Skills Management and Conceptual Skills

Introduction Research by Robert L. Katz found that managers need three basic and important skills: technical, human and conceptual. What is more, these three skills are relatively essential to managers who are at different levels that include first-line, middle, top management positions. There will be a discussion about the importance of conceptual skills that are needed by all managers at all levels, especially by top level of managers. The purpose of this essay is to identify and discuss the importance of conceptual skills that top managers are required to demonstrate.The essay will state why conceptual skills are not so important as much as lower managers through some supporting evidences,why conceptual skills become more important in top management positions than in other positions, and how top managers use conceptual skills in reality. At the end of essay, a conclusion the major findings will be provided. 1 Conceptual skills mean the ability to think and to conceptualize about a bstract and complex situations (Katz, R. L, 1974). It is different from technical skills and human skills.Technical skills tend to be more essential for lower-level managers because they should have the job specific knowledge and techniques to manage the work of non-managerial people (Katz, R. L, 1974). For example, accounts payable managers should know accounting rules and standardized forms very well so that they can solve problems which relevant to accounting fields. Whereas, human skills are important for managers at all levels, because every manager should have ability to work well with other people individually and in a group, all of managers deal directly with people.They should build cooperative spirit and motivate other workers. For example, first-line managers of food servicing company should communicate with producers to know how everything is going and where they should improve, so effective talking is very necessary to the whole company for any level of managers (Robbin s, S. P, 2011). Even though conceptual skills are not so important as much as lower managers, it does not mean lower managers do not use conceptual skills. In some situations, some of their works are related to conceptual abilities.It is little for mid-level managers, and it is not very required for first-level managers. While these lower-level managers should also make decisions to solve problems in some complex problems in their managerial fields. Whereas Katz thought that lower-level managers normally spend relative more time dealing with observable objects and processes, but upper-level managers often deal with abstract and complex ideas. So top managers’ responsibility matches conceptual skills, because top managers should make organization-wide decisions and establish the goals and plans that affect the entire organization (Robbins, S.P, 2011). That is why top managers are supposed not to only pay attention to small things, they should be leaders and have conceptual ski lls to lead the whole company to get more profits and access to success. Turn to lower-level managers, first-line managers are the lowest level of management, they coordinate the work of people who are non-managerial employees, such as producers. While middle managers manage the work of first-line managers (Robbins, S. P, 2011).Therefore, first-line managers should have special skills like technical skills, so that they can know how to supervise those producers to produce goods. 2 Conversely, conceptual skills are probably some of the most important management skills, which are very important to top managers especially. Katz proposed that these skills become more essential in top management positions. The reason for this is that top managers often deal with abstract ideas, and they are responsible for making organization-wide decisions and establishing the goals and plans that affect the entire organization.While conceptual skills can be described the ability to conceptualize about abstract time, they must see the organization as a whole and clear about the complicated relationships between various subunits. Then these abilities are essential to effective decision-making. So from the definition of conceptual skills, top managers should have many necessary skills, first is problem solving, they need to combine the whole organization together and use professional skills in practice to find how a party will be and what it will be like.The second key probably is study as a whole, so it is related to conceptualize about things. So they will not treat an organization as a part of the industry, looking the organization as a whole can help managers make decision or do something effectively. Conceptual skills also include creative thinking, which needs managers should have creative ideas, no matter for human management or the whole part management. In another word, conceptual skill is the ability to think in terms of models, frameworks and broad relationship such as lo ng-range plans.While technical skill has different characteristics of job performance, it does not matter at the operating and professional levels, but as employees are supposed to develop leadership responsibilities, their technical skills become proportionately less important, they increasingly depend on technical skills of their subordinates; in many cases they have never practiced some of the technical skills that they supervise. Conceptual skill deals with ideas, whereas human skill concerns people and technical skill involves things.So conceptual skills conclude knowing how to formulate ideas, so managers who have strong conceptual skills are supposed to have cognitive abilities to solve problems creatively and effectively. Therefore they can create new products, then they can examine a complicated issue or formulate a distinct and specific action. So when top managers make wide-decisions, conceptual skills are necessary, it will help them to do managing work easily and effect ively (Glaser, R. , & Resnick, L. B, 1989). 3Mintzberg concluded ten different roles but those roles are highly interrelated. Interpersonal role should be symbolic, which is essential for top managers, because top managers are leaders, their ability is to lead, supervise and motivate workers. So during this time, conceptual skills will be used because of many complex situations with employees and employers. Informational roles need managers to have the ability to receive, collect and disseminate information. Decisional roles are typically important to top managers.In usual time, they should do wide-making decisions, they will face many complex and abstract situations, but as a leader, they should solve these problems using their managerial skills. So they will use conceptual skills to make decisions due to solving all of abstract situations (Robbins, S. P, 2011). Otherwise, strategic planning is necessary for top managers in reality. Planning implementation is especially important, which needs managers to implement strategic planning effectively through formalizing and discipline.Managerial innovation includes total quality management. The generation of innovation results in an outcome – a product, service, technology, or practice that is at least new to an organizational population. Decision skills and strategic planning skills are fundamental factors of conceptual skills. For example, Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg planned to offer a search feature like Google, he combined social and search together, people can do many things at the same place, even finding a good restaurant or learning about a good job.Facing the biggest competitor Google, Mark needs strategic planning skills to make latest strategies to deal with intense competitions this kind of complex situations. Therefore decision skills and strategic planning skills are related to conceptual skills. How do chief executive officers (CEOs) use conceptual skills? They set the tone for th e organization via the vision they express, decisions they make, policies they implement, and what they pay attention to, measure, and reward (Finkelstein, Hambrick, & Cannella, 2009).Those abstract situations they should face are very normal to a company. How will the members perform, how will set a correct direction, or how to coordinate relationships with stakeholders are complex actions they are supposed to do (Boal & Hooijberg, 2001; Hambrick & Mason, 1984; Ireland & Hitt, 1999). CEO Alan Joyce is leading change at Qantas to deal with the challenges in the airline industry’s fast-moving and competitive environment. Why would Qantas be successful? Because there are many effective strategies Qantas has conducted.Firstly, they split the operations into separate business in order to make each of the business units more accountable. They have also been forced to look at how it can reduce its costs. Secondly, under Joyce’s leadership, the company has a significantly low er cost base than its full service parent, customers are very satisfied with discount airline. Thirdly, an area where cost savings have been seen as necessary is in staffing. And the last point is to surge fuel prices. There are many competitors to Qantas, they all take effective actions at any time.So Alan Joyce has had to deal with as he maps a road that will make Qantas to continue to operate as a successful and profitable airline around the world (Robbins, S. P, 2011). Conclusion In summarize, conceptual skills are needed by all managers at all levels, but these skills are more important in top management positions. In current business, top managers should have these skills to make wide decisions and establish the goals to lead companies to be successful. Conceptual skills represent collaborative processes at the organizational and strategic levels.The degree of leader success will depend largely on the leader's ability to maximize the full potential of these collaborative netwo rks. Reference Boal KB. , ; Hooijberg R. (2001). Strategic leadership: Moving on. The Leadership Quarterly, 11, 515–550. Finkelstein S. , Hambrick DC. , Cannella AA. , ; Jr. (2009). Strategic leadership: Theory and research on executives, top management teams, and boards. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. Glaser, R. , ; Resnick, L. B. (1989). Cognitive Apprenticeship: Teaching the Crafts of Reading, Writing, and Mathmatics.In Knowing, learning, and instruction: Essays in honor of Robert Glaser. Hillsdale, N. J: L. Erlbaum Associates,453-490. Kanter, R. M. (1984). The Change Masters. London: Unwin Hyman. Katz, R. L. (1974). Skills of an Effective Administrator. An HBR Classic. Harvard business review,  52(5), 90-102. Retrieved from http://hbr. org/1974/09/skills-of-an-effective-administrator/ar/1 Peters, T. J. , ; Waterman, R. H. (1984). In Search of Excellence. New York: Warner Books. Robbins, S. P. , R. Bergman, et al. (2009). Management. Frenchs Forest, N. S. W. , Pear son Education Australia. * *

