Not for Ourselves Alone essays

Not for Ourselves Alone essays In many ways, women were not allowed to play an important role in society during the 1770s. For the most part, it was illegal for women to receive any form of higher education. Thus, their involvement in the affairs of government was very limited, including of course, that they were not allowed to vote, but the voice of the women could not be ignored. Abigail Adams helped plant the seeds that would start women and men thinking about women's rights and roles in a country that had been founded on the ideals of equality and independence. She was a small town girl who traveled the world. She had no education, but she is known for writing letters. She grew up serving men but she ended up strongly challenging the male controlled system. This is the story of Abigail Adams, a most unusual Revolutionary era woman. Abigail Adams was born in 1744 in Weymouth, Massachusetts. She had two sisters, and one brother. She was never able to go to school because she was often, sick and her parents were afraid to send her. Abigails father, Reverend William Smith, was the town minister of Weymouth. He taught Abigail to love books and reading. Abigails mother, Elizabeth Quincy Smith, came from a family of local community leaders. Hearing conversations in her home about the growing tension in the relationship between the American colonies and England, made Abigail curious about political issues. She began to read newspapers and ask questions. At age 17, she became interested in a young lawyer named John Adams who had begun to visit her fathers library.1 In 1764, just before her 20th birthday, Abigail was married to John Adams and settled in Braintree near her family. A year later, Abigail and John had their first child; she was nicknamed, Nabby. In 1767, they had their first son; he was named John Quincy. Abigail moved to Boston right after John Quincy had his first birthday. She wanted to be with John in th...

Chemist Profile and Career Information

Chemist Profile and Career Information Heres a look at what a chemist is, what a chemist does, and what type of salary and career opportunities you can expect as a chemist. What Is a Chemist? What Do Chemists Do? There are a lot of different employment opportunities open to chemists. Some chemists work in a lab, in a research environment, asking questions and testing hypotheses with experiments. Other chemists may work on a computer developing theories or models or predicting reactions. Some chemists do field work. Others contribute advice on chemistry for projects. Some chemists write. Some chemists teach. The career options are extensive. More Careers in Chemistry Job Outlook for Chemists analytical chemistry Chemist Salaries federal executive branch: $88,930scientific research development: $68,760chemical manufacture: $62,340pharmaceutical manufacture: $57,210testing laboratories: $45,730 Chemist Working Conditions Types of Chemists Organic Chemists - work with carbon and carbon-compounds, many of which come from plants or animals. Organic chemists develop drug, petrochemicals, fertilizers, and plastics.Inorganic Chemists - deal primarily with non-carbon chemistry involving metals, minerals, and electronics.Analytical Chemists - examine substances. Analytical chemists identify materials, measure quantities, and evaluate properties of elements and compounds.Physical Chemists - work primarily in the field of energy research. Physical chemists look at chemical and physical changes and examine the relationships between matter and energy. Chemist Educational Requirements in a career in chemistry Advancement as a Chemist chemist with a masters degree How to Get a Job as a Chemist studying chemistry often accept co-op positions with companies so they can work in chemistry while getting their education. These students often stay on with the company following graduation. Summer internships are another excellent way to learn whether or not a chemist and a company are a good fit for each other. Many companies recruit from campuses. Graduates can learn about jobs from college career placement offices. Chemistry jobs may be advertised in journals, newspapers, and online, though one of the best ways to network and find a position is through a chemical society or other professional organization.

Moving Beyond Customer Service Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Moving Beyond Customer Service - Essay Example 2. The communication techniques used by the staff of the hotel, including those at the front desk and at Ballroom A, were very courteous. Unfortunately, the general manager of the hotel was arrogant and disrespectful to the hotel guests. A potential conflict may be avoided if the general manager did not express his emotions with regards to how frustrated he has become with regards to persons with disabilities. Escalation of conflict from potential to actual may be prevented by considering how the client must feel that he could not attend the wedding because his wheelchair could not pass through the function room. A pleasing tone in communicating to the guests may also prevent the escalation of the conflict. 3. One conflict involved the non-availability of a room for one hotel guest, despite her presentation of a confirmation number for a reservation that was made two weeks earlier. A solution to this problem would involve the immediate provision of a room for this particular guest and possibly an additional feature, such as a free dinner from the hotel’s dining room, free of charge. The other conflict involved the inability of a disabled guest to get into the function room of a wedding. A possible solution to this conflict would involve the movement of tables in the function room and be assisting the guest in getting into the wedding reception. 4. The staff members of the hotel did not take full responsibility for resolving the conflicts because they called on the general manager for solutions to these problems. Conflicts could have been prevented if the front desk clerk provided a room for to the first hotel guest. In the case of the wedding incident, the situation could have been improved if the hotel assistant took the responsibility of assisting the guest in getting through to the wedding reception without the help of the general manager.

