-organized to avoid any form of external political intervention. UEFA should act as a representative voice for the European football family. The Union of European Football Associations, almost always referred to UEFA is the administrative and controlling body for European football. It represents the national football associations of Europe, runs Europe-wide national and club competitions, and controls the prize money, regulations and media rights to those competitions. (Wikipedia) UEFA was founded on June 15, 1954 in Basel, Switzerland following discussions between the French, Italian and Belgian FAs. The headquarters was in Paris until 1959 when the organisation moved to Bern. Henri Delaunay was the first General Secretary and Ebbe Schwartz the president. Its administrative centre since 1995 is in Nyon, Switzerland. It was initially made up of 25 national associations. Currently there are 53 associations. UEFA is one of the biggest of six continental confederations of FIFA. Of all the confederations, it is by far the strongest in terms of wealth and influence over the global game. Virtually all of the world's top players play in European leagues in part due to the salaries available from the world's wealthiest football clubs, particularly in England, France, Italy, Spain and Germany. Many of the world's strongest national sides are in UEFA. Of the 32 available spots in the 2006 World Cup, 14 were allocated to UEFA national teams.(Dyjan 49) Main Missions of UEFA Constitute Ensure a coherent approach to decision-makers and opinion-formers on issues of relevance to European football. Maintain good relations with the other continental football confederations and FIFA. Achieve commercial success and sound finances without distorting the sporting qualities of our competitions. Use UEFA's revenues to support re-investment and re-distribution in the game in accordance with the principle of solidarity between all levels and areas of sport. Target specific aid and assistance to help member associations with the greatest need. Promote positive sporting values, including fair play and anti-racism, as well as safe and secure match environments. (Dyjan 51) FIFA The Fdration Internationale de Football Association, known worldwide by its acronym FIFA, is the international governing body of Football (soccer) and the largest sporting organization in the world. Its headquarters are in Zrich, Switzerland, and its current president is Sepp Blatter. FIFA is responsible for the organisation and governance of football's major international tournaments, most notably the FIFA World Cup, held since 1930. FIFA is the largest sporting governing body and the second largest international organization in the world, after the United Nations, with over two hundred member associations split between six continental regions.(Wikipedia) The laws of football that govern the game are not solely the responsibility of FIFA; they are maintained by a body called the International Football

Financing Health care ( Article review) Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Financing Health care ( review) - Article Example Through support from authoritative scholarly studies coming from 61 research literatures on the subject, the authors were able to present a balanced scenario of the status of health care in America and the role of health care reform by providing explanations on who are directly accountable for increased health care spending and the rationale for rising costs. The findings revealed that the previously identified factors presumably contributory to rising health costs were merely marginal expenses and the true culprits to increased health expenditure should be blamed on â€Å"the confluence of rapid technological advance and intense commercialism in medicine, which together may be the most critical factor underlying America’s swelling health care sector† (Siegel, et.al, 2008, 645). Containment of these costs, coupled with the health reform, would ultimately assist in addressing the increasing health care expenditure in the country. Professional Critique It is one’s personal contention that the article was clearly and effectively written, with the overall presentation and structure well illustrated.

Project Management - Project Breakdown, Risks and Staffing Assignment

Project Management - Project Breakdown, Risks and Staffing - Assignment Example This paper highlights the possible risks in the organization and how they can be analysed and managed. The organization faces a challenge of the inability to influence wider and diverse market margins. The company is striving to widen its customer diversity and population. This is hindered with the various risks the company faces such as stiff competition from similar companies and lack of sufficient stuffing. The company lacks enough employees hence the production of the company is not to its maximum. There is also poor human resource management. The organization finds it difficult and expensive to train the recruited employees. It is hard for the organisation to replace the experienced personnel who leave with new recruits who take time before conforming to the organisation’s operations and strategies. The organisation faces constant shifting of the employees and this gives it a disadvantage compared to the competitors. Another risk that the organization faces is lack of sufficient resources and funds to hire more employees. More employees will enable the organisation to hav e broader market margins as there level of production will be increased. This problems affect all departments of the organisation hence put the whole organization at risk. The organisation has not fully implemented technology in its daily routine and operations. The computer services and the internet facilities are not fully utilized by the employees of the organization. This particularly affects the HR, marketing and finance department. If this problems are not adhered to the company faces a threat of falling out of competition and closing down in the long run. Failing to diversify and widen it market margin gives the competitors an advantage. This also hinders the organisation from attracting more customers hence limiting the amount of profit the company

