Internal and external forces that impact organizational behavior Essay

Most organizations have a focus on where they are going to be in a given time, this is often known as strategic planning. The organization’s mission covers various areas of interest including the service expected as well as the upkeep of the organization to attract potential customers. It is known to most companies where they are going; often all employees can view and read the philosophy of the mission statement, it is also placed in an area easily accessible for that purpose. A mission statement also leads to the vision of the corporation, more on a long-term basis thus, providing a pathway by doing marketing research in the market of interest. To keep ahead of the competition the mission must be implemented as well as trying new methods of operation. The vision must be able to measure with the value of the organizational operation in specific areas of interest such as customer service and employee relations. As mentioned earlier these areas can be measured via surveys, this will allow areas, which need improvement to be easily corrected. There is an area of interest and it is the value of the organization’s mission. Without the vision and value, the organization lacks foundation. The value counts for how much this organization is to each individual, whether customers or employees. The level of care and interest; as well as, input and output to get the correct value for the improvement of the organization. Organizational behavior is described as the study of group or individual dynamics within an organizational environment (Wikipedia, 2004). A company’s work environment is created and produced by the groups or the individual people who work within it. Employees often find themselves conforming to their ever changing environment. The economics of the world has a significant influence on both the modern business and the organizational behavior of that business. For any company to be successful, it is crucial to understand the elements that can affect the economy that supports its business. The economy can be affected by many different kinds of issues or measurements, like the interest rate, inflation rate, and employment rates. The businesses of the twenty first century face the trials of functioning in a global or multinational market. Each business will labor intensely to locate the markets in the world that offer the best  services for the least costly prices. These same companies know that worldwide events will affect all businesses. On the other side of the economy, there are the companies that offer services and products, which struggle to achieve the premium positions in the market. They are willing to transform and change their organization to meet the challenges of the changing marketplace. The organizational changes are often initiated from the top and trickled down through the ranks. The changes can range from the way selections are fulfilled to decisions made. Jobs are often redefined. People employed for these restructuring businesses can find this to be painful, but necessary for their company to succeed (Randolph & Sashkin,2002). Companies that are negatively affected by the economy could show signs of opportunity constraints. This could cause the organizational behavior to change and become less concerned with profits and more focused on surviving or moving on to a more secure location. Listed below are some of the businesses that have changed from the past goods mentality to the modern times of offered services. They have fundamentally revised their businesses from companies that had a foundation in trading merchandise to businesses that now supply services. These services are offered by companies like AOL, Cross Country Group, AT&T, Cox Services, Clarion Hotels, and many more (Lusch et al., 2004). However, these changes in business now bring competition to the table. This can forcefully affect the economy in any country. Many countries offer cheaper labor and tax breaks by offering outsourcing services. Some on the companies mentioned before have already taken advantage of the cost-effective changes, by moving part of their business overseas (Chip shots). In the call center environment today, there is an abundance of competition. The competition lies within the call center itself; in addition, there is rivalry with other call centers. For instance, Tucson happens to have approximately between twenty to twenty-five call centers in the area alone. The call centers compete with each other for the associates, by offering better pay, more flexible schedules, and superior benefits to try to convince people into working for them. People tend to jump from one call  center to another, which may be offering something that the other one is not. They also compete with each other technologically, trying to be up to date with the latest and greatest computer programs, having the best quality and customer service. Call centers also compete for industry awards. Within the call center there can be major competition between departments and employees. Employees compete for, job advancement, call handling time, and quality. Call centers are infamous for offering incentives. Centers are always trying to improve on their statistics and be the best, and the way they do this is by offering the employee incentives to motivate them to perform at the highest possible level. Incentives might range from money bonuses, televisions, DVD players, vacations, and they have actually given away cars. Not only do call centers have incentives monetarily they also like to recognize good performers by giving them awards, thus a big factor of competition ensues. Associates like to see who can get the most awards, best quality certificates or who can get the most pictures on the board. Departments may compete to see who will have the best attendance for the month, or the best attrition rate. Upper management might even challenge the Human Resources department to a friendly game of volleyball, just to keep things lively and motivate even the toughest of management. Customer demands can directly affect organizational behavior in a business. These demands can be stressful and challenging and may create a series of issues that may well lead to harmful affects or end results that could negatively and directly affect an organization. Internal and external forces of customer demands can affect behavior in an organization in several ways. External forces, such as stress in an employee’s personal or home life may cause a series of effects on their quality of work. A demanding or unremitting workload accompanied by inadequate staffing to support a hefty seasonal increase in business, in addition to a person’s distressed personal state of mind, can cause the external and internal affects to collide with one another creating a precarious wind of disarray in the workplace. These combined forces have a real impact and can negatively affect and weigh heavily on an employee;  ultimately affecting the organization. Consumer demands are usually just that- demands. The business of consumer assistance may not always result in supplying what the customer thinks they deserve. Sometimes these demands may be justified; yet, more often than not, these requests are simply unrealistic. Ultimately the end result may be advising a consumer that they have exhausted all requests and will not be receiving what they want or what they think they are entitled to. Worse yet, if they indeed will be receiving what they want, they may not be receiving as expeditiously as they may be insisting upon. These demands and effects on the members of staff can lead to, or include a loss of sleep; consequently, leading to lack of overall productivity, loss of an ability to remain focused on work or the task at hand; hence, leading to mistakes or inadvertent poor judgment. Additionally, the external stressors may cause one to react indifferently or antagonistically toward their co-workers or customers; as a result, generating a negative work atmosphere and unavoidably leading to providing poor customer service, or an overall deficient quality of work. Some Internal forces that might have an influence on organizational behavior could include: an overbearing boss or superior, or a person placed in charge of a group of employees that may not necessarily be an adequate leader. A manager or superior that is inconsistent with the enforcement of policy or discipline amongst employees can be very bad for morale. Workers may notice these types of inconsistencies in an insufficient manager and they may take offense to the preferential treatment given to a select few. When workers are filled to capacity with a constant flow of consumer demands, insufficient staffing, and heavy workload, the result may be inevitable – a less than positive or productive environment producing an overabundance of negative organizational behaviors. Change is the only dependable constant. Methods to produce success are created on a daily basis. In order to maintain success within any  organization it is necessary to research new practices that will accommodate these changes. When the time comes to reorganize a company it is important to make sure the new strategies match the values of the company. It is important that every person at each level of employment understand how their role affects the company. The benefits of reconstructing an organization may not be initially evident; however, the long-term benefits will be realized through the company’s success. The strategies for obtaining success within any organization have changed throughout time. In a call center environment, reconstruction is very frequent. All shareholders of the organization are taken into consideration when these decisions are made. The representatives speaking to the clients are the most valuable assets to the company. It is necessary for the company to offer a competitive benefits package that attracts prospective employees; as well as, provides incentive to retain talent. There are many call centers that need positions to be filled. Matching pay, benefits, and other employee needs with competitive employers is a large task. Once an employee is hired, it then becomes a challenge to maintain that employee’s interest. It is very common for a person to obtain employment in a call center, acquire experience, just to move on to another center. Every position in the company plays an important role in contributing to the company’s success. Surveys are often used to determine the needs of the representatives in order to enhance the company’s performance. The results will assist the upper management with making decisions on how they can make their employees happier, while increasing or maintaining productivity. It is very common for a call center to work in a team environment. These teams usually consist of the front line representatives, team leaders, and supervisors. The front line representatives are the first contact the consumer will encounter. The team leaders are those who exhibit exceptional skills in handling those client’s concerns. The supervisor is responsible for ensuring that the people in those positions continue productivity while  supporting the company’s goals. They are many internal and external forces that impact organizational behavior. Reconstructing, organizational mission, economy, competition, and customer demands are examples of the many effects that can move, create, and drive organizational behavior.

Fahrenheit 451 Son’s Book Report 9th Grade

Guy Montag, a fireman in the future who burns books, is the main character, and the story is told from his point of view. Mildred is Montag’s wife, who is depressed and watches television all day. Captain Beatty is Montag’s boss and becomes his enemy. Clarisse McClellan, Montag’s 17 year old neighbor, comes from an unconventional family and has a powerful effect on Montag. Professor Faber who is Montag’s friend that helps him by making a plan to reprint books. The Hound who is a mechanical dog that hunts down Montag after he disobeys the law. The events take place in an unnamed time in the future in an American city. There are several settings: the firehouse, Montag’s home, the city streets, and the forest outside the city. In this world, books are banned, and everyone’s lives are isolated from each other. Guy Montag is a fireman and his purpose is to burn books. One day Montag meets a young girl named Clarisse McClellan who helps him realize that his life is empty. When Clarisse dies, and his wife attempts suicide, Montag decides to read books. But in Montag’s world a person caught reading books has his house burned down. Then Montag goes back to work, and he is forced to burn down a house holding books with the owner inside. After that he seeks help from an English professor named Faber, and they make a plan to destroy the firemen and to preserve books by publishing them. Mildred tells the firemen about the books that Montag has been hiding, and he is forced to burn down his own house. When Beatty tries to arrest Montag, he runs away and is pursued by the police. After Montag escapes, he runs into group of people outside the city called â€Å"the Book People. † They hold memories of books they have read and are waiting for a chance to start a new world. I think this is a great book. Ray Bradbury was very descriptive and the story has a great plot, because it was suspenseful. I would recommend it to people because it made me think about the value of books.

