Mcdonald’s and Starbucks Compairson : Establishing Their Brands to Fit Local Markets

How do you think McDonalds and Starbucks are able to establish their brands to fit local markets through architectural design of the stores, their e–commerce strategies and service to accommodate the local markets and culture? Explain their approaches individually and see if there are any differences or similarities. Do you think Starbucks benefitted from the missteps by McDonalds that you will read about in your research? Both these companies follow the business dictum â€Å"think globally but act locally† (Montgomery Research, 2008). Both make effort to establish their brands by experience differentiation. Both corporations focus their local and global marketing on identification of the emotional experience as part of the consumer connection with their products. Both use various marketing strategies to become synonymous in the consumers mind with a product category. For example: if a consumer wants fast food they think of products like a Big Mac (hamburger), a McRib (pork) or some McNuggets (chicken) so they think McDonald's and if a consumer wants a quality cup of coffee they think Starbucks (Montgomery Research, 2008). It's a trade brand category identifier but one company has a wider range than the other. Both company’s use similar techniques of blending standardized corporate and unique local design structures together for their stores. They also make specific accommodations in service strategies to make their companies benefit. Both of these types of actions show respect for the local areas and their native cultures. Linking these customer environments with their brand offers a psychological identification for the consumer. McDonald's has added new local specialty food items to fit the local market environment (Mininni, 2009). For example in France most burgers contain the much loved additional bacon, facilities are air-conditioned, have free Wi-Fi, and are open late. And in India, McDonald's removed beef to accommodate Hindus and in Morocco on certain holidays the menu includes â€Å"dates, milk, and Moroccan cookies†. In Morocco McDonald's employs female receptionists to seat customers. And in Arabia they offer a sandwich named McArabia. McDonald's has also been credited by local newspapers with raising the standards of bathroom cleanliness in Hong Kong. And Starbucks also seeks to blend with their local environment in many ways. Starbucks has altered menus to accommodate local tastes and some menu offerings include meat buns in Asia and mince pie in Britain but coffee has always been the primary focus. Starbucks worldwide decor scheme includes using their standardized nautical theme blended with local icons. Included in the Starbucks overseas strategy, they purchased retailers that already had local followings, for example: in 1998 they purchase the chain Seattle Coffee Company in the United Kingdom with 38 existing retail facilities serving the public (Blanchard, 2008). With this kind of acquisition Starbucks capitalizes on acquiring pre-existing customers. Starbucks did not take full advantage of McDonald's â€Å"missteps† as much as McDonald's has taken advantage of some of the mistakes Starbucks has made. Because McDonald's has a wider product category under name brands that is broader in product repertoire than Starbucks and they can add additional items for test marketing and if successful add them in permanently (Martin, 2008). Recently McDonald's added a successful line of premium coffees to their full menu directly competing against Starbucks. The ongoing strategy of offering more diverse quality food items comprising a complete meal associated in the public consciousness consistently gives McDonald's a larger appeal than Starbucks focus on their premium coffee or tea (Blanchard, 2008). In an attempt to keep sales up over time, Starbucks has tried altering stores environment, changing background music, offering discounted Wi-Fi, promoting discount club cards, and making variations in their basic menu and they even experimented with one dollar coffee but generally these methods have not stopped the drop in their sales over time (Winslow, 2008). Current E-commerce strategies of these two corporations vary greatly. Differences are obvious between the design styles and offered number of actual customized foreign websites. There is customization showing real differentiation for each specific country (114 different worldwide) McDonald's websites than for the one primary Starbucks website with links to thirty countries worldwide. All the McDonald's websites are more colorful, hip and show big pictures of the newest food products, a toll-free consumer hotline, offer free Wi-Fi, links for food nutritional values, careers and having local fun (Startz, 2009). In France McDonald's downplays U. S. roots and uses France's Asterix (a local cartoon character) for marketing on their French website and on TV instead of the traditional Ronald McDonald (Mininni, 2009). Starbucks uses a simplistic low key corporate website that offers standardized links to their history, charities, local events, buying their coffee and tea, discounted Wi-Fi time and the Starbucks coffee card. Starbucks has not set up separate foreign websites for each country where they have locations. They use a main page link to show thirty foreign locations of their stores worldwide. Starbucks website makes corporate announcements and one of the quotes known for causing bad public reaction was when spokesman Howard D. Schultz announced details of a â€Å"corporate turnaround plan† that included â€Å"discontinuing warm breakfast sandwiches† at its stores because â€Å"the scent of the warm sandwiches interferes with the coffee aroma in our stores† (Martin, 2008). I have noticed that when these corporations post on their websites or talk to the news media there are differences in their demeanor. Starbucks talks about removing sandwiches or dollar coffee from their product line or in having to close underperforming locations and McDonald's always seems to puts a more positive wording and spin on their company and all released information. References Blanchard, C. (2008). Starbucks’ Price Positioning Misstep. WordPress. com. Retrieved from http://thetransfer. wordpress. com/2008/01/31/starbucks-price-positioning-misstep/ Martin, A. (2008). Starbucks to Close Stores and End Sandwich Sales. NYTimes. com. Retrieved from http://www. nytimes. com/2008/01/31/business/31sbux. html? _r=3=business=slogin=slogin Mininni, T. (2009). McDonald’s: Taking the Snobbery Out? MpDailyFix. com. Retrieved from http://www. mpdailyfix. com/McDonalds-taking-the-snobbery-out/ Montgomery Research. (2008). Visibility Into The Ultimate Consumer Is Key To Customer Growth – McDonalds. CRMProject. com. Retrieved from http://www. crmproject. com/documents. asp? d_ID=2912 Startz, S. (209). McDonald's Free Wi-Fi Should Worry Starbucks. BrandCannel. com. Retrieved from http://www. brandchannel. com/home/post/2009/12/16/McDonalds-Free-Wi-Fi-Should-Worry-Starbucks. aspx Winslow, L. (2008). New Customer Loyalty Programs and Missteps – Starbucks Case Study. Ezinearticles. com. Retrieved from http://ezinearticles. com/? New-Customer-Loyalty-Programs-and-Missteps-Starbucks-Case-Study=3218771

The Longest Memory enhance our understanding

How does Diagram's novel The Longest Memory enhance our understanding of the immorality of slavery and the horrible suffering of slaves? By glowered How does Diagram's novel The Longest Memory enhance our understanding of the immorality of slavery and the horrible suffering of slaves? The Longest Memory by Fred Diagrams is a multi-faceted narrative that follows the life of a hundred year old slave Whitecap and the lives of those on the Whitecap plantation in the late asses after the death of a young slave boy, Chapel.The Longest Memory heightens our understanding of the horrific suffering endured by slaves through an omniscient perspective with a graphic nature, written in a way that makes characters easy to relate to and understand how slavery impacts them personally. The Longest Memory features an omniscient perspective to tell the story of Whitecap and his step son. By using so many different styles of writing to give accounts from each character, Diagrams enables the readers to f urther understand how the slavery system impacted not only the African slaves, but also the lives of the hit people around them.Within the novel, each chapter is an excerpt from the lives of the people vital to the death of young Chapel. The style of writing varies between each chapter, enabling readers to relate to the characters on a more personal level. The contrast between the characters can be observed Just from the different styles of writing used to embody the thoughts and feelings of each character. Whitecaps chapter reflects his life that is like â€Å"counting hours that drag through the dark†, while Sanders Senior's diary entry style writing provides an absolute insight into his mind and feelings.Contrasting both of these accounts, is Lydia chapter, written in a way that enables readers to see a side of Chapel they wouldn't otherwise see, Lydia describes how â€Å"the lady I have become crept up on me† as she continued her life with Chapel before his death. By writing the novel from so many points of view, Diagrams opens the minds of those directly effect by slavery to the readers. Within The Longest Memory, the graphic language heightens our understanding of he immoral treatment of the African slaves by directly addressing the problems within the Whitecap Plantation.The biggest conflicts occur in the Cook, Sanders Senior and Whitecap chapters, where the rape of Cook and death of her son are central difficulties. The varying chapters discuss the monstrous and traumatizing rape of Cook by Sanders Senior, where both Cook and Sanders voice their experiences. Sanders describes a struggle where â€Å"she [Cook] fought so much that both our clothes were torn†. The language used to discuss such a horrific event eighteen a sense of immorality within the slave system. Another graphic scene in the novel is where the audience experience the death of young Chapel through his father's eyes. L literally saw the boy surrender to that whip† Whitecap states, creating a feeling of sorrow and heartbreak within the reader. Diagrams uses such visual language to express to readers the extent of the agony endured by slaves. Diagram's novel gives a deep insight into the impact of slavery on each individual. Whitecap opens the narrative by discussing how the events throughout his 100 ears caused him to become â€Å"nobody, nameless†. Mr.. Whitecap and Sanders senior express contrasting views on the â€Å"treatment of his slaves† as Mr.. Whitecap â€Å"thinks I'm too severe with them†.Lydia, Cook and Chapel, all have quite similar and remarkable chapters as each individual express their wisdom and loathe for the slavery system. These chapters leave the readers feeling indignant as such charismatic and lovable characters are cheated of happiness and freedom. A major contrast to these chapters is the excerpts from The Virginian and the Plantation wieners chapter, where readers can experience the views and v alues of the world outside of the Whitecap Plantation and understand how the â€Å"degree of humanity' was vastly different and much harsher on other plantations.Through an omnipresent perspective, Fred Diagrams conveys the impact of slavery on each of the characters in The Longest Memory using graphic language that allows readers to feel the characters emotions. The Longest Memory is an in depth exploration of the immorality, suffering and injustice of the Africans forced into slavery in the asses.

