The poem ‘After Apple Picking’ by Robert Frost as one the most celebrated and widely read poems of the Romantic Period

The poem ‘After Apple Picking' by Robert Frost is one the most celebrated and widely read poems of the Romantic Period. The poem was drawn from Frosts' own life, his recurrent losses, everyday tasks, and his loneliness. After Apple Picking is the poem that links Frost heavily to the Romantic Tradition as he follows the traditional Romantic model, in which he displays a number of Romantic qualities, mainly a connection with the transcendent and spiritual, Individualism, Primitivism and Nature as a source of reflection and guidance. A characteristic of Romanticism was the belief that emotions and relationships were not just important, but were the very currency of life (Individualism). After Apple Picking focused on ones deep feelings of suffering but also a sense of hope and transcendence. This is conveyed in the quote â€Å"Of Apple picking: I am overtired Of the great harvest I myself desired†. The dramatic monologue, diction and modality shows the struggles of the man. The persona has too many goals and is regretting his choices in life, showing feelings of regret and exhaustion. Individualism is a major aspect to Romantic poetry and is expressed through the example as it shows a single person and his expression of individual feelings. Romantic literature tends to have a theme of favouring the pastoral over the urban way of living. After Apple Picking is set in a rural background of a farm which is a critical aspect in determining that Frost is a poet of the Romantic Tradition. The symbolism of the ‘great harvest' as the goals and dreams of the man links it back to the Primitivism and the experiences of the common man. The other example of â€Å"Empty Barrels† symbolise Frosts regrets at having not fulfilled all of his lives dreams and ambitions. This primitive state is a common occurrence in many Romantic period poems and the emphasis on rural life adds to the proof that After Apple Picking and Frost are part of the Romantic Tradition. In After Apple Picking nature is used greatly to create a deeper value and more meaningful answers to life. This is nature acting as source of reflection and guidance. His emphasis on emotion rather than logic clarifies that the poem is indeed Romantic. The fist person narrative and reference to nature; â€Å"woodchucks†, â€Å"apples†, â€Å"boughs† help create a reflective tone in the poem. Frost capitalises on the reflective tone and attempts to use nature as a source of value and meaning within his life. Romantic poems also had a connection with the transcendent and links to the spiritual. Frost makes certain biblical allusions to Jacob's ladder and heaven shown in the quote â€Å"My long two-pointed ladder's sticking through a tree Toward heaven still†. This is used to emphasise the need to connect with the transcendent and the divine. Frost connects with the divine while creating a positive connotation to nature through the apples, which are a gift from God. Their has been a constant battle as to whether Robert Frost is indeed a Romantic poet. This poem conforms that Robert Frost is a Romantic poet as the many characteristics of the Romantic Tradition have greatly been expressed in his work and especially in After Apple Picking as shown in the many examples. The poem includes many of these characteristics and ultimately â€Å"it depicted emotional matter, in an imaginative form†.

Martin Luther King Jr.’s Role in Advancing the Black Civil Rights

Looking back at the advancement of civil rights throughout the period 1865-1968, it is understandable to see Martin Luther King as the major player and leader. He was seen by many as a figurehead of the campaign, with his ‘mesmerism's oratorical ability he gave a lot of people inspiration and a man to lead the line to the end of racism in the United States. Undoubtedly, Martin Luther King did a lot to advance lack civil rights until his death in 1968, namely the 1964 Civil Rights Act.However, many historians until around the sass were too easy to go for the king centric approach in which black civil rights started in 1955 and ended in 1968. Not to take any credit away from King, the civil rights movement far exceeded of that during this period. Of curse and with great reason, resistance to race discrimination had been developing ever since the start of race discrimination itself, but it arguably only darted to pick up real pace with the 1863 Emancipation proclamation and the pa ssing of the Fourteenth Amendment of 1868.This gave black people De Cure rights across all stated, But, discrimination continued throughout this period with Jim Crow legislation and the ASK among other things, the fight continued for De facto rights. In response, many organizations emerged. These organizations attracted widespread attention and support with their mostly non-violent action, fighting for not only legislation but to gather public support.These organizations and Individuals existed ND made valuable progress long before Martin Luther King and continued long after his death, as cited by veteran civil rights activist Ella Baker, ‘Martin didn't make the movement, the movement made Martin'. Outside factors cannot be understated with the media, politicians and Judges being some of the few also Involved. But It Is natural to want to put Individuals responsible for great moments In history, It Is questionable whether Martin Luther King was the most Important facto towards the advancement of Civil Rights between 1863 and 1968.

Rodolfo Furniture Store Budget Analysis

Rodolfo Furniture Store Budget Analysis Edric Hernandez-Cruz Gisela Franqui-Atiles Valerie Santiago-Rodriguez Yachira Rodriguez-Cuevas University of Phoenix PR Campus ACC / 561PR Rafael Marrero Diaz November 9th, 2012 Rodolfo Furniture Store Budget analysis is important for any corporation. From small businesses to large enterprises; all organizations evaluate the numbers in order to get a picture of where the company stands economically. This will serve as a basis in order to make decisions as to the direction the entity would like to go.Erroneous decisions can lead to bad decisions that may end up in losses for the company. Rodolfo Furniture is on the verge of making a shift from a furniture maker to distributer. Yet only if the ethical accounting practices have been place into the production of the analysis; can Rodolfo Furniture decide on its future. Budgeting: Risks Associated with Sales Forecast The preparation of the usually begins with a sales forecast. The sales forecast and the anticipated inventory levels determine the production to be budgeted.Furthermore, the company’s sales forecast along with its experience, and collection policies determine the cash inflows for the company. In the scenario, Rodolfo uses his company’s flexible budget, as a guide, to determine the costs that should have been for an attained level of activity. For, instance if his company intended to manufacture or produce 50,000 units, the budget must have been prepared for 49,000 units, 51,000 units, 52,000, and so on. Major risks in sales forecasting Production risks In a manufacturing environment, like the illustration Rodolfo’s scenario, sales forecast determine production schedules.The companies use such forecasts to determine the exact amounts of raw materials and production issues; they need to have an idea of what they are to produce. Two problems can occur, sales under forecast or sales over forecast. Under forecast sales refers to the fact when the m anufacturer may not produce enough product to meet customers’ demands. This will result in an increase in production times which in turn may increase costs; this will also frustrate customers and may even lead the company to losses.In the other hand, over forecast sales refers to the amounts of raw material to be purchased and excessive amounts of finished products to be sold. This excessiveness of raw materials may tie up the capital available to use and the excess finished product will make the company incur in warehouse storage costs; both excesses if repeated constantly may put the company at risk of bankruptcy. Resource risks When sales are over forecast, underutilized workers may have to be reduced. This action will result in a bad image for the company and will break the trust/bond that was built between the company and the workers as they will feel betrayed.If the sales are under forecast, it will happen the exactly opposite, the company will lack of workers to meet d emands. This can result in bad image, losses, service levels will be affected as workers would have to work overtime to cover for the company which can lead to sicknesses and excessive absenteeism. Financial risks This type of errors affects the company’s financial health. The excess of material will lead to excessive costs of unnecessary storage since the excess should have never occurred. Also, over forecast can result in the purchase of unnecessary machinery.Furthermore, if the company forecasts erroneously in a consistent manner, this can lead the company into a raise in the interest by lenders. Sales forecast are prepared using data available, the more reliable and certain the data is the more accurate the budget is expected to be. Ethical considerations in the preparation of budget Before the development of a budget it is wise to consider the ethical involvements that can be present during it process. Incentives to lie and cheat are Rodolfo tempting actions for managers .Horngren (2008) stated, â€Å"It is common for managers of larger units with more resources to have higher pay, higher status, and greater prospects for promotion† (p. 301). This is common ethical flaw from the workers. The organizations have to prepare ways to identify, minimize and discourage this kind of behaviors. Subsequent use of the budget After completing the budget process, the information populated contains useful components that benefit the manager’s strategies behavior. According to Horngren (2008) there are four major benefits of effective budgeting.The mention benefits are: evaluation of activities, formalization of planning, performance evaluation, communication and coordination. By following the Rodolfo Furniture Scenario the four major benefits helps the mention company presented at the outgoing sentences. For the first benefit the main idea is the reevaluation of the actual activities and the evaluation of the opportunities to embrace new ones. The s cenario display at the week 2 assignment, the foreign competitors surpass the actual company production because of the high-tech solutions use by them.The first benefits assist with the decision of changes in this matter. With the formalization of planning is an essential phase that every company has to experience. This benefit encourages managers to prepare contingency plans for the performing of immediate actions, pre-planned, at the moment of crisis. For the performance evaluation the most important fact is that the results of the recent analyze performance helps to take a more precise action because of the recent events than comparing with the last year performance.For the Rodolfo Furniture Scenario applies, because of the latest changes in the business, related to their company’s specialty, that is affecting gravely to his sales and requires an instance action. Lastly with communication and coordination this process allows the managers to create a macro communication bec ause involves the input of employees from top to bottom and vice versa. Consider how the organization’s code of ethics requires an ethics analysis for any performance tool. Companies have developed a code of ethics or conduct as a tool to prevent the misuse of power, fraud, conflict f interest, money, and other. Mostly all ethical dilemmas start with dysfunctional incentive, poor supervision, and wrong personal habits. To ensure the reliability of the information and prevent situation of misleading or faulty information from accountants the Sarbanes-Oxley Act was created. This 2002 Act requires regulations in the financial practice and a code of ethics â€Å"for seniors financial officers, applicable to its principal financial officer and comptroller or principal accounting officer, or persons performing similar functions† (Horngren, 2008, Chapter  1).Now managers has to approved and been concern of the budget. Also requires external auditors to examine the company. These regulations in the accounting system search for the reliability of the information provided. But it needs high ethical standards from the personnel. The Institute of Management Accountants develop a code of conduct require to CPAs and CMAs that integrated integrity, confidentiality, credibility and competence. Ethics should be the priority in a company. To encourage others and prevent unethical behavior, unnecessary pressures should be recognize and detained.Sometimes dysfunctional incentive arises when managers or accountings are assessed on the performance concerning to budget amounts. The ethical standards of an organization are necessary to guide, measure, and analyze the performance of the personnel. Most important a code of ethic is essential to maintain the integrity and confidence of the company. References Horngren, C. T. (2008). Introduction to Management Accounting (14th ed. ). Retrieved from The University of Phoenix eBook Collection database..

