1984 Themes, Symbols, and Literary Devices

Written at a time when dictatorships and totalitarian regimes were establishing a hold over much of the world despite the defeat of Hitler’s Nazis in World War II, in 1984 Orwell described what he saw as the inevitable outcome of any political movement that embraced authoritarianism and the cult of personality. Orwell was extremely frightened of political power being concentrated in a small number of individuals, correctly seeing it as a pathway to the loss of personal freedoms, and foresaw the technology that would make the erasure of those freedoms a simple task. Totalitarianism The most obvious and powerful theme of the novel is, of course, totalitarianism itself. A totalitarian state is one where there is only one political force legally permitted—all opposition to the state’s policies and actions is illegal, usually categorized as treason and met with violent retribution. This naturally stifles freedom of expression and makes change within the system impossible. In democratic societies, opposition groups can form political parties, express their ideas freely, and force the state to address concerns or be replaced. In a totalitarian society, this is impossible. Orwell’s Oceania goes further than even most existing totalitarian states. Where real-world authoritarian leaders seek to restrict information and control their populations in terms of their physical movements and spoken or written communication, Orwell’s government of the future seeks to inhibit thought itself and alter information at the source. Newspeak is a language invented by the state specifically to make independent thought literally impossible, and even Winston’s physical surroundings are designed to inhibit his freedoms, like the way his small apartment is dominated by the enormous two-way television screen, crowding him into a corner he incorrectly believes offers him some degree of privacy. That illusion is crucial to Orwell’s theme, as he strives to demonstrate that in a truly totalitarian society all freedom is in fact an illusion. Winston believes he finds ways to resist and meaningfully fight back against repression, all of which turn out to be gambits controlled by the state. Orwell argues that people who imagine they would heroically resist such a repressive regime are kidding themselves. Control of Information A crucial aspect of Oceania’s control over the citizenry is its manipulation of information. Workers at the Ministry of Truth actively adjust newspapers and books on a daily basis to match the ever-changing version of history that suits the purposes of the state. Without any kind of reliable source of facts, Winston and anyone who, like him, is dissatisfied or concerned about the state of the world, has only their vague feelings on which to base their resistance. More than simply a reference to Joseph Stalin’s practice of literally airbrushing people out of historical records, this is a chilling demonstration of how a lack of information and accurate data renders people powerless. Winston daydreams of a past that never actually existed and sees it as the goal of his rebellion, but since he lacks any real information, his rebellion is meaningless. Consider how he is tricked into overtly betraying the state by O’Brien. All the information Winston has about the Brotherhood and Emmanuel Goldstein is fed to him by the state itself. He has no idea if any of it is true—if the Brotherhood even exists, if there is even a man named Emmanuel Goldstein. Destruction of the Self Winston’s torture at the end of the novel is not simply punishment for his Thoughtcrimes and incompetent attempts to rebel; the purpose of the torture is to eradicate his sense of self. This is the ultimate goal of totalitarian regimes according to Orwell: A complete subservience to the goals, needs, and ideas of the state. The torture Winston undergoes is designed to destroy his individuality. In fact, every aspect of life in Oceania is designed to achieve this goal. Newspeak is designed to prevent negative thoughts or any thought that is not approved or generated by the state. The Two-Minutes Hate and the presence of Big Brother posters promote a sense of homogeneous community, and the presence of Thought Police—especially the children, who have been raised in the poisoned environment of the totalitarian state and who function as credulous and uncritical servants of its philosophy—prevents any sort of trust or true kinship. In fact, the Thought Police do not have to actually exist to achieve this goal. Simply the belief that they do is sufficient to inhibit any individual expression, with the ultimate result that the self is subsumed into Groupthink. Symbols Big Brother. The most powerful and recognizable symbol from the book—recognized even by people who have not read it—is the looming image of Big Brother on posters everywhere. The posters obviously symbolize the power and omniscience of the party, but they are only ominous to those who retain any kind of individual thought. For those fully assimilated into the party line, Big Brother is not an ironic term—he is seen as a protector, a kindly older sibling keeping them from harm, whether it be the threat of outside forces, or the threat of unmutual thoughts. Proles. Winston is obsessed with the lives of the proles, and fetishizes the red-armed prole woman as his main hope for the future, because she represents the potentially overwhelming power of numbers as well as a mother who will bear future generations of free children. It is notable that Winston’s best hope for the future takes the responsibility from his hands—he is not the one counted on to deliver this ill-defined future, it is up to the proles to rise up. And if they do not, the implication is that it is because they are dull and lazy. Telescreens. Another obvious symbol are the wall-sized televisions in every private space. This literal intrusion by the state is not a commentary on modern television, which did not exist in any meaningful way in 1948, but rather a symbol of the destructive and repressive power of technology. Orwell distrusted technology, and saw it as a grave danger to freedom. Literary Devices Limited Point of View. Orwell chooses to restrict our access to information by tying the narrative solely to Winston’s point of view. This is done specifically to keep the reader reliant on the information they are given, just as Winston is. This underscores the betrayal and shock that both feel when, for example, the Brotherhood is revealed to be fictional. Plain Language. 1984 is written in a very plain style, with few flourishes or unnecessary words. While many students take this to mean Orwell was a humorless man, or who simply lacked the ability to write in an exciting way, the fact is the opposite: Orwell had such control over his art he was able to match his writing style precisely to the mood and setting. The novel is written in a sparse, grim style that perfectly matches and evokes the grim, unhappy, and hopeless setting. The reader experiences the same dull, plodding sense of mere existence that Winston does.

Essay on Twentienth Century Musical Pieces - 582 Words

Music during the twentieth century and beyond all found their basis and roots in music produced during the areas preceding it. Wozzeck, Pavanne, and Concerto Grosso by Alban Berg, Bill Evans, and Ellen Taaffe Zwilich prove to be no different. All three pieces draw on the inspirations left by their predecessors in order to create truly unique and memorable works. Though the pieces are from the same time period, they sound inherently different. This all stems from the fact that each composer drew from dissimilar musical eras and put their own type of improvisation or flares on the work. Berg draws on stylistic elements of the romantic era opera. In his piece entitled â€Å"Wozzeck†, Berg incorporates the use of the romantic ideals of the power†¦show more content†¦The work has jazz beginnings and integrates the use improvisation and solos. These twentieth century musical tactics are what put his piece into this era other than just the time period in which it was produce d. Ogerman utilizes the instrumentation of Bach by using a classical string quartet, percussion, piano and strings. He also borrows stylistic elements from Chopin, Scriabin, and Granados. Ogerman does this by using pianistic appreggiated chords, mood paintings to create a mystical realm, and a melancholy sound. Due to these compositional techniques, I found myself favoring this piece out of all of the three pieces. I thought that this work sounded the closest to the musical style that I am more familiar with. It reminded me of music that they play elevators. Its soothing melody and liberated quality made it for me, the easiest to listen to. Furthermore, Zwilich’s piece entitled â€Å"Concert Grosso† was inspired by components of the Baroque era. This can be seen by the use of the harpsichord, lack of soloist, cadence, and trills throughout the work. Zwilich also utilizes the strings and woodwinds sections that were stereotypical of the Baroque time period. She bases h er work off of Handel’s â€Å"Sonata in D for Violin and Continuo.† According to the textbook Music Appreciation Online, Zwilich’s piece is â€Å"based on the melodic influence of Handel.† In these melodies, she was able to incorporate the

