United Airlines

United Airlines employees seem utterly incompetent. The recent dog death incident is only the latest in a string of situations in which United employees have screwed up. But the incidents don't reflect a competence deficit at the airline; they reveal a culture problem — and United's leaders must take specific actions to fix it. United Airlines CEO Oscar Munoz must take specific actions to fix the culture problem at his company. (Photo by Jim Young/Getty Images)The ProblemWhen Dr. David Dao refused to give up his seat on a plane last year, specifically United Express employees under contract carrier Republic Airlines called airport security who ended up dragging him off the plane. Weeks later, a United gate agent refused to allow two young girls to board a plane because their leggings didn't adhere to the airline's dress code for â€Å"pass travelers.† And just last week a flight attendant insisted on putting a dog in an overhead bin because its carrier wouldn't fit under the seat and assured the dog's owner that it would be fine up there. The dog was found dead upon arrival at the destination.These employee actions are deplorable and quite a disconnect from the company's brand slogan â€Å"Fly the Friendly Skies.† The employees seem completely opposite from those featured in the company's recent Olympics advertisements which aimed to show that their superhero-like qualities enabled them to ensure the safe, smooth, and fun passage of Olympic athletes as well as everyday customers. The contrast between the company's brand aspirations and its actual operations couldn't be sharper.The DiagnosisAlthough United's employees seem to be at fault, the underlying cause is the company's lack of culture leadership. CEO Oscar Munoz and his fellow leaders are responsible for the huge gap between the company's brand identity and organizational culture. They have failed to engage, train, and motivate employees adequately and appropriately.Munoz is credited with stabilizing the airline's workforce after the poorly executed merger of United Airlines and Continental Airlines in 2010 resulted in a widespread lack of trust between the airline's management and its workers. He also has boosted United's position in monthly on-time performance rankings of U.S. airlines from near the bottom to middle of the pack or better.But he and other United executives have not been effective in cultivating the culture at the company. In fact, they have contributed to an unhealthy and poor-performing corporate culture by:Making vapid promises and setting vague values. After the disaster with Dr. Dao, the airline rewrote its overbooking policies and promised to empower employees to act in the moment to put customers first. Munoz pledged that â€Å"every customer deserves to be treated with the highest levels of service and the deepest sense of dignity and respect. † The company initiated a new employee training program called â€Å"core4† to emphasize the company's four core values: caring, safe, dependable, and efficient.Clearly the recent dog death, along with several other incidents in the past year involving pets being delivered to incorrect destinations and/or dying while under United's care and the fact that the airline remains among the highest of U.S. airlines for complaints, indicate that whatever changes the leaders have implemented have not delivered on their promises. The training has not been effective and its values are at best aspirational and more likely inconsequential.Prioritizing operational performance over employees. United's on-time and financial performance gains seem to have been achieved on the backs of its employees. On online forums, flight attendants routinely complain about what they view as deliberate understaffing. This, combined with the increase in quick turns due to more aggressive flight scheduling, means that attendants have too much to do in too short of a time during the boarding process. They aren't paid until the aircraft pushes back from the gate and they're held accountable for departures delayed by lack of in-cabin readiness. It's easy to see why they often rush through procedures and indiscriminately follow procedures.Not respecting or listening to employees. United recently announced that it would discontinue quarterly bonus payments to most employees and would replace them with a lottery-based system in which those who qualified for the lottery through participation in the core4 program could win prizes.When employees responded in an uproar, Munoz explained that the program's intent was â€Å"to spice up the process a little bit.† His comments suggest that leaders view employee compensation as something needing an injection of fun instead of understanding its role in meaningfully engaging employees and contributing to their livelihood. Also his statement, â€Å"We'll be working over the next couple weeks to make sure we get input from people at all levels,† suggests that employees were not adequately consulted during the conception of the change. RecommendationsSetting prescriptive values. Setting policies and procedures do not help to anticipate every customers and also dictate the appropriate employee's response. Employees must be guided by clear and prescriptive values that help them determine how to handle unforeseen or difficult situations. Vague values such as â€Å"caring† don't provide the specificity that employees need to help them make the right in-the-moment decisions. But if United's leaders were to articulate and abide by values such as â€Å"listen carefully and respond respectfully,† they would increase the likelihood that customers would be treated appropriately.Empowering and equipping employees. It's important for employees to develop emotional intelligence and learn effective communication skills, their hands shouldn't be tied by restrictive policies that dictate certain customer handling and they shouldn't face serious consequences for improvising when the situation calls for it. Moods and e motions influence how well the employee follow the decision process. Leaders should let the employee to have the freedom to make judgement.Aligning employee experience and customer experience.Employees can and will only deliver an experience to customers that they experience themselves , so leaders must train employees the way they want employees to treat customers. Therefore, managers should motivate their employees. If managers only follow procedures and don't take the time to understand what their employees need, employees are going to operate by the book regardless of what customers might really need. If employees are treated as if their behavior is less important than airline performance, they will care less about customers' well-being and more about on-time departures and efficient operations. This will affect the company's profit growth. But if leaders listen, value, and trust their employees, Employees will likely to listen to, value, and maintain loyalty of the customers.

