The Garden City By Ebenezer Howard - 1813 Words

In the late 19th century, utopian ideals ran rampant as a response to the unsustainable situation caused by the rise of industrialization. The poverty and squalor people were experiencing caused them to embrace extreme Utopian ideas. They believed that it could potentially take them out of their current condition. Utopia, though, is difficult to define, but within the context of this time period it is defined as â€Å"a belief in the perfectibility of humanity—a basic goodness in human nature† (Tarlow, 301). By this definition, one of the only ideas of this time period that was truly utopian was the Garden City Movement. The Garden City Concept was created by Ebenezer Howard in 1898. The ideas of it are outlined in Howard’s book: Garden Cities of To-morrow. It is utopian in both how it was conceived and the general concept. Its focus on collaboration, social change, and pragmatism rather than on rebellious escapism made it a revolutionary idea that still continue s to influence city planning to this day. To better understand the reasoning behind Howard’s garden city concept, it is important to examine the impact of the industrial revolution on London and all of Britain. The rise of industrialization caused the urban population to grow as many left the rural countryside to seek new jobs. Industrialization led to a period of economic prosperity, but the cities often had unsuitable waste disposals and polluted water supplies. In addition, there was a housing issue and there wereShow MoreRelatedEbenezer Howard And The Garden City1714 Words   |  7 PagesEbenezer Howard designed a basic plan of his ideal community, called the Garden City between 1889 and 1892. The main idea of his ideal city was a centralised urban centre housing approximately 30,000 inhabitants with a â€Å"green belt† or rural area consisting of farms and parks surrounding it. Instead of envisaging a massive town centre with dense and crowded living, Howard perc eived that the major cities of the time would shrink as people spread out and moved away from them. Therefore the urban populationRead MoreEssay about Ebenezer Howard and The Garden City Movement743 Words   |  3 Pages Ebenezer Howard and The Garden City Movement Many would say that Ebenezer Howard (1850-1928) is the most important figure in the whole history of town-planning. He was born in London, but grew up in small English towns like Sudbury and Ipswich. At 21 he emigrated to America and tried to farm in Nebraska, but this was a failure. From 1872 – 1876 he was in Chicago, where he became a shorthand writer. Chicago suffered a great fire in 1871, after which there was muchRead MoreHowards Utopia Essay1471 Words   |  6 PagesThe notion of â€Å"Garden City†, famously explored by Ebenezer Howard was a solution intended to bring together the economic and cultural advantages of both city and country living. He sees it as an alternative to the congested urban areas in England. Canberra –the capital city of Australia differs from the garden city proper, a city that is perhaps not what Howard wished garden city to be. Nonetheless Canberra is a city that incorporates many of the garden city principles and in this essay I will argueRead MoreGarden City And Garden City1344 Words   |  6 Pagesof population, increasing urbanization and industrialization, cities had been overcrowded and the environment was being destroyed as well. Furthermore, more and more people moved to the urban cities from rural area for having more job opportunities. Consequently, cities were over centralizing. It is contributed to the slums in city which is the ca use of disease breaking out. It leads to the decrease of human’s life quality in urban cities. Moudon (1997) points out that control by the private sectorRead More Walt Disney and Jet-Age City Planning Essay1025 Words   |  5 PagesWalt Disney and Jet-Age City Planning Image borrowed from Waltopia. When is a planned community too planned? Some of the exhibits displayed at the 1939 Worlds Fair such as Democracity and Futurama influenced many American community planners. The Levittown and Greenbelt projects followed the same guidelines of community that the 1939 Worlds Fair introduced. These are two of the more well known Garden City projects that took many families away from big cities and brought them to the peaceRead MoreDr. Howard, Le Corbusier, And Frank Lloyd Wright Essay1824 Words   |  8 PagesImagine a city where no green space can be found. Where concrete and steel buildings rise up and block the sun. Where streets are chaotic and gridlocked and citizens are stuffed in cramped, dirty and unsanitary apartments. This was the world of 19th-century cities where human health and happiness were disregarded for economic gain. These horrid conditions shaped the lives and ideas of three very influential men: Ebenezer Howard, Le Corbusier, and Fr ank Lloyd Wright. They took their own experiencesRead MoreEvolution Of The Garden City Movement1777 Words   |  8 PagesTHE EVOLUTION OF THE GARDEN CITY MOVEMENT AND ITS HISTORICAL INFLUENCE INTRODUCTION The garden city movement, a method of urban planning that was initiated in 1898 by Sir Ebenezer Howard, had a significant influence on urban planning. The theory of urban planning has envolved over the past hundred years, some have attempted to emulate theories from the garden city movement, while others have been revised based on Howard’s original ideas. The Garden City concept spawned many ideas of urban planningRead MoreTaking a Look at Garden Cities1876 Words   |  8 Pages Garden cities, whether the appropriate concept in sustainable urban planning? Introduction It is widely acknowledged that Ebenezer Howard’s Garden City stimulated many significant urban design achievements in worldwide. Whether the theory is still suitable for sustainable urban planning in twenty-one century has been widely discussed. Some approvers argue that Howard provided the idea of self-sufficiency and limited growths still remain. However, the theory has been denounced because it is tooRead MoreThe City Beautiful Movement : The Urban Planning Practices And Concepts Employed Today And The Foreseeable Future1322 Words   |  6 PagesQuestion 1: In the first half of the 20th century urban planning was greatly influenced by the visionary and utopian ideas coming out of the City Beautiful movement. The City Beautiful movement played a major role in forming the backbone of city planning practices and concepts employed today and the foreseeable future. The term â€Å"City Beautiful† was first coined by artists in New York, referring to the urban environment they were surrounded with. One of the first ones to use the term was an artistRead MoreSustainable Architecture: Meeting the Needs of this Generation while Preserving the Needs of Future Generations1321 Words   |  6 Pagesenvironment as well as to allow comfortable spaces for humans to carry on their daily duties. For many years architectural standards did not take into consideration the effects construction had on the environment, and emerging cities kept polluting and damaging the environment. The giant cities in the world had not taken into consideration all the damage they were causing by creating structures that were not â€Å"environmentally friendly†. Wastes were not being handled properly, inefficient airway systems created