Critical thinking Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Critical thinking - Article Example Brief Summary The authors Edwards and Hewitt enumerated the three possible options on how to therapeutically respond to patients who self-harm. These include preventing self-harm, allowing self-harm and supervising self-harm. The first option, to prevent it, presented two advantages which include a) prevention of inflicting harm and b) demonstration of commitment to patients which make them feel important. However, these positive arguments were countered by four criticisms. The first is that it will lead to increased risk of suicide. Another argument is that it will increase the risk that patients will self-harm covertly that they will become desperate to try more drastic forms. Third criticism points that removing this coping mechanism of patients means their self-integrity will be undermined. Lastly, this option sends the message to the patients that they cannot be trusted. The second approach, non-interference or to allow it, gives the patients their sense of control over their si tuation and at the same time respects their autonomy. However, this approach may cause more damage and unforeseen harm which might eventually lead to suicide, as well as lessen their self-worth due to abandonment and may also desensitize the nurses to this disturbing situation. The authors supported the last option, to supervise self-harm, because they believe that this will not compromise the autonomy of the patients as well as make them feel being cared for and the nurses will also understand the patients by befriending them. The article As the authors Edwards and Hewitt discussed and evaluated the three contending options on how to deal with patients who self-harm, it can be said that they really are aiming to recommend the last option of supervising patients and being with them during self-harm. This is because as they presented the advantages of preventing and allowing self-harm, there were more arguments against these two choices. There weren't any sustainable evidences that w ill prove the effectiveness of the above mentioned approaches. This poses a problem because it can be said that these advantages are merely claims without any proof to support. However, the flow of the article is clear and straight. There is no long discussion of any other topics aside from those needed to create this article. The aim of the Edwards and Hewitt were achieved so as to ensure that the readers will be convinced to support the supervision of self-harm as against preventing or allowing it. The approach can be considered as biased because during the introduction of the article, opposition and arguments of allowing and preventing self-harm were already being pointed out by Edwards and Hewitt. The authors questioned if suppression and noninterference are justifiable. The authors failed to provide more support and evidences to their claim that supervising the patients during self-harm is the most effective. This poses a questionable conclusion. However, the arguments of the a uthors are consistent. They have clearly stated from start to end of the article that they supported the supervision of self-harm rather than the two other strategies that they explained. There is clear hypothesis and problem stated. The authors claimed that of the three options, the prevention strategy is the least plausible while there is a clear support to a supervised self-harm. This is because according to the qualitative exploration of Hume and Platt as presented by

