ABC Manufacturing Company Essay

The ABC Manufacturing Company is a metal working plant under the direction of a plant manager who is known as a strict disciplinarian. One day a foreman noticed Bhola, one of the workers, at the time-clock punching out two cards his own and the card of Nathu, a fellow worker. Since it was the rule of the company that each man must punch out his own card, the foreman asked Bhola to accompany him to the Personnel Director, who interpreted the incident as a direct violation of a rule and gave immediate notice of discharge to both workers. The two workers came to see the Personnel Director on the following day. Nathu claimed innocence on the ground that he had not asked for his card to be punched and did not know at the time that it was being punched. He had been offered a ride by a friend who had already punched out and who could not wait for him to go through the punch-out procedure. Nathu was worried about his wife who was ill at home and was anxious to reach home as quickly as possible. He planned to take his card to the foreman the next morning for reinstatement, a provision sometimes exercised in such cases. These circumstances were verified by Bhola. He claimed that he had punched Nathu’s card the same time he punched his own, not being conscious of any wrongdoing. The Personnel Director was inclined to believe the story of the two men but did not feel he could reverse the action taken. He recognized that these men were good workers and had good records prior to this incident. Nevertheless, they had violated a rule for which the penalty was immediate discharge. He also reminded them that it was the policy of the company to enforce the rules without exception. A few days later the Personnel Director, the Plant Manager, and the Sales Manager sat together at lunch. The Sales Manager reported that he was faced with the necessity of notifying one of their best customers that his order must be delayed because of the liability of one department to conform to schedule. The department in question was the one from which the two workers had been discharged. Not only had it been impossible to replace these men to date, but disgruntlement over the incident had led to significant decline in the cooperation of the other workers. The Personnel Director and the Sales Manager took the position that the discha rge of these two valuable men could have been avoided if there had been provision for onsidering the circumstances of the case. They pointed out that the incident was costly to the company in the possible loss of a customer, in the dissatisfaction within the employee group, and in the time and money that would be involved in recruiting and training replacements. The Plant Manager could not agree with this point of view. â€Å"We must have rules if we are to have efficiency; and the rules are no god unless we enforce them. Furthermore, if we start considering all these variations in circumstances, we will find ourselves loaded down with everybody thinking he is an exception. † He admitted that the grievances were frequent but countered with the point that they could be of little consequence if the contract agreed to by the union was followed to the letter

A Separate Peace-John Knowles Essay

The novel A Separate Peace is a story about two best friends, Gene and Phineas (Finny), who both attend the Devon school in New Hampshire in 1942. Gene Forrester is an intellectual, confined, straight-laced seventeen year old, while Finny is an athletic free-spirit who isn’t afraid to say what he thinks and is admired by everyone. The story is a flashback in which Gene recalls his fears and insecurities during the midst of the Second World War at the Devon school. Out of jealousy and the fear that Finny is trying to sabotage his studies, Gene shakes a tree branch that they were both standing on, and Finny falls out of the tree and shatters his leg. It is at that point where their relationship changes into more of a codependency which leads to them developing their own individual identities by living within their own illusion that World War II is a mere conspiracy. Finny dies suddenly during the operation on his broken leg , but Gene doesn’t cry. He deals with the tragic news with a sort of tranquility because he believes that he is a part of Finny. Gene reflects on the constant enmity which takes over the present youth, and he believes only Finny was immune to this plague. A Separate Peace is a novel that criticizes society, based on a romantic point of view of human nature. Firstly, Gene’s aggressive nature is being nurtured by societies preoccupation with competition, inner-enemies, and power. Contrasting to Gene, Finny has a natural goodness about him that has not been corrupted by society. Lastly, the Devon school is a symbol of rivalry and competitiveness of the world, which has produced a devastating war on a much larger scale. Gene Forrester is the narrator of the novel, telling the story as a flashback on his youthful days at Devon. He is the source of all the reader’s information, but is somewhat an unreliable source, regarding his insights into his actions and motivations. We see that he has an aggressive nature about him which has been nurtured by societies preoccupation with competition, inner-enemies, and power. We first meet him as an adult, therefore we immediately assume a sort of maturity and wisdom about him and his memories at Devon. The adult Gene is, in reality, still the same as the adolescent Gene in terms of fears and security. He sees the Devon buildings as â€Å"defensive† then â€Å"exhausted†(3) which is a representation of himself as an adult. We see that nothing has changed over the years, not the school, and most importantly, not himself. After the accident, him and Finny lived in codependency. Finny lived through Gene. As the reader, we see that by Gene’s actions by equalizing them and becoming at the same level may have been deliberate, even though it seemed like an accident to everyone else. The fact that Gene shook the tree had stemmed from a deep personal desire to lose his identity, and himself in another. This is represented when he puts on Finny’s clothes and sees that he looks just like him. He feels strangely peaceful. This symbolizes Gene’s own desire to leave himself and become Finny, for he is his own â€Å"war† yet also his love. The accident causes his feeling of resentment and fear to be overcome by devotion to Finny. We see this inner-war develop as he continuously tries to make peace and apologize to Finny, an only then can he forgive himself. The shaking of the tree stirred up an unconscious impulse that sets the chain of events leading to Finny’s death, making Gene the killer and destroyer of the one thing he loved. He is his own enemy, and the destroyer of himself, because he felt that he and Finny were the same person. That is why he didn’t cry at the funeral, because â€Å"[he] could not escape a feeling that it was [his] own funeral, and you do not cry in that case†(186). We see here that he has a tendency to mix love and hate, which is practiced as a habit by society. His action in the tree is also an instinct, which is based on a primitive aggression, defensiveness and rivalry which is the side of human nature that is being nurtured by society. Gene symbolizes the narrow, confined, sort of paranoid world that surrounds humanity. He always leans towards the rules that are set. When Finny wants to go to the beach, Gene creates a scenario in his head that Finny is trying to sabotage his studies, and from there, descends into darkness. This fear of his is, in actuality, a defensive anxiety which finds a potential threat in everyone. This is shown when he says â€Å"I was used to finding something deadly in things†¦ and if it wasn’t there then I put it there myself. â€Å"(92) He us unable to let up his defenses because he sees the enemy everywhere, but the enemy is himself. Society teaches the boys to develop a particular frame of mind that creates an enemy wherever they see a potential threat. This defense mechanism only creates inner-enemies, and it is what corrupts the youth. On the opposite end of the spectrum, Finny has a natural goodness about him that has not been corrupted by society. Finny’s character is seen through the eyes of Gene, therefore his perception of Finny is significant. He is able to talk his way out of any situation which, according to Gene, is rare among humans. He has a â€Å"calm ignorance of the rules with a winning urge to be good†(16). His hypnotic charisma shows just how different he is from the other characters by his element of goodness and innocence. He is so different because he operates outside the world of rules and authority, which he considers to be â€Å"a necessary evil†(11), which in terms means that the rules are made to be broken. He is the essence of careless peace in humanity which is so rare. Yet, while he constantly tests the limits of authority, he neither seeks to be victorious, nor be defeated. This is represented in the game of Blitzball, where everyone furiously competes but no one wins, and this perfectly demonstrates Finny’s attitude towards life. Another example of this is when he broke the swimming record. He simply wanted to â€Å"see if [he] could do it†(35), and Gene calls him â€Å"too good to be true†(36), which shows how Gene and the other boys may view innocence and freedom. They are uncomfortable with people showing sincere emotions(40), and they see the enemy everywhere. Finny has â€Å"a simple unregulated friendliness†(15) which has to do with a more profound wisdom and goodness regarding other human beings. Just like he doesn’t see life as winners and losers, he also thinks the best of people, and no one is an enemy in his eyes. His assumptions that the world is friendly make him unique. For example, Gene believes that society creates enemies where they do not exist, but Finny’s inability to see others as evil or hostile is his strength and weakness. His blindness of Gene’s dark motives create dangerous situations in their codependent relationship, and he never imagines that Gene’s feelings for him are not as true as his feelings for Gene. He inspires Gene in loyalty but also jealousy by his charismatic personality. He assumes that everyone thinks like he does, therefore he acts with himself and Gene in mind, doing whatever he pleases. His care-free attitude is what triggers Gene’s resentment and Finny, aware of only himself, never picks up on Gene’s darkness. He â€Å"was the essence of this careless peace†(16), being the one who facilitates most of the boy’s fun throughout the school year. While they are all caught up with the war and striving for themselves to one-up each other, Finny creates a protective bubble around them to shield them from growing up. His tendency to have fun and be care-free is an indication that there is a streak of decency in human nature, but this basic innocence also makes him vulnerable to those unlike himself. The Devon school is a symbol of rivalry and competitiveness of the real world, which has produced a devastating war. In the beginning of the novel when Gene is an adult, he revisits the school. He sees the â€Å"contentious harmony†(4) of the buildings, which is an oxymoron because it reflects the idea of rivalry. It tells us that the school buildings are â€Å"perpendicular† and â€Å"straight-laced†, and represent the world of order and rules. This harmony of the buildings is a trick of architecture. In reality, Devon represents a world of rivalry, competition and one-upmanship practiced by the students as a habit. The school is simply a symbol of the world on a much larger scale, where competition has produced a war. Seeing others as enemies is common in both the school and society. Everyone but Finny is â€Å"pitted violently against something in the world around them†(196). This something around them is Devon, being their main influence to see everyone as a potential threat. The Devon school is a â€Å"jungle† of a boys’ school(45), where hostility and aggression on a smaller scale lead to war on a much larger scale. Their practiced rivalry is mentioned when Gene states that â€Å"there were few relationships among [them] at Devon not based on rivalry†(37). The seasons at the school also represent a change and transformation in the boys. The summer session at Devon is a time of freedom, where the teachers allow Finny’s hypnotic personality to get away with whatever he pleases. The session symbolizes youth and innocence, which in turn comes to an end when Finny falls from the tree. This event marks the beginning of the winter session, where the atmosphere is sombre and dark, filled with discipline and work. It represents adulthood and war approaching them, and becomes a more predominant feature throughout the course of the novel. The transition from the summer to the winter session embodies societies shift from a care-free nature, to a darker, more mature one. We don’t see Finny transition because he is unable to face adulthood and dies, thus never entering into the school’s new mode of existence. As he reflects on his time at Devon, Gene explains that he â€Å"was on active duty all [the] time at school; [he] killed [his] enemy there†(196). This suggests that everyone is battling an ongoing war with themselves, seeking an enemy fight. The school is merely a battleground on a smaller scale, but still has the same effect. Finny’s innocence caused him to oversee these notions of war and enmity, which lead to his death. In the other case, Gene had an ongoing war with himself, and/or Finny. In either case, it demonstrates Finny’s inability to cope with betrayal. He is the lone character in the novel that doesn’t undergo the school’s strong influence on the boys, that prepare them for the war they have to fight after graduation. The role society plays on the school and the boys is their main influence for their actions. The novel criticizes society based on a romantic view of human nature, and this nature has been explored in many ways. Gene’s inner savage and aggressiveness had been nurtured by societies preoccupation with competition, territory and power. Finny’s natural goodness has not been corrupted by society, but his innocence caused him to blur admiration with jealousy lead to his death. Finally, the Devon school is the main symbol or rivalry in the novel, which represents the war on a much smaller scale than the war in reality. The natural paranoia of the human race leads one to seek an enemy wherever they may see a potential threat, and this leads to destruction and inner-enemies in the end.

