留學生assignment范文：Reflective Pieces

在一月十七號，關于英國馬肉污染的丑聞傳向了全世界，導致百萬噸的漢堡被回收。隨著事件的調查，更多的超級市場及速食連鎖店都受到此次丑聞的影響。調查顯示,這些受污染的牛肉是由愛爾蘭食品巨頭生產的，該生產商向愛爾蘭和英國聯合王國的超市和快餐食品連鎖供應牛肉。更糟的是,這個檢測是在去年11月進行的，這意味著可能許多受污染的牛肉已經被食用了。

然而,隨著馬污染丑聞逐漸淡出人們的記憶,消費者在中國現在面臨著一個新的問題，那就是有關老鼠肉冒充羊肉。據新華社報道,大約904人在不知情的情況下銷售摻假和貼錯標簽肉類產品。更糟的是,一些商家把水注入肉食品中，還把老鼠肉，貂和狐貍肉與某些化學物質混合,這樣他們可以把這些東西以牛肉或羊肉名義通過特定的檢測。

In January 17th, a scandal over horse meat contamination spread all through the UK, resulting in ten million beef burgers being recalled. With further investigation, more supermarkets and fast food chains such as Sainsbury’s, Asda, Tesco and the Co-op were also found to be involved in the scandal. Investigations showed that these contaminated beef was produced by an Irish food giant who supplies beef to supermarkets and fast food chains both in Ireland and in the United Kingdom. Worse still, this tested was carried out in last November, which means that it is possible that a lot of contaminated beef has already been consumed.

However, with the scandal over horse contamination gradually fading out of people’s memory, consumers in China are now faced with a new one relating to rat meat being posed as mutton. According to the Xinhua News Agency, around 904 people were sold adulterated and mislabeled meat products unknowingly. What’s worse, some business also injects water into the meat and mixes rat, mink, and fox meat with certain chemicals so that they can pass certain tests as beef or mutton.

There is no denying that business behaves in this way for greater profits, and business should be done for profits. However, as a consumer and victim in China’s mutton scandal, I feel ashamed of those “mutton” producers. On the one hand, they severely disrupted the healthy market order. On the other hand, they did great damage to consumers’ health, both in body and mind. Therefore, in my opinion, business should not only concern about profit. Rather, they should also concern about other factors such as the consumer, a sustainable development, the environment, etc.

The traditional perspective on business holds the view that the only business of a business is to be a profitable business, as is shown in the below figure of a stakeholder model of a corporation:
 
Stakeholders are an important part of a corporation. They are different from suppliers, customers, employees, and the local community in that they are the owners of the corporation. In other words, the situation of the corporation has directly connection with the stakeholders’ livelihood and even their life after retirement (Freeman & RE, 1984). So this may lead to the consequences that business are concentrating in pursuing profits while neglecting the environment, the consumers, and even the local community, which will further lead to a vicious development.

However, with the development of world economy and the improvement of people’s life, more and more attention are being focused on a sustainable development nowadays.

The below figure shows what corporation should concern about from the view of a sustainable development:
Sustainable development is a term that has been used for many years. It emphasizes on satisfying the present needs and demands. More importantly, this should be conducted without sacrificing resources that should be used for the future (Susan, 2013). In fact, to have a healthy and better environment is a basic human right, which is regulated in laws in many countries. And to make a sustainable business, corporation must concern about its social, economic, and environmental responsibilities. Besides, to obey to the business ethics is a basic virtue of the corporation, which will otherwise do damage to the corporation reputation.

Actually, waste management is also an important issue in this “mutton” scandal. With the development of China’s fur industry, more and more access of cast-off mink and fox carcasses are easy to get. However, if we conduct proper waste management such as disposal, we can avoid the meat from flowing into the market. 

To conclude, the “mutton” scandal does great harm to consumers and to the business itself, from the view of a sustainable development. And from this case, we can draw the conclusion that business should not only concern about profits. By focusing on sustainable development and adopting proper waste management methods, business should better deal with this issue and achieve healthier development in the future.

Different people have different personalities, and different personalities may lead to different consequences. According to JOECO Qatar’s personality test, there are 9 typical types of personalities:

Type Personalities
1 Introspective, sensitive, reflective
2 Independent, unconventional, unfettered
3 Dynamic, active, extroverted
4 Down to earth, well-balanced, harmonious
5 Professional pragmatic, self-assured
6 Peaceful, discreet, non-aggressive
7 Carefree, playful, cheerful
8 Romantic, dreamy, emotional
9 Analytical, trustworthy, self-assured

All through my lifetime until now, I have one friend who leaves with me the deepest impression. She is a girl who never confines herself to the present rules and regulations. Compared with the routine nine to five work shift, she prefers much free job which can allow her to imagine and create. She does all the things as her feelings tell her and insists pursuing her dream even until present time. Though she has not yet succeeded until now, I really like her personality from the view of a career. I know, she will make some one in the future, sure.
What I value most in career is personality. As already shown in the above, different people have different personalities, and these different personalities may lead to different careers and more importantly, career achievements. In the case above, my friend belongs to the 8th type, romantic, dreamy, and emotional. Those belong to this type are often sensitive persons. They refuse to look at thins only from the traditional view. Rather, they go after their feelings. What’s more, for individuals belonging to this type, to have a dream in life is of great importance. They do not like people who are confined to the traditional ideas and who only act with rationality. Anyway, their minds are full of various moods and emotions.

