European History-The Later middle Ages Essay

Black Death was a plague that swept across Europe in the 14th century resulting in an irrevocable change to Europe’s religious structure which was highly dominated by the Roman Catholic Church. Besides, Black Death resulted in harassment of minority groups such as Jews on not only grounds of religious detestation but also a way of attacking the church or the kings who were perceived to protect them. This was heightened by feelings that the church as an institution had failed to provide social guidance equally among all people. The Pope condemned the killings and tried to stop it but to no avail resulting in renewed religious fanaticism and fervor amid Black Plague. This resulted is weakening of the old connection between the society and the religion (Tuchman 20-50). The fact that the clergy were not able to banish or cure the disease and explain its causes resulted in cynicism toward church. At the time of Black Death the Pope was based in France and was seen to have abandoned church leadership for French monarchy hence leaving its people at the time of need. This compounded disillusionment among people towards the church and embraced other religious outfits such as Order of Flagellants. Subsequently, as the disease caused death in monasteries, few years later there was a shortage of clergy. New clergy members replaced those who had died but did not have life-long convictions hence resulting in more abuses and weakening of church position in the society (Tuchman 50). 2. The Hundred Years’ War occurred in the years between 1336 and 1453 and it was mostly between France and England. England traded with Flanders in exchange of its fleece for wine in the Southern France. This was a triangular-like trade in which English traded with France indirectly through Flanders. However, the king of France was persistently struggling to regain control over the wealth in Flanders as a result the English could not let it go as it could have meant their only source of foreign exchange is gone. In these misunderstandings, a civil war broke out whereby the English supported the manufacturing companies whereas the French supported land-owning nobility. Besides, the English had a control over duchy of Guienne in France. In this regard, King Edward III became disappointed with King Phillip IV’s broken promise to restore a part of the Guienne to the English. Additionally, King Phillip went against English wish and supported Scotland which angered England. This war became more complex as the right over the territorial control –dynast conflict- was coupled with conflict over succession of throne. For instance, King Edward III who had risen to the throne in 1327 could have claimed to succeed Charles IV of France after he died in 1328 without any heir. Some years later, King Edward declared himself the King of France to provoke France so that he can attract resistance from them (Allmand 20-50). The war resulted in paradigm shift in terms of tactics, weapons, and technology employed in military war. For instance, the use of cavalry which by then was powerful machinery was abandoned for longbow. Other weapons introduced during the war include gunpowder and cannons. The war revealed the extent to which royal authority in England could be questioned especially in the succession lapse when King Edward III died. The Peasant’s revolt in 1381 witnessed an uprising against the throne by peasants leading to the King (Richard III) giving in to their demands. The war rekindled patriotism and nationalism among the French nationals. The country transformed from being a feudal monarchy to being a centralized state. Besides, the growth of French as a royal and commerce language disappeared during the war (Anne 5-20). 3. It is in the fourteenth century that majority of European countries experienced some of the worst natural disasters and social upheavals. The first disaster is the Little Ice Age, a climatic disaster. During this period, epidemics, famine and heavy rains became evident resulting in weakened agricultural productivity. The second natural disaster during the fourteenth century was The Black Death, a plague that nearly brought life to a standstill in Europe. Social upheavals include the hundred years’ war (1337-1450), internal church wrangles in the Catholic Church, and rise up of Islam militants. As a result of The Little Ice Age, France experienced heavy rains around 1315 that culminated into famine in the later years. All these disasters had a large impact on drastically reducing the overall population of Europe as many individuals died. It is also important to note that a lot of minorities for instance Jew were killed or extradited for Europe especially during Black Death. It is also during this time that the highly dominant Catholic Church received much criticism from the society. Additionally, the Church differed with the monarchy when taxes were imposed on its officials resulting into ‘Babylonian Exile’. In 1377 amid the crisis, Pope Gregory XI relocated to Rome for Avignon, France (Tuchman 25-70). 4. In the 14th century, Italy like many other European countries experienced a lot of hardships economically, socially, politically, and in religion. Besides, in the mid 14century, Italy undergone rebirth what is popularly referred to as ‘renaissance’. In the cities where the feudal system was not strong for instance in the northern frontier –Venice, Florence, and Milan- a strong economical and political atmosphere became dominant and their political structure ruled surrounding regions impacting significant influence over them. In the same period, south of Italy became highly dominated by Papal administration especially in Rome. The papal administration exerted a lot of rivalry to the Northern cities as well as influencing to a large extent the Italian politics and lifestyles. During the 14th century, the political elite advocated for the principle of humanism by arguing that a person can achieve considerably while in this world in terms of politics and life among others. Therefore, the medieval perceptions that people had changed drastically as they geared towards showcasing their talents (Jackson 310-320). 5. In the fourteenth century, the Roman Catholic had strong influence on the political and social life in most parts of Italy whereas Germany was under monarch rule. For instance, Germany was ruled mostly by the Habsburgs with power centering around three houses of dynasty: Habsburg, Wittelsbach, and Luxemburg. Therefore most parts of Germany were controlled by the emperor. It is also during the fourteenth century that Germany flourished although it was hit by the Black Plague. In Italy the papal administration and secular leadership was not totally in agreement in terms of managing economic resources and to develop central governments. Subsequently, around the year 1300, the well established Holy Roman Empire failed to maintain its centralized form of governance across Europe resulting into war between different states such as the barbaric German tribes that invaded Italy. This culminated into having a power vacuum until in 17th century. In Italy for instance, the independence of some of its states in the North coupled with wrangles between the in the Papacy prevented realization of a strong centralized governance (Tuchman 50). 6. It is in the 14th century that the Church experienced faced difficult times and gradually lost its prestige and power in the society. The Church failed to provide moral and spiritual guidance to the people and it can be explained in three distinct stages. First is the Avignon Papacy of 1305 to 1378. During the time pope was located in Avignon, France and officials were seen to monarch’s puppet. They were corrupt, disregarded social morals, were left out in condemning the hundred years’ war, and failed in their responsibility during the Black Plague. A lot of groups also criticized the Church for owning wealth and property as this was against God’s teaching because Jesus owned nothing. Some people also claimed that Church should consist of members only and not be led by a single individual. At this time papacy defended its righteousness persistently as well as attacking its critics but it is evident that papacy lost its moral authority and credibility to the people (Jackson 322). The second event that degraded credibility of papacy was the great schism of between 1378 and 1415. After Gregory XI died, the College of Cardinals in Rome was forced by an angry Roman mob to choose a pope of Italian origin. Urban VI was chosen and immediately after, French cardinals protested by fleeing Rome into Avignon where they chose another French pope as they claimed the election was not free and fair. This culminated into having two papal administrations at Rome and at Avignon hence resulting in financial crisis. Besides, the notion that Church was autonomous from state and secular sanctions failed to be realized. Wrangles existed between the two centers of power leading to excommunication claims by either of the side for receiving sacraments. Third is the Council of Pisa that met in 1408 and resolved to elect a new pope thereby dismissing the two rival popes. They based this on the principle of conciliarism. However, this was not adhered to by the two rival popes and resulted in having three popes. This complicated the matters more in regard to who had supreme power to elect pope leading to the Holy Roman Emperor backing the Conciliarists in holding another council to resolve the issue in 1415 (Jackson 323). . 7. The religious rift which occurred in the Church around 11th century A. D. is what widely referred to as the Great Schism. The Roman Catholic Church and the Geek Catholic also known Greek Orthodox Church separated during the p[period which lasted between 1378 and 1415. The acrimony between the West patriarchate in Rome and East patriarchates in Jerusalem, Antioch, Byzantium, and Alexandria was on of the cause. This was heightened more by language differences because the West spoke Latin whereas East spoke Greek. Besides, the rift grew more when Emperor Constantine considered transferring the capital from Rome to Byzantium. Additionally, during the same time German tribes invaded Europe leading to political instability (Jackson 323). This political turmoil coupled with geographical distances and economic hardship lead to ultimate separation of West from the East. As a result it is only a few theologians from West who could speak the predominant Greek language in the East. Communication broke lose among the west and east clergy. There was decreased literacy in the West as compared to highly educated East populace. Thus the church had significant influence among the East populace. The clergy in the East was capable of translating the Bible into local languages and with time it became mature enough to establish self governance. The occurrence of the Great Schism was also a sign of failure in leadership among the church officials in the 14th century (Jackson 324). Works Cited Allmand, C. T. The hundred year’s war: England and France at war, c. 1300-c. 1450. United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press, 1988. Anne Curry. The Hundred Years War. 2nd ed. UK: Palgrave Macmillan, 2003. Tuchman, Barbara W. A Distant Mirror. New York: Knopf, 1978. Jackson, Spielvogel J. Western Civilization. 7th ed. Cengage Learn