Case Study on Merger of Two Competing Hospitals

On Merger of Two Competing Hospitals - Case Study Example It is argued that, consolidated hospitals have significance performances benefits compared to independent hospitals. Managerial and medical benefits are realized via various means. This are such as, care comprehensiveness, quality, economies, administrative and accessibility power (Hsieh et al., 2011). Thus, the consolidation of Banner Regional Medical Center and Porter Regional Medical Center would be of advantage to the community people. The board at fore most needs to advertise the posts for new executives. Individuals competent for the post need to email their resumes. The next step is for the board to hire a consulting firm for purposes of reviewing the resumes and performances of the applicants. Finally, the qualified applicants get the position and become part of the consolidation. Given the embedded diversity cultures of the merged organizations, the management team needs to do the following in order to enhance the new organization working culture. Employees should be made to understand that, attacking of diversity issues with powerful force is not ethical. Those who do that, think its imperative to take a strategic action. In addition to that, understanding of diversity at work force does not trigger any changes that are major in practices of management. Therefore, for the success of the merged organizations, each and everyone should be considered in decision making. In that case, policy designing, decision making and management procedures should not be left to corporate officers. On the contrary, all the organization shareholders should take part in the development of organization missions, objectives, rules and regulations (Buchbinder & Shanks, 2011). In the moments of consolidation, the companies’ physical structures should either be renovated or sold to get funds to build new and modernized facilities. The old and dilapidated

American history Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

American history - Essay Example This part of the study will discuss about several successes that were achieved by the government of the United States of America under the articles of the confederation. Under this article of the confederation, the colonists of America fought against the soldiers of Great Britain with their full strength and achieved independence. The government of the United States of America succeeded to maintain a strong unity by keeping 13 different states together. In addition to this, these states stayed together for a longer period of time in order to realize the importance of unity. The Land Ordinance of the 1785 was the most effective territory expansion plan introduced by the government of the United States of America under the articles of confederation. The government of the United States of America raised huge money by selling the lands. It helped government to source and allocate required fund for several planned projects and development programs. In addition to this, this sourcing of fu nds or capital helped the government of the United States of America to repay the previous debt account (Collins 136). It helped the country to achieve significant economic growth rate. Under this article of confederation, government of the United States of America introduced several public development projects. For example, government initiated Section 16. It was the designated for the development of several public schools. Northwest Ordinance is also considered as one of the key successes of the government under the articles of confederation. The government of the country planned for the establishment of governments in different territories. It helped the government of the Unite States of America to maintain discipline and sustainability in these territories (Kellogg 58). Government of the country developed several processes for these territories to become a state. It helped the government of the country to reform and improve overall economic and social condition of these territor ies. In addition to this, government of the United States of America succeeded to expand fundamental democratic rights into the Northwest region. Aspects like Freedom of speech for common people, no slavery, trial by jury and freedom of speech for press were guaranteed by the Congress. In addition to this, government of the United States of America succeeded to prepare a constitution for the country including these territories and states which approved by the Congress. Several developed laws and regulations developed by the government of states helped to maintain peace and control the social life in the newly developed states. Failures of government under the Articles of Confederation The inherent weakness in the Articles of Confederation arises from the fact that it is called a confederacy. The sovereign power was placed in the hands of the states of the America. This fact was explicitly stated in Article II of the confederation which states that each state will retain the freedom, sovereignty, independence, jurisdiction, power and right. Such distribution of power was chosen by the Founding Fathers since Americans colonist were very wary of the national governments (Feinberg 78). They have to deal with the British Crown for many years; the American colonies did not want to make another out-of-touch national government. During this short lifespan, the Articles of Confederation became ineffective at governing the growing American states. The main cause for this

The Greatest Supply Chain Disasters of All Time Case Study

The Greatest Supply Chain Disasters of All Time - Case Study Example This is a major risk to company operations. Foxmeyer made an assumption that its new system would be highly effective, hence estimated benefits from such efficiency. It started bidding future contracts based on a system that was notyet operational. This can only be considered poor management, which entails poor planning, poor project management, and poor change management. Poor planning is because the company managers did not include certain risks that may have affected the project. This then means there was poor project management. The company’s project manager, in his or her plan, should include risk assessment, which should have the risk of the project not going according to plan. Execution risk should also include the risk of the current company system not integrating smoothly with the new system, and the risk that some required activities may not be recognized in time. This mistake is seen in other companies such as; Boeing, GM, WebVan, Adidas, Denver Airport, Toys RUs.co m, Mattel, Hershey Foods, Cisco, Nike, Apple, Loblaws, Ford, GM, Aris Isotoner, and Chrysler. In Boeing, there is also poor change and stakeholder management. A new system is implemented in the company which requires the cooperation of suppliers. These suppliers are not informed in time, are not informed of the company’s expectations, and the challenges that may come with such speedy and change in the production system. In the end, the suppliers cannot supply the products in time. They may have even produced poor quality products which may have caused the company more loses. An assessment was not done to find out the capability of the company, and the suppliers, to steer the project to completion in time. No consideration was given to the supplier, an important stakeholder in the success of the project. Lack of thorough assessment of a project’s feasibility is also a common problem in almost all the companies in the case study. Most of the companies go ahead with the p rojects, without a thorough assessment of the project’s feasibility and compatibility with the current systems. Almost all the companies ignore the risks that are ahead of them. They only assume that such big projects have to bring profit. There are risks associated with new systems, and these are all ignored. The companies work on expected benefits. In all the companies, big projects failed to meet the expectations. Most of the new projects were IT and system overhaul projects. It only means that any new projects that have no verified results of implementation should not be implemented and managed under traditional methods of steering a project to its completion. Traditional methods of management do not focus on the outcome. They focus on assigning duties to specific skills and departments, and expecting outcomes as described in project expectations. After implementation, that is when a manager realizes that the system was not compatible with the company’s operations, the system needed other sub projects, the system needed more time, and so on. New information Technology systems mean; new operational systems, and new roles and so new skills. All these should be accompanied by effective change management, since they will be accompanied by challenges in change management. The Case of â€Å"Denver Airport Cannot Manage the Luggage† This international airport implemented â€Å"a hugely automated baggage handling system†. This did not work as planned. This was an Underground Railroad network, driven by computers. The system was expected to speed up the delivery of bags to customers, and make the process of baggage handling efficient. It came with problems such as derailed cars, mis-delivered luggage, and jammed tracks.

Religion Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 9

Religion - Essay Example Christians believe that God revealed himself to them through his actions. A good example is his deeds during the exodus from Egypt or in the life of Jesus Christ. It is believed among the Christians that the deeds were a confirmation of the words spoken by God. The third unique element about Christian revelation is that it is apostolic (Aetate 2). The twelve disciples were the first people to experience God’s self-disclosure through Jesus Christ. This is because they lived and shared their lives with Jesus until his death, resurrection, and ascension to heaven. These apostles were later to propagate that revelation by sharing it with others (Prothero 7). It is believed that the revelation ended after the last apostle died. However, if Christian revelation is viewed from the Christ-centered perspective, two categories of questions questions arise. The first includes: since the revelation ended with the death of the apostles, does it mean that God does not reveal himself to peop le anymore? Does it mean that God does not work among people anymore? Does it mean that people no longer experience God? Secondly, if revelation is Christ-centered as claimed, what about the people who do not know

Contrast essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Contrast - Essay Example The method of giving solution to problems was the same in math and physics. The two had the same way of presenting answers. To be specific, both classes had utilized various formulas to explain phenomena and outcomes. In the mathematics class, numbers and variables were utilized to answer mathematical problems. For example, algebraic expressions were used by the teacher to describe a relationship which varies over time (â€Å"What†). In physics, numbers and variables were also employed in explaining a scientific problem. For instance, in determining the amount of force exerted in an activity, Newton’s law of motion was applied by the instructor. In the classroom, the teacher always associated the formulas used in actual setting. The application of the formulas in real life was emphasized. Even in small dealings, the professors would find a way to relate it to the topic whether in math or physics class. For instance, my math teacher had chosen a classmate of mine who was a businesswoman to illustrate the importance of addition and subtraction. In contrast with the mentioned similarities, the two classes essentially differed in the practical application of its topics. In the physics class, actual experiments were conducted to personally experience the truthfulness of the formulas. To test the students, the teacher included practical exams wherein students were tested if they really know how to perform the experiment and how well they understand the lesson. In another case, a student was called to explain and demonstrate a topic in front of the class. It was some sort of an oral exam. However, in the mathematics class, there was no actual experiment. It was just all about trial and error in a piece of paper. The professor never entertained the idea of calling students to answer a mathematical problem on the board. He never conducted an oral exam. What the

The Impact of Increasing Import Prices With Respect to Economic Research Paper

The Impact of Increasing Import Prices With Respect to Economic Variables - Research Paper Example At current market prices, the GDP is at its highest during the year 2004 whereas it is at its lowest during the year 2001. During 2004, the US economy experienced consistent growth with almost over 4%, on average, growth rates during each quarter. This was mainly due to the strong demand created through business spending, the sector which witnessed almost double-digit growth during the period whereas consumer spending was increasing too i.e. it showed an improvement of more than 4% during the year. Similarly, new jobs were created and the employment level fell sharply which not only stimulated spending but also increased the income level of individuals. Similarly, an increase in consumer spending resultantly caused an increase in the business sector when the business expansion was witnessed as it has been discussed earlier. However, what is also important to discuss, here is the fact that inflation during this period was at high level i.e. the current price level was high therefore t he GDP at current market prices was at its highest? Similarly, in the year 2001, GDP at current market prices was lowest because the US was hit by the terrorist attacks on 9/11 which significantly damaged its economy as most of its stock exchanges closed down for a substantial period of time. Secondly, the price level was relatively at a lower level as compared to the base year i.e. 2001 was just one year after the base year of 2000 therefore it was at the lowest level since at the base price GDP growth rate was around 6 – 7% whereas it showed negative growth from 2000 to 2001 at current market price level.

