Ethan from †Realism Essay

The rise of Realism in 1855 was the time when farming began to industrialize, communication expanded through railroads, and Nationalism was yet again revived. On top of all these important transformations that have marked this period of time was the significance for literature with a new audience, new settings, and new characters. The novel, Ethan Frome, by Edith Wharton, is a magnificent example of literature from the Realistic period. First, Realism is a definite movement away from the Romantic period. Romantics wrote regarding the unique and the unusual, whereas in Realism, literature was written about the average and ordinary. The town where the novel takes place is Starkfield, an average farming community. There is not much in the town that is of interest or anything extravagant to be known for. In addition, literature from Romanticism focused on hopes, while Realistic literature illustrated skepticism and doubt. The narrator describes the scene where Zeena declares to Ethan that her sickness is getting serious, saying, â€Å"She continued to gaze at him through the twilight with a mien of wan authority, as of one consciously singled out for a great fate. I’ve got complications,’ she said† (108 Wharton). Hope for Zeena’s health is nonexistent, and she, being a hypochondriac, confirms the fact that she feels doubtful about life. The Romantics wrote about the unusual and hopeful, which are characteristics that are not strongly represented in Realistic literature. The second aspect of Realism is the idea of Regionalism. One indication of Regionalism in literature is the characters’ dialect. An excellent depiction of dialect is where Harmon Gow says, â€Å"Wust kind, . . . More’n enough to kill most men† (6). His regional accent is shown by the spelling and punctuation, allowing the reader to have an idea of how Harmon would have said it. Another aspect of Regionalism is the customs and the way of life of the characters. One way of life that the characters are accustomed to is the normality of marriage between cousins. As this practice is not enthusiastically accepted everywhere, it brings the Regionalistic aspect to the novel. Regionalism, which includes the characteristics of dialect and customs, is a critical component of Realism. Third, Realistic literature uses the concept of Naturalism. In Ethan Frome, the bleak winter setting is a primary clue that nature plays a key role in the story. Nature is displayed as a powerful and malevolent force that is indifferent to humankind. In the novel, the narrator once stated, â€Å"But when winter shut down on Starkfield, and the village lay under a sheet of snow perpetually renewed from the pale skies, I began to see what life there–or rather its negation–must have been . . . † (7). This statement depicts the winter seasons in Starkfield as gloomy and undesirable weather. Aside from the setting, the basic animal nature of humans also draws out the Naturalistic traits in Realism. The narrator tells what was going through Ethan’s mind following the smash-up, † . . . and far off, up the hill, he heard the sorrel whinny, and thought: `I ought to be getting him his feed. . . ‘ † (172). At such an intense moment, Ethan’s animal nature brings him to think about tending to his hungry horse instead of caring about his and Mattie’s teetering lives. These examples signify the sense of nature and its forces used in the literature of Realists. Edith Wharton’s novel, Ethan Frome, is a wonderful example of Realistic literature. Its style shows signs of a distinct shift away from Romanticism and illustrates the aspects of Regionalism and Naturalism, two major components of Realism. Authors of the Realistic period depicted life as typical, everyday people lived and knew it to be, using these important points. The ordinary characters that dealt with common problems and situations in the literature brought a new group of readers, establishing a unique new era that has changed the way people perceive life forever.

Homeland Security Essay

Homeland Security is a cabinet level agency in the federal government. Its birth came after the terrorist attacks on September 11th, 2001. Its main goals were to deter terrorism on U. S. soil and the safety of the American infrastructure. It has been reported many times the trouble this department is having getting off the ground. â€Å"Hardly a day goes by without some fresh report on a contract gone bad, a new technology that does not work, a new Coast Guard cutter that is not seaworthy, or more cargo that slips through port without inspection† (Light, 2007). Every year new assessments of the department including Congress, the 9/11 Commission and the departments own inspector general gives it low grades for job satisfaction, management, and leadership. Just some of the problems it is having are high turnover, internal bureaucratic struggles and structural problems. So with all that said it is having problems reaching many of its outlined goals. It still needs funding, authority, better strategy for protecting American soil, personnel, better screening at airports for passengers and employees, and better technology to find weapons such as explosives. Improved intelligence capabilities are probably the most important. Border security issues were the founding fathers main focus when he was with the agency and I am in agreement. Securing our countries boarders on a daily basis is the Homeland security’s main concern. The military that has done that job up until now but with the world being global we need to separate the two and give each their own set of ground rules to operate at an optimum level. The merging of immigration and customs enforcement can only help in making this department function at a level the American public can be proud of with the goals of this office being completed (Magleby, O’Brien, Light, Peltason, & Cronin, 2006). Even with all its imperfections I still believe that it is a needed department in our government. A somewhat more rigid department to handle military type action on homeland soil was needed and was realized on 9/11. We had been living in a glass house and it was just a matter of time. The partnership it is creating with state and local governments especially with intelligence from federal sources will build a safer America. After the disaster of Katrina in 2005 it was more obvious that this newly formed department would need some redesign in its structure. But I think with having Homeland Security it will help to build a better military. This would allow more forces to be deployed outside our borders when needed. I think now if Homeland Security had been up to par, would we still be in Iraq or would the troops the Republicans so desperately want to send be there and back by now? Reference: Light, P. (2007, Spring). The homeland security hash. Wilson Quarterly, 31(2). Magleby, D. B. , O’Brien, D. , Light, P. , Peltason, J. W. , & Cronin, T. E. (2006). Government by the People: National, State, and Local 21st. Ed. New Jersey: Prentice Hall.

Epicurus’ Philosophy on a Good Life

Epicurus was a Greek philosopher. He was born, in the year 341 BCE, on the island of Samos, which is located a mile off of the western coast of Turkey. In 306 he moved to Athens for the required two years of military training that every Athenian did. When he finished the training he stayed in Athens absorbing the philosophies of Plato, Aristotle, and Democritus. He eventually returned to his home in Samos where he started his own school, The Garden. The reason the school was called The Garden is because its location was, believe it or not, his own garden.It is there where he taught philosophy to his disciples who were known as â€Å"the philosophers of the garden. † But unlike Plato’s Academy and the Lyceum of Aristotle, â€Å"The Garden† allowed women to join and philosophize, which was unheard of at that time. One of the biggest things Epicurus tried to achieve was tranquility. His definition of pleasure was that was â€Å"freedom from pain and fear. † E picurus valued the mind more so than the body. He said that we should enjoy intellectual pleasure more than sensual pleasure because the intellectual would last much longer and cause less suffering.Epicurus is not saying that having sex or other physical pleasures is bad or evil, because the sensations felt during the act is always good. He is saying that when you have too much of it or pursue it too often, it ends up bringing pain and lasts only a short while. It is in this sense that Epicurus is a hedonist. A hedonist is one who believes that pleasure is the greatest good for people. This developed Epicureanism, a hedonistic philosophy that stressed science, serenity, and friendship as the keys to pleasure, happiness, and the good life.Some of the greatest producers of pain and fear are religion and death. Epicurus believed that if we conquered the fear of death, the afterlife, and the gods we would be able to reach genuine happiness. One of the major differences between Epicurus and other Greeks is that he claimed that gods did not interfere with the affairs of the human world. Epicurus overcame his fear of death through his logical thought process such as â€Å"Why should I fear death? If I am, death is not. If death is, I am not. Why should I fear that which can only exist when I do not? What he is basically saying is that it is not worth the suffering of fearing death when you are alive. When you are alive you are not dead, and when you are dead you can’t feel anything meaning that you can’t feel death. Epicurus is considered a major figure in the history of science as well as philosophy. He argued that we should weigh belief to factual evidence and logic, and he proposed the scientific view of atomism, where all facts in the macroscopic world are caused by the configuration of atoms or indivisible elements in the microscopic world and emptiness for the atoms to move in.Nearing his untimely death of prostatitis he wrote many letters to fri ends, one asking that the children of one of his first followers Metrodorus be taken care of. Epicurus made provisions in his will for the care of the children. Even in all this pain, he was still thinking about the kids he would be leaving. He also left â€Å"The Garden† and some funds to trustees of the school and the remaining money was to be used to honor his family and to celebrate his birthday yearly. So how do we live a good life? According to Epicurus, you choose the intellectual pleasure over the physical pleasure.The intellectual pleasure will last a lifetime while a physical pleasure will last for but a short while. But this alone is not enough, for even if you have the right pleasure, there is still fear which counteracts said pleasure. So how do we get rid of the pain? We realize that when we are alive we can feel and when we are dead we have lost the sensation to feel, and how can you be afraid of that which you can’t feel, you can’t. The only thin g that I think Epicurus is missing is a balance between overindulgence, and starvation of pleasures.As well as the buddhists Tathata, which basicly means living in the moment. There is joy and happiness surrounding us in every moment, you just have to open your eyes and find it. Bibliography 1) â€Å"Epicurus and Pursuing Happiness. † Atheist Foundation of Australia Inc. N. p. , n. d. Web. 28 Feb. 2013. . 2)†Epicurus. † Pursuit of Happiness. Pursuit of Happiness, Inc. , 2013. Web. 28 Feb. 2013. . 3) Zeuschner, Robert B. â€Å"Chapter 3: Epicurus: Pleasure Is the Foundation of Ethical Judgments. â€Å"Classical Ethics, East and West: Ethics from a Comparative Perspective. Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2000. 51-67. Print.

