The Importance Of The Enlightenment - 1189 Words

The 17th and 18th centuries were filled with intellectualism, new ideas, and important discoveries. These events took place during the Enlightenment; a time period where reason and logic trumped the church’s ideas. The Enlightenment sparked new ideas about the government which got people thinking and questioning their rulers. Philosophers started to point out the flaws in government that common people used to look past, and these Philosophers started to come up with ideas that would help the government improve. Although the rulers in charge at the time were not fans of what these philosophers had to say, the people started to protest these ideas and stand up for what they believe in. With these new ideas circulating, a democratic†¦show more content†¦He believed this would be a good idea due to the fact that absolute power according to him was, â€Å"bound to result in arbitrary despotism,†(Montesquieu, 6). From Montesquieu’s perspective, absolutism was not a good idea because it gave a ruler complete power and with that power, they could do good, or be completely destructive. Also, according to Rousseau, the government corrupts people and the way they think; this is because people were listening to one person and one opinion at all times. Rousseau wrote a lot about the topic of the people not having any power compared to the rulers in charge and said, â€Å"Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains,†(Rousseau, n.d). Rousseau believed that people were being given no power and were restricted because they had no say in what was going on. Absolute rulers were abusing the power they were given, and a democracy where no one person has too much power would be the only way to fix the problems at hand. Also during this time, people from all backgrounds started to become interested in the idea of democracy and the natural rights that they had. The idea of natural rights came about because of Locke, a philosopher who expressed the idea that everyone was born with certain liberties. Locke claimed that â€Å"Men being†¦ by natural all free, equal, and independent, no one can be†¦ subjected to the political power of another without his own consent,†(Locke, 5). Locke believed that people were born with certainShow MoreRelated Comparing Kant and Mill Essay913 Words   |  4 Pagesthat which leads to enlightenment (in Kant’s terms) and a general understanding and certainty, as Mill would put it. The two political philosophers, while both striving to reach the same goal, ultimately achieve their goals in a different sense, and even demonstrate a slight discrepancy in what they ultimately mean to attain. Mill’s path toward certainty and understanding is depend ent on dissenting opinion, and is asymptotic to truth; one never achieves the complete enlightenment that Kant describesRead MoreEnlightenment Rationalism and Romantic Subjectivism1187 Words   |  5 Pagesï » ¿Enlightenment Rationalism and Romantic Subjectivism In the eighteenth century social theories had a huge impact on individuals within a society. Two social theories in particular came to be during radical times. The enlightenment rationalism theory was based on human reason and rational thought. The romantic subjectivism theory was based on the importance of individual freedom with an emphasis on the subjective mind and culture. These two social theories were both highly influential during theirRead MoreRomanticism1649 Words   |  7 Pagessocial movement in the 17th to 18th century. However, as the 19th century began, Romanticism came into the light with a new perspective that intrigued the people. It stressed emphasis on emotions and imagination while also helping to realize the importance of self-expression. The American Romanticism movement illustrated inspiration, bias and predominance of individuals in the nineteenth century. Romanticism has a very small amount to do with events and manners traditionally thought of as romanticRead MoreEssay on The Enlightenment1246 Words   |  5 PagesThe history of Western civilization cannot be neatly divided into precise linear sections. Instead, it must be viewed as a series of developing threads that combine, interact, and, at various intervals, take pervasive shifts. The Enlightenment of the eighteenth century was one of these paradigm historical shifts, challenging the traditional notions of authority by investing reason with the power to change the human condition for the better. This ecumenical emphasis on reason and independent thoughtRead MoreImpact Of Enlightenment On The French Revolution878 Words   |  4 PagesI agree that the Enlightenment was force for positive change in society. The Enlightenment was one was the most important intellectual movements in History, as it dominated and influenced the way people thought in Europe in the late 17th and 18t h centuries. We will look at how it ultimately influenced the American and French Revolution which is still strongly governed by these ideas and principles today. The Age of Enlightenment was a European movement emphasizing reasoning and individualism ratherRead MoreEnlightenment And The Great Awakening814 Words   |  4 Pages In the 18th century, Enlightenment and the Great Awakening changed the idea of freedom for the colonists. The Great Awakening was a time of religious revival in the colonies. Enlightenment was an intellectual movement in the 18th century which emphasized economic and political freedom. American and British tensions grew in this time period due to Britain wanting America to be under the king’s control. Enlightenment, the Great Awakening, the Founding Fathers, and different social groups changed theRead MoreBenjamin Franklin As A Representation Of The Enlightenment1571 Words   |  7 PagesRepresentation of the Enlightenment The Enlightenment was largely a rational response to the 16th and 17th century Scientific Revolution, as well as major developments in philosophical thinking, such as ideas proposed by Rene Descartes. During the Enlightenment, thinkers emphasize rational and critical ways of thinking, rather than the complete reliance on religion that had been previously accepted. In many ways, Benjamin Franklin was the human embodiment of the Age of Enlightenment. Similarly to theRead MoreCompare And Contrast : Dogen And Hakuin1419 Words   |  6 Pageskoan practice of the Rinzai School, which focused on â€Å"observing the key word†. Dogen founded the Soto school of Buddhism in Japan, which stressed silent sitting and a gradual path to enlightenment. Hakuin was a major critic of Soto Zen and believed that it was a fixation on emptiness rather than a path to enlightenment. However, Hakuin did agree with Soto s accessibility to the common people since it was more popular among lower class pe ople. Both Hakuin and Dogen were important leaders and thoughRead MoreThe Enlightenment : Main Ideas Of The Enlightenment800 Words   |  4 Pagesfreedom was another prominent theme of the Enlightenment. By this, we mean the idea that man is endowed with certain liberties or rights. These rights were believed to have been granted by God and/or nature. Enlightenment figures typically espoused ideas of equality and human dignity. The Enlightenment had individual freedom with certain unalienable rights is very much in line with the Enlightenment concept about individual freedom.In addition Enlightenment philosophers main idea was too write aboutRead MoreThe Declaration Of The Rights Of Women1237 Words   |  5 Pagesemployment, and divorce. All of these principles relate to the Enlightenment idea because she is arguing for natural rights that many women back then were not given. De Gouges emphasizes that women deserve the right to have jobs and that they can equally fulfill the responsibilities that once belonged to a man. In the end of the â€Å"Declaration of the Rights of Women† De Gouges’ mentions a marriage contract which gives proof of Enlightenment thought because she argues that women should not have to stay

