Management 201 Essays - Human Resource Management,

Management 201 Task: Choose a company and identify all motivational (employee-centered) programs that the company has in place. Then ascertain the significance and objectives of these programs. Next provide a critique of these programs. Finally, recommend changes that will improve on the programs and/or new programs that will better meet the objectives articulated above. Overview: The company that I have chosen as the subject of my research is the AAA Travel Agency. More specifically, I have interviewed several travel agents from the Reno, Pennsylvania location, which serves patrons from Western Pennsylvania as well as West Virginia. The bulk of the information for my analysis has come directly from the in-office interviews with Ms. Tiffany Pacior, the senior travel agent for the Reno office. She has provided me with information directly out of the AAA employee handbook as well as personal information covering the positive and negative effects she has experienced from the programs I will be discussing. There can be little doubt that the backbone of every successful business or company is its staff of employees. Employees are the vital parts of the business machine that can aid in its success or contribute to its failure. It is for this reason that it is imperative to possess the ability to acquire and maintain effective employees. The chief method by which a business or company can accomplish this task is through employee-centered motivational programs. The goal of these programs is to encourage employees to maximize their performance by targeting three specific motivational stimuli. These include morale, satisfaction, and rewards. After researching their policies and interviewing employees, I have came to the conclusion that AAA of Reno, Pennsylvania has adopted Fredrick Taylor's approach to motivating their employees. In this paper I will demonstrate how AAA applies Taylor's scientific management approach to target the three motivational stimuli stated above. I will also provide some insight from the employee's perspective as to how effective the programs are at what they are designed to achieve. The scientific management approach to motivation evolved from the work of Frederick Taylor. He believed that when highly productive people discover they are being compensated basically the same as less productive people, then the output of highly productive people will decrease. Consequently, the scientific management approach to motivation is based on the assumption that money is the primary motivator. This seems to be the ideology that AAA has adopted to produce high morale, achieve satisfaction, and reward their employees. Morale, as it applies here, may be defined as the overall feeling of the members of an organization. Generally speaking, a company with a high morale among its employees enjoys above average performance and a lower than average employee termination rate. AAA has several programs in practice, which support the scientific management approach to motivation to produce high morale. First, it is not uncommon for a travel agent to work beyond the scheduled forty-hour workday to complete the tasks of a heavy business day. It was for this reason that the company offers overtime compensation for the dedication of their employees. The company pays one and a half times their regular hourly rate of pay when an agent works more than their scheduled hours per week. Also, for those individual days when an agent works more than ten hours per day, they are entitled to overtime dinner pay. The employees stressed that this is a worthwhile program because it allows overtime workers to order dinner from l ocal delivery shops. The objective here is simple, no one likes to work on an empty stomach and so why not use a little give and take to make the employees feel like they are not being taken advantage of. It has proven to be effective from the opinions of the employees I interviewed. The final program I was made aware of designed to bolster company morale is the ?paid time off? program. This allows employees to take time off from their work for various reasons and to be regularly paid as if they were working for that period of time. Acceptable reasons for this privilege cover a wide spectrum including personal vacation, minor illness, funeral leave, jury duty, holidays, military leave, and marriage. Ms. Pacior explained that although these programs

Population and Health essays

Population and Health essays In their article Population and Health (Time August 26, 2002:A9,)Jeffrey Kluger and Andrea Dorfman predicted that with the decreasing of its growth rate, the world population will level off at about 11 billion in the last half of this century. However, although economic development and family-planning have helped reduce birth rate, the slow down of population growth in the poorest parts of the world was because of wrong reasons: infectious diseases, especially AIDs. They concluded that family planning and health care can help control population growth and build healthy economies as well. It is possible to reduce the world population and increase life expectancy at the same time. According to statistics published by World Watch Institute, life expectancy appears inversely propotional to fertility rate. North America, Europe and Oceania have the longest life expectancies of about 75 years and the lowest fertility rate of 2 to 3 births per woman while Africa has the shortest life expectancy of 51.4 years and the highest fertility rate of 5 birth per woman from 1995 to 2000. Latin America and Asia are in the middle with life expectancies of about 67.5 years and fertility rates of about 3 per woman. Considering that America, Europe and Oceania are the most developed region while Africa is the poorest continent, we can infer that the poorer the country is, the higher the fertility rate and the shorter the life expectancy it has. From the above information, we can see that economic development, population and health are closely related. Poor families tend to ignore family planning and consequently have more children, which make the family even poorer. Children raised in these families are usually denied good health care and good education, negatively affecting economic growth. This is a vicious cycle. Family planning and health care are ways to break out of this cycle. As Kluger and Dorfman observed, effort...

No Child Left Behind Is it Working Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

No Child Left Behind Is it Working - Essay Example Many children in the United States experience reading failure. According to the National Assessment f Educational Progress (NAEP) on reading in 2003, thirty-seven percent f fourth graders are reading below the Basic Proficiency level. This is the same level f failure that was reported in 1992 (Making NCLB work) Under this plan, all public schools students must be proficient in reading and math by the year 2014. Only students in second grade and beyond are required to test. In grades three through eight and once during high school, reading and math development will be calculated yearly. Testing in science will also be conducted by the end f the 2007-2008 school year. By the end f the 2005-2006 school year, teachers will also be required to be "highly qualified" (Wikipedia) According to this program, a highly qualified teacher is defined as an individual who has fulfilled the states' qualifications and licensure requirements. New teachers entering this field are required to acquire at least a bachelor's degree. If they will be teaching at an elementary school, they must pass a test known as the California Subject Examination for Teachers (CSET) and the California Basic Education Skills Test (CBEST). These tests replicate the subject matter understanding required to teach in California and demonstrates proficiency in basic reading and writing, mathematics and English. Teachers that are not new must pass a test in which state they teach in that demonstrates their subject understanding and teaching abilities. Each state has a curriculum structure. Each one summarizes the course f study by local school districts. This is how they develop programs directing state and local textbook adoption processes. Most states' average curriculum consists f English Language Arts, Mathematics, History/Social Science, and Science. Many states have no adopted standards in the remaining vicinities f curriculum such as foreign language, Physical Education and health. Each year schools, school districts, and the state must make adequate yearly progress (AYP). For Unified school districts K-12, 23.0% f their students must score proficient or above in ELA and 23.7% must do so in math. By the 2007-2008 school year, 34.0% must score proficient or above in ELA and 34.6% in math. Scores must improve annually with the same goal f 100% proficient or above by the 2013-2014 school year. States need to develop standards-based tests in science by the 2007-2008 school year (California School Accountability System under the Federal NCLB act). Under the accountability provisions, states must explain how they will close the achievement gap by making certain that all students reach academic proficiency. States must also generate annual state and school district report cards that notify parents and the surrounding communities regarding the state and school progress. Many states are requesting authorization to change the amount f students whose scores do not have to be calculated in required racial categories. Test scores are required to be reported by group such as race, disability, or economic circumstances. By law if one group f students fails to meet the standards, the whole school