MKT301A-Homework Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

MKT301A-Homework - Essay Example By 2013, the world’s Internet population was estimated at 2.4 billion users (Lamb, Hair and McDaniel, 2013). This implies that two-fifth of the world’s population is online. In this regard, both the videos and textbook are of the opinion that Internet advertising can reach a wider customer base at once, since anyone who is online across the globe can access information. They also point out that web-based advertising is used in almost all the industry sectors. One of the most important and obvious benefit of online business marketing is convenience and flexibility something which both the videos by and the book Marketing by Grewal and Levy agree with. With Internet availability, one can sell and order products globally, thus driving brand awareness. Both the print and electronic information sources on Internet marketing posit that social networks (Facebook, LinkedIn), video-sharing sites (YouTube), micro-blogging sites (Twitter), and photo sharing (Instagram), among many others increase product awareness and enhance customer rapport, allowing for an increase in sales as well as customer’s loyalty. The other similarity between information in the videos and information in the textbook is that the use internet advertising is much cheaper than the traditional promotional and advertising activities. The textbook clearly shows the link between the benefits of using social networks to any business enterprise. On the other hand, the videos on internet marketing do not outline how web-based marketing strategies allow a firm to take advantage of social media, for instance, Facebook, My Space, LinkedIn, and Twitter to market its product. While the videos do not mention anything about the cost, the textbook argues that the Internet is a versatile and highly flexible advertising medium because changes can be made to the ads without incurring much additional cost. The other difference is that while the videos start by giving a background information about online

REPORT ON AMAZON.COM Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

REPORT ON AMAZON.COM - Coursework Example Ð fter thiÃ'•, it will exÐ °mine thÐ µ prÐ ¾ceÃ'•Ã'• tÐ ¾ mÐ °ke Ð ° Ã'•trÐ °tegic mÐ °rketing plÐ °n thÐ °t Ã'•tÐ °rtÃ'• with miÃ'•Ã'•iÐ ¾n Ã'•tÐ °tement. FinÐ °lly, thÐ µre will be Ð °n Ð °nÐ °lyÃ'•iÃ'• Ð ¾f hÐ ¾w tÐ ¾ cÐ ¾ntrÐ ¾l thÐ µ plÐ °n Ð °nd implement it. ThÐ µ repÐ ¾rt uÃ'•eÃ'• thÐ µ cÐ ¾mpÐ °ny Ð mÐ °zÐ ¾n .cÐ ¾m tÐ ¾ develÐ ¾p thÐ µ Ã'•trÐ °tegic mÐ °rketing plÐ °n. Ð mÐ °zÐ ¾n.cÐ ¾m iÃ'• thÐ µ lÐ °rgeÃ'•t Ð ¾nline retÐ °iler. ThÐ µ cÐ ¾mpÐ °ny Ð ¾pened itÃ'• virtuÐ °l dÐ ¾Ã ¾rÃ'• in July 1995 by Jeff BezÐ ¾Ã'• in Ð…eÐ °ttle. Ð…ince thÐ µn it hÐ °Ã'• enjÐ ¾yed rÐ °pid expÐ °nÃ'•iÐ ¾n in Ð °ll Ð °Ã'•pectÃ'• Ð ¾f itÃ'• Ð ¾perÐ °tiÐ ¾nÃ'•, including buÃ'•ineÃ'•Ã'• turnÐ ¾ver, Ð °nd Ð ° Ã'•pectÐ °culÐ °r riÃ'•e in Ã'•hÐ °re vÐ °lue Ã'•ince public flÐ ¾Ã °tÐ °tiÐ ¾n in 1997. Ð mÐ °zÐ ¾n.cÐ ¾m Ã'•ellÃ'• Ð ¾nly Ð ¾n-line Ð °nd iÃ'• eÃ'•Ã'•entiÐ °lly Ð °n infÐ ¾rmÐ °tiÐ ¾n brÐ ¾ker. Ð mÐ °zÐ ¾n.cÐ ¾m hÐ °Ã'• cÐ ¾nÃ'•tÐ °ntly grÐ ¾wing dÐ °tÐ °bÐ °Ã'•e Ð ¾f Ð ¾ver 12 milliÐ ¾n cuÃ'•tÐ ¾merÃ'• in mÐ ¾re thÐ °n 160 cÐ ¾untrieÃ'•. Ð mÐ °zÐ ¾n.cÐ ¾m iÃ'• thÐ µ plÐ °ce tÐ ¾ find Ð °nd diÃ'•cÐ ¾ver Ð °nything cuÃ'•tÐ ¾merÃ'• wÐ °nt tÐ ¾ buy Ð ¾nline. (BeÃ'•t, 2000, 21) ThÐ µy hÐ °ve eÐ °rthÃ'• biggeÃ'•t Ã'•electiÐ ¾n Ð ¾f prÐ ¾ductÃ'•, including milliÐ ¾nÃ'• Ð ¾f bÐ ¾Ã ¾kÃ'•, free electrÐ ¾nic greeting cÐ °rdÃ'•, Ð ¾nline Ð °uctiÐ ¾nÃ'•, videÐ ¾Ã'•, CDÃ'•, DVDÃ'•, tÐ ¾yÃ'•, gÐ °meÃ'•, electrÐ ¾nicÃ'•, kitchenwÐ °re, cÐ ¾mputerÃ'•, Ð °nd mÐ ¾re. Ð mÐ °zÐ ¾n trÐ °nÃ'•fÐ ¾rmed itÃ'•elf frÐ ¾m Ð ° Ã'•peciÐ °lty retÐ °iler intÐ ¾ Ð °n Ð ¾nline Ã'•hÐ ¾pping pÐ ¾rtÐ °l, tÐ °king Ð ° cue frÐ ¾m Ð °uctiÐ ¾neer eBÐ °y, which Ã'•et itÃ'•elf up Ð °Ã'• Ð ° mediÐ °tÐ ¾r between buyer Ð °nd Ã'•eller. It Ã'•tÐ °rted Ã'•elling prÐ ¾ductÃ'• frÐ ¾m cÐ ¾mpÐ °nieÃ'• Ã'•uch Ð °Ã'• TÐ ¾yÃ'• "R" UÃ'• Ð °nd TÐ °rget Ð ¾n itÃ'• Web Ã'•ite. It Ð °dded merchÐ °ndiÃ'•e frÐ ¾m Ã'•mÐ °ller retÐ °ilerÃ'• in itÃ'• zÐ…hÐ ¾pÃ'•. Ð nd it cÐ ¾mpeted directly with eBÐ °y thrÐ ¾ugh itÃ'• Ð mÐ °zÐ ¾n Ð uctiÐ ¾nÃ'•. ThÐ µ firÃ'•t phÐ °Ã'•e Ð ¾f plÐ °nning Ã'•trÐ °tegic mÐ °rketing plÐ °n iÃ'• tÐ ¾ define thÐ µ buÃ'•ineÃ'•Ã'• miÃ'•Ã'•iÐ ¾n. Ð Ã'• (CrÐ °venÃ'•, 2003, 198) Ã'•tÐ °teÃ'• BuÃ'•ineÃ'•Ã'• miÃ'•Ã'•iÐ ¾n iÃ'• Ð ° brÐ ¾Ã °dly

33.In your opinion what are the pros and cons of Police Collective Assignment - 1

33.In your opinion what are the pros and cons of Police Collective Bargaining. Explain - Assignment Example The results of the routine preventive patrol were as follows: change of frequency of patrols was hardly noticed by citizens, resident and commercial crimes were not affected by any given level of police patrols, the experimental beats did not show significant differences in crime report rates, level of police patrols did not affect fear of crime, and there were no variations in citizen satisfaction with the police (Gaines & Kappeler, 2011). These findings depict an aspect of paying no attention to police forces by the citizens. In other words, it appears that the citizens are either used to the police to an extent that they cannot notice patrol variations, or that crime rates remain the same with or without the police presence. Resource allocation to police forces does not seem to influence public perception to security, crime, and police forces. In the context of the assessed situation by Kansas City, police forces appear to be seen as a daily routine. The safety, crime rate, and security concerns remained the same across the three beats of experiments that were held in Kansas (Gaines & Kappeler, 2011). This offers an insight into the public-police relations in Kansas

Paraphrase Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Paraphrase Paper - Essay Example Modern industrial society, as primarily represented by the United States of America and countries in Western Europe, place undue primacy to the superficial over the substantial. This is nowhere truer than with respect to the Public Relations industry’s constant barrage of illusory imagery and ego-stroking message in the form of advertisements. This is a pitiable state of affairs, as the current standards of civilization are poorer compared to a century past. This essay will argue that Jenni Russell’s point of view holds valid and that it is imperative that our standard of civility improves at the earliest. Russell’s criticism against the capitalist-consumer culture is backed by fact. In this economic paradigm, people are stripped of their higher identities to be equated to units of consumption. By being recognized for their ability to consume products, they themselves turn into commodities. In many ways the bloodshed and human loss witnessed in geopolitical confl icts is a symptom of this fundamental flaw in the global economic order. Though Russell doesn’t go to the extent of linking the two phenomena, the connection is obvious to the discerning reader. The anecdotal evidence for commonplace hostility that Russell presents is experienced by all of us. We’ve all been in situations explained by her, whether it is an unpleasant exchange with a billing clerk or being the victim of an insecure boss in office. This accessible and verifiable reference to real-life situations makes Russell’s arguments quite strong. Further, what makes the author’s arguments hold ground is the background research and supportive evidence. For example, she notes, â€Å"Last month new scientific research demonstrated that the brain reacts to a social snub in just the same way as it does to a physical injury. In effect, by our thoughtless and self-protective behavior, we are going through our days delivering small social injuries to one anot her, each one of which is felt as acutely as physical pain.† (Russell, 211) A serious negative consequence of a capitalist consumerist culture is its tendency to alienate individuals from their own true selves. Most people go through their workdays in a numb routine as a result of not strongly relating to their work. Things they are most passionate about, such as music, dance, literature, etc get relegated to the background as they are preoccupied with the inevitable task of putting bread on the table. A kind of identity crisis develops as individuals are kept away from their most absorbing passions. Moreover, the uniformity and conformity required by the office environment further dents their individual thoughts, feelings and aspirations. Hence, mass production and economies of scale, which are cornerstones of capitalist industry, lead to severe loss in human capital. Moreover, the gains of capitalist industry have been unequally shared, leading to great disparities between t he haves and have-nots. Russell correctly observes how the sharpening class divide is at the root of social friction: â€Å"Those with the least money and the least authority are made continually aware of others’ contempt. The wealthier you are, the more protected you are from the consequences. Prosperous people can largely pay others to be nice to them, yet, they too practice and suffer from the new selfishness.†

Manage an information or knowledge management system Research Paper

Manage an information or knowledge management system - Research Paper Example ii) The policy guidelines do not draw attention to the areas of underperformance but it is the system performance that can be said to be underperforming or not. 6. True 7. A contingency plan is the process in an organization that prepares it to act coherently to an unplanned occurrence. It is normally a plan used as an alternative plan if the initial plan fails to function. Also known as the plan ‘’B’’. 8. To manage the problem of IT failure when it occurs, one would need to retrieve the information by contacting IT expert. The system can be traced immediately to find the lost data. However, managing this problem for the future, one need to be proactive in that, they need to realize that IT may fail any time; therefore, a data backup system is always required in place. Internet security system should be implemented to avoid data theft through hackers and data destruction through viruses and malwares. 9. Analysis, evaluation, probe, investigation 10. Brainst orming is the process of soliciting for ideas from a group of people in order to find solution to a given problem. This normally begins by the group focusing on a problem, the creatively developing various possible solutions to the problem and pushing ideas as far as possible. 11. False. Auditing finds mistakes and builds on them, not strengths. 12. False. One system cannot be reviewed in isolation since a system is continuous and one system is connected to the other systems. 13. Audits can consider the performance of system interfaces. 14. True 15. Organizational job design, performance indicators and how are suppliers to be used? 16. Organizational mission statement. 17. a, b, c & d. Assignment 2 Case Study 1 Date Incident Consequence Reported by 12/4/13 Request for employment records for a former employee Subpoena-law requirement Susan-HR department Action taken Date Modified File given 12/5/13 Modified By Job Title Sign Susan’s Supervisor Supervisor 1. Good quality inform ation is necessary for decision making purposes, planning, and reference purposes as well as proper management of an organization. 2. The benefits of information and Knowledge management system include assisting organizations to identify, select, organize, disseminate, and transfer information. It also helps the organization to share knowledge towards meeting its objectives. It enables the organization to compare itself with its competitors. The major drawbacks include failure of the system to deliver the expected outcome and the inability to use by some users. 3. Whether it will be able to provide a basis for the valuation of the company, whether it can stimulate the management in order to focus on the important things and whether the investment in Knowledge Management is justified. I & KMS require that measures like tight information security be applied to the organization’s information system. Confidentiality and legal consideration while dispersing knowledge is critical, keeping the organizational success-knowledge secret for economic prosperity are some of the measures that need to be applied. 4. The type of knowledge information that a sugar processing company uses in the demand side for example, include knowledge of things like; sugar consumption rate, sister companies sugar production capabilities, industry sugar production capabilities, cement import and export levels. Strengths The organization