Angels Demons Chapter 9397

Still he clawed on. Somewhere a voice was telling him to move left. If you can get to the main aisle, you can dash for the exit. He knew it was impossible. There’s a wall of flames blocking the main aisle! His mind hunting for options, Langdon scrambled blindly on. The footsteps closed faster now to his right. When it happened, Langdon was unprepared. He had guessed he had another ten feet of pews until he reached the front of the church. He had guessed wrong. Without warning, the cover above him ran out. He froze for an instant, half exposed at the front of the church. Rising in the recess to his left, gargantuan from this vantage point, was the very thing that had brought him here. He had entirely forgotten. Bernini’s Ecstasy of St. Teresa rose up like some sort of pornographic still life†¦ the saint on her back, arched in pleasure, mouth open in a moan, and over her, an angel pointing his spear of fire. A bullet exploded in the pew over Langdon’s head. He felt his body rise like a sprinter out of a gate. Fueled only by adrenaline, and barely conscious of his actions, he was suddenly running, hunched, head down, pounding across the front of the church to his right. As the bullets erupted behind him, Langdon dove yet again, sliding out of control across the marble floor before crashing in a heap against the railing of a niche on the right-hand wall. It was then that he saw her. A crumpled heap near the back of the church. Vittoria! Her bare legs were twisted beneath her, but Langdon sensed somehow that she was breathing. He had no time to help her. Immediately, the killer rounded the pews on the far left of the church and bore relentlessly down. Langdon knew in a heartbeat it was over. The killer raised the weapon, and Langdon did the only thing he could do. He rolled his body over the banister into the niche. As he hit the floor on the other side, the marble columns of the balustrade exploded in a storm of bullets. Langdon felt like a cornered animal as he scrambled deeper into the semicircular niche. Rising before him, the niche’s sole contents seemed ironically apropos – a single sarcophagus. Mine perhaps, Langdon thought. Even the casket itself seemed fitting. It was a sctola – a small, unadorned, marble box. Burial on a budget. The casket was raised off the floor on two marble blocks, and Langdon eyed the opening beneath it, wondering if he could slide through. Footsteps echoed behind him. With no other option in sight, Langdon pressed himself to the floor and slithered toward the casket. Grabbing the two marble supports, one with each hand, he pulled like a breaststroker, dragging his torso into the opening beneath the tomb. The gun went off. Accompanying the roar of the gun, Langdon felt a sensation he had never felt in his life†¦ a bullet sailing past his flesh. There was a hiss of wind, like the backlash of a whip, as the bullet just missed him and exploded in the marble with a puff of dust. Blood surging, Langdon heaved his body the rest of the way beneath the casket. Scrambling across the marble floor, he pulled himself out from beneath the casket and to the other side. Dead end. Langdon was now face to face with the rear wall of the niche. He had no doubt that this tiny space behind the tomb would become his grave. And soon, he realized, as he saw the barrel of the gun appear in the opening beneath the sarcophagus. The Hassassin held the weapon parallel with the floor, pointing directly at Langdon’s midsection. Impossible to miss. Langdon felt a trace of self-preservation grip his unconscious mind. He twisted his body onto his stomach, parallel with the casket. Facedown, he planted his hands flat on the floor, the glass cut from the archives pinching open with a stab. Ignoring the pain, he pushed. Driving his body upward in an awkward push-up, Langdon arched his stomach off the floor just as the gun went off. He could feel the shock wave of the bullets as they sailed beneath him and pulverized the porous travertine behind. Closing his eyes and straining against exhaustion, Langdon prayed for the thunder to stop. And then it did. The roar of gunfire was replaced with the cold click of an empty chamber. Langdon opened his eyes slowly, almost fearful his eyelids would make a sound. Fighting the trembling pain, he held his position, arched like a cat. He didn’t even dare breathe. His eardrums numbed by gunfire, Langdon listened for any hint of the killer’s departure. Silence. He thought of Vittoria and ached to help her. The sound that followed was deafening. Barely human. A guttural bellow of exertion. The sarcophagus over Langdon’s head suddenly seemed to rise on its side. Langdon collapsed on the floor as hundreds of pounds teetered toward him. Gravity overcame friction, and the lid was the first to go, sliding off the tomb and crashing to the floor beside him. The casket came next, rolling off its supports and toppling upside down toward Langdon. As the box rolled, Langdon knew he would either be entombed in the hollow beneath it or crushed by one of the edges. Pulling in his legs and head, Langdon compacted his body and yanked his arms to his sides. Then he closed his eyes and awaited the sickening crush. When it came, the entire floor shook beneath him. The upper rim landed only millimeters from the top of his head, rattling his teeth in their sockets. His right arm, which Langdon had been certain would be crushed, miraculously still felt intact. He opened his eyes to see a shaft of light. The right rim of the casket had not fallen all the way to the floor and was still propped partially on its supports. Directly overhead, though, Langdon found himself staring quite literally into the face of death. The original occupant of the tomb was suspended above him, having adhered, as decaying bodies often did, to the bottom of the casket. The skeleton hovered a moment, like a tentative lover, and then with a sticky crackling, it succumbed to gravity and peeled away. The carcass rushed down to embrace him, raining putrid bones and dust into Langdon’s eyes and mouth. Before Langdon could react, a blind arm was slithering through the opening beneath the casket, sifting through the carcass like a hungry python. It groped until it found Langdon’s neck and clamped down. Langdon tried to fight back against the iron fist now crushing his larynx, but he found his left sleeve pinched beneath the edge of the coffin. He had only one arm free, and the fight was a losing battle. Langdon’s legs bent in the only open space he had, his feet searching for the casket floor above him. He found it. Coiling, he planted his feet. Then, as the hand around his neck squeezed tighter, Langdon closed his eyes and extended his legs like a ram. The casket shifted, ever so slightly, but enough. With a raw grinding, the sarcophagus slid off the supports and landed on the floor. The casket rim crashed onto the killer’s arm, and there was a muffled scream of pain. The hand released Langdon’s neck, twisting and jerking away into the dark. When the killer finally pulled his arm free, the casket fell with a conclusive thud against the flat marble floor. Complete darkness. Again. And silence. There was no frustrated pounding outside the overturned sarcophagus. No prying to get in. Nothing. As Langdon lay in the dark amidst a pile of bones, he fought the closing darkness and turned his thoughts to her. Vittoria. Are you alive? If Langdon had known the truth – the horror to which Vittoria would soon awake – he would have wished for her sake that she were dead. 94 Sitting in the Sistine Chapel among his stunned colleagues, Cardinal Mortati tried to comprehend the words he was hearing. Before him, lit only by the candlelight, the camerlegno had just told a tale of such hatred and treachery that Mortati found himself trembling. The camerlegno spoke of kidnapped cardinals, branded cardinals, murdered cardinals. He spoke of the ancient Illuminati – a name that dredged up forgotten fears – and of their resurgence and vow of revenge against the church. With pain in his voice, the camerlegno spoke of his late Pope†¦ the victim of an Illuminati poisoning. And finally, his words almost a whisper, he spoke of a deadly new technology, antimatter, which in less than two hours threatened to destroy all of Vatican City. When he was through, it was as if Satan himself had sucked the air from the room. Nobody could move. The camerlegno’s words hung in the darkness. The only sound Mortati could now hear was the anomalous hum of a television camera in back – an electronic presence no conclave in history had ever endured – but a presence demanded by the camerlegno. To the utter astonishment of the cardinals, the camerlegno had entered the Sistine Chapel with two BBC reporters – a man and a woman – and announced that they would be transmitting his solemn statement, live to the world. Now, speaking directly to the camera, the camerlegno stepped forward. â€Å"To the Illuminati,† he said, his voice deepening, â€Å"and to those of science, let me say this.† He paused. â€Å"You have won the war.† The silence spread now to the deepest corners of the chapel. Mortati could hear the desperate thumping of his own heart. â€Å"The wheels have been in motion for a long time,† the camerlegno said. â€Å"Your victory has been inevitable. Never before has it been as obvious as it is at this moment. Science is the new God.† What is he saying? Mortati thought. Has he gone mad? The entire world is hearing this! â€Å"Medicine, electronic communications, space travel, genetic manipulation†¦ these are the miracles about which we now tell our children. These are the miracles we herald as proof that science will bring us the answers. The ancient stories of immaculate conceptions, burning bushes, and parting seas are no longer relevant. God has become obsolete. Science has won the battle. We concede.† A rustle of confusion and bewilderment swept through the chapel. â€Å"But science’s victory,† the camerlegno added, his voice intensifying, â€Å"has cost every one of us. And it has cost us deeply.† Silence. â€Å"Science may have alleviated the miseries of disease and drudgery and provided an array of gadgetry for our entertainment and convenience, but it has left us in a world without wonder. Our sunsets have been reduced to wavelengths and frequencies. The complexities of the universe have been shredded into mathematical equations. Even our self-worth as human beings has been destroyed. Science proclaims that Planet Earth and its inhabitants are a meaningless speck in the grand scheme. A cosmic accident.† He paused. â€Å"Even the technology that promises to unite us, divides us. Each of us is now electronically connected to the globe, and yet we feel utterly alone. We are bombarded with violence, division, fracture, and betrayal. Skepticism has become a virtue. Cynicism and demand for proof has become enlightened thought. Is it any wonder that humans now feel more depressed and defeated than they have at any point in human history? Does science hold anything sacred? Science l ooks for answers by probing our unborn fetuses. Science even presumes to rearrange our own DNA. It shatters God’s world into smaller and smaller pieces in quest of meaning†¦ and all it finds is more questions.† Mortati watched in awe. The camerlegno was almost hypnotic now. He had a physical strength in his movements and voice that Mortati had never witnessed on a Vatican altar. The man’s voice was wrought with conviction and sadness. â€Å"The ancient war between science and religion is over,† the camerlegno said. â€Å"You have won. But you have not won fairly. You have not won by providing answers. You have won by so radically reorienting our society that the truths we once saw as signposts now seem inapplicable. Religion cannot keep up. Scientific growth is exponential. It feeds on itself like a virus. Every new breakthrough opens doors for new breakthroughs. Mankind took thousands of years to progress from the wheel to the car. Yet only decades from the car into space. Now we measure scientific progress in weeks. We are spinning out of control. The rift between us grows deeper and deeper, and as religion is left behind, people find themselves in a spiritual void. We cry out for meaning. And believe me, we do cry out. We see UFOs, engage in channeling, spirit contact, out-of-body experiences, mindquests – all these eccentric ideas have a scientific veneer, but they are unashamedly irrational. Th ey are the desperate cry of the modern soul, lonely and tormented, crippled by its own enlightenment and its inability to accept meaning in anything removed from technology.† Mortati could feel himself leaning forward in his seat. He and the other cardinals and people around the world were hanging on this priest’s every utterance. The camerlegno spoke with no rhetoric or vitriol. No references to scripture or Jesus Christ. He spoke in modern terms, unadorned and pure. Somehow, as though the words were flowing from God himself, he spoke the modern language†¦ delivering the ancient message. In that moment, Mortati saw one of the reasons the late Pope held this young man so dear. In a world of apathy, cynicism, and technological deification, men like the camerlegno, realists who could speak to our souls like this man just had, were the church’s only hope. The camerlegno was talking more forcefully now. â€Å"Science, you say, will save us. Science, I say, has destroyed us. Since the days of Galileo, the church has tried to slow the relentless march of science, sometimes with misguided means, but always with benevolent intention. Even so, the temptations are too great for man to resist. I warn you, look around yourselves. The promises of science have not been kept. Promises of efficiency and simplicity have bred nothing but pollution and chaos. We are a fractured and frantic species†¦ moving down a path of destruction.† The camerlegno paused a long moment and then sharpened his eyes on the camera. â€Å"Who is this God science? Who is the God who offers his people power but no moral framework to tell you how to use that power? What kind of God gives a child fire but does not warn the child of its dangers? The language of science comes with no signposts about good and bad. Science textbooks tell us how to create a nuclear reaction, and yet they contain no chapter asking us if it is a good or a bad idea. â€Å"To science, I say this. The church is tired. We are exhausted from trying to be your signposts. Our resources are drying up from our campaign to be the voice of balance as you plow blindly on in your quest for smaller chips and larger profits. We ask not why you will not govern yourselves, but how can you? Your world moves so fast that if you stop even for an instant to consider the implications of your actions, someone more efficient will whip past you in a blur. So you move on. You proliferate weapons of mass destruction, but it is the Pope who travels the world beseeching leaders to use restraint. You clone living creatures, but it is the church reminding us to consider the moral implications of our actions. You encourage people to interact on phones, video screens, and computers, but it is the church who opens its doors and reminds us to commune in person as we were meant to do. You even murder unborn babies in the name of research that will save lives. Again, it is the ch urch who points out the fallacy of this reasoning. â€Å"And all the while, you proclaim the church is ignorant. But who is more ignorant? The man who cannot define lightning, or the man who does not respect its awesome power? This church is reaching out to you. Reaching out to everyone. And yet the more we reach, the more you push us away. Show me proof there is a God, you say. I say use your telescopes to look to the heavens, and tell me how there could not be a God!