Sustainable Concrete Environmental Studies Coursework

Sustainable Concrete Environmental Studies - Coursework Example This industry has been identified as causing massive environmental damages within the production area. The materials used like cement produce a lot of dust and, therefore, contribute greatly to this pollution. Gore & Steffen (2008) states that with the current issues of climate change and global warming, this industry are faced with a surmountable task of alienating itself from the effects of climate change. This raises the issue of ‘going green’ – manufacturing using eco-friendly procedures and operations. Challenges Industrialization in the recent years shows an immense impact on the environment. There have been some positive effects as well as negative ones. The negative effects of industrialization on the environment continue to cause the players within the industry acclaimed nightmares. In the manufacturing industry, top among the environmental concerns has been the emission of greenhouse gases. These gases have been identified as a leading cause of pollution to the ozone layer. The effects of these emissions have become evident around the globe with adverse effects of global warming becoming a reality as time progresses (Edward, 2006). Immense pressure continues to pile for manufacturers to adopt manufacturing methods showing low levels of carbon emissions. Concrete manufacturing industry also faces the challenge of dust which causes chest infections while contributing to environmental degradation. The adoption of sustainable manufacturing processes seems to be an invention in the right direction. A relative pollution reduction level has been achieved by the industry players who have adopted the culture of sustainable manufacturing. Sustainable manufacturing can be defined as the new way of doing business in the manufacturing industry (Frank-Martin and Peattie, 2009). It ensures that, while organizations adopt new environment friendly sources of energy, competitiveness is maintained by the business. Most manufacturers do this by improv ing their processes and products as well. The process of production poses a bigger challenge to the environment than the product. The method most manufactures have adopted to achieve sustainable manufacturing has been the use of 3Rs (reduce, recycle reuse). This method aims at reducing emission of wastes, finding uses for the waste products and recycling any manufactured item which can be recycled. The challenges posed by this approach are still enormous. The company would make a shift into manufacturing using sustainable production methods. It aims at reducing the amount of emission it delivers to the environment. Dust produced by concrete manufacturing plant needs to be controlled. Through the control of the amount of dust emitted, the company shall be able to achieve environmentally sustainable production level. This level can be marked by reduced emissions and pollution from a single plant. The company can install air compression facilities on the machines used for production. T hese facilities shall ensure the machine produces smaller amounts of air into the environment. The air produced by machines has been identified as what blows dust into the environment. Through compression, the level of dust emission shall be reduced leading to reduced dust pollution from the plant as a whole. In the UK construction and demolitions, have been identified as the two biggest waste streams. The impact of this has a direct impact on the concrete production industry. Managing this waste would significantly

Lessons from the Titanic. How the lessons learned from the sinking of Essay

Lessons from the Titanic. How the lessons learned from the sinking of the liner Titanic can be applied to modern projects - Essay Example The sinking of Titanic in Atlantic on 14 April 1912 resulting in death of 1502 passengers is remembered as one of the deadliest peacetime maritime disasters in modern history. The purpose of this dissertation is to review the historical project of constructing Titanic for operational use. The project also aims at analyzing the reasons from the perspective of project management that led to failure of this huge project of its time and applying the lessons learnt to modern day projects. The research on the subject is mainly based on extensive review of available literature, for which a variety of the references including but not limited to the internet resources only were consulted. In this dissertation two pronged approach was used for research methodology: technical investigation and project management. Titanic Project was studied and analyzed from the perspectives of both technical blunders and project management failures from its conception to operations. The technical investigation methodology aimed to find out the technical and operational reasons for the sinking of the Titanic. Project Management methodology used information from technical investigation to analyze the reasons of failures from the project management perspective and develop an analogy to modern Project Management practices and standards in an attempt to identify the actions that could have prevented the disastrous occurrence. From a technical view point, over confidence in the invincibility of the Titanic led to number of critical compromises like selection of inappropriate material for ship hull, height of bulk heads and changed engine configuration during the design and construction phase of the ship since the team believed that altering the original pans would not affect the safety features of the ship. Besides, compromises were also made during the testing phase of the Titanic where only partial testing was carried out trusting the track record of Olympic liner as excellent, which was not the actual case. From the project management point of view, the major element that was missing from the Project plan of Titanic was risk management. Much efforts were laid to precisely define the functional and nonfunctional requirements; however, more emphasis was laid on functional requirements on the cost of compromising the non-functional requirements. These compromises resulted in risks to the project which were neither identified nor planned for mitigation. Ignoring these risks during the design phase led to the sinking of the Titanic ship. Risk mitigating actions could include introducing double hull, compartmentalization and raising the height of bulkhead, and incorporating and balanced keel for such a large size ship to protect against the wave capsizing. Studying the successful projects can help project managers to apply the common experiences to the new ones, and learning from the failed projects can help to avoid the similar mistakes from recurring. In this report, less ons learned from failure of Titanic were analyzed in analogy with the modern project management practices and were studied for application to present day projects. Table of Contents Chapter Title Page 1 Introduction 1 1.1 Overview of the Project Titanic 1 1.2 Aims and Objectives 3 1.3 Scope and Limitations 6 1.4 Dissertation Layout and Approach 6 1.5 Summary 7 2 Methodology 8 2.1 Research Methodology 8 2.2 Key Research 9 2.3 Referencing Sources 12 2.4 Methodology for Analysis 13 3 Review and Analysis 15 3.1 Historical Facts