Analysis of Kraft Foods Free Essays

string(25) " very popular is iPhone\." [pic] Kraft Food Analysis of Kraft Food Kraft Foods is an American food and beverage multinational company. It produces and markets many brands to more than 170 countries, and 12 of its brands earn more than $1 billion worldwide annually (â€Å"Kraft Foods†, 2011). Most of the food products which we consume everyday belongs to this company. We will write a custom essay sample on Analysis of Kraft Foods or any similar topic only for you Order Now For instance, some of well-known brands are Jacobs and Maxwell, Milka and Toblerone, Tang and Cipso. It is the successful and popular leading food companies of the world. So, Kraft Foods will be reviewed in terms of values and promises that it communicates with consumers and employees, communication and job satisfaction respectively. Values of the company are shared among its employees. First value of the company is its employees. The company highlights the importance of its employees and their contribution to the company. It emphasized that hardworking and passionate workers, who constantly seeks ways to make content consumers by finding innovation, make the company what it was. After it, Focus, Passion, Speed, Teamwork and Trust are listed as the most important values of company. Those five values describe fundamental structure of organizational process. Firstly, focus on what is needed to improve the business and focus on what is important to make customers happy is like starting point of the process. Generating innovation according to needs is second value of the company. After focus and innovation, Passion which is motive of making better outcome in each work, the next value in order to reach the most desired outcome. You can manage focus, innovation and passion, but you also have a speed as a fourth value of company in order to compete with other food companies. As it is known in the beginning of the paragraph, employees are the key agents who make the name of brand. So, it is normal that fifth value is the teamwork. The final value of it is trust which is the fundamental block of teamwork and organizational communication. Firstly, the company promises to be open and inclusive, because it sees this value as a critical value to create a high-performing organizational culture. Being open to different perspectives make innovation easy and better. It claims that openness and inclusiveness to diversity are so embedded into their way of doing business and into every department of it. They constitute its blocks of organizational culture. Taking into account every possible different perspectives and evaluate them is one of promises which the company gives to its employees. Also, it guarantees that discrimination or harassment based on age, race, disability, national origin, religion, sex, sexual orientation or any other legally protected status are not allowed. If the company is able to approach diversity in a positive manner, this gives workers feeling of recognition and makes them more motivated. When we want to give concrete example, 43% of their mployees are women and 35% of management team is constituted by females. It shows us that there is no gender discrimination on hiring and it opens up to gender diversity. Secondly, it promises employees that they will be work in an international environment. For instance, they can be participated into European/International projects. Other than it, they can join into short-term overseas assignments, and then join into l onger-term assignments when they develop in their career path. Moreover, the company assures training and development programs for employees in order to reach their best level of expertise. These programs are like job training, cross functional projects and corporate training programs. It also promises giving feedback about how employees’ outcome contributes to the business in general. It is obvious that the promises of the company are motivating factor for employees. When we take into account both values and promises of the company, we can conclude that we are open to all ideas, we can discuss about them in a participative context, we can decide collectively and finally we deliver what we decided to others in order to make them be aware of what is going on the company. Their motto is â€Å"We discuss. We decide. We deliver. † The company uses variety of internal communication channels. Social and sports activities are among the practices which HR department prefer to use as internal communication channels. Employees can join sports teams and organized social events including a winter ski day, summer golfing day and a winter family fun day during the holidays. Those enjoyable events are organized by the company-subsidized social committee. They make work atmosphere better and improve communication among workers. It also creates a sense of equity, because every employee has equal access to them. In addition to this, employees can have a chance of socializing and increasing interaction with their co-workers by providing richly physical workplace which contains the fitness facility with free membership, employee lounge with foosball and television, quiet room for meditation and reflection, and a nap room for employees who need a quick break during the day, cafeteria with healthy menus and subsidized meals. While those places offer many opportunities for employees, they can facilitate the internal communication at the same time. The company thinks that every people has different ways of absorbing news and information, every people can use different channels, therefore the company must use very different channels to communicate with its employees. The Kraft Foods is relatively very successful in this issue. It uses face-to-face communication activities such as town hall meetings and lunch-and-learn sessions. Moreover, it has its corporate intranet and internal blog sites. Newsletters, news magazines and e-business updates are also available for employees. The company is also in Facebook. It shares company news. Their community involvement projects and sustainability efforts are announced here. The most important application of it is that some of the Kraft Foods team join to talk about their own areas of expertise to enable information sharing and facilitates internal communication. One of internal communication channel of the company which is very popular is iPhone. You read "Analysis of Kraft Foods" in category "Papers" Kraft employees use their iPhones for sending email, organizing calendar, and saving contacts. Kraft employees can listen to audio messages, dubbed â€Å"Kraft Casts,† from the CEO and other executives on their iPhones. They are so useful to stay up-to-date on the latest corporate strategies and branding initiatives. It can be also very effective to improve [pic][pic][pic] downward communication. It makes easy information flow from top people in the company like CEOs to all employees. Learning company future strategies or plans by reading from a bulletin is less visual and live compared to by listening and watching from iPhone. There have been many community involvement projects within organization. Employees organized national and international charitable organizations with the support of company. For instance, in my view, the welfare activities serve two functions for the company. Firstly, they can make employees from all levels of organization together. They are one of social events and internal communication channels. They can work for an interdependent goal cooperatively during these charities. Employees from different departments can have a contact with each other and can improve their social relationships with co-workers. In this way, internal communication among employees can be facilitating thanks to them. [pic][pic][pic] Secondly, they can also become an external communication channel for the company. We can encounter much news in the social media when the company performs a charitable activity or subscribes to a relief fund. The company can communicate its brand externally thanks to this news. They can make contribution to the respectability, reliability of company, and at the same increases brand awareness at the same time. In sum, we can consider charitable organizations as both internal and external communications channels. Employer brand of the company is one of external communication channels of it. It can communicate itself through its brand name. While it creates its brand with what it did in the market, the brand creates the company at the same time. There is a reciprocal relationship between two. It can tell the reputation and image of the company in the market via its brand. At the same time, this external communication channels can be a motivating factor for the employees and for the upcoming new employees. The more famous and prestigious brand is, the more people want to work in this company. Its reputation in the market will attract the new employees. Upward communication is less applied in organizations than downward communication. Although there is an open and inclusive workplace for generating diverse ideas, we can not know whether this freedom is also seen in performance evaluation of managers by subordinates. There is not available information about whether subordinate appraisals of managers are applied or are not. Appraisals of supervisors which are done by the subordinates can give feedback about the performance of supervisors. If they take into account these feedbacks, they can be more effective in their working process and managing process. As employees start to recognize that heir feedback is taken into account, upward communication can be also provided. On the other hand, the company has spread all around the world. For instance, one manager who is from Europe can supervise the employees who are from very different and far away country. Thanks to the ways the Internet enables communications like teleconference, a manager can work for a far away office of the company (Waltner, 2010). Although it has so me advantages like company can choose best manager by basing on performance, not basing on location, it can be a barrier to upward communication. While networks for teleconference are available more easily when there is a meeting between senior managers from different departments, it can accessed more difficulty when more subordinate employee need it to communicate with managers. Moreover, the other factor is cultural differences. How much employees want to share their ideas about managers can be change according to culture. For instance, in more collectivistic culture, people can think that making criticism about a person can be perceived as offense by him. So, they don’t want to share its views about him in order to conform existing situation. They can fear of being evaluated negatively by their managers if they give negative feedback about their managers. So, suggestion or complaint boxes can be a good solution for those employees. Attitude surveys are one possible ways of improving upward communication. However, if the results of those surveys about the performance and effectiveness of manager are not taken into account by managers, they have no value (Aamodt, 2010). So, managers also organize a time for discussing the feedback with employees face to face. Although Kraft Foods has those kinds of surveys like many international companies, in my view, it can not effectively discuss its result with subordinates. Because, some employees have still reported some upward communication problem in a website that employees can report reviews about their company anonymously. One of employees says that there is low level of employee participation in decision making. Also, he suggested that the company should take into account the employee surveys (Kraft Foods Employee Review, 2011). Along with that comment, Kraft should initiate more democratic and participative style of management. It can improve upward communication if employees are able to generate ideas or share their concerns about process by including in the decision-making process. The company has all of the channels of communication which are essential in downward communication like bulletin boards, annual reports, newsletters, annual fact sheets or intranets. Although much of communication in organization is downward when compared with upward and although most of channels are available, still downward communication can not reach perfect level. For instance, although the company has a policy manuals or annual reports, they can not function properly, because they have a very technical language. Employees have to read themselves. Interactive meetings to discuss about current company news can be more effective than only transmitting corporate news and facts through written material. For instance, although Kraft Foods Senior Financial Analyst says that the company has many benefits, he suggests that it should improve communication and especially downward communication from middle management (Kraft Food Employee Review, 2011). Although the company has many channels, still some managers don’t really share essential things with employees. Some of them don’t set a proper guideline for what employee will do to achieve its goals. They don’t healthy share about what, when and how employees will do a task. They think that employees have already known those things, because they are their work. They have a problem in taking employees’ perspectives. So, people managerial positions can be received training programmes to improve their communication skill with their subordinates and make them aware of needs and strivings of their subordinates. Do employees really satisfied with their jobs? For instance, Dieter Follens who is the manager of Product Costing Coffee in Kraft Foods Europe said about the company is that it did not provide only a job for him, but it also provides a career in Finance for him. He had worked as an assistant with internal controls, a financial analyst, a cost controller, finance manager in our European Union (EU) Office after Belgium, and product cost manager respectively. This shows us that Kraft Foods provides employees job rotation. It is one of motivating factors of the company. They can satisfy the needs of growth and challenge. Employees feel less boredom and feel more motivated to their jobs. Also, they can understand better how they contribute to the development of the company (Robbins Judge, 2011). Understanding the effectiveness of individual outcome and the significance of task which are among five core dimensions of Job Characteristic Model explains the satisfying effects of job rotation. Also, Mr. Follens indicated that awareness of contributing to the the growth f company make him satisfied and engaged with job, an even he added that when contribution took place in different ways, then satisfaction turns into real pleasure for him. His comments obviously showed us that job rotation and changes in the job characteristics make workers satisfied. This is the example of satisfied employee. It is impossible to expect that all employees feel and think same things about the company and their position. Also, Dieter works in organizational part of the company. We can analyze Kraft Food Company as focusing separately on white collar workers and blue collar workers. It is a big multinational manufacturing company in the field of food and beverage, so most of its employees are blue collars, in other words, they are hourly workers. While flexile work options were useful for professional employees, they are not good for manufacturing ones. Therefore, employee dissatisfaction was observed among hourly workers in 2001 and 2002 surveys. Fast Adapts Program was prepared in order to decrease the dissatisfaction. It provided workers shift-swapping, single-day vacations and job sharing. Changes in work options make increase in the level of satisfaction one year later (Executive Office of the President Council of Economic Advisers, 2010). The underlying factor that made this improvement was the autonomy, because it offered plant managers the autonomy in deciding the best suitable flexible work options for their own plant and implementing them. One empirical study showed that when the perceptions of nurses about opportunity of structural empowerment changed, changes in psychological empowerment and so in job satisfaction were observed. It means that employees feel more motivated to work and satisfied with their job when they can make work related decisions that will affect themselves (Laschinger, Finegan, Shamian, Wilk, 2004). We can also form a relationship between this employee empowerment strategy and the Job Characteristic Model. It proposes that any job has five basic dimensions: Skill variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy, feedback. The most relevant dimension to the empowerment programs in Kraft Foods is the autonomy. It can be defined as the degree of freedom which job offer employees about scheduling the work and deciding procedures to implement it. This freedom makes employees more satisfied and intrinsically motivated to job over time by providing to them experienced responsibility and recognition (Robbins Judge, 2011). We can observe the same pattern in workers of Kraft foods. There are basic key motivators for employees. As in the most companies, compensation and benefits are among key motivator factors of Kraft Foods. For instance, Canada Kraft offers great financial benefits like bonuses for some employees (depending on the position), new employee referral bonuses (up to $1,000 for some positions), and year-end bonuses (to $100,000). Also, it provides health benefits plan including fertility drug treatments. In addition to this, it offers an employee store with discounted food products, dinner catering services (called the â€Å"Kraft Kafe 5 O’Clock Solutions† to take home meals). Also, it provides maternity leave with 100% of salary for 17 weeks. Performance management is one of motivator factors of Kraft Foods. For instance, employees receive individual performance reviews every 6 months in Kraft Canada (Yerema Leung, 2011). In order to evaluate employees better, managers enroll training programs how to make effective performance reviews. Also, performance evaluation is not only based on one manager’s views, but also it is based on co-workers and other managers who know the employee. In addition to this, it takes a consultant service to make employee satisfaction and engagement surveys better and professionally. In relation to performance management, the most important motivating factor of the company is the training and skills development opportunities for employees. Two motivators are very much related to each other. As the company makes proper performance management, it can organize better training programs according to developmental needs of employees. For instance, Kraft Canada offers tuition subsidies for courses that are related to employees’ position for the development of them. Moreover, it provides professional accreditations; in-house training programs; online training programs; new employee orientation program. In addition to this, the company offers skills development outside the position of employees in Kraft test kitchens like food tastings, cooking classes and culinary presentations. Also, Kraft Foods North America (KFNA) promotes intranet provides professional development resources for its employees including access to training and mentoring. Values and ethics are among key motivator factors of the company. There is an available 15 pages document of Codes of conduct and Kraft Foods Rules of Behavior in the website of the company. It is also translated so many other languages in order to communicate its compliance and values correctly and efficiently with employees from different nations. It states 10 rules which all employees have to be obeyed. For instance, one of the most important rules of it is behaving people fairly. There are some missing motivating factors for employees in the company like clear career path. For instance, Cristina Monterrey who is Human Capital Senior Manager at PricewaterhouseCoopers emphasized that Pwc provide a clear career path to employees. Each employee knows what will be his position in five years. Thanks to this knowledge about their future work life, employees feel more secure and certainty. In this way, employees feel more committed to their work and companies. Other than themselves, an agent helps them organizing their future. Worries about future which can cause stress destroyed in this way and employees work passionately. But, in the case of Kraft Foods, although it provides feedback about performance and training programs according to these feedbacks, there is no available information about a structured career program for employees. In order to make employees more motivated, career plans can be provided for them. Kraft Foods Category Planner in Glenview said that Kraft Foods is a lucrative place to work, but the employees earn every cent they make due to extremely long work hours (Kraft Food employee review, n. d. ). Although he reported that there were lots of opportunities, he paid attention to work load especially for employees with a family. Long work hours can create stress problems, because employees can not balance their work and family life properly. Long hours can be a fundamental dissatisfying factor and it can harm performance along with effect of stress. In my view, there can be some modifications in work schedule. For instance, they can provide alternative or flexible work schedules. Employees start to feel more control over their work by deciding their own working hours. This autonomy and positive effect of change on family life can make employees more motivated to their jobs. References Aamodt, M. G. (2010). Industrial/Organizational Psychology. USA: Wadsworth Cengage learning. Executive Office of the President Council of Economic Advisers. (2010). Work-life Balance and the Economics of the Workplace Flexibility. Kraft Foods. (2011). In Wikipedia. Retrieved November 19, 2011, from http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Kraft_Foods. Kraft Foods Employee Review (2011). Retrieved from http://www. glassdoor. com/Reviews/Kraft- Foods-Reviews-E13294. htm. Laschinger,H. K. S. , Finegan, J. E. , Shamian, J. , Wilk, P. (2004). A longitudinal Analysis of the Impact of Workplace Empowerment on Work Satisfaction. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 25, 527–545. Robbins, S. P. , Judge, T. A. (2011). Organizational Behavior. New jersey: Pearson. Yerema, R. and Leung, K. (2011). Chosen as one of Canada’s Top 100 Employers and Greater Toronto’s Top Employers for 2012. Retrieved from http://www. eluta. ca/top-employer-kraft-canada. Waltner, C. (2010). Networking Communications for the Global Corporation: An Interview with Kraft Foods CIO, Mark Dajani. Retrieved from http://newsroom. cisco. com/feature-content? type=webcontentarticleId=5305212. [pic][pic][pic][pic][pic][pic][pic][pic][pic][pic][pic][pic] How to cite Analysis of Kraft Foods, Papers

