Urban Sociology Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Urban Sociology - Article Example Based on the article written by Mousseau & Mittal (2006: 66), stakeholders who greatly benefit from food aid are not really the less benefit individuals who live in developing countries but the U.S. food manufacturer, U.S. shipping companies, the NGOs, and relief organizations. In the case of food manufacturer, Horizon Milling – a U.S. based company that produces wheat and flour products (Horizon Milling, 2008) sold as much as $1.09 billion worth of grain for food aid operation since 1995. By establishing a strong ties with the U.S. government, the company was able to earn significantly large amount of profit without having to worry about potential competitors that could offer the U.S. government with cheaper prices of similar food products. Since most of the U.S. food aid is given to developing countries in the form of ‘in-kind’, U.S. based manufacturing companies that produces food, seeds, and other farming related products are the ones that earns profit out of the food aid program. The same is true in the case of the U.S. shipping companies since the 1985 Farm Bill requires 75% of the U.S. food aid to be shipped solely by U.S. vessels. (Mousseau & Mittal, 2006: 66) Given that the United States is considered a developed country, the volume of food products that is shipped to developing countries under the said food aid program is significantly less because of the high prices of U.S. food products and the shipping cost via U.S. vessels. For this reason, it is arguable that the U.S. food aid program is not really focused on minimizing the global hunger but a way of strengthening its own economy by allowing the food manufacturing and U.S. shipping companies to earn more profit from the said program. The main focus of the U.S. food aid program is to increase the sales and profitability of its local food manufacturers and shipping companies rather than

I though I knew what good management was Article

I though I knew what good management was - Article Example his mix feelings, when he arrived in SFD for his first time, where there were approximately one hundred workers on the site, including the gasification pilot plant, support, building and offices. Peace explains that he had mixed feelings of challenges of significant opportunities and threat of situations concerning technology and market, which were foreign to him. Moreover, he explains that it took him four years to gather confidence in discussing issues related to technology with knowledgeable customers. Peace also had problems with employee attitudes, which he identifies through attitude survey months before he arrived in the company. In fact, he compared these attitudes with others, and they were not favorable to him, though he had a solution for these issues, which included effective communication and site cafeteria for addressing the employees. The employees’ attitudes attributed to distrust of management and hostility, which was difficult for him to understand. During the period when trouble was brewing, problems, which seemed to have been resolved, kept recurring, and the managers were applying the same agenda. Consequently, the employees were complaining about innovative ideas from the management were impractical risky and expensive. Peace also explains that he was unhappy with lack of management follow-through, since the managers seemed to be against the system, though the business objectives were well articulated in the company. Moreover, he mentions about his effort in calling a meeting for a discussion related to issues of management style, which bore no fruits. Peace narrates about the period when the problem escalated in the company, whereby there was undeclared war within the division, which might have gone on indefinitely to act of vandalism. In fact, during November 1982, there were unidentified employees involved in slashing the tires of two cars belonging to the managers parked off-site. This act was due to the employee resentment towards