Failure to maintain the rule of law Essay

The government’s repeated failures to bring levels of violent crime under control contributed to an environment which saw people resort to violence without fear of arrest or successful prosecution. In failing to maintain the rule of law the state had conditioned many poor communities to violent behaviour. The failure to protect communities from criminal elements and to remove those elements had allowed criminals to take full advantage of chaos and disorder to rob, rape, and loot during the violent uprisings. Incompetence in the ministry of safety and security, falling standards in the South African Police Service, corruption up to the highest levels of the police, and affirmative action had eroded the capacity of the police to provide a safe and secure environment in South Africa. This was further exacerbated by the poor performance of the prosecution service in securing convictions for offenders and the failure of the department of correctional services to rehabilitate offenders. South Africa was faced with an effective breakdown of the organs responsible for maintaining law and order. Warnings to this effect from a variety of sources had been largely ignored or treated with arrogance and contempt from the office of the minister of safety and security downwards. That not a single minister or deputy minister responsible for law and order, justice, or prisons was dismissed over close on ten years of Thabo Mbeki’s presidency suggests that the government was either unable to identify the risks presented by lawlessness or had resigned itself to the consequences. Regardless of which of the two options is correct the failure of the state to maintain law and order is the first direct contributing factor to the violence. 2.) Border control The collapse of proper border control mechanisms saw literally millions of people gaining entry to South Africa illegally. The responsibility for this law enforcement failure rests jointly with the army, police and the government who saw fit to hand many border dut ies to the police when it should have been obvious that the police were unable to handle the responsibility. The closure of the commandos is instructive in this regard as it suggests a government more interested in ideology than in pragmatism. During a period when South Africa experienced some of the highest levels of violent crime in the world the state saw fit to close down one of the key organs responsible for rural policing. Poor policy decisions and simple incompetence in border policing therefore contributed directly to the presence of a large illegal population in South Africa. Without adequate legal standing in the community these people became easy or soft targets for mob violence. The police’s own heavy handed raids on illegal immigrants further created the impression that they were fair game in South Africa. The policy response to the cross border influx revolved chiefly around a programme of arrests and deportations often without regard to the human rights and due process issues that should have applied. This policy continued long after it was apparent that it was having no effect on the number of illegal immigrants in South Africa. Again no senior political official with responsibility for this critical area of policing was dismissed for underperformance despite the obvious threat to national security. 3.) Corruption Corruption in the state sector became endemic under Thabo Mbeki and very little was done to curb it. The examples of Travelgate, Armsgate, and Oilgate served to create the impression that the South African state was corrupt up to the highest levels of government. Such corruption in turn filtered down into the various government departments at local, provincial, and national level. In the home affairs, social welfare, and law enforcement areas literally tens of thousands of officials were implicated in corrupt dealings. Anger by South Africans at immigrants with illegal documents getting access to services is therefore understandable and was brought about in large part by the failure of the police and the department of home affairs to crack down on fraudulent documents. Evidence of widespread corruption was uncovered by a host of agencies and the media. The government, however, failed to act with due diligence and most corrupt officials got away with a slap on the wrist. Even where the law took its course as in the case of Tony Yengeni the ANC saw fit to carry him into prison like a conquering hero. Confidence in the state was substantially eroded by corruption policy failures and poor judgment on the part of government. Consequently it is not surprising that communities saw the need to take their anger onto the streets. Widespread corruption undermining the role of the state is therefore a further direct contributing factor to the violence. 4.) Employment With close on 40% of South Africans failing to secure a proper job it is not surprising that scores of youths were able to conduct days and nights of violent campaigns in informal settlements around Johannesburg. Unemployment was therefore a direct contributing cause to the violence. Among young black South Africans the unemployment rate extends to over 50% in some areas. Overall only 50% of African households get their main source of income from employment. Social welfare which now reaches 25% of South Africans was never going to be sufficient to meet communities’ expectations of a better life. Warnings as to the risks of sustained levels of high unemployment were largely ignored by government. Labour legislation, hopelessly inappropriate for a largely unskilled workforce, has contributed to keep many mainly black South Africans out of jobs. Immigrants were able to secure employment as these labour policies did not apply to them and were in many cases able to make a living free from government grantsor regulation. Policy responses such as the Expanded Public Works Programme were a case of too little too late to prevent the turbulence that has gripped parts of Johannesburg for the past seven days. The government showed limited urgency in dealing with an unemployment crisis that required dramatic changes in policy to address. A host of talk shops, forums, and strategies were substituted for actual progress. It is a valid question how the government could ignore such an obvious political risk factor for so long without an adequate policy response. Partly the answer may lie in the ANC misjudging its electoral support for satisfaction with its policies. 5.) Education This has been government’s biggest failure and carries much of the blame for the high unemployment levels. It is arguable whether current state education is in its totality any better than that under apartheid. Only 1% of black matriculants achieve a good HG maths pass. The output of the school education system was therefore far from adequate to free households from state dependency or to acquire the skills necessary to find employment in a heavily regulated labour market. The education system is a good example where policy failures in one area compounded those in another. In this case poor education compounded the inappropriate labour market policy which in turn compounded the unemployment problem. Many warnings to government in this regard have been dismissed as alarmist and sensationalist. That combined with critical policy misjudgments such as the adoption of outcomes based education and the closure of teacher training colleges sabotaged any chance of rehabilitating the education system. The failure of education is therefore a further direct contributing cause to the violence. 6.) Slowing economic growth The failure to take proper advantage of a global boom in commodities meant that South Africa attracted limited benefit from the economic climate of the last five years. Empowerment policy, affirmative action, and bureaucratic interference in mining for example saw South Africa’s mining sector stutter over a period when it should have boomed. In many cases racial bean counting, self enrichment through economic empowerment, and ideological arguments for transformation trumped the need to boost economic growth rates above 4.5%. South Africa was therefore unable to use the global commodity boom to establish subsidiary industries or to invest in its industrial base. Policy failures in electricity supply and telecommunication technology in turn further hampered the economic growth rate in South Africa and further compounded the failure to adopt an industrial policy aimed at facilitating growth off the commodity boom. Education and skills shortages share some of the blame for this. In many cases ideologically driven beliefs in the state’s role in managing the economy overruled pragmatic policy responses. Agriculture is a prime example where the governments’ policy on commercial producers could best be described as hostile even as food prices begun to rise. Increasing food prices directly compromised the welfare of poor communities and must be identified as one of the key causal factors responsible for the violence. Rising inflation is a second key causal factor for the violence where a failure of the Reserve Bank’s inflation targeting policy has largely undone much of the anti-poverty impact of social grants spending. Again this is an example of one policy failure compounding failures in a host of other areas. Both food prices and inflation together with rising fuel costs directly impacted upon poor households and must have forced them to cut down on basic staples. That alone may have been sufficient to spark much of the anger visible in and around Johannesburg this week. These three factors directly undid the efforts of social grants in alleviating poverty as they undermined the value of those grants. Two of the three factors were in government’s direct policy responsibility to address. An analysis of economic policy failures would not be complete without examining the role of empowerment policy in establishing a very small and often politically connected black middle class. Government saw fit to celebrate this limited success even as the majority of black South Africans continued to live in relative squalor and poverty. In retrospect it is extraordinary that government would flaunt such limited participation in the broader economy by a select group of individuals when most of its supporters had no hope of ever becoming the beneficiary of an empowerment transaction. The now regular site of a high speed government convoys of black luxury sedans escorted by scores of police shoving through traffic points to a similarly misguided and extraordinary arrogance on the part of those who had promised a better life for all in 1994. Warnings of political risk accompanying such policy blunders where sharply disputed by government most notably in the example of Tony Trahar who was admonished by Thabo Mbeki for raising the issue of political risk in South Africa. 7.) Foreign policy Particularly in the case of Zimbabwe foreign policy was wholly inappropriate and incompetent. Thabo Mbeki’s quiet diplomacy provided a lifeline to the ailing Zimbabwe regime that kept it in power longer than would otherwise have been the case. The failure to condemn initial violence and electoral fraud in Zimbabwe contributed directly to the massive inflow of foreign immigrants. Such quiet diplomacy stands in strong contrast to the unanimous condemnation by government of the current violence in South Africa and creates the impression that violence targeted at Zimbabweans was acceptable as long as it took place in Zimbabwe. Seen in light of South Africa’s inability to secure its borders our foreign policy on Zimbabwe was destined to have only one effect – the inflow of illegal immigrants. It is far from convincing to argue that the best South Africa, as Africa’s economic superpower, could do was to quietly engage the Harare regime. Targeted economic and financial sanctions together with clear criticism of human rights abuses in Zimbabwe were a perfectly feasible alternative policy. As in almost every area of policy failure warnings directed at government were scoffed at and dismissed. In the Zimbabwe case Thabo Mbeki’s government was quick to describe as racist any criticism of his Zimbabwe policy. Need one only remember the tumultuous reception Robert Mugabe was given at Thabo Mbeki’s inauguration? Ideology again trumped pragmatism, a failure for which South Africa is paying heavily. 8.) Service delivery While a host of government targets were met service delivery provision was far from adequate to meet expectations of a better life for all. A policy failure is again at the heart of the problem as the state took it upon itself to provide services and jobs and thereby tied households to its ability to deliver. Where delivery appeared to falter public protest was the outcome and literally thousands of protests, many of them violent, have been directed at the state over the past 36 months. In many cases the government relied on corrupt and incompetent local authorities to implement its policies. Despite much bluster and posturing not enough was done to bring these authorities into line even as a growing trend of protest actions became visible over the past 36 months. The failure of local government in delivery was never adequately addressed and communities lost faith in the willingness of government to address their queries when these were made through official channels. Communities learnt to express their dissatisfaction violently and this is set to continue as long as local authorities remain corrupt and incompetent. High unemployment was again a further contributing factor exacerbating other policy failures. The protests of the past 36 months have in the main been isolated and sporadic but should have sent a clear warning to government that dissatisfaction with delivery could spark large scale unrest. Government however continued to insist that it was on the right track and that dismissed criticism as alarmist or aimed at threatening the national democratic revolution. The government effectively miscalculated that continuing strong voter support for the ANC translated directly into support for its delivery efforts. This has proven to be a tragic misjudgment. Current legislation pending in provinces to ‘eradicate’ informal dwellings is a perfect example of a type of heavy handed delivery blunder that has characterised the government. If implemented it will no doubt aid in creating exactly the kind of havoc currently experienced around Gauteng. It is in a sense a good measure in deciding whether the government has learnt any lessons from this week’s violence. 9.) Race relations Thabo Mbeki’s efforts at re-racialising South Africa and the numerous pieces of race based policy and legislation that accompanied his time in office undid much of the progress in improving race relations accomplished under Nelson Mandela. Mbeki’s tenure re-enforced differences and assigned values based on race. It was not surprising therefore that racial conflict could be an end result of his government’s numerous policy failures. That that conflict is black on black and not black on white is unsurprising considering that levels of latent ethnic tension remain present in South Africa. Obsession with black on white racism meant that the apparently more widespread form of black on black racism was never adequately addressed. Overzealous self censorship and political correctness prevented many commentators from speaking up clearly about a possibly far more deep seated racism between black and black than existed between black and white. What can be done? Combined failures in these key policy areas have come together to create a virtual tinderbox of dissatisfaction with government delivery and the protests originating in Alexandra where merely a matter of a spark igniting the tensions at the right time in the right place. Similar political risk factors exist throughout South Africa and there exists the danger that the violence could spread further at a point in time. A second danger exists that the violence could come to take on a more ethnic nature and devolve into a renewed conflict particularly if it spreads in KwaZulu-Natal. It is a risk that South Africa will have to live with for several years as there is no quick fix solution for the current crisis. The appointment of a panel to investigate the violence is a useful academic exercise but is again a wholly inappropriate policy response to resolve the crisis. This is equally true of revitalising the failed Roll Back Xenophobia campaigns and the like which cannot adequately capture the underlying causes to the violence. The short term response should be a well thought out and coordinated law enforcement response that aims to identify and arrest anyone responsible for inciting violence or the destruction of property while isolating violent hotspots and saturating these areas with police personnel. It should be intelligence driven and managed by detectives. Tragically it is questionable, however, whether the police have the skills or equipment to conduct such an operation effectively. Employing the military in a civilian capacity risks a major disaster. They are not trained, equipped, or prepared for such a function. There is a real risk of the army shooting into a crowd with live ammunition and causing casualties that could inflame tensions even further and will almost certainly see a nationwide uprising against the state. Conclusion The violence we have experienced over the past week can be directly attributed to a series of policy failures on the part of Thabo Mbeki’s government. Warnings to that effect were too easily dismissed by government spokespeople who accused analysts of racism and ‘doom and gloom’ scenarios. A ‘worst possible scenario’ has now materialised and requires a more mature and measured response from government. Failing that we should expect that similar unrest could occur with little warning in any area of South Africa. *Frans Cronje is the Deputy CEO of the South African Institute of Race Relations. This is an edited version of an article published by the SAIRR on May 20 2008

