Generation Y and leadership Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Generation Y and leadership - Assignment Example The challenges are also due to the fact that the earlier generation, the ‘x’ers are also in the office floor making it a management conundrum. The challenge of managing this mutigenerational workforce would be considered quaint when one considers the natural progression this situation leads to be an era where millennials will be called to lead other millennials. Aliases for this generation are not in short supply. They could also be referred to as the â€Å"entitlement kids† for the strong sense of expectation they posses. â€Å"†¦If there is one overriding perception of the millennial generation, it's that these young people have great -- and sometimes outlandish – expectations† (Aslop, 2008). What would leadership look when â€Å"entitlement kids† lead â€Å"entitlement kids†? Would it be a positive development or similar to the new tribal warfare we see in the world, outside the corporate curtain wall? One of the best ways to un derstand the millennials is to contrast them with the prior generation ‘x’. Those born in the 1960’s and 1970’s up to 1982 are referred to as the generation ‘x’. They are refereed to as a generation that â€Å"†¦ has always signified a group of young people, seemingly without identity, who face an uncertain, ill-defined (and perhaps hostile) future.†(Ulrich, 2003). ... Sociologists will point to this as a definitive belief in leadership principles by believing in being led. The underlying reasons for this according to Hershatter derived from groundbreaking research done in ‘The History of America's Future 1584 to 2069’ (Strauss et al. 1992) is that â€Å"A lot of the things that people perceived as problematic outcomes as the result of how Gen ‘X’ers were raised – latch key kids, lots of autonomy, lots of freedom, not a lot of attention to their care and well being – was completely reversed with the Millennials†. They were raised with positive reinforcement. Confident in them selves it was insufficient for them to know what had to be done? Brought up with Pokemon, Star Wars and The Lord of The Rings film trilogy they needed to know why it had to be done? Cell phones, Mp3’s, and game portals were their toys making them addicted to technology. Fostered by social media and keypad savvy they have ma naged to be more connected with their parents than generations before them as they were in control of that connectivity. Trust has been inbred them. Gaining knowledge is less of a priority than knowing the sources of knowledge. They have had to learn to trust sources of knowledge. Millennials have turned the perception that generation-to-generation youth culture self degrades. They are changing corporate culture by their liking for immediate feedback, the hunger for positive reinforcement, and the sensitivity to relationships. The above-mentioned factors will cause corporate structures to be flatter to facilitate the required speed of communication and generation ‘Y’ has the

Alice walker in search of the garden Essay Example for Free

Alice walker in search of the garden Essay lice Walker’s essay, In Search of Our Mother’s Garden, talks about her search of the African American women’s suppressed talent, of the artistic skills and talents that they lost because of slavery and a forced way of life. Walker builds up her arguments from historical events as well as the collective experiences of African Americans, including her own. She uses these experiences to back up her arguments formed from recollections of various African American characters and events. Walker points out that a great part of her mother’s and grandmothers’ lives have been suppressed because of their sad, dark pasts. But all of these are not lost because somehow, these are manifested in even the smallest things that they do, and that they were also able to pass it down to the very people that they loved. Our search of our mother’s garden may end back to ourselves. Walker builds up her argument by mentioning the experiences of other people in the essay. One of them is Jean Toomer, a poet in the early 1920s. He is a man who observed that Black women are unique because they possessed intense spirituality in them, even though their bodies endure every aspect of punishment in every single day of their lives. They were in the strictest sense Saints – crazy, pitiful saints. Walker points out that without a doubt, our mothers and grandmothers belong to this type of people. By building up on the observations of Toomer, she was somehow able to show how hard it was to be a mother or a grandmother or even just a woman at that time, one reason perhaps is that they are black. The mothers and grandmothers at that time endured all of this without any hope that tomorrow will be different, be better. Because of this, they were not able to fully express themselves. They were held back by their society. Another black character that she used to build her argument is Phillis Wheatley, a Black slave girl with a precarious health. Phillis is a poet and a writer at her own right, but unfortunately, she wasn’t able to do much with it because she was a slave. She didn’t have anything for herself, worse, she didn’t even own herself. Her futile attempts for self expression would be washed up by forced labor and pregnancies. She lost her health, and eventually her life without fully expressing herself through her gift for poetry. Alice Walker used the story of Phillis to establish the understanding that indeed, African American women at that time were not allowed or didn’t have the luxury of time to exercise their gifts, to hone their talents and abilities, and use them to fully express themselves. By doing so, Walker proves that our mothers and grandmothers lived a boxed life back then, with no way to channel to them emotions and thoughts other than hard labor and forced servitude. She pointed out that we wouldn’t know if anyone of them would’ve bloomed to be poets, singers, actresses, because they never really had the chance to know what they can do. By building up her argument using these two accounts, she is also presenting very strong evidence to her claim. These accounts were personal experiences of real African American people, and these are not just isolated cases. These are shared experiences not just by these two but by all of their people. Walker can confidently say that there is a lot of Phillis Wheatley in those times, perhaps including her mother and grandmothers. This is concrete evidence because it is not fictional, it is not imaginary, or something conceived out of Walker’s creativity. Slavery, forced pregnancies, poverty, and artistic suppression were the realities during the time of our grandmothers. No one can deny this, and no one can deny the existence of Phillis or the accounts of Jean Toomer. Considering Alice Walker’s authority in her arguments, she could be considered as an expert, a reliable source of information on the topic. First off, she is an African American woman, who had her fair share of poverty in her childhood. She was born and raised by hardworking parents, who really had to work day and night to provide for their family. Also, she witnesses first hand that even though her mother may not be a poet or a novelist; she was an artist in the truest sense. Her artistic side is manifested in her gardens and the beautiful flowers that she grows. Alice Walker witnessed all of this, experienced first hand what it was like to be poor and seemingly talentless. The accounts that Alice Walker used to prove her points and back up her arguments were African American history that she was all too familiar with. It may have been shared to her by her families, or simply a collective knowledge passed down from one generation to another. She is also well-educated, a wide reader, and an artist. She often cites Virginia Woolf’s A Room of One’s Own, relating a white woman’s plight to a black woman’s hardships. She emphasizes that even though she recognizes Woolf’s point about society’s unfair treatment to women of her time, Walker still believes that black women suffered the most (Walker). There is simply nothing that could compare to the artistic suppression that her mother and grandmothers experienced. In this essay, she is appealing to a general audience, with no specific race or ethnicity. I think this essay was written to highlight the African American women of her mother and grandmother’s time, who were unable to express their talents and hone it to its full potential. This essay is written to inform anyone and everyone reading it about their stories, and of her discovery of her mother’s garden. She was glad to know that it is possible for African American women to express themselves even unknowingly, that it is up to us to discover these â€Å"gardens.† She is appealing to the readers in general that even though some people like our mothers and grandmothers seem talentless or artistically inferior, it doesn’t mean that they really lack the talent. It just means that were not looking hard enough to find it. Alice Walker’s method of using personal experience and historical accounts allow her to truthfully see and say what has really happened. She doesn’t have to make up hypothetical events because she already has a basis for her arguments. Jean Toomer’s recollections and Phillis Wheatley’s experiences are enough proof of her argument. If some people would disagree with what she’s saying, she can always go back to their experiences, to how Phillis suffered without fully using her gift, or what Toomer saw in the streets in the early Twenties. But because of this, I think Walker is somehow limited to the sad and pitiful stories of the past. Well, in reality, most of the stories of African Americans were really sad and pitiful, but still, Walker failed to mention of any successful artist who rose from the ranks of slaves to write her own story. It is either this kind of story really didn’t exist at that time, or Walker just didn’t mention it, since it wasn’t the focus of her essay. Alice Walker concluded her essay by saying that Phillis Wheatley’s mother was also an artist, and that the achievements of their daughters were in some way brought about by their mothers. Her conclusion states that the mother is somehow responsible in every achievement of their daughter. Any artistic output by a person is also a product of their mother. Indeed, their children are their best creations, their very own wonderful gardens. This conclusion is related to her method because it goes back to how Phillis Wheatley’s mother was somehow responsible for her daughter’s artistic sense, and that beyond the poverty and the hardships that our mothers and grandmothers experienced during their times, they were still able to artistically express themselves through their children, their very own wonderful gardens.

The Ants and The Bees: Comparing the Social Structure of these Colonia

A queen, drones, and workers share a common place in life. They all live in a bee and ant colony striving together to accomplish their specific jobs. Living in a world where females are your workers and protectors of the queen, and drones are used to multiply the colony, and then die. When you look passed the buzzing of ants, you see a very sociable creature working like a well oiled machine. When you hear the dirt on the bees, they may look sociable, but deep down, it’s another world. A world where queens kill sibling sisters, and the drones are ejected out into the cold to starve just for the sake of their colony. Where females defend the nest and die 100% of the time after the sting. Bees and ants, both considered sociable insects, have a very different view on sociability. The colonies of ants and bees are broken down into several different categories. The top of the chain consist of the queen in both colonies. The colony depends on the queen to produce the eggs for their survival. This is the only function for the queen. She is able to choose what gender the eggs will become by fertilizing or not fertilizing them. She is capable of keeping the balance of the colony in check by choosing the gender of her eggs. Unfertile eggs become the drones of the colony, where fertile eggs becomes the female workers. The males, or drones of the colony serve only one purpose, and that is to fertilize the eggs. The drones do no maintenance work, no tending to the colony, no foraging, and they shortly die after mating with the queen. The workers of the colony are all female and mostly foragers, but some do have different task within their society (Stanger et al., 1971, p.10-11). The same can be implied to the ant colony which is made up of ... ...ned (Layton, 2008, p.1). They clamp on with there mighty jaws, rotate in a circle, and sting their victim while still clamped on. Some ants do not have a stinger. They simply drop poison unto their victims skin. Bees and ants live in a social nest setting, where there is a queen, drones, and workers. At first glance they may seem to be almost the same, one with wings and one without. Storing honey for rougher seasons and times, protecting by stinging, and having different types that are more harmful than others. At a closer look, ants are more the social creatures than bees. Living with more than one queen and sharing the neighboring colonies workers. Bees seem to live a more a closed off, mobster type. The queen killing off her sister rivalry to rule over the colony. Bees and ants may be similar in social structure, but different when you get down to the dirt.