Legal Implications of Social Media and the Hiring Process

MBA 610 Final Paper Legal Implications of Social Media and the Hiring Process Tammy Rider October 17, 2012 Social media has become one of the most important tools in business practices. Companies can advertise their services and products for nothing or next to nothing, network with other businesses, generate new business, connect with their customers, and provide a valuable research tool. It has changed the face of business as we know it. With this wonderful innovation comes responsibility. Employers and employees alike must face new rules and laws associated with their social media practices.One such practice that has become important in the business world is the use of social media during the hiring process. Some companies even go so far as to request job applicants for their username and passwords for such sites such as Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter. Where do the rights of employers and the rights of employees fit into this new high tech world? The legal system faces new challeng es every day regarding this relatively young business quandary. Where should the lines of privacy be drawn?How much social media information should an employer be permitted to use during the screening process for hiring a new employee? It has just recently come to the media’s attention that some employers ask their job applicants for their Facebook login information and password. However, the reality is that employers have been using social media to investigate these applicants for years. In 2011, Reppler, a social media monitoring service, conducted a survey of 300 hiring professionals to learn if, when, and how they are using social media to screen job applicants.The study found that 91% of recruiters or hiring managers use social networking sites to screen prospective employees. Out of these recruiters and hiring managers, 69% revealed that they have denied employment to a job applicant due to something they found on an applicant’s social networking site (1). Employ ers, however, should take caution when using the information they find to make a decision whether to hire an applicant or throw their application in the trash.It would seem that technology is outpacing the law in this area; however, employers should very seriously review the information they find and be sure that it does not lead to a liability under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, or some other state or federal employment discrimination laws. The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) states that an employer must provide a disclosure that a consumer report or background check will be performed to their job applicants, and should obtain signed authorization by the applicant to proceed with this research.It is also the duty of the company to provide notice to the job applicant that they will take adverse action to not hire them before the company actually takes that action, and provide a post-adverse action notice (2). It is interesting to note that these FCRA requirements do not apply to e mployers who perform their own background checks without using a consumer-reporting agency to obtain the information. Human resources hiring managers that perform a social media search on a job applicant are not bound to these FCRA regulations to provide disclosure and gain consent from the applicant.This is where it gets tricky! Although a hiring manager may not have to adhere to the FCRA regulations, they may still be confronted with other state and federal laws regarding employment discrimination and privacy. In the past, employers have been very careful to not invade employee privacy, base any employment decisions on protected characteristics, or ask unlawful questions during the interview process. In the past few years though, employers have been using social media to screen applicants on a regular basis, whether formally or informally.By performing these pre-employment research screenings on job applicants using social media profiles, employers are setting themselves up to dis crimination claims under federal, state, and local laws. Since this area is still fuzzy and grey as far as the law is concerned, employers need to stay informed and educated to protect themselves from potential lawsuits. Consulting with an attorney who specializes in this field would be a wise decision. As the laws evolve, so must the employer’s behaviors.By reviewing social networking profiles and information, employers are learning about job applicants’ religious beliefs, marital status, family relationships, race, ethnicity, medical conditions, and other information that cannot be used to make an employment-based decision. This is information that is considered as protected characteristics even though an applicant or employee has made it public on a social media profile. As a result, employers must take care when performing such research.Ultimately, should a discrimination claim arise, the employer will have the burden of proof to demonstrate that the decision to re ject a job applicant was based on a legitimate non-discriminatory reason, rather than the fact that the employer learned of the job applicant’s sexual orientation, the projected due date of the job applicant’s baby, or any other protected characteristic. So the question that persists is how can we make use of social media without disrupting any discrimination laws?Some of the job-related information found in a profile may be highly valuable in determining an applicant’s qualifications for the job. One practical method is to only allow someone who is not involved in the hiring of the specific position to be the person who conducts the social media background check. Then, when the social media background check is completed, that person can summarize the job-related information that may be helpful in considering the applicant, and can make no mention of the â€Å"protected† information (race, religion, medical condition, etc. that would otherwise get the emp loyer into trouble. This way, the hiring manager, or ultimate decision-maker, receives only the job-related information, and can demonstrate that the information unknown to him or her had nothing to do with the decision to hire another candidate. Furthermore, before the job opening is even posted, employers should be clear about what they are really looking for in a social media background check, and whether it is necessary for the particular position.For example, the importance and extent of a social media background may depend on the position the company needs to fill (for example, a CFO position versus a seasonal stockroom employee). Certainly, employers should be doing enough pre-hiring due diligence to avoid potential claims of negligent hiring, but they must balance those concerns with finding out information that exposes them to liability for discrimination. There exists yet another level of privacy invasion that some businesses have been practicing. Asking for a job applican t’s login and password information goes beyond simply surfing the web for research purposes.Some hiring managers get around this request by having the job candidate log into their Facebook account, for instance, during an in-person interview. These potential candidates are put into a compromising position. Should they refuse this request or just do it to keep them in the running for the job? Do these employer requests violate the federal Stored Communications Act or the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act? The laws surrounding the Stored Communications Act prohibit intentional access to electronic information without authorization or intentionally exceeding that authorization, 18 U.S. C.  § 2701. The Computer Fraud and Abuse Act prohibits intentional access to a computer to obtain information without authorization, 18 U. S. C.  § 1030(a) (2) (C). Are these laws being violated when companies request login information from job applicants? It would certainly be a violation if the c ompany broke into an account to access the information without authorization. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission will have to determine whether employers who request this login information are violating anti-discrimination statutes.State legislators are beginning to introduce legislation that aims to prohibit this practice. In April 2012, Maryland was first to introduce a bill to ban employers from demanding Facebook or other social networking login information and passwords. Other states have followed or are currently following suit with bills of their own. For instance, California introduced the â€Å"Social Media Privacy Act† to legislature which would protect the social media privacy rights of students and employees (3).The law is attempting to catch up with technology, beginning with the states and expanding federally in the future. It is in this writer’s opinion that employers should consider the non-legal ramifications of this social media dilemma in ad dition to the legal implications. By demanding this private information they are setting themselves up to lose some of their best employees or potential employees simply because they believe in their rights to privacy and refuse to give access to their social media credentials.Employers should weigh what is most important to them and evaluate what they stand to lose. Employee morale may suffer and an environment of distrust may take precedence. These conditions are not conducive to a healthy workplace resulting in poor performance and poor productivity. Is this really worth the tiny bit of extra information that may be revealed by invading a person’s social media profile? Businesses must stay on top of developing legislation to protect themselves. Job seekers should also remain educated on their rights.It is sad to think that a person may find themselves wanted a job so badly they would be willing to hand over any information that is requested of them. We will probably see th e emergence of a new department in most companies. This department will be responsible for technology privacy education and enforcement which could save the business millions of dollars in lawsuits. The future of technology isn’t slowing down one bit. The law may never catch up, but it will keep pushing forward to protect the rights of employers and employees. Social media is just that: social.What a person does outside of the workplace is, in most cases, of no concern to the business. As they say, don’t mix business with your personal life and vice versa. If we allow that to happen, where will the line be drawn? The line must be drawn now. Works Cited (1) Swallow, Erica, â€Å"How Recruiters Use Social Networks to Screen Candidates†, October 23, 2011, http://mashable. com/2011/10/23/how-recruiters-use-social-networks-to-screen-candidates-infographic. (2) http://www. ftc. gov/os/statutes/031224fcra. pdf (3) http://epic. org/privacy/workplace/

Behavior Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Behavior - Essay Example This increases my ability to decide better things for myself. Thus, I have this ability now to always certain about my decision to where I am heading with my life in the future. Before I usually tried to think of things far from what really happened. As a result, it made no sense at all and it made me unable to grasp the whole picture of reality. Thus, it made me become shallow minded about my future for I lacked enthusiasm on things to come in my life. I think of things sometimes that are far beyond the reality, especially such as giving false mistakes for others which based entirely on a created personal bad thoughts alone. As a result, it put me into practice of giving poor trust to others. Worst, I would misjudge others based only on my one-sided thoughts. I realize that this is unhealthy and so I was able to refrain from entertaining bad thoughts. At work, my responsibility is to discover new things for the benefits of the company. Sometimes I failed to consider possibilities and it would always send me to moments of being unproductive by not discovering something new. Thus, there are times when I end up having no positive feedback for an innovative idea that might be essential for the company. A friend revealed that she hates the idea of being thought of what to do. She hates it especially most of the time because she simply just does not want to be told about what to do. However, she admitted that it brought no positive impact on her life. In most of the time now, she does not find any level of willingness to learn for there is clear low level of enthusiasm for it. As an effect, it usually took time for her to learn. Worst, she usually hates to think and just want to make things go as they are and free from her full control. I learned from a friend who is married and have a child. His wife seems not willing to be serious about giving good examples for their children. According to him, it seems it may not be her priority in the

Why is it very important that this world see Jesus as Lord Essay - 1

Why is it very important that this world see Jesus as Lord - Essay Example Here, prophet Isaiah intended to warn the people of Judah against the wrath of God and makes to them a promise that eventually God will comfort his people and will make them strong again. In that context, prophet Isaiah makes many prophesies about Jesus and the coming of the Lord and Savior. It specifically needs to be mentioned here that the word ‘Immanuel’ used by prophet Isaiah to refer to Jesus means â€Å"God is with us† and hence prophet clearly prophesied that not only will Jesus come to Erath, but that Jesus is truly the Lord. Prophet Isaiah goes on to refer to the coming of Jesus as the Lord and savior of the people. Here again prophet Isaiah goes on to prophesy that Jesus is the Lord and Savior. Prophesies about Jesus being Lord is continued on in the New Testament. The Gospels many a time mention Jesus as Lord and declare Jesus to be Lord. These are the word from the Gospel of John, written by John, one of the disciples of Jesus. In this Gospel John writes about the period A.D. 26-30, when Jesus taught and performed miracles. The Gospel of John clearly shows to the people that Jesus is Lord. Believing the scriptural evidence that confirms Jesus as Lord, it is the duty of people to totally surrender to Jesus, as one surrenders before one’s Lord. Going by the fact that Jesus is Lord, it is the duty of the believers to live for Him. For instance, when around 627 B.C., when people of Judah mocked and hated prophet Jeremiah, he prophesied the mercy of God, and the restoration of the people of God, through the coming of Messiah by saying that: â€Å"The days are coming, declares the Lord when I will raise up to David a righteous Branch, a King who will reign wisely and do what is just and right in the land. In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety. This is the name by which he will be called: The LORD our Righteousness.† Yet history has stood witness to the fact that time and again people

System for Investigating Law Enforcement Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

System for Investigating Law Enforcement - Essay Example The system of investigations should be independent to ensure public confidence of the process and to avoid a scenerio police investigating themselves does not arise. The first step is the police officers should be required by law to provide a name and place of duty. This will help in the investigations by being able to confirm that the officer was at the site where the alleged misconduct took place and determine whether the officer exercised certain powers such as arrest or searching of suspects (Ruggiero, 2013). The suspected police officers and the witnesses should be separated and interviewed within 24 hours after the details of the misconduct are reported. The evidence collected should be used for criminal or administrative purposes (van Dongen, Selleslaghs, & Gehem, 2013). To ensure police officers cooperate fully with the investigations officers who fail to participate should be discharged from the police force. To ensure justice is not delayed there should be enforceable deadlines for carrying out investigations (Gounev & Ruggiero, 2012). To avoid delays the concerned police departments should provide the necessary information, and the in vestigators should be able to obtain warrants to get the required information and be able to search private property for any evidence needed. Secondly, my system entails the setting up of an independent agency to deal with cases of serious police misconduct. The agency should be a separate institution from the police force and should be free from political interference. The agency should be dominated by civilian investigates and a minimal number of retired police offices. The civilians should represent the community by having people of different cultural and economic backgrounds. The retired officers should be there only for consolations purposes as the risk of police bias is