† The camerlegno had tears in his eyes now. â€Å"You ask what does God look like. I say, where did that question come from? The answers are one and the same. Do you not see God in your science? How can you miss Him! You proclaim that even the slightest change in the force of gravity or the weight of an atom would have rendered our universe a lifeless mist rather than our magnificent sea of heavenly bodies, and yet you fail to see God’s hand in this? Is it really so much easier to believe that we simply chose the right card from a deck of billions? Have w e become so spiritually bankrupt that we would rather believe in mathematical impossibility than in a power greater than us? â€Å"Whether or not you believe in God,† the camerlegno said, his voice deepening with deliberation, â€Å"you must believe this. When we as a species abandon our trust in the power greater than us, we abandon our sense of accountability. Faith†¦ all faiths†¦ are admonitions that there is something we cannot understand, something to which we are accountable†¦ With faith we are accountable to each other, to ourselves, and to a higher truth. Religion is flawed, but only because man is flawed. If the outside world could see this church as I do†¦ looking beyond the ritual of these walls†¦ they would see a modern miracle†¦ a brotherhood of imperfect, simple souls wanting only to be a voice of compassion in a world spinning out of control.† The camerlegno motioned out over the College of Cardinals, and the BBC camerawoman instinctively followed, panning the crowd. â€Å"Are we obsolete?† the camerlegno asked. â€Å"Are these men dino-saurs? Am I? Does the world really need a voice for the poor, the weak, the oppressed, the unborn child? Do we really need souls like these who, though imperfect, spend their lives imploring each of us to read the signposts of morality and not lose our way?† Mortati now realized that the camerlegno, whether consciously or not, was making a brilliant move. By showing the cardinals, he was personalizing the church. Vatican City was no longer a building, it was people – people like the camerlegno who had spent their lives in the service of goodness. â€Å"Tonight we are perched on a precipice,† the camerlegno said. â€Å"None of us can afford to be apathetic. Whether you see this evil as Satan, corruption, or immorality†¦ the dark force is alive and growing every day. Do not ignore it.† The camerlegno lowered his voice to a whisper, and the camera moved in. â€Å"The force, though mighty, is not invincible. Goodness can prevail. Listen to your hearts. Listen to God. Together we can step back from this abyss.† Now Mortati understood. This was the reason. Conclave had been violated, but this was the only way. It was a dramatic and desperate plea for help. The camerlegno was speaking to both his enemy and his friends now. He was entreating anyone, friend or foe, to see the light and stop this madness. Certainly someone listening would realize the insanity of this plot and come forward. The camerlegno knelt at the altar. â€Å"Pray with me.† The College of Cardinals dropped to their knees to join him in prayer. Outside in St. Peter’s Square and around the globe†¦ a stunned world knelt with them. 95 The Hassassin lay his unconscious trophy in the rear of the van and took a moment to admire her sprawled body. She was not as beautiful as the women he bought, and yet she had an animal strength that excited him. Her body was radiant, dewy with perspiration. She smelled of musk. As the Hassasin stood there savoring his prize, he ignored the throb in his arm. The bruise from the falling sarcophagus, although painful, was insignificant†¦ well worth the compensation that lay before him. He took consolation in knowing the American who had done this to him was probably dead by now. Gazing down at his incapacitated prisoner, the Hassassin visualized what lay ahead. He ran a palm up beneath her shirt. Her breasts felt perfect beneath her bra. Yes, he smiled. You are more than worthy. Fighting the urge to take her right there, he closed the door and drove off into the night. There was no need to alert the press about this killing†¦ the flames would do that for him. At CERN, Sylvie sat stunned by the camerlegno’s address. Never before had she felt so proud to be a Catholic and so ashamed to work at CERN. As she left the recreational wing, the mood in every single viewing room was dazed and somber. When she got back to Kohler’s office, all seven phone lines were ringing. Media inquiries were never routed to Kohler’s office, so the incoming calls could only be one thing. Geld. Money calls. Antimatter technology already had some takers. Inside the Vatican, Gunther Glick was walking on air as he followed the camerlegno from the Sistine Chapel. Glick and Macri had just made the live transmission of the decade. And what a transmission it had been. The camerlegno had been spellbinding. Now out in the hallway, the camerlegno turned to Glick and Macri. â€Å"I have asked the Swiss Guard to assemble photos for you – photos of the branded cardinals as well as one of His late Holiness. I must warn you, these are not pleasant pictures. Ghastly burns. Blackened tongues. But I would like you to broadcast them to the world.† Glick decided it must be perpetual Christmas inside Vatican City. He wants me to broadcast an exclusive photo of the dead Pope? â€Å"Are you sure?† Glick asked, trying to keep the excitement from his voice. The camerlegno nodded. â€Å"The Swiss Guard will also provide you a live video feed of the antimatter canister as it counts down.† Glick stared. Christmas. Christmas. Christmas! â€Å"The Illuminati are about to find out,† the camerlegno declared, â€Å"that they have grossly overplayed their hand.† 96 Like a recurring theme in some demonic symphony, the suffocating darkness had returned. No light. No air. No exit. Langdon lay trapped beneath the overturned sarcophagus and felt his mind careening dangerously close to the brink. Trying to drive his thoughts in any direction other than the crushing space around him, Langdon urged his mind toward some logical process†¦ mathematics, music, anything. But there was no room for calming thoughts. I can’t move! I can’t breathe! The pinched sleeve of his jacket had thankfully come free when the casket fell, leaving Langdon now with two mobile arms. Even so, as he pressed upward on the ceiling of his tiny cell, he found it immovable. Oddly, he wished his sleeve were still caught. At least it might create a crack for some air. As Langdon pushed against the roof above, his sleeve fell back to reveal the faint glow of an old friend. Mickey. The greenish cartoon face seemed mocking now. Langdon probed the blackness for any other sign of light, but the casket rim was flush against the floor. Goddamn Italian perfectionists, he cursed, now imperiled by the same artistic excellence he taught his students to revere†¦ impeccable edges, faultless parallels, and of course, use only of the most seamless and resilient Carrara marble. Precision can be suffocating. â€Å"Lift the damn thing,† he said aloud, pressing harder through the tangle of bones. The box shifted slightly. Setting his jaw, he heaved again. The box felt like a boulder, but this time it raised a quarter of an inch. A fleeting glimmer of light surrounded him, and then the casket thudded back down. Langdon lay panting in the dark. He tried to use his legs to lift as he had before, but now that the sarcophagus had fallen flat, there was no room even to straighten his knees. As the claustrophobic panic closed in, Langdon was overcome by images of the sarcophagus shrinking around him. Squeezed by delirium, he fought the illusion with every logical shred of intellect he had. â€Å"Sarcophagus,† he stated aloud, with as much academic sterility as he could muster. But even erudition seemed to be his enemy today. Sarcophagus is from the Greek â€Å"sarx† meaning â€Å"flesh,† and â€Å"phagein† meaning â€Å"to eat.† I’m trapped in a box literally designed to â€Å"eat flesh.† Images of flesh eaten from bone only served as a grim reminder that Langdon lay covered in human remains. The notion brought nausea and chills. But it also brought an idea. Fumbling blindly around the coffin, Langdon found a shard of bone. A rib maybe? He didn’t care. All he wanted was a wedge. If he could lift the box, even a crack, and slide the bone fragment beneath the rim, then maybe enough air could†¦ Reaching across his body and wedging the tapered end of the bone into the crack between the floor and the coffin, Langdon reached up with his other hand and heaved skyward. The box did not move. Not even slightly. He tried again. For a moment, it seemed to tremble slightly, but that was all. With the fetid stench and lack of oxygen choking the strength from his body, Langdon realized he only had time for one more effort. He also knew he would need both arms. Regrouping, he placed the tapered edge of the bone against the crack, and shifting his body, he wedged the bone against his shoulder, pinning it in place. Careful not to dislodge it, he raised both hands above him. As the stifling confine began to smother him, he felt a welling of intensified panic. It was the second time today he had been trapped with no air. Hollering aloud, Langdon thrust upward in one explosive motion. The casket jostled off the floor for an instant. But long enough. The bone shard he had braced against his shoulder slipped outward into the widening crack. When the casket fell again, the bone shattered. But this time Langdon could see the casket was propped up. A tiny slit of light showed beneath the rim. Exhausted, Langdon collapsed. Hoping the strangling sensation in his throat would pass, he waited. But it only worsened as the seconds passed. Whatever air was coming through the slit seemed imperceptible. Langdon wondered if it would be enough to keep him alive. And if so, for how long? If he passed out, who would know he was even in there? With arms like lead, Langdon raised his watch again: 10:12 P.M. Fighting trembling fingers, he fumbled with the watch and made his final play. He twisted one of the tiny dials and pressed a button. As consciousness faded, and the walls squeezed closer, Langdon felt the old fears sweep over him. He tried to imagine, as he had so many times, that he was in an open field. The image he conjured, however, was no help. The nightmare that had haunted him since his youth came crashing back†¦ The flowers here are like paintings, the child thought, laughing as he ran across the meadow. He wished his parents had come along. But his parents were busy pitching camp. â€Å"Don’t explore too far,† his mother had said. He had pretended not to hear as he bounded off into the woods. Now, traversing this glorious field, the boy came across a pile of fieldstones. He figured it must be the foundation of an old homestead. He would not go near it. He knew better. Besides, his eyes had been drawn to something else – a brilliant lady’s slipper – the rarest and most beautiful flower in New Hampshire. He had only ever seen them in books. Excited, the boy moved toward the flower. He knelt down. The ground beneath him felt mulchy and hollow. He realized his flower had found an extra-fertile spot. It was growing from a patch of rotting wood. Thrilled by the thought of taking home his prize, the boy reached out†¦ fingers extending toward the stem. He never reached it. With a sickening crack, the earth gave way. In the three seconds of dizzying terror as he fell, the boy knew he would die. Plummeting downward, he braced for the bone-crushing collision. When it came, there was no pain. Only softness. And cold. He hit the deep liquid face first, plunging into a narrow blackness. Spinning disoriented somersaults, he groped the sheer walls thatenclosed him on all sides. Somehow, as if by instinct, he sputtered to the surface. Light. Faint. Above him. Miles above him, it seemed. His arms clawed at the water, searching the walls of the hollow for something to grab onto. Only smooth stone. He had fallen through an abandoned well covering. He screamed for help, but his cries reverberated in the tight shaft. He called out again and again. Above him, the tattered hole grew dim. Night fell. Time seemed to contort in the darkness. Numbness set in as he treaded water in the depths of the chasm, calling, crying out. He was tormented by visions of the walls collapsing in, burying him alive. His arms ached with fatigue. A few times he thought he heard voices. He shouted out, but his own voice was muted†¦ like a dream. As the night wore on, the shaft deepened. The walls inched quietly inward. The boy pressed out against the enclosure, pushing it away. Exhausted, he wanted to give up. And yet he felt the water buoy him, cooling his burning fears until he was numb. When the rescue team arrived, they found the boy barely conscious. He had been treading water for five hours. Two days later, the Boston Globe ran a front-page story called â€Å"The Little Swimmer That Could.† 97 The Hassassin smiled as he pulled his van into the mammoth stone structure overlooking the Tiber River. He carried his prize up and up†¦ spiraling higher in the stone tunnel, grateful his load was slender. He arrived at the door. The Church of Illumination, he gloated. The ancient Illuminati meeting room. Who would have imagined it to be here? Inside, he lay her on a plush divan. Then he expertly bound her arms behind her back and tied her feet. He knew that what he longed for would have to wait until his final task was finished. Water. Still, he thought, he had a moment for indulgence. Kneeling beside her, he ran his hand along her thigh. It was smooth. Higher. His dark fingers snaked beneath the cuff of her shorts. Higher. He stopped. Patience, he told himself, feeling aroused. There is work to be done. He walked for a moment out onto the chamber’s high stone balcony. The evening breeze slowly cooled his ardor. Far below the Tiber raged. He raised his eyes to the dome of St. Peter’s, three quarters of a mile away, naked under the glare of hundreds of press lights. â€Å"Your final hour,† he said aloud, picturing the thousands of Muslims slaughtered during the Crusades. â€Å"At midnight you will meet your God.† Behind him, the woman stirred. The Hassassin turned. He considered letting her wake up. Seeing terror in a woman’s eyes was his ultimate aphrodisiac. He opted for prudence. It would be better if she remained unconscious while he was gone. Although she was tied and would never escape, the Hassassin did not want to return and find her exhausted from struggling. I want your strength preserved†¦ for me. Lifting her head slightly, he placed his palm beneath her neck and found the hollow directly beneath her skull. The crown/meridian pressure point was one he had used countless times. With crushing force, he drove his thumb into the soft cartilage and felt it depress. The woman slumped instantly. Twenty minutes, he thought. She would be a tantalizing end to a perfect day. After she had served him and died doing it, he would stand on the balcony and watch the midnight Vatican fireworks. Leaving his prize unconscious on the couch, the Hassassin went downstairs into a torchlit dungeon. The final task. He walked to the table and revered the sacred, metal forms that had been left there for him. Water. It was his last. Removing a torch from the wall as he had done three times already, he began heating the end. When the end of the object was white hot, he carried it to the cell. Inside, a single man stood in silence. Old and alone. â€Å"Cardinal Baggia,† the killer hissed. â€Å"Have you prayed yet?† The Italian’s eyes were fearless. â€Å"Only for your soul.