An individual research based report on the rold of business and Essay

An individual research based report on the rold of business and conceptual modelling within the context of information systems d - Essay Example The framework of conceptual model develops the information systems as abstract models around which an organization environment is created (Davies et al, 2006). The conceptual model emphasizes the applications of the system rather than its functioning and implementation. Conceptual model is broadly termed as abstract model of the information systems. It finds widespread uses in modeling of electronic systems which are modeled in the form of circuits and systems. Circuit analysis techniques aid in representation of the systems in the form of conceptual models. These models then aid in solving various complex problems in industries like huge power plants and circuit boards designing. Purposes of Conceptual Modeling The purposes of the conceptual modeling are described below. Helping analysts in terms of perceiving the domain of enterprise Aiding communication between users and developers of the system Providing valuable input for the process of design and development Recording the origi nal requirements for referencing them in the future Importance of Conceptual Modeling The electronic systems have been part of many large industries and business environments. In past, the analysts employed vague methods for analyzing systems and always came up with wrong results and hence errors were found in implementations. They must analyze the users’ requirements in electronic systems with some formal approach that perceives the system in abstract manner. However, the analysts could understand the issue with the discovery of such method which could bring satisfactory results. They couldn’t manage to waste too much time in finding novel methods. The idea of conceptual models was developed that aids in timely detection of errors in analysis of systems and proceeds for correct implementation (Wand & Weber, 2002). Process of Conceptual Modeling The importance of conceptual models can be easily comprehended from its role in treating systems’ development. This pr ocess consists of analysis, design and implementation. Analysis section transforms the real world information system into the framework of conceptual model of the system. The design is related to conversion of conceptual model of the subject into information system. Implementation step is related to conversion of the information system into an implemented information system. Conceptual Modeling Language Conceptual modeling language (CML) is involved that defines various rules and regulations for representing components of the developed model. The components used in conceptual modeling of the system contain activities, relationships, entities, processes and objects. The CML shouldn’t be too restrictive to diminish the aspects found for the relevant systems. The modeling should take into consideration all the properties and dimensions of the system. It shouldn’t be too complex either making the situation rather complex (Lindsay et al, 2003). Conceptual Modeling Sources T he conceptual modeling can be drawn from the models of wisdom and general knowledge. Three sources are normally mentioned for making conceptual models

Strategy Management and Health Information Technology Essay

Strategy Management and Health Information Technology - Essay Example As will be discussed in the preceding sections, this level of organic growth was most heavily impacted with regards to the acquisition of several key firms that offered software and logistics solutions with regards to the application of EMR (Goodwin et al, 2013). Finally, the current business seeking to broaden upon the way in which the Canadian health system integrates with and understands/utilizes electronic medical records. This is of course something of a gamble as it cannot be definitively determined which direction the health and governmental organizations that control the system might develop. Nonetheless, this is a gamble that Telus Health has been willing to take. Telus Business Strategy: As with any firm, Telus Health is most supremely interested in maximizing profits. Likewise, in order to affect such an end, it is necessary for the firm to grow into new markets, integrate with new products, and gain a higher level of customers/sales. Although there are many means to affec t such an end, the particular business strategy that Telus Health has chosen to engage with can most definitively be described as one of acquisition. An acquisition strategy is a strategy that many firms/organizations would doubtless love to be able to pursue. However, there is a costly requirement in order to pursue such an end. Generally, firms that pursue an acquisition strategy have excess capital in reserve. In order to do this, it is necessary for the firm to of experienced a large degree of success in the past or to have assets that it is willing to leverage in order to affect such a strategy. A small company with extra capital may use an acquisition strategy to gain a competitive advantage. An acquisition strategy entails purchasing another company, or one or more product lines of that company. For example, a small grocery retailer on the east coast may purchase a comparable grocery chain in the Midwest to expand its operations. As the reader can see, the acquisition of KinL ogix, MD Practice Software LP, and Wolf EMR have all served to underscore the level and extent to which the firm is leveraging the strategy of acquisition in order to boost profits. Explanation of Telus Health broader objectives In order to gain a larger share of profitability, firms generally seek to make gambles with regards to what direction they believe the industry is moving towards (Business Policy and Strategy, 2010). Accordingly, many times such gambles pay off. Conversely, many firms see their profits and viability wither and died based upon incorrect calculations of future markets in the direction to which current trends are pointing. Likewise, Telus Health has made a significant gamble with regards to the current market and prospects of the way in which the Canadian healthcare system will integrate with EMR. As such, the reader can see that Telus Health has come to the understanding that EMR will dominate the Canadian healthcare system in the near future. Accordingly, Tel us Health desperately wants to be part of the transformation by acquiring as many EMR firms that coalesce with its mission and desired future mission as possible. This is done as

Social Implications of Business Ethics Essay Example for Free

Social Implications of Business Ethics Essay For this part of my assignment I have been asked to describe the social implications of business ethics which face my chosen company. I will be looking at social implications such as trade unions and protest groups. I will then describe how these groups may affect my organisation. Government policies The government creates the rules behind how a business is run and how it can interact with competition and other business. The government has the ability to change these rules and also the framework which then means that the business has to change the way in which it operates. An example of when a business has had to change the way it operated due to the government is when the Malaysia government brought in a law which stated that Tesco had a five year freeze on building any more supermarkets in three major cities of the country due to the fact their presence was controversial. The article stated: Despite having been in Malaysia for a relatively short time, and having few stores, Tescos presence has been controversial and a catalyst for the implementation of stricter trading laws. As of January 2004, there is a five-year freeze on the building of any new hypermarkets in Malysias three major cities Kuala Lumpur, Penang and Johor Bahru. We have to think about whether it is ethical to bombard a third world country with all of these supermarkets. The article went on to say that due to the fact they weren’t allowed to open new stores they just extended the hours in the other supermarkets to 24hour. Is this ethical to put a 24hour Tesco in a third world country. It is going to cause noise and pollution and also a lot of controversy. Tesco have stated on their website that they plan for world domination. This is a scary thought for many people in society as these big supermarkets are becoming very powerful, in fact too powerful. In one article I found that the government had actually given in to supermarkets . The article stated: Labour has been accused of caving in to big business cronies after it was revealed that planning safe guards for Britain’s historic town centres were scrapped following pressure from the supermarket giants. The disclosure will fuel suspicion that Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Asda have a strange hold on government policy, while small business owners struggle to be heard. (www.thisismoney.co.uk ) Pressure Groups A pressure group can be described as an organised group that does not put candidates up for election, but seeks to influence government policy or legislation. The aim of all pressure groups is to influence the people who actually have the power to make decisions. Tesco has attracted recent criticism for its activities. Tesco is a massive business ,which now takes  £1 in every  £8 made in UK shops. The organisation has become very dominating and is always expanding. But this success has apparently come at a price and chief executive Terry Leahy is careful to monitor opposition to the business. The company puts it success down to the ability to meet customer demand. It is important that Tesco make sure that fears over their marketing power does not affect their business or reputation. A pressure group called friends of the earth point to Tesco’s policies of buying up large amounts of landing order to build new stores, fighting battles with local communities over planning, and bringing the company’s brand to the high street through its purchase of small convenience stores. The opposition voiced by FOE is well summarised in its report ‘calling the shots: How supermarkets get their way in planning decisions’ The key questions here are not about illegal activity, but about an erosion of democracy, with the inability of local authorities to make a decision against supermarkets. Many councillors express strong concern about the potential impact of major supermarkets on their community, but they are often unable to convert these concerns into decisions because the planning system and the strength of the supermarkets act against them. Tesco also face opposition from less mainstream pressure groups for example a group called Tescopoly, this is an online group which aims to expose and limit what they see as the market- distorting power of the business. The group points out to people when Tesco have overstepped their permission to build retail outlets or where they have admitted to breaking the planning regulations. Is it ethical that Tesco are not listening to what they have been told because they believe they are so powerful that they do not need to listen. Trade Unions A trade union is an organisation of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of the union members. I have found an article which shows a trade union standing forward for employees about an issue they are un happy article. The article named Tesco and Trade union at logger heads over strike taken from road transport.com reads: Tesco and the TGWU section of the Unite trade union were both claiming a success this week following three days of strike action at the supermarkets depot in Scotland over drivers pay and conditions. The union claims picket lines reduced supplies coming out of the Livingston depot by 75% and the public were behind the drivers stand against Tesco. It is now considering a national ballot for strike action. Is it ethical that Tesco employees are claiming poor working conditions for drivers? It is important to always look at two sides of every argument on the Tesco website they claim that they offer good pay to all their workers and that they always comply with health and safety regulations so working conditions are good.

