Heart of Darkness in the Light of Psychoanalytic Theories Essay

Psychoanalytic criticism originated in the work of Austrian psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud, who pioneered the technique of psychoanalysis. Freud developed a language that described, a model that explained, and a theory that encompassed human psychology. His theories are directly and indirectly concerned with the nature of the unconscious mind. Through his multiple case studies, Freud managed to find convincing evidence that most of our actions are motivated by psychological forces over which we have very limited control (Guerin 127). One of Freud’s most important contributions to the study of the psyche is his theory of repression: the unconscious mind is a repository of repressed desires, feelings, memories, wishes and instinctual drives; many of which have to do with sexuality and violence. These unconscious wishes, according to Freud, can find expression in dreams because dreams distort the unconscious material and make it appear different from itself and more acceptable to consciousness. They may also appear in other disguised forms, like in language (sometimes called the Freudian slips), in creative art and in neurotic behavior. One of the unconscious desires Freud believed that all human beings supposedly suppress is the childhood desire to displace the parent of the same sex and to take his or her place in the affections of the parent of the opposite sex. This so-called â€Å"Oedipus Complex,† which all children experience as a rite of passage to adult gender identity, lies at the core of Freud’s sexual theory (Murfin 114-5). A principal element in Freud’s theory is his assignment of the mental processes to three psychic zones: the id, the ego and the superego. The id is the passional, irrational, and unconscious part of the psyche. It is the site of the energy of the mind, energy that Freud characterized as a combination of sexual libido and other instincts, such as aggression, that propel the human organism through life, moving it to grow, develop and eventually to die. That primary process of life is completely irrational, and it cannot distinguish reasonable objects and unreasonable or socially unacceptable ones. Here comes the secondary processes of the mind, lodged in the ego and the superego. The ego, or â€Å"I,† was Freud’s term for the predominantly rational, logical, orderly and conscious part of the psyche; it works on repressing and inhibiting the drives of the id so that they may be released in sane behavioral patterns. And though a large part of the ego is unconscious, it nevertheless includes what we think of as the conscious mind. The superego is a projection of the ego. It is the moral censoring agency; the part that makes moral judgments and the repository of conscience and pride. It brings reason, order and social acceptability to the otherwise uncontrolled and potentially harmful realm of biological impulses (Guerin 128-31). Freud’s theories have launched what is now known as the psychoanalytic approach to literature. Freud was interested in writers, especially those who depended largely on symbols. Such writers tend to tinge their ideas and figures with mystery or ambiguity that only make sense once interpreted, just as the analyst tries to figure out the dreams and bizarre actions that the unconscious mind of a neurotic releases out of repression. A work of literature is thus treated as a fantasy or a dream that Freudian analysis comes to explain the nature of the mind that produced it. The purpose of a work of art is what psychoanalysis has found to be the purpose of the dream: the secret gratification of an infantile and forbidden wish that has been repressed into the unconscious (Wright 765). The literal surface of a work of literature is sometimes called the â€Å"manifest content† and treated as â€Å"manifest dream† or â€Å"dream story. † The psychoanalytic literary critic tries to analyze the latent, underlying content of the work, or the â€Å"dream thought† hidden in the dream story. Freud used the terms â€Å"condensation† and â€Å"displacement† to explain the mental processes that result in the disguise of the wishes and fears in dream stories. In condensation, several wishes, anxieties or persons may be condensed into a single manifestation or image in dream story; in displacement, a thought or a person may be displaced onto the image of another with which or whom there is an extremely loose and arbitrary association that only an analyst can decode. Psychoanalytic critics treat metaphors as if they were dream condensations; they treat metonyms- figures of speech based on weak connections- as if they were dream displacements. Thus, figures of speech in general are treated as aspects that see the light when the writer’s conscious mind resists what the unconscious asks it to depict or describe. Psychoanalytic criticism written before 1950 tended to study the psyche of the individual author. Poems, novels and plays were treated as fantasies that allowed authors to release curbed desires, or to protect themselves  from deep- rooted fears, or both. Later, psychoanalytic critics stopped assuming that artists are borderline neurotics or that the characters they fabricate and the figurative language they use can be analyzed to figure out the dark, hidden fancies in the authors’ minds. So they moved their focus toward the psychology of the reader, and came to understand that artists are skilled creators of works that appeal to the readers’ repressed wishes. As such, psychoanalytic criticism typically attempts to do at least one of the following tasks: study the psychological traits of a writer; provide an analysis of the creative process; or explore the psychological impacts of literature on its readers (Murfin 115-20). Not all psychoanalytic critics, however, are Freudian. Many of them are persuaded by the writings of Carl Gustav Jung whose â€Å"analytical psychology† is different from Freud’s psychoanalysis. Jung had broken with Freud’s emphasis on libidinal drives and had developed a theory of the collective unconscious; although, like Freud, he believed in a personal unconscious as a repository of repressed feelings (Wright 767). The processes of the unconscious psyche, according to Jung, produce images, symbols and myths that belong to the large human culture. He refers to the manifestations of the â€Å"myth-forming† elements as â€Å"motifs,† â€Å"primordial images,† or â€Å"archetypes. † Jung indicated further that the dreams, myths and art all serve as media through which archetypes become accessible to the consciousness. One major contribution is Jung’s theory of individuation which is the process of discovering those aspects of one’s self that make one an individual different from other people. It is, according to Jung, an absolutely essential process if one is to become a balanced individual; he detected an intimate relationship between neurosis and the person’s failure to accept some archetypal features of his unconscious. Individuation is related to three archetypes designated as shadow, persona and anima. These are structural components that human beings have inherited. We encounter their symbolic projections throughout the myths and literatures of humankind. The shadow is the darker side of our unconscious self, the inferior and less pleasing aspects of the personality. The anima is the â€Å"soul-image;† the source of a man’s life force. Jung gives it a feminine designation in the man’s psyche; it is the contra-sexual part that a man carries in his personal and collective unconscious. The persona is the opposite of the anima; it is our social personality and the mediator  between our ego and the external world. A balanced man has a flexible persona that is in harmony with the other components of his psychic makeup (Guerin 178-83). Through the lenses of Jungian psychoanalysis, the literary text is no longer seen as a site where the quelled impulses get through in disguise. Instead, Jung maintains that â€Å"both the individual in dreams and the artist at work will produce archetypal images to compensate for any psychic impoverishment in man and society. â€Å" He untangles texts of literature by a method he calls ?amplification’: the images of the collective unconscious are derived from those of the personal (Wright 767). Despite its monotonous rehearsing of a number of themes, psychoanalytic theory has led to a better understanding of the complexities of the relation between the human being and the artistic creativity. Heart of Darkness in the light of Psychoanalytic theories. Heart of Darkness explores something truer, more fundamental, and distinctly less material than just a personal narrative. It is a night journey into the unconscious, and a confrontation of an entity within the self. Certain circumstances of Marlow’s voyage, looked at in these terms, take on a new importance. The true night journey can occur only in sleep or in a walking dream of a profoundly intuitive mind. Marlow insists on the dreamlike quality of his narrative. â€Å"It seems to me I am trying to tell you a dream – making a vein attempt, because no relation of a dream can convey the dream-sensation† (Conrad 38). Even before leaving Brussels, Marlow felt as though he â€Å"was about to set off for center of the earth,† not the center of a continent (16). The introspective voyager leaves his familiar rational world, is â€Å"cut off from the comprehension† of his surroundings, his steamer toils â€Å"along slowly on the edge of a black and incomprehensible frenzy† (52). As the crisis approaches, the dreamer and his ship moves through a silence that â€Å"seemed unnatural, like a state of trance; then enter a deep fog† (57). The novel penetrates to those areas of darkness and dream – indeed nightmare ? with which Conrad tried to define the substance of the world. It asks questions, destabilizes orthodox assumptions, and sketches an existentially absurd experience. It involves us in dramatic, crucially difficult moral decisions which parallel those of the two central characters, Marlow and Kurtz. Although it was a coincidence that Freud and Conrad were contemporaries, coincidence is reduced when we perceive the â€Å"extraordinary parallelism of their achievements† (Karl 785). At the time when Conrad was developing his concepts about the Congo and political, personal and universal involvement in a nightmarish existence, Freud was fermenting his theories on dreams and the unconscious. Conrad’s novel appeared in 1900, only months before Freud’s book Interpretation of Dreams which formed the manifesto of the psychoanalytic assumptions. Both Conrad and Freud were pioneers in their emphasis over the irrational aspects of man’s behavioral conduct which questioned the traditional analyses. Conrad insightfully stressed the irrationality of politics and its nightmarish character which rests on the neurotic symptoms of the leader, as well as on the collective neurosis of the masses. He also believed in a human behavior that answers the call of inner desires, while justifying itself with accuracy. Both he and Freud dived into the darkness: the darkness enters the human soul when his conscience sleeps or when he is free to yield to the unconscious desires and needs, whether through dreams, as Freud argues, or in actuality through the character of Kurtz and his likes. Dreams become the wish-fulfillments of the masked self. This applies to Marlow; the very qualities in Kurtz that horrify him are those he finds hidden in himself. Kurtz’s insatiable, Nietzchean fascination with power mirrors Marlow’s as well. Kurtz’s ruthless career is every man’s wish-fulfillment (Karl 785-6). In the novel, Conrad draws an image of Africa as the â€Å"other world,† the antithesis of a civilized Europe, a site where man’s accumulated years of education and sophistication are confronted by a striking savagery. The story opens on the River Thames, calm and peaceful. It then moves to the very opposite of the Thames, and takes place on the River Congo. However, It’s not the flagrant difference between the two that perplexes Conrad but the underlying allusion of intimate relationship, of â€Å"common ancestry,† since the Thames was itself a dark place, but one that has managed to civilize, to enlighten itself and the world, and is now living in the light. The peaceful Thames, however, runs the terrible risk of being stirred by its encounter with its â€Å"primordial relative, the Congo;† it would witness the reflection of its own forsaken darkness and would hear the sounds that echo its remote gloomy history. The Thames would fall victim to the ghastly reminiscences of the irrational frenzy of the primitive times (Achebe 262-3). It would be very helpful to quote one of the most interesting and most revealing passages in Heart of Darkness when representatives of Europe in a steamer going down the Congo encounter the denizens of Africa: We were wanderers on a prehistoric earth. [? ] We glided past like phantoms, wondering and secretly appalled, as sane men would be before an enthusiastic outbreak in a madhouse. [? ] They howled and leaped, and spun, and made horrid faces; but what thrilled you was just the thought of their humanity ?like yours ? the thought of your remote kinship with this wild and passionate uproar. Ugly. [? ] but if you were man enough you would admit that there was in you just the faintest trace of response to the terrible frankness of that noise, a dim suspicion of there being a meaning in it which you ? you so remote from the night of first ages ? could comprehend (51-2). Here in lies the meaning of Heart of Darkness that takes us on a journey into the unconscious world of the human beings through the psychoanalytic features inherent in the novel’s â€Å"dream story. † Marlow, a man of discipline and justice, was expecting such values to exist elsewhere. They became a kind of psychological expectations. His great revelation takes place when he discovers that not all men share his belief in an orderly, fundamentally good society. His journey from Brussels to the Congo is full of elements of the absurd, elements that