The Economical Environment of Senegal

The Economical Environment of Senegal Capital: Dakar Official language: French Area : 196,723 kmsq. Population: 13,711,597 (2009) approx Currency : CFA franc Prime minister: Souleymane Ndiaye President: Abdouyale Wade The area that today is Senegal once was part of the West African Empire of Mali, Ghana, and Tekrur. The country takes its name from the river that runs along its northern and eastern borders, forming the frontier with Mauritania and Mali. A poetic etymology from the Wolof people states that the name derives from the local term  Sunugal,  meaning our dugout canoe (everyone is in the same boat). The Republic of Senegal became independent in 1960 after three centuries of  French colonial rule. Dakar, the capital since independence in 1960, lies on the Cap Vert peninsula, the most westerly point in Africa. Before independence, Dakar was the capital of French West Africa , which included nine French-speaking West African states. Although predominantly Muslim, Senegal is a tolerant secular state, whose peoples have lived together peacefully for several generations and have intermingled to some extent. Islam is a potential unifying factor. Wolof is the national language. Independent f rom France in 1960, Senegal joined with The Gambia to form the nominal confederation of Senegambia in 1982. However, the envisaged integration of the two countries was never carried out, and the union was dissolved in 1989. Despite peace talks, a southern separatist group sporadically has clashed with government forces since 1982. Senegal has a long history of participating in international peacekeeping. PESTEL ANALYSIS OF SENEGAL Political environment affecting Senegal These are how and to what degree a government intervenes in the economy. Specifically, political factors include areas such as tax policy, labor law, environmental law, trade restrictions, tariffs, and political stability. It will further depict how political factors shape the labor after Senegal in market evolution in Senegal after evolution 1945? Its by Pointing out the political factors as a key element in the evolution of the labor market since 1945. The change in the labor market is been mainly shaped by political factors as illustrated by four cases: The Union franchise : 1946 to 1956 The loi-cadre :1956 to 1960 The early post independence State policy: 1960 to 1980 The post independance State policy at the adjustment structural era: 1980 to 2000 The union franchise: 1946 to 1956 This policy which affects the political factors of Senegal consists of 2 key issues- The assimilations constitution adopted in 1946. The extension of the investment policy through the adoption of the FIDES (Funds investment development economy society) The loi-cadre : 1956 to 1960 A metropolitan France response to the growing favor for decolonization in the international community. It introduced the breakdown of the French west federation and the drastic reduction of industrial investment. The major consequence was the loss of major markets i.e. guinea, Soudan and ivory coast and the increasing obsolescene of production facilities. The post independance State policy at the adjustment structural era: 1980 to 2000 The economic crisis that began in 1968, , as well as the effects of rapid population growth and accelerated urbanization deeply compounded the problem of an oversupply of unemployed and underemployed workers. The adoption of structural adjustment policies led to the withdrawl of the state from the labor market in 1980. Thus we conclude that the change in the labor market was determined by political factors as well as economic factors. Economic environment affecting Senegal- It includes economic growth, interest rates, exchange rates and the inflation rate. Economic factors includes addressing the basic problems encountered by Senegals economy: lack of diversified output, the inefficiency of investments, the role of state in economic activity, and the excessive expansion of domestic consumer demand. These problems have been partly addressed by programs focusing on food self-sufficiency, fishing, and tourism, and by strengthening high-return activities. Projects such as the Manantali irrigation project, the phosphate-to-fertilizer recovery project, and the trawler modernization program are examples of what Senegal is doing within this policy framework. In the area of manufacturing, capacity utilization improvement, equipment modernization, and low-capital production are emphasized. Since 1994, the government has made progress in privatizing state-owned enterprises, reducing labor costs to improve competitiveness in the manufacturing sector, and liberalizing trade by eliminating export subsidies and removing restrictions on certain strate gic imports. Private economic revenues accounted for roughly 82% of gross domestic product (GDP) in 1999, but trade liberalization had not progressed as much as planned. Social environment- It includes the cultural aspects and includes health consciousness, population growth rate, age distribution, career attitudes and emphasis on safety. The key issue is safe operation of the equipments. It also consists of 1) Symbol stratification: The society historically which was organized into a hierarchy of castes, a rigid structure in which descendants of royal lines and nobles ruled over artisan castes and slaves. After independence, a new set of status criteria emerged. New means for achieving wealth, power, and status were introduced through the market economy and the development of the education system. 2) Symbol of social stratification- During the colonial era, nearly all the profits generated by the largest firms went to foreigners and the local nobility. The nationalization programs led by the government after independence favored a small number of citizens who entered into a new competition for status and power. 3) Social Welfare and change programs: Poor economic management has led to the intervention of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank in State programs and policies. Two decades of structural adjustment programs have reduced government spending in all public sector activities, including social services. Urban and rural dwellers have adopted creative survival strategies, that have helped them cope with difficult times. 4) Infant rate- People value children greatly. A child is seen as neighborhood property, and so child care responsibilities are shared.  Abandonment of infants is rare, and the strength of family bonds limits the need for institutional care of orphans. 5) Child rearing and education: By the time a child is five or six years of age, he or she is taught good values and etiquette. A child should greet elders, help parents with household chores, avoid foul language, and listen to the wisdom of elders. In their early years, boys and girls play together. As they grow older, gender roles become more sharply defined, with the girls remaining more with their mothers to learn household chores. TECHNOLOGICAL ENVIRONMENT: It includes technological aspects such as RD activity, automation, technology incentives and the rate of technological change. They can determine barriers to entry, minimum efficient production level and influence outsourcing decisions. Furthermore, technological shifts can affect costs, quality and leads to innovation. The African Regional Center for Technology, with 30 member states, has its headquarters in Dakar. Most research facilities in Senegal deal with agricultural subjects. Dakar has centers for mining and medical research and a research institute on African food and nutrition problems. An institute of research for oils and oilseeds is at Bambey. The Senegalese Institute of Agricultural Research, with headquarters at Dakar, operates a national center of agronomical research at Bambey, a national laboratory of livestock and veterinary research at Dakar, an oceanographic center at Dakar, and numerous other technical facilities throughout the country. The University Cheikh Anta Diop at Dakar, founded in 1949, has faculties of medicine and pharmacy and of sciences, and research institutes in psychopathology, leprosy, pediatrics, renewable energy, applied tropical medicine, applied mathematics, health and development, environmental science, adontology and stomatology, applied nuclear technology, and the teaching of mathematics, physics, and technology. The University of Saint Louis has an applied mathematics unit. Other