Strategic Management Essay Example for Free

Strategic Management Essay Unilever is one of the world’s oldest multinational companies. Its origin goes back to the 19th century when a group of companies operating independently, produced soaps and margarine. In 1930, the companies merged to form Unilever that diversified into food products in 1940s. Through the next five decades, it emerged as a major fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) multinational operating in several businesses. In 2004, the Unilever 2010 strategic plan was put into action with the mission to ‘bring vitality to life’ and ‘to meet everyday needs for nutrition, hygiene and personal care with brands that help people feel good, look good, and get more out of life’. The corporate strategy is of focusing on bore businesses of food, home care and personal care. Unilever operates in more than 100 countries, has a turnover of â‚ ¬ 39.6 billion and net profit of â‚ ¬ 3.685 billion in 2006 and derives 41 per cent of its income from the developing and emerging economies around the world. It has 179,000 employees and is a culturally-diverse organisation with its top management coming from 24 nations. Internationalisation is based on the principle of local roots with global scale aimed at becoming a ‘multi-local multinational’. The genesis of Hindustan Unilever (HUL) in India, goes back to 1888 when Unilever exported Sunlight soap to India. Three Indian, subsidiaries came into existence in the period 1931-1935 that merged to form Hindustan Lever in 1956. Mergers and acquisitions of Lipton (1972), Brooke Bond (1984), Ponds (1986), TOMCO (1993), Lakme (1998) and Modern Foods (2002) have resulted in an organisation that is a conglomerate of several businesses that have been continually restructured over the years. HUL is one of the largest FMCG company in India with total sales of Rs. 12,295 crore and net profit of 1855crore in 2006. There are over 15000 employees, including more than 1300 managers. The present corporate strategy of HUL is to focus on core businesses. These core businesses are in home and personal care and food. There are 20 different consumer categories in these two businesses. For instance, home and personal care is made up of personal wash, laundry, skin care, hair care, oral care, deodorants, colour cosmetics and ayurvedic personal and health care, while food businesses have tea, coffee, ice creams and processed food brands. Apart from the two product divisions, there are  separate departments for specialty exports and new ventures. Strategic management at HUL is the responsibility of the board of directors headed by a chairman. There are five independent and five whole-time directors. The operational management is looked after by a management committee comprising of Vice Chairman, CEO and managing director and executive directors of the two business divisions and functional areas. The divisions have a lot of autonomy with dedicated assets and resources. A divisional committee having the executive director and heads of functions of sales, commercial and manufacturing looks after the business level decision-making. The functional-level management is the responsibility of the functional head. For instance, a marketing manager has a team of brand managers looking after the individual brands. Besides the decentralised divisional structure, HUL has centralised some functions such as finance, human resource management, research, technology, information technology and corporate and legal affairs. Unilever globally and HUL nationally, operate in the highly competitive FMCG markets. The consumer markets for FMCG products are finicky: it’s difficult to create customers and much more difficult to retain them. Price is often the central concern in a consumer purchase decision requiring producers to be on continual guard against cost increases. Sales and distribution are critical functions organisationally. HUL operates in such a milieu. I t has strong competitors such as the multinationals Procter Gamble, Nivea or L’Oreal and formidable local companies such as, Amul, Nirma or the Tata FMCG companies to contend with. Rivals have copied HUL’s strategies and tactics, especially in the area of marketing and distribution. Its innovations such as new style packaging or distribution through women entrepreneurs are much valued but also copied relentlessly, hurting its competitive advantage. HUL is identified closely with India. There is a ring of truth to its vision statement: ‘to earn the love and respect of India by making a real difference to every Indian’. It has an impeccable record in corporate social responsibility. There is an element of nostalgia associated with brands like Lifebuoy (introduced in 1895) and Dalda (1937) for senior citizens in India. Consequently Indians have always perceived HUL as an Indian company rather than a multinational. HUL has attempted to align its strategies in the past to the special needs of Indian business environment. Be it marketing or  human resource management, HUL has experimented with new ideas suited to the local context. For instance, HUL is known for its capabilities in rural marketing, effective distribution systems and human resource development. But this focus on India seems to be changing. This might indicate a change in the strategic posture as well as recognition that Indian markets have matured to the extent that they can be dealt with by the global strategies of Unilever. At the corporate level, it could also be an attempt to leverage global scale while retaining local responsiveness to some extent. In line with the shift in corporate strategy, the focus of strategic decision-making seems to have moved from the subsidiary to the headquarters. Unilever has formulated a new global realignment under which it will develop brands and streamline product offerings across the world and the subsidiaries will sell the products. Other subtle indications of the shift of decision-making authority could be the appointment of a British CEO after nearly forty years during which there were Indian CEOs, the c hanged focus on a limited number of international brands rather than a large range of local brands developed over the years and the name-change from Hindustan Lever to Hindustan Unilever. The shift in the strategic decision-making power from the subsidiary to headquarters could however, prove to be double-edged sword. An example could be of HUL adopting Unilever’s global strategy of focussing on a limited number of products, called the 30 power brands in 2002. That seemed a perfectly sensible strategic decision aimed at focusing managerial attention to a limited set of high-potential products. But one consequence of that was the HUL’s strong position in the niche soap and detergent markets suffering owing to neglect and the competitors were quick to take advantage of the opportunity. Then there are the statistics to deal with: HUL has nearly 80 per cent of sales and 85 per cent of net profits from the home and personal care businesses. Globally, Unilever derives half its revenues from food business. HUL does not have a strong position in the food business in India though the food processing industry remains quite attractive both in terms of local consumption as well as export markets. HUL’s own strategy of offering low-price, competitive products may also suffer at the cost of Unilever’s emphasis on premium priced, high end products sold through modern outlets. There are some dark clouds on the horizon. HUL’s latest financials are not satisfactory. Net profit is down,  sales are sluggish, input costs have been rising and new food products introduced in the market have yet to pick up. All this while, in one market segment after another, a competitor pushes ahead. In a company of such a big size and over-powering presence, these might still be minor events developments in a long history that needs to be taken in stride. But, pessimistically, they could also be pointers to what may come. Questions: 1. State the strategy of Hindustan Unilever in your own words. 2. At what different levels is strategy formulated in HUL? 3. Comment on the strategic decision-making at HUL. 4. Give your opinion on whether the shift in strategic decision-making from India to Unilever’s headquarters could prove to be advantageous to HUL or not. CASE: 2 THE STRATEGIC ASPIRATIONS OF THE RESERVE BANK OF INDIA The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is India’s central bank or ‘the bank of the bankers’. It was established on April 1, 1935 in accordance with the provisions of the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1935. The Central Office of the RBI, initially set up at Kolkata, is at Mumbai. The RBI is fully owned by the Government of India. The history of RBI is closely aligned with the economic and financial history of India. Most central banks around the world were established around the beginning of the twentieth century. The Bank was established on the basis of the Hilton Young Commission. It began its operations by taking over from the Government the functions so far being performed by the Controller of Currency and from the Imperial Bank of India, the management of Government accounts and public debt. After independence, RBI gradually strengthened its institution-building capabilities and evolved in terms of functions from central banking to that of development. There have been s everal attempts at reorganisation, restructuring and creation of specialised institutions to cater to emerging needs. The Preamble of the RBI describes its basic functions like this: ‘†¦.to regulate the issue of Bank Notes and keeping of reserves with a view to securing monetary  stability in India and generally to operate the currency and credit system of the country to its advantage.’ The vision states that the RBI ‘†¦.aims to be a leading central bank with credible, transparent, proactive and contemporaneous policies and seeks to be a catalyst for the emergence of a globally competitive financial system that helps deliver a high quality of life to the people in the country.’ The mission states that ‘RBI seeks to develop a sound and efficient financial system with monetary stability conductive to balanced and sustained growth of the Indian economy’. The corporate values of underlining the mission statement include public interest, integrity, excellence, independence of views and responsiveness and dynamism. The three areas in which objectives of the RBI can be stated are as below. 1. Monetary policy objectives such as containing inflation and promoting economic growth, management of foreign exchange reserves and making currency available. 2. Objectives set for managing financial sector developments such as supervision of systems and information access and assisting banking and financial institutions to become competitive globally. 3. Organisational development objectives such as development of economic research facilities, creating information system for supporting economic decision-making, financial management and human resource management. Strategic actions taken to realise the objectives fall under four categories: 1. The thrust area of monetary policy formulation and managing financial sector; 2. Evolving the legal framework to support the thrust area; 3. Customer service for providing support and creation of positive relationship; and 4. Organisational support such as structure, systems, human resource development and adoption of modern technology. The major functions performed by the RBI are: †¢ Acting as the monetary authority †¢ Acting as the regulator and supervisor of the financial system †¢ Discharging responsibilities as the manager of foreign exchange †¢ Issue currency †¢ Play as developmental role †¢ Related functions such as acting as the banker to the government and scheduled banks The management of the RBI is the responsibility of the central board of directors headed by the governor and consisting of  deputy governors and other directors, all of whom are appointed by the government. There are four local boards based at Chennai, Kolkata, Mumbai and New Delhi. The day-to-day management of RBI is in the hands of the executive directors, managers at various levels and the support staff. There are about 22000 employees at RBI, working in 25 departments and training colleges. The RBI identified its strengths and weaknesses as under. †¢ Strengths A large body of competent officers and staff; access to key data on the economy; wide organisational network with 22 regional offices; established infrastructure; ability to attract talent; and financial self sufficiency. †¢ Weaknesses Structural rigidity, lack of accountability and slow decision-making; eroded specialist know-how; strong employee unions with rigid industrial relations stance; surplus staff; and weak market intelligence. Over the years, the RBI has evolved in terms of structure and functions, in response to the role assigned to it. There have been sweeping changes in the economic, social and political environment. The RBI has had to respond to it even in the absence of a systematic strategic plan. In 1992, the RBI, with the assistance of a private consultancy firm, embarked on a massive strategic planning exercise. The objective was to establish a roadmap to redefine RBI’s role and to review internal organisational and managerial efficacy, address the changing expectations from external stakeholders and reposition the bank in the global context. The strategic planning exercise was buttressed by departmental position papers and documents on various subjects such as technology, human resources and environmental trends. The strategic plan of the RBI emerged with four sections dealing with the statement of mission, objectives and policy, a review of RBI’s strengths and weaknesses and strategic actions required with an implementation plan. The strategic plan reiterates anticipation of evolving external environment in the medium-term; revisiting strengths and weaknesses (evaluation of capabilities); and doing away with the outdated mandates for enhancing efficiency in operations in furtherance of best public interests. The results of these efforts are likely to manifest in attaining a visible focus, reinforced proficiency, realisation of shared sense of purpose, optimising resource use and build-up of momentum to achieve goals. Historically, the RBI adopted the time-tested technique of responding to external environment in a pragmatic  manner and making piecemeal changes. The dilemma in adoption of a comprehensive strategic plan was the risk of trading off the flexibility of the pragmatic approach to creating rigidity imposed by a set model of planning. Questions: 1. Consider the vision and mission statements of the Reserve Bank of India. Comment on the quality of both these statements. 