Hello world!

Welcome to my world. MBA is one of the most important dream of my life. I am determined to get it also, so what if I have failed n number of times in various competitive examinations. I may suck at the standardized tests but I know that I am good and this world is going to get a lot out of me, once I am done with my MBA. I aspire to take my MBA next year in the f all of 2010. I am planning to wrtie my GMAT soon, probabky in a month or so.

End of AWAs

I guess I am one with the AWAs now. Wth around 30 AWAs, its time now o concentrate on other areas which are really important. If anyone has any suggestions, do drop them so that I can work on to improve the AWA further.

I willl continue to post about the developments of the world and of course, my life. At this moment, I really expect the frustration and emptiness of life ends soon. And this year puts an end to the daily torture.

AWA 30

When someone achieves greatness in any field – such as the arts, science, politics, or business – that person’s achievements are more important than any of his or her personal faults.

Discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the opinion stated above. Support your point of view with reasons and/or examples from your own experience, observations, or reading.

I completely agree that one’s achievements are more important than his or her personal faults especially when he or she achieves greatness in some field. A lot of people are born and then they die after spending a span of time on earth. But there are very few people who leave their everlasting marks on the sands of time, which pushes the life of the other people on this earth forward. It is this capability of those few people’s achievements that gives us the courage to face the realities of life every day. I believe that such people’s achievements are definitely more important than their failures due to the following reasons.

Firstly, there is no doubt that when someone achieves something great in any field, it shows a new path to the whole world. Sometimes, these paths are so strong that they change the course of the current world. For example, let us consider Abraham Lincoln. He changed the course of American history with the abolition of the slavery. It is his greatness that people in America are better people than anyone in this world today. Similarly, Mahatma Gandhi changed the course of Indian history with his beliefs on truth and non-violence. It is due to his sheer will that made the whole country run for the struggle of Independence unanimously. People like Dhirubhai Ambani led the Indian business to a new level by bringing Economic Liberalization in the country in early 1990′s. Narayan Murthy has led the country into a new blend of truth and ethics while creating one of the most successful IT services companies of thew world – Infosys. People like Thomas Elva Edison gave a new direction to the lives of people and science with his invention of Electric bulb.

Secondly, it is the achievements of the successful people that gives inspiration and motivation to the younger generation for more new innovations. One cannot ignore the fact that it is the failures that make the ordinary lives of great people extraordinary. But it is their achievements that draw people to look into their lives do closely to draw inspirations from. For example, even though Edison was thrown out of his class citing poor intellectuals, he went on to become a great scientist. Similarly, Abaraham Linclon failed miserably in his business and other ventures before going on to become one of the greatest leaders of the world and most influential President in American history. The point here is that we know the past of these successful persons only because they rose to become successful person and leaders in this world at some point of their lives. It is their achievements that took us to go into their past.

Due to the above said reason, I agree with the opinion stated earlier that a person’s achievements are more important than his or her personal faults.

AWA 29

The following appeared in the editorial section of a local newspaper.

“In the first four years that Montoya has served as mayor of the city of San Perdito, the population has decreased and the unemployment rate has increased. Two businesses have closed for each new business that has opened. Under Varro, who served as mayor for four years before Montoya, the unemployment rate decreased and the population increased. Clearly, the residents of San Perdito would be best served if they voted Montoya out of office and reelected Varro.”

The argument in the editorial section of the local newspaper is unconvincing because its conclusion depends on unsubstantiated assumption of residents of San Perdito not well served under Montoya as compared to Varro. Each of the following areas merit further explanation before it can be given any degree of credibility of its conclusion of voting Montoya out of office and reelecting Varro.

Firstly, one cannot ignore the possibility that the dubious policies and laws of Varro might have shown its consequences after his tenure as mayor. It might be the possibility that the policies adapted by Varro during his office time, were so unpopular and unfavorable that the true colors are seen in the tenure of Montoya. Assuming that Montoya is a very capable person but still he might not have been able to counter the policies adopted by Varro, consequently, showing disastrous results in the form of decreased population and increased unemployment. Additionally, one can definitely question the election of Montoya if Varro would have done a great job in his first tenure.