hint at a world that is suddenly irrational and out of focus. In the Congo, the jungle is surrounded by a dangerous feminine aura; the long river is described in â€Å"treacherous, serpentine terms;† everything about the nature conveys a sense of a mysterious and terrifying reality (Karl 786). Marlow is fascinated by the jungle woman – Kurtz’s savage mistress – and her demanding display of sex, by her provocative measured walk. He is also drawn by her surprising sense of reality and her full acceptance of Kurtz with all the savagery he embodies. Her image contradicts with his ideal of womanhood he had known all his life: the girl back in Brussels, his aunt, the naive woman who believed in the Europeans’ grand mission in Africa. Marlow tries to resist the seductive aspect of the nature, much as he shies away from the attraction of power. Sex lies heavily on the story, although Marlow never directly talks about it. The temptation is clear in his fears, in the jungle that conceals the terrors and the calls for orgiastic, uncontrollable sex. In the novel, Kurtz represents Europe; maneuvering for power, searching for advantages; he chose the route of ivory looting. His unquenchable hunger for possession is overwhelming. In Africa, he is free of all human barriers; civilized taboos are down. He is able to gratify all his forbidden desires and dwells on ultimate corruption, debarred of all restraints. This lies at the heart of Marlow’s secret attraction to Kurtz; the latter’s will to brutal, superhuman power. Kurtz has â€Å"risen above the masses ? of natives, station managers, even of directors back in Brussels. He must continue to assert himself, a megalomaniac in search of further power. Marlow has never met anyone like him, [? ]† (Karl 787). One telling part in the novel comes with Kurtz’s death and his double scream â€Å"The horror! The horror! † (Conrad 105). Marlow, out of his deep fascination with Kurtz and his need to believe in a good human nature, attributes a â€Å"Christian† reading to these words. He understands the shriek as a moral victory: at the time of his death, Kurtz has reviewed his life and the corrupt part of him has repented. It’s arguable, though, that Kurtz’s cry might be one of anguish and despair, because he has to die with his work incomplete. In other words, he laments a fate which frustrates his plans. However, Marlow has explained the horror of this experience in human terms necessary to guarantee the flow of life. He protects the lie of Kurtz’s existence in order to preserve his own illusions (Karl 788-9). Hence, we notice that Marlow, throughout his journey, has concealed from himself the reality of his own as well as others’ needs. The jungle is the mask that bars the light of sun and sky. The landscape becomes the repository of our anxieties and the vast protective camouflage that hides our inner fears. It bars the light of our conscience and rational capacities and becomes â€Å"part of the psychological as well as physical landscape† (Karl 788). It runs parallel to our unconscious mind where our repressed desires are hidden. The â€Å"prehistoric earth,† that is still untouched by the hands of civilization, is but our rudimentary soul, in its raw, savage nature, unrefined and free of the conscious disguises. The â€Å"lurking hint of kinship† that the Europeans have felt at their encounter with the Africans is but a hint of deep connection existing between the rational and the irrational, the conscious and the unconscious. The â€Å"black and incomprehensible frenzy† of the strange bodies is a reminder of the uncontrollable libido. This â€Å"wild and passionate uproar† is â€Å"ugly† because the wilderness and passion that nurture our disguised depths are a mass of animalistic drives, and our id that hosts all unfulfilled wishes carries the wildest of motivations. Yet, one cannot but heed â€Å"the faintest trace of a response to the terrible frankness of that noise† for one cannot fully resist the temptation to gratify his impulses and instinctual needs. In Freudian terms, our superego sometimes fails to have full control over its antithesis, the id. The boundaries that separate the unconscious from the conscious are blurred. This terrible â€Å"frenzy† holds a meaning that, even the man who is â€Å"so remote from the night of first ages ? could comprehend†: the refined man is able to understand the noise because it communicates with an inherent ? although masked ? part of his soul. Thus, Africa has become a topology of the mind ? its location, its shape, its cultures, its textures, its rhythms, it hues, its wildness ? all calling forth something lost in the psychology of the white European. The darkness of the African continent, of its instinctual, shadowed, primeval underworld establishes a revealing context for an examination of the Jungian concepts in the novel. Marlow’s journey, in Jungian terms, becomes a journey of individuation: a salvation realized through bringing the unconscious urges to consciousness ? a journey which can be contrasted to that of his diabolic double, Kurtz, who undergoes a psychological disintegration into his savage self and slips into â€Å"The horror! The horror! † The shadow in Heart of Darkness is thus personified by Kurtz. Richard Hughs argues that Kurtz’s last words sum up the Jungian insight that â€Å"from the same root that produces wild, untamed, blind instinct there grow up the natural laws and cultural forms that tame and break its pristine power. But when the animal in us is split off from consciousness by being repressed, it may easily burst out in full force, quite unregulated and uncontrolled. An outburst of this sort always ends in catastrophe ? the animal destroys itself† (21). Hughs adds that the novel is composed of two journeys into the hidden self, one is â€Å"horrifying, ending in personality destruction and death;† the other is â€Å"restorative, wisdom-producing, a gateway to wholeness [? ] Conrad has seized on the paradoxical quality of the descent into the unconscious [? ]† (58). For Jung, the integration of the personality is not possible without a full descent into the unconscious and clearly the novel is about the descent into the depths, the underworld, into the very heart of darkness. â€Å"Jung’s awareness that the darkness is part of himself, that to deny the darkness would be self-mutilation, and the awareness is not erased but heightened by a recognition of that dark self: this is Marlow’s discovery† (Hughs 66). Marlow’s journey toward individuation and his encounter with the darkness of his own shadow are set against a backdrop of the personal and collective unconscious. Kurtz is not only the personal shadow of Marlow, but the collective shadow of all Europe and of European imperialism. Throughout the novel there is a dense undergrowth of Congo unconsciousness, as Marlow succinctly states, â€Å"All of Europe contributed to the making of Kurtz† (73). In the midst of this journey of individuation, we encounter Jung’s concept of the anima personified by Kurtz’s wild mistress. She is a reflection of the soul of the wilderness, â€Å"she stood looking at us with a stir, and like the wilderness itself, with an air of brooding over an inscrutable purpose† (Conrad 92). She is the savagely magnificent consort of the underworld and the feminine part of every man’s psyche. Hughs calls her â€Å"the grand archetype of the unconscious, consort of the mad Kurtz and the goal of the inner search† (268-9). Conrad’s novel descends into the unknowable darkness at the heart of Africa, taking its narrator, Marlow, on an underworld journey of individuation, a modern Odyssey toward the center of the Self and the center of the Earth. Interestingly, the narrative technique and the inherent symbolism in Heart of Darkness all contribute to the overall dream-like and nightmarish mood of the story. The use of first person narrative was essential so that Conrad could distance himself from the lived experience and for the reader could identify with a common man thrown into a bizarre situation. Lacking Marlow as the narrator, the story would lose its credibility and would appear too distant from the real experience. Through repetition, difference of tone, analogy, duplicating images, doubling of scenes and characters, Conrad could form a shape for the story. He â€Å"used heightening and foreshortening, contrast and comparison to give the novella form;† from the opening scene, when the ancient Romans on the Thames are contrasted with the modern Europeans in the Congo (Karl 789). Marlow’s calm setting on the Nellie contrasts with the alarming Congo riverboat setting. Kurtz’s two fiancees represents two different sets of values, two contradictory cultures. The jungle, as death, is in conflict with the river, as possible relief. The natives’ savagery is set off against the backdrop of the apparently civilized Europeans. The contrast reaches the two central characters as well; Kurtz’s humanitarianism contradicts his own barbarism, Marlow’s middle class sense of English justice is contrasted with the Congo reality. It is also clear in their fluctuating love-hate relationship that pervades the story. The abundance of mechanical and metallic images suggests a sense of human waste and indicates that tough objects have gone beyond flexibility and softness in order to resist the passing of time, so humanity itself must become an object in order to survive. This strong sense of an absurd existence is best represented by the ivory itself. Ivory, the purest demonstration of the color white, stands in stark juxtaposition to the darkness of the jungle. It draws the white men to Africa then turns their minds from building commerce and civilization, to exploitation and madness. Wherever ivory is present, white men plunder, kill, and turn on each other. Conrad uses symbolism to suggest meanings rather than spelling them out directly. The technicalities of his style include a frequent use of alliteration, a reliance on adjectives which emphasize the unfamiliar aspects of Marlow’s experience. Words like â€Å"inscrutable,† â€Å"inconceivable,† â€Å"unspeakable† that describe the oppressive mysteriousness of the Congo are recurrent throughout the novel. The same vocabulary is used to evoke the human depths and the unspeakable potentialities of the man’s soul and to magnify the sense of spiritual horrors (Leavis 246-7). The words and adjectives Conrad applies â€Å"beat upon us, creating drum-like rhythms, entirely appropriate to the thick texture of the jungle† (Karl 789). The darkness of the jungle goes hand in hand with darkness everywhere, alluding at â€Å"the blackness of Conrad’s humor, the despair of his irony† (Karl 789). It is the nightmare’s color: the darkness surrounding Kurtz’s death, his last words, the report by the manager’s boy, the delirious escape from the jungle, the encounter with Kurtz’s fiancee; all such incidents constitute the elements of a nightmarish dream. Even the Russian follower of Kurtz who is dressed in motley seems as a figure from another world. In his ridiculous appearance, he is a perfect symbol of Marlow’s Congo experience (Karl 788-9). In this passage, F. R. Leavis argues that Conrad makes almost every aspect of his novel contribute to its overwhelming impression, one of a strangely insane world and a nightmarish existence: [? ] in terms of things seen and incidents experienced by a main agent in the narrative, and particular contacts and exchanges with other human agents, the overwhelming sinister and fantastic ? atmosphere’ is engendered. Ordinary greed, stupidity, and moral squalor are made to look like behaviour in a lunatic asylum against the vast and oppressive mystery of the surroundings, rendered potently in terms of sensation. This means lunacy, which we are made to feel as at the same time normal and insane, is brought out by contrast with the fantastically secure innocence of the young harlequin-costumed Russian [? ] (246) Using his renowned artistic and literary craftsmanship, Conrad wrote Heart of Darkness that has become, since its publication in 1899, one of the most widely read books written in English. It has also been one of the most analyzed: scores of literary critics, ranging from feminists to Marxists to New Critics, have all tried to construct their own meanings from the pages of the book. The novel does seem to invite a wide variety of interpretations. Looking at it through the lenses of psychoanalytic theories, Heart of Darkness has proven to be a â€Å"masterpiece of concealment† and a metaphor for the theory of the unconscious as a repository of all irrational and repressed wishes. (Karl 788). The journey into the heart of the continent can also be seen as Marlow’s own journey of individuation, self-discovery and self-enlightenment. Bibiography Achebe, Chinua. â€Å"An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad’s Heart of Darkness. † A Practical Reader in Contemporary Literary Theory. London: Harvester Wheatsheaf, 1996. 262-4 Conrad, Joseph. Heart Of Darkness. Beirut: Librairie Du Liban Publishers SAL, 1994. Guerin, Wilfred L. , et al. A Handbook of Critical Approaches to Literature. 4th ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999. Hewitt, Douglas. â€Å"Conrad: A Reassessment. † World Literature Criticism. Ed. Polly Vedder. Vol. 4. Detroit: Gale, 1992. 789-92. Hughs, Richard E. The Lively Image: Four Myths in Literature. Cambridge, MA: Winthrop Publishers, 1975. Karl, Frederick R. â€Å"A Reader’s Guide To Joseph Conrad. † World Literature Criticism. Ed. Polly Vedder. Vol. 4. Detroit: Gale, 1992. 785-9. Leavis, F. R. â€Å"From The Great Tradition. † A Practical Reader in Contemporary Literary Theory. London: Harvester Wheatsheaf, 1996. 246-7 Mudrick, Marvin. â€Å"The Originality of Conrad. † World Literature Criticism. Ed. PollyVedder. Vol. 4. Detroit: Gale, 1992. 782-5. Murfin, Ross C. Joseph Conrad Heart of Darkness: A Case Study in Contemporary Criticism. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1989. Said, Edward W. Culture and Imperialism. New York: Knopf, 1979. Wright, Elizabeth. â€Å"Psychoanalytic Criticism. † Encyclopedia Of Literature And Criticism. 1991 ed. 765-7.