The Role of the Financial Manager Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The Role of the Financial Manager - Essay Example Therefore it is imperative that the CEO knows how to manage investment and protect the interest of shareholders. He must be able to strategically plan ahead and decide on policies and activities that would increase operating income and stockholder’s equity. Evidently, the best candidate to the CEO post should be the CFO. Maximizing wealth is not something that is new to a CEO who has been managing the finances of the organization. The primary role of the CFO in the firm is to plan strategies and pursue activities that will improve the total value of the firm. In most successful organization, CFOs basically work side by side with the CEO in strategic planning and decision making. He has developed excellent communication skills as he present the current financial condition of the firm to different stakeholders, has been closely oriented with the company’s product and operations, has been consistently working in line with the company’s vision, and has been able to d evelop managerial skills. However this does not absolutely imply that all CFO’s make successful CEO’s. The total personality of the CFO, his business acumen, the quantity and quality of his past experiences, and his continuing passion for the organization combined, make for a better CEO. D.

Food, Inc Essay Example for Free

Food, Inc Essay In America, whoever has the big bucks dictates how things are run. With money, there is no limit to what can be done in America. The documentary â€Å"Food Inc. produced by Robert Kenner and Eric Schlosser, takes an in depth look at America’s food industry and the terrible but completely legal way our food is genetically engineered. The narrator makes the argument that profit is put before the consumer’s well being,. The vision of the American farmer, workers safety, and our precious environment is far from the correct vision of the many major corporations that are producing our food. I firmly believe that these corporations have put aside and have deliberately tried to hide the truth about how unhealthy the food they produce truly is for the American public. The purpose of this video is to shock the American public with clever filmography and facts about the food Americans consume every day. The food industry is full of misconceptions. â€Å"Food Inc. † declares that the food industry is using deceiving images of American farmlands to sell their product. Images of lush green fields, picket fences, and 1930’s farmhouses is only a â€Å"spinning of a pastoral fantasy†. In reality the food being consumed is coming from mistreated animals and large factories all over the country. As the video continues, images of your typical everyday supermarket are cleverly displayed giving the audience something they can relate too. â€Å"There are no seasons in the American supermarket†. (Food Inc. ) The narrator gives details on how we as consumers get to enjoy ‘tomatoes’ all year round. He states that they were â€Å"grown half way around the world, picked when it was green and ripened with ethylene gas† (Food Inc. ). This is meant to inform the audience that what they are eating isn’t what it seems. It definitely makes viewers stop and think next time they are buying a tomato in winter. There has been little understanding and awareness of food in America until the film Food Inc. , which helped show the basis of how food is produced, packaged and sold locally in our grocery stores. We have been made to believe that local stores carry a wide variety of foods in all areas, including meats, dairy and especially in the fast food industry. A typical grocery store has on average 47,000 products and has made us to believe that there is a wide variety of choices inside the grocery store (Food, Inc. ). In today’s food industry most of the products are produced by only a few main companies which allow for cheaper foods in the stores. The current raw food production method has made a huge increase in our fast food companies since the 1950’s (Food, Inc. ). In fact, the production of our food has changed so much since the 1950’s, than the thousand years prior. The food industry which is controlled by only a few companies has turned the industry from the ordinary farmer, to the production of large quantities of food, feeding the nation at low costs which results in enormous profits for the producers. Because of this, health and safety of the food itself, how the animals are raised, the current method of workers being on assembly lines, and the consumer eating the food are now being overlooked by the companies and government; to provide cheap food regardless of the negative consequences. The reason for this innovation has been based on the advancement in science and technology which is a main reason for the negative side effects. With the addition of Carl’s Law, companies now come up with ways to throw more science at the problem to help eliminate the issues and not the root causes for the matter. I believe the message of Food Inc. s that most of what Americans now eat is being produced by a handful of huge corporations which is more detrimental to health, our environment and even our own human race. The horrible known facts about animal mistreatment and food contamination are being covered up by the secretive industry, by not talking to the filmmakers or let the insides of their companies be shown to the world, which include the enormous chicken farms, cattle ranches, slaughterhouses and the meatpacking plants. This film also said that â€Å"exploitation and malpractice in the meat industry were exposed as far back as Upton Sinclairs 1906 muckraking book, The Jungle. † Food Inc. , is a movie that address’s the voices of advocates, farmers, and journalists, to show what’s wrong with the food and what we can do about it. There are many factors that lead to the killing of the environment. There is a scene in the movie that shows cattle standing in about of a foot of its own feces. The feces that the cattle is standing in is full of harmful chemicals. Not only do the cattle have this bacteria in its body, but it is also spreading the bacteria in the ground, rivers, streams, etc. When it rains, the run off from these â€Å"farms† are affecting the health of the animals in the surrounding areas and further. The factories are polluting the air and killing more of the ozone layer due to the harmful chemicals that the factory is pushing out. It is sad to see how companies can allow cattle that will be slaughtered to stand in a foot of its bacteria infested feces, but worse to then see the cow be slaughtered and eventually be put on the shelves of grocery stores. There is no empathy on how the food is processed from beginning to end. Animals are treated horribly, known bacteria that they oversee and more important the health of the people consuming the products is not in any of the company’s top interest. All in all, this movie has shown me how brutal Americans can be to animals and how our own US Government seems not to care about its citizens health. I have learned to eat organic foods and to shop for produce only in season. The one question that kept arising in my mind during the movies was, I wonder where the food that the white house serves comes from. Is the president eating the same steroid injected chicken her is letting his country eat? It was a great movie and should, by law be shown in schools around the United States.