Presently, my friend is working in an Italian company which is specialized in designing. Her work allows her enough free time to create inspiration and works. And her personality really helps her a lot.

However, her job does not fit me at all. According to JOECO Qatar’s personality test, I belong to the 5th type, professional pragmatic and self-assured. I am just the kind of person who takes charge of my life. I am a practical person. In other words, I seldom have ideal or romantic dreams. Rather, I gain what I want when my deeds and efforts are paid back. Presently, I am working in a trading company. Every day, I have to deal with a lot of businesses. Some are from abroad, and some from China. Though my work may appear too much and very complicated, I manage to solve them in a practical and uncomplicated manner. For each of the issues, I would take a realistic view of it. And owing to my attitude towards work, I am given more and more responsibilities, because my boss knows that I am able to take these responsibilities. What’s more, I am always self-assured of myself, and will never feel satisfied before I fully accomplish my ideas.

To conclude, personality is the factor I valued most in career. Only when one is fully aware of his or her own personalities, can he or she know what best fits him or her, so that they can find a satisfying job and realize their life goal.  

Recently, in one assessment for my friend’s job, her personal integrity was greatly challenged. Her company provides training for each new comer, on condition that they can pass the assessment one month later. Anyone who fails in the assessment will have to leave the position. However, when my friend was taking the assessment, she found a phenomenon that confused her a lot: many of her colleagues were referring to their textbooks and notes, which was in fact not allowed in the assessment. But some people really passed the assessment with the help of their textbooks and notes. From my friend’s side, she just finished the assessment all by herself and surprisingly, she passed it. In my opinion, my friend’s experience well demonstrated the concept of integrity, which is very important in individual’s professional life.

In Oxford University Press dictionary, integrity has two meanings. First, it means an adherence to strict moral and ethical principles. Second, it represents the state of being whole (George et al, 2012). One who has integrity sticks to strict moral principles even when he is trapped in very difficult situations in life, for instance pressure and temptation. A lack of integrity will probably result in lying, cheating, stealing, violence and even other ethical issues and makes one who has integrity feels disappointed and ashamed. What’s more, the lack of integrity will also do harm to social relationships, either interpersonal or professional. The reason lies in that trust is essential to all the significant relationship and no one is going to believe in some one who has no integrity. Thus, integrity should be one of our life goals in both professional life and daily life.

In fact, every body should be responsible for the decisions he or she made, even his or her decision making process may be affected by pressure from peers, colleagues, or superiors. Thus, it is important that we should manage to make the right decisions that are ethical and moral in order that we will make fewer mistakes in the future. To make the right decision, the first thing we have to do is to fully recognize the risks. To know the risks, we must try to learn the rules and keep updated with the situation and facts. For example, one who forgets to keep notes of where the resource comes from may directly use the sources rather than quote them. In fact, some people just unintentionally do this. However, this can never be the excuse for violation.

Facts are that most people who are involved in troubles know the rules and regulations very well. However, they tend to find out various kinds of excuses. Some often used excuses are “everybody does it in this way”, or “I did not do harm to any body else”. However, these are not honest actions since we are trying to cheat ourselves into believing what we have said. Therefore, we must be equipped with integrity so that we can make the right decisions.

Another way to see whether we have integrity or we are just looking for excuses is to ask ourselves such questions: if my behaviors are open to the public and every one can watch out what I am doing step by step, will I feel proud or ashamed of myself? If the answer is that you are ashamed of your behavior and you want to hide your behavior, it means that you are just looking for excuses.

Integrity must also be taken into consideration for that we must consider various kinds of possibilities and results before we finally make the decision: at present, in the future; positive, active; to ourselves, to others. Some may regret their decisions in that they only focus on the short term benefits while taking great risks. The consequences are very severe that once we break the rule, we may be punished and lose the control over our own life. Some people may think they can find an excuse to cover it. However, this is especially wrong. Take a very simple example. Students may cheat in the exam, with some revealed, some not. It seems that those revealed ones are very unfortunate. However, those not are even more unfortunate.  First, they don’t understand exactly the meaning of education. Second, they may grow more and more dependent on cheating in the exam. If they don’t cheat in the exam, they will surely fail in it. Last but not least, those who are not caught for the first time they cheat tend to cheat for a second time, and even third time, in the future. And this may become a vicious circle. And the sole solution to this issue is: integrity. Cheating not only hurts the individual himself, but also hurts people around, so does the lack of integrity.
 
Reference:
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Freeman, R.E. M.(1984). A Stakeholder Theory of the Modern Coporation. Boston: McGraw-Hill, c2005.
George.M,Min. (2012).Integrity. Xulon Press.
Susan.B.M.(2013). Sustainable Development. Routledge 270 Madison Ave, New York, NY 10016.