Complexity of human being and their moral actions Essay

Complexity of human being and their moral actions - Essay Example question or dilemma results in a search for a method that can be used by humans in ethical decision-making and justification, a method that would give the conditions to be met by any moral or ethical decision and consequently the action. This is the complexity in human beings. This essay will attempt to explain this complexity in relation to moral and ethical actions based on the Kantian deontology theory and how it reduces and evaluates this complexity. The essay will also examine how Aristotelian-Thomistic ethics evidences this human complexity. The complexity of human beings is evidenced in their moral actions since all moral actions are a product of moral and ethical reasoning. Moral action is based on the principle of right and wrong which is preceded by reasoning. Many a times, when humans are to make decisions for actions there are to take, their reasoning and decisions are always based on either the approach of rights, duties, and obligations; consequences; and or human nature. Should morality of our decisions and actions be based on rights, obligations, and duties? Or, should it be evaluated based on its consequences or human nature? According to Kantian Deontology, the only good thing is that action which is of free will motivated by the right reasons. Kant uses reason as a faculty which he considers is the way that human complexity in terms of reasoning and decision-making can be reduced and evaluated. Kant argues that, it is not inclination, but rather, it is reason that should guide human moral action. In this sense, the resulting moral action according to Kant becomes a duty (Kant 61). Basically, Kant argues that, a purely free and good action of the will is one that is purely done not on the basis of inclination but because there are right reasons for it. For instance, let say you find a lost wallet that belongs to a stranger, Kantian deontology argues that, despite an inclination of keeping the money, one should return the wallet simply because

Global Communications Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Global Communications - Case Study Example Information provided by Wall Street shows that there are issues in the telecommunications industry. This industry is becoming more competitive as newer companies such as cable companies enter into the market. This has brought a challenge to the existing industry leaders to find new ways to keep one step ahead of the new competition coming in. Global Communications is one company that is feeling the heat. Their stock has dropped more than 50% in the last three years, from 28% to 11%. Because of this decline the company is now looking at different ways to cut their costs, advance their technology and their expansion opportunities. The company's leadership team has created a strategic plan they feel will bring Global Communications back to the front line of the industry. They have ideas of some new products for their customers and some services that would put them on the global telecommunication map. Their plan also has cost saving opportunities to permit these ideas without impacting the company's bottom line and they will also improve the company's profitability. The plan has been presented to the Board of Directors and they approved the plan. Now the leadership team has to put the plan into action quickly to prevent the company from losing any more profits. There are several issues that Global Communications need to review before they begin to impl... Second, job and salary issues that will affect the employees when strategic plan goes into place. Another issue will be language barriers due to outsourcing to India and Ireland. The complete explanations of the company's issues are outlined on Table 1. There are also opportunities that Global Communications should focus on when implementing their strategic plan. The first opportunity is to look at the communication gaps that they have between themselves, the employees and the union. The second opportunity they need to focus on is exploring different employee retention programs as well as compensation programs. Lastly, they need to analysis their unit cost savings and expected profits by outsourcing their technical call center. The complete explanations of the company's opportunities are outlined on Table 1. Stakeholder Perspectives/Ethical Dilemmas The definition of a stakeholder is one who has a share or interest in an enterprise. Stakeholders in a company may include shareholders, directors, management, suppliers, government, employees and the community (free dictionary, 2006). Using this definition any individuals that have any type of connection with Global Communication whether they are employees, stockholders, customers, suppliers are stakeholders. These individuals could play a part of the role in implementing the company's strategic plan. The ethical dilemmas that Global Communication could face are listed on Table 2. Frame the "Right" Problem The problem statement for Global Communications so far is: Global Communication will become the world's most respected leader in the telecommunications industry by providing extraordinary customer service globally and the best

Spent performing tasks Essay Example for Free