Conformity and Censorship on Society Essay

â€Å"Fahrenheit 451†, by Ray Bradbury, is a story about a society where the government controls the thoughts, and actions of the citizens. Bradbury’s futuristic society has no past and is completely empty. The works and knowledge created in the centuries before, banished and burned. His world contains no beauty, no love, and is completely monitored and controlled by an overbearing and cruel government. Through the depiction of this society, Bradbury comments on the horrific effects of censorship on the souls of human beings. As well as the loss of humanity at the hands of a government that enforces mass conformity. In â€Å"Fahrenheit 451†, all pieces of writing are considered unnecessary and illegal because they supposedly cause unrest in the general public. Similarly, individualism is also discouraged and the mind is meant for mundane and boring acts of repetition and routine. Bradbury’s future world is emotionless and blinded to the fact that the civilization is rapidly progressing toward complete destruction. Bradbury is a skilled storyteller and intricately parallels his fictional world with modern day society. â€Å"Fahrenheit 451† is a carefully constructed warning about the potential future of the world if it continues to misuse censorship, technology, and enforce conformity. The story of â€Å"Fahrenheit 451† was based on the current events in United States during the 1950s. Jack Zipes, in Mass Degradation of Humanity and Massive Contradictions in Bradbury’s Vision of America in â€Å"Fahrenheit 451†, explains â€Å"â€Å"Fahrenheit 451† is discussed in terms of the world’s problems at large when it is essentially bound to the reality of the early 1950s in America, and it is the specificity of the crises endangering the fabric of American society which stamp the narrative concern† (182). The second world war prompted many writers to turn from fantasy fiction to works that dealt with the more serious issues of the time. This was a time when scientists had just discovered and used the atom bomb. For the first time the citizens of the world had to take seriously that idea that with a single technology the entire planet could be destroyed (56). Bradbury’s hatred for such technology can be seen in the novel. Technologies are often described as â€Å"chilling, impersonal gadgets of mechanized anti-culture† (141). In addition, the television was now a common household item used not just for entertainment but also as a means of communicating the daily news. The obsession of mindless entertainment irritated Bradbury, and the citizens of his fictionally world are equally as mindless. As the popularity of the television increased the reading of books decreased. Bradbury, in â€Å"Fahrenheit 451† shows what would happen in a world where literature ceased to exist. The United States was also suffering through misinformed McCarthyism which persecuted supposed communists who wanted to overthrow the government (McGiveron 283). The governmental actions were illegal and unconstitutional and yet they continue to destroy lives with paranoia and power (Zipes 189). Therefore, Bradbury used the forum of a science fiction novel to voice his concerns about the world. He believed that censorship in any form was wrong and the burning of books was really the destruction of knowledge, ideas, and individuality. Bradbury forewarns that if society is to become docile and submissive the government could easily manipulate minds and lives. George Slusser, in Coordinates: Placing Science Fiction and Fantasy, writes â€Å"Although librarians and teachers fought back, the pressure for censorship increased. † (Slusser, Rabkin, and Scholes 104). Oddly enough, â€Å"Fahrenheit 451† has been banned from books shelves and schools since it’s publication. In Bradbury’s futuristic world, the burning of books is normal and the citizens accept this reality without question. People have become mindless, empty beings, at the sole control of their government. Captain Betty reflects â€Å"[Fire’s] real beauty is that it destroys responsibility and consequences. A problem gets too burdensome, then into the furnace with it† (115). He represents the typical citizens in this world that is forced into conformity so long that he is happy to comply. Conformity is seen as the solution to the world’s problems. Keith Booker, in Dystopian Literature: A Theory and Research Guide, observes â€Å"throughout â€Å"Fahrenheit 451† he emphasizes the voluntary participation of the populace in the oppressive policies of the government. â€Å"(89). If there are no differences then there is no conflict, no war, and unfortunately no variety. The unfortunate consequence is that in a world with no pain there can not be happiness. Manipulation through fear is not a fictional concept that Bradbury created. It was real in the 1950s when this novel was published and it is real today (Booker 82) . Just six years ago, the citizens of the United States were manipulated by the government. An act was created in the dark days following the terrorist attacks against the United States on September 11, 2001. It was created to allow the agencies of law enforcement and intelligence to have more authority in order to prevent any future attacks by terrorists on the United States. Additionally, it made available monitoring tools within the United States to aggressively address the Bush administration’s domestic war on terrorism. The draft title of the act was â€Å"Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001†. However, today it is better known as the USA Patriot Act. The Patriot Act was responsible for drastic changes in over 15 important government and constitutional statues. All which lead to the increased ability of the government and law enforcement to secretly monitor, conduct surveillance, and investigate anyone at anytime. The fictional world of Bradbury and out modern society reacted in the same way to violence – handing over our freedoms for a bit of pseudo-safety. The use of propaganda is also used by the government to control it’s citizens. Eric Rabkin, in No Place Else: Explorations in Utopian and Dystopian Fiction, asserts â€Å"The mass of humanity is subjected to the labor process for the purposes of those who control it rather than for any general purposes of ‘humanity’ as such† (123). The incident in the subway is an excellent example of this control. There is a commercial on the subway speaker system for ‘Denham’s Dentrifice’ and as it plays, everyone one the subway is reciting the commercial from memory and the â€Å"words was recreated on the passengers’ lips† (78-80). Censorship is central theme in â€Å"Fahrenheit 451†. Censorship leads to the hiding of the truth. Symbolic of this censorship is the flamethrower which is used to burn books and the houses that contain them ( Slusser, Rabkin, and Scholes 105). It is a way in which the government great rid of individuality and what is considered â€Å"dangerous thought. † The flamethrowers are used by the firemen who are mindless government agents who destroy people’s most valuable possessions each and everyday. It is a weapon of fear used to control individuals in this society. It is this type of technology that Bradbury is most afraid of. He describes their power by explaining â€Å"With the brass nozzle in [Montag’s] fists, with this great python spitting its venomous kerosene upon the world, the blood pounded in his head, and his hands were the hands of some amazing conductor playing all the symphonies of blazing and burning to bring down the tatters and charcoal ruins of history. † (3). Bradbury is quick to mention that the knowledge and literature that took centuries to acquire can easily be destroyed by technology in minutes (Rabkin 127). While Bradbury might have been commenting on the use of the television which seemed to dumb down the intellectual capacity of Americans, his warning is just as useful in the 21st century. The pervasive use and misuse of the Internet has created a new non-tangible world which allows users to communicate but not connect. The Internet has contributed to the lack of individual and unique thought in literature, art, and music. The World Wide Web is also place of anonymity where individuals can hide behind user names, partake in unethical acts, and accept no responsibility for their actions. Rafeeq McGiveron, in â€Å"To Build a Mirror Factory: the Mirror and Self-Examination in Ray Bradbury’s â€Å"Fahrenheit 451†,† explains â€Å"in â€Å"Fahrenheit 451† Ray Bradbury creates an unthinking society so compulsively hedonistic that it must be atom-bombed flat before it ever can be rebuilt. â€Å"(282) . In â€Å"Fahrenheit 451†, Ray Bradbury, warns the general public to the importance of uniqueness and individuality. He urges the audience to fight the government ideals of censorship and forced societal conformity. He asked readers to reflect on their own societies and make changes before it is too late. In Bradbury society written language is forbidden and forgotten about. Citizens are no longer able to think for themselves and holds only the views of the government. Citizens are controlled by fear and degradation of their humanity producing shelled human beings who have no purpose. This story of destruction and hope was created to mirror out own society and to warns modern citizens that human rights need to be fought for, held on too, and cherished. In a time of the rampant evolution of technology we must be vigilant in holding and expressing out rights to be human. If not, out fate is that of the Bradbury’s society, succumbs into to the advancements in technology and being wiped from existence. Works Cited Booker, M. Keith. Dystopian Literature: A Theory and Research Guide. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1994. Bradbury, Ray. â€Å"Fahrenheit 451†. New York: The Ballentine Publishing Group, 1953. McGiveron, Rafeeq O. â€Å"To Build a Mirror Factory: the Mirror and Self-Examination in Ray Bradbury’s â€Å"Fahrenheit 451†. † Critique 39. 3 (1998): 282-287. Questia. 28 Nov. 2007 . Rabkin, Eric S. , Martin H. Greenberg, and Joseph D. Olander, eds. No Place Else: Explorations in Utopian and Dystopian Fiction. Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press, 1983. Slusser, George E., Eric S. Rabkin, and Robert Scholes, eds. Coordinates: Placing Science Fiction and Fantasy. Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press, 1983. Zipes, Jack. â€Å"11 Mass Degradation of Humanity and Massive Contradictions in Bradbury’s Vision of America in â€Å"Fahrenheit 451†. † No Place Else: Explorations in Utopian and Dystopian Fiction. Ed. Eric S. Rabkin, Martin H. Greenberg, and Joseph D. Olander. Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press, 1983. 182-198. .