Human Resource and Management Essay Example for Free

Human Resource and Management Essay It is widely accepted that functions involving management include planning goals of the organization, organizing its employees so that efficiency can be achieved, leading involves employee motivation and influence, whereas control function makes sure that all other functions help bring success to the organization . Another viewpoint is that there is a fifth function which is staffing. Staffing involves the HRM department making sure that the appropriate people with valuable skills are placed on jobs (Bartol, 2004). Human resource department has become more important today as it is integrated and much more strategically involved. The HRM department sees it very important in order to be successful as an organization much effort should be put on recruitment of employees, then they should be motivated to perform their task, and trained to execute their responsibilities effectively. To built an efficient work force and maintain it on that level the HRM needs to influence employee behaviour when they seem off track. The few ways in which they can do is by organizing which includes job design/redesign, remuneration and benefits, training and development, and performance management. Job Design Job design is method which involves organizing employee tasks and giving them responsibilities. It also focuses on changing duties of employees so that job satisfaction is gained, which therefore increases efficiency. It focuses on the content of job and effect it has on employee motivation and effectiveness. If job satisfaction is achieved productivity can also be achieved, some people prefer jobs which they feel comfortable at, identifying what makes a good job for the employee can be helpful in improving performance, this can make difference on cost resulting from absenteeism and low turnover. The job fit matches characteristic of people with characteristic of jobs. A person not fitting a job can be disastrous for the company and the employee. By re-designing the job the person/job fit can be may be improved, this can affect employee motivation as the job becomes favourable for employee, catering to their need of job-related satisfaction, for example a person who does not likes to talk much may find it awkward and frustrating at a bank teller job because there he may have to interact with people all day long (Keaton, 2001). Read more:Â  Areas of Human Resources Management Business The ways to re-design a job includes job enlargement and job enrichment, this involves reducing the problems faced by the employee on job. Broadening the scope of the job by expanding the tasks to be performed may reduce the monotonous job experience, as their would be new tasks for the employee to perform, this may help influence behaviour as the employee may achieve job satisfaction and also feel more important as a part of the organization. Job enrichment deals with the employee given more responsibility then before, by adding planning, controlling and evaluating to his job function. Job enrichment may include giving the employee the entire job rather then a part of work, expanding the assignment so that the employee can learn from new tasks, moreover developing new areas of expertise. It may also include giving the employee more autonomy so that he can organize work according to his will, along with giving feedback to higher officials. The more these characteristics are in the job the more motivating it becomes. For the employees motivational value comes from job enrichment due to the feeling of employees that work is now more meaningful, due to the fact that they are more responsible for outcomes. These changes therefore satisfy the employees need for growth, work motivation, work satisfaction, and work effectiveness (Schuler, 2008). Remuneration and Benefits The HR department has also the responsibility of setting employee remuneration, which is the financial payment to employees for their work. This can be used in influencing employee behaviour, it is necessary for the organization to reward employees fairly. If the employee feels he hasn’t been rewarded well he will be de-motivated. Organizations work towards keeping their skilled employee the time, they do not want to lose employee who have worked with them and are good at what they do, also for motivating employees to be more effective and efficient at work HR department tries to best set the wages inline with the expectance of the employees. Well paid employees feel more satisfied with work and are also more willing to give something extra to the organization, in long term this can increase employee commitment and built a trusted relationship between employee and employer. The other option which the HR department uses in influencing behaviour is the benefit system. Employee benefits are does part of the process that reward in addition to cash pay. These benefits may include insurance, medical, pension schemes, a company car or loan, and paid holidays. These benefits care for personal security and needs (Armstrong, 2000). The aim of employee benefits is to contribute to a competitive reward package, also to provide tax-efficient method of remuneration. This is also to provide for the employees need and also for their request for financial help, thus demonstrating that they are part of a caring organization so in turn they can be motivated to carry out work. This also increases the commitment of employee to the organization. The benefit strategy should be directed at the goal of achieving objectives of the business by ensuring it has high quality, committed people in their ranks. A flexible benefit plan helps employee choose between two or more benefits. An employee will be more motivated if he has a say in his benefit package, this way employee can gain better appreciation for the value of benefit he is be being rewarded. Benefits can also be aligned with work, such as giving paid holidays, this can be helpful in achieving short term targets of organization (Robert, 2008). The HR department has therefore the responsibility to work out the best reward system so that employees can benefit and feel satisfied with their work effort (Armstrong, 2000). Training and Development Training and developing employees so that they can deliver their best to the organization is one of the main functions of HR department. The HR department has to continuously work towards perfecting their work force, training them so that they can adapt to the changing business environment. HR department uses training and development to bring about a permanent change in the employees behaviour. Training is defined as helping employee do their current or future work better, where as development involves acquisition of knowledge, skills, personal development, and the right attitude so that the employee is prepared for future opportunities (Bacal, 1998). Training is used in altering the behaviour of the employee in a direction that will help achieve organizational goals. Training helps employees master their present skills or acquire new skill for the execution of another job. Learning is a part of training which brings about a permanent change in employee behaviour. Before training the personal analysis should be conducted so that it could be determined who requires training and their readiness for training. For training to be successful immediate reinforcement is needed so that appropriate behaviour is learned. The learner must be awarded in ways which satisfy needs, such as pay, promotion and recognition. Standards of performance should be set for the employee, as when these standards are met the employee gets a feeling of accomplishment. The training should be meaningful and should also give employee enough time to absorb. The employee should be encouraged to practise the behaviour again and again so that he could perfect his skills. This way a permanent change is brought about in the employee’s behaviour. There are different approaches to training, which includes on-job training and behavioural modelling. On-job training is that an employee is placed in a real work situation and is showed the job and tricks of the trade by a supervisor. This method widely uses the employee’s learning capability to understand and retain the task execution. The other method is behaviour modelling. This is used in increasing interpersonal skills by observing an experienced employee. These methods help bring about a favourable response from the employee. For this training and development procedure to be successful the HR department should ensure that training is linked to business objectives so that everyone is pointed in the same direction. The training should be focused on outcomes and not activities, also allowing employees enough time to adapt. Training should be motivating so that employee expectations could be met, of providing career pathways, increasing job satisfaction and also improving job security. Employee must be shown how to acquire new competencies and what are the benefits of gaining them The HR department should ensure that not only the organizations needs are respected but also the employees and what they want to achieve, so that positive change is brought about in behaviour. Performance Management and Appraisal The HR department knows how much it costs to acquire employees and retain them as a good working unit, they want to be sure that the outlay on staff is achieving an appropriate return. For this HR departments concentrates on performance management and appraisal, which is about creating relationships and ensuring effective communication within the organization. HR department cite as a process which ensures success for everyone, valuing the effort put in by the employees and also influencing and motivating them for their hard work, they feel it helps asses the employees so that they could be rewarded fairly. This is a communication process between employees and their supervisors, which helps built a clear understanding about the job function and what the employee is expected to do. How they can work together to build, improve or sustain employee’s positive conduct. It focuses on employee’s achievement on the preset objectives and how he can bring about a change in his behaviour so that necessary results can be achieved, with continued reviewing of performance against the plans the HR department ensures that objectives are met. The process of discussing work in progress, and how employees can enhance productivity with regular feedback can help determine where the employees stand, and also assess their accomplishments. Appraising an employees job makes them aware of how a task should be executed, also giving them a degree of empowerment which is the ability to make day-to-day decisions. It also helps employees on how to enhance performance, which in turn presents a chance to the employee to develop new skills and appropriate attitude towards work. If the employee understands his duties he can act more freely within the given framework. Performance appraisal is a part of performance management, it is a judgemental process of the performance of the employee on job. It is mainly done for the employees behaviour is moulded according to the companies determined objectives (Bacal, 1999). Performance appraisal brings about favourable attitude of the employee, in the form of commitment and motivation. This is why it important to appraise employees, its importance can be identified as a development to clarify why it is essential to have an effective training program (Banfield, 2008). It is also important for reward purpose as it identifies the deserving employee to receive a reward and who should be trained to achieve high efficiency. Employee motivation is the key behind his compliance to change and this appraisal system stimulates effort to perform better. Employees can be given a legally acceptable reason for promotion or reward and also in case of discharge or transfer so that the employee can’t feel of being treated unfairly. The basic compliance to change of behaviour for an employee comes with monetary incentives, therefore this system helps identify what to pay the employee. This system also encourages communication so that a sense of trust builds between the employee and supervisor, this can be beneficial for the organization as they can work towards carefully shaping the behaviour of the employee so that needs of the organization are catered for, as the employee will respect his supervisor’s decision and will work with commitment and desire. Conclusion The employees are the most important resource of any organization, their commitment and sincerity to the organizations objectives is much sought after. The HR department’s role in this is significant as it sets a benchmark of high standards for the organizations employees. Ensuring that change in behaviour they want is achieved in manner which is acceptable to the employee. The HR department first has to identify the lacking, if it’s concerned with the job they can use job design to influence employee behaviour as an inappropriate person/job fit can be de-motivating for the employee and costly for the organization. If they feel their employees value monetary benefits more they can alter their remuneration and benefit packages according to the need of the employee to generate a feeling of importance in the employee, thus motivating them to achieve organizational goals. The HR department can also analyse the skill level and competence of the employee so that any lacking can then be corrected by employing training and development methods, thus equipping their workforce with new skills and knowledge, readying them to face the challenging business environment. Lastly HR department can use performance management to mould the behaviour of employee according to the need of the organization. With a continuous judgmental system employee motivation and work efficiency can be measured, and then rewarded accordingly. A motivated workforce is the key to any achievement for the organization, so this is what organizations should continuously strive to achieve employing the discussed techniques to influence them.