2. Should the RBI go for a systematic and comprehensive strategic plan in place of its earlier pragmatic approach of responding to environmental events as and when they occur? Why? CASE: 3 THE INTERNATIONALISATION OF KALYANI GROUP The Kalyani Group is a large family-business group of India, employing more than 10000 employees. It has diverse businesses in engineering, steel, forgings, auto components, non-conventional energy and specialty chemicals. The annual turnover of the Group is over US$2.1 billion. The Group is known for its impressive internationalisation achievements. It has nine manufacturing locations spread over six countries. Over the years, it has established joint ventures with many global companies such as ArvinMeritor, USA, Carpenter Technology Corporation, USA, Hayes Lemmerz, USA and FAW Corporation, China. The flagship company of the Group is Bharat Forge Limited that is claimed to be the second largest forging company in the world and the largest nationally, with about 80 per cent share in axle and engine components. The other major companies of the Group are Kalyani Steels, Kalyani Carpenter Special Steels, Kalyani Lemmerz, Automotive Axles, Kalyani Thermal Systems, BF Utilities, Hikal Lim ited, Epicenter and Synise Technologies The emphasis on internationalisation is reflected in the vision statement of the Group where two of the five points relate to the Group trying to be a world-class organisation and achieving growth aggressively by accessing global markets. The Group is led by Mr. B.N. Kalyani, who is considered to be the major force behind the Group’s aggressive internationalisation drive. Mr. Kalyani joined the Group in 1972  when it was a small-scale diesel engine component business. The corporate strategy of the Group is a combination of concentration of its core competence in its business with efforts at building, nurturing and sustaining mutually beneficial partnerships with alliance partners and customers. The value of these partnerships essentially lies in collaborative product development with the partners who are the original equipment manufacturers. The foreign partners are not intended to provide expansion in capacity, but to enable the Kalyani Group to extend its global marketing reach. In achieving its successful status, the Kalyani Group has followed the path of integration, extending from the upstream steel making to downstream machining for auto components such as crank-shafts, front axle beams, steering knuckles, cam-shafts, connecting rods and rocker arms. In all these products, the Group has tried to move up the value chain instead of providing just the raw forgings. In the 1990s, it undertook a restructuring exercise to trim its unrelated businesses such as television and video products and concentrate on its core business of auto components. Four factors are supposed to have influenced the growth of the Group over the years. These are mentioned below: †¢ Focussing on core businesses to maximise growth potential †¢ Attaining aggressive cost savings †¢ Expanding geographically to build global capacity and establishing leading positions †¢ Achieving external growth through acquisitions The Group companies are claimed to be positioned at either number one or two in their respective businesses. For instance, the Group claims to be number one in forging and machined components, axle aggregates, wheels and alloy steel. The technology used by the Group in its mainline business of auto components and other businesses, is claimed to be state-of-the-art. The Group invests in forging technology to enhance efficiency, production quality and design capabilities. The Group’s emphasis on technology can be gauged from the fact that in the 1990s, it took the risky decision of investing Rs. 100 crore in the then latest forging technology, when the total Group turnover was barely Rs. 230 crore. Information technology is applied for product development, reducing production and product development time, supply-chain management and marketing of products. The Group lays high emphasis on research and development for providing engineering support,  advanced metallurgical analysis and latest testing equipment in tandem with its high-class manufacturing facilities. Being a top-driven group, the pattern of strategic decision-making within seems to be entrepreneurial. There was an attempt to formulate a five-year strategic plan in 1997, with the participation of the company executives. But no much is mentioned in the business press about that collaborative strategic decision-making after that. Recent strategic moves include Kalyani Steels, a Group company, entering into a joint venture agreement in may 2007, with Gerdau S.A. Brazil for installation of rolling mills. An attempt to move out of the mainstream forging business was made when the Group strengthened its position in the prospective business of wind energy through 100 per cent acquisition of RSBconsult GmbH (RSB) of Germany. Prior to the acquisition, the Group was just a wind farm operator and supplier of components. Questions: 1. What is the motive for internationalisation by the Kalyani Group? Discuss. 2. Which type of international strategy is Kalyani Group adopting? Explain. CASE 4: THE STORY OF SYNERGOS UNFOLDS Synergos is a young management and strategy consulting firm based at Mumbai. It was established in 1992 at a time when there were a lot of expectations among the industry people from the liberalisation policies that were started the previous year by the Government of India. The consulting firm is an entrepreneurial venture started by Urmish Patel, a dynamic person who worked with a multinational consulting firm at the time. He left his comfortable position there to venture into the management consultancy industry. The motivation was to be ‘the master of his own destiny’ rather than being an employee working for others. Urmish comes from an upper middle-class Gujarati family, settled in a small town in Rajasthan. His father was a government servant who retired with a meagre pension. His mother is a housewife. His other siblings are all educated and well-settled in their  respective careers and professions. Urmish is a creative individual, uncomfortable with the status-quo. During his student days at a college at Jaipur, he was continually coming up with bright ideas that some of his friends found to be preposterous. To him, however, these were perfectly achievable ideas. He studied biotechnology and then went to the US on a scholarship to do his Masters. After a semester at a well-known university there, he lost interest and switched to pursue an MBA. He liked it and soon settled down to work with an American consultancy firm and toured several countries on varied assignments during the seven years he worked there. In 1992 came the urge to Urmish to chuck his job and be on his own. It was risky, yet an exciting step to take. His accumulated capital was limited—just enough to rent office space, buy a few computers and hire an assistant. There were no consultancy assignments for the first three months. But an acquaintance soon came to his aid, introducing him to the CFO of a major family business group who needed advice on a performance improvement project they wanted to launch. The opportunity came in handy though the returns were nothing to write home about. That project was the first step to many more that came gradually. Synergos started gaining presence in the competitive management consultancy industry and attracting attention from the people whom they worked for. Word-of-mouth publicity led them from one project to another for the first three years till 1995. Synergos took up whatever came its way, delivering a cost-effective solution to its clients. A team of four had formed by now, each member of the team specialising in services rendered to the clients. For instance, one of the members is a specialist in engineering projects, while another has expertise finance. The third one is a service sector specialist, also having experience in dealing with government matters. The phase of rapid growth started some time in 1995 when the Synergos team decided to focus on the small and medium enterprises (SMEs). These were firms that realised they had problems needing specialist advice, but were apprehensive to approach the big firms on account of their limited outlay and inexperience of dealing with such firms. Synergos came to their aid by tailoring their services as near as possible to their needs. Another differentiation platform Synergos offered to its client was a fully-integrated consultancy service where it got involved right from the stage of planning down to its implementation and monitoring.   Presently, Synergos has grown to be a medium-sized consultancy firm, serving clients in India and abroad, working for industries ranging from auto components to financial services and for manufacturing organisations to service providers. Some-how, nearly half of the assignments it has worked on have been for mid-sized, upcoming, family-owned businesses, a niche it has served well. These organisations typically need a boutique sort of consultancy that can offer customised services dealing with a broad range of practices related to strategy, organisation design, mergers and acquisitions and operational matter such as logistics and supply-chain management. Synergos fits in with their requirements owing to its personalised service and reasonable commission structure. The organisational structure at Synergos has a board at the top, consisting of seven people, including the four founding members and three independent directors. One of the independent directors is the chairman of the board. Urmish, as the founder CEO, also heads an executive management committee with each of the founding members, leading three other top-level committees dealing with business portfolio, service management and executive recruitment. The management team is called the professional group. The rest of the employees are referred to as the staff. The professional group has young women and men who are graduates from some of the best institutions in India and abroad. They are assigned to taskforces based on their qualifications, experience and interests. The departmentation at Synergos is flexible, based on an interplay of the three categories: skill, service and specialty. For instance, a professional may have IT skills, may have worked to provide supply-chain management ser vices and developed expertise in handling operational assignments for medium-sized food and beverage firms. There is a lot of multi-tasking however, to utilise the wide range of skills and special expertise that the professionals have. For administrative matters, the professionals are assigned to client-service departments of industry solutions, enterprise solutions and technology solutions. The flexibility that such an organisational arrangement affords seems to have been the major reason for the evolution of the organisation structure at Synergos over the years. The staff group of employees consists of the support people who provide a variety of services to the professionals. Among  these are research assistants, industry analysts, documentation experts and secretarial staff. There is no set pattern for assignment of staff to the administrative departments and generally, a need-based approach is followed, depending on the workload at a particular time. Recruitment for professionals is stringent. Synergos typically looks for a good combination of education and experience and lays much emphasis on the compatibility of the prospective employee with the shared values. Creativity, broad range of professional interes ts, intellectual acumen, team-working and physical fitness to undertake demanding tasks and work for long hours are the criteria for hiring. There are not many training opportunities except the on-the-job learning. New professionals are assigned to a mentor for some time till they are ready to handle assignments autonomously. The staff members are usually recruited from fresh graduates, with good degrees from reputed institutions, in arts, sciences and commerce. The staff positions are also open for persons wanting to work on part-time or project-bases. Emphasis is given to the ability of the prospective staff to undertake multi-tasking and work with documentation and word processing and presentation software packages. The compensation system consists of a base salary with commission and bonus depending on performance. There are other usual elements such as medical reimbursement, loan facility and gratuity and retirement benefits. the performance appraisal is informal, with at least one of the four founding members being part of the evaluation committee for a professional. Usually, the founding member closest to the work area of the employee is involved in determining the rewards to be given. The time-cycle for appraisal is one year. Management control is discreet and performance-based rather than behaviour-based. The means for control are informal, such as direct supervision. Urmish is a strong proponent of the emergent strategy and is not in favour of tying Synergos to a fixed strategic posture. So are the other founder members, though at times they do talk about deciding on a niche such as SME organisations as clients and enterprise solutions as the core competence. In the highly fragmented consultancy industry where it is possible for even one person to set up an office in a commercial area and leverage connections to secure projects, Synergos is open to opportunities as they emerge, while trying to maintain the flexibility that has made it successful till now. Questions: 1. Identify the type of organisation structure being used at Synergos and explain how it works. What are the benefits of using this type of structure? What are the pitfalls? 2. Express your opinion about whether the structure is in line with the recruitments of the strategy that Synergos is implementing. 3. Based on the information related to the information, control and reward systems available in the case, examine whether these systems are appropriate for the type of strategy being implemented. CASE: 5 EXERCISING STRATEGIC AND OPERATIONAL CONTROLS AT iGATE GLOBAL SOLUTIONS The Bangalore-based iGATE Global Solutions is the flagship company of iGATE Corporation, a NASDAQ-listed US-based corporation. Known earlier as Mascot Systems, it was set up in India in 1993, to offer staffing services. It acquired business process outsourcing (BPO) and contact centre businesses in 2003, making it an end-to-end IT and ITES service provider. Its service portfolio includes consulting, IT services, data analytics, enterprise systems, BPO/BSP, contact centre and infrastructure management services. iGATE has over 100 active clients and centres based in Canada, China, Malaysia, India, the UK and the US. Chairman, Ashok Trivedi and CEO Phaneesh Murthy, an ex-Infosys IT professional and their partners hold a major stake, with some participation by institutional and public investors. The revenues for 2006-2007 are over Rs. 805 crore and net profits, Rs. 49.6 crore. The corporate strategies of iGATE are offering integrated IT services and divesting the legacy IT staffing busin ess and possibly making acquisitions in the domain expertise for financial services businesses. The business strategy is focused differentiation based on the focal points of testing, infrastructure management and enterprise solutions. The competitive tactic is avoiding head-on competition with the formidable larger players in the  industry by carving out a niche. The business definition is serving large customers and staying away from sub-contracting work. iGATE adopts a differentiation business model based on an integrated technology and operations model which it calls as the iTOPS model. This is an advancement over the prevalent model in the ITES industry based on low-cost arbitrage model. iTOPS is based on transaction-based pricing for services and supporting the clients by providing the platform, processes and services. The strategic evaluation and control has both the elements of strategic as well as operational controls. The functional and operational implementation is aimed at achieving four sets of objectives: a) Shifting from small customers to large customer (Fortune 1000 companies) b) Shifting away from stocking to project-consulting assignments c) Working directly with clients rather than with system integrators d) Moving from a local to international markets Some illustrations of the performance indicators that reflect these objectives are: 1. On-shore versus off-shore mix of business revenues: In 2004, this ratio was 55:45 and in 2007, it has improved to 27:73, indicating a much higher revenue generation from off-shore business. 2. Billing rates: Revenue charged from clients on assignments. With project consulting assignments from off-shore clients, where the revenues are typically higher, with lower costs and higher productivity in India, the realisations from billing have to be higher. The industry norms for ITES are US$18-25 per hour for off-shore and US$ 55-65 per hour for on-shore assignments. 3. The number of large clients from Fortune 1000 companies: Presently, iGATE has nearly half of its more than 100 clients from Fortune 1000 companies, of which the top 10 account for 70 per cent of its business. 4. Controlling employee costs: This is an area where concerted effort is required from the HR and finance functions. Hiring less experienced employees lowers the compensation bill. In the IT and ITES industry, attracting and retaining well-qualified and experienced employees is a critical success factor. The performance indicator for this objective is the cost per employee. 5. Human resource metrics such as the hiring and attrition rates: In the IT and ITES industry, the human resource metrics such as hiring and attrition rates are critical indicators.  Increasing the number of employees and lowering the attrition rate by retaining the employees is a big challenge. There are presently about 5800 employees, likely to go up to 8500 in the next two years. The attrition of 20 per cent presently at iGATE is on the higher side. But such attrition is common in the industry where the employee mobility is high and employee pinching a widespread trend. The human resource management function being critical in an industry where so many challenges exist, needs a strong emphasis on training and development, motivation, autonomy and attractive incentives. iGATE has an integrated people management model focusing on developing technical, behavioural and leadership competencies. The three metrics by which the HR function is assessed are: human capital index, work culture and employee affective commitment. The reward system at iGATE consists of meritorious employees across all levels being granted restricted stock options, thus providing an incentive to remain with the company till they become due. The company, though, is an average paymaster, which disadvantage it tries to trade-off offering a more challenging work environment, quicker promotions and chances for practising innovation. Critics say that that iGATE lacks the big-brand appeal of the larger players such as Infosys and Wipro, cannot compete on scale and is still under the shadow of its original business of body-shopping IT personnel. Questions: 1. Analyse the iGATE case to highlight how it could apply some of the strategic controls such as premise control, implementation control, strategic surveillance and special alert control. 2. Analyse and describe the process of setting of standards at iGATE. 3. Give your opinion on the effectiveness of the role of reward system in exercising HR performance management at iGATE and suggest what improvements are possible, given the environmental conditions in the IT/ITES industry in India at present.