Operation Management of the McKinsey Company †Free Samples

Question: Discuss about the Operation Management of the McKinsey Company. Answer: The operation department of the McKinsey Company is highly dependent upon digital manufacturing. This can help them to gain competitive advantage in the rapidly evolving global market. The main purpose of implementing digital manufacturing is to have advanced level of communication. Advanced level of information can also be gathered with the help of digital marketing. This is required in the process of implementing advanced level of business plan and smooth functioning of operational department of the McKinsey Company (Digitizing the value chain, 2018). As the process of value chain has been digitized, the McKinsey Company has been able to implement flexibility within the same. As more sources of raw materials is been fixed for the company, it is possible to bring about sustainability within the same. As flexibility is being imposed within the system, it is possible to change the marketing plan and implement marketing innovation. In the modern era of business environment I do believe every business organisation need to focus upon customer satisfaction. Most of the business policies of successful organisations focus upon customer based orientation. Nevertheless in order to implement the policy it is essential for the company to use advanced form of business communication tools. The customer experience is believed to be the prime element that can help to gain proper recognition of a brand. The customers experience and suggestions are considered to be the primary data that are analysed in implementing future business plan (Developing a customer-experience vision, 2018). As the demand levels of customer do change, it is essential for the companies to keep themselves updated to maintain the level of customer satisfaction. This will help in the process of customer retention. As the process of technology is implemented within the customer service experience, it is possible to modify the overall business operations. This will help the companies to better connect with the customers. It is highly essential to explode the underlying designs that are used in business planning method by large-scale multinational corporations. It is important to note that most of the designs of multinational corporations are aims to provide effective form of customer service. Gathering of essential data through social media and other online databases are essential in implementing effective business design (More than a feeling: Ten design practices to deliver business value, 2018). Optimised use of business design is believed to be one of the key elements of success in the age of globalisation. I do believe every company need to aim more advanced level of business design that can be subject to constant change. In order to improve upon the values of business, it is crucial to improve upon the existing business design. This can enhance the business operations and thereby help the management to provide full customer orientation service. With advanced business design, it will be possible to quickly meet with the demands of the customers. The culture of a business organisation is highly essential element as it decides upon the level of customer relationship the company will maintain. High level of cultural diversity can be a major challenge that is needed to deal with the issues related with controlling the human resource. I do believe one of the major advantages of design driven business plan is to ensure that all available resources within the organisation are being properly utilised. Most of the business organisations in the modern era are trying to improve upon the customer experience through advanced business culture. It is also essential to maintain cultural diversity within the business mission, which can help them to achieve greater customer friendly orientation (Building a design-driven culture, 2018). One of the main purposes of the design driven business culture, is the ability of the manager to better connect with the target customers. The core culture of business needs to enhanced as it can assist in the process of innovation in business design. Referencs Building a design-driven culture. (2018).McKinsey Company. Retrieved 11 March 2018, from https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/marketing-and-sales/our-insights/building-a-design-driven-culture Developing a customer-experience vision. (2018).McKinsey Company. Retrieved 11 March 2018, from https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/marketing-and-sales/our-insights/developing-a-customer-experience-vision Digitizing the value chain. (2018).McKinsey Company. Retrieved 11 March 2018, from https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/operations/our-insights/digitizing-the-value-chain More than a feeling: Ten design practices to deliver business value. (2018).McKinsey Company. Retrieved 11 March 2018, from https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/mckinsey-design/our-insights/more-than-a-feeling-ten-design-practices-to-deliver-business-value

The development of Free Jazz Essay Example For Students

The development of Free Jazz Essay All music has to develop into something new and by the late 1950s jazz was ready for a slight turn. A musical style called free jazz emerged with slight differences that has influenced most improvised music to this day. Some people despised this musics lack of set form. They found it difficult to listen to because of the missing order and lack of pre-planed notes. Others embraced the new music and its emphasis on random feelings of emotion. For the men that developed free jazz it was a journey to find the ultimate expression in music. There is no set definition for free jazz. In free jazz, musicians improvise freely without adherence to time keeping patterns, conventional solo versus accompaniment roles, or the preset arrangement of harmonies a chord progression that commonly guided improvisation in earlier styles.Free Jazz Encyclopedia Britannica Online We will write a custom essay on The development of Free Jazz specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now Ornette Coleman, one of the leading men in free jazz, when asked the definition of free jazz said In most music the composition determines the song, in free jazz, however, the song determines the composition. By this he means that in free jazz the song depends on what is going on around the musician instead of already determined notes. People could say that that is true with improvised music in general but in much of improvised music there are set chord progressions that limit the notes that can be played at certain times. Free jazz brought about a more open and natural type of improvisation in music. There are a few major common elements in free jazz. Some times the music is based on the moment. The musician would play based on the mood in the room. He would ignore the chords and rhythms of the piece and use the energy in the room to make the piece best for that particular time. Sometimes there is collective improvisation in which some or all of the musicians are improvising at the same time. This is difficult because the musicians do not know what the other musicians are going to play next. And sometimes there is an odd or free time signature, and then music does not follow a strict tempo. A good example of this is mentioned in the book All you need is Love: the story of popular music. It says Ornette Coleman slowed down or speeded up the tempo of his quartet at will, thus destroying all sense of regular meter or symmetry. These ideas developed over time in certain musicians and later other musicians learned these styles from them. It is difficult to tell the history behind of free jazz with the many men that helped develop it. There were two men mainly credited with developing this style: Ornette Coleman and John Coltrane. Both men had separate careers but both created his own kind of free jazz. Ornette Coleman was best known for free jazz. His Album Free Jazz is where the name of this music was derived. Inspired by the music of Charlie Parker, Coleman started  playing alto saxophone at 14 in 1944. When he started playing he made a mistake when reading the music. This mistake made him look at harmony and pitch differently. He later learned how to play the tenor saxophone and played in an RB band. People didnt like his playing because it was not proper blues. After playing with a couple of other bands he took work not related to music but still studied music theory. In the Mid 50s he found other musicians that respected his ideas. Doing some recordings he formed the Coleman Quartet and started playing at the New Yorks Spot Cafe. He later recorded several albums including Free Jazz. By the end of the 60s Coleman added electric guitars to his music and formed the band Prime Time. He called his music Harmolodics to symbolize the equal importance of harmony, melody and rhythm. .u58cc6d800878ca69ef47aaba9210fbb3 , .u58cc6d800878ca69ef47aaba9210fbb3 .postImageUrl , .u58cc6d800878ca69ef47aaba9210fbb3 .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .u58cc6d800878ca69ef47aaba9210fbb3 , .u58cc6d800878ca69ef47aaba9210fbb3:hover , .u58cc6d800878ca69ef47aaba9210fbb3:visited , .u58cc6d800878ca69ef47aaba9210fbb3:active { border:0!important; } .u58cc6d800878ca69ef47aaba9210fbb3 .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .u58cc6d800878ca69ef47aaba9210fbb3 { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .u58cc6d800878ca69ef47aaba9210fbb3:active , .u58cc6d800878ca69ef47aaba9210fbb3:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .u58cc6d800878ca69ef47aaba9210fbb3 .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .u58cc6d800878ca69ef47aaba9210fbb3 .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .u58cc6d800878ca69ef47aaba9210fbb3 .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .u58cc6d800878ca69ef47aaba9210fbb3 .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .u58cc6d800878ca69ef47aaba9210fbb3:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .u58cc6d800878ca69ef47aaba9210fbb3 .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .u58cc6d800878ca69ef47aaba9210fbb3 .u58cc6d800878ca69ef47aaba9210fbb3-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .u58cc6d800878ca69ef47aaba9210fbb3:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: Violent Music and It's Impact on children EssayBorn in 1926, Coltrane played the alto saxophone at the Ornstein School of music in Philadelphia. He was influenced by the music that was later known as RB. Starting his career he played with a couple big bands. While playing for Dizzy Gillespie Big band he switched to the tenor saxophone. While Coltrane was playing with the Miles Davis band in 1955, Davis was criticized for his choice of a saxophonist because of Coltranes awkward sound. He was fired from Daviss Band because of his heroin problems. That gave Coltrane the awakening he needed. He quit heroin and focused on his art. He worked with many well-know artists and released some recordings as a leader instead of a sideman. As his music evolved he studied world religions and music of different cultures allowing him to add more flavor to jazz. In the mid 60s he emphasized more on expression and put more aggressiveness in his music known as avant-garde, which is like free jazz. During the 50s and 60s men like Ornette Coleman, John Coltrane, and others developed a form of jazz know as free jazz that violated traditional structures, tonalities, forms, chord sequences, modes of improvisation, rhythms, and even the tempered scale. Free Jazz Dictionary of American Pop/Rock Some people do not like it because of its total disorder. Free jazz took classical jazz and brought it into the modern era.

