How far is “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” by Robert Louis Stevenson just a horror story? Essay

The story was written by Robert Louis Stevenson and was first published in 1886. The story originated from a dream he had and upon wakening, immediately wrote it down. The story is set in Victorian London and the focus of the tale is whether evil is more powerful than good. The Victorians were obsessed with the supernatural and light triumphant over dark, good over evil. The main character is a doctor of science whose experiments are dangerous and who tampers with human life. Otherwise he leads a normal life and has friends and other acquaintances. Those nearest to him however suspect an evil deed including murder and are afraid he is involved. The truths are revealed at the end of the story. The story starts with ordinary Victorian life, of two businessmen out for a walk having a conversation. From normal everyday living the story leads into murders and then finally the death of Dr. Jekyll. The story slowly builds a picture of their lives and their doubts as the story progresses about something evil at work. No one can understand what is happening and why there is a connection between Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde until Dr. Jekyll reveals the true story at the end of the book to Dr. Lanyon. Mr. Hyde was difficult to describe, Mr. Enfield describes him as `deformed and extraordinary looking, but cannot be described`. After the death of Sir Danvers Carew, the maid said he `was particularly small and wicked looking`. This crime of murder was described `with singular ferocity` – Carew was clubbed by a cane and then trampled underfoot by Mr. Hyde under which his victim’s bones were shattered. The victim still kept his purse and gold watch suggesting he was not murdered for money. Robert Louis Stevenson said that Mr. Hyde was `deformed and extraordinary looking, but cannot be described`. Extraordinary means going beyond what is usual, regular, or customary; specifically : of, relating to, or having the nature of a proceeding or action not normally required by law or not prescribed for the regular administration of law -compare ORDINARY of or relating to a financial transaction that is not expected to be repeated. The word `deformed` is to spoil the natural form of; misshape: a body that had been deformed by disease or to spoil the beauty or appearance of; disfigure. Describe means to give an account of in speech or writing or to convey an idea or impression of; characterize: She described her childhood as a time of wonder and discovery. So even though Mr. Hyde is being described as deformed and extraordinary he is still indescribable. When you describe something, you use a lot of words and sentences to express it. But the only description of Mr. Hyde using two words; deformed and extraordinary. Later on in the novel, Mr Hyde was then described as `particularly small and wicked looking` by the maid. She is still describing him, but completely different type of description as Mr. Enfield. I say this because `deformed and extraordinary looking, but cannot be described` can mean many things, it is not making a direct insult to Mr. Hyde. You can interpret and define that description as many deferent things. However the maid’s description of him was `particularly small and wicked looking` which is very specific and rude. I say this because if you are quite a small person you would be described as small and if you were a wicked person you would be described as wicked. So the maid has chosen meaningful and specific words to describe Mr. Hyde. She also says that he is `wicked looking` which might mean that he is not wicked to her knowledge but he looks like a wicked person; she is judging him before she had met him. Slightly before that Mr. Utterson said `Is this Mr. Hyde a person of small stature`. This whole sentence is taking about Mr. Hyde’s height. I say this because stature means the natural height of a human or animal in an upright position and Mr. Hyde is called a small stature. Many times in the novel people have talked about Mr. Hyde’s height, this is because Mr. Hyde is Dr, Jekyll’s evil side. Dr. Jekyll has never exposed his evil side before. So it’s like a person the same age as Dr. Jekyll but has not had long to develop a normal body. Mr. Hyde after a long time would eventually be a normal figure once again if he was exposed to life for a longer time. The word stature can also mean an achieved level; status. This could be implying that Mr. Hyde’s achieved level is small or nothing which would no be not standard level of anyone else. So if Mr. Hyde’s achieved level is low or small that means that Dr. Jekyll’s achieved level would be t he complete opposite and at a above average level. The description from the crime scene after the murder of Sir Danvers Carew was described `with singular ferocity`. This means that the crime is one of a one person attack that was ferocious. Singular is being only one; individual or being the only one of a kind and Mr. Hyde was. The word ferocity immediately sounds like fear or fierce, it means the state or quality of being ferocious; fierceness. In just two words the whole scene becomes clear who did it and how it was done. Meanwhile Dr. Jekyll is looking incredibly unwell and fearful. He is acting strangely and appears to know more about Mr. Hyde but is not revealing too much about him. Mr. Utterson walks past Dr. Jekyll’s house and Dr. Jekyll looks out of the window saying he feels low and then disappears with a look of terror and despair. Mr. Poole, Dr. Jekyll’s servant visits Mr. Utterson to tell him of the strange happenings in the house, his master’s disappearance and hearing him cry day and night. Before Dr. Lanyon died, Mr. Hyde visited him and drank a mixture of tincture and powders. Dr. Lanyon was disbelieving and wanted to see what would happen. Dr. Lanyon was in deep shock seeing Mr. Hyde transform into Dr. Jekyll and was sickened. He could not sleep and `the deadliest terror sits by him day and night`. He felt that he would defiantly die. In chapter five Mr. Utterson asked Dr. Jekyll for the letter that Sir Danvers Carew had wrote and Dr Jekyll simply said `I burned it, before I thought what I was about. But it bore no postmark. The note was handed in`. This means that because the envelope did not have a stamp on it Dr Jekyll immediately destroyed a very important letter from Sir Danvers Carew. This is saying that Dr. Jekyll is a much of an organised and very hard to fool type of person and something as simple a no stamp on a letter leads the reason to the death of Sir Danvers Carew a more of a mystery than if the letter was read. Mr Utterson is also very clever and quite like Dr. Jekyll in that trying to fool him is an impossible task. A conversion, for example about two similar letters is spotted by Mr. Utterson, `And by all accounts a very odd writer. Is that from Dr. Jekyll, sir? I thought I knew the writing, anything private, Mr. Utterson? It is only an invitation to dinner, why, do you want to see it? One moment, thank you, sir; it’s a very interesting autograph. Why did you compare them, Guest? Well, sir, there’s a rather singular resemblance; the two hands are in many points identical: only differently sloped`. This is saying that the two styles of handwriting are the same but from completely different people. Mr Utterson being no fool listened to the clerk who was telling him about the two different styles of writing and took it into account. Dr. Jekyll soon becomes depressed and losses the confidence in himself. I say this because Dr. Jekyll said `I am very low, Utterson, very low. It will not last long, thank God`. Dr. Jekyll knows that the fresh air will do him some good but prefers to lie down indoors. If someone else was ill, like Mr. Utterson, Dr. Jekyll would be saying the same thing that Mr. Utterson was telling Dr. Jekyll. It is interesting the way Dr. Jekyll uses the word `low` rather than ill or sick. The word `low` means to let, bring, or move down to a lower level or to reduce in value, degree, or quality or to weaken; undermine: lower one’s energy or to reduce in standing or respect. Leading up to chapter eight is a strange unfolding of a monster that has murdered and disappears, no one knows much of him but he is someone connected to Dr. Jekyll. All the characters understand something evil is taking place but they cannot or do not want to connect the evil of Mr. Hyde and Dr. Jekyll. It is not until chapter eight that Dr. Jekyll has to reveal the true horror story. Mr. Utterson does not suspect any foul play but when Mr. Poole tells him because he has noticed some foul play, Mr. Utterson is slightly alarmed. `I think there’s been foul play`. Then Mr. Utterson replies with `Foul play`! What foul play? What does the man mean`? Then Mr. Poole says `I daren’t say, sir but will you come along with me and see for yourself`. The idea of a scientist experimenting with such dangerous drugs is bizarre. In the modern day century drugs would not be used on humans unless they had undergone vigorous testing. Who would endanger life in the 19th century by using such experiments? Over a hundred years ago illness and death would occur by taking untested drugs. London is described in Victorian horror stories as nearly always fog bound, which it was through pollution. Sinister blocks of buildings, black winter mornings, London hummed solemnly, all descriptions of poorly hit London, which was very creepy and spooky. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is not a terrifying horror story but merely stating the facts of a scientist’s experiment that becomes dangerous. Until the killing of Sir Danvers, Mr. Hyde was just described as many evil things by the way he looked and behaved, not by his actions as no one had proof he was evil. The morality of the tale is that the Victorian’s belief of good and evil does not always triumph and that practising un-harmful scientific experiments can result in playing God and are best left alone. Dr. Jekyll was forced to lead a double life hiding himself away with his experiments as he would not have been accepted in Victorian society as a scientist with such evil ideas.

Runescape

An essay on Runescape The issues involving Runescape has been a popular topic amongst scholars for many years. I find my self constantly drawn back to the subject of Runescape. While much has been written on its influence on contemporary living, it is important to remember that ‘what goes up must come down. ’ Crossing many cultural barriers it still draws remarks such as ‘I wouldn't touch it with a barge pole' and ‘i'd rather eat wasps' from socialists, who just don't like that sort of thing. Relax, sit back and gasp as I display the rich tapestries of Runescape. Social Factors Society is our own everyday reality.When Sir Bernard Chivilary said ‘hounds will feast on society' [1] he, contrary to my learned colleague Sir George Allen’s recent publication ‘Into the eye of , could not have been referring to eighteenth century beliefs regarding society. A child’s approach to Runescape smells of success. Of paramount importance to any stud y of Runescape within its context, is understanding the ideals of society. Clearly it promotes higher individualism and obeyence of instinct. As soon as a child meets Runescape they are changed. Economic Factors Is unemployment inherently bad for an economy? Yes.We will primarily be focusing on the Fish-Out-Of-Water model. Taking special care to highlight the role of Runescape within the vast framework which this provides. Housing Prices (i had a graph here comparing housing to runescape with a line going upwards) Indisputably there is a link. How can this be explained? Clearly housing prices looms over Runescape this cannot be a coincidence. What it all comes down to is money. Capitalists love Runescape. Political Factors Politics, we all agree, is a fact of life. Placing theory on the scales of justice and weighing it against practice can produce similar results to contrasting 0To quote nobel prize winner Xaviera Rock ‘Taking a walk across hot coals will inevitably hurt your feet. ‘ [2] This clearly illustrates the primary concern of those involved with Runescape. Both spectacular failure and unequaled political accomplishment may be accredited to Runescape. I hope, for our sake that Runescape will endure. Conclusion We can conclude that the Runescape is both a need and a want. It enlightens our daily lives, invades where necessary and never hides. Let's finish with a thought from star Uma Morissette: ‘I love Runescape? Yes! Hurray for Runescape! ‘ [3]