How can omniscience and free will be recociled Essay

How can omniscience and free will be recociled - Essay Example Therefore, if God is omniscient, then He has the knowledge of what mankind will do in the future. The activities that he will undertake in coming days are already known by Him. Hence, the question of free will in human beings arises. Because God knows everything, then human beings do not have free will. In its definition, free will is described as the ability to make voluntary choices. It is the ability of an individual to choose something without being influenced by other factors. For example, God knows what you will do tomorrow or a day later or even know what you are going to request Him in prayer so that your wishes can be fulfilled. Because of the idea that God is omniscient and thus knows everything in this world that takes place, human beings do not have the choice of doing what they want, whenever they want to or in whichever manner. This is because their actions have already been pre determined by God. This idea that God controls all our actions right from being formed in the womb and being born into the world until our dieing days, has made some theologians state otherwise. They say that God knows everything but his omniscience is one that does not predetermine the actions of His creation. This has thus given rise to two types of omniscience in trying to describe God. Total omniscience was the first description of God. ... In this ideology, God before creating the Universe had already prepared the destiny of His creation and therefore some people have already been chosen to enter heaven on judgment day. This eliminates the idea of free will in humans in determining their destiny. An example of this idea that God exhibits total omniscience is evident in the Bible. In the book of Jeremiah chapter five, in verse five it is said that before we were born, God knew us as before putting us in our mothers' wombs. This statement by God shows that He already knew what His intentions for the world were. The other definition of God is of inherent omniscience. In this definition, God is described as limiting His ability in knowing everything by choice and thus favors the aspect of free will in humans. In the Biblical book of Deuteronomy in chapter 30, God allows free will in humans by stating that He has given them the choice between life and death. That if mankind abides by God's goodness he will enjoy eternal life in heaven. If he is devoid of goodness, then he is bound to leave his life after death in hell with Satan. Hence, the definition that God exhibits inherent omniscience is what is upheld by many theologians and other religious people. If He only showed total omniscience, then human beings would not have the ability to make their own choices. Everything they do would not be voluntarily generated but unknowingly fostered by God's command on His creation. (Stewart & Taylor) Because of the inherent omniscience of God, omniscience and humans' free will can be reconciled. God has given mankind the ability to choose his own destiny through the ten commands that were handed down to Moses in Mount Sinai. With the presentation of these commandments, God showed that He does not control the

What are Swifts aims in A Modest Proposal and how does he achieve them Essay

What are Swifts aims in A Modest Proposal and how does he achieve them What are Joyces aims in Araby how does she achieve them - Essay Example Many people were fed up with the government in place as it did nothing to alleviate the life of the common person in the country. The rich were always getting richer while the poor became poorer (Swift 23). Swift aims to target Ireland’s politicians, the falsehood of the English plus the degradation which she saw on the Irish People. Swift was fed up with the many empty promises posted by their leaders in power to help those needy in society, something that never materialized (Swift 24). In his book, Swift uses satire in representing her grievances in regard to the matter. She provides her own solution that can be equated to mockery too. Her solution was to end poverty by reducing the population of the poor. This can be done through eating of poor children under the age of 1 year by the rich. Her solution was absurd adding to the mockery on the many solutions that never materialized (Swift 27). Swift manages to address issues like poverty, famine, overpopulation and homelessne ss in this paper. In contrast, Joyce’s Araby aims at portraying Dublin life at its realistic point through a young boy that lived in it (Norris 45). Describing every sense and environment in which the boy lived, the author managed to bring out the parallels of life between the rich and poor in the society. The poor had to succumb through poor living condition and struggled to make ends. In addition, Joyce adds a theme of discovering of love through the innocent young boy (Norris 46). The young boy had a crush on Manga’s sisters and did what he can to please her, something which in the end did not go as he had planned due to lack of money. A situation which most people expect to turn into happiness, ended up in a sad note when the boy missed to see the show and get to please a girl. Joyce aimed at portraying the implication of poverty of social, economic and spiritual well-being of people

Estonian Air's Big Buy Case Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Estonian Air's Big Buy Case - Assignment Example They offer flights to overseas destinations and among their home countries. These include: the US Airways, British Airways, and Air France, among others. A common characteristic of these airlines is that they are fully or partially owned by their governments; which brought them into existence. The low cost carriers set their network of short routes with fleets consisting of one type of airplane. This strategy helped in minimizing maintenance cost as well as the cost of training. Some of these include: Southwest, Jet Blues, EasyJet, AirBerlin and Sky-Europe among others. The third type of competitive groups was regional carriers that specialized in connecting small cities with the larger capital cities in the nation and region. However, the charges by regional carriers were higher than those of low cost carriers. For instance, Air Nostrum connected cities in Spain, whereas SATA Air connects the Canary Islands to the mainlands of Portugal and Germany. Eventually, the Estonian Air Airline faced competition from other airlines that flew through Estonia while connecting to major European cities such as: Amsterdam, Barcelona, Copenhagen, London, Paris, Rome and Vienna. The main competitor of Estonian Air’s is an A/S Air Baltic Corporation, whose network consists of the major European cities as well as the Baltic region. The second main competitor is EasyJet of Britain that has almost 400 routes across Europe. The third main competitor Aero Airlines of Finland specializes in connecting Tallinn with three main cities in Finland. In conclusion, the Estonian Air has a continuously growing transport market. Considering the fact that the air transport market in Estonia grows at a rate of 10% to 15% due to increased tourism activity in Estonia, its market will continue to

Isolation and Resentment in Mary Shelleys Frankenstein Essay Example for Free

Isolation and Resentment in Mary Shelleys Frankenstein Essay Mary Shelley’s novel, Frankenstein, deals with two very distinct individuals: the young-but-foolish Victor Frankenstein and his creation, the â€Å"Monster†. Victor is the main focus of the novel for the beginning chapters, while the rest of the work focuses more on the development and actions of the Monster. The characters of Victor and the Monster are first brought together during the Monster’s creation in Chapter 4 (34). It was Victor’s isolation from both his family and his peers that ultimately lead to his creation of the Monster, and it was the Monster’s feelings of isolation and resentment towards Victor that lead to his violent episodes. While these feelings are evident in both characters’ actions throughout the majority of the novel, it was during the Monster’s statements to Captain Robert Walton towards the end of the story that drives home the fact that the Monster’s actions were products of his repeated rejections when he attempted to be accepted by society and as such are not indicative of his inherent nature. It was these feelings of loneliness and resentment that drove both Victor and the Monster to their actions, and it is safe to assume that some of Shelley’s personal feelings of abandonment and resentment towards her mother bled through into her characters. These feelings are made evident by way of the diction of the characters, both elements of and deviations from the Gothic stereotype, the development of the characters throughout the story and the lack of any definite closure to the text. Shelley’s use of eloquent and elaborate language by the main characters could be construed as ironic, in that such well-spoken characters have sunken into committing the most terrible of sins, namely those of murder and hubris. It is this irony that makes the isolation and resentment that Victor and the Monster feel stand out in the reader’s mind; two characters that are so articulate in their speech are reviled for their differences from the rest of society. The sophisticated diction of the Monster in the final pages of the novel helps to lend a feeling of bitterness and remorse to the text. However, the Monster’s eloquent speech does not sway the Captain, as evidenced in the first line â€Å"I was at first touched†¦indignation was rekindled within me. † (154). This shows that no matter how well-spoken an individual is and how sympathetic that person might be, normal society tends to shun those that are viewed as different, whether these differences are physical or in the way that they communicate. Such eloquence, as evidenced in the Monster’s speech â€Å"Once I falsely hoped to meet†¦thoughts of honor and devotion† (154), is a direct product of how a person was raised; those that are raised in an environment where they are kept isolated, whether by choice or through the influence of society tend to develop such oratory skills as a way of hopefully being accepted by those around them. However, more often than not, such well-defined articulation of one’s thoughts leads to such a person being further isolated from society, and as such feeds feelings of isolation and resentment. It was due to realistic depictions of societal reactions like these that helped to solidify Frankenstein’s place as a Gothic novel. Shelley uses many common elements of the Gothic novel in Frankenstein, and the themes of resentment and isolation can be connected to the characters through these elements. Victor is depicted as a â€Å"weak hero†, whose isolation from the world in the development of his creation leads him from an otherwise successful career as a scientist. It could be inferred that Victor’s resentment towards his creation, whom he subsequently abandons, stems not only from his disgust with himself and what he has created, but also from the opportunities denied to him as a result of his irresponsible pursuit of bestowing life upon that which should remain lifeless. Although Victor knew that creating life through artificial means would be considered taboo by his peers, he decided to proceed with the project regardless, letting his scientific curiosity overtake his rational intellect. After he brought the Monster to life, he was realized the irresponsibility of his actions. During this time, Victor had severe difficulties connecting to other people, and he gradually worked to further distance himself from the rest of society, which lead him into an extremely depressed state (. Although there were points in the novel where Victor was able to experience a very temporary reprieve from his mental torments, in his mind he would never be able to fully experience mental peace until one of them was dead. In contrast to Victor’s rather weak characterization, the Monster could be depicted as the â€Å"hero† of the story, in that even while he is committing murders that should sicken the reader, he is still portrayed as a sympathetic character, whose actions are driven by his feelings of abandonment, betrayal and resentment that Victor engenders in him through his various actions, as well of those of human society in regards to the Monster [i. e. The Monster’s episode with Felix]. It is understandably unclear if any the characters can be definitively labeled as a hero or villain, for even though they both have committed acts worthy of abhorrence and disgust, in a sense, they could be considered to be victims of abuse and neglect as well. Due to this, it can be argued that both Victor and the Monster are accurate representatives of the Gothic hero/villain. A final example of Gothic elements that Shelley incorporates into her novel is that of the heroine in distress, in this case Elizabeth. Elizabeth is a good example of a heroine because she is a strong female character who is independent and dedicated, especially to the Frankenstein family after Victor’s mother dies. However, she breaks the classic Gothic mold of a heroine by the fact that she is a patient woman who almost never takes action for herself, and it is for this reason as well as Victor’s negligence on their wedding night that she ends up being killed by the Monster in the novel. Victor’s neglect towards Elizabeth on their wedding night could be due to his isolation during his developmental years, and as such was not comfortable in being tied down to Elizabeth. Victor appeared to have developed in a fairly normal manner, due to the fact that he had experienced a childhood that would be considered normal for the noble class in that time. This continues to be the case until he takes it upon himself match the power of God and attempt to bestow life. From this point, his experiments and eventual creation become his only obsession, and he can no longer interact with other people, even those that he sees on a daily basis while at the college. Victor is unable to communicate with other in any meaningful way during this time, as his mind is always preoccupied with thoughts regarding the monster he is responsible for giving life to. Based on this behavior, it gives credence to the question if Victor ever matured any further as an individual once he arrived at the college. In contrast, the Monster’s experiences during the period of his mental and emotional development were always abrupt and sometimes violent. This occurred when he realized that he would forever be rejected by the human race, as his physical appearance was so ghastly that all those that came in his presence were immediately stricken with fear as evidenced by Even his creator, Victor, who to the Monster’s understanding should love him even if others refused to, was so terrified of the Monster that he refused to fulfill his romise in making the Monster a companion. It is understandable that from that point on, â€Å"all joy was but a mockery† (116) to the Monster, and he decided that the sole purpose in his life was to destroy any and all the things that brought pleasure or comfort to his creator. These events are similar because they both represent periods in which these characters no longer are able to have significant social interactions with those around them. Dur ing his development, the monster was able to have many of the same experiences as a human would. For example, he was able to feel a wide range of emotions, from pleasure to hate, even pride and remorse; he developed intellectually through both his learning from books and his [unpleasant] interactions with society; he learned [much in the way that a child does] to use his physical senses to tell him about his environment. However, because of his grotesque appearance, he was made to feel that he would never accepted as a member of human society, and many of his interactions with humans gave no reason to dissuade him from such a belief. In Captain Walton’s final letter to his sister (154), he recounts the words that the monster speaks to him over Victor’s dead body. The eruption of angry self-pity the Monster displays brings into question the injustice of how he has been treated and compellingly captures and portrays the feelings of isolation and resentment he has experienced in regards to his interactions with society, providing both Walton and the reader a glimpse into the suffering that has motivated his actions. It was these feelings that lead the Monster to disappear with Victor’s corpse, presumably to avoid contact with any others of mankind until he eventually dies; however, the ending of the text is rather ambiguous, so it is possible that the Monster decided to return to revenge himself upon mankind. At the closure of Frankenstein, Shelley does not provide a well-defined ending. The last line, reading â€Å"He sprung from the cabin-window†¦lost in darkness and distance† (156), leaves the reader responsible for deciding how they believe the story concluded. The ending can be regarded as having been left open because although the story does provide a conclusion [in that it may be assumed that the creature took his own life after departing Walton’s ship], there is not enough concrete evidence provided in the text to prove beyond a doubt that this is indeed what occurred. It is entirely possible that the Monster would be unable to let go of his hatred of Victor, and by extension, mankind due to his isolation. Just because his â€Å"creator† died does not necessarily mean that he could let his emotions go, and it is this possibility that shows just how differently people view things; the reader can make of the ending what they will, but they will never know for sure how Shelley would have ended it otherwise. Through the speech of the characters, the Gothic elements applied in the text, the characters’ developments and the rather obscure ending of Frankenstein, it is evidently clear that Mary Shelley believes that isolation and resentment play key roles in how people relate to others, and how they develop their own behaviors. It is through the medium of her novel that allows her to express these beliefs, and she provides plenty of evidence in her text to back up these beliefs. The feelings of isolation and resentment that Victor and the Monster both felt towards society were key aspects of their personalities, and were the main driving forces behind their various actions made through the course of the text.

