The First Amendment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

The First Amendment - Essay Example The First Amendment speaks to the very heart of what it means to be an American.In guaranteeing the freedom of religion, speech, press, assembly and petition, it ensures that each and every individual in the United States is offered some rudimentary inalienable rights With these rights comes the inescapable task of responsibility.These responsibilities were not clearly delineated in the constitution.In fact, the notion of free speech has been challenged to a great degree in that it is very esoteric in nature and when exercised to the full extent, it holds the potential of endangering lives.This paper will present an in-depth examination of the right to free speech and the notion that there should be a limit placed on such a right.First and foremost, the First Amendment refers to the rudimentary freedom of expression.At the forefront of the freedom of expression is the notion of freedom of speech.This freedom facilitates the expression of individuals without the interference or constr aint of the government—federal or state. It, however, operates under the assumption that this freedom may be limited if it proves to be detrimental to others or infringes upon the rights of others. One such case is one in which a person’s freedom to speak serves to effectively and efficiently facilitate a breach of peace or cause violence. In those cases the Supreme Court places a stringent requirement on the government wherein there must be a justification for the actions of the government to interfere or otherwise regulate those rights. Freedom of speech is not limited to verbal expression. It extends to other mediums which facilitate communication (Cornell School of Law-First Amendment, http://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/index.php/First_amendment). Substantive treatments of freedom of speech in the United States tend to be Court-based, meaning they focus primarily or entirely on Supreme Court decisions. Studies such as James E. Leahy's The First Amendment. 1791-1991: Two Hundred Years of Freedom (1991), Rodney A. Smolla's Free Speech in an Open Society (1992), James Brewer Stewart's The Constitution, the Law, and Freedom of Expression, 1787-1987 (1987) and Cass R. Sunstein's Democracy and the Problem of Free Speech (1993) all exhibit a similar tendency-the tendency to frame or categorize Free Speech in terms of various "issues." and then to clarify each of those issues by relying on specific, "landmark" decisions, or a chronology of decisions, by the Supreme Court. In A Worthy Tradition: Freedom of Speech in America, for example. Harry Kalven, Jr. begins by exploring the concept of "Content"-in terms of "Heresy and Blasphemy" (Cantwell v. Connecticut, 1940: Burstyn v. Wilson, 1952: Epperson v. Arkansas, 1968: Torcaso v. Watkins , 1961) then "False Doctrine" (Kingsley Pictures v. Regents. 1959: Street v. New York. 1969): and "Taste" (Hannegan v. Esquire. 1946: Winters v. New York. 1948: Cohen v. California. 1971; Chaplinsky v. New Hampshire. 1942). While limited in ways, these approaches do reveal one important thing-the inadequacy of these definitions of Free Speech. At the very least, they show that the various Courts have always been in the business of weighing Freedom of Speech against other interests and values- which is to say that the Courts have never construed Freedom of Speech as even remotely absolute. Contingencies such as location (public/private, for example), situation

Public speaking and democracy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Public speaking and democracy - Essay Example While one may argue that the importance that is given to demagoguery in a democratic setup subverts the role of an intelligent citizen by tricking him and showing disrespect to the wisdom and trust of an electorate, it is also true that extremely important points are made during speeches that serve to move people to the side of righteous causes and also to rightly channelize the anger of a nation for productive purposes. This has been seen time and again in the history of the United States of America. A successful democracy, America has always placed a great amount of importance on the ability of its public figures to engage in oratory. It is no coincidence that most of the American presidents were excellent orators and could move masses to their point of view time and again and in the process, win their trust and love. The importance that is placed on oratory in a free democracy may also stem from the basic right to speech that citizens are provided with in a democratic nation. The right to express oneself from a public platform in order to communicate one’s views to another person or group remains the highest expression of one’s right to free speech. ... People also share a great interest in the contents of political speeches, with replies and counter-arguments being a part of the discussions that permeate the lives of a modern man in a democratic state. These events are also a site where the political leaders who give speeches are able to demonstrate the strength of the numbers of people that follow their views, apart from being an opportunity to win more followers and thus increase their base of supporters. This would enable them to not only win elections, but also to sustain the trust that people have in them. In many cases, an emotional and moral mandate of the population is necessary before a government undertakes any action of grave importance, something that may have a profound effect on the lives of the people of a country. This