The Character of Genji in THE TALE OF GENJI Essay

The Character of Genji in THE TALE OF GENJI - Essay Example For political reason, Hikaru is shown demoted to a status of a commoner. He attains the title with the surname Minamoto and starts his career as an Imperial Officer. Analysis of the character of Genji would not be similar to that of the other protagonists of the general novel - classical or modern. The novel is presented in a psychological paradigm therefore; the character presentation or the trajectory of the character development of the novel must be represented or drawn in psychological realm. A close introspection to the character of Genji will launch its readers to a realm pretty much different from the apparent representation of the character, just mundane to the Japanese chronicle. The trajectory of the character development for Genji appears to its readers with a broad spectrum. The positive and the negative aspect and both with the extreme appeal are well synchronised and presented elaborately within a single character representation. The fall and rise of the character in literature is evident and the character of Genji in this regard is not an exception either. But the rise or the development of the character of Genji is well coordinated and framed psychologically. The maturity noticed in the character of Genji and his maturity is shown with due time crafted out logic and it does not appear all of a sudden in front of its readers. The events and the course of incidents with due time makes Genji more matured and helps the reader along with the protagonist himself to have a wider and a broader perspective of world with a more edged and matured world view. During the initial years of Genji, he was noticed as an impulsive and emotional masculine with strength, courage and valour. But with due time, Genji was shown to be grown up as a matured male who keeps the capacity to balance his personal life with that of the professional. With tremendous display of the strength of character, he shows the

TOYOTA Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

TOYOTA - Research Paper Example Introduction Toyota Motor Corporation was started in 1933 in Japan. It is a business dealer in automobile as well as finance services and housing deals. The company stands as the leader in the automobile industry followed by general motors and other car manufacturing industries (Jeffrey, 2004). The company has its wings spread all over the world supplying cars. It makes about 40% of all vehicles in the world selling half in its domestic market and the rest international. It has 511 subsidiaries and 217 associate companies by the end of March, 2011. It has been argued that the company sells its merchandise at very high cost leading to abnormal profits (Bill, 2011). The credit rating of Toyota has gone down from AA to AA minus accordingly to the scores rates. RATIO ANALYSIS FOR TOYOTA MOTOR CORPORATIONS Liquidity Ratios Current Ratio = Total Current Assets/ Total Current Liabilities 1.02 1.03 1.08 Acid Test = Total quick assets/ Total current liabilities 0.89 0.90 0.95 (Total quick ass et = total current assets minus inventory) 9937715.00 9816617.00 10226262.00 Activity Ratios Inventory turnover= cost of goods/ inventory 11.33 11.67 13.34 Day sales outstanding = receivables/ sales/360 109.35 104.12 96.44 Total ASSET Turnover (TAT)= total assets/ inventory 19.62 19.86 21.16 Leveraged ratios Equity ratio = total owners’ equity/ total assets 0.35 0.35 0.35 Debt ratio/Debt to asset Ratio= total liabilities/ total assets 0.65 0.65 0.65 Debt to Equity Ratio = Total Liabilities / Owners Equity or Net Worth 1.87 1.83 1.86 Profit Ratios Gross Profit Margins (GPM) = (Net gross Profit / Net Sales) x 100 12.52 11.96 10.10 Net Profit Margin (NPM)= (Net profit/net sales)*100 2.15 1.11 -2.13 Return on capital invested (ROCI) 0.05 0.03 -0.05 Return on Assets (ROA) = (Net Profit / Total Assets) x 100 1.42 0.74 -1.49 Return on Equity= (Net Profit / Net Worth or Owners Equity) x 100 (Wilbert, 2007) 4.07 2.09 -4.27 Shareholders return ratios Dividend yield = dividend per share / market price 0.62 0.56 2.46 Price earnings ratio= market per share/ earnings per share 0.62 1.21 -0.29 Income statements FOR TOYOTA MOTOR CORPORATIONS 2011 2010 2009 Revenue 18993688.00 18950973.00 20529570.00 cost of revenue 16615326.00 16683797.00 18455800.00 Gross profit 2378362.00 2267176.00 2073770.00 Total selling/general/ administrative expenses 1910083.00 2119660.00 2534781.00 other operating expenses 0.00 0.00 0.00 operating income 468279.00 147516.00 -461011.00 less other non-operating expenses 19253.00 30886.00 -189140.00 income before tax 563290.00 291468.00 -560381.00 less income tax 312821.00 92664.00 -56442.00 net income before extra-ordinary items 250469.00 198804.00 -503939.00 MI -57302.00 -34756.00 24278.00 equity in affiliates 215016.00 45408.00 42724.00 net Income 408183.00 209456.00 -436937.00 dividend paid (figures in millions) 156791.00 141120.00 313551.00 number of shares (figure in millions) 3135.91 3135.99 3140.42 dividend per share 50.00 45.00 99.84 earn ings per share 130.17 66.79 -139.13 market price 80.54 80.54 40.51 Balance sheet FOR TOYOTA MOTOR CORPORATION 2011 2010 2009 total receivables 5,769,135.00 5,481,099.00 5,499,378.00 Total inventory 1465876 1429363 1383782 Total current assets 11403591 11245980 11610044 Total assets 28761679.00 28387556.00 29284861.00 Total current liabilities 11173520.00 10932580.00 10787814.00 total liabilities 18737812.00 18371123.00 19043857.00 total equity 10023867.00 10016433.00

Expansion & growth is the topic to write about Essay

Expansion & growth is the topic to write about - Essay Example Later, in the 16th century, California became under the control of Spanish and British colonizers. Gradually, the settlers began to control the indigenous population. The Bear Flag Revolt in the year 1846 in California is symbolic of the rebellious attitude of the settlers and the formation of California Republic. The California Gold Rush (say, between1848 and1855) is another major period in the history of California. During this period, the influx of immigrants in search of gold changed the distribution of population in California. Later, the Compromise of 1850 led to the formation of California as a free state within the United States of America. Earlier than European colonization, California was sparsely populated because the Native Americans used to settle in different areas of California. The European settlement resulted influx of immigrants and rapid urbanization. To be specific, the California Gold Rush or the influx of gold-seekers resulted in the rapid urbanization of California. The small settlements in California rapidly transformed into towns and cities. Now, California enjoys the largest gross state product (GSP) among the states within the United States of America. Ignacio Gonzalez stated that â€Å"In February 2001, California’s unemployment rate dropped to 4.5 percent, the lowest level since the late 1960s† (351). The growth in GSP is most important because it represents the expansion and growth of California. In the present condition, the Californian economy depends upon international trade and commerce. Transportation facilities in California consist of the network of roads (freeways, expressways and highways), airways (commercial and general aviation), seaports (for example, Port of Los Angeles) and rail lines (intercity rail lines, light rail systems etc). Summing, the expansion and growth of California from a small settlement area to a free state and its development is interconnected

Evidence Based Paper Research Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Evidence Based - Research Paper Example In United States, the Card Vascular Disease (CVD) has become a serious cause of death, especially dangerous for the diabetic patients. The Card Vascular Disease (CVD) correlates with the different levels of plasma cholesterol and triglyceride contained particles. To increase the Card Vascular Disease (CVD), there are many types of lipids by containing those particles, which promote the plaque formation between the tissues (only transporting lipids are not harmful for the tissues) to increase the risk factors of diseases. Cardiovascular diseases are due to high level of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, elevated level of triglyceride and low level of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) (Runhua Hou, 2009). LDL-C level should be lowered to avoid CVD. The patients are treated with multiple drugs to achieve the goal of reducing its level 30% below the baseline. Some patients can be treated with single drug, but other needs more drugs including statins, bile acid sequestrants (BAS) and ezetimibe. Medical research has proved that there is positive relationship between Low Density Lipoprotein and the coronary heart disease. The nursing process to treat the patients has proved that the Statins drug is very beneficial for the heart patients to lower the disease risks. Statins are safe to use by mixing it with other drugs to benefit the patients for cholesterol-lowering therapy (Lawrence Baruch, 2008). Ezetimibe is mainly used to reduce the amount of lipids so also known as cholesterol absorption inhibitors. It blocks the passage of lipids through the intestine. Ezetimibe is used as monotherapy or it is combined with smvastatin (Lawrence Baruch, 2008).A high concentration of LDL-c causes hypercholesterolemia (hFL) and premature coronary heart diseases (Christos Pitsavos, 2008). Decreasing the level of LDL-C is the first requirement to reduce the risk of cardiovascular diseases. The National Cholesterol Education Program Adult

Together We Stand Letter Outline Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Together We Stand Letter Outline - Case Study Example The survey will involve establishing the relationship between exposure to the industrial waste and severity of the new disease. The study will involve finding health details of people living next to the factory’s dumpsites. A direct correlation between severity of the disease and nearness to the dumpsite will indicate that the factory is the main cause of the problem (Tilden, 2010). A negative correlation index will nullify the hypothesis that relates the disease to factory waste. The study assumed that people living next to the dumpsite have had minimal movements. The survey also assumed that the factory dumps its waste constantly throughout the year. In the study, I also assumed that the industry’s waste have minimal cumulative effect on the health of a victim. Finally, the analysis also considered the age of a person to be independent from the effects of the chemicals (Bond, 1993). During my investigation, I established that people associated the new illness with the evil spirits. Others believed that immigrants who were settling in their town from foreign countries propagated the

Mobile Phones Marketing Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

Mobile Phones Marketing - Case Study Example As wireless technologies evolve the coming mobile revolution will bring dramatic and fundamental changes to the world. This revolution has already begun and is gaining momentum. The revolution will impact numerous facets of our daily lives and the way business is conducted and will provide important data in real time to assist decision makers exert great influence on communications between businesses and their customers and transform the way we live our lives. The challenges facing mobile services, such as changes in business strategies, investment risk, limitations in mobile devices, networking problems, infrastructure constraints, security concerns, and user distrust in mobile applications and these provoke the researcher's issues such as killer applications, usability, user interfaces, mobile access to databases, and agent technologies. To remain competitive, mobile-device vendors, developers, and network operators must provide end users with a rich and satisfying experience. Mark eting have a great role in promoting wider and broader concept of IT business. Now we should see what are Apple iPhone and RIM Blackberry Smart Phones and what all concepts and business models have been used by both. Data is mainly collected through secondary sources. Collection of information is called a data. Data is of two types. They are primary data and secondary data. Primary data are those which are collected a fresh and for the first time and thus happen to be original in character. Secondary data are those which have already been collected by someone else and which have already been passed through statistical process. Secondary data may be published or unpublished data .For this particular study secondary data used is "Market led strategic change" of Prof. Nigel F. Piercy, which is used as marketing tool and its concept. Secondary data is used for preparing company profile, and previous reports. Apple iPhone and RIM Blackberry: With all of the millions of iPhones already used by highly satisfied users including many corporate executives Apple has been pushed to add features to the iPhone to make it easier for IT staff to manage and integrate into the existing systems. This will enable iPhone users to gain access to server updates pushed from Exchange as they are updated on the server, rather than requested by the client at regular intervals like a typical email program. "When Apple announced that the iPhone would incorporate Exchange support through ActiveSync, they specifically pointed out some shortcomings of RIM's server-based system." (Kim 2008). Apple also highlighted the thousand of existing web-based applications that already work on the iPhone. One major challenge Apple faces in bumping the iPhone up to 3G is that it will require more battery power to operate and the iPhone already has significantly shorter battery life than comparing with other phones. So the company will need to improve the device's battery life but for the current users frequently need to recharge their battery every day. "Apple has given technology managers their iPhone wish list in full in an effort to make its phone more business friendly. The mission: Lure enough enterprises to the iPhone so Apple can hit its 10 million unit goal by the end of 2008." (Dignan 2008). Apple IPhone is the multimedia mobile phone, which enable internet connectivity with touch screen, virtual keyboard, camera phone and portable media player (ipod) along