Poems from different cultures Essay

I am writing about a poem called ‘I Am Not That Woman’ which was written by an Asian poet called Kishwar Naheed. The poem is about how cruelly women were treated by men in the past and how they have become nowadays. It is time for them to ‘flower free’.  Women are expressed as really special in the poem. The poem shows that men do not realize the true identity of women. They regard them as something to trade with or use them for their house work. They do not know that in a way women are much better then men as the poet clearly highlights ‘my voice cannot be smothered by stones’. The poem shows that it does not matter how much men try to torture or hide the women the women will never loose their beauty, their ‘motherhood’ and their ‘loyalty’ because they are more special than men. The poem is mainly targeted at the fathers and the husbands because in the past and even in the present many Asians think of their daughters as a burden and want to get rid of them as soon as possible. The poet clearly mentions this in the first two lines of the fourth stanza ‘I am the one you married off to get rid of a burden’. This shows that even fathers are cruel to their daughters. Naheed then further on says to the fathers ‘not knowing that a nation of captive minds cannot be free’. This could mean that the Asian men only think about confining their women to the house and never think about letting them free. The verse could also mean that the father’s mind stays captive if he forces his daughter to marry someone. Basically he stays in depression or tension; he does not get his peace of mind by forcing his daughter to marry someone. The repetition of the word chastity shows that the woman believes in virginity. She is modest and is not like the woman on the posters ‘half naked’ and she emphasizes that by saying at the end ‘No, no, I am not that woman’. The end line shows that although Naheed believes in freedom she does not believe in woman being used for advertisements. She thinks that women are meant to be mothers and not some business advertisers. They are supposed to be loyal to their husbands and free from all outside marriage sexual acts as it is mentioned in the last stanza ‘†¦my chastity, my motherhood, my loyalty’. We learn from the poem that husbands were really cruel to their wives. They believed in confining their wives to their kitchens because they thought that that was the right place for the women. The men believed that the men should ‘roam free as the breeze’ whilst the women ‘hid in walls of stone’. They did not ever think that woman had the right to live a life outside their house and the men would ignore them if they ever argued for freedom. The men believed that their traditions were everything. They had to follow their customs or else they would be regarded as really bad in the society. The poet shows the woman point of view about that idea ‘†¦crushed with the weight of custom and tradition†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ this shows that the woman were crushed or in other words ignored when they told their husbands that they wanted freedom. The women had no right to speak against the traditions of their husband’s. The poet further on says to the husbands ‘not knowing light cannot be hidden in darkness’ which shows that even after all the cruelty the woman went through she still knew that the women are something very special. They are not affected by the torture and the ignorance of some men. The word ‘I am’ is repeated at the beginning of every stanza which could mean that the poet is trying to emphasize to the men that she is the one that they had tortured. She is the one that they had hid in their walls of stone but know she has become free. She is free from the captive of the men that had tortured her and they can do nothing about it now. She is trying to make them realize that they cannot abuse someone for too long. One day they would become free and they would fight for their justice whilst the tortures would just watch and be surprised. I think that the poem is very well presented and it gives a very clear image about how cruel the men were to the women in the past. They had no respect for them. They would just trade them for their chastity not knowing that women were supposed to be respected and honoured. The poem shows to us that women can fight for themselves as well but they don’t because they want to be loyal to their husbands.  The poem does not have a proper rhyming scheme but it does have a few rhyming words in some of the stanzas. It has a steady rhythm all the way through and the poem is written in simple language. This lets the poet express her message clearly and fully to the people.

Cognitive development Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Cognitive development - Research Paper Example Teachers can plan lessons effectively and create positive learning environments for their students if they are more cognizant of how people process, learn, and remember information (Blake & Pope, 2008). Piaget perceives learning process from a constructivism perspective, where people get to know through gradual stages by adapting to the environment, while Vygotsky believes that learning occurs through social interaction. As a teacher prepares to teach, there is need to balance the approaches of Piaget and Vygotsky given that learning is both a constructive process and a product of social interaction. Piaget holds the view that cognitive development happens through a series of schemes, which are basic building blocks of thinking. To Piaget, people make sense of the world and create knowledge from direct experiences with people, objects, and ideas. Additionally, the development of the thinking process is influenced by maturation, social transmission, activity and need for social equilibrium. These influences make thinking processes and knowledge develop via alterations in thought organization (schemes), adaptation, assimilation, and accommodation (Woolfolk, 2013, p. 57). It is the duty of the teacher to know what the learners can assimilate, meaning placing the environment in existing cognitive structures, and what they can accommodate, which means changing the cognitive structures to accept something in the environment (Blake & Pope, 2008, p. 61). The teacher must know the state of existing cognitive structures of the learners and their capability to change to be effective. On his part, Vygotsky holds that people’s mental structures and processes are attributable to social interactions with others. Vygotsky upholds the notion that scaffolding, which is the idea that children utilize the help of adults and peers to create a firm foundation that eventually allows them to deal with problems on their

American History Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 3

American History - Research Paper Example would bring back to life their dead ancestors, return vanished buffalo herds, and restore the customs and traditions of the old ways, before the coming of the "white man"† (The Battle Of Wounded Knee). The government soldiers perceived as an attempt by the tribal to re-take their lost lands and revolt against their new government. However, tribal did not have any such plans even though the soldiers misunderstood them. The soldiers thought that the Lakota collecting arms to fight against the government and they tried to disarm the tribal. The battle of Wounded Knee happened on December 29, 1890, near Wounded Knee Creek in South Dakota, USA. A simple incident resulted in a massacre at Wounded Knee Creek. On the morning of December 29, U.S. 7th Cavalry Regiment troops tried to disarm the Lakota who fought against the American troops earlier. During the process of disarming the Lakota, a deaf tribesman was reluctant to give up his rifle which resulted in the 7th Cavalry opening firing indiscriminately from all sides, killing innocent people including men, women, and children, as well as some of their own fellow troopers. â€Å"It is believed that the accidental shot, fired while the deaf Native tried to maintain his hold on his weapon, caused others in the crowd (Native or white, there are counter claims as to which) to open fire† (The Battle Of Wounded Knee). â€Å"A single shot fueled the already charged atmosphere into a full-fledged eruption within a matter of seconds†(What Was The Battle Of Wounded Kn ee In 1890?). Even unarmed people were killed in this brutal incident. It is estimated that at least 150 men, women, and children of the Lakota Sioux had been killed and 51 wounded in this incident. Some people claim that more than 300 were killed in this incident. Along with the Lakota Sioux, twenty-five troopers were also died in this incident. The brutalities of the soldiers continued even after the completion of the disarmament process. Since some of the

Week 2 Participation Questions Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Week 2 Participation Questions - Essay Example Misinterpreting messages that are sent using online communication tools is a common occurrence. Sometimes online communication leads to misunderstanding because the receptor never read the message and the sender assumed that it was read. Imagine a customer that sends three emails complaining about something, but due to a system error nobody at the company ever received the messages. The customer assumes the messages were read and the customer service of the company is poor. I understand your perspective that person to person communication can be much harder than other ways of communication. One of the primary reasons for this is that emotions are always present during person to person communication. It is much easier to block the emotional aspect of communicating when there is a computer in front of you instead of a real person. Also when a person is in a tough spot in a person to person communication it is hard to get out of the situation without hurting the others feelings. If a phone communication is going downhill it is simple just to hang up and blame the communication cutoff on technical difficulties. I agree with you that online communication is the best way to keep track of a conversation or message. Online communications such as emails are automatically saved without any special commands. The content of an email can be easily transferred into database software to save the conversation for quality assurance purpose and to document the incident. In the business world documentation of conversation is extremely important to reduce liability and other risks. Also the online medium is the fastest and cheapest alternative that provides companies with the greatest reach. After reading your personal miscommunication at work example my view is that in order to prevent miscommunication from occurring when dealing with complex situations that require fast action team members need to have identical written copies of the

Facebook is a Useful Website for the People Essay

Facebook is a Useful Website for the People - Essay Example The influence of Facebook can be evaluated as beyond a website, but as an innovative tool to measure one’s social acceptability and the ability to mingle with the masses without any inhibition or inferiority complex. Also, the usefulness of Facebook extends to other spheres like international brotherhood, an innovative platform to communicate with one’s friends and meet new people, exchange valuable information, spend one’s leisure time in a more useful way, new experiences, view videos and games, and regular updating of one’s relationships. Lino states, â€Å"Facebook is a mirror of real life and if it is used too much becomes a sort of second life for some people†. Facebook is an innovative online medium with a lot of opportunities and advantages in different areas of human life, which separates it from the other social networking websites. As pointed out, Facebook is basically a website on the internet which provides social networking service to the users. About its usefulness in businesses, Raj states, â€Å"It helps in business promotion through Ads and Fans page†. Companies use facebook groups for promotion of their business. Cavallari states, â€Å"Facebook groups have become a marketing tool on the most successful social networking site in existence†. The social networking service helps people to connect with friends, relatives, well-wishers, and the international community of internet users. Mark Zuckerberg and his friends (Eduardo Saverin, Dustin Moskovitz and Chris Hughes) are the founders of Facebook. Mark Zuckerberg was a student at Harvard and the membership was limited to his private and public circles. Later, this website became more and more acceptable and popular among the student community at Stanford University and its surrounding areas like Ivy League university. We can say that the acceptance and popularity acquired by this website among the student community attracted high school students and later the international community of internet users. Facebook was launched in February 2004, and the ownership is fully vested in Facebook, Inc., a private company. The present popularity of Facebook includes more than 600 million active users. Janell L. Carroll states that â€Å"On college campuses, Facebook is the most popular networking site, and the majority of students check their Facebook accounts daily or several times a day† ( 71). We can say that Faceb ook is becoming more popular among the student community. In addition, Facebook is becoming popular because of the unique social networking services provided by the owners. The name ‘Facebook’ is indebted to the university administrators in the USA, who used to provide books to their students to know each other in a better way. To be specific, Facebook’s aim is to help the users connect with each other and to share valuable information for productive purposes. The common thoughts about Facebook include its usefulness as a social networking website and its disadvantage as spending much time on the internet. Most of the users of Facebook make use of the same innovative tool to create a virtual presence and to share their thoughts and connect with their friends. However, D. E. Wittkower points out that â€Å"If Facebook promotes friendship and if friendship is a good thing, why do we so often feel as if we’ve been wasting time when we are facebooking?â€℠¢Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ (120). However, most of the Facebook users may reject this opinion because they consider Facebook as an innovative tool or online medium to create