Introduction of human resource development process

Introduction of human resource development process Human resource Management is, perhaps, the oldest and most widely researched subject in management. Yet, as technologies change, cultural diversities occur and peoples expectations undergo fundamental shifts towards newer and newer dimensions. In this rapid revolutionary changing environment, human resource development, a part of human resource management plays an important factor in determine an organizations success. Human Resource Development is important to any growing business organization because it helps to improve business performance through the development of personnel, and, directing and enhancing talents and skills through planned activities design to improve organizational learning. Ronald R. Sims (2007) described Human Resource Development as strategically-driven activities designed to improved current and future learning, performance, and change (p 2). Sims pointed out that in the early 1980s; the field of personnel management shifted its emphasis as personnel departments renamed themselves à ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒâ€¹Ã…“human resource department. Although this change in some instances was a scheme, Sims pointed out that in many cases, The change in language marked a subtle shift, from a function that essentially handled staffing and related administrative activities to a function that focused on the development of people as a resource to the organization (2007, p. 2). 2) The Human Resource Development Process In the information base economy, human capital can be an organizations greatest asset or it can also be its greatest liability. However not being the physical assets but the intellecture assets within employees. A companys human capital asset is the collective sum of the attributes, life experience, knowledge, inventiveness, energy, and enthusiasm that its people choose to invest in their work and that are the reasons human resources development is so crucial to a companys success. The human resource development process has traditionally focused on improving the skills, knowledge, and attitudes of the individuals. Due to this, confirmation of success has primarily been made by measuring individuals satisfaction with events and, to lesser extent, to the learning that has occurred. Although at some point HRD activities has been viewed as an optional and sometimes wasteful activity by decision makers but according to Jack Phillips and Elwood Holton (1997), majority of this business decision makers view HRD as a value added activity; something that is potentially worth doing ; and HRD as a major business process; something an organization do to succeed (p. 1). As the worlds economy contentiously dominated by instability and change, while the disturbance and corporate transformations in the vast industry, the growth and productivity afforded through information technology, and the increasing turnover among successful and failed business ventures as well as the political, economic and social turmoil confounded business development planners, the HRD plays an important role to examine business opportunities, and determine the key performance requirements of new business objectives, and position highly competent people within state-of the-art work system to achieve those objectives. Phillips and Holton contend, Strategic development and utilization of employee expertise is now imperative for organizations trying to create new opportunities for growth (1997, p. 2) Phillips and Holton emphasized that the process of development and deployment of employee expertise are important components of HRD function. They stated that as organization condition s compel the reshaping of approach, workforce competence and flexibility at all levels of the organization, become vital to business success, in the midst of strategy formulation, planners and decision makers, HRD understanding and expertise are in a critical position to examine and determine business opportunities and performance requirements. The HRD process then is the HRD function of training, enhancing employees skills, deploying competent workforce towards the companys competitive advantage, and positioning of company strategy towards competitive advantage through appraising performance and aligning company strategy towards this objective. It is also included in this process the critical examination of the business opportunities and determining key performance of new business objectives. In other words, the HRD process are also the company strategy towards its competitive advantage and this involve the training or career development, to organize skills enhancement and development training, the organizational development, to conduct research new business opportunities and orientation on performance requirements, and performance appraisers, for the evaluation of employee performance. This performance evaluation is important in creating motivation and instilling loyalty among the employee towards the company. A systematic training and development approach is a methodology for managing training programs to ensure a comprehensive training process in 3 typical phrases; Assessment phrase where the training objectives are identify and decision makers to determine when training will occur and who will be involve. Activity phrase is the phrase of designing and implementing training package upon the establishment of the training objective. Evaluation phrase where employees are evaluate if the training are being value-adding. It is only essential to the organization if employees are being value-adding to them after training and have a more positive turnover. If the entire process is not value-adding at all to the organization and have little or non return of investment to the organization, it is being regard as an excess overhead that will be axed off in no time. Through the use of the systematic approach to training, practitioners ensure that relevant skills are identified, proper learning methods are used, and that employees can perform work as expected when they are assigned to work. 3) The importance of Human resource development and its Process HRD and its process are important because they are in powerful position to assist in and measure strategic organization results such as performance outcomes and return on investment. Phillips and Holton noted that HRD practitioners also provide strategic capability by assisting in the translation of strategies into more consistent behaviours and the realignment of work process (1997, p. 3). HRD professional are expert at facilitating and directing process level organization change, allowing for the translation of strategic direction into new and improved ways of accomplishing the organizations work. Because of this expertise, HRD has become important in the positioning of the companies strategy towards competitive advantage not only of the business strategy but also the employees competitiveness. HRD is also involved in the strategy formation, which requires that organization value human capital as an ingredient for the organizations long-term success. According to Monica Lee (2003), HRD as a process has the potential of harmonizing, supporting, and shaping the larger systems (p. 27). Monica Lee pointed out Swansons (2001) systems theory to HRD which argues that the system worldview model of HRD as a process with in the organization. Leonard David Goodstein, Timothy Nolan, and J. William Pferffer (1993) stressed that in addition to serving as a champion for strategic planning HRD professional play the stakeholder in the planning process. They pointed out as stake holder, the HRD professional has the important responsibility of linking the organizations over all strategic plans to its human resources (1993, p. 76). This job according to them requires the HRD professional to understand the nature of the overall strategic planning and should be aware that strategic planning is the process through which the senior management of the organization clarifies what it intends the organization to become and what its goals are, both financial and non-financial matters. Thi s process requires a high degree of problem solving skills and the HRD professional are expected to be a model for such skills. 4) Advantages of HRD to the Organization Catherine M. Sleezer Tim I Wentling, and Roger L. Cude (2002) noted that HRD has become strategically integrated in the organization (p. 11). They pointed out that training has become a cote value for organization, and manager view employees education, training, and development as critical to organizational success. The importance of HRD in business organization is reflected by the fact that today, team building activities, and skills enhancing and leadership training and the human resource is viewed as important in the companys strategy towards competitive advantage. John P. Wilson stressed that today business environment requires that HRD not only supports the business strategies or organizations, but that assumes a pivotal role in the shaping of business strategy (1999, p. 12). Wilson pointed out that HRD serves a strategic role by assuring the competence of employees to meet the organizations present performance demands. Wilson adds, HRD also serves a vital role in shaping strate gy and enabling organizations to take full advantage of emergent business strategies (1999, p. 12). 6) Advantages of HRD to the employees The advantage of the HRD to the employees is that HRD provides training through instructor-led classrooms. Catherine M Sleezer, wintling, and Cude noted that HRD is rooted in training and development, organizational development, and career development to improve individual, group, and organizational effectiveness (2002, p. 2). Thomas N. Garavan, Pat Costine, and Noreen Heraty (2002), viewed human resource as decision-making employees, and this, they point out, is increasingly significant factor as the influence of more sophisticated technology is leading to a reduced demand for manual employees and an increase for decision making employees (p. 17). Thus, there are views that stress on development of people as a company investment. Garavan, Costine, and Heraty contends that this view suggest that investment in human resource development will automatically lead to improve business performance (2002, p. 28). The advantage to the employee of HRD aside from the trainings and development the HRD is providing is that it serves as the agency for promotion and incentive to performance and productivity of the employees performance as they are evaluated and appraised for necessary action. The HRD also provides the opportunity for employees to develop their talents and lay down the path for career development. (7) Problems that affect the human resource development Human resource development depends upon various factors of standard of living. One of these factors is the social problems. Education, housing, and health care are the top issues in the social problems. These factors According to Qureshi M.U. affect human resources, natural resources, and technological resources (p. 221). Qureshi M.U. (2005) emphasized that education develops human resource while better health provisions contribute to his health maintenance. Housing and social services meets the individuals needs. Another factor affecting human resource development will be the morality of employees. Perhaps the issue here is the workers grievances and injustice they suffered from employers. These grievances maybe caused by inconsistent treatment of workers, discrimination, or salary related matters. Milan Kubr (2002) suggested the need of consultant to address the mechanics of grievance procedure or other conflict resolution procedures (p. 402). In this way, the problem of legal changes can be addressed practically. Laurie Larwood and Urs E. Gattiker (1999) pointed out that technological change affects the supervisory jobs, staffing and development needs (p. 19). From the statement, the need of training for current and prospective employees is proven to be essential in order to pace up with the rapid tempo of technological changes today. 8) Improving organizations Ronald Sims (2007) pointed out that HRD is concerned to support employees within the organization to perform at their highest level so that the entire organization can perform at its highest level. There are two ways that the HRD can help the organization; first, the HRD must support the work done in the organization and provide human resource development at the place it is needed and at the tome it is needed. Second, Support the work to be done in the future by creating learning infrastructure that will help employees and the organization learn and grow and change in line with environmental demands. In other words, HRD professional must, as Sims advice, must identify critical workforce and must design initiatives that help the employees develop their skills to improve their performance. Sims point out that organization needs employees that are multi-skilled/reskilled knowledge workers who can effectively work in teams in as increasingly global world. 9) Conclusion HRD is important in business organization because they are professional whose expertise is in developing the human resource. Today, more and more companies are recognizing human resource as a human capital in business. They invest on their development and provide corresponding incentives to their efficiency. Indeed despite of the advance of technology, still it cannot be a substitute to human expertise because technology merely depends on the skills of the decision-making employee. Because of the importance of the human resource, I recommend that business organization should look into the welfare of the employee and offer opportunity for social developments such as providing housing loan, educational assistance to immediate family members or any other applicable benefits. All this should be undertaken by the HRD as they are more connected to the employees. I also recommend that business organization empower HRD to handle employees grievances injustice against their superior to verif y the matter and submit report to the personnel manager or to the appropriate authority. In this way, the organization can avoid unfair labor treatment at the same time giving solution to social, legal, and changing technological problem that may arise. The success of any organization is determined by its people, their caliber and their attitude to succeed and out perform. Employees are the only resource, which is capable of self-propulsion and value addition. Unlike any machinery that gets devalued or depreciated with time and age, the human resource i.e. people appreciates with age and experience. So they are very special but this fruitful only if people are developed and kept satisfied. It is unlikely that any improvement can be made in terms of production, productivity, and quality or customer service until people are well developed.