Dance

Dance-Christianity Essay With the rise of Christianity throughout the first millennium, dramatic rituals developed for use during prayer. The Latin mass is the best-known of these rites. Originally dance movements were part of these pieces as well as music and a dramatic dialogue. By the Middle Ages these works moved from inside the churches to the out- of-doors. On church, squares cathedral porches, and marketplaces, miracle plays, and morality plays that taught the churchs lessons were enacted in a theatrical way. Rather than being part of the ritual, however, these pieces had become a form of entertainment. Dance was also observed in two other sorts of activity. In dramatic ritual games with dance movement the passing of the seasons was celebrated, even as it had been by primitive tribes; and in the works of troubadours and other wandering minstrels, dance and song were used to express the full range of human emotions. Another important rite of the Middle Ages was known as the dance of death. A ritual procession performed throughout Europe from the 14th to the 16th century, it was a sort of danced parade that was led by a figure representing death. It was performed perhaps with the most intensity in the years of the Black Death, a bubonic plague that swept across Europe beginning in 1373. At once grotesque and graceful, the piece expressed the anguish of a diseased civilization. The dance of death reflected the rituals performed by primitive peoples, who had also danced to acknowledge the passing of the seasons of the year and of a human life on Earth. Other dances in the Middle Ages did the same. During the annual May games, for example, dances were performed that celebrated the greening of the countryside and the fertility of the land. During saints days, which echoed the rites dedicated to Dionysus, large groups of women danced in churches. Similar to earlier pieces associated with battles, sword dances were performed in Germany, Scotland, and elsewhere in Europe. Similar to the sword dance is the Morris dance, which was performed at secular festivals from Scotland to Spain.