Spent performing tasks Essay Steven Johnson believes that the answer to this essay’s title is a resounding yes. Although a print writer and presumably an avid reader, Johnson argues that while the virtues of reading are immense, other forms of culture such as gaming have its own intellectual or cognitive virtues that could actually be comparable to the rewards of reading. He starts his argument by stating that video games are perceived rather negatively and viewed as a complete waste of time by the society in general, more specifically by educators, cultural authorities and parents. An explanation of this would be, the flaws and imperfections of this nonliterary culture are greatly highlighted because the criteria used in judging it are the same criteria applied in assessing novels and other forms of literature. The merits of gaming apparently lie elsewhere. Johnson argues that video gaming has become increasingly challenging – by the same standards used to measure reading’s cognitive benefits – over the past thirty years. Furthermore, video games sharpen a different but equally important set of mental abilities than the ones honed by reading. There also seems to be an experiential gap between gamers and those who have no experience whatsoever about gaming. The latter believes that games are just another culture that offers instant gratification. However, those who have at some point in their lives immersed themselves in video (or online) games know that an enormous amount of time is spent performing tasks that are absolutely not fun in order to receive a certain reward. Gratification is actually so delayed you wonder if it is going to appear at all. Interestingly, the same group of people who endure tedious tasks in virtual games are disinclined to perform chores in the real world. Even more remarkable is the fact that kids seem to soak in more information when delivered to them in game form. Gaming therefore provides a powerful learning experience where kids learn without actually being aware of it. Gaming and its Benefits 3 The neurotransmitter dopamine, having a large role in the reward circuitry of the brain, is pointed to as one of the reasons for such a phenomena. When expected rewards are not met, such as when a pack-a-day smoker misses his morning cigarette, the disappointment is triggered by low levels of dopamine. Consequently, lowered levels of dopamine set off a craving for that missed experience. The same principle can be applied to gaming. The brain craves for rewards that the virtual universe is teeming with. Unlike in the real world where rewards are abundant yet not well-defined, the rewards in games are more articulated such as more life, increased level, new equipment and new spells.

What Were The Characteristics Of Reaganomics Economics Essay

What Were The Characteristics Of Reaganomics Economics Essay The basis for Reaganomics can be traced back to the late 1960s and 1970s when after two decades of steady growth and very low inflation the US economy suffered from exceptionally high inflation along with a very slow growth rate, a phenomena that became known as Stagflation. The continuously high unemployment rates throughout the 1970s were another feature of stagflation. This was caused by a number of different factors namely the failure of the dominant post-war Keynesian policies to deal with the rising inflation and unemployment which primarily were focused on the demand management side of economics through expansionary fiscal and monetary policies. Furthermore the Keynesian belief that unemployment and inflation were mutually exclusive based on the Phillips Curve led to persistent efforts to promote artificially low levels of unemployment through increasing government spending and establishing price controls which worsened the soaring inflation rates. In addition to the Keynesians failures to deal with the domestic issues the US economy faced competition from industrial and developed countries such as Britain, France, Germany and Japan for the first time since the end of second world war. The US benefited from massive expansion of its economy during and after the war years whilst other nations suffered from substantial damages to their infrastructures. However by the mid 1960s the European and Japans economies had recovered and had developed technologically more advance and productive economies compared to America. During the period 1950 to 1973, fixed capital stock in the United States grew at an annual rate of 2.9% a rate that would prove impossible to achieve once stagflation dominated the economy. In contrast, Britain, Germany, Japan and France had annual average growth rates in capital stock of 4%, 6.1%, 7.6% and 4.5%, respectively (Marc Eisner , 1995). As well as increased international competition the external shocks to th e US economy in the 1970s such as the oil crisis of 1973 where price of oil quadrupled, along with higher commodities prices caused an even greater pressure on price levels. The economic and social difficulties caused by the combinations of these factors led to a major demand for a shift in economic policies and was the main promise of Ronald Reagans 1980 election campaign. In February 1981 the new administration revealed its Program for Economic Recovery. This program was based on a mixture