may be made possible through a powerful verbal assertion of the reasons that a leader may have for undertaking that particular action. This also demonstrates the effectiveness of public speaking as a tool in a democracy for the purpose of maintaining communication between the holders of executive authority and the electorate. In a democratic nation, public speaking is a tool that political and other leaders may use in order to stay in constant contact with the masses. This may help to impart to the masses the feeling that the state is being looked after in a good manner. This also enables the government in power to block allegations that may be leveled against it by people of differing viewpoints. The act of public speaking, thus, enables a citizen of a democratic country to express dissent that may then be shared by many sections of the society. It may also be used to attract attention to a certain problem that may have otherwise gone unnoticed by the

Intellectual Property Right Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 8000 words

Intellectual Property Right - Essay Example Such protection has lead to the provision of additional funding for the research studies, enhances the efforts on the technological innovations and has also led to the creation of a number of new start ups. Generally the concept of IP covers the legal rights to any person or organization resulting from any intellectual property. The intellectual property deals with the intellectual activities in various fields including industrial, scientific, literary and artistic and the like. The countries across the world have developed legislations covering the protection of IP. These laws have been enacted at the national level for the following main reasons: The first objective is to give a statutory recognition to the creators of the moral and economic rights attached to their creations and also to specifically spell out the accessibility of the public to such rights. The second one is to discharge the responsibility of the government with respect to the promotion of creativity and the dissemination of the application of such creations. This way the government would be able to encourage a fair trading that may result in a balanced economic and social development of the country. In generic terms the IP law aims at protecting the creators and producers of intellectual goods their rights on such goods and services by granting rights to exercise control over the use of those creations for a defined period of time. However it is important to note that such IP rights do not apply to the physical object on which the IP rights may be applied but only on the intellectual creation as such. The IP protection normally extends to (i) Industrial Properties and (ii) Copyright on Intellectual Properties. 2.0 Fields of Intellectual Property Protection The above two areas of IP protection can be further classified into different fields. Inventions, trademarks, industrial designs and geographical indications are covered by Industrial Property. Copyright encompasses literary and artistic works including novels, Poems, films and musical creations. In this context it is important to understand different types of intellectual properties. 2.1 Different Types of Intellectual Properties The different types of industrial properties that need protection are: 1. Patents 2. Industrial Designs and integrated circuits 3. Utility models 4. Copyright and related rights 5. Trademarks 6. Trade secrets 7. Plant breeder's rights 2.1.1 Patents A patent is regarded as an exclusive right that is conferred on any person in respect of an innovation. The patent right has normally a duration of 20 years. A patent right is granted for a product or process which have the capacity of providing in general way of doing something or offering a new technical solution to a problem on hand. "An invention is considered "new" as long as it is not known to the public by any means (written or oral or in any other way), before its filing

Person Centred Approach Essay Example for Free

Person Centred Approach Essay The definition of person centred values is treating and seeing people in a care setting as equals, who are involved in decision making to promote an independent way of life and to ensure that the care that is provided is appropriate to their needs. It takes into account service users views and needs and places them, along with their family at the centre of all decision making. Working in a way that embeds person centred values is important to meet the needs of my service user. With my clients it helps to build relationships with them and their family members to ensure a good quality of life and provide the best possible quality of care. This ranges from me attending to my service users personal care needs in a respectful way and to support them to achieve tasks on their own, to choices of what activities they would like to do that can help them to express their individuality or help them to create new relationships and overcome any feelings of social exclusion or devaluation. I also believe it’s important to respect any religious or cultural beliefs that they may have and support the individual to follow their chosen faith. Read more:  Person Centred Care Firstly I would look at the way in which I communicate with my service user. If they are verbal the simplest way I find out about the individual is to talk directly to them as it allows them to fully express themselves and make their own decisions. If non verbal then I would communication methods such as makaton, picture cards and visual aids to learn of their likes and dislikes. Another