† Angels Demons Chapter 9397 Still he clawed on. Somewhere a voice was telling him to move left. If you can get to the main aisle, you can dash for the exit. He knew it was impossible. There’s a wall of flames blocking the main aisle! His mind hunting for options, Langdon scrambled blindly on. The footsteps closed faster now to his right. When it happened, Langdon was unprepared. He had guessed he had another ten feet of pews until he reached the front of the church. He had guessed wrong. Without warning, the cover above him ran out. He froze for an instant, half exposed at the front of the church. Rising in the recess to his left, gargantuan from this vantage point, was the very thing that had brought him here. He had entirely forgotten. Bernini’s Ecstasy of St. Teresa rose up like some sort of pornographic still life†¦ the saint on her back, arched in pleasure, mouth open in a moan, and over her, an angel pointing his spear of fire. A bullet exploded in the pew over Langdon’s head. He felt his body rise like a sprinter out of a gate. Fueled only by adrenaline, and barely conscious of his actions, he was suddenly running, hunched, head down, pounding across the front of the church to his right. As the bullets erupted behind him, Langdon dove yet again, sliding out of control across the marble floor before crashing in a heap against the railing of a niche on the right-hand wall. It was then that he saw her. A crumpled heap near the back of the church. Vittoria! Her bare legs were twisted beneath her, but Langdon sensed somehow that she was breathing. He had no time to help her. Immediately, the killer rounded the pews on the far left of the church and bore relentlessly down. Langdon knew in a heartbeat it was over. The killer raised the weapon, and Langdon did the only thing he could do. He rolled his body over the banister into the niche. As he hit the floor on the other side, the marble columns of the balustrade exploded in a storm of bullets. Langdon felt like a cornered animal as he scrambled deeper into the semicircular niche. Rising before him, the niche’s sole contents seemed ironically apropos – a single sarcophagus. Mine perhaps, Langdon thought. Even the casket itself seemed fitting. It was a sctola – a small, unadorned, marble box. Burial on a budget. The casket was raised off the floor on two marble blocks, and Langdon eyed the opening beneath it, wondering if he could slide through. Footsteps echoed behind him. With no other option in sight, Langdon pressed himself to the floor and slithered toward the casket. Grabbing the two marble supports, one with each hand, he pulled like a breaststroker, dragging his torso into the opening beneath the tomb. The gun went off. Accompanying the roar of the gun, Langdon felt a sensation he had never felt in his life†¦ a bullet sailing past his flesh. There was a hiss of wind, like the backlash of a whip, as the bullet just missed him and exploded in the marble with a puff of dust. Blood surging, Langdon heaved his body the rest of the way beneath the casket. Scrambling across the marble floor, he pulled himself out from beneath the casket and to the other side. Dead end. Langdon was now face to face with the rear wall of the niche. He had no doubt that this tiny space behind the tomb would become his grave. And soon, he realized, as he saw the barrel of the gun appear in the opening beneath the sarcophagus. The Hassassin held the weapon parallel with the floor, pointing directly at Langdon’s midsection. Impossible to miss. Langdon felt a trace of self-preservation grip his unconscious mind. He twisted his body onto his stomach, parallel with the casket. Facedown, he planted his hands flat on the floor, the glass cut from the archives pinching open with a stab. Ignoring the pain, he pushed. Driving his body upward in an awkward push-up, Langdon arched his stomach off the floor just as the gun went off. He could feel the shock wave of the bullets as they sailed beneath him and pulverized the porous travertine behind. Closing his eyes and straining against exhaustion, Langdon prayed for the thunder to stop. And then it did. The roar of gunfire was replaced with the cold click of an empty chamber. Langdon opened his eyes slowly, almost fearful his eyelids would make a sound. Fighting the trembling pain, he held his position, arched like a cat. He didn’t even dare breathe. His eardrums numbed by gunfire, Langdon listened for any hint of the killer’s departure. Silence. He thought of Vittoria and ached to help her. The sound that followed was deafening. Barely human. A guttural bellow of exertion. The sarcophagus over Langdon’s head suddenly seemed to rise on its side. Langdon collapsed on the floor as hundreds of pounds teetered toward him. Gravity overcame friction, and the lid was the first to go, sliding off the tomb and crashing to the floor beside him. The casket came next, rolling off its supports and toppling upside down toward Langdon. As the box rolled, Langdon knew he would either be entombed in the hollow beneath it or crushed by one of the edges. Pulling in his legs and head, Langdon compacted his body and yanked his arms to his sides. Then he closed his eyes and awaited the sickening crush. When it came, the entire floor shook beneath him. The upper rim landed only millimeters from the top of his head, rattling his teeth in their sockets. His right arm, which Langdon had been certain would be crushed, miraculously still felt intact. He opened his eyes to see a shaft of light. The right rim of the casket had not fallen all the way to the floor and was still propped partially on its supports. Directly overhead, though, Langdon found himself staring quite literally into the face of death. The original occupant of the tomb was suspended above him, having adhered, as decaying bodies often did, to the bottom of the casket. The skeleton hovered a moment, like a tentative lover, and then with a sticky crackling, it succumbed to gravity and peeled away. The carcass rushed down to embrace him, raining putrid bones and dust into Langdon’s eyes and mouth. Before Langdon could react, a blind arm was slithering through the opening beneath the casket, sifting through the carcass like a hungry python. It groped until it found Langdon’s neck and clamped down. Langdon tried to fight back against the iron fist now crushing his larynx, but he found his left sleeve pinched beneath the edge of the coffin. He had only one arm free, and the fight was a losing battle. Langdon’s legs bent in the only open space he had, his feet searching for the casket floor above him. He found it. Coiling, he planted his feet. Then, as the hand around his neck squeezed tighter, Langdon closed his eyes and extended his legs like a ram. The casket shifted, ever so slightly, but enough. With a raw grinding, the sarcophagus slid off the supports and landed on the floor. The casket rim crashed onto the killer’s arm, and there was a muffled scream of pain. The hand released Langdon’s neck, twisting and jerking away into the dark. When the killer finally pulled his arm free, the casket fell with a conclusive thud against the flat marble floor. Complete darkness. Again. And silence. There was no frustrated pounding outside the overturned sarcophagus. No prying to get in. Nothing. As Langdon lay in the dark amidst a pile of bones, he fought the closing darkness and turned his thoughts to her. Vittoria. Are you alive? If Langdon had known the truth – the horror to which Vittoria would soon awake – he would have wished for her sake that she were dead. 94 Sitting in the Sistine Chapel among his stunned colleagues, Cardinal Mortati tried to comprehend the words he was hearing. Before him, lit only by the candlelight, the camerlegno had just told a tale of such hatred and treachery that Mortati found himself trembling. The camerlegno spoke of kidnapped cardinals, branded cardinals, murdered cardinals. He spoke of the ancient Illuminati – a name that dredged up forgotten fears – and of their resurgence and vow of revenge against the church. With pain in his voice, the camerlegno spoke of his late Pope†¦ the victim of an Illuminati poisoning. And finally, his words almost a whisper, he spoke of a deadly new technology, antimatter, which in less than two hours threatened to destroy all of Vatican City. When he was through, it was as if Satan himself had sucked the air from the room. Nobody could move. The camerlegno’s words hung in the darkness. The only sound Mortati could now hear was the anomalous hum of a television camera in back – an electronic presence no conclave in history had ever endured – but a presence demanded by the camerlegno. To the utter astonishment of the cardinals, the camerlegno had entered the Sistine Chapel with two BBC reporters – a man and a woman – and announced that they would be transmitting his solemn statement, live to the world. Now, speaking directly to the camera, the camerlegno stepped forward. â€Å"To the Illuminati,† he said, his voice deepening, â€Å"and to those of science, let me say this.† He paused. â€Å"You have won the war.† The silence spread now to the deepest corners of the chapel. Mortati could hear the desperate thumping of his own heart. â€Å"The wheels have been in motion for a long time,† the camerlegno said. â€Å"Your victory has been inevitable. Never before has it been as obvious as it is at this moment. Science is the new God.† What is he saying? Mortati thought. Has he gone mad? The entire world is hearing this! â€Å"Medicine, electronic communications, space travel, genetic manipulation†¦ these are the miracles about which we now tell our children. These are the miracles we herald as proof that science will bring us the answers. The ancient stories of immaculate conceptions, burning bushes, and parting seas are no longer relevant. God has become obsolete. Science has won the battle. We concede.† A rustle of confusion and bewilderment swept through the chapel. â€Å"But science’s victory,† the camerlegno added, his voice intensifying, â€Å"has cost every one of us. And it has cost us deeply.† Silence. â€Å"Science may have alleviated the miseries of disease and drudgery and provided an array of gadgetry for our entertainment and convenience, but it has left us in a world without wonder. Our sunsets have been reduced to wavelengths and frequencies. The complexities of the universe have been shredded into mathematical equations. Even our self-worth as human beings has been destroyed. Science proclaims that Planet Earth and its inhabitants are a meaningless speck in the grand scheme. A cosmic accident.† He paused. â€Å"Even the technology that promises to unite us, divides us. Each of us is now electronically connected to the globe, and yet we feel utterly alone. We are bombarded with violence, division, fracture, and betrayal. Skepticism has become a virtue. Cynicism and demand for proof has become enlightened thought. Is it any wonder that humans now feel more depressed and defeated than they have at any point in human history? Does science hold anything sacred? Science l ooks for answers by probing our unborn fetuses. Science even presumes to rearrange our own DNA. It shatters God’s world into smaller and smaller pieces in quest of meaning†¦ and all it finds is more questions.† Mortati watched in awe. The camerlegno was almost hypnotic now. He had a physical strength in his movements and voice that Mortati had never witnessed on a Vatican altar. The man’s voice was wrought with conviction and sadness. â€Å"The ancient war between science and religion is over,† the camerlegno said. â€Å"You have won. But you have not won fairly. You have not won by providing answers. You have won by so radically reorienting our society that the truths we once saw as signposts now seem inapplicable. Religion cannot keep up. Scientific growth is exponential. It feeds on itself like a virus. Every new breakthrough opens doors for new breakthroughs. Mankind took thousands of years to progress from the wheel to the car. Yet only decades from the car into space. Now we measure scientific progress in weeks. We are spinning out of control. The rift between us grows deeper and deeper, and as religion is left behind, people find themselves in a spiritual void. We cry out for meaning. And believe me, we do cry out. We see UFOs, engage in channeling, spirit contact, out-of-body experiences, mindquests – all these eccentric ideas have a scientific veneer, but they are unashamedly irrational. Th ey are the desperate cry of the modern soul, lonely and tormented, crippled by its own enlightenment and its inability to accept meaning in anything removed from technology.† Mortati could feel himself leaning forward in his seat. He and the other cardinals and people around the world were hanging on this priest’s every utterance. The camerlegno spoke with no rhetoric or vitriol. No references to scripture or Jesus Christ. He spoke in modern terms, unadorned and pure. Somehow, as though the words were flowing from God himself, he spoke the modern language†¦ delivering the ancient message. In that moment, Mortati saw one of the reasons the late Pope held this young man so dear. In a world of apathy, cynicism, and technological deification, men like the camerlegno, realists who could speak to our souls like this man just had, were the church’s only hope. The camerlegno was talking more forcefully now. â€Å"Science, you say, will save us. Science, I say, has destroyed us. Since the days of Galileo, the church has tried to slow the relentless march of science, sometimes with misguided means, but always with benevolent intention. Even so, the temptations are too great for man to resist. I warn you, look around yourselves. The promises of science have not been kept. Promises of efficiency and simplicity have bred nothing but pollution and chaos. We are a fractured and frantic species†¦ moving down a path of destruction.† The camerlegno paused a long moment and then sharpened his eyes on the camera. â€Å"Who is this God science? Who is the God who offers his people power but no moral framework to tell you how to use that power? What kind of God gives a child fire but does not warn the child of its dangers? The language of science comes with no signposts about good and bad. Science textbooks tell us how to create a nuclear reaction, and yet they contain no chapter asking us if it is a good or a bad idea. â€Å"To science, I say this. The church is tired. We are exhausted from trying to be your signposts. Our resources are drying up from our campaign to be the voice of balance as you plow blindly on in your quest for smaller chips and larger profits. We ask not why you will not govern yourselves, but how can you? Your world moves so fast that if you stop even for an instant to consider the implications of your actions, someone more efficient will whip past you in a blur. So you move on. You proliferate weapons of mass destruction, but it is the Pope who travels the world beseeching leaders to use restraint. You clone living creatures, but it is the church reminding us to consider the moral implications of our actions. You encourage people to interact on phones, video screens, and computers, but it is the church who opens its doors and reminds us to commune in person as we were meant to do. You even murder unborn babies in the name of research that will save lives. Again, it is the ch urch who points out the fallacy of this reasoning. â€Å"And all the while, you proclaim the church is ignorant. But who is more ignorant? The man who cannot define lightning, or the man who does not respect its awesome power? This church is reaching out to you. Reaching out to everyone. And yet the more we reach, the more you push us away. Show me proof there is a God, you say. I say use your telescopes to look to the heavens, and tell me how there could not be a God!