feminaw Edna Pontellier’s Predicament in Kate Chopins The Awakening :: Chopin Awakening Essays

Edna's Predicament in The Awakening Dr. Mandelet, speaking more as a wise, older man than as a medical authority, seems to understand Edna's predicament. When Mr. Pontellier asks for his advice concerning the strange behaviour of his wife, the doctor immediately wonders, "Is there any man in the case?" (950). While Edna thinks she is expressing her independent rights, Dr. Mandelet knows her heart is still tied to the need for a man in her life, and to an uncontrolled submission to sexual passion. After her self-proclaimed release from her husband's narrow world of prescribed gender roles, Edna begins to act spontaneously, without considering, as Leonce would wish, "what people would say" (977). During a visit to Mademoiselle Reisz, she boldly displays her new attitude, refusing the more modest hot chocolate in favor of a "man's drink": "I will take some brandy," said Edna, shivering as she removed her gloves and overshoes. She drank the liquor from the glass as a man would have done. Then flinging herself upon the uncomfortable sofa she said, "Mademoiselle, I am going to move away from my house on Esplanade Street." (962) However, she will be moving "[j]ust two steps away" (962), she admits, betraying the fact that her feminist step forward will be hindered by at least two steps back. Her new assertiveness will not be enough to shield her from the difficulties of her changing life. Although she expresses herself to Robert in what she deems an "unwomanly" style (990), she is still a victim of societal conditioning, wanting to surrender her identity to another person.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Cristina Giorcelli writes that "Transitional states are inevitably states of inner and outer ambiguity. In her quest for her true self, Edna loses, or enhances with the addition of the opposite ones, her original gender connotations and social attributes" (121). Such a reading, however, risks simplifying the story in its attempt to clarify exactly that which is ambiguous. Although Giorcelli agrees that the story's message is blurred, she seems to contradict herself when she argues that, Through her androgyny Edna succeeds in achieving the wholeness of a composite unity, both integral and versatile, both necessary and free. Triumphing over sex and role differentiations ontologically implies sub- jugating that which substantiates but curtails, and ethically it entails mastering the grim unilaterality of responsibility. The bourgeois crisis that Edna endures--the discrepancy between duty toward others and right toward herself[--] .

In the “Clearances” collection, what is revealed about Seamus Heaney and his relationship with his mother, and his thoughts and feelings about other