America The Most Powerful Nation Media Essay

America The Most Powerful Nation Media Essay America is arguably, the most powerful nation on Earth, having one of the largest military forces and in addition to this, American culture saturates the market, almost drowning out cultural exports from other countries, both developed and developing, this cultural overshadowing of the rest of the globe allows America to, in effect be the power house of the entire World. There is not a major urban metropolis on the planet without a McDonalds or a Starbucks. This Globalisation has also helped to cement Americas position as the most powerful nation on Earth. Many authors have attempted to identify precisely why and how America achieved this fantastical global domination, including Ziauddin Sardar who lists The Ten Laws of American Mythology in his text, American Dream/Global Nightmare. Rather than examine every one of Sardars laws of American Mythology, I have instead decided to merely look at five examples and see if they support Sardar claims that every citizen in the world is a citizen of America. Sardars first law of American Mythology is that; Fear is Essential (Sardar, 2004, pp.21) and living in this modern age of terror, it is hard not to see that law applied across the Globe. Terrorists, so we are told, can strike anywhere, at anytime and can be absolutely anyone. This atmosphere of fear and distrust, very similar to that which was created under McCarthy in America in the Nineteen Fifties, or even ironically under Stalin in Communist Russia. Sardar states that; To live in America is to be beset by fear, anxiety and insecurity, to be surrounded by potential harm, enemies and evil intent. (Sardar, 2004, pp.21) This fear of terrorism and general atmosphere of fear is supported by the news media, who spend the entirety of their time either reporting on stupid n onsense, of absolutely zero interest or significance on anyones life, which is also an American influence, worship of the cult of celebrity, or alternatively forming a state of fear, creating folk devils and moral panics, much as they did with hoodies in the early years of the Twenty-First Century, or punks before that in the Nineteen Seventies. Sardars second law of Americana also supports the theory that everyone is a citizen of America; Escape is the reason for being (Sardar, 2004, pp.21) Sardar states that America was created for people; à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦in search of room to breathe, in search of a place to recreate themselves and shape a new lifestyle free from constraints. (Sardar, 2004, pp.21) This especially applies in the modern world where escapism seems to be virtually everyones ultimate goal, people can even have entire virtual lives on the internet, generally playing American made games. Even if someone decides to experience some escapism at a lower level, maybe some light reading or watching a film, chances are they are American made as well, and will almost undoubtedly portray an American bias, either in the spellings, or the pronunciations or possibly even just the cultural standards that everyone needs to reference in order to fully appreciate and enjoy a work of art. War is a necessity (Sardar, 2004, pp.25) America is probably the most pro war nation on the planet, having, in the last twenty years, sent troops into: Iraq , Somalia, Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, The Philippines, Iraq again and most recently Libya. As Sardar states; Even before 9/11, [America] had waged war on over half the nations of the globe. [Americas] economy is a war economy. Its science and technology is deeply entrenched in the military machine. (Sardar, 2004, pp.25) Arguably most of the wars in Americas recent history, havent even been waged for ideological reasons, or for any necessary reason, but instead for money, and to further advance or merely enable the atmosphere of terror that Sardar identified in his first law. Sardars seventh and eighth laws, namely that; Cinema is the engine of empire and that; Celebrity is the common currency of empire (Sardar, 2004, pp.24) both support his theory; The [à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦] notion that America is the idea of nation, was formalised and made manifest in cinema. And this standardised, industrialised, manufactured product became Americas greatest export, the idea of Self it represented to the world, and through which it demonised, appropriated and brought other cultures within its own purview. (Sardar, 2004, pp.24) The dominance of America in the world of Cinema is staggering, as well as owning one of the worlds greatest movie-making and movie exporting locations, Hollywood. In the very early days of cinema almost all films were American made, and this legacy has not gone away, the film world is incredibly America-centric, and so of course the country itself profits greatly from this exportation of film. In addition to being the location of the movie capital of the world, American films are translated and shipped all over the world. As well as this, many big American films are simply remade by large foreign studios, such as Bollywood. However, this trend has begun to reverse in recent years, with the apparent lack of original thinking in Hollywood leading to an exceptional number of remakes of foreign films. It is impossible to speak about American films, without mentioning celebrities, the passengers for whom these vehicles are crafted. American celebrities, and celebrities in general all over the world, perform little basic function in the real world but are universally praised regardless of their talent or charisma, and there is no shortage of opportunities to applaud them, such as the Oscars, as Sardar states; They are collective ritual where obeisance is made to the engine of empire. The ritual performance of the Oscar ceremony is a demonstration of global power and domination that will provide headlines, column inches and immense economic rewards around the globe for the year to come. (Sardar, 2004, pp.24-25) There is little doubt that America has a massive effect on the rest of the world and on citizens of all nationalities, but especially upon Great Britain. America has dragged Britain into many ill-ventured Wars in the last two decades, including; Iraq, Afghanistan, and most recently Libya. How many of these military ventures would Great Britain have been involved in if not for America and the special relationship that exists between the two countries. There are many possible reasons for this to have occurred, not least of which, in my opinion, is due to fear on the part of British politicians and leaders, fear of America and the power that America can wield, after all fear is essential according to Sardar. However the War on Terror was not something that purely affected America, while the destruction of the World Trade Centre was undoubtedly a tragedy and spurred America into taking action against virtually the entire of the Middle East and a large portion on the rest of the world, there were also other terrorist attacks on major European capital cities, there was the bombing of the London Underground and the number 30 Bus on the Seventh of July 2005, and the bombing of the Cercanias in Madrid on the Eleventh of March 2004, but it was definitely America that led the charge against the perceived threat of terrorism. However America did nothing when there were terrorist attacks that did not affect or threaten them, such as the campaign by the Real Irish Republican Army; including the Banbridge bombing on the First of August 1998, and the Omagh bombing of the Fifteenth of the same month, even continuing their hands-off attitude towards world security when the Real IRA began their campaign against London in the year 2000. But maybe this carelessness on the part of America was for the best as their response to terrorism has been heavy handed at best, War on Terror has already become deeply embedded in laws, policies, and the practices of government agencies, But nearly eight years since the 9/11 attacks, US charities are still treated as a threat to security. Although, the change in administration in Washington gave hope that the US government would adopt more measured responses to the threat of terrorism, (Howell, 2009. Pp53) Another way in which America is slowly but surely wearing away any sense of individuality in any other country is Globalisation and the impact that America has on the rest of the world economically. The recent economic crisis that has plagued the entirety of the world, has its roots in America, on Wall Street, and the greed of American bankers sending the world economy into a meltdown. Much like the Wall Street Crash of 1929 and the Great Depression that followed it, the economy of the entire world looks to Wall Street for its cues, economically, and when that collapses the entire world follows suit, not just in the United Kingdom, across the entirety of Europe national economies have collapsed completely and require bailing out. This is in contrast to the way in which America affected so many countries before the breakdown, with its material security; à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦the availability and expansion of material security and comfort enabled early American social patterns and culture to expand and solidify, to both delineate and spread an American national character. With growth, more people could participate in that distinctive culture more fully and could become more American (Fischer, 2010) This greed of America has other less deep effects, rather than the drastic nature of an economic meltdown, the desire for greater profits means that many American companies subcontract work abroad, where they have to pay workers less money for doing the same work; Most American computer firms now subcontract basic work to Bangalore, (Wes, 1996, pp.49) The ultimate result of this is that foreign workers have a loyalty to America for providing them work and allowing them to feed their families, and as they have to speak the language and think about America for the majority of their day. Inevitably American culture and sensibilities work their way into the daily life of these foreign workers. Americas globalisation is not only confined to high street outlets, as was mentioned in my introduction, but in actual fact goes much deeper than that. The majority of household brands consumed in England are American in origin, such as Mars, and every subsidy of that which comprises most of the chocolate eaten in the country and Coke and Pepsi which together produce the majority of all soft drinks. Even brands which ostensibly appear to be British are in fact American, such as the fact that ASDA is actually owned by Wal-Mart. Globalization as an economic phenomenon has been the dominant force for economic integration and the main driver of growth worldwide for many decades, although the speed of globalization- taken to include trade, finance, flows of information and technology, and offshoring- is unprecedented in modern economic history. The increased economic interconnections between countries are widely credited as one of the driving forces that significantly reduced poverty in China and Vietnam, enabled the poorer nations of Europe to ride the European Union train to higher incomes, and gave hope to some African countries. (Spence, M. 2010. Pp 4) However, as Spence states, Globalisation is not merely a one way system with America pushing its culture onto the rest of the world, there are many other cultures with a huge influence over the worldwide ethos, such as Japan and the huge influence Manga and Anime have over the fields of western animation and comic books, or the influence of J-Pop and J-Rock on music or the fashion sensibilities of Japans youth subcultures. It certainly appears that America has a far greater influence on other cultures than any other country, but I believe that this is simply because America is, comparatively, a newer country, having only existed independently for two-hundred and thirty-five years, and rather than gradually coming into being like most other countries, America came into being with a bang with the signing of the Declaration of Independence on July 4th 1776. Therefore, rather than gradually affecting neighbouring countries through occupation or the spread of changing languages, the use of foreign words in the English language is not seen as dominance of other cultures, American culture has had a much more sudden influence on the rest of the world. In regards to language, American words; sidewalk instead of pavement and American spellings of English words; color instead of colour for example have for the most part completely failed to influence the English language in any way. However there are many words in the English language which are actually foreign words in origin, for example French, abandon, abattoir and abbreviation, and German words such as, zeitgeist. However this may be due to historical concerns, the American language is essentially a slight variation on the English language which would explain why there has been little influence, and the fact that approximately thirty percent of the words in a standard English dictionary have a French origin is due to the Norman conquest in the 11th Century. Another reason for the dominance of American culture is the fact that, as a nation, America has entered the Empire building stage of their development during a time in which Empire building is strongly discouraged by the international community, all other countries that have had extensive Empires; Rome, Great Britain and Mongolia, greatly spread their culture around the Globe through sheer force and domination of the natives. Whereas America has to be more subtle in the ways in which American culture is spread, it is no longer acceptable to conquer a country and force the local populace to speak your language and follow your customs, so America has to make itself seem like the ideal, Sardar in fact refers to this with the title of his essay; American Dream/ Global Nightmare The American Dream in many ways, is the ultimate goal of every person on the globe, regardless of nationality or creed, to be allowed to support yourself and live how you want to live, but by naming it The America n Dream gives the impression that to be American is in itself the ultimate goal, this dream can only be achieved in America, The Land of the Free supposedly. However I do not believe that this submission to American cultural dominance is a necessity as Sardar claims it is, while it would undoubtedly be difficult to remove all American influences from your life, it would not be impossible. American culture is not as essential to life as oxygen or food or water, but the influence it has, both directly; such as the import of American brands and culture, like books and films, and also indirectly; such as the influences that American culture has had on books and films created in other countries, for example, as was mentioned earlier in this essay, the news media now reports either stupid nonsense of terrifying stories of horrific violence. This has come from an American influence, the cult of the celebrity is definitely American in origin, and possibly serves to fill the void left by the lack of a monarchy. In conclusion I believe that while America undoubtedly has a massive influence on the rest of the world and that the difference between American and non-American citizens is rapidly decreasing, but that doesnt mean that everyone is becoming an American citizen, it merely means that everyone is a citizen of the World. The increasing availability and dominance of technology means that communication across the world is now incredibly simple and the dominance of the internet means that practically anyone can interact with anyone else on the globe without actually having to meet them. In addition to this, Nietzsches Death of God, and the increasing redundancy of National Identity means that there is very little loyalty to either country or religion, only loyalty to ones self and ones family, this in itself is Americas greatest influence over the rest of the world. This combination of atheism and almost a self loathing of your country of origin, is what is causing many people to seem like American citizens, even when they are not. Americas worldwide domination is undoubtedly on the decline, the rising powers of India and China are threatening Americas hold over the culture of the world, in addition to this, Americas military imperialism is causing many people, both in America and throughout the World, to question the way in which the country is run, the torture committed at Guantanamo Bay and the suspension of civil liberties in the name of fighting terrorism is causing America to be painted as the real villain of the World building on the image sketched out by the war in Vietnam and the Watergate scandal. The blind, heartfelt patriotism of Americans who willingly went to die on foreign soil in the Second World War for Uncle Sam and Moms Apple Pie is well and truly dead, modern Americans are much more likely to question their country and their place in the world as is exemplified by the work of modern artists; such as film directors and rappers.