of different theories namely Monetarism which calls for the Federal Reserve to limit the growth of the money supply in order to curb inflation and Supply Side policies that require a reduction in taxes to increase the incentive to work, save and invest. (John Palmer 1982). These became to be known as Reaganomics and its basic elements were; controlling inflation by restricting the supply of money, reducing income and capital gains marginal tax rates, reducing regulation and intervention in markets and reducing government expenditure whilst increasing defence spending. The objective of Reaganomics was relatively clear, it was designed to increase saving and investment s which combined with deregulation and having healthier markets would lead to a higher economic growth. Reducing government expenditure and controlling the supply of money was assumed to not only bring inflation down but also to reduce the ever increasing government deficit. The success of the program largely depended on the success of all of its individual elements. The administration believed by restricting the supply of money, the rate of increase of total spending in the economy, nominal GNP would go down and this was a necessary condition for reducing inflation. In order to curb inflation and spending whilst reducing unemployment at the same time there had to be a degree of control over inflationary expectations and a significant rise in productivity to counter the rise of labour costs. The administrations commitment to monetary control and balancing the federal budget would help to correct the inflationary expectations whilst the increase in productivity would be achieved by the increase of nations savings to encourage private and productivity-raising investments as a result of tax cuts and elimination of government deficit. Furthermore the stimulus to productivity and production resulting from such tax cuts would increase the national income which in turn would offset the revenue loss that lower tax rates cause. (Herbert Stein, 1988) Thus the failure of any individual element of the program would lead to the collapse of the whole program or at the very least significantly reduce its desired effect on the economy. Restoring price stability by curbing inflation therefore was one of the major priorities of the Economic Recovery Program. This was based on the monetarist view that a steady reduction in money supply growth whilst managing inflationary expectations effectively would be the best way to reduce inflation. The Reagan administration hoped to achieved this without causing a painful transition period of high unemployment and loss of output therefore it was essential for businesses, workers and investors to fully have confidence in governments ability to succeed and thus react accordingly. Although neo-Keynesians argued monetary restrain would almost certainly lead to a further increase in unemployment and would push the economy into a recession as prices and wages are sticky or sluggish and relatively unresponsive to monetary policies in the short run. (32) However according to the Rational Expectations school of thought individuals would realise and anticipate the benefits of a well adver tised monetary policy and would be willing to accept lower wages and prices for their goods and services and hence would avoid any unpleasant consequence of a drop in output levels. (31). The administration believed the war against inflation would be relatively short and pain free. Thus the Federal Reserve under the leadership of Paul Volcker attempted to decrease inflation rates by controlling the adjusted monetary base which is the total amount of currency in circulation or in the commercial banks deposits in the Federal Reserve. This was done by controlling the reserves supplies to the banking system through the Federal Reserves purchases and sales of government securities and the amount it required banks to maintain in reserves against their deposits. The Federal Reserve also controlled -albeit to a lesser extent- the money supply especially the narrower form of money (i.e. M1) such as currency and checkable deposits. (R.E) As a consequence the inflation fell from its double digits peak in 1980 to below 4% by the summer of 1982, however this success in curbing the inflation had a devastating impact on the economy. The tight credit control led to further increases in interest rates as investment fell. The gross national product fell by more than 2.5% whilst unemployment rates peaked at 11% in 1982. It seemed clear Reagans ambitious plans to reduce inflation and maintain a healthy economic growth simultaneously had failed. (State Blue book). Although by July 1982 the Federal Reserve eased up its tight grip on the money supply and the expansionary fiscal policies by the administration led to the recovery from the recession. The economy grew by 6.8% by 1984 with unemployment figures dropping to 7.4% first and then to 5.4% in 1988 whilst the GNP also increased, standing at 4.5%. Inflation remained low for the remainder of Reagans administration dropping to as low as 1.1% in 1986 before standing at around 4% towards the end of the decade. However despite this positive economic figures its important to take into account the external factors that created a far more favourable economic environment