Defy Gender Roles

Christina G. Tarango Professor John ENGL 2342 April 21, 2013 Conform or Defy Gender roles in the society of the human race have always been that the women bare the children and take care of the home while the man is out working and bringing home the money to support his family. In certain societies this is still true and women do not have a say in what they do. The role and identity of women in certain societies has been shaped and it is up to the woman under this conformity to conform or defy.The roles of women through the eyes of Marjane Satrapi as a young girl were quite â€Å"normal† for her. As a young girl she did not realize how different of a life style she was living from other young girls her age living in Iran. For example when she was six she says, â€Å"I wanted to be a Prophet because our maid did not eat with us. † Later on in the story she reveals that their maid named Mehri was eight years old when she had to leave her parents’ home to come to wo rk for Marjane and her family.As a teenager, Mehri begins falling in love with the neighbors’ son. When Marjane’s family finds this out her father goes over to the boys home and tells him, â€Å"I know that Mehri pretends she is my daughter. In reality she is my maid. † Marjane does not understand why this cannot be. Her father says, â€Å"You must understand that their love was impossible, because in this country you must stay within your own social class. † Marjane begins to understand the whole concept of the Revolution and wants to demonstrate against it.Women in the novel conform to and also defy the expectations that are placed on them by going out and demonstrating during the Revolution but also confirm by wearing the veil. Over a broadcast a man declares, â€Å"Women’s hair emanates rays that excite men. That’s why women should cover their hair! If in fact it is really more civilized to go without the veil, then animals are more civ ilized than we are. † Marjane says, â€Å"In no time the way people dressed became an ideological sign. † Marjane says, â€Å"There were two different kinds of women, the fundamentalist woman and the modern woman. The fundamentalist woman covered her entire body with a black veil and only showed her face. The modern woman to show their opposition to the regime would still wear the veil but let a few strands of hair show and they would not cover their entire body either. They would wear pants, boots, and long coats. This was done in order to protect the women from all the potential rapists, it was decreed that wearing the veil was obligatory. As a teenager she was stopped by the â€Å"Guardians of the Revolution. † These women were in place to arrest women who were improperly veiled.At the committee, they did not have to inform parents and they could detain girls for hours or even days. They could be whipped and in short anything could happen. This was quite trau matizing for Marjane however she did not tell her parents. Overall, the effects of these societal expectations on the psyche and development of Marjane as a child were very influenced by the revolution. Her parents tried their best to protect her from what was going on in their country. They tried to still give her all the liberties of that the Western children had.They did not want to take away from her childhood and wanted her to have the absolute best. They wanted her to have the best education and normal social life possible and free of terrorism. At the age of fourteen she was sent away to Austria where she would finish school and be a lot safer. WORKS CITED Satrapi, Marjane. Persepolis. United States: Pantheon Books, 2003. Print. Satrapi, Marjane. â€Å"Persepolis. † The Story of a Childhood. 2003: 6. Medium. Satrapi, Marjane. â€Å"Persepolis. † The Story of a Childhood. 2003: 36-37 . Medium. Satrapi, Marjane. â€Å"Persepolis. † The Story of a Childhood. 2003: 74-75. Medium.