Data Envelopment Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Data Envelopment Analysis - Essay Example This paper would use the DEA method to measure the technical allocative efficiency. IT start-ups in China in particular and the rest of the world in general are faced with the same problem of initiating DEA methods to measure effectiveness of resource allocation processes and related outcomes. For instance according to Xu and Zhang (2008) the optimum resource input-output ratios are regarded as the best indicators of efficient resource allocation processes in the IT start-up firms that depend on strategic resource utilization and mobility between sectors to achieve positive organizational outcomes. Gomes, de Mello and Meza (2008) use a hybrid approach based on DEA efficiency measurement thus highlighting the importance of large discreet resource allocation processes. This is a paradigm shift from the non-discreet statistical processes that were previously adopted by researchers to measure the optimum resource input-output ratios. In addition to these DEA methods there are other more advanced DEA models. Among them the most popular two models are known as the CCR model and the BCC model. CCR has been named after its three discoverers Charnes, Cooper and Rhodes (1978) while BCC has been named after its discoverers Banker, Charnes and Cooper (1984). ... The significance of each Decision Making Unit (DMU) in the resource allocation process is emphasized by the two models.However CCR makes the assumption that each DMU is capable of operating only at constant returns to scale while BCC assumes that there are variable returns to scale. This paper would use these two models for the analysis of the resource allocation efficiency in IT start-up firms (Graaf & Washida, 2006). Though the paper would basically focus attention on Chinese IT firms there would be some analytical perspectives on other IT firms in the rest of the world as well. Actually this dichotomy between the two models has led to internal conflicts within firms as to which model has more merits than the other (Kaynak & Karakaya, 1994).The DMU consists of personnel who are Human Resource Management (HRM) specialists and production engineers and therefore are expected to work out the best or most efficient resource allocation process so that output would be maximized and cost m inimized (Davenport, 1999). The current literature on the subject actually generalizes the impact of this conflict on the DMU's own efficiency and impartiality. This outcome is further worsened by the fact that individual decision makers are much less inclined to coordinate efforts at each level of decision making though such decisions weigh heavily on the final organizational outcomes (Phillips, 2005).The negotiation process between and among the members of the DMU of each organization such as the new IT firm in China can be more specifically referred to as a culture-specific ritual in which rules are openly flouted in order to preserve one's own interests (Pour, 2006). In fact IT industry analysts and experts agree that attitudes and

Successful Quality Care Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words

Successful Quality Care - Essay Example Davies and his co-authors (2000) define organizational culture as an organization’s values, norms and beliefs that shape its behavior. As healthcare organizations go through a key reform of their processes of care delivery, they are now increasingly putting more emphasis on organizational culture and its role in driving innovation, facilitating change as well as bringing a transformation in a healthcare system (Shortell et al., 1995a & Ingersoll et al., 2000). Shortell and his co-authors (1995b) assert that successful quality care implementation initiative calls for a significant devotion to a culture that emphasizes risk-taking autonomy and empowerment. In their studies, Sahney & Warden (1991), Wardhani and co-authors (2009), Dean & Bowen (1994), Metri (2005), Hackman & Wageman (1995) and Powell (1995) have underscored the fact that organizational culture successfully drives quality management. According to Rad (2006), quality management practices’ success as an organizational change largely depends on the organizational culture. Apart from the fact that an organizational culture is of great importance to quality management practices’ success, the central function of an organizational culture that creates and manages it is leadership. Leadership imposes the organizational purpose, beliefs, behaviors and leader’s values on the employees of an organization (Schein, 1985; Shaw, 2002; Senge, 1990; Oqbannan & Hrris, 2000). As much as an organizational culture’s leadership affects the culture, an organizational culture affects its leadership (Bass, p63, 1998). Furthermore, through the influence of daily practices, behaviors, and tasks, the leadership style and values of the leaders shape an organizational culture (Sengupta, 2004 & Hofstede et al., 1990).  

Accounting (International Financial Reporting) Research Paper

Accounting (International Financial Reporting) - Research Paper Example Up to three members may be part time members. After 2 July 2009, IASB members are appointed for an initial term of five years, renewable for further three years.† (IFRSs in your pocket, 2010) Business firm can present its financial statement in the same format as their counterparts in other countries. It makes comparisons easier. This is especially useful for the investors to make investment decisions. The basic difference between GAAP and IFRS is that GAAP is a rule based accounting system and on the other sense IFRS is principle based system. In rule based accounting like GAAP, one needs to follow the rules specified for each of the business transaction while recording the transaction in accounts. Sometimes, the accountant foresees the effects of the accounting transaction on the end result and tends to interpret the rules with the objective of presenting good numbers to the public. Many scandals including Enron depict the loopholes in the present GAAP system which lacks a transparent system. In IFRS, a principle based accounting systems, which records the transaction in a transparent manner, which shows the true nature of each transaction. Also the consolidation of accounting concepts like IFRS makes the comparison of financial reports easier for the investor community. The transparency provided by IFRS help will them to make wise investment decisions. Mirza, A., Holt, G., & Orrel, M (2010). International Financial Reporting Standers (IFRS) Work Book. John wely and sons. Retrieved November 30, 2010, from

The appeal of reality tv Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

The appeal of reality tv - Research Paper Example Reality TV presents the lives of ordinary people to viewers, as a platform for exploring the subjects featured in the programs, towards demonstrating their story and to clear areas of misconceptions. This paper will explore the genre of reality TV, demonstrating the positive and the negative impacts it causes on its viewers and the society at large. The paper will end in the conclusion that reality TV causes more positive than negative impacts on society (Malekoff 2). The Arguments in Support of Reality TV Radford (1) discusses that, despite the fact that reality is often criticized as a vacuous genre that cannot communicate social value, a study carried out on girls between the ages of 11 and 17 demonstrated the opposite. The study showed that the girls that watched reality TV benefited from it in a number of areas, including that it became a learning avenue, it opened new communication lines and it motivated their engagement in social causes (Kilborn and John 123). For instance, th e findings from the study showed that 75 percent of the girls surveyed, were inspired to converse more with their friends and their parents. Some girls reported that they gained inspiration from the reality TV shows, with more than 68 percent of the girls that watched, claiming that it made them develop the outlook that they could achieve anything in life (Radford 1). Sixty-two percent of the girls that watched reality TV reported that the genre increased their awareness of social causes and issues, including those related to personal development. Contrary from the outlook that watching reality TV corrupts the outlook of viewers, the girls surveyed – viewers and non-viewers of reality TV – held the view that the value of girls is not based on their look. This account demonstrates that reality TV develops the outlook of members of society, and demonstrates that it helps them develop positive traits that help them in daily life. Among the characteristics learnt through r eality TV, among the girls surveyed, include motivation, leadership characteristics, self-esteem and social consciousness (Fetveit 787). Among the regular viewers of reality TV, common views included that the girls viewed themselves as a source of good influence; they viewed themselves as mature, funny, smart and outgoing. Following the expanded outlook of the girls, it was also most likely that frequent viewers would aspire to take leadership roles, as they viewed themselves as leaders – more than the non-viewers did (Radford 1). Contrary to the view that reality TV shapes the outlook of teens, towards becoming obsessed with beauty and making boyfriends, the study demonstrated that the views of the two groups were similar. For instance, 42 percent of the non-viewers group spent a lot of time admiring and working on their appearances (Radford 1). Among the viewers and the non-viewers groups, less than half of the girls reported inclination towards dating. The study of the gir ls demonstrates that the negative impacts of watching reality TV are not as high as they are often projected, and the benefits are far-reaching. For instance, the outlook of the girls that they were mature and a source of good influence are likely to change their outlook towards life in a positive manner. This demonstrates that

Leprosy in the Middle Ages Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Leprosy in the Middle Ages - Essay Example This essay focuses on the discussion of the Leprosy, or Hansen’s disease, that is an debilitating disease which has been prevalent for over 4,000 years, right from the ancient civilizations of China, India and Egypt. The researcher states that the earliest documented case of leprosy, supported by DNA evidence, is that of a man whose remains were discovered in a tomb next to the Old City of Jerusalem. The first recorded instance of leprosy is found in the Bible. It is probable that the disease spread to Europe from Egypt through Phoenician sailors in the 8th century. The word leprosy has its roots in the Greek lepra, meaning ‘a disease which makes the skin scaly'. The primary external symptom is pronounced skin lesions. It is caused by the bacteria Mycobacterium leprae. If unchecked, this chronic bacterial infection can progressively attack the skin, nerves, limbs and eyes, causing permanent damage, deformation, blindness, loss of neural sensation, and local paralysis. Th e mode of transmission of the disease is still not certain. Poor living conditions, diet and genetic factors may predispose an individual to contact leprosy. Treatment for leprosy began with the introduction of dapsone in the 1930s and complete cures were made possible by multidrug therapy in the 1980s. It is acknowledged that leprosy was a familiar disease in medieval Europe, and probably reached its peak during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. In the Middle Ages, leprosy was a serious problem which elicited unique social and medical responses. ... In the Middle Ages, leprosy was a serious problem which elicited unique social and medical responses. Leprosy was a feared condition throughout the Middle Ages. This may be largely attributed to ignorance of its causes and medical implications, and the absence of any recognized treatment or cure. The Medieval diagnosis of leprosy, â€Å"was a prediction of disfigurement and death, and what is perhaps more terrifying, it separated a man from society because of the infection he carried outwardly and the moral corruption that lay within him† (Covey, 2001, 316). Biblical references supported this reaction to the disease. The numerous references to leprosy in the Bible largely give leprosy a connotation of being a disease of the unclean. This is evident in the passage from Leviticus 13: 44–46 which states, â€Å"Now whosoever shall be defiled with the leprosy, and is separated by the judgment of the priest, shall have his clothes hanging loose, his head bare, his mouth cove red with a cloth, and he shall cry out that he is defiled and unclean. All the time that he is infected and unclean, he shall dwell alone without the camp† (Covey, 2001, 316). In effect, the Bible condemned leprosy as a ‘defilement’ and sanctioned the banishment of lepers from society. The most common attitude toward leprosy was ostracism, rising from the fear that leprosy was a highly contagious disease. In the light of this fear of contacting leprosy through association with lepers, medieval laws enforced segregation of lepers in various manners in different places. The 1276 assizes of London restricted the freedom of movement of lepers by banning them from residing in the city. This was followed by