† The camerlegno had tears in his eyes now. â€Å"You ask what does God look like. I say, where did that question come from? The answers are one and the same. Do you not see God in your science? How can you miss Him! You proclaim that even the slightest change in the force of gravity or the weight of an atom would have rendered our universe a lifeless mist rather than our magnificent sea of heavenly bodies, and yet you fail to see God’s hand in this? Is it really so much easier to believe that we simply chose the right card from a deck of billions? Have w e become so spiritually bankrupt that we would rather believe in mathematical impossibility than in a power greater than us? â€Å"Whether or not you believe in God,† the camerlegno said, his voice deepening with deliberation, â€Å"you must believe this. When we as a species abandon our trust in the power greater than us, we abandon our sense of accountability. Faith†¦ all faiths†¦ are admonitions that there is something we cannot understand, something to which we are accountable†¦ With faith we are accountable to each other, to ourselves, and to a higher truth. Religion is flawed, but only because man is flawed. If the outside world could see this church as I do†¦ looking beyond the ritual of these walls†¦ they would see a modern miracle†¦ a brotherhood of imperfect, simple souls wanting only to be a voice of compassion in a world spinning out of control.† The camerlegno motioned out over the College of Cardinals, and the BBC camerawoman instinctively followed, panning the crowd. â€Å"Are we obsolete?† the camerlegno asked. â€Å"Are these men dino-saurs? Am I? Does the world really need a voice for the poor, the weak, the oppressed, the unborn child? Do we really need souls like these who, though imperfect, spend their lives imploring each of us to read the signposts of morality and not lose our way?† Mortati now realized that the camerlegno, whether consciously or not, was making a brilliant move. By showing the cardinals, he was personalizing the church. Vatican City was no longer a building, it was people – people like the camerlegno who had spent their lives in the service of goodness. â€Å"Tonight we are perched on a precipice,† the camerlegno said. â€Å"None of us can afford to be apathetic. Whether you see this evil as Satan, corruption, or immorality†¦ the dark force is alive and growing every day. Do not ignore it.† The camerlegno lowered his voice to a whisper, and the camera moved in. â€Å"The force, though mighty, is not invincible. Goodness can prevail. Listen to your hearts. Listen to God. Together we can step back from this abyss.† Now Mortati understood. This was the reason. Conclave had been violated, but this was the only way. It was a dramatic and desperate plea for help. The camerlegno was speaking to both his enemy and his friends now. He was entreating anyone, friend or foe, to see the light and stop this madness. Certainly someone listening would realize the insanity of this plot and come forward. The camerlegno knelt at the altar. â€Å"Pray with me.† The College of Cardinals dropped to their knees to join him in prayer. Outside in St. Peter’s Square and around the globe†¦ a stunned world knelt with them. 95 The Hassassin lay his unconscious trophy in the rear of the van and took a moment to admire her sprawled body. She was not as beautiful as the women he bought, and yet she had an animal strength that excited him. Her body was radiant, dewy with perspiration. She smelled of musk. As the Hassasin stood there savoring his prize, he ignored the throb in his arm. The bruise from the falling sarcophagus, although painful, was insignificant†¦ well worth the compensation that lay before him. He took consolation in knowing the American who had done this to him was probably dead by now. Gazing down at his incapacitated prisoner, the Hassassin visualized what lay ahead. He ran a palm up beneath her shirt. Her breasts felt perfect beneath her bra. Yes, he smiled. You are more than worthy. Fighting the urge to take her right there, he closed the door and drove off into the night. There was no need to alert the press about this killing†¦ the flames would do that for him. At CERN, Sylvie sat stunned by the camerlegno’s address. Never before had she felt so proud to be a Catholic and so ashamed to work at CERN. As she left the recreational wing, the mood in every single viewing room was dazed and somber. When she got back to Kohler’s office, all seven phone lines were ringing. Media inquiries were never routed to Kohler’s office, so the incoming calls could only be one thing. Geld. Money calls. Antimatter technology already had some takers. Inside the Vatican, Gunther Glick was walking on air as he followed the camerlegno from the Sistine Chapel. Glick and Macri had just made the live transmission of the decade. And what a transmission it had been. The camerlegno had been spellbinding. Now out in the hallway, the camerlegno turned to Glick and Macri. â€Å"I have asked the Swiss Guard to assemble photos for you – photos of the branded cardinals as well as one of His late Holiness. I must warn you, these are not pleasant pictures. Ghastly burns. Blackened tongues. But I would like you to broadcast them to the world.† Glick decided it must be perpetual Christmas inside Vatican City. He wants me to broadcast an exclusive photo of the dead Pope? â€Å"Are you sure?† Glick asked, trying to keep the excitement from his voice. The camerlegno nodded. â€Å"The Swiss Guard will also provide you a live video feed of the antimatter canister as it counts down.† Glick stared. Christmas. Christmas. Christmas! â€Å"The Illuminati are about to find out,† the camerlegno declared, â€Å"that they have grossly overplayed their hand.† 96 Like a recurring theme in some demonic symphony, the suffocating darkness had returned. No light. No air. No exit. Langdon lay trapped beneath the overturned sarcophagus and felt his mind careening dangerously close to the brink. Trying to drive his thoughts in any direction other than the crushing space around him, Langdon urged his mind toward some logical process†¦ mathematics, music, anything. But there was no room for calming thoughts. I can’t move! I can’t breathe! The pinched sleeve of his jacket had thankfully come free when the casket fell, leaving Langdon now with two mobile arms. Even so, as he pressed upward on the ceiling of his tiny cell, he found it immovable. Oddly, he wished his sleeve were still caught. At least it might create a crack for some air. As Langdon pushed against the roof above, his sleeve fell back to reveal the faint glow of an old friend. Mickey. The greenish cartoon face seemed mocking now. Langdon probed the blackness for any other sign of light, but the casket rim was flush against the floor. Goddamn Italian perfectionists, he cursed, now imperiled by the same artistic excellence he taught his students to revere†¦ impeccable edges, faultless parallels, and of course, use only of the most seamless and resilient Carrara marble. Precision can be suffocating. â€Å"Lift the damn thing,† he said aloud, pressing harder through the tangle of bones. The box shifted slightly. Setting his jaw, he heaved again. The box felt like a boulder, but this time it raised a quarter of an inch. A fleeting glimmer of light surrounded him, and then the casket thudded back down. Langdon lay panting in the dark. He tried to use his legs to lift as he had before, but now that the sarcophagus had fallen flat, there was no room even to straighten his knees. As the claustrophobic panic closed in, Langdon was overcome by images of the sarcophagus shrinking around him. Squeezed by delirium, he fought the illusion with every logical shred of intellect he had. â€Å"Sarcophagus,† he stated aloud, with as much academic sterility as he could muster. But even erudition seemed to be his enemy today. Sarcophagus is from the Greek â€Å"sarx† meaning â€Å"flesh,† and â€Å"phagein† meaning â€Å"to eat.† I’m trapped in a box literally designed to â€Å"eat flesh.† Images of flesh eaten from bone only served as a grim reminder that Langdon lay covered in human remains. The notion brought nausea and chills. But it also brought an idea. Fumbling blindly around the coffin, Langdon found a shard of bone. A rib maybe? He didn’t care. All he wanted was a wedge. If he could lift the box, even a crack, and slide the bone fragment beneath the rim, then maybe enough air could†¦ Reaching across his body and wedging the tapered end of the bone into the crack between the floor and the coffin, Langdon reached up with his other hand and heaved skyward. The box did not move. Not even slightly. He tried again. For a moment, it seemed to tremble slightly, but that was all. With the fetid stench and lack of oxygen choking the strength from his body, Langdon realized he only had time for one more effort. He also knew he would need both arms. Regrouping, he placed the tapered edge of the bone against the crack, and shifting his body, he wedged the bone against his shoulder, pinning it in place. Careful not to dislodge it, he raised both hands above him. As the stifling confine began to smother him, he felt a welling of intensified panic. It was the second time today he had been trapped with no air. Hollering aloud, Langdon thrust upward in one explosive motion. The casket jostled off the floor for an instant. But long enough. The bone shard he had braced against his shoulder slipped outward into the widening crack. When the casket fell again, the bone shattered. But this time Langdon could see the casket was propped up. A tiny slit of light showed beneath the rim. Exhausted, Langdon collapsed. Hoping the strangling sensation in his throat would pass, he waited. But it only worsened as the seconds passed. Whatever air was coming through the slit seemed imperceptible. Langdon wondered if it would be enough to keep him alive. And if so, for how long? If he passed out, who would know he was even in there? With arms like lead, Langdon raised his watch again: 10:12 P.M. Fighting trembling fingers, he fumbled with the watch and made his final play. He twisted one of the tiny dials and pressed a button. As consciousness faded, and the walls squeezed closer, Langdon felt the old fears sweep over him. He tried to imagine, as he had so many times, that he was in an open field. The image he conjured, however, was no help. The nightmare that had haunted him since his youth came crashing back†¦ The flowers here are like paintings, the child thought, laughing as he ran across the meadow. He wished his parents had come along. But his parents were busy pitching camp. â€Å"Don’t explore too far,† his mother had said. He had pretended not to hear as he bounded off into the woods. Now, traversing this glorious field, the boy came across a pile of fieldstones. He figured it must be the foundation of an old homestead. He would not go near it. He knew better. Besides, his eyes had been drawn to something else – a brilliant lady’s slipper – the rarest and most beautiful flower in New Hampshire. He had only ever seen them in books. Excited, the boy moved toward the flower. He knelt down. The ground beneath him felt mulchy and hollow. He realized his flower had found an extra-fertile spot. It was growing from a patch of rotting wood. Thrilled by the thought of taking home his prize, the boy reached out†¦ fingers extending toward the stem. He never reached it. With a sickening crack, the earth gave way. In the three seconds of dizzying terror as he fell, the boy knew he would die. Plummeting downward, he braced for the bone-crushing collision. When it came, there was no pain. Only softness. And cold. He hit the deep liquid face first, plunging into a narrow blackness. Spinning disoriented somersaults, he groped the sheer walls thatenclosed him on all sides. Somehow, as if by instinct, he sputtered to the surface. Light. Faint. Above him. Miles above him, it seemed. His arms clawed at the water, searching the walls of the hollow for something to grab onto. Only smooth stone. He had fallen through an abandoned well covering. He screamed for help, but his cries reverberated in the tight shaft. He called out again and again. Above him, the tattered hole grew dim. Night fell. Time seemed to contort in the darkness. Numbness set in as he treaded water in the depths of the chasm, calling, crying out. He was tormented by visions of the walls collapsing in, burying him alive. His arms ached with fatigue. A few times he thought he heard voices. He shouted out, but his own voice was muted†¦ like a dream. As the night wore on, the shaft deepened. The walls inched quietly inward. The boy pressed out against the enclosure, pushing it away. Exhausted, he wanted to give up. And yet he felt the water buoy him, cooling his burning fears until he was numb. When the rescue team arrived, they found the boy barely conscious. He had been treading water for five hours. Two days later, the Boston Globe ran a front-page story called â€Å"The Little Swimmer That Could.† 97 The Hassassin smiled as he pulled his van into the mammoth stone structure overlooking the Tiber River. He carried his prize up and up†¦ spiraling higher in the stone tunnel, grateful his load was slender. He arrived at the door. The Church of Illumination, he gloated. The ancient Illuminati meeting room. Who would have imagined it to be here? Inside, he lay her on a plush divan. Then he expertly bound her arms behind her back and tied her feet. He knew that what he longed for would have to wait until his final task was finished. Water. Still, he thought, he had a moment for indulgence. Kneeling beside her, he ran his hand along her thigh. It was smooth. Higher. His dark fingers snaked beneath the cuff of her shorts. Higher. He stopped. Patience, he told himself, feeling aroused. There is work to be done. He walked for a moment out onto the chamber’s high stone balcony. The evening breeze slowly cooled his ardor. Far below the Tiber raged. He raised his eyes to the dome of St. Peter’s, three quarters of a mile away, naked under the glare of hundreds of press lights. â€Å"Your final hour,† he said aloud, picturing the thousands of Muslims slaughtered during the Crusades. â€Å"At midnight you will meet your God.† Behind him, the woman stirred. The Hassassin turned. He considered letting her wake up. Seeing terror in a woman’s eyes was his ultimate aphrodisiac. He opted for prudence. It would be better if she remained unconscious while he was gone. Although she was tied and would never escape, the Hassassin did not want to return and find her exhausted from struggling. I want your strength preserved†¦ for me. Lifting her head slightly, he placed his palm beneath her neck and found the hollow directly beneath her skull. The crown/meridian pressure point was one he had used countless times. With crushing force, he drove his thumb into the soft cartilage and felt it depress. The woman slumped instantly. Twenty minutes, he thought. She would be a tantalizing end to a perfect day. After she had served him and died doing it, he would stand on the balcony and watch the midnight Vatican fireworks. Leaving his prize unconscious on the couch, the Hassassin went downstairs into a torchlit dungeon. The final task. He walked to the table and revered the sacred, metal forms that had been left there for him. Water. It was his last. Removing a torch from the wall as he had done three times already, he began heating the end. When the end of the object was white hot, he carried it to the cell. Inside, a single man stood in silence. Old and alone. â€Å"Cardinal Baggia,† the killer hissed. â€Å"Have you prayed yet?† The Italian’s eyes were fearless. â€Å"Only for your soul.†