To Kill a Mockingbird An Analysis Essay Example For Students

To Kill a Mockingbird: An Analysis Essay To Kill a Mockingbird is definitely an excellent novel in that itportrays life and the role of racism in the 1930s. A reader may not interpretseveral aspects in and of the book through just the plain text. Boo Radley,Atticus, and the title represent three such things. Not really disclosed to the reader until the end of the book, ArthurBoo Radley plays an important role in the development of both Scout and Jem. In the beginning of the story, Jem, Scout, and Dill fabricate horror storiesabout Boo. They find Boo as a character of their amusement, and one who has nofeelings whatsoever. They tried to get a peep at him, just to see what Boolooked like. Scout connects Boo with the Mockingbird. Mrs. Maudie defines amockingbird as one who dont do one thing but make music for us to enjoy. We will write a custom essay on To Kill a Mockingbird: An Analysis specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now They dont eat up peoples gardens, dont nest in corncribs, they dont do onething but sing their hearts out for us (94). Boo is exactly that. Boo is theperson who put a blanket around Scout and Jem when it was cold. Boo was the oneputting gifts in the tree. Boo even sewed up Jems pants that tore on Dillslast night. Boo was the one who saved their lives. On the contrary to Scoutsprimary belief, Boo never harms anyone. Scout also realizes that she wrongfullytreated Boo when she thinks about the gifts in the tree. She never gaveanything back to Boo, except love at the end. When Scout escorts Arthur home andstands on his front porch, she sees the same street she saw, just from anentirely different perspective. Scout learns what a Mockingbird is, and whorepresents one. Arthur Radley not only plays an important role in developing Scout andJem, but helps in developing the novel. Boo can be divided into three stages. Primitively, Boo is Scouts worst nightmare. However, the author hints at Booactually existing as a nice person when he places things in the tree. Thesecondary stage is when Mrs. Maudies house burned to the ground. As Scout andJem were standing near Boos house, it must have been rather cold. So, Booplaces a warm and snug blanket around Scout and Jem, to keep them warm. Thisscene shows Boos more sensitive and caring side of him, and shows that hereally has changed after stabbing his father. The last and definitely mostimportant stage is when he kills Bob Ewell to save Scout and Jem. This stageportrays Boo as the hero and one who has indefinitely changed his personalityand attitudes. After the final stage, Boo does not deserve to be locked upinside his house. Atticus Finch is a man of strong morals. He follows them exclusively,and does not hold up to the Finch family name, as defined by Aunt Alexandria. Atticus is the most pure and good-hearted person one may ever `see.` Althoughit does not seem like it, Scout will evolve into her father; Jem will not. Scout finally understand all the things he says. For example, in the beginningAtticus tells Scout, You never really understand a person until you considerthings from his point of viewuntil you climb into his skin and walk around init (34). She then realizes that Mrs. Caroline did not know Maycomb, and couldnot just learn it in one day. Scout comes to terms that it was wrong to becomeupset with Mrs. Caroline. Scout learns several other lessons. For example, onpage 94, Atticus says his most important line in the book, remember its asin to kill a mockingbird. Through clarifications from Mrs. Maudie, Scoutaccepts her fathers words. Atticus also teaches his kids a lesson when hedefends Tom Robinson, an innocent black person. Although Atticus knew from theinstant he accepted the case that Tom had no chance, he had to do his duty as anhonest and impartial citizen of Maycomb. Atticus poured his heart intodefending Atticus, and did a damn fine job. He taught his kids the right thing,that all individuals are created equal. If Aunt Alexandria had raised Scout andJem, they might have not cried at the end of the trial; they would not want tohurt the Finch family reputation. It was Atticus who received a standingovation from the Blacks Balcony. It is because of Atticus good heart thatCals black church accepted the children. Atticus has probably built a bettername for his family than Aunt Alexandria would have, had she lived with theFinches. .u7109091d4c829ff6063dd894caa2fa2c , .u7109091d4c829ff6063dd894caa2fa2c .postImageUrl , .u7109091d4c829ff6063dd894caa2fa2c .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .u7109091d4c829ff6063dd894caa2fa2c , .u7109091d4c829ff6063dd894caa2fa2c:hover , .u7109091d4c829ff6063dd894caa2fa2c:visited , .u7109091d4c829ff6063dd894caa2fa2c:active { border:0!important; } .u7109091d4c829ff6063dd894caa2fa2c .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .u7109091d4c829ff6063dd894caa2fa2c { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .u7109091d4c829ff6063dd894caa2fa2c:active , .u7109091d4c829ff6063dd894caa2fa2c:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .u7109091d4c829ff6063dd894caa2fa2c .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .u7109091d4c829ff6063dd894caa2fa2c .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .u7109091d4c829ff6063dd894caa2fa2c .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .u7109091d4c829ff6063dd894caa2fa2c .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .u7109091d4c829ff6063dd894caa2fa2c:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .u7109091d4c829ff6063dd894caa2fa2c .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .u7109091d4c829ff6063dd894caa2fa2c .u7109091d4c829ff6063dd894caa2fa2c-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .u7109091d4c829ff6063dd894caa2fa2c:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: Grapes Of Wrath By Steinbeck (1294 words) EssayBefore reading To Kill a Mockingbird, the title itself means nothing. The title is the foundation of a house. It is just a slob of cement, and cannotbe interpreted. While reading the book, pieces of wood fit together and thehouse starts to stand up. After reading the book, the house is fully paintedand decorated. The landscaping is complete, and the house is beautiful. Several things and people represent the Mockingbird throughout thenovel. The understanding of the Mockingbird can bee seen in three steps. Thefirst step is in chapter 10. Atticus tells Jem to never shoot a mockingbird,because it causes no harm. At this point, neither Jem nor Scout understand whatAtticus is saying. Secondly, Scout finds a roly-poly in chapter 25. In answerto Scouts desire to kill the bug, Jem says, Because they dont bother you(241). At this second stage, Jem, not yet Scout, has understood Atticus holywords. The last depiction is in the final chapters of the book. ThisMockingbird is Arthur Boo Radley. Boo ends up to save both Jem and Scoutslives, by killing Bob Ewell. At this final stage in the book, Scout, as well asJem, understands Atticus and his saying. Scout realizes life. To Kill a Mockingbird is a very inspirational book. Not only is it abook for pleasure, it shows us today how far we have come, and yet the longjourney ahead. Boo Radley and Atticus were very important characters, for boththe developments of kids in the book and reader. The title is something thatcan be interpreted in many ways. Each one will be different, based on thereaders philosophy and beliefs. dCategory: English

robert frost essays

robert frost essays There have been millions of writers and millions of books filed with short stories and poems and life experiences. But one the most recognized poets of his time and so on was Robert Frost. Most Americans are familiar with his name and may be a piece or two, but to the avid reader of poetry or novels Robert Frost is to be pinned as one of the greatest, if not the very greatest of American poets ever. Born in San Francisco, California, in 1874 Roberts parents were involved in journalism and politics and teaching. Robert attended high school in Lawrence, where his first poems where published in the school newspaper. He graduated co-valedictorian and soon after married the valedictorian. Robert tired a few colleges but never finished. He attended Dartmouth and Harvard both for short periods of time but with drew do to children. Growing up Robert work a wide variety of jobs Including mill hand, newspaper reporter, and teacher at his mothers school. His big break in 1894 when his poem My Butterfly was published in the New York Journal. His big break turned out to be 20 years of isolation and neglect. He endured many deaths in his life between 1899 1907. His wife, child, mother and grandfather all past in those few years. Perhaps no poem by Frost is more anthologized and studied and taken apart more than Stopping by the Wood on a Snowy Evening. Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening was written in just about that way, after I had been working all nigh long on New Hampshire. But I must admit, it was written in a few minutes without any strain (Robert Frost). There are four possible meanings to this poem. First, the driver contemplates the purity of life without sin (snow), but decides one must move on-spurred on by the horse-before living as sinless a life as if one were sleeping or dead. Or the interpretations can just the opposite: the reader contemplates a fallen nature represented b...

Practitioners' concerns for children's safety influence the Dissertation

Practitioners' concerns for children's safety influence the effectiveness of an outdoor learning environment in an early year - Dissertation Example In the intervention it was found that children actually preferred playing in the challenging environment due to varied reasons. Some find it interesting as they get their individual space, they feel more responsible and matured and above all there is no one to guide or control them. They all love the freedom which otherwise is difficult to attain. When children were asked 'Why you do like playing were no one sees you?' they replied due to: Secrecy Challenging and scary environment Risky Play It was also found that children are aware about the probable dangers they may encounter and are conscious enough to overcome them as well. When they were asked 'Do you sometimes jump off the swing?', children clearly replied they know that might get hurt and need to be careful because it is dangerous. Use of appliances like hammer etc it also perilous hence they must avoid it. Children take immense pleasure in performing risky tasks though they know that it might lead to injury like bumping into each other, playing fast slides, bikes, tools, swings etc. The deduction that can be made from the above interaction was that children must be allowed to perform activities which they desire but must be thoroughly guided and made known to all possible pros and cons of risky plays so that they are conscious while performing those tasks and activities (Sandseter, E. B, 2007). The essential elements needed are: Practitioner’s hold a different viewpoint regarding risk and outdoor plays. They believe that too much protection and fortification from risk actually deters development and growth in children. Out of the 31 respondents intervened, 61.3 % supported that it is essential for children to play outdoors. The findings clearly state that risk taking must be encouraged through outdoor activities as it would facilitate children in accessing difficulty levels in the later stages of their lives. They should be exposed to difficult situations so that they learn to deal with them. â⠂¬ËœOutdoor play ‘and ‘deep play’ activities help a child to develop personality traits, however risk must be initiated in controlled environment where level of risks are negotiated in regard to individual potential and capacity of a child (Wheway, R, date unknown). The benefits of outdoor play as per the practitioner’s are: Active explorers Increased concentration Physical Development Skill Development Good Health Fun and Frolic Getting accustomed to changing weather conditions Factors that can prevent children from outdoors Unfavorable Climatic Changes Health Concern Legal Requirements Safety Issues Accountability Television, computers, mobile phones etc Lack of Facilities Lack of Qualified Practitioner’s Practitioners encourage risk taking to an extent by which the environment helps a child in: A detailed observational technique was applied whereby both practitioners and children were observed. The research sternly supports children desire to invo lve in high risk activities in an outdoor environment. It was found that children thoroughly enjoyed climbing slides, balancing, bumping into each other, riding bikes etc but under proper supervision and guidance of practitioner’s. . Children actually enjoy and feel proud to discover their inner potential and abilities and learn while fun Chances were risks were high, were warned by practitioner’s and attempt to avoid them was also made. Risks events like