The Effects Of Fast Food On The Food Industry - 2086 Words

Fast Food is the term given to food that can be prepared and served quickly. Typically the term refers to food sold in an economical restaurant served to the customer for eating there or elsewhere but, any meal with low preparation time can be considered to be fast food. It might seem harmless, satisfy your hunger, and be cheap, but research has shown there are more severe consequences beyond just gaining a couple pounds. The food industry is run very intelligently in that they have many clever business strategies designed for the sole purpose of earning money. Their main targets are children and students to make billions of dollars in profit. In a world ever changing and constantly speeding up, people choose to eat at fast food restaurants because it’s quick, efficient, and delicious. However many do not know the truth behind it and the harmful effects that are contributed to eating fast food. Not only can fast food cause illnesses, but it also makes its way towards obes ity and food poisoning. As a result, one should wisely think before eating at any fast food restaurant, not just from experience working at the fast food restaurant Carl’s Jr., but also due to the ever-increasing amount of facts and statistics pointing to the unhealthy nature of the fast food industry. Some interesting facts come into connection; did you know that most Americans eat three burgers a week and that 81% of Americans consume junk food while driving? It comes as no surprise, since peopleShow MoreRelatedThe Effects Of Fast Food On The Food Industry2319 Words   |  10 Pagespresent themselves (What Causes Obesity, 2006). Advertisements in the fast food industry are persuading people to eat their greasy, fat, salty, unhealthy foods (McDonald’s Advertising Themes, 2013). In order for people to live a happy, healthy life, they must change their eating habits. However, fast food advertisements are contributing to what is making eating habits so hard to change, with their misleading advertising. Fast food is slowly but surely killing us, yet we hardly notice until it finallyRead MoreEffects Of The Fast Food Industry On Canadians1263 Words   |  6 Pages This paper will look at the effects of the fast food industry on Canadians, specifically, the raise of obesity in C anada due to the wide availability of fast foods. This topic is covered by providing a background about obesity, examining the health consequences, the economic impact, and looking at the social impact and the psychosocial impact on individuals diagnosed as obese. The paper was researched by reading about the subject matter in peer-reviewed journals and grey literature. The search termsRead MoreThe Economic Effect Of A Minimum Wage Increase On The Fast Food Industry Essay2389 Words   |  10 PagesEconomic Effect of a Minimum Wage Increase in the Fast Food Industry A question plaguing economists in the news the last couple of years is what would the effect of an increase in the fast food industry minimum wage be for the workforce. Better yet, how would it effect the fast food industry itself. There have been certain areas of the country that have already increased fast food workers minimum wage, but the debate is would it work elsewhere. With the increase in the demand from fast food workersRead MoreThe Fast Food Industry Has a Harmful Effect on Society1211 Words   |  5 PagesThesis: The fast food industry has a harmful affect on society. Topic Sentence 1: Fast food causes Coronary Artery Disease. Topic Sentence 2: Fast food is popular among our nation. Topic Sentence 3: The environment is affected by the fast food industry. We provide food that customers love, day after day after day. People just want more of it†(Ray Kroc, Founder of McDonald’s). Coronary Artery Disease is a type of heart disease and the most common cause of heart attacks. Plaque from eating unhealthyRead MoreEssay about The Effects of the Fast Food Industry on Britain4492 Words   |  18 PagescÐ ¾nceptiÐ ¾n Ð ¾f the British fÐ °st fÐ ¾Ã ¾d industry Ð °nd hÐ ¾w it Ð °ffects its sÐ ¾ciety in vÐ °riÐ ¾us Ð °spects. FÐ °st-fÐ ¾Ã ¾d mÐ ¾stly Ð °dÐ °pted tÐ ¾wÐ °rds the yÐ ¾ung peÐ ¾ple Ð ¾f the mÐ °rket. In terms Ð ¾f prepÐ °rÐ °tiÐ ¾n Ð °nd service times Ð ¾f fÐ °st fÐ ¾Ã ¾d Ð °re cÐ ¾nsiderÐ °bly quick. Ð s fÐ °st fÐ ¾Ã ¾d is Ð ° prÐ ¾duct Ð ¾f perishÐ °ble nÐ °ture it cÐ °n be cleÐ °rly differed frÐ ¾m the Ð ¾ther Ð °rticles Ð ¾f fÐ ¾Ã ¾d. The Ð ¾bjectives Ð ¾f the reseÐ °rch Ð °re: TÐ ¾ identify Ð °nd develÐ ¾p cÐ ¾nsumer behÐ °viÐ ¾ur prÐ ¾files Ð ¾f the fÐ °st-fÐ ¾Ã ¾d industry. TÐ ¾ determine the custÐ ¾mer trends inRead MoreHow Fast Food Has A Latent Function957 Words   |  4 PagesFor many years, people have turned to fast food restaurants to get food that is prepared and served very quickly. Without knowing that fast food has an unaware consequences. Furthermore, I grew up in a country where people cooked every day. However when I moved to the United States, the lifestyle that I knew changed. Due to my parents work schedules, it was easier to get fast food. But, I did not know that fast food has a latent effect. Using Functionalist Robert K. Merton idea that every activitiesRead MoreFast Food Research Paper1014 Words   |  5 PagesFA Research Paper Topic: Fast Food 1. Why is fast food bad for you? 2. What are the effects of eating fast food? 3. What are some successful fast food industries and there business strategies? Introduction It seems harmless, satisfies your hunger, and is cheap, but really is egregiously unhealthy. The fast food industry is very smart; they have many sly business strategies to make money. They target children and students and make millions of dollars in profit. Each and every dayRead MoreThe Dark Side Of A Growing Industry1454 Words   |  6 Pages The Dark Side of a Growing Industry 186,627. That is the exact number of fast food restaurants that existed in the United States in 2012, according to Numberof.net. The fast food industry has become the face of America. On every intersection there is a McDonalds, Burger King, Jack in the Box, Taco Bell, Chipotle, or Church’s. As an American, one can go anywhere in the country and find the same fast food that they’re used to in nearly every state. Many of these places have already figured out howRead MoreFast Food Nation Essay862 Words   |  4 PagesFast food is very popular amongst today’s society. Fast Food Nation has reasons for the explosion in popularity of fast food restaurants in the mid-1900’s. It also explains negative effects on American Culture in today’s society. The fast-food industry has multiplied across America and changed the food industry. Eric Schlosser describes in Fast Food Nation the way people think about what they eat and what people think of the fast food ind ustry, and also its impact on society. 2 ND There are manyRead MoreAll That and a Bag of Chips719 Words   |  3 Pagesto know that fast food would alter the way I looked? But then again, I was just only a child; I had no control over what I ate. I’m guessing my parents were supposed to take care of my diet though? That is the idea that Spurlock, Popkin, and Schlosser try to reveal; Americans have no idea what they stuff in their mouths and don’t know how to control their binge for fast food. These three artists take different approaches in informing us the cause and effects of the fast food industry. Spurlock perfectly

“Financial Crises and Corporate Finance Causes, Context and Consequences” Free Essays