way is to speak with siblings as they could provide information the client may be unaware of or may have forgotten but also so they are included in the building of the care plan and it helps me build an understanding and a relationship with them. Talking with social workers, previous support workers, doctors or any other professional involved in the clients care an also provide information about their preferences and anything that may be important to the individual. With these methods it helps me find as much information as possible about my service user. In order to take into account the history, preferences, wishes and needs of an individual when planning care and support I would refer to the principles of person centred care. Rather than just supplying a service, each person should be treated as an individual by offering a personalised service specific to their needs and preferences. For example if an individual enjoyed an activity such as walking but needed support to do so I would plan a time for a walk so that the individual would get enjoyment from doing activities they choose and feel valued. Also, they should be treated them with the same dignity and respect you would want for a member family of your own. Refer to support plans to ensure the highest level of person centred care is maintained. Each individual’s care plan outlines and details the service user’s preferences and day to day requirements so that they receive the specific care and daily support they require from the level of support required with an individual’s personal hygiene and how to do it in a respectful way to what food and activities they like. The information is centred on the individuals wants and needs to ensure independence and choice rather than control, choice should always be offered regardless of importance of the activity or task, therefore each individuals care plan contributes to working in a person centred way. The term consent means giving permission to do something or agreement to an action and in a care setting consent is needed for a number of things. With my clients I need to ask for consent for administering medication, for help with bills, finances and banking, help with certain type of care such as bathing and personal hygiene. It’s important to gain consent for all activities as lack of it could be deemed as abuse as I would forcing someone to perform or to take part in a task or an activity they don’t want to be involved in. Consent however should not just be gained, but the client must fully understand what they are consenting to and any possible implications that the action or task can imply. It is also essential for protecting myself from any legal challenge. There are a few ways to establish an individual’s consent but it depends upon the individuals preferred communication. The methods I use with my clients are verbal, written notes, visual aids such as picture cards, makaton, some individuals communicate physically with body movements such as a nod or through a representative or advocate. Any of these are forms establishing consent that i would look to use with my clients. Establishing consent will vary as each individual’s capacity to consent is assessed. If consent cannot be established first steps would be to not carry out the task and document the information. If a person is mentally incapable of providing consent then you should refer to the individuals care/support plan that may have been established at a time when they were capable of making informed decisions. If this fails, consent can be given by next of kin or an advocate however I would ensure my client must be involved as much as possible to adhere to person centred values. Active participation is a way of working that allows an individual to be completely involved in every aspect of their lives. This could be what my service users have to eat, what they wear when they go out or go to work in, or it could be planning tasks and activities for the week ahead, deciding on where to go such as day trips out or holidays, arranging appointments to the doctors or the dentists and active participation in services that relate to their own care. Helping to be in control of their lives rather that a passive recipient. Active participation helps individuals by benefitting them in a number of ways. I believe it gives them independence and makes the service user feel in control of their own lives rather than having decisions made for them or having few choices. There are many benefits I’ve noticed such as growth in confidence in social situations, a sense of well being, a sense of achievement of taking control of their lives and I’ve noticed the mental and physical stimulation it also brings. Also encouraging individuals to participate in the planning and arranging of their own care increases their self confidence, independence and it is empowering. There are many ways to reducing barriers of active participation. In order to reduce any barriers to active participation you have to look at what the barriers could be. They could be lack of confidence or self esteem, a lack of opportunity to activities, difficulty in communication and lack of patience of others. To overcome these barriers I support my service users by offering them choices and in every aspect of their day to day lives and offering them opportunity to plan and do activities they enjoy which improves their confidence. I think it’s very important to have the patience to listen to service users and take time to understand how they feel and I find by discussing why they feel like this and talking through it can increase their feeling of self