Loopholes in Afghanistans War Against Terrorism Agreement free essay sample

A discussion on the way in which the Afghanistan government does not benefit from allowing military attacks and siding with the U.S. in the war against terrorism. This paper analyzes the Afghans government agreement to cooperate with the U.S. government in capturing terrorists and outlines some of the loopholes in this agreement. The writer also offers suggestions for these loopholes. `First of all, the strategy will not appeal to the Muslim world. Ever since the beginning, Ladens objective was to dispel the Western Union. Realizing Islamic fundamentalists as well as sentimentalist jihads in the Asian region, Laden saw great potential for setting up his control center. Why he chose United States in particular because the nation represent Western culture. Its status among trade communities is highly influential. Laden wants to disperse the Western notion that they are greater then the Muslims. He found himself an ally in the form of Al-Queda, set up by Mullah ?. We will write a custom essay sample on Loopholes in Afghanistans War Against Terrorism Agreement or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page `

A stench of Kerosene Essay Example

A stench of Kerosene Essay Example A stench of Kerosene Essay A stench of Kerosene Essay Essay Topic: Literature A Stench of Kerosene is a fundamental representation of how customs and traditions can become ruthless pressures in life, causing individuals to make complex decisions, for their security in the community on terms of culture and traditions. A Stench of Kerosene, by Amrita Pritam, follows the turbulent marriage of Manak and Guleri. As a consequence of Guleris infertility, Manaks mother is obliged to wed him to a second bride, in order for Manak to bear a son under his name, and abide by the well followed traditions of his ancestors, and other members of the community, so as for him not to become an outcast of the society. Manak, is then forced to marry the second bride against his own will, and this causes Guleri to become a victim of a catastrophic and traditional suicide, by smouldering herself with lethal Kerosene, and setting herself ablaze. Manak then becomes a cold, hateful character, and even rejects his own child as he claimed that the boy had a stench of kerosene. This story is an obvious critique of the Indian way of life, which is followed, and based on traditions, which at any cost must be fulfilled, for one to live in amity. Manak, in this case, is the victim of this great oppression, as he loved his first wife sincerely, and was defeated by the pressure imposed upon him by his mother. The Story follows a number of different aspects and traditions that are implemented and closely followed by Indians in an Indian community. Points such as the disregard for women are cunningly incorporated in this tale of love and loss, and clearly portrayed as part of the stories plot. For example, a tradition, which has been clearly condemned throughout this story, is the fact that clearly in an Indian community, the woman is not given any respect or value. She is brought and sold, this is a point, which is clearly underlined when Manaks mother pays a sum of 500 rupees, to acquire him a second wife. Guleri is obviously oppressed as a woman in different ways, for example the fact that she is only permitted to see her parents only once a year. This is obviously another oppression towards her. The story not only focuses on sexism and oppression, however other minor issues such as superstition and other lesser customs are tackled during the events of this story, for example the customs that are completed when the harvest season ensues, The girls would have new clothes made for the occasion. Their dupattas would be dyed The story obviously projects Manaks trepidation, and vulnerable personality, as he fears conversing with his mother upon the matter of marriage, as he perceptibly fears her, and recognizes that she is also a victim of tradition, and in order for her to become a respected member of the community she, and her son, must pursue the tradition of bearing a child. We can tell from the text that Manak and Guleris marriage was a successful marriage, until the mothers unwanted interference. This is expressed through Manaks pleads for Guleri to postpone her annual visit to her parents this time. This obviously showed his dread, which obviously sheds some light upon the fact that they were content. The flute in the story has some kind of significance, and may symbolize the contentment and bliss of this couple or lack of it, as it is obviously a ritual for each of them to play this delightful instrument of joy on exultant occasions. For instance, on Guleris departure, Guleri is ecstatic, and so desires playing the flute, however we realize that Manak does not crave to play this instrument, and when attempts to, makes a strange anguishing wail, which possibly emphasizes his deep despondency. The disastrous suicide, is also an Hindu custom, for when a female loses her husband, becomes a widow, symbolically, and traditionally, she commits suicide by setting herself alight. Guleri did not physically lose her husband, as he was not dead, however, Guleri had been severed from her dear husband in an alternative direction, and so symbolically committed suicide. This also Highlights Guleris immense love for her husband, and her deep melancholy at her husbands separation. The deplorable suicide is also emphasized by Manaks reaction to this ill-fated news, and the fact that he even discards his long awaited child, and claims that the redundant, has a stench of kerosene, this is a great emphasis on how poignant this occurrence was, and how it provoked him to become a despondent character. This story is a great emphasis upon how priceless relationships can be, and how true devotion can initiate individuals in to fateful actions. This story also illustrates that even though some traditions and customs in India, and how sexual discrimination can lead to oppression. The story is an insight in to the sexism of the Indian traditions which have represented woman in the society in a different light, and how they can be mistreated, and how these tyranny infested customs can oppress woman. A custom that has been highlighted as Bride price clearly illustrates the way women are discriminated. Women can now be priced rather than paid a dowry to, and even then the bride cannot spend it for the sake of her leisure, in fact her family are obliged to use it as a result of poverty. Guleri has not only been oppressed because of her However the fact that she is only permitted to visit her parents once a year is also a great oppression on her as a person Obviously the west has altered Amerita Pritams ideas of oppression and tyranny, and has taken her world for granted, and has allowed herself to become a victim of the west different ideas. She has not recalled the fact that there are some important points to poverty, and to traditional Ethics. So I think that this story really portrays the message of valuing certain articles, whether materialistic or sentimental we take for granted.