Improvement Is Better Than Delayed Perfection

Improvement Is Better Than Delayed Perfection Question-Continuous improvement is better than delayed perfection  Mark Twain (1835-1910). Analyse this statement critically and rigorously with reference to appropriate literature sources. Introduction This essay will be looking at the importance of quality and continuous improvement at a glance within an educational context. The writers interest in the topic is merely to explore and understand the essence to which every establishment for whatever purpose it was built upon should strive in continuous improvement to services rendered to its customers and the community at large while maintaining quality services. The focus is to highlight any flaws within the organisational practice with which quality could still be improved upon for the good of the whole community. The structure of the essay will take an explicit interpretation and description of quality and continuous improvement while portraying an interventionist stance at the conclusive statements made at the end of the essay. Literature review The concept of Quality Quality management is a systematic way of guaranteeing that organized activities happen the way they are planned. It is a management discipline concerned with preventing problems from occurring by creating the attitudes and controls that make prevention possibleà ¢ By Philip Crosby Writings in 2008, Winch and Gingell state that during the 1990s it became fashionable to talk about ËÅ"quality in education. Part of the reason for this is a renewed interest in accountability. Why should the concern for accountability be expressed in terms of quality? One major reason is that concerns about whether or not a particular form of education is worthwhile have been expressed in terms of a paradigm derived from manufacturing industry. ËÅ"Quality in a commercial context strongly connotes product usefulness and reliability. ËÅ"Quality assurance refers to systems that are robust enough to ensure that products that are defective or unreliable simply do not get made. The idea, as one quality guru has said, is to ËÅ"get it right first time. Of course, an artefact can be scrapped or reworked if it is defective, but a service cannot. If it is not ËÅ"right first time then it is not right. Some effective quality assurance systems ought to be particularly relevant to service are as of economic activity. Whether or not it is in the private or the public sector of the economy, it is sometimes maintained that education has the characteristics of a service industry. In particular, if education is poorly provided then there is no second chance for the recipient. A diner at a restaurant who has a badly cooked meal will feel disgruntled but will suffer no permanent damage. On the other hand, the pupil who receives a poor education may not even feel disgruntled but may suffer permanent damage in terms of future life prospects. It is, then, not surprising to hear that a key feature of educational accountability is the provision of quality assurance systems. Every aspect of leadership and management across all sectors of most organisations require a sustainable approach towards ensuring quality and sustainable measures are being utilised and developed within a global context. This includes measures which most leaders would adopt towards maintaining and sustaining the strategic aims of any organisation with due considerations of internal and external forces which influences the decisions made each day. An example of what entails leadership that is sustainable through quality measures can be found in a school management system. Where the Head teacher aspires to have very committed students who have good grades, a good school structure and a qualitative staff that would help the school achieve its strategic objectives successfully. But during the process of strategising for an academic year other factors comes into play i.e. customer service, effective acquisition and deployment of resources, school budget for the academic year etc. There may be a number of key factors that would help achieve such success Firstly, a well-devised system of service evaluation process of Search-Feedback-Act that could be put in place involving all employees, not just management or teachers, in developing plans for improvement. Secondly, all employees could be given considerable education and training to help them improve service quality and would actively and systematically encourage creativity and innovation. Thirdly, the organisation that may move away from measuring quality purely by the number of complaints it gets from customers and the impressions of the head of personnel department. Instead, organisations implement a multi-factor index which includes quantitative points such as the length of time customers have to spend being tested into the school, and qualitative points such as the friendliness/politeness experienced at reception. The concept of Continuous improvement Continuous improvement has been successfully used by the Japanese for a number of years, and the Japanese word kaizen is used to describe it. The idea of kaizen is not to sit back once improvements have been made to a product, but to be almost like bees working away at a hive. Each does a little at a time, but by adding on an incremental basis they can eventually produce something that is much larger and better. The issue of quality can be approached in the same way, so that very minor changes over time can result in a considerable improvement in performance. For example, the levels of fuel efficiency in the average saloon car have improved dramatically over recent years. This has been made possible due to the cumulative effects of continual minor changes in car body shape, fuel delivery systems and engine design (.Porter, K., Smith, P., Fagg, F. 2006). Foskett, N., Lumby, J. 2003 states that the third way of defining quality (in regards to continuous improvement) is to match the current state with an imagined future improved state. In other words, individuals or groups not necessarily take as their comparator an existing standard or expectation but, rather, work creatively to suggest ways to which a current aspect of education could be improved. This definition is realistically based on working form what exist to what could be achieved. It is a universally applicable in theory in that ideas for improvement will take into account resources and political realities. However, the emphasis on continuous improvement is predicated on a degree of autonomy and power that may not exist in all institutions or cultures. If governments impose a structure or curriculum on schools/colleges, or if the internal management structures are hierarchical and controlling, then the freedom of staff, parents and students to suggest ways forward is clearly constrained. This idea of continuous improvement can be linked to Demings(1986) idea of Plan, Do, Study and Act, where a problem is examined, information is gathered and a plan to improve it is suggested. The ËÅ"Do part is when the plan is tested on a small scale, followed by the ËÅ"Study stage, where evaluation of the trial takes place to see if any other issues have arisen. The ËÅ"Act stage is where the plan becomes standard and is carried out continuously. This leads back into the ËÅ"Plan stage for further analysis. The question then arises of how one assures the quality of education. There are two answers which are not necessarily incompatible with each other. The first focuses on processes, the second on outcomes. Process-based quality assurance relies on observation of teaching and learning and the activities that support it, as the key determinant of whether the education being offered is worthwhile. Inspection is the most common form of process quality assurance. Outcome-based quality assurance relies on the assessment of the outcomes against certain pre-agreed standards. Examination and testing are the most common forms. Leadership Approaches Qualitative leadership skills in educational management revolve around factors described below: Identifying the key issues Improving Customer satisfaction and ways of measuring it Customer care training employees and setting standards Employee involvement in overall goals of the organisation. Improving quality observation and benchmarking Reflection and conclusion Quality and organisational culture- Foskett, N., Lumby, J. (2003) stated that Quality can also be relative to cultural norms. What appears to be quality provision for pre-school children in China will look very different to western eyes and vice versa. They further noted that measures of Quality by definition are dependent on numeric values in relation to, e.g., examination passed or examinations met, but such values do not necessarily capture the variety of outcomes expected of education or the dynamic changes in expectations in the experiences of even the learner, let alone the all those of an institution. Quality will therefore remain a fluid and nebulous concept, interpreted variously in practice, an orthodox to which many feel indebted to follow. No single prescription will secure improvement in quality in a context as complex and animated as a school or college. The most that an educationist can do is to remain aware of the imprecision of the concept and be sensitive to both th e educational and micro-political forces which affect its achievements, choosing with care from the plethora of taxonomies, philosophies, good practice and recommended process they can offer. Methodology Qualitative researched literature review was adopted which typically includes positivist, interpretive, constructionist, critical, and participatory paradigms. The researchers perspective stems from the long documented history of naturalistic observation in real-world situations. Views of positivism range from conservative to progressive-activist, but all involve the belief that reality is external to self and can be observed using tools that produce information that can be understood and interpreted by others. The essay is linked historically to social activism through the idea that social situations can be studied, critiqued, and subsequently changed. The essay may have collected data through observations or various forms of instruments and often derive explanations for their results from pre-existing theory without concern for whether the study population understands or agrees with their views. a literature review is very much a plural rather than a singular one as there are many literatures a researcher must examine to produce a coherent literature review. For example, by doing qualitative research, the researcher is joining an ongoing debate in some shape or form. The originality of an idea, an approach, or a theoretical reinterpretation adds to existing literature. The objective of this entry is to describe the plurality of literature, to underline the difference between general and specific literatures, to highlight how to use theoretical literature as a tool to increase understanding of a subject area and test a research question or hypothesis, and to examine the methodology and data literatures that form important parts of the research process.( GIVEN, M. L. 2008) Data findings on quality and continuous improvement in educational context. Wherever an educational operation is based, whether it is public or private, it needs customers, and consumer choice has increased dramatically over the past twenty years because of three factors: globalisation, technology and competition. Technology Technology provides opportunities and threats. The development of computer technology in the form of online and blended learning, podcasts, webcasts and blogs can and increasingly will provide consumers with the option of new self-study methods and the choice to learn with an organisation in a foreign country while living at home or working in the office. At some point translation software may even negate the need for some people to learn a foreign language. These technologies, however, also provide organisations with opportunities to provide new methods of learning and new means of communication with customers. The rise of online learning and blended learning programmes, plus the expansion in state education of new technology [such as interactive whiteboards] means that students are increasingly more techno-literate. It also means that as technology develops and becomes more part of our everyday lives, students generally expect language classes, which in some cases take up a large p art of their disposable income, to be technologically well-equipped. The exponential growth of technology cannot be ignored as the speed of technological advancement is unlikely to slow down. Competition Competition may come from new organisations entering the market, as mentioned above, but it may also appear in other forms. As other countries gain economic power, their languages become more important and people begin to study them to enable them to enter that economy. This phenomenon has already been observed (Graddol, 1997) with Spanish, Arabic and Mandarin expected to gain importance over the next decades, eventually becoming a serious threat to English as a foreign language. As economies develop, education is becoming increasingly important as skill becomes essential to finding work. An increasing number of courses are becoming available, especially in the field of computers and information technology, which compete with ELT for customers, particularly within the training budget of major companies. Gaining an Edge over Competitors If an organisation has an element of its service which is different or more attractive than its competitors it is said to have achieved competitive advantage. Gaining competitive advantage requires a cross functional approach between an aspect of marketing which gathers data about customer needs and expectations and the day-to-day operational functions that translate those market needs into operational capabilities. The roles of marketing and managing the day to day operation are often taken by one person in small organisations, which can make it easier to translate customer needs into operational reality. In a small private language school of ten teachers, for example, the director may be the focal point for information about the local market, the local economy, the type of customers the school serves and how they feel about the service. In a school of this size the director may also be the person who decides what courses are offered and whether the market is best served by, for example, offering expensive one-to-one ESP tuition for business professionals or cheap general English courses for classes of 20 students. A not-for-profit organisation may also consider pursuing a particular strategy based on the kind of customers it serves. For example, a charitable or state ELT organisation may decide to provide cheap walk-in English classes for disadvantaged mothers to attend as and when they have time. In this case, flexibility is the key to satisfying the customer and gaining competitive advantage. The three factors of globalisation, technology and competition mean that educational organisations have to pay increased attention to the needs and expectations of existing and potential customers to retain them and to attract new ones. By gathering information on customers needs and through market analysis organisations can develop a service which is different or more attractive than that of competitors. (Walter. 2001) Conclusion If stakeholders allow ourselves to get caught by the short-term disease of modern management, non-thinking, market-driven practices then the idea of sustainable organization is out of the question. Also the chance of ever reaching the levels desired will be eliminated in all but the shortest of measures. It is necessary for every leader of the future to know enough about the moral side of business and how it could be approached with sacrificial aims through which sharing and upholding several values together among competitors would improve upon global problems. Or how the socio-economic profit of the organization could be able to express or aid the concerns required to reflect a longer-term view of the community at large. I would recommend that every leader in every spectrum or field of study to bring about ways through which the underlining influences bordering the choices we make in life (in regards to quality and continuous improvement) should reflect upon the healing societal issues rather than competing. Just as we know in the history of human relations over time that competition brings about a chaotic state while the harmony of shared values and sacrifices brings about societal cohesion and benefits all. References Crosby, P. (1980) Quality is Free. McGraw-Hill. Deming, W. (1986) Out of the Crisis. MIT. Foskett, N., Lumby, J.(2003) Leading and managing education-International dimensions.London. Paul Chapman Publishing Given, M. L. (2008)The SAGE Encyclopaedia of Qualitative research methods. California. Sage Publication series Graddol, D.(1997) The future of English. London. The British council Porter, K., Smith, P., Fagg, F. (2006) Leadership and Management for HR Professionals Oxford.Butterworth-Heinemann Walker, J. (2001). Clients Views of TESOL Expectations and Perceptions The International Journal of Educational Management 15/4. MCB University Press http://www.emeraldinsight.com/Insight/viewPDF.jsp?Filename=html/Output/Published/EmeraldFullTextArticle/Pdf/0600150404.pdf Walker, J. (2007)Service Climate in New Zealand Language Centres Journal of EducationalAdministration 2007 Volume: 45 Issue: 3 http://www.emeraldinsight.com/Insight/viewPDF.jsp?Filename=html/Output/Published/EmeraldFullTextArticle/Pdf/0740450305.pdf Winch, C., Gingell, J.(2008) Philosophy of education. Oxon. Routledge publishers