Feminism present in “The Yellow Wall Paper” & “Girl” Essay

Gender equality has been a prevalent theme writer’s use to deliver their own personal views on the female role in society. This is the case in both â€Å"Girl† by Jamaica Kincaid and â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper† by Charlotte Perkins Gillman. Kincaid and Gillman use their works to present a feminist approach on women’s roles and societal standings in their respective eras. Feminism can be defined as a diverse collection of social theories, moral philosophies and political movements, fundamentally motivated by/ concerning the experiences of women. These experiences have a tendency to revolve around women’s social, political and economic standings. As a social movement, feminism mainly focuses on limiting or eliminating gender inequality and promoting women’s rights, interests’ and issue in society. Feminist literary criticism is literary criticism informed by feminist theory or by the politics of feminism more broadly. Its history has been broad and varied. Kincaid and Gillman are two of many writers whose works adopt this criticism as a way in which to discuss their respected lives pertaining to the view and treatment of women by their societies. In the most common and simple terms, feminist literary criticism before the 1970s (in the first and second waves of feminism) was concerned with the politics of women’s authorship and the representation of women’s condition within literature, this includes the depiction of fictional female characters. The father or in this case the mother of feminist literary criticism, is â€Å"Jane Eyre† written by Charlotte Bronte in 1847. Jane Eyre follows the emotions and experiences of its eponymous character, including her growth to adulthood and her love for Mr. Rochester. The novel contains elements of social criticism, with a resilient sense of morality at its core, but is nonetheless a novel many consider ahead of its time given the individ ualistic character of Jane and the novel’s exploration of classism, sexuality, religion and feminism. In its internalization of the action, the story revolves around the gradual unfolding of Jane’s moral and spiritual awareness and all events are colored by a heightened intensity that were previously confined to poetry. Bronte’s story allows her to be labeled â€Å"the first historian of the private consciousness† and the literary ancestor of Jamaica Kincaid. Jamaica Kincaid-Girl Jamaica Kincaid was born Elaine Potter Richardson in 1949 in Antigua, in the British West Indies, but changed her  name when she started writing because her family disliked her career choice. Her simple change of her name and having to operate under an alias provides and insight to Kincaid’s life. Her family disliking her choice of career gives a suggestion to the societal perception of a woman’s role. Women in society in the 1970s were only beginning to find their voice and Richardson’s family’s disapproval of her career choice, proposes the idea that socie ty were still not comfortable with the newly found voice women had. Jamaica Kincaid’s â€Å"Girl† can be analyzed from a Feminist perspective like Jane Eyre as it also revolves around a young girl’s interaction with her mother. Upon closer examination, the reader sees that the text is a string of images that are the cultural practices and moral principles that a Caribbean woman is passing along to her young daughter. Jamaica Kincaid has taken common advice that daughters are constantly hearing from their mothers and tied them into a series of commands that a mother uses to prevent her daughter from turning into â€Å"the slut that she is so bent on becoming† (Kincaid 23). But they are more than commands; the phrases are a mother’s way of insuring that her daughter has the tools that she needs to survive as an adult. The fact that the mother takes the time to train the daughter in the proper ways for a lady to act in their culture is indicative of their familial love; the fact that there are so many rules and moral p rinciples that are being passed to the daughter indicates that mother and daughter spend a lot of time together. The story is written in the second person point of view, in which the reader is the girl and the speaker (perceived to be her mother) is passing on her interpretation as to what a girl should be. Jeanette Martinez, an English Literature major studying at NYE notes in a paper â€Å"Analyzing ‘Girl’ from a feminist perspective†: â€Å"the diction degrades women; the word â€Å"slut† is used to describe a girl that does not conduct herself like a â€Å"proper† lady.† This is an interesting way in which to observe the diction used by Kincaid. The term â€Å"slut† is used as a negative comparison in which the mother in the story fears her daughter will become. Kincaid using the term â€Å"slut† takes a step in the wrong direction where feminism is concerned. The inclusion of the word and the sexual connotations attached draws attention to women being seen as depraved of morals if they are promiscuous. This word takes attention away from the real message and goal of feminism; equality amongst men and women. Reducing a woman to being  debauched purely on the premise of sexual immorality, takes respect away from women as their moral fiber is not taken into consideration. Martinez then proceeds to discuss how the tone and style of the text can be seen as being â€Å"reflective of Kincaid’s own social stand point.† Martinez states, â€Å"The tone is commanding; we see a repetitive â€Å"this is how† throughout the short story. The style of the short story is in lines, which allows each line to be a command. For example: â€Å"This is how you smile to someone you don’t like too much; This is how you smile at someone you don’t like at all; This is how you smile to someone you like completely’† (Kincaid 24).† The tone and short, sharp manner in which Kincaid decides to communicate the life instructions, is representative of the voice of society and the harsh ways in which it tries to control and impart wisdom/ teachings. The final paragraph is integral to understanding this story from a feminist perspective. Kincaid states; â€Å"But what if the baker won’t let me feel the bread? you mean to say that after all you are really going to be the kind of woman who the baker won’t let near the bread?†. This interaction is essential to understanding and indicating Kincaid’s attempts to comment on her society. This excerpt can be interpreted as the mother challenging the girl’s morals. Kincaid uses this instead, to challenge the girl’s strength as a person. It is seemingly ironic that a mother has harshly demanded the young girl to learn all the mother’s habits and methods, not giving the girl much of a word in any of her decisions. This is Kincaid’s ways to speak directly to her audience and say â€Å"how can the voices of society order women and girls alike to act a certain way without giving them the strength to make these decisions themselves?† Kincaid ultimately uses her story to tell women ‘strength is learned through experience, not instruction.’ The Yellow Wallpaper The Yellow Wallpaper is a feminist text, telling a story about a woman’s struggles against male-centric thinking and societal ‘norms’. The text may be unclear to the reader who is unfamiliar with Gilman’s politics and personal biography, yet, it impresses any reader with the immature treatment of the main character, who remains nameless in the text. To the casual reader, the story is one of a good-meaning, but oppressive husband who drives his wife mad in an attempt to help her, but it story illustrates how established procedures of behavior could have distressing effects on the  women o f Gilman’s time, regardless of the intentions of the source. By late 20th century standards, the behavior of John, the husband, seems unnervingly inappropriate and restrictive, but was considered quite normal in the 19th century. After learning of Gilman’s life, and by reading her commentary and other works, one can readily see that The Yellow Wallpaper has a definite agenda in its quasi-autobiographical style. As revealed in Elaine Hedges’ forward from the Heath Anthology of American Literature, Gilman had a distressed life; because of the choices she had made which disrupted common conventions—from her ‘abandonment’ of her child to her amicable divorce. Knowing that Gilman was a controversial figure for her day, and after reading her other works, it is easy to see more of her feminist suggestions in â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper.† She carefully crafted her sentences and metaphors to instill a picture of vivid and disturbing male oppression. Her descriptions of the house recall a past era; she refers to i t as an ‘ancestral hall’ (Gillman 648) and goes on to give a gothic description of the estate. She falls just short of setting the scene for a ghost story. The reference to old things and the past can be seen as a reference to out-dated practices and treatment of women, as she considers the future to hold more equality. By setting the story in this tone, Gilman alludes to practices of oppression that, in her mind, should be relegated to the past. Charlotte Gillman’s â€Å"The Yellow Wallpaper† and Jamaica Kincaid’s â€Å"Girl† are both great examples of feminism being represented in literature. A feminist text states the author’s agenda for women in society as they relate to oppression by a male-controlled power structure and the consequent creation of social ‘standards’ and ‘protocols’. Kincaid and Gillman’s tales respectively, are outstanding examples of this and are great tales in which the writers point out deficiencies in society regarding equal opportunity. Both texts are used by the writers to discuss their respected lives pertaining to the view and treatment of women by their societies.

Geography essays

Geography essays Every community has a means of production and consumption for goods and services. The amount of goods and service in a community or town vary depending on where the town is located and what manufacturing features the particular town has, including the number of people who help to manufacture and sell the services. By surveying towns, such as Ottawa, Ontario and Aylmer, Ontario, one can discover the underlying economic base of these towns. They are two very distinct towns with very different economies, yet are both located in the province of Ontario, Canada. Ottawa a metropolitan area located in Canada lies near the Ontario and Quebec border. Its early economic staple was a result of the Ottawa River, which allowed for explorers and traders to use it to travel. Shortly after, Ottawa became the fastest growing political city in eastern Canada. However, today Ottawas economic base has drastically changed. Ottawa, being the capital of Canada has now become a tourist attraction and computer related industry. The federal government is its major employer. 17.9% of the Ottawa labour force works in public administration, which is almost 3 % of Canadas total labour force in public administration. As a result, many commercial and financial associations are located in Ottawa. In addition, Ottawas information and culture industry, as well as the science and technology industry have a high labour force. Within the province, 12.3 % of Ottawas labour force is employed in the science and technology industry. Therefore, this industry, along with pub lic administration is considered to be important in benefiting Ottawas economy. Moreover, Ottawa has a very good education system resulting from the 3 major universities that are situated there. In conclusion, Ottawa is mainly a city where business is its primary staple industry. Its physical geography did not influence its economic industry, but rather people have shaped ...

friendly sons of st. patrick essays

friendly sons of st. patrick essays In the 1800s, immigrants from all different countries flooded into the United States for various reasons. Among the different immigrants that came into America were the Irish. The Irish had various long-standing reasons for migrating to the United States. Among those reasons was the resentment of British Protestantism, British landlords, British taxes, British rule, and a long depression that gave them social hardships. Ireland was the most densely populated country in Europe and it was devastated by economic collapse. The average age of death at this time declined down to nineteen (America 523). Another reason why they fled Ireland was the potato rot epidemic in 1845. The potato rot of 1845 brought a great famine to mostly all of rural Ireland and killed almost one million peasants (Irish 463). These events were what began the flood of Irish immigrants into America. Nearly 214,000 thousand Irish emigrated to the United States and Canada in 1847 on ships that were crowded and had very unsanitary conditions. These coffin ships claimed to have great space on board and warmed steerage (America 521). The living conditions turned out to be deadly as it killed thirty percent of all immigrants on board. Among the thirty percent that died, forty thousand were Irish (America 521). The boats arrived in such cities as Boston, Philadelphia, and New York. The immigrants had very little money that could afford a place to stay, so they stayed in the back alleys of buildings and around Catholic churches in the cities were their ships had docked (America 522). The reason the Irish had very little money or no money at all was because they were mostly farmers in Ireland. The Farmers main crop was the potato, which was ravaged by the rot of 1845. The rot had left the farmers with very little or no profit at all on their main crop (America 522). With no mon ey to live off of the Irish would have to go loo...