Essay --

The Effect of Religion On The Arab Springs Movement Neil Gallagher Beal 2/12/14 My paper analyzes the role of religious intolerance on the Arab Springs. My first two articles discuss trends of religious intolerance and categorize the Arab Springs countries based on their levels of tolerance. Secondly, I define religious tolerance by analyzing a country that is considered religiously intolerant and one that is not. By comparing these two cases I create a concrete definition of a religiously tolerant country and one that is not tolerant. Thirdly, I analyze Egypt and compare it with the rest of the Arab Springs Countries in. Fourthly, I analyze the root causes of the Arab Springs Movement. Lastly, I analyze the effect of religion on the Arab Springs revolution, and the events that came after. 1. Arab Spring And Its Effect On Religious Tolerance. Chicago Citation: Brian J. Grim, â€Å"Rising Tide of Restrictions on Religion, Pew, September 20 2012, http://www.pewforum.org/2013/06/20/arab-spring-restrictions-on-religion-preface/ After the end of Arab Spring there was a large desire to persuade governments to create more religiously tolerant law’s. This is in part because religion was one of the issues that sparked revolutions throughout the Arab world. According to previous pew research, there is a strong correlation between religious intolerance and social revolution.( Grim, 2013) Currently, many of the countries that are experiencing revolution are labeled by pew religiously intolerant countries. These countries include Egypt, Yemen, Syria Iraq, Afghanistan and Sudan. However, according to a 2012 study done by pew, despite this correlation, countries did not become more, but less religiously ... ...mpante, 168) Another key factor in Arab springs is economic inequality and its association with education level. ( Campante, 171) As stated above the individuals inside Arab Spring countries were intelligent, however they were unable to obtain economic success in their respective countries. ( Campante, 171) The Arab Spring countries were some of the most economically unequal countries in the world. The economic policy of the Countries rewarded the friends of the king and left the majority impoverished. The education that was supplied toward the Arabs was not able to prepare them for the current economic atmosphere of the Arab countries. ( Campante, 171) This agitated the general population and made them even more likely to rebel against the current governmental structure. I will use this source to help analyze the factors that caused the Arab Spring revolution.

The Elusive Form: The Use Of Female Characters In naked Nude :: essays research papers

The Elusive Form: The Use of Female Characters in "Naked Nude" Thesis and Outline: Thesis: In his picturesque short story, "The Naked Nude", Bernard Malamud uses the female characters to develop, enact, and resolve Fidelman's epiphany and to bring about the protagonist's final, artistic self-understanding. I. Introductory paragraph--statement of thesis. II. The prostitutes A. in contrast to Fidelman's initial idea of the artistic nude B. "maybe too many naked women around made it impossible to draw a nude"--establish basis of conflict within Fidelman III. Teresa A. flat, static character--functions totally as a touchstone for Fidelman B. provides Fidelman's first turn towards artistic epiphany IV. Bessie, his sister A. childhood memory brings about full epiphany V. Venus of Urbino A. aesthetic constant--she, as a painting, remains static B. Fidelman's method of viewing her evolves, providing his epiphany VI. Relationship of female characters VII. Conclusion and restatement of thesis. Bernard Malamud, a leading contemporary Jewish author, skirts between fantasy and reality in his almost allegorical short fiction, teaching the reader a lesson through coinciding elements of beauty and comedy. Venturing away from his usual, inner-city Jewish element, Malamud tackles new challenges of subject and setting in his novelistic collection of short stories, Pictures of Fidelman . Malamud develops his protagonist through a series of six, interrelated short works, each of which may function entirely independent from the others. In "The Naked Nude," for instance, Fidelman comes to a new, artistic maturity through his attempt to copy the famous painting "Venus of Urbino" by Titian Tiziano. Malamud's recurring theme of self-knowledge through suffering permeates this short work. Scarpio and Angelo, as primary antagonists, provide the bulk of this suffering for Fidelman. It is his own mental captivity concerning the female nude, however, that gives cause for Fidelman's eventual epiphany asan artist and as an individual. His relationship to the women in the work shapes his ability to capture the form of the "Venus" and to come to grips with his own self-worth. In "The Naked Nude," Bernard Malamud uses the female characters to develop, enact, and resolve Fidelman's epiphany and to bring about the protagonist's final, artistic self understanding. At the story's outset, Fidelman is forced to act as janitor and manservant to a group of ill mannered prostitutes under the employment of the padrone, Angelo. These offensive characters establish the first of a series of mental obstacles in the imprisoned protagonist's attempt to copy Titian's nude. They torment Fidelman with cynical laughter and exploit his demeaning position. His sexual insecurity is established at the beginning of the story when he ponders his violent guillotine sketch, asking "A man's head or his sex?...either case a terrible wound" (Malamud 318).

Louise Brooks And The Flapper Era :: essays research papers fc

The flapper era was the time of the worship of youth (pandorasbox/flapper). Flappers were women of the Jazz Age. They had measurements of pre-adolescent boys, with no waistline, no bust, and no butt. Flappers had short hair worn no longer than chin length, called bobs. Their hair was often dyed and waved into flat, head-hugging curls and accessorized with wide, soft headbands. It was a new and most original style for women. A lot of make-up was worn by flappers that they even put on in public which was once unheard of and considered something done only by actresses and whores. Flappers wore short, straight dresses often covered with beads and fringes, and they were usually worn without pantyhose. Young flappers were known to be very rebellious against their parents, and society blamed their waywardness partially on the media, movies, and film stars like Louise Brooks (Szabo). Louise Brooks was a big part of the Jazz Age and had a lot of influence on the women of the 1920’s. Being a film star with a great, original personality she is known for being one of the most extraordinary women to set forth the Flapper era. Her sleek and smooth looks with her signature bob helped define the flapper look (pandorasbox/flapper).On November 14, 1906, in Cherryvale, Kansas, Mary Louise Brooks was born. She had two brothers, one sister, and parents, Leonard and Myra Brooks, who was a costume maker and pianist. In 1910, Brooks performed in her first stage role as Tom Thumb’s bride in a Cherryvale church benefit. Over the next few years she danced at men’s and women’s clubs, fairs, and various other gatherings in southeastern Kansas.At ten years old she was already a serious dancer and very much interested in it. In 1920, Brook’s family moved to Wichita, Kansas, and at 13 years old she began studying dance (pandorasbox/chron). Louise Brooks had a typical education and family life. She was very interested in reading and the arts, so in 1922 she traveled to New York City and joined the Denishawn Dance Company. This was the leading modern dance company in America at the time. In 1923, Brooks toured the United States and Canada with Denishawn by train and played a different town nearly every night, but one year later she leaves Denishawn and moves back to New York City. Not too long after her return, she gets a job as a chorus girl in the George White Scandals.