Social and Economic Inequality Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Social and Economic Inequality - Essay Example People might ask why does this type of inequality exist in the society or what are the reasons behind its existence. Some might say that it is because of the technological advancements whereas some might point towards the rate of unemployment all around the world. Technology has advanced a lot in these past years which has lead to the replacement of man with machines. This in turn has lead to the rise in the number of jobless people in the society. There are people who are willing to work at minimal wages just to earn what little they can (Reich 406). Another problem that can be contributed to the increasing income inequality is the availability of overseas workers who can accomplish tasks with the same level of perfection and yet ask for minimal salary in return. This shift of job placements from developed nations to developing nations also increase the gap between the upper class and the lower class employees who are now forced to work at a pay which is far less than what they actu ally deserve. The government is also considered selfish in this regard because they have attracted all the big booming industries by reducing taxes but little do they realize that these companies will soon be converted into completely automated industries which will require very little man power and hence the number of jobless people will continue to rise in the coming years but the government is more concerned about the productivity and the profit that they gain rather than the amount of unemployment that they will have as a result of this.

Success Factors in key accounts Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Success Factors in key accounts - Essay Example The main purpose of these developments was to develop products that could be used in everyday life. The research involves finding potential problems in the present applications used and resolving them by updating them or using new products. The researchers found the flexibility of a product enables it to be used by more clients. Another important factor probably the most important one is the cost. If the final product is expensive there will be only few takers for it. Therefore research has been done to use cost effective products. Qualitative research methods are more often used as it involves observation of data that helps in finding solutions to the problems. Qualitative research has been categorised into three categories named as positivist, interpretive and critical. Positivist research methods involves attempt to test theory that to understand the predictive element of the phenomena. It involves formal propositions, hypothesis testing, measuring of quantifiable variables, etc. In this type of research it is assumed that the objectives are given in reality and can be measured by their properties. Interpretive research method involves sharing of information and social constructions such as language. Interpretive method is used to understand the meaning of the given information that was assigned to the researchers. Critical research as the name implies concentrates more on the critical view of the subject. It highlights the critical viewpoint of the situation that has to be analysed. Action research and Case study research methods are as important as above-mentioned methods. The action research method describes what problems an organization is facing; what appropriate steps should be taken to resolve these kinds of situations. It is more often action-oriented method. Case study method involves studying the main object of the organization, how the situation is related to the real life context, etc. Case study can be positivist, interpretive and critical. Planning In any marketing sector key account marketing plan is considered to be very important and a thoughtful business plan cannot be overemphasizes because much hinges on it: financial support, management of the available resources like operation and finances, credit from suppliers, promotion and marketing and last but not the least company's goals and achievements. Before writing a key account marketing plan some of the important questions that has to be addressed are: 1. What service does the business provide to the clients 2. Who are the potential customer and reasons for purchasing the service or product 3. What are the steps or ways you reach the potential customer 4. From whom or where the funds come The important elements of marketing plan are to precisely define the business, identify the goals and serve as the firm's resume. Pro forma balance sheet, an income statement, planning precise strategies and cash flow analyses comprises the basic components of a marketing plan. Preparing a marketing plan helps in the allocation of resources properly, making good decisions and handling of unseen or unexpected complications that may become hurdle in the future development of the business. One of the important aspects of marketing plan is that it provides organised information about the company and importantly a good business plan helps in attaining a loan

Comparing Gods and Goddesses Essay Example for Free

Comparing Gods and Goddesses Essay Years ago, women did not have much power as they do now. Women sat back and took orders from their husbands. Whatever is asking of them to do the women would have to carry out the order with no feedback and nobody jesters. Women were more humble to men and they listened and believed whatever men told them. All women knew how to do was to be a homemaker. Women did not have a problem with staying home cooking, cleaning, ironing, and taking care of the children. Women kept everything in order at home. The one thing women did not do in the home years ago was keep track of the bills. The men did the bill back then, because they were the ones bringing home the money. When it came to spending any money for the house or for the children, the man was in charge. Women were to let the men know what was needed and they will go out and get it. Today women are different; Women are more attractive and keep themselves up. Women do not stay at home and take care of the children. The women today work, go to school, take care the children, and the home. The men today are taking the back seat. The women are in control. In some households, the women are telling the men what to do. The women today have power. To the children the women can fix anything. The men sometimes have the same thoughts. Many look up to the women. The women can heal the sick and feed the hungry and cloth the naked with very little money. Zeus a Greek God had a daughter by the name of Athena. Athena was the Greek Goddess of wisdom. She is fair, strong and very merciful to all. Athena was independent and didn’t rely on anyone. She was also known as one of the three virgin goddesses. Athena was the type of women who didn’t worry about being romanced by a male. She wasn’t concerned with marriage either. To refer back to today’s culture; Athena is what you call a, â€Å"career woman. † She was always busy doing something. The modern women today are all work and no play. Greek goddess by the name of Artemis was as strong as an ox. She doesn’t need a male to protect her. Artemis is the defender and guardian of all women in childbirth. She also loves the wilderness. So she protects those women too. Artemis dislikes men because they are of no use to her. She isn’t interested in getting married either because she feels that it takes away from a women’s freedom. So Artemis is very close to her female friends. They walk the forest together all the time. Unlike Athena, Artemis doesn’t really care to deal with the city life. She would rather be in the wilderness with the animals. Even though Artemis disliked men, she allowed the young boys to come and learn new things at her sanctuary. So she wasn’t as bad as the people thought she was. She was just a strong minded woman who loved nature. She loved being outdoors. Artemis is a great defender to all. Unlike Artemis, Athena wore a helmet and walked around holding a shield. She was rational and very intelligent. She was wise and a peacemaker. She is powerful and strong like Artemis. She defends her people in war but is also a peacemaker. Artemis is young and beautiful and wears leaves to cover her body. She doesn’t cover her legs. The costume that she wears could possibly cause problems with the Greek gods because of the way it looks. She feels that her costume represents sacrificed animals. It could represent breast and fruits also. But goddess’s views were very different from the Gods. Gods are usually described in terms of the various sociopolitical roles that they fulfill. † The function of the god myths are to explain phenomena to fasten a culture, record and pass on historical events, set example for people, and set behavior standards for generation to follow. Natural phenomena’s like thunder, lightening, miracles, and seasonal changes are all associated with god myths. God myths explain these phenomena’s that people find hard to understand. For example, the Myth Persephone and Hades started by the Greeks to explain winter and why it happens. Myths of the gods and are also created and function as explanations for happenings after death occurrences of certain miracles, and the creation of the Earth. Function of myth is to justify and validate the ritual practices and cultic celebrations. At time myth are also etiological in its function, in trying to explain the causes of certain customs and practices or how a particular name of the place originated. In traditional societies myth has an educational value, it was used to introduce or stress a particular moral value. People needing to believe is a common element in all society if you get people to believe in what you are saying the will follow. Myth by nature depicts a time period that is usually a remote past, in which gods and goddesses are the chief characters. A myth usually points to an unknown transcendental reality in symbolic form. It has a tremendous psychological impact on the listeners as it makes the listeners almost believe that those things really happened. Religious people have sacred narratives, call myths, which explain how things got the way they are. Proverbs and legends escribe wisdom and phenomenal exploits â€Å"in ordinary, profane time,† myths portray the work of spiritual power in arranging the existing order â€Å"in primordial, sacred time’ (Loewen 1969b, 150). National myths describe how tribes and nations came into being. Deity myths recount relationships between humanity and divinity: Spirit myths depict the origin and functions of lower spiritual beings. Sickness myths reveal ancient sources and causes of illness. Cosmic myths describe the origin and cause of catastrophic events, such as earthquakes, lightning, thunder, drought, rain, and eclipses. Describe the elements and function of god myth just depends on the cultures and what they have been told to believe. Just like us as human we are taught to believe what we have been taught from generation to generation from our ancestor something are believable and something’s just are not but they are not question. God is often portrayed like a person who is outside us. He controls the world from outside like a king controls his subjects. He is often called Superman who moves the earth and the heaven. God is in control of the female and male divine culture. The female and male divine possess different elements and functions starting in early era of time and carried in today’s era. The male is considered the stronger, aggressive, masculine and brutish image. The female is cunningly, not weak with an inner strength voice that speaks to her soul. The male divine is the protector of the house, the provider, and control the needs of the household. The male divine only cater to his needs and not respect the female desires. The early eras of life the female was expect to stay at home and take care of the house, children, and male and not enter the working world. Society today has changed whereas the female is working and supporting the family needs and stills mange the household. Although society has continued to change the male divine found switching the roles play by staying at home and supporting the family needs. The role play has impact a different outlook on life in the male divine. Technically the female and male divine is different hormones, brains functions, and the heritance of traits from family heritage. The female is strong minded in varies subject and aspect that affects the controlling of the household. The male divine still does not grip the concept that the female divine is powerful and put here to help support the male divine in every aspect of life. Female divine are to walk beside and not behind the male. The both female and male are difference in appearance that how the attraction for each other beginning. The outer appearance attracts male to female leading to companionship. The male looks to the females to ease the discomfort with compassion, understanding, stroking the bad feeling to make it better but the opinion of the female seem unimportant to male at the first sign of the situation. Yet the male has to make a step backward to say the female opinion is right. The male ego is a huge quest for the male to let down his guards. The female and male divine continues to live in harmony and depend on the different ideas and opinion that each possess and strive for completeness. When the male and female learns to share, communicate, listen, and willingness to share the solution of all concerns coming up with right decision as one. Female and male should not be in competition for seeing who the better person is. Throughout history the elements and function has not change for the female and male divine it just seem to adapt along with society principles of what society anticipate. Female and male divine has many elements and functions to help stay focus on the various barriers of life by adapting to society changing society. Finally, the male and the female divine share the same functions. They both are in authority to give orders, and many people look up to them both. They know life will bring different kinds for issues to endure, but they are willing to go throw and handle them with the proper approach. The male and the female divine are just alike concerning their children, and being there for their children. If mom is not available, the child will turn to their dad. The male and the female are valued. They are both beautiful people with values and power they both share. They give and take orders from each other, and other people. They both share a desire to love one another, and the male divine loves beautiful, smart women can stand on her on and fix life-changing problems. The woman wants the same values in a man. The elements and functions shared by the female and the male are on going from generations to generation.