string(106) " the deal by providing a credit default guarantee for the SPV in the event of default \(Teasdale, 2003\)\." 1.0 Introduction – background to financial crash of 2007-8 This essay will examine the background and unfolding of the 2007-2008 financial crisis and its impact on the theory and practice of corporate finance. I will analyse whether changes to the way the financial and non-financial corporate sector operated over recent years contributed to the depth and severity of the crisis. We will write a custom essay sample on â€Å"Financial Crises and Corporate Finance: Causes, Context and Consequences† or any similar topic only for you Order Now Specifically, financial deregulation in the 1990s in financial markets and the securitisation of the corporate sector (Ball, 2009), have led to claims that the ‘solution’ to the so-called agency problem of aligning manager and shareholder interests may have actually made the crisis worse. I will argue that the easing of regulations on the mortgage loan sector especially increased the risks of a financial crisis developing by creating the environment for a massive financial asset bubble. Historically low interest rates and ‘easy money’ policies of the US Federal Reserve under Alan Greenspan following the bursting of the technology bubble in 2000 created conditions for the bubble. I will also examine whether the growth in markets for innovative financial products such as CDOs disguised risks and even mispriced assets in the mortgage market by separating the obligation to fund the original loans from the trading of such obligations as collateralised debt. The outcome of the crisis in terms of future corporate financial behaviour and regulatory reforms of the corporate sector will be reviewed. 2.0 Corporate finance models and the financial crisis – the role of CSR Critics of the corporate sector such as Simms have argued that the narrow focus among publicly listed companies on short-term profits over and above sustainable long-term corporate health, helped cause the financial crisis of 2007-9. The process of selling off traditionally run companies to global multinationals had led to the disappearance of famous companies such as Twinings and Cadbury from the British economy, and the loss of jobs related to these closures. Simms is not alone in claiming that the narrow pursuit of short-term profits as well as excessive pay among senior executives has not served the interests of the wider economy and stakeholders including workers and pension funds. Simms sees the selling off and closure of great British enterprises as the result of the loss of traditional family business ethics and their replacement by financial sector values of high returns to investors. Fernandez-Feijoo Souto (2009) analyses the financial crisis in terms of the opportunities it presents for companies to refocus on corporate social responsibility. CSR is seen as growing in importance as part of the corporate culture although there is difficulty in defining what CSR actually means. Fernandez-Feijoo Souto argues that the financial crisis has provided a new urgency to the need to clarify what defines CSR and how it should be implemented. This includes building a name as a responsible business and relating this to growing revenue, keeping key personnel, understanding consumer’s bias toward companies with a good CSR brand; changing relationships through the value chain based on trust and treating customers and suppliers well; improving conditions which in turn reduce employee turnover and raise productivity, and reducing legal conflicts by complying with regulations. Simms argues that companies with a business model that has CSR built into it have been shown to be much better adapted to survive the challenges of the global financial crisis than companies that have followed a short-term profit strategy. He uses the examples of Bear Sterns and Lehmans, which traded under the saying â€Å"Let’s make nothing but money,† as classic examples of the kind of approach that led to disaster. However for each such example, one can point to a similar company, such as Barclays or Goldman Sachs, that have continued to thrive during the financial crisis despite having the same financial focused ethos. This is reflected in the evidence of numerous studies the result of which show unproven links between CSR and cost, profit and longevity (Fernandez-Feijoo Souto, 2009). There is evidence also of a split between positive economic results and more negative financial results, meaning that potentially short term financial gains may come at the cost of longer term economic performance. Lipton, Lorsch and Mirvis (2009) state: â€Å"Excessive stockholder power is precisely what caused the short-term fixation that led to the current financial crisis.† They point to money managers focused on short-term financial results who fuelled excessive risk taking. This tendency was favoured by government and regulators failing to impose checks on risk taking. Lipton, Lorsch and Mirvis see a â€Å"direct causal relationship between the financial meltdown and the short-term focus† of stockholders. 3.0 The role of securitisation in the financial crisis Securitisation of the mortgage and loan market, which developed in the 1990s, is seen by some commentators as central to the development of the financial crisis of 2007-8. Securitisation of asset-backed bonds is the process of creating debt instruments from a package of loan assets, usually home loans, commercial loans and retail loans such as credit card debt or auto loans. This allows banks to release value from the assets on their balance sheet. The asset-backed market was developed in the United States and grew rapidly from the early 2000s. Banks and other originators of mortgages sold on packages of their loans to an issuer, usually called a special purpose vehicle (SPV). The purpose of the securitisation is to reduce the institution’s balance sheet, which allows its return on equity to rise and also releases capital for other purposes. The process of securitisation enables the issuer to achieve enhanced credit ratings, usually up to AAA investment grade (Sundaresan, 1997 ). The credit rating of the original loan does not affect the rating of the SPV, even if the original mortgage holder defaults on the loan or is declared bankrupt. The securitisation deals are normally rated by credit ratings agencies such as Moody’s, Fitch or Standard Poor’s. The investment bank or investor which purchases the SPV securities will often approach an insurer to gold plate the deal by providing a credit default guarantee for the SPV in the event of default (Teasdale, 2003). You read "â€Å"Financial Crises and Corporate Finance: Causes, Context and Consequences†" in category "Essay examples" It has been argued that the complexity of securitisation restricts the ability of investors to assess risk, and that securitisation markets are likely to be subject to serious declines in underwriting standards. 3.1 Credit Default Swaps – analysis of impact of CDS market in the financial crisis The huge growth of the credit default swap (CDS) market is considered by many analysts to be one the worst elements of securitisation. The Bank for International Settlements reports that the CDS market increased in size from $6 trillion in 2004 to $57 trillion in June 2008 measured by notional principal (Stulz, 2010). The government bailout of AIG brought the CDS market to global attention, and led some commentators to see the CDS market as the primary cause of the financial crisis. As Stulz (2010) argues, there are two problems with the CDS market. First, the sellers of credit default swaps are not able to bear the risks they took on, so some of the benefit of credit default swaps in terms of hedging are actually unfounded – ultimately leading to the $80 billion bailout of AIG. Second, because of their inherent leverage of a CDS, they can enable investors to take more risky positions. The availability of these instruments to non-risk-averse investors may lead to risk being un der-priced. However, Stultz shows how the CDS market performed remarkably well around the default of Lehman Brothers. The credit default swap market did not cause the subprime mortgage defaults or the disappearance of liquidity. Excessive leverage by financial institutions and the collapse of the housing market was the cause of the crisis. For example, AIG borrowed heavily to acquire home loan-backed securities and it made even bigger losses on its portfolio of home loan-related securities than on its credit default assets. 4.0 Ponzi schemes and failure of investment banks to report criminal behaviour The crisis also revealed outright criminal activity taking place in the investment sector, most famously in the case of Bernard Madoff, whose wealth management business was exposed as a Ponzi scheme with $65 billion funds missing from accounts. Madoff was sent to prison for 150 years. JP Morgan acted as banker to Madoff but did not report their suspicions about his activities to the SEC (Ferguson, 2012). Critics have commented that there have been very few prosecutions of investment bankers for such activities as ‘shorting’ the very stocks that they recommended to their clients (Lewis, 2010). The Securities and Exchange Commission and New York prosecutors have brought very few prosecutions and no one has faced criminal conviction. Ferguson points out that Morgan Stanley’s Howie Hubler began to bet against securities connected to the subprime market in 2004 with management approval (Ferguson, 2012). The title of Ferguson’s film ‘Inside Job’ refe rs to the pattern of investment bankers and lawyers whose clients are banks then taking senior judicial and political roles in the government and financial authorities. This, it is argued, has caused a disincentive to go after the banks for actions that could be prosecuted. 5.0 Reform of corporate finance regulations – legislation and limits of reform Reform of the banking and wider corporate sector has been discussed and enacted in a variety of forms in the US and Europe. Banks have undergone stress tests to see if they could cope with further financial crises. The UK authorities have begun to reform corporate governance to give shareholders greater power to oversee compensation of executives, such as binding votes on executive pay, but this has not yet been implemented. New rules on the levels of reserves that banks must hold in order to ensure they are able to cope with future crises were agreed in November 2010 at the G20 summit in Seoul. G20 Finance Ministers backed the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision’s plans for capital and liquidity requirements for financial institutions. However most of these new reserve requirements have not yet been enforced, partly because the banking sector remains extremely fragile following the financial crash with high level of debts still threatening the financial system. Following t he crisis, there were many calls for the separation of retail and investment banking, or even the breaking up of ‘too big to fail’ banks, but these have not been acted on by government. President Obama signed the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act into law in July 2010. The Act marks the biggest reform of the US financial sector since the Great Depression (Avery, 2011). Section 939A of the Act effectively bans the use of credit rating agencies in an attempt to improve capital requirements for US banks. However implementation is likely to take many years. In America economists such as Paul Krugman have called for a return of the Glass Steagall Act 1933, which was put in place following the 1929 Wall Street Crash and then removed in the 1990s as part of the liberalisation of the banking sector (Krugman, 2011). Countries with stronger regulation of their banking sector, including Canada, Australia and Germany, did not suffer a banking crisis in the manner of the UK and USA, where regulation was ‘light’. 6.0 Conclusion: comparison with regulatory response to 1929 Financial Crash By comparison with the response of authorities to the Great Crash of 1929, it can be argued that through to 2012, five years after the crisis began, major reforms to the banking sector and to corporate governance in the US and UK have not been implemented in the way they were in the 1930s. This may be a result of the fact that governments and securities oversight authorities are far less independent of the corporate finance sector than they were in the 1930s. The financial services sector has grown in relation to GDP compared to its position in the 1930s, and its political influence is far greater. This means that reform and regulation has been much slower and weaker than it was in the last Great Depression. Calls for reform will not go away, especially as the crisis continues in Europe and North America. Action on corporate governance, and implementation of proposals for financial and banking reform will be required in order to prevent further financial crises occurring in the futur e. REFERENCES Avery, A. W.; 2011. Basel III v Dodd-Frank: What Does it Mean for US Banks, Who’s Who Legal. Ball, A. 2009. The Global Financial Crisis and the Efficient Market Hypothesis: What Have We LearnedThe University of Chicago Booth School of Business, Journal of Applied Corporate Finance, Volume 21, Issue 4, pages 8–16, Fall 2009 Ferguson, C; 2012, Heist of the century: Wall Street’s role in the financial crisis, The Guardian, 20 May 2012. http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2012/may/20/wall-street-role-financial-crisis Fernandez-Feijoo Souto, B.; 2009. Crisis and Corporate Social Responsibility: Threat or OpportunityInternational Journal of Economic Sciences and Applied Research, Vol. 2, No. 1, 2009. International Corporate Governance Network (ICGN), 2008, Statement on the Global Financial Crisis. Krugman, P and Wells, R., 2011, The Busts Keep Getting Bigger: WhyNew York Review of Books,14 July 2011 Lewis, M. 2010, The Big Short, Allen Lane, Penguin. Lipton, M; , Lorsch, J. W. and Mirvis, T.N, Schumer’s Shareholders Bill Misses the Mark, Wall St. Journal, 12 May, 2009 Mirvis, Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen Katz, 2010. Corporate Governance and the Financial Crisis: Causes and Cures, February 28, Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance and Financial Regulation. Sims, A; 2010. The power of corporate finance is an amoral hazard, The Guardian, 8th September, 2010. http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2010/sep/08/power-corporate-finance-amoral-hazard Stulz, R.M., 2010, Credit Default Swaps and the Credit Crisis, Journal of Economic Perspectives, Vol. 24, No. 1: 73-92. Sundaresan, S., Fixed Income Markets and Their Derivatives, South-Western Publishing, 1997, chapter 9. Teasdale, A; 2003, The Process of Securitisation. YieldCurve.comhttp://www.yieldcurve.com/Mktresearch/files/Teasdale_SecuritisationJan03.pdf How to cite â€Å"Financial Crises and Corporate Finance: Causes, Context and Consequences†, Essay examples