American Government Personal Statement Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

American Government - Personal Statement Example It is feared only a percentage of payment of benefits will be raised from FICA taxes, thus causing an imbalance that will need to be found from the Social Security Trust Fund, which as years go by will diminish. Recent economic events have increased levels of unemployment; meaning less people are paying into the Social Security system. Some may invest into an unsuitable private system or none at all; this raises questions as to what would happen to them and their surviving relatives in the event of disability/retirement or death, thus the effectiveness of privatisation is doubtful. For those who invest privately, this may mean better benefits are paid, than the Social Security system offers (Shipman, 1995). However, an element of risk concerns private investment, whereby people could lose out if private companies collapse/become bankrupt due to the economy (or due to dishonest investments), and that amounts paid could vary according to stock markets (Campbell and Feldstein, 2001). If Social Security is privatised, I will need to give greater thought to the future, much earlier. Private plans need to be put in place to ensure financial stability in retirement, and in case of long-term disability or death.

Organizations and Behaviour Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 1

Organizations and Behaviour - Essay Example At Tesco the focus is on young people and hence it looks at providing the opportunities for the people in their working lives. Culture helps the employees bind them together with their colleagues, customers and their communities. They aim at creating trust by having a culture which is anchored in truth. Tesco have the culture which is characterised by a collective desire to do the right thing. Right culture has helped Tesco steer their business in the right direction in how they serve their colleagues, customers and communities. In Tesco in the financial sector there is a manager or an employee who has to follow the structure of the organisation. The decisions are made by the management throughout the working day and it impacts the structure and practice of all other employees in the company. There are both internal and external factors which motivate an employee. The internal factors include communication, motivation while the external factors include incentives and sales target. Communication is crucial and is important for the employees to be able to exercise their right. Further the whistle blowing policy at Tesco helps raise ethical issues and report grievances. Tesco understands the importance of motivated staff and supports the staff with a work-life balance through flexible working, discount gym membership etc. Tesco offers competitive salaries at all the levels and offers a whole package in ways that help the employees make more money, look after their health and safeguard their future. The communication of Tesco should ensure that appropriate communication policies are put in place and work effectively in building and protecting the reputation of the Group both internally and externally. It should to have a structured communications programme to provide the colleagues with clarity on matters. The Board of directors should review the performance targets for the current year and give awards to employees to ensure that they remain motivated to the

Hamlet by William Shakespeare Essay Example for Free

Hamlet by William Shakespeare Essay Hamlet is a story by William Shakespeare written in 1599. This story is about Prince Hamlet’s struggles after his father’s death. Hamlet seeks revenge from his uncle for his father’s death. His uncle, Claudius sees Hamlet as a threat to his power, so he attempts to get rid of him. Unfortunately, his plan backfires, and the whole royal family dies, including Hamlet. An animated children’s Disney movie, The Lion King created in 1994, reflects Hamlet. The Lion King starts with a lion cub, Simba, who is learning the responsibilities of a king. Scar, Simba\s uncle has the desire to become the king. In order, to fulfill his dream, Scar kills king Mufasa and blames Simba. Scared and guilty Simba runs away, but returns soon after to take over his responsibility and become king. The Lion King is like a reproduction of the play Hamlet. The stories are similar and different in many ways. Here I have listed a few of many. The Hamlet and The Lion King have a lot in similar. In both of the stories, the uncle is the villain who seeks power. Simba and Hamlet both lose their fathers to what they believe is an unfortunate accident. Both of the main characters seek revenge for their father\s death and eventually kill their uncles. They are both from a royal family and the rightful heir to the throne. The characters are very similar and so is the plot. The queens, Sarabi and Gertrude have little to no power in the kingdom. Scar and Claudius are portrayed as cold and evil. Simba and Hamlet are presented as thoughtful, intelligent and emotional. Although the stories are known to have similarities, they have a lot of differences too. The most prominent difference is that Hamlet dies at the end of Hamlet, whereas the Lion King has a happy ending. Simba marries Nala and has a baby. In the Lion King, Simba is framed for Mufasa\s death so he chooses to run away, however, in Hamlet, Claudius orders Hamlet to go to England. Claudius rules pretty well, he does not ruin the kingdom like Scar. After his father\s death, Simba lives a carefree life for some years, whereas Hamlet is depressed, and on the verge of madness. Also, in Hamlet Polonius is Ophelia\s father, however in the Lion King, Zazu is not related to Nala. The differences are what make the stories unique. Disney recreated Shakespeare\s Hamlet into an animated children\s movie to make it suitable for children. They could have copied all of it, but then kids would not have liked it. The language of Hamlet is difficult to understand, whereas the Lion King uses modern words. Lion King creators did not kill Simba in the end because kids like to see happy endings. Movies created for kids should not be depressing. They put a family feeling in the movie, so more people would watch it and they would make more profit. The Lion King had a moral, like other Disney movies. Here the moral was, you have to learn to step up and keep moving forward, instead of running from your past. In my opinion, both of the stories were quite entertaining and well thought of. Disney did a great job with changing the story. They kept the major similarities but changed Shakespeare\s work into their own words. Hamlet’s tragic ending and The Lion King\s delightful ending make them remarkable. They are stories worth knowing.