Secondly, the possibility of a bleak and weak economy during the tenure of Montoya would have been responsible for the dubious results of performance. Economy might have been very weak and fragile throughout the country or world, which would have touched the residents of San Perdito too. A possibility of such a global phenomenon can hardly be ignored unless further information of the economic scenario is given for comparison.

Last but not the least, the editorial section lacks concrete data and figures to compare the population and unemployment rate during the tenures of Montoya and Varro. One needs further solid figures to come to any conclusion of good tenure of Varro compared to Montoya.

Due to the many holes in the reasoning in the arguments of the report, it is difficult to take the arguments seriously. Unless further evidence surface in each of the areas discussed above, the given premises are insufficient proof that the conclusion drawn is viable.

AWA 28

In an enterprise, the process of making or doing something is ultimately more important than the final product.

Discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the opinion expressed above. Support your point of view with reasons and/or examples from your own experience, observations, or reading.

There is a well-said saying in the film industry that movies of couple hours in theatres is what makes it a success or failure but it is the talent and hard work of the artists involved in the project that make them a mega-star in future. I would like to bring the same analogy here too. Though, the final product of an enterprise becomes the face of the enterprise in the world market but the process of making or doing something within the enterprise is what makes it a truly great enterprise to survive the ups and downs of the market.

On one hand, one can never ignore the importance of a product for an enterprise. A product is generally like an infant baby for the enterprise that carries its name and fame forward. It becomes a true family member of that enterprise. Its importance lies not only in its capability of boosting the revenues of the company but also in bringing fame and name to the company in case the product is a success or else shows the problems that makes it a failure so as to put the enterprise in the right direction. For example, how can one ignore the importance of product “COKE” to Coca Cola Company?

On the other hand, we cannot ignore the importance of the process of making or doing something in the enterprise. The liberty of making or doing something unique and interesting is what makes its employees satisfied. No one in this world can make an enterprise successful with only one individual. An enterprise needs a lot of talented and innovative people to carry their tasks with no ties and boundaries. If employees and people attached to the company are happy, then the enterprise can make good and competitive quality products with lot of love and innovation. For example, one cannot ignore the satisfaction level of the employees of IBM that makes the company attract the best of the talents so as to keep on with its brand image as top most patent file owner year after years.

Additionally, it is the process and working style of an enterprise that makes an enterprise to attract right talent that could make its brand name more popular with his new and unique ideas, And this is what that can make the enterprise ride through the tough times of the industry.

Hence, even though the importance of the final product cannot be ignored, the real image of an enterprise is to attract the right and innovative talents while keeping the current talent intact to run long in the race of this competitive global market.

AWA 27

The following appeared in the editorial section of a local newspaper.

“This past winter, 200 students from Waymarsh State College traveled to the state capitol building to protest against proposed cuts in funding for various state college programs. The other 1,200 Waymarsh students evidently weren’t so concerned about their education: they either stayed on campus or left for winter break. Since the group who did not protest is far more numerous, it is more representative of the state’s college students than are the protesters. Therefore the state legislature need not heed the appeals of the protesting students.”

The argument in the editorial section of the local newspaper is unconvincing because its conclusion depends on unsubstantiated assumption of comparing 200 protesting students with the 1,200 students either staying in the campus or going for a winter break. Each of the following areas merit further explanation before it can be given any degree of credibility of its conclusion of state legislature not heeding to the appeals of the protesting students on the proposed cuts in funding for various state college programs.

Firstly, it might be the possibility that 200 protesting students of Waymarsh State College are the representatives of the whole 1,200 Waymarsh students. They might have taken the responsibility of traveling to the capitol building to protest on behalf of the whole community of the students and showcase their concern in front of the state legislature.

Secondly, one cannot ignore the feasibility of the travel of 1,200 students at a single time. There might be various issues attached to it like there might be lack of funds for the college to afford for the travel of all the students.

Thirdly, staying on the campus or taking a winter break does not ensure that the students, who stayed on the campus or went for the winter break, are not concerned of the proposed tax cuts in funding for various state college programs. There might be a possibility that the 1,200 students might be showing their support to their fellow students protesting at the capitol building by some unique activity like wearing a black bad on the hand or so. Thus, further information might be required to put anything strongly in this regard.