Individual operations management report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Individual operations management report - Essay Example Lately, the company has been facing tough competition from Chinese manufacturers impacting both its top line and bottom line. In order to improve the situation, the company has initiated a quality improvement plan. Statistical Process Control is being used at one of its toy plants as one of the tools for enabling Total Quality Management. Under this initiative the company plans to analyze the quality of a doll manufacturing unit due to growing concerns over increasing customer returns. The company has decided to evaluate two important parameters of quality – colouring and height of the dolls. The data has been collected over a 30 day period. Statistical Control charts are of various types and are used depending upon the situation and the nature of data recorded. For the first set of data, that is, the data for colour defects, c-chart would be the most appropriate control chart since c-chart is used for the number of defects. Since, the number of units tested is constant (=200) in each sample, c-chart is perfect for the situation. Else, a p-chart could have been used. The values of constants A2, D3 and D4 are taken from standard tables for control chart constants (Here values for n=25 have been assumed for the sample size of 30 as the tables contain values till n=25 and calculating annually for higher values is very cumbersome) (Table for Control Chart Constants). For the colour defects, only 1 value (14) is found to lie outside the two control limits. Hence, from the colour defects point of view, the process is only marginally out of control. The control chart for the same is shown in Figure 1. For the heights, a large number of values in both R chart and x bar chart are found lie outside the control limits. Thus, this is a major concern area for the company. The two control charts for the same are shown in the Figures 2 and 3. Tom Pulling Toys needs to pay some attention to

Mandatory Vaccines Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Mandatory Vaccines - Research Paper Example Parents in the US have, for many years, been reluctant to have their children vaccinated because of the supposed link between Measles-Mumps-Rubella (MMR) vaccine and autism. This fear can partly be attributed to the fact; despite the overarching research on autism, there are still gaps in the identification of its causal factors. Parents are inclined toward suspecting MMR vaccine as the causal factor for autism because vaccination will have some impact on the child’s health over the passage of time. However, there is plentiful evidence from research that suggests that there is no valid reason or evidence that supports the consideration of MMR vaccine to be a cause of autism in children. In their research, Neal A. Halsey, Susan L. Hyman, and the Conference Writing Panel (2001) reviewed all information presented on the link by the parents, physicians, and scientists and found that there is no scientific cause-and-effect relationship between MMR vaccine and autism. The board further discussed the actual causes of autism and emphasizes a need for the pediatricians to ensure the reception of immunizations (Halsey et al., 2001). Gerber and Offit (2008) found more than 20 studies from researchers from all across the globe that could not find any evidence that would suggest the existence of a link between vaccines and autism. These scientifically incorrect theories are misleading and undermine the true causal factors of autism, substituting them with vaccination in the early childhood. Not only has vaccination found to have no cause-and-effect relationship with autism by a number of studies, but also certain studies have shown how not vaccinating can induce motor developmental abnormalities in children. Chelsea Flowers Anderson shares the story of Jennifer Russo discussing how her experience with her daughter transformed her from being anti-vax

2010 Earthquake in Haiti Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

2010 Earthquake in Haiti - Research Paper Example It could either be natural or man-made, which can be equally damaging to life and property. An earthquake is an example of a disaster that could be perilous to mankind. This paper aspires to tackle the concepts regarding an earthquake focusing primarily on the 2010 Earthquake that transpired in Haiti. Moreover, it deems to know its impact to the people. An earthquake is one of the most frightening of all natural disasters as emphasized by Connolly (2004). Hundreds of thousands of people can die in a single earthquake (Connolly, 2004). Both Connolly (2004) and Roza (2007) highlighted that a powerful earthquake can destroy buildings, cause landslides, open deep cracks in the earth’s surface and even change the course of mighty rivers. This damage can lead to serious problems according to Connolly (2004), such as fires, gas explosions, floods and power outrages. One of the most alarming things about earthquakes as Connolly (2004) had pointed out is that no one can say precisely when or where they will happen. Although it is a daunting task to identify when or where an earthquake may take place, people can know how earthquakes transpire and what causes them; this is explored in a branch of science known as seismology that studies everything about earthquakes. The earth consists of numerous layers. Human beings live on the outer layer known as the crust. Although the crust is several miles thick, it is very thin compared to the whole planet. It is illustrated by Connolly (2004) as the cracked shell of a hard-boiled egg made up of many pieces that fit together. These pieces are labeled as plates which float on the surface of a layer of magma. The gaps where the plates meet are known as faults. The plates are persistently moving against each other along the faults. Usually, human beings do not notice this gradual movement. However, plates can also get stuck as they attempt to move past each

Does the term 'risk society' capture important features of recent Essay

Does the term 'risk society' capture important features of recent social changes - Essay Example al pollution, and new terrorism which shape the social changes such as increased social accountability, availability of information and most importantly a general paranoia within the society. ‘Risk can be defined in the risk society as a systematic way of dealing with hazards and insecurities induced and introduced by modernization itself’ (Beck 1992: 21). The most palpable point about risk is the main difference between risk and disaster. Risk does not necessarily mean disaster. Risk is actually the anticipation of disaster. Therefore it can be said that risks exist in an everlasting state of virtuality, and only become ‘relevant’ to the degree that they are likely. Risks are not ‘real’; they are in fact ‘becoming real’. ‘As soon as risks become real say an act of terrorism destroying the financial heart of New York - they cease to be risks and become catastrophes. Risks have already moved elsewhere: to the anticipation of further attacks, economic decline, or worldwide war.’ (Loon 2002) There has been a transformation in the awareness of risk by society. We have evolved to a society’ where what is significant is not whether the number or nature of risks have increased in their gravity, but that people feel that this is so and react accordingly. Obsessive worrying about ‘risk’ in contemporary social life has little to do with the actual frequency of life-threatening dangers. On the level of a single lifetime, i.e. in terms of life expectancy and level of freedom from grave disease, people in the modern societies are in a much more privileged position than were most in bygone eras. An imposing list follows of the ways in which the material security has been improved in modern societies; even so it is balanced by a list of fresh risks: terrorism, motor accidents, drugs, environmental pollution, etc. Both can be seen as results of the modernization. In terms of basic life security, nonetheless, the risk-reducing elements seem

The Native American experience of faith Research Paper

The Native American experience of faith - Research Paper Example However, the definition of faith has been discussed in various contexts. Although, anthropologists have failed to collect accurate information of the immigration of these people as they started settling in America slowly and gradually. Native American Faith is completely different from other spiritual beliefs as they are supposedly characterized by animism and panentheism (not to be confused with pantheism).Animism is a belief that all physical objects present in the universe have a soul.Panentheism considers God and the world to be inter-related with the world being in God and God being in the world.The Native American faith stresses strongly on the significance of spirituality; being in a deep-rooted connection with nature and inner-self, whereas Pantheism can be defined as the belief in God being in the world and vice versa. Moving on, the development of Native American religion has taken root in the form of practices such as conducting ceremonies after slaughtering an animal, bel iefs in spirits and shamanism. This religion has derived from Christianity and religions like Longhouse Religion, Waashat Religion, Indian Shaker Religion, Drum Religion, Earth Lodge Religion, Ghost Dances, Bole-Maru Religion, Feather Religion and Peyote Religion are some Native American Religions (Worldreligionday, 2013). Native American Religion doesn’t believe in the distinction of myth and ritual, they believe that rituals bring fulfillment and contentment to their spiritual beliefs. Hence, the importance of rituals in their faith has been greatly emphasized. In this manner, this faith is completely different from western theological beliefs. As this religion has many tribes, they have their own rituals and spiritual practices which are distinct from other tribes, although, they have many mutual features with other tribes, such as particular dances and songs which have passed on to them through their

Genetics of Type 1 Diabetes Research Proposal Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

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Referencing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Referencing - Essay Example 2015]. Kinsella, P., 2013, Manchester – Britain’s ‘Second City’ Reports Bumper Tourist Numbers, [online] Knight Knox International, Available at: http://www.knightknox.com/news/article/manchester-britains-second-city-reports-bumper-tourist-numbers [Accessed 4 Mar. 2015]. Manchester City Council, 2014, A1 Manchester Factsheet-November 2014, [online] Available at: http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&ved=0CCcQFjAB&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.manchester.gov.uk%2Fdownload%2Fdownloads%2Fid%2F22534%2Fa01_manchester_factsheet_updated_november_2014&ei=8n_zVKejMo3JPa3AgJgG&usg=AFQjCNGtnHYf_83aFaM15b5gchWiKMEP0g&bvm=bv.87269000,d.ZWU this is Manchester factsheet 2013 [Accessed 4 Mar. 2015]. Manchester City Council, 2015, Introduction | Whitworth Street Conservation Area | Manchester City Council, [online] Available at: http://www.manchester.gov.uk/info/511/conservation_areas/970/whitworth_street_conservation_area [Accessed 4 Mar. 2015]. Manchester Evening News, 2010, Citys new vision in angled glass, [online] Available at: http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/business/business-news/citys-new-vision-in-angled-glass-1000706 [Accessed 4 Mar. 2015]. Marketing Manchester, 2014, Hotel Occupancy in Greater Manchester, [online] Available at: http://www.marketingmanchester.com/media/80938/hotel%20occupancy%20dec%202014%20final.pdf [Accessed 4 Mar. 2015]. Marketing Manchester, 2014, Conference Value & Volume, [online] Available at: http://www.marketingmanchester.com/media/76001/conference%20value%20and%20volume%202014%20-%20reporting%20summary.pdf [Accessed 4 Mar. 2015]. Marketing Manchester, n.d., The Greater Manchester Destination Management Plan 2014-2017, [online] Available at: http://www.marketingmanchester.com/media/72887/dmp%20final%20version%20-%20july%202014.pdf [Accessed 4 Mar. 2015]. Marketing Manchester, n.d., The Greater