throughout the 1980s compared to the previous decade. The main cause of inflation in the late 1970s was the high food and energy prices partly caused by the oil crisis of the 1973 and the Energy crisis of 1979 (in the wake of the Iranian revolution) however as a result of the sharp decrease in demand for oil in developed countries and the virtual collapse of OPEC, the oil prices decreased by two third between 1980 and 1985. (state source). Moreover expansionary fiscal policies such as federal subsidies for farmers and an inflated dollar despite having a negative impact on the budget deficit, contributed to price stabilisation as food prices fall and imports became cheaper. the collapse of OPEC, food surpluses, the debt inflated dollar and measurement corrections in the role of home ownership sots in calculating the Consumer Pri ce Index accounted for 52.3% of the reduction in inflation with the remainder attributable to the rescission induced unemployment rates. (end with a conclusive sentence?). Balancing the budget was another top priority of the Reagans administration however throughout his two term as president the deficit continued to grow as a result of the loss in government revenue caused by the Economy Recovery Tax Act of 1981 and the largest peace time defence spending since the Second World War. (Midterm report). The deficit that was under 35% of the GDP in 1980 had increased to over 55% of the GDP by the end of the decade. The idea that having an unbalanced budget would have damaging consequences for the economy was another monetarist element of the Reagans administration. This was a clear rejection of the Keynesian view that stated the government could stimulate the economy by increasing its deficit which in turn allows it to increase expenditure and investment in the private sector resulting in an increase in aggregate demand, total output and employment levels as long as the economy isnt performing at its maximum capacity hence outweighing the costs of financin g the deficit. In contrast the monetarist insisted on the need for a balanced budget claiming that even though government on one hand could give money to people through higher expenditure it would have to take an equal or higher amount back to finance its debts. The administration therefore attempted to decrease the deficit and eventually balance the budget by as early as 1984.It intended to do this by reducing government expenditure as a percentage of the GDP from 23% to 19.5%. (industrial book) In its Program for Economic Recovery it introduced substantial cuts in state aid programs such as Medicaid, food and nutrition programs, extended unemployment benefits and housing assistance whilst reducing subsidies for new energy technologies, public service employment and student aids. (Mid term). Although the effectiveness of such cuts in expenditure and the target of balancing the budget by 1984 turned out to be extremely optimist and unrealistic. The administration failed to achieve its objective mainly because of its inconsistent policies. For instance whilst trying to reduce the deficit it introduced the Economic Recovery Tax Act in the summer of 1981 reducing marginal income tax rates by 25% causing a major loss of revenue for the governmen t. The administration argued such revenue loss would be offset by a rise in savings, investments and output levels however as the economy entered a recession in 1981 mainly due to its tight monetary policy the deficit continued to rise. Furthermore the government increased defence spending steadily throughout the decade, in 1982 the defence budget rose by $7.3b and later by $33.1 in 1986. (R.E). The governments failure to reduce its deficit had severe consequences for the economy especially during the 81-82 recession. The major problem with the deficit was the financial cost of financing the debt itself, this was estimated to be close to $184.2b or 14.7% of the budget in 1990. (s.bb) The administration attempted to raise funds by selling securities such as government bounds which due to their secure nature and high rates of return attracted investors and capital. However this had a negative knock on effect on the economy too since by extracting billions of dollars per year from the national saving pool which had already been in decline since the 1950s (shrinking to 2.4% of GDP in 1988 from 7.8% in the 1970s) the government took away scarce capital from the private sector leading to the crowding out phenomena. This is when the government and the private sector compete for the same limited capital available in the market hence causing a reduction in the expansion of businesses and firms. This loss of capital further translates into higher interest rates and lower levels of investment which in turn leads to a loss of competitiveness and reduction in the output levels, subsequently increasing unemployment and pushing the economy deeper into the recession. Overall it had quickly become apparent that the administrations goal of balancing the budget was clearly unrealistic. Despite its desire to reduce the deficit the introduction of tax reductions and increasing the defence spending more than offset any gains made from the cutbacks in the federal expenditure. The centrepiece of Reagans tax cuts was the Economic Recovery Act signed into law in 1981.