Everyday Use :: essays research papers

"Everyday Use" is a short story written by Alice Walker. Walker did a wonderful job illustrating her characters. There are all types of characters in this short story from round to static. Her use of simple symbolism prompts the reader to take a deeper look into the story. Walker’s humble way of conveying the theme makes the reader take a second look at him or herself. Walker did an excellent job in writing this story, so she could warn people of what might happen if they do not live properly. Every possible type of character is displayed in this short story. Dee starts out the story as a stereotypical light-skinned black person. Feeling as though she was better than everyone else was because her: waist was small, skin was light, a nice grade of hair, and she was somewhat educated. Dee was in a hurry to get out of the country and never come back. She wrote to her mother saying "no matter where we choose to live, she will manage to come see us. But she will never bring her friends" (Walker 63), letting everyone know that she thought she was too good to continue to take part in her heritage. Maggie was portrayed as a flat character. The reader is not told much about her, and she never changes throughout the whole story. The mother would be the static character. She is seen as an older women set in her ways from life experiences, and from what she had been taught growing up black in the south. She made up her mind that the two family quilts would go to Maggie and sh e did not give it a second thought. Dee is also the dynamic character round. She is dynamic when she returns home to the country. She had previously said she would not bring any of her friends home, but when she gets there she is accompanied by a gentleman. Other aspects of her dynamics are displayed when she changes her name to "Wangero Leewanika Kemanjo". She went from dyeing and hating her upbringing to wanting to take a piece of it with her back to the city. To show off where and what she comes from. Dee is truly a round character. Walker did an excellent job with these characters especially Dee. Walker’s use of lucid symbolism prompts the reader to take a deeper look into the story and into him or herself.

Welfare and Social Responsibility :: Argumentative Persuasive Topics

Welfare and Social Responsibility    Welfare. Read that word to yourself and ask what popular images surround it. The first thing is probably women and children. This one is correct, because 97% of AFDC (Aid to Families with Dependent Children, the federal "welfare" program) is made up of women and children. Young women? Not really-the average age of a mother receiving welfare is 29, and only 7.6% are under the age of 20. Is she black? Maybe, because the composition of the welfare roles is about the same percentage black and white. More kids than she can count? The average welfare family has 2.9 members. That means a single mom would have 1.9 children (fewer than the national average). Forever "dependent?"-the average length of a stay on welfare is 22 months. We certainly think that they don't work. Without bringing up the question of why raising children is not considered work, the average AFDC benefit plus food stamps still is only 69% of the poverty line. Women on welfare are constantly working to make up that differ ence. Do we think of welfare as expensive? AFDC represents just over 1% of the national budget. If welfare is not about young women having lots of babies and living their life off the generosity of the state, and if it's a minuscule part of the federal budget, why have Republicans chosen it as their pilot issue? Why, when our Federal Reserve is raising interest rates and attempting to maintain an unemployment rate of 6.2%, and when a job at minimum wage would still leave a mother with two children 23% below the poverty line, is entrance into the paid workforce being pushed as the panacea for poverty? If we are serious about getting people to work we need relevant training programs, child care provisions, and efforts at job creation. These at least were discussed in the Clinton plan, if the plan was in many other ways as punitive and insubstantial as the Republican plan. The Republican ideology is particularly insidious because it shifts the entire frame of debate from the structural to the moral. It implies, even states, that if those people would just clean up their morals and stop being so lazy that they could have a place in the American Dream. Today welfare moms are understood to be the symbol for all that is morally wrong with America.