facilities for scientific training include a polytechnic school; an international school of sciences and veterinary medicine, representing 13 French-speaking countries, at Dakar; and an institute of nutritional technology at Dakar. In 1987-97, science and engineering students accounted for 21% of college and university enrollments. In the same period, four technicians and three scientists and engineers per million people were engaged in research and development. ECOLOGICAL/ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS- Cultures are quite diverse in moral teachings or beliefs and vary in many ecological aspects like climate, geography, population size, and social organization. The Wolof culture is an African tribe located between the northwestern areas of the Senegal and Gambia rivers. This entire area has a tropical climate and a flat landscape. The climate is usually dry and the Wolof people generally depend on wells for their water needs besides agriculture. The Wolof people are a dominant group in Senegal. The majority of the Wolof is Muslim and is very religious. They are rural villagers and each village may consist of anywhere from 50 to 150 people. Although French is the main language spoken in Senegal, the Wolof language is quite popular. The division of labor is based on social status and gender. The Wolof recognizes the patrilineage descent among villages. The Wolof organizational structure is characterized by bilateral descent. The Wolof group is ideal to study because they represent a hi gh percentage of Senegals population and there are a lot of documented sources on their culture. Identifying moral prohibitions and taboos concerning the Wolof culture is pertinent in understanding ecological and social factors and moral prohibitions by using the eHRAF database. LEGAL ENVIRONMENT- There are various legal factors which affect the environment of the country. The various laws which are being updated in wide range of areas example consumer protection legislation, environment legislation,Health, safety and employment laws etc. corruption has also been the vital factors which affects the legal environment of the country. There are a number of factors that facilitate non transparent and corrupt governance practices in Senegal. These include: Lack of sufficient regard for the law and inadequate application of existing laws The politicization of the State bureaucracy and its inability to effectively deliver basic public services. Weak accountability mechanisms Limited transparency and access to governmental information Resistance to decentralization The limited scope and capacity of civil society organizations involved in anticorruption activities Widespread public tolerance and acceptance of corruption based on cultural and social norms and traditions. Based on an analysis of Senegals political, institutional, legal and cultural context, it identifies four major, overarching problems that need to be addressed to significantly improve governance and reduce corrupt behavior: Inadequate checks on executive decision-making resulting from the pattern of extreme concentration of power in the presidency. The lack of transparency in government operations and lack of autonomy of control and regulatory institutions charged with monitoring public expenditures. Lack of service orientation in delivery of services to the public Inadequate and ineffective public opposition to corruption. COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE USING THE PORTERS DIAMOND Michael porters competitive advantage of nations will be used as the theoretical model for this study. This theory provides a framework to examine how nations gain a competitive advantage in the global marketplace based on specific determinants found within the industries within a nation. Michael porters competitive advantage of nations explores how businesses within a nation gain a competitive advantage. Porter believes that groups or clusters of interconnected firms, suppliers, related industries, and various institutions that arises in particular locations of Senegal, the government has to think about economies, assess the competitive advantage of the locations and set public policy. The 4 primary determinants of his model are: factor conditions demand conditions related and supporting industries firm strategy, structure, rivalry FACTOR CONDITIONS- are the basic inputs of production that is necessary to compete in an industry. E.gs are skilled labor, infrastructure, or capital resources. DEMAND CONDITIONS- are the quality of the home demand for a product or service in an industry. RELATED SUPPORTING INDUSTRIES- are defined by whether a nation has the supplier and related industries are competitive. FIRM STRATEGY, STRUCTURE RIVALRY- conditions within a nation that administer how companies are created, organized, and managed along with the type of domestic rivalry. According to porter these determinants individually and as a structure provide the atmosphere for nations to gain a competitive advantage. Porter positions these determinants in a diamond pattern. Senegals performance and competitive advantage in manufacturing relates to growth of manufactured exports which is often considered crucial for economic development. The reasons are: Price and income elasticities of demand, as well as price elasticities of supply are greater for manufacturing than other industries. Positive externalities and external economies are thought to be associated with manufactured exports. In Senegal, demand is for two main sectors: 1) Gold Mining 2) Infrastructure, Power Communications Gold Mining- the mining deposits consists of 2 projects: Sabodala gold operation- Strategically located at epicentre of a major new gold district. Positioned on one of the world great golds belts. Grand cote mineral sands project- development project with tier 1 pot SABODALA PROJECT A strong operating margin provides for a robust project- Volume mined : 55 Mtpa Heavy Mineral grade: 1.7%-1.8% Infrastructure, power and  communications- For a developing nation, Senegal has a well organized  infrastructure  compared to most other African countries   The World Bank estimated that in 1995 there were 507 kilometers  (315 miles) of paved road per million people. The CIA  World Fact Book  2001  notes that there are 14,576 kilometers (9,058 miles) of highway, 4,271 kilometers (2,653 miles) of which are paved. Although the railway system is somewhat antiquated, it carries more than 3 million tons of cargo per year. The railway network, which extends across 906 kilometers (563 miles), links  the major cities to Dakar and provides services between Senegal and Mali. According to the U.S. Department of State  Country Commercial Guide,  the airport at Dakar is one of the principal international airports in West  Africa, handling a variety of aircraft on its 2 runways. The airport serves  more than 24 international airlines, handling 1.5 million passengers per  year and moving more than 20,000 metric tons of international airfreight. There are direct flights to Europe and North America, along with frequent  flights to several African countries. Secondary airports are located in the  regions of Saint-Louis, Tambacounda, and Ziguinchor. In total, there were  20 airports in 1999. The competitive advantage of French firms in this sector relates, in part, to concessional funding (funds are granted in exchange for specific contracts)  given by the French government to the Senegalese government for the  modernization of the telecommunications network. The competitive advantage is also demanding in its export sector- The composition of exports Manufactured exports are heavily concentrated in three sectors: fishing and fish-processing, chemicals (the ICS) and oilseeds (mainly groundnuts). This will be clear from the following table: These three sectors represented 81 percent of manufactured exports in 1974. By 1999 this share increased to 93 percent. Within this subgroup, substantial change has taken place. In the 1970s, the groundnut oil sector dominated, with 56 percent of manufactured exports in 1974. In the 1980s, with the creation of the ICS, coupled with a decline in the groundnut harvests, the situation changed markedly. By 1999, the groundnut industrys share had plummeted to less than 12.6 percent while chemicals were up to 39.8 percent. The fishing industry also experienced a large expansion, and accounted for just over 40.6 percent of manufactured exports in 1999.