Billy Beane: Changing the Game Essay

1. Based on the â€Å"Billy Beane: Changing the Game† case, explain how and why the Oakland A’s economic situation after 1995 shaped its: a) Compensation Strategies In the world of major league baseball, Oaklands A’s defied the laws of baseball economics. The team spent only $34 million (the 2nd lowest payroll) had won 102 games and lost only 60 in 2001. On top of this, they finished first in their division and made the playoffs. Major baseball teams would hire high school players than college players. This made high school players costly. Oaklands A’s strategy is to hire College players to save on resources. They argued that college players have already gained substantial exposure and competition. Beane would recruit new drafts and sign them for less than the going rate. Because of budget constraints, Oaklands A’s had to trade its top pitchers in exchange with the younger, much less expensive pitchers to try to remain within budget. Another interesting case for Oaklands A’s is the recruitment of Scott Hatteberg. Hatteberg played six years with the Boston Red Sox. He got injured and lacked the prowess in throwing the ball effectively. He was, according to Boston Red Sox, a lame player and did not sign him up again. With this, Hattenberg’s monetary value diminished and that is why Oaklands A’s recruited him at a much lower salary (because there are no other takers). Unknown to the other baseball teams, Hattenberg is the missing puzzle in A’s team. Oaklands A’s noted that Hattenberg has an uncanny knack for getting on-base. b) Staffing (recruiting, selection, and retention strategies) strategies Oaklands A’s staffing strategies was based on sabermetrics. Sabermetrics is a systematic, statistical approach in evaluating teams and players. Based on this science it was found out that the basis for judging the performance of the player should on-base percentage. A’s recruitment would prioritize college players than high school players. This is due to the fact that college players have already played more games against better competition. Bean is convince with the fact that â€Å"a young player is not what he looks like, or what he might become, but what he has done. The bottomline is what the player has produced in college. Bean and DePodesta believed that they could forecast future performance of college players more effectively than high school ones.  Another staffing strategy is the case of Scott Hatteberg. Hatteberg plays with the Boston Rex Sox. He was injured and was never signed up by Sox. Oaklands A’s did not waste time and hired Hatteberged. A’s has done this because Hatterberg’s has an on-base scoring record. According to A’s, Hatteberg filled up what is missing in the team. c) Training and development strategies Batting average was the norm adopted by other baseball teams. But training for Oakland was focused on the player’s ability to obtain on-base scoring. The team relied more on selecting players by their on-base percentages. According to Sabermetrics model, teams always win with players having attained high on-base percentages. Oakland’s Training and development strategies embraced on-base percentage as a philosophy for the entire Oakland organization. This system was the star. Each minor league team in the Oakland system began to lead it league in walks, and resulted to higher on-base percentage. 2. Explain how the compensation, staffing, and training strategies were aligned or integrated with each other to create an overall HR strategy for the Oakland A’s organization. Compensation was based on the value of the player. Since most baseball teams would recruit high school players, Oakland A’s would seek out college players. The higher demand for high school players lead to lower compensation rates for college players. Oakland would then hire college players to minimize cost. Training was based on the on-base performance. These requisites are fully integrated by Oakland A’s to match meager budget with the objectives of the team. 3. Are there potential problems with the HR strategies adopted by the Oakland A’s? One potential problem is that team players get older as baseball seasons come and go. This is due to the fact that Oakland A’s strategy is to hire college player. They are much older than the high school players hire by other baseball teams. This will affect their performance in future baseball games. On-base sabermetrics technology was developed by Oakland A’s to counter the cost of hiring players and to correct the market value of players. Replicating this strategy by other teams would create another imbalance in the demand for players. Everybody would be replicating what A’s had done and the repercussion is that college players would be costly to hire. Players with low batting average but possess substantial on-base average would be in  demand and therefore hike their hiring costs. Oakland A’s could have prevented this had the idea been patented for their exclusive use.

Case Analysis: Mcdonald’s and the Hindu Culture

Case Analysis: McDonald’s and Hindu Culture Julia Evans Misericordia University Case Analysis: McDonald’s and Hindu Culture The case study discusses the struggles that McDonalds faced when it began to do business in India. The Hindu culture prohibits the consumption of beef because they look at the cow as being a sacred animal. In addition, India has a large Muslim population whose religion prohibits the consumption of pork products. These limitations completely contradict the traditional menu that McDonald’s has perfected.McDonalds had to find a way to accommodate these limitations and still be appealing to the Indian consumers. McDonalds created a version of the Big Mac that was made with chicken. McDonalds also created an extensive vegetarian menu. Just when they thought they perfected this they were sued for using beef products in their french fries. Concentrating on the other parts of their menu they overlooked a beef additive to their French fries. This pro ved to be a large mistake by McDonalds.It is surprising that McDonalds was as well received as it was. The Indian consumers could have boycotted the fast food chain because of the use of beef in their restaurants in countries other than India. McDonalds took a large gamble trying to accommodate Indian palates. Localization of products is the key strategy that international firms should do to maintain a customer base in other countries. Foreign ventures are very expensive and included in this cost is the cost of streamlining products and services to the local tastes and traditions.Without this streamlining the products may not be successful. Sometimes the people of other areas of the world may not even know what to do with a product unless it is customized to their way of life. McDonalds was lucky that their mistake of not eliminating beef products in their French fries didn’t taint their standing in India forever. They had their popularity in other parts of their world to kee p them afloat. Indian parents enjoyed taking their children to have an American experience and heir efforts to eliminate beef and pork kept their restaurants appealing to Indian consumers. If McDonalds could have avoided the mistake of leaving the beef in their French fries maybe Indian consumers would have considered not going a day without having a McDonald’s chicken burger. Works Cited Hill, C. W. (2009). McDonalds and Hindu Culture. In C. W. Hill, International Business (p. 103). New York: McGraw-Hill Company.

Dickens's Treatment of Education and Social Mobility Essay

Dickens's Treatment of Education and Social Mobility - Essay Example onal system as it existed for the children of the working class, but also to highlight some of the major problems inherent in the education of young gentlemen and even girls in terms of preparing them for the new economy that was emerging. Recognizing the societal shifts that were occurring, he also attempted to call attention to the crass tendencies of the newly rich or at least comfortable middle class, the overbearing and mostly ridiculous preening of the aristocracy and the desperate and uncontrollable situation of the poor. Limited in his scope for possible solutions, Dickens nevertheless included suggestions for reformation in his emphasis upon morality and nobility of spirit rather than the focus upon material wealth as a measure of means. Throughout his novels, Dickens criticized a society that could produce and hold in esteem any establishment that treated children with the cruelty of Dotheby’s Hall or Dr. Blimber. Yet he also criticized the useless education provided to the aristocracy as is illustrated in Pip’s gentlemanly tutoring. This would seem to suggest a general disdain for education altogether. However, through the gentle Fanny, who begs her father for an education and then educates herself further to help little Paul, to the finally repentant and thoroughly educated Pip, Dickens continues to underscore the need and importance of a true education. Dickens’ portrayal of the educational systems available for the poor, as well as the style of many of the private schools offering limited enrollment but similar systems of learning by rote, was highly critical and aimed at bringing the realities of education in England to the attention of the public. That he was successful in portraying an accurate representation can be seen in the fact that schoolmasters of England were frequently identified as the model of Mr. Squeers in Nicholas Nickleby: â€Å"While the Author cannot but feel the full force of the compliment thus conveyed to him, he ventures

