Topic 28

Ability to control personal, business, military, government operations over a wide geographical area by Ronald Chu

There are several ways to control personal, business, military, and government operations over a wide area. However, what are these four things? These four complex operations are what make up our daily lives; they may seem simple and easy but they actually consist of small groups of similar operations. The main thing that is contributing to the control of these operations is the establishment of our technology, which is improving daily.

First of all, what are personal operations? A personal operation is something such as a personal phone (cell-phone) or PCs (personal computers). These kinds of extremely convenient systems allow you to keep in contact with others as well as giving you different forms of information and entertainment. There many different companies and organizations producing and providing us with these systems. Take DoCoMo (cell phone) for example. They sell us cell phones as a product, and the way we use it is completely up to us. However, they “control” it in a sense that they make us pay monthly bills and can even keep track of everything that we do with our phone (how we use it). The main social questions concerning this issue are how this technology emerged and what areas of impact it affects globally and locally. The main ethical questions are if there are any alternative decisions (such as switching telephone companies or even to other means of communication) and what the consequences to these decisions are.

Secondly, what are business operations? According to an online definition from www.wikipedia.org, business operations are those activities involved in the running of a business for the purpose of producing value for the stakeholders. The three main objectives of a business operation are to 1: generate recurring income, 2: increase the value of the business it is doing, and 3: secure the income and value of the business. Toyota Motor Cooperation is the eighth largest company in the world, as well as a very well known and successful business operation. It makes thousands of cars per year (not including any other of its many products), has stores all over the world, and income pouring in. How do they even control all of this? Ability to control/stabilize depends on how well a company can “protect” its income from generating capability and retains its value as a business operation. The main social questions concerning this issue are who the stakeholders are, what their disadvantages and advantages are, and what areas of impact does it affect globally and locally. The ethical questions are the same as personal operations.

Third of all, what are military operations? A military operation is the employment of military resources to achieve a certain goal. It involves the planning, calculating, or the giving (or receiving) of information. There are military operations other than those concerning war. For example, the US has military operations focusing on promoting peace and supporting civil authorities in response to any disruptions within the country. There are several ways the military controls these sorts of operations. They can use satellites to “keep an eye” on everything going on in the world. The main thing that helps is the fact that one man has total control over everything to do with this subject. If there were many leaders, then there would be confusion, but since there is only one military commander, he makes all the decisions and there is total command. The main social question concerning this issue is what areas of impact it affects locally and globally. The main ethical questions are who is responsible and accountable, and what laws apply.

Finally, what are government operations? Government operations are anything to do that the government has been involved in, such as good (coal, oil, steel, etc) and service (insurance, law, police, etc) operations. The government can sometimes have certain control over business operations. Government operations are not usually controlled, but they are the ones that control us. However, they can be controlled in a sense that without our taxes, they do not have power and also, we elect who is our leaders are. The main social questions concerning this issue are who the stakeholders are, and what areas of impact it affects locally and globally. The ethical questions are who is responsible and accountable, what laws apply, and are there alternative decisions (such as anarchy, or a dictatorship) and what the consequences to these decisions are.