Sustainability Strategies for Proctor Gamble

Sustainability Strategies for Proctor Gamble 1. Introduction: Procter and Gamble is an organization which produces diverse products, and its ambition is to reach the consumers demand. PG began in the 1911; with the theme of innovation by producing every time a different product. For every product they go through three stages. The first stage was to make innovative needed products; the second was to proceed with the successful products with suitable quantities; and the third is to have more investments of capital to enlarge the company. These three stages preserve the success of PG. PG is a multinational corporation with 156 branches in more than 70 countries. There are three main development centers, the first center is in Germany in which paper products like Always and Pampers are developed. The second is in Brussels, used to develop detergents. The last center is situated in the United Kingdom where soap and shampoos are developed. PGs environmental science department plays a unique role to ensure that their products are safe to use for the consumer as well as for the environment. Environmental safety is an internal part of the quality that PG builds into its every product. The Company is committed to produce best quality of products to refine the consumers of whole world. The companys actual performance could be deduced by looking at its 2009 Annual Report. Its worldwide net earnings for the year 2009 were 13,436 million dollar, which is 13.61% increase over the prior year. It has total assets of $134,833 million and liabilities of $71,451 million. PG has been paying a dividend for 120 consecutive years since its incorporation in 1890 and has increased its dividend for 54 consecutive years at an annual compound average rate of approximately 9.35%.This is an evidence of how much consumers demand PGs product and how this initiates the company to develop 300 brands to satisfy five billion consumers all over the world. Alan G. Lafley became chairman of PG in 2000, he made it clear that he wanted innovation across the spectrum-in how the company invents, markets, manufactures, and distributes its products. 2. Methods 2.1 Data collection methods We get the data from the documentary analysis of the PG which come from the website of the PG. The data is easy accessed in the internet. PGs annual plans are useful in the research. At the same time, we keep contact to PG via emails. They give us information on the plan of the companys development. 2.2 Issues and challenges Biases different comments of PG in massive aspects, often find data from some organization within the PG. that circumstances may cause biases, which influence comments to become less objective and even flattery. It is significant to distinguish the information because possibly comments on one aspect could go opposite and cause dilemma. Detailed resource constraints it is not difficult to find general information about PG. However, it was not easy to search details and depth objections. Although, connecting PG for details may work, yet it cannot be certain that the opinions gained from PG are 100% objective and real. Collecting from dispersive information a majority of resources is dispersive. It means much time consuming and less efficiency. Also some information may mislead ideas to somewhere wrong. 2.3 Analysis Through the analysis of companys annual report, we know the performance of PG. according to the structure and culture of PG, we can forecast the development foreground. We evaluate the approaches to management and leadership. We use the view of a manager, trying to give out a better way. We are based on management principles and analysis the existing business model. PG has a unique pattern in the business management which was widely praised by consumers. 3. Business strategy, mission and goals 3.1 Introduction PG products touch the lives of people around the world billion times a day. This happens because PG provides products of best quality to improve the lives of all consumers around the world. This results in sales, profit and value creation, between the company and the consumers in which they operate to prosper. Its business is divided into three global units: beauty, health and well being, and household care. It also makes pet food and water filters and produces soap operas. Some products of PGs brands are billion-dollar sellers, including Gillette Fusion, Always, Braun, Bounty, Charmin, Crest, Downy/Lenor, Folgers (which it reportedly plans to spin off), Gillette mach 3, Iams, Olay total, Pampers, Pantene pro v, Pringles, Tide lemon jasmine, and Wella, among others. The above products were mentioned by Robert N. Lussier(2009) in annual report 2009. The PG consists of over 138,000 employees working in over 80 countries. It began as a small, family-operated soap and Candle Company which now not only provides products but also concentrate on services of best quality and value to consumers in more than 180 countries. In PG, they are focusing their efforts on where they can make the most meaningful difference in both environmental and social Sustainability. According to Andrea Redmonds (2010) research, their dedication begins with PGs Purpose, values and principles, in which Sustainability is embedded, and manifests itself in a systemic and long-term way. They try to make their company better. 3.2 Mission and goals In 2007, PG implemented five strategies to Sustain goals for the future. In March of 2009, PG made a progress to emphasize their commitment to achieve more significant goals. The five strategies are as follows: Strategy1 Products: Delight the consumer with sustainable innovations which improve the environmental profile of the products. They have developed the market which was at least $50 billion in cumulative sales of sustainable innovation products, and products that have an improved environmental profile. Strategy 2 Operations: Improve the environmental profile of PGs own operations. An additional 20% reduction (per unit production) in CO2 emissions, energy consumption, water consumption and disposed waste from PG plants, leading to a total reduction over the decade of at least 50%. PROGRESS (percent reduction per unit production) Since July 2007 Since July 2002 Energy Usage 11% 48% CO2 Emissions 10% 52% Waste Disposal 30% 53% Water Usage 13% 52% Strategy 3 Social responsibility: Improve childrens lives through PGs social responsibility programs. Enable 300 million children to Live, Learn and Thrive. They prevented 160 million days of disease and also saved 20,000 lives by delivering 4 billion liters of pure water for the Childrens Safe Drinking Water program. Strategy 4 Employees: Engage and equip all PG employees to build Sustainability thinking and practices into their everyday work. Strategy 5 Shareholders: Plan the future by working transparently with their shareholders so that they can work with freedom to innovate in a responsible way. Beside the five strategies, they have several goals on the market. 1. Designed to Matter In PG, they focus the Sustainability efforts on improvements that matter, to make the most meaningful impact they can. 2. Purposes, values principles PGs Purpose, Values Principles formulated their shared vision, a common sets of behavior and their beliefs about the business and its potential. 3.3 Marketing strategy Many people think that multi-brand strategy will result in a situation that internal competition happens, but P G believes that the best strategy is to compete with their own product. Gary Armstrong (2009) said this is because the market economy is a competitive economy, while its opponents to develop new products to share the market. As their challenge themselves and overcome their own, so that their products  brands may occupy a different market, in order to consolidate its leadership position. 1. Differentiated brands If P Gs multi-brand strategy to be understood as simply more brands, it would be wrong. Actually the pursuit of similar products, the differences between different brands, including features, packaging, promotion, etc., to form each brand distinctive, such as Procter Gamble brand strategy so that each brand has its own development, the market will not overlap, and it will not lead to market its brand in the consumer confusion. The words above are supported by Piero Morosini (2005) 2. Manufacture of USP According to the report, USP means unique selling proposition. It is proposed by the American advertising guru Rosser Reeves (said Brent Green 2006). Marketing theory: the core of its content: Advertising should be according to the characteristics unique to the consumer for rhetoric,  and allow consumers to believe that this feature is not available to others or others not mentioned. These features can bring tangible benefits to consumers. 3. Unique way: numbers brands in one organization As Michel Philippart (2005) and Hangzhou da Xues (1994) study, multi-brand strategy is very difficult to succeed. While a single image of the brand extension strategy to facilitate the unity of management, reduce marketing costs, easy-to-be customers to accept, but it is not guaranteed, because of a branding, the easy formation among consumers  fixed image, resulting in the customers mind-set is not conducive to the extension product. 4. Overall structure: The Procter Gamble Company (PG) is divided into three main worldwide units, which are household care, beauty and grooming and health and well-being (Marketing magazine: 2009). Every units report is sent to Susan E. Arnold, who has been promoted from vice chair of PGs beauty and health department to the position of president of global business units. The beauty care section is also managed by Susan Arnold. PG has restructured its hierarchy of top executives, who include Arnold, in order to meet the changing needs of their larger, more flexible and faster-paced global business. Lafley, who is the chairman of PG, announced that PG has nearly doubled its business since 2000 with the acquisitions of the Clairol, Wella hair care businesses and Gillette. The change in structure is designed to meet the needs of a larger business that is also developing new initiatives faster than in the past (Balendu: 2007). Initially, PG managed its international operations through an international division of foreign expansion, in the same manner many other multinational enterprises. A variety of products were identified to match national differences and preferences. Consequently, a portfolio, consisting of subsidiaries, run by country general managers was established. However, this management structure may result in two basic problems. Firstly, the cost of operating these subsidiaries is high, and secondly the ferocious autonomy of national subsidiaries prevented the global roll out of new products and technology improvements (Lin, 2008: 9). Therefore, PG needed innovation in the subsidiaries management structure. It concluded that the matrix structure, in which subordinates report to more than one superior (MacKenzie, 2002:22), is a better alternative for PG, as it allows authority to be kept at lower levels. However, most firms would have some difficulty implementing this Matrix structure into their organization because it is difficult to organize multinational activities through this complex structure. For example, dual reporting can lead to disagreements and confusion and a possible overlap of responsibilities. This may result in a loss of accountability and wastes time. Through time PG has been trying to optimize its structure. The current structure resulted in a culture within PG, which was viewed as slow, conformist and risk-averse (Lin, 2008:11). This led to a decrease in productivity and an increase in inefficiency in the organization. Moreover, these factors would slow down the decision making process and reduce the competitiveness of the company. Although, the management structure of PG seems imperfect at the moment. However, the Procter Gamble Company is still a giant in the area of consumer goods and the leading maker of household products in the United States. PG operates its business in over 80 countries around the world and has approximately 300 brands in more t han 160 countries. The matrix structure helps PG develop its global business structure into more specific areas. As a result, the company has become more flexible to change within market competitions and the different expectation of PG. The final stage of completing the innovation process of management structure is to transform the formal structure and responsibilities of the company. For example, the global business units of PG were established in order to manage product development, manufacturing and marketing of their respective categories all around world. Furthermore, global business service units were established to organize with the transactional activities such as Accounting, HR, IT, etc. Eliminating bureaucracy and increasing accountability is another main objective of structure change (Bartlett, 2004: Chp 4). The Procter Gamble Companys corporate structure has been mainly dependent on worldwide subsidiaries and merging. During this time of restructuring, PG has continued its active acquisitions pace. For instance, PG entered the European tissue and towel market through the purchase of Vereinigte Papierwerke Schickedanz AGs European tissue unit and added the luxury fragrance business of Giorgio Beverly Hills, Inc. In the same year, PG returned to the South African market following the lifting of U.S. sanctions. PG has altered its geographic management structure gradually. As a result, PG has divided its operations into United States and other countries, which mainly includes four regions North America, Latin America, Asia and Europe/Middle East/Africa. PG announced a new restructuring initiative in September 1998. A key factor of this restructuring was a shift from an organization centered around the four geographic regions to one centered on seven global business parts based on product lines: Baby Care, Beauty Care, Fabric Home Care, Feminine Protection, Food Beverage, Health Care Corporate New Ventures and Tissues Towels. PG has continued to restructure and adapt to different markets and different financial situation worldwide. According to a firm press release announcing the new structure, This change will drive greater innovation and speed by centering strategy and profit responsibility globally on brands, rather than on geographies 5. PGs Culture: Culture plays an important role in any organization to run their organization well in this fast growing business world. According to Scheins theory of culture it is defined as A pattern of shared basic assumption that the group learned as it solved its problem of external adaptation and integration that has work well enough to be considered valid and therefore to be taught to new members as a correct way to