The Use of Metaphors

SanTianna Simmons ENG 1102 25 April 2013 A metaphor is where you show how two unrelated things are similar. For example by saying â€Å"Love is a roller-coaster. † A key aspect of a metaphor is use a specific transference of a word into another context. The human mind creates comparisons between different things. The best writers use metaphors. Like poetry, a metaphor will express a thousand different meanings all at once, allowing the writer to convey much more content than they could do otherwise.More than playing simple word games, the use of metaphors in your writing can elevate your stories to a place next to the greatest authors in the world. There are many kinds of metaphors: Allegory, catechesis, parables, extended metaphors, etc. An extended metaphor establishes a subject and then extends it further, as in this quote from Shakespeare â€Å"All the world's a stage, And all the men and women merely players; They have their exits and their entrances, And one man in his time plays many parts, His acts being seven ages. Brian Doyle, Author of â€Å"Joyas Valdoras†, uses the hummingbird metaphor to support his story. The story starts off by grabbing the reader’s attention with a fact. The fact is very interesting. Unless you are someone that studies animals, you would have no idea that a hummingbird’s heart is the size of a pencil, or that it beats ten times per second. After I read the first sentence, I was instantly interested to see what more the author had to say. He got the name, Joyas Valdoras, from a reference by early Spanish settlers. It means flying jewels.They called these creatures flying jewels because they had never seen anything like them before. They would fly around quickly all day, reproducing and collecting nectar. Doyle then goes on to add more facts about hummingbirds and their incredible hearts. Hummingbirds can fly up to 500 miles without stopping to rest, however they can get burned out. Whenever humming b irds get burned out, it can become fatal. Although Doyle’s allusion to hummingbirds was interesting, I don’t think he meant for his story to simply be a story about humming birds.He also goes on to talk about the blue whale, an animal having the largest heart in the world. He gives us interesting facts about that animal also, but this still does not justify why he was even writing the story, for if he had wanted his readers to be informed only about animals, he’d have put these facts in a science book instead. I think Doyle was relating the animal’s hearts with that of human hearts. He said sometimes humming birds get burned out without even knowing what they’re doing is dangerous. Humans also do the same thing.Today’s world is very fast paced. Sometimes we don’t have time to rest or do anything of that nature. We do it, without knowing how unhealthy to the body and spirit that is. He also alludes that the heart is a very strong thing . Not just our physical heart, but our emotional and spiritual heart as well. So much can happen to someone’s heart. It can go through the most joy, excitement, hurt and pain and still beat at the end of the day. I think the way Doyle transitions form talking about hummingbirds and whales to something so emotional was very effective.He makes it easy for us to relate to his story because he keeps us so involved. I felt as if he was ready the story to me instead of the other way around. Sian-Pierre Regis stated â€Å"As should be obvious by now, Doyle is doing far more than describing the hearts of various animals. In explaining about the hearts of animals, he has subtly been drawing us into this reality: â€Å"We all churn inside. † In this creation there is unimaginable beauty (â€Å"flying jewels†) and there is excruciating pain (â€Å"a brilliant music stilled†).And so finally, we are led to his masterful ending and the real point of this whole piece. If you’ve read this far, I encourage you to take a minute and quiet your heart. Let yourself feel these words. It may hurt, but it will almost certainly heal as well. In giving an overview of the hearts of creatures, Doyle ends with this: â€Å"So much held in a heart in lifetime. So much held in a heart in day, and hour, a moment. We are utterly open with no one, in the end–not mother and father, not wife or husband, not lover, not child, not friend.We open windows to each but we live alone in the house of the heart. Perhaps we must. Perhaps we could not bear to be so naked, for fear of a constantly harrowed heart. When young we think there will come one person who will savor and sustain us always; when we are older we know this is the dream of a child, that all hearts finally are bruised and scarred, scored and torn, repaired by time and will, patched by force of character, yet fragile and rickety forevermore, no matter how ferocious the defense and how many bricks you bring to the wall.You can brick up your heart as stout and tight and hard and cold and impregnable as you possibly can and down it comes in an instant, felled by a woman’s second glance, a child’s apple breath, the shatter of glass in the road, the words I have something to tell you, a cat with a broken spine dragging itself into the forest to die, the brush of your mother’s papery ancient hand in the thicket of your hair, the memory of your father’s voice early in the morning echoing from the kitchen where he is making pancakes for his children. †Ã¢â‚¬  The article â€Å"A Metaphorical Analysis of Martin Luther King Jr. s ‘I Have a Dream Speech,’† by Joe Ciesinski, to me is an aide to help understand the metaphors Dr. Martin Luther King used within his famous speech ‘I have a Dream. ’ Ciesinski cited other’s opinions about the speech which also was another great source of helping understand the speech. W ithin the article, the question â€Å"What does ‘I Have a Dream’ mean to me† was asked. To me, when someone asks me what does ‘I Have a Dream’ mean to me, I would say that it makes me feel as if the color of my skin or my sex should never be a factor of why I can’t do anything that I want to do. Anybody should be capable of saying the same.Ciesinski believes that ‘I Have a Dream’ would not only speak about problems in America, but that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr would call upon all citizens of the United States to enact change and correct the injustices that would occur throughout our nation. â€Å"Martin Luther King Jr. contrasts light and dark metaphors when he states, â€Å"this momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves, who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity. †Ã¢â‚¬  (Ciesinski) The previous quote to me sums up the entire ‘I Have a Dream’ speech.It focuses on the struggles of colored people and how the nation needs to take the time out to notice that these hate crimes need to come to an end. Overall, I think Ciesinski’s metaphorical analysis is a great help to distinguish the true meaning and break down of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. ’s speech. I also believe that he used good sources to help apprehend the famous speech. â€Å"It is a stark metaphor, an accusation articulated in bluntly economic terms. The Declaration of Independence implied, and later the Emancipation Proclamation promised, meaningful freedom to African Americans. But the promise was never fulfilled. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked ‘insufficient funds,† King said. This part of the speech has been mostly forgotten, swamped in collective memory by the soaring rhetoric of K ing’s peroration. When initial renderings for the new Martin Luther King Jr. National Memorial were first unveiled, they included a prominent place for the promissory-note metaphor, but as the project went forward the quotation was deemed â€Å"too confrontational† and dropped from the final design. What is best remembered from the Dream speech is, in fact, not original to it.The thrilling incantation, the cries of â€Å"let freedom ring,† the litany of place names (the snowcapped Rockies, the molehills of Mississippi), the lines borrowed from the biblical books of Amos and Isaiah, the quotations from spirituals and patriotic songs — none of this material was original to the speech King gave on the Mall. Most of it was recycled, an impromptu decision by King to reuse some of the best applause lines he had tested in Georgia, North Carolina, Alabama and, only weeks earlier, in Detroit. † Stated by Philip Kennicott. Short talks by Anne Carson was an ar ticle full of miniature lectures with a different meaning for each one.Some of the short articles were confusing but the others caught my attention. An article in Short Talks that was easily understood was ON WALKING BACKWARDS. ON WALKING BACKWARDS was about how as a child Carson states â€Å"My mother would forbid us to walk backwards. That is how the dead walk, she would say. † Carson goes on to say that she had no understanding where that specific superstition came from. Later to break the quote down, the dead doesn’t walk backwards but they do walk behind us with no lungs to breath or cannot call but would love for us to turn around.Superstitions are to be used and known all across the world. According to Keisha Stephen-Gittens from Outlish Magazine quotes â€Å"Since I was a child, I used to hear my grandmother telling my mother that if she came home after midnight, she better had walk in the house backwards so that spirits don’t follow her inside. Thatâ⠂¬â„¢s funny, because many of us feters would have some ‘back walking’ to do. So, I was surprised to find that almost 60% of the persons I randomly surveyed still do this today. I followed this superstition religiously until I moved out on my own, and then, ironically, I would just ook left, right and around before I entered my apartment. You’d think I would be really afraid – and in a way yes, but I was looking for bandits, not spirits. However, the way things goin’ these days, is bess we look for both yes! We’ve also been told to close doors facing the outside so that spirits don’t follow you inside. There are other superstitions about spirits and death and our older folks would tell these with a passion and intensity that would send you to bed quivering, wanting a pillow to hug up and sleeping with one eye open.If you’re alone in the house and you hear someone call your name, would you answer? I won’t. The ole folks us ed to say do not answer, ’cause it could be a spirit calling. I think this is a given. I’ve watched too many horror movies to know what the outcome of THAT could be. † Jon Eben Field states â€Å"The female body is a powerful signifier in these poems. † Short Talks invokes the last thirty years of Camille Claudel's life in an asylum (Claudel was a French sculptor who worked from 1884 to 1898 as an assistant to Auguste Rodin).After noting that Claudel broke all the sculpting stone given to her, Carson writes, â€Å"Night was when her hands grew, huger and huger until in the photograph they are like two parts of someone else loaded onto her knees. † Claudel's hands are both her own and not her own; they have grown through disuse and misuse. But the absence is discovered in the formless broken stones that are buried with these hands, now so gargantuan. In â€Å"Short Talk On Rectification,† Carson depicts the infamous relationship between Franz Kafka and Felice Bauer: â€Å"Kafka liked to have his watch an hour and a half fast. Felice kept setting it right.Nonetheless for five years they almost married. † Ultimately, it is the body of Felice that overwhelms Kafka, for as Carson writes, â€Å"When advised not to speak by the doctors in the sanatorium, he left glass sentences all over the floor. Felice, says one of them, had too much nakedness left in her. † This signals the second most pervasive theme of these poems, the devastating plenitude of too much. † Eula Biss’ The Pain Scale is about how no matter how much something is painful, no pain lasts forever. Throughout the article Biss gives examples of pain as she goes from 0 to 10 on a pain scale.She gives examples like if you are at a zero, you feel no pain therefore you could be fine. If you are at a 1, you could take some aspirin and be fine the next day. If you are at an 8 you might need some examining. If you are at a nine then, you are suf fering and it gets even worse at a level ten which is unbearable. The Pain Scale, Eula Biss claims that no pain lasts forever. Biss goes on to say that when you experience the pain regardless of how bad the pain is, once the pain goes away; you can’t feel the pain anymore. I got a feeling that the author is indifferent to pain and does not know how to feel or describe it.I felt that the author’s mind is being guided by what her father use to tell her. She does not know how to describe what she is feeling or think for herself. The author feels as if excruciating pain does not exist. She sees zero as a number that does not do the same thing as the other numbers and she uses biblical illusions concerning Jesus.. The author goes back and forth from her pain theory and analysis, to her current pain situation. She is obviously feeling some pain but she thinks the face chart does not help her know what level she is that. She lies to the doctor to not seem foolish but really s he does have great pain.The author thinks that if she admits to her great physical pain, she will seem pathetic and exaggerated. The author has apparent physical pain but also mental trauma from her father the physician. Her psychological pain I think is greater than her physical one in a couple of ways. I agree with Biss on this issue. Overall, I believe that no pain lasts forever. If a person were to ask another how something felt, they could never sit there and visualize the full effect of that pain right then and there unless you go through the same pain again at the time being.Our Secret by Susan Griffin is a hybrid of memoir, history, and journalism, and is built with these discrete strands: the Holocaust; women affected by World War II directly or indirectly in their treatment by husbands and fathers; the harsh, repressive boyhood of Heinrich Himmler, who grew up to command Nazi rocketry and became the key architect of Jewish genocide; the testimony of a man scarred by war; a nd Griffin’s own desperately unhappy family life and harsh, repressed girlhood.In between these chunks are short italic passages of just a few sentences on cell biology—for instance, how the shell around the nucleus of the cell allows only some substances to pass through—and on the development of guided missiles in Germany and, later, by many of the same scientists, in the United States, where nuclear warheads were added and the ICBM created. Researching her book in Paris, Griffin meets a woman, Helene, who survived one of Himmler’s death camps.She’d been turned in by another Jew and tracked down using a net of information—a system tracing back to Himmler’s boyhood diaries—collected on cards and sent to the Gestapo for duplication and filing, the work of countless men and women. In the article â€Å"Translating Translation: Finding the Beginning,† Alberto Alvaro Rios claims that the act is the translation by presenting t ranslation as a metaphor and how cultures are different. Rios goes on to say that how something is said, the language can be figured.In Rios’ article, he had multiple examples of how cultures are different. Some of the examples that he expressed where how a man was put in jail, forgotten about and never said anything, how his house painting went wrong when he was young, and how Rios had a misinterpretation about fighting. I agree with Rios on this issue when he stated that learning languages can be similar to looking through a set of binoculars. Overall, I believe that it is true that the simplest word can have many definitions and interpretations.For example: when Rios moved into his new home when he was younger. His mother wanted the wall to be yellow but the Mexican thought she wanted it to be lime green due to the fact that said â€Å"limon. † Another example was when the boy asked how many fights has he had. The boy meant physical fighting but Rios meant the fight he has had learning a new language. I believe that the metaphors were very effective because they helped understand the main key points Rios was trying to make.Alberto Rios states â€Å"Linguists, by using electrodes on the vocal cords, have been able to demonstrate that English has tenser vowels than, for example, Spanish. The body itself speaks a language differently, so that moving from one language to another is more than translating words. It's getting the body ready as well. It's getting the heart ready along with the mind. I've been intrigued by this information. It addresses the physicality of language in a way that perhaps surprises us.In this sense, we forget that words aren't simply what they mean – they are also physical acts. I often talk about the duality of language using the metaphor of binoculars, how by using two lenses one might see something better, closer, with more detail. The apparatus, the binoculars, are of course physically clumsy – as is th e learning of two languages, and all the signage and so on that this entails – they're clumsy, but once put to the eyes a new world in that moment opens up to us.And it's not a new world at all – it's the same world, but simply better seen, and therefore better understood. † Overall, metaphors will elevate your writing, taking something plain and transforming it into something beautiful. Poetry is full of metaphors. If you need to, use one of your rewriting cycles just to add metaphors to your story. Imagine how greater your story will be with the use of metaphors. Metaphors will free up your imagination, which will take your story in directions you may not have planned on. Enjoy the surprises that metaphors will bring to you!

Cultural Analysis Paper Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Cultural Analysis Paper - Assignment Example Mumbai in India. These movies are produced essentially in Hindi, the national Language of India. Movies are essentially a form of media that along with entertaining the audience are also cultural representation of a country. Cinema and national identity are always interlinked. A film reflects the social, cultural and economic aspects on national level. Techniques of filmmaking are based on the targeted audience based on their nationality and culture. Today Asian movies including the Indian cinema is making prominent place in the European and American markets. Bollywood is considered as the largest film production in the world. India is a diverse country rich with different religions, cultures and social class. Indian movies explore in explicit but benign manner the class divisions in the society. A popular 2001 film Lagaan which is based on a game of cricket played by some local villagers, oppressed by high taxes, against the British regime has also depicted class prejudice as a sub theme. When the central character, Bhuvan began to prepare the villagers for the match, he invit ed the untouchable Kachra to join much to the wrath of the other players. India being a culturally diverse country, cinema audience has always been segmented. While making movies, producers keep in mind the varied interests of different sections of the society and therefore Bollywood movies are known for their culturally rich themes. One most prominent division found in Bollywood movies is art and commercial (mainstream) cinema. However, in recent years the boundaries between the two have been blurred to a large extent. The common observation is that Bollywood movies with different genre of culture appeals to different sections of the society. While action based movies have more popularity among the lower classes, movies based on social class divisions appeal more to the upper classes. Likewise, movies with Islamic themes, for instance the 1992 hit

Bostonair Limited v World Trade Center Hull & Humber Essay

Bostonair Limited v World Trade Center Hull & Humber - Essay Example The task-oriented approach enriches their jobs, and since the attention is job-centered, the routinary element is minimized and the emphasis is placed on results. Flat organizations lack the tall hierarchical structure of centralized organizations and are better suited for workers who, because of their technical expertise, work best in a spirit of collaboration rather than control. Bostonair also has the advantage of a custom-designed recruitment software that more effectively and efficiently matches employer-customers’ needs with job applicants’ qualifications. Because of the exceptional quality of its service, it has accumulated an exceptional track record in the 65 years it has been in service, ranking 7th in the UK among privately owned firms. Its quality of performance has merited a high level of repeat business from prominent firms in the airline industry such as KLM and Lufthansa Technik. Furthermore, much of its organization’s revenue is generated in the German market; the profits earned from German firms exceeds profits may from the UK firms by a factor of 4:1. This is partially an advantage for Bostonair, in that the German economy is the largest and most progressive in Europe. In the case of an economic recession, the German economy is most likely going to prove the most resilient among the European countries, which means demand for Boston airs services may be expected to remain steady. On the other hand, the fact that Germany is its biggest market may present a slight disadvantage in that Germany’s tax rates are higher than those of other European countries, including the UK. Also, it is still possible, despite the strength of the German economy, that the airline industry, in general, may succumb to the global recession. This is not farfetched since travel for business and for tourism are both sensitive to market downturns.  