esteem. Communication barriers can be overcome by staff development and training, language and makaton are tools that can be learnt, but there other ways like picture cards and hand gestures I use with some service users to offer choices and to make decisions when they are non verbal. The method I find best to encourage active participation is by communicating and offering choices and then giving praise and encouragement to service users to increase their confidence to then go on to make more decisions in different aspect of their lives for themselves. I find it’s good to look for local events or if they show an interest in a hobby you could find out about local groups that would be prepared to support the individual to participate. You should always highlight the benefits of the activity and getting family members to join in with activities can make a big difference to encouraging participation from individuals. I would support an individual to make informed choices by giving the individual the full information regarding that decision. I would explain the positive and the negative effects of that decision regardless of my beliefs or views as my personal view should not influence an individual’s choice. The choices and decisions can be as simple offering the full information on items when supporting individuals with shopping, giving information on price and helping to find offers or decisions that may require risk assessments to make the individual fully aware of the any risks that may be involved. I believe all staff in a care setting should help to  empower their client by offering the information, knowledge and confidence to make informed decisions. I think risk taking can be part of an individual’s choices because there is risk in many day to day things that we do. Due to the nature of an individual’s disability, a simple task could be deemed a risk and would need risk assessing to make them fully aware of any potential dangers or threats to the individual’s safety. It’s important to make individuals aware of any risks or hazards Risk assessment processes are used to make an individual aware of the positive and negative consequences involved when for example taking part in an activity, we look at and record the risks and hazards involved and then decide if the risk is worth taking. However there are benefits that have to be taken in to consideration as new activities promote confidence and empowers individuals to live more independent lives. Having choice is an individual’s right, risk assessments provide support for them to make decisions in the safest way possible. I believe a worker’s personal views should not influence an individual’s choices because that is taking away their right to make informed choices. My views for example are not fact and should not be used to influence any decisions or life choices. I could inform an individual if a certain food was bad for them and suggest a healthier option however whatever they decide is their choice. Another example is religious or cultural choices and beliefs, my views are my own and I would support them to attend religious or cultural services and acknowledge religious holidays.

A Strategic Management In A Global Context Business Essay

A Strategic Management In A Global Context Business Essay Formal Strategic Planning is the process that involves an organisation in the defining of its strategy or direction and making the decisions on how its resources should be allocated in order to achieve this strategy. Formal strategic planning is affected by the macro-environment and this is the highest level layer in the framework, this consists of a wide range of environmental factors that impact to some extent on almost all organisations. The PESTEL framework can be used to identify how future trends in the Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Environment and Legal environments might affect an organisation. Pestel analysis provides the broad date from which key drivers to change can be identified. By using these key drivers organisations can envision scenarios for the future. Scenarios can be used to help organisations decide if change needs to happen depending on the different ways in which the business environment may change. It is important for managers to analyse these factors in the present and how they are likely to change in the future. By analysing these, managers will be able to draw out implications for the organisation. Pestel factors are sometimes linked together i.e. technological factors can impact on economic factors. It is necessary to identify the key drivers of change these are environmental factors that are likely to have a high impact on the success or failure of the strategy. Key drivers vary by industry i.e. Primark may be concerned by social changes that can change customer tastes and behaviours. The critical issues are the implications that are drawn from the understanding in guiding strategic decisions and choices. The next stage is drawn from the environmental analysis specifically strategic opportunities and threats for the organisation. Having the ability to identify these opportunities and threats is extremely valuable when thinking about strategic choices for the future. Opportunities and threats form one half of the SWOT analysis that shapes a companys formulation. The use of SWOT analysis can help summarise the key issues from the business environment and the strategic capability of an organisation that are most likely to impact on strategy development. Once the key issues have been identified an organisation can then assess if it is capable to deal with the changes