Practical Ways Of Promoting Resilience Young People Essay

Practical Ways Of Promoting Resilience Young People Essay Resilience as described by many writers is a complex term and therefore needs to be understood in the context. Resilience is normally sought in the child, family and community (Phillips, G. 2008). As professionals, attending training courses helps us to seek something that may assist us in our understanding of those areas. This keeps us in seeking mood and all the time, we tend to keep attention outside ourselves. When we as practitioners recognise resilience in ourselves, we can them be able to facilitate resiliency, thereby linking theory to practice (Phillips, G. (2008). DEFINING RESILIENCE There are many definitions of resilience by different authors. In this context therefore, resilience is defined by Share and Lowlor (2009: 269) as ability to thrive, mature and increase competences in the face of adverse circumstances. Overall, when loved ones absence or presence remains a mystery, meaning and purpose are essential to finding the health and life. After 9/11, some survivors believed that their loved ones being in the Twin Towers at the time of the attack was predestined or Gods will. Many who believed this continue to trust in God to see them through their travels while they move forward with their lives (Boss, P 2006:97). Some characteristics associated with resilient children include cognitive proficiency (especially intellectual curiosity and problem solving), autonomy, good social skills and internal locus of control (Share and Lowlor (2009: 269). Resilience is the capacity to transcend adversity may be seen as the essential quality with care planning and provision should seek to stimulate as a key outcome of the care offered (Gilligan, R. 1997: 14) It is suppressing how resilient people are despite having experienced high risk situation, such as war, disaster, loss, and adversity during childhood and adolescence (Waaktaar, T. Chrisrtie, H, J. Borge, A. Torgersen, S. 2004: 164). Adult who promote resilience make family and institutional supports available to children. They empower children to become independent, responsible, and empathic at altruistic and to approach people and situation with hope, faith and trust (John, M. 1997: 24). However, adults can help children identify resilience behaviours more easily in themselves and others, such as using vocabulary to reinforce these feeling and beliefs that promote resilience and to guide their own childrens behaviour. Therefore, the greater their opinion for acting in the ways that help children met situation such as crisis in their lives with greater strength and hope John, M 1997: 26). Therefore, the most critical key to resiliency is the ability to hold two opposing ideas at the same time. Whatever part is taken, the search for the meaning is much more difficult when the loss is unclear (Boss, P. 2006: 97). THREE THEORIES OF RESILIENCE (1) The Childs Sense of a Secure Base : The growth of a child is influenced by secure attachments which supply him/her with a reliable secure base (Bowlby 1988). Furthermore, it encourages and renders safe exploration of the childs inner world. A young persons sense of secure base therefore is cultivated by a sense of belonging within supportive social networks, attachment relationships to reliable and responsible people and by routine and structures in their lives (Gilligan, R. 1997: 15-16). However, I HAVE factors is one of the external supports and resources that promote resilience in children according to John, M. (1997: 26-27). I HAVE factors includes: trusting relationships, (parents, other family members, teachers, and friends who love and have the interest and welfare of the child), structures and rules at home, (parents who provides rules and routine expects the child to follow them, for example, the task the child is expected to perform, when the rule is broken, the child is helped to understand what he/she did wrong). Others includes: access to health, education, welfare and security services which is available to the child. (2) The Childs Self Esteem: this is based on persons sense of their own worthiness and competences. Rutter (1990) came up with two types of experience which is important in influencing self esteem in young children and they are, secure and harmonious love relationship, and success in accomplishing tasks by others as central to their interests. Also success in an endeavour which the person values may do much to combat a sense of failure in other spheres of ones life (Rutter, 1990 cited Gilligan, R. 1997:17). Therefore, factors such as I AM are the childs internal and personal strengths. These are feelings, attitudes, and beliefs within the child, for example, a resilient child would say: I am proud of myself: this means the child knows that he/she is an important individual and is proud of who he/she is and what he/she is capable of doing and can achieve. I am autonomous and responsible: the child can do a lot with his/her initiative and be responsible and accountable for his/her acti ons or mistakes. I am filled with hope, faith, and trust: the child knows and believes that he/she has hope and there are people and institution which he/she can trust and have faith in. Finally, the child will realise that he/she is loveable and his/her temperament is appealing, he/she is loving, empathic and altruistic (John, M. 1997: 28). (3) Sense of Self Efficacy: this is a situation were parenting style influences whether a child acquires a sense of internal control with regards to attaining desired outcomes. Some factors which promote childs self efficacy includes the parent / caregiver beliefs in the childs own sense of control, responsiveness, consistency, warmth, praise, support and encouragement to the childs to engage / participate in his/her environment (Sandler et al, 1989 cited Gilligan, R. 1997: 17). Moreover, I CAN factor helps to promote the childs sense of efficacy because; it is the childs social and interpersonal skills. Children acquire these skills by constant interaction with others and those who educate them, for example, a resilient child would say: I can communicate: at this stage, the child expresses thoughts and feelings, also be empathetic towards others. I can solve problem: the child can assess a situation of a problem, finds out what needs to be done to resolve the issues and if help is needed form others. Also I can manage my feelings and impulses; I can gauge the temperature of myself and others, and finally seek trusting relationship (John, M. 1997: 29). PRACTICAL WAYS OF PROMOTING RESILIENCE In promoting resilience, any work with children must be similarly in the contexts of their families, school, communities, and the large society (Grotherg, E, H. 2003: 5) Therefore, as a social care practitioner, it is important to know that we are only able to influence that portion of resilience that is amenable to influence through social experience. We cannot affect the degree of resilience that a person has temperamentally due to what they have inherited through their genes (Gilligan, R 2001: 6). As a Social Worker, we can encourage purposeful contact between the child, the family, and other key adults for the childs past, encourage positive school experience, encourage friendships with peers, actively foster interest, strong social network, involvement and talents in sports, music, hobbies or cultural pursuits, help the child to rehearse, and discuss problem solving and coping skills and strategies. Also, each of these I AM, I HAVE, and I CAN factors suggest numerous actions children, parent / caregiver, and practitioner can take to promote resilience (Gilligan, R. 1997: 18-21) This Scenario was adopted from the International Resilience Project by Grotberg, E, H. (2003: 30) A nine year old boy went out of the house even after his father told him not to go out. The father did not know about this until he realized it was late and the boy was not at home. You will promote resilience if you talk to him when he returns and ask why he broke the rules (I HAVE); if you make clear that his behaviour is not acceptable even with his excuses, and that he is responsible for what he did (I AM); and if you talk with him about what needs to be done to prevent this kind of behaviour in the future (I CAN). He will learn from his experience to use resilience to face this adversity, to learn from it, and to behave in a more responsible way in the future. You do not promote resilience if you yell at him or spank him when he comes home, and accuse him of being a bad boy. Then you make him feel guilty, but resentful, and you have given him a label of bad boy, which will influence his idea of himself in the future. He will have difficulty dealing with a future adverse situation, even one that he creates, because he lacks resilience and none is being promoted.

Effect of Television on Self Image of Teenagers in Fiji Essay example -

Television plays an important role in influencing people. It is one of the main arms of media. The teenage girls in U.S.A idolize popular actress like Mary-Kate Olsen, Calista Flockhart and Victoria Beckhem. Teenage girls want to look like them. So to attain such skinny body they tend to eating disorder. It is not only the case in U.S. Ellen Goodman in her essay â€Å"The Culture of Thin Bites Fiji† has used Anthropologic research and its statics to show the eating disorder of Fijian teenager to look like actress in popular U.S television show. Ellen article focuses on how television changed the views of technological inferior Fijian society and the role it played in changing Fijian culture. Before television was introduced, as Goodman states: women in Fiji greeted one another with their ritual cultural compliments such as â€Å"you look wonderful! You have put on weight†. And if you looked thin it was considered to be a sign of some social problem or indication that pe rson was not getting enough to eat. So gaining weight and becoming fat and bigger was beautiful in Fijian culture (Goodman 608). Ellen uses the research done by Anne E. Becker, an anthropologist and associate professor of medical anthropology at Harvard medical school to back her claim as to how the Television had an impact on teenage girls of Fiji in the way they viewed their body. The eating disorder which this teenage girls practice to look like actress in popular Television shows. Although media houses do not want to recognize the fact that it has a role in creating the above mentioned effect. Goodman states, â€Å"Something happened in 1995. A western mirror was shoved into the Face of Fijian. Television came to island (Goodman608).† Television was introduced and teenage g... ...y giving example of Calista Flockhert. Goodman is effectively limiting her claim by stating â€Å" I’m not surprised by research showing that eating disorder are cultural byproduct ( 609).† The writer’s argument in this piece is epideictic in nature. It deals with current issues and addresses questions of blame, Ellen Goodman proves with her essay that drastic cultural change in Fiji was because of Television. Works Cited Goodman, Ellen. "The Culture of Thin Bites Fiji." Everything’s an Argument. Boston, New York: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2010. 608-609. Magill, J. H.. "Eating Disorders Statistics." South carolina department of mental health. DMH, 2006. Web. 9 Apr 2012. . "Teenagers with Eating Disorders, Facts for Families."aacap.org. American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatr, 05/2. Web. 9 Apr 2012.