Transition in Stanley Kubricks Full Metal Jacket Essay -- Film Movies

Transition in Stanley Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket "These are great days we're living, bros. We are jolly green giants, walking the Earth with guns. These people we wasted here today are the finest human beings we will ever know. After we rotate back to the world, we're gonna miss not having anyone around that's worth shooting." In Full Metal Jacket, Stanley Kubrick's portrayal of the Vietnam War and the US Marines is immense. His "Boys to Men" theme brought forth the transition these young men had gone through in order to achieve that "Man" status. The beginning of the movie takes place at the Marine boot camp on Parris Island in South Carolina. The Marines, as always, were looking for a few good men. On this day, they received a group of wide-eyed teenagers, and some adults, but mostly teenagers. Obviously unaware of what will await them in boot camp and more importantly on the frontline, their Senior Drill Instructor Sergeant Hartman played by R. Lee Ermey greets them. Sergeant Hartman plays a different role in the film depending on the perspective you take. To me, he is my coach. They have been through similar situations I have been through and are there in guidance. However, contrary to Hartman's intentions, he forces them to learn quickly and efficiently because this is not a game that they ar e practicing for. This is life and Death. Sergeant Hartman had seen Vietnam personally. A hardened veteran of the US Marine Corp, Hartman demands to see the fear in his recruits so, in a bullying manner, he can take it. "It is your killer instinct which must be harnessed if you expect to survive in combat. Your rifle is only a tool; it is a hard heart that kills. If your killer instincts are not clean and st... ...o a callous creature. He has to conflict with himself to become this but at the end of the movie, he seemed more calm and understanding. He had in fact, defeated himself by realizing he was his own enemy and is no longer afraid. He had finally found someone worth killing. Works Cited Jung, Carl G. The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious. New Jersey: Princeton University Press. 1969. Oberdorfer, Don. Tet: who won? Washington D.C.: Smithsonian Magazine 2004 Rambuss, Richard. Machinehead: The technology of killing in Stanley Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket. Indiana University Press. 1999 Crowley, Vivianne. Jung: A Journey of Transformation: Exploring His Life and Experiencing. Quest Books. March 15, 2000 Downs, Frederick. The Killing Zone: My Life in The Vietnam War. W.W. Norton & Company. November 1, 1993