perceive, think and feel in relation to those problem-(Scheins 1992, p12, italics altered). According to Schein organizational culture is the acquired outcome of group experience, as it is to a large extent unconscious. Schein considers culture to the three layer phenomenon. From figure 1 it is clearly seen that the organizational culture comprises of three layers first one is the artefacts, espoused values and underlying assumption. Artefacts Innovation culture is the mission statement of Procter and gamble organization in which they state that the consumer is boss, consumer should be the heart of all PG do from ideation stage through the purchase of the product. For example if 30 seconds with a deodorant or one minute with a disposal diaper have made a small part of your life a little bit better then PG made a difference. PG policies made the company a unique one that respect of governments and law, respects in workplace and respect in the market place (annual report of PG, 2005). PG is a multinational company and it is widely spread geographically. They maintain open work system in lots of work places around the world. Executive offices do not have doors. Leaders do not have a secretary cordoning them off. The executive floors on all the offices at Procter and gamble are open, conference room is an open round space. They made it round as a small symbol of the new approach (Lafely .A, 2000 CEO of PG). Espoused values PG is having hierarchy of company ethics principles. PVP(Purpose, Values and principles), corporate policies, worldwide business conduct standards, operating policies/procedure/practices. For over 170 years PG purpose values and principles has been guiding the way they do business and it is shown in the fig 2 below. There purpose is to provide branded products and services of superior quality and values that improves the lives of the worlds consumer. PG lives with its people and values, they recruit the finest people in the world who built organization by promoting and rewarding people without regard to any difference related to performance. Lafely said that PG have been fortunate that some of this flexible multifaceted ethics exist in our heritage. For example Procter and Gamble pioneered a system which is technician based in its manufacturing plants during the 1960s and 70s. In this system they avoided the approach in which one person assigned to do only one job. The technician sys tem still operates today and working well. To get the highest evaluation rating in PG factory, you learn how to do all the jobs on line and once you have that rating, company expect you to be that much capable of problem identification, problem solving, and innovation. This background has made it easier for company to plug manufacturing and engineering in to the innovation culture. PG CEO Lafely said in one conference that once people in our organization have succeeded at innovation then you can see the energy in the company changing. People at PG routinely says that we can do this, this is feasible and the change of attitude of the people in PG is incredible to watch. Integrity, leadership, ownership, passion for winning and trust are the main asset values of PG. By considering purpose and values they made their principles like the show respects for individual, interest of the company and individual are inseparable and innovation is the cornerstone of PG success. These are the offi cials objectives which had been espoused by the company head and it is common for PG organization all over the world. Fig 2 PVP of PG 2003 sustainability report Underlying Assumptions It consists of unconscious, taken for granted beliefs, perception, thoughts and feelings. PG are having problem relating to external adaption and internal integration. PG keep refining their products, launch model from ideas, to prototype, to development, to qualification and to commercialization. Applying this sequential practice on large scale and replicate them does not mean to eliminate judgment, thats why PG needs active leaders and a strong innovation culture. Therefore PG introduces the inclusive culture for leaders and they expected to build inclusive work environment that welcomes and embraces diversity an environment where people feel comfortable. Forced diversity training/learning process are utilized to equip leaders to values and nurture difference in management experience, style of leadership and problem solving approaches. By analyzing the PGs culture it is seen that PG is having a strong and dominant culture and that culture follows in every part of the world. Innovation is the main theme of PGs success and to bind organization culture together. 6. PGs management leadership: Innovative Management and Leadership of PG When we observe organizations and try to classify, we tend to classify them in terms of their success and describe them as highly successful, successful, struggling to succeed or unsuccessful. There are certain factors influencing their success. Management in the organizations has to perform some functions like planning, organizing, staffing, directing, leading and controlling for success. Management consists of implementation of the vision and strategy provided by leaders, coordinating and staffing the organization and handling day-to-day problems. By Koontz and Weihrich management is the process of designing and maintaining an environment in which individuals work with such performance for optimizing efficiency in reaching goals. HENRI FAYOL identified the main operations in business management- technical, commercial, financial, security, accounting and administration. The administration function he further subdivided into organizational, coordinating, commanding, controlling and purveyance. The purveyance further included the concepts of forecasting and planning.  [i]   PG was facing certain disadvantages using the Henri Fayol method because it was not an empirical but more theoretical. Moreover PG wants to be innovative and wants to differentiate products by its formation. So they adopted the Cooper-Kleinschmidt study of innovation method which was based on the triangle process. The Innovation Diamond in Exhibit 1 began as a triangle process, Resources, and strategy the result of a 1990s Cooper-Kleinschmidt study of innovation across a Broad range of businesses.4 Procter Gambles management in the 1990s subsequently transformed the triangle into their Initiatives Diamond, shown in Exhibit 2.  [ii]   The Innovation Diamond is a guiding framework to help management focus on whats important to success: innovative strategy, a good idea-to-launch process, portfolio management, the climate and leadership. PGs Initiatives Diamond serves as a guide for each businesss product innovation efforts, and helps to focus managements attention on what is important to success. Heres what Bob McDonald, PGs Vice Chairman of Global Operations, says: The Initiative Diamond played a significant role in improving the business results in PGs Fabric Home Care global business unit. This work brought us a new discipline to manage our innovation programs, and yielded a major increase in the in-market success of our initiatives. We aligned our organization on how to use Stage-Gate ® success criteria and portfolio and resource management to deliver better innovations for the consumers we serve.  [iii]   The top half of PGs diamond in Exhibit 2 is strategic in nature, and captures the businesss product innovation strategy: goals, the mix of new products required to meet those goals, and the required resources. Portfolio management (or project selection) is thus closely connected to strategy. The bottom half of the diamond is more operational and focuses on delivering specific new product projects or initiatives: what resources must be put in place for each project; and how individual new product projects are managed so they succeed using PGs idea-to-launch SIMPLTM Methodology? Thus how the PGs business success has been generated through focusing on effective innovative Management. Peter F. Drucker says Leadership is the lifting of mans thinking to higher sights, the increment of mans performance to higher standard, the building of mans personality beyond its normal limitation. Alan Bryman offers the working definition of leadership as: the creation of a goal about a desired future state which seeks to mesh every members of an organization in its net. Many commentators trait spotting approach to; have argued or assumed that the performance of an organization depends on the quality of leadership exercised by its leaders; same is the case with PG organization. The single most enduring thing PG leaders can do is to identify develop our next generation of leaders. If we can get the right people with the right skills and experiences in place to run our business, the rest will take care of itself. By Lura Mattimore, Director, Leadership development PG. So the leader is someone who exercises influence over other people leading is a process of actuation. It provides an electrifying effect to the organization makes people action-oriented and bridges gaps within the organization. Distribution of work, delegation of authority and supervision of work should be done meticulously. There are various approaches to leadership such as trait spotting, style counseling, content fitting, New leadership. PG uses the trait spotting approach to leadership. PG leaders are built from within because they believe that their future success is entirely dependent on the ongoing strength of talent pipeline. So the first trait spotting in PG is done by PG leaders itself who select the next leader of the company by searching a quality of dedication towards the work. PG leaders are not born leaders at first they are just the ordinary people of the company. For PG people are the company most important asset. Their success depends entirely on the strength of the talent which they build from within manage with a disciplined process led by the CEO the senior leadership team. This is an essential element of how PG is designs to lead. Thus PG develop leaders whose purpose is to centre on improving more consumers lives in all parts of the world. Thus PG uses two dimensional style of leadership because it concerns for the production as well as for the people. People are the main asset of PG and for production they always wanted to get differentiated by their innovation method. Thus PG uses the two dimensional style. (Blake Mouton 1964) According to the Likerts there are four leadership systems: Exploitative Autocratic Benevolent authoritative Participative Democratic Democratic leaders have complete confidence and trust in their subordinates, they allow the subordinates to make decision for themselves; these types of leaders always motivate their subordinates by reward for achieving goals and to share the new ideas and opinion. PG uses the democratic type of leadership system. They believe to build their organization from within; PG consider their most important asset as the people of the company because of their faithful work excellent performance. Procter gamble respect all employees and consumers and offer them their trust on condition that they treat them similarly. PG also uses servant type of leadership because they always feels that the customers are the boss .And in servant leadership, leaders put the needs of their followers first. According to the John Adair Leadership is a social process in which an individual influences the behavior of others without using the path of violence. Below is the example of how the innovative product is developed under the innovative leadership of PG, which shows some relationship between leader and follower of the PGs. PG crank up on one on one consumer research, so the marketers of PG spend a time with the consumers, watching the way they wash, clean their floors, diapers their babies and asking about their habit and frustration. So based on this one on one technique PG opened a diaper -testing centre right down the hall of their office, where moms watch their babies get undressed, diapered, and measured by PG technicians. So one thing the PG learn from this experience is that parents are frustrated by the time it takes their youngsters to be toilet trained and they have to change their diapers every time when they wet those. So thus based on the comments received from the parents PG launch their new innovative product in the line of pampers whose mission was to dry diapers to helping moms with babys development. Thus how the PG is always innovative in the way of leadership to find new products which improves their relationship with their followers, as the consumers are the main boss of the PG. 7. Future Aspects: Strategy improvement: Through analysis of P Gs multi-brand strategy we realize that many of the benefits of this strategy are clear, but it is very difficult to achieve in the market, they have to note that several aspects of business practice. According to Sanjay Tiwari (2000), they can make some improvement by the ways below. A company which operates a variety of brands must have the appropriate strength; the work of brand extension is complicated.  From market research to product launch, to advertising, every job has a large number of enterprises to spend manpower and material resources. In the specific operation, they must be through careful investigation, to find the product differentiation. The industries in which according to the specific situation of enterprises, such as Procter Gambles consumer products industry which with easy access to a successful multi-brand strategy.   Structure Improvement: The improvement of structures of PG possibility could be to have wholly autonomous temporary groups or teams that are responsible for an entire project, and are split up as soon as it is successfully completed. Teams are often not very good for decision-making, and they run the risk of relational problems, unless they are small and have a lot of self-discipline. Actually, team members still require a definite leader, which is indicated from decentralization. It means the separation of the organization into competing autonomous divisions. PG has various branch brands, and some in one subject. Competition between own brands may seems unreasonable. However, changing corporate structure may encourage positive challenges among PG. In addition, appropriate manipulating probably is required during the management process. On the other hand, some inefficiency brands or areas may better to be abolished for saving funds and decrease expenses. Decision- making is very crucial of this innovation, which is easy to regret if prediction is wrong. Various differences of brands among PG could be helpful and practical in different occasions. However, this improvement could go to the opposite and create unexpected situation because sometimes the market could be influenced by news in many ways.