Patient Assessment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Patient Assessment - Essay Example His blood pressure was 150/98. Mentally the patient was disturbed by symptoms of disease that he had been experiencing for along time. He was also very stressed at work due to a busy schedule and had resulted to excessive drinking to address his mental problems. He is also disturbed by the fact the he cannot stop smoking. He is chain smoker. Socially the patient was stable as he showed that he integrated with people at the place of work and outside the work place. Being a manager, the patient interacted with a lot of people. He did no show any signs of social problems. He is a member of two social clubs. In the context of the society, the patient has a stable social life. He is contented with the position he holds in the society being a manager. His relationship with other societal members is also very stable. Using the Orem Model of nursing if assessed Mr. Parker to get more information about the development of type II diabetes. Using the following interpersonal skills, I was able to assess Mr. Parker further to get more information concerning his problem. I my assessment I was able to talk to Mr. Parker in a way that I showed him that there was a way out of the problem. Therapeutic communication in nursing dictates that you talk to the patient using constructive words which give the patient the hope to recover. The communication process should encourage the patient to the recovery path rather than portraying a doom about their conditions. Mr. Parker had a believer that his life would turn out to be very difficult since he had been diagnosed with a terminal diseases. To get more information about him in order to get the root cause of the disease I created a confidential atmosphere to Mr. Parker by assuring him that there was need to give me all his information in order for me to come up with the best nursing strategy for him to help him solve the problem of smoking and drinking. (b) Active listening To get more information from Mr. Parker, I had to listen to attentively and logically try to connect all the information that he gave me. As I listened to his story I realized that Mr. Parker's problems did no stop with excessive drinking and smoking. His problems went further to include nutritional problems and lack of physical exercises. I realized that being a manager, Mr. Parker was always busy from early morning to late hours working for his company. He lacked time to have physical activities and time to have healthy diets. Through active listening, I was able to gather all the information from him and at the same time related the information to get the root cause of his type II diabetes. (c) Conveying knowledge and information As we talked, I explained to Mr. Parker the relationship between his problems. I explained to him why he had developed the condition owing to his lack of exercises, lack of healthy diets, excessive drinking and smoking. I explained to him that eating junk foods leads to accumulation of fat in the body. Junk food contains

Linking pay to employee performance ( related pay performance ) Assignment

Linking pay to employee performance ( related pay performance ) - Assignment Example For the government, pay levels have an impact on macro-economic factors, such as employment, inflation, purchasing power and socio-economic development.   Even though basic pay makes up a significant portion of the total compensation, the employer is also affected by the benefits offered to the employees, such as fringe benefits, cash and non- cash benefits. In the majority of developed countries and countries with high personal tax rates, the benefits component of executive compensation has been consistently increasing over the past few years (Silva, 1998).   Performance related pay (PRP) â€Å"links reward or salary progression to some form of performance rating. This could be part of a performance management or appraisal system, or it could be based on a separate appraisal of performance exclusively for pay purposes.† (Armstrong, 2001). PRP has assumed growing significance in the present times with more and more organisations adopting measures to motivate their workforce. The objective is to drive performance levels by linking employee rewards with organisational goals and objectives (CIPD, 2011).   Pay can have one or more objectives that can be categorised under four heads. The first objective is equity. This can be achieved through various means, such as adjusting income distribution in such a way to reduce the disparity in income levels; bringing the pay levels of the lowest paid employees on par with the rest of the organisation; safeguarding real wages, and ensuring uniform pay for work of equal value. Even differences in pay is made on the basis of skills or performance levels, it is connected to equity (Silva, 1998). The second objective of efficiency has a relationship with the first objective of equity. Efficiency objective comes into play when a part of the pay is linked to employee performance and contribution to the organisation. Macro-economic stability is the third

Marketing Plan Sex Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3750 words

Marketing Plan Sex - Essay Example 6.2 Profitability Statement for Three Years 18 6.3 Break Even Point 19 7.0 Controls 20 7.1 Implementation 20 7.2 Marketing Organization 20 7.3 Contingency Planning 21 Reference 22 MARKETING PLAN 1.0 Executive Summary: Aging boomers want all the comforts and privileges of growing old without giving up any of the pleasures of and peccadilloes of youth - including their Harleys, an icon of youthful rebellion. The mature population is even changing the way the products are paid for; Chicago based Chase Bank issues a Kiss Platinum Visa Credit card. And the market place that wants their estimated US $ 1 trillion disposable income purchasing power is eager to help them do so. Apart from this class of customers there are other people who are deprived of the worldly pleasures because of their physical conditions caused by obesity and weight problems. Obviously this class of consumers also have a considerable disposable income and they would not hesitate to spend money to increase the sexual pleasures that they derive by using any aids which prove worthy of the price. Considering these rare psychological phenomena Cupid's...Obviously this class of consumers also have a considerable disposable income and the y would not hesitate to spend money to increase the sexual pleasures that they derive by using any aids which prove worthy of the price. Considering these rare psychological phenomena Cupid's Arrow Inc have come out with their new product 'Easy Rider' which increases the sexual pleasure by an aid which adjusts the physical position of the female partner during the sexual act. This product is complementary to other personal care products that are being dealt with by Cupid's Arrow Inc. and since the company is already having its network of distributors it would well within the control of the company to introduce this product into the market in a short span of time and achieve the targeted market share of 20 percent in the estimated $ 1 billion of the sex aid products market share in the country of United States in the first year of its introduction. The company expects to achieve a turnover of $ 50 million by selling close to 1 million products to the niche market. Cupid's Arrow Inc. is known for its health care products of a world class and has earned the continued support of the elite class consumers for their wide range of products covering the aristocratic lifestyle of the consumers.