Module 1 Case Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Module 1 Case - Essay Example The analysis phase comes first, and it is chiefly concerned with requirement gathering, and that is directly related to business opportunities and needs. It provides the direction for the systems design to follow in achieving the goal of the business. Design, on the other hand, has its primary concern in the construction of the system physically.Its phases and tasks are focused on the aspect of a business model (Abramovici & Stark, 2013). With respect to information technology, a business analyst is usually dealing with issues concerning the development of software or enhancement issue. He does this to resolve various problems that are associated with processes and also functions that exist within an organization. Software development is one of the fields that continue to grow rapidly despite the fact that economic development is slowing down. The Business Analyst may that find his or her profession is in very high demand, as the firms incorporate various functions in order to employ adequate technology to cut down cost (Hoffman, Frederick & Schwartz, 2013). There are some cases in the system development life-cycle (SDLC) may be needed. The role of the business analyst is imperative, therefore, user acceptance testing (UAT) methodologies are essential tools on that are on the road to ensure that there is project completion. The most important key to the success of a business analyst is the ability to treat internal departments, stakeholders and vendors as equity partners that are in a team with the main focus being on ensuring that the project on information technology is completed. One should have a vision of the present situation that a project is primarily designed to solve and the outcomes that the stakeholders are expecting. The major challenge for the business analyst is to try and resolve the problem that exists between the current status quo and also the outcome that is expected. This is seen as the main area

Compare and Contrast Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 3

Compare and Contrast - Essay Example Moving on with the comparison of the proposition of Penn State with Huxley, introductorily, Penn State states that the education given should be dealing with how to solve the issues and difficulties students face in the society and should deal with making the societies more manageable and prone to solving complex issues and in turn improving the human conditions (Venkatasubramanian 40); Huxley on the other hand claims that students need liberal education where they can choose their field of interest and can become successful only by abiding by the law of nature. The supporting evidence for Penn State’s suggestion comes from the history of education; travelling back in history to the evolution of education we find that education has evolved only to help the people to be better humans and to improve the human conditions through making them more understanding towards the societal issues. Huxley’s liberal education makes proper sense when it says that there should be libera l education in terms of choosing a field which interests a student but the liberal education in context of the law of nature is hard to be based on factual incidents (Huxley, 1). There is also no supporting evidence provided to base their argument on. This makes it very easy to comprehend that the proposition of Penn State is backed by coherent and rational thinking, while the liberal education stands baseless and just as a representation of a one sided thinking process and is further away from its implementation. Moreover, Huxley also states that the student should study to acquire all the skills of life in order to be able to deal with the day to day situations that arise in front of him/her. Human beings can never interpret or forecast their outcomes of a taken decision and the past experiences are also not able to guide the individuals as every situation is different from the other past situations and thus, students need to study everything since they have no way to know what a decision holds for them in the future. In contrast to this Penn State has said that education should be based on problem solving of the day to day situations to help people interpret their problems well and to lead better lives. Huxley’s concept can be given a thought here but again, it is only good to ponder over it but does not apply to rational thinking, as rationally we tend to learn from our past incidents only. Likewise, it is important for us to have an expected forecast of the outcome of our decisions in which education can play a vital role. It is important for one to abide by the law of nature but when solving problems of the society and making decisions, it is far more than that; solely following the rules of nature cannot make a person fully successful. Additionally, it is important for the educational system to be applicable and relevant in day to day situations rather than being only theoretical and hazy. Things that will make students aware of their surrounding s will help them understand the societal issues and problems and also help them in taking decisions. This should be a part of the education which they receive from their institutions as the main motive of the

Integration Paper - MBA Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Integration Paper - MBA - Assignment Example The key to proper segmentation is to identify the bases that would produce substantial, accessible and measurable segments. Markets are segmented based on variables such as age group, gender and education along with other relevant factors (Lamb, Hair & McDaniel, 2011, p. 262). MBA market place can be segmented as institutional market which is a consumer market and is composed of large number of buyers who purchases in volume quantities. Organisations which are involved in the institutional market include businesses, non profit organisations, schools and universities also (Pride & Ferrell, 2011, p. 251). Therefore the market place of MBA is segment as institutional market comprising of large number of students demanding for more knowledge and better skills. Target market University of Liverpool has segmented its market as institutional buyers forming consisting of large number of members demanding similar kind of needs. Selecting an appropriate target market is important for the insti tution as it enhances the strategic planning process. The University of Liverpool has targeted the students of high quality and who wants to develop the skills as an effective manager as well as have the urge to become potential leader (University of Liverpool, n.d). ... In addition, participants who wish to study online are also the suitable target market. It can be seen in the university has promoted the facility of online degree through its websites and has positioned itself as a management group which offers students and participants not only class room based teaching but also online courses enabling distance students to learn and acquire the managerial skills required to excel in the practical field of life and workplace. Positioning The positioning strategy adopted by the University of Liverpool can be said is to provide knowledge and skills to all those who wants to learn and develop managerial skills and it is depicted properly in the website of the university. The university caters for part time as well as full time students and guided by a flexible approach to learning through the provision of online degree (University of Liverpool-a, n.d). Therefore the university has been targeting the top rank students from across the globe and provide w orld class learning and training facilities along with online learning both for students and professionals who has the desire to learn and expertise in their skills. The university has positioned as a school where learning happens to make a difference. Reflect on own your reason for choosing to undertake your MBA at the University of Liverpool. To what extent do theses match the strategy identified above? Reason for choosing the University of Liverpool to undergo MBA course The reason for choosing the University of Liverpool is because of the opportunity that it provides to the students and encourages the students to develop business and specialise in the field of management through a wide range of electives made available to the students. The

Project Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Project Management - Essay Example Summary of the article and exploration of the raised issues The article identifies Mark Bew as the man who is in charge of ensuring that government contractors subscribe and adhere to Business Information Technology. He heads a government agency whose role is to ensure application of BIM and recounts that significant progress has been achieved over the scope of his work and that of his agency. Even though the application promises a higher level of efficiency and reduced costs, it has been a difficult task convincing both government departments and contractors to adapt BIM. In its scope of reducing the cost of government constructions, the application faces both culture and technology based challenges. While technological developments empower institutions to BIM’s application, only about 33 percent of professionals applied BIM by the year 2011. This was an improvement from the recorded 13 percent in the year 2010 and about 75 percent of the professional who were informed of the application promised to use it in the year 2012. The application has also been poorly defined and this could be a factor to its low rate of use besides different opinions and expectations from stakeholders. The different groups of stakeholders report their developed concerns, to Bew, that are then forwarded to the cabinet for consideration. BIM also operates in different levels of shared information. Level 2 BIM reserves proprietary rights while level 3 BIM is more open. Its information disclosure is however similar to the current impacts of the social media and should therefore not pose serious threats. The swift implementation of BIM and its associated jargon has also identified differences among stakeholders. â€Å"Culture and integration† is one of the bases of such differences, as some of the stakeholders believe that implementing the application requires a preliminary cultural transition and development of a level of integration (Construction Manager, 18). The amount o f information to be shared in the model is another concern of the different stakeholders with opinions that the government would require more than necessary data from subscribing parties. Balancing scorecard in application of BIM is another identified concern because of the government’s procurement need that prioritizes the lowest bidder and the need for BIM compliance since the lowest bidder may lack the compliance as opposed to the most costly bidder. Other issues that application of BIM faces include â€Å"finding a wider audience,† â€Å"integrated project insurance,† and â€Å"charter for new consultants† (Construction Manager, 20). Crotty however identifies a competitive advantage and efficiency from contractors’ application of BIM as benefits because of the precision in description of construction components and ease in identification of contractors’ products (Construction Manager, 2012). Development and application of Building Inform ation Modelling has marked a significant transition in the construction industry, from two dimensional drawings that required multiple representation and could still not be interpreted by computers, to a three dimensional models that are can be interpreted by computer systems (Easman, 2009). The new approach applies computer software for managing data (Chartered Institute of building, 2011). The application has diversified advantages such as

Consider how a PR professional might use government data to support a Essay

Consider how a PR professional might use government data to support a PR strategy - Essay Example Every PR strategy must have publics. These are the various groups of people associated with the company that the message is targeted at. The publics are both internal and external. Internal publics include the employees, the management, the shareholders and the food suppliers. The external publics include the customers, regulatory bodies and industry organizations. In this strategy, the external publics are the main target. This is because the strategy aims at ensuring customers ingest healthy amounts of sodium, showing government and regulatory bodies that the company aims to serve customers healthy foods and assuring industry organizations that the company does not practice underhand dealings that could portray the industry in bad light. Internal publics will be educated in accordance with the new requirements. The suppliers will be advised to alter their products in accordance with the new guidelines. They will also be made aware of the reasons why they are altering their products. The staff that prepares the food and interacts with customers will be educated on the sodium levels and health matters and trained on how to give advice to customers and guide them in making healthy choices. The second element is the logic or message. The message conveys the company’s stand on the issue. The message will be based on research, mainly of the FDA report on the amount of sodium in food and other related documents from the same body and related institutions. It will involve health benefits of consuming the medically recommended amounts of sodium. It will also list the risks associates with the intake of high amounts of sodium. In addition, it will aim to educate customers on how to figure out the right amount of sodium levels to consume. Using the percent daily value, consumers can know the amount of sodium each food contributes to their daily intake; 5%DV (120 mg) or less of sodium per serving is low