U.S. History Civil War-Present Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

U.S. History Civil War-Present - Assignment Example On the other hand, social conservatism were those who were staunch supporters of social values. The two types of conservatives have worked towards building the political position of America up o where it is as of now. Different leaders supported conservatism in their own ways. For instance, President J. F. Kennedy, illuminated conservatism by advocating that all rights of the people are protected. During the 80’s president Ronald Regan favored the conservative side by reducing taxes, deregulation, increasing the US military budget, just to mention but a few (Berkin, 1865). This era was dubbed as the ‘’Regan era’’. Initially, conservatism was only associated with the Republican Party. However, things started changing in the 50’s where southerners became conservatives due to segregation. This triggered a coalition that helped to foster domestic legislation. The union of the two conservatives came up with ideologies that were not well received by the Soviet Union. In the end, the Soviet Union could no longer trust the United States hence the beginning of a historical rivalry (Berkin, 1865). The Soviet Union was so engrossed in its bid to expand communism that it started creating alliances with different nations against America. In the end, America is seen as a country whose cultural structure influences how politics are run. And this works best for America as a nation. In as much as the Soviet Union was not impressed by this move, the American culture stood the test of time of the soviet’s opposition. The 1980s American history shaped the nature of difference in cultural and social standings in the state. Reagan’s administration applied various responsive measures to balance these differences. A later influx of other cultures such as Latinos and Asians made these efforts more difficult. In the 1980s the United States embarked on a worldwide mission to spread its democratic ideals. It is the systems and institutions set up during this time that

Creative Process Assignment Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Creative Process Assignment - Article Example Ideas sometime needs inspiration forexample a personmay have a dream which gives them an idea. This idea has to be worked on immediately thus this person has to wake up in the middle of the night to right down these ideas lest they forget. Normal situations like taking a shower, watching a film or walking in the streets have a tendency of producing big ideas. In my own perspective everybody is creative if they decide to put their mind to it (Jaffe, 2003). Butif we look at the history of creativity which is the cornerstone of advertisements big ideas, we find out that the minds ability to be creative has been overshadowed(Griffin & Morrison, 2010). Creativity is a tough thing for most people yet it is very important in the contemporary society(Jaffe, 2003). Creativity is a process that seeps into the mind of the people. Everybody has their own creative process since each mind is unique thus ideas are born differently(Griffin & Morrison, 2010). I have my own creative process which I use to deliver my big ideas and I have to know my process just like an artist knows his tools. Novelty is my number one tool that I use before even starting the creative process(Griffin & Morrison, 2010). I do not necessarily have to have the idea at hand but if I have novelty I can always come up with new ideas which bring dynamism to the advertising world. My creative process involves four significant stages with the first stage being preparation(Griffin & Morrison, 2010). The preparation stage is where in my opinion makes the creative process tough. An example is when you see a person walking down the street you don’t look twice or remember him or her a few seconds after they have, passed. Why? Because it is ordinary, it is normal nothing stands out worth remembering(Jaffe, 2003). Now this same concept must be played in creativity in advertising. The preparation part means that I have to find out something new, something

Statistics case memo Project Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Case memo - Statistics Project Example This data represent 21 New Jersey counties. This report will examine correctness of the charge that New Jersey banks have been withdrawing from urban areas with a high percentage of minorities. For this, I will use Asbury Park Press compiled county by county data and summarize this data set using scatter diagram and the descriptive statistics and presents findings in this memo. The importance of this study is to test whether banks serve their own communities. A scatterplot is created taking â€Å"x† as the percentage of the population within each county that is minority and â€Å"y† as people in each county per branch bank within the county. Figure 1 shows the scatter diagram of minority percentage (independent variable x) against the number of people per bank branch (dependent variable y). There appears a strong direct positive relationship between the number of people in county per branch bank and the percentage of minority population in county. The R2 value of 0.5265 indicates that about 52.65% of the variation in the number of people in county per branch bank is explained by the percentage of minority population in county. This is a strong effect. However, the other 47.35% of the variation in the number of people in county per branch bank remains unexplained. The slope coefficient of regression of 35.89 suggests that for every percent increase in minority population in the county, the number of people per bank branch increases by about 36 on average. The intercept coefficient of regression of 2082 suggests that for no minority population in the county, the number of people per bank branch will be about 2,082 on average. The p-value for â€Å"x† variable the percentage of minority population in the county is 0.0002, which is less than 0.01. Therefore, the percentage of minority population in the county significantly predicts the number of people in county

Globalisation and the Mass Media Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Globalisation and the Mass Media - Essay Example As the report discusses globalisation can mean many things. There is the economic component of globalisation that is defined as â€Å"the integration of national economies into the international economy through trade, direct foreign investment, short term capital flows and international flows of workers and humanity in general†. As a by product of this economic globalisation is the flow of ideas and culture across national borders. The other definition of globalisation is â€Å"the freer movement of goods, services, ideas and people around the world†.   This definition encompasses the qualitative aspects of globalisation in the sense that it goes beyond mere numbers in defining the exchange of information in a borderless world.This paper stresses that  trade and commerce between nations has always been the case since the first ships carrying silk, spices and muslin from the east and other exotic stuff from the west has set forth for each other’s shores. In fa ct, the famous voyage of Christopher Columbus is a testament to the ability of nations to seek out markets other than their own for trade. Though the world was integrated in colonial times as well, the process received a setback in the 21st century in the intervening period between the two world wars. It was only after the establishment of the Bretton Woods system that the world economy started regaining some of its interconnectedness.   

Ethical behavior and ethical perspective Research Paper

Ethical behavior and ethical perspective - Research Paper Example This research will begin with the statement that ethical-making decisions are very important and can affect the evaluation phase that it belongs to. Some of the ethical decision that is made keep ethical theories to the background and hence are used in the decision-making procedure of everyday life. Others do ignore the theories when they are making their decisions and only really on the theoretical approach that is cognitive moral development. Some studies have been on the fore front of examining the link between the theories and the way that most people make their decisions. These reasons are justified to belong to the criteria that are derived from the various stages in moral reasoning. Any ethics that has an action is solely determined by its end results or the consequences that are obtained in the end. This approach does look at the difference that is there between the good and the bad. Acts are considered to be good when they tend to have a positive effect and also in promoting human welfare. They are then considered to be harmful when they have a negative effect on individuals. This approach is thus referred to ass Teleological theory. Therefore, when one considers analyzing their ethical behavior, they ought to consider this theory. Teleological moral theories are accurately linked to the aspect of Hedonism. This aspect is able to connect the consequences that human behavior has to the foundation that is based on good and bad, right and wrong.

Lu Xun by Zhou Shuren Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Lu Xun by Zhou Shuren - Essay Example Even Mao Zedong, a well-known and highly respected Chinese political leader, claimed that he himself is a lifelong aficionado of the works of Lu Xun. Although Lu Xun was compassionate to the ideals of the Communist, surprisingly, he never joined the Chinese Communist Party. In several works of Lu Xun, he contrasted the hypocrisy of upper-class scholars and elites, with the suffering of the lower-class people. But the uncomplicated interpretation of his stories often neglected their uncertainty and metaphysical levels. His works that deeply influenced modern Chinese fiction are Na Han (Call to Arms) of 1923, Pang Huang (Wandering) of 1926, and Gu shi xin bian (Old Tales Retold) of 1935. His essays are often satirical in his societal remarks and with his mastery of the vernacular language; his expertise with tone, which does not always project an easy thought, make his works even harder to translate. He produced harsh condemnation of China's social problems, particularly in his analysis of the ideal Chinese national. Lu Xun had all the qualifications of a good polemicist; simply means a writer who argues in disagreement or opposition to others. One of major of works of Lu Xun is the "Wild Grass" or "Ye Cao" which is a collection of prose poems which was written in 1924 and 1926. It is a pessimistic and gruesome set of poems that is a product of dreams including nightmares. A caption that would portray his seemingly negative attitude is read as follows: "As subterranean fire is spreading, raging underground. Once the molten lava beaks through the earth's crust, it will consume the wild grass and lofty trees, leaving nothing to decay. But I am not worried; I am glad. I shall laugh aloud and sing." (Wild Grass 1974) However, he is motivated to write in the hopes of enlightening his people, for humanity, and for the need to better it. It appeared from his writing that his aim is to expose the disease, or the unfortunates of the society, and draw attention to it so as it can be cured or corrected. Also evident is the mixing of literal and figurative truth; fantasy and reality; animate and inanimate objects. In effect the poems i n "Wild Grass" are a product of supernatural events and the dream, or the intentional framing of a piece of account as a dream, is strongly associated with the world of the individual subconscious. It is a place of strong emotional intensity inspiring of otherwise subdued or surrealist image and desires. This is depicted in the line, "If you sleep to a time when you lose track of time, your shadow may come and take his leave with these words: There is something I dislike in heave; I do not want to go there." (Wild Grass 1974) The effect is one of underscoring the inconsistency between the inner world and outer world, and of highlighting the complications of individual psychology. In several of these short passages, the dream now becomes a model of art, rearranging personal experiences into symbolic structures, aiming not as visualization of actual events, but rather an