taking place within the business environment. If the strategic capability is to be understood the business must remember that it is not absolute but relative to its competitors. SWOT analysis is only useful if it is comparative, that is it examines strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. SWOT analysis should help focus discussion on the future choices and to what extent an organisation is capable of supporting these strategies. SWOT analysis should not be used a substitute for more in-depth analysis. In responding strategically to the environment the goal is to reduce identified threats and take advantages of the best opportunities. Peter Drucker, discussing the importance of business policy and strategic planning in his book the practice of management says we cannot be content with plans for a future that we can foresee. We must prepare for all possible and a good many impossible contingencies. We must have a workable solution for anything that may come up. http://www.alagse.com/strategy/s1.php By taking advantage of the strategic gap (which is an opportunity in the competitive environment that has not been fully exploited by competitors) organisations can manage threats and opportunities. http://turbo.kean.edu/~jmcgill/assess.pdf http://polisci2.ucsd.edu/snunnari/HBR_on_Strategy_23_41.pdf#page=25 Core competencies are a set of linked business processes that deliver superior value to the customer, when these are combined they create strategic value and can lead to competitive advantage. By using Porters five forces analysis which is a framework for organisations to analyse industry and business strategy, they can draw upon the five forces that determine the competitive intensity and therefore attractiveness of a market. Three of Porters five forces refer to competition from external sources and the other two are internal threats. This analysis is just one part of the complete Porter strategic model the others include the value chain (VC) and the generic strategies. http://hbr.org/2008/01/the-five-competitive-forces-that-shape-strategy/ar/1 According to Porter (2008) the job of a strategist is too understand and cope with competition; however managers define competition too narrowly as if it has occurred only among today direct competitors. Competition goes beyond profits to include competitive forces such as customers, suppliers, potential entrants and substitute products; the extended rivalry that results from all five forces defines an industrys structure and shapes the nature of competition within an industry. For example Apple are good at technology and innovation therefore they can take the opportunities that give them competitive advantage and makes them leaders compared to Samsung or Nokia. Porters says there are 5 forces that shape the competition: Threat of new entrants Bargaining power of customers powerful customers usually bargain for better services which involve cost and investment Bargaining power of suppliers may determine the cost of raw materials and other inputs effecting profitability Rivalry among competitors competition influences the pricing and other costs like advertising etc. Threats from substitutes where-ever substantial investments in RD is taking place, the threat of substitutes is large. It also affects profitability. Competitive advantage is the heart of strategy and for the strategy to succeed the organisation should have relevant competitive advantage. We can see an example of this with Toshiba who operate in electrical goods, through a flexible manufacturing system it manufactures different products / varieties of some products on the same assembly lines. At Ohme it assembles nine varieties of computers on the same line and on the adjacent line it assembles 20 varieties of lap top computers. It is able to switch from one product / variety to another instantly at low cost and makes profits on low volume runs too. This flexibility of Toshiba to respond quickly and easily to the fast changing market demand is definitely one of its competitive advantages. Whereas its competitors make profits only through long volume runs of a particular model. However, there are a lot of companies who are choosing not to invest due to the recession; however Lidl and Aldi are taking advantage of supplying cheaper products giving them competitive advantage over say Waitrose. http://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/Bringing_discipline_to_strategy_1054 Benefits of Strategic Planning Effective strategic planning can positively improve the performance of an organisation and give them the ability to serve more clients, access additional resources or enhance the quality of service/product. It can also offer solutions to major organisational issues or challenges and gives stakeholders of the organisation an opportunity to develop harmonic solutions to long-term issues/challenges that have been affecting the organisation. Furthermore it allows for forward thinking, allowing an organisation the opportunity to pause and revisit the mission and create long-term vision. It allows clear future direction allowing stakeholders to look to the future, plan and respond to changes. Evaluation One of the major drawbacks of formal strategic planning is the uncertain dynamic environment, things change constantly and everything becomes shorter. The recession at the present time is making everything unpredictable and this is not good for strategic planning. According to Mintzberg 1994 strategic planning should be used to devise and implement the competitiveness of each business unit. Scientific management was pioneered by Fredrick Taylor