The American West and Its Disappearing Water Essay Example for Free

The American West and Its Disappearing Water Essay The author outlined the geography of the semi-arid region of the West. According to him, although the West have rivers and large basins of water, the erratic nature of the landscape as well as the orientation of water flows cannot sustain large numbers of people. The convex nature of the river system allows only a minute flow of water into potential settlements and farms. People living in California, Arizona, and Idaho faced perennial shortages of water. These perennial shortages are due perhaps to the relative orientation of the settlements along river banks. Usually, the flow of water was downward, rather than upwards. The implication: there is relatively shortage of water to sustain irrigation-based agriculture. One can easily see the geographical distribution of people in the West prior to the 1900s. Most people preferred settling in either north of Arizona or West of California. In less than a century though, people began to transform the landscape of the West. Dams were built to provide irrigation and potable water to households and farms. The landscape of the West became a semitropical region (this is though misleading – only a significant area of the West was turned into ‘almost’ semitropical areas). As a result, settlements flourished. The area allocated to farming increased significantly. In essence, the attempt of the people to end the scarcity of water in the West became an attempt to change the orientation of the environment. The collective action of the people was not without political or economic support. Various legislations were enacted to increase water shortage funding. The state governments, with the support of some private individuals, allocated higher budget for constructing dams and modern irrigation facilities. All these efforts were made to neutralize the relative scarcity of water in the region. Environmental History of the West The first chapters of the book deals with the environmental history of the West From the 16th to the 17th century, the Spaniards attempted to colonize regions above California. Most of the expeditions sent by the Viceroy of Mexico failed because of scarcity of water in the region. The attempts of Spanish soldiers to divert water from rivers were futile. The same case can be said when the Americans arrived. The retreating of the desert forced many inhabitants to increase the supply of water from the rivers to households and farms. The relative demand of water by the settlers provoked what Reisner called ‘little imperialism. ’ The officials of the developing urban center (with the support of the population) manipulated the ‘common folks’ of the countryside to secure an efficient supply of water from the Owens Valley. In a sense, Los Angeles stole the Owens River for its own development. This generally led to the decline of the Owens Valley. The continuous use of the river caused perennial inflows which generally reduced the amount of water entering Los Angeles. The stealing of the Owens River was not without political support. The state government promoted homesteading to ensure maximum usage of the river. It sold public lands for settlement and irrigation-based agriculture. When the supply of water from the river withered, the state government ordered a general reversal of its reclamation policy. When the government saw the disastrous effects of its reversal, it implemented a new reclamation scheme. This time, only rich individuals were able to avail of the project. Newcomers and even those living near the Owens River were not able to avail of the project. In short, only some individuals were able to benefit from the project. Dependence on Dams and Aqueducts Most cities and urban centers depended much on dams and aqueducts. Dams provided electricity to the growing industrial and manufacturing sectors of the West. Although aqueducts were few, those constructed were efficiently used. After the Great Depression, the federal government launched several water-based projects. In the West, about 250 000 dams were constructed, of which several thousands were of obvious economic importance. The Role of the Federal Government The role of the federal government was evident. The federal government distributed large mount of capital to local, municipal, and even state governments for dam buildings and other related constructions. The political machinery of the federal government was intended to shove the disastrous effects of water shortage in developing urban centers, at the cost of the environment. A new class of people, the irrigation and dam engineers, gained enormous technical power. Most of their advices were followed by both the federal and state governments to the letter. The emphasis, of course, of these technical advices was on the economic importance of the building projects. There was little regard for the welfare of the environment. History of the Colorado River Basin Then came the history of the Colorado River Basin. It deals primarily with one fateful man-made structure, the Colorado River Basin. For many environmentalists, the project was powerful ‘sin against nature. ’ For the economic liberals in both government and the chambers of commerce, the project was an approximation of the ideal. The real effect though of the project could be best understood on the individual level. Because of the Colorado River Basin, agriculture in the West was heavily subsidized by the government. This created a general distortion in the prices of agricultural goods. Prices of agricultural goods in the West were substantially lower than the prices of the same commodities produced in the East. The general subsidy program of the government only hastened the urbanization of the West, which eventually resulted to further degradation of the river system. The New Deal: A New Chapter on Environmental Degradation Most of the policies implemented in the West focused on water-based projects. The projects implemented during FDR presidency in the West were politically motivated. The water-based projects were implemented to increase the mineral supply of the United States. This mineral supply was vital to the growing manufacturing industry in urban centers. With the outbreak of the Second World War, these projects doubled the supply of aluminum available to the armaments industry. Dams provided the necessary hydroelectric power to run the armaments industry. The damage to the environment was unprecented. To increase the supply of aluminum, mountains had to be ripped off. To power the armaments industry, additional dams would have to be built or those already existing over capacitated. Here again the theme of environmental exploitation is presented, although in a different condition. The demands of the war dominated the demands for a more responsible management of the environment. The Army Corps of Engineers vs. the Bureau of Reclamation After the war, the Army Corps of Engineers was tasked to build water projects around several rivers. The relative obsession of the Engineer Corps on efficiency shortened the life spans of river and outlet flows. Although the short term value of those projects could not be denied, its long term effects were generally disastrous. The author argued that only after 10 years (since the construction of those projects), their marginal value declined sharply. The Army Corps of Engineers clashed with the Bureau of Reclamation over the implementation of the Reclamation Act of 1902. This act gave the federal government the funding for constructing irrigation projects in semi-arid regions. The Corps of Engineers insisted that it was part of their duty to implement the said act. The Bureau of Reclamation reacted quickly, passing an implementing order to all its sub-agencies in California and Arizona. Chapters 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12 are generally an outline of the major steps undertaken by various presidents and NGOs to prevent further environmental degradation of the Arizona river system. Here, the author outlined the positive effects of restoring the environmental value of the river systems without due reference to its economic implications. According to the author, only political motivation can only save the remnants of the river system. This political motivation though is hard to achieve as the economic importance of the river system continue to dominate the minds of politicians. Environmentalist Tone of the Book The tone of the author’s environmentalist leaning can be found in the first pages of the book. It reads: a lot of emptiness amid a civilization whose success was achieved on the pretension that natural obstacles do not exist Thanks to irrigation, thanks to the Bureau [of Reclamation] states such as California, Arizona, and Idaho became populous and wealthy; millions settled in regions where nature, left alone, would have countenanced thousands at best what has it all amounted to? not all that much. Most of the West is still untrammeled, unirrigated, depopulate in the extreme Opposition against building of water-based projects increased considerably during the Nixon and Carter administration. Carter supported the move because it was part of his government platform. In any case, the building of water-based projects in the West fell by about 85%. Major Arguments in the Book Here are some of the major arguments of the author in the book: 1) The intrinsic value of the environment is more important than its perceived economic value. The economic value of an important resource would tend to decrease as more and more of its utility is consumed; 2) Environmental degradation is correlated with the level of economic usage of a particular environmental resource. Relying from historical sources, the author argued that economic usage of a particular resource is inversely related to sustainability. An optimum level of usage can only be achieved if an optimum level of degradation is achieved; 3) And, political motivation is both a key in environment degradation and environment protection. This proposition is evident in the book. The degradation of the Owens River and the Colorado Water Basin was politically motivated. Equally speaking, the solutions proposed by the Carter administration to relieve environmental protection were effective, and thus, are under the nexus of political motivation. Analysis Analysis Many of the author’s arguments are generally full of unnecessary fallacies. At some point, he argued that the ultimate cause of environmental degradation was faulty political policies. At some other point, he argued that the massive ‘excessiveness’ of the urban centers was the sole cause of increased environmental degradation of the river system. The contradictory nature of these two statements is obvious and unrelenting. It can also be said that most of the author’s arguments lack verifiable evidences. Historical evidences cannot be translated into verifiable evidences because of the static nature of the former. Multiple references to sources are a necessity in verifying historical claims. Conclusion Much of the author’s arguments need more authentic verification. The historical proofs provided by the author were either devoid of associated empirical facts or simply lacking in credibility. For example, the term ‘political motivation’ has multiple meanings in the book, but the author failed to clarify it. Reference Reisner, Marc. 1993. Cadillac Desert: The American West and Its Disappearing Water. New York: Penguin Books.