Dissimilation and Haplology in Phonetics

Dissimilation and Haplology in Phonetics Dissimilation is a general term in phonetics and historical linguistics  for the process by which two neighboring sounds become less alike. Contrast with assimilation.  According to Patrick Bye, the term dissimilation entered the field [of phonology] in the 19th century from rhetoric, where it had been in use to describe the variation in style required for good public speaking (The Blackwell Companion to Phonology, 2011). Dissimilation and Haphology As discussed below, one type of dissimilation is  haplology- a sound change  involving the loss of a syllable when its  next to a phonetically identical (or similar) syllable.  Perhaps the best known example is the reduction of  Anglaland  in Old English to England in Modern English. Haplology is sometimes called  syllabic syncope.  (The counterpart of  haplology  in writing is  haplography- the accidental omission of a letter that should be repeated, such as mispell for misspell.) The Phonetics of English ElisionLanguage ChangePronunciationSegment and SuprasegmentalSound ChangeWhat Is the Correct Pronunciation of February?Word Boundaries Examples of Dissimilation [An] example of dissimilation is the substandard pronunciation of chimney as chimley, with the second of two nasals changed to an [l]. The ultimate dissimilation is the complete loss of one sound because of its proximity to another similar sound. A frequent example in present-day standard English is the omission of one of two [r] sounds from words like cate(r)pillar, Cante(r)bury, rese(r)voir, terrest(r)ial, southe(r)ner, barbitu(r)ate, gove(r)nor, and su(r)prised.(John Algeo and Thomas Pyles, The Origins and Development of the English Language, 5th ed. Thomson, 2005) Dissimilation of Liquid Consonants ​Consider [an] example of dissimilation of liquid consonants that took place when the suffix -al attached to some Latin nouns to make adjectives. The regular suffixation process gives us pairs like the following: orbit/orbital, person/personal, culture/cultural, electric/electrical. However, when an /l/ precedes the ending anywhere in the root, the ending is changed from -al to -ar as a result of dissimilation: single/singular, module/modular, luna/lunar. (Kristin Denham and Anne Lobeck, Linguistics for Everyone. Wadsworth, 2010) Assimilation v. Dissimilation ​Assimilation is far more common than dissimilation; assimilation is usually regular, general throughout the language, though sometimes it can be sporadic. Dissimilation is much rarer and is usually not regular (is sporadic), though dissimilation can be regular. Dissimilation often happens at a distance (is non-adjacent) . . .. (Lyle Campbell, Historical Linguistics: An Introduction. MIT Press, 2004) Causes and Effects of Haphology ​We say that assimilation and dissimilation are changes that result in an increase or decrease, respectively, in the degree of phonetic similarity between two segments. It is tempting to think that such changes in the one segment are somehow caused by the phonetics of the other, and for generations that is actually how the matter has usually been presented. . . . But this is a confusion of cause and effect. It is true that the effect of the change is a net increase/decrease of similarity between two segments, but it is begging the question (to say the least) to assume that the degree of similarity is also somehow the cause of the change. The fact is that very little is known of the actual mechanisms of these changes, commonplace as they are. (Andrew L. Sihler, Language History: An Introduction. John Benjamins, 2000) Haplology Haplology  . . . is the name given to the change in which a repeated sequence of sounds is simplified to a single occurrence. For example, if the word  haplology  were to undergo haplology (were to be haplologized), it would reduce the sequence  lolo  to  lo,  haplology  Ã‚  haplogy. Some real examples are: (1) Some varieties of English reduce   library  to libry [laibri] and   probably  to probly [prÉ”bli].(2)   pacifism  pacificism (contrast with   mysticism  mysticism, where the repeated sequence is not reduced and does not end up as   mystism).(3) English   humbly  was   humblely  in Chaucers time, pronounced with three syllables, but has been reduced to two syllables (only one   l) in modern standard English.  (Lyle Campbell,   Historical Linguistics: An Introduction, 2nd ed. MIT Press, 2004) The Haphology Effect The  haplology  effect can often be heard in the casual  pronunciation  of each of these words: February, probably, regularly, and similarly.  The words  library  and  necessary, especially as spoken in Southern England, are often heard by foreigners as  libry  and  nessary. But when they repeat the words as such, they do not sound right, since there should be a lengthened  r  and  s, respectively, in those words. It shows that foreigners notice the beginning stages of  haplology  in those words, when there is as yet no complete haplology. (Yuen Ren Chao,  Language and Symbolic Systems. Cambridge University Press, 1968)

Mrs. Fields Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Mrs. Fields - Case Study Example Mrs. Field’s cookies can be characterized as a quite successful organization. The growth of the organization in the US market should be related to the capabilities and the characteristics of its founders, Debbi Sivyer and Randy Fields. At the first instance, meaning the time when they met, the resumes of Debbi and Randy were different; Debbi was trying to explore her skills in cooking while Randy had graduated from a first class university, Stanford, aiming to develop his future in economics. From this point of view, the future of Debbi and Randy would be expected, then, to be different. There would be no expectations, then, that the above persons, with different background and skills, would cooperate in a business, such as Mrs. Field’s cookies. Instead, Randy would be expected to become a successful economist, while Debbi would be expected to continue working in different roles, possibly increasing her skills in baking. However, the marriage of Debbi and Randy can be c onsidered as having an important role in the opening of their business. In accordance with the information provided through the case study, Debbi and Randy had different goals in regard to their business. Debbi aimed ‘to bake great cookies’ (case study, p.2) while Randy thought the specific initiative as a profitable investment, taking into consideration the market needs for products of the particular characteristics. Under these terms, it is assumed that Debbi and Randy supported the opening of the first store for promoting their own aims, as described above. The potential existence of common interest, referring to the family income that would be generated through the particular project, was also a critical reason that led to the support of this initiative both by Debbi and Randy. The opening of the second store resulted to an important dilemma for Debbi: Debbi

Nuclear generators Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Nuclear generators - Term Paper Example The steam is then used to power the turbines that generate power. In nuclear generators, the fuel comes from nuclear fission, which is essentially the breakdown of the nucleus of a heavy atom into two smaller and lighter nuclei. The primary fuel in nuclear generators is uranium, either enriched, in its natural state, or in combination with plutonium. ... This is true for so-called reactors that are based on light-water designs, and the table below details the different types of decay, emitted radiation, and the associated charge, mass and energy (National Academy of Sciences): Table Source: National Academy of Sciences Decay Process Radiation Emitted Mass (amu) Electrical Charge Typical Energy (MeV) Alpha Emission Alpha particle (?) 4 +2 4–9 Beta Emission Beta particle () 0.0005 ?1 0–3 Positron Emission Positron (?+) 0.0005 +1 0–3 Â   Two gamma-rays (?) 0 0 0.51 Electron Capture Characteristic x-ray 0 0 0–0.1 Internal Transition Gamma-ray (?) 0 0 0.1–3 Internal Conversion Converted electron (e?) 0.0005 ?1 0.1–1 Â   Characteristic x-ray 0 0 0.0–1 Neutron Emission Neutron (n) 1 0 0–14 Spontaneous Fission (e.g., Cf-252) Fission products and other radiations — — ?200 Table Source: National Academy of Sciences As earlier discussed, power is generated in nuclear power generators/reactors largely through fission, and largely through the use of two types of radioactive fuels, namely uranium and plutonium, either alone or in combination. The plot below provides what are called yield curves for two fuel types, uranium-235 and plutonium 239, as a function of the mass number (National Academy of Sciences; World Nuclear Association; Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory): Graph Source: National Academy of Sciences/CPSMA Fission yields are related to the amount of the element that is generated for every fission reaction that occurs. The yield curve that is generated is basically the same for every kind of known fission reaction, and so the plot above is universalizable and replicable,

Sickle Cell Trait Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Sickle Cell Trait - Research Paper Example Normal red blood cells are smooth and round and therefore can easily move through blood vessels. Sickle cell trait (AS) differs from sickle cell disease (SS) in which two abnormal hemoglobin genes is present, one from each parent. Sickle cell disease is a genetic disorder that affects red blood cells, making them rigid, sticky and sickle shaped. Sickling causes plugging of blood vessels to occur which essentially hinders the transport of oxygen from lungs to various organs in the body. The objective of this paper is to highlight the various aspects of the sickle cell trait namely the historical evidences, mode of inheritance and its various complications. Historical evidences: The first case of death due to sickle cell trait was documented between March 1968 and February 1969 at Fort Bliss where four army recruits collapsed and died during basic training. Since 2000, nine college football players have died from sickle cell trait complications, by far the biggest non-traumatic killer in the sport. In March 2008, a jury finds the UCF Athletics Association negligent in the death of 19-year old Erech Plancher, who collapsed and died after offseason conditioning drills. ... When both parents have the trait, their child will have a 50% chance of having the trait (hemoglobin AS), as well as a 25% chance of being normal (hemoglobin AA) and a 25% chance of having sickle cell disease (hemoglobin SS). These risks are associated with each pregnancy. Linus Pauling asserts "I have suggested that the time might come in the future when information about heterozygosity in such serious genes as the sickle cell anemia gene would be tattooed on the forehead of the carriers, so that young men and women would at once be warned not to fall in love with each other." Complications: Sickle cell trait is normally considered a harmless condition, but extreme physical activity can lead to complications that can be fatal. Complications from sickle cell trait are important because about three million people in the United States have this genotype, about 40 to 50 times the number with sickle cell disease. (Kark 2000). When the individual is at rest, their red blood cells are norm al but rigorous exercise regimes induce sickling to occur and cause several problems. Such problems include increased urinary tract infection in women, gross hematuria, splenic infarction with altitude hypoxia or exercise, and life-threatening complications of exercise, exertional heat illness (exertional rhabdomyolysis, heat stroke, or renal failure) or idiopathic sudden death (Sears 1978; Serjeant 1992; Kark and Ward 1994 and Sears 1994). We will consider each of these problems in more detail. The frequency of urinary tract infection is higher in women with SCT than in racially matched controls, especially during pregnancy, when the frequency is about double (Pastore, Savitz and Thorp 1990). The presence of SCT in men was not associated with

Sustainability Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Sustainability - Essay Example ..7 SUSTAINABILITY†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.8 REFERENCES†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦..9 FIGURE†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦PAGE # Fig 1†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.6 INTRODUCTION:- There are extensive pressures on the nations to meet the water demands according ly because of international conflicts, economic crisis, poverty, and water availability etc. PCA states that only 0.3 percent of total water is can be used for drinking purposes (PCA, 2005).Global issues stated from the report that 1.1 billion people in developing countries having inadequate access to water (Global issues, 2010). Not only a management that is expert in the level is required but along with it there is a need to use alternatives water resources for the future water use that is affordable and even if it is not, then external funding for the transfer of the water is required. It tells us that sea water can be used in the developing countries for the different water use requirements. Although the water treatment for the sea water is not an easy task, but still it can be used as an alternative water source. Still the transferring of sea water to different parts of the developing countries could be costly, and extensive water supply engineering is required and a need to ma nage these water storage and transport facilities is a matter of cost and debate. National geographic society states that if water source is not within one kilometer range then per capita consumption drops to 5 liters/person (National Geographic News, 2003). The sea water hence could be used as a water resource in the developing countries, but along with this intervention, the need to recycle the sea water must also be taken into consideration. Specially for domestic purposes it could be used as a good alternatives source, but for drinking it depends on the area and geography, that either other clean drinking water resources are present in the country or not. The sea water could be used after the treatments such as distillation, electrolysis, and reverse osmosis. The countries such as Pakistan, Africa, India, Srilanka, Nepal, Srilanka, Bangladesh, Kenya, South Africa are the countries that are exposed with the sea water and these nations has from little to extensive problems of wate r scarcity or water quality. There is a need to design the treatment plants for sea water purification, the water transport facility, water supply engineering to closely related areas, and the reservoirs for containment. Houston news states that non-profit organization brings ways to solve the problems of third world countries (Houston News, 2011). Also Life Science states that 15000 desalination plants are there in the world working and more with cheaper costs are estimated (Life science, 2011). SPECIFICATION:- These are the stated initial design specifications that are important for the project to be implemented. Rough design requirements for the