Adapting To Change In The Twenty First Century Education Essay

I believe it was Albert Einstein who was one time quoted as stating â€Å" No job can be solved by the same consciousness that created it. We need to see the universe anew. † It would look that the twenty-first century pupil, in our pursuit for continued instruction, has subconsciously adopted this doctrine. Imagine that you are a individual parent of 2 school-aged kids who has been working the same occupation for the past 7 old ages when all of a sudden there is a rumour of extroverted layoffs. Fear sets in as you realize that the lone accomplishment you know is the same accomplishment that kept you in your comfort zone for the past 7 old ages. Now at this point you have two options ; either sit at place while roll uping unemployment until another occupation becomes available with the same accomplishment set, or larn another accomplishment. Working in higher instruction I have seen a displacement in the pupil demographic in that fresher are no longer the 18-year-old fresh out of high school pupil but to that of the 35-year-old ma who wants to complete her instruction in an attempt to get a better paying calling. So one might inquire them egos, who precisely is the twenty-first century pupil and how can educators modify their instruction methods to include this older, extremely motivated pupil. Harmonizing to ehow.com,[ 1 ]grownups return to school for one of these five grounds ; calling alteration, to carry through a end, larn a new accomplishment, merriment or to foster their instruction. In today ‘s tough economic clime, good paying occupations are traveling to those persons who are non merely adept in their field, but besides extremely educated. More and more grownups are recognizing this fact and taking advantage of all the instruction inducements provided by the authorities, which makes traveling back to school less intimidating and more accessible. In add-on, federal support beginnings for traveling back to school hold become less of a job w ith the growing of online categories. Working grownups can now take categories and have a grade without changing their already really busy lives. This is really of import to me because I excessively, am a twenty-first century pupil. I ‘m a 34-year-old professional male who decided to fall in the multitudes in returning back to school to acquire my grade in web security. Peoples have their different grounds for returning back to school but for me it ‘s the ability to hold â€Å" calling † options alternatively of â€Å" occupation † options. I can hold with Dee Dee Smith when she states, â€Å" returning to school as an grownup can be a hard passage. But you do n't hold to plunge in, you can do the passage easy. † So to better understand my state of affairs I must foremost happen out who the twenty-first century student/non traditional pupil is and what makes him/her return to school and how can educators modify their methods to assist us along our ne w journey? So who is this new aged pupil and what makes them different? â€Å" How should we learn them? Is engineering in the category a aid or a expletive? † These are inquiries that Marc Prensky proposed that we should inquire ourselves. Understanding that today ‘s pupils have better entree to information, we must besides larn to cover with the gait in which this pupil retains new information. Harmonizing to assorted beginnings it can be determined that the mean age of the new age pupil has increased from 18 twelvemonth olds, up to 28 to 32 twelvemonth olds. This pupil is much more mature and stable in that they have the advantage of existent life experience. They have had to equilibrate budgets, purchase places, raise kids and do really of import life determinations. This gives them an border up as it pertains to the subject needed to win in a higher instruction environment. They have besides been exposed to a figure of new engineerings giving them another advantage. When you g auge the type of tools that are accessible by pupils and compare it to the resources that were available you find that pupils of today ‘s coevals have it easier. How does this fact impact our new, non-traditional pupil? Well in several ways. When you think about survey and research wonts of yesterday you likely think of a batch of pupils sitting in the library traveling through book after book. Now you can sit literally anyplace in the universe and expression through those same books and even interact with fellow schoolmates while working at your ain gait. So it ‘s my sentiment that when you combine the survey wonts of older more seasoned pupils with the resources of today so you have the twenty-first century pupil. This pupil knows how to outdo use the resources available to them to accomplish positive results in assignments. There are, nevertheless, several misconceptions about non-traditional pupils. Some can reason that non-traditional pupils do non suit good into to day ‘s instruction procedure. One ground is that of pupil lodging. Lonnie Allen states that non-traditional pupils have become the â€Å" white elephants on campus † . He goes on to province â€Å" it would be unusual for person to see older pupils walking in and out of occupant halls they call place. † ( Lonnie Allen ) One manner to see untraditional pupils in this present twenty-four hours is non as a group that is characterized by socially constructed traits such as age or cultural background or by functions connected by such footings as ; â€Å" dropout † , â€Å" immigrant † or â€Å" first coevals † . Rather, untraditional pupils can be better viewed as a deprived population. In many facets, the disadvantage can be linked to economic position. Many economic expert say that we are presently populating in a recession period and with the monetary value of pretty much everything from gas to milk on the rise, colleges and other establishments have no pick but to react the same manner. Some even compare the current fiscal position of America to that of the recession of the '90s. During the recession of the 1990 ‘s, â€Å" most establishments responded by once more increasing tuition aggressively, a response good honed in the last recession and actively encouraged by many governors. † ( David Breneman ) Bing that most of our non traditional pupils can be identified as working category grownups, doing the determination to return to school in the center of a ballad offs and cut dorsums can be hard, non to advert the crisp rise in tuition. With all these variables in topographic point, it ‘s easy to see how this can put the non-traditional pupil at a spot of a disadvantage. Another manner to see the non-traditional pupil is risk factors. Hazard Factors is another construct that is tied to adult pupils, but the inside informations are non disaggregated by institutional type. A National Center for Educational Statistics ( NCES ) tabular array, â€Å" Percentage of 1999-2000 undergraduates with assorted hazard features, † addresses â€Å" risk factors † for pupils, including parttime attending at college, delayed registration, holding dependants, and working while enrolled. ( NCES ) Students aged 24 and older are more likely to ho ld dependents while trying to foster their instruction. Older pupils are besides more likely to be working full clip or portion clip while taking categories. Overall, I believe it ‘s safe to organize the sentiment that the older the non-traditional pupil, the higher the hazard factor. Another position of NCES information references employment for grownups, those 24 and older, who consider work to be their first precedence and college their 2nd. This group is compared to those who are chiefly pupils but besides work as a secondary function. While all of these persons are considered to be grownups by age, their lives are likely to be rather different. Other footings such as â€Å" untraditional undergraduates † gaining control a porton of this twenty-first century pupil population, but do non depict it wholly. For illustration, Choy defines and characterizes â€Å" untraditional undergraduates † as those at any degree of postsecondary instruction: pupils who delay their entry to college, who carry a portion clip academic burden, who work while enrolled in college, who are financially independent and may hold kids or other dependents, who may be individual parents, and who do non hold high school sheepskin. Parts of these pupils have merely one or two of these untraditional features, while others fit in to multiple classs. ( Susan Choy ) Choy ‘s information is non disaggregated by age, and therefore big pupils can non be separated from the entire population. Although there is a batch of literature every bit good as informations sets on the academic advancement, registration forms, continuity, and degree attainme nt of untraditional pupils, the connexions of this scholarship and the informations sets to grownups pupils can non be verified.

A New Generation John F Kennedy is about President John F Kennedy Essay

The book John F. Kennedy and a New Generation is written by David Burner and published by Little Brown, Boston in 1988. David Burner is a Professor in the Department of History in State University of New York. Professor Burner research interest includes social history of US. He is currently working on a project with patty Limerick about colonialist women. His other publications include â€Å"A History of Democratic Party (1970), A History of Presidential Elections (2002), Reading from Settlement to reconstruction (1998) and Making Peace with the 60s (1997). His book A New Generation John F Kennedy is about President John F Kennedy admiration that can be seen throughout the book. Even though critics have mentioned many shortcomings about Kennedy, Burner instead focuses on Kennedy leadership and his accomplishments throughout his life. Burner mentions that Kennedy appealed to various segment of public for his style, looks and accomplishments that formed the basis of his support. For example he won the support of Jews, Asians and Hispanic and other blue-collar democrats giving them a promise of American dream as he himself had immigrant background. Burner explores the controversies including success and failures of Kennedy life and how it shaped American consciousness. He provides deeper discussion of Kennedy both as an individual and as a leader allowing readers to examine the changes that shaped the American political system during 1950s and 1960s, and how Kennedy created a greater hope for every American. The author mentions several events and incidents from the time and how Kennedy was influential changing the course of history. For example the Cuban missile crisis tested the leadership of president leadership when Kennedy threatened the use of nuclear arms in the wake of Cuban Mission crisis in 1962. The naval blockade ordered by Kennedy proved successful and the negotiation with Russia ended peacefully. Another incident Burner mentions is the turbulent end of state sponsored racial discrimination, which Kennedy brought to an end by supporting racial integration and civil rights movement. Kennedy was also eager to see US leader of the space race. It was JFK speech in Rice University in September 1962 where he mentioned, â€Å"No nation can expect to be the leader of the other nations. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do other things not because they are easy, but because they are hard†. Kennedy approached Khrushchev for cost sharing the technology. Kennedy approved a huge sum of $22 billion to launch American Space Project and Apollo goal was finally realized when Neil Armstrong became the first American to land on moon. Bruner discuss the charm of Kennedy and his wife who were more popular than pop stars and movie stars. One main reason was their good looks and charm that was often photographed by magazines and set the changing fashion trend. Kennedy’s even changes the White House environment from a bleak house to lively and house of mirth and joy. They believed that White House should be place of American History, arts and culture. They invited various artists, writers, and scientists including noble laureate which made White House a livelier place. Despite all the good points which burner has mentioned, the book ignores the bed sheet and fashion stories were associated with Kennedy. Kennedy is well known for his history of extra marital affairs including involvement with Marilyn Monroe do not suit a sitting president. Burner did not talk about these issues, even though it has no thing to do with his professional life, yet such incidents were part of Kennedy should have been discussed. Burner has mentioned on several occasions the influence of Kennedy in the domestic and international affairs including the civil rights; however the view of Burner is more of only glorification of the Kennedy. Even though Kennedy is the most popular President of the United States; but critics argue that his reputation is overrated. He was young and charming; but he was unable to achieve any thing major in his lifetime. Kennedy popularity is based on optimistic beginnings on various domestic and international issues. Critics mention that the popular Civil Right Act was envisioned by his brother Robert Kennedy and was signed by President Johnson in 1964 that was Kennedy successor. Kennedy did not disclose the severity of his health condition. He was believed to have Addison disease that is tantamount of failure of professional integrity. He is considered to be the unhealthiest man to sit in the oval office. While other the Addison disease he was also suffering from an extreme backache from childhood added with various kinds of infections. There is also criticism about his domestic politics that Burner has ignored in his book. For example Kennedy tried to appease Southern Democrats by stocking the lower federal bench with segregationists who did not live up to the mark he was advocating. It is believed that by making attorney general he tried to form a political dynasty that the Founding Father did not advocate. However Vietnam is considered his greatest mistake, where during his time US intervention in Vietnam increased and Kennedy authorized a coup absent the Diem; while dictator general overtook the power which further aggravated the situation in Vietnam.. Even though it was in fact Johnson who made his own mistakes by over involving and bombing the Vietnamese excessively, but the game was started by Kennedy and it was not easy to backup. The people who supported war become protestor calling the American administration immoral. Even though Kennedy assignation fueled the Vietnam cause as his untimely death became martyrdom, but Vietnam was blunder that cost US a lot in time money and human life. Had Kennedy not intervened in the Vietnam there would have no loss of time, money and American lives in an unethical war that continued for decades without any outcome. In the case of Cuban Missiles Crisis, it is mentioned that Kennedy went too far and the world was standing at the brink of a nuclear war due Kennedy antagonism. Had the Russian not backed off, there was every possibility of end of the world. For his supporters he his aggressiveness increased US role in international affairs, but for his opponents it was not sane for president to resort to Nuclear weapons as a last choice. Kennedy critics often label him as youthful charmer with little substance especially by conservatives. And it is often done to minimize his efforts about Civil Rights and international affairs, but the truth is Kennedy was a man of vision. He initiated many new debates in American Society that was unthinkable in his time. Even though most his policies were achieved by his successors; as he was not able to see his vision fulfilled due to his untimely death, the credit still goes to him. Had he not been able to think ahead of time; many things would have been delayed. For example his plan for landing a man on moon was mega project, which took place ahead of the decade. The landing on moon not only increased US prestige in the world, but it also boosted US military technology and power that continues till today. The Vietnam War was mistake but the same mistake can be seen today in the case of Iraq War. The people who initially supported Iraq War now are chanting against the current administration; there are always opposite views regarding any issue. Kennedy advocated the Civil Right Movement at a time when country was divided; and there was division among his own members, but he took the stance and even called the Martin Luther Jr wife to show his affiliation for a just cause. Though Johnson signed the bill, but it was Kennedy who took a step ahead in a difficult time for which he is worth praise. The book is good for people who have no knowledge of Kennedy as a President; however Burner has not justified his role as writer by discussing his dark side that could have made Kennedy more of a man rather a mythical figure. Reference David Burner, (1988). John F. Kennedy and a new generation. Boston: Little, Brown Robert l Bartley, (February 26, 2001). Coolidge deserves more praise. Retrieved July 8, 2006, Web site: http://www. opinionjournal. com/columnists/rbartley/? id=85000640 SUNY SB Department of History -Faculty Page- David Burner. Retrieved July 8, 2006, Web site: www. sunysb. edu/history/faculty Stephen G. Rabe, (2000). John F. Kennedy and Cuba, November 1962 to November 1963. Presidential Studies Quarterly. 30,