Adderall: A Growing Trend Among College Students Essay -- Documentary

Adderall: A Growing Trend Among College Students Brian,* a 20-year-old Northeastern University student, carefully lays out his â€Å"stash† of blue pills on a table one Sunday evening. As he organizes them into groups according to size and dosage, he mentally runs through his class work and assignments for the week. â€Å"A physics quiz on Tuesday,† he says, eyes still fixed on the dozen or so blue pills on the table. â€Å"A calc test on Friday and a lab due on Thursday.† Brian sinks back into his chair with a sigh of defeated enthusiasm. A weekend full of late night socialization and early afternoon wake up calls has finally given way to the harsh realization of an intense week of school work. As Brian prepares for Monday morning to rear its ugly head, he is comforted by the sight of those tiny blue pills laid out delicately on his table. This, he explains, will sustain him through the hellacious school week ahead of him, and provide him with the motivation and concentration he needs to get his work done. â€Å"I’d be much more stressed out if I didn’t have these,† he says. â€Å"It’ll make the week go by a little easier. That’s not to say it won’t be brutal though.† Those tiny blue pills laid out on Brian’s table are the prescription drug Adderall. Manufactured by the British based pharmaceutical company Shire, Inc., Adderall has become the leading medication prescribed for those diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). The National Institute of Mental Health describes ADHD as, â€Å"one of the most common of the psychiatric disorders that appear in childhood in which an individual can’t stay focused on a task, can’t sit still, acts without thinking, and rarely finishes anything†. If left untreated, the effects of ADHD... ...y guess is that it is more of a psychological habit. I think the best approach would be to challenge students to find a different approach to dealing with stress and increasing workloads, and not to turn to pharmaceuticals as the answer.† Whether or not college students at Northeastern and across the country will heed such advice remains to be seen. But as it stands the use of Adderall without a prescription continues, and it seems unlikely to go away as long as students continue to find their desired results. Recreational experimentation with drugs and alcohol are commonplace and are part of the maturing process that is college, but such experimentation for the means of academic success is a relatively new phenomenon, and one that promises to gain more momentum as long as â€Å"academic steroids† like Adderall continue to make its way into thecollege campus culture. Adderall: A Growing Trend Among College Students Essay -- Documentary Adderall: A Growing Trend Among College Students Brian,* a 20-year-old Northeastern University student, carefully lays out his â€Å"stash† of blue pills on a table one Sunday evening. As he organizes them into groups according to size and dosage, he mentally runs through his class work and assignments for the week. â€Å"A physics quiz on Tuesday,† he says, eyes still fixed on the dozen or so blue pills on the table. â€Å"A calc test on Friday and a lab due on Thursday.† Brian sinks back into his chair with a sigh of defeated enthusiasm. A weekend full of late night socialization and early afternoon wake up calls has finally given way to the harsh realization of an intense week of school work. As Brian prepares for Monday morning to rear its ugly head, he is comforted by the sight of those tiny blue pills laid out delicately on his table. This, he explains, will sustain him through the hellacious school week ahead of him, and provide him with the motivation and concentration he needs to get his work done. â€Å"I’d be much more stressed out if I didn’t have these,† he says. â€Å"It’ll make the week go by a little easier. That’s not to say it won’t be brutal though.† Those tiny blue pills laid out on Brian’s table are the prescription drug Adderall. Manufactured by the British based pharmaceutical company Shire, Inc., Adderall has become the leading medication prescribed for those diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). The National Institute of Mental Health describes ADHD as, â€Å"one of the most common of the psychiatric disorders that appear in childhood in which an individual can’t stay focused on a task, can’t sit still, acts without thinking, and rarely finishes anything†. If left untreated, the effects of ADHD... ...y guess is that it is more of a psychological habit. I think the best approach would be to challenge students to find a different approach to dealing with stress and increasing workloads, and not to turn to pharmaceuticals as the answer.† Whether or not college students at Northeastern and across the country will heed such advice remains to be seen. But as it stands the use of Adderall without a prescription continues, and it seems unlikely to go away as long as students continue to find their desired results. Recreational experimentation with drugs and alcohol are commonplace and are part of the maturing process that is college, but such experimentation for the means of academic success is a relatively new phenomenon, and one that promises to gain more momentum as long as â€Å"academic steroids† like Adderall continue to make its way into thecollege campus culture.