Operations and Business Strategy of McDonalds

Operations and Business Strategy of McDonalds INTRODUCTION: McDonald is a very popular fast food business which is operating all over the world. It started its operations in sixties and currently it is serving worldwide chain of 30,000 restaurants. McDonald restaurant has a quality that it serves its product according to the culture of that region where they are operating. Several artifacts of modern world has been very well organized as Macdonalds famous product, promotional plan with the famed toys and films, its participation in the aid organization and its dispersion classified adds. More than 75% of McDonald is owned and operated by local men and women. Its serves more than 40million people per day. It gets about 82% of its revenue from 8 different countries which include Japan, Korea, Australia, France, Germany and USA. But the biggest achievements got by McDonald in these countries is creating a good name and brand image in peoples mind and hygiene cautions are the main driving advantage it has which helps the Macdonald to attract many customers. They have created a corporate symbol and saturated advertisement has helped the Macdonald by creating a good brand name and image of logo in the millions of people mind. Overall McDonald planned plan is called plan to succeed. There focal point is not to be the biggest fast food chain in the world but the finest fast food chain. McDonald planned philosophy in the rear this plan is generates recovered experience through the finishing of multiple proposals immediate the five factor of incomparable customer understanding. (McDonald, 2009) A key element of the MacDonald strategy since the beginning has been to own all the property on which the MacDonald was built doesnt matter the property is franchised or company owned. Rental money differs from property to property but it has been estimated that McDonald generate more money from its rents of the property than the franchise fees it charges. The success of the MacDonald since its beginning can be attributed to the customers service it provides. Each restaurant wants to have a good brand image by giving quality food and good customers services. In both field McDonald has made its name as it is providing quality and cheap food together with quality service. It has come with a limited menu but with great improvements. Another invention was the introduction of the play area. MacDonald is continuing new inventions to facilitate the mass customization process. In 2001 McDonalds began standardizing its technology its existing point of sale system with the office system in more than 11,000 stores in the United States. The company is investing in a common point of sale which will be available to use all over the world in its branches. (typepad, 2009) McDonalds make possible the replace of value by matching the money paid by customers with quality and diversity of products and services resulting to the customer feeling of having acknowledged their moneys significance and even more than what they compensated for. McDonald objective the customer happiness by food preparation the penchant to formulate the customers feels satisfied about the cost exchange. McDonald is advice for the family or friends get-together as well. MCDONALDS VISION To be the best and leading fast food provider around the globe MISSION STATEMENT McDonalds vision is to be the worlds best quick service restaurant experience. Being the best means providing outstanding quality, service, value, and cleanliness so that we make every customer in every restaurant smile OPERATIONS AND BUSINESS STRATEGY Business strategy is defined as it is a long term planning of a business with specific goals and target within a specific time with the available resources. It is a management plan constructed by the top level of management in order to make the business runs in profit. In McDonald the business strategy for the company is to make food fast available to its customers at a very low competitive price but to get profit as well by reducing the cost of the product and expanding the business world wide. Operations strategies play a very important role in achieving organizational goals. By using these strategies an organization controls and maintains all of its operations. So these should make after a comprehensive marketing analysis according to capabilities and resources of an organization. Operation management strategies in McDonald are being made by made by top management. These strategies are implemented in all the branches of the McDonald and these strategies are distributed to all its franchise branches in the written form. So there are operational managers in all the branches that control all operational activities. McDonald has adopted a strategy which is based on the three sections. This strategy has emphasizing on the customer importance and customers satisfaction. As the company has increased using the information technology, it has developed new ideas to improve the operational activities of the business. With the introduction of stock control data base system, it avoids unnecessary ordering; keep the stock up to date in store. It has become very easy and time saving now to order the stock. Stockrooms are directly attached to point of sale system and the manager knows what product is moving fast and how much he should order more products. (typepad, 2009) REDUCING COST WITH MORE EFFICIENT EQUIPMENT The challenge facing the global equipment suppliers when they design the fryers for our restaurants is to develop such kind of equipment that are more energy efficient and gives better taste while improving the crew efficiency and using less cooking oil. The low down oil quantity Fryer is the next age band fryer. LOV improves cooking efficiency, simplifies filtering and cleaning, and provide enhanced environmental benefits. The LOVs ground-breaking design allows restaurants to roast the same sum of produce with in the region of 40% smaller amount oil. It in addition uses more or less 4 % a lesser amount of liveliness than average fryers. (Gallagher, 2003) In McDonald lighting represent an important role in reducing the cost of its operations. McDonald uses fluorescent low consumption lighting in the kitchen. Tests revealed that each restaurant saves 11,000kWh of electricity each year. Packaging plays an important role of McDonald brand not only for quality, integrity and safety but also in its visibility to our customers. McDonald also use its cooking oil in its transport operation which has significantly reduces the cost of operation as well. Its not policy of McDonald to make its employee work efficiently but with limited resources but it provides everything to its staff they required to do the the job efficiently and according to health and safety methods. It helps the McDonald to get more productivity and get more revenue and improve its services. In order to achieve its business strategy goals, McDonald is emphasizing more and more on reducing its cost of operational activities. In order to reduce the cost McDonalds purchases most of the vegetables especially potatoes directly from farmers, this help the McDonald not even to cut the cost of chips production but also get fresh vegetable for salad for its customers. This also helps McDonald to not get effected by the fluctuations in the market prices. (typepad, 2009) Aside from offering hamburgers and fresh fries, McDonald has start serving the family treat and as a community centre for the senior citizen. It has also start giving indoor playgrounds and promotional toys to its kids as well. As this movement begins there is an addition of extra service-oriented equipment is desired. They can carry out studies and review to improve knows which among the different possibilities serves the companys target in good way. These will involve robots to do order tacking in replace of humans, automated processes of food in McDonald has (typepad, 2009) McDonald has a policy to be in the market as a market leader. In order to keep its leadership it keeps low cost and gets more income by selling food at cheap price. Food made with the help of machine is considered more hygienic; however the continuous development in the technology McDonald and especially its employees as they have to serve quick services. Computers and smart cashiers are used by the employees so that they would not get confused and they are provided with customized database management system. These all operational activities are conducted in all the branches of McDonald worldwide in order to successfully implement the business strategy of the McDonald. MCDONALD LAYOUT, PROCESS TYPE AND USE OF TECHNOLOGIES MCDONALD KITCHEN LAYOUT The strategy refers to the overall working and general environment offered by the McDonald. It includes the personal level, service and product layout, interior and exterior. McDonald has a policy to serve the fresh food to it customers in a minimum time and at the same time they want to get as many as possible customers to get the more income. The most important thing on which McDonald operational department concentrate is the customers satisfaction. Customers satisfaction can only be achieved if it serves the customers with a good quality food in a quickly with minimum price. In order to perform this whole process McDonald has a very specific type of layout. This layout gives an easy access to the staff to serves the customers in a quick way. At the till when a staff serves the customer, staff has a everything in its reach required by the customer. (Gallagher, 2003) McDonald keep maximum number of tills opens to serves the customers and each staff takes average one minute to serves the customer. The chairs are arranged in such a way that it gives a minimum disruption to the people who are standing in the queue. In the kitchen department McDonald has selected high efficiency fryers which take minimum time to fry the chips. Operations manager has assigned the task to different staff members according to their ability. McDonald get most of the things in ready to serve form from its main headquarter which decrease the cost of producing the food and it also help the McDonald to keep the quality same all over its stores. Staff in McDonald only has to put the food in oil and it gets ready to serve. It also helps the McDonald to save lot of storage cost. In order to keep the system runs smoothly McDonald always keeps good relation with the suppliers. Their supplier makes sure that they deliver the goods to McDonald in the minimum possible time. (Swearingen, 2003) STRATEGIC IMPORTANCE OF LAYOUT Proper layout enables: It makes the utilization of space, equipment and people more efficient. It enables the movements of information, materials and peoples more effective. It boosts the employee morale and helps to provide him safer working conditions. It helps to improve the customers relations with clients. Flexibility Layout design mean the overall working and general environment offered by the McDonald. It includes the personal level, service and product layout, interior and exterior etc. STRATEGIES: Exterior McDonald sets its premises in proper manner to handle any number of customers easily. The building design is standard world wide but it may be have some difference in size or in exterior according to the location. It enables them to save time, satisfy their customers, comfortable environment for both employees and customers. Ray Kroc was the first person in McDonalds history who took the initative to franchise the McDonald. He also maintain the McDonald outlooks, its signs and layout same every where in the world which has directly improved the sale of the company. As it has an attractive layout and eye catching sign boards. Interior: Interiors areset to be depoliticized. In addition to new restaurant lighting, menu boards, artwork and graphics, new materials will offer choice when it comes to decor selection. Technology perks include Wi-Fi, programmed music, and video. (typepad, 2009) MCDONALDS USE OF TECHNOLOGIES McDonalds has invested a huge amount of money on creating a technology board which has help the McDonald to adopt new and new technologies in its operations with time. The main job of this board is to recommend the management to buy those kind of equipment which are very effective in saving the energy as well as are more productive. In 2001 McDonald has start investing money in the improvements of point to sale ordering system and at the same time linking the point to sale system with the back office computer in all over the world. So this thing has helped the management to know what actually happening inside the business. What customer likes and what they dislikes. McDonald has invested capital in the improvement of electronic payment system as well which has make possible to process the transactions in less than 4 seconds. (swearingen, 2003) McDonald uses the best equipment to carry out the day to day operation in its outlet. MCDONALD EXPLOTATION OF VALUE CHAIN AND QUALITY PORTERS FIVE FORCES ANALYSIS Competition Restaurant industry is highly competitive industry. There are many small fast food businesses in the industry that fight each other to improve their customer base. McDonald is not exception to this. Since it establishment in 1940, MCD has excelled in this sector. Nevertheless to stay in the competition, it started with MCafe. This helped the company to stay in the business as a major fast food business. Another major step came out when McDonald started breakfast to compete with the existing businesses serving breakfast. Hence this industry is extremely competitive and the MDC should be up to date with customer taste and preferences. Quality is very important for McDonald in order to stay in the market but at the same time it has to keep the prices minimum to maintain the cost leadership. Ease of entry Although it is hard to enter in the restaurant business as it demand a lot of investment and it is hard to establish a distinct brand name as well. There is a cost of entry in the market and there is high research and development cost. Large established companies like McDonald perform compose it more easier said than done to enter and achieve something within the souk, new entrant find with the intention of they are facade with worth antagonism from offered string eating place. At the same McDonald working hard to maintain the quality same throughout the time. It is aware that if it compromise on its quality then it will make very much easier for the new entrant to attract the customers with better quality of its food products. Substitutes McDonald keeps a very close watch on its quality because it is aware that customers have many others substitutes of its food products. e.g MDC burgers, Beverages and dairy products. Strength of Suppliers The suppliers power in the fast food manufacturing is quite miniature unless the foremost feature of the item for consumption is not voluntarily on hand. Strength of Buyers Relatively strength of buyers in this industry is relatively low.(Ifm, 2009) PORTERS FIVE FORCES ANALYSIS OF VALUE CHAIN The main objectives of these kinds of activities are to give the customer a level of value which is more than the cost of activities. This has enables the McDonald to gain more profits. The primary value chain activities are: Inbound Logistics Inbound logistics is the raw material McDonald received in its warehouse and then distribute it to different branches according to their requirements McDonald has an efficient warehousing and transporting goods to its branches. All the products are made in the warehousing and goods are distributed as per the requirement of each branch. Operations It is the activities which are being conducted in order to transform the inputs into finished products and services. McDonald has a very good operation system as it has trained staff for each task in the kitchen. Most of its product is already in the ready to serve form. All they have to put them in the ovens or in the oil and the product get ready to serve in the minimum possible time which normally takes from 1-5 minutes. Outbound Logistics Outbound logistics mean to keep the finished goods in warehouses and then distribute them to different branches. McDonald has a very well established transporting system. As all of its products are prepared at the warehouse, so in order to improve the distribution process it has applied the IT technology which inform the warehouse body that which branch is running out of the products, so before the products get finished it immediately make available the product to the branch. This process is very cost effective as branches do not need to have the stock room for the goods. Marketing Sale It is a complete science that McDonald use to market its products in order to generate more sales. Service All the extra activities which are provided to customers even after the sale of goods. The primary activities are supported by : Technology development Technologies helps the McDonald to access the activities done inside the business which are as follow: Cost advantage Keep a eye on the costs and minimizing it out of the value adding actions. According to the porters five forces analysis McDonald competes with the forces which are inside the business in order to gain the maximum profitability. So it proves that business profitability is took place in the porters five forces mode. (Ifm, 2009) Further there are Secondary support activities which directly supporting the operational activities of the business. HRM department make it possible for the business to get the energetic people to perform the operations. They always keep motivating the staff to work hard. The Management makes possible to select the technology which is cost effective together with the efficiency. CONCLUSION McDonald is a very well established organization. The success of the McDonald is completely based on the extensive research of the market internal and external forces. It has done research on the people behavior of specific country, on their culture, buying power and social issue. McDonald has paid special attention on the location of the business, its interior and exterior outlook and types of technologies it going to use to get the maximum production at short time. The most important thing which it focused on was the quality and the market forces which directly affect the business. REFERENCES Publications from McDonald web site. McDonald culture and history. 2009. [online]. [Accessed on 4 December 2009]. Available from World Wide Web: http://www.mcdonalds.com/usa/work/companyhistory.html. Publications from biz/ed web site. McDonald. 2009. [online]. [Accessed on 5 December 2009]. Available from World Wide Web: http://www.bized.co.uk/compfact/mcdonalds/mcindex.htm. Publications from typepad web site. McDonalds business Strategy. 2009. [Accessed on 5 December 2009]. Available from World Wide Web: http://ivythesis.typepad.com/term_paper_topics/2009/02/mcdonalds-business-strategy.html. GALLANGHER, S. 2003. McDonalds technology trials.[online]. [Accessed on 10 December 2009]. Available from World Wide Web: http://www.baselinemag.com/c/a/Projects-Management/McDonalds-Technology-Trials/. SWEARINGEN, J. 2000. Operations Management, Layout Strategy. [online]. [Accessed on 11 December 2009]. Available from World Wide Web: http://online.uis.edu/spring2000/bus322/lectures/chap09/sld001.htm. Publications from Ifm website. Porters value chain. [online]. [Accessed on 23 December 2009]. Available from World Wide Web: http://www.ifm.eng.cam.ac.uk/dstools/paradigm/valuch.html. PAUL, J. 2005. International Business. New Delhi. 2nd Edition. Ashoke K Gosh. Publications from typepad web site. McDonalds business Strategy. 2009. [Accessed on 5 December 2009]. Available from World Wide Web: http://ivythesis.typepad.com/term_paper_topics/2009/02/strategic-business-analysis-of-mcdonalds.html