Set It Off (1996): An analysis

Set It Off (1996): An analysis â€Å"What is the mother fucking procedure when you have a gun to your head† (Set it Ooff- Frankie). Those are the last words Frankie says before she is shot and killed by the LAPD. Set it off Off is a crime movie, that follows the struggle and lives of four different, but similar African-American women in the projects of Los Angeles. All their independent struggles come together to create the climax to the movie. It sets the tone and makes their lives all relate back to each other. The story focuses on four main characters: Cleo (Queen Latifah), Stony (Jade Pinkett- Smith), Tisean (Kimberley Elise), and Frankie (Vivica A. Fox). Cleo, Frankie, Tisean, and Stony are all best friends and have their personal struggles and all agree they want to get up and put of the projects and begin to live the American dream. Set it off is an action, crime drama that takes place in the projects of LA. All of the female characters have lived in the projects their whole life and find that robbing banks would be their only way out. Frankie, having worked at banks for years prior, feels that her knowledge of the bank system meant that they could get in and out of the banks quickly and with a lot of money. At first Stony and T.T. dont agree with the idea, until they have their own struggle that pushes them over the limit. Stonys brother, Stevie, was brutally murdered by the LAPD, and T.T.s son was taking taken by child services for a work related accident. After these tragedies happened to the other two ladies, they agree to help rob the banks. At first they are successful and they get away the first few time, until they rob Downtown Federal where police detectives just gave a brief on the string of robberies respond to the silent alarm. Once they arrive back at the bank they, are in a stand off with three of the women and T.T. ends up getting shot and later dies in Frankies arms. This leads to a police pursuit of the remaining girls and also the death of Frankie and Cleo. Frankie out of the four women had the best life; she recently received a promotion at her job, where she is a bank teller. This all changes when a couple of thugs from the projects come into the bank and rob it. Frankie is slow to give up the money so one of the robbers grabs an older lady and shoots her right in front of her. After the robbery she is interviewed by detectives from the LAPD about her relation with the robbers. After the detectives are through with the interview, her boss fires her on the spot for the fact that she knew the robbers. After she was fired she joked with the girls about how they could rob banks and get away from all their struggles. Cleo having troubles of her own is excited and wanting to go through with the plans. When she is fired from the bank her pursuit of the American Dream is shattered, she sees that robbing banks is quick and easy money. Cleo is a â€Å"crazy† girl from the Acorn projects of Los Angeles; she is up for anything that gets her blood pumping. She is in a dead end job and is ready to do what she has to do to get her and her girlfriend out of the hood. She feels that if she doesnt get out of the hood shell either be dead or in jail, and that to her is not an option. She really hasnt had parents around in her life so she feels that her girls are all she has in this world, and she is really close with Stony and relates to her the most. Cleos American Dream is fixing up her 66 Impala and smoking weed in a middle class neighborhood where bullets dont fly by. Stony has had to grow up fast. Her parents were killed in an automobile accident when she was a young teen. She had to then start providing for her and her little brother Stevie. He was bound for UCLA, but due to finciancal issues he was not sure if he was going to be able to go. So her being the provider and not seeing any other option she has sex with a used car sales men for money. Stevie had recently graduated from high school and was college bound, when he was coming back from a friends house and the SWAT team was doing a raid on bank robbing suspects and mistook him for the suspect. They asked him to freeze and show his hands , while pulling out his hands he pulled out the bottle of champagne he also had in his hands, they SWAT team also mistook that as a gun and vicious shot him to death. When she sees her brother she acts as any one would having lost a loved one and falls to the floor and sobs. After loosing her brother she feels that she should also get out of the ghetto and agrees to help rob banks. Having to help raise her brother with little income she feels what Tisean is going through and they can relate. Stony now has no reason to live anymore her friends is all she has and she know that living in the hood could jeopardize her life and her friends lives too. Tisean is a single mother; she doesnt say much and keeps to herself. She works along side Cleo and Stony at Luthers Janitorial Services, but due to the fact that her boss Luther takes taxes out of her paychecks, she cant afford a babysitter and has to bring her baby to work with her. Her baby gets into some cleaning products and gets rushed to the hospital, where child services takes the baby from her until she can prove to be stable enough to raise the baby. This makes Tisean very depressed and in need of money fast so she also agrees to rob banks to get her son back. Tisean just wants her baby back, her son means the world to her and she feels lost without him. So having him back in her life would be her American Dream. Having all agreed to rob the banks they rely on Frankies insight on banks to get them through it, Cleos connection for weapons, and Stonys leadership and street savvy to get through their destruction. At the first bank robbery T.T gets nervous and backs out at the bank, so it leaves the other three to rob the bank. They all do well for it being their first robbery and they make away with 12,000 dollars, but that only being 3,000 a piece they know it is not enough to leave the hood so they decide to rob a few more banks. After all four women successfully rob a few more banks they need some place to keep the money so they decide on a heater duct at the building they clean. This is a good plan until Luther, their boss, finds the money and steals it so they go on a hunt for him. Knowing that all there American Dreams are at stake they go on a manhunt for their boss. They find him at a motel with a prostitute, and they bust in and demand the money form him at gun point. Cleo turns her back on him and he pulls a gun on Cleo. That leaves Tisean with no choice, but to shot and kill Luther. This puts the girls in a panic and they decide to rob Downtown Federal, a major bank in downtown LA. Knowing that this bank is big and has a lot of money this would be their last chance to achieve the dreams they have set out to achieve.Moment s before the robbery at the bank the same two LAPD detectives from in the beginning gave a brief at the bank about the robbers, so when they go to rob the bank the detectives are not far when the silent alarm goes off. Once they arrive at the bank the detectives and the women are in a stand off when a guard at the bank decides to take matters into his own hands, and he starts to shoot, hitting Tisean in the chest. The other women return fire and pull Tisean out of the bank into the get a way car. They shot out is know in the streets of downtown and their get a way car is taking heavy fire so they have to switch cars. Once they arrive at Cleos car they go to start her car and move the money, but by then its too late. Tisean had lost a lot of blood and passes away in Frankies arms. They leave her there in the car and proceed in Cleos car, still having the police right on their tails. They have no time to think so they decide to split up in a tunnel. Frankie and Stony run with half of the money, while Cleo continues in the car until she hits a roadblock and her car cant take no more. Cleo being the fight she is gets out with a machine gun and opens fire on the LAPD and she is shot to death by them. The other are still running and Frankie gets surrounded by the police , and one of the detectives approaches her unarmed to talk some reason into her and have her surrender. Jail not being an option for her she pulls her gun and ask the detective â€Å"What is the mother fucking procedure when you have a gun to your head† (Set it off- Frankie). She then starts running when an officer shoots her in the back and killing her while Stony is looking this from a tour bus on its way to Mexico. Stony on the other hand gets away and gets into Mexico, having so many memories about all that she lost her feels that she needs change so she cuts her hair and drives to the beach. All four women made the choice to take part in the violation of the law, but all four saw it to be a way out of their personal struggles and live the lavish life they saw advertise everywhere. Although three of the four women died that was all a price the women were willing to take, they knew it was that or the streets.