Chaucers Canterbury Tales Essay - Dominance and Control in the Wife of

Dominance and Control in Chaucer's The Wife of Bath's Tale      Ã‚   The Wife of Bath, the main character in Geoffrey Chaucer's "The Wife of Bath's Tale" recognizes dominance over her husband as the main purpose of her life and her story.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The Wife of Bath is a controlling and headstrong woman.   She craves dominance over her husbands.   She believes that, in order to be her husband, the man must be subservient and that she is the head of the household.   Even thought she has been married five times, she has never let the man hold the upper hand.   Out of the five, "three were good husbands, two of them were bad" (Chaucer 224).   She was first married at the age of twelve and is now forty years old.   To be married at such a young age, one can only imagine that the marriage was either arranged for money or for a title.   The Wife of Bath recognizes that the key to survival for a fourteenth century woman is marriage, as shown in her having had five husbands and being married at the age of twelve.   The Wife of Bath is also not what a wife should be.   She torments her husbands by denying them sex until she gets what she wants, which is land and money.   When she does sleep with t hem, it always means "nothing," but for the older husbands it means their lives (Chaucer 224).   The Wife of Bath, in her mind, has the right to deny sex because it is she who hold the "'power of his body' not he" (Chaucer 223).   She even proudly admits that she had married men for their money and driven them to their end by her desire for sex.   She prays for Jesus to send men "who are meek and young and spirited in bed" (Chaucer 250).   The Wife of Bath will stop at nothing to get what she wants because dominance is what she lives for.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   ... ...at Chaucer does not believe that it is right for the Wife of Bath to use her sexuality as a tool to get what she wants.   He recognizes there are other options of gaining power because he has the hag use her intelligence to gain control over the Knight.   Feminine wiles are expected of women, just as men play their own games.   "The Wife of Bath's Tale" is a humorous and ironic tale.   The Knight supplies this irony and the Wife of Bath supplies the humor be gaining control of men half her age.   The dominance and control that the Wife of Bath strives for is the theme of her life and of Geoffrey Chaucer's "The Wife of Bath's Tale."    Works Cited Chaucer, Geoffrey.   "The Prologue of the Wife of Bath's Tale."   Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1985. Plucknett, Theodore F.T.   A Concise History of the Common Law, 5th Ed.   London: Butterworth, 1956.  Ã‚  Ã‚  

Aeronautical Decision Making Essay

The airlines developed some of the first training programs that focused on improving aeronautical decision making (ADM). ADM is a systematic approach to the mental process used by airline pilots to consistently determine the best course of action in response to a given set of circumstances. Human-factors-related accidents motivated the airline industry to implement crew resource management (CRM) training for flight crews. The focus of CRM programs is the effective use of all available resources: human resources, hardware, and information. Human resources consist of all groups routinely working with the cockpit crew (or pilot) who are involved in decisions that are required to operate a flight safely. These groups include, but are not limited to: dispatchers, cabin crewmembers, maintenance personnel, and air traffic controllers. The importance of learning effective ADM skills cannot be overemphasized in the airline industry. While progress is continually being made in the advancement of pilot training methods, airline equipment and systems, accidents still occur. Despite all the changes in technology to improve flight safety, one factor still remains the same – the human factor. It is estimated that approximately 75 percent of all aviation accidents are human factors related. Historically, the term pilot error has been used to describe the causes of these accidents. Pilot error means that an action or decision made by the pilot was the cause, or a contributing factor that led to the accident. This definition also includes the pilot’s failure to make a decision or take action. From a broader perspective, the phrase â€Å"human factors related† more suitably describes these accidents since it is usually not a single decision that leads to an accident, but a chain of events triggered by a number of various