The Urban Political Machine Essay Example for Free

The Urban Political Machine Essay Basically, an urban political machine is a system which was born around the end of the 19th and the early part of the 20th century. This system was formulated to cater to the needs of immigrants and other urban dwellers because they have become part of the majority of the population around this time. The system served as a guarantor of the delivery of the basic needs of people, due to the fact that the state has started to face difficulties in promoting the said needs and services. (Urban Political Machine) Take note that these urban political machines are unique to the United States, and these systems are constructed in the pursuit of the two most important things in politics, money and power. Their roles extended beyond what the state offered; they provided things such as aid for immigrants in finding tangible things such as houses, to the intangibles such as jobs. These machines also helped distribute food in the forms of groceries to families that are deep in need. One of the most surprising things that these urban political machines did was help families that have members in jail, mostly in the form of bail. (Urban Political Machine) According to Jane Addams, an urban political machine, the Alderman, â€Å"bails out his constituents when they are arrested, or says a good word to the police justice when they appear before him for trial†. (Urban Political Machines) This is one way that the urban political machine garnered the negative image that was associated with it. In exchange for these forms of aid, one important thing needed by any political machine is the trust and loyalty by its members, most importantly the people’s votes. Looking at the urban political machine at a non-moralist point of view, one can see that it has indeed become effective in aiding the people especially immigrants because it was able to cater to some of the constituent’s most basic needs, but when looked at from the other side, it can be seen as a very ripe instrument which could lead to things like corruption and tyranny. Bibliography Urban Political Machine. Radford University Home Page. Retrieved May 6, 2009 from http://www. runet. edu/~shepburn/urban_political_machine. htm Urban Political Machines. University of Houston Digital History. Retrieved May 6, 2009 from http://www. digitalhistory. uh. edu/