MTV: Music Mainstream Essay -- Entertainment Television Papers

Invention of MTV MTV pioneered the music video, music television industry. The music video genre was taking its first steps in the 60s and 70s. MTV seized upon the idea, linked it with cable television and created a media icon. MTV has been the launching pad for the careers of stars for two decades. On the MTV model, other music television programs adopted the format such as BET, VH-1, and the Nashville Network. MTV has continuously pushed the envelope in music and social issues. Their success deserves to be studied. The story of the founding of MTV has valuable lessons for the media industry. This is a brief look at who did it, how they accomplished it and their adaptations to the changing nuances of the industry. Linking music and the video is similar to the linking of sound and films in the early 20th century. It changed the way Rock and Roll music did business. Rock groups and soloists no longer had to sound good; they now had to look good close up. Professionals in video art and technology joined with professionals in the sound recording industry. The concept of the video jockey, VJ evolved. The term â€Å"yeah, I saw that song† was born. Prior to the invention and distribution of cable television, rock and roll music was flourishing. The few television networks limited the convergence of music and television in existence at the time. The music video was an experiment and the resources the networks could provide limited it. Music and television usually converged on Saturdays with programs like â€Å"the Monkeys†, and the cartoon â€Å"the Beatles† in the morning, â€Å"American Bandstand† in the early afternoon, â€Å"Soul Train† in the late afternoon, and â€Å"Midnight Special† or â€Å"Don Kirshner’s Rock Concert† Saturday night.... ...deos, all the time†. Who knows what will happen in the future of music television. Either way MTV will find a way to dominate popular culture and help young kids fit into the society that MTV keeps creating and recreating. Work Cited Absolute TRL. Show Index. 5 November 2001. http://absolutetrl.net/showinfo/index.html Denisoff, Serge R. Inside MTV. New Brunswick, New Jersey: Transaction Publishers, 1988. Waits, Jennifer C. (1997). Fantastic Reality: The Blurring of Leisure and Work Space On MTV’S The Real World and Road Rules. Bowling Green State University: Bowling Green, OH. http://www.mtv.com http://www.mtvi.com http://www.rockthevote.org http://www.CKY2K.net â€Å"Rockin in Time 4th Edition† David P. Szatmary, Prentis Hall INC. 2000. â€Å"The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Rock† Carlton Books Limited, 1993, Michael Heatley Editor, p. 321-22.

The English Reformation Essay -- Literary Analysis, Dickens

The book I chose to review for this assignment is entitled The English Reformation by author A. G. Dickens. The book describes the processes that led to religious transformations and provides an excellent overview on the Reformation in England. The work thoroughly analyzes the political, economical and social aspects of the Reformation in the sixteenth century. The English Reformation, first published in 1964 is a great source of information for anyone who is interested in the history of the religious transition and change. The author of The English Reformation aims to analyze and explain the complex processes that have taken place during the reign of Henry VIII and his successors. He investigates the background and defines conditions for the religious transformation. A. G. Dickens set out to carefully examine the complex processes of the English Reformation by describing the state of the religious affairs in the late medieval England. He believes that traditional catholic religion was to some extent based on superstitious beliefs and folk‘s legends. He begins his book by telling a story of a knight who robs passing travelers but maintains a pious vigil to Virgin Mary. His devotion to Holy Mother professed by his daily prayers saves him physically and spiritually. The knight is warned of the mortal danger and allowed to change his conducts. It seems that these kinds of legends mixed with Christian sentiments were commonly absorbed by people. A. G. Dickens writes: â€Å"†¦its e ffort to attain salvation through devout observance, its fantastic emphasis on saints, relics and pilgrimages...† (4). These views were contrasted with the ideas of Lollards and the teachings of John Wycliffe. Their emphasis on sole aut... ...n that Lollardy consists mainly of artisans and tradesmen. It seems that the rebellious ideas might have originated with educated individuals but were propagated by commoners. A. G. Dickens proves that social and economic prominence was significant in spreading the protestant ideas. He writes: â€Å"Tudor provincial society contained large mobile elements and the part played by wandering cloth-workers in the dissemination of heresy has already been observed.†(33). The English Reformation by A. G. Dickens is an extensive and thorough account of the political and religious reality of sixteenth century England. The work examines and describes all processes that led to the religious transformation. The great events of the Henry’s reign are explained carefully, comprehensively and clearly, making the work highly regarded analysis of the English Reformation.

Confirmation Bias

Confirmation Bias Rosemarie Hamm September 21, 2012 Confirmation Bias Confirmation bias is the human habit of seeking information that confirms one’s judgments or assumptions. One’s current feelings about a situation, memory, or person influence one’s thoughts and memories about that situation, memory, or person. If one is feeling negatively about something or someone, the individual will often recall the worst factors or memories about that person or circumstances.However; if one is feeling positively about something or someone, the individual may recall the best factors or memories about that person or circumstances. In this way, one confirms his or her own current feelings. This can end badly; if bad feelings lead to bad memories; which then lead to more bad feelings, in a vicious cycle. This may also cause problems when someone becomes overconfident about someone or something; when his or her positive feelings lead to positive memories and positive expectatio ns [ (Myers, 2012) ].An example of confirmation bias in relation to negative feelings could be found in a friendship ending without just cause. One person may develop a negative attitude about a friendship. This individual may recall the worst times and forget the best times; which confirms his or perceptions. These perceptions then contribute to more negative memories, and cause a downward spiraling effect [ (Myers, 2012) ]. An example of confirmation bias in relation to positive feelings could be found in a dysfunctional romantic relationship.It is common to overlook negative traits in a new romantic relationship. Positive feelings often affect one’s perceptions of the other individual. One partner may be dishonest or irresponsible; but the other partner may not realize this. The other partner’s positive feelings are masking his or her perceptions of the dishonest or irresponsible partner. The dysfunctional romantic relationship will continue until this cycle ends [ (Myers, 2012) ]. References Myers, D. (2012). Exploring social psychology. Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill.