The challenges of increasing diversity in schools today Essay

The challenges of increasing diversity in schools today - Essay Example In Canada, for instance, schools continue to face significant challenges in accepting diversity. Usual is the recognition of the holidays or foods or costumes of different cultures, however, those are only superficial as compared to understanding difficult issues around accommodating so many diverse beliefs and customs. On top of this, schools struggle to accommodate students whose first language is not English or French, or other similar needs because they lack the specialized capacity to provide for them (Levin, 2008). In the US, upon entering elementary school, large numbers of limited-English-proficient and bilingual students are placed in programs that assume relatively low levels of achievement and focus on remedial education (Independent Commission on Chapter 1, 1992; Stanford Working Group, 1993; U.S. Department of Education, 1993). Such inequities in different children’s expectations for school success may be a grave affront to equal opportunities that Americans highly value and take pride in. Thus, it threatens the future well-being of the society relying on the harmonious coexistence of multiple cultures. Government, as well as non-government organizations such as the National Association for the Education of Young Children and the National Association for Family Day Care are exerting efforts in promoting multi-cultural education through the publication of curricula and handbooks focusing on an anti-bias setting. Likewise, the National Association of State Boards of Education Task Force on Early Childhood Education encourages the use of children’s home language and culture to foster the development of basic skills. Such efforts seek to ensure that children’s first school experiences are positive in that they feel accepted for who they are regardless of their cultural background. The controversies surrounding the growing diversity in

Ethical Issues Research Assignment Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Ethical Issues Assignment - Research Paper Example g is an ethical issue in which a struggle between the body and mind would happen and the winner would be either the body (In case the person opts for mercy killing) or the mind (In case the person decided against the mercy killing). Proponents of mercy killing are of the opinion that it is better to assist a person medically to terminate his life, if he is in a hopeless situation. In their opinion, the person who suffers pain and discomforts should have given the right to take decision about sustaining his life in such pathetic condition. Others can cite ethical or moral issues against the mercy killing; but the ultimate sufferer would be the patient only. On the other hand, critics of mercy killing believe that only the creator has the right to take the life back of his creations. They are of the opinion that life is the most important thing in the world. Nobody has so far succeeded in unveiling the miseries about the life. Nobody knows from where we come and where we go after death. No science or technology, so far succeeded in creating an artificial life in a laboratory setup which underlines the importance and value of life on earth. Moreover critics also argue that only the creator has the right to modify or destroy creations and anything against his will would be unethical. As expected, we met strong arguments both in favour and against mercy killing during our research. We found most of the arguments of the proponents and the critics logical and valuable. It was difficult for us to take a position on this issue and our group actively discussed all the major arguments from both the sides in order to make a conclusion. Some of the arguments we found during our research are given below. The article IF MERCY KILLING BECOMES LEG, argued that mercy killing would be misused if it is made legal (IF MERCY KILLING BECOMES LEGAL). The above argument seems to be logical as the antisocial elements can kill innocent people on behalf of mercy killing in order to

The Theory Of Collective Security In The Un International Law Essay

The Theory Of Collective Security In The Un International Law Essay After it had been established in 1945, when World War II came to an end, the United Nation (UN) adopted the notion of collective security as a security arrangement. This arrangement was to ensure that all of the states under the shadow of the United Nations Organization would cooperate collectively to provide security for one another. However, to a great extent, the structure and practice of the UN sometimes sways from the theory of collective security. In this regard, this essay will first provide a definition of collective security. Subsequently, a thorough analysis will be given of the extent that the UN has been adopting the theory of collective security. According to Graham Evans and Jeffrey Newnham, The Dictionary of World Politics (Hemel Hempstead, 1990), the theory of collective security is a theory in international relations. According to them nations achieve security from attack by collective military agreements of all nations with each other to join forces against any aggressor. They believe that it is an alternative to balance of power  [1]  . What is meant by balance of power here is that parity of power between nations is contributing to peace, since it hold backs any one nation from being involved in war with another. As a result, weak nations may be supporting common stability by arming, but the strong nations possibly destabilize balance by going on arming. Furthermore, in its research titled Conflict Research Consortium, the University of Colorado, USA defines collective security as a type of coalition building strategy where each country agrees not to attack other countries and to defend them against any other poss ible attacks. The principal line of reasoning is that an attack against one, is an attack against all.  [2]  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  . Collective security theory is different from collective defense which means a coalition of nations which have contracts to protect its own group from outside attacks.   Examples of collective defense are NATO and the Warsaw Pact. On the other hand the UN is an attempt at collective security.   Advocators of collective security believe that it is more effective way to security than individual countries trying to act alone, as weaker countries cannot possibly defend themselves  [3]  . Although collective security arrangements are designed to aid international cooperation, security is not provided by the United Nations Organization for all its members. When United Nations laws are breached, powerful countries are not always judged the same way as weaker countries. On the other hand, some other scholars and diplomats believe that the security concept is misguided. In other words, it is bewildered because it is sometimes misused and even confused with other concepts such as mutual security agreements among the members of alliance such as NATO countries. Thus, practices are not subjected to the United Nations regulations. Not only this, sometimes cooperative security is applied by invading other countries, occupying lands, destroying economy and property and killing people. Thus, it becomes military alliance which leads to military confrontations and accordingly endangers peace and transfers the meaning of collective security to be an aggressive coalition. The role of the UN is activated by the Security Council which responds to the requirements of the members of the United Nations in voting and making decisions. The United Nations Security Council consists of 15 members: five permanent ones and ten temporary ones with two-years terms. The permanent countries are the USA, the UK, France, Russia and China. In theory, the task of these countries includes applying the theory of collective security when there are emerging issues. For example, under Chapter Six of the UN Charter, Pacific Settlement of Disputes  [4]  , the Security Council is entitled to investigate disputes and all other situations which may lead to such disputes. Thus, the Security Council may vote for appropriate procedures in order to keep peace and settlement using all possible ways such as collective security procedures. These decisions can only be made by the consent of at least 9 out of the 15 members of the Security Council members and none of the five permanent members should object or vote against such decisions. Furthermore, it is supposed that the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) as a principal organ of the UN should be charged with the maintenance of international peace and security. Thus, it should use its powers, according to the United Nations Charter, to establish peacekeeping operations and might be obliged to also establish international sanctions in addition to the authorization of military action. However, such powers should only be exercised through United Nations Security Council Resolutions. For example, under Chapter Seven, the Council has enough authorities to decide what procedures should be taken in case there are some situations where there are threats to peace, breaching peace or some acts of aggression against peace, people or countries. In this case, the Security Council has the power to use armed force in order to keep or restore peace and collective security. Examples of these measures were when there was an armed action by the UN in Korea in 1959 during the Kore an War and the use of coalition forces in Iraq and Kuwait in the year 1991 when Kuwait was liberated from Iraqi Forces. Moreover, the UNs role in international collective security is illustrated by the UN Charter. According to this charter, the Security Council is given the power to consider any situation which threatens international peace. The Security Council can also advise some procedures for peaceful resolution of any dispute. In addition, the Security Council can ask other member nations to totally or partially break off economic relations, sea, air, postal, and radio communications, and even diplomatic relations with any country against whom a decision is taken by the Security Council. Additionally, The Security Council can also use military force if it is deemed as necessary. However, it is sometimes possible to manage and avoid conflicts, by keeping the focus on cooperation  [5]  . Despite what has been mentioned above in regard to the adaptation of the Security Council resolutions and the theory of collective security, member states of the UN and also members of the Security Council have from time to time breached laws and regulations, hence undermining the theory of collective security. Although the United States of America is the sponsor and host of the United Nations Organization, it is the first deviator from its laws including the breach of collective security. According to the UN charter Article 24, in discharging these duties the Security Council shall act in accordance with the Purposes and Principles of the United Nations. The specific powers granted to the Security Council for the discharge of these duties are laid down in Chapters VI, VII, VIII, and XII  [6]  . Yet, despite the absence of UN approval, U.S. military forces began invading Iraq from the Kuwaiti borders on the 20th of March, 2003. There was no unified support by the UN to attack Iraq and the Security Council was divided on the decision; however, undermining the theory of collective security, the USA alongside with the United Kingdom, Australia and Poland invaded Iraq and brought down the regime of Saddam Hussein in 21 days of major combat operations. With hindsight it became evident that t he justifications used for the war were invalid and were only used to try and legalize the war. The Bush administration, backed by the support of Tony Blair, the British Prime Minister announced the presence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. The Bush administrations general justification for the invasion of Iraq was presented by the US Secretary of State Colin Powell to the United Nations Security Council on the 5th of February, 2003, when he said We know that Saddam Hussein is determined to keep his weapons of mass destruction; hes determined to make more. Given Saddam Husseins history of aggression given what we know of his terrorist associations and given his determination to exact revenge on those who oppose him, should we take the risk that he will not some day use these weapons at a time and the place and in the manner of his choosing at a time when the world is in a much weaker position to respond? The United States will not and cannot run that risk to the American peop le. Leaving Saddam Hussein in possession of weapons of mass destruction for a few more months or years is not an option, not in a post-September 11 world  [7]  . According to Blair, the cause was Iraqs failure to take a final opportunity to disarm itself of nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons that USA and UK asked its government and president to do immediately in order to keep peace and not threaten world peace  [8]  . Two major forces in the world misused power and the notion of collective security and as a result the country was disastrously shattered, resources exploited with a high price of large losses of civilian lives. It became evident that Iraq did not possess weapons of mass destruction There are many other examples of breaching the collective security theory applications and objectives by wrong policies and practices of the United Nations members. For example, the USA invaded Panama in December 1989. Some justifications were given for such invasion like safeguarding the lives of the U.S. citizens in Panama, defending democracy and human rights in Panama, combating drug trafficking and protecting the integrity of the Torrijos-Carter Treaties  [9]  . However with hindsight it became clear that the justifications were not enough to support the invasion and it was a clear breaching of collective security theory. Other examples of the limitations of collective security also comprises the Falklands War, when Argentina invaded the islands although they were considered British. However, there were many UN members who stayed out of the issue, as such an issue did not directly concern them  [10]  . The role of the UN and collective security in general is also evolving given the rise of internal state conflicts since the end of WWII; there have been 111 military conflicts world wide, but only 9 of which have involved two or more states going to war with one another. The remainder has either been internal civil wars or civil wars where other nations intervened in some manner. This means that collective security may have to evolve towards providing a means to ensure stability and a fair international resolution to internal conflicts. Whether this will involve more powerful peacekeeping forces or a larger role for the UN diplomatically, it will likely be judged from a case to case basis. Since the establishment of the UN in 1945, the Middle East has seen the negative consequences of breaching the agreements and arrangements set by the UN. Supported by the USA and some other Western Regimes, Israel has been breaching such laws. Since the voting of the existence of Israel in 1948 by some members of the United Nations, Israel has been continuously undermining recommendations and resolutions of the UN. For example, in 1967 it occupied territories from Egypt, Palestine, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria, killing civilians, creating unrest and destroying properties. In this regard, the worst misuse of the UN Security Council Rights has been utilized by USA. When it comes to condemning the illegal actions of Israel, the U.S. uses the right of veto against any resolution which may condemn Israeli actions. Moreover, one of the latest collective security resolutions made by the UN Security Council adopted a sanctions resolution on Iran although there were two votes against and there was one abstention. According to the voters the ban was on Iranian certain nuclear and missile investment abroad  [11]  . To sum up, the theory of collective security implies a security arrangement among which all members of the United Nations share to provide security shadowed by the UN resolutions to keep world peace using all possible approved ways including sanctions and force. Four basic principles of collective security should be adopted by the UN members. First one is that every state should have all relevant arrangements for which it should be committed. Second, when it comes to collective security, the power of using the veto to block any relevant decision should be very limited. Third, sanctions should not harm the people of the country on which they applied and should not harm other countries which apply them especially economically. Fourth, collective security should safeguard the world peace and the security of every country. However, deviations from such principle have been made by many members of the United Nations, mainly the USA. When it comes to condemn the illegitimate actions of one of its allies because such actions threaten the world peace and justice, the USA uses the veto to block any sanction or penalty. Finally, economic sanctions which are supposed to serve collective security often negatively affect the lives of the people of the cou ntry on which such sanctions are applied and not the governments which have enough to fulfill their needs. Collective security is abused by some representatives of nations which call for peace, justice, prosperity and happiness. Although it looks very ideal and great in essence, it is evident that member states of the UN have departed from the theory of collective security to a great extent, especially when their national interests are at stake; thus undermining not only the theory of collective security but also the UN organization itself.