Nursing Contribution to Patient Recovery from Anesthesia Essay

Nursing Contribution to Patient Recovery from Anesthesia - Essay Example According to the report  general anesthesia is known to significantly affect the behavioral responses of individuals which are considered as imperative in normal thermoregulation such as shivering or vasoconstriction. This occurs due to the combination of drugs administered during anesthesia which affects the anaesthetized patients by hampering their ability to respond to the degree or extent of pain suffered by them. Pain assessment tools are particularly useful in cases of assessing the extent and degree of pain in highly complicated and chronic illnesses such as cancer. Poorly managed pain attracts the risk of legal action among clinicians and results in a series of psychological responses such as anxiety and depression among the patients and their families. Pain is reportedly inadequately managed and continues to be so in various hospitals across the U.S.  From this study it is clear that  the patients, who care still under the influence of anesthesia and under recovery, ar e required to be transferred to the post anesthesia care unit, more popularly referred to as the PACU. The nurses in charge of the patients are required to review all the vital information related to the patients and conduct an immediate assessment. The patients are expected to be cared for by the nurses until they have completely recovered from the effects of anesthesia and their health is stabilized as is indicated by the effective resumption of their sensory functions and vital signs.... As per the post operation instructions, the anesthetist handed over the drugs used in theatre and then the scrub nurse briefed me on the progress of Ben. General anesthesia is known to significantly affect the behavioral responses of individuals which are considered as imperative in normal thermoregulation such as shivering or vasoconstriction. This occurs due to the combination of drugs administered during anesthesia which affects the anaesthetized patients by hampering their ability to respond to the degree or extent of pain suffered by them (Woodhead and Wicker, 2005). Pain assessment tools are particularly useful in cases of assessing the extent and degree of pain in highly complicated and chronic illnesses such as cancer (Breivik et al, 2008). Poorly managed pain attracts the risk of legal action among clinicians and results in a series of psychological responses such as anxiety and depression among the patients and their families. Pain is reportedly inadequately managed and con tinues to be so in various hospitals across the U.S. The under treatment of pain is one of the key concerns among the healthcare providers. Statistics suggest that almost eighty per cent of surgical patients in the U.S. reported to have experienced varying degrees of pain, ranging from moderate to severe, post surgery. This included patients of chronic illnesses such as cancer as well as elderly patients (Hughes, 2008). From the response that Ben provided, I inferred that he had only minimal pain. This is because Ben provided scores of zero to 3 and not more than that. I went ahead and performed a comprehensive examination using the ABCDE approach. The second goal is to disintegrate as much as possible the otherwise complex

Marking Mix Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Marking Mix - Essay Example The main challenges are limited distribution facilities and narrow market. This, product diversification has been used to dispose of by-products and to capitalize on a company's research-and-development efforts. In fact, the diversification of a product line has been a basic way of achieving long-term market survival. If one considers the rapid technological advances that are being made and the new products being developed, then diversification does not become an incidental or peripheral activity, but a pivotal activity worthy of vigorous and sustained pursuit. The Temperature Sensors are safe for users, so any ethical or social problems are exist. If the company starts to sell this product in other regions, it should ensure that Temperature Sensors are suitable for different temperature regimes and can be used in countries with severe weather conditions. Also, it is important to product Temperature Sensors with scales and marks on different languages so target population can easily read and understand the product information. Gray leaf spot resistant is a new chemical product aimed to protect vegetation from gray leaf spot disease. This is an improvement of existing products. In this case, attempts to diversify product lines create a risk, for dealer and customer reaction is always uncertain. To some extent, the risk may be reduced through the use of marketing intelligence, as is the case when products that enjoy good differential advantages are discovered. A product- program starts with screening and then consideration of what is to be done to bring a product to the market. Firms may follow a check list that covers various aspects of product introduction, based on a study of trade practices. Product diversification may result in either trading up or trading down. In trading up, the manufacturer adds related items to his line that will sell for an increase in price, whereas trading down is the reverse process. There are two objectives involved in a decision to increase the number of variations in price a nd quality: to gain sales by catering to a new segment of the market, and to gain sales in the existing market by trading up or down (Dobson and Starkey 2004). The main ethical and social concerns are safety of chemicals and effectiveness of the product, environmental and legal compliance. If the company wants to sell this product overseas, it is important to take into account legal regulations and standards applied to chemical products and pesticides in a foreign country. The company should test the product in different environment and ensure it is safe enough for different geographical locations and weather conditions. As markets become more heterogeneous, and diverse products are developed to satisfy them, manufacturing efficiency will decline (Paley, 2006). Ramadan Iftar Box 2 is a revision of the existing product line popular in Lebanon. This product is a reaction to competitor's moves and consist of adjustments of current product lines, or they may involve the development of new products. The former are mainly defensive moves and the latter mainly offensive (Paley, 2006). Most companies use the defensive strategies to improve the profitability of existing lines and develop new products to meet competitors' lines. However, the

Google Project Glass Jelly Bean Google Self Driving Car Nexus Case Study

Google Project Glass Jelly Bean Google Self Driving Car Nexus - Case Study Example By recognizing the repeated actions of web users, Google now has the ability to preempt the desires of smartphone users and deliver results for different tasks. However, the adoption of this application has been associated with a number of impacts on the society, both positive and negative. Due to the tough and busy schedule of business owners and managers, the development of Google now has been received as an opportunity to comfortably run their affairs without pressure. With Google Play, the schedules of an individual can be simulated and reminders provided promptly based on the culture of the user. For example, an individual who plans for a meeting at mountain view will be informed of the same 45 minutes before the time and the factors that may delay prompt arrival such as traffic is factored (Weiss, 2013). Soccer or basketball fans that spend most of their time searching for international results have benefited from the customized features of Google now. Once every match is played and the results out, Google now sends the updated results to the users without prompts from them. This has enabled different organizations to save massive time wasted by their employees online. With prompt notification, the users can continue with other activities knowing that the results will be posted in time thus saving the time. As compared to Siri, a product that was developed and sold to Apple's iOS application, Google now is instantaneous and this makes it more economically reliable. Within a few seconds, Google now will post the results of the self-prompted search and deliver to the users (Weiss, 2014). Despite the benefits of the application, Google now has also impacted negatively on the society and businesses. With this new initiative, the number of people who will be able to share one means of transport will increase and this will positively impact on the environment. Though the technical limits of this new invention by Google has not been identified, its adoption and use in public vehicles will face significant resistance from workers unions and labor organization. As Americans continue to rely on self-driven vehicles, taxi and public transport employees will lose their jobs and this will affect its acceptability to the general public. This has the potential of causing a financial crisis as resistance and protests from labor organizations will affect other sectors of the economy (Brown, 2011).