Child Abuse: The Hidden Tragedy

Child abuse is the physical or emotional abuse of a child by a parent, guardian, or other person. Reports of child abuse, including sexual abuse, beating, and murder, have jumped in the United States and some authorities believe that the number of cases is largely under reported. Child neglect is also included in legal definitions of child abuse to cover instances of malnutrition, desertion, and inadequate care of a child's safety. When reported, inadequate foster care services and a legal system that has trouble accommodating the suggestible nature of children, who are often developmentally unable to distinguish fact from make-believe, complicate child abuse cases During the years of 1985 and 1996, there was a 50 percent increase in reported cases of child abuse. In 1996, three million cases of child abuse are reported in the United States each year. Also that same year some twelve hundred children died from abuse across the country. Treatment of the abuser has had only limited success and child protection agencies are overwhelmed. Recently, efforts have begun to focus on the primary prevention of child abuse. Primary prevention of child abuse must be equipped on many levels before it can be successful. Prevention, on the social level is very important and could possibly save a life. According the American Humane Association prevention should include widening the financial self-sufficiency of families, discouraging corporal punishment and other ways of violence. Making health care more available and affordable, increasing and developing coordination of social services, evolving the identification and treatment of psychological problems, and alcohol and drug abuse, providing more affordable child care and preventing the birth of unwanted children. Prevention plans on the family level include helping parents meet their basic needs, identifying problems of substance abuse and spouse abuse, and educating parents about child behavior, discipline, safety and development. In the case of child abuse, primary prevention is defined as any intervention designed for the purpose of preventing child abuse before it occurs. In 1993, three million children in the United States were reported to have been abused. Thirty-five percent of these cases of child abuse were confirmed. Data from various reporting sources indicates that improved reporting could lead to a significant increase in the number of cases of child abuse verified by child protection agencies. The lack of verification does not indicate that abuse did not occur, only that it could not be verified. The facts are that each year 160,000 children suffer severe or life-threatening injury and 1,000 to 2,000 children die as a result of abuse. Of these deaths, 80 percent involve children younger than five years of age, and 40 percent involve children younger than one year of age. One out of every 20-murder victim is a child. Murder is the fourth leading cause of death in children from one to four years of age and the third leading cause of death in children from five to fourteen years of age. Deaths from abuse are under reported and some deaths classified as the result of accident and sudden infant death syndrome might be reclassified as the result of child abuse if comprehensive investigations were more routinely done. Most child abuse takes place in the home and is started by persons are know to and trusted by the child. Even though it has been widely publicized, abuse in day-care and foster-care setting accounts for only a small number of confirmed cases of child abuse. In 1996, only two percent of all confirmed cases of child abuse occurred in these settings. Child abuses if fifteen times more likely to occur in families where spousal abuse occurs. Children are three times more likely to be abused by their fathers than by their mothers. No differences have been found in the incidence of child abuse in rural versus urban areas. Following are the types of abuse and the percentages of the different types. Not only do children suffer from the physical and mental cruelty of child abuse; they endure many long-term consequences, including delays in reaching developmental milestones, refusal to attend school and separation anxiety disorders. Further; consequences include an increased likelihood of future narcotic abuse, combative behavior, high-risk health behaviors, illegal activity, personality disorders. Investigations have shown that a affectionate, loving, tender and caring enjoyable environments during the first three years of a child's life is significant for correct intellectual growth. There have been some recent changes in regards to the causes of child abuse. The results of investigation originated by the National Research Council's Panel on Research on Child Abuse and Neglect showed the first important step away from the simple cause and effect patterns. The panel established that the simple reason and effect patterns have certain limitations, mostly related to their narrow focus on the parents. They stated that in some families that there is cycles of abuse that is started and is carried over generations. These patterns are limited by asking only about the isolated set of personal characteristics that might cause parents to abuse their children. The panel attempted to examine the roots of child abuse, in order to find effective ways in preventing it. The panel developed an ecological model; this model considers the origin of all forms of child abuse to be a structured process This ecological model views child abuse within a system of danger and preventive factors correlating across four different levels: (1) the person, (2) the family, (3) the neighborhood and (4) the community. Certain factors are more closely linked with some forms of abuse than others are. Many people have argued that our society does not really value its children. This argument can be highlighted by the fact that one in four children in the United States lives in poverty and many children do not have any form of health insurance. The presence of high levels of violence in our society is also thought to contribute to child abuse. Poverty, is the most repeatedly and persistently noted risk factor for child abuse in the American society. Physical abuse and neglect are more prevalent amid the people who are the poorest. Whether or not the pressure of poverty-related conditions brings this on. Or as a result from greater observation by public agencies, resulting in over reporting is debated. Other conditions include unreachable and unaffordable health care, broken social services and lack of help from extended families and communities. Parents who were abused, as children are more likely than other parents to abuse their own children are. Lack of parenting skills, impractical expectations about a child's abilities, unawareness of ways to handle a child's behavior and of typical child development, will contribute to child abuse. It is believed that forty percent of established cases of child abuse are related to substance abuse. Other factors that increase the risk of child abuse include emotional immaturity of the parents. Which is often largely applied to age, as in the case of teenage parents. Without proper support with their child they might with struggle poor coping skills, which is often related to age but also occurring in older parents. Also they might have a poor self-esteem; also other psychological problems experienced by the young parents. A common factor is that single parenthood along with many burdens and hardships of parenting that must be handled alone, if there is no help of a partner. In many cultures social isolation of the teenage parents from family and friends that can result in the lack of support. The United States Advisory Board on Child Abuse and Neglect has called for a universal system of early intervention. That would be grounded in the creation of caring communities that could contribute an effective base for facing the child abuse crisis. The panel stated that the successful tactics for preventing child abuse require intervention at all levels of society. The panel was unable to agree of the final plans concerning which programs or services should be offered to prevent child abuse. This is because research on the prevention of child abuse is limited by the complexity of the problem. A broad range of programs has been developed and implemented by public and private agencies at many levels, little evidence supports the effectiveness of these programs. Principal prevention strategies are based on the risk factors that have a low value Which are not as likely to be effective as more broadly based social programs. Also, programs focused on a society level rather than on the individual level prevent the stigmatization of a group or an individual. Society strategies for preventing child abuse that are proposed but unproven include increasing the value society places on children. Enlarging the economic self-sufficiency of families, enhancing communities and their resources, discouraging excessive use of corporal punishment and other forms of violence. Making health care more accessible and affordable. Increasing and improving treatment for alcohol and drug abuse. Developing the identification and treatment of mental health problems, increasing the availability of affordable child care and preventing the births of unwanted children through sex education, family planning, abortion, anonymous delivery and adoption. It is important to create opportunities for parents to feel entitled to act on their own behalf. Honor the wholeness of the family. Strengthen parents' ability to cultivate the faith in there development of their children and themselves. Create links with community support systems, a network of churches and other organizations. Provide a setting where parents and children can gather, interact, support, and learn from each other. Strengthen community awareness of the importance of healthy parenting practices. In the United States specific methods of delivering services to families include home visitations, early postpartum contact, intensive community leaders contact, parent training and free health care clinics. It is important that help be made possible to those parents that have been identified as people with drug problems. It is critical in treating parents who abuse alcohol or drugs. Also it is important to identify and counsel parents who suffer from spousal abuse. Identifying and dealing with parents with mental health problems is also important. Yet these might not always be the soul issues for abuse; other topics need attention include economic, job-related. Providing a sensitive ear also being a resource of referrals. That can help with these issues may take community leaders a giant step towards assisting a needy parent. Also other areas that can be addressed is the need for assistance in education about time management and budgeting skills, stress management, coping and parenting skills such as appropriate discipline. According to the American Humane Society: only home visitation has been found to be effective in reducing the incidence of child abuse. Home visitations are now being widely embraced the concept of home visitation as a method of preventing child abuse by identifying family needs and providing the appropriate services. Also home visitation has the benefits of improving parents' feelings toward their children and the interactions between parents and children. The success of home visitation depends of the support of health care, social services and childcare. Some of the reasons for child abuse center on the needs of the parents. To prevent child abuse, it is important to first help and support the parents. Parents who have multiple emotional, medical, financial and social needs find it difficult to meet the needs of their children. It is critical that community leaders develop an understanding attitude toward parents to help the children. Prevention of child abuse and negligence can be achieved using tactics pointed at helping parents protect and nurture their children. Community leaders could establish group-parenting classes to discuss issues such as: safety issues, nutrition and feeding concerns, discipline and normal child development. Classes should be divided into two groups: one for the parents of infants and one for the parents of toddlers, since these two groups will require a different focus. Providing childcare during these classes may be necessary to ensure attendance It is also important to try to give very specific and concrete suggestions to parents instead of talking in broad generalities. Community leaders could suggest that parents use an egg timer to help children anticipate and be more compliant with bedtime or use time-out as an alternative to spanking a child for bad behavior. Parents should be reminded of and taught to distinguish between childish behavior and willful disobedience. To discipline only those actions that are in the child's control according to the child age and development. In conclusion, many things need to happen at international, national, state and community levels to prevent child abuse. Studies have shown that countries with the most generous social services have the lowest rate of child homicide. People should lobby for greater availability of drug and alcohol treatment programs, more shelters for the homeless, more accessible mental health care and more shelters for abused women and children. These programs and those that provide parenting skills, support groups and respite care for parents and care givers should be available in every community. Child abuse is a complex problem with many causes, it is important that people not take a defeatist attitude toward its prevention. Despite the absence of strong evidence to guide preventive efforts, society can do things to try to prevent abuse. Showing increased concern for the parents or care givers and increasing attempts to enhance their skills as parents or care givers may help save the most vulnerable people, our children, from the nightmare of abuse and neglect.