Soft And Hard Human Resource Management

Soft And Hard Human Resource Management HRM is an essential and vital function for organizational success. Areas within HRM like Manpower planning, Job analysis, Selection and Recruitment, Compensation and Benefits, Performance evaluations, Contract negotiations and Labor legislations are parts of hard HRM whereas functions like Organizational development, conflict management, human resource education, leadership development, organizational culture, and relationship building are components of soft HRM. The hard HRM can be categorized as the basic functions and soft HRM as advanced functions. In todays knowledge economy, where human capital determines the growth and success of an organization, both hard and soft HRM are sig. Hard HRM:- a very instrumental, practical approach, people seen as a passive resources to be used, deployed and if necessary disposed of HR planning is seen as a factor of production incompatible with trade unions-may necessitate confrontation to implement concepts. Soft HRM: sometimes known as development humanism stresses human side entails trust, collaboration, skill development place for unions in this model where unions are marginalized and by passed on many issues or alternative forms of employee representation are initiated above all, about commitment and partnership. Hard HR Management Soft HR Management Treats employees simply as a resource of the business (like machinery buildings) Strong link with corporate business planning what resources do we need, how do we get them and how much will they cost Treats employees as the most important resource in the business and a source of competitive advantage Employees are treated as individuals and their needs are planned accordingly Focus of HRM: identify workforce needs of the business and recruit manage accordingly (hiring, moving and firing) Focus of HRM: concentrate on the needs of employees their roles, rewards, motivation etc. Key features Key features Short-term changes in employee numbers (recruitment, redundancy) Strategic focus on longer-term workforce planning Minimal communication, from the top down Strong and regular two-way communication Pay enough to recruit and retain enough staff (e.g. minimum wage) Competitive pay structure, with suitable performance-related rewards (e.g. profit share, share options) Little empowerment or delegation Employees are empowered and encouraged to seek delegation and take responsibility Appraisal systems focused on making judgments (good and bad) about staff Appraisal systems focused on identifying and addressing training and other employee development needs Taller organizational structures Flatter organizational structures Suits autocratic leadership style Suits democratic leadership style As analyzing this, the hard approach to HR might be expected to result in a more cost-effective workforce where decision-making is quicker and focused on senior managers. However, such an approach pays relatively little attention to the needs of employees and a business adopting a genuinely hard approach might expect to suffer from higher absenteeism and staff turnover and less successful recruitment but the soft approach will certainly appeal to the touchy-feely among it who like to see people being treated nicely. And it can also make a good business case for an approach which rewards employee performance and motivates staff more effectively. However, the danger of taking too soft an approach is that when all the employee benefits are added up, the cost of the workforce leaves a business at a competitive disadvantage. HMR and Personal/ IR Practices with Compared to 27 Dimensions of Storys Definitions Storys model gives a clear idea about the difference between personal and industrial human resource management, According to storys model of human resource management: Human Resource Management has to be implemented into the organization strategy and has to be considered in the higher level of the organization. Human Resource Management needs to be included to management functions and creates an impact on the organizations ability to achieve their goals. Human Resource Managements main key function is to encourage commitment from the employees in the organization but not complaints. Humans ability, capability and commitment is what differentiate each organization has. Points of difference between personnel and IR practices and HRM practices Dimensions Personnel/IR HRM Beliefs Assumptions Contract Careful delineation of written contracts Aim to go beyond contract Guide to management action Procedures Business need Behavior referent Norms Values Managerial task via a vise labor Monitoring Nurturing Strategic Aspect Key relations Labor management Customer Corporate plan Marginal to Central to Speed of decision Slow Fast Line Management Management role Transactional Transformational leadership Communication Indirect Direct Standardization High Low Key Levelers Selection Separate, marginal task Integrated, key task Pay Job evaluation Performance related Conditions Separately negotiated Harmonization Labor management Collective bargaining contracts Towards individual contracts Role of the Line Managers and employees in the organization. The areas where front line managers and employees make a significant difference to people management practices are: Performance Appraisal Training, coaching and guidance Involvement and communication Openness how easy is it for employees to discuss matters with their front line manager Work-life balance Recognition the extent to which employees feel their contribution is recognized. These are all areas where, although the process may be designed by HR, it cannot be delivered by HR. The front line manager role is crucial in a number of respects In enabling the HR policies and practices, or bringing them to life. in acting upon advice or guidance from HR in controlling the work flow by directing and guiding the work of others To do this successfully, this part of the front line managers role must be given at least as much recognition as other operational areas and they must be allocated time within their work schedule to carry out the people management side of the job. The qualities and skills needed from front line managers. The Bath research found that front line managers exercise a strong influence over the level of discretion that an individual has over how they do their job. Some managers can permit and encourage people to be responsible for their own jobs whereas others can stifle initiative through controlling or autocratic behavior. To encourage the kind of discretionary behavior from employees associated with higher performance, front line managers need to: Build a good working relationship with their staff. They need to lead, listen, ask, communicate, be fair, respond to suggestions and deal with problems. Help and support employees to take more responsibility for how they do their jobs by coaching and guidance. Build effective teams. Many of the qualities and skills which are associated with higher quality front line management are around the behaviors of front line managers. It is not enough to educate front line managers in the behaviors required; organizations must also ensure they are developing the environment and culture in which front line managers are actively encouraged and permitted to exhibit the behaviors above. The Bath research found that organizations which had a strong shared culture with guiding principles for behavior which were embedded into practice over time were more successful Attribution: http://www.citehr.com/15998-role-front-line-managers-hr.html#ixzz21Teh5Dml Section B There are potential benefits for both the individual and the organization from using a proper performance management A good performance management system works towards the improvement of the overall organizational performance by managing the performances of terms and individuals for ensuring the achievement of the overall organizational ambitions and goals. An effective performance management system can play a very crucial role in managing the performance in an organization by: Improved business profits The bottom line of an organization improves significantly by increasing employee productivity and quality of work. Increase employee responsibility Communicating realistic but challenging job expectations and making employee accountable for their decisions and actions result in noticeable improvements in employee tardiness, absences and organizational commitment. Equitable treatment of employees All employees are treated fairly by implementing standardized procedures that promote consistency throughout an organization. Enhanced quality of work life Employees experience greater job satisfaction because they become more successful As a HR manager, you need to manage different human resource practices in the workplace Yes I do agree with the statement. Approaching the nature of HRM from a slightly different perspective, (Bowen and Ostroff, 2004) have argued that what they term a strong HR system is more likely to have an impact. Where more high performance practices are in place, and all helping to elicit the same kind of attitudes and behavior from employees, the cumulative impact is likely to be greater. In this context, the specific sets of practices that might be associated with competence, motivation or contribution become rather less important. Another reason why specific bundles of practices might be less significant and difficult to link to performance is that some practices might contribute to several HR outcomes. For example, job design or goal setting might affect both motivation and opportunity to contribute. This leads to two possibilities. On the one hand it may be most appropriate to follow the Bowen and Ostroff line and count the number of practices in place; on the other, it may b e sensible to explore whether specific practices are consistently associated with superior performance. There is an impact of globalization on issues such as human resource planning Yes I do agree with the statement. The interest in strategic human resource management (HRM) has spawned a number of empirical research studies that investigated the impact of HRM practices on organizational performance. However, very little attention has been paid to address the impact of HRM practices on operations management and to generalize the findings across countries and industries. Success of some business decisions. Globalization and The Changing Face of Human Resource Management The pressures on traditional IR models are not all due to globalization, as we shall see, but many of the changes taking place can be traced to globalization. It is not always easy to disentangle the causes and effects of globalization. However it would probably be true to say that globalization is represented by the opening up of markets due, in large measure to foreign direct investment consequent upon the lowering of investment barriers in practically all countries by the liberalization of trade and by the deregulation of financial markets in consequence of which governments increasingly have little control over the flow of capital across borders. All this implies the dominance of the market system, facilitated by the collapse of alternative economic systems. Introduction of new technology Pushing for a more deregulated and flexible labor market More emphasis on productivity and quality Greater employee involvement in the design and execution of work Shifting the focus of collective bargaining from the industry level to the enterprise level. Employers are of the view that issues relevant to the employment relationship such as work re-organization, flexible working hours and contractual arrangements, and pay for performance and skills, are increasingly workplace-related, and should therefore be addressed at the enterprise level. Downsizing the workforce. One important response has been the introduction of flexibility in the employment relationship to increase the capacity of enterprises to adapt rapidly to market changes. This has involved measures such as: flexible working hours, part-time work different types of employment contracts to the standard ones familiar to collective IR flexibility in functions, so that employees who are multi-skilled are not confined to the performance of only one task. They can cover up for absenteeism, and make some jobs redundant. Globalization has, through technology diffusion, substantially increased the introduction of new technology. This, as well as the need for flexible adaptation to market changes, has led to the re-organization of production systems and methods of work, such as the following: Reduction of narrow job classifications and demarcation lines between managers and workers, accompanied by skills enhancement needed to perform jobs with a broader range of tasks. The competition generated by globalization and rapid technological changes accompanied by shorter product life have, while destroying countless jobs in industrialized countries, created opportunities for multi-skilled and easily trainable workers, and for the most significant group of emerging employees the knowledge worker. Knowledge and skills have become the most important determinants of investment, employment opportunities, productivity and quality and of flexibility. Different national cultures and practices make an influence for making a culturally diverse workforce Difference national cultures and practices make an influence for making a culturally diverse workforce. The workforce of the twenty first century is increasingly diverse and multicultural. To effectively manage and lead in this environment, HR must be knowledgeable about cross cultural factors on both the domestic and global fronts in human resource management. By promoting education in cross cultural competencies throughout the organization HR can better serve the company to successfully achieve its mission and goals. As a concept and as a reality, culture is broad and multifaceted. On a daily basis culture influences who we are as individuals, families, communities, professions, industries, organizations and nations and how we interact with each other within and across regional and national borders. Defined as a set of values and beliefs with learned behaviors shared within a particular society, culture provides a sense of identity and belonging. From language, communication styles, history and religion to norms, values, symbolism and ways of being, culture is everywhere. In domestic and global workplace settings people in organizations reflect their respective cultures. As shifting demographics bring together people of many cultural backgrounds, human resource management must be thoughtfully examined and sometimes altered to support organizational goals. Special Expertise Panel members point out that for sustainability, organizational leaders must expand their perspectives from a local to a worldly view. HR professionals experienced in workplace diversity and cross cultural communication are well positioned to develop and implement culturally appropriate HRM strategies, policies and practices. While not exhaustive this Research Quarterly focuses on selected cross cultural factors in HRM in todays workplace and provides insights for HR to better serve the needs of the organization. Business Case for Cross Cultural HRM With the advent of globalization, research on cross cultural organizational behavior has become a pathway to understand the dynamics of multicultural domestic and international workplaces. In fact successful organizations of the 21st century require leaders who understand culturally diverse work environments and can work effectively with different cultures that have varying work ethics, norms and business protocols. Yet diverse cultures create HRM challenges. Gaining cross cultural competence takes time, education, experience, openness and sensitivity. When people lack intercultural skills miscommunications can damage business relationships deadlines can be missed projects may fail and talented people will go to the competition. Key HR responsibilities are to understand how cross cultural factors interact with HR, be the conduit for organizational learning for cross cultural intelligence and foster cross cultural communication throughout the organization. Cultural Value Dimensions Cross cultural intelligence is the ability to switch ethnic or national contexts and quickly learn new patterns of social interaction with appropriate behavioral responses. This competence is essential to work effectively in multicultural environments. Thus linking future career paths and global business success with cultural competence is important for HR to emphasize, with the goal that managers are motivated to acquire new behaviors and skills and understand the benefits of learning from different cultures. Task 02 Section A- Case Study Explain the Audit Firms model of flexibility. The concept of a flexible firm recognizes that organizations will requires enhanced flexibility to meet ever evolving market and competitive pressures. The flexible firm model suggests that we can design our workforces to proactively meet our business needs through flexible staffing arrangements. In other words it is a concept of simply integrating flexible conditions into the administration an organizations functional operations, in order o meet the demands of a highly competitive market and attain its strategic aims and goals. Flexibility is a calculated risk utilized by organization to survive and gain strategic competitive advantage. Therefor this case study, shows how they has developed and implemented flexible work practices improve its services and meet the changing needs of its staff. According to the contracts help the Audit commission to cope with all of its changing needs. They also help it to be flexible. There are three main types of flexibility they practice. Numerical Flexibility Functional Flexibility Place- of- work flexibility The Audit Commission is constantly face with peaks and troughs in the workload that cannot be met simply by having its employees on full time contracts. There are situations where they need either more staff or fewer staff. By increasing or reduce staff in their situation the Audit Commission has developed numerical flexibility. The Audit Commission has also developed flexibility through developing the skills of its employees to deal with a wider variety of work. This means that when the nature and type of work changes, employees are comfortable undertaking different tasks. This is known as functional flexibility. Homeworking is an example of place-of-work flexibility. The Audit Commission uses this way to respond to the challenges within their business environment. This method of working has helped it to meet more closely the needs of its staff. As part of its flexible working arrangements, homeworking has helped to transform the ways in which many people work and improve their work-life-balance. Briefly explain the need for flexibility. According to this firm do you believe that they are implementing the correct types of flexibility? Explain your answer. Employers have always wanted workers to be as flexible as possible. In the past this has mean paying overtime for extra hours worked, or higher rates for shift work. Faced with competition, businesses attempt to use their existing employees more effectively. Sometimes this could benefit employee. Working flexible hours could mean an employee may take time off for personal reasons and still work their required number of hours a week. The need for flexibility is increasing due to demographic and social changes the number of people in the paid work force with caring responsibilities is set to increase. In turn this will increase the demand for flexibility in the workplace. Moreover, increasing competition has placed emphasis on quality, innovation and reducing the unit cost of production: job design and the organization of work must both mobilize employees energies for quality innovation and reliable productivity. In addition to this Technological change, particularly in the automation and computerization of work process and information flows, has eroded traditional demarcation boundaries between jobs: job design and the organization of work must fit the new technology in order to secure its benefits for efficiency. Increasing market uncertainty means that organizations need to be more adaptable to changes in demand: able to vary the size and deployment of their workforces to meet demand as effectively and efficien tly as possible. Yes I do believe that they are practicing the correct types of flexibility. The benefits they are getting form those types are more and it will lead to build effective flexible working system. Flexibility is not about integration of the different spheres of life to reduce conflict or to harmonizing paid work with other parts of life; rather flexibility is about how self-managing employees constitute synthesis of work life and home life as distinct parts of one and the same life. If Audit Commission is very much concerned about their flexibility in the work place those types they are currently practicing is totally suitable. By regular homeworking helps an organization to develop family-friendly policies that improve the work-life balance of its staff. For the organization, homeworking assists in recruiting individuals who are attracted to this style of working and this enables the Audit Commission to retain a diverse workforce. Evaluate the advantages and dis advantages of flexible working practices from both of the employee and employer perspective relate with this firm. For Employee Advantages It reduces the transport cost for the employee and by reducing the transportation it is good for environment. Regular homeworking helps an organization to develop family-friendly policies that improve the work-life balance of its staff especially in Audit Commission. Employers have great freedom to organize their work to finish on time. By implementing flexible working system employers can improve morale and reducing absence and lateness. A better work/life balance being able to meet both work and personal commitments Increased sense of control leading to increased sense of well-being With the greater job satisfaction employees can make better working environment with a happier person all around. Being able to remain in the workforce longer with greater loyalty, trust and respect towards employers Disadvantages Lower salary if you work fewer hours. Possible sense of isolation from colleagues. Loneliness. Need for a dedicated work space. Difficulty in judging performance. Need to be self-disciplined and highly organized. Possible obstacle to promotion. A sense that you have been forced into it by circumstances not of your choosing. For Employer Advantages Happy and satisfied employees, who have a greater sense of trust and loyalty, create many business benefits: Attracting skilled and motivated employees Particularly those who wouldnt normally apply. For example mature aged workers those who have Auditing experience, those with family/care responsibilities and those seeking greater balance between work and personal interests. Keeping skilled and motivated employees Effective flexibility can reduce unwanted staff losses by up to 25%. A huge cost saving in terms of retaining knowledge, maintaining Agent relationships and in re-training, creating awareness and administration costs. Motivating and energizing staff Resulting in increased productivity and greater profits, as employees focus more on business success, are more flexible to meet its needs and driven to work harder specially service organization like Audit commission. Increasing employee satisfaction creating a happier workplace, with greater teamwork, collaboration and sharing of knowledge. Lower staff absences employees are less stressed about meeting their job and outside/family commitments and have a greater sense of well-being, reducing unplanned absences. Increasing skills and creativity of your managers Managers are challenged to look outside the square, develop leadership skills and manage a more diverse workforce Improving customer service and retention More committed employees, greater employee retention and a better match between peaks and troughs in workflows and staffing will allow you to more closely meet customers needs Becoming an Employer of Choice which expands the pool of talented workers that an advertisement will attract. Disadvantages Finding qualified employees who want to be part of a flexible workforce can be challenging, because people generally prefer jobs that provide a reliable and predictable income stream. It can be difficult to retain employees in a flexible workforce. Thats because during times when business is slow and members of a flexible workforce arent working, theyre likely to spend their time looking for other work. If Audit Commission is opened in non-working working hours as a result it will lead to increase the unwanted costs like electricity and heating and so on. Section B Essay Equal opportunities with in the workplace The term equal opportunities is a broadly used phrase which promotes the idea that everyone within an organization should have an equal chance to apply and be selected for posts, to be trained or promoted and to have their employment terminated equally. Providing equal opportunity and treating employers without prejudice is vital to achieve organizational objectives. Over the past 30 years, the workplace has changed dramatically. Women have become more empowered giving them the opportunity to seek career progression which had previously been denied to them. Disabled people who can work are being helped back to work and offered the same opportunities as able-bodied people and economic globalization of business has meant that managers must be aware of cultural and race issues. There should be no discrimination on the grounds of gender, homosexuality, age, racial origin, religious affiliation, disability or marital status. Employers can only discriminate on the grounds of ability, poten tial and all employment decisions taken on an individuals ability to do a particular job. There are two main forms of discrimination. First of all direct discrimination involves treating an individual within the workforce less favorably than others on sexual, marital, racial or disabled grounds. It occurs when interested group is treated less favorably than another. (Except for exempted cases) For example, Management decision is not to select or promote a woman because she is pregnant or because of her nationality. One act of discrimination is sufficient and must be directed at an individual for action to be taken. Second type of discrimination is indirect discrimination. Indirect discrimination describes a term or condition applicable to both sexes but where one sex has considerably less of an ability to comply with it than the other. It occurs when, an employer applies a provision, criterion practice to men and women equally, but it has the effect of putting one sex at a particular disadvantage without justification. For example, change the shift patterns to include an early morning to start, as a woman is more likely to be responsible for childcare or a condition that a candidate for a job must be of a minimum certain height. It is unlawful to discriminate in employment on the grounds of color, race, nationality, gender, gender reassignment, marital status, and disability for all staff, regardless of their hours, or patterns of work. Within the work environment the majority of discrimination claims Centre around the recruitment and selection process. Several pieces of employment legislation exist in order to provide a framework for implementing equal opportunities within the workplace. The main legislation is Equal Pay Act, Sex Discrimination Act, Race Relations Act, Human Rights Act, Race Relations, Employment Equality in Religion or Belief and Gender Recognition Act. In developed countries there are migrants and even students who work for lesser wages than the minimum wages. The wages that they are paid is less than the national wages that is allowed by the government and not only the payment is less but there could be situations where they work for longer hours than they can in a weeks time. In countri es such as Sri Lanka there are many places and organizations where framework is not followed and are broken with many discrimination such as sex, pay and also race but due to the fear of the influence and also the fact that they need the money to work the employees do not take necessary actions. Organizations consist of many individuals working together to achieve organizational success. These individuals collectively bring different attitudes, perceptions and learning experiences to the workplace, as well as ethnic, gender and personality differences. When the Equal Opportunities Commission was set up, it was to tackle the issue of Gender Discrimination predominantly and to offer women the same working rights as their male complements. However, in modern day society, equal opportunities has been broadened and backed up by law to provide the same level of protection to other minority groups in the workforce. Mainly there are three types of discrimination. First type of discrimination is age discrimination. Age discrimination involves treating employee less favorably because of his age. The Age Discrimination in Employment Act only forbids age discrimination against people who are age 40 or older. It does not protect workers under the age of 40, although some states do have l aws that protect younger workers from age discrimination. It is not illegal for an employer or other covered entity to favor an older worker over a younger one even if both workers are age 40 or older (The Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006, 2006). Second type of discrimination is sex discrimination. Sex