African American

Please show how Segregation shaped the lives of African Americans during the time frame 1870-1920. Please examine all faucet of society under slavery to support your argument. In the year of 1870, It was the re Invention of slavery. America could not be built without economic. The south was still a negative place and they tailed to accept blacks. After decades of discrimination, the voting rights act of 1965 aimed to overcome legal barriers at the state and local levels that denied blacks tovote under the 15th amendment. The 1 5th amendment in 1870 gave African Americans the right o vote. The constitutional amendment passed after the civil war that it guaranteed blacks the right to vote. It affected not only freed slaves In the south but the blacks that were living In the north who was not allowed to vote(3). The amendment was favored by the Republican Party; since the votes of the slaves helped the party dominates national politics In the years after the war. During the same year, Hiram Rhodes Revels. who was a republican from Mississippi, became the first African American to sit in the United States congress when he was elected to the United tates senate. Millions of black men served In congress during reconstruction but more than 600 served In the states legislatures and many more held local offices(3). The Jim Crow laws were the era of struggle. The state and local laws in the united states enacted between 1876 and 1365. In 1890, there was a separate but equal status for African Americans. Jim Crow laws followed the Black codes which restricted the civil rights and civil liberties of African Americans with no equality. During the reconstruction period, the federal law provided clvll rights protection In the united States for the African Americans who had formally been slaves(l)_ In 1890, Louisiana required by law that blacks ride In separate railroad cars. The whites on railroads, including separate railway cars. Plessy attempted to sit in an all- white railroad car. After refusing to sit in the black railway carriage car, Plessy was arrested for violating in1890. Louisiana statute that provided for segregated separate but equal railroad accommodations. Those using facilities not designated for their race were criminally liable under the statute(4). Plessy was found guilty on he grounds that the law was a reasonable exercise of the states police powers based upon custom, usage, and tradition in the state. Plessy filed a petition in the Supreme Court of Louisiana against Ferguson, asserting that segregation stigmatized blacks and stamped them with a badge of inferiority in violation of the Thirteenth and Fourteenth amendments(4). The case of Plessy vs. Ferguson was one of a combination of rulings passed by the U. S and the state Supreme Courts after reconstruction. Many of these decisions allowed and required Jim Crow segregation laws in southern states. At the highest level, the case was decided on May 18th in 1896, in favor of Ferguson and the state of Louisiana. The Supreme Court had given southern states all the permission they needed to let any remaining equality between the races fade away and be replaced by the Jim Crow laws standing(S). By the 1870s, many southern whites had resorted to intimidation and violence to keep blacks from voting and restore white supremacy in the region. Beginning in 1873, a series of Supreme Court decisions limited the scope of Reconstruction-era laws and federal support for the Reconstruction Amendments, particularly the 14th nd 15th, which gave African Americans the status of citizenship and protection. The Compromise of 1877 occurred after the Presidential Election of 1876, when Congress formed the Electoral Commission to resolve disputed Democratic Electoral votes from the South. The republicans agreed to enact Federal legislation that would spur industrialization in the south. They agreed to withdraw federal soldiers from their remaining positions in the south(5). They did this to appoint democrats to positions in the south and to appoint a democrat to the presidents cabinet. The Compromise f 1877 effectively ended the Reconstruction era. The Southern Democrats promised to protect but the political rights of blacks were not kept. The end of federal interference in southern affairs led to widespread disenfranchisement of blacks voters(4). From the late 1870s, southern legislatures passed a series of laws requiring the separation of whites from persons of color on public transportation, in schools, parks, restaurants, theaters and other locations. These segregationist statutes governed life in the South through the middle of the next century, ending after the uccess of the civil rights movement in the 1960s. The migration was a watershed in the history of African Americans. It lessened their overwhelming concentration in the South, opened up industrial Jobs to people who had up to then been mostly farmers, and gave the first significant impetus to their cities such as Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, Philadelphia, and New York(8). The single largest movement of African Americans occurred during World War l, when people moved from rural areas and small towns in the South to cities in the North and the East. Even in the North, blacks encountered violence at the hands of whites, who esented competition for Jobs and black economic success. Segregation and discrimination in housing, education, and Jobs was pervasive in the North as well. From 1916, more than six million blacks left the South for other regions of the United States. Over the next fifteen years, more than one tenth of the countrys black population would voluntarily move north. The Great Migration lasted until 1930. This was the first step in the full nationalization of the African American population(2). The Klu Klux Klan is the oldest organization. During this time 1920s, there were still 5 percent of African Americans in the south. The Klan was created in 1871 by the Democratic Party to prevent African Americans from voting the 1 5th Amendment. The Klan also became Americans 1st terrorist group and became an institutional part of American life and political colt.

BUS599 - Integrative Project, Mod 4 Case Assignment Essay

BUS599 - Integrative Project, Mod 4 Case Assignment - Essay Example The model views an organization as a summation of different components that interact with each other. The model advocates that the success or failure of an organization is dependent on the effective functioning or dysfunction f the components; i.e. the degree of congruence of fitness among the components. As per the objectives the outputs of an organization on three different levels; such as over all organizational level, group level and at last but not the least at the individual level would be analyzed by using the Convergence Model. The organization chosen is: Whole Foods Market (Anderson, 2011). Company Overview Whole Foods Market is an Austin Texas based food retailer. The company sells natural organic products. The company has come a long way since the humble beginnings in the year 1980. Today the company is believed to be a leader in organic foods industry. It has over three hundred stores in UK and North America. Outputs at the organizational level As discussed before Whole F oods Market provides healthy organic foods to the customers. The product line of the company can be categorized as; 365 Everyday Value products provide valued prices on each day of the year. Exclusive products include new products launched by the company in the market. Premium body care products include personal care products that meet strict quality and environmental guidelines. The rest of the two members of the whole Foods Market include Whole Foods Market and Whole foods trade. In order to analyze the overall organizational output of the company three key factors needed to be considered such as overall goal attainment, efficiency in resource utilization and ability to adapt to different environment. The overall goal attainment will be discussed at the end of this segment as it is believed to be a dependent over the other two factors. The resources of the company can be categorized in to dimensions such as human resource, reputation and innovation resource. When it comes to human resource Whole Foods has really managed to excel in that department. It is quite difficult to measure knowledge. But going by customer loyalty and trust among the customers it can be summed up as an output of the knowledge and efficiency of the customers. The harmonious and beneficial relation of the company doesn’t end with the customers only. The same could be said about the suppliers also. Whole has managed to grab the number one spot when it comes to innovation. The health related movements has helped the company to promote the concept of healthy lifestyle among diverse age groups. Whole Foods have managed to create value of its own kind as far as reputation is concerned as the company has been able to develop an image of reliability. As far as ability to adapt to different condition is concerned the results speak for it. From the humble beginnings the company has expanded its business across the borders successfully. This only happens to be by product of the ability of the company to adapt to different conditions successfully. The organic food business is a large and growing industry. In the initial days the awareness of the products among the people was very low. Whole Foods played a key role in creating health related awareness among the people which has lead to the growth of the business. The market is expected to grow over the years. And it is needless to say that the company has is the leading market share holder of the industry. The third quarter earnings of the company increased by 32%. The sales stores increased

The Effect of Doubling Quantity of Money Research Paper - 1

The Effect of Doubling Quantity of Money - Research Paper Example We will discuss the effect of doubling the quantity of money, an increase in willingness to work and a fall in the propensity to save, and their effect on the interest rates, price levels or inflation and the level of national output. The nominal quantity of money can be defined as the money measured with a particular currency and the quantity is directly proportional to the level of prices, in this case therefore the nominal quantity of money is equal to the price level multiplied by real money, where real money is the quantity of money and is usually a constant. The doubling of nominal quantity of money can be analysed using the quantity theory of money which states: MV = PQ where M is money supply, V is the velocity of money, P is prices and Q is the output level. PQ, therefore, is the nominal value and as the equation depict if this doubles then the other side which is MV must also double. Therefore we expect that the money supply will have increased and as a result then the inflation level will rise, inflation is the increase in the price level in the entire economy. When the nominal quantity of money doubles then the level of prices to rise in the economy, as the level of prices increases then we expect also that the output level will increase as more investors and producers produce more goods and services due to the high prices in the economy. When the level of the nominal quantity of money increases then we expect the level of interest rates to increase, the increase in interest rates will be a policy measure to ensure that the money supply in the economy is reduced in order to deal with the high inflation level in the economy. For this reason, therefore, the interest rates will rise in order to reduce the money supply.