Modern Technology Verses The Thinking Man Media Essay

Modern Technology Verses The Thinking Man Media Essay Humanity as a whole has witnessed through their own efforts, great advances in the creation, distribution and application of ideas, information and technologies designed with the intention to uplift the overall standard of living. With the use of these technologies mankind has entered the postmodernism era where the use of modern technology has become an integral way of life. The use and consumption of modern media and the significance of the relationship between humanity and technology however comes at a price. The thoughts of how humanity relates to their own technological creations and mediated messages, the relationship between humanity and nature and the essence of technology with its inherent problems and possible solutions were advanced by the philosopher Martin Heidegger. His writings influenced the thinking of how mankind has allowed itself to become slaves to its own creation by becoming passive consumers of products and ideologies mediated by the producers of media and technology. The rise of consumerism, capitalism and its social implications were also issues of grave concern to Heidegger. His ideas and influence can be seen in the writings of philosophers Herbert Marcuse, Max Horkheimer and Theodor W. Adorno who expanded the ideas of Heidegger to describe various aspects of the social effects of the postmodern era and the influence of modern media. Taken from the view of how technology assists humanity to access the effects of media in contemporary life, the relationships between the producer and the consumer, the creator and the created, the message and the medium for the message and the relationships between the message itself and the consumer is one of great fascination and complexity. This essay is an attempt to show these relationships, how they were formed, why they were formed and its effects on postmodern society through the ideas of Heidegger with support from the aforementioned philosophers. In his essay The Question Concerning Technology (1977) Heidegger establishes that in order to understand the essence of technology a free relationship with it must first be established. To develop this free relationship the proper use of language is of utmost importance. The true meaning of the word technology according to Heidegger (1977:13 ) is a mode of revealing. He then establishes that the word technology is made up of two parts: technie and poiesis. Technie, according to Heidegger (1977) is defined as the skill or work of the craftsman and is inclusive of the fine arts. Poiesis is the process of bringing forth. Heidegger argues that humanity has forgotten the true meaning of technology, which it is a mode of revealing, and this lack of understanding has caused humanity, through this distorted relationship, to create technologies that fulfil a specific capitalistic purpose. Heidegger suggests, that (1977:5) modern technology à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ is a means to an end. and humanity has allowed itself become the servants of technology. The creation of passive observers who have lost the ability to be revealers themselves instead of active participants is the end result. Heidegger uses the concept of enframing to describe the relationship between man and nature. Enframing is a process whereby man can structure nature, human relationships, mediated messages and technology to instil premeditated agendas and to increase financial wealth. Heidegger explains that since modern technology created for contemporary living is used to serve a capitalistic purpose the essence of technology is enframing and this method of classification must in his word (1977:23) à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ employ exact physical science. Heidegger also goes on to illustrate how humanity, through enframing, can also have adverse effects on nature by challenging nature to reveal itself as commodities to be used. Heidegger (1977) makes comparisons between the practices of a peasant and coal mining. The peasant is in the practice of letting (1977:15) the forces of growth take its course in the process of producing crops and in turn the peasant cares for and maintains the land. The land is not forced to produce and there it is a harmonious relationship between man and nature. With the use of mechanized tools, coal mining has made the land to be seen as a commodity to produce at (1977:15) maximum yield at the minimum expense. This according to Heidegger (1977) challenges and forces nature to produce financial wealth and the land is seen as a commodity to be exploited. Heidegger uses the term standing reserve to describe resources that are stored for human consumption and use. Furthermore he states that everything can be seen as a form of standing reserve by saying that (1977:17) everything is ordered to stand by, to be immediately at hand.. He goes on to give the example of the dam built on the river Rhine as a standing reserve for hydro-electrical power to the detriment of the river and the surrounding areas. Nature can also be a commodity to be brought, modified and sold. Plants are seen not for their beauty but as a standing reserve as medicines for pharmaceuticals, animals are captured and kept in zoos for viewing entertainment and stones are collected and sold for construction. Human activities are now also termed as industries to be exploited. The entertainment, music, art, leisure and media industries are a small example of the extent that the powerful concepts of enframing and standing reserve have on contemporary life. Human beings, espec ially in the world of advertising, can also be seen as human resources to be also used and exploited. Although Heidegger was gravely concerned with the direction humanity is heading because of what he saw as its disregard for nature and loss of the true meaning of the essence of technology he offered a possible solution to what he saw as a frightening dilemma? The rediscovery of nature and the practice of not being dominated by technology. Heidegger (1977) also suggested a rediscovery of the true meaning of the word technology and having a free and healthier relationship with it. We will now look at how the ideas of Heidegger the present media, production, distribution, consumption and technological environments and its effects on contemporary life. In modern contemporary life, individuals and groups are inundated and coerced with messages and ideologies from various media houses, conglomerates and corporate entities into buying or believing ideas of what they should think about themselves, their social groups and society as a whole. These messages are transported through various media. Heideggers view of our relationship to technology is one of enslavement. The fact that humanity is being graphically portrayed according to Heidegger as being (1977:4) à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ unfree and chained to technology à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ gives the impression that there must be an entity that was able to enslave humanity. This entity is the dominating force of the owners of media production and distribution that have the ultimate agenda to control the emotional, psychological and financial futures of its audience. The schema is basically capitalist in nature and is designed to keep the viewer or listener as a loyal, passive follower and consumer of the goods and services offered by the producer. Heidegger (1977) was correct in portraying technology as a contrivance, a device. This device is not however, forced upon the population. It is, in fact, eased into their consciousness. Marcuse (2004) noted that the overall strategy of media producers is one of identification of the beliefs of the people. The population are then, according to Marcuse (2004: 67) à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ trained to identify their faiths with them. This is the portal which Heideggers theories on technological dominance come through and the effects of media are felt. The mass media uses the science of enframing to emotionally divide, stereotype and enslave the loyal follower into believing that a product, concept, gadget or idea would give them piece of mind and a sense of security. For the producers of media enframing is a powerful ally who primary duty according to Heidegger (1977:27) is the à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ regulating and securing of the standing-reserve à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ Heideggers use of the term standing-reserve is an effective description of the consumers of mass media. The population is categorized by advertisers along the demographics of where they live, age group, gender, social status, income and other factors. Commercials or concepts are then targeted at these sectors through a variety of media. This concept of showing the differences in any given population to serve financial goals was not missed by Adorno and Horkheimer (2002:97) who state that Something is provided for everyone so that no one can escape; differences are hammered home and propagated. In advertising, the population is looked upon as a human resource who, if properly coerced would buy into the capitalists agendas. The effect created from this form of advertising to the targeted audience from these messages is that the advertised product is essential for contemporary life and once acquisition of the new product is completed they would be at the forefront of their social group. The attachment placed on the feeling of acquiring the possession is actually not derived from the consumer but it is, in actuality, induced from the outside via the messages from the advertiser. The relationship between the consumer and the product is one of a slave to a master where the consumer feels that they must have the product to fulfil an emotional need. If the product is destroyed or misplaced the consumer may feel lost without the use of the product. An example of this kind of enslavement by technology can be seen in the rise, popularity and reliance of global positioning systems or GPS in vehicles and smartphones. In the area of transportation GPS systems has replaced the use of maps. These systems are programmed to do the thinking for the user, communicating with the user and giving directions to the locations of the best restaurants, the easiest traffic routes to take and also where the nearest gas stations are. The user is not required to think but have been conditioned to rely on pre-programmed instructions from an external, mechanical source. We now look at Heideggers thoughts on the dangers of our relationship with technology and some of its effects in the postmodern age. The view of Heidegger in regards to the concept of the standing-reserve gives rise to media producers taking advantage of the apparent gullibility of the consumer. The constant differentiations that distinguish peoples for all walks of life are being constantly broadcasted by the dominant media. There is a danger of a person of any race being typecast by certain behavioural patterns that the media claims through its broadcasting to be the typical behaviour of that race. This is but one of the aspects that philosophers Adorno and Horkheimer used to coin the term The Culture Industry defining the industry as (2002:95) à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ the false identity of universal and particular. Adorno and Horkheimer (2002) continue their analysis of the media landscape by discovering that producers of media adhere to formulas that produce the greatest financial gain. These methods include stereotyping the behavioural the roles of the various demographics. One of Heideggers the greatest fears concerns humanitys relationship to technology and its disregard for nature. He saw that consumerism and the concept of objects being viewed as standing reserve will become so much a part of the emotional and social landscape that it will become all-consuming. The threat, according to Heidegger (1977:33) of à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ everything will present itself only in the unconcealedness of standing-reserve. has been gradually coming to pass. Heidegger (1977) gives the examples of how words like industry are now being attached to various human endeavours, an example of the use of human resources and the profitability forest to supply wood to various industries. He concludes that man is also responsible for the way he things about himself and his surroundings. An example of the power of the standing reserve on a world-wide scale can be seen in the rise and control of the American mass media that has dominated the lesser known media landscapes due to its economic power and reach. For these lesser known cultures, due to their lack of sufficient funding to buffer themselves from the onslaught of a well-funded, hyper-commericalized and heavily-mediated American media machine, have found themselves at the mercy of surrendering and at times disassociating themselves from their indigenous cultural norms in favour of the fabricated needs they consume via the mediated American cultural standard. The effects of this bombardment by outside sources have led to a change in the wants and needs of weaker populations. Due to the lack of proper resistance they will begin to aspire to the mediated American wants and needs, aspire to the American standard of beauty and absorb in ever-increasing volumes the cultural norms, language patterns and political view s of the dominant media landscape. The American broadcasts to the weaker cultures however are only a construct of their culture industry. This construct can be seen in through the view of Adorno and Horkheimer (2002:108) who state à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ the culture industry remains in the entertainment business. Its control of consumers is mediated by entertainment. With this is mind producers of American media, are seeing populations from different countries who consume American content as merely the standing reserve of potential customers. The thoughts of Adorno and Horkheimer are similar to Heidegger in the belief that in postmodern life individuals are losing the ability to think for themselves due to outside influences. This ability to be influenced by the media in terms of what to buy, what to eat, who to admire and when to shop are all effects of the process of enframing. The blanket marketing of goods and services to the consumer creates a situation where the individual is lost in the comodified sterotype of the typical purchaser of that product. The originality of the individual it therefore lost. The rapidity of how the message from outside is absorbed is a reflection of how the masses see themselves in relation to how they want to be seen by society. The more the masses allow themselves to be enframed by outside influences the easier it will be the masses to be manipulated into an identity they were previously foreign to. Consumerism, in regards to the acquisition of gaining access to information, falls under the scope of technology being all-encompassing, encouraging the user to be always connected to information. The Blackberry smartphone has become one of status symbols of postmodern living. Under the guise of convenience and easy access to the internet the Blackberry smartphone encourages the consumer to be always connected to online content; the internet provides various paths of easy access to information and communication. In the postmodern age, access to information is marketed to be best enjoyed through a medium that is ubiquitous. The effects of being always connected to information makes, for the producer of content, an easier and more accurate way of tracking the viewing and listening habits of the consumer. Thus there is the possibility to accurately target specific commercials to users. Regarding the features of the Blackberry and the promise of easy access to multiple forms of informati on, the relationship between the consumer and the medium of information is even stronger than that of an ordinary handset because the Blackberry is seen as a necessary postmodern convenience. Due to the strong influence of the media in regards to mediating messages regarding the acquisition of certain possessions and that their possession constitutes the baseline standard that an individual has properly integrated themselves into the postmodern age, the choosing of not acquiring these possessions may seem, to the person whose goal is to attain possession of these assists, as irrational. This technological rationality, how we relate to technology, is a social process whereby according to Marcuse (2004) the producers of the culture industry give to the passive consumer goods that the consumer thinks they need but in reality, the need was mediated from the producer. In the final analysis the same power that is has gripped the masses regarding the skewed relation to technology is the same power that can liberate humanity from it. Heidegger was very keen on questioning humanitys relationship with technology. He was convinced that humanity can liberate itself from the clutches of technology. According to Heidegger (1977) his belief that humanity can be saved from the dangers of technology, not by creating better technologies and facing the danger head on but by re-establishing the original relationship with the word technology will bring humanity in realignment with nature. Heidegger states this can be done by (1977:33) à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ human reflection à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ He continues to state that when humanity reflects and continues to question the true meaning of technology the rediscovery of the meanings of techne and poiesis will come forth. He was of the belief that since humanity was once close to nature especially before the postmodern age we have the responsibility to rediscover our relation to nature. He was also of the belief in the use of technologies that would not place extraordinary demands on the environment. In his essay (1977) the use of a windmill was used as an example to show the harmony between technology and nature.

The Power Of Good And Evil in Flannery OConnors A Good Man is Hard to

The Power Of Good And Evil in Flannery O'Connor's A Good Man is Hard to Find  Ã‚        Ã‚   Good and bad. Right and wrong. Guilty and Innocent. These are just a few of the many themes that surround everyone's life. Everyone has their own opinion about certain issues, and they depend on their values, judgment, and beliefs to see them through their difficulties. Flannery O'Connor was quoted as saying "I see from the standpoint of Christian orthodoxy. This means the meaning of life is centered in our Redemption by Christ and that what I see in the world I see in relation to that" (Contemporary Authors 402). These themes are present in O'Connor's story "A Good Man is Hard to Find." The story is about a grandmother, a "good" woman who goes on vacation with her son and his family and suffers terribly due to her poor judgement, and beliefs, but learns the true meaning of "good" in the face of something "bad." The grandmother lives with her only son, Bailey, his wife and their children. The beginning of the story the grandmother is preparing to take a trip with her son?s family to Florida; a place where she doesn?t even want to go. She wants the whole family to go to Tennessee to visit relatives (O?Connor 907).This is the first example of the egocentric ways that lead her to her demise. She wants to uproot the whole family ,only for her benefit. She also does not want to go to Florida because there is a escaped convict, an evil man, on the loose. She says, "The Misfit is aloose from the Federal Pen and headed toward Florida and you read here what it says he did to those people" (O?Connor 907). Critic Richard Spivey explains the use of violence in O?Connor?s work: "O?Connor dealt with violent and grotesque people because "man has in his... ...403. Drake, Robert. "The Bleeding Stinking Mad Shadow of Jesus in the Fiction of Flannery O?Connor. Comparative Literature Studies. University of Illinois. 1966. Vol. 3. 183-196. Gilbert, Muller, H. Nightmares and Visions. Flannery O?Connor and the Catholic Grotesque. University Press. University of Georgia Press. 1977. 125. Hamblen, Abigail Ann. Flannery O?Connor?s Study of Innocence and Evil. University Press. University of Mississippi. 1968. 295-297. McCown, Robert. Flannery O?Connor and the Reality of Sin in the Catholic World. Missionary Society of St. Paul, NY. 1959. Vol. 188. 285-291. O?Connor, Flannery. "A Good Man is Hard to Find." The Harper Anthology of Fiction. Ed. Sylvan Barnet. New York. HarperCollins, 1991. 907-917. Stephens, Martha. The Question of Flannery O?Connor. Ed. University Press. Louisiana State Press, 1973. 189-205.