Due to the many holes in the reasoning in the arguments of the report, it is difficult to take the arguments seriously. Unless further evidence surface in each of the areas discussed above, the given premises are insufficient proof that the conclusion drawn is viable.

AWA 26

Employees should keep their private lives and personal activities as separate as possible from the workplace.

Discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the opinion stated above. Support your views with reasons and/or examples from your own experience, observations, or reading.

Keeping private lives and personal activities separate from the workplace is one of the critical question that is posed by recent work scenarios. Good work-life balance is one of the top priorities of every employee to become successful in every organization. To analyze the whole scenario, the following points should be taken into consideration.

At the very outset, one cannot ignore that both personal life and work life have to find its place in 24-hour time frame. There is bound to have some intersection and avoiding it is not only tough but also almost impossible for any individual to ignore. How many times have we noticed a school teacher putting his anger on our school kids for no reason? Additionally, studies have shown repeatedly that human minds cannot adapt to fast changes so quickly that a person’s frame of mind and emotion can change in few hours. There are instances when after feeling depressed with personal issues; one hardly gets the motivation to work on a particular day. Imagine somebody’s father dies and he comes to the office to work. It is impossible to imagine for such a guy to give his full capability and talent to his work. I guess, for such reasons, corporations have recreation, leave and various fun activities to ease the pressure of work and just relax to boost the productivity, thereby, doing tons of good to the employee, company and its products.

On the other hand, remember “Work is Workship”. When we take up a job, it is our moral responsibility to look that we do our job irrespective of what is happening in our personal lives. We, human beings, are emotional creatures. It is very tough to control our emotions but that is what is expected of adults, when they grow up. We, as adults, need to be mature enough to handle such things. Else there will not be any difference between adults and kids. No one in this world can get rid of their daily problems and issues forever. A lot of people can be found to be dissatisfied with their nature of work and their life but still they go on. And people who deal with such catastrophic situations of life, act matured enough to overcome them, hold onto their dreams, can only succeed in this world.

Based on above discussions, even though it is very tough to separate the personal life from the workplace, we are responsible to act mature enough so as to affect the working professional life completely.

AWA 25

The following appeared in the opinion column of a financial magazine.

“On average, middle-aged consumers devote 39 percent of their retail expenditure to department store products and services, while for younger consumers the average is only 25 percent. Since the number of middle-aged people will increase dramatically within the next decade, department stores can expect retail sales to increase significantly during that period. Furthermore, to take advantage of the trend, these stores should begin to replace some of those products intended to attract the younger consumer with products intended to attract the middle-aged consumer.”

The argument in the opinion column of the financial magazine is unconvincing because its conclusion depends on unsubstantiated assumption of retail expenditure habits of middle-aged and younger consumers. Each of the following areas merit further explanation before it can be given any degree of credibility of its conclusion of replacing the products intended to attract the younger consumer with the products intended to attract the middle-aged consumers.

Firstly, the column lacks to give any substantial proof to prove the expenditure habits of the middle-aged and younger consumers as given in the column. It might be possible that the results might have been collected from some not so trustworthy source. Additionally, unless the information about the procedures or methods adopted to target the consumers are mentioned for the data given to show the expenditure habit of the middle-aged and younger consumer, it will be very hard to accept the rosy figures mentioned in the column. In such a scenario, the column should give some additional information to validate its source of information in the column.

Secondly, while the column predicts that the middle-aged consumers will increase in the next decade, it fails to provide any logical reasons for any such change. For example, assuming that the current younger generation moves to the middle-aged consumer in the next decade, then it is highly unlikely that the expenditure habits will change and as per the figures mentioned in the column, the retail expenditures will rather decrease than increase.

Lastly, the column fails to provide any logical connection of the sales of the products to the spending habits of the consumers. For example, it might be possible that even though the middle-aged consumers spend 39 percent, it might be possible that they might be involved in only necessary expenditures and their products might be either close or not so much profitable products. On the other hand, it might be possible that the younger consumers might be interested in more profitable products like cell phones though they might be spending less. Thus, the author needs to provide more concrete relationship on the spending habits of the middle-aged and younger consumers to strengthen his points.