Nature and Extent of Domestic Violence

Nature and Extent of Domestic Violence It is important to point out here that an adult is classed as any person over the age of eighteen years old. Family members are said to include mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, brothers, sisters or grandparents. It is also important to point out that using the term family members does not only mean that those directly related are included in this definition of domestic violence, as in-laws or step-family members are also defined as being family members (Home Office, 2010). The Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) and the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) also use this definition of domestic violence (ACPO, 2008). It is not uncommon, however, for various other agencies to have different definitions of domestic violence. This can prove to be a considerable problem when attempting to design and deliver services specifically aimed at tackling the problem of domestic violence (Humphries, Hester, Hague, Mullender, Abrahams and Lowe, 2000). This is a problem that will be considered in more depth in Chapter 4 when examining the implications of taking a multi-agency approach to tackling domestic violence. The extent of the problem According to the Home Office (2010): Domestic violence accounts for 14% of all violent incidents One incident of domestic violence is reported to the police every minute One in four women and one in six men will be a victim of domestic violence in their lifetime with women at a greater risk of repeat victimisation and serious injury Domestic violence currently claims the lives of around two women a week The victims The definition of domestic violence given by the government states that domestic violence occurs regardless of gender (Home Office, 2010; ACPO, 2008). This would suggest that victims of domestic violence are equally likely to be male as they are female. However, whilst it is true that both men and women can be victims of domestic violence, statistics show that in most cases of domestic violence the victims are women. On top of this, the government follow the statistic one in four women and one in six men will be a victim of domestic violence in their lifetime with with women at a greater risk of repeat victimisation and serious injury (Home Office, 2010) but fail to point out that the former part of the statistic is based on one-off events (Womens Aid, 2010a). With women being at an increased chance of repeat victimisation, the gap between the extents to which women experience domestic violence compared to men is probably much wider than government statistics tell us. It is for this reason that the main focus throughout this piece of work is on violence against women. In addition to all of this, it is once again vital to stress that, given the hidden nature of domestic violence, it will always be difficult to know exactly how many people men or women are victimised in their lifetime because of domestic violence. The nature of the problem It is firstly extremely significant to point out domestic violence is rarely a one-off event and, as mentioned previously, women are particularly likely to experience repeat victimisation (Home Office, 2010). Secondly, in every case of domestic violence power and control over the victim are remarkably evident. These points alone stress the fact that domestic violence is a devastating problem; however, by looking further into the nature of the abuse it is clear that this devastating problem is also awfully complicated. It would be fair to say that physical violence is the first thing that comes to mind when considering the type of abuse that a victim of domestic violence may suffer. However, by looking at the Government definition of domestic violence it becomes clear that most cases are much more complicated than this, as physical violence is just one element of domestic violence and domestic violence can occur with or without it. Other attributes of domestic violence, as stated in the Government definition, include threatening behaviour and/or psychological, physical, sexual, financial or emotional abuse (Home Office, 2010; ACPO, 2008). The Wheel of Violence (or sometimes referred to as the Wheel of Power and Control) reiterates this idea as it has been developed to show the different types of behaviour that constitute domestic violence (Womens Aid, 2007) and all of these behaviours are based on power and control. The Wheel of Violence suggests that there are eight different ways in which a perpetrator can gain power and control over their victim. These are: using coercion and threats, using intimidation, using emotional abuse, using isolation, minimizing, denying and blaming, using children, using male privilege and using economic abuse. A Wheel of Non-Violence (or sometimes referred to as the Wheel of Equality) has also been developed to show what a non-violent partnership looks like in comparison (Womens Aid, 2007). This wheel is also made up of eight components which include negotiation and fairness, respect and trust and support. Both of these wheels have been developed by the Duluth Domestic Abuse Intervention Project but are widely used by many agencies in the United Kingdom in an attempt to explain the nature of this complicated problem. During a three-day period of observing the work of the Sunflower Centre, a multi-agency support centre in Northampton, a copy of these wheels were provided and are included in Appendix 2. The point that is trying to be conveyed here is that in every case of domestic violence devastating harm is caused to the victim and when considering just how many victims there are, it is clear that something needs to be done to tackle this huge and complicated problem. However, because of the complicated nature of this problem, it often requires a response frequently involving more than one agency (Dominy Radford, 1996: 43). This is why, before discussing any multi-agency initiatives that attempt to tackle violence against women, it is important to consider which agencies come into contact with victims of domestic violence, why they may come into contact with them and how they, as a single agency, attempt to tackle the problem. Agencies concerned with tackling domestic violence Gill Hague, Ellen Malos and Wendy Dear (1996: 23-28) give an insight into who the major players are when it comes to dealing with domestic violence. They state that there are numerous agencies that come into contact with victims of domestic violence including those agencies who specialise in the issue and those in which domestic violence work forms only a small percentage of their duties (Hague et al, 1996: 23). The agencies listed in the work of Hague, Malos and Dear is provided here, however, a variety of sources will be used to explain why these particular agencies regularly come into contact with victims of domestic violence and how they attempt to tackle the problem. Womens Aid and local womens refuges Womens Aid are a core agency in attempting to tackle domestic violence as they are a national charity that specialise in violence against women. They work hard to help women who have suffered or are suffering violence in numerous ways. Firstly, they work hard to protect victims of domestic violence by ensuring that there are adequate laws, policies and practices in place for victims of domestic violence. Secondly, they try to prevent violence against women through their ongoing publicity campaigns and educational programmes and thirdly they provide numerous services for victims of domestic violence both locally (such as local refuges) and nationally (such as the National Domestic Violence Helpline). Womens Aid help approximately 250,000 women and children every year  (Womens Aid, 2010b)