College Admissions Essay: Learning is What I Do Best :: College Admissions Essays

Learning is What I Do Best I could tell you a heartfelt, sentimental, poignant story about first seeing a Harvard refrigerator magnet and feeling my first deep emotions stirring somewhere inside my spleen. Or I could meticulously paraphrase the numerous brochures and articles about Harvard that I have perused. Yet another option would be to rent a small airplane and skywrite, "I want to go to Harvard," in colorful pollutants. And I probably would resort to one of these strategies, had I not some real incentives to attend Harvard. They are based on what I have learned from research, general knowledge, conversations I have overheard, and other miscellaneous tidbits of information sent to me by friends and relatives. First of all, I must express my admiration to the people who have decided that education is, after all, the purpose and responsibility of a college and established the precedence of academics over sports at Harvard. I'd like to attend a school where I, a debater, will not be viewed as a second-class citizen by football players. Secondly, the notoriety of great educational standards has reached me all the way in Vancouver (OK, so it is only across the river) and enticed, attracted, and urged me to apply to Harvard. Rumors of the "side effects" of avalanches of homework and sleepless nights have crept here, too, but I'm up to the challenge. After two years of juggling high school, college, and extracurricular activities, receiving assignments only at one place just might be paradise. Lastly, Harvard's geographical location is just like pretty wrapping paper and a big red bow on a present that's already great ( forgive the allusions to the Haagen-Dasz commercials). Living in Portland, I would be simultaneously away from my family in Vancouver--and as close as I might need to be! Not only would I have the opportunity to become better acquainted with Portland, but also to judge at debate tournaments for my old high school! The possibilities are mouthwatering.

Black Men in Public Spaces Essay

When comparing my essay situation that I wrote about my dad’s run in with racism to Staples essay, one could say that they are both similar and different. In general, their situations were similar because both incidents involved some form of racism. Staples story and my dad’s story both took place in the 1980’s. However, I believe these types of racism are still very much alive. The difference between Staples situation and my dad’s was their responses and how they chose to handle their situations. My father’s story, I felt displayed courage on his part. He didn’t have to act a certain way, change himself, or adapt to his environment to fit in. He did what he needed to do and did not think twice about it. He walked into a diner full of people who stared at him as if he were from another planet. Yet he still went about his business and ordered his food while feeling the piercing stares burn through his flesh. Although he felt uncomfortable bein g the only Asian man in sight, he ignored the staring faces. The differences I found in their situations were that Staples coped with racism by, ‘smothering the rage’ he had to change who he was. This can be perceived in different ways. You can look at this and think that he was a coward who didn’t want to deal with what was in front of him, or you can look at this and think that he was a smart person who had courage to find his own ways to cope. We may not all agree that Staples way of dealing with things is the correct way however, it was the way he chose. He taught himself to take precaution by, allowing room between people in front of him and himself when walking, when he felt that people were uncomfortable, he would, ‘whistle melodies from Beethoven, Vivaldi, and other classical composers’. Instead of dealing with being misperceived as a killer, rapist, or murderer, he adjusted his daily way of life around others. I believe this type of racism towards young male men is common. I am a woman, and am afraid for my life about being raped, killed, or mugged. I grab on tight to the strap of my purse when I am in neighborhoods that are likely targets of purse snatchings. It is very common to hear about women who were raped by ‘young males, wearing jeans, with a sweater and their hands in their pocket’ this is a common description of almost 95% of all young males walking around late in the evening. I can relate to the women because I am a woman and I believe I would have also been afraid just like Staples ‘first victim’ was afraid. She’s a woman, she’s walking alone, walking in a dark alley and a male fitting the  description I stated above is behind her also walking alone. I’ve felt this type of anxiety when walking alone at night, or when I am running alone on a trail. It just isn’t safe being a woman walking alone in this society. If I heard a jogger running, or someone walking behind me whistling, I too w ould be afraid. I believe it was wise for Staples to come up with such a creative solution. He had to do what he felt he needed to in order to survive, in order to not get arrested, or be mistaken for someone he is not and until society changes their stereotype of young African American males, his tactics for coping is a great idea. He goes on to say how ‘black men trade stories like this all time’ because they are misperceived as a killer, rapist, or a mugger, they are automatically put in a position of being in danger. Staples did what he had to do to survive. It’s almost as if he has found a way to add a bit of humor to the situation. I’ve always believed in the saying, ‘You cannot change the things that are thrown your way, or others peoples actions, but what you can change is the way you react to them’. It is easy to say ‘why do I have to change? Why can’t society change, why can’t others change?’ Yes, this maybe the answer of all answers the answer that makes the most sense however, the reality is you can’t change anyone but you can change yourself and your reaction to things. I believe Staples coping strategies with being misperceived, were effective. Staples, and African American male talks of how he would walk the streets at night and would whistle classical music, to ease fears of the people around him who may think he’s a killer, or a mugger. He felt that he had to change his mannerisms and learn to adapt to being misperceived. It’s easy to say, why should Staples change? Why can’t society or everyone else change? Is it Staples responsibility as a young black man to alert the people around him that he is not a threat? Staples also says that ‘black men trade stories like this all the time’ which leads me to believe that society views the majority of African American males as dangerous. What I would do differently would be that I would probably stop going out so late at night. Staples never said in his story why he had to go out so late at night and why he went out alone most of the time. Maybe he worked late,  or had late classes? Whatever his situation, he was unable to avoid going out late at night. In my opinion I think I would tried to avoid the situation completely. I would not go out alone and if were forced too, I would bring a friend or family member with me. It’s hard to say whether I would handle things differently. I am a woman, I am not African American and I don’t feel I can ever relate to what Staples went through but since we cannot change the stereotypes of society, we must change ourselves as a person to not let these situations make us into a bitter person, and our reaction to situations like this.

Education Philosophy Essay

The impact of religious studies on the education system is a subject that is increasingly making many education researchers and experts invest their time on, as the world goes global and multicultural education becomes popular. This subject is especially established in the higher education context, due to the interest multicultural education is increasingly raising to educationists. This paper examines the impact Islamic philosophy and Christian philosophy, the two major religious studies, have on higher education. In spite of the fact that higher education has been increasingly becoming secularized since the late nineteenth century (Roberts and Turner, 2000), the impact the Islamic and the Christian philosophy has on higher education, globally, is immense. The Islamic philosophy, a division of Islamic studies whose main aim is synchronizing the Islamic faith and reason, draws its impact on the global higher education from Islamic religious principles and teachings. This is the fundamental reason why the subject is a major tropic of interest in the education context, given the influence that Islamic teachings and practices have to the learning processes and strategies of a student. In his book, Philosophy of education: an encyclopedia, Joseph James Chambliss writes that one of the leading issues in the Islamic philosophy of education regards how religious teachings relate with secular knowledge, or other knowledge emanating from outside the Islamic religion. Religious knowledge, for instance, is recognized by Islam as the most important source of knowledge, a fact that has a dominant influence on the education system in countries such as in the Middle East, where Islam is the religion practiced by the majority. Chambliss notes that although it is common belief that religious instructions and secular instructions are distinct, imitation of religious methods and practices is often seen in secular settings (Hoosain & Salili, 2006). One way this happens is, for instance, the recitation by heart of chapters and quotations, a practice that is common in secular schools. This practice is also common in Christianity sectors, where many students imitate practices learnt in their However, certain practices and modes of culture may have adverse impacts to higher education. One feature of Islamic philosophy involves the modes of teaching religious knowledge, whereby the religious teacher is supposed to teach unchallenged by the students, who are not encouraged to raise difficult questions requiring clarification of more than technical ideas. This is because the teacher is viewed as a transmitter of knowledge that is not supposed to be challenged, and any attempts to challenge it are taken as Islamic criticism. Under such an environment, it would seem unusual for a student to have information that would be of value. This greatly discourages student participation in the class. Moreover, the student imaginative capabilities are discouraged since by the teacher being the custodian of the truth, any imaginative attempts of the students would be viewed as a distortion of the truth . the students are not supposed to another negative impact to the higher education is on (Chambliss, 1996). These ideas have a major impact on the higher education, since many students; in the global context make use of concepts and practices learnt in their formative years in their studies. The current trend in education, where more and more students are increasingly getting their higher education from overseas institutions, ensures that students are in touch with other students with such practices as aforementioned. References Chambliss J, (1996 ). Philosophy of education: an encyclopedia Taylor & Francis, Retrieved April 1, 2009 from