One of the most moving and emotional of Heaney's works is his collection of sonnets called ‘Clearances'. These sonnets were written in dedication and memoriam to his mother Margaret Kathleen Heaney, who died in 1984. The eight sonnets are filled with lively, detailed and vivid memories, but the strong and loving relationship between Heaney and his mother is constantly referred to also. Heaney has no difficulty in expressing openly the love felt for his mother, both by him and his family, as we see in the invocation at the beginning of the collection; ‘She taught me what her uncle once taught her'. Here we immediately see how his mother has taught him simple but great life wisdom, how to live and deal with problems in everyday life. This immediately identifies a clear picture of love and devotion towards her son, illuminating right from the beginning their strong mother/son relationship. This life wisdom is reflected again in sonnet 2, whereby she commands him on various rules before entering the house she grew up in; ‘And don't be dropping crumbs. Don't tilt your chair'. This yet again shows the close bond Heaney and his mother share, as she warns him in order to avoid him getting into trouble, showing that she is concerned over his welfare and wants to avoid upsetting him in any way possible. The fact that Heaney remembers this visit to his grandparents so vividly is also an indication of how important his mother and her family background was to him, as he shows a keep interest in all aspects of the visit. Despite this, the true reveal of the close bond shared by both mother and son is seen most apparent in sonnet 3, whereby Heaney describes the activities shared between them on times where it was just the two of them alone. In sonnet 3, he mentions himself and his mother preparing Sunday dinner; ‘I was all hers as we peeled potatoes. They broke the silence, let fall one by one'. The close bond between them is easily spotted here, as peeling potatoes is seen as a feminine image, yet Heaney is eager to help and share quality time with his mother, emphasising the importance she has in his life. The fact that there is silence is also an indication of their loving relationship, as neither feels the need to speak as they are enjoying just being in each other's company. ‘From each other's work would bring us to our senses', this yet again shows the unifying element between the both of them, almost as if they are part of one another, showing how alike they are. The change in mood in the second stanza emphasises Heaney's great pain at the loss of his mother. Yet despite this, they are still united as they were in the first stanza, ‘her breath in mine', once again highlighting the closeness shared between them. The final line in the third sonnet is a clear confirmation of the strength in the bond placed between Heaney and his mother as he feels the closest he has ever felt to her at a time when he should feel most distanced; her death, ‘never closer the whole rest of our lives'. A similar pattern of silence is shown in sonnet 4, where Heaney writes about his mother and how she dealt with her son being very intellectual despite only coming from a loving farming background. In the sonnet, Heaney mentions the silent fear felt by his mother at the thought of people thinking of her as a snob, the fear of thinking that her family will think she's above herself, ‘Fear of affectation made her affect. Inadequacy whenever it came to pronouncing words ‘beyond her'. Bertold Brek'. This shows us the discomfort felt by Heaney's mother by being torn to stay at her family's intellectual level or progress in order to be the same as her son. Read also Intro to Public Relations Notes We gain knowledge from the sonnet that she is slightly more knowledgeable than she decides to show, ‘well-adjusted vocabulary'. The result of her choice here illuminates the close bond between her and Heaney, as Heaney shows respect towards her by ‘governed my tongue in front of her'. He speaks as she would in order to keep to his background and make her feel less uncomfortable, which shows that he thinks about her thoughts and feelings and puts them before his own. Despite this, Heaney's education is affecting them as the ‘grammar which kept us allied and at bay'. This illuminates the problems faced by Heaney and his mother, despite speaking less intellectually for the right reasons, at the same time neither are being true to themselves, and are lying about the real person inside in order to please each other. The devoted bond between Heaney and his mother is illuminated again in sonnet 5. In this sonnet, Heaney talks again about another female activity that he is helping his mother with, helping her to fold sheets that have newly come in off the line. The intimacy between them is revealed once more as their hands ‘end up hand to hand'. This shows yet again the closeness between him and his mother as they are together in such an emotional way by performing such a simple task. There is a slight flaw again in their relationship in this poem however, as we begin to see the differences faced by both Heaney and his mother with Heaney's education seems to overpower his mother, ‘and pulled against her; suggesting that as he grows and becomes more intelligent, it is slowly pushing them away from each other. Sonnet 6 shows a change in Heaney's age, and it becomes clear that he is in his teenage years. Despite the change however, his relationship with his mother seems unaffected. He compares his mother with the book Sons and Lovers. The title of the book immediately shows us the deep love felt for his mother during these years, and their closeness is still confirmed as they kneel ‘elbow to elbow' in the church at Easter time. Heaney sees this as important and shows us that mother and son are both entering a different phase, they are both now devoutly religious. At a time when their views should differ however, Heaney and his mother remain allied, a true indication of the emotionally powerful shared between them. The ultimate reveal of the unconditional love and strength between Heaney and his mother is show in sonnet 7, the sonnet describing the death of his mother. On her deathbed, Heaney, along with other members of his immediate family show his mother the affection she longed for and deserved, ‘he called her good and girl'. Here, Heaney shows the most affection he ever has to his mother, revealing true feelings he has towards her. The fact that Heaney feels a ‘space' after she dies is also a key suggestion to the closeness of their relationship, that the woman he has loved and adored has left him and he feels emptiness, as if nothing can replace her, showing how highly Heaney thought of his mother. ‘It penetrated Clearances that suddenly stood open. High cries were felled and a pure change happened', yet again here, the flawless relationship shared between Heaney and his mother is shown as despite her spirit leaving her body, her ways have been passed on to him, and the use of the word ‘kept' suggests that Heaney will never forget her. The end of this sonnet, with the use of the word ‘felled' links sonnet 7 with sonnet 8, the final in the collection. In it, Heaney talks about the tree that has been removed from the garden in which he lived by new owners. I thought of walking round and round a space', this shows the emptiness felt by Heaney after his mother's death, and the tree is symbolic of the loss of his mother also. The closeness of the relationship between them is reflected in the feelings felt by Heaney after his mother's death, he, like the tree, also feels like he has been cut, both physically and emotionally, ultimately illuminating the desperation he feels now that his mother is not around, emphasising the closeness between them. Despite the focus of Clearances being on the experiences of Heaney and his mother, we are also informed of Heaney's thoughts and feelings towards other members of his family. In the invocation, we are made aware of Heaney's ancestors, including his uncle and other, present day family members who are working on the farm. Heaney shares his fear of being different to his family ‘to face the music'. It is clear that he is different to them, an academic gem, and it is clear that he is of the opinion that his family are being who they are supposed to be, and he believes that he is putting himself in danger by going against family tradition. This shows the respect he feels towards his family, and he takes their feelings into consideration, as he does not want to hurt them emotionally or cause them any unnecessary pain. The next family member we are introduced to is his great-grandmother in the hard times when she married outside the tribe and changed her religion. Heaney doesn't see her actions as anything unacceptable and sees it as an inheritance ‘to dispose of' after his great-grandmother's passing. He is ultimately respectful to his past family members and sees the ‘exonerated stone' as a mark of triumph not embarrassment. He shows great support and respect towards his great-grandmother and is brave enough to speak against what other people think are right, illuminating the support and love felt for his great-grandmother. In sonnet 2, we are introduced briefly to Heaney's grandparents. Yet again, Heaney feels respect towards them and sees their way of life as organised and traditional, a successful way to be. He clearly feels great affection and love towards them as he listens to his mother's imperatives in order not to upset them and make things easier for his mother, ‘to welcome home a bewildered homing daughter'. The final member of Heaney's family that we are introduced to is his father. In sonnet 3, Heaney sees and portrays him as a quiet man, a man who does not speak much, ‘hammer and tong at the prayers for the dying'. There is also a hint that Heaney's father is a man of few emotions, at the suggestion that he is not crying at his wife's bedside. However, in sonnet 7, Heaney sees him in a whole new light. His father describes his mother as ‘good' and ‘girl', and talks about the early days of their courtship, and finally shows her affection by bending down to her ‘propped-up head'. Heaney is overjoyed at this, ‘she could not hear but we were overjoyed', as his father finally feels like he did towards his mother. It is possible that Heaney feels a slight closeness towards his father at this point, that both are united in their grief. He clearly feels love towards his father, and his comforted by the words spoken by him at his mothers deathbed.