and involved separating thinking from doing and thus creating a new function staffed by specialists. Planning systems were expected to produce the best strategies as well as step by step instructions on how to achieve this, but this never worked well. According to Mintzberg strategic planning is not strategic thinking, the most successful strategies are visions, not plans. When an organisation can differentiate between planning and strategic thinking they can then get back to what the strategy making process should be. Once a manger has the ability to learn from all sources around him, including personal experiences and market research and can integrate this into a vision of the direction that the business can then pursue. Mintzberg suggests that strategic planning is a misconception and rests upon three unsound arguments: that prediction is possible, thats strategists can be detached from the subjects of their strategies, and that the strategy-making process can be formalised. Strategic thinkers can apply lessons learned from Mintzberg (1994) three inherent fallacies of traditional planning: The Fallacy of Prediction is the assumption that we can actually control events through a formalised process that involves people engaged in creative or even routine work and can manage to stay on the predicted course. You need more than hard facts you need the personal touch. People are not objective, they are complex. The Fallacy of Detachment is the assumption we can separate the planning from the doing, if the system does the thinking, then strategies must be detached from the tactics. Formulation from implementation, thinkers from doers. One objective is to make sure senior managers receive relevant information without having to immense themselves in the details. One fact is innovation has never been institutionalised and systems have never been able to reproduce the synthesis created by the entrepreneur or the ordinary strategist and probably never will. The Fallacy of Formulisation suggests that systems could certainly process more information, at least hard information. However they could never internalise it, comprehend it, and put it all together. Such control is more a dream that a reality. Reality tells us that anomalies, the fickle behaviour of humans and the limitations of analysis play a huge factor in the organisational outcomes and to disregard them is risky and could lead to incomplete planning. What are the limitations of strategic planning when things are changing rapidly? http://www.globalfuture.com/planning1.htm The limitations of formal strategic planning can be seen if the future is uncertain and the expectations divert from the plan. There could also be internal resistance to formal strategic planning due to factors including: Information flows, decision making and power relationships could be unsettled Current operating problems may drive out long-term planning efforts There are risks and fears of failure New demands will be placed on managers and staff Conflicts with the organisation are exposed Planning is expensive in time and money Planning is difficult and hard work The completed plan limits choices and activities for the organisation in the future Nicholas ORegan, Abby Ghobadian, (2002) Formal strategic planning: The key to effective business process management?, Business Process Management Journal, Vol. 8 Iss: 5, pp.416 429 http://www.innovation.cc/scholarly-style/fairholm3.pdf

Sir Walter Scott :: Essays Papers

Sir Walter Scott Sir Walter Scott was born in a tenement at College Wynd, in Edinburgh, on August 15, 1771. There is evidence that he may have been born in 1770 and when his mother was asked about it she said she had forgotten the detail of when he was born. There was no deep warmth between parents and children in the Scott family. The Scott family had no fewer than twelve children and young Walter was the ninth. Him and his two other brothers were the only children to survive. All other nine children had died because they were premature or they died shortly after they had been born. At the time of Walters birth his mother was thirty-nine and his father was forty-two and having a child was not exciting to them anymore. His parents had named one of their first siblings Walter who was born and died in 1766 and after they named young Walter that he always felt that he had a second hand name. Walter was a healthy child until he was about eighteen months and he got a very bad fever, which kept him in bed for awhile. One day when he was recovering he was in the bath and they realized he had lost the movement in his right leg. He had infantile paralysis. Doctors tried to help him and fix it but it was a lost cause. He was not fully crippled but his right leg would never be the same. His mother became pregnant again and she could not deal with Walter while he was sick. Therefore she sent him to him to his grandfather's farm at Sandy Knowe in the spring of 1773. He stayed at this farm until he was three and a half. It was hear that his grandfather taught him to walk and eventually run. Everyone on the farm also encouraged Walter to talk Walter's aunt; Janet Scott brought it upon herself to raise Walter. Over the next six years she was Walter's foster mother and first teacher. Walter's relationship with his father lasted twenty-eight years and went though many different stages. Dominating over everything else Walter knew that he was not an important child. Robert his oldest brother did not go to the High Sch ool like his brothers did but was sent to a superior boarding school. He also had the freedom to pick his profession unlike Walter.