Bartleby the Scrivener: Catatonic Schizophrenia :: Health, Diseases, Mental Disorder

Misery loves company and in Melville's "Bartleby the Scrivener", Bartleby exhibits traits of depression and catatonic schizophrenia as defined in the DSM-IV; however the narrator's other employees also show symptoms of catatonia either influenced by Bartleby or by Melville's own mental state. The theme of mental disorder is prominent throughout the text and a close analysis of specific passages in concordance with the DSM-IV will first reveal how Bartleby exemplifies these mental disorders and secondly show to what extent the entire story serves to personify them. Bartleby demonstrates behaviours indicative of depression, the symptoms he has in accordance with the DSM-IV are a loss of interest in activities accompanied by a change in appetite, sleep, and feelings of guilt (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th edition, 320). Very shortly after Bartleby begins his work as a Scrivener he is described by the narrator as having done â€Å"nothing but stand at his window in his dead-wall revery†. (Melville, 126) In contrast, Bartleby had previously been described as a very hard worker and this process of doing increasingly less shows how his a diminishing sense of interest both in his work but also of the perception others have of him. It is also noted that included in this lack of interest is a social withdrawal (DSM—IV, 321) which corresponds well to Bartleby in that his workspace becomes known as his â€Å"hermitage†. During small talk which included Bartleby he says that he â€Å"would prefer to be left alone†. (Melville, 120) Bartleby only emerges from his hermitage when called upon and quickly returns when faced with confrontation. His lack of appetite is noticed early where in the narrator notices â€Å"that he never went to dinner†. (Melville, 51) We discover later that he has been eating a bit of ginger-nuts and some morsel of cheese, (Melville, 88) however the narrator suggests that this is a pitiable amount of food and that Bartleby is clearing suffering. In fact his refusal to eat ultimately leads to his death; one might infer that it was a form of suicide as he says that he â€Å"prefers not to dine to-day... [i]t would disagree with me; I am unused to dinners†. (Melville, 235) This implies that Bartleby hadn’t been eating for a long time. Also refusing to eat, Bartleby is shown to very seldom sleep. The narrator mentions that he is â€Å"always there; - first in the morning, continually through the day, and the last at night†, (Melville, 84) he makes his home in the office and the narrator comments that he finally does sleep at the end when he is dead.

Symbols and Symbolism Essay - Symbolism in Nathaniel Hawthornes The Scarlet Letter :: Scarlet Letter essays

Symbolism in the Scarlet Letter Symbolism plays an important role in the Scarlet Letter. The scarlet "A" is used to represent sin and anguish along with happiness. The "A" has different meanings to people other than what was originally intended. The scaffold is used as a place of repentance and judgment by God. Pearl is another major symbol used as a reminder of the scarlet letter. The scarlet "A" is the most important symbol in the Scarlet Letter. The letter "A" does not have a "universally symbolic relationship" with adultery. The letter "A" was the first letter of adultery and the Puritans put the negative connotation on the letter. The community interprets the cosmic "A" as Angel, signifying the passing of Governor Winthrop. The letter on Hester's bosom represented the sin of adultery, yet as that it meant different things to Hester, Dimsdale, Pearl, Chillingworth and the Puritan community. To Hester it represented "alienation and unjust humiliation" . "Hester looked, by way of humoring the child; and she saw that, owing to the peculiar effect of this convex mirror, the scarlet letter was represented in exaggerated and gigantic proportions, so as to be greatly the most prominent feature of her appearance. In truth, she seemed absolutely hidden behind it." This shows how the community saw a sinner and the "A", not Hester. The women sneered and jested at her in public and wanted to take Pearl from her. The prison also symbolizes isolation and alienation. Hester lives in a prison of alienation and Dimsdale in his guilt. Yet later as Hester shows signs of humbleness by embroidering items for others and still wearing dim colored clothing, the community says her "A" is for able. To Dimsdale, the letter represents his guilt and agony. It constantly torments him throughout the book. It reminds him of his undeclared sin and also how Hester suffers for him. For Chillingworth, the letter is his need for revenge and he wants what is on the minister's chest unveiled to the community. He did not want this to happen as fast as it happened for the letter was Chillingworth's life, and he died shortly afterward Dimsdale's death because he had nothing to do with his life.

Cola Wars Bottling vs Concentrate Essay

Compare the economics of the concentrate business to that of the bottling business: Why is the profitability so different? The returns received by concentrate producers differ from those received by bottlers for several reasons †¦ Concentrate producers: Capital investment. Concentrate production business is less capital intensive than bottling. It requires less funds to be invested in machinery, labor and modernization. â€Å"A typical concentrate manufacturing plant cost about $25 million to $50 million to build, and one plant could serve the entire United States† (Yoffie, 2007). The number of significant costs is small. The major ones are: advertising, Market Research and product development. However, concentrate producers tended to employ large number of people to work with bottlers and their suppliers to ensure quality control and efficiency of production as well as reliable supply of raw materials (e.g. cans) and low prices (Yoffie, 2007). Franchising. The concentrate producers work using the principle of franchising. It means that bottlers pay them in order to become part of the bottling network and are granted â€Å"the sales operation in an exclusive geographic territory†¦(Yoffie, 2007)† Concentrate price. Coca-Cola was able to determine its concentrate prices since 1987 when the Master Bottling Contract was established. Pepsi’s Master Bottling contract was a bit different to Coke’s as it obliged bottlers â€Å"to purchase raw materials from Pepsi at prices, and on terms and conditions, determined by Pepsi†. They based the price of the concentrate on CPI and negotiated it with bottlers. â€Å"From the 1980s to the early 2000s, concentrate makers regularly raised concentrate prices, even as inflation-adjusted retail prices for CSD products trended downward†, – another reason for greater returns in concentrate production business. As brand promotion was very strong and formula was always kept a secret the whole thing with concentrate was kind of exclusive, so it greatly added towards the price of the concentrate itself and, as the result, towards the returns of concentrate producers (Yoffie, 2007). Raw materials. Concentrate producers required fewer r aw materials and their major spending were on caramel coloring, citric acid, caffeine and natural flavorings. Bottlers, on the other hand, required large number of production materials. Their major inputs were: packaging (e.g. cans, glass bottles etc.), as well as sweeteners (e.g. aspartame). This process helped concentrate makers reduce the outflow of money which increased their profitability (Yoffie, 2007). Bottlers: Dependency. Bottlers were always very dependent on concentrate producers as they were obliged to buy raw materials from them (Pepsi Master Bottling Agreement). They were also very dependent on suppliers of packaging, flavours and sweeteners. As the price of the concentrate rose, bottlers could not react in the same way and increased the price of the final product as they were being squeezed by other suppliers of different beverages. These factors contributed to lower returns in bottling business. Bottling is a much more capital intensive industry than concentrate production. It requires huge investment and on-going improvement and modernization of bottling lines. Large bottling plant with â€Å"a capacity of 40 million cases, could range as high as $75 million† (Yoffie, 2007). High competition. The number of bottlers is much greater than the number of concentrate producers, so the competition took place between them was fierce. There were approximately 2000 bottlers in 1970s a nd the figure dropped to less than 300 by 2004. Ongoing modernization and increasing capacity was required from bottlers (which were often small and family-owned) and not all of them could meet those requirements, so their number dropped. High competition ensures that returns are really low, only enough to survive Investments. Besides investments in modernization, bottlers bought trucks for transporting and established the distribution channels. It all required some investments as well. â€Å"Bottlers’ gross profits routinely exceeded 40%, but operating margins were usually in the 7% to 9% range (Comparative Costs of a Typical U.S. Concentrate Bottler and Producer). Stability. The returns received by bottlers are less than returns received by concentrate producers due to the risk levels as well. The concentrate producers are responsible for brand promotion and invest heavily in trademark to stimulate sales. High returns are what they get as the result. However, bottlers have little risk in their operations as they are given the famous name well-known all over the world. This development provides them with stable returns, and low risk. How has the competition between Coke and Pepsi affected the industry’s profit? The competition between Coke and Pepsi reached its peak to become a real war battle by the year 1980. This war had affected the industry profit for both concentrate producers and bottlers, while the effect of bottlers was much higher. After the successful â€Å"Pepsi Challenge† (blind taste tests: sales shot up) in 1974, Coke countered with rebates, retail price cuts and significant concentrate price increases. Pepsi followed of a 15% price increase of its own. During the early 1990’s bottlers of Coke and Pepsi employed low price strategies in the supermarket channel in order to compete with store brands. The concentrate producers were always able to increase their profits by increasing the concentrate price, while the bottlers, especially the small-sized, had to suffer from the war dramatically by decreasing their profits. This had a negative effect on the profitability of the bottlers (Operating income in 2009: concentrate producers 32%, bottlers 8%). During t his period net profit for bottlers was in the low single digits. The war forced bottlers to increase their advertising and packaging proliferation, giving discounts for shelf space and spending high capital on new products. Pepsi and Coke were however able to maintain the profitability through sustained growth, for example the successful launch of Diet Coke by Coca Cola or the entry of Pepsi into the food business, which both contributed powerful to the companies and as a result to the industry’s profit.