Organizational Control

Organizational control is the systematic process through which managers regulate organizational activities to make them consistent with expectations established in plans, targets and standards of performance (Kuratko, 2001). These organizational expectations are a collection of goals and accountabilities represented in the budget, which help establish performance metrics, document actual performances, allow comparison between the estimated and actual performance, and allow for corrective actions (Jones-George-Hill, 2003). Measures of financial performance are those ratios against which actual performance can be meaningfully measured against the expectations of the budget. These measures are objective measures of performance, and a careful analysis of a combination of these ratios may help dis ¬tinguish between firms that will eventually fail and those that will continue to survive, sometimes as early as five years before a firm fails trouble can be detected from the value of these financial ratios (Keating). These performance ratios measure profit, liquidity, leverage and activity and the combination tell a significant story as to the overall health of an organization. Profitability ratios demonstrate the efficiency of the use of resources to generate profits from organizational inputs of materials to value added activities (Jones-George-Hill, 2003). These are Return on investment and Gross Profit Margin. ROI, or â€Å"return on investment,† measures competitive advantage because it allows managers to compare performance against other similar organizations. Although firms will differ on how that calculation is reached internally and what activities are considered profit drivers. For instance, in her 2010 book Open Leadership, Charlene Li argues that a social media campaign goes beyond marketing in that it reduces other costs by not only building affinity but can reduce other costs using Ford Motor Company and Comcast as an example (Li, 2010). Gross Profit Margin is the difference between the amount of revenue generated from the product and the resources used to produce the product. For the current quarter, Apple Computer is projecting an increase in GPM from their expectations of 36% to 37% with further expectation that will increase to 38% next quarter (Barrons, 2011). The iPad generated $4. 4-Billion in revenue last quarter with 80% of the Fortune 100 deploying the computer (Goldman, 2011). With strong business acceptance and revenue performance for a market that didn’t exist a year ago, the GPM associated ith such a product increases far more quickly. Real Networks, on the other hand, has had significant difficulty maintaining its gross profit margin indicating it either cannot control costs or that it has been forced to lower prices (Phillips, 2011). Apple has had no downward price pressure and costs have been kept under control (Hadhazy, 2010). Liquidity ratios measure the overall organizational preparedness to meet the short-term obligations of the organization. The higher the ratio, the greater the organizational ability to cover short-term debts, but a high liquidity ratio also indicates a significant proportion of assets are being used in non-productive ways (Yahoo Finance). Two common liquidity measures are the current ratio and the quick ratio. The current ratio is the difference between current assets and current liabilities and it speaks to the question of whether there are enough assets to pay claims on short-term debts without selling inventory. The ratio expression indicates how much money is available versus how much short term debt is outstanding. A ratio of 2:1 indicates $2 in assets for every $1 in debt. The Motley Fool dissects Real Networks stock performance while determining whether or not to sell the stock. One positive sign for the company is a high current ratio – 3. 13 (Phillips, 2011). However, while the company has â€Å"miniscule† debt, the company’s equity has been shrinking over the past 5-years, so a question to ask is do they have too high a current ratio, bearing in mind that represents non-productive assets? There are enough assets to pay short-term claims, but the stock performance lags the S&P by almost 2/3 – raising the question in my mind if they have too much non-performing assets on hand which need to be reevaluated. The quick ratio answers the question of whether an organization can pay claims without selling inventory. Inventory is not necessarily worth the amount represented on the books, and removing it from this calculation gives a better view of whether or not an organization has liquid assets available. If a company has too much of its liquidity tied up in inventory, it will be dependent on selling that inventory to finance its operations and will have a low quick ratio (Motley Fool). Leverage ratios measure the use of debt or equity to finance operations, with the use of debt becoming problematic if profits cannot cover the interest on the debt (Jones-George-Hill, 2003). Two common such ratios are debt-to-assets ratio and times-covered ratio. Debt to assets shows to what extent the organization is financed with debt, with a lower number being more favorable. With a low number, an organization and its investors can be more confident a company can weather difficult times. Real Networks, as discussed earlier, has a debt to equity ratio close to zero, largely because there is close to no debt – this is a company which can weather some difficult times, however while the debt remains low, the equity is decreasing as well signaling there may be some continuing difficult times (Phillips, 2011). The times-covered ratio measures the extent to which a company's can meet its current debt obligations with available net income. If the times-covered ratio declines to less than 1, then the company is unable to meet its interest costs and is technically insolvent (Jones-George-Hill, 2003). Activity ratios are a measure of an organizations utilization of resources to create value. For a company to be profitable, it must be able to manage its inventory, because it is money invested that does not earn a return. So, inventory turnover measures how well a company is moving its inventory so the assets are not carried as non-performing assets and days sales outstanding measures how quickly that inventory is converted to payment on what it owed. I worked for a small printing company which was dependent on its ability to collect on outstanding projects – age of account was an important measure of the company’s health and much effort was placed on collecting. Inventory was not an option as each job was unique to the client and was good only for that client. These measures help direct the activities of the organization and help set the goals of the organization. The indicate the health of the company, by measuring the management effectiveness in meeting the organizational goals.