Lumber-Room Essay

lumber-room The story under analysis was written by Hector Munro, a British novelist and a short-story writer. After his parents’ death he was brought up by a grandmother and two aunts, one of them was a woman of ungovernable temper, of fierce likes and dislikes, imperious and a moral coward. She was the last person who should have been in charge of children. The character of the aunt in The Lumber-Room is Aunt Augusta to the life. The story is about a little boy Nikolas who lives with his cruel aunt, brother and cousins.One day he commits the offence thus bringing the punishment upon himself, but he’s not upset as he is intended to sneak into the lumber-room. He plays trick with his aunt and finally gets into the forbidden paradise. The main idea of this story is the conflict between unchangeable conventional reality and poetry and intellectual freedom, between dogmatic, pedantic, philistine mind and poetic imagination. The story is a 3-person narration interlaced with inner thoughts and descriptive passages. The prevailing mood is rather positive, ironical and highly emotional.The text under study can be divided into 4 logically complete parts. The first part can be entitled â€Å"the 1 part of the plan†. Nickolas is not going with his small brother and his cousins to the Jagborough sands as his aunt has punished him for his disgraceful conduct at breakfast when he refused to eat his wholesome bread-and milk on the seemingly frivolous ground that there was a frog in it. The author’s attitude to the aunt is revealed with the help of the antonomasia â€Å"older and wiser and better people† and the high-flown adjectives â€Å"wholesome and frivolous†.Nickolas is shown as a very wise and clever boy for his age. In the following paragraph the author resorts to some bookish words such as â€Å"alleged†, â€Å"profoundly in error†, â€Å"utmost assurance† and long sentences to make the reader feel the st yle of aunt’s thoughts and haughty treatment of the children. Apart from Nickolas his aunt is described rather directly; she’s shown as self-confident and self-righteous person who can never admit her mistake. Her false piety is depicted by ironical use of religious words, such as â€Å"sin† and â€Å"depravity†.Judicial and military terminology such as â€Å"rigorously debarred†, â€Å"skilled tactician† conveys the tense atmosphere in the aunt and boy’s relations. At the time of children’s departure N drops a few decent tears. But he isn’t upset as this is just a part of his plan. The second part can be entitled as â€Å"the 2 part of the plan†. N is forbidden to go into the gooseberry garden as he’s in disgrace. And his aunt is going to keep an eye on it. But N himself feels perfectly capable of being in disgrace and in the gooseberry garden at the same time. And with the help of the zeugma the author co ntributes humorous effect in the text.The reader can trace the opposition between the aunt and the boy, which is again reproduced by the military terms, such as â€Å"sorties†, â€Å"operations†, â€Å"sentry-duty†, â€Å"unauthorized intrusion†. This idea also appears in the different attitude to the gooseberry garden. For aunt it is a forbidden paradise and for N it’s just a mere material pleasure. The descriptive passage of the aunt shows her as a woman of few ideas, with immense power of concentration. So, during N’s aunt duty, the boy gets the key, which opens the door of the lumber-room. The third part can be entitled â€Å"in the lumber-room†.N gets into the lumber-room and everything is new for him. In the first paragraph we see the repetition of the word â€Å"it†, which indicates Nikolas’s strong desire to get into the lumber-room. It was carefully sealed but this fact just stirred his curiosity. With the help of the metaphor â€Å"unimagined treasure† and description of the lumber-room (it was dimly lit), the author creates the mysterious atmosphere. Nicholas’s aunt is shown as rather conservative and mean as she prefer to consign things to dust and damp to preserve them and not to spoil.The metaphorical epithet â€Å"living breathing story† is used to show that Nickolas was impressionable, imaginative, full of creative ideas with poetic nature. It is understood indirectly through Nicholas’s attitude to the tapestry picture, which he sees for the first time but creates a vivid fairytale with a great number of small details. And the questions used in this paragraph indicate the dynamically developing plot of the fairytale in the N’s mind. The metaphorical epithet â€Å"golden minutes† is used to show that the time Nickolas spends in the lumber-room is very precious.When N finishes with the picture he notices other objects of delight and interest. The great number of epithets used in this part such as: objects of delight, (claiming his) instant attention, quaint candlesticks, undreamed-of creatures and the metaphorical expression â€Å"for the eyes to feast on† – emphasizes the fact that N isn’t used to such unusual things and it makes the opposition to the things in the house, which are â€Å"bare† and â€Å"cheerless†, dull and shapeless. The use of the exclamatory marks shows highly emotional state of the boy.Suddenly, the scream and then shriek of the aunt come from the gooseberry garden. But N smiles as he feels his victory in the war. Being skilled tactician he restores things to their places, shakes some dust on them, creeps from the room, locks the door and replaces the key exactly where he had found it. He saunters into the garden considering himself the winner of the battle. The 4th part can be entitled as â€Å"The rebellion†. Nickolas hears his aunt’s voice from the gooseberry garden where she gets into the rain-water tank while searching for him and she can’t get out as the sides are slippery.She asks him to help but he says that he isn’t to go into the garden and suspects her being the Evil One that tempts him to be disobedient. We see now that Nickolas pronounces the aunt’s usual phrase and thus fights her with her own weapon. This idea is proved with the using the metaphor â€Å"the prisoner in the tank†. So, the person who rescues the aunt is a kitchemaid. During the evening tea there is fearsome silence. The children are disappointed with the trip as there was the tide and there was no sands to play on and the metaphor punitive expedition contributes the state of the children.The aunt suffers the situation in the tank and only Nickolas, who is to be in disgrace is satisfied and thinks about the continuation of the story pictured in his mind while watching tapestry in the lumber-room. The story ends again with the antithesis of unchangeable conventional reality and poetry and intellectual freedom. On the whole this text appeals to me as it shows the problems of human nature and children up-bringing. The aunt is a conventional person who tries to keep everything as it is, without any change.She has no joy in her life and she brings up the children in the way that leads them to the same attitude to the world. But in spite of this, N, a young but extremely wise and clever boy, sees the things from the different side. He is very curious; he enjoys the world and tries to broaden his horizon. This problem of upbringing is still quite acute and the story helps to see it from another side. Moreover, the author makes an abundant usage of different stylistic devices which produce ironical and humorous effect and helps to ridicule such way of up-bringing through the character of the aunt and this makes the story even more vivid.