Oscar Mayer Case Study

1. ) At first, Marcus McGraw found the challenge so complex and saw it a difficult task because he had not sat down to put down the ideas on paper and evaluate the situation carefully. He was just thinking of the difficult task ahead and not how to assail the problem. He was missing parts of the puzzle, he was not evaluating anything as yet or trying to formulate or implement any strategy. He had no option, no solution immediately after he read the McTiernan report. He had not done any ‘strategic planning’ thus, his perspective was different than after he had read the memos.After reading the memos from his colleagues, he realized that he could count on them since they had great ideas and were persons with great capability for these types of concerns and issues, especially when he read the one of his long time colleague and friend. McGraw pursues that decision making process of gathering information, generating ideas, looking at the ‘pros and cons’ of the sit uation that Oscar Mayer faces through his associates. He follows them and his mind guides him knowing that he can trust on his department managers. Marcus McGraw purses a decision making that is unbiased.He does not go for just one department; he follows all four managers. He was unbiased in this way and was a good strategy as well since the managers have that market-driven strategy which is healthy for the firm. They are well market-oriented and are able to distinguish the capabilities of Oscar Mayer just as they are able to match the customer value requirements to capabilities. They were cognizant that the market is more competitive, they also pointed out that introducing new lines of product could bring prosperity to Oscar Mayer, which is one of the suggestions that McTiernan had brought up.Therefore, McGraw’s decision making process of taking the ideas of all four managers was a wise one. 2. ) If McGraw chooses the favors of only one department then he is risking all othe r departments. In a business you cannot only favor and invest in one department only. All departments are important components for success of the business. If you only focus on one department, then the other departments will eventually collapse thus the company is losing on other areas in the market where profits can be made.This also means that the firm no longer has that diversity in products which reflects negatively on the company. McGraw can mitigate the damage by improving each of the departments so that they become more competitive in the market. He could also diversify in products just as was recommended by a couple of his managers thus making him a tough competitor on the market if adequately and carefully strategized. He will surely need to invest quite a lot on advertising and promotion which will reduce their profits in the short term; however, they will experience growth and profits in the long-term.As mentioned, once each department is improved and with the right strat egy, Oscar Mayer will benefit and improve the sectors of quality, quantity and price. They have done it before and the can only be better and will concentrate in satisfying consumers’ needs and wants. 3. ) First of all, let’s list the Strengths and Weaknesses. Strengths: Well-known Brand, Technology Skills in R&D, Strong Distribution Channels, Relatively High Market Share, High Profit Margin, Successful History and Product Diversification. Weaknesses: Relatively High Price, Not Healthy (High fat content).Oscar Mayer has a relatively high market share already, and a relatively low market growth. Due to its strengths, it already has a high market share and due to its weakness and the new trend in the market which is looking for products with lower fat (healthier), and lower prices, Oscar Mayer is losing its market growth. This is obviously a great threat to Oscar Mayer in terms of competition since the consumers are now looking for lower prices in those products, as well as healthier meats. This is detrimental to the firm on its entirety as fewer products sold would mean fewer sales which mean less profit.The competition also affects the â€Å"second brand† since the decrease in sale of the Oscar Mayer products also affects Louis Rich as it is looked as a total, thus Louis Rich revenues are compensating for the loss in Oscar Mayer. The investment decision then will change. The objectives are to increase annual production growth over the next three years by 4% in volume. Products will need to be reduced due to the competition so this affects how much to invest in quality and on the outstanding strength on Louis Rich in order to keep up the good record.There is much advertising and promotion to do; therefore they might have to lower the budget figures for this expense if sales decrease. They need to advertise on the already existing products, such as the health aspect of it, as well as on new products that will be produced. Therefore Oscar May er needs to ensure that they can prosper in the competition with all the expense that waits. 4. ) From the four departmental options, Jim Longstreet’s advice seems more viable. Not only was Jim’s advice an effective one, but his ideas also passed McTiernan’s wish for improved convenience.What Jim is doing by this is what is called ‘Differentiation Strategy’. The firm will provide a superior performance product uniquely designed to provide value to their target audience and is well appreciated by them. Oscar Mayer will also use their strengths to make this strategy a successful one. Having used their strong ability of R&D, they are already aware of who the target audience is and what that are looking for. Two products have been designed for their needs which are â€Å"Zappetites† and â€Å"Lunchables. † With this innovation, Oscar Mayer has all the potential and resources to remain the leader.The second best strategy I would say is Jane Morely’s idea. To obtain smaller companies that are competent and provide something Oscar Mayer does not provide is indeed a good strategy. The only disadvantage is that OM would have to increase their debt to acquire these companies not being completely sure if these companies would succeed. Advertising and packaging would also have its cost, however it doesn’t mean it won’t benefit in the longer run. Thos have their benefits; they hold great value when you count on consumer convenience and brand growth.If the companies succeed then automatically there are great sales increases which bring about profit. The least viable would be Rob’s idea of backing Louis Rich. Having all the strengths and the brand name of Oscar Mayer and just letting it go would be not just a waste but a huge loss. OM has had the majority of the company’s profits for a long time and has been the leading brand. For one, LR is increasing but at a slow pace. Then advertisements w ill be a huge expense which of course does not mean that it will increase the volume of sales.Therefore centralizing in just one brand, LR would not be a good idea for Oscar Mayer. 5. ) With the statistics given we can observe that McGraw wants a 15% increase on operating income while the managers are projecting a decrease of 5. 2% from the current year. If McGraw were to keep his A&P budget the same as last years, he would save $32MM over the managers' projections. Therefore,  one solution could be to effectively use the strengths of the product lines and the A;P dollars by consolidating his sub-divisions.The Division Performance table demonstrates exactly where the successes and failures of each sub-division are, and also shows their strengths and weaknesses. We can see that A ; P for Oscar Mayer has been decreasing and operating income increasing slowly. On the other hand, Louis Rich’s A ; P expense has been increasing while operating income has also been increasing by a great difference. This is also a key factor in the success of LR and partly, although not much, why OM has had a decrease in sales.Another factor in the decrease of Oscar Mayer brand is due to consumer trend as well as increased competition in the market. Oscar Mayer has so far opted to lose market share rather than lower its price. Based on the analysis, there is more to lose if  the Oscar Mayer brand is allowed to wilt over the Louis Rich Brand. Giving up on Oscar Mayer would mean losing its well established, well recognized OM brand name and its equity. May be even future profitability may be lost if the trend towards white meat is only a temporary one.This can be seen in  McTiernan's Report on consumer satisfaction survey, in which the red meat out performs in overall taste and compares well with respect to convenience. Therefore, another strategy is to build up the Oscar Mayer Brand, to merge the Louis Rich brand under Oscar Mayer, for example co-brand, and to introduce ne w packaging of their products (e. g. Lunchables and Zappetites), some white and some red meat to recapture the lost  market share. To consolidate the distribution and A&P spending around the Oscar Mayer's well established brand.Actions In accordance  with the above strategy we would suggest that Oscar Mayer and Louis Rich Brand modify and develop an integrated strategy which would require altering the existing branding strategy to accommodate the consumer trends, to extend the product line and to competitively price the OM products. Oscar Mayer needs to also not lose the taste when improving the quality of the product healthier, which is another step that would be taken and at the same time be convenient. By maintaining the quality it already is contributing its part to success.Another strategic goal is to achieve is long term gains and accelerate brand growth. With all this said, we need not to forget to invest in LR in order for the brand to grow as well. 6. ) Of the two produ cts Jim Longstreet suggested, I believe â€Å"Lunchables† is less likely to succeed especially since they are completely new to this product. Unlike Zappetites they had previously done Stuff ‘n Burgers so they do have an idea of how to approach the new product. Zappetites would create certain products that could also be used for lunch by certain consumers who desire hat ready to eat product. Lunchables would be more difficult to succeed due to all the details that a lunch entails and the different wants of the consumers. They are already thinking of packing a chocolate treat with it as well; not everyone eats or likes chocolates. Another issue with Lunchables is the ingredients. Some of the ingredients they would want to use have a short shelf life which would turn away many consumers. We need to keep in mind that everyone is different and have a different taste, many individuals are ‘picky. ’