Evaluation of the Proposal for an Original TV Drama Movie Review

Evaluation of the Proposal for an Original TV Drama - Movie Review Example The plot of this book revolves around the life and experiences of Darlene Deibler Rose, the wife of an American missionary, in Dutch New Guinea during the World War II. Thus the story has all the requisite ingredients that go into the making of an engrossing TV drama, be it the situations marked by raw violence and senseless intolerance, moments of intense emotional turmoil and amorphous internal conflicts, an innate possibility for action that gives ample scope for bringing in intermittent physicality to keep the screen alive and moving, a parallel and ongoing emotional and spiritual growth of the main character and an inspiring message. This TV drama will certainly succeed in evoking the feelings of pity and fear of the audience, thereby making way for a scope for catharsis, which the contemporary viewers desperately need. The unfolding of the plot amidst the scenes of a Japanese invasion and a lush and green tropical landscape do imbue the story with an exotic appeal and uniquenes s. Unique Protagonist Darlene Deibler Rose stands to be a unique character that is bound to attract the attention and interest of a large audience. Her actions and dialogues in the drama will definitely present a set of unique emotional, intellectual and moral qualities that will facilitate a sense of stability and timelessness in this ever changing world. In today’s fast paced and digitalized world, there exists a basic human need for stability and anchorage. Thus the viewers will conclusively respond in an embracing manner to the exceptionally assuring aspirations, nature and temperament of Darlene revealed in an environment marred by a more then bearable physical and mental torture and abuse.Amidst the heart rending and pathetically flat vengeance and hatred projected by the Japanese soldiers, Darlene will certainly stand out as a well rounded character that continually evolves from the beginning to the end amidst a scenario of crisis and confinement. Hence the quintessential message of the sto ry is that of hope, faith and persistence, which will unexceptionally transcend all the barriers of gender, race, status, age, ethnicity and nationality. This is what is exactly required in any successful TV drama, an inherent ability to extend the scope of the plot to the essential human element in the viewers, which is ubiquitous and outdoes all the superficial differences. Therefore the proposed adaptation is laden with an immense human and commercial scope and is expected to accrue the loyalty and patronage of a broad based and variegated viewership. Commercial Viability The project smacks of a strong commercial viability. The basic criteria that any well received TV drama, as any other well sold product, needs to qualify is that it must recognize a dire need existing amongst the audience and must satisfy that need. The contemporary audience yearn for an emotional experience that they can relate to and identify with at some level. At the same time, they want that experience to be far placed in time and space, so as to facilitate the required intellectual distance to reflect on the

Censent and Research (CASE) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Censent and Research (CASE) - Essay Example The bone marrows in this case are unable to synthesize blood cells that are healthy (Leonard, 1998, p. 15). The abnormal white cells produced extend to other body parts causing damage. Chronic leukemia is the type of leukemia diagnosis that progresses slowly. It can be identified as the early stages since its impact to the body is not as intense as those of acute leukemia but can not be under estimated since it is equally dangerous. In chronic leukemia, the abnormal white cells are generated at a faster rate than the white cells. As time goes by, the abnormal white cells over power the normal white cells. The treatment approaches vary depending on the stage of the disease. The kind of patient may also make the treatment approach vary from one patient to another. Children are very delicate patient when it comes to leukemia disease. Most leukemia patients who are below the age of 15years experience the early stages of the disease. Leukemia becomes intense from the age of 15years and above. When dealing with young patients such as children with leukemia, the people close to them are supposed to be aware of the changes that might be caused by the medical condition of these patients. Most parents may tend to ask ‘what kind of changes is their child suffering from leukemia likely to experience?’The changes may be physical or mental. Leukemia patients experience negative emotions such as sadness and fear during the advanced stages of the medical conditions. During these moments, the family members or the people close to the patient need to give a close attention to the patient in order to help him or her deal with the changes efficiently without causing more harm to his or her body that my worsen the condition (Peacock, 2000, p. 37). Children in this case need a lot of physical therapies because they my not be able to deal with the negative changes maturely. Parents with children who are undergoing these medical

Evaluation of the Proposal for an Original TV Drama Movie Review

Evaluation of the Proposal for an Original TV Drama - Movie Review Example The plot of this book revolves around the life and experiences of Darlene Deibler Rose, the wife of an American missionary, in Dutch New Guinea during the World War II. Thus the story has all the requisite ingredients that go into the making of an engrossing TV drama, be it the situations marked by raw violence and senseless intolerance, moments of intense emotional turmoil and amorphous internal conflicts, an innate possibility for action that gives ample scope for bringing in intermittent physicality to keep the screen alive and moving, a parallel and ongoing emotional and spiritual growth of the main character and an inspiring message. This TV drama will certainly succeed in evoking the feelings of pity and fear of the audience, thereby making way for a scope for catharsis, which the contemporary viewers desperately need. The unfolding of the plot amidst the scenes of a Japanese invasion and a lush and green tropical landscape do imbue the story with an exotic appeal and uniquenes s. Unique Protagonist Darlene Deibler Rose stands to be a unique character that is bound to attract the attention and interest of a large audience. Her actions and dialogues in the drama will definitely present a set of unique emotional, intellectual and moral qualities that will facilitate a sense of stability and timelessness in this ever changing world. In today’s fast paced and digitalized world, there exists a basic human need for stability and anchorage. Thus the viewers will conclusively respond in an embracing manner to the exceptionally assuring aspirations, nature and temperament of Darlene revealed in an environment marred by a more then bearable physical and mental torture and abuse.Amidst the heart rending and pathetically flat vengeance and hatred projected by the Japanese soldiers, Darlene will certainly stand out as a well rounded character that continually evolves from the beginning to the end amidst a scenario of crisis and confinement. Hence the quintessential message of the sto ry is that of hope, faith and persistence, which will unexceptionally transcend all the barriers of gender, race, status, age, ethnicity and nationality. This is what is exactly required in any successful TV drama, an inherent ability to extend the scope of the plot to the essential human element in the viewers, which is ubiquitous and outdoes all the superficial differences. Therefore the proposed adaptation is laden with an immense human and commercial scope and is expected to accrue the loyalty and patronage of a broad based and variegated viewership. Commercial Viability The project smacks of a strong commercial viability. The basic criteria that any well received TV drama, as any other well sold product, needs to qualify is that it must recognize a dire need existing amongst the audience and must satisfy that need. The contemporary audience yearn for an emotional experience that they can relate to and identify with at some level. At the same time, they want that experience to be far placed in time and space, so as to facilitate the required intellectual distance to reflect on the

Economics Summary and review paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

Economics Summary and review paper - Essay Example Further, he discusses the often absurd state of being human, along with the challenges that our often conflicting needs and wants pose. In doing so, Simon conceptualizes the constructs humans use to make sense of their condition and how they apply a "common denominator" to the various claims that are made on our conflicting stimuli, which may be called the "Good" or "utility." His penchant for the human element is what led him to the social sciences is general, and economics more specifically. Simon depicts economics as "an interest in human decision making, and especially an interest in how human beings cope with the complexities, the uncertainties, and the goal conflicts and incommensurabilities of everyday personal and professional life." He asserts that economics is a critical discipline because "the allocation of individual or organizational resources - how it is done, and how it ought to be done - remains a central question about the human condition." In order to address this central question of allocation, Simon found it necessary to migrate from his "home disciplines" of political science and economics into uncharted territory, such as psychology, computer science and artificial intelligence. According to Simon, these disciplines are where he has spent the bulk of his time since reaching this realization. This broadened view of economics provided Simon with tremendous insight into human economic behavior. He "saw a creature of bounded rationality using techniques of heuristic search to find satisficing - good-enough - courses of action." His expanded disciplinary experience enabled him to apply computer modeling to "show that these techniques could account for the data of human problem solving in a range of both simple and complex situations." Simon's ideas, by his own admission, remain outside of the mainstream of modern economics, but he asserts that they will eventually find their way into the main stream. He maintains that "they provide a realistic picture of human choice, a picture that may instruct us about some of the most puzzling problems confronting economics today: decision making under uncertainty, business cycles with their accompanying natural or unnatural unemployment, the role of entrepreneurship in investment, and others." He goes on to consider the duties incumbent on humans from an economic standpoint, both positive and negative. These duties might be considered from an individual and societal point of view, and encompass the realm from doing no harm to leaving at least as attractive a range of options to future generations to eliminating poverty. He concludes that a merger of scientific disciplines such as he embraced in his own life holds the promise of offering better answers than the parochialism of life-long adherence to a single discipline. Ultimately, Simon has sought to apply concrete science and mathematics to social science as a "field of virgin snow on which one could imprint one's characters." His interdisciplinary approach promises to raise and answer questions for economics that might not otherwise have entered our consciousness. "Scientific Humanism as an Ideal," Shigeto