Educational Productivity :: Teaching Education

Educational Productivity Educational productivity is the improvement of students outcomes with little or no additional financial resources, or a consistent level of student performance at a lower level of spending. Educational productivity is based on effectiveness. This is the linkage between student outcomes and the level and use of finacial resources in the schools. Production functions are concerned with how money is related to student learning and lifetime earnings. Other approaches are cost functions, data envelopment, and the impact of smaller class size on the student learning. Although there has been extensive research about educational productive functions, there are still many disagreement among researchers as to whether or not a statistical link can be found between student outcomes and money. However, it is agreed upon that the single largest expendidture in the public school system is teacher expenditure. Early production-function research, modeled on classical economic theory, tried to correlate a set of educational "inputs" to a single "output." Most of these studies were inconclusive. Because of the complexity of the schooling process and factors (like child poverty) outside schools' control, it has been difficult to isolate statistically significant one-to-one correlations between inputs and student learning. The most common outcomes measured in such studies are standardized test results, graduation rates, dropout rates, college attendance patterns, and labor-market outcomes. Inputs usually include per-pupil expenditures; student-teacher ratios; teacher education, experience, and salary; school facilities; and administrative factors (Lawrence Picus 1997). The most famous production-function study was the U.S. Department of Education's "Coleman Report." This massive survey of 600,000 students in 3,000 schools concluded that socioeconomic background influenced student success more than various school and teacher characteristics (Picus 1997). Another type of research was culminated in Eric Hanushek's 1989 study, which analyzed results of 187 production studies published during the previous 20 years. Using a simple vote-counting method to compare data, Hanushek found no systematic, positive relationship between student achievement and seven inputs. Hanushek's findings have been challenged by recent studies using more sophisticated research techniques. When Larry Hedges (1994) and associates reanalyzed Hanushek's syntheses using meta-analysis, they discovered that a $500 (roughly 10 percent) increase in average spending per pupil would significantly increase student achievement. Likewise, Faith Crampton's comprehensive analysis (1995) of inputs affecting achievement in New York State schools found that expenditures seemed to matter when they bought smaller classes and more experienced, highly educated teachers.

Koreans: When And Why Did They Come? :: essays research papers

Koreans: When and Why Did They Come?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  At the end of the 19th century the USA received it's first refugees from Korea, three pro-Japanese activists seeking exile after an unsuccessful attempt to over throw the government. (Moynihan 45) They were followed by 64 students between 1890 and 1905 to purse further education in the USA. Between 1902 and 1905, 7,000 Korean immigrants arrived in Hawaii. (Thernstrom) From 1903 to 1905, 65 ships carrying 7,226 Koreans, set sail from Inchon for Honolulu. (Bandon 18) When each group arrived they settled on a sugar plantation. (Bandon 18) In 1907 the US government refused to recognize the Korean passport. From that point on, any Korean entering the US had to have a Japanese passport. (Bandon 18) These developments effectively ended almost all Korean immigration to Hawaii and the US for forty years.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Many of the Koreans came because of the sugar industry in Hawaii. It was booming and plantations needed more workers than the native population could supply. (Moynihan 45) At this time, rumors spread among the plantation owners that Koreans were more industrious then either the Chinese or the Japanese. After consulting with the US ambassador to Korea, recruiters became journeying to the peninsulas. (Moynihan 45)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Hawaii Sugar Planters Association struck a deal with David Declare, who was paid five dollars for every laborer he lured to the Hawaiian Islands. (Moynihan 45) Deshler even offered unsuspecting Koreans loans of $100 so they could travel to Hawaii and get settled. (Moynihan 45)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Despite their distrust of Western ways and people, Koreans of early 1900's found terms of migration attractive: a monthly wage of $15, free housing, health care, English lessons, and the predominately warm Hawaiian climate. (Moynihan 45) Recruiters in Korea used the upbeat slogan â€Å"The country is open- go forward,† which portrayed that Hawaii is a land of opportunity. (Moynihan 46) Like the Chinese and Japanese who were before the Koreans, found plantation life hard an unrewarding. (Moynihan 47) The immigrants were drained by 10-hour work days and 6-day work weeks. (Moynihan 48) Their exhaustion was not related by conditions on the plantation, which in variably included squalid housing, isolation and poor food. (Moynihan 48) One person described his experience as

Nature versus Nurture in Shakespeares Macbeth :: GCSE English Literature Coursework

Nature versus Nurture in Macbeth One of the most commonly debated issues concerning morality is the concept of nature versus nurture. Which is more integral to one’s behavior: the inborn qualities or the influences of life on the individual? Mark Twain, in his essay entitled "What Is Man?" describes humankind this way: Man the machine--man the impersonal engine. Whatsoever a man is, is due to his MAKE, and to the INFLUENCES brought to bear upon it by his heredities, his habitat, his associations. He is moved, directed, COMMANDED, by EXTERIOR influences--SOLELY. (What Is Man?, Mark Twain, http://underthesun.cc/Classics/Twain/whatman/Whatisman.htm) There is some scientific basis for this claim. Studies have shown that both a person’s genetic structure and the circumstances to which he or she is subjected have bearing on how a person thinks, feels and acts. Considering this, the actions of the character Macbeth must be evaluated by his personal motivations and the external causes that may have led to them. It is established from the very beginning that Macbeth is ambitious. There can be no doubt about this. A certain level of courage accompanies his ambition as well. As a noble he is an active one, fighting against the rebel hordes and Norwegians in defense of his king, no doubt for the purpose of gaining notoriety and other rewards. This is further illustrated by his gracious acceptance of credit for his deeds. He is a political figure in the highest sense, and show ambition in this way. However, there is no sign of him altering his course of loyal nobleman until outside influences begin to intercede. The people with gr eatest impact on Macbeth are the witches, his wife and Lady, and King Duncan of Scotland. The witches introduce the idea, King Duncan gives personal motive, and Lady Macbeth helps along the way. The least influential party in all of this is King Duncan. The conflict between these two is purely circumstantial, but clear enough. Macbeth is, as stated, an ambitious man. The King represents the highest position of power that Macbeth can hope to achieve. The King is also a father figure, patronizing to his subjects and expectant of total servitude. When King Duncan thanks Macbeth for his heroic service in battle, Macbeth replies that "Your highness' part / Is to receive our duties; and our duties / Are to your throne and state children and servants" (1. Nature versus Nurture in Shakespeare's Macbeth :: GCSE English Literature Coursework Nature versus Nurture in Macbeth One of the most commonly debated issues concerning morality is the concept of nature versus nurture. Which is more integral to one’s behavior: the inborn qualities or the influences of life on the individual? Mark Twain, in his essay entitled "What Is Man?" describes humankind this way: Man the machine--man the impersonal engine. Whatsoever a man is, is due to his MAKE, and to the INFLUENCES brought to bear upon it by his heredities, his habitat, his associations. He is moved, directed, COMMANDED, by EXTERIOR influences--SOLELY. (What Is Man?, Mark Twain, http://underthesun.cc/Classics/Twain/whatman/Whatisman.htm) There is some scientific basis for this claim. Studies have shown that both a person’s genetic structure and the circumstances to which he or she is subjected have bearing on how a person thinks, feels and acts. Considering this, the actions of the character Macbeth must be evaluated by his personal motivations and the external causes that may have led to them. It is established from the very beginning that Macbeth is ambitious. There can be no doubt about this. A certain level of courage accompanies his ambition as well. As a noble he is an active one, fighting against the rebel hordes and Norwegians in defense of his king, no doubt for the purpose of gaining notoriety and other rewards. This is further illustrated by his gracious acceptance of credit for his deeds. He is a political figure in the highest sense, and show ambition in this way. However, there is no sign of him altering his course of loyal nobleman until outside influences begin to intercede. The people with gr eatest impact on Macbeth are the witches, his wife and Lady, and King Duncan of Scotland. The witches introduce the idea, King Duncan gives personal motive, and Lady Macbeth helps along the way. The least influential party in all of this is King Duncan. The conflict between these two is purely circumstantial, but clear enough. Macbeth is, as stated, an ambitious man. The King represents the highest position of power that Macbeth can hope to achieve. The King is also a father figure, patronizing to his subjects and expectant of total servitude. When King Duncan thanks Macbeth for his heroic service in battle, Macbeth replies that "Your highness' part / Is to receive our duties; and our duties / Are to your throne and state children and servants" (1.