Engagement Strategies Are Desirable For Organizations And Employees Essay

Engagement Strategies Are Desirable For Organizations And Employees - Essay Example The engagement strategies imply the creation of opportunities for employees to have a connection with their colleagues, managers and the wider organization. It involves the creation of an environment where employees are motivated to want to connect with their work and really care about doing a good job (Macleod, 2009, p. 9). Macleod (2009, p. 9), continues to say that engagement is a concept that places flexibility, change and continuous improvement at the heart of what it means to be an employee and an employer, especially in a twenty-first-century workplace. According to Dulham, Knight & Locke (1997, p.210) and Bratton& Gold (2007), the process of engagement is an active one that involves active participation by both parties in a certain undertaking. It is a process where different parties feel compelled by their own motivation to either participate partially or fully towards the attainment of certain general objectives. Clarke (1996, p. 190) states that employee engagement describ es the actual involvement of people at all levels in positive two-way dialogue and action to deliver the highest quality services and create great places to work – where people find their work meaningful and are willing to work together for clients, their colleagues and the future success of their organization. A typical case study drawn from the MacLeod report (2003) shows that a company, Tower Perrins-ISR conducted a survey globally in 2006. Opinions of more than 664,000 employees in 50 companies were analyzed.... It involves the creation of an environment where employees are motivated to want to connect with their work and really care about doing a good job (Macleod, 2009, p. 9). Macleod (2009, p. 9), continues to say that engagement is a concept that places flexibility, change and continuous improvement at the heart of what it means to be an employee and an employer especially in a twenty-first century workplace. According to Dulham, Knight & Locke (1997, p.210) and Bratton& Gold (2007), the process of engagement is an active one that involves active participation by both parties in a certain undertaking. It is a process where different parties feel compelled by their own motivation to either participate partially or fully towards the attainment of certain general objectives. Clarke (1996, p. 190) states that employee engagement describes the actual involvement of people at all levels in positive two-way dialogue and action to deliver the highest quality services and create great places to w ork – where people find their work meaningful and are willing to work together for clients, their colleagues and the future success of their organization. According to CIPD, engagement occurs on two levels, that is the Emotional engagement which implies the emotional attachment that that the employees have to one or more aspects of their work a and transactional engagement which relates to happiness to exhibit the behaviour of engagement but void of commitment to the job or the organisation and willingness to leave if a better offer appears elsewhere (Torrington, et al 2011). A typical case study drawn from the MacLeod report (2003) shows that a company, Tower Perrins-ISR conducted a survey globally in 2006. Opinions of more than

Business Administration (Research Article Critique) Lab Report

Business Administration (Research Article Critique) - Lab Report Example The following hypothesis may be developed for the present study: Interview schedule has been applied as the tool for data collection for the present study. Eighty seven respondents belonging to different age-groups, gender and area were selected on the basis of quota (non-probability) sampling for the interview. After the research process, the hypothesis was upheld. Balance in life maintains imperative significance in man’s life. The researches reveal the very fact that more healthy and satisfied the individuals be in a social set up, more will be the chances of the society and culture to grow and lead the world at large. It is therefore almost all societies of the world lay stress on the healthy and creative activities to make its culture a highly successful one. Though it is a fact beyond doubt that man cannot live without work, but it is also the reality that a balanced life containing professional commitment as well as recreational activities add more and more to man’s triumphs while climbing the ladder of his career life. It has aptly been stated that man is a social animal; all his needs and desires are fulfilled by living within a social set up and leading a gregarious life. He has to work hard from dawn to dusk in order to earn his bread on the one hand and keep the wolf from the door on the other. In the same way, he requires a balance life to make his life more and more comfortable. Modern industrialization and technological advancement has turned slow, sluggish and laggard life into very quick, fast and speedy one. Though demand for more and more technicalities and proficiencies in career life has got a significant boost and people look for delicacy as well as perfection in each and every profession, against which the professionals have to make hard efforts to prove their worth in this age of perfect

Developing A Performance Appraisal System Essay Example for Free

Developing A Performance Appraisal System Essay All organizations utilize some sort of system that periodically reviews the performance of every staff member. As the director of human resources, you are responsible for developing such a system. Write a 750- to 1,050-word paper in APA format that details an original performance appraisal system for a human service organization. Address the following: Determine the elements that should be present in an appraisal system. What is the purpose of a performance appraisal system and how does it benefit the organization? Outline the elements of good appraisal systems. Determine the criteria for each element that should be present in an appraisal system. Cite at least two sources. Determine the elements that should be present in an appraisal system The elements that should be present in an appraisal system are thorough goal-setting process, which decide what you want from employees and agree these objectives with them. The key component of the people element is the manager, who give your employees the tools, resources and training they need to perform well. The manager drives the system by setting expectations, communicating plans, encouraging development, and giving and receiving feedback. Carrying out the appraisal allow managers to monitor and assess employees performance, discuss those assessments with them and agree on future objectives .It also identifies employees developmental needs and includes robust reward and recognition practices. Consider pay awards and/or promotion based on the appraisal and decides how to tackle poor performance. However, there can be dangers as well as benefits of linking rewards to performance. What is the purpose of a performance appraisal system and how does it benefit the organization? The purpose of a performance appraisal system is the two basic systems operating in conjunction: an evaluation system and a feedback system. The main goal of the evaluation system is to recognize the performance  gap (if any). This gap is the deficit that occurs when performance does not meet the standard set by the organization as adequate. The central aim of the feedback system is to notify the employee about the quality of his or her performance. Nonetheless, the information flow is not entirely one way. The appraisers also receive feedback from the employee about job problems, etc.) One of the best ways to appreciate the purposes of performance appraisal is to look at it from the different viewpoints of the main stakeholders: the employee and the organization. Outline the elements of good appraisal systems 1. Measurement vs. Management the performance measurement aspect of the performance appraisal system is a useful tool for measuring current productivity levels and determining the gap between those current levels and desired productivity levels. 2. Employee Input Employee input is a vital element of the effective performance appraisal system. It is essential for supervisors and managers to include the employee in the performance management process to ensure that the employee feels a sense of engagement in the process. 3. Clarification of Expectations Before a manager or supervisor can expect an employee to meet expectations, it is essential to ensure that the employees perception of what is expected is in alignment with the managers perceptions 4. Employee Development Perhaps the most essential element of an effective performance appraisal system is employee development. While the performance appraisal itself may identify areas where improvement is necessary, the employee development portion of the overall performance management system is used to determine the best way to bring this improvement to fruition. Determine the criteria for each element that should be present in an appraisal system There are four key elements in a good performance and appraisal system: Set objectives decide what you want from employees and agree these objectives with them. [ If appropriate, set timescales for  achieving them. – Manage performance give your employees the tools, resources and training they need to perform well. If appropriate, set timescales for achieving objectives. – Carry out the appraisal monitor and assess your employees performance, discuss those assessments with them and agree on future objectives. Provide rewards/remedies consider pay awards and/or promotion based on the appraisal and decide how to tackle poor performance. However, there can be dangers as well as benefits of linking rewards to performance.