Both sides of the debate Essay Example for Free

Both sides of the debate Essay The purpose of this essay is to describe the arguments relating to nature nurture, providing evidence for both sides of the debate. In addition, an analysis of this evidence will be given and a measured conclusion drawn from the evaluation of such. When attempting to understand the composition and contributing factors to the human personality, both nature and nurture should be taken into consideration, in order to develop a balanced conclusion. When articulating this debate it is imperative to understand a definition of both nature and nurture. Nature is the term used to describe the genetic or inherent characteristics of a human and nurture is the term used to define the environmental factors, which contribute to the human persona. Both nature and nurture are now commonly viewed as intrinsic factors, which influence the character of an individual, thus psychologists are interested in the factors which influence behaviour both before and after birth. However this debate has been one of the most controversial and long-standing issues within psychology. Philosopher John Locke, writing in the 17th century surmised that all humans are born tabularasa, which is the Latin word, meaning blank slate. Locke suggested that all individuals have the freedom to determine their disposition. This extends the reader an approximation on the length of this debate. (http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Tabula_rasa) In opposition to this claim was Francis Galton, who coined the phrase nature nurture in 1883, who published a paper on Hereditary genius, in which he suggested that typically all distinguished individuals within society were related and that genius is therefore passed on throughout the generations. Galton even went on to argue that individuals with lower levels of intelligence should be prevented from reproducing children. Extremists such as Adolf Hitler later adopted this view during World War two, which subsequently caused the holocaust. (Hayes, 1998, page 31) The quest to distinguish between the biological characteristics of an individual and the effects of environmental stimulus has aroused the interests of many intellects for the past 300 years. Human traits are difficult to categorise as either due entirely to nature or entirely to nurture, and as such this has created crossover theorists such as Jean Piaget in the 1950s to extend credence to both nature and nurture contributing to the human persona. Piaget suggested that individuals develop in pre-determined stages, however this requires interaction with the environment. (Gross, 2005, page 582) Traditionally, the nature nurture debate did attempt to categorise these human traits and as such, this separated psychologists into two distinct groups empiricists and nativists. Empiricists are those psychologists who believe that the development of an individuals persona derives from predominantly environmental stimulus, such as learning and experience. Psychologists such as J. B Watson in 1913 extended credence to tabularasa. Watson believed that newborns have no innate content and therefore experience will dictate the persona of any individual. In contrast to this view, nativists such as Gesell in 1943 believed that an individuals persona is determined largely by genetic influences, which have little to do with external factors. As Gesell advised mothers, regarding a childs personality, to give up the notion that you can either produce (except through inheritance) or that you can basically change it. (Hayes, 1998, page 2) Genetic transmission is the term used to describe the process in which humans acquire biological characteristics from their parents. Cells within the body contain a substance called DNA which is arranged into long strands. These strands are referred to as Chromosomes, which are broken down into smaller units of DNA, known as genes. Humans are composed of 23 pairs of Chromosomes, half of which are passed from the biological mother and half from the biological father. As such an individuals genetic make-up is determined from the moment of conception. What is difficult to ascertain is how much these hereditary genes determine the human persona. The 23rd pair of chromosomes determines the biological sex into which the cells will form two X chromosomes produce a female and an X and Y produces a male. (Hayes, 1998, page 3-4) The biological sex of an individual is commonly considered to determine the gender of an individual. Gender can be defined as the role allocated to males and females at birth, according to their biological sex. However, there has been debate over gender and whether male and female genders have been created through the socialisation process which occurs from birth onwards. This view became popular in the 1960s, which led to the case study of David Reimer, which supports the nature side of the debate. David Reimer, formally known as Bruce underwent a routine circumcision on the 27th April 1966, at the age of 8 months. His twin brother was booked in for the same operation however Bruce was the first to undergo this procedure. The operation was performed by surgeon Jean-Marie Huot, who implemented the circumcision with a cautery machine, which was never intended for use on genitals. The results were horrific, and Bruces penis was ruined. Bruces parents consulted Dr John Money a psychologist researching sexual development and gender identity, who advised them that the solution would be sex reassignment, which would involve the removal of Bruces testicles and his gender reassigned as female. Money believed that gender was socially constructed and therefore not biologically predicted. Money therefore advocated that Bruce underwent this procedure to ensure a relatively normal life. At the age of 22 months old, Bruce became known as Brenda. Brenda was given female hormones to induce female characteristics, however, this did not aid her in feeling like a girl and by the age of 13 had suicidal tendencies. At the age of 15 Brendas parents told her of her gender reassignment and from that point onwards Brenda renamed herself David and resumed her former male gender identity. Davids twin brother Brian was deeply disturbed upon learning of his sister/brothers sex reassignment and later this developed into schizophrenia. (http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/David_Reimer)

Self-esteem Essay -- Psychology, Anxiety

To date, there is a large body of studies support the function of self-esteem defend against death anxiety. Conventional studies on the role of self-esteem act as an anxiety buffer to the mortality salience rely on the self-report questionnaire as the measurement tool (Burke et al., 2010). The construct measure by self-report questionnaire is mainly derived from the concept of explicit self-esteem. It is common for the research of TMT using explicit self-esteem indicates the concept of self-esteem and hence to explain their role on mortality salience (Pyszczynski, & Greenberg, 1992).Explicit self-esteem is measured in a conscious way. It is a reliable measure for the construct but we should not ignore the role of unconscious and introspective measurement of self-esteem. However, there is still concern about the social desirability effect on the self-report measurement. Previous research examined that participants had a tendency to have self-deception and impressive management on the measurement (Paulhus, 1998). It is not necessary to hold the view that self-reflections only process in conscious level. There are evidence revealed that many social cognitive functions operates in a unconscious evaluation (Greenwald & Banaji, 1995). Implicit measures of personality have proven useful since the beginning of personality psychology (Wilson, Lindsey, & Schooler, 2000). Scholars have argued that certain self-reflections may similarly operate at unconscious levels. It is assumed that non-conscious self-reflections are inaccessible to rational and conscious and have to observe in an indirect and implicit way (Greenwald & Banaji, 1995). The automatic self-reflection is termed as implicit self-esteem. Implicit self-esteem is defined as an aut... ... the other hand, there are several researches to construct self-esteem as other source of self-esteem or other self-related concept on TMT. For example, self-esteem is defined as a self-body image and body esteem (Goldenberg, McCoy, Pyszczynski, Greenberg, & Solomon, 2000; Goldenberg & Shackelford, 2005); self-enhancement (Arndt & Goldernberg, 2011) and fitness intentions (Arndt, Schimel, & Goldenberg, 2003).Therefore, it is justified enough to predict that people with high implicit self-esteem can reduce death anxiety by imposing defensive response to the mortality salience. In the theoretical point of view, full understanding of self-esteem in the TMT requires taking into consideration components of self-esteem other than the explicit level. These include implicit self-esteem and hence both implicit and explicit self-esteem will be examined in the current study.

What is a relationship

Reid with each other to. Hat makes this relationship special is we bond together and we treat each other nicely and are not disrespectful to one another-well crystal is special to me is she doesn't brag about things and she doesn't cry over dumb things and she's kind to one another. Crystal and recognized the relationship is when we started talking to each other a lot. Let all started back in the day 2011,we were at a party and I was eating food like usual and than saw her sitting down and I talked to her than we started to talk for a few than we have been friends since than.My relationship with this person is great ,we still hang out with each other and eating food, watching movies like usual. How feel about the relationship now? Is good like said we chill,eat,movies than more eating. What this relationship means to me is were just normal people , eating food with my best friend and its great ‘nice to each other. I learned thru this relationship is were not always goanna be wi th each other even thou we live 1 house down and not to be disrespectful. This experience will help me with other people is don't judge a book by its cover like just be nice to one another.