Essay --

Depression :1) a state of feeling sad : 2) a serious medical condition in which a person feels very sad, hopeless, and unimportant and often is unable to live in a normal way. Depression is a disturbance in a person’s feelings that will lead one to be unusually low, sad, or empty. Depressed mood is not classified as a psychiatric disorder although it could most certainly be a feature of clinical depression. The state of low mood a person feels can lead to suicidal thoughts, feelings of hopelessness and worthlessness, loss of interest in activities that were once pleasurable, and several other symptoms (3). The introduction of psychoactive drugs in the 1950’s started the era of using drugs to treat anxiety, psychosis, and the ever so popular, depression. The new answer for depression was quickly replaced from therapy, to drugs. After the creation of these drugs the world of psychiatry would forever be changed (1). The years following the surplus distribution of psychoactive drugs led to more research about these â€Å"miracle drugs.† Studies concluded that billions of neural networks in our brain are used to send and receive signals from other firing neurons (2). Several chemicals also called neurotransmitters are distributed throughout the brain. Neurotransmitters such as dopamine and serotonin have been theorized to affect an individual’s mood levels. Depression patients are claimed to have less serotonin than those who are not depressed (3). The problem with this assumed theory is that instead of developing a drug to treat an irregularity, an irregularity was developed to suit a drug. An example of this used elsewhere is by perhaps appealing that all pain conditions are a problem due to lack of opiates (9). Antidepressants are used... ...r it (5). Many people do not realize that antidepressants are prescribed for other anxiety, neurological pain, fibromyalgia, and sleep problems. This should be taken in account when surveys are conducted as to how many antidepressants are prescribed (4). Antidepressants are serious drugs that should be prescribed when necessary and monitored carefully. In depression especially doctors should be sure that antidepressants will help their patients rather than harm them. Medicine should be used to help those who truly need it and not just be prescribed endlessly. Confronting psychological and sometimes physical pain from depression is necessary. Managing some of this pain through psychotherapy might help alleviate the need for so many antidepressants. Overall antidepressants will probably remain controversial and people should be educated about their pros and cons.

William Shakespeares Antony and Cleopatra Essay -- Shakespeare Antony

William Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra â€Å"Heaven help the American-born boy with a talent for ballet† – Camille Paglia The prim and proper women and the strong and strapping men are no match for Shakespeare’s haze of character’s muddled together in Antony and Cleopatra. As always Shakespeare delivers a luminary cast of individuals that deviate from the socially accepted gender roles. As the audience works its way through the fierce genesis to the catastrophic resolution, it is made more than apparent that lines are being crossed all over society’s conformist board of gender specific expectations. The character that was most amplified in this context was the stunning Cleopatra. Less like a lady and more like a warrior, the audience was witness to this Egyptian queen beginning her cameo with a barrage of games she endlessly threw Antony’s way in a sly attempt to win his affections. â€Å"Nay, pray you seek no color for your going, but bid farewell and go† (1.3.33-34). Cleopatra occasionally showed signs of her female side through bouts of the play; however the majority of her presence was swarming with an aura of resiliency and strength. Other characters even mentioned her with such traits in mind; for example, Caesar proclaimed â€Å"[Lepidus] is not more manlike than Cleopatra† (1.3.5-6). Her strength was defined most in her beauty; â€Å"she makes hungry where most she satisfies; for vildest things become themselves in her† (2.2.236-237). However, it was also present in her behavior. Cleopatra was a meek woman by no means. She stood up for the things she believed in. When upset, she presented her shrewish side. â€Å"Hence, Horrible Villian, or I’ll spurn thine eyes like balls before me; I’ll unhair thy head,... ...e 6, Enobarbus and Menas vocally agreed upon the lying and seduction methods of the female population. In Act 3, Scene 12, Caesar prattled on about the inherently weaker side of women. In some cases it was even considered an insult that the men might be compared to women. â€Å"For shame, transform us not to women† (4.2.35). In Antony and Cleopatra, the important point one must recognize is not the battles present both in love and war, but the toe that is continuously slide across the line which Shakespeare always felt inclined to cross. There were no prototypical male or female protagonists in Shakespeare’s world. It is a factor that should always be acknowledged when stewing over this brilliant playwright’s work. Boundaries were meant to be crossed, and Shakespeare made his belief just as apparent in the sloshing of gender roles in Antony and Cleopatra.

Lagos, Nigeria :: essays research papers

Lagos is the largest city in Nigeria. In 1989 the population was 1,274,000. It is still growing immensely as we speak. It is the former capital of Nigeria. It is located on the Gulf of Guinea. It occupies four islands(Lagos, Ikoyi, Victoria, and Ido). Lagos is Nigeria's largest city. It is the administrative and economic center of Lagos and also its main port. Main Industries include railroad repair, motor vehicle assembly, food processing, and the manufacture of metal products, textiles, beverages, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, soap, and furniture. The city is a road and railroad center and has an international airport. In Lagos, education is usually private. There are both Boarding Schools and Home schooling and both cost a lot of money. Public Schools are not that common in Lagos like they are here. The main source of transportation in Lagos is Buses and â€Å"tracks." Tracks are a simple version of street cars. In Lagos, power failures, water-supply interruptions and traffic jams is very common due to the huge population. Pollution is a very serious problem because of the surrounding lagoons have been used as dumps for the past few years and the increase in factories and cars. There are many national institutions located in Lagos, among them are the National Museum, the National Library, the University of Nigeria, and the University of Lagos. Brief History The Portuguese, was the first to visit Lagos in 1472. It was later established as a slave-trading center. The area was under the rule of the Kingdom of Benin from the late-16th to the mid-19th century then in 1861. It was later taken over by the British.

How Has the Personification of India and the Indian Woman Been Reflected in the Various Paintings of Mother India? Essay

â€Å"I am India. The Indian nation is my body. Kanyakumari is my foot and the Himalayas my head. The Ganges flows from my thighs. My left leg is the Coromandal Coast, my right is the Coast of Malabar. I am this entire land. East and West are my arms. How wondrous is my form! When I walk I sense all India moves with me. When I speak, India speaks with me. I am India. I am Truth, I am God, I am Beauty.† These lines, written below the Hindu right wing organization Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s poster of â€Å"Bharat Mata†, shows how the anthropomorphic form of the nation as well as India’s cartographic form coalesce together into one single entity in the form of art. And with this paper, I will attempt to do an analysis on how India as well as the Indian Woman has been personified in the form of various paintings of the Bharat Mata in India. In 1905, Abanindranath Tagore painted the above iconic image of Mother India. Clad in a saffron sari, resembling a Sadhvi, the imagery of Mother India over here depicts that of a holy woman radiating peace and calm. On observing the painting carefully, one notices the celestial nimbus behind her head, the lotus pond next to which she is standing, and the four arms each carrying an item of symbolic significance. A manuscript, a sheaf of foliage, rosary beads and a piece of fabric – I personify her here as a goddess. She emits grace, serenity on her face, conferring boons; she is the epitome of the Goddesses Sita, Savitri, Saraswati and Lakshmi. On analyzing Nargis’ role of Radha in the film Mother India, one can see that the ideals that Radha entered her marriage can be mirrored in Abanindranath Tagore’s painting. Sita, being the embodiment of purity, Savitri, exemplarily devoted wife, and Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth and good fortune (brides are customarily likened to Lakshmi and to whom Sukhilal explicitly, and somewhat ironically, likens Radha). In the beginning of the film, we see a timid Radha, entering her marriage with the ideals of being a perfect wife, devoting herself to her husband, exhibiting loyalty and chastity. These basic ideals don’t change throughout the film. We see her sacrificing her food for her husband and children; we see her maintaining her chastity even though she could have foregone the debt by having sexual relations with Sukhilal. As personified by the image as well, she maintains this image of being a â€Å"pure† woman, displaying devotion to her homeland and abstemiousness towards her marriage. As Sister Nivedita aptly puts it, what Tagore sees in Her is made clear to all of us. â€Å"Spirit of the motherland, giver of all good, yet eternally virgin†¦. The misty lotuses and the white light set Her apart from the common world, as much as the four arms, and Her infinite love. And yet in every detail, of â€Å"Shankha† bracelet, and close veiling garment, of bare feet, and open, sincere expression, is she not after all, our very own, heart of our heart, at once mother and daughter of the Indian land, even as to the Rishis of old was Ushabala , in her Indian girlhood, daughter of the dawn?† During the independence period, there was a drastic change in the imagery of Mother India. From the pre-independence view of Bharat Mata as a serene, holy woman radiating peace and calm, the images that soon followed were that of strength, anger, wit, and innovation. Images of Gandhi being held by Mother India, Mother India surrounded by freedom fighters, Subhash Chandra Bose cutting off his head and offering it to the Mother on a platter. Even though the visuals managed to captivate the audience, it wasn’t about the art form represented – but the message. On looking at the first image presented here, on the RSS poster, one can see how the personification of Mother India changed immensely from the passive figure that she once was. We see a woman occupying the map of the nation, giving the nation as body a very tangible female form. We have here an image which takes its meanings from a wide range of cultural signifiers: the smiling face of the goddess standing in front of her lion, looking directly into the gaze of onlookers. This particular image, very famous throughout the country, continues to look at people from posters and calendars everywhere. Aggressive and self-assured, she no longer resembles the way Abanindranath Tagore represented her. The title Mother India immediately situates the film within the discourse of the Freedom Movement, and the film is seen to be as much about nationhood as womanhood. In the painting, I view the Bharat Mata depicted as a symbol of female empowerment – the confidence in her eyes, the lion besides her. Radha, in the film Mother India is symbolized in the same way. She is confronted by the choice to either display loyalty towards her land or let her motherly love overpower it. But she chooses her land and goes against her familial instincts to fight for it. The transition from the painting by Abanindranath Tagore’s Bharat Mata to the poster by the RSS can be seen as a vision of a new Utopia that integrates features from both societies. The traditional society, fundamentally morally sound. A woman, whose integrity never left her side. Yet this society (in our analogy, India) was vulnerable to the vagaries of nature (the west). Mother India became a symbol of empowerment. Rema ining strong to her ethics, she opened herself up to modernity, letting herself become influenced by the west. As mentioned by Rosie Thomas, â€Å"Power in the new society is generated by control of both: oppression is ousted and the hazards of nature overcome with modern technology, but the purity of traditional values — symbolized by female chastity — must still bless, and ultimately legitimize, technological advance.† And Mother India did open the dam. As depicted by the RSS poster, India transitioned from a traditional Mother to that of a symbol of woman’s strength. The final painting that I will attempt to analyze is M.F. Hussain’s Bharat Mata. A nude woman, depicted in red, spread over the soil of this country with a man observing her and the various city names strewn in the background. Unlike the previous two paintings, which depict serenity and empowerment, this depicts oppression. And probably, the one painting that captures the essence of being a woman in India – male dominance in a society where a woman has no voice, this is what the painting speaks to me. Taking references from the film Mother India, at the beginning of the film she is forced into marriage without voicing her own opinion. Her head is covered by a shroud, eyes looking down – a sad and subdued figure. She listens to her Mother-in-law without a peep, submits to her husband. When there are references to Radha and her husband being parents of sons, she just smiles. And even after the loss of her youngest child, a daughter, hardly any emphasis is given on the emotions of the situation. The woman is also viewed as an object of sexual desire, apparent when Sukhilal makes sexual advances towards her. This shifts our focus to the objectification of a woman in Indian Society. Objectification is known to be those portrayals of women in ways and contexts which suggest that women are objects to be looked at, ogled, even touched, or used. From ancient scriptures, a revolted Sita (from the epic Ramayana) to a modern day Delhi gang rape victim, there are countless examples of how women are commoditized. Even in Bollywood, nowadays rather than celebrating a women’s sensuality, they are portrayed as an object or a toy of the Hero’s antics or to celebrate his success or his dreams. Or as a product that has been marketed by the catchy medium called media. Taking instances from the Hindu epics, in the story of Parashuram, his mother, Renuka, exper iences a momentary desire for another man. For this crime of ‘thought’, her own son beheads her on the orders of her husband, Jamadagni. She eventually comes to be associated with the goddess Yellamma, who is associated with prostitution. In the story of Ram, Sita’s abduction by Ravan so taints her reputation, and makes her the subject of such gossip, that Ram eventually abandons her. In neither story is the woman actually assaulted. It does not matter. In Devdutt Pattanaik’s words, the idea of being violated is terrible enough. The idea that what is yours has claimed another in ‘thought’ (Renuka’s story) or has been claimed by another in ‘thought’ (Sita’s story) is enough to deflate honor. The personification of the Nation and the Indian Woman represented in Abanindranath Tagore, the RSS poster and M.F. Hussain’s paintings gives us a single window of insight of the various perceptions of the same. Sacredness, empowerment and oppression – three concepts depicted by three unique paintings representing the same ideology. And as it is often quoted, â€Å"A picture is worth a thousand words.† ——————————————– [ 1 ]. The Goddess and the Nation, mapping Mother India – Sumathi Ramaswamy [ 2 ]. Many Avatars of Bharat Mata – BN Goswamy, The Tribune [ 3 ]. Mythology of Mother India – Rosie Thomas [ 4 ]. The Life and Times of Bharat Mata – Sadan Jha, Manushi – issue 142 [ 5 ]. Mythology of Mother India – Rosie Thomas [ 6 ]. Essay, A Woman’s Body – Devdutt Pattanaik