factors. The poor judgment chain, sometimes referred to as the error chain, is a term used to describe this concept of contributing factors in human factors-related-accidents. Breaking one link in the chain normally is all that is necessary to change the outcome in a sequence of events. By discussing events that lead to an accident, it can be understood how a series of judgment errors can contribute to the final outcome of a flight. An understanding of the decision-making process provides a pilot with a foundation for developing ADM skills. Some situations, such as engine-failures, require a pilot to respond immediately using established procedures with little time for detailed analysis. Traditionally, pilots have been well trained to react to emergencies, but are not as well prepared to make decisions requiring a more reflective response. Typically during a flight, there is time to examine any changes that occur, gather information, and assess risk before reaching a decision. The steps leading to this conclusion constitute the decision making process are defining the problem, choosing a course of action, and implementing the decision and evaluating the outcome. The first step in the decision making process is problem definition. Defining the problem begins with recognizing that a change has occurred or that an expected change did not take place. The exact nature and severity of the problem are determined by the pilot’s senses and experience in flying. For example, a low oil pressure reading could indicate that the engine is about to fail and an emergency landing should be planned or it could mean that the oil pressure sensor is giving a faulty reading. According to the situation, each action by the pilot is taken differently. An important note is that once the pilot has identified the problem, other sources must be used to verify that the conclusion is correct. Once the problem has been identified, the pilot must evaluate the need to react to it and determine that actions that must be used to remedy the problem. The expected outcome of each possible action should be considered and the risks assessed before deciding on a response to the situation. Although a decision may be reached and a course of action implemented, the decision making is not complete. It is important to think ahead and determine how the decision could affect other phases of the flight. As the flight progresses, the pilot must continue to evaluate the outcome of the decision to ensure that it is producing the desired result. The decision-making process normally consists of several steps before choosing a course of action. To help remember the elements of the decision-making process, a six-step model has been previously developed using the acronym â€Å"decide. † Detect the fact that a change has occurred Estimate the need to counter or react to the change Choose a desirable outcome for the success of the flight Identify actions which could successfully control the change. Do the necessary action to adapt to the change Evaluate the effect of the action Another important aeronautical decision making is risk management. During each flight, decisions must be made regarding events involving interactions between the four risk elements: the pilot in command, the airplane, the environment, and the operation. The decision-making process involves an evaluation of these risk elements to achieve an accurate perception of the flight situation. A pilot must continually make decisions about competency, condition of health, mental and emotional state, level of fatigue, and many other factors. Airplane—a pilot will frequently base decisions on the evaluations of the airplane, such as performance, equipment, or worthiness in the air. Environment—this encompasses many elements not pilot or airplane related. It can include such factors as weather, air traffic control, navaids, terrain, takeoff and landing areas, and surrounding obstacles. Weather is one element that can change drastically over time. Operation—the interaction between the pilot, airplane, and the environment is greatly influenced by the purpose of each flight operation. Also, exercising good judgment begins prior to taking the control of an airplane. Often, pilots thoroughly check their airplane to determine airworthiness, but they do no evaluate their own fitness for flight. Just as a checklist is used when pilots check their pre-flight of an airplane, a personal checklist based on such factors as experience, currency, and comfort level can help determine if a pilot is prepared for the flight. In addition to a review of personal limitations, use the â€Å"i’m safe† Checklist in evaluation of the pilot.