Design a One-Day Training Event at an Organization of AXA Essay

Design a One-Day Training Event at an Organization of AXA - Essay Example The study begins with the description of the concepts on training programs and their significance. Further a brief overview of the company AXA is given to explain its mission, objectives, and business strategies. The significance of the training intervention is also precisely explained so as to reveal how the training program streamlines with the business strategies of AXA. A training time table in Appendix 1 is designed to plan and develop a training event. Background In the competitive global environment, those companies who want to increase their productivity and improve their margins look out for ways to boost their employee’s effectiveness and performance. Training programs and skill developments are the causes for budget cuts but they indeed assist organizations achieve the strategic objectives and also augment their overall business culture. Organisations have to manage four most important resources, namely equipments, information, money and people. The meta-analysis of the effects of managerial training revealed that it is effective in organisation. It was also suggested that an evaluation of about 83 studies from the year 1982 to 2001 showed that even fairly successful training programs have significant effect on the employees (Blanchard, and Thacker, 2007, p. 5-8). Mathieu and Leonard (1987) depicted that a training program was conducted for the 65 supervisors of a bank and the cost incurred for such a research was $50,000, but the bank earned $34,600 in the first year, $108,600 in the third and more than $148,000 in the third year. This was just an example cited to validate the effectiveness of training in organisation. The rationale for training programs is to mainly enhance the skill and improve the knowledge of the employees. This assist the management to get back the returns from the investments they made on the employee in form of revenue. This is the reason why the training programs should be designed to cater to the needs and requiremen ts of the organisation and it should be streamlined to fulfil the strategic goals and objectives of the company (Simmonds, 2003, p. 29-31). Company Overview AXA is a French company which deals in financial services. It was founded in 1817. The company mainly offers health, life and investment insurance plans and portfolios for its individual as well as corporate customers. AXA has expanded its business through joint ventures and tie-ups in many countries like Canada, UK, Mexico, and in Asia pacific regions. AXA has specific department called AXA ICAS which offers stress management programs and training to its employees of different organisation. This signifies that AXA believes that training programs can help employees to cope with the stress. The mission of AXA is to build a culture of achievement and trust that would empower and employ their workforce to become customer-centric and also optimize the business values to accelerate higher growth for the company. The aim of AXA is to promote stronger and safer growth in the long run. This study would focus on a one day training program which would be conducted for the employees of AXA, UK. The training would be on Managing pressure at work place or stress management. Since AXA already has a stress management training segment which offers training services to the employees in different organisation, so it would be easier to plan the training prog

Underlying Causes of Power Struggle in Marriage as Gleaned from Literature Essay Example for Free

Underlying Causes of Power Struggle in Marriage as Gleaned from Literature Essay In   the movie, Sylvia, talented poet and writer Sylvia Plath drives her husband intot he arms of another woman.   Fed up with her recurring bouts of jealousy and insecurity, and the ensuing rounds of arguments and quarrels, he breaks free to preserve his sanity.   Her world crumbles and she eventually commits suicide.   A closer look points to indubitable flaws not just from the female but from the male, moreso from society around which their world revolves.   The life story of the legendary Sylvia Plath, highlighted by her tumultuous relationship   with husband and fellow poet Ted Hughes, provides a clear-cut illustration of marital power struggle.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Elisabeth Bronfen , a specialist in 19th and 20th century literature and a professor of English and American Studies, noted that the culprit in the tragic conflict between Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes was her â€Å"unbroken dependence on her perfect mate (which) lets her fall prey to jealousy, envy, anger, humiliation and burning loneliness when her trust in him is called into question†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Bronfen 46). Indeed, nothing perhaps can agitate or vex a man more than a woman’s constant nagging, mistrust, and fault-finding, especially when has not done anything yet to deserve it.   To aggravate the situation, and as portrayed in Henrik Ibsen’s â€Å"A Doll’s House†, society dictates that a man must be the dominant individual in a marriage.   The uneasiness of most men that arises when this is not followed is often what leads to fights (blatant outward sign of the power struggle) and worse, the eventual collapse of the partnership and, in Sylvia’s case, the worst tragic consequence – death.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The power struggle between husband and wife, or other similar pair of individuals in a relationship has, since time immemorial, existed not just in movies and books but in real-life settings.   A power struggle in marriage emerges somewhat like `art imitating life’ and vice versa.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   On the part of female partners, one must consider that there are other factors that account for the tangled web of emotions and personalities that women assume and drive them to engage in a â€Å"power struggle† with their mates.   Women have been portrayed countless times in literature as being compassionate or easily taken advantage of, but able to put up (or attempt to) put up a fight when pushed too far.    In some instances, belonging to a clique has also been depicted in classic literature as a threat to a couple’s union.   When constant interaction from the male or female’s side breeds contempt, jealousy and rivalry, it tends to destroy a couple’s relationship, as illustrated in Jane Austen’s sequel to Pride and Prejudice, â€Å"Mr. Darcy Presents his Bride written by Helen Halstead. In the latter’s book, Elizabeth Bennet’s prestigious clique posed a threat to her new marriage to Fitzwilliam Darcy.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Society undoubtedly plays a major part in heightening the power struggle between man and woman in a marital bind.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Antoinette Stafford in â€Å"The Feminist Critique of Hegel on Women and the Family† cited 18th century thinker Mary Wollstonecraft’s argument, â€Å"If women are in fact often frivolous, swayed by emotion and lacking in `the manly virtues of moral courage and disinterestedness, then this is not their natural character.   Rather, it arises solely because of educational practices and social expectations which prevent them from perfecting their latent rational capacities.† In The Internet Encyclopedia   of Philosophy, James J. Delaney referred to   Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s treatise on education pertaining to â€Å"Women, Marriage, and Family†: â€Å"Hers is not as focused on theoretical matters, as men’s minds are more suited to that type of thinking. Rousseau’s view on the nature of the relationship between men and women is rooted in the notion that men are stronger and therefore more independent. They depend on women only because they desire them. By contrast, women both need and desire men. Sophie is educated in such a way that she will fill what Rousseau takes to be her natural role as a wife. She is to be submissive to Emile.† Reacting to J.J. Rosseau’s abovementioned treatise, which also envisions an education for the boy that will foster an independent mind and spirit, autonomy and self-sufficiency, while his female counterpart is to be educated to please the male companion-to-be and in the process fulfill her womanly potential, Wollstonecraft argued that â€Å"..a separate standard of excellence for woman undermines the universality of rational freedom.