Business Ethics in Bangladesh Essay Example for Free

Business Ethics in Bangladesh Essay Social responsibility requires individuals engaging in business endeavors to behave in an ethical manner. Ethics are principles of behavior that distinguish between right and wrong. Ethical conduct conforms to what a group or society as a whole considers right behavior. People working in business frequently face ethical questions. Business ethics is the evaluation of business activities and behavior as right or wrong. Ethical standards in business are based on commonly accepted principles of behavior established by the expectations of society, the firm, the industry, and an individual’s personal values. Critically, Business Ethics can be defined as the critical, structured examination of how people institutions should behave in the world of commerce. In particular, it involves examining appropriate constraints on the pursuit of self-interest, or (for firms) profits, when the actions of individuals or firms affects others. (9) With unethical business practices often receiving publicity, the public sometimes believe that people in business are less ethical than others in society. But ethical problems challenge all segments of our society, including government, churches, and higher education. Most business leaders realize their firms cannot succeed without the trust of customers and the goodwill of society. A violation of ethics makes trust and goodwill difficult to maintain. In thousands of companies, executives and employees act according to the highest ethical standards. Unfortunately managers in some firms behave unethically, and these instances are often highly publicized. Personnel executive say the major reason managers behave unethically is to obtain power and money. Business ethics is a wider term that includes many other sub ethics that are relevant to the respective field. For example there is marketing ethics for marketing, ethics in HR for Human Resource Department and the like. Business ethics itself is a part of applied ethics; the latter takes care of ethical questions in the technical, social, legal and business ethics. Origin of Business Ethics When we trace the origin of business ethics we start with a period where profit maximization was seen as the only purpose of existence for a business. There was no consideration whatsoever for non-economic values, be  it the people who worked with organizations or the society that allowed the business to flourish. It was only in late 1980’s and 1990’s that both intelligentsia and the academics as well as the corporate began to show interest in the same. Nowadays almost all organizations lay due emphasis on their responsibilities towards the society and the nature and they call it by different names like corporate social responsibility, corporate governance or social responsibility charter. Primary and Important Sources of Business ethics Ethics in general refers to a system of good and bad, moral and immoral, fair and unfair. It is a code of conduct that is supposed to align behaviors within an organization and the social framework. But the question that remains is, where and when did business ethics come into being? Primarily ethics in business is affected by the following sources – family, religion, culture, legal system, codes of conduct, and personal experience. It is for this reason we do not have uniform or completely similar standards across the globe. These factors exert influences to varying degrees on humans which ultimately get reflected in the ethics of the organization. For example, ethics followed by Grameen Phone Ltd. are different from those followed by Square Group or Unilever for that matter. Again ethical procedures vary across geographic boundaries. Family A person’s values is the source of their ethics, and it is their philosophy, spiritual or religious beliefs that usually help mold and shape those values, but most of all it is how a person is raised by his family that sets the foundation for his ethics in later life. It’s the basic source of business ethics. Religion It is one of the oldest foundations of ethical standards. Religion wields varying influences across various sects of people. It is believed that ethics is a manifestation of the divine and so it draws a line between the good and the bad in the society. Depending upon the degree of religious influence we have different sects of people; we have sects, those who are referred to as orthodox or fundamentalists and those who are called as moderates. Needless to mention, religion exerts itself to a greater degree among the orthodox and to lesser extent in case of moderates. Fundamentally however all the religions operate on the principle of reciprocity towards ones fellow beings! Culture Culture is a pattern of behaviors and values that are transferred from one generation to another, those that are considered as ideal or within the acceptable limits. No wonder therefore that it is the culture that predominantly determines what is wrong and what is right. It is the culture that defines certain behavior as acceptable and others as unacceptable. Human civilization is fact has passed through various cultures, wherein the moral code was redrafted depending upon the epoch that was. What was immortal or unacceptable in certain culture became acceptable later on and vice versa. During the early years of human development where ones who were the strongest were the ones who survived! Violence, hostility and ferocity were thus the acceptable. Approximately 10,000 year ago when human civilization entered the settlement phase, hard work, patience and peace were seen as virtues and the earlier ones were considered otherwise. These values are still in practice by the managers of to day. Still further, when human civilization witnessed the industrial revolution, the ethics of agrarian economy was replaced by the law pertaining to technology, property rights etc. Ever since a tussle has ensued between the values of the agrarian and the industrial economy! Laws or Legal System of a Country Laws are procedures and code of conduct that are laid down by the legal system of the state. They are meant to guide human behavior within the social fabric. The major problem with the law is that all the ethical expectations cannot be covered by the law and specially with ever changing outer environment the law and specially with ever changing outer environment the law keeps on changing but often fails to keep pace. In business, complying with the rule of law is taken as ethical behavior, but organizations often break laws by evading taxes, compromising on quality,  service norms etc. Business Codes of Conduct A business code of ethics is a series of established principles an organization uses when operating in business or society. Organizations often develop these codes to ensure that all individuals working in the company operate according to the same standards. Most individuals have an internal code of ethics or moral principles they follow in life. A situation one individual finds ethically reprehensible may not seem so to another individual. Using a code of ethics in business attempts to create a basic understanding of acceptable ethical behavior to be used when handling situations involving the company, government agencies and the general public. Past Experience If an individual is rewarded or is not punished for behaving unethically, the behavior will probably be repeated. This type of experience encourages other to do unethical things in future. Likewise the threat of punishment and the lack of reward for unethical activities encourage that particular person and all others to behave ethically. Factors Influencing Ethical Behavior To encourage ethical behavior, executives, managers, and owners of firms must understand what influences behavior in the first place. The several factors that affect individuals’ behavior in business: the business environment, organizational factors, and an individual’s personal moral philosophy. The Business Environment Almost daily, business managers face ethical dilemmas resulting from the pressure of the business environment. They are challenged to meet sales quotas, cut costs, increase efficiency, or overtake competitors. Managers and employees may sometimes think the only way to survive in the competitive world of business is by deception or cheating. In some instances, an organization may use someone else’s successful work without the permission of the owner or originator. Conflict of interest is another common ethical problem stemming from the business environment. Often an individual has a  chance to further selfish interests rather than the interests of the organization or society. To gain favor with people who make purchasing decisions for their companies, a seller may offer special favors or gifts, ranging from a metal to clothing to trips. Some offer cash-a kickback-for putting through a contract or placing orders with a company. Others offer bribes. Such illegal conduct will damage the organization in the long run. In order to limit unethical behavior, business firms must begin by expecting their employees to obey all laws and regulations. The international business environment presents further ethical dilemmas. Business people and government officials in different countries and cultures often operate according to different ethical standards. The Organization The organization itself also influences ethical behavior. Individuals often learn ethical or unethical behaviors by interacting with others in the organization. An employee who sees a superior or co-worker behaving unethically may follow suit. An organization can also use rewards to influence the behavior of its members. If an individual is rewarded or is not punished for behaving unethically, the behavior will probably be repeated. Likewise the threat of punishment and the lack of reward for unethical activities encourage ethical behavior. The severity of punishment also sends a message to other individuals who might be considering similar activities. The Individual Values A person’s own moral philosophy also influences his or her ethical behavior. A moral philosophy is the set of principles that dictate acceptable behavior. These principles are learned from family, friends, co-workers, and other social groups and through formal education. In developing a moral philosophy, individuals can follow two approaches: The Humanistic Philosophy focuses on individual rights and values. Individuals and organizations adopting this philosophy would honor their moral duties to customers and workers. Individuals and organizations following the Utilitarian Philosophy seek the greatest good for the largest number of people. Importance of Business Ethics Most of us would agree that it is ethics in practice that makes sense; just having it carefully drafted and redrafted in books may not serve the purpose. Of course all of us want to be fair, clean and beneficial to the society. For that to happen, organizations need to abide by ethics or rule of law, engage themselves in fair practices and competition; all of which will benefit the consumer, the society and organization. Primarily it is the individual, the consumer, the employee or the human social unit of the society who benefits from ethics. In addition ethics is important because of the following: 1. Satisfying Basic Human Needs: Being fair, honest and ethical is one of the basic human needs.  Every employee desires to be such himself and to work for an organization that is fair and ethical in its practices. 2. Creating Credibility: An organization that is believed to be driven by moral values is respected in the society even by those who may have no information about the working and businesses of that organization. British American Tobacco, for example is perceived as an organization for good corporate governance and social responsibility initiatives. This perception is held far and wide even by those who do not even know what business the organization is into. 3. Uniting People and Leadership: An organization driven by values is revered by its employees also. They are the common thread that brings the employees and the decision makers on a common platform. This goes a long way in aligning behaviors within the organization towards achievement of one common goal or mission. 4. Improving Decision Making: A man’s destiny is the sum totals of all the decisions that he/she takes in course of his life. The same holds true for organizations. Decisions are driven by values. For example, an organization that does not value competition will be fierce in its operations aiming to wipe out its competitors and establish a monopoly in the market. 5. Long Term gains: Organizations guided by ethics and values are profitable in the long run, though in the short run they may seem to lose money. For Example, Tata group, one of the largest business conglomerates in India was  seen on the verge of decline at the beginning of 1990’s, which soon turned out to be otherwise. The same company’s Tata NANO car was predicted as a failure, and failed to do well but the same is picking up fast now. 6. Securing the Society: Often ethics succeeds law in safeguarding the society. The law machinery is often found acting as a mute spectator, unable to save the society and the environment. Technology, for example is growing at such a fast pace that the by the time law comes up with a regulation we have a newer technology with new threats replacing the older one. Lawyers and public interest litigations may not help a great deal but ethics can. Business Ethics- Practice in Bangladesh In Bangladesh, though practice of Business ethics is still not so commendable in public sector and small companies, but business ethics has been an increasing concern among larger companies, at least since the 1990s. Major corporations increasingly fear the damage to their image associated with press revelations of unethical practices. The following information about the functions relating ethics and social responsibility of 2 reputed companies of our country will give a brief idea about the practice of Business Ethics in Bangladesh. ACI Limited Advanced Chemical Industries (ACI) Limited is one of the leading conglomerates in Bangladesh, with a multinational heritage. They have a mission to achieve business excellence through quality by understanding, accepting, meeting and exceeding customer expectations. They follow International Standards on Quality Management System to ensure consistent quality of products and services to achieve customer satisfaction. They are focusing on improving the food habit of consumers through providing more ready to cook products and ready to eat as well. Their visions are to establish harmonious relationship with the community and promote greater environmental responsibility within its sphere of influence. Their Values are Quality, Customer Focus, Fairness, Transparency, Continuous Improvement, and Innovation. Ethical Approaches: Societal Development through Educational Programs: ACI’s guiding principle in all its operations is to be a responsible corporate citizen. Thus Social Responsibility is a top priority for every individual at ACI. Their Initiatives and significant contribution to societal development is Continued Medical Education (CME) for medical professionals and Children’s Education Programs. ACI has also undertaken an English Education program in Faridpur, one of the remotest districts of Bangladesh. This provides support to teach English Language to school going children. Doctors in Bangladesh who are not living in the metropolitan cities have very limited access to the Internet or any other sources of information. In order to keep them updated on the developments in the medical practices regularly, the CME program has been proven highly effective. ACI believes that by promoting education of children, they are contributing to societal development by shaping the minds of their futur e leaders. Environment Friendly Practices: ACI has undertaken extensive programs to educate crop farmers all over rural Bangladesh in Good Agricultural Practices. They have a team of agricultural experts working at the field level all across the country, holding a range of technical trainings and field demonstrations. ACI also has similar education programs for animal and poultry farmers. These include, Technical trainings on diverse aspects of farming, and on application of new technologies, Farmers‘ group meeting for sharing of learning and experience, Free visits to farms by veterinarians, to identify problems and give advices to individual farmers. Most importantly, making the farmers aware of ways to protect the environment from hazardous uses of chemicals on their farms, allowing them the opportunity for informed decision-making. ACI hopes to continue to play a leading role in promoting greater environmental responsibility among farmers in Bangladesh. Unethical Approaches: ACI Company produces some products which do not work properly, like ACI Aerosol. It is mainly produced for killing mosquitoes, but that’s not true. Most of the mosquitoes go away for sometimes but not killed. Sometimes some  products like ACI Atta, ACI Maida, etc contains 1975 grams instead of 2000 grams but they fix their prices for 2kg of the products. These are unethical for their marketing practices. Unilever Bangladesh Limited Over the last four decades, Unilever Bangladesh has been constantly bringing new and world class products for the Bangladeshi people to remove the daily drudgery of life. Over 90% of the country’s households use one or more of Unilever products. They aim to give everybody a little something to celebrate about themselves every day. They believe that to succeed in business, it is essential to maintain the highest standards of corporate behavior towards everyone they work with, the communities they touch, and the environment on which they have an impact. Ethical Approaches: Effective Code of business principles: Their code of business principles describes the operational standards that everyone at Unilever follows, wherever they are in the world. It also supports their approach to governance and corporate responsibility. Code of business principles are- Standard of conduct, Obey the law, employees, consumers, shareholders, business partners, community involvement, public activities, the environment, innovation, competition, business integrity, conflict of interest, compliance, reporting, monitor. Women Development and Women Empowerment: Unilever strongly believes in the importance of empowering women in Bangladesh, because the progress of any society will be constrained if a significant part of its population is neglected and excluded from the benefits of development. They believe, with economic and educational empowerment, women can become more vocal about their rights and become stronger in withstanding repression in any form. So they have established â€Å"Fair Lovely Foundation†. The mission of this foundation is to encourage economic empowerment of Bangladeshi women through information and resources in the areas of Education, Career and Enterprise. It is this realization that has brought about the Fair Lovely Foundation Scholarship Program. Under this scholarship scheme, women who have passed their HSC each receives a Taka 25,000 scholarship to support her tertiary level education. Unethical Approaches: Unilever produces Fair lovely fairness cream, lotion, etc and they claim that skin color will be white after using this product. But that it is not true. There are no scientific values about whiteness. This is totally unethical performance in marketing activities of this company. Comparative Customer Evaluation on Ethical Performances of 3 Reputed Companies of Bangladesh Figure Customer Response on Maintenance of Ethical Procedure by the Companies (1) Figure Customer Response on Deceptive Practices Used by the Companies (1) Figure Customer Response on Significant Contribution toward Ethical Marketing (1) Figure Customer Response on Satisfaction through Using Products of the Companies (1) Figure Customer Response on Changing of Defective Products by the Companies (1) Bribery Nepotism- A Curse against Ethical Practice Corruption is a very strong example of unethical behavior and it is still prevailing in different business sectors of our country in the form of Bribery and Nepotism. Nepotism is the way in which someone approaches and compels a person of power and authority to take necessary steps to get his work done by capitalizing kinship, friendship or political lobbying. Bribery means offering gifts, money etc. to get a work done in unethical way. Often public officers are infamously alleged for taking bribes to award public contracts using their power. Bribery and Nepotism also exist in the corporate world, which is very harmful for ethical practices and creates hindrances in building proper and ethical business environment. Managing or Encouraging Ethical Behavior Managing the financial operations of a company can be a complex effort. Companies need to balance their desire to grow with the realities of maintaining their financial relationships, satisfying their investors and making a profit. Government Regulations: The government can do so by legislating more stringent regulations. But, rules require enforcement and when in many cases there is evidence of lack of enforcement even the ethical business person will tend to slip something by without getting caught. Increased regulation may help, but it surely cannot solve the entire business ethics problems. Trade Associations Setting Guidelines: Trade associations can and often do provide ethical guidelines for their members. These organizations within particular industries are in an excellent position to exert pressures on members that stoop to questionable business practices. Companies Providing Code of Ethics: Employees can more easily determine and adopt acceptable behavior when companies provide them with a code of ethics. Such codes are perhaps the most effective way to encourage ethical behavior. A code of ethics is a written guide to acceptable and ethical behavior that outlines uniform policies, standards and punishments for violations. Because employees know what is expected of them and what will happen if they violate the rules, a code of ethics goes a long way towards encouraging ethical behavior. However, codes cannot possibly cover every situation. Companies must also create an environment in which employees recognize the importance of complying with the written code. Managers must provide direction by fostering communication, actively modeling and encouraging ethical decision making, apart from investing in training employees to make ethical decisions. Whistle Blowing Technique: Sometimes, even employees who want to act ethically may find it difficult to do so. Unethical practices can become ingrained in an organization. Employees with high personal ethics may then take a controversial step called whistle blowing. Whistle blowing is informing the press or government officials about unethical practices in an organization. Whistle blowing could have averted disaster and prevented  needless deaths in the Challenger space shuttle disaster, for example. How could employees have known about life-threatening problems and let them pass? Whistle blowing on the other hand, can have serious repercussions for employees; those who make waves sometimes lose their jobs. Conclusion The main objective of business is to serve people with their every need for the well-being of human being and to ensure that, there is no alternative of following business ethics. Since the practice of business ethics in our country is still not ubiquitous, we are not getting the proper environment for the business, and thus often we are facing some crisis situation and it is hampering our total economic development. Our policy makers and the top executives of the organizations should give more concern in making ethical policies and take proper steps to encourage business executives and service holders to follow them. References 1) â€Å"Ethics In Marketing On Bangladesh Perspective: Study on Few Companies of Bangladesh†- collected from â€Å"World Journal of Management Volume 2. Number 2. September 2010†, the direct link- http://wbiaus.org/10.%20Tajmeela-FINAL.pdf 2) â€Å"Business for the 21st Century†- Skinner Ivancevich 3) â€Å"An Integrated Approach to Business Studies† (4th edition)- Bruce R Jewell 4) â€Å"Business Studies† (4th edition)- Dave Hall-Rob Jones-Carlo Raffo- Alain Anderton 5) www.managementstudyguide.com 6) www.smallbusiness.chron.com 7) www.cwafford.conveycontent.com 8) www.sagepub.com/upm-data/10923_Chapter1.pdf 9) www.businessethics.ca/definitions/business-ethics.html