Process Improvement Essay

ABSTRACT This document will be evaluating an existing process within Toyota during the time of their accelerator crisis. A problem statement will be defined around the process of internal communication of concerns and ideas between foreign-based Toyota employees and the authoritative management of Toyota based in Japan. PROBLEM ANALYSIS OF SELECTED PROCESS Problem framing is a very important, but easily overlooked, part of decision-making. Framing a problem can have a heavy influence on the decisions that are made. It isn’t enough to frame the problem; it should be framed with the solution in mind. This helps to keep the end goal of the decision-making process in mind so that the correct choices are made. In the case of Toyota, at the highest level, they had a major problem with some of their products involving unintended acceleration and their handling of  customer reports of the problem led to a whole mess of other problems. So from the outside looking in, it seems that many processes internal to Toyota had room for improvement. Although there are many different business sections of Toyota with their own respective problems such as customer service, public relations, manufacturing, the problem I would like analyze and offer improvement on is internal communication process between management and foreign employees and how the breakdown in this process affected some of the business decisions made by Toyota’s upper management. â€Å"As Toyota grew into a global powerhouse in the auto industry, the organizational structure that emerged was a centralized design †¦Ã¢â‚¬ that put key decision-making in the hands of executives in Japan†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Some believed that Toyota’s structure in the U.S. ultimately impaired its ability to prevent the safety problems before they reached the crisis† (Greto, Schotter & Teagarden, 2010, pg. 7-8). A quality tool or method used to help with the identification and prioritization of the potential causes of quality problems in a process is cause-and-effect analysis. In a way, this is a reverse engineering method used to identify the elements of a specific quality problem and to identify the causes so that it can be corrected. The problem wasn’t the unintended acceleration of certain vehicles; the problem was the internal management decision-making that impacted the engineering of those vehicles which created the engineering problem. For some background information, the defining and founding philosophy of Toyota, the Toyota Way, has been around for a long time but it wasn’t until the late 1980s in which they began production of their vehicles in the U.S. Specifically the problem of ideas from U.S.-based employees has been largely ignored for almost 20 years when it comes to key engineering or financial-based decisions. â€Å"Despite the global sales volume gain, Toyota reported revenues of US $211 billion for 2009, a decrease of 19% for the previous year† (Greto, Schotter & Teagarden, 2010, pg. 2). Even though Toyota has been making large profits throughout the past 20 years, they experienced a decrease in 2009 and part of this was related to the ambitious initiatives and business decisions made by Toyota’s upper management. â€Å"Japan is notoriously consensus oriented, and companies have a strong tendency to mediate differences among individuals rather than accentuate them† (Porter, 1996, pg. 63). Japanese culture and Toyota’s centralized decision-making structure made it difficult for U.S. based employees to offer ideas, suggestions for improvements, or to elevate critical problems to upper management in Japan. Toyota’s upper management, in their minds, let the U.S. employees do what they do best, which is supposedly marketing and selling. The process used by Toyota to communicate foreign employees’ ideas to upper management was heard, but not listened to. Even the process of internal communication between management had its breakdowns because of the perception by family-oriented managers of nonfamily managers in that nonfamily members didn’t have such thoughts as safety and quality in the forefront of their minds. Overall, the communication process seemed to be that ideas were submitted from employees, whether by Japanese or foreign employees, to management and ideas were reviewed and pushed up the management chain when it was appropriate. However, ideas that might have some bearing on engineering, manufacturing or financing were largely ignored when the source of the ideas were from U.S.-based employees and this violated the Toyota Way. To add to the complexity, the process for communicating ideas became more convoluted depending on the audience, nonfamily or family-based managers. To sum this up into a problem statement: â€Å"Toyota has violated their founding philosophy of employee empowerment, especially for non-Japanese employees, and continues to make important business decisions without any regard to concerns or ideas from foreign employees when appropriate. Employees may have ideas that could be used in the decision-making process to achieve better quality solutions. Toyota needs a better mechanism or improvement to this internal communication process to capture the knowledge and ideas of all employees and to share these ideas across the organization. All in all, it’s to improve the internal communicat ion process between employees and management in order to support the idea of continuous improvement and quality.† CONTEXT OF SELECTED PROCESS FOR IMPROVEMENT â€Å"The _Toyota Way_ mandates planning for the long term; highlighting problems  instead of hiding them; encouraging team work with colleagues and suppliers; and, perhaps most importantly, instilling a self-critical culture that fosters continuous and unrelenting improvement† (Greto, Schotter & Teagarden, 2010, pg. 3). Two cores ideas from the statement above are the idea of team work and most importantly employee empowerment. These two values are what made Toyota into a successful global corporation during their fast rise in the 1980s. Employees were encouraged to offer ideas for improvement for any process within the organization and this helped with continuing the idea of continuous improvement. An important part of making business decisions is having real-time and critical information. The selected process for improvement: improving the communication of ideas and concerns and the sharing of foreign employees’ ideas to Toyota’s Japanese management team needs to be addressed immediately. The process selected for improvement is the process used to capture the ideas of all employees, U.S.-based included, and to have these ideas be properly represented and presented to management for review in real-time. â€Å"You know the joke that every bank branch has a president – well, every Toyota facility has a president, and one can’t tell another what to do† (Greto, Schotter & Teagarden, 2010, pg. 8). This statement touches the surface of why the internal management communication process needs improvement at Toyota. The way the process is currently being represented in Toyota’s organization is a complete violation of their founding philosophy. During the 2000s, Toyota pushed for a lot of initiatives that in hindsight were either short-term profit driven or too ambitious. For example, â€Å"despite the savings of more than US $10 billion over the six years since CC21’s inception, Watanabe set out to achieve even more cost savings through the new â€Å"VI† (Value Innovation) strategy† (Greto, Schotter & Teagarden, 2010, pg. 5). This was a business decision made to further drive up profits despite the respectable amount of savings already made financially. If the knowledge, ideas and concerns of employees were properly captured and communicated to management, it could have prevented some of the poor business decision-making made and the impact of these decisions on engineering and manufacturing. Two impacts of the poor decision-making was the decision to become leaner with the manufacturing process and  overstretching existing resources in trying to supplant GM as number on in the automobile industry. Toyota’s has employees in many different markets who most likely had concerns regarding these decisions or ideas on how to improve the ideas and _communicated_ these ideas but these ideas weren’t being heard in time or heard at all by management. To put this all into context, the process for communicating ideas and concerns internally is impacted by the culture and internal structure of Toyota. These are both tough things to change but the process used to capture and represent ideas to management is something easy to improve. IMPLICATIONS OF THE PROCESS If the current internal communication process continues as is, there will continue to be a breakdown in the communication of potentially important ideas and concerns from employees to management. If employees feel as if their input isn’t listened to or even heard, they will become apathetic or not even bother trying to communicate important ideas or concerns. As a result, this can lead to the cycle of poor business decisions being made resulting in more damage to the company. Even worse, this will continue to cause Toyota to stray away from the core values of the Toyota Way that made them a successful