Language and Composition Prompts Essay

1981The Rattler†- analyze effect on reader – consider organization, point of view, language, detail. George Bernard Shaw letter – describe writer’s attitude toward mother & her cremation – diction and detailThomas Szasz – argue for or against his position on the struggle for definition. Use readings, study, or experience. 1982A reading on happiness – summarize his reasons for his opinion and explain why you agree or not with his opinion Analyze the strategies or devices (organization, diction, tone, detail) that make Gov. Stevenson’s Cat Veto argument effective. Describe a place, conveying feeling through concrete and specific detail. 1983A quote on change – Select a change for the better that has occurred or that you want to occur; analyze its desirable and undesirable effects Excerpt from Thomas Carlyle’s Past and Present – define Carlyle’s attitude toward work and analyze how he uses language to convince†¦. Agree or disagree with the position in the passage on living in an era of language inflation by considering the ethical and social consequences of language inflation. 1984Explain the nature and importance of two or three means by which you keep track of time and discuss how these means reveal your person. (Hint given about â€Å"inner clocks. †) Percy Bysshe Shelley and John Milton – two very short quotes on freedom – describe the concept of freedom in each; discuss the differences. A passage on a boxing match between Benny Paret, a Cuban, and Emile Griffith – Analyze how diction, syntax, imagery, and tome produce an effect on the reader. 1985Contrast stylistic and rhetorical differences between two passages on the Soviet Launch of the first space satellite Discuss the probable reasons for an anonymous writer’s additions and deletions and the ways in which those revisions change the effect of the paragraph. Two drafts that record the writer’s thoughts on how the experience of war affected his attitude toward language. Defend a position or one or more issues raised in the passage about the state of television in the United States. 1986Explain how two passages by N. Scott Momaday and Dee Brown, which describe similar landscapes, reveal the differences in the authors’ purposes. Consider diction, syntax, imagery, and tone. Choose one or more pairs of words from a list and discuss and elaborate on the distinctions between the paired words. Consider how, when, why, and by whom each word might be used. Evaluate the truth of the assertion in the quotation that human nature wants patterns, standards, and structures of behavior. 1987Agree or disagree with E. M. Forster’s view that personal relations are more important than causes or patriotism. Analyze how Zora Neale Hurston enriches our sense of her childhood world through her diction and manipulation of point of view. Describe some major features of the language used in one specific group – occupational, ethnic, social, or age, etc. Indicate the purpose these features serve or what influences they reflect. 1988Evaluate Alexis De Tocqueville’s assertions about democracy and aristocracy and his assertion that democracy â€Å"throws [man] back forever upon himself alone. † Analyze Frederick Douglass’ language, especially the figures of speech and syntax, to convey his states of mind upon escaping slavery and arriving in New York in 1838. Pretend to contribute to a magazine or newspaper; write an article describing a place you know well that might be of interest to readers. Define the significance, use descriptive detail to make attitude clear. 1989Argue for or against the validity of the implied criticism of a church bulletin [text given] reprinted without other comment in a magazine under the heading â€Å"The Religious Life. † Describe the rhetorical purpose of Martin Luther King’s Why We Can’t Wait. Analyze its stylistic, narrative, and persuasive devices. Missing 1990From an autobiography of a professional woman pilot in Africa, analyze how the author’s juxtaposition of ideas, choice of details, and other aspects of style reveal her personality. Analyze stylistic and rhetorical differences between two nineteenth century descriptions of the Galapagos IslandsVividly and concretely describe one person seen at two different times or in two different situations so readers understand the difference in your attitude, thus proving perceptions of people differ according to people’s attitudes and circumstances 1991Analyze the language and rhetorical devices Igor Stravinsky uses to convey his point of view about orchestra conductors. Analyze how Richard Rodriquez’s presentation of the events in the passage suggests his attitude toward his family and himself. Consider narrative structure, detail, manipulation of language, and tone. Write a persuasive essay that defends, challenges, or qualifies the assertion that â€Å"For in much wisdom is much grief, and increase of knowledge is increase of sorrow† (Ecclesiastes). 1992Analyze Queen Elizabeth I’s diction, imagery, and sentence structure to achieve her purpose in her speech to her troops at Tilbury, 1588. Using your observation, experience, or reading, defend, challenge, or qualify Joseph Addison’s assertion that men use ridicule to â€Å"laugh men out of virtue and good sense. †Considering the choice of the word â€Å"cripple† and other rhetorical features, such as tone, word choice, and rhetorical structure, analyze how Nancy Mairs, who has multiple sclerosis, presents herself. 1993Compare the rhetorical strategies – such as arguments, assumptions, attitudes, diction – used by characters from Jane Austen (1813) and Charles Dickens (1865). Comment on both intended and probable effects of the proposals on the women being addressedDefend, challenge, or qualify H. L. Mencken’s views about the artist’s relation to society. Refer to particular writers, composers, or other artists. Read the paragraph for E. M. Forster’s 1936 essay â€Å"My Wood. † Define E. M. Forster’s attitude toward the experience of owning property and analyze that attitude; consider Forster’s word choice, manipulation of sentences, and use of Biblical Allusions 1994From an excerpt of Sir George Savile’s essay about King Charles II (1630 – 1685), define the attitude Savile would like us to adopt about Charles II and analyze the rhetorical strategies employed to promote that attitude. Defend, challenge, or qualify Barbara Tuchman’s claim that â€Å"wooden- headedness plays a remarkably large role †¦ in human affairs. † Use evidence and/or your observations. (From The March of Folly)Characterize and analyze Joan Didion’s view of the Santa Ana winds. Consider her stylistic elements, such as diction, imagery, syntax, structure, tone, and selection of detail. 1995In 1860, John Ruskin argued for giving precedence to the soldier rather than to the merchant or manufacturer. Evaluate his argument. (Excerpt included)Analyze the rhetorical techniques Ellen Goodman uses to convey her attitude toward Phil, the subject of her piece, â€Å"The Company Man. †After reading his paragraph, defend, challenge, or qualify James Baldwin’s ideas about the importance of language as a â€Å"key to identity† and social acceptance. Use your observation, experience, or readings. 1996Read the passage from Lady Mary Wortley Montague’s letter to her daughter. Analyze how Lady Mary (1689 – 1762) uses rhetorical strategies and stylistic devices to convey her views about the role knowledge played in the lives of women of her time. Read the passage from A Summer Life and analyze some of the ways in which Gary Soto recreates the experience of his guilty six-year old self. Consider such devices as contrast, reputation, pacing, diction, and imagery. Using your own knowledge and experience, defend, challenge, or qualify Lewis Lapham’s view of â€Å"the American faith in money† from Money and Class in America. (25 line excerpt included. ) 1997Read the passage from Meena Alexander’s Fault Lines and analyze how Alexander uses language to explore and represent her fractured identity. Read the passage from the 1845 Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, noting such elements as syntax, figurative language, and selection of detail. Write an essay in which you identify stylistic elements that distinguish third paragraph from the rest of the passage and discuss how that difference is significantUsing your own critical understanding of contemporary society, agree or disagree with Neil Postman’s assertion that Aldous Huxley’s vision of society in Brave New World is more relevant today than is George Orwell’s in 1984. 1998Paying particular attention to tone, analyze the techniques Charles Lamb uses to decline William Wordsworth’s invitation to visit him in the country. From Henry James’s novel The Portrait of a Lady, read the conversation between Madame Merle and Isabel Archer, noting their conflicting views about what constitutes the self. In a persuasive essay, demonstrate which of the two conceptions of the self has greater validity. Use specific evidence from your observation, experience or reading. After reading the two letters between an executive of the Coca-Cola company and a representative of Grove Press, analyze the rhetorical strategies each writer uses to achieve his purpose and explain which letter offers the more persuasive case. 1999After reading two passages about Florida’s Okefenokee Swamp, analyze how the distinctive style of each reveals the purpose of its writer. After reading the [3 columns long] opening from Jamaica Kincaid’s essay, â€Å"On Seeing England for the First Time,† analyze the rhetorical strategies Kincaid employs to convey her attitude toward England. After thinking about the implications of the excerpt from Antigone, explore the validity of the assertion that â€Å"The only / Crime is pride. † Use examples from your reading, observation, or experience. 2000Eudora Welty recalls reading and books that influenced her craft as a writer. Analyze how Welty’s language conveys intensity and value of reading. George Mohandas Orwell uses Gandhi to argue for choosing human imperfection over sainthood. Analyze how Orwell criticizes Gandhi’s position & how Orwell develops his own position. Paraphrase King Lear’s comment that wealth covers sin and injustice. Defend, challenge, or qualify his view of the relationship between wealth and justice. 2001George Eliot’s letter to an American woman M. F. Peirce. Analyze the rhetorical strategies Eliot uses to establish her position about the development of a writer. Analyze how Mary Oliver’s style about owls conveys the complexity of her response to nature. Support, refute, qualify Susan Sontag’s claim that photography limits understanding of the world. Use appropriate evidence. 2002Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address was a short speech in which he contemplated the effects of the Civil War and offered his vision for the future. Analyze the rhetorical strategies Lincoln used to achieve his purpose. Analyze how Virginia Woolf uses language to convey the lasting significance of moments she recalls from her childhood spent in a seaside village in Cornwall, England. Support, refute, or qualify Czech writer Milan Kundera’s claims as expressed in an excerpt from Testaments Betrayed. Use appropriate evidence. 2003Defend, challenge, qualify Neal Gabler’s assertion that entertainment has the capacity to ruin society. Analyze the methods of Alfred Green’s 1861 speech to persuade his fellow African Americans to join the Union forces. Compare and contrast how John James Audubon and Annie Dillard each describe a flock of birds in flight and how they convey the birds’ effect on the writer as observer. 2004Analyze how the rhetorical strategies used by Lord Chesterfield in his letter to his son revel his own values. Choose a controversial local, national, or global issue with which you are familiar and use appropriate evidence I an essay that carefully considers the opposing positions on this controversy ad proposes a solution or compromise. Analyze how Richard Rodriguez uses contrasts between central Mexico and California to convey and explore his conflicting feelings in an excerpt from Days of Obligation. 2005Passage from â€Å"Training for Statesmanship† by George Kennan. Select his most compelling observation and consider the extent to which that observation holds true. A mock press release from The Onion. Analyze the strategies used in the article to satirize how products are marketed to consumers. Peter Singer argues that prosperous people should donate to overseas aid organizations all money not needed for the basic requirements of life. Evaluate the pros and cons of his argument and indicate which position you find more persuasive. 2005 Form BLecture delivered in Boston in 1832 by Maria Stewart, African American educator and writer. Analyze the rhetorical strategies Stewart uses to convey her position. John Barry describes the complex mechanics of the Missippppi River in Rising Tide: Te Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and How It Changed America. Analyze how Barry communications his fascination with the river to his readers. Passage from The Medusa and the Snail by Lewis Thomas. Drawing on your own reading and experience, write an essay that defends, challenges, or qualifies Thomas’s claims. 2006Jennifer Price’s essay examines the popularity of the pink plastic flamingo in the 1950s. Analyze how Price crafts the text to reveal her view of U. S. culture. William Hazlitt’s â€Å"On the Want of Money. † Analyze the rhetorical strategies he uses to develop his position about money. From talk radio to television w, to popular magazines to Web blogs ordinary citizens, political figures, and entertainers express their opinions on a wide range of topics. Take a position on the value of such public statements of opinion. 2006 Form BIn a well-written essay that draws upon your reading, experience, or observations for support, take position on the issue of compulsory voting. Passage from George Bernard Shaw’s Saint Joan. Analyze the rhetorical strategies the Inquisitor uses to argue his case against Joan. Passage by philosopher Arthur Shopenhauer. Write an essay that defends, challenges, or qualifies one of Shopenhauer’s claims. 2007First Synthesis Question – based on six sources, all about advertising. Develop a position on the effects of advertising and synthesize at least three of the sources for support. In Staying Put: Making a Home in a Restless World, Scott Russell Sanders responds to an essay by Salman Rushdie, both of which discuss the effect of mass migrations. Analyze the strategies Sanders uses to develop his perspective about moving. Develop a position on the ethics of offering incentives for charitable acts and support your position with evidence from your reading, observation, and/or experience. 2007 Form BBased on six sources concerning museum artifacts and decisions made to include a particular piece of art or an artifact. Develop a position on the most important considerations facing the person responsible for securing a new work of art or an artifact for a museum. Synthesize at least three of the sources for support. In the Introduction to Poison Penmanship: The Gentle Art of Muckraking, Jessica Mitford says that it is an honor to be considered a muckraker. Do you agree or do you think that journalists who search out and expose real or apparent misconduct go too far in the pursuit of their stories. Explain your position. Speech delivered by Wendell Phillips, a prominent white American abolitionist, praising Toussaint Louverture, Haitian liberator. Analyze the strategies the speaker uses to praise his subject and move his audience. 2008Based on seven sources concerning the elimination of the penny as the smallest American denomination. Develop a position on whether or not the penny should be eliminated and synthesize at least three of the sources for support. Passage from John M. Barry’s The Great Influenza. Analyze how Barry uses rhetorical strategies to characterize scientific research. Some people argue that corporate partnerships are a necessity for cash-strapped schools. Others argue that schools should provide an environment free from ads and corporate influence. Using appropriate evidence, write an essay in which you evaluate the pros and cons of corporate sponsorship fro schools and indicate why you find one position more persuasive than the other. 2008 Form BBased on six sources concerning a defined national school curriculum. Develop a position on whether or not there should be specific texts that all students of high school English should read. Synthesize at least three of the sources for support. Passage from â€Å"America Needs Its Nerds† by Leonid Fridman. Analyze how Fridman develops his argument. Read an excerpt from The Decline of Radicalism by Daniel Boorstin and consider the implications of the distinction Boorstin makes between dissent and disagreement. Defend, challenge, or qualify Boosrtin’s distinction. 2009Based on eight sources concerning space exploration. Develop a position about what issues should be considered most important in making decisions about space exploration and synthesize at least three of the sources for support. Two passages from Edwin Wilson’s The Future of Life satirizing the language of two groups that hold opposing attitudes about environmentalism. Analyze how Wilson’s satire illustrates the unproductive nature of such discussions. Write an essay that defends, challenges, or qualifies Horace’s assertion that the role of adversity (financial or political hardship, danger, misfortune, etc. ) plays in developing a person’s character. Support your argument with evidence from your reading, observation, or experience 2009 Form BBased on seven sources concerning public education. Choose an issue related to the tension in schools between individuality and conformity. Write an essay in which you use this issue to argue the extent to which schools should support individuality or conformity. Synthesize at least three of the sources for support. Passage from â€Å"The Indispensable Opposition† by Walter Lippman. Analyze the strategies Lippman uses to develop his argument. Passage from The Worst Years of Our Lives by Barbara Ehrenreich, about life in the 1980s. Support, refute, or qualify Ehrenreich’s assertions about television.