Overview of Bhopal Disaster Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Overview of Bhopal Disaster - Essay Example The number of deaths and injured people however did not stop during the release of MIC in the atmosphere but continued to kill Bhopal residents for months that followed that the Indian government reported to its Parliament that the tragedy has taken 1,430 lives in just four months. By 1991, the number of people in Bhopal who died from the tragedy reached more than 3,800 and the number of people who contracted disability reached approximately 11,000 (Jackson 1983). Later investigation showed that the disaster was caused by a disgruntled plant employee who poured water into a batch of batch of methyl isocyanate in a storage tank. The water caused chemical reaction to the effect that it created heat and pressure in the tank. These chemical reaction in tank forced the valve to open that forced the chemical to be released into the atmosphere where the chemical compound was transformed into a lethal gas that killed the nearby Bhopal residents (Union Carbide a 2013). This report was both confirmed by Union Carbide’s panel of experts as well as the Indian government. After the incident, the company who owned the plant, Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL) sought permission from the government to clean up the area and this clean up drive extended until 1998. In this year (1998) UCIL was taken over by the Madhya Pradesh State Government, which owns and had been leasing the property to Eveready assumed responsibility of the facility and shouldered all accountability for the site (Bhopal.com c). After the disaster, UCIL provided around $2 to the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund to help aid in the easing the tragedy and also brought in its own panel of experts and medical experts along with the medical equipment and supplies. The company also donated $5 million to the Indian Red Cross as a supplement to the initial donation. The company also shared its available information and study about methylisocyanate (MIC) with the Government of India to effectively respond to the ill effect of the chemical (Bhopal.com b).

Critically analyse Hofstede's 'Cultural Dimensions' What correlation Essay

Critically analyse Hofstede's 'Cultural Dimensions' What correlation does Hofstede make among groups of countries and ho - Essay Example He was the originator of relative intercultural research. His publication which proved to be a land mark in defining organizational cultural aspects was ‘Cultures and Organization: Software of the Mind’ (1991). He is renowned for his contribution in developing the earliest experiential replica ‘dimensions of national culture’. In this model he established a pattern for explaining the different elements pertaining to culture of global economics, collaboration and communication with reference to multinational company IBM. This model later gave rise to the development of a model for explaining the organizational cultures. Due to his extensive contribution in the field of intercultural research he is regarded as the foremost representative of cultural studies. His research work is now use as a study tool in different subjects including management sciences and psychological studies (Greet Hofstede, 2012). The cultural theory of Hofstede deeply describes the impac t of culture on the inhabitants of a society. Initially he used the factor analysis to develop a model which correlates the values and behavior. At first the theory projected four aspects of culture through which values could be examined. The original model contained individualism v/s collectivism, masculinity (the impact of gender over the cultural values), power distance (distribution of power and the vigor of social hierarchy) and uncertainty avoidance. Later Hofstede included one more aspect to his model, the long-term orientation. The 2010 edition of his famous book ‘Cultures and Organizations: Software of the Mind’ has an addition of another aspect, indulgence v/s self restraint. Later additions to the original model have enabled to differentiate between evaluation of individual and country level statistics (Hofstede, Geert et al., 2010). The Hofstede’s work on cultural dimensions has stimulated the research in social beliefs. In order to develop his theory Hofstede examined the 116,000 of IBM with varying backgrounds and lifestyles. They all represented 66 different nations of three regions of the world. Research was based on questionnaires and it was undertaken somewhere between 1968 and 1972. After recognizing the five different dimensions of culture Hofstede categorized them as being generalize able for every society or region of the world. As almost all the society have the same cultural issues and aspects. To further analyze the dimensions he developed an index to plot to the countries under consideration as per their scores (Sven Rosenhauer, 2009). The brief description of the model is as follows (Martin Sebastian Scheuplein, 2010): Power Distance It describes the value or ‘power’ that an individual or society possess with respect to others. It is explained in the form of hierarchy that reflects the ‘distance’ of authority between different groups. Low power distance refers to minimum level of inequali ty among the members of society and high power distance reflects the other point of view. Individualism v/s Collectivism Individualism maintains distance from subordinates in the organization and focus more on the achievement of personal goals whereas collectivism encourages the cooperative efforts in order to achieve goals and objectives. Individualism is based on the ‘I’ approach that working alone is better than belonging to a group. Masculinity/Femininity There is an obvious difference between