Free Essays on The Power Of Surveillance

Today’s world is a world of total surveillance. Video cameras, secret shoppers, and thumb print scanners are only the beginning of a long list of devises that are used today to keep society â€Å"in check†. In Staples essay, he argues that surveillance has engulfed our cultures and has infiltrated every aspect of society, raising the question, â€Å"Who holds ultimate power?†. Michel Foucault, a French philosopher of the 20th century, who uses opposing ideas of the Enlightenment in attempt to prove human worth and identity, has also addressed this question. Foucault states that man is not autonomous by nature, but rather tied into an episteme. His idea on power and knowledge displaces the human subject from the central role of domination. Consequently, arguing that knowledge is no longer the â€Å"autonomous intellectual structures that happen to be employed as instruments of power† (Foucault, 219), but rather tied to systems of social control. Oâ₠¬â„¢Rourke’s documentary Cannibal Tours, examines the lives of the Iatmul Indians living in Papua New Guinea by filming the interaction between the natives and the western tourists who visit them, ultimetley bluring the boundaries between self and other. The cameraman juxtaposes interviews with the natives about the tourists and vise versa, in attempt for the audience to see both perspectives constructing and expressing their views of the â€Å"other†. Because of the panoptic power that the cameraman holds, the views of a presupposing audience are moldable, resulting in a society susceptible to manipulation. Through clever filming techniques, O’Rourke is able to capture the essence of the interactions, many of which closely parallel Foucault’s ideas of surveillance. Foucault’s concept of the panopticon instills a fear of the unknown into the lives of the watched. First devised by Jeremy Bentham in the 1800’s, its clever mediation of mass control quickly became a popular survei... Free Essays on The Power Of Surveillance Free Essays on The Power Of Surveillance Today’s world is a world of total surveillance. Video cameras, secret shoppers, and thumb print scanners are only the beginning of a long list of devises that are used today to keep society â€Å"in check†. In Staples essay, he argues that surveillance has engulfed our cultures and has infiltrated every aspect of society, raising the question, â€Å"Who holds ultimate power?†. Michel Foucault, a French philosopher of the 20th century, who uses opposing ideas of the Enlightenment in attempt to prove human worth and identity, has also addressed this question. Foucault states that man is not autonomous by nature, but rather tied into an episteme. His idea on power and knowledge displaces the human subject from the central role of domination. Consequently, arguing that knowledge is no longer the â€Å"autonomous intellectual structures that happen to be employed as instruments of power† (Foucault, 219), but rather tied to systems of social control. Oâ₠¬â„¢Rourke’s documentary Cannibal Tours, examines the lives of the Iatmul Indians living in Papua New Guinea by filming the interaction between the natives and the western tourists who visit them, ultimetley bluring the boundaries between self and other. The cameraman juxtaposes interviews with the natives about the tourists and vise versa, in attempt for the audience to see both perspectives constructing and expressing their views of the â€Å"other†. Because of the panoptic power that the cameraman holds, the views of a presupposing audience are moldable, resulting in a society susceptible to manipulation. Through clever filming techniques, O’Rourke is able to capture the essence of the interactions, many of which closely parallel Foucault’s ideas of surveillance. Foucault’s concept of the panopticon instills a fear of the unknown into the lives of the watched. First devised by Jeremy Bentham in the 1800’s, its clever mediation of mass control quickly became a popular survei...