Requisition and Distribution Flow in the Army

REQUISITION AND DISTRIBUTION FLOW STAMIS STandard Army Management Information System SARSS —Standard Army Retail Supply System PBUSE —Property Book Unit Supply Enhanced SAMS-E —Standard Army Maintenance System-Enhanced ULLS-A —Unit Level Logistics System-Aviation SAAS —Standard Army Ammunition System SARRSS Standard Army Retail Supply System (SARSS) * A Combat Service Support peacetime and wartime logistics system. * Used for the following classes of supply * Class II * Class III(P) * Class IV * Class VII * Class IX SARSS * Action: You go to the Company Supply Sergeant for help. He tells you the item is a Class II item, and he inputs the requisition into PBUSE (Property Book Unit Supply Enhanced) * PBUSE sends the request to the SARSS-1, which is located in the Distribution Company, BSB * SARSS-1 looks at its inventory. * If item is on hand—Material Release Order * If not on hand, SARSS-1 queries other local SARSS-1 * If not locally available , requisition is passed up to SARSS 2AC/B * SARSS 2AC/B passes to SARSS-Gateway. * SARSS-Gateway passes to Source of Supply (Industry/Army Depot) LOGISTIC PACKAGE OPERATIONSThe LOGPAC technique is a simple, efficient, and most preferred way to accomplish routine replenishment operations LOGPACs are organized in the combined arms battalion support area (CABSA) by the company supply sergeant’s under the supervision of the FSC commander and the distribution platoon leader * Organized for each company/separate element in the battalion * Under the control of the FSC distribution platoon leader * A properly configured LOGPAC contains all the supplies needed to sustain a unit for a specified amount of time.LOGPACs normally occur every 24 hours, but can be changed based on mission or the current situation. * LOGPACs contain: Class I, II, III, and V as well as mail and replacement personnel * After the LOGPAC is configured, it moves forward as a march unit to a Logistics Release Point (LRP). Receiving unit representatives link-up with the LOGPAC at the LRP to conduct the resupply. LRPs are generally established by the Maneuver Battalion S-3. The primary delivery techniques used to deliver LOGPACs to customer units are: * Service Station Tailgate * The delivery time of LOGPACs is based on Pulse Operations. PULSE OPERATIONS Pulse Operations are preplanned pauses in battle rhythm that allow combat forces to replenish routinely, conduct movement of a force from the decisive operation zone to mission staging operation and redeployment to the decisive operation zone. Examples: * Combat Replenishment Operation (CRO) * Sustainment Replenishment Operation (SRO) Mission Staging Operation (MSO

The Role Of Accounting In The Collapse Of Game Group The WritePass Journal

The Role Of Accounting In The Collapse Of Game Group Introduction The Role Of Accounting In The Collapse Of Game Group , the company officially filed for administration as it became evident that it could no longer continue as a going concern (Robinson, 2012; BBC, 2012). Past experience suggests that accounting has contributed to many cases of corporate failure. This was the case with the failures of Enron, WorldCom and many other companies. The objective of this paper is to discuss how accounting contributed to the failure of The Game Group plc. The paper begins by presenting theoretical and empirical evidence on how accounting can contribute to corporate collapse in section 2; section 3 discusses how accounting contributed to the collapse of the Game Group by making reference to the evidence presented in section 2; section 4 provides a summary and conclusion of the paper. Accounting and Corporate Collapse Creative accounting has been cited as one of the principal causes of corporate collapse. Companies like Enron, WorldCom and Tyco International filed for Bankruptcy under Chapter 7 as a result of poor accounting. The managers of these companies were involved in lies, deceit, cover-up and above all shoddy accounting, which could not be sustained for long. As a result, the share prices of the companies were bound to fall and thus the companies themselves were bound to file for bankruptcy under chapter 7 of the US Bankruptcy Code. Creative accounting involves the use of accounting techniques that may or may not be in compliance with generally accepted accounting principles (GAAPs) but that certainly deviate significantly ethical standards (Ghosh, 2010). When involved in creative accounting, managers often make use of novel approaches to reporting income so as to influence the outcome of contractual agreements that are determined by financial reports (Ghosh, 2010). Creative accounting involves systematically misrepresenting the true earnings and asset values of companies. Creative accounting has been responsible for a number of high profile cases of corporate failures such as Enron, WorldCom, Adelphia and Tyco International. One of the most commonly used forms of creative accounting is earnings management. Earnings management occurs when management employ judgment in financial reporting and transaction structuring with the intent of altering financial information either to influence the outcome of contractual agreements that depend on financial reports or to mislead interested parties about the performance, changes in financial position and financial position of the company (Healy and Wahlen, 1999). Earnings management represents â€Å"a purposeful intervention in the external financial reporting process, with the intent of obtaining some private gain† (Schipper, 1989). Most of the figures in the balance sheet and income statement are based on accrual accounting which arises because not all transactions are settled in cash at the time they are entered into. Therefore, accrual accounting must be used to record assets and liabilities that arise as a result of the time difference between the inceptio n of the transaction and the time the transaction is settled. This has resulted in the use of discretionary accounting. Managers employ discretionary accrual accounting to satisfy their selfish desires (Heemskerk and Va der Tas, 2006). The use of discretionary accruals is considered earnings management when managers employ it to influence the share price of their company or to obtain some other benefit that is of a personal nature. Earnings management has been an important subject of debate in the accounting literature with most studies focusing on understanding the factors that motivate managements to manae earnings. A bonus-maximisation theory has thus been suggested which states that managers manager earnings to maximise bonuses. For example, evidence suggests discretionary accruals are employed by managers to maximise short-term bonuses (Healy, 1985). Similar evidence is suggested in Gaver et al. (1995) and Hotlthausen et al. (1995) who observe that managers make use of accrual accounting to reduce earnings when earnings are above their maximum bonus level. However, such accruals are not employed when the minimum bonus level has not been attained (Holthausen et al., 1995; Gaver et al. (1995). An income smoothing theory has also been suggested which argues that managers like to observe a smooth pattern in earnings. Consequently a number of accounting techniques are employed to ensure that earnings are smooth over time. Gaver et al. (1995) provide evidence that is consistent with the smoothing theory. In addition, Guidry et al. (1999) and Tao (2007) observe that earnings management is carried out because managers do not want significant differences to occur between actual and predicted earnings. It has also been argued that managers hate reporting a decline in earnings. Consequently, accounting techniques are employed to ensure that the change in earnings over time is positive. Burgstahler and Dichev (1997) provide evidence that is consistent with this incentive by observing that managers tend to emphasise an increase in earnings in the Annual Report Section titled: â€Å"Management Discussion†. In Tenneco’s 1994 Annual Report for example, the CEO Dana Mead stated as follows: â€Å"I must emphasise that all our strategic actions are guided and measured against this goal of delivering consistently high increases in earnings over the long term† (Burgstahler and Dichev, 1997: 99). In addition Eli Lilly laid so much emphasis which lasted for a period of 33 years before being broken. Some firms emphasise the importance of increasing earnings during press releases or the announcement of earnings. The CEO of Bank of America for example, Richard Rosenberg in 199 4 stressed the importance of increasing earnings in a press release by stating that â€Å"Increasing earnings per share was our most important objective for the year† (Burgstahler   and Dichev, 1997: 100). The foregoing indicates that managers are more inclined to reporting an increase in earnings rather than a decrease. Barth et al. (1995) for example suggests that firms tend to maintain an upward trend in earnings so as to improve valuation ratios such as the price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio, the price-to-book (P/B) ratio, etc. P/E and P/B ratios are important in determining how the market will value the price of the equity of a firm (Penman, 2007). Therefore, managers will be motivated to maintain high P/E and P/B ratios through earnings management so as to benefit from a high market valuation of their firms’ equity. Similar evidence is provided in DeAngelo   et al. (1996) who observe that a distortion in a firm’s upward trend in earnings results in significant declines in the stock price. Accounting and the Collapse of the Game Group Section 2 above focused on understanding how accounting can lead to corporate collapse. The evidence shows that managers tend to make use of creative accounting techniques which results in an inflation of earnings and thus the share price. Given that the share price does not reflect its intrinsic value, the long-run effect is a significant decline in the share price with the ultimate effect being the collapse of the company. This section is concerned with whether there was any use of creative accounting in the Game group which led to its collapse. So far, the evidence shows that accounting had nothing to do with the collapse of the group. Rather, the company’s collapse can be attributed to a variety of other factors including poor strategic planning, declining video game industry, and the cyclical nature of the video games industry . 3.1 Poor Strategic Planning It was rather, poor strategic planning on the part of the company that resulted in its collapse. The company failed to anticipate and plan for changes in its external environment. The company continued using strategies that were no longer relevant in the context of its external environment. In addition, the Game group had a poor pricing strategy. Prices of Game Group’s games were too high compared to prices of competitors such as Amazon and Play. Many customers are migrating from store shopping to online shopping. According to Administrators at Price Water House Coopers, Game Group’s collapse can be attributed to its ambitious overseas expansion and the closure of proximity stores. Game Group’s strategy was characterised by two fundamental problems. Firstly, the company expanded massively into different countries (Yin-Poole, 2012). This means that the company had significantly high levels of fixed costs which could not be sustained. When fixed costs are significa ntly high, the business risk of the firm increases significantly. Secondly, Game and Gamestation stores were in close proximity. This resulted in the cannibalisation of sales of one store by other stores (Yin-Poole, 2012). Therefore, many stores were simply incurring fixed costs which could not be covered by sales revenue. 3.2 Declining Video Games Industry The company suffered significantly because of poor developments in its external environment. Wallop (2012) observes comments by the CEO of the company Mr Shepherd who claims that in 2012, the size of the video game market had declined by 40% from its 2012 figure. This contributed negatively to the performance of the company. The company’s share fell by 2.44 to 4.31p and resulting in a decline to less than  £15million. Customers made significant changes in their consumption of video games. Most customers were interested in buying only new releases such as Fifa 2012 and Modern Warfare. Lesser known titles could not perform well because of declining demand Wallop (2012). The Game Group could not survive because it had a lot of games in stock that did not meet the current tastes and preferences of consumers of video games. 3.2 Cyclical nature of the Video Games Industry Despite making a profit of  £90million in 2009, the Game Group recorded a loss of  £15million in 2011 (Wallop, 2011). The main reason for this loss was the intense cyclical nature of the video games industry (Wallop, 2011). The market lacks exciting new hardware. In addition, the industry has been suffering from piracy. Lack of new hardware and an increase piracy has resulted in declining demands which has eroded industry profits. As a result the Game Group could no longer survive in the industry. The Game Group was also affected by the introduction of digital games, which can be regarded as a perfect substitute for video games. For example, in 2010, sales of digital games totalled  £411m representing an increase by 23 percent from the 2009 figure. On the contrary, the video game industry witnessed a decline in sales by 17 percent to  £1.53billion between 2009 and 2010 (Wallop, 2011). In addition, the development of smart phones and the IPAD has affected the video games industry. These devices come with free digital games. This resulted in the decline in video games sales and thus contributed to the collapse of the Game Group (Wallop, 2011). Summary and Conclusions The objective of this paper was to analyse the impact of accounting on the failure of Game Group. The above analyses show that Game Group’s collapse was in no way related to accounting failure. There was no evidence to suggest that managers at Game Group were involved in creative accounting. Unlike the case of Enron, and other major corporate failures, the Game Group had no special purpose entities which enabled it to high liabilities off the books. Game group’s failure can be attributed to poor strategic planning rather than to accounting failure. Based on the analysis, there is no evidence suggesting that Game Group was involved in inappropriate accounting. Rather, the evidence shows that Game Group simply did not plan properly. Game Group did not put in place strategies that would enable it respond adequately to changes in its external environment. The company failed to analyse the threat of substitute products, new entrants, bargaining power of suppliers and customers as well as industry rivalry. References Healy, P.M., Wahlen, J.M., 1999. A review of the earnings management literature and its implications for standard setters. Accounting Horizons, 13, pp. 365-383. Hayn, C., 1995. The Information Content of Losses, Journal of Accounting and Economics, 20, pp. 125-153 Heemskerk, M., and L. van der Tas. 2006. Veranderingen in resultaatsturing als gevolg van de invoering van IFRS. Maandblad voor Accountancy en Bedrijfseconomie: 571-579. Holthausen, R. W., Larcker, D. F., Sloan, R., 1995. Annual Bonus Schemes and the Manipulation of Earnings, Journal of Accounting and Economics, 19 (1) pp. 85-100   Epstein, B. J., Jermakowicz, E. K., 2007. Interpretation and Application of International Financial Reporting Standards, Wiley and Sons Inc. Penman, S. H. (2007) Financial Statement Analysis and Security Valuation, 3rd ed. Irwin: McGraw-Hill. Schipper, K. 1989. Earnings Management. Accounting Horizons, pp. 91-102 Robinson, A. (2012) GAME officially files for  administration Retailer fails to find a realistic prospect for a solvent solution for the  business, available online at: computerandvideogames.com/340810/game-officially-files-for-administration/ [accessed: 29th March 2013]. BBC (2012) Game Group to file for administration, available online at: bbc.co.uk/news/business-17455742 [accessed: 29th March 2013]. Wallop, H. (2012) Game shares slump on profits warning, loan breach fears, available online at: telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/retailandconsumer/9004248/Game-shares-slump-on-profits-warning-loan-breach-fears.html [accessed: 29th March 2013]. Wallop, H. (2011) Can Game Group survive?, available online at: telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/retailandconsumer/8895015/Can-Game-Group-survive.html [accessed: 29th March 2013]. Yin-Poole, W. (2012)   Why Game Collapsed: PwC cites unfortunate proximity of stores and ambitious overseas expansion, available online at: eurogamer.net/articles/2012-03-26-why-game-collapsed   [accessed: 29th March 2013].