Discipline in Schools Essay

A majority of us have families with children various ages, and the title of this article caught my eye for the simple fact I have teenage kids in school that have previously been assigned in-school suspension for minor disciplinary acts such as being tardy or turning in incomplete assignments. Working adults and parents are the primary targets of this particular article which sparks my personal interest towards this issue. I felt the author of this article gave a somewhat neutral observation of this topic, giving both sides of the story in a calm yet quite informative tone. He listed infractions that resulted in suspensions as well as different types of suspension outcomes. It’s important to note that suspending a student for being disruptive in class and suspending a student for fighting should be handled differently however both instances should require the students to continue working on their curriculum. With references from other educators as well as reports from the US Department of Education I would have to say that the contents of this article appear to be creditable. Results from out of school suspensions prove to be doing more harm than good, leaving students at home unsupervised with a couple days off with no curriculum to work on verses the alternative of requiring students to attend on the weekends seems to be a better solution, however funding for weekend programs is a separate issue. The authors intend of this article is to inform and acknowledge new alternatives need to be explored when it comes to disciplinary actions such as suspensions. Additional resources will have to be implemented, academic and financial. Overall I thought this to be a particularly interesting and informative article.

Cucumber Benefits

Cucumber is one amongst the established developed harvests, accepted to have started in the Indian landmass. It has thin to darkish green shading, skinny pores and skin, dampness thriving tissue with small eatable seeds interior, what's more, is delighted in best in plates of mixed greens, else as a fluid. It has a gentle, invigorating taste and an excessive water which helps maintain your body hydrous, and the low calorie pleased to put it on an excellent alternative to a weight diminishing consume less calories. Give a chance to perceive the attainablemedical advantages of cucumber to save our bodies in high form. 1) Hydration:-Comprising largely of water, and concerning essential electrolytes, cucumbers will facilitate stop drying out throughout the sweltering summer months. Adding together cucumber and spearmint to water will boom water utilization by means of making it greater appealing to drink. Dehydration is vital for numerous stuff together with keeping up a sound digestive tract, stopping constipation, and maintaining excretory organ stones. 2) Stop Constipation:– Take in cucumber for your day by day diet routine. Stomach related issues in the express of indigestion, gastritis, acidity and ulcers may be cured by devouring cucumber. Cucumbers have plenty of water, and their skin can hold a high quantity of infusible fibre. Water and fibre both assist food to travel with the stomachrelated tract speedier and all the more effectively, allows indigestion. 3) Diabetes:– Cucumbers are additionally a powerful treatment for diabetes. In Cucumber squeeze there are hormones which are wanted by the pancreas for generating insulin. 4) Skin Blessings of Cucumber:– One of the best advantages of cucumber is rejuvenating quality for the skin. Specialists suggest cucumber squeeze since oxide extent for a more beneficial and sparkling skin. Cucumber's excessive water volume can label it normally hydrous, and it's acknowledging that wetness is the fine pal to sound skin. a.Revives Skin:– The crucial skin advantages of cucumber are that it allows for reviving the skin. Cucumber can be utilizedon even the touchiest skin. It's calming, cooling properties can take care of pores, what's more, it holdstotally no arrogant elements or chemical compounds. Facial covers bearing cucumber fluid are useful forskin modification. b. Inverts Skin Tanning:– Cucumber's invigorating and skin-fixing impacts build it a superb normal skin toner. You couldutilize the squeeze of a cucumber or dilute it with water to apply as a toner to take away oil. In the meantime, an excessive quantity of water in cucumber will maintain your skin wet and flexible. c. Calms Sunburn:– Cucumber might be an inborn and mellow approach to deal with sunburn.Cucumber essence is abundancein vitamins, particularly water-soluble vitamin, which, being cell reinforcement kills the unsafe free radicals created by UV beams throughout the solar exposure, in this way lowering melanin generation and fetch on the spot remedy as it gives assistance to pull the heat energy out of your body. You need only spread the pices of cucumber to the pervaded regions and wait for about fifteen minutes.Now use a light lotion to re-hydrate your blazed pores and skin. d. Diminishes Dark Circles:– Utilizing cucumber cuts around the eyes may diminish the advent of dark circles rapidly. The adequacy of cell reinforcements and oxide in cucumber will facilitate in gradually blurring darkcircles. Cucumber solaces arteries around your eyes; thus allow delivering again its ordinary tint. Simply puts two cucumber cuts on each eye and take a rest for about 15 to 20 minutes. e. AN anti-ageing facial mask:-The water-soluble vitamin and caffeic corrosive in cucumbers go about as cell reinforcementswhich may facilitate to moderate the presence of the indications of maturing. To prepare anincredible do-it-yourself against maturing face veil, blend two teaspoons of ordinary yoghurt with a large portion of puree made of cucumber. Now make it into a thick blend, observe on your skin and wait for about 15 minutes before purging with heat water. On one hand the hostile to oxidants properties in the cucumber will battle the indications of maturing, on the other hand, yoghurt will lightly shed your skin. 5. As Hair Conditioner:-In case of you like swimming, you may bear in mind of the dangerous outcomes of which an irritant will occur on your hair after some time. You must realize that cucumber function amazing to re-condition your broken hair. You should require: 0.25 th peeled cucumber One particular tablespoon vegetable oilOne particular egg Mix the peeled cucumber with the egg and vegetable oil provides it with an impact till it transforms into glue. Propagate the ensuing combination equally and easily all through the broken hair and abandon it on for a quarter-hour. Wash out completely prior absorbing.In case you are a well-regulated swimmer continue doing this remedy as a minimum at one time every month. 6. Cucumber for hair:– Cucumbers are the great supply of oxide, an important mineral for hair which can build hair strong and shiny. The excessive silicon and sulfur present in cucumber squeeze may additionally encourage quicker hair growth. Follow cucumber squeeze to your scalp, abandon it for about 15-20 minutes and rinse it off with a decent cleanser. This exceptional low-calorie fruit has greater vitamins to provide than simply water and electrolytes. Cucumber carries nearly all the vitamins needed for a balanced weight-reduction plan that assistance to keep up a sound body as well as lift numerous different procedures. Thus rejoice in its many blessings and carry on with a sound life. Â  

The Solitary Reaper Essay

‘The Solitary Reaper† is one of William Wordsworth’s most famous post-Lyrical Ballads lyrics. It describes the poet’s delight in a young woman’s melancholy song in an unknown language. A highland girl is singing a ‘melancholy song’ as she wings a sickle and reaps grain. The song is carried through the hills and valleys and seems to echo all around. To the poet the song seems sweeter even than the song of Nightingale. He does not want anyone to disturb the enchanting melodious music emanating from her. The tone of this poem is pleasant and it is a poem of praise on the natural beauty of countryside as well as the relaxed life of the rural people. Stylistic plays a very import rule in any writing, which fully helps express the author’s feeling and create an unexpected effect. This article discusses the language of this poem from syntax, phonology and graphology, semantics, lexical, language usage and passage. 1. Syntax (1) Parallelisms refers to the same structure is repeated two or more than two times. It can produce some esthetic efforts: patterned and in rhyme, good to read. In Stanza2, â€Å"Among Arabian sands†¦Among the farthest Hebrides† emphasize the Scottish girl’s special voice, which shows that the poet was impressed by the girl’s beautiful voice. (2) Inverted sentences are to change the normal word to produce some emphatic effect. â€Å"No Nightingale did ever chaunt†, â€Å"A voice so thrilling ne’er was heard† here is to emphasize that the solitary reaper’s voice is unique. In addition, this structure can keep the balance of sentence. (3) Rhetorical questions are to use the form of a question in order to express a strong emotion or to emphasize a particular aspect. â€Å"Will no one tell me what she sings† â€Å"Or is it some more humble lay, famillar matter of today?† â€Å"That has been, and may be again?† Since the poet couldn’t understand what the girl was singing, it seems that he asked these questions to himself. However, they are actually asked to the readers. Thus, the poet used the rhetorical question to connect with the readers by attracting their attention making them participate in his thinking. In addition, there are no exact answers to the question, which is thought provoking and emphasize the unique and impressiveness of the voice. 2. Phonology (1) Sound pattering can achieve a sense of rhythm and harmonious and connective effect. Assonance refers to the use of the same, or related, vowel sounds in successive words and consonance refers to the repletion of the last consonants of the stressed words at the end of the lines. For example â€Å"Sorrow, loss or pain†, this usage of the same sound â€Å"/o/†, â€Å"single†, â€Å"reaping†, â€Å"singing†, â€Å"sing†, â€Å"nightingale†, the repetition of /ing/, and â€Å"still†, â€Å"hill† in â€Å"I listened, motionless and still† and â€Å"And, as I mounted up the hill†, all this create a harmonious effect and sounds good. (2) Rhythm refers to a rhyme scheme (pattern) formed by stresses perceived as peaks of prominence. This poem consists of four stanzas, the first and fourth stanzas follow strictly the thyme pattern ABABCCDD, while the second and third stanzas are in the pattern of ABCBDDEE. Every stanza has end rhyme in this poem. For example, the end rhyme in the first stanza is /t/ /s/ /t/ /s/ /d/ /d/ /s/ /s/. (3) Punctuation marks are mainly used for special stylistic effects or rhetorical purposes. This poem adopts exclamation marks, for example â€Å"Yon solitary Highland lass! Stop here, or gently pass!† to expressing special feelings of impressiveness of the girl’s voice dash. Besides, â€Å"Will no one tell me what she sings? —Perhaps the plaintive numbers flow for old, unhappy, far-off things †, the usage of the dash here is to give the various guess on the question. 3. Semantics (1) Reference means that some units of language can be explained by referring to some other elements in the above or in the text below. And the author uses anaphora, one kind of reference, points above in this poem. â€Å"her† and â€Å"she† appearing in first and last stanza refers to the â€Å"reaper† in the title. This kind of reference can avoid repetition or burdensome, and looks simple of a language. (2) Conjunction refers to the elements which connect the clauses and sentences in a text, such words as, â€Å"and†, â€Å"or† etc. â€Å"And battles long ago†, â€Å"Or is it some more humble lay†, â€Å"And, as I mounted up the hill† It is used to show the detailed relations with each parts and this can show the author’ pleasant feeling about the song sang by the highland girl. 4. Lexical (1) Many of the words (images) chosen are poetic or obsolete words which are not frequently used in our daily life. For example, â€Å"Behold†(see), â€Å"yon†(German â€Å"jene†), â€Å"vale† (valley), â€Å"chaunt†(sing), â€Å"numbers†(lines), â€Å"lay†(song). These archaic words show that it is of formal style. (2) The word â€Å"overflow† is quite impressive. Using this word, the sounds of nature sung out by the solitary girl are so vivid that readers seem to visualize the smooth movement of the notes within the valley as well as to hear the song. The poet transferred the sense of hearing into visual and tactile feelings by using this word 5. Language The poet mainly use Simile and comparison in the this poem. â€Å"No Nightingale did ever chaunt more welcome notes to weary bands†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"A voice so thrilling ne’er was heard in springtime from the Cuckoo bird, breaking the silence of the seas†¦Ã¢â‚¬  The poet compared the girl’s singing to a Nightingale and Cuckoo bird. The metaphor and the comparison between the voice of the girl and that of the Nightingale and Cukoo at once points to her commonness and exclusiveness. It also underlines the power and purity of the voice of the solitary girl. 6. Passage At the beginning, the poet encountered a solitary Scottish rustic girl who was reaping and singing a melancholy song which had a charm for him. And then the poet made two comparisons of the melody to the sweet voice of a nightingale and cuckoo-bird. He stated that the girl’s song was far more beautiful than them. At the same time, the poet began speculating the content of the song which was sung in Scot—whether it was about some old, sad matters or some sufferings of present time. In the end the poet made a conclusion in which he emphasized the lingering effect of the music on him. In conclusion, this poem, â€Å"The Solitary Reaper†, reflects many sides of stylistics, including syntax (parallelisms, inverted sentences and rhetorical questions), phonology (sound pattering, rhythm, and punctuation mark), semantics (reference, conjunction), lexical (images), and language. It fully helps express the author’s feeling and create an unexpected effect. In a word, stylistics can be almost found and used in every kinds of writing.