Page-by-Page Analasis of John Marsden’s “A Prayer for the 21st Century” Essay

This book, entitled â€Å"Prayer for the 21st Century†, is by famous Australian writer, John Marsden. It is an illustrated, poetic ballad, filled with metaphors and complex issues, written to send messages of hope and warning intended for the people of this new century, especially those that will shape it (our children), about the lessons learnt from the past, the importance of today, and the wonders of the future. The font of the text on the front cover, and throughout the book for that matter, is in an untidy scrawl that is both important – in that it is in a bold font and is a demanding colour (either black or white) – and is informal, imperfect, personal and human – in that it is handwritten. These aspects combine to show the picture-book nature of the book; that the text is really part of the art in the illustrations themselves, and that the two cannot be isolated on their own and singled out as visual or written text. This motif is continued throughout the book. The front cover of this book has a spray-patterned, blue background, which has calm connotations. The blue also serves the purpose of increasing the salience of the bright orange picture of the boy in front of it, because the picture contrasts violently with the background, and reducing that of the soft green lines of scrawled writing that fade into the blue of the background (the writing in the background is another example of where the line between visual and written text is unclear). The boy is the clear focal point of the page, and stands out from the rest of the cover, making the lines of the poem hardly noticeable in comparison. This is to make the point that words, like those in the poem, are not nearly as strong as actions – especially the actions of those who, like the child on the cover, will shape the 21st century. The title page has an earthy coloured, frond-patterned background with two hand prints surrounding the text of the title and author’s name. These handprints have aboriginal connotations, and seem to hold some sort of wisdom from past ages. These visual elements combine with the lines in the text to reveal the nature of the poem; that this is not truly a prayer to a god, but a command, request, and message of hope for this new generation. It  is a culmination of wisdom from the past centuries, for this new century, and a reminder to the newer generations to remember the lessons of the past. â€Å"May the road be free for the journey.† These words make up the first line of the poem and introduce us to the first idea of the poem, that life must be free. The idea of freedom being the main message in this first line is emphasised by the word â€Å"free† in large, lowercase font, placed directly above the line of the poem. This is a motif effective at showing the main point of the page, and is repeated throughout the book (the main idea being emphasised by a large fronted keyword place in the background) which is effective in emphasizing the main idea in the text. The background is a gravel-brown colour, emphasising the comparison of life to a dirt road, a free road, a road that could lead anywhere. The picture on the left page continues this idea of an unknown future, by comparing life itself to a river, natural laws to banks, and the individual as someone travelling along a river in a boat. In this stream of life, no one knows what is around the next bend, except that around one of them, eventually, is the sea (death). The picture also continues the theme of abstract metaphors and symbolism, in that the picture is not really boats, just freehand drawings of them. However, whether life is a road or river, the point remains, it must be free. The next page has a very similar layout to the page before it; and indeed to every page in the book, with a line of text, a textured background, and a picture (sometimes more than one) upon a double page spread. The text on this page, â€Å"May it lead where it promised it would†, makes the point that life must deliver the reward it offers. The blue in the background of the second page is associated with hope and promise, and this promising blue is again used in the illustration. In the illustration, is a Queen, symbolising success and all of the glory that was promised to come with it. The theme of promised success and the associated rewards that come as a result is continued in the picture of the map – which appears to be from a time of discovery and conquest of new lands. The various scientific diagrams are there in order to make the point that there will be an answer to all of our  questions if we work hard, further emphasising the idea of effort leading to the mu ch deserved and promised success. Upon the set of pages, two lines instead of one are written. These are; â€Å"May the stars that gave ancient bearings Be seen, still be understood.† These lines urge people to remember the knowledge of the past, and be able to understand it. The picture itself is easy to link to the line (it is a picture of stars) however, due to the fact that it is done in the Aboriginal style, the picture’s full meaning cannot be understood, except by someone whom knows how to interpret and understand the ancient symbolism of Aboriginal art. This introduces the idea that, for the knowledge of the past to be fully realised, it must be understood. The next page now returns to the idea of life as a journey, by calling the individual a traveller, introducing the concept that life should be safe for all, and that the â€Å"safe† people must find those whom have been lost, and help those whom have been forgotten. It does this in the lines, â€Å"May every aircraft fly safely, May every traveller be found,† The concept of safety in life is emphasised by the colour of the background; a calm, soft green. In the illustration, the audience is placed in the point of view of someone inside of a safe aircraft, who is looking out of the window. Directly outside of the window, the sky is a serene blue; but around the window’s red, orange, and yellow – colours with â€Å"danger† connotations – edges, another scene forms. A lonely traveller, who could be anyone due to its ambiguous colour and unknown gender, stands lost and alone, unsafe and helpless upon the aircraft’s wing; surrounded by a da rk sky with the only hope of help being from the person in the plane, who is the viewer of the picture. This calls upon the viewer, as a traveller of life safely within the walls of the aircraft, to help the lost person, to find the traveller; and puts the viewer in the spotlight, making the point that; if you won’t, who will?Upon the next page, the two lines read; â€Å"May sailors in crossing the ocean Not hear the cries of the drowned.† The same layout as before is used, except on this page, two pictures instead of one, are used. The background is blue, which has links to tears (â€Å"cries†), feeling â€Å"blue†, the ocean, and the uniform of a sailor. The first picture appears to be asymbolic representation of someone battling against life’s troubles (i.e. a sailor crossing the ocean), fish call from the sea as spirits of the drowned, the dark sea thrashes and churns, while the yellow sky swirls above a small boat riding the crest of a wave. In the next picture, one of life’s traveller’s has heard the cries of the drowned, and joined them. However, in the background of this picture, there is land, showing that even at the worst times, there is still hope. In both of these, the idea of the individual travelling the ocean or river of life, in a boat, is reintroduced. The main point made by the last two lines of this stanza, and their corresponding illustrations, is that life has ups and downs, and not to succumb and relinquish one’s self to despair at one’s lowest points, because, as was stated on the first page, is restated on this page, and is stated again on the last page, no one can know what the future holds. â€Å"May gardens be wild, like jungles, May nature never be tamed,† are the first lines in the next stanza of the poem. The pages have a yellow, earthy-brown, palm-frond-patterned background, which connotates nature and jungles. The picture, with its complete absence of straight lines, and blurred movement, makes the point that nature is never rigid and constrained, but free to do whatever it wishes. This point is reinforced in the bank less waterfalls, and the rounded cliff faces. The people in the picture exist to draw attention to the relationship between nature and people, and says that the people of the 21st century, like those in the picture whom are neither trying to disrupt or control nature, must harmoniously co-exist with it nature, and not try to tame it, but to acknowledge it’s freedom, and grasp the fact that nature is not for humankind to control, but is untameable, it is wild and free. â€Å"May dangers create of us heroes,† reads the next line. The background of this page is a splattered, cameo green, which, along with the mateship displayed in the picture, connotates war. However not all heroes are born of violence, as is shown in the midshot (inviting the viewer into the scene) picture of a boy jumping off the top of a haystack, and his friends cheering him on. The black and white photography, setting, and attire of the people  in the picture appear to be from an old time, a time of simple values, and simple heroics. At first glance, it appears that the boy in the picture is a hero because he did something that was dangerous, but this is not the case. He is a hero because he made people happy by facing the danger. This goes on to show the true meaning of the line. That we must always have people that go out of their way, or face danger, to help others whom are in need. The boy symbolises that anyone can be a hero. That anyone, and everyone, must help th ose in need. â€Å"May fears always have names† reads the next line of the poem. The keyword in the background (â€Å"fear†) is hidden among tendrils of paint, first introducing the concept that, even though the name of the fear may be hidden, it always exists, fears always have names. The illustration is dark, with soft, runny brushstrokes that seem to obscure true meaning. At first, it appears to be a picture of fears, peeping between the trunks and branches of trees, but upon closer inspection, it is revealed that the fears are not fears at all, but people, experiencing that which we fear. The people in the picture are in agony, some cry at the side of a dead loved one, others just cry out in pure pain. Then, finally, the viewer notices a horseman in between the trees and realises two things. The first is the reference to the Myall Creek Massacre and the next was that the fears were created by people, the fears have names, and their name is the evil of humankind. It asks us to remember our evil, and asks the people of this new century not to repeat the evils past committed, or else, like the symbolic dove upon the picture’s left, peace will flee the world. The next page, and its two lines, â€Å"May the mountains stand to remind us Of what it means to be young†, now talk about the impermanence of youth, and the importance of the wise. There are again two pictures. In the first picture – a firm lined photograph – great mountains, symbolizing the vast importance, knowledge, wisdom and experience of the old, stand in the background with rays of light falling upon them; while in the foreground, a vast plane of rocks, younger, smaller versions of the mountains that dwarf them in comparison, stand to show the true importance of the memories of the old, in comparison to the inexperience of the young. The second picture is a  soft lined painting (symbolizing the impermanence of being young) of two youths embracing and in love. They are shown next to a shell, which puts them on a symbolic scale. It makes the point that, if these two youths are dwarfed by a shell, and a shell will be dwarfed by a rock, such as those seen in the picture on the opposite page, how tiny they are, how fleeting their time as youth if they are to grow into the giant mountains, how petty their memories and experiences in comparison to the mountains. It is through this symbolic scale that the illustrations remind us of what it means to be young. The final lines of this stanza reads; â€Å"May we be outlived by our daughters, May we be outlived by our sons.† This line is different from the rest of the poem in that its meaning is straightforward and obvious, and that this line is actually a prayer for the long and happy lives of our children. The pictures add to the text, in that they are pictures of people from different ethnic groups, and that they join united at the edge of each picture, showing that it refers to the entire people of the 21st century, they are not our children in a literal sense, but are the children of humanity. It prays that, even though there will be hardships in life, as is mentioned many times before and is symbolised by the black and white colour scheme of the older children, the new generation, as with the generations before them, must live through them, and continue – as is symbolised in yellow colour of the background of the page – to shine on like the sun, outliving those befo re us. History’s importance is again brought up in the final stanza, with the opening line being: â€Å"May the bombs rust away in the bunkers, May the doomsday clock not be rewound,† The lines ask the new century not to use mankind’s evil, even though they do and always will exist; they then ask humanity not to repeat past mistakes, even though we will always have the potential to. The background is patterned by gears, and the emphasised keyword this time is â€Å"rewound†, displaying that the main idea of these lines is to make the point that we must never repeat our past mistakes. The gears are also part of the â€Å"doomsday clock†, which is simply referring to time and history itself. The picture shows text from what appears to be newspaper  articles, which refer to injustices throughout history to the indigenous peoples of Australia, which hold some of the greatest evils of this country’s history. The many pictures at the top of the image show the faces of the many sufferers of evil, from a small child, to a grown man. The theme of war is again brought up with the word â€Å"bombs† in the first line, and the image of a man from Picasso’s â€Å"Guernica†, a painting about the suffering of innocents as bombs dropped on their city. For many people, that day was their doomsday. It once again brings up the issue that humankind itself is what causes people the most pain and suffering. Overall, the pages ask the people of the 21st century never to use humankind’s evil again. The next page continues the theme of war, with a reference to the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in the Second World War. The line reads â€Å"May the solitary scientist working, Remember the holes in the ground† and the single, hand drawn illustration, is of a large and powerful solitary scientist in his own solitary world, admiring and awestruck of his solitary discovery; while behind him his discoveries explode over a desolate plain on which the only survivors are a small, helpless man and woman, silhouetted against the bleak white light thrown across a vast landscape, and upon them from evil inventions that exist to destroy. It asks the people that will shape this new century to remember that every single action has consequences, and that knowledge can just as easily be used for the evil of bombs, as it can be used for the good of curing cancer. It tells people to look into the past, in order to shape the new century’s future for the better. â€Å"May the knife remain in the holder, May the bullet stay in the gun,† These penultimate lines continue the theme expressed in the first stanza, that even though we have the potential and the means to carry out evil, the people of the 21st Century must never do so. The page is extremely straightforward in relation to the pictures – the bullet is being put into the gun and must remain there and the skeleton has been skinned with a knife – however, in the skeleton picture, the body is made up of many different cut up body parts, making the new point that we should not use evil upon anyone, indiscriminate of who they are, or what they believe in. The final lines of this prayer are as follows: â€Å"May those that live in the shadows Be seen by those in the sun†. Upon the pages surrounding these lines, are two pictures, one of footsteps on a beach with a man’s shadow crossing their path; the other of a silhouetted man running along a beach with a beam of sunlight floating on the waves of the sea. Both pictures are in black and white, emphasising the ideas of shadows and sun. The blue background is the same textured blue as at the very first page of the poem, and is sea-spray like in appearance. The theme of these final two pages, is very simple, to help others, and this idea can be seen throughout the illustrations. The picture of the footprints, reminds of the Christian story of how Jesus carried the man over the sand, and through life’s shadows. This makes the point that, sometimes, others need to be carried through hard times. The shadow crossing the path of the footsteps represents a dark time in the l ife of the person that made them but this shadowed part is only a mere fraction of the whole, a symbolic representation that life does have deep darkness, but for the most part, it is light. The next picture across, the one of the runner, continues this idea; and also adds to it. This time, the sea is used s a metaphor for life, and, as first mentioned on the page about sailors, the sea can be in many states. The repetition of the motif of both light and shadows making up life is displayed on the surface of the sea, where the thick beam of light shines and glistens, while at the edges, shadows and darkness can be seen. However, yet again, there is more light in the picture than there is shadow. The illustration of the silhouetted man running along the beach, making his own path in the sand, appears – at first glance – to show that he himself is in a shadowed stage in life. However, on close inspection something appears to be in his arms, if you look very closely, you can see that he is carrying something. This man is not the Christian Messiah; this man is an ordinary person, showing simple, yet powerful heroics as mentioned earlier in this book. He further demonstrates that we all can be heroes, even without obvious physical dangers, just by helping someone. This final line is a hope. It is a hope that maybe, just maybe, in the 21st Century; we can all stand and walk together, in the light of the future. This simple yet honest poem of hope and fear effectively reached out to, and appealed to me, the target audience and a child of the 21st Century. It was deep and complex in some places, yet simple enough to be understood by the intended reader. It is a thought stimulating read to be understood more and more with wisdom and experience. Now it is just a question, first posed in the photograph of the boy on the front cover – one side of his face in darkness, the other in light – as to whether this generation of young rocks will grow up, remember the past, not repeat its mistakes, and one day be tall mountains. Then we will write a new prayer, for a new century. Bibliography: http://www.johnmarsden.com.au/home.htmlhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Marsden_(writer)http://www.judyoz.com/ccp0-display/john-marsden-books-tomorrow-ellie-novels-australian-fiction.htmlhttp://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/m/john-marsden/