Crimes such as employee theft of merchandise or customer or customer Term Paper

Crimes such as employee theft of merchandise or customer or customer theft (shoplifting) - Term Paper Example Theft of merchandize by employees accounts for approximately $50 billion losses on yearly basis, with small retail shops being the most affected (Hollinger, 2013). However, large business enterprises also suffer great losses but compared to small enterprises, they have a higher capacity to absorb the losses hence can stay longer in business to unearth such theft. Small retailers have no such capacity and hence, regular theft ends up ruining the business completely. It is estimated that more than 75% of employees in the US engage in this atrocity, in one form or the other, hence indicating that there is strong need to reevaluate strategies being used by businesses to curb this type of crime (Walsh, 2000). This paper is a critical evaluation on employee theft as a major dilemma in business. Employees are an important resource for a business, whether in production, marketing, supply or even in retail business. This is due to the fact that they provide services that cannot be performed by any other mechanism in exchange for remuneration among other financial and nonmonetary gains. As an employer, the most important goal is to maximize profits and in businesses that entail buying and selling, profits can only be obtained by ensuring that every item leaving the stores is fully paid for and if not, it has to be accounted for. However, statistics indicate that this is not usually the case. Numerous products are being stolen by employees, who are entrusted with the responsibility of maintaining and managing businesses. 75% of employees in the US are stealing from their employers, not just once but repeatedly). No wonder cumulative losses can reach up to more than USD 50 billion on yearly basis (Walsh, 2000). With this trend, it is most likely that more and more businesses wil l continue to collapse and this can only be hurting, not only for business owners but also the global economy as a result of

Impact of Technology on Society (Automobile) Essay

Impact of Technology on Society (Automobile) - Essay Example The automobile technology has had far reaching effects on the society. The advent of technology in the field of automobile has led to the design and production of high quality features of the automobiles used in the industry. The technological progress in the field of automobile has led to development in the cooling systems of engines, increased fuel efficiency of cars, advanced suspension and emission systems, increased horse-power, etc (Volti, 2004). The use of technologies has however, impacted the society by bringing about changes in the socio-economic lives of the people and also affecting the environmental conditions. Functions of society prior to use of technology The functions of the society prior to the invention and use of technology was primitive in nature. The people of the society were accustomed to undertake huge efforts in doing works like gathering of food, travelling from one place to another, sending messages for communication. The works of the society were done over longer period of time. The wooden chariots pulled by animals like horses, cows, buffaloes, etc. was used for moving from one place to another. The poorer sections of the society even had to walk long distances for the purpose of travelling from one place to another. There were several limitations in the modes of transport and long distance travel was done only cases of high need. The people of the society depended on the natural resources and the animals for maintaining their livelihood. The functions of the society before the use of technology was highly dependent on the natural and the natural resources were worshipped as Gods and Goddesses for securing their liveliho od. The functions of the society changed as they learnt to convert the natural resources into beneficial elements for their use that would help to lead to attain improvement in the style of livelihood. The invention of the wheel, motor, steam engine and mechanical engines gradually changes the function of the society as they could achieve their goals with much lesser efforts than before. Functions of the society after adoption of technology The functions of the society changed drastically with the adoption of technologies. The discovery and application of technology increased the efficiency of several modes of communication and transport. The use of automobiles in the society that incorporate complicates and sophisticated technologies were able to provide faster and smoother ways of communication all over the world. The people of the society could travel longer distances with the help of fuel efficient and high horse-power driven automobile engine used in cars and aircrafts. The bar riers of communication were reduced and people could not travel farther distances within their national boundaries but could also cross international borders with ease. The reduction of these barriers with the wide-spread adoption of technology helped in fostering social and cultural exchange between the nations. The various meeting and conferences held across the world from people of society in different corners of the globe were part of daily routines. This brought about economic changes in the lives of the people as the increase in business activities with the spread of technology and world-wide exchanges of culture, ideas and businesses led to the advent of globalization which reshaped the functions of the