Gender Roles in the 2000 Film Billy Elloit Essay Example For Students

Gender Roles in the 2000 Film Billy Elloit Essay In the 2000 film, Billy Elliot, we meet an eleven-year-old boy who struggled to come to terms with his passion for ballet. Jamie, Billy’s father, was quick to forbid him from taking lessons, expressing that ballet is a female pastime; currently this statement remains relevant because the gender social norm still discriminates between what is traditionally male and female activities. Throughout the film, Billy finds himself torn between doing what he is passionate for and pleasing his father by conforming to be labeled as just another ‘normal’ boy who participates, in a boys pastime. The film points blame at society as the main source of the problem. Although Billy’s father was quick to react angrily when he found out about his son’s drive to become involved in a traditionally feminine hobby such as ballet. Society’s influence is exhibited through Billy’s family not accepting him based on a feminine pastime that he chose over boxing. Throughout the movie Billy isn’t afraid to combat any obstacles that are put in his way to achieve his goals. Despite his father dealing with the death of his wife and the coal miners strike, finding out that Billy was interested in ballet and not what the stereotypical boy should be interested in potentially worried him that society wouldn’t accept his son for who he was. Although gender social norms have improved today compared to the early 80’s, plenty of children, teenagers, and adults still struggle on a daily basis to be accepted by society. When Billy’s father finds out about Billy’s secret ballet lessons, he scolds him and is quick to question his son’s interest in ballet. His father states: â€Å"lads should be playing football, boxing or wrestling, not doing ballet. † Unlike the short video, Billy doesn’t feel the need to mold himself into being the aggressive, masculine individual accepted by society. This scene shows how society labels certain activities as either feminine or masculine, thus making it abnormal and frowned upon for the other gender to partake in that activity. This film effectively shows how an individual could feel uncomfortable when discovering that a male or female is involved in an activity that is not considered socially normal for their individual gender. Billy’s brother exemplifies this uncomfortable discovery by lashing out towards Billy forcing him to dance on the kitchen table. Billy’s brother represents the traditional masculine figure by looking to get into a fight with the police during the strike. Billy’s brother also remains loyal to the strike longer than Billy’s father which further illustrates how much more difficult it was for the brother to fully accept Billy’s passion for dancing. Thus, I feel the film does portray the social problem accurately and is a form of claims making because it covers an important social problem that many people struggle with in their every day life. The film touches on a subject that many individuals can relate to and are passionate about. Yet, I don’t feel that the film helps to establish this social problem in society’s â€Å"minds eye† because the overall feel for this film was so lax and humorous. The audience might possibly just see this as an innovative and funny movie compared to a movie that tells a unique story about a severe social problem. This film does reflect changing norms about this particular social problem. We see that things such as receiving a higher education, playing sports, and being involved in politics not too long ago where all considered to be a social norm for only men. Nevertheless, laws and legislation were passed that made woman able to enjoy almost all the same rights as men. Things such as popular TV shows, social media, and magazines encourage children and teenagers to just be who they are without worrying about what other people may think of them. Despite Billy’s father’s tough guy attitude and initial reaction of his son wanting to partake in ballet lessons, he sucks up his pride, goes back to work, and even sells some of his most prized possessions to help support his son’s dream. .u882d69f1c74f5950c61b21a92af3e4ba , .u882d69f1c74f5950c61b21a92af3e4ba .postImageUrl , .u882d69f1c74f5950c61b21a92af3e4ba .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .u882d69f1c74f5950c61b21a92af3e4ba , .u882d69f1c74f5950c61b21a92af3e4ba:hover , .u882d69f1c74f5950c61b21a92af3e4ba:visited , .u882d69f1c74f5950c61b21a92af3e4ba:active { border:0!important; } .u882d69f1c74f5950c61b21a92af3e4ba .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .u882d69f1c74f5950c61b21a92af3e4ba { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .u882d69f1c74f5950c61b21a92af3e4ba:active , .u882d69f1c74f5950c61b21a92af3e4ba:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .u882d69f1c74f5950c61b21a92af3e4ba .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .u882d69f1c74f5950c61b21a92af3e4ba .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .u882d69f1c74f5950c61b21a92af3e4ba .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .u882d69f1c74f5950c61b21a92af3e4ba .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .u882d69f1c74f5950c61b21a92af3e4ba:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .u882d69f1c74f5950c61b21a92af3e4ba .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .u882d69f1c74f5950c61b21a92af3e4ba .u882d69f1c74f5950c61b21a92af3e4ba-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .u882d69f1c74f5950c61b21a92af3e4ba:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: Analyze the film Blade Runner EssayBilly’s father then encourages Billy by helping him make it to his ballet school audition, being proud when he was accepted, and attending his performance at the end of the movie. Watching this film made me realize how unfortunate it is that some children do not have the ideal support system. How many parents, siblings, family members, and peers are not supportive of a young child just based off of what society labels to be normal or not normal. This truly opened my eyes to be more accepting and understanding in various situations. Today this particular social problem of gender norms does still exist, but we do see that Americans now have more equal rights compared to the 1980’s. Individuals are now more willing to be different and accept people for their differences no matter what the social norm. I believe that this film could move society in the right direction towards having full acceptance of everyone despite the current social norm.

Research Proposal on Service Delivery Essay Example

Research Proposal on Service Delivery Essay Service delivery is the complex of decisions, solutions, policies and actions aimed at the on time and quality delivery of the production to the client. Naturally, when someone orders goods in the Internet, he expects to receive them as quick as possible and for the most affordable price. Nowadays it is quite easy and probably the Internet buys are the most frequent and widespread purchases nowadays. Years ago the problem of service delivery was also urgent and this practice already existed in the 19th century. The courier’s services were very popular already at that time and goods were delivered by these special firms. With the run of time the situation has changed and companies have decided to deliver their production themselves. The well-organized sphere of logistics is supposed to organize the work of the firm, especially its material supply and delivery of its production. When the client orders a product, the company strives to deliver it professionally and safely. The greatest requirement of every customer is the affordable price, short terms and total safety of the delivery. We will write a custom essay sample on Research Proposal on Service Delivery specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Research Proposal on Service Delivery specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Research Proposal on Service Delivery specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer It is obvious that the price and quality of the service delivery depends on the type of the chosen transportation. Delivery by plane is supposed to be very fast but a bit expensive and other types of delivery (by train, car, etc) are longer but cheaper. The major aim of every service is to maintain the quality of the delivery and to avoid any incidents like damage of the product during transportation, its stealth or other problems. A prestigious and responsible firm refunds all the problems which have occurred with the product during the transportation and delivers a new example of the item purchased by the client for free. This attracts client’s attention and improves the customer’s loyalty towards the firm. Service delivery is the important component of the effectiveness of the company’s work. The student who is writing a research proposal should pay attention to the structure of the paper and the explanation of the choice of the topic. One should prove that the problem on service delivery is really interesting and worth detailed analysis. The student is able to share his ideas concerning the problems of service delivery and suggest the alternative solutions to the existing poor sides of this policy. The most complicated thing related with the process of research proposal writing is the lack of the student’s experience on the convincing writing. The student has the opportunity to look through a free example research proposal on public service delivery and get to know about the way of writing and analysis of the topic. The most valuable advice of a free sample research proposal on customer service delivery is the instruction of the logical presentation of the facts, demonstration of the methodology and analysis of the sources chosen for the investigation of the issue. At EssayLib.com writing service you can order a custom research proposal on Service Delivery topics. Your research paper proposal will be written from scratch. We hire top-rated PhD and Master’s writers only to provide students with professional research proposal help at affordable rates. Each customer will get a non-plagiarized paper with timely delivery. Just visit our website and fill in the order form with all proposal details: Enjoy our professional research proposal writing service!

The Imperialist essays

The Imperialist essays In Sara Jeanette Duncans novel The Imperialist, she introduces to the reader a character by the name of Alfred Hesketh. The introduction of this character comes during the Elgin delegation visit to England. He becomes fast friends with Lorne Murchison. It is Duncans purpose to further develop the ides of an international theme with his presence. Hesketh represents, in the beginning, the ideas and beliefs of England. Although he has these beginnings, we soon find out that he is more like a blank slate then a book of information. Upon his arrival to Elgin, Canada we see that his thoughts and beliefs are easily transformed, in part by Lorne himself. Duncan finds Heskeths character to be a sturdy one, with some holes but none the less his contributions to Canadian politics seems to be important, albeit a small one. Alfred Hesketh is a young man, only one year older then Lorne Murchison. Lorne had never met anyone quite like him. Hesketh was in a unique condition. He comes from a wealthy family, though he has no money of his own. He is smart, with a good public ad university education behind him. Although he wasnt as bright as some of his classmates he knew that there was more out there in the world for him then simply loafing around. (133) It seemed as though Mr. Hesketh was searching for something. He had not enough money for politic and not enough interest for pubic service. (133) With such freshness and curiosity about him, he had the temperament and situation to be easily moulded. He had an open mind though, to politics both of the new country and of England and he listened intently to what Lorne had to say on the subject of imperialism. Eventually he confessed to Lorne that he had brought him round to the Imperialist view. (136) Unfortunately for Lorne, he seemed to have over estimated Heskeths similarity in his own views. Lorne naturally assumed that because Alfred was entertaining ...

COM 5 informal report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

COM 5 informal report - Essay Example We all were exceedingly happy and anxious to board the plane to Japan. We woke up early that morning and were well prepared to leave United States to Japan. We boarded the plane, Japanese Airline, at 7oclock in the morning on 2nd August and took 8 hours to Japan. At the plane, the stewards and hostesses were exceptionally courteous and hospitable. We were served with drinks and snacks by the stewards and hostesses. On arrival, we were welcomed by airline staff members and taken to the hotel rooms where we would spend the night. The next morning we visited Mitsubishi Motor Company where we interviewed several employees and observed their conduct. Through my interview with Hiroshima Kumamoto, I noted that Japanese companies appraise upholding harmony and excellent reputation with customers and the community in general. Culturally Japan values patience, politeness, hard work, honesty, affiliation and team work. Different cultural settings have different ways of communicating. In reference to Locker and Kiensler (2010), Japanese treasure sitting in silence and calmness (p. 132). They regard United States propensity to squirm and shift as a signal of spiritual and mental balance deficiency. Audiences and interviewers react negatively to restlessness. Japanese use body language to indicate attributes such as respect, confidence, agreement, interest and emotional participation. Moreover, I established that Japanese employees take pleasure in a paternalistic association with their employers and work for one company for all their life. This opposes the Western Companies who try to motivate their workers to maintain the same job. The next day we visited Toyota Motor Company where we established that, In Japan, employee promotion is not based on merit (Locker & Kiensler, 2010, p. 135). This is in contrast to the western primary basis of promoting workers. An employee’s age is the most essential

Why was the scopes trial important and what do you believe schools Essay

Why was the scopes trial important and what do you believe schools should teach today about the subject Explain your reasoning - Essay Example In addition, the trial revealed the conflicting sides of America to unparalleled American people in the form of fascinating drama that was experienced through radio communication (Elliot 203). The trial was a huge controversy that unfortunately surrounded teaching evolution in the school setting. Apart from the importance it served in the American history, some of its ideas can still be taught in schools. The major argument put across by the ACLU stated that it is prejudice for schools to teach solely the creation theories. However, I believe creation science should be taught in schools because; by definition, a liberal education requires any issue being aired fully, meaning that truth from any source need not to be feared. Basing on another academic reason, creation science in Scopes trial should be taught because academic freedom allows a teacher to present any view he or she believes is essential to clarify a

Community Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Community - Research Paper Example In prehistoric times, the women gathered firewood, honey and herbs for the family. In the modern community, occupations depend on the relevant skills acquired for different fields. This also depends on the production levels present in the society. However, segregation of duties largely depends on the stereotype of the community towards gender. In history, several women took up various social responsibilities. Merit Ptah from Egypt is one of the earliest known scientists and physician as well as Baranamtarra who was an influential queen of Lugalanda. In most other communities, women assumed roles based on their cultural setup2. Some issues affecting the female gender include health issues especially in regards to reproduction, gender equality. Maternal deaths occur when a woman is pregnant or during termination of a pregnancy. The World Health Organization records that about 99% of worldwide maternal deaths occur in the Sub-Saharan Africa and Southern Asia, which are developing nations3. The developed nations came up with reproductive rights and freedoms. These rights give women an avenue to have control over their sexuality responsibilities. This prevents them from being discriminated due to their femininism as well as violence occurrences. The rights also enforce equality in men and women relationships, sexually, mutual respect, shared responsibility for the consequences of sexual behaviour as well as giving full respect for each partner’s integrity4. These rights are said to be violated when a female is forced into sterilization, into or out of pregnancy. Enforced pregnancies occur as a result of lack of contraceptive or abortion facilities as well as inefficient sexual violence laws. An example of a case which dealt with women’s reproductive rights includes the Scheidler Vs. National Organization for women. In this case, NOW filed a case against individuals and institutions who allegedly opposed the

In What Ways did Deterrence Work and Fail in the Cold War?