† This rational   freedom is at the core of   the existentialist theory that is also among the larger causes of the power struggle occurring in a marriage.   As Simone de Beauvoir expressed, â€Å"It is the individual who bears responsibility for the world†¦ It is the individual’s responsibility to create meaning through her choices† (Andrew 26). Existentialism, in essence, pertains to â€Å"ideas of choice, meaning and the limits of existence.†Ã‚   It is up to each individual to use his freedom to choose his actions and interactions in the world (Andrew 25), even if it is bound to instigate a power struggle at some point in a relationship.   If someone opts to subjugate or be subjugated, often it arises from that person’s free will. In â€Å"The Feminist Critique of Hegel on Women and the Family,† Stafford cited how Simone de Beauvoir and subsequent thinkers set forth: â€Å"Lives circumscribed by domesticity and child-rearing are not fully human and women who accept the socially constructed belief in a pre-given female nature, and hence in a determinate female destiny, are accomplices in their own enslavement.   The only means beyond this self-imposed oppression is actively to seek a reversal of roles, accepting and identifying oneself with the male model of transcendence†¦Ã¢â‚¬  In many parts of Asia and elsewhere in the world, one will see such reversal of roles widely practiced, both in literary pages and in real life.   The â€Å"Good Woman of Setzuan† by Bertolt Brecht encapsulates such reversal of roles.   The heroine, Shen Te, strives hard to love a good life in brutal pre-Communist China. She disguises herself as a man and finds her compassionate persona transformed into a violent, unconquerable character which allows her to cope better with the world around her.   Indeed, assuming the male’s `strong, stern and aggressive’ characteristics often works in the male-dominated society.   When women rise to the challenge of being co-equals with their mates over and on top of their preordained role as nurturer of family values, in some cases overshadowing their male counterparts, the power struggle is ignited. Many great works of literature have shown how women either succumbed or fought their way out of enslavement by the male species.   Henrik Ibsen’s â€Å"A Doll’s House† is a much studied work that gives light to how a woman achieves self-liberation by leaving the confines of the home. The online study guide by   SparkNotes: A Doll’s House, Themes, Motifs Symbols draw attention to how the instability of appearances within the main character’s household at the play’s end results from the main male character’s obsession with status and image. Most men’s preoccupation with status and image, including having a ‘trophy wife† by their side, may be commonplace, but feminists have not let this vision of male superiority go by without much lamentation.  Ã‚   Emily Friedman, in an article posted in ABCNews.com on   July 13, 2007, departed from stereotypes and provided a positive connotation to the phrase, `trophy wife’ when she quoted author Anne Kingston (who wrote â€Å"The Meaning of Wife†): The idea of the trophy wife has progressed so that men want a woman who has some social equality, and its not a dominant-submissive relationship†¦ Increasingly, its not simply the decoration that a truly accomplished man wants, but an equal. Nonetheless, the Hegelian belief that `nature has assigned woman to the family’ may still be embraced by certain societies in the contemporary era, but the woman we find now has certainly metamorphosed to am multi-tasking and active participant in community affairs and national life.   What well-meaning quarters caution, though, is the possibility that society’s basic institution – the family – may tend to be overlooked when both husband and wife assume a place in civil society and doggedly pursue their careers and personal aspirations.   Herein lies another major issue of debate between husband and wife, especially when they fail to compromise. â€Å"The Feminist Critique on Women and Family† by Stafford also noted how women vary in their perception of what is `oppressive† and what is not.   While serving as housewife may be denigrating and limiting (in terms of personal freedom) for some, â€Å"it may be regarded as a chosen instrument for creative self-expression† in others. Infidelity , whether imagined or actual, and argued by most as being part of the inherent nature of men, is another major source of friction between husband and wife.   Whether infidelity, though, arises from protracted oppression from, or a form of assertion by, the husband, or the wife herself, is open to debate.   During the Elizabethan Age, a wife’s fidelity was regarded more as an obligation foisted by society and circumstances.   In The Literary Encyclopedia, classical literary critic and lecturer Ros King noted how William Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew â€Å"reasserts male dominance†.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Another online site, Academic Forum, Sherri Thorne’s article, â€Å"Shakespeare: Advocate for Women in The Taming of the Shrew† noted how it was Shakespeare’s intention to show that family and society have contributed to the circumstances that make the female character, Katherina, the shrew she is. Her male counterpart in the story, Petruchio, recognizes that Katherina’s shrewish behavior is a societal response. â€Å"Shakespeare uses Petruchio to present his definition of the proper relationship between a husband and his wife†¦ At their first meeting, Petruchio and Katherina engage in an energetic and emotionally charged verbal exchange. Katherina strikes Petruchio when her verbal attacks are ineffective. Generally, Katherina’s words are effective artillery to keep her adversaries sufficiently subdued†¦ Petruchio gains control of the situation, keeping their sparring verbal rather than letting it escalate into physical violence† (Thorne 59) This exemplifies the genteel demeanor observed by most during the Elizabethan age. In the Comprehensive Online Educational Resource, Anne Parten noted the significance of   another   Shakespearean work, Merchant of Venice, citing the a ring as symbolism for man’s potential for fidelity, and the lead female character, Portia, is shown to have superiority over all the male characters. Whatever the underlying causes pointed out by perceptive literary minds as instigators of the power struggle occurring in marriages or relationships, men and women will continue to be at odds with each other on matters ranging from trivial and absurd to highly complex, simply because that is just how differently they are wired.   In the words of Robert Louis Stevenson, â€Å"Marriage is like life   in this – that it is a field of battle and not a bed of roses.† Works Cited Andrew, Barbara S. â€Å"Beavoir’s Place in Philosophical Thought.† The Cambridge Companion to Simone de Beauvoir. Ed. Claudia Card. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2003. 25-26. Bhatia, Praveen.   Macbeth. New Delhi: UBS Publishers’ Distributors Pvt. Ltd., 2007. Brecht, Bertolt. Good Woman of Setzuan. England: Penguin Books Ltd., 2007. Bronfen, Elisabeth. â€Å"Trophy Wife: Just Hot or Smart Sexy?† Sylvia Plath. 2nd ed. UK: Athenaeum Press Ltd., 2004. Friedman, Emily. 13 July 2007. ABCNews.com. 28 January 2008 http//www.abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=3372209page=1. Halstead, Helen. Mr. Darcy Presents His Bride. California: Ulysses Press, 2007. Ibsen, Henrik.   A Doll’s House and Other Plays. Penguin Group (USA) Inc.,  1973. King, Ros. â€Å"The Taming of the Shrew.† The Literary Encyclopedia. 2 November 2004. Queen Mary and Westfield College, University of London. 28 January 2008 http//www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=trueUID=7887. Parton, Anne.   Comprehensive Online Educational Resource. eNotes.com, Inc. 28 January 2008.   http://www.enotes.com/merchant/portia. Shakespeare, William. Merchant of Venice. New York: Penguin Books Ltd., 1994. Shakespeare, William. Taming of the Shrew. New York: Penguin Books Ltd., 1995. Stafford, Antoinette. â€Å"The Feminist Critique of Hegel on Women and the Family.†Ã‚   25 January 2008 http//www. mun.ca/animus/1997vol2/staford1.htm. Thorne, Sherri. â€Å"Shakespeare: Advocate for Women in The Taming of the Shrew†Ã‚   2003-04.  Ã‚  Ã‚   Academic Forum. 28 Jan 2008