Unhealthy Diets

Final Draft Compare and Contrast: Unhealthy Diets Fast food as we all know; its tasty, handy, and inexpensive. In our day and age it is extremely easy to maintain an unhealthy diet, as opposed to a healthy one. There are some main factors to why, unhealthy and fast food is cheap and easy to get, second reason is because fast food is located almost everywhere and the advertisements can be very persuading, and last is because people simply do not have enough time to make a home cooked meal. This overall can be avoided and healthy food can be the healthy alternative.But fast food is still the priority for the majority of people when looking for a meal. The first reason is that unhealthy food is cheaper than healthy food, which causes more people to buy unhealthy food that is bad for you. Buying higher priced healthy food would do much better for you than any fast food place. Fast food causes people to become unhealthy, gain weight, and maybe even gain a disease. Fast food has bad conseq uences but still is bought constantly on a daily basis. But healthy food prevents you from gaining weight, unhealthy diseases, and keeps you healthy.So why is healthy food not acknowledged as much as unhealthy food is, because of the cheap attractive prices for fast food. Not all healthy food is actually expensive but people do not have the time to find alternatives that would actually benefit them. For example, sharing a foot long sub from subway with a co-worker or classmate can be better than the occasional fast food. This is not the only way you can avoid an unhealthy diet but there is no way to avoid the advertisements. Eating healthy is not as easy as it seems to be, or is it?There seems to be a lot of fast food advertisements everywhere but not so many healthy choices are on their menu, which brings up the second reason. Is it really harder to keep a healthy diet rather than an unhealthy one, maybe? Or people are not looking good enough for other options. In our society, it i s very easy to even fall into an unhealthy diet because of people and media influencing us to do so. There many advertisements for unhealthy fast food but not as much for healthy food. You will see all the advertisements of new cheap deals for unhealthy fast food such as billboards, television product placement, or ven friends trying to inform you on cheap meals. But that should not give you a reason to give in and start an unhealthy diet. You can as easy as look around your area for fast food restaurants that offer healthy food. Or it can be as simple as continuing going to the fast food restaurant you usually attend but instead order something healthy. These are small but important ways of how to avoid an unhealthy diet. There are in fact at least a few other ways you can get out of eating unhealthy junk food.Here comes the option of having to cook for yourself, but not many people have that time or are too lazy to. Even cooking home meals has almost become obsolete because of eve ryone being in a rush to eat. Finally, people might not even like the frequent visits to fast food restaurants but are â€Å"forced to† just because they do not have enough time to have a home cooked meal. This can be the result of having a family to provide for, with having to work long hours, to much time spent in class, studying, or maybe even both. And even young students are accustomed to an unhealthy diet on a regular daily basis.There also people who just are too lazy to cook or at least make a sandwich at home for their next day at work or school. Money is also a main result of this because students do not have enough money to spend everyday on food that is more than their 0. 99-cent cheeseburger. That seems to be more amusing to people and they rather do that everyday then staying healthy and preparing healthy food. This is why there should be more advertisement that persuades people to buy healthy cheap affordable food. Fast food will probably be the most common foo d resource only because of the laziness of people not eating healthy food.Also because of the appealing cheap prices and delicious taste. And healthy food will probably stay underrated even though should be the first choice for fast food. Hopefully home cooked meals will be considered more often and taken into action. Unhealthy fast food restaurants will always have more advertisements than healthy advertisements because of all the customers that the restaurant receives. So instead of giving into a simple unhealthy diet, take your time to notice the healthy food and start your own healthy diet. 1

Sun shines enterprise case study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

Sun shines enterprise - Case Study Example Sunshine faces numerous threats, strengths, opportunities and limitations the business venture is faced with. Sunshine enterprise operates a chain of restaurants in various locations. These restaurants are managed by Abby, who is the manager of the business. He is responsible for scrutinizing the quality of services offered by the workforce in the company. This has significantly enabled the company to expand continuously. This is because they have the ability to address the complaints and reactions of the customers, hence maintaining better and quality services. On the other hand, Sunshine enterprise is faced with numerous limitations. For example, the company is solely managed by one individual, who is the manager of the business venture. This is a limitation because it is extremely hard to manage the quality of services provided in six restaurants by oneself (Fine, 2009). Therefore, they should consider hiring several staff members to maintain the quality of services provided in the company. In addition, Sunshine has a vast opportunity in the business world. This is because they have the ability to expand the business. The current case study asserts that the company runs six restaurants in various locations. The company can use the profit generated from these six restaurants to expand the business by setting up more restaurants in other locations. The company can also consider rewarding their employees in order to maintain the quality of services provided (Fine, 2009). This can involve the provision of incentives in the form of rewards. The company also faces various threats in the business world. Sunshine Enterprise faces a considerable threat in delivering quality services based on the small number of employees in the company (Fine, 2009). The company should consider increasing the number of staff members to improve the quality of services provided in

What classroom strategies can be implemented to help a child with ADHD Literature review

What classroom strategies can be implemented to help a child with ADHD - Literature review Example The child easily gets distracted very first even by the sounds of the artwork on the classroom board (Brown, 2009 p. 134). Difficulty in remembering tasks and also organizing the schoolwork: When a teacher, for example, directs the students to turn to page 55 and work out exercise 1 to 3 and then art textbook page 44 and work out exercise 4 to 6 to the child with the disorder can be difficult. The child finds it very confusing, and the assignments can be done in different pages and exercises too (Mash & Wolfe, 2010 p. 77).   The child experiences difficulty in sitting and remaining seated in class: The child with ADHD usually does not understand why they should stay in one place without moving in class. They experience the problem of not being able to be attentive in class, even after being reminded to sit down so many times they forget, and they find themselves standing and moving around again. A teacher with such student who rarely knows anything about the disorder can be in a situation whereby she cannot be able to control the child (Rief, 2005 p. 98).   Impatience: The child is usually so much relentless, for example, this child cannot be able to line up like other children in the line. In the traditional schools, whereby the teachers can mistake, the child and get annoyed easily. These children usually insist on being the first always. Also in class, these children never wait for their turns to answer questions, but they just answer with outing waiting for their turn. The teacher can get very annoyed and punish or even develop a negative attitude towards the child. It can affect the child emotionally since the child does not see any problem with her or his behaviors; to them they are healthy (Deruvo, 2009 p. 45).   Hyperactivity and fidgeting: The child who has ADHD usually in most cases is not able to control the impulses in the class. That is they keep on moving up and