In What Ways did Deterrence Work and Fail in the Cold War? Deterrence, a form of coercive diplomacy or the use of threat of force to achieve goals, had been of extensive use in the history of mankind. However, the creation of the destructively powerful nuclear weapons seemed to add substance to deterrence and made it one of the core elements in international relations and security during the Cold War. Though, the question of whether nuclear deterrence worked or not still divides the politician, academia and the public opinion (Lee, 1988; Lebow and Stein, 1995). Proponents argue that nuclear deterrence did save human beings from the World War III (Record, 2004) while critics label deterrence, among other things, as a faulty, inconsistent, heavily value-laden, and immoral theory (Kennedy, 1983). Focusing on the aspect of general nuclear deterrence (not extended or immediate nuclear deterrence), this essay elaborate why the notion of the effective nuclear deterrence during the Cold War period seems not convincing by determining the factors for deterrence to work, providing alternative motives for maintaining peace rather than deterrence, and finally reviewing some actual cases of crisis. To supporters of nuclear weapons, the strongest and most convincing piece of evidence for the successful deterrence theory is that there has been no case of resort to the use nuclear weapon since the United States dropped two nuclear bombs on the two Japanese cities of Okinawa and Hiroshima in 1945 (Berry et al., 2010). The overwhelmingly destructive power of nuclear weapons, coupled with a certain capability of each side to carry out the threat, made the mutual destructive outcome of nuclear war clearly visible in the so-called crystal ball effect (Blight, 1992; Lee, 1988). Thus, nuclear weapons not only made leaders of both the United States and the Soviet Union in particular, NATO and Warsaw Pact in general, refrain from uncalculated moves but also eliminate the possibility of the pre-emption (Record, 2004). The other argument proponents often made to defense the success of nuclear deterrence in the Cold War is: deterrence is only considered to be a failure when the threatening na tion must resort to the use of force (nuclear weapons) or do not obtain its policy. It is the reality that both the United States and the Soviet Union did not use nuclear weapons and succeeded in preventing each other from using them (MccGwire; Huth, 1999). All these helped the Cold War remains cold and thus nuclear deterrence is very likely a success. (Gaddis, 2005; Berry et al., 2010). However, a further analysis shows that the claims of effective deterrence in the Cold War seem far from convincible. First and foremost, to assess nuclear deterrence, it is essential to answer the question of what does it take to deter? Nuclear deterrence means the deterred country will not attack because of the threat and the capability of the deterring country to survive the first strike and then retaliate with destructive power. So, in order to be sure that nuclear deterrence works, you have to verify that your adversary does intend to attack you and then restraint from carrying it out because of your threat (Wilson, 2008: 432). Proving other countrys intentions is problematic because of the lack of data on the policy calculations of potential initiators who were presumably deterred (Wilson, 2008). In addition, it was a popular belief in the West during the Cold War that the Soviet Union is a revisionist and needed to be deterred but there seems not enough evidence to uphold that point of view, either (Cohen, 2017; Mueller, 1988). This was admitted by former United States secretary of state Henry Kissinger, one of the prominent figures during the Cold War: Perhaps deterrence was even unnecessary because it was impossible to prove whether the adversary ever intended to attack in the first place (Record, 2004: 5). Moreover, nuclear weapons seemed to matter in political rhetoric, public discourse, and defense budgets and planning (Mueller, 2009) during the Cold War, it can be contended that nuclear deterrence is unlikely the sole contributor to the long peace that human being enjoyed nor the absence of nuclear war. This is due to proof by absence, which means your assumption could only be correct if there exist no other alternative explanations for the end result. In this case, the absence of war between the United States and the Soviet Union during the Cold War could be the outcome of many other factors, not only nuclear deterrence. For example, it is worthy to note that nuclear bombs came into being in 1945, at the same time with the establishment of the very important global organization, United Nations. Hence, it could be assumed that it is the United Nations that helped maintain the status quo during the Cold War. In the same fashion, John Mueller (1998) criticized the efficiency of deterr ence and attributed the long peace after World War II to such reasons other than nuclear deterrence as the memory of WWII; the post-war contentment (both the United States and the Soviet Union were happy with the status quo), the non-aggressive Soviet ideology, and the believe in escalation of war (the lessons learned from WWI, WWII). According to Former United States secretary of state Henry Kissinger, one of the insiders of the nuclear game theory during the Cold War, the attribution of the absence of nuclear war between NATO and Warsaw Pact since 1946 to the success of nuclear deterrence seems problematic when he later admitted that it is possible that nuclear weapons had little or nothing to do with the absence of a NATO-Warsaw Pact war (Record, 2004). Lastly, some case studies which were usually cited as the success stories of nuclear deterrence seem unconvincing, too. In the first instance, at the height of the Berlin Crisis 1948-1949 when the Soviet Union blocked Western Allies access to Berlin, decision by United States President Harry S. Truman to deploy B-29 bombers capable of carrying nuclear bombs to Europe did result in the end of the blockade by the Soviet Union (Arnold and Wiener, 2012). However, some unanswered questions remain: Why it took ten months for the threat to be effective and why the Soviet Union dared to provoke the atomic bomb monopoly United States (the first nuclear test by the Soviet Union did not happen until one year later). In the same fashion, the world was actually on the brink of the outbreak of a nuclear war after the United States discovered the Soviet Unions secret deployment of nuclear missiles in Cuba in 1962 and delivered an ultimate for the withdrawal of the missiles (Cohen, 2017). Facing the threat from the United States, Soviet leaders ordered to withdraw the missiles from Cuba thus de-escalated the situation (George and Smoke, 1974). But general nuclear deterrence once again failed to prevent the the Soviet Union from deploying nuclear weapons in Cuba in the first place and also failed to restrain the United States from instigating a quarantine (Wilson, 2013) which escalated the situation to the level that, in the word of the then United States President John F. Kennedy, the odds of a nuclear war were about one in three (McMahon and Zeiler, 2012: 305) or secretary of defense Robert McNamara, It was luck that prevented nuclear war (Blight and Lang, 2005: 60). In conclusion, nuclear weapons with their unprecedented destructive power did play a role in international relations during the Cold War. However, attributing the absence of large-scale wars between Warsaw Pact and the West led by the United States to the nuclear deterrence seems far from convincing. The debate on whether nuclear deterrence work or fail is unlikely to subside in the foreseeable future but it is noteworthy to there seem to be a mutual concern of famous policy makers of both the Soviet Union and the United States during the Cold War such as Mikhail Gorbachev, Henry Kissinger, Bill Perry that nuclear weapons have become a more risky factor than ever before with more countries joining the nuclear club (Shultz et al., 2007; Gorbachev, 2011), not to mention the ambition of countries like North Korea and Iran, the increasing threat of nuclear weapons falling into the hands of terrorist organizations, non-state actors. So, it is high time for the international community to a bolish nuclear weapons with a serious program of universal nuclear disarmament (Gorbachev, 2011). This would be an interesting topic for future research./. REFERENCE LIST Arnold JR and Wiener R. (2012) Cold War: The Essential Reference Guide: The Essential Reference Guide: ABC-CLIO. Berry K, Lewis P, PÃ ©lopidas B, et al. (2010) Delegitimizing Nuclear Weapons. Monterey, California: Center for Nonproliferation Studies, the Monterey Institute of International Studies, forthcoming. Blight JG. (1992) The shattered crystal ball: Fear and learning in the Cuban Missile Crisis: Rowman Littlefield. Blight JG and Lang JM. (2005) The fog of war: Lessons from the life of Robert S. McNamara: Rowman Littlefield. Cohen M. (2017) Nuclear Weapons, Deterrence and the Cold War. Lecture. MacQuarie University, Australia. Gaddis JL. (2005) Strategies of containment: a critical appraisal of American national security policy during the Cold War: Oxford University Press. George AL and Smoke R. (1974) Deterrence in American foreign policy: Theory and practice: Columbia University Press. Gorbachev M. (2011) A Farewell to Nuclear Arms. Project Syndicate. Huth PK. (1999) Deterrence and international conflict: Empirical findings and theoretical debates. Annual Review of Political Science 2: 25-48. Kennedy KC. (1983) A Critique of United States Nuclear Deterrence Theory. Brook. J. Intl L. 9: 35. Lebow RN and Stein JG. (1995) Deterrence and the Cold War. Political Science Quarterly 110: 157-181. Lee S. (1988) Does Nuclear Deterrence Work? Philosophy Public Policy Quarterly 8: 9-12. MccGwire M. Appendix 2: Nuclear Deterrence. International Affairs 82. McMahon RJ and Zeiler TW. (2012) Guide to US Foreign Policy: A diplomatic history: CQ Press. Mueller J. (1988) The essential irrelevance of nuclear weapons: Stability in the postwar world. International Security 13: 55-79. Mueller J. (2009) Atomic obsession: nuclear alarmism from Hiroshima to al-Qaeda: Oxford University Press. Record J. (2004) Nuclear Deterrence, Preventive War, and Counterproliferation: Cato Institute. Shultz GP, Perry WJ, Kissinger HA, et al. (2007) A world free of nuclear weapons. Wall Street Journal 4: 2007. Wilson W. (2008) The myth of nuclear deterrence. Nonproliferation Review 15: 421-439. Wilson W. (2013) Five myths about nuclear weapons: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