Strategic Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 5

Strategic Management - Essay Example Human capital development according to them entails such activities as hiring contingency workers and outsourcing of labor in non-core areas so as to focus the regular human capital to the most important areas (core competencies). This serves two purposes namely: Contingency workers and outsourcing can provide certain technical and professional skills at very reduced costs. However the authors also highlight the several shortcomings that come with outsourcing. These include: The authors conclude that outsourcing, as a strategy must be used with great care, failure to which less beneficial static flexibility may result. Another area outlined in the development of human capital is training and other forms of skill development. Better-trained employee are usually highly motivated as well as empowered to play an even more important role when it comes to innovativeness. The discussion is largely relevant today since the trends identified in their day continue to this day. This is not to say that the environment has not changed, Indeed it has and many organizations are now focusing on more strategic training which is basically acquiring knowledge, skills, and approaches needed to initially do a job or to perk up upon the performance of a particular task. Today’s management authorities are eager to measure the impacts of these strategies and to design programs of continually advancing this knowledge. Today’s executives clearly understand the relationship between results and the people in the organization. They more often than not seek to recruit the most talented, individuals developing and deploying them in the most crucial areas in the organization. Progress is analyzed and challenges constantly evaluated with the view of coming up with strategies that best match the core values of the organization. The subject of human capital management has

International Study-1 Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

International Study-1 - Assignment Example In this regard, it can be stated that Japan as well as the United States have become the world’s largest net international borrower during this stage. Moreover, it has also been revealed that the trend of foreign direct investment have also rapidly increased among the emerging European countries. With regards to determining the positive impacts of foreign direct investment on an economy, it is highly essential to identify the favorable factors, which may affect the political and financial conditions and growth of the economy in terms of encouraging more investments (Drezner 53-78; Markey and Ravenswood 1-26). However, the trend of foreign direct investment has completely changed during the early 21st century. In this regard, it can be asserted that foreign direct investment has improved the opportunities for larger organizations as well as multinational enterprises in terms of its scale and scope. At the same time, it can also be claimed that increased tendency of foreign direct investment has initiated competitive advantage among the global players. Moreover, it has also assisted multinational enterprises to perform their extensive and cross border business operations effectively in the global market (Drezner 53-78; Markey and Ravenswood 1-26). In this assignment, the objective is to identify the impact of the foreign direct investment on receiving countries in terms of positive and negative aspect. At the same time, the study will try to identify the effect of the foreign direct investment on the global multinational enterprises. Moreover, the study will also help in recognizing the performance of the economy in terms of micro as well as macroeconomics. Foreign direct investment has assisted developing countries’ to improve their economic performance in the global market context by improving trade. In this regard, it has been perceived that foreign direct investment has influenced the performance of the multinational

Human resource management in UK government Essay

Human resource management in UK government - Essay Example The financial stringencies of recent years have combined with growing anxieties about seemingly inflated local authority staff numbers to persuade local authorities to make increasing efforts to make better use of their existing staff, in order to reduce demands for extra posts. The pressure imposed by compulsory competitive tendering to reduce labour costs in order to retain service contracts within the local authority have also produced major changes in human resource management in local government (Fenwick, Shaw and Foreman, 2003). Since a long time, methods of improving human resource management and establishment control have expanded greatly in UK. Work study and organisation and methods techniques have developed rapidly. Computers have made the task of collecting, storing and analysing human resource records easier and quicker, a development which alarmed some trade union leaders because of the fear of job losses, as well as possible threats to privacy. In 1984 the Data Protection Act both improved the legal protection of confidentiality and gave data subjects the right to see information held about themselves on computers and correct it where it is inaccurate (Elcock, Stephenson 1996). The development of these and other new management techniques led the Fulton Committee to urge the speedy development of systematic human resource management in the civil service. Similarly, the Bains Committee (1972) urged local authorities to recognise that: The human problems of management in local government are in no way different from those in industry or the civil service. The resources devoted to the solution and more important the prevention of those problems in local government are in our view generally inadequate. (Bacon, Eltis, 2001) Local government had not, in the Bains Committee's view, made adequate use of the techniques available for improving its efficiency in the use of personnel. However, concern about human resource management is relatively new in local government. In the mid-1960s, the Mallaby Committee was charged with investigating the staffing of local government and its report was hardly a recipe for a radical change of approach to human resource management. In the chapter devoted to this subject, the committee made frequent references to the previous inquiry into local government staffing carried out by the Hadow Committee and it did little more than endorse the recommendations of the earlier committee. Thus the Hadow Committee had recommended that local authorities should create establishment committees responsible for human resource matters, including controlling the size of the authority's departments and vetting requests for new posts. This was establishments work as traditionally understood in the public services: a concern to restrain the size of departments and ensure that new posts are created only when they are absolutely necessary. The establishments committee should be advised by the authority's clerk, a member of whose staff should take responsibility for human resource matters. This approach was largely supported by the Mallaby Commi

Needs of Various Stakeholders Essay Example for Free

Needs of Various Stakeholders Essay As we already discuss about the important of the stakeholders. A stakeholder does not exist but makes demand of the organization. The reason why stakeholders are important in strategic analysis is because of they want something from the organization. The demand of different stakeholders may become conflict to each other. For example shareholders of Tesco want maximum returns from the organization whereas the management team may retain profits for long term investment. Also the employees of tesco want higher payment or simply keep employee during the economy crisis, but the management may with to go through the difficult time by cutting posts and costs. Because of the individual needs are various, the conflict exists. And it will change along with times, macro-environment change and organizational changes: The government:- The government has power on influence the daily operations of tesco. Now days the government may give more support to the business because of the global economy downturn. Customers:- The small change of social communications behaviors and the innovation of high promotion may lead more demand on the services and products provided by tesco. This is very important power for the tesco to continue developing to satisfy the customer. Shareholders:- Shareholders may have the less expectation on returns during the crisis in the stock market. However, when the economy blooms again, say after several years, shareholders will expect more returns from the organization. Employees:- Who could be considered as dependent stakeholders. They are willing to retain the same pay level in order to keep employed during the recession period, but when things gets better, the staff will wish to increase their pay and other welfares. Suppliers:- The operation of the business is very difficult and complex with the effects of globalization. Small changes in the country would have direct and indirect impact over the business operations. Local community:- Local community may wish tesco help improving the quality of local environment. They may wish the organization perform better and give the full satisfaction to the customer.