Project Scope Management Essay

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS 1. What is involved in project scope management, and why is good project scope management so important on information technology projects? Scope refers to all the work involved in creating the products of the project and the processed used to create them. Project scope management includes scope planning, scope definition, WBS creation, scope verification, and scope control. It’ important to Information Technology because it is good for preventing scope-related problems on information technology projects. 2.What is involved in collecting requirements for a project? Why is it often such a difficult thing to do? There are many ways to collect necessities for a project, such as interviewing stakeholders, holding focus groups, using questionnaires and surveys, observation, and prototyping. It can be difficult to collect requirements because of different stakeholders often have different needs, they can change quickly, and many are difficult to implement with the present systems. 3.Discuss the process of defining project scope in more detail as a project progresses, going from information in a project charter to a project scope statement, WBS, and WBS dictionary. The project charter is the document that officially authorizes a project. The project charter provides the project manager with the authority to apply organizational resources to project activities. A project manager is identified and assigned as early in the project as is achievable. The project manager should be assigned prior to the start of planning first while the project charter is being developed. Projects are usually chartered and authorized external to the project organization. The project scope statement is the formal definition of the project and what needs to be accomplished. This process addresses and documents the characteristics and boundaries of the project and its associated products and services, as well as the methods of acceptance and scope control. The project scope statement is developed from information  provided by the initiator or sponsor. The Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) organizes and defines the total scope of the project. It is a deliverable-oriented categorized breakdown of the work to be executed by the project team to accomplish the project objectives and create the deliverables. The WBS subdivides the project work into smaller, more controllable pieces. The work contained in the lowest-level WBS components which are called work packages, can be scheduled, cost estimated, monitored, and controlled. 4.Describe different ways to develop a WBS and why it is often so difficult to do. You can develop a WBS by using guidelines, the analogy approach, the top-down approach, the bottom-up approach, and the mind-mapping approach. It is difficult to create a good WBS because each WBS is unique based on the project and the team. 1. Types of WBS: Construct a WBS base on the following task list from MS Project. Another type of WBS 5.What is the main technique used for validating scope? Give an example of scope validation on a project. 6.Using examples in this book or online, describe a project that suffered from scope creep. Could it have been avoided? How? Can scope creep be a good thing? When? What can organizations do to successfully manage inevitable changes in scope that are good for business? IT projects within the UK health care industry suffer the most from Scope Creep; which they rarely meet the needs of users and stakeholders. This is why they are almost always significantly over budget in a project. It could be avoided by never forget what your project scope is. Everyone will try to get you to make seemingly small scope changes; which you should not do and get a Project Scope Statement that is approved by all Project Stakeholders during the project initiation. It can be a good thing, if you realize a better way to  scope the project or make a better product than your competitor and the client finds out that the company has capabilities; which the client was not initially aware of and the client learns new details about a competing product. With this knowledge, the client presses for changes to the project, often at little or no additional cost. The project manager effectively manages change by maintaining the appropriate balance between control and discipline to manage to the baseline plan, and flexibility to adapt the plans to meet customer expectations. In addition to, using project metrics to monitor and identify creep. 7.Why do you need a good WBS to use project management software? WBS helps to more accurately and precisely define and organize the scope of the total project. What other types of software can you use to assist in project scope management? Microsoft Project – is a large, powerful, and widely used package that offers a ton of planning functionality. Omni Plan – is a similar to Microsoft Project, but smaller project-planning package for Macs. Dream Team – offers project-planning tools combined with more collaborative task- and document-management functionalities. Gantt Chart – a type of bar chart that illustrates a project schedule. Gantt charts illustrate the start and finish dates of the terminal elements and summary elements of a project. Terminal elements and summary elements comprise the work breakdown structure of the project.

Alaska Airline & Corporate Culture Essay

A unique cultural characteristic of Alaska Airline would be the benefits they allot their employees. After 90 days of working with Alaska Airline, an employee earns benefits which allows him or her to fly anywhere at anytime with 1 other individual. In addition to this, the employee is given 6 â€Å"buddy passes† each year which allows the employee to give 6 roundtrip tickets to people other than himself or the 1 person he chooses to travel with. The best part about these benefits is that as long as the employee remains in good standing with the company, they are issued indefinitely, even after retirement. Companies can unknowingly cultivate negative culture among its employees and customers. This can happen in numerous ways. If a company were to institute a new policy which applied undue stress to its employees, adopt new prices that are greatly higher than what its customers are accustomed to paying, or allow a top representative to behave in a manner which sharply contradicts the values of the company, it would certainly be cultivating negative culture. While such behaviors may be immediately illusive to the company, some, if not many, employees and customers will notice it, and the company will suffer for it. In order to know specifically how a business’ corporate culture can be amended for the better, it would be necessary to know which business is being discussed or at the very least, the disposition of it’s corporate culture. While a grocery chain may need to focus on training employees to assist the elderly or the otherwise incapable individuals with carrying and loading groceries into cars, the corporate culture of an electronic store may benefit from having better-educated employees about the products in order that said employees may help customers make better-informed purchases. As far as developing a sense of corporate culture directed at the employees, a company may issue monthly kudos to employees who overachieved or plan celebrations after goals have been reached. Nevertheless, any and all amendments put into effect by a business for the purpose of improving corporate culture must result in an enhancement of customer or employee experience and or perception. There will certainly be a cultural shift in Microsoft as they reorganize to emphasize customer service. Before, the company was not so focused on customer service, and therefore had a corporate culture with its center of gravity more on product development. Now, however, the company must necessarily implement changes ubiquitously, effectively replanting its center of gravity, in order to meet is goal of honing in on customer service. Such a drastic make-over will involve a significant cultural shift. While Jet Blue has experienced much difficult as a result of bad weather which has in fact damaged their culture, it would be hasty to say their culture has been irreparably damaged. There can be work done through public relations and customer appreciative measures to repair its damaged culture. Work Cites 1. â€Å"Work-Life and Benefits- Alaska Airlines.† alaskaair.com. Alaskaair, n.d. Web. 20 April 2011. 2. March, Suzanne. â€Å"JetBlue Airways – Flight Change Fees Waived For Passengers Affected By Bad Weather .† starglobaltribune.com. Starglobaltribune, n.d. Web. 20 April 2011.