Management Principles: The Latham Report

Management Principles: The Latham Report The Latham report (July 1994) commissioned by UK Gov, written by Sir Michael Latham was an influential report defining the construction industries failures, constraints and procedures. The report identifies construction projects from start to finish, including the understanding of professional rolls, contract variations to achieve best practices including procurement and contract mediation. Clients are understood as having a key role towards the speed of a construction project. Understanding the nature of the construction industry is said to be essential to gain a better understanding of how a project will proceed. Lathams report recommended that such tasks will also have to include legal advice from certified consultants such as the client representative. Areas such as notifiable projects, professionals, communication, declaration of roles and responsibilities, project frameworks, governing bodies, liability, design procurement should all be generally understood within a clients role. Contractors where greatly influenced by Sir Michael Latham recommendations, he said that the principles of communication between contractors within the construction industry are currently having a detrimental effect on site activities and costs. He thought private sectors should get together to establish a clients forum. Latham determined that a checklist of design responsibilities should be prepared in order to prevent confusion to determine the liability of a project team. Sir Michael Latham thought that the use of co-oridinated project information should be written into contracts as a legal requirement, Latham ultimately wanted contractors to communicate better between themselves in order to assist the prevention of delays in a construction project. The Latham report talks about the responsibility of building services and design. The report highlighted that contracts agreed between professionals should be defined in a clear and precise manner; he maintained that everyone involved within a construction project should be able to understand the context of their contracts. Design and build of a contract largely depends on the project involved. The Latham report states basic design decisions on procurement should precede the preparation of an (outlined) project brief, as any project brief will largely depend on procurement matters to actually determine the structure of a projects brief. Duties, Accountability and delegation are all highlighted in The Latham Report, simplifying the delegation of duties highlighting possible penalties within a consultants/employed role for a construction project. Sir Michael Latham interpreted construction founders and agencies such as the CIC (Construction Industry Council), ECA (Electrical Contractors Association), BEC (Federation of Master Builders) FMB to help increase awareness of duties, accountability and delegation. Principles of accountability should delegate rolls duties therefore determining liability and responsibility for a professional. Simply stating tasks like responsibilities and consequences to clients and in contracts will make a construction projects duties more defined and easier to determine, therefore contributing to a smoother process. Task 2 Pioneers of scientific management are considered to be H. Gannt, Lilian Gilbert and Frederick W. Taylor. The Later Scientific school theories are largely dependent of the works of these economists. They aimed to influence industrial production with their interpretation of strategy towards the running of a more productive business, in turn lowering production costs and increasing company profits. Frederick W. Taylor quotes Taylors work influenced the general deminer of a company increasing the motivation of a work force by identifying key aspects of the managerial process like, constant innovations being discovered through the efficient use of testing (time trial .e.g.), seeking more effective equipment to decrease workmans efforts and hopefully increase the longevity of production and implementing framework organisation such as University Power Points Contingency School is a trend of management stating there is no single way to manage, different approaches to management result in different results, therefore highlighting management as an area that can greatly vary between personal. Managers are faced with the task its self to determine the management involved, for example selecting a manager for a retail shop will be very different to selecting a manager of an oil rig. Contingency thinking helps not apply 1 best way to management; it will understand the situation in front of them and aim to apply an effective managerial approach to the selection and implementation of a manager and a mangers role. Contingency was developed from many theorists concurrently in the late 1960s, Max Webber 1846 -1920 Bureaucratic Management and Frederick Winslow Taylors Scientific Management where considered to be part of the founders of economic interpretation. Frederick W. Taylor sometimes called the father of management, was a leader of the efficiency movement toward economics. He published The Principles of Management in 1911 based on his own past experiences of management interrupted towards looking into more efficient management processes, Taylors interpretation of scientific management contained 4 principles: Management Culture: China And United Kingdom Management Culture: China And United Kingdom Introduction: In this essay we are going to compare the Chinese and UK approaches to organization management culture. Taking into consideration recent phenomenon, rapid growth rate of businesses in China, expanding and growing investment portfolios have made noticeably Chinese businesses meaning, and foreign investors wanting to set a business in China. Whats interesting is the Chinese have different style, attitude and negotiation process towards employees and organisation as to the UK. The essay will state the differences between organizations in both countries and to look at the cultural dimension of both the East and the West, taking into account the different managerial styles and most importantly culture, whilst comparing both countries. The issue of globalization slides across as the process has made businesses able to connect worldwide. In order to get a closer look, case-studies will be examined looking at companies from a Chinese and UK business perspective. Despite the differences, comp lexity, similarities or disadvantage of one model to another, the Chinese way of operating is interesting especially seeing the importance and link between the countrys culture, relationships and positions in management. China has been a great country in terms of great power, which also is one of the second largest economic in the world after USA and their businesses have been booming extravagantly and expanding as well. However, China has the highest current currency reserved in the world today. Management culture in the china and in UK has been slowly integrated with one another. The Chinese management culture has undergone a period of flooded to the West and returning to the East. However we are going to examine the main dimension of culture, how they relates to businesses in China and UK. Different management researchers all over the continent have focused to the traditional Chinese management culture, whose ideal is in human orientation, and behavioural cultivation by self-disp line. This essay will consider the overall differences between the management cultures of China and the UK. In doing so the essay will consider both the general differences in cultural considerations as well as specific considerations and concepts which are present in Chinese management styles and cultures and how they relate or contrast to elements of the UK management culture.(Dongshui Su2001) Culture: In general terms it is accepted that there is a link between national cultures and management cultures (Handy 1999 p196-197). Hofstede (1980) considered a model of national cultures based upon the following four elements: Individualist vs Collectivist Low vs High power distance Low vs High Uncertainty avoidance Feminine vs Masculine traits From a national cultural perspective Hofstede identified that those countries of the Anglo-Saxon block which include the UK tend to exhibit a profile based around individualistic behaviour, low power distance, middling uncertainty avoidance and a high degree of masculinity. In comparison Eastern cultures were seen as having a greater degree of collectivist behaviour, a middling power distance a high avoidance of uncertainty and a high level of masculinity. As such in comparing the two cultures one may consider that there is a general convergence in the ability of exhibiting masculine behaviour whist there is a much more distinct difference in attitudes on the scale of individualistic vs. collectivist style behaviour. Chinese managers strongly believe in order and traditional values. Thus, Chinese bosses precisely like to share task to teams or groups to work in collective effort to enhance Just In Time (JIT ), and help the employees to work together and learn from each other as well. Although there are some disadvantages to work as team or group delays business project, in the sense that some individual would be sluggish on their own task, and when its time for promotion or bonuses equal reward would be given. In general terms whilst not as diametrically opposed Chinese culture may be seen as representing a much higher adversity to risk taking than that of the Anglo-Saxon countries. This may be seen as represented by the national differences in attitudes towards savings with Chinese citizens saving four times that of their Western counterparts (Graham and Lam 2003). In considering the effects of individualist models against those of collectivist cultures this has an impact for the consideration of overall management culture for instance the manager in an individualistic culture such as the UK will have to consider getting the best out of those they manage by aligning the best interests of the employee and the company from the individualistic perspective of the employee. For instance a popular way of rewarding employees in the UK is through a bonus culture in which the individual stands to benefit personally by meeting the needs of the organisation a theory which is largely embodied by Vrooms expectancy theory (Robbins 2007). In contrast management culture in a more collective society such as that of China may be seen as being able to appeal to the nature of employees to contribute towards the wider good of the organisation for which they have a greater sense of belonging to as a community than their UK counterparts. As such managers in such a cu lture may focus on giving praise and public recognition to employees with in the company before considering the need to use an extrinsic reward as a method of motivation. In addition the overall level of risk aversion within the national culture may be seen as translating into a model of management cultural and organisational behaviour. In many instances managers in the less risk averse countries of the Anglo-Saxon model are rewarded by shareholders for making what may be seen as risky short term profits and thus from the management culture perspective such a culture permeates every level of the organisation. On the other hand those operating in a more risk averse society such as that of China may be seen as being rewarded for acting in a way which is much more conservative with an emphasis on long term stability and profitability rather than short term share based performance. As such this adds to the general slower pace of business within Chinese cultures as personified by the general longer length of time taken in negotiations within China as opposed to between Western businesses (Ambler et al 2009). In a recent interview by Yi Min a director of Le nova Group in Carolina, he points out that collectivistic culture is less in China, since the late 1990s when the one child policy came into effect. These individuals born after 1980 ba ling hou are much more individualistic than collectivistic. Management styles and human behaviours: In many ways it may be considered somewhat difficult to generalise on the differences between management styles in the UK and China given that management styles are not necessarily related to an individual national culture but further segmented down to the corporate level. For instance even solely within the UK there may be seen as a significant array of management styles and cultures from the more formal and hierarchical in public services and more traditional business through to the informal and flatter organisational behaviour exhibited in more contemporary business such as a management consultancy businesses or a software producer. As such this section will now consider specific differences which may be used to explain potential differences in management culture which are specific at the national level rather than the organisational. Face One key consideration which may be seen as affecting the overall management style between Chinese and UK businesses is the concept of face. Within the overall Chinese culture there is the need for relationships, transactions and events to portray those involved in a positive light. As such in Chinese management styles both the leader and the follower must consider carefully what impact their actions have on the reputation of those they are interacting with. This may lead to a generally much more formal style of management in which leaders and employees take particular care to respect the boundaries and roles of those involved. Graham and Lam (2003) note that transactions between Western and Chinese companies can often fail due to a lack of respect for such formalities in which the Western company often issues a call me Mary approach thus not respecting a seemingly small but significant cultural consideration. For the Chinese business this also presents significant problems internally , for instance there may be the need for a junior member of staff to point out an operational issue for which there is a ready solution however in brining the problem the attention of a superior this may be seen as providing a conflict for the employee who may consider whether or not such an action will make his supervisor lose face. The Chinese prefer a more structural form and hierarchy followed way although much of this comes from the Confucian culture, which stresses the importance