global corporation. Already what has happened as a result of the ignoring of ideas and making business decisions with only the goal of short-term profits in mind is that Toyota during the oil sludge crisis had to pay millions of dollars as a result of class action lawsuits and took a hit to their business image. Fast forward to the accelerator crisis, Toyota experienced losing $2 billion dollars during the recall, had to pay a $16.4 million dollar civil penalty under U.S. law, experienced a customer relations nightmare and even had some of their car models dropped from Consumer Reports. The dollar amount lost due to the alienation of customers, lack of accountability at first by Toyota, and corporate reputation and image hit is immeasurable. Implementing some mechanism to improve the communication process between  employees and management and even management can be improved with the use of something such as a knowledge management system. â€Å"Effective knowledge management tools can help firms reduce internal costs of maintaining electronic filing systems and reduce the administrative expense of locating documents. Second, just as efficiency can improve profitability, leverage can have the same effect where knowledge transfer enhances the quality of work performance, and therefore, its value. In this context, leverage is the ability to delegate work to the most cost-effective resource. The transfer of knowledge is, in fact, the essence of knowledge management† (Martin, 2002, pg. 1). Although it is a large internal expense, the benefits of a KM system would have a great effect on the general business results and business relationships of Toyota with its employees, management and even their supply chain. POTENTIAL OUTCOMES OF IMPROVING THE PROCESS Improving the current internal communication process of ideas and concern helps to improve employee relations between management and their reports. It helps to re-establish a culture of knowledge sharing and representing that captured knowledge in such a way that it can help to improve the business decision-making by upper management. Any important business decisions made by upper management have a direct impact on the shareholders. So any improvement in the process that results in better business decisions being made will have a direct positive impact for the shareholders. The current decision-making and straying away from the founding principles of the Toyota Way has damaged the company and continuing down this path will only make the future worse for Toyota. So having an internal mechanism to capture ideas and improve communication such as a KM system can only improve the situation. Employees would feel like their ideas are being heard and will continue to offer suggestions for continual improvement. An improvement in communication can help to break down the false perceptions that family-oriented managers have of nonfamily managers. For example, a family-based manager might come across an idea from an unexpected source, a nonfamily manager, and come to respect that person for their knowledge. In a  way, this could help to improve the Japanese culture way of making decisions internally. Toyota is almost in the top of their market, so they are their own worst enemy when it comes to being competitive. So an improvement in their internal decision-making around all important financial, engineering and manufacturing decisions will only help to sustain and further their current competitive edge. Sometimes an organization has to make a large internal expense in order to position themselves differently from their competitors. â€Å"Strategic positioning means performing _different_ activities from rivals’ or performing similar activities in _different_ ways† (Porter, 1996, pg. 62). So collecting ideas internally and using them to make better business decisions will help Toyota to strategically position themselves even further away from their competition. SUMMARY Overall, Toyota is its own worst enemy with the current decision-making process they have in place internally. Even though the centralized decision-making structure is what Toyota currently has in place, the decision-making needs to take into account employee input, whether foreign or not. Employee input has been a cornerstone of the Toyota Way and Toyota has strayed from this founding principle. The implications of continuing down this path will result in more crises which in turn results in loss business, damaged business reputation, lawsuits and losing the competitive edge. Improving this process will result in better employee relations; establish a knowledge sharing culture which is needed for an environment that is striving for continual improvement and better business decisions being made. REFERENCES Greto, M., Schotter, A., & Teagarden, M. (2010). Toyota: The accelerator crisis. Thunderbird School of Global Management. Martin, K. (2002). Features – â€Å"Show Me the Money† – Measuring the Return on Knowledge Management. LLRX. Retrieved from http://www.llrx.com/features/kmroi.htm Porter, M. E. (1996). What is strategy? _Harvard Business Review, 74_(6), 61-78. Russell, R.S., & Taylor, B.W. (2011). _Operations management: Creating value along the supply chain_ (7th ed.)_._ Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons. ISBN: 9780470525906

Free Essays on Fallen Angels

you can use to explain Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers. It recalls the Vietnam War through the eyes of Richard Perry, an African-American soldier. Perry goes through a lot of changes and sees some of his good friends die in battle fighting for a cause that no one could agree upon. The book has 4 other main characters, Lobel, Johnson, Brunner, and Peewee. Myers’ Fallen Angels takes a dive into the harsh reality of modern war. The realistic depictions of various events in the war and the thoughts of the narrator, Perry, and other characters show an immense change in their approach to the war. Perry is 17 and on his way to Vietnam, a new place, a new life, a whole new world. He volunteered to serve his country. The main reason for this was because he wanted to escape his depressed and alcoholic mother who spent most of her salary on her drinking habit. Thinking of his home in Harlem, and his family, though, Perry has second thoughts. His best friend, Peewee becomes instant friends with each other when they meet in the barracks. Peewee helps Perry by standing up for him during several disputes. The horridness of the war nearly overwhelms him. Death comes knocking at his door, day after day, night after night. He endures the same food every day, with little sleep and hordes of mosquitoes. Only the support of friends and the safety of his gun beside him comfort him. He knows what he wants - to go home. Richie is wounded in a battle but unfortunately the wound is not bad enough to send him home. So he is transferred to a hospital. During the peaceful weeks spent recuperating, he begins to remember the joys of safety and gains a new sense of the horrors of war. When he is declared healthy and ordered to rejoin his unit, he wonders how he can possibly go back into combat and considers deserting the army. In the end, though, he rejoins his unit as ordered. So he returns to the same hot, mu... Free Essays on Fallen Angels Free Essays on Fallen Angels Blood ... Terror ...and Insanity are 3 words you can use to explain Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers. It recalls the Vietnam War through the eyes of Richard Perry, an African-American soldier. Perry goes through a lot of changes and sees some of his good friends die in battle fighting for a cause that no one could agree upon. The book has 4 other main characters, Lobel, Johnson, Brunner, and Peewee. Myers’ Fallen Angels takes a dive into the harsh reality of modern war. The realistic depictions of various events in the war and the thoughts of the narrator, Perry, and other characters show an immense change in their approach to the war. Perry is 17 and on his way to Vietnam, a new place, a new life, a whole new world. He volunteered to serve his country. The main reason for this was because he wanted to escape his depressed and alcoholic mother who spent most of her salary on her drinking habit. Thinking of his home in Harlem, and his family, though, Perry has second thoughts. His best friend, Peewee becomes instant friends with each other when they meet in the barracks. Peewee helps Perry by standing up for him during several disputes. The horridness of the war nearly overwhelms him. Death comes knocking at his door, day after day, night after night. He endures the same food every day, with little sleep and hordes of mosquitoes. Only the support of friends and the safety of his gun beside him comfort him. He knows what he wants - to go home. Richie is wounded in a battle but unfortunately the wound is not bad enough to send him home. So he is transferred to a hospital. During the peaceful weeks spent recuperating, he begins to remember the joys of safety and gains a new sense of the horrors of war. When he is declared healthy and ordered to rejoin his unit, he wonders how he can possibly go back into combat and considers deserting the army. In the end, though, he rejoins his unit as ordered. So he returns to the same hot, mu...