Learning Organization Essay Example for Free

Learning Organization Essay The evolution of Organizational Learning has started in 1938 when John Dewey, in his book Experience and Education, publicized the concept of experiential learning as an ongoing cycle of activity. But, how did this concept emerge? Or, what does it really mean for the businesses? In order to understand this, we have to analyze the problems and needs. The core idea behind learning organization is that organizations of all kinds will not survive, let alone thrive, if they do not acquire an ability to adapt continuously to an increasingly unpredictable future. Or in other words, in order to survive and succeed for businesses, it is essential to establish or build stronger relationships with customers, where there are rapidly changing, turbulent and/or highly competitive market. Through learning, organizations may be better equipped to meet the challenges caused by continuous environmental turbulence. In addition, where products and processes can rapidly be copied, according to Arie de Geus, head of strategic planning department of Royal/Dutch Shell, the only real source of competitive advantage is to stimulate learning by employees. This may allow these individuals to identify new ways of working more closely with customers, which in turn permits the organization to differentiate itself from competition. However, the style of learning has to reflect the operational needs of the organization. For instance, a manufacturer which has adopted a transactional marketing style would probably choose to operate in a relatively stable market, produce standard components and focus primarily on offering adequate quality goods at a competitive price. In such circumstances, assuming that the organizational systems are based around repetition of routine procedures, the firm would probably be well advised to focus upon creating a single-loop learning environment as the most appropriate way fur sustaining employee development aimed at organizational efficiency. 2 On the other hand, in market situations where firms face periods of significant, discontinuous change and/or there is a desire to differentiate  the firm from competition through the adoption of a relationship marketing style, then possibly an incremental, more adaptive learning style, which is called double-loop learning may be more appropriate, so to involve the exploitation of new knowledge to evolve new practices, perspectives and operational frameworks. Figure 1: Single- vs. double-loop learning. II. DEFINITION OF LEARNING ORGANIZATIONS Keeping in mind what we have so far discussed, now let us check some definitions of the Learning Organizations. Peter M. Senge, who is also named as the father of this concept, describes learning organizations as organizations where people can continuously expand their capacity to create results which they truly desire. In such organizations, new and expansive patterns of thinking are nurtured, and collective aspiration is set free. Individuals learn to learn together. He declares Deep down, we are all learners. It is not only our nature to learn, but we love to learn. Chris Argyris and Donald Schon defined the concept of learning organizations through the help of the definition of organizational learning: where the process of detection and correction of errors rules. 3 Moreover, how de Geus defined learning organizations is very remarkable: Forget your tired old ideas about leadership. The most successful corporation of the 1990s will be something called a learning organization? The ability to learn faster than your competitors, may be the only sustainable competitive advantage. One last definition might be the one of Kim, D., a learning organization is one that consciously manages its learning process through an inquiry-driven orientation among all its members. III. FIVE DISCIPLINES OF SENGE I have already mentioned that Senge was called as the father of the concept of Learning Organizations. When he first published his book The Fifth Discipline: The Art Practice of The Learning Organization in 1990, he caught a significant attention from academics and the business world. Peter M. Senge (1947- ) was named a ? Strategist of the Century by the Journal of Business Strategy, one of 24 men and women who have ? had the greatest impact on the way we conduct business today. Moreover, Senge has founded the Center for Organizational Learning at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1991 while he is also the founding chairperson of the Society for Organizational Learning (SoL) and a senior lecturer at MIT. Being maybe the most important, namely the person having the most influence in Learning Organizations I will study his so called five disciplines in my project. 4 3. 1 PERSONAL MASTERY 3. 1. 1 Introduction to Personal Mastery  Senge says, Organizations learn only through individuals who learn. Individual learning does not guarantee organizational learning. But without it no organizational learning occurs. The people are the main active force in every aspect of the business. Since, people have their own will and mind, and their own way of thinking; it is essential that they be sufficiently motivated to challenge the goals of growth and complexity. In todays practices, the manager should not be willing to dominate controlling, planning and organizing the workers activities. Instead they should be enabling the people in the business have their own enriching lives through establishing and maintaining the conditions needed. One should be living his own life from a creative viewpoint, so as to turn the life into a creative work. Personal Mastery is the phrase Senge and his colleagues use for the discipline of personal growth and learning. People with high levels of personal mastery are continually expanding their ability to create the results in life they truly seek. From their quest for continual learning comes the spirit of the learning organization. 3. 1. 1. 1 Mastery and Proficiency. There are two main underlying movements when personal mastery becomes a discipline, one of which is always continually making clear what is important for oneself, whereas the other movement is to continually learn how to see the current reality more clearly. It is vital to know where you are now in moving toward a desired destination. People with a high level of personal mastery share several basic characteristics, one of which is that they have a special sense of purpose that lies behind their visions and goals. 5 For such a person, a vision is an aspiration rather than simply a good idea. One other characteristic is that they live in a continual learning mode, where they never arrive. They know that personal mastery is not something one possesses, but is a process, a lifelong discipline. Those with a high level of personal mastery are acutely aware of their ignorance, their incompetence; and they know, or better to say truly believe that the journey itself is the reward. 3. 1. 1. 2 Why We Want It We want it because people with high levels of personal mastery are more committed, take more initiative, have a broader and deeper sense of responsibility in their work, and learn faster. Kazou Inamori, founder and chairman emeritus of Kyocera Corporation and president of the Inamori Foundation, who holds a bachelor of sciences in applied chemistry, says that Our employees agreed to live in a community in which they would not exploit each other, but rather help each other so that we may each live our life fully. 3. 1. 1. 3 Resistance One of the issues against the personal mastery is the resistance, which in turn is a valid fear for companies in which the managers couldnt build a shared vision along with shared mental models. It is useless to have personal mastery as solely without other disciplines of the organizational learning. Thats why we always have to keep in mind that personal mastery must go together with a shared vision and the other disciplines. 6 3. 1. 2 The Discipline of Personal Mastery 3. 1. 2. 1 Personal Vision Most adults have goals and objectives, but these are not visions. Thus, we can say that most have little sense of real vision. When asked what they want, many adults will say what they want to get rid of, as if they delineate themselves as given-ups, rather than grown-ups. Senge points that The ability to focus on ultimate intrinsic desires, not only on secondary goals, is a cornerstone of personal mastery. Vision is different from purpose, since purpose is similar to a direction, a general heading, whereas vision is a specific destination, a picture of a desired future. Vision is the image of your desired future. It shouldnt be confused with competition; it shouldnt be isolated from the idea of ones purpose. It is something which has personal aspects along with material aspects, such as where we want to live and how much of savings we want, or issues like health or freedom contribute, relatively. 3. 1. 2. 2 Holding Creative Tension One testimony of Senge says that there is something called the creative tension which is the source of energy derived from the gap between ones vision and where it stands in reality. This gap can push someone forward to get closer to the vision; however it might also discourage some other people, so as to leading to feelings and emotions associated with anxiety. Imagine a rubber band, stretched between your vision and the current reality. When stretched, the rubber band creates tension, representing the tension between vision and current reality. What does tension seek? Resolution or release. There 7 are two possible ways for the tension to resolve itself: pull reality toward the vision or pull the vision toward reality. Which occurs will depend on whether we hold steady to the vision. Figure 3: Creative Tension Negative emotions caused by anxiety of the creative tension, shouldnt be realized as the creative tension itself. What Senge argues, is that after some time what we call emotional tension will arise due to the negative emotions. In such cases, we feel deeply discouraged about a vision that is not happening and tend to lower the vision as an immediate so called remedy. It is clear that escaping emotional tension is easy; but what we really pay against is giving up something what we profoundly want, our vision. In the context of organizations we can say that goals are slowly lowered because of low tolerance for emotional tension. What we have to do is to understand thoroughly what the creative tension is and allow it to operate without lowering our vision; only then the vision becomes an active force in personal mastery. The gap in between should be used to generate energy for change. 8 Mastery of creative tension transforms the way we judge failure. It is simply an opportunity for learning. 3. 1. 2. 3 Structural Conflict: The Power of your Powerlessness A research done by Robert Fritz has shown that practically all of us have a dominant belief that we are not able to fulfill our desires. This in turn, is an obstacle one should get rid off. These beliefs, which are mandatory as a child to survive, were taught us so that we learnt our limitations. Most of us hold one of two contradictory beliefs that intrinsically limit our ability to create what so called we really want. The more common belief is in our powerlessness, namely our inability to bring into being all the things we really care about, whereas the other belief focuses on unworthiness, that we do not deserve to have what we truly desire. Fritz uses a metaphor to describe how contradictory underlying beliefs work as a system, which he calls the structural conflict, the metaphor counter to achieving our goals, through symbolizing the concept by another rubber band example. Figure 4: Effect of structural conflict to the creative tension. Later on, he identifies three generic so called strategies to cope with the forces of structural conflict, each of which has its own limitations. Accordingly, one is letting 9 our vision to erode. This strategy will lead to the sacrifice of what we truly want as discussed earlier. The second strategy is to conflict manipulation which is actually the strategy of people who mostly worry about failure. What they do is to focus on avoiding what they do not want to happen. This strategy makes one to spend his/her life in worry and fear. For those following this strategy, which is also called the negative vision, there is little joy in their life, even when they achieve their goals because this time they immediately tend to begin worrying about losing what they have gained. The last and most favorable strategy is defined as the willpower, where we simply psyche ourselves up to overpower all forms of resistance to achieving our goals. Simply saying, motivating through heightened will. In the next section, we will discuss Senges strategy for dealing with structural conflict: telling the truth. 3. 1. 2. 4 Commitment to the Truth People often want a technique that they can apply to solve the problem of structural conflict. But, in fact, being committed to the truth is far more powerful than any technique. So, what does it actually mean? It means a relentless willingness to root out the ways we limit or deceive ourselves from seeing what is, and to continually challenge our theories of why things are the way they are. The first critical task in dealing with structural conflicts is to recognize them, and the resulting behavior, when they are operating. This helps us to develop so called internal 10  warning signals, such as when we find ourselves blaming something or someone for our problems. What Senge suggests in this context is that we have to work on developing skills to discuss such situations with the people involved without producing defensiveness. We shouldnt always act in a manner where we always think of what others have done in the situation, rather we have to concentrate on what we can do. This in other words, relates to the fact that we have to understand, or better to say, realize the situation, the current reality in which we are, so to use this as a generative force. This has even been concluded in religions like Hinduism, Christianity, Islam, Jewish, Buddhism. One example might be the statement of The truth shall set you free. 3. 1. 2. 5 Using the Subconscious One of the most fascinating aspects of people with high levels of personal mastery is their ability to accomplish extraordinarily complex tasks with grace and ease. But, how does this come to happen? It is through the subconscious that all of us deal with complexity. What distinguishes people with high levels of personal mastery is they have developed a higher level of understanding between their normal awareness and their subconscious. Even the daily activities of us like walking, talking, eating or putting on your shoes are enormously complex tasks, for which we have learned the required skills of the tasks, which in turn led that the whole activity gradually shifts from conscious attention to subconscious control. People with high levels of personal mastery focus on the desired result itself, not the process or the means they assume necessary to achieve that result. This allows the person in focusing on the artistry of the result as well. 11 In other words, we can say that we must work at learning how to differentiate what we truly want, from what we think we need to do in order to achieve it. In order to develop a subconscious understanding it is also important to commit to the truth, because when not telling the truth, most people create some level of internal stress. The principle of creative tension recognizes that the subconscious operates most effectively when it is focused clearly on our vision and our current reality. One effective way to focus the subconscious is through imagery and visualization. For instance, world-class swimmers have found that by imagining their hands to be twice their actual size and their feet to be webbed, they actually swim faster. Mental practicing of complex tasks has become a routine psychological training for professional performers from different areas of interest. A strict reliance on only conscious learning could never have achieved this level of artistry, even if there was all the willpower in the world present. Contradictorily, it had to depend on a high level of subconscious understanding. 