of social hierarchy, groups and positions. Empowerment: Organisations in the UK and the West believe in empowering its employees contrary to the Chinese, whom believe that when the task is not done, their boss would blame them. Chinese people do not like to be blamed. They prefer to be responsible for the work they handle themselves rather than to be empoweredto take on something new because of the fear of failure. Furthermore, if the Chinese managers apply the system of empowering subordinates , middle workers keep getting cut in organisations and somebody has to take up the task that used to be done there. The key for leaders would be to look for the right balance between empowering and doing the work themselves. As such a cultural concept can thus lead to a management style which encourages overall poorer organisational performance as performance suffers at the consideration of relationships. There is the consideration that in the UKs culture such considerations do not feature so widely and as such managers and followers are able to be much more frank about operational issues without considering a criticism of process or procedure to be a personal affront against the person responsible for it.. Chinese family businesses Another consideration in the concept of management style is that of the Chinese family business. Commentators highlight the fact that the structural form of a business will often have an impact on the cultural elements of the business (Johnson et 2008, Robins 2007) as such given the wide spread nature of the Chinese family business model this must be taken into account. Research suggests that to a large extent business in China is internalised into family groups a model which although suppressed under communism has re-emerged after the liberalisation from the smallest business to the largest conglomerate (Chen 2001). However the family business model goes beyond that of ownership as paraphrased by the consideration of the phrase family first, business second (Chen 2001 p20). This presents a key cultural difference between in cultural approaches to the running of a business between those in China and the UK. In the UK one may see that culture largely compartmentalises life bringing a clear separation between ones personal family interests and ones work or careers interests. On the other hand the Chinese family business model suggests that work and business life represent an extension of the family rather than a separate activity as in the UK model. This has major implications for management style and culture as one has to consider that under the Chinese family business model individual traits of families and their relationships will carry over into business practises as such Chinese businesses following the family business model may have a propensity to exhibit a greater level of paternalistic style of management as embodied in the family relationship than under UK models of business ownership. Process Another consideration is that there is a fundamental cultural difference between Chinese and UK cultures in regard to what is important when considering the issues of process and results. UK culture and human behaviour may be seen as to a large extent as steeped in the utilitarian philosophy in which the overall focus has become that of the result. Ultimately the utilitarian philosophy states that the only consideration is that of result and that process or how one gets to that result is completely immaterial (Graafland 2007 p149-155, Velasquez 1998 p73). This is in stark contrast to Chinese culture which built upon the cultural values of Confucianism amongst other philosophies emphasises the importance of process rather than results (Graham and Lam 2003). Although these are cultural considerations the impact upon management styles is quite formidable, as such Western approaches towards management tend to focus on results and speed of transactions were as Chinese approaches tend to f ocus the overall quality of the experience. As such UK management culture many be seen as focusing on contracts and short term transactional results whilst Chinese management cultures may be seen ad focusing largely on the building of longer term relationships over a much longer period of time. Negotiations: Negotiations may be seen as one of the most important measures of difference between Chinese and UK management styles given that the negotiation between a company from each country will highlight the exact differences in cultural terms. This section will now consider a number of specific elements which may be seen as having various degrees of difference between the styles and cultures of both nations. Negotiation in the china is seen as very frustrating and complicated because of the Chinese business culture, the Western businessmen see it as vast different. When comparing to UK businessmen who are very direct and straight forward when negotiating with foreign investors or internal businessmen. when negotiating with the West, both parties would come to agreement, so that the goals are met in a shorter time. Its much more different in China, before doing a business you need to have a middleman Zhong Yong someone in the middle that would put you through during the negotiation with the people involved. Having a middle man is idealist in China and comes at a great advantage, the Zhong Yong helps to facilitate the business activity and might act as a sign or guarantee of confidence from the eastern negotiator Time scales In general terms having considered the cultural considerations in the previous section time scales would seem to be a significant area of cultural difference between UK and Chinese companies. In general terms UK companies and negotiators may be seen as placing a high value on speed of negotiation and getting a final contract signed representing a results based approach. Chinese culture on the other hand may be seen as fuelling an approach in which time is much less valued with negotiations taking much longer over a larger number of meeting in which the process and quality of the negotiating experience is considered as more important than the actual result in the form of a contract. The barriers to entry and business start up in developing countries like China could have a fringe on its management technique and negotiation. Barriers like high level of government intervention, cost, taxes, policies, regulations. In respect to time, a good comparison is shown by a World Bank business survey on how long it takes to start a business in China and in the West. It goes on to show that starting a business in China could take up to 35days and in the UK would take up to 7 days. These barriers to entry shy way foreign investors and migrant (labour).Making it increasingly difficult to work, understand and adapt to another environment. Although things are changing in China with the influence of globalisation. Another key factor for the Western negotiator is communication, if for example the people involved are of different cultures, there is likely to be some language barrier in their method of communication. In the case when two people communicate they rarely talk about the same subject, but different meaning is laid out by each persons own due to culture Herbig,(1997). In negotiating in China, the Western businessmen need to know that conflict might occur where an individual does not know how to behave in the meeting. For example Chinese people read meaning to human behaviour a lot; They sit upright when sitting in chair with both feet on the floor and find it rude to point out your feet at another person. Trust: A concept and perception that last with the Chinese Culture, the importance of trust when doing business in China is highly regarded. Chinese negotiators look out for this in the Western negotiator for example if you did not attend the same school with the person, you just do not know them enough for them to build strong trust right away. They believe first make friend and then do business . The Westerns usually operate in a different manner and are more direct and straight forward, willing to accept your word.(Europe Asia Company Directory 1998) Guanxi One of the key elements to consider in the process of negotiation with Chinese entities is the concept of Guanxi, in general terms Guanxi represents the element of personal connections (Graham and Lam 2003 p39). The concept may be likened largely to that of the Western concept of networking however there a number of fundamental differences in that UK networks often focus on immediate transactions between those in the network and the benefits of such a network are often expected to be honoured at the time such as in reciprocal trading agreements, X offers Y and expects Z to immediately respond with a reciprocal benefit. In the Chinese negotiation process there is the consideration that such networks are based upon much longer term considerations and that a party will give or receive a benefit but may not return or receive the benefit for a long period of time to come. For the Western negotiator this may present a confusing evaluation, on the one hand a negotiation may seem a poor one from a single transaction perspective however in reality the negotiator may have banked a significant level of capital for future use. On the other hand a negotiator may have got what they consider a good deal however the ignoring of reciprocating such a deal in the favour of the other party in future could leave the company in a position of significant difficulty further down the line. Globalisation: The increased level of economic integration or globalisation may be seen as the overall justification for the research into the subject of the differences between Chinese and Western approaches to management and organisational behaviour. Globalisation in the context of Chinese and UK cultures may be seen as coming from three key driving forces, firstly the consideration that many companies since Chinas integration into the wider economy have seen China as a key source of resources be this in form of cheap labour or commodities such as oil and minerals. Secondly there is the consideration that many businesses see China as not a source of materials for export but a market for further development of sales. Finally there is the consideration that China does not simply represent a market and supplier for Western companies but also that China also has its own companies which wish to trade with the West for the same reasons. As such all of these drivers of globalisation bring together a nee d for those involved to understand and negotiate with what at times may be seen as quite opposing sets of cultures. The process of globalisation may be seen as largely a two way process in regard to the changing and acceptance of management cultures. On the one hand those businesses that have undertaken ventures in China have had to adapt to local customs and cultures with those companies such as GM who have localised their management styles and cultures doing significantly better than those such as Ford who had moved into the Chinese market using standardised models (Graham and Lam 2003, Hutchings 2001). However China in its economic integration with the wider world has also had to make concessions which have had a large impact on cultural elements. For instance as part of Chinas ascension to the WTO the Chinese government has had to significantly make recognition of such elements as contracts and intellectual property. Given the unimportance of contracts within the Chinese business culture this may be seen as a key way in which Chinese culture has began to adapt to Western cultural models as muc h as Western companies have had to adapt to Chinese cultural models. A final consideration in that of the globalisation process is the role of the overseas Chinese, a natural characteristic of the Chinese psyche may be seen as the suspicion of foreigners (Graham and Lam 2003). As such the overseas Chinese populations often provide a useful set of intermediaries between two sets of differing cultures in which the on the Chinese side of the supply chain gain the ability to trade with a trusted individual whilst the Western side of the supply chain has an asset in the form of a person who understands the intricacies of both the UK and Chinese cultures. Conclusions: There are many conclusions that can be drawn from the research which has been carried out, in the first instance one can see a direct link between the elements of national culture and management culture for both the Chinese and UK models of management and organisation culture. This has a distinct positive implication for these who may be seen as being able to bridge the gap between these cultures such as the overseas Chinese who on the one hand do not generate the initial suspicion of foreigners which is endemic to the Chinese culture but on the other hand have a deeper understanding of the national culture and thus management culture of the country for which they have settled in, the UK in this case. Other conclusions are that despite the high level of differences between UK and Chinese cultural models there are many elements which although not exactly matching have to a greater or lesser extent a general fit for example the Chinese concept of Guanxi may whist not exactly fitting wi th the Western concept of networking dose none the less have a resonance which allows Western managers to adapt the model to understand the Chinese version. Finally one must consider the distinct difference between UK and Western models of management culture in relation to Chinese models, whist the essay has often used the Western and UK concepts of culture interchangeably given that the UK may be seen as representing the West there are subtle differences when specifically considering the UK in comparison especially with the US version of the concepts considered. In many respects UK management culture may be seen as having a greater chance of success in adapting to Chinese models of management culture than that of the US for reasons which may be seen as owing to historical cultural considerations. For example whist there has been a link draw between the concept of networking and Guanxi the British concept of the old boys network may be seen as even more aligned to the concept than that of the original networking consideration. In addition the general British concept of gentlemanly conduct and a slower pace of life may also be seen as pro viding a greater resonance between Chinese and UK management cultures in comparison to the wider concept of Western comparisons.