The Internet Essays -- The Internet

Whether you’re an average teenager wanting to keep in touch with friends after school, or a business person needing a low cost but effective way to keep work related material local and secret, chances are you use E-Mail or Instant Messaging services. For communication purposes in this high tech lifestyle that exists today, these systems are used only with the basic understanding needed to run these devices. You are about to learn how these systems came to be and the in depth understanding needed to make them work.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  To start with, you must know that they require a system of computers connected to a LAN (Local Area Network) server. The most commonly used and largest LAN server in the world is the Internet. Since the internet hosts the majority of all IM (Instant Messaging) and E-Mail servers, then you must know the beginnings of it.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Internet’s precursor was the ARPANET. The ARPANET was a large wide-area network created by the United States Defense Advanced Research project Agency (ARPA). Established in 1969 ARPANET served as a test-bed for new networking technologies, linking many universities and research centers. The first two nodes that formed the ARPANET were UCLA and the Stanford Research Institute, followed by the University of Utah. Because of his unique expertise in data networking Len Kleinrock would use the technology which by then had come to be known as â€Å"packet switching†. When TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol / Internet Protocol) was adopted by the ARPANET as its connection for the networks, the Internet was born.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The first email message was sent by Len Kleinrock in 1973. He used the Resource-Sharing Executive program (RSEXEC) to send a message to a man in London that he forgot his razor in his room and to retrieve it while at the international meeting for government funding projects like the ARPANET from other countries. To do so he first had to run the RSEXEC program in his home in Los Angeles and then had to think of a person on the network at 3 A.M. When he did, he put the â€Å"where so-and-so† command in and connected his computer to the other so the TALK command would be enabled. RSEXEC opened a split screen window, one to write messages and the other to read. As time passed, this process of using a resource sharing program as a message sending... ... out with their own versions as well. Since AOL controls the majority of IM systems, it will not allow the software the capability to communicate with other IM systems. Other companies have taken a different approach rather than wait for an agreed-upon standard. Jabber is one company that has created a client program capable of communicating with various IM systems.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Instant Messaging works by using a piece software called a CLIENT. The CLIENT is normally a software the is in the server and/or maybe needed in the user to machine for proper use. The client communicates with an ICQ server whenever the user’s online and the client is running. The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) is currently developing a standard protocol for instant messaging, this protocol is know as the Instant Messaging and Presence Protocol.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  As time has passed and technologies have improved more and more little things tend to replace the uses of what was once a great and commonly used services. So who is not to say that one day the usage of e-mail services will gradually be wilted away by some unheard of system that may become just as big.

The Impact of United Kingdom Tourism on the Employment Rate.

The impact of United Kingdom Tourism on the Employment rate. Source : Travel and Tourism Economic Impacts 2012 United Kingdom UK Tourism had generated 938,500 jobs in 2011 which is 3. 0% of total employment in the UK economy. The Tourism employment includes airlines, transportation service, hotels, restaurant, travel agents and leisure industries directly and indirectly supported by tourism. According to the data, there is a decrease from year 2002 to year 2005.Fords end 90 years of British car production with the loss of more than 2000 jobs after the last Fiesta was made at its factory in Dagenham. This somehow brings an impact on the tourism industry and indirectly affect on the industry. In addition, the UK government has introduce a tax rises at the year 2002. This had affect on some of the citizens of UK with less inbound tourism and outbound tourism with the taxation. Moreover, with the Iraq war happening at 2003, this greatly brings a huge impact to the tourism industry of UK. The government has spent around 7. 4 billion pound on the Iraq war.The rises on year 2006 were because of the grand opening of the Emirates stadiums which brings in a lot of footballs fans to the country. The international friendly matches featured the Brazil national football team had successfully brightened up the tourism of United Kingdom again which leads to the contribution of employment. The world economic crisis happened at the year 2007 which lead to a decrease on the chart till the year 2009. During the world economic crisis, the whole world when in the recession and affect on the travel industry directly and indirectly.However, the critical decrease on the year 2009 was due to the Norovirus. The Norovirus case was happened at the whole Europe where some of the vegetable was polluted and affect illness to the consumer. The virus has cause a panic in UK and the whole Europe. There is a positive growth from the year 2010 to year 2012 towards tourism economic employment. It w as because of the Olympic held in UK where bring the growth to the country. Government had spent money on the tourism facility and building to support the tourist that visit the country for the great events.This had created jobs opportunity for the citizen of UK as more labor was needed for tourism industry including hotel, travel agents, food and beverage, transportation and etc. The Olympic had brings an unpredicted opportunity to boost inbound and also outbound to the UK over the next decade. One in twelve jobs in UK was currently directly or indirectly supported by tourism and the number of jobs supported by tourism is set to increase between year 2010 and year 2020. Reference Tourism Alliance (2012) UK Tourism Statistic2012 United Kingdom World Travel and Tourism Council (2012) Travel and Tourism Economic Impact 2012 United Kingdom

Frank Lloyd Wright essays

Frank Lloyd Wright essays Frank Lloyd Wright pioneered modern design through the use of organic architecture in over 400 buildings and houses. Wrights intricate detail and revolutionary style makes him one of the most celebrated architects of the twentieth century. "...having a good start, not only do I fully intend to be the greatest architect who has yet lived, but fully intend to be the greatest architect who will ever live. Yes, I intend to be the greatest architect of all time." Frank Lloyd Wright (autobiography). Wright was born in 1867, to a Welsh family in Wisconsin. Frank began his higher education at the University of Wisconsin studying engineering at the age of 15. In 1887, Wright left Wisconsin on a journey to Chicago. This early move forever changed Wrights life and secured his dream of working in architecture. Wright became a draftsmen at a little known firm and designed his first home for his two aunts. Wright became frustrated with his small company and joined the famous architectural firm Adler The booming industry present in Chicago greatly influenced Wrights design. The city had burned in the infamous fire of 1871, and the coming industrial age called for architecture unlike any in the past. Skyscrapers emerged in Chicago and its bustling downtown area created many jobs for Adler and Sulliven. Wright began to work designing homes for the new suburban areas of Chicago contrary to his firms orders. Wright became at odds with the partners for his residential designs and left the firm in 1893. Wright began his own architectural firm and began designing residential homes using the Prarie School style. Low-pitched roofs which blend the houses into nature became Wrights specialty. Demand soared for Wrights work and he produc ...