Boy-Actresses and the Character of Rosalind in As You Like It :: Shakespeare As You Like It Essays

Boy-Actresses and the Character of Rosalind in As You Like It      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   When Shakespeare wrote his plays, women were not permitted to perform on stage, so boys played all of the female characters.   Unlike many apprenticeships, a boy learning to become an actor had no set age at which to begin and no set length of how long to study, but they usually began around the age of ten and continued playing women or adolescent roles for about seven years.   These boys were apprenticed to a specific actor within an acting group, and were not attached to the organization as a whole.   There was a very strong teacher-pupil relationship between the adult actor and the boy, but there was also very often a father-son relationship.   The boys usually lived in the adult actors home with his family.   The idea of an apprentice is not difficult to imagine, but for many modern audiences, a boy playing the role of a women is very difficult to picture.   This picture is even more difficult to see when examining the plays of Shakespeare and the str ong female characters that he often depicts.   (Bentley 117)    In Shakespeare's As You Like It, Rosalind has many layers and acts as a character taking on many different roles.   The idea that there is a boy playing a woman disguised as a man pretending to be a woman for wooing, is one that is confusing and yet makes sense.   What adds to this is the idea that Rosalind, disguised as Ganymede, is pretending to be Rosalind, not another woman, but herself.   One can see that she occasionally slips from the role of Ganymede pretending, to being Rosalind, with comments such as "And I am your Rosalind" (Norton 4.1-56) and "By my life, she will do as I do" (Norton 4.1-135).   In these instances it is as though Rosalind forgets that she is disguised as a man, but what does this mean for the actor playing her character?   For one it shows that he must be clear as to which role of the character he was playing.   As one can imagine    "An audience would be confused unless the performer, regardless of gender, made it clear when Rosalind herself was speaking, when the character was speaking as Ganymede, and when Ganymede was the stereotyped 'Rosalind'"   (Shapiro 122).    This idea brings up the versatility that the boy must have had in order to play such a role.

Meditation Essay -- essays research papers

Meditation is a private devotion or mental exercise consisting of a number of techniques of concentration, contemplation, and abstraction to heighten spiritual awareness. It has also been defined as, â€Å"Consciously directing your attention to alter your state of consciousness.† Meditation has been practiced around the world since the ancient times. It was used back then and still used today for spiritual growth (becoming more conscious). Meditation is mostly concerned about your attention, where it is directed to, and how it alters or changes a person’s consciousness.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Although meditation has been used for spiritual growth, recently it has become a way of finding a peaceful bridge between stress and the fast paced world around us. It has become a way of taking time out of all the distractions and stress that occurs in our lives and relaxing and finding ourselves. Some other uses of meditation include healing, emotional cleansing and balancing, deepening concentration and insight, manifesting change, developing intuition, unlocking creativity, exploring higher realities, and finding inner guidance.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  There is no exact way to meditate. Different people meditate in different ways. However, there are many similar guidelines or ways that people go about meditating. First, put your expectations aside. Don’t expect to all of a sudden have your consciousness altered. Be open to meditation but don’t try to force something to hap...