Asian Cultural Heritage

ASIAN CULTURAL HERITAGE The popular and widely known Asian â€Å"Migration Theory† of professor H. Otley Beyer about the prehistoric peopling of the Philippines is now considered untenable by modern scholars. They questione the manner by which the theory was formulated because of the absence of historical or archeological proofs to support it. The Asian texture of Filipino culture from the prehistoric Spanish times, therefore, could be traced to evolutionary factors, the continous migrations of people and the early contacts with other Asian civilizations. INDIAN INFLUENCESIndian influences were traceable in the languages, religious belief, literature, customs and traditions of early Filipinos. The Supreme God of the ancient Tagalog was Bathala, which came from the Sanskrit word B’hattara (great Lord) Among the pre-Islamic natives of Sulu, Indra Battara was the most prominent deity, Indra, being the sky god. The other gods the natives believed were of Indian or Vedic in origin such as Agni (fire god) and Surya (sun god). The epics of the early Filipinos such as the Biag ni Lam-Ang of the ilocanos, Mahabharata, the Indian epic.Some Filipino superstitious beliefs that originated from India were: 1. A comet is a bad sign; it brings war, famine and other calamities. 2. A pregnant woman must not eat twin bananas for she will give birth to twins. The putong (headgear) of the early Filipino male was Indian origin. So was the sarong (Indian sari), the lower part of the clothing of pre-Spanish women. Indian influences on Filipino culture are clearly manifested by the presence of Sanskrit words in Tagalog language. Dr. T. H. Pardo de Tavera mentions 340 Sanskrit words. Examples are: SanskritTagalog . Atawaasawa (spouse) 2. Amaama (father) 3. Raharaha (king) 4. Harihari (king) 5. Kottakuta (fort) 6. Gandaganda (beauty) 7. Bhattarabathala (god) 8. Mutyamutya (pearl) 9. Inaina (mother) MALAYAN INFLUENCES The Maragtas For lack of historical or archeological data , the Maragtas or the great tale about the Ten Bornean Datus who came to Panay may be part-history and part-fiction. According to this great story, at around 1250 AD, ten datus and their families left Borneo to escape the repressive rule of Sultan Makatunaw and to establish new homes across the seas.Led by Datu Puti, the Malays landed in Panay Island where they negotiated with Marikudo, the Negrito king for the barter of the lowlands. The agreed price was one golden salakot for the Ati king and one gold necklace for Maniwangtiwang, Marikudo’s wife. The barter of Panay was sealed by an agreement of friendship between the Atis and the Malays. The Negritos, after performing their merry songs and dances, retreated to the mountains. There are some interesting coincidences, however, between the legend of Maragtas and Panay customs and traditions.To this day, the ati-atihan, a colorful song and dance festival is celebrated in Aklan. This is to re-enact the warm welcome accorded to t he Malays by the Atis, which resulted to the purchase of Panay. W. H. Scott, the American missionary, in his doctoral dissertation (1968) comments: â€Å"There is no reason to doubt that this legend (Maragtas) preserves the memory of an actual event, but it is not possible to date the event itself, or to decide which of the details ar historical facts, and which are the embellishments of generations of oral transmission. CHINESE INFLUENCES The Chinese, who came to the Philippines, whether as traders or settlers, were primarily interested in trade, so their influences on Filipino life were mainly economic and social. The early Filipinos learned from the Chinese the art of metallurgy, the manufacture of gunpowder, mining methods and the use of porcelain, gongs, umbrellas, lead and kites. From the Chinese originated the dishes lumpia, mami, okoy, pansit, bihon, chop suey and siopao. Sauces like toyo, and tawsi also came from the Chinese.Some Chinese customs were eventually adopted by the Filipinos. The arrangement of marriage of children by parents, the use of go-between in negotiating marriage, the use of white clothes or dress during the period of mourning and the filial respect for elders accorded by the children were examples of practices borrowed from the Chinese. About a thousand words are found in the Filipino language. Among them are the following: ChineseFilipino 1 Inkongingkong 2 Hebihibi 3 A-chiate 4 Bi-koebiko 5 Dikiamdikiam Pin-topinto 7 Sosisusi 8 Mikimiki 9 Bakkiahbakya 10 Pansitpansit JAPANESE RELATIONS The Filipinos had been trading with the Japanese long before the coming of the Spaniards. Japanese bahan (merchants) and wakos (pirates) sailed the South China Sea seeking for Sung and Yuan wares buried in Philippines graves, iron and woolens for Filipino gold and wax. The Japanese immigrants who came to the Philippines during the pre-Spanish times settled at the mouth of the Cagayan River, the Lingayen Gulf area, and Manila.The first recorded enc ounter between the Japanese and the Spaniards was in 1572 when Juan de Salcedo, while sailing from Manila to Ilocos, fought off three Japanese junks off the coast of Pangasinan. The Japanese pirates sailed away, after fierce fighting. In 1582, an expedition led by Captain Juan Pablo Carreon assaulted a Japanese colony founded by the pirate Tayfusa at the mouth of Cagayan River. The Japanese were forced to leave the place. The early Japanese merchants also traded with Agoo, a town in the Lingayen Gulf area.They brought with them utensils, assorted weapons, salted meats and other Japanese were better treated and nodiscrimatory decrees were made against them. The Spaniards respected and feared them. ARABIC INFLUENCES Arabia’s most enduring legacy to the peoples of Sulu and Mindanao is Islam. The Arabs also introduced the sultanate form of government, Arabic art and literature; the Arabic alphabet; the Koranic Law; the mosque; the art of warfare- lantaka(cannon), vinta(warboat) a nd the kuta(fort).The Luwaran, a code of laws and compilation of the customs and traditions of the early Muslims, was written in Arabic. The Maranao’s Darangan (epic poetry), Maguindanao’s Indarapatra and Sulayman and Sulu’s Parang Sabil were deeply inspired by Islam. Arabic influence is also clearly seen in the decorative and ornamental art of the maranaos, who are the best –known wood carvers and painters of the region. Arabic words are also found in the Filipino language. Examples are: surat(letter), apu(old man), akma (appropriate), arak (wine), alamat (legend), maalem (knowing), pirate (scar) and salam (thanks).

Analytical Essay Sample on the Story “Like Water for Chocolate”