Information System

1. 4. 4 Information Systems for the Banking & Financial Sector: Audit is one of the major controls for monitoring management activities in the banks and financial institutions. In a computerized environment, IS audit is a very effective and necessary activity. Usually the IT implementation in the banking and financial organizations is done by adopting a mix of different methodologies – internal development and deployment and third party product development and deployment. In case of internally developed and deployed IT systems, IS audit will require to be done by a team of specially trained internal or external auditors.However, it is preferable to have the IS audit conducted with the help of suitable external agencies with the required skills and expertise to ensure independent nature of audit. In case of development and deployment of the IT systems by third parties, the IS audit requires to be conducted by trusted auditor/s with skills and expertise, required for the purpose . IS audit assumes greater significance because a large number of critical and strategic financial operations in the banking and financial sector are wholly or partly being handled by the computerized systems.There is a significant need for determining the role of IS in banks. This would assure the top manage- ment that the IS development is in the right direction. This would also help in exploring the intended and the real role of IS in banks. The knowledge of the real role of IS in banks would help IS managers in managing information systems by judging the business needs of the IS projects, associated risks, importance and ranking of IS managers in organizational hierarchy, need for innovation and flexibility in IS planning approach, etc.The IS practitioners may use the variables used here for self-evaluation and for deciding about the IS development. It has been well recognized that IS plays different roles in different industries. However, there is limited research examining the differences in the role of IS within a single industry. This study empirically explores the differences in the role of IS among public, private, and foreign ban. ks. Results indicate that while, at present, only private and foreign banks have obtained strategic advantages using IT, public sector banks, although late, have also realized the importance of IT.It has been empirically proved that the future impact of IS does not vary significantly with the banking groups. This suggests that IS efforts put in by the public sector banks are in the right direction and can be expected to give them a strategic advantage in future. Foreign and private banks, though in the strategic group today, have to constantly harness IS for strategic advantage to maintain their position. Sustaining competitive advantage is very difficult, because IS managers have to continuously evaluate the bank's applications portfolio with respect to technology and their competitors.Public sector banks have to search f or ways to shift from support group to the strategic group in order to enjoy a strategic advantage from the use of IS. In order to achieve this objective, they may have to formulate a different IS strategy so as to make them competitive enough to survive. Future research could evolve suitable IS strategies for all the three sectors. This paper has tried to locate the banks on the Strategic Grid. However, the level of computerization of various branches of a bank may be different and hence their dependency on IT may be different.Future research may involve locating the various branches and departments of a bank on the Strategic Grid and suggesting a suitable strategy for the branch. This study has the limitation that data are collected only from key IT executives. Perceptions of the bank's business executives may be different from that of the IT executives. Therefore, future research could also attempt obtaining and analysing the opinion of bank's business executives and looking for perceptual differences, if any.Another interesting area of future research could be to unearth the reasons for adopting a particular role of IS and to explore facilitators and inhibitors in using IS for strategic use. Uses of information technology in banking Write your abstract here. Applications of Information Technology in Banks in India While computer by itself is the most cherished invention that man has ever accomplished, its union with communication technology which is at its pinnacle, has brought yet another amazing extension to its already fabulous capabilities.From the period of Marconi to this day , the improvements that have taken place in the television , have literally brought the entire world into an individual’s bedroom. Joining this powerful communication environment , the IT has opened flood gates for global economic activity. The contribution of economic and political changes that have so far taken place to encourage international trade will bear fruit only when banking and the associated services can catch up with the new trends. The modern IT has enough capabilities to enable banks, financial institutions and others to bring about the desired changes.Banking sector reforms introduced a decade ago in 1992-93 , have been based on five fundamentals: 1. Strengthening of prudential norms and market discipline. 