Due to the many holes in the reasoning in the arguments of the report, it is difficult to take the arguments seriously. Unless further evidence surface in each of the areas discussed above, the given premises are insufficient proof that the conclusion drawn is viable.

AWA 24

For hundreds of years, the monetary system of most countries has been caused on the exchange of metal coins and printed pieces of paper. However, because of recent developments in technology, the international community should consider replacing the entire system of coins and paper with a system of electronic accounts of credits and debits.

Discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the opinion stated above. Support your point of view with reasons and/or examples from your own experience, observations, or reading.

I completely agree with the above said argument that the international community should replace the system of exchange of metal coins and printed pieces of paper with the system of electronic accounts of credits and debits but with slight precautions.

Firstly, electronic systems are fast and easy to maintain and operate. With the technological advancements like Mobile Banking and Internet Banking, one can use his/her account hassle-free from anywhere of the world with just a phone connection or Internet. There would not be further need to running to and fro the banks anymore with the tension of finding the branch near a particular location.

Secondly, with the use of credit cards and debit cards, one can do the transactions in any part of the world without worrying of the currency of the native and foreign countries and thus, it makes the life of busy persons like that of a business person highly convenient.

Thirdly, with the crunch of natural resources looming over our heads, giving up the system of papers and coins can help to preserve the metals and papers, thus aiding in the spread of go green campaigns.

On the other hand, we cannot ignore the possibility of security threats attached with the electronic accounts. For example, there are numerous cases filed for the cheat and fraud in the bank accounts over the Internet n the last decade. How can one possibly ignore the famous scene from the Hollywood movie, Entrapment, where the protagonists transfer a big amount by intruding the computers system to steal the money on the New Year eve? Imagining such an incident in reality can leave anyone’s nerve chilling. Thus, proper stringent measures of security should be ensured and stringent government laws should back them for heavy punishment for the guilty.

Additionally, some parts of the world are not so advanced enough to embrace such advanced technologies as computers such as Africa and so on. In such a scenario, we should take adequate precautions that may not leave the backward countries completely isolated from the world community.

Therefore, even though it will be really advantageous for the international community to adapt the system of electronic accounts, proper precautions should be taken to handle its shortcomings as discussed earlier.

AWA 23

The following appeared in the editorial section of a corporate newsletter.

“The common notion that workers are generally apathetic about management issues is false, or at least outdated: a recently published survey indicates that 79 percent of the nearly 1,200 workers who responded to survey questionnaires expressed a high level of interest in the topics of corporate restructuring and redesign of benefits programs.”

The argument in the editorial section of a corporate newsletter is unconvincing because its conclusion depends on unsubstantiated assumption of a survey with 1,200 workers by unmentioned published survey. Each of the following areas merit further explanation before it can be given any degree of credibility of its conclusion of accepting the notion that workers are indeed interested in the management issues.

Firstly, the author fails to provide any data to support his assumption that workers’ being apathetic about management is a common notion. There are no survey results or findings that could prove the author’s self-accepted notion.

Secondly, the survey that indicated that 79 percent of nearly 1.200 workers, did not give the exact nature of the survey and the kind of people surveyed for its findings. For example, if people in the mid-managerial level of any organization is surveyed, then the data may comply by their views but in case, the people from factories and of region say Detroit may be surveyed, the findings may be completely opposite against what it is. In such a scenario, the survey findings can certainly be questioned unless further information about the survey is given.

Last but not the least, one cannot completely rule out the nature of the findings unless further information is furnished, It might be possible that the findings may be biased and the whole procedure might have been carried out in desire of the current result only, influenced by the higher managements of some companies. Additionally, unless the credibility of the agency doing the survey is also not established, it is very difficult to accept the findings applicable to general people.

Due to the many holes in the reasoning in the arguments of the report, it is difficult to take the arguments seriously. Unless further evidence surface in each of the areas discussed above, the given premises are insufficient proof that the conclusion drawn is viable.