Explain the relevance of marketing concept to the 21st century Essay

Explain the relevance of marketing concept to the 21st century business of Virgin Group - Essay Example In the case of Virgin Group, it can be observed that the overall goal of the organization is to partner with different business groups in order to create recognised brands. Therefore, the element of mutual relationship among the stakeholders involved is very important since it helps the partners involved to pull their resources towards the same direction. As such, the marketing concept that is suitable for this noble cause is relationship marketing since it is designed to improve the viability of the organization through unifying all the stakeholders involved in a certain business. This marketing concept is effective since it is oriented towards fulfilling the needs and wants of all the stakeholders involved in Virgin Group’s activities. Introduction The success of business in its operations mainly depends on the marketing concept adopted. As such, this paper seeks to evaluate the relevance of relationship marketing (RM) to the operations of Virgin Group which is regarded as t he 21st century business. The paper starts by describing above mentioned marketing concept and this is followed by a brief introduction of the chosen organization, Virgin Group. The main body of the paper will focus on explaining the relevance of the marketing concept to the 21st century business under spotlight. The main points discussed in the paper will be summarised in the conclusion. Description of the marketing concept Relationship marketing is described as the process of establishing, maintaining, enhancing and commercialising customer relationships so that the objectives of the parties involved are met Strydom (2004). Relationship marketing is particularly concerned with satisfying the customer needs and wants. During the contemporary period, it can be noted that markets are characterised by stiff competition such that it becomes imperative for the organisations to retain their customers in order for them to operate viably in the future, (Athanasopoulou N.D). This can be ach ieved through establishing quality relationships around services of the customer, suppliers and other stakeholders as well as their values. These stakeholders in business particularly the customers are the main component in the relationship mix. Concerted efforts ought to be taken in order to satisfy the needs of the customers which can lead to creation of loyalty among them. In case of Virgin Group, this strategy can go a long way in creating competitive advantage for the organization. The concept of relationship marketing often involves high customer involvement and contact whereby mutual understanding can be created among the parties involved. Strydom (2004) posits to the effect that relationship marketing is a continuous process. Essentially, the concept of relationship marketing evolved from transactional marketing in order to serve the interests of the customers profitably. The concept of relationship marketing is also centred on creation of value chain which will help the org anization to gain a competitive advantage if its products and services are regarded as more valuable than the ones offered by the other competitors in the same industry (Wang et al, 2004). Positive consumer perceptions about a product play a pivotal role in creating quality relati

Global Organizations and Nation States Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Global Organizations and Nation States - Essay Example Furthermore, both these institutions attach many preconditions on the receiving nations for borrowing money. These are mainly part of the neo liberal economic ideology, which force these countries to follow free market policies, reduce government intervention, privatization and decreasing the size of the public sector, liberalization, reducing trade barriers, elimination of subsidies, reduced protection of the domestic industries, currency devaluation and others (Karns & Mingst, pp. 98-99). Despite the fact that these policies have appeared to be working for many developed countries, evidence shows that it has been disastrous for the poor and third world countries, which actually seek loan from IMF and World Bank (Pease, pp. 254-259). Critics of these international organizations believe that these organizations are actually Washington controlled and headed by the developed countries of the world. Important here to note is that United States and other European countries ran out of the ir resources decades ago. Furthermore, their domestic markets are past the point of saturation and low population growth rates mean that their dream for aggressive growth cannot be fulfilled (Jawara & Kwa, pp. 75-78). The only possible way in which they could sustain or even continue their growth is by trying to exploit the resources of the third world countries, which are rich in natural resources but do not have the tools and the expertise to make use of them. International organizations such as International Monetary Fund, World Bank and World Trade Organization was the clear answer (Hurd, pp. 41-45). These organizations, headed and controlled by a few developed countries, allow them to force the third world and underdeveloped countries of the world to open their markets, deprotect their industries, and reduce the government intervention. Important here to note is that in case of majority of the African and South Asian countries, these policies have never worked (Stone, pp. 52-58 ). The only beneficiary in these cases are developed countries which get to access the resources of these countries, buy them at the cheapest possible prices in the name of competition and lack of value addition, dictate their own social, economic and other domestic policies. In short, these organizations have created a new face of neo colonialism where they control the policies of the borrower countries in name of â€Å"conditions†, â€Å"policies†, and â€Å"rules† (Pease, pp. 254-259). World Trade Organization is another tool for the powerful nations to influence trade mechanisms and directions. Important here to note is that despite the fact that WTO advocates free trade and lifting of trade barriers, many North American and European countries still continue to protect their domestic sector such as agriculture, beef, farm and other industries. Furthermore, at the same time, poorer countries are forced to lift all possible barriers on trade so that the develo ped countries could get access to their markets for exploitation. Underdeveloped countries, which have less influence, power and say in these organizations have no other choice but to accept these conditions so that they could little foreign exchange and generate little employment in their countries but again the cost remains high. The recent case of South Korea is another example of how WTO influences the domestic and trade policies of countries. It was during 2003 when South Korea

Arguing to Convince Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Arguing to Convince - Assignment Example However, the continued extent of freedom has being transferred to the formal set-up whereby individuals believe that restricting them to certain norms in the formal set-up is anyway violating the extent to which they can express their rights and freedoms. Therefore, to maintain their guaranteed rights and freedoms as well as the level of openness, the American modern culture has slowly been promoting a relaxation of restrictions that are normally associated with the formal set-up such as workplaces or formal meetings. This present essay intends to persuade or convince the readers that informality is a positive move towards a more open and natural society. Secondly, the essay will present arguments favoring or agreeing to live in an informal atmosphere. Formalities in the formal set-up According to Clemente, formal practices or behaviors are part of the tradition and culture and therefore, they are things that are passed from one generation to another, with the expectation that those who adhere to these formal practices or behaviors in a formal set-up are showing a high level of discipline and diligence (78-82). Kinosian stated that these formal practices and behaviors are associated with a particular set-up, atmosphere or environment whereby individuals are expected to adopt a particularly different set of behaviors and practices that are totally different with how they interact at home or in informal set-ups (549-551). Rapp and Jackson on their part stated that the formal practices and behaviors are part of the bureaucracies that are associated with formal set-up, where in a great extent there is existence of some form of restrictions to the individuals’ rights and freedoms (103-109). According to Smith, some of the rights that are in a greater extent limited due to the requirement of formal practices and behaviors include the freedom of dressing and speech. The freedom of dressing is restricted in the sense that individuals are limited in the type of c lothes they wear or how they can dress when going to a formal place or attending a formal function. While freedom of speech is limited in the sense that certain words or body of language are restricted in used in the formal set-up (176-181). Kinosian stated that the insistence of adhering to these formal practices or behaviors stifles individuals from fully expressing themselves and fully enjoying their rights and freedom, and it encourages people to have two different sides of characters that may greatly differ, which means that they facilitate people not be open and fully understood by others (549-551). Informality as part of the culture Kinosian stated that formality is part of the traditions and culture, however, informality has become part of the culture because there have been a continued reform of most cultures especially those that were considered retrogressive (549-551). The reforms on most of the world’s culture have been initiated by the heightened extent of global ization, which has enabled people from different cultures to interact thereby refine their individual cultures in order to adopt a common culture that does not lay great emphasis on formalities. Moreover, formalities limits the extent to which two different strangers may get to know each other because formal practices do not encourage probing and there is a strict guideline on how formal communication should take place. Therefore, people should agree to live in an informal atmosphere because it

Figures for foreign language learning in different EU countries Assignment

Figures for foreign language learning in different EU countries - Assignment Example Languages are vital and need attention if the commission is to achieve capacity to increase productivity. Poor language skills, on the other hand, create obstacles to free movement of workers. People who cannot use foreign languages cannot secure cross-border employment that accelerates the home country’s ability to earn foreign exchange. English is becoming the first foreign language in the European Union. Kelly (2013) noted that English is the most taught foreign language, both in Europe and the world at large, because it plays a key role in daily life. Other foreign languages have also been identified as the primary accelerators towards the achievement of the European Commission’s 2020 plan. Therefore, member states make teaching and learning of foreign languages significantly more effective by ensuring proper quantity, quality, focus, guidance and monitoring. Kelly (2013) used secondary data methodology in carrying out his research study. In this method, the researcher collected data from available sources such as news articles, the European Union publications, and progress reports of ongoing foreign language learning projects. The main disadvantage of using secondary data methodology is that errors from the original data collection may be reflected in the current study. News articles are sometimes criticised because of lack of objective foundation for the data; information aired in the news are not researched well, but depend on public opinions. European Union publications are the most accurate sources of information that the author used to come up with the results. This is because the commission employs highly experienced researchers and data collected must be filtered to ascertain validity and reliability. The research study by Liepa and Ratniece (2013) focused on development of a model for studying a foreign language based on integrated language acquisition. The problem identified by Liepa and Ratniece (2013) in their research constituted