Fred Maiorino Case Study Essay

Overview Fred Maiorino began his career at Schering-Plough in 1958 at the age of 28. He had been a successful sales representative till Jim Reed took over the position of General Sales Manager for South Jersey sales district in 1987. In 1988, Fred received his lowest ever performance evaluation of â€Å"Good† which was lower than any other sales representatives’ in the district. In fact, Fred’s salary increase at the end of the quarter was less than half of the average of other sales representatives who were at least 20 years younger to him. When Reed first came to New Jersey sales district, he turned to Fred for help and leadership. He implemented a new performance evaluation measuring system which rated salesmen according to two different measures. This new system included evaluations based on product market share gains and critical incidents of effective and ineffective salesmen actions recorded during joint calls made by district managers and sales reps. Moreover, Reed began coaching his subordinates and providing them with medical journals to help improve sales pitches. Unfortunately, even after working at Schering-Plough for over three decades as a highly successful salesman, Fred was terminated over coffee with Jim Reed at a local diner. This paper discusses why the different initiatives taken by Schering-Plough to motivate Fred Maiorino had failed. It also examines Reed’s role in the alleged breach of psychological contract and, contributions to the injustice and discrimination against Fred. Finally, this paper will provide recommendations for alternative coaching, goal-setting and leadership approaches that Schering-Plough could have adopted instead to ensure employee retention and loyalty. Breach of Psychological Contract At the beginning of their relationship, Jim Reed informed Fred that he would require Fred’s help in leadership. Although Reed may have made the remark in a casual manner, Fred took it seriously as he was able to recall the conversation even after a few years. Older employees tend to enjoy collaborative tasks through social interactions more than competitive tasks (Kanfer & Ackerman, 2004, p. 441). In fact, employees in their midlife  respond more positively to managerial strategies that promote cooperation instead of competition (Kanfer & Ackerman, 2004). In this case, it is fairly logical to think that Fred may have assumed that he would be promoted or provided with a salary hike if he was successful in helping Reed design a leadership plan for the district. In fact, this particular conversation with Reed may have led him to believe that Reed would acknowledge his hard work and loyalty by actually taking Fred’s advice or letting him help with the new strategy thereby , creating a psychological contract between the two parties involved. A psychological contact emerges when an employee believes that a promise of future benefit or return has been made in return for his contributions and, an obligation has been created for the employer (Robinson, Kraatz, & Rousseau, 1994). In other words, a psychological contract refers to the belief or perception of mutual obligations of an employee (Rousseau, 1989). Unfortunately, the assigned case does not indicate that Reed lived up to his promise of taking Fred’s help in motivating, mentoring and training new employees. According to Humphrey (2003) such acts can be deflating as the motivational benefits of bottom-up empowerment are forgone or lost. Moreover, violation of psychological contracts may lead to lower motivation and increased intentions to quit (Raja, Johns & Bilgrami, 2011). Thus, breach of such emotional contracts in the workplace may give rise to distrust, dissatisfaction and in extreme cases dissolution of the relationship between an employee and his employer (Roehling, 1997). In fact, breach of the psychological contracts lead to behaviors that undermine organizational effectiveness and efficiency (Lemire & Rouillard, 2005). Reed’s behavior increased Fred’s state of vigilance to the point where he began to actively monitor how well Schering-Plough was meeting the terms of their psychological contract. Moreover, in Fred’s eyes, Schering-Plough has breached the psychological contract with Fred. Fred had dedicated over 35 years of him life to the company only to find out it had made plans to make him retire early. Furthermore, Fred began to lose his faith in Schering-Plough when he realized that younger salespersons were being hired to replace long-term hard-working employees like him. In addition, Reed referred Fred’s decision to decline the early retirement plan as a foolish act. According to Zagenczyk, Gibney, Kiewitz, and Restubog (2009), supervisors’ supportiveness/discouragement strengthens/weakens the  relationship between employers and employees. A study that included 297 responses from 31 organizations confirmed a relationship between the existence of psychological contract and employee commitment. In fact, those with relational psychological contract exhibited more commitment to the workplace than those with transactional contracts (Chiang, Liao, Klein & Jiang, 2012). Violation of Procedural Justice Reed’s evaluation and spying on Fred resulted in the latter being suspended without pay for two days. This led to an increase in Fred’s feelings of injustice and violation. Additionally, Fred and Reed held different views of the measurement of Fred’s performance at work, flexibility, goal-setting and the purpose of coaching. In fact, Reed’s communication of matching market share goals and what was expected of Fred was highly complex and ambiguous. Such behavior on Reed’s part raised questions about procedural justice at Schering-Plough. Procedural justice is determined on the basis of the quality of what is being communicated an employee. In other words, procedural justice is based on the extent to which an employee feels whether his employer communicated crucial decisions in a sensitive and ethical manner (Harvey & Haines III, 2005). In other words, how a decision is made and communicated is what counts most (Harvey & Haines III, 2005). Unfortunate ly, Reed’s behavior implied that he regarded Fred as someone worthy of respect. This was further attested when Reed felt that it was not important to let Fred know the dates when he saw Fred’s company car parked in his driveway during work hours. Moreover, the new performance evaluation system implemented by Reed showed that Fred was doing â€Å"very good†. However, Reed decided to focus more on the least desirable component of Fred’s evaluation and give Fred and overall â€Å"good†. The results of the evaluation were humiliating for Fred as it was his lowest ever rating and was certainly lower than all other new hires who were at least 20 years younger to him. The assigned case study does not tell us how exactly Reed communicated his evaluations of Fred’s performance to Fred, but it does tell us that he evaluated Fred the very same way the second time. This time he sent Fred a memo letting him know that he was capable of doing better. The procedures involved in decision-making and the method of communication used affect employ ee behavior at work (Harvey & Haines III, 2005). Ineffective  Performance Appraisals and Goal-Setting Systems Right after Reed informed Fred that he would need the latter’s help, he implemented a new appraisal system that evaluated employees based on new criteria. However, this new system seemed to worsen his relationship with Fred. Job relatedness, formalization, reliability, open communication, trained appraisers, ease of use, employee accessibility and appeal procedures are among some of the characteristics of an effective appraisal system (Caruth & Humphreys, 2008). The newly implemented system barely met any of the above categories. General guidelines instead of comprehensive policies and written instructions were used by the company. It is important to use appraisal systems that encourage improvement and are not regarded as threats to be feared by employees (Hammer, 2007). As such, performance evaluations should be followed by accurate description and diagnosis of the ratings so that employees are able to discuss, understand and prevent future problems (Lee, 2005). This was lacking in Reed’s appraisal system. Moreover, recording and monitoring employee behavior during joint calls may have led Fred to be more cautious and nervous during client interactions. According to Gray (2002) such systems do not encourage competency or loyalty as they are distorted by evaluator bias. Fred never thought his performance rating was fair – in fact, he resisted it because older workers are more likely to avoid situations that put them at a disadvantage when compared to younger employees (Kanfer & Ackerman, 2004). The following paragraphs discuss what Reed could and should have done better to improve Fred’s situation and circumstances. Improving Leadership Style One of the major issues that led to Fred’s decision to take Schering-Plough to court was Reed’s ineffective leadership style. It is important for managers to know what behaviors promote achievement of results and what behaviors are plain ineffective (Lindbom, 2007). In fact, one of the most important job duties of a manager is to improve his followers’ performances. This meant, Reed should have communicated better with Fred. In fact, he should have asked Fred about his problems and listened to him instead of simply pushing him and sending him memos for poor performance. Continuous feedback and dialog would have allowed Reed to understand Fred’s needs, strengths, and weaknesses better while building a stronger bond with him.  Once this bond was built, it would have been much easier for Reed to alter Fred’s behavior according to the interest of the organization. An effective manager is attuned to individual followers and takes the right decision at the right time (Buzady, 2011). This allows the manager or leader to interact and alter workloads during difficult times. Transformational leaders focus on matching behaviors and communication instead of goals and skills (Humphreys & Einstein, 2004). Therefore, Reed could have improved Fred’s motivation and performance by communicating in a way that would have been easy for Fred to understand and relate to. Moreover, a leader must encourage and understand the ideals and values that his followers share. In order to come to a common ground with followers, an effective leader must think less about himself and more for others (Kerfoot, 2004). Congruency can only be reached when a leader looks beyond himself and more toward the opportunities for advancement of his followers. Leaders should ensure that challenging work that is valued is provided to subordinates while considering the followers ability. He should always consider the followers self-esteem and self-concept, communicate goals clearly and understand the relationship between paying attention to individual followers and job satisfaction (Isaac, Zerbe & Pitt, 2011). Moreover, it is recommended that sales leaders employ a more active style of leadership in order to improv e participation and performance. Therefore, Reed should have considered adopting transformational leadership style (Bass, 1993). Transformational leaders are those who are able to develop the ability within their subordinates to look beyond their own self interests and align their goals with that of the organization. Although transactional leadership style is more popular among sales managers and is believed to induce desired responses in employees, transformational leadership has been found to produce higher such results (Dubinsky, Yammarino, Jolson & Spanger, 2001). Transformational leader hold deep personal value systems that allow them to unite their followers while modifying their goals (Bass,1999). Moreover, transformational leader demonstrate individual consideration, charisma and inspirational motivation – all of which were lacking in Reed from Fred’s point of view. Improving Coaching Furthermore, Reed needed to change his way of coaching his subordinates.  Reed’s concept of coaching included handing out manuals and writing memos that stated Fred was capable of doing better. Today, most organizations are determined to improve the ability of managers to coach their subordinates effectively. Many organizations shelve out millions of dollars to promote and facilitate a health coaching environment. In fact, coaching is considered a manager’s top priority in many companies. Therefore, Reed should have designed one-on-one monthly meetings with his subordinates where he could have discussed ways to improve individual sales performance. Moreover, instead of punishing Fred for products that he was selling less of, Reed should have first appreciated Fred’s top selling products. Subordinates look forward to reinforcement when they do the right things and welcome constructive criticism when they recognize their work needs improvement (Robinson & Roussea u, 1994). Improving Reward System . A sudden change in the reward systems is usually not well accepted among employees who perform consistently. Therefore, it was critical for Reed to first speak to his subordinates regarding changes in Reed used a highly ineffective reward system where the company ended up awarding Fred less than his expected salary increase. Instead, Reed should have made every effort to determine what rewards his subordinates valued and how much effort they were willing to make to attain the rewardsperformance and work with them to improve on it. Constant coaching, mentoring and one-on-one monthly individual performance evaluations would have given employees an idea of what rewards to expect from the new system. 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