HR Planning Case Study Essay

Xerox is a widely known firm worldwide, but it has been through numerous crises in the past decade. In fact, at one point several years ago, there were questions about Xerox surviving as a firm. But no longer. Under the leadership of Anne Mulcahy as CEO, Xerox has rebounded. Numerous strategic business and financial decisions had to be made, including reducing the workforce by 30,000. But Mulcahy also stressed that HR had to become a more strategic contributor. One of the actions taken was to consolidate a number of HR functions from different busi-ness units into a corporate HR Service Center. This center performs many administrative trans-actions, and has added Internet- based systems to make HR services more accessible to managers and employees. To track employees’ views on the company and HR, employee surveys on the company in-tranet have been used for several years. Areas at which lower scores were recorded have been addressed by HR staff and other managers. The survey results have led to another primary focus at Xerox: employee retention. With all of the reductions and organizational restructurings, keeping the remaining employees, especially high- potential ones, has been a continuing emphasis. Xerox has invested significant time and resources into training and development of its employees, an important retention factor. Greater use of e- learning, technology, and leadership development have paid off in reducing turnover and convincing employees that career opportunities exist at Xerox. Continuing com-petitive pressures are presenting new challenges for Xerox and its HR staff. The strategic importance of HR has been demonstrated in the past, and looks to be a part of the firm’s future.

`In Another Country` By E. Hemingway Essay

Hemingway creates a powerful and true-to-life story about real experience of many soldiers who came home but remember all casualties and hardship they were faced with during the WWI. On the other hand, their stories full of bravery, honor and courage. They need to adapt to new world, but the only way for them is to change their habits and personal values. Settings and objects reflect inner psychological state of the characters and help readers to grasp the idea at once, follow plot development and conflict resolution. Thesis In the short story, settings and objects help the author to reflect inner psychological experience of soldiers and emotional burden of the war. The hospital serves as a symbol that represents pain and sufferings, death and hopes. This setting gives insight analysis of deep personal feelings of soldiers and their experience during this war time. Within the story Hemingway skillfully portrays casualties of the ar underlining the evolution of characters, their emotional state, caused by sufferings and enormous psychological burden carried by soldiers after the war. â€Å"We were all at the hospital every afternoon, and there were different ways of walking across the town through the dusk to the hospital† (Hemingway). According to Neiberg (2004), the war experience was the shock for the main characters who return home. Hemingway depicts that this is the most difficult time for all soldiers to come to grips with changes occurred in their native countries and communities. He symbolically describes this experience as ‘a bridge’ between war and old life. â€Å"You crossed a bridge across a canal to enter the hospital. There was a choice of three bridges† (Hemingway, n.d. ). This setting underlines that every solder can choose his life path, but all of them are joined by war memories and feelings. Deep human emotions embroil reality and imaginary world of the hero, but Hemingway leaves it to readers to decide what is the most important for the soldiers and what is real for them. The author gives only some hints to the reader to comprehend the meaning of the bridge. It implies not only wisdom, but also the whole life of a person, who has a right to choose which path to go, it represents isolation and rejection of reality. Hemingway describes only one of them underlining that the main characters were suppressed by circumstances and could choose their life path: â€Å"On one of them a woman sold roasted chestnuts† (Hemingway, n. d. ). In â€Å"In Another Country†, the town reflects inner psychological experience of the friends. The main setting, â€Å"the Cova†, appears in the story several times. The narrator pays a special attention to it which reflects his psychological experience and perception of events around him. The narrator uses the following descriptions of it: â€Å"Although, as we walked to the Cova through the though part of town, walking in the dark, with light and singing coming out of the wine-shops† (Hemingway, n. d. ). It is possible to say that the character development is â€Å"slow†, because the main heroes do not want to make any changes in their life resisting strongly modern world they enter (Nagel, 1996). Physical settings of the story depict new world and changes. To some extent, they reflect the personality of the men and their reaction towards new world. The setting of ‘the Cova’ symbolizes unity and friendship, mutual understanding and support. Psychological pressure is caused by war, but Hemingway portrays it symbolically through material and emotional experience, evolution of emotional perception of the world and values. â€Å"The girls at the Cova were very patriotic, and I found that the most patriotic people in Italy were the cafe girls – and I believe they are still patriotic† (Hemingway, n. d. ). Social context of the short story helps to understand resistance of the main characters to accept novelty. After the war, they come to another alien world they know nothing about. Hemingway does not speak directly but the main problem mentioned by Neiberg (2004) is that nobody wants to listen to old soldiers and their war stories being sick and tired of casualties of war. In the story Hemingway uses a lot of symbolic details that helps to unveil the message of the story and create a unique atmosphere of events take place after the war time. â€Å"Machine† represents the hope to recover. Although, many soldiers do not believe in this treatment method like â€Å"the major who came very regularly to the hospital. I do not think he ever missed a day, although I am sure he did not believe in the machines† (Hemingway, n. d. ). â€Å"Machine† represents escape from reality and society in general. On the other hand, ‘Machine’ shows that past experience is more essential for the main characters than their present and future. The character of the major teaches viewers to distinguish between social prestige and moral worth. The major’s attitude towards war is not accompanied by a moral decline but shows that there is no difference for society between true stories and imaginary tales. The main heroes try to escape from this new world and new setting in the hospital as the only possible way to overcome enormous emotional and psychological pressure. From the psychological point of view, the image of hero represented by the four men is caused by the feeling of personal freedom and courage. Social values help to form their individual identities and let them stand out from the crowd. In this case, the soldiers embody personal democracy which is closely connected with love and adventures. Hemingway took part in the WWI and knew from his own experience what courage meant (Meyers 1997). The medals are another important objects which reflects proud and courage. â€Å"We all had the same medals, except the boy with the black silk bandage across his face, and he had not been at the front long enough to get any medals† (Hemingway, n. d. ). Society’s response to heroism defines it as a set of behavior patters and beliefs that valued by the society. To some extent, the soldiers inherit the ideals of the dream, such as personal freedom and social justice. In some cases, world order and justice can be achieved only in blood battles with enemies, so the heroes had to use to use their physical strength against evil. They were persons who took risks: â€Å"I would imagine myself having done all the things they had done to get their medals† (Hemingway, n. d. ). Using the setting of the hospital, the symbol of the machine and medals, Hemingway depicts that the men live in the past where everything is familiar to them: battles, human relations, settings. Within the story Hemingway shows that the core difference between a soldiers and a civilian is in their inner perception of the world. A civilian does not constantly understand all the duties he might to discharge and obligations he might to carry out. As a soldier, a man does not rely upon the others; he is the only one who makes decisions and answer for the consequences (Bourne, 2001). â€Å"The three with the medals were like hunting-hawks; and I was not a hawk, although I might seem a hawk to those who had never hunted† (Hemingway, n. d. ). To some extent, the evolution of characters depicts the state of maturity which cannot be measured by knowledge level or life struggles. It is an attitude of a soldier towards life, his ability to rule it and the ability to accept the reality. Through the settings and objects unveils Hemingway the issue of moral health of the soldiers and evolution of personality. He depicts that in spite of all the negative life lessons soldiers understand what it is to be an individual. Hemingway shows that the inner state of the soldiers has changed. On the other hand, war causes people to become insensitive. The settings of the hospital and the town are powerful reflecting inner state of the men and giving some hints to readers to imagine their feelings and emotional state. Through the detailed settings the story suggests something of the historical loss for the men of transferring the sense of self to relationships with civil society. Works Cited Page 1. Bourne, J. M. Who’s Who in world War One. Routledge, 2001 2. Hemingway, E. In Another Country. n. d. 3. Meyers, J. Ernest Hemingway: The Critical Heritage. Routledge, 1997. 4. Nagel, J. Ernest Hemingway: The Oak Park Legacy. University of Alabama Press, 1996. 5. Neiberg, M. S. Warfare & Society in Europe: 1898 to the Present. Routledge, 2004.