2. Appropriate adoption of International benchmarks. 3. Management of organizational change and consolidation. 4. Technological upgradation. 5. Human resource development. The Financial Reforms that were initiated in the early 90s and the globalization and liberalization measures brought in a completely new operating environment to the Banks that were till then operating in a highly protected milieu.Services and products like â€Å"Anywhere Banking† â€Å"Tele-Banking† â€Å"Internet banking† â€Å"Web Banking† , e-banking, e-commerce, e-business etc. have become the buzzwords of the day and the Banks ar e trying to cope with the competition by offering innovative and attractively packaged technology-based services to their customers. Reserve Bank of India constituted a committee under the chairmanship of Dr. C. Rangarajan. The main task of the committee was preparation of a plan for computerization for the period 1990-1994 ( for 5 Years ).For the purpose of computerization , the committee selected the important areas relating to customer service , internal-decision-making process , productivity and profitability. The committee furnished its report on November 9, 1989 with the following recommendations- 1. The branches having daily average level of vouchers at more than 750 should be computerized . 2. Computerization on branch level should be achieved on any of the following basis- (i)Selected branches will have on-line terminals with micro and mini-computers which will be linked with central main-frame computer to provide counter service and other office-services. ii)Personal compu ters will be installed at counters which will be linked with local area network. (iii)For third option , the banks will have to depend on Telecom line. 3. The banks should gradually use developed devices such as- Photocopier , FAX , Duplicator , Microfilm , Signature Storage , Scanners etc. 4. Non-computerized branches can take the services of other local computerized branch / office in case of important task. 5. The customers should have the facility to route their business to any branch of the bank. 6. All-Bank Credit Card should be issued. . Computers should be made bilingual and proper training arrangements should be made to provide training to staff members. 8. The regular customers should be offered On-line facility. 9. Like some European countries , there should be a system of credit clearing. 10. BANKNET should be used for interbank and intra bank applications. 11. All Regional offices and Zonal offices to be computerized in a phased manner. Rangarajan Committee – 198 9: A Statistical Analysis Rangarajan Committee ( 1989 ) has focused its stress on computerization of banks.A statistical analysis was also made in the report of committee. In this analysis ,it was mentioned that following jobs can be rapidly and easily performed at Regional Office/Zonal office level. 1. To ascertain the bad and doubtful debts and to make provision for them. 2. To claim the amount under Credit Guarantee Schemes of DICGC. 3. To communicate , analyze and forecast the data for trade-plan. 4. To make action plan for recovery of advances. 5. Personnel Information System. 6. Credit Information System. 7. Checking of figures of priority sector advances. . Consolidation of statements/figures to be sent to the RBI. Present level of Computerization: Based on the norms worked out by Rangarajan Committee (II), 7827 branches of the Public Sector banks were identified for full branch computerization up to March 2000 of which around 4620 were computerized as on March 99. Meanwhile, the networking of the already-computerized branches also assumed urgency and some of the Banks have started inter-connecting their computerized branches using leased telephone lines or Very Small Aperture Terminals (VSATS).This is meant to provide a more comprehensive service to customers and at the same time give banks better centralized control over the branch operations. As of now, New Private Sector and Foreign Banks have an edge over Public Sector Banks as far as implementation of technological solutions is concerned. However, the latter are in the process of making huge investments in technology. Source:  http://www. shvoong. com/humanities/1748375-applications-information-technology-banks-india/#ixzz2ONAVoUdI