OptionParser Command-Line Options the Ruby Way

OptionParser Command-Line Options the Ruby Way Ruby comes equipped with a powerful and flexible tool to parse command-line options, OptionParser. Once you learn how to use this, youll never go back to looking through ARGV manually. OptionParser has a number of features that make it quite appealing to Ruby programmers. If youve ever parsed options by hand in Ruby or C, or with the getoptlong C function, youll see how welcome some of these changes are. OptionParser is DRY. You only have to write the command-line switch, its arguments, the code to run when its encountered, and the command-line switch description once in your script. OptionParser will automatically generate help screens for you from this description, as well as infer everything about the argument from its description. For example, it will know the file [FILE] option is optional and takes a single argument. Also, it will know that [-no]-verbose is really two options and will accept both forms.OptionParser will automatically convert options to a specific class. If the option takes an integer, it can convert any string passed on the command-line to an integer. This cuts down on some of the tedium involved in parsing command-line options.Everything is very contained. All of the options are in the same place, and the effect of the option is right along-side the definition for the option. If options have to be added, changed or someone simply wants to see what they do, the re is only one place to look. Once the command-line is parsed, a single Hash or OpenStruct will hold the results. Enough Already, Show Me Some Code So heres a simple example of how to use OptionParser. It doesnt use any of the advanced features, just the basics. There are three options, and one of them takes a parameter. All of the options are mandatory. There are the -v/verbose and -q/quick options, as well as the -l/logfile FILE option. Additionally, the script takes a list of files independent of the options. #!/usr/bin/env ruby # A script that will pretend to resize a number of images require optparse # This hash will hold all of the options # parsed from the command-line by # OptionParser. options {} optparse OptionParser.new do|opts|   Ã‚  # Set a banner, displayed at the top   Ã‚  # of the help screen.   Ã‚  opts.banner Usage: optparse1.rb [options] file1 file2 ...   Ã‚  # Define the options, and what they do   Ã‚  options[:verbose] false   Ã‚  opts.on( -v, verbose, Output more information ) do   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  options[:verbose] true   Ã‚  end   Ã‚  options[:quick] false   Ã‚  opts.on( -q, quick, Perform the task quickly ) do   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  options[:quick] true   Ã‚  end   Ã‚  options[:logfile] nil   Ã‚  opts.on( -l, logfile FILE, Write log to FILE ) do|file|   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  options[:logfile] file   Ã‚  end   Ã‚  # This displays the help screen, all programs are   Ã‚  # assumed to have this option.   Ã‚  opts.on( -h, help, Display this s creen ) do   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  puts opts   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  exit   Ã‚  end end # Parse the command-line. Remember there are two forms # of the parse method. The parse method simply parses # ARGV, while the parse! method parses ARGV and removes # any options found there, as well as any parameters for # the options. Whats left is the list of files to resize. optparse.parse! puts Being verbose if options[:verbose] puts Being quick if options[:quick] puts Logging to file #{options[:logfile]} if options[:logfile] ARGV.each do|f|   Ã‚  puts Resizing image #{f}...   Ã‚  sleep 0.5 end Examining the Code To start off with, the optparse library is required. Remember, this isnt a gem. It comes with Ruby, so theres no need to install a gem or require rubygems before optparse. There are two interesting objects in this script. The first is options, declared at the top-most scope. Its a simple empty hash. When options are defined, they write their default values to this hash. For example, the default behavior is for this script to not be verbose, so options[:verbose] is set to false. When options are encountered on the command-line, theyll change the values in options to reflect their effect. For example, when -v/verbose is encountered, it will assign true to options[:verbose]. The second interesting object is optparse. This is the OptionParser object itself. When you construct this object, you pass it a block. This block is run during construction and will build a list of options in internal data structures, and get ready to parse everything. Its in this block that all the magic happens. You define all the options here. Defining Options Each option follows the same pattern. You first write the default value into the hash. This will happen as soon as the OptionParser is constructed. Next, you call the on method, which defines the option itself. There are several forms of this method, but only one is used here. The other forms allow you to define automatic type conversions and sets of values an option is restricted to. The three arguments used here are the short form, long form, and description of the option. The on method will infer a number of things from the long form. One thing is will infer is the presence of any parameters. If there are any parameters present on the option, it will pass them as parameters to the block. If the option is encountered on the command-line, the block passed to the on method is run. Here, the blocks dont do much, they just set values in the options hash. More could be done, such as checking that a file referred to exists, etc. If there are any errors, exceptions can be thrown from these blocks. Finally, the command-line is parsed. This happens by calling the parse! method on an OptionParser object. There are actually two forms of this method, parse and parse!. As the version with the exclamation point implies, it is destructive. Not only does it parse the command-line, but it will remove any options found from ARGV. This is an important thing, it will leave only the list of files supplied after the options in ARGV.

Marketing plan assignment 2 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Marketing plan assignment 2 - Essay Example Currently, the company is having approximately 23 stores in the region of the UK. The company is also having an online operational activity in three regions of the world that include British, German and Australia. The company with the provision of quality products and services has been effective in performing its operations in an effective manner (Hawes & Curtis, 2015). Presently, the company is identified to make an entry in Chinese market for expanding its business. The actual intention of the company is to setup a business in the core market of China. In this regard, the company need to do a market research of the Chinese clothing market for understanding the actual market structure of the country. It is apparently stated that Chinese market is one of the world vast markets in terms of largest consumers. In this respect, based on the market research, it can be apparently stated that the rate of clothing consumption in the market segments of China has increased in a rapid manner. By the overall research, it is also identified that the China clothing market is one of the most prospected markets in the world (International Trade Centre, 2011). At the initial stage, the company i.e. Hawes & Curtis has been initiated to develop its Unique Selling Proportion (USP) for attracting the target customers as well as develop a respectable position in the Chinese market. The company has an aim to focus over the young and middle aged men as well as women as its targeted customer. The USP of the company is to provide quality clothing products along within clothing accessories for both men and women. In the Chinese market, the demand for apparel has increased to a large extent over the years owing to certain factors that include increase in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), income level, consumer behaviour, support of the government and shopping trend. In this regard, the company wanted to pay more attention towards