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Organizational Behavior - Essay Example The resistance could be severe as well when trade unions and the like protest their anger and shut down on work in a swift manner, thus halting the organizational domains in an excessive manner. The need is to deal with resistance in such a manner that will make both the parties happy. (Berkowitz, 2003) The employees as well as the organizational top heads must reach a consensus as to what exactly could be summed up as a compromising situation. Culture is manageable to the extents that it does not hinder the employees’ working space and it is changeable if all the above mentioned parties in unison agree with the notion that the organization’s success is more important than their individual preferences. Organizations can prevent resistance to change if they pre-empt the moves that the employees and stakeholders will take in the event of a changing scenario looming large in their face. The organizations can find out how the people concerned would react when change is put upon them and how they would show their pleasure or the lack of it within the contexts of their personal lives and more importantly at the workplace. This is significant since organizations pose a number of problems for the employees both on the domestic as well as official fronts and change in any such situation could work towards creating problems for them, no matter within the short term or in the longer scheme of things. The cultural change aspect needs to be embedded in a clear and concise manner within the realms of an organization so as to extract the best possible results, both in the short term as well as in the long run. Organization structure impacts the manner in which work is basically carried out. More than anything else it adheres to the different purposes of the discrete services and the related achievements with the passage of time. This brings to

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Soap operas Essay Example for Free

Soap operas Essay Although this is true, it is still an issue that teenagers, especially, must be aware of. For this reason alone, I think that there should be more discussion about how to avoid date rape, and how to protect oneself from even getting into a situation where one could be raped. In the soap operas All My Children, and Sunset Beach, there are sexual issues that revolve around teenage relationships. There were discussions about whether or not to wait before having sexual intercourse. In All My Children, the storyline was about a teen-aged birth mother suing the adoptive parents for custody of her child. This storyline allowed for several discussions about the consequences of unplanned and unprotected sexual activity, and about the importance of waiting until one is ready before engaging in sexual intercourse. Although soaps sometime discuss the consequences of sexual acts, there are too many episodes that let sex just happen without any real discussion of its consequences. For instance on the soap Sunset Beach, there is a character, Annie, who is about twenty five years old, who sleeps with everyone on the show who has something that she wants. She is very rich and extremely manipulative. Through her conversations with friends, the audience learns that, deep down, all she wants is to find true love. Obviously she will not achieve what she really wants by being so sexually promiscuous and amoral, but some audiences may think that you can get what you want by sleeping around. If there are all of these negative images and ideas portrayed throughout soap operas, then why is it so popular to women? In a recent study done by Woods, he asked 100 high school girls about 23 possible reasons for watching soap operas. The top ten reasons were, (a) I just enjoy watching them, (b) it gives me something to do, (c) soaps are fun, (d) they fill up time, (e) its a pleasant way to rest, (f) they relax me, (g) soaps are a habit, (h) I can forget about school, (i) I can get away from my family, (j) and soaps cheer me up. It is apparent that these responses are what people might say for any television show. What attracts people to soap operas and the reasons behind them being fun and relaxing is because they deal with issues that happen in real life. Not everyone is going to get raped, or accidentally pregnant, but everyone should know that it can happen to them and they should be careful. It is interesting to think that maybe women are so attracted to soaps because it makes their lives seem more normal. Greenberg and Woods used a survey by the author Compesi to compare adult and adolescent results to similar questions on the reasons for watching soap operas. He mailed 52 surveys consisting of gratification items for the viewers of, All My Children. the findings for soaps and adolescent gratifications are a close match to those for soaps and adult gratifications. Although people do change, I feel that the foundation of what draws people in and interests continues in one way or another throughout a persons life. It is not an unrealistic assumption that sexuality is exciting to watch and learn about, especially for curious young individuals. Recently the issue of homosexuality has been incorporated within soap operas. In All My Children, the teenaged character Bianca came out as a lesbian. Along with this came her struggles of being accepted and the ability to find a happy relationship. There were a few episodes dealing with Biancas romantic happiness and with the fact that she had a crush on a straight woman. There was one episode where Bianca asked Frankie, a homosexual female that she was friends with, if she was afraid that Bianca would make a move on her. Frankie insisted that she didnt feel uncomfortable with her and also assured Bianca that she didnt want her to give her more space and that she valued their budding friendship. When another character, Vanessa, arrived, she ordered Frankie to leave Pine Valley because she lied to her about her sexuality. She asked Frankie to move out, saying that Frankie should have been honest from the beginning. Alone, Bianca offered to help Frankie find another place, but Frankie rejected her. Bianca told Frankie that, as usual, someone she liked was pulling away from her. In this example it is apparent that it is rough on a persons self-esteem to not be able to find love or a true friend because of ones sexuality or sexual preference. I would imagine that these episodes are not unrealistic in the life of a teenage lesbian, but I noticed that they did not portray a fulfilled life for one. The steamy love scenes are the norm for heterosexual couples, yet when it comes to homosexuals, they are rarely even allowed to touch. Every few scenes within an episode show two heterosexuals kissing, or being sexual with each other. When it comes to homosexuals, there is usually just discussion about the hardships that the person is enduring, and there are rarely any visual depictions of sexuality. Starting a few years ago was the first time that a lesbian kiss was even shown on daytime television. This issue of homosexuality is more open and talked about then it used to be, but they still do not seem to be portrayed the same as heterosexuals. Although gays are not represented accurately, watching them interact can desensitize some people that are uncomfortable dealing with those people who choose that lifestyle. Soaps deal with the issue of pregnancy as well. Having a baby could be a happy and exciting thing for some people, but it seems like most of the pregnancies on soaps deal with the negatives of pregnancy, like teenage pregnancies, pregnancies due to rape and pregnancies with twisted stories to them. An example of this is from the soap Sunset Beach, where the character Vanessa, an engaged woman, was impregnated in vitro. Due to an accident she was unconscious and the woman who was jealous of her boyfriend gave her the injection. It was not the sperm of her fianci , Michael, but a different male. Michael, who is now sterile, thinks that she is pregnant from him, but knows that he could not be the father. He thinks that she must have slept with another guy, and the saga continues. The is an exaggerated scenario, of course, but this type of situation allows for the audiences thoughts and discussion of safe sex and trust in ones partner. These are issues that every individual must deal with at one point or another, which may be another reason for the popularity of soap operas. If I were to speculate on the potential effects of viewing such content, I would say that viewers are getting ample information about sexual activity that promotes the idea that sexual activity is appropriate and beneficial for heterosexual couples in established relationships. The issues of rape, teenage sex and pregnancy, single parenting, drug addiction, abortion, infidelity, and death are all issues in which characters have dealt with. This allows the audience to discuss these issues without talking about themselves, which can be uncomfortable. An individuals morals and values about sex should stem from the home. It is the parents job to try and teach their children what sex and being a sexual person is all about. If these values are implemented, the young viewer should be able to decipher between what is right, what is wrong, and what is exaggerated. There are a variety of reasons for women to be attracted to soap operas, and sexuality is definitely one of them. Being a woman is a very powerful thing, and many people do not understand that. Some women and teenagers may feel that power when watching a sexual encounter, knowing that they have the power to do the same thing (less dramatically of course). Sex and being sexual are intriguing concepts that are very mysterious to some. By watching soap operas, we see the dramatic portrayal of how relationships should and should not be. There is the right and wrong way to go about becoming sexually active. Soap operas are an excellent way to see and learn about all of the right and wrong ways of dealing with issues, especially ones that deal with sexual relationships. People are always looking for a way to improve their relationships or spice them up, and soap operas are an excellent way to either learn something new, or fanaticize about the perfect relationship. The fact that soap operas are so exaggerated, I feel, is the major draw to them because they make reality and everyday life seem more normal. References: Greenberg, S. B, Woods, M. G. (1999). The soaps: their sex, gratifications, and outcomes.The Journal Of Sex Research, 36(3), 250. Committee on Communications, American Academy of Pediatrics. (1995). Sexuality, contraception, and the media. Pediatrics, 95(2), 298.