What are the differences between the SAT and ACT

What are the differences between the SAT and ACT SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips Are you curious about what the differences between the SAT and ACT are? If you want a summary, click here to see quickly whether you would be better at the SAT or ACT. But if you want the nitty gritty details about the differences, read on below! 1. What are the content differences on the SAT vs ACT? Take a look at the content difference below. Are there any items that you love or hate? If so, then give the relevant test an extra point. Tally up the points at the end to see which is ahead: 1A. Math The SAT and ACT are very similar in terms of math, but the ACT has more and harder math. Both Tests Cover: Properties of Integers and Rational numbers Sequences Linear and Quadratic Equations: Word problems: Functions Basic Geometry, including Lines, Triangles, Polygons, Circles, 3-D and Coordinate geometry Data Interpretation, Statistics and Probability The ACT Also Covers: Matrices Complex numbers Trigonometry Logarithms Conic Sections 1B. Writing/English Like the Math section, both tests cover the topics below and the ACT also covers the topics listed at right. Both tests cover: Faulty ModifierParallel ConstructionSentence FragmentsPronounsVerb FormsConciseness and RedundanciesNumber AgreementIdiomsAdjective vs Adverb The ACT also covers: comparison/descriptionword choice (non-idiom)transitional logic: which words are best to move from one idea to anothermacro-logic: how to order sentences and paragraphsauthor’s formality and tone 1C. Reading The main difference between the SAT and ACT Reading sections is that the SAT includes fill-in-the-blank questions and the ACT’s Reading is only passages and questions about them. The SAT covers: Passages: main point, identifying details, inferring information, vocabulary in context, and the function of specific parts Sentence Completion: relationship between 2 words and vocabulary-based questions The ACT covers: Passages: main point, inferring information, vocabulary in context, and the function of specific parts Fact Finding: without line number references, find and explain a phrase or sentence Comparisons/Contrasts Cause-Effect Author Method 1D. Science The SAT does not have a Science section, so if you like science, the ACT has a huge advantage for you. Basic Science Knowledge (Physics, Chemistry, Biology) Data Representation: analysis, interpreting trends, and calculations based on data Research Summaries, including: Experimental design/Researcher intent Hypothetical Experimental changes Interpreting experiments Understanding of viewpoints Comparing viewpoints 2: What are the rule differences on the ACT vs SAT? Guessing: On the SAT, there is a  ¼ point penalty for each wrong answer (each correct answer is worth 1 full point). There is no penalty for omitting (just not answering) a question. On the ACT, there is no guessing penaltyguessing wrong and omitting are the same. Passages:While SAT passages do tend to follow the same basic patterns, they are not labeled by type or topic. The ACT, on the other hand, always labels its 4 passages (that are always in the following order): Literary Narrative, Social Science, Humanities, and Natural Science. Sections:The SAT doesn’t title its sectionsMath is obvious, but Reading and Writing have to be differentiated by question type. The ACT titles its sections in huge bold letters. Questions:The tests have very similar question styles in Math and Reading; the English questions in both tests involve students choosing how to replace underlined parts of sentences and paragraphs. However, they differ in how they apply this format. The easiest way to understand this is to compare the English section of the ACT to the Writing section of the SAT. You can download a PDF of each test here:SAT,ACT. Test Structure:The SAT alternates between Math, Reading and Writing sections, and until thechange in 2016, the essay is always the first section (in 2016 it will be the last section and optional.) There are always 10 SAT sections: 3 math, 2 writing, and 3 reading, and 1 experimental section that is not identified (it looks like all the other sections) or scored. They don’t go in any particular order, but you’ll never see 2 math sections back-to-back. A sample order of SAT sections might be: Essay Math Writing Reading Experimental Math Reading Math Reading Writing So, in the end, on the SAT, you’re scored on 8 sections and the essay. The organization of the ACT is much simpler: it has 4 sections that are always in the following order: English, Math, Reading and Science. Sometimes there is an experimental section, but it’s always Section 5, so you know which one it is. 3. How can I see these differences myself? Take a look at three real ACTs from the past, and three real SATs from the past. Examine the real tests themselves and see how they feel different! Also, check out our article on whether the ACT or SAT measures your IQ better. What's next:Are you better on the ACT or SAT? Use this one surefire method to find out. Read about whether you'll be better on the SAT or ACT.

The Role Of Women Throughout History Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The Role Of Women Throughout History - Essay Example Henrik Ibsen, in his play A Doll’s House, explores the private world of oppression within a woman’s world and the ways in which she must rewire her thinking in order to gain freedom. As he explores individual self development, his characters must undergo great changes and sacrifices, many of which are still considered controversial in nature. The play A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen came at time when great awakenings about freedom were beginning to create discussions about who was entitled to freedom and in what ways that freedom could be expressed. One of the colloquialisms about women is that they are the ‘weaker sex’. While this comment is primarily intended to address physical strength, it also denotes a social attitude that women are also emotionally and intellectually weaker than men. As biological creatures, women are plagued with shifting hormones that effect their emotions, just as men are filled with testosterone that impacts on their anger. This has been used as an excuse to place women in a subservient role throughout history. Helmer in Ibsen’s play makes this point of imposing a subservience on women which has an implied sense that they lack intellectual capacity as he minimizes Nora through condescension. He calls her â€Å"The same little feather head.â€Å" and makes statements like â€Å"That is like a woman!â€Å", making diminishing commentaries and generalizations about the state of being a woman (Ibsen 6). While women have been considered the ’weaker sex’, during the time that Ibsen wrote his play women were gathering and making great demonstrations of strength towards accomplishing goals. Most of these goals were based upon securing freedom from the oppressed. Many of the great social movements of history, particularly in the late 19th century when Ibsen’s play was written, were started and run by women. Suffrage, as it was experienced in England, was accomplished through hun ger strikes that lasted for long periods of time with attacks made by guards to force tubes down their throats in order to force feed those who had starved themselves to make a point about women’s rights. The abolitionists in the United States were primarily women who worked to keep the underground railroad open in order to smuggle slaves out of the south and into freedom. Women participated in openly and dangerously protesting slavery until it was abolished. When motivated, women have shown great strength of conviction against a patriarchal system that through most of history has kept them as chattel. However, oppressions within the domestic sphere have worked against many women as they have tried to free themselves from the social pressures of gender identity as it is interpreted as weakness. In Ibsen’s play, A Doll’s House, he explores the differences between the domestic sphere and the public sphere as his female character, Nora, searches for emancipation fr om being subjected to infantilism which has led to her being treated as a child within her marriage. In an exchange about sweets, Helmer treats her like a naughty child, tempting her to admit to having gone to the confectionary to indulge in candy. He says that she looks uneasy and commands her to look straight at him to judge her honesty. The text states â€Å"Helmer (wagging his finger at her) Hasn’t Miss Sweet-Tooth been breaking rules in town today?†

Sainsburys Supermarkets Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Sainsburys Supermarkets - Essay Example Using a combination of common management tools in a wide range of areas, from stocking its shelves full with items customers want to buy to executing on a complete revamp of its information technology and supply chain management systems, a new senior management team is revitalising the whole organisation from top to bottom. This brief history helps us analyse the period 2003 to 2006, during which Sainsbury's hit the dust with their first-ever revenues slump in history (in the year ended March 2005) and then as nimbly picked itself up and began staging a comeback. We can learn how they are doing by studying the company's annual reports which are the "official" snapshots of the whole corporation each year. Just like any other company at the mercy of its stakeholders (Freeman, 1984), Sainsbury's is expected to behave to satisfy everyone. Identify significant areas of the accounts for 2006 where judgment has been used in determining the appropriate accounting policy for the company (for example depreciation of fixed assets). Critically discuss how such judgments have materially affected the accounts in terms of valuation and profitability. There are several portions in Sainsbury's 2006 report indicating where judgment has been used to determine the appropriate accounting policies. ... From the long list of accounting policies, we note the following that in our opinion materially affected the accounts in terms of valuation and profitability: The 2006 reports are the Group's and Company's first financial statements prepared under IFRS and therefore, IFRS 1 'First-time Adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards' was applied. The last statements under UK Generally Accepted Accounting Principles ("UK GAAP") were for the 52 weeks to 26 March 2005. An explanation of the transition to IFRS is provided in Note 42. A comparison of the GAAP-based 2005 and IFRS-based 2005 reports showed that whilst non-current assets declined by almost 3 billion, total equity declined by only 33 million thanks to adjustments in net current liabilities of over 2.9 billion. This shows how numbers can surprisingly appear and vanish like magic. Early adoption of the standard Amendment to IAS 19 'Employee Benefits' is effective for annual periods beginning 1 January 2006, i.e. beginning 26 March 2006. However, Sainsbury's elected to early adopt this amendment and has applied the requirements of the amendment to the financial statements for the 52 weeks to 25 March 2006. This led to gross actuarial gains of 128 million (Note 42, p. 95), cutting the pension deficit from 672 million to only 375 million due to a deferred income tax asset. This allowed Sainsbury's to conveniently finance the pension fund and contribute towards improving employee motivation. The treatment of Subsidiaries and Goodwill allowed Sainsbury's to manufacture current year profits growth from its sale of Shaw's in 2004 by recycling 123 million of the goodwill write down from its 2005 results (p. 96), adding net 86 million to profits (See note on p. 95). Goodwill is now not allowed under

Trading decisions of individual investors Evidence of psychological Essay

Trading decisions of individual investors Evidence of psychological biases - Essay Example The Common Stock Investment Performance of Individual Investors†, Barber and Odean (2000). Barber and Odean (2000) studied data of stock market transactions undertaken by 78,000 households, from January 1991 to December 1996. Under the overconfidence model, investors who are overconfident about executing a profitable trade will trade more frequently in the market, and because much of their market action will be based on emotion (overconfidence) rather than deliberate and pragmatic study, their trades will be of lower expected utility. The resulting net return of households with high turnover will be inferior to those less frequently traded accounts. By comparison, the rational expectation framework of Grossman and Stiglitz posit that when investors trade, it is because they perceive that the marginal benefit they will realize is greater than the marginal cost they will incur. Since such investors trade only when such opportunity presents itself, which probably will be as often as not, then the rational investor transacts less frequently, incurring a lower aggregate transaction cost. The study discovered that households that have lower turnover (and thus traded less frequently) had larger accounts that those households that had higher turnover. This may be explained by the fact that investors who trade less frequently are longer-term investors whose objective in entering the market is for capital appreciation rather than the â€Å"quick buck†. They will tend to select stocks of â€Å"blue chip†, investor, quality, and to maintain that position for years. The earlier investigation done by Odean (1998) sought to discover whether or not individual investors tended to maintain a losing position too long and, conversely, close out on their gaining stocks too soon. This has direct bearing on the Prospect Theory by Kahneman and Tversky (1979), originally conceived as a

Management of Information System Essay Example for Free

Management of Information System Essay Supply chain management is the general, strategic interaction of the business functions within a particular firm and throughout businesses within the supply chain with the aim of improving the long-term performance of individual firm and the supply chain as a whole. The functions of logistics are key operating elements of a firm that need design and management agreeable with corporate strategy and changing competitive scenarios. The functions of purchasing focus on various processes such as contract writing, buying, demand planning, budgeting, supplier base and vendor management, and customer relationships. A firm may execute an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system in order to automate its inventory management as well as sales and order process, including the related approval process. The ERP system is an extension of manufacturing resource planning and material requirements planning (MRP) systems, which link a firm’s demand side with its supply side by categorizing demand into requirements for components and parts. The ERP system provides a complete set of supply chain functionalities, including the planning and implementation of marketing activities, inventory and shop floor management and the potential of authorizing ordering and receiving to the end-user. It has also the capability of Internet integration and enterprise application integration through customized interfaces and XML. Customer relationship management analytics are capable of determining the effectiveness of marketing campaigns, projecting customer trends, identifying unprofitable clients, up-sell opportunities and clients who are likely to defect, measuring the effectiveness of incentive programs to meet overall sales goals, monitoring the performance of the sales staff, distributing resources in terms of customer needs and value, analyzing the cost-to-service ratio per client segment, and delivering the more suitable levels of customer service. Reference . Themistocleous, Marinos (2005). Enterprise Resource Planning and Enterprise Application Integration. United Kingdom: Emerald Publishing Limited.