Muscarinic Acetylcholine Receptors In The Pig Urinary Bladder Biology Essay

Muscarinic Acetylcholine Receptors In The Pig Urinary Bladder Biology Essay Background and purpose. This investigation sought to identify the principal muscarinic receptor subtype associated with contraction of the pig bladder. Additionally, comparisons of muscarinic receptor expression in the pig bladder and caudate nucleus were conducted. Experimental approach. Contractility of isolated strips of pig bladder was assessed using isotonic tension recordings in an organ bath. Radioligand binding to particulate preparations from pig caudate nucleus and bladder detrusor was assessed using [3H]-quinuclidinylbenzilate. Key results. The results obtained from the contractile response experiment showed that the best antagonists for pig bladder contractions were methoctramine, pirnezepine and oxybutynin, this was according to the pEC50 data. These results led to the identification of the presence of M1 and M3 receptor subtypes in the bladder. Whereas M1 and M2 receptor subtypes were found to occur in the brain. Pirenzepine exhibited the smallest Rmax value, and was therefore the most successful antagonist. Whereas 4-DAMP had the largest Rmax value, identifying this as the worst antagonist. Conclusions and Implications. It is clear that M3 muscarinic receptors are found in the bladder, but are absent in the brain. This is made more certain as 4-DAMP showed fairly low affinity for muscarinic receptors in the bladder, but its affinity was higher than that recorded in the brain which is known to contain a low amount of M3 receptors. 4-DAMP also has the highest affinity recorded in the brain, due to binding at the M1 muscarinic receptor. Introduction There are five distinct types of muscarinic receptors (M1,M2,M3,M4,M5), all of which belong to the same family of G-protein-coupled receptors. M1 receptors are found mainly in the cortex and hippocampus of the brain, but also on the CNS and peripheral neurons. These receptors are excitatory, this excitation is produced by a decrease in potassium ions which causes membrane depolarization. M2 receptors exert inhibitory effects; they are present in the heart and so are of little importance in this experiment. M3 receptors reside in smooth muscle. These receptors are excitatory and produce vasodilatation and bronchodilatation, via an increase in intracellular calcium levels. As this experiment includes analysis on the effects of muscarinic antagonists on muscarinic receptors in the brain and bladder, it is mainly the M1 and M3 receptors which are being concentrated on. The aim of the experiment was to add a range of antagonists pig bladder tissue, and then recording the effect each had on the tissues contraction. The five antagonists used in the experiment were atropine, pirenzepine, methoctramine, 4-DAMP and oxybutynin. Each of the antagonists used are able to bind to muscarinic receptors, but they bind to different subtypes as they have differing affinities. Atropine is a non-selective antagonist, which acts via competitive inhibition of muscarinic acetylcholine receptors. It is a naturally occurring alkaloid which can be found in solanaceous plants, for example the deadly nightshade (Atropa belladonna). Atropine causes anti-cholinergic effects such as mydriasis, salivary inhibition, tachycardia, inhibition of GI motility and smooth muscle relaxation. It can be used clinically to treat anticholinesterase poisoning, bradycardia and GI hypermotility. Pirenzepine is a muscarinic receptor antagonist, and is slightly selective for the M1 sub-type. It is used clinically for the treatment of peptic ulcers, whereby it inhibits gastric acid secretion. Methoctramine is a slightly M2 selective antagonist. It has also been found to show selectivity for cardiac M2 muscarinic receptors, but to have low affinity for both vascular M2 and ganglionic M1 receptors. 4-DAMP is a slightly M3 selective antagonist, although it has only low affinity. There is no clinical use for 4-DAMP, it is mainly used in experiments for the analysis of muscarinic receptors. Oxybutynin is a non-selective muscarinic antagonist. It is used clinically to decrease muscle spasms of the bladder in patients suffering from frequent urination or urge incontinence. During the contractile experiment these antagonists will be used to determine which of the muscarinic receptors are present in the bladder, and which occur in the greatest amount. The same antagonists will then be used in the radioligand experiment, to compare each of their effects on brain tissue. Once both experiments are performed, the results can be used to compare the presence of muscarinic effects in the bladder and brain tissue. Materials and Methods Contractile response studies Strips of urinary detrusor were stored overnight at 4  °C in Krebs Ringer solution [composition (mM): NaCl (118); KCl (4.9), MgCl2 (1.2); KH2PO4 (1.2); D-glucose (12); NaHCO3 (25); CaCl2 (1.3); gassed with O2:CO2 (95:5)], as previously described (Lot and Wilson, 1994). On the morning of the experiment, tissue was removed from the refrigerator and allowed to equilibrate to room temperature. Thereafter, strips were mounted in an organ bath at 37  °C in Krebs Ringer solution. Contractility was monitored using isotonic transducers connected to CED 1502 amplifiers and recorded on a personal computer running Spike 2 software (CED, Cambs, UK). A steady baseline was then achieved for 20 minutes before 1ml 3M KCl was added to 50ml of Krebs solution (in water bath), to achieve a final concentration of 60mM. The tissue was then washed out three times once a maximal response was recorded, and this was then left for a further 20 minutes until a steady baseline was achieved once again. 10 dilutions containing varying concentrations of carbachol were then prepared in LP4 tubes, using 3-fold dilutions. A cumulative-concentration curve was created by adding the preparation containing the lowest concentration of carbachol to the organ bath first. After waiting for 7 minutes, the next preparation with a higher concentration was added. This process was repeated without washing out the tissue, until there was no further increase in tissue tone recorded. Once this part of the experiment was completed, the tissue was washed out 3 times with warm Krebs solution. This was followed by the addition of the putative antagonist and the tissue was left for 60 minutes. After achieving a steady baseline, a cumulative-concentration curve was created by carrying out the same process with increasing concentrations of carbachol as before; but this time in the presence of the putative antagonist. The results were printed off once the process was completed. Radioligand binding studies Radioligand binding to total particulate preparations from the pig was conducted essentially as previously described (Alexander et al., 1994). Briefly, tissue was homogenised in 10-30 volumes of 0.1 M phosphate buffer (pH 7.5) using an Ultra-Turrax homogeniser. After centrifugation at 30 000 g for 15 minutes at 4 °C, the supernatant layer was discarded. This homogenisation/centrifugation cycle was repeated twice more and the resulting pellet was re-suspended in 10 volumes. After storage at -20  °C, thawed tissue was incubated in a total volume of 500  µL 0.1 M phosphate buffer (pH 7.5), containing 0.25 nM [3H]-QNB for 30 minutes at 37  °C. Rapid filtration with repeated washing allowed isolation of bound radioligand, which was then estimated using liquid scintillation counting. A dilution curve was prepared using 10-fold dilutions once the drug was provided, this contained the highest concentration. 32 LP4 tubes were labelled 1-32 and these were placed in test tube racks. 50  µl aliquots of different concentrations of drug were then added to tubes 5-28, with each being made up to 500  µl by adding 450  µl of buffer. 50  µl of buffer was added to tubes 1-4, these acted as a control whilst atropine was added to the remained tubes 29-32. 400  µl of the radioligand was added to each of the tubes, with 50  µl of particulate preparation being added to the tubes in groups of 10 at 12 minute intervals. Once this process was completed, the tubes were incubated in a water bath at 37 °C for 30 minutes. The Whatman GF/B filters were placed in the 10-place manifold and were wet using the buffer solution. Ten of the tubes were then removed from the water bath, and 3ml of ice-cold buffer was added to each of them. They were filtered immediately after this process. Once two additions of 3ml of ice-cold buffer had taken place on each filter paper, they were washed. This was repeated for each of the LP4 tubes, once incubation in the water bath was halted on their removal. The filter papers were then placed into labelled scintillation vials, they were then analysed. Data analysis and statistical procedures There are equations which can be used to analyse the data collected in the experiment, once the information has been put into a concentration curve graph. The first equation used is the Gaddum equation: pKi = log (CR 1) log [Ant] In order to make use of this equation it is neccessary to work out the EC50, which is the effective concentration of drug required to give 50% of the maximum response. This EC50 value can be obtained from the concentration curve, as it is at 50% of the maximum response on the graph. The results collected from the graphs were Molar, these can be converted to  µM by multiplying the values by 106. These values can now be used to produce a concentration ratio, indicating the EC50 response with and without the presence of the antagonist. Graph 1 shows bladder tissue contractile responses to histamine in the presence of different concentrations of promethazine. The EC50 values recorded for histamine and promethazine were -6.5 and -5 respectively. By converting these Molar values to  µM by using the technique stated above, histamine 0.316  µM and promethazine 3.16  µM can be inputted into the Gaddum equation. The pKi value which is calculated in this equation is an indication of potency of the antagonist used, and a high pKi indicates a high affinity for the receptor. The pKi in this case was -8.5. As the radioligand was being carried out, calculations were made in order to work out the Kd and Bmax. The equation used in the radioligand binding experiment was the Cheng-Prusoff equation: IC50/Ki = 1 + [A]/Kd To work out the pKi, the same process as the contractile response experiment is used. Then the pIC50, the concentration of the antagonist which displaces 50% of the ligand, can be calculated. It is then necessary to work out the IC50 value to be used in the Cheng-Prusoff equation, this is achieved by -log of the pIC50 value. Finally, -log of the Ki obtained from the equation gives a pKi value of 8.2. Drugs, chemicals, reagents and other materials Porcine material (from pigs of the modern Hybrid white strain, either sex, approximately 50-70 kg) was obtained from an abattoir and transported rapidly to the laboratory on ice. [3H]-QNB (specific activity 1591 GBq mmole-1) was obtained from Amersham Pharmacia Biotech (Herts, UK), while muscarinic receptor ligands were all obtained from Sigma (Dorset, UK). All drug and molecular target nomenclature conforms to the British Journal of Pharmacologys Guide to Receptors and Channels (Alexander et al., 2008). Results Table 1. Contractile response results: Drug pEC50 Rmax Concentration Ratio pKi Atropine 4.5 131 20.9 9.1 Pirenzepine 4.3 109 42.6 7.4 Methoctramine 4.3 50.2 7.1 4-DAMP 4.6 139 37.9 9.2 Oxybutynin 4.3 210.5 8.1 Water 4.7 116 5.0 Table 1 shows the results obtained from the contractile response experiment, whereby the pig bladder tissue was exposed to five antagonists and the contractility of the tissue was measured. Table 2. Radioligand binding results: Brain Bladder Drug pKi SEM pKi SEM Atropine 9.8 0.1 9.8 0.1 Pirenzepine 7.7 0.2 8.0 0.6 Methoctramine 8.0 0.0 7.7 0.1 4-DAMP 9.2 0.0 8.4 0.1 Oxybutynin 7.4 0.0 7.8 0.0 Carbachol 4.8 0.1 4.3 0.0 Table 2 shows the results obtained from the radioligand experiment, which identified the different muscarinic receptors found in the brain and bladder tissue. Discussion and conclusions The conclusions that can be made from the results are that the main types of muscarinic receptor involved in the contraction of the bladder are the M1 and M3 receptor. Whereas, M1 and M2 muscarinic receptor subtypes occur in the brain. Therefore, an ideal drug for therapeutic treatment of urge incontinence and bladder dysfunction would be M3 selective. This would not have any adverse effects in the brain, as M3 receptors are not present in this part of the body. Bladder contractions occur due to activation of muscarinic receptors leading to an increase in intracellular calcium, which causes contraction of the smooth muscle. The results collected in the contractile response experiment were due to antagonism of M1 and M3 receptor subtypes. 4-DAMP recorded a pKi value of 9.2, a value which corresponded with the M3 subtype and was the highest of all the antagonists. This antagonist is M3 selective but also has affinity for the M1 muscarinic receptor; this may have caused its high pKi value to be due to binding at this muscarinic receptor subtype. Atropine recorded the second highest pKi, 9.1 .This was to be expected as it is a non-selective antagonist, with high affinity for each of the muscarinic receptor subtypes able to cause contraction of the bladder tissue. Oxybutynin recorded the third highest pKi value, 8.1. Oxybutynin has a slightly higher affinity for the M3 muscarinic receptor, therefore the pKi value is due to binding at this receptor subtype. Pirenzepine, being an M1 selective antagonist, would be expected to have a similarly high pKi to 4-DAMP. This was not the case as pirenzepine only recorded a pKi of 7.4, a value expected to be obtained from M3 selective antagonists. Methoctramine recorded a pKi value of 7.1, the lowest of all the antagonists. Although it is an M2 selective antagonist, the pKi value leads to the conclusion that contractile response is due to the presence of M1 or M3 receptors. The results obtained in the radioligand experiment revealed that mostly M1 and M2 muscarinic receptors occur in the brain. Methoctramine has low affinity at the M1 receptor, even so, the results recorded in the experiment showed the antagonist to have high affinity. The pKi range of the M2 receptor subtype for methoctramine is 7.8-8.3. Therefore, the recorded pKi value of 8.0 suggests the presence of M2 receptor subtypes in the brain. The pKi of 8.0 is quite far from the pKi range of methoctramine for the M3 receptor subtype, leading to the conclusion that there are a small number of M3 receptors in the brain. Atropine, perenzepine, 4-DAMP and oxybutynin antagonists are able to act at the M1 muscarinic receptor and each of these antagonists possess similar affinities for the receptor. Atropine (pKi 9.8) and oxybutynin (pKi 7.4) are both non-selective antagonists, so as in the contractile response will have fairly high affinities for any of the muscarinic receptor subtypes present in the brain. Perenzepine recorded a pKi value of 7.7; this failed to fall into any of the pKi ranges expected for the muscarinic receptors. The value was closest to the M1 subtype range (7.8-8.5). The SEM recorded was the highest of all the antagonists (0.2) concluding that some of the results may have been anomalous, with most of the pKi values falling within the M1 range. The Pki range of pirenzepine for the M3 receptor subtype is 6.7-7.1. The pKi recorded, much like that of methoctramine, was quite far from the M3 range. 4-DAMP recorded a high pKi of 9.2. This pKi value fell into the ranges for both the M1 and M3 muscarinic receptors, showing high affinity of the antagonist for both subtypes. In this experiment the pKi value recorded was with respect to the M1 receptor, not the M3 subtype. The non-selective muscarinic antagonist oxybutynin is the principle drug used to treat urge incontinence. This antagonistic drug possesses anticholinergic and antispasmolytic properties, which together act on the bladder to inhibit micturition. However, there are significant adverse effects associated with this choice of therapeutic treatment; such as dry mouth, constipation and blurred vision. These side effects highlight the non-selectivity of oxybutynin as each occurs due to antagonism at the M1 receptor. The radioligand binding experimental results show that oxybutynin has a pKi of 7.8 in the bladder, which is only slightly higher than the pKi of 7.4 recorded in the brain. These pKi values indicate that oxybutynin is slightly more selective towards the M3 receptor subtype present in the bladder. However, it is evident that the antagonist also has significant affinity towards the M1 and M2 receptor subtypes which are present in the brain. There were a few limitations encountered in both parts of the experiment. The contractile response experiment was carried out for a fairly short amount of time, more reliable results could be obtained by increasing the amount of time that the experiment is undertaken. As not all of the tissues used in the experiment were of the same source or size, the results obtained were inconsistent the responses recorded were of varying degrees. By ensuring every piece of tissue is the same size, more accurate and reliable could be obtained. Human error when collecting and interpreting the data in the experiment could have caused considerable variations in the results recorded. During the radioligand binding experiment complications arose due to contamination, with various external factors such as temperature and buffer strength affecting the results.