Faculty empowerment and the changing university environment Research Paper - 1

Faculty empowerment and the changing university environment - Research Paper Example As per traditional system of teaching, the duty of the teacher confined to the teaching process alone. However, the responsibilities of the current teachers are much more than teaching alone. Current teachers are perceived as leaders rather than mere teachers. Current teachers guide the students towards the target by adopting different strategies. Since the students have different abilities, it is difficult for the teachers to use a standardized way of teaching. The teacher should change his/her strategies based on the requirement of each students. In other words, current teaching strategies are student centered rather than teacher centered. Most of the teachers are unaware of these changes happening in the academic world and empowerment is the only way to educate teachers about their changing roles in the schools and colleges. â€Å"Educational leaders must evolve to meet the needs of both students and faculty because, faculty members struggle with changing curricula, non-tradition al learning environments and new technology. They need their leaders to assist them with the transitions† (Arenas et al, 2009). Science and technology have developed a lot over the last few decades and the effects of these developments can be witnessed everywhere. Educational sector is one area which undergone drastic changes as a result of the advancements in science and technology.

Boston Fights Drugs Individual Case Assignment 2 Study

Boston Fights Drugs Individual Assignment 2 - Case Study Example 2. Would you have selected focus groups as your research methodology? Why/Why not? List the pros and cons of using focus groups in this situation, as well as the pros and cons of the other suggested methods in the case For such a sensitive issue, the student group should not have selected a focus group but, rather, they should have chosen the on-on-one interview. While the focus group allows people to exchange ideas, the answers they give could be impacted by peer pressure (Mitchell & Jolley, 2013). For the one-on-one interview, there would have been minimal peer pressure, the participants would have the opportunity to talk more, and could even encourage participants to share information that would have been otherwise not shared in a focus group. However, it is more expensive and requires more time for data collection (Mitchell & Jolley, 2013). The pre-screening questionnaire was devised to ensure broad representation of the entire Boston population, while partially disguising why the focus group was being conducted. Questions required participants to identify their favorite commercials, as well as their take on street violence, attitudes on drugs, and personal habits (Rangan, 1994). The interview protocol acted as a guide to direct the discussion to the researcher’s topics of interests. Given the budgetary and time constraints, the group did well in participant screening. However, this did not allow them to pick focus groups from all Boston neighborhoods as they focused on only four neighborhoods and selected a sole young adult group using the pre-screening questionnaires. In the sampling procedure, the student group sought help from Boston officials to recruit participants from various city community schools. They also divided the population into four groups, which were addicts, active users, recreational users, and non-users (Rangan, 1994). Due to a lack of resources to track all the