Belbin s Team Role Model Applications Essay

University of the Basque Country; University of Hull; Highfield House Consultancy abstract This paper brings together research into and using the team role model developed by Belbin (1981, 1993a) in an attempt to provide an exhaustive assessment of construct validity in light of the conflicting evidence so far produced. Role theory is used to contextualize the origins of the model. The psychometric properties of the Team Role Self-Perception Inventory used to assess a person’s likely behaviour in a team are examined along with 43 empirical studies that have tested theoretical associations between team roles and other cognitive or behavioural traits. While the evidence is mixed, we conclude that, on balance, the model and its accompanying Inventory have adequate convergent validity. However, strong associations between some team roles are observed, indicating weak discriminant validity among some scales in the Inventory. Through its coverage of important areas of teamworking, the paper contributes to the practitioner and research communities by providing fresh insights into aspects of teamworking and by suggesting new research agendas. INTRODUCTION Effective teamworking has become a basic concern for most organizations. While many factors influence a team’s performance, considerable attention has been given to the influence of team member diversity in terms of roles played in a team. The team role model made popular by Meredith Belbin in relation to management teams (Belbin, 1981, 1993a) and available commercially through Belbin Associates (1988) is widely used in practice and has featured extensively in research on teams at work. The model is used by many organizations including FTSE-100 companies, multinational agencies, government bodies and consultants and has been translated into 16 languages. This paper therefore reviews the published research and assesses to what extent the model is supported by the available evidence. Through its coverage of important areas of teamworking (conflict management, personality traits, team performance, control and power) the paper contributes to the practitioner and research communities by providing fresh insights into aspects of teamworking and by suggesting new research agendas. We first consider the theoretical context for the team role model. Second, all substantive studies that provide psychometric evidence, relationships to personality factors and evidence for predictive validity are summarized, evaluated and contrasted. Finally, we discuss the validity of the model and consider the wider implications of our findings. ROLE THEORIES Prior to the development of Belbin’s team role model (1981, 1993a) other role  theories had been put forward (Benne and Sheats, 1948; Graen, 1976; Graen and Scandura, 1987; Holland, 1985) although the model’s links to these and other role classifications (e.g. Davis et al., 1992; Margerison and McCann, 1990; Parker, 1990; Spencer and Pruss, 1992; Woodcock, 1989) are unclear. While a comprehensive theoretical examination of the many alternative role theories and models is beyond the scope of this paper, it is important to establish a theoretical context for the team role model. The role concept can be viewed from two different perspectives. From an anthropological-sociological perspective it can be defined as a combination of values, attitudes and behaviour assigned to an individual who occupies a social position (a location in a social network) associated with a specific social status (the functions assigned to that person). From this perspective, a role can be defined as the behaviour that a person displays in relation to his/her social position and social status (Linton, 1945). Secondly, from a psychosocial perspective, a role can be defined as the behaviour expected from an individual occupying a specific position (Biddle, 1979) such that the cognition and expected behaviour associated with the position are fundamentally important to success in the role (Katz and Kahn, 1978). This psychosocial perspective is adopted for the purposes of this review. Since Lewin created the Research Centre for Group Dynamics in 1944, two types of groups have been studied: groups created to solve problems and groups preoccupied with individual development. This duality has brought about a distinction between so-called ‘task roles’ and ‘socio-emotional roles’. In this light, Bales and Slater (1955) studied laboratory groups and concluded that there were significant differences between individuals concerned with solving tasks and individuals concerned with the social and emotional needs of group members. People concerned with solving tasks were called ‘task leaders’ whereas those concerned with emotional needs were called ‘maintenance or socio-emotional leaders’. Similarly, Benne and Sheats (1948) proposed a role behaviour classification describing 12 task roles and seven maintenance roles. Task-centred roles were concerned with the coordination of group problem solving activities, whereas   maintenance roles were concerned with promoting group-centred behaviour. Both role types were thought necessary for a team to perform well. These theoretical antecedents formed the pillars of the development of the team role model (Belbin, 1981) as its general framework and the names of some team roles connect to these and other theories (Fisher et al., 2001a). Among theoretical models explaining how roles are acquired, a two-part classification can be made (Ilgen and Hollenbeck, 1991). First, there are ‘role taking’ models that consider individuals as passive acceptors of the roles assigned to them by others (Graen, 1976). An example is the ‘role episode model’ (Katz and Kahn, 1978) where the role is defined by an interaction process between two people; the person performing the role (the focal person) and another who holds a set of beliefs that constitute the role (the role sender). The role sender communicates a set of beliefs and the focal person assumes them. The second classification of role models sees subjects actively participating in the definition and development of their role. These models assume that individuals are much more active and motivated to possess roles that they can perform successfully. They are called ‘role making’ models because the focal person actively attempts to influence the role sender as they try to build a role that will be acceptable to both of them. Graen and Scandura (1987) proposed the ‘theory of dyadic organizing’ which integrated and extended Graen’s first proposal (1976). This theory describes how members of a team coordinate their activities to accomplish tasks that are not prescribed in their positions but fundamental for the effective functioning of the team. When a job role involves very predictable tasks, assigning individuals to roles is relatively easy. However, as work becomes more complex then so do the abilities required by individuals. The question is no longer about the abilities and knowledge a person should have for a specific job but is about predicting how a person will behave in the work unit where the work will be  performed. In this sense, Holland (1985) proposed one of the first models that accounted for this individual context adjustment, suggesting that individuals and job environments can be classified into six different types: ‘realistic’, ‘conventional’, ‘entrepreneur’, ‘social’, ‘artistic’ and ‘intellectual’. Each type is associated with specific activities and abilities possessed by individuals. A set of adjectives characterizes each type. For example, the intellectual type is described as analytical, cautious, critical, inquisitive, independent, pessimistic and reserved. For individuals to be successful and satisfied in a job, their personal abilities, interests and personality traits should adjust with the requirements, rewards and interpersonal relations offered by the job consistent with individual job adjustment theory. Holland (1985) proposed that an individual may display attributes of more than one type and also that there are compatible and incompatible types; for example, ‘intellectual’ and ‘artistic’ types are more compatible than ‘artistic’ and ‘conventional’ types. Belbin’s team role model can be linked to these role theories and role classifications. We now turn to review the literature on the team role model, drawing upon studies using the Team Role Self Perception Inventory (TRSPI) through which it is operationalized. We also review team role assessment using personality questionnaires and empirical studies that have explored the theoretical network of team role constructs in an attempt to better understand how individual team role preference is related to the behavioural definition of team roles as well as to other areas of teamwork behaviour. As with most role theories, Belbin’s model is not preoccupied with the roles (behavioural patterns) per se but with the ways in which the roles develop, change and interact with other patterns of behaviour over time. The model  was proposed after a nine-year study of team building and team effectiveness with management teams taking part in an executive management exercise (Lawrence, 1974). Prior to participating in the exercise, individuals completed Cattell’s 16PF personality questionnaire and Watson Glaser’s Critical Thinking Appraisal. For each management team an observer recorded group processes based upon Bales’ (1950) interactive process analysis and reported their observations. Successful and less successful teams were analysed in terms of their members’ personalities and in terms of their critical thinking abilities. Analyses were then crossreferenced with observers’ reports and, as a result, eight team roles were proposed. The initial categorization of team roles was therefore based on assessments of team members’ personalities, critical thinking abilities and a behavioural checklist. The only empirical evidence of the early analysis showed a positive correlation between performance predictions based on team role composition and actual performance across 22 teams (Belbin et al., 1976, p. 26). The eight role model was introduced (Belbin, 1981) and a team role was defined as a pattern of behaviour characteristic of the way in which one team member interacts with another in order to facilitate the progress of the team as a whole. Names and descriptive adjectives for each of the eight team roles were also included. In 1993 some team roles were renamed and a ninth role added. Descriptions of each role are given in Appendix 1. In this model a role is defined by six factors: personality, mental ability, current values and motivation, field constraints, experience, and role learning. However, Belbin did not show how much of the variance in a team role is explained by each factor. In keeping with others (Benne and Sheats, 1948; Torrington et al., 1985), Belbin defends the idea that high performing teams need to have a balanced representation of all team roles. The team role balance hypothesis assumes that if all team roles are present in a team then it will perform better than other teams without the balance. Belbin also considers that the team role concept (a preference to behave in a particular way with other team members while performing tasks) should be distinguished from the concept of functional role which refers to the technical skills and operational knowledge relevant to the job. Consequently, several people may  have the same functional role but vary greatly in their natural team role(s). Belbin also stresses the link between the stages of a team’s development and the need for different team roles to dominate at different stages. Six different stages of development are proposed: (1) identifying needs; (2) finding ideas; (3) formulating plans; (4) making ideas; (5) establishing team organization; and (6) following through. In the early stages team roles like Shaper and Co-ordinator will be most needed, whereas in the later stages Completer-Finishers and Implementers make higher contributions. Operationalizing the Model The team role model is ideally operationalized through a self-perception inventory and through observers’ assessments to give a rounded assessment of a person’s team role. The   original Team Role Self Perception Inventory (TRSPI-8R) was hand-scored such that respondents computed their own profile. This version was later modified to embody the nine role model (TRSPI-9R) and for this version respondents’ profiles are generated by the Interplace computer package. Since it was never intended that the TRSPI should be the only input to exploring a person’s team role, an Observer Assessment Sheet (OAS) was also designed to be used by work colleagues who could make an informed judgement based on their knowledge of the person. The OAS should be used alongside the TRSPI although in many situations only the inventory is used. Details of the scoring procedures for these instruments are given in Appendix 2. The second way of assessing team roles is derived from personality questionnaires; equations to derive team roles have been developed in conjunction with personality questionnaire publishers. In particular, Cattell’s Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire (16PF; Cattell et al., 1970) and the Occupational Personality Questionnaire (OPQ; Saville et al.,  1992) have been used (see Dulewicz, 1995). Reviewing the Evidence This review draws upon 43 substantive studies of the team role model using the TRSPI, OAS and personality inventories. A table showing the purpose of each study, its aims, instruments and sample used along with the key findings is available from the first author. Psychometric evidence. Eight studies have analysed the psychometric properties of the TRSPI and two have reported results from the OAS. Initial evaluations were critical (Furnham et al., 1993a, 1993b; Broucek and Randell, 1996) and one study arrived at mixed conclusions (Beck et al., 1999). Recent studies have been more supportive of the TRSPI’s reliability and structure (Swailes and McIntyre-Bhatty, 2002, 2003). Since the first criticism of the TRSPI (Furnham et al., 1993a), other researchers have raised concerns about the statistical properties of the original inventories as well as their theoretical basis (Broucek and Randell, 1996). An important issue affecting psychometric evaluation of the TRSPI stems from its i psative nature which is outlined in Appendix 2. Evidence for the TRSPI. Furnham et al. (1993a) reported low reliability values for three different versions of the TRSPI. Correlations between team roles were different for a normatively scored (Likert scale) version (M = 0.36) and the original ipsative version (M = -0.29). Factor structures were also different for normative values (two well-defined task and socioemotional factors) and for ipsative scoring (four bipolar factors). Both Senior (1998) and Beck et al. (1999), in their respective exploratory factor analyses, also reported an underlying four factor structure for the ipsative version of the TRSPI. However, the ipsative design of the TRSPI was deliberate and any comparison of forms should recognize that transforming the ipsative structure of the instrument may alter its nature. (See Belbin (1993b) for a rebuke of the normative version.) In the ipsative form the average interscale correlation will be negative (Meade, 2004) whereas in a normative form scales are allowed to correlate freely. In this context, Furnham et al. (1993a) raised concerns about the theoretical basis of the inventory and a lack of evidence for its psychometric properties, noting that the test was ‘neither theoretically nor empirically derived as Belbin developed his team role typology based on observatory and inductive,   rather than theoretically deductive means’ (p. 247) with a limited sample of 78 managers. Similarly, Broucek and Randell (1996) raised concerns about the internal consistency and discriminant validity of the TRSPI and the OAS. They also noted that both tests could not be considered as parallel forms of the same construct. The average correlation between team roles was 0.27 for ipsative scoring and 0.42 for normative scoring; higher correlations were expected from the self-reported data collected by both tests. Similarly, Senior and Swailes (1998) also reported that both TRSPI and OAS did not show high convergent validity as only five team roles showed significant correlations with an average of 0.27. Broucek and Randell (1996) also reported that different correlations were found between the normative and ipsative versions of the TRSPI and the NEO-PI-(R) personality scale although 8 out of 19 predictions for the ipsative version and 14 out of 19 for the normative version were correctly hypothesized. Different correlation values were taken as ‘dramatic evidence of the type of distortion which use of an ipsative instrument produces’ (p. 401). Similarly, Fisher et al. (1996) looked at the correspondence between the TRSPI and 16PF and found low correlation values on the validity diagonal. Broucek and Randell also tested the discriminant validity of the OAS against the NEO-PI (R) Big Five personality factors, although Fisher et al. (2001a, pp. 125–6) noted that such analysis was dependent on the orthogonality of the personality factors and, as far as the factors have been found to be oblique (Costa and McCrae, 1992), any conclusion regarding the discriminant validity of the OAS should be taken cautiously.