Analytical Essay Sample on the Story â€Å"Like Water for Chocolate† Like Water for Chocolate is a text that I believe should be used in a classroom context for high school students because of the emotions, changes and challenges affecting teenagers as they do the central character in the text, and its uses of distinctive methods to demonstrate this. The relationships, Mexican culture, and literary techniques make it an alternative yet invaluable source in the classroom context. Most texts that students are expected to study in senior high school tend to be chosen by adults for their literary qualities that are not especially relevant to some of the challenge and emotions that teenagers face in their daily twenty-first century lives. Whilst the text Like Water for Chocolate is not set in the culture we live in today nor is it a direct reflection teenage life, it certainly has particular components that make it relevant to high school students while still being as beneficial literary source as a Shakespearean text, just in different manners. While a story written about unrequited love is one of the most familiar, universal and almost over told stories ever written, the essence the author has brought to it using different methods bringing new life and to this commonplace story line. While the entire story is almost epic-like in its traditional plot, characters and the way it is told, techniques used by the author convey a deeply personal view of Tita De la Garzas life even when written in the second person, by Titas great niece, Esperanzas daughter. The way that Laura Esquivel uses magical realism in the text enhances the novel overall. The main purpose of using this writing technique is to evoke certain emotions in the reader about love such as when Gertrudis is having a shower in the small room outside made of roughly nailed planks. Because she has just consumed Titas quail in rose petal sauce the emotion that it was prepared with and love put into the food by Tita directed towards Pedro has shown effects in her. Magical realism recurs throughout the text and in this example Gertrudis is unable to enjoy her shower because the drops that fell from the shower never made it to her body: they evaporated before they reached her. Her body was giving off so much heat that the wooden walls began to split and burst into flame. (Like Water for Chocolate, pg 51). The way that the sheer passion of Gertrudis is expressed works very well to make known to the reader a feeling that can only be experienced to be truly understood. Similarly thi s is demonstrated when Titas Ð ¡enormous bedspread that she had woven through night after night of insomnia covered the whole ranch, all three hectares. (Like Water for Chocolate, pg 220) It is unbelievable that one persons passion could set fire to a hut or that a bedspread could cover 30 000m2, but this is the authors way of expressing the immeasurable passion experienced or just how many sleepless nights were spent by Tita suffering in her unrequited love. Adolescence is a part of a humans life when they begin to experience new and changing relationships. The relationships that the teenage Tita begins to experience, (when she meets Pedro she is just 15) and fulfil are quite similar, even if not in context, as ones that high school aged students are beginning to have. They are able to relate to the text in this way while they also may find parallels from characters to ones in their own life. For example, an older person who they can confide in like Nancha, a young love such as Pedro or a sibling they have similar experiences with as Tita does with Rosaura or Gertrudis. Teenagers are all beginning to experience aspects of love as they grow up and I think that the central theme of this in the book will prove attractive to them. Secondary school and the years of being a teenager is a time of change and transition from when they go from being almost totally reliant on the care of their parents to being an independent adult who is able to run their own life. Independence and personal freedom becomes very important to them. While teenagers generally strive to be free from the ties of their home, Tita is bonded by her family tradition insisting as Mama Elena says to Tita, that being the youngest daughter means that you have to take care of me until the day I die. (Like Water for Chocolate, pg 14). This freedom being denied to Tita may relate well with the restrictions felt by students at home by their parents who may be trying to protect them or prevent them from doing their own will. The style in which Like Water for Chocolate is written is really quite unique. It is set out with the chapters of the book being represented by months of the year with a separate recipe for each chapter. The sensuality of food in relation to the sentiment of the characters and what they experience combine very well together with the preparation of each particular recipe. This adds to the plot as well as the emotions and mood being created for the remainder of the chapter. In January, Tita expresses her first passions toward Pedro making her feel like dough feels when it is plunged into boiling oil (Like Water for Chocolate, pg 18) Emotion that Tita puts into her food can make the people that eat it passionately in love to violently sick. The text shows a glimpse of Mexican culture and even the history of that country talking about the familys experiences with civil war like when the revolutionaries with Captain Juan Alejandrez visited the ranch. Especially Mexican food is explored here in depth as an essential part of this foreign culture. I believe that the book is relevant to a class of secondary students today. It deals with similar emotions, changes and challenges affecting teenagers as they do the central character in the text, and uses distinctive methods to demonstrate in a different way to other texts, making it something for the student to experience.

Nursing Research Article Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Nursing Research Article - Essay Example The article explains the importance of ensuring patients receive the expected high quality services and safety requirements. The research places importance on the healthcare facilities’ adhering to quality service standards. The article vividly shows the importance of the continuing delivery of high quality healthcare facilities’ nursing services and continuing improvement of the facilities’ patient safety healthcare facility safety. The Needleman and Hassmiller professional journal article shows the importance of continuing improvement the safety of the patients and healthcare professionals (Needleman & Hassmiller, 2009). The participants include a study of nursing care services of both Magnet hospitals and non-Magnet classified hospitals in the United States. The article focuses on the importance of hospital quality, nursing care, and efficiency. The authors emphasize adequate hospital nursing services are implemented. The article insists the continuing improvement of nursing care services is constantly tailored to fit each changing nursing care situation. Further, the article places timely importance on the nurses’ effective control of hospital or facility costs and expenses being harmonized with other affected departments, units, or areas. The journal article’s Magnet hospitals’ research findings show the importance of setting into motion the continuing improvement of front-line nursing staff healthcare service delivery. The improvements include the implementation of the Transforming Care at bedside quality healthcare services. The article’s additional research findings show nursing leadership, nursing staff, and healthcare facility administrators must actively contribute to improving the quality, safety, as well as efficiency of nursing care services. It is clear that the article places importance on the continuing improvement and safety of healthcare services. The article places importance on the

RELATIONSHIPS & CULTURE Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

RELATIONSHIPS & CULTURE - Essay Example Cultural distance and differences are widely used constructs in making international business relating to expansion of foreign investments, entry mode choice, and performance of affiliates (Shenkar, 2001). Likewise, relationship marketing emphasises on customer retention and satisfaction instead of focusing dominantly on transactions and sales. It is said that an organisation needs to improve its level of competitiveness in a globalised market in order to survive the competition if not to dominate it, and marketing tactics help tremendously in achieving this endeavor. Literatures say that among these tactics is the employment of relationship marketing that aids the firm to market internationally its product or service. A firm's external operations entail an understanding of how cultural differences affect international marketing decisions. This understanding can be utilised in predicting strategic movements and responses of competitors and thus enables the firm to design effective competitive strategies. International sales negotiations are the primary focal point of this understanding (Tse, et al., 1988, p. 81). The internal conduct of multinational firms also needs knowledge of the impact of culture on marketing decisions. ... For organisations with diverse cultural backgrounds, the interpretation of cues for standard operating procedures may vary because of these cultural backgrounds, imploring the need to understand cultural differences in international marketing. Another reason as to why a good understanding of cultural differences is important in international marketing is because this knowledge of cultural influences permits the firms to adapt to such differences, enabling it to reduce the so called 'noisy communications" as well as eliminate errors in decision-making. These are said to occur likely out of lack of common understanding, which stems from lack of understanding of cultural differences (Montgomery and Weinberg, 1979 in Tse, et al., 1988, p. 81). It is already a given knowledge that in the past, especially prior to the globalised era, Western managerial culture dominated multinational firms. However, this trail has changed a long way as shown by the recent trends' increase in international trade and foreign direct investment of Asian multinational firms and North American subsidiaries that operate in Asian countries. This implies furtherance of salient understanding of cultural impact on an organisation's internal operations (Tse , et al., 1988). This emphasis on cultural differences is exemplified by the case of China's businesses, which experience isolation from contacts with international markets for many years. Thus, their marketing decision processes have relatively represented pure form of cultural influence on business behavior caused by cultural impacts. It is suggested that an Oriental business community with strong and continuous interaction with the Western businesses is what