Strategic Human Resource Management: British Petroleum

Strategic Human Resource Management: British Petroleum William DArcy of Anglo-Persia Oil Company is the founding member of BP, in the year 1901. However, BPs first retail gas station first ever opened in Britain in 1921. Through the years it has grown massively due to its brand reputation worldwide. It has since become a very powerful Oil company and enjoys a fair market share. Upon merging with Amoco- a USA Oil Company, in 1998, BP then rebranded its retail gas stations and convenient stores. BPs is into the extraction and refining of oil and natural gas. Their retail ventures are under subsidiaries of Arco and BP filling stations. Since the turn of the millennium, BP took into investing into research and development, focussing on alternative energy sources like bio fuels and so far it seems to be leading in this regard. In 2009, BP was reported to be worth over $238 billion in assets with equity of $101.6 billion. With the ever increasing oil prices, their profits were reported to be nearly $21 billion in revenues of $291 billion. Today they have since gone beyond the above quoted amounts of 2007. They employ over 96, 000 people worldwide. MISSION, VISION AND VALUE STATEMENT BP has a slogan statement that has not officially been says What we stand for BP wants to be recognised as a great company that is competitively successful and a force for progress. We have a fundamental belief that we can make a difference in the world. We help the world meet its growing need for heat, light and mobility. We strive to do that by producing energy that is affordable, secure and doesnt damage the environment. PRODUCTS BP products include; Bio fuels, Gas and petrol stations, Motor oil and lubricants Route and journey planner, Gas and petrol station locator Target neutral a non profit carbon offsetting initiative Liquefied petroleum Gas Solar energy Business investments include; Air BP, Arco Aluminium, Aromatics Acetyls, Asphalt and bitumen, BP Crudes, Franchising, Shipping Gas and fuel cards, gas and power energy, Natural Gas Liquids, Solar power Industrial lubricants, Invoice tracking systems, Marine fuels and lubricants Organisational Structure This is the line of command in an organisation. It is a hierarchal structure that shows the composition and relation between the different departments within the organisation, showing clearly the channel of command, which may either, be a tall or flat kind of structure. BPs organisational structure Board of Directors Robert Dudley Iain Conn Byron Grote Executive Management Mike Daly Sally T. Bott Rupert Bondy Mark Bly Lamar Mckay Bob Fryar Bernard Looney Andy Hopwood Steve Westwell BPs Executive Management (bp.com) includes; Robert Dudley Group Chief Executive He became Group Chief Executive from 1st October 2010, taking over from Tony Haywood. Dr Byron Grote Chief Financial Officer Is a member of BP board of directors and a member of the executive management team. His responsibilities include, accounting for BPs integrated supply and trading activities. Iain Conn Chief Executive Refining and Marketing He is the chief executive of the BP Groups refining and marketing business and also holds regional responsibilities for Europe, Southern Africa and Asia Pacific. He is a member of the board of directors and a member of the BP executive management team Mark Bly Executive Vice President Safety and Operational Risk His responsibilities includes strengthening safety operations, Risk Management and the systematic management of operations across BP corporate group Rupert Bondy Group General Counsel He is responsible for legal function, trademark, patents and licensing and compliance Sally T. Bott Executive Vice President Human Resource She has held the post since her appointment, in 2005. Bob Fryar Executive Vice President EP Production His responsibilities are for the Safe and Compliant Exploration and Production and Stewardship of resources across all regions Mike Daly Executive Vice President Exploration He is accountable for the leadership of BPs access, exploration and resource appraisal activities and the long term replacement of BPs resource base. Andy Hopwood Executive Vice President, EP- Strategy and Integration Has worked in various positions in which he has been successful. He is also a member of the executive team Bernard Looney Executive vice President -Development Is responsible for Drilling and completions and project activity in the upstream Lamar Mckay President BP America. He is the chief BPs representative in the United States. Based in Houston Texas, where BP business units are involved in oil and natural gas exploration and production, refining chemicals, shipping and alternative energy Steve Westwell Executive Vice President Strategy and Integration He is accountable for BPs alternative energy businesses and manages all of BPs corporate activities in strategy and policy, internal communication media, press, investor relations, economics and long term research and technology. 4.2 ANALYSE THE IMPACT OF BPS CULTURE ON THE MANAGEMENT OF HUMAN RESOURCES. Organisational culture is the collection of relatively uniform and enduring values, beliefs, customs, traditions and practices that are shared by an organisations members, learned by new recruits and transmitted from one generation of employees to the next. (Buchanan Huczynski 2004). It has been very successful in line with its brand name and corporate reputation. Its culture reflected in their statement slogan as below BP is progressive, responsible, innovative and performance driven. They have further defined this statement as: Progressive They are restless in the research and development and improvement in exploration and refinery of oil, gas and fuels. They believe they have the principle of mutual advantage and can build productive relationships between themselves, their clients and partners. Responsible It is committed to the safety and development of its people and the communities in the societies in which they operate. They aim for no accidents, no harm to people and protecting the natural environment. Innovate we push boundaries today and create tomorrows breakthroughs through our people and technology Performance Driven BP is committed to deliver on their promises through continuous improvement and safe, reliable operations, by learning from their mistakes BP has over the years, has maintained a culture that, as exhibited in its code of conducts and their governance procedures in place. One characteristic business strategy that BP has continued to use in its system is that of Mergers. Over the years, BP has merged with other oil companies in most parts of the world and this had lead to the organisations diverse corporate culture. Generally BP has a large market share and has always had the potential to grow- thanks to other strategies, such as Acquisitions, Franchising and licensing .The BP brand is so strong and successful world over and enjoyed a good reputation. Unfortunately, the fatal accidents at the refineries (2005) and the latest oil spill off the Gulf of Mexico in April 2010 are not helping the current situation that the organisation is in. It has presumed that BPs outmost interest is profit marginalising than the welfare of employees and the general environment within which the firm operates. Trends of its culture in the nex t few months to come are expected to have been improved, if not changed completely, in relation to how the organisation operates. BP is primarily made up of two segments: Exploring and Production and the Refining and Marketing, along with other business units including alternative energy. BP prides its human resource capital and refers to them as our people. The organisations Human resource management aims to get the right people in the right jobs, accessing different specialist skills and promoting excellent performance. They carry out a focussed recruitment procedures, they analyse performances and reward accordingly and invest in training and development. The human resources department is made up top level executives and these make up what is known as People Committee, which takes the overall responsibilities for policy and decision relating to the employees. BP being a multinational corporation, and having employees from different countries, altogether, ensures that has one of the most biggest BPs human resources are highly skilled and efficient. The organisations Human Resource professional act as business partners, some delivery strategic guidance, while others support the day-to-day needs of managers and employees. In supporting its employees, BP invests in systems, data and core processes like governance, policy and compliance, so as to enable its human resource to respond quickly and effectively to the fast changing energy industry. 4.3 EXAMINE THE EFFECTIVENESS OF HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGEMENT IS MONITORED IN THE ORGANISATION BPs Human Resource management is one of the tops around the world. Its activities have also been admired and BP used to be one of the top priorities for employment in the energy sectors. Human Resources Systems This is the systems that BP has set in place in terms of its human resource management. It involves; Recruitment BP is committed to a culture of diversity, this helps them attract, develop and retain outstanding talent- regardless of background, age, religion, ethnic origin, nationality, disability, sex orientation, gender or marital status (BP code of conduct document) (BP sustainability review 2009) BP was named as the best energy company to launch a career in, based on factors like pay, rapid advancement and training programmes. (Business Week 2009) The organisation has schemes like the student and graduate employment facility which offers interested students and graduates intern opportunities. BP recruits graduates from a wide range of technical disciplines. In 2009, BP employed about 6500 out of which 470 were graduates. As BP is ever expanding, it requires qualified and skilful workers for its various projects around the world. Reward Systems BP has redesigned its reward strategies and processes, in such a way that, they can identify and reward top-performing businesses and individuals. In addition to pay, employees are rewarded according to how well they perform against specific objectives that must be clearly linked to the goals of the team as a whole. BP ensures to have benefit packages that are fair, attractive and sustainable for the long term for its employees. It states on their website, that as of 2010, they introduced a new flexible benefits plan in the UK