Learning Organisations

Learning Organisations Moving towards a learning organization is something done BY people, not something done TO people or FOR people by someone else. So, the role of HR has to be in encouraging, facilitating, and supporting a move towards learning organizations. HR can never accomplish this themselves. Then, if executives want to move towards a learning organization, they should direct their operating units to do so, and direct HR to move into a supportive role. If its the other way around, where HR gets the responsibility, it never works. Knowledge management (KM) any practice or process of creating, acquiring, capturing, sharing and using knowledge, wherever it resides, to enhance learning and performance in organisations (Scarborough 1999). Knowledge management involves converting knowledge sources by classifying related information then circulating to make the information to take place. Not all information is knowledge or all knowledge is important. According to Blackler (1995), knowledge is multifaceted and complex, implicit and explicit, physical and mental, verbal and encoded. He also categorises knowledge in four as: embedded (technological collective), enculturel (Values, beliefs collective), embodied (practical knowledge individual), and embraced (theoretical understanding individual). Contrast on Blackler, Nonaka (1991) proposes that knowledge could be either individual or collective, cannot be both. Yet another argument comes from Scarborough and Carter (2000). They believe that knowledge appears from the collective experience and it is shared by member of the group. Knowledge also is the key ingredient of products and services. Therefore the difference among the organisations totally depends on the level to which information can be obtained and converted into knowledge. When it is the subject of knowledge, people mainly consider documentation or codifying type of knowledge. Whilst that explicit knowledge is essential tacit knowledge is even more essential as it adds value for competitive advantage of organisations. Tacit knowledge is spontaneous, contextual, has a big connection with experience, documentation cannot be applied. It is believed that tacit knowledge represent big percentage of knowledge of an organisation. In other saying, Nonaka (1991) explained that the knowledge is either explicit or tacit. Explicit knowledge is available, recorded information. It is kept in databases, and it can be systematized, whereas tacit knowledge is in peoples minds. It is hard to articulate and it gains in personal experience. New knowledge starts with an individual Nonaka believes. Tacit knowledge needs to travel from one person to another. The main difficulty in the creation of new knowledge is that bringing the tacit knowledge on the surface and the diff iculty is that it requires experience to do so. Knowledge management is all about getting the valuable knowledge from people, who have it, to people, who need it to develop the organisational efficiency. As organisations are competing in information age, knowledge is the most important asset in the competition field more than physical and financial assets. Another issue is that culture of organisation may be slowing down the knowledge sharing. Open cultures will encouraged people to share their ideas and knowledge. Knowledge management is on the subject of people. It straight connects to peoples knowledge and monitors how the knowledge could support organizational goal. It also uses the most valuable information which is more focus and meaningful. There is not certain regulation which would be difficult to change. KM is often revises the knowledge and checks its practicality in order to see its usefulness. It is generally have motivating feature on managers to ensure that they are working together with the purpose of reaching the organizational objectives. The emphases on knowledge have brought new job lines; such as knowledge workers. There are workers who are called knowledge workers. Drucker (1993) describes them as individuals who have high level of education, skills and ability to apply, in order to solve problems. Knowledge workers create the knowledge and are key players in spreading it. Tampoe (1993) highlights four core motivators for knowledge workers. First one is personal growth; the opportunities for individuals to realise their potentials. Second one is occupational autonomy; a work environment in which knowledge workers can achieve the task given to them. Third one is task achievement that a sense of achievement from producing works that is of high quality and the last one is money reward. Income is just a reward for their contribution to corporate success. Human Research can make a great contribution to knowledge management as process of spreading and sharing knowledge start among people. The important role HR has here to make sure those organisations have the intellectual capital they need. The role of HR in knowledge management can be listed as; create open culture, importance of which will be sharing knowledge; create an atmosphere where trust is the matter; ensuring that activities where people can share knowledge person-to-person basis, such as workshops, seminars, etc; motivating people by rewarding them when there is knowledge sharing; look after the workers who contribute knowledge sharing by providing resources and finally it is important to senior managers should be appointed for the knowledge management to encourage them for encouraging their staff for knowledge sharing. HR has an important role on improvement of the knowledge based cooperation. The important aim of organisations is to achieve the competitive advantage by developing and successfully implementing the knowledge. HRs role here is to encourage management to develop purpose which will suit to organisational aim. HR has also contribution with KM by recommending on the design of process based organisations. These types of organisations are mainly networking, cross-functional, project teams or so where sharing knowledge is crucial. HR contribution on enhancing KM is also important. HR gives advice on how to keep the skilful and talented people who are too important knowledge sharing culture (Armstrong 2008). Several knowledge management models and frameworks have been done. From the above model it can be understood that there is big and important connection between knowledge management and organizational learning, system and technology, culture and strategy. Knowledge management cannot be performed without learning in organizations. There are many divisions in organisational learning, yet there is no single structure which has successfully summarised the variety of its offerings. Learning organisation has much wider and more mature than organisation learning as well as knowledge management. Learning organisation will be explained in detail in later on. A complex adaptive system (CAS) consists of a large number of agents, each of which behaves according to some set of rules. There rules require the agents to just their behaviour to that of other agents (Stacey, 2003). In other saying, agents work and adjust themselves according to each other. Several experts describe CAS as the next evolution further than learning organization. Most businesses are throughout history there are several examples for business which used several planning activities that none of them worked. To be able to escape from this bad destiny now businesses are searching of knowledge management, to make planning dynamic and approachable to the ongoing globalization. Yet this is not always enough to cope up with fast changing unstable world. Organizations must adjust themselves to ongoing change environment. This situation made organizations to learn more about complex adaptive systems and its suitability to organizations. Also in ongoing fast economy, nature is in the circle of change. These natural diversifications make confusion and chaos. Some chaos is accepted in order to make sure that systems are adaptive ensuring long-term survival. Business world is very much willing to adapt CAS. Everyday there are new stories about successful businesses and CAS. Wal-Mart is a very good example for it. Retailers of Wal-Mart now use smart tags to follow inventory items. These smart tags, which are called Radio Frequency Identification RFID) depend on satellites to capture the movement of inventory items anywhere anytime. What happens is that shopping carts display items and amount as customer put them into the cart. Feedback is very important for as it is for learning organizations. It is to manage the complex adaptive system. CAS requires two forms of feedback which are positive and negative feedback. Negative feedback is if change happens the reaction is to undo the direction of the change and maintain the general circumstance whereas positive feedback continuing changes. Organizations adapt CAS because it gives the discipline to follow up the work. Butterfly effect for example is to show that small changes can have big effects. Organizations need to adapt CAS in order to adapt themselves into the competitive world of business http://www.exinfm.com/board/complex_adaptive_systems.htm Chaos theory expresses the performance of certain dynamic systems. The systems develop with time and the dynamic could be very sensitive to first state which refers to butterfly effect. The single way to gather the benefits of chaos theory in organizational development is to adapt the edge of chaos. With edge of chaos, organizations have to find new and productive ways, adapt new marketing models to survive in the competition. For these learning organizations, airline industry is a good example, particularly Southwest Airlines. They not only did changes to survive but because well off too which they succeeded very well. On the other hand organizations which couldnt cope or catch up with changes struggle. Unless they hold on the element of chaos and become creativity, they will disappear by time. Although with edge of chaos organizations adapt change and they are best known with their creativeness, they do not constantly change. When they do changing, they do not change the core soul of the organization. After changing organization will still have the familiar identity. According to Shelton (2003) the safest way to use chaos theory in organizational development is not in the beginning of organizational change, but in the use of its principles in dealing with issues that arise within the organization. Complexity theory is not the same as chaos theory but chaos involves with complexity theory Senge (1990) brings the concept of the fifth discipline into the organisational learning. He adds that each of the disciplines does provide a very important dimension in structuring the organisations which are willing to learn and carry on enhancing their capability. However, he also observes learning takes place when individuals work in teamwork. The five disciplines Senge identifies can be listed as; systems thinking, personal mastery, mental models, building shared vision, and team learning. Senge associates business and humans to a system in the systems thinking. It is an intangible structure and is a body for knowledge. Learning organisation wants its people to think in system. Personal mastery is the discipline of repeatedly illuminating and extending personal vision, focusing humans energies, developing patience, and seeing reality objectively. As such, it is an essential basis of the learning organisation. Mental models are assumption which specifies how people understand the world around them. It is internal picture of the world and he states that individuals can surface it by learning. Building shared vision involves skill of finding shared. Lastly team learning is essential as teams are the fundamental learning unit in modern organisations. Without team learning, organisation cannot learn. In Senges five disciplines, integrity is core because it is more difficult to integrate new tools than just using them separately. Fifth discipline is system thinking. Without system thinking no learning in organization would ever happen. The systems thinking leads to experiencing more and more of interconnectedness of life and seeing wholes rather than parts. Whenever there are problems in an organisation, according to systems thinking, the problems arise from underlying structures, not from individual mistakes. (Senge, 1990) The learning organisation is an expression which illustrates people gathering to success goals, big or small, in states where they all search for ways of doing things more effectively. Senge (1990), who created the term, explains a leaning organisation as one where people continually expand their capacity to create the results they truly desire, where new and expansive patterns of thinking are nurtured, where collective aspiration is set free, and where people are continually learning how to learn together. In learning organisations, people are constantly watchful for signals which show whether they are reaching their goals. Therefore it can be said that learning organisations continuously look at the detail of actions. Also feedback is vital to the learning organisation because it needs to measure its success. Thus, it accounts, reports, spreadsheets, salespeoples views of customer opinion, shop floor perceptions of a new systems used by activity streams of people. Apple computing -Japan is a perfect example of success when organizational learning is done according five discipline. Although Apple Japan is world wide company, it had one percent of the market in Japan until 1989. Nonetheless with the new president the company succeeded one billion dollar in six years time. The company had some help from a consultant firm. The main plan was to increase the market share as well as efficiency of the company. Being able to gain the market share and improve sales, they come to a decision on increase the number of the distributors, customer management and launch the notion of learning organizations. The first step for Apple Japan was to undertake the Senges Five Discipline which is crucial to learning organizations. Following it, group meeting was made more profitable. More discussion and team education was the main part of the meetings. This approach stressed the importance of the team learning and allowed everyone to share vision towards the same objective. The second step taken was bringing individuals mental model together with the rest of the team which made the progress of learning more efficient. For Personal Mastery, managers support their workers to set up goals. Lastly, the most important discipline for the organizations was Systems Thinking, which was to bring all the other parts together. This approach allows every staff to make decision, and specifically teaches them to take the whole system into consideration, not just their own problems. Changing the way Apple-Japan worked before; paid back with the increase in sales as well as market share of the company (Market Share grew to 15% in 1995 from 1% in 1989. Annual sales soared to $1.3 billion in 1994, with the sale of 520 000 computers) Knowledge may exist within an organisation, but it may not be available to those who need it. Hayes (2007) draws the attentions to importance of distributing the information so that members of the organisation have access to new information which may lead to create new information. Organisational learning is one of the most significant subjects of corporations. The most obvious difference between organisational and an individual learning is that organisations dont have memories which are vital to learning. The main difference between a learning individual and learning organisation is the way they store the information. While individuals use their memories to store the information, organisations do it in their culture. In order for learning to occur, there need to be three circumstances. Firstly, new information must be inputted into the ideas. Secondly, the new information must be combined with the previous one and thirdly practice is essential to complete the learning. Not everyone agrees with the idea of learning organisations. For example, Harrison (1997), argues and criticized because the concept proposes that organisations have a life and ability to learn, which not the case is. Scarborough also disagrees with the dominant perspective of the concept as it suggests individual learning in organisations but does not indicate how or what to learn. Burgoyne (1999) also acknowledges that the concept sometimes creates confusion. Motorola University is one of the best examples for learning organizations. The company has 20000 links hired each year with great grow. Growing rapidly brings the need of training the people they hire. The organisation is aware that they cannot reach the point with the traditional methods of training. In order to create new connections, operates world wide, become productive. The CEO of the company highlights the core values of Motorola which are the techniques and tools they use. Motorolas aim is to find better ways to provide the knowledge and skills. To do so, the company adapts the multimedia training which intends to get training to all Motorolans globally, reduce the cost and time is spent on trainings, and increases the knowledge of the firm. Motorola University was established in 1981 and by 1990 it had extended in US, Eastern Europe, South America and the Asia-Pacific region. Today, many mangers, supervisors and employees from all parts of Motorola have attended diversity training. This training helps participants to have more opportunities to develop and achieve their full potential Organisational learning does not just occur. There needs to be some conditions created which tolerate people to face the uncertainty and stay with it till it becomes something useful. According to Kline (1998) culture is the memory of organisations. The way people interconnect with each other and the way people think is the way their organisational culture is. Culture occurs when two or more people gathered together on a regular basis. If learning organisation is to be created, then firstly the culture of openness of thinking and communication need to be there. He also adds as long as the culture and the way of thinking encourage openness in many different appearances while providing tools which identify useful directions to take, the organisation will become learning organisation. The speed of building a learning organisation is depending on the speed of how individuals in the organizations can improve their learning process. Although author agrees with Senge that organisational lea rning enhances the creativity, he does not agree that building learning organisation does not need to be so slow (Senge, 1999) Schein (1996) highlights that in almost every organisation there are three cultures that a key impact on organisational ability to learn. These are operator culture, engineering culture, and executive culture. He also acknowledges that unless these three cultures realise and use the same language, organisational learning will fail. The values and norms are the basis of culture and formed in four ways. first, culture is shaped by leaders; secondly by critical incidents; third by value and expectation and lastly by organisational environment. (Schein, 1990),(Furnham, Gunter, 1993). According to Harrison (1972) culture is categorised around four ideas. Power orientated, people orientated, task orientated and role orientated. On the other hand Harrison/Handys (1981) four type of culture are; the power, role, task and person culture. Briefly; the power culture is that there is single source of power. Handy names it club or Zeus too; the role culture is bureaucracy, (Greek Temple); the task culture is giving the priority to getting the ob done. There is single source of power (Lattice) and lastly the person culture is that individuals decide on their own work part. The main concern is look after the individuals. According to Brown (1998) the relationship between culture and learning is one of the reciprocal interference. Not only is the rate at which organisations learn dependent on culture but the culture on an organisation will be profoundly influenced by the rate, and content of, organisational learning. Schein aggress with the explanation of Brown that the organisational culture develops through complex interactive learning process. Organisational culture plays a main role in knowledge management and organisational learning. Not every organisation can adapt the learning organisations. There are some barriers to at the individual and group levels. At the individual level, unawareness is an important limitation. They are failing to notice very clear and obvious information and understanding what they notice, having a limited short memory that valuable information can be forgotten easily. Cognitive limitation is more noticeable when there is a fast changing and complex environment which ove rload people and confused them. At the collective level is the important part of organisational learning. Organisational politics can be barrier for groups and individuals to learn, or organisational culture also can slow down the process of learning. Being able to apply the learning, organizations could change their culture to which could e a barrier to organization learning. Many models were introduced over the years concerning culture change by experts. They do not always have the same concept of culture in mind. Models of the culture change are different in the sense of scale. It could be large-scale or small scale. Change also occurs over time. In some cultures, knowledge is the most powerful concept which gives the competitive advantages to individuals. Therefore, Knowledge Management wants HR to focus on organization the culture change, approach of the people to support collaborative team working and knowledge sharing. Yacimientos Petroliferos Fiscales (YPF) is a big petroleum company in Argentina. They wanted to become a professional private company and have international investors rather than maintaining their inefficient bureaucratic existing therefore willing to do some changes in culture and structure. Working with a consultant company, YPF was initiated with learning organization. With the new step, employees were able to assess and check the process and hence learning about the process and observing what is working what is not. Every person in the company knew the purpose of the company and working for the same goal together gave a significant result. At the end of two years YPF increased its profit from $579 million lost in 1990 to profits of $256 million in 1992 and $706 million in 1993. There is a belief that human resource management is able to play a crucial role in core elements of culture, including, norms, beliefs, symbols, behaviours, assumptions. In many organisations managing the cultural symbols is one of the HRMs duties. There is a belief that Human Resource Management (HRM) has essentially replaced the name of personnel management as both involve in managing people in organisations. According to Torrington (1989) HRM is re-labelling and re-packing of personnel management and Guess (1991) agrees with the explanation that HRM is simply elaboration of personnel management (www.humanresources.about.com). Storey (1989) considers HRM as a set of interconnected strategies with an ideological and philosophical underpinning, (Armstrong, 2006) while Torrington (1989) and Guess (1991) believe that HRM is re-labelling and re-packing of personnel management. Storey proposes four features that differentiate HRM. First element is believes and assumptions which give the competitive edge. Also it emphases that human capability and commitment which distinguishes successful organisations from the rest is important therefore the employees should be selected carefully; second element is strategic qualities. It suggests that top management involvement is important; third element is critical role of management. He highlights that HRM is too important to be left to personnel management. Also line management involvement is crucial; and fourth element the key levers. It stresses implementation of HRM and management of culture (Beardwell, Holden, 2004). Source: Storey (1992:38). Reproduced (Beardwell, Holden, 2004).p24 Storey (1989) suggests Hard and soft version of HRM which characterizes by the Michigan and Harvard models. The hard version of HRM highlights the importance of human as resources to achieve competitive advantages against other organisations. To be able to bring advantages, these resources are gained, developed and arranged in ways to do so. According to Storeys hard version of HRM, workers are commodities, and HR is like other resources as well as being calculative and inflexible whereas the soft version of HRM stresses human sides of HRM. The main topics are communication, motivation and leadership. It emphases that people are led rather than managed (http://www.hrmguide.co.uk). Also it is believed that HR is unique. Legge (1998) agrees with Storey on hard model of HRM that workforce are resources to be managed. In contrast of hard version of HRM, she considers the soft version of HRM that employee as value assets and as a source of competitive advantage through their commitment (A rmstrong, 2006). Yet she (1995) also points out that not every organisation has advantages by treating the workforce as a valuable asset, especially those competing on cost. Also Legge refers to this as Developmental Humanism (Legge, 1995, p.66-67). While stressing on the importance of putting together HR policies with business purposes, the soft model spotlights on treating workforce as valuable assets and a competitive advantage through their commitment skill and performance (Legge, 1995, pp 66-67). Employees practice hard and soft versions of HRM differentially as people are treated differently. Japanese management style can be given as a good example. In Japanese organisations men are core workers (SOFT) whereas women are secondary (HARD) workers (Lecture notes, 2008). Many organizations adopt the soft version of HRM that focuses on treating employees as valued assets and a source of competitive advantage. Employees practice hard and soft versions of HRM differentially as people are treated differently. Japanese management style can be given as a good example. In Japanese organisations men are core workers (SOFT) whereas women are secondary (HARD) workers (Lecture notes, 2008). Many organizations adopt the soft version of HRM that focuses on treating employees as valued assets and a source of competitive advantage. Apart from hard and soft models of HRM, Storey also classifies two other HRM named strong and weak. Strong refers to a distinctive package which covers strategic and operational aspects. Weak approach on the other hand assumes that HRM is just another term for personnel management.