Human Resource Management and Organizational Behaviour Within a Multinational Leader H&M

Human resource management and organizational behaviour within a multinational leader Hennes & Mauritz is a multinational retail-clothing company operating in 38 countries and employing a total of 87,000 people. It has been founded in 1947 in Sweden and experienced a rapid growth due to international expansion since the 1960’s. H&M’s mission is at the same time one of the reason for its big and fast success; offering fashion and quality at the best price. Customer expactations are supposed to be exceeded at all times as well as customers being satisfied with the company itself. In order to achieve that H&M needs to sustain its very positive brand image and staff that is organized in the best possible way to handle those goals set. In its annual report it is stated that the company’s focus should be on commercial mindset, simplicity, constant improvement, cost consciousness and entrepreneurship. With those aspects in mind, the long term goal being „making fashion available to everyone, giving the customer a fashion experience that strengthens H&M brandâ€Å" should be reached allowing the business to further expand and to enter new markets on the basis of a 10-15% growth per year, funded internally. Over the years, the company has set a strategy which has the three main aspects of price, design and merger &acquisitions. First of all, since H&M always tries to offer their customers the lowest price possible, they need to achieve a competitive advantage to achieve low costs, and sustaining profitability at very low prices. This is achieved through keeping the number of middlemen to a minimum, benefiting of economies of scale, taking advantage of their great experience and selecting suppliers carefully and keeping distribution costs as low as possible. Designing is completly processed inh-house while all of the production is outsorced but its outcome is tested carefully on a regular basis to ensure high quality at all times. Mergers & acquistions have also been one of the company’s major strategy in the past, especially focusing on acquisitions of small design companies to enrich their product portfolio and being able to offer diversified products worldwide which is an essential part of their international expansion strategy. H&M’s corporate strategy is to expand on a continuing basis, and as a consequence, employee strength also increases continuously. For 2009, H&M’s The continous expansion means that there is also an ongoing process of recruitment within the company, as additional staff is needed with every new shop opening. Annual increase in the number of employees for the upcoming years is 5000-10,000 people from all different kinds of backgrounds, mostly recruited locally at the place of store opening. H&M puts a strong emhasis is to maintain their image of being a good employer, which will help them not only to be confronted with a higher number of applicants for job vaccancies, but also reduces staff turnover as well as it increases employee’s satisfaction towards their job and hence, productivity. This also includes making efforts that exceed national requirements of employer’s responsibilities, which are, especially in some of the recently entered asian markets, very low compared to western standards. This objective is summarized by the HR department as following: â€Å"In order to meet people’s expectations of H&M as an attractive employer, the company develops global guide lines on diversity, equal rights and against discrimination† Hennes & Mauritz wants to give every employee the feeling that they are an essential part of the business, constently offering them to develop and giving the positive signals that promotions are within the company are always ahead. The company is very open towards trade unions and is known for its good and close communication on an employee-management level. Represantitves are being elected which frequently discuss possibilities for improvement with managers, representing the employee’s opinions while at the same time managers are encouraged to actively communicate with employees of all levels as well. This creates a strong feeling of trust within the organization, which is excellent at managing diversity. At times of promotions, managers are advised first to look for the best candidate internally in order to gain advantage of the employee’s experience with the company and encouraging others to work hard and being the best andidate for future promotions. However, the companies philosophy is built among a concept which does not award employees with outstanding job titles but instead continiously increasing opportunities and responsibilities. The fast international expansion of course requires high level of training of new staff. As stated before, internal recruitment is one the main objectives, but since the number of staff is growing so fast, new employees need to be introduced to the job quickly. This process is being accelerated by on-the-job training in which new staff in new markets is invited to join a co-workers in an established market to be introduced into the philosophies, practices and day-to-day tasks. One of the main characteristics a H&M employee therefore needs to bring is a sense of entrepreneurship, good communication skills and being open to work in different environments. Once being hired by H&M, the employee is offered a huge range of benefits for which the company is well recognized for (a list of possible benefits is attached in the appendix)

Family Cultural Values Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Family Cultural Values - Essay Example Filipino Americans have created a language that includes elements of English as well as Tagalog known as ‘Tag-lish’- and this is commonly used, particularly in the younger generation of Filipino-Americans. Filipino society places great emphasis on the practice of ‘kapwa’ or shared identity. This society emphasizes on the importance of developing strong relationships between all members of society. In traditional Filipino society, there were domains of interactions that marked all social as well as communal activities (Espiritu, 2007). The external domain was marked by civility, known as pakikitungo, pakikilahok- or participation in societal activities, pakikitungo – or mixing with others, and pakikisama, which literarily meant adjusting one’s perceptions in order to fit better in one’s society. All these stages were essential before one could be held in full trust- or pakiisa- by the society (Espiritu, 2007). The enduring values extolled by Filipino society could be said to be the result of years of having to share more than 7000 islands even though just 1000 are inhabitable. Religion also plays a central role in Filipino society. There are traditional animistic religions that are still practiced in some sections of the Philippines. Moreover, most Filipinos are Catholics. There are small minorities in Mindanao and Sulu that are Muslims, though (Espiritu, 2007). The central place of faith even among Filipino Americans is such that even matters of health are given interpretations based on issues of faith. The importance of prayer and faith as important aspects in securing healing from disease is a reality in Filipino-American society.... This essay stresses that In America, most Filipino Americans tend to combine aspects such as maintaining balance, exercising the body, and sustaining harmony to ensure that they remain disease free or fight off opportunistic infections. There is also an emphasis on maintaining social relationships with various important people in one’s life in order to keep the psychological man happy as well. The stress on the significance of maintaining balance within the body’s humors can be utilized as a cultural strength to improve the management of chronic illness as the patient can be educated on other aspects, discovered by modern medicine that could result in the body being unable to heal itself. This paper makes a conclusion that Filipino Americans also still observe traditional rules about the consumption of certain foods. Medical practitioners can use cultural norms on the best foods to consume when ill to stimulate their patients to play an active role in the process of their own treatment. In the case of terminally ill patients, it would be necessary to make use of the family members as nurses for the ill person. In most Asian American cultures, including the Filipino-American culture, decisions on how a sick member of the family is treated are made by the heads of families after a moment of consultation. Most families are more likely to feel comfortable with their terminally ill patient being looked after in their own homes.

Describe the factors that influence the cost of maintenance. Are any Essay

Describe the factors that influence the cost of maintenance. Are any factors more important then others Why - Essay Example Of the above mentioned factors the most important factor is the quality of systems design. Creating a well documented system allows all other aspects of the systems to be traceable and with complete evidence. Hence any latent issue or technical issue that might come up can be easily resolved. Also, all the communication and messages are more accurately sent to the intended users. Although the development of strong and quality system documentation can prove to be an expensive and time consuming task, this allows the other possible issues in the future to be resolved more easily and fast, which thereby lead to reduced maintenance costs (Hoffer, George and Valacich). Quality documentation also allows upgrades and changes to be made more easily and any person with proper knowledge of the platform on which the system operates can use the documentation to maintain the system