3. 2 MENTAL MODELS 3. 2. 1 Introduction to Mental Models  Mental models can be described as the views and assumptions we hold in our minds about how things are and how things work. A mental model is like ones way of looking at whats happening in the world. In other words, it determines how we think and act. Mental models depend on the past experiences, and the perception as a result of those experiences, and observations. In the introduction I had introduced the experiential learning, which was the style of learning through past experience and some other elements 12 like concrete experience, observation and reflection, and forming abstract concepts. Accordingly, a child without knowing that it might cut his hand might take a knife in his hand and try to push it in his hand. This in fact, will hurt him a lot. However, grown ups already know how to deal with a knife, so they wont do the same mistake as the child does. All the experiences learnt are added up so to form or build up the mental models. 3. 2. 1. 1 Why the Best Ideas Fail? From the business point of view, one thing which is known by all managers is that many of the best ideas never get put into practice. Even brilliant strategies fail to get translated into action. New insights fail to get put into practice because they conflict with deeply held internal images of how the world works, images that limit us to familiar ways of thinking and acting. That is why the discipline of managing mental models ? surfacing, testing, and improving our internal pictures of how the world works- promises to be a major breakthrough for building learning organizations. Our mental models determine not only how we make sense of the world, but how we take action, namely they shape how we act which puts them into an active sense. But, why are mental models so powerful in affecting what we do? In part, because they affect what we see. As psychologists say, human beings observe selectively. Mental models also exist in the organizations, and also in management. Mental models could cause big losses in the business world as it can also prevent us from seeing the current situation. Loosing Americas car market share to German and Japanese countries was a result of the mental models of the management, where they are prevented to see the situation because of their models in mind, and perceptions. 13 The problems with mental models lie not in whether they are right or wrong-by definition, all models are simplifications. The problems with mental models arise when the models are tacit-when they exist below the level of awareness. 3. 2. 1. 2. Overcoming The Basic Diseases of the Hierarchy In the traditional authoritarian organization, the dogma was managing, organizing, and controlling, whereas in the learning organization, the new dogma will be vision, values, and mental models. In addition, in traditional organizations, merit means doing what the boss wants, openness means telling the boss what he wants to hear, and localness means doing the dirty stuff that the boss doesnt want to do. However, in learning organizations these concepts will get new understandings. 3. 2. 2. The Discipline of Mental Models Developing an organizations capacity to work with mental models involves both learning new skills and implementing institutional innovations that help bring these skills into regular practice. 3. 2. 2. 1 Managing Mental Models Throughout An Organization A concept of scenarios should be adapted in pursuit of mental models, so to force managers to consider how they would manage under different alternative paths into the future. This offsets the tendency for managers to implicitly assume a single future. When groups of managers share a range of alternative futures in their mental models, they become more responsive to those changes. 14 Mental modeling should be implemented as a philosophy. It is important to note that the goal in mental modeling is not agreement or congruency. Many mental models can exist at once. What is important is that we have to consider all of them and test against situations that we confront. Only after the process works it leads to congruency. 3. 2. 2. 2 Managing Mental Models At Personal and Interpersonal Levels The learning skills of action science practitioners such as Chris Argyris fall into two broad classes: skills of reflection and skills of inquiry. Where skills of reflection concern slowing down our own thinking process so that we can become more aware of how we form our mental models and the ways they influence our actions, inquiry skills concern how we operate in face-to-face interactions with others, especially in dealing with complex and conflictual issues. Reflection skills start with recognizing leaps of abstraction, which mean that our minds move at lightning speeds. Ironically, this often slows our learning, because we immediately leap to generalizations so quickly that we never think to test them. Namely, leaps of abstraction occur when we move from direct observations to generalization without testing. Here it is important to distinguish direct observation from generalizations inferred from the observation itself. To distinguish it, explicitly separate it from the data which led to it. A second technique from action science is the left-hand column, which in turn is a powerful tool for beginning to see how our mental models operate in particular situations. It reveals ways that we manipulate situations to avoid dealing with how we actually think and feel, and thereby prevent a counterproductive situation from improving. The most important lesson that comes from seeing our left-hand columns is how we undermine opportunities for learning in conflictual situations. Here, a process called balancing inquiry and advocacy comes into action. 15 Managers are mostly trained to be advocates. In many companies, being a competent manager means, being able to solve problems, figuring out what needs to be done, and enlisting whatever support is needed to get it done. In such organizations, employees are rewarded according to their ability to debate forcefully, and influence others, where the inquiry skills are unrecognized. Those rewards unfortunately can bring the employees to managerial positions, where they suddenly face the fact that they do not learn while they should learn. Advocacy without inquiry between two people can end up in vicious circle. The more vehemently one argues, the more it creates a threat to the others position, so that the latter argues vehemently, which causes a threat to the first ones position, therefore, the first one argues even more vehemently. This reinforcing advocacy can be stopped by inquiring. Then it gives a chance for the both parts to understand each others conflicts, and reasoning. When in pure advocacy, people do not want to show the weak parts of their reasoning, and discard them. Definitely it does not bring any learning to us. Instead it brings polarization within the group. When operating in pure advocacy, the goal is to win the argument; however, when inquiry and advocacy are combined the goal is no longer to win the argument but to find the best argument out of all. This combination allows us to discover completely new views. What we have to keep in mind is that practicing inquiry and advocacy means being willing to expose the limitations in your own thinking, namely the willingness to be wrong. 16 3. 3 SHARED VISION 3. 3. 1 Introduction to Shared Vision 3. 3. 1. 1 A Common Caring A shared vision is not an idea, it is rather a force in peoples hearts, a force of impressive power. It may be inspired by an idea, but once it goes further ? if it is compelling enough to acquire support of more than one person? then it is no longer an abstraction. It is tangible. People begin to see it as if it exists. Few forces in human affairs are as powerful as shared visions. At its simplest level, a shared vision is the answer to the question, What do we want to create? Just as personal visions are pictures or images people carry in their heads and hearts, so too are shared visions pictures that people throughout an organization carry. When people truly share a vision they are connected, bound together by a common aspiration. Shared vision is one of the vital fundamentals of learning organizations, because it provides energy and also focus for learning. People should have something that really matters to them, something that makes them excited. A shared vision is not one dictated by that top management; it only exists when people are personally committed, since it is their personal vision. 3. 3. 1. 2 Why Shared Visions Matter? In an organization, a shared vision changes peoples relationship with the company. What they so far called as their company, becomes our company. It helps to create a common identity. Only this way, a learning organization can really succeed. You cannot have a learning organization without shared vision. 17 How can a commitment to the long term be fostered is the key question in efforts to develop systems thinking in management. People do not focus on the long term because they have to, but only because they want to. 3. 3. 2 The Discipline of Building Shared Vision Shared visions emerge from personal visions. This is how they derive their energy and how they foster commitment. The management should encourage individuals so as to let them create their own visions, as was told earlier in this project. However, these visions are not the shared vision itself. This is needed so that it will be easier for the individuals to accept visions of others and work in the same manner. In this way, the synergy which will be established is needed for the organization indeed. The shared vision shouldnt be written and taught to employees because this will establish a fear. Instead, everyone should adopt this vision and commit itself to the whole vision of the organization. 3. 3. 2. 1 From Personal Visions to Shared Visions To make it clearer, lets imagine a picture of a landscape. When you cut this picture into smaller parts, you will not be able to see the whole sight. However, if you have a picture of an ocean in which all the organisms, like fish, plants, etc. live, and you cut it into pieces, you will still be able to see the whole sight because the vision of the ocean is the same in that part. Its like the shared vision. When you take the shared vision person by person into consideration youll see that they match each other and reflect the whole image. 18 So, it is the fact that when more people come to share a common vision, the vision may not change fundamentally. But it becomes more alive, more real in the sense of a mental reality that people can truly imagine achieving. Writing a vision statement, which is often a one-shot vision, can be a first step in building shared vision but, alone, it rarely makes a vision come alive within an organization. Another problem with the so called one-shot vision that was prepared by the top management is that the resulting vision does not build on peoples personal visions. Contrarily, it only reflects the personal vision of one or two people at the top. The last problem might be explained in the manner as the vision is not a solution to a problem. Building a shared vision must be seen as a central element of the daily work of leaders. It is ongoing and never-ending. It is not truly a shared vision until it connects with the personal visions of people throughout the organization. Moreover, visions that are truly shared take time to emerge. They grow as a by-product of interactions of individual visions. Experience suggests that visions that are genuinely shared require ongoing conversation where individuals not only feel free to express their dreams, but also learn how to listen to each others dreams. 3. 3. 2. 2 Spreading Visions: Enrollment, Commitment, and Compliance There is a big difference between compliance and commitment. The committed person brings energy, passion and excitement, which in turn brings the synergy; he does not play by the rules of the game, instead feels responsible for the game, and will not hesitate to change the rules of the game if they stand in the way of achieving vision. On the other hand compliant followers only accept the vision, but do not have a personal desire. They may want it in order to keep their job, or to get a promotion etc. , but they know that its not their vision at all. For an organization to survive, it must ensure that a shared vision with the commitment of the individuals is established. 19 However, there are the types of genuine compliant followers, which may often be mistaken for enrollment or commitment. What then is the difference between being genuinely compliant and enrolled and committed? The answer is deceptively simple. People who are enrolled or committed truly want the vision, where genuinely compliant people accept the vision. They may want it in order to keep their job, or to get a promotion etc. , but they know that its not their vision at all. 3. 4 TEAM LEARNING 3. 4. 1 Introduction to Team Learning 3. 4. 1. 1 The Potential Wisdom Teams In order to understand team learning, it is important to understand what teams are. The word team can be traced back to the Indo-European word deuk (to pull); it has always included a meaning of pulling together. (The modern sense of team, a group of people acting together, emerged in the sixteenth century) We define teams as any group of people who need each other to accomplish a result. This definition is derived from a statement made by former Royal Dutch/Shell Group Planning coordinator, Arie de Geus: The only relevant learning in a company is the learning done by those people who have the power to take action. Team learning is a process of aligning and developing the capacity of a team to create the results its members truly desire. It builds on the discipline of developing shared vision. It also builds on developing personal mastery, for talented teams are made up of talented individuals. But shared vision and talent are not enough. The world is full of teams of talented individuals who share a vision for a while, yet fail to learn. 20 Here we can discuss the terms unaligned and aligned teams. The fundamental characteristic of the relatively unaligned team is wasted energy. Individuals may work extraordinarily hard, but their efforts do not efficiently translate to team effort. By contrast, when a team becomes more aligned, a commonality of direction emerges, and individuals energies harmonize. There is less wasted energy. In fact, a resonance or synergy develops, like the coherent light of a laser rather than the incoherent and scattered light of a light bulb. There is commonality of purpose, a shared vision, and understanding of how to complement one anothers efforts. Individuals do not sacrifice their personal interests to the larger team vision; rather, the shared vision becomes an extension of their personal visions. In fact, alignment is the necessary condition before empowering the individual will empower the whole team. Team learning is possible in every area, sports, business, performing arts, science, etc. It can even have extra ordinary results where the teams can be coordinated and even intelligence of the team can exceed the intelligence of its members totaling. In such an environment, team members can also show a rapid growth, than they could gain individually, namely constructing the synergy. With the changes in the organizations, team learning has never been that important. No matter if its a product development team, management team or cross-functional task forces. As they are teams, they are the people who need one another to act. The three critical dimensions of Team Learning can be described as; 1. Insightful thinking is necessary for complex issues. Teams must learn to end up with one more intelligent solution when compared to each of the participants solutions. 2. Innovative and coordinated action is vital.

Three Major Categories Of Software

Three Major Categories Of Software Software can be divided into three major categories according to popularity: application software, system software, and web applications. Within each category there are dozens, if not hundreds, of specialized software types, but for the purpose of this study, we will concentrate on the most popular software type of each category. Software applications refer to programs on a client machine which are written to perform specific tasks. Nowadays, there is a wide range of software applications being developed including word processing programs, database management tools, photo editing software, etc. But during the last decade the web has become the new deployment environment for software applications. Software applications that were previously built for specific operating systems and devices are now being designed specifically for the web (web-enabled). Because of this new movement, and as the web becomes increasingly a universal interface for software development, the software industry is experiencing a major evolution toward web-related software applications (Festa 2001). For example, the recent release of Googles Chrome web browser which was specifically designed to enable the execution of web applications and services in the web browser confirms this trend. As the web evolves, the surrounding and supporting technologies are becoming more complex. This is especially relevant in web-enabled applications such as web browsers, email/news clients, VoIP and chat clients which allow the interaction with the web from the client side. Web browsers specifically have become the doorway to the Internet and are currently the most widely used applications and the standard tool for consuming Internet services. This evolution toward web-related applications had a direct impact on the security of such applications. For instance, vulnerabilities and attacks against web browsers became more popular as such attacks compromise the security and privacy and have serious implications for web users. Once a web-related software is infected, the users web interaction can be fully exposed to the attacker. For instance, an infected web browser can expose the victims web addresses, data typed into forms, user sessions and cookies. Moreover, vulnerability risks in a web browser can have a serious implication for intranets (Anupam and Mayer 1998). Most users use the same browser to access information on the intranet as well as the Internet. A user who has been attacked through vulnerable web browser has compromised his or her firewall for the duration of the browsing session (c). Examples of such vulnerability risks against web browsers include key loggers. Key loggers are a form of spyware which can be installed through vulnerability in a web browser and then logs all pressed keys whenever a user visits a certain online banking web site. The increase in vulnerability risks in web-related software is related to the exponential growth of the Internet. As we enter through the second decade of the 21st century, the rapid adoption of the Internet market along its ubiquitous presence will continue to make Internet technologies such as web-related applications a prime target for attackers as they constitute the largest mass of victims. Hypothesis 1a: Vulnerability type will be highly positively related to web-related software applications Hypothesis 1b: Frequency of vulnerability will be highly positively related to web-related software applications Hypothesis 1c: Severity of vulnerability will be highly positively related to web-related software applications System Software: System software refers to the set of computer programs which are required to support the execution of application programs and maintain system hardware. Operating systems, utilities, drivers and compilers are among the major components of system software. Such components are the enablers and service providers to software applications. Among these components, the operating system is the most popular and important one. The operating system market for client PCs has evolved along the lines predicted by theories of increasing returns and network externalities (Shapiro and Varian 1999). But with this increase in network externality, there has been a dramatic increase in vulnerabilities (cite xxx). For instance, between 2007 and 2009, the number of operating system vulnerabilities almost doubled from 220 to 420 vulnerabilities (CVE 2010). Such increase in vulnerabilities can be caused by several reasons. First, network externality implies larger user base which makes operating systems an a ttractive target for hackers. In addition to that, viruses and worms can spread more rapidly because of the large installed user base and network effect. Second, the architecture of some operating systems like Windows allows vulnerabilities to gain a direct access to the operating system files through external scripts; meaning that if malicious scripts are sophisticated enough, they can exploit system files through software applications or through system software directly. And last, the fame factor for discovering vulnerabilities in systems with significant installed user base make them potentially significant target for hackers. Lately, new technologies such as web-based cloud computing, virtualization and Just enough Operating System (JeOS) have been gradually diminishing the importance of the traditional operating system (Geer 2009). With cloud computing technologies, users can access web applications through their web browser; meaning that an OS like Google Chrome will only be needed to run the web-browser. Moreover, with virtualization technology a personal computer or a server is capable of running multiple operating systems or multiple sessions of a single OS at anytime without having the user rely on a single OS. Similarly, Just enough Operating System (JeOS) focuses on running applications which require minimal OS. As these technologies are gaining popularity and becoming more adopted by users, the role of an OS is starting to decrease so does its network externality. With this is mind, we hypothesize that attackers interests and vulnerability risks will gradually shift to other technologies as they become more popular. Hypothesis 1d: Vulnerability type will be positively related to system software Hypothesis 1e: Frequency of vulnerability will be positively related to system software Hypothesis 1f: Severity of vulnerability will be positively related to system software Web Applications: The remarkable reach of web applications into all areas of the Internet makes this field among the largest and most important parts of the software industry. As of today, the Internet consists of hundreds of thousands of small and large-scale web applications ranging from e-Commerce applications to social networking sites to online gaming. This popularity has attracted large user base which made web applications lucrative targets for attackers to exploit vulnerabilities. Web applications are currently subject to a plenty of vulnerabilities and attacks, such as cross-site scripting (XSS), session riding (CSRF) and browser hijacking (Mansfield-Devine 2008). Hence, the landscape of vulnerabilities has changed significantly during the first decade of the 21st century. Previously, buffer overflow and format string vulnerabilities accounted for a large fraction of all vulnerabilities during the 1990s, but as web applications became more popular, new vulnerabilities and attacks such as SQL injections and XSS attacks exceeded earlier vulnerabilities. According to CVE surveys, security issues in web applications are the most commonly reported vulnerabilities nowadays. In response, web application vendors dedicated more resources towards securing their products as they tend to receive more attention as potential targets because of their large pool of possible victims (Mercuri 2003). The problem of web application vulnerabilities is becoming more complicated with the recent movement towards Web 2.0 technologies. The landscape of Web 2.0 enables new avenue of vulnerabilities by using sophisticated scripts on the client side. Moreover, Web 2.0 websites are becoming riskier than traditional websites because they use more scripting capabilities to allow users to upload content, share information and gain more control. Despite the growth of web applications and Web 2.0, these technologies are still limited by the available resources such as network bandwidth, latency, memory and processing power. More specifically, its argued that web applications are constrained by the capabilities of the web browser they are running in. With this drawback, web application users will ultimately have to rely on their own resources to accomplish magnitudes of tasks. Compared to system and software applications, we hypothesize that web applications will continue to experience vulnerability risks but at a lower rate than other popular software. Hypothesis 1g: Vulnerability type will be least positively related to web applications Hypothesis 1h: Frequency of vulnerability will be least positively related to web applications Hypothesis 1i: Severity of vulnerability will be least positively related to web applications Targeted Operating System Software producers often create applications to run on a single or a combination of operating systems (OS). From a software viewpoint, maintaining security is the obligation of both the OS and the software program. But since computer hardware such as the CPU, memory and input/output channels are accessible to a software programs only by making calls to the OS, therefore, the OS bears a tremendous burden in achieving system security by allocating, controlling and supervising all system resources. For the most part, each of todays streamlines OSs has a main weakness. For instance, earlier OSs such as Windows NT, UNIX and Macintosh had a weakness in their access control policies (Krsul 1998). Such OSs didnt specify access control policies very clearly which meant that applications that ran by users inherited all the privileges that the access control mechanisms of the OS provided to those users (Wurster 2010). An access control policy requires an OS to give a program or a user the minimum set of access rights necessary to perform a task. In his work, Denning (1983) illustrated the working of an access control policy which typically consists of three entities namely, subjects, objects and access rights matrix. Subjects refer to users or domains whereas objects are files, services, or other resources and access rights matrix specifies different kinds of privileges including read, write and execute which are assigned to subjects over objects. A configuration of the access matrix d escribes what subjects are authorized to do. Vulnerabilities in OSs tend to rely on weaknesses in configuration of access control matrices to gain access to software applications and system software. This creates a serious problem since vulnerabilities can exploit software applications through the OS gain access and ultimately take over the system. An example of an access control policy failure is Java virtual application. The Java virtual machine was among the applications which defined, and enforced its own access control matrix. Its sandbox was compromised of a number of OS components which ensured that a malicious application cannot gain access to system resources. But once the access control mechanism of the virtual machine fails, a malicious applet can be given access beyond the sandbox (McGraw and Felten 1997). Meaning that the OS can allow a malicious applet full access to the users files because to the OS there is no difference between the virtual machine and the applet. Moreover, even with an access control policy in place, consideration must be given to system design. The OSs which are in use today have different architectures and are designed with different kernels without considering security and controlled accessibility as significant design criteria. For instance, a large portion of UNIX and Linux vulnerabilities result from boundary condition errors which are commonly known as buffer overflow (cite xxx). These boundary conditions result from a failure to properly check the bound sizes of buffers, arrays, strings. Attackers tend to exploit this weakness in UNIX and Linux OSs to gain access to system software and software applications. On the other hand, vulnerabilities in Windows OS tend to be evenly divided among exceptional conditions, boundary conditions and access control validations (cite xxx). With these types of vulnerabilities root break-in and execution of arbitrary code are common types of attacks. When it comes to writing software for different platforms, programmers must acknowledge the potential vulnerabilities and threats targeting their software. Since different OSs have different vulnerabilities, the task of designing a secure application tend to become much difficult since they have to consider vulnerability risks of each OS. Therefore we hypothesize that: Hypothesis 5a: Vulnerability type will be positively related to software which target more operating systems Hypothesis 5b: Frequency of vulnerability will be positively related to software which target more operating systems Hypothesis 5c: Severity of vulnerability will be positively related to software which target more operating systems Software Free Trial Free trial strategy is used by many vendors to promote and sell their goods. This strategy is especially popular and found to be effective to promote and sell digital goods such as software and music. Unlike physical goods, the intangibility of digital products prevents consumers from assessing the products before the consumption and adoption (Heiman and Muller 1996). Such uncertainty of product functionality reduces consumers motivation to adopt the product and is considered a source of market failure. Nowadays, offering software free trial at a low marginal production cost has resulted in the prevalence of free trials strategy. For the software market, there are two strategies of free trial, namely a fully functional free version with limited trial period (time locked version) and a limited functional version (demo version). Each of these strategies has its own advantages and disadvantages. For instance a demo version has an advantage of capturing the network effect from both trial users and the buyers. In contrast, some consumers may find it adequate to use only the limited functionalities provided in the demo version rather than purchasing the full version software. Similarly, offering time locked software version can negatively affect the software vendor as consumers with limited usage can utilize this short-term to fully take advantage of the free trial without buying the full software product. Based on these trial strategies, there have been numerous studies regarding the effect of free trial on software learning curve (Heiman and Muller 1996), software piracy (Chellappa and Shivendu 2005) and software performance (Lee and Tan 2007). For this study, we are interested in measuring the effect of free trial strategies on software vulnerabilities. Although software vendors often release demo or time locked versions, such versions can still contain good source of information for the attackers. Attackers typically misuse the trial versions to look for, find and exploit vulnerabilities. Furthermore, attackers can reverse engineer the limited code and find vulnerabilities (Sutherland et al. 2006). This technique has become particularly important as the attacker can apply vulnerabilities found in free trial versions to exploit full version software. Moreover, there are many hacker groups on the internet who specialize in cracking free trial and full versions software and releasing them on the internet under what is known as warez. Such groups usually compete with one another to be the first to crack and release the new software. These cracked versions (warez) can also serve as potential targets for attackers looking for vulnerabilities. Hence, while providing free trial versions of software by software vendors is a marketing strategy, vendors should also expect such free versions can become targets for vulnerabilities and early exploits. Hypothesis 6a: Vulnerability type will be positively related to software which offer trial versions Hypothesis 6b: Frequency of vulnerability will be positively to software which offer trial versions Hypothesis 6c: Severity of vulnerability will be positively to software which offer trial versions Software License The diversity of the software business model drives the need for different types of software licenses. A software license is a legal agreement forming a binding contract (relationship) between the vendor and the user of a software product and its considered an essential part in the evolution of the software to a market product. Software license is regarded as one of the fundamentals of OSS as there are currently close to 73 different licenses (Perens 2009). Most OSS licenses are classified based on the restrictions they impose on any derivative work (Lerner and Tirole, 2005). Examples of OSS licenses include GPL, LGPL and BSD. General Public License (GPL) is currently the most popular OSS license which states that any derived work from other GPL software has to be distributed under the same licensing terms. The Lesser GPL (LGPL) and the Berkeley Software Distribution (BSD) are other popular alternatives to GPL with similar characteristics. OSS projects rely heavily on code reuse as shown by DrDobbs (2009). In their work, 1311 OSS projects were analyzed and 365000 instances were found of code reuse among those projects. In principle, most of the OSS licenses allow programmers to modify and reuse existing code. This degree of code inheritance can have positive and negative effects on the security of the software. In their work, Brown and Booch (2002) discussed how reuse of OSS code can inherent insecurities and talked about the concerns which companies have regarding OSS code and how it was developed and in particular the origins and the reuse of its code. Indeed an analysis study by Pham et al. (2010) suggested that one of the key causes of vulnerabilities is due to software reuse in code, algorithms/standards, or shared libraries/APIs. They proposed the use of new model which uses algorithm to map similar vulnerable code across different systems, and use the model to trace and report vulnerabilities to software vendors . Reuse of OSS software has caused concerns as developers might inherent vulnerabilities from existing code but regardless of the open source community or software vendors positions on this debate, the possibility of security issues by reusing OSS code has been sufficient to the point where some vendors stopped reusing OSS code in their software. From a security perspective and when it comes to reusing OSS, vendors tend to follow one of the following approaches. Abandon OSS software; only reuse code which has been extensively reviewed; or maintain a relationship with the OSS community and get involved with the development process (Brown and Booch 2002). Its our belief that licenses which allow developers to reuse source code will be more susceptible to vulnerabilities than closed source proprietary licenses. Meaning that software licenses which allow code reuse are more likely to inherit or contaminate derivate work. In contrast, commercial licenses which dont share or allow code reuse are less susceptible to inherit or contaminate vulnerabilities. Hypothesis 4a: Vulnerability type will be positively related to open source software licenses Hypothesis 4b: Frequency of vulnerability will be positively related to open source licenses Hypothesis 4c: Severity of vulnerability will be positively related to open source licenses Source Code Availability Security of open source software (OSS) and closed source software has been a hot topic with many arguments repeatedly presented. Advocates of OSS argue that more reviewers strengthen the security of the software as it eases the process of finding bugs and speeds it up given enough eyeballs, all bugs are shallow (Raymond and Young 2000). Opponents of this idea disagree and claim that not all code reviewers and testers have enough skills and experience compared to code reviewers at companies who are more skilled at finding flaws. The argument is that oftentimes code reviewers and testers need to have further skills other than programming such as cryptography, stenography and networking. Moreover, proponents of closed source software claim that security by obscurity is the main strength of closed source software since its harder to find vulnerabilities when the code is not accessible. However, proponents of OSS argue that its possible to gain access to closed source code through publicl y available patches and disassembling software (Tevis 2005). Its important to note that the impact of the availability of source code on security depends on the open source development model. For instance, the open source cathedral model allows everyone to view the source code, detect flaws/bugs/vulnerabilities and open reports; but they are not permitted to release patches unless they are approved by project owners. OSS projects are typically regulated by project administrators who require some time to review and approve patches. Attackers can take advantage of the availability of source code and published vulnerability reports to exploit them (Payne 2002). However, proponents of OSS argue that vulnerabilities in OSS projects can be fixed faster than those in closed source software because the OSS community is not dependent on a companys schedule to release a patch. Despite the continuous debate on OSS security, advocates from both sides agree that having access to the source code makes it easier to find vulnerabilities but they differ about the impact of vulnerabilities on software security. First of all, keeping the source code open provides attackers with easy access to information that may be helpful to successfully launch an attack. Publically available source code gives attackers the ability to search for vulnerabilities and flaws and thus increase the exposure of the system. Second, making the source code publicly available doesnt guarantee that a qualified person will look at the source and evaluate it. In the bazaar style environment, malicious code such as backdoors may be sneaked into the source by attackers posing as trustful contributors. For instance, in 2003 Linux kernel developers discovered an attempt to include a backdoor in the kernel code (Poulsen 2003). Finally, for many OSS projects there is no a priori selection of program mers based on their skills; project owners tend to accept any help without checking for qualifications or coding skills. Given the issues surrounding source code availability in OSS, we hypothesize that making source code publically available will induce attackers and increase vulnerability risks. Hypothesis 1a: Vulnerability type will be positively related to source code availability Hypothesis 1b: Frequency of vulnerability will be positively related to source code availability Hypothesis 1c: Severity of vulnerability will be positively related to source code availability Software Programming Language Selecting a suitable programming language is one of the most important decisions which have to be made during software planning and design. A chosen programming language has direct effect on how software ought to be created and what means must be used to guarantee that the software functions properly and securely. Software programs which are written using an insecure language may cause system dependent errors which are known to be difficult to find and fix (Hoare 1973). For example, buffer overflows vulnerabilities and other low-level errors are well known issues in C and C++ languages (Cowan 1999). As of today, there exist numerous programming languages but the topic of security in programming languages has been widely disregarded as its believed that programming errors and flaws should be eliminated by the programmers themselves. Current approaches to this issue are essentially ad hoc where best programming practices and secure programming techniques are implemented during or after the design stage. Although this approach helps in preventing coding errors and flaws by relying on programmers skills and experience, it is difficult to say with any certainty what vulnerabilities are prevented and to what extent. More importantly, the ad hoc approach doesnt protect against new and evolving vulnerabilities as it only handles known vulnerabilities and specific coding flaws. In his paper, Hoare (1974) stated that a programming language is secure only if the compiler and run time support are capable of detecting flaws and violations of the language rules. The main issue with this statement is that current compilers and debugging tools are not reliable since they parse code differently; therefore, its impossible to guarantee the same results for programs. Additionally, such tools dont help the programmer in finding vulnerabilities or flaws as they only report syntax errors. Typically, compilers and debugging tools dont allow for security checks on debugging runs, therefore no trust can be put in the results. An evolving trend in secure programming has been the use of formal language semantics. Formal language semantics try to reason with and prove security properties of the code. For example, in their paper, Leroy and Rouaix (1998) developed a formal technique to validate a typed functional language to ensure that memory locations always contain appropriate values to avoid buffer overflow vulnerabilities. Although the use of formal language semantics has been advocated (Dean et al. 1996, Meseguer and Talcott 1997, Volpano 1997), it wasnt widely adopted among programmers. When it comes to software languages, security is essentially dependent on numerous factors such as language developers, programmers and debugging tools. With so many factors, we believe that correlating software language with vulnerability risks will be insignificant. Hypothesis 2a: Vulnerability type will be insignificantly correlated with software language Hypothesis 2b: Frequency of vulnerability will be insignificantly correlated with software language Hypothesis 2c: Severity of vulnerability will be insignificantly correlated with software language Targeted Software Users There are many different types of computer users with a wide range of background, skills, and learning habits. Computer users are typically classified into two distinct groups, namely sophisticated and novice (unsophisticated) users. Sophisticated users have an advanced understanding of computer and Internet technologies; they tend to be more security-aware. Novice users refer to non-technical personnel who are not experienced with computers and the Internet; they rely on computers for simple tasks such as word-processing, spreadsheets, and occasional web surfing. Such users are more prone to security issues due to their inexperience. For instance ignoring software updates and security patches, failing to run essential protection utilities such as an anti-virus or firewall applications are typical security issues with novice users. Because of differences in experience level between both groups, some argue that vulnerabilities affect novice users more than sophisticated ones. Although this might be true for viruses and worms and old vulnerabilities, but when it comes to dealing with zero-day vulnerabilities everyone becomes a victim regardless of their sophistication level. Zero day vulnerabilities refer to unreported exploitable vulnerabilities for which a patch is not available from software vendors (cite xxx). Moreover, when it comes to attackers and potential targets, eventually everyone is a target. Despite the type of computer users, the objective of vulnerability attacks is to hack as many computers as possible with the least amount of effort (Spitzer 2002). Attackers tend to focus on a single vulnerability and use automated scanning tools to search for as many systems as possible for that vulnerability. Such automated tools are often called autorooters and can be designed to scan a specific network for vulnerable machines or scan a range of IP addresses until a victim is found. Its important to note that these tools dont distinguish between software user s as they look for any vulnerable target in sight. Hypothesis 8a: Vulnerability type will be insignificantly correlated with to targeted software users Hypothesis 8b: Frequency of vulnerability will be insignificantly correlated with to targeted software users Hypothesis 8c: Severity of vulnerability will be insignificantly correlated with to targeted software users Software Price Software price plays an important role in modifying the individuals attitude toward the software in many ways. For example, research studies which looked at software piracy found that software price to be a significant factor (incentive) which influenced the intention to pirate (Gopal and Sanders 2000). In their work, Peace et al. (2003) conducted a survey of 201 respondents and found that software price was among the major reasons for illegally copying software. Following the same analogy, studies have shown that attackers attitudes and hackers motivations for finding vulnerabilities are associated with several factors such as: peer approval, self esteem, politics, publicity, financial gains, curiosity and sabotage (Shaw et al. 1999). Within the hackers community, hacking achievements typically help individuals gain higher and more respectable status as it refers to the persons skills and mastery level. Reaching a higher status is oftentimes associated with noteworthy achievements such as hacking popular software. For those hackers who seek publicity or peer approval, they tend to target software with large user base due to their significant reach. So despite software price, hackers look for vulnerabilities in open source and proprietary software as long as there is a significant user base. Similarly, infamous social networking sites such as Facebook and Myspace are constant vulnerability targets regardless of their service cost. Outside the hackers community, hackers incentives tend to vary among political reasons (example: Google-China Hacking 2010), financial gains (example: ransom money attacks), self esteem and sabotage. Again, by analyzing each incentive, we find that software price doesnt play any role in v ulnerability risks. We therefore hypothesize that: Hypothesis 7a: Vulnerability type will be insignificantly correlated with to software price Hypothesis 7b: Frequency of vulnerability will be insignificantly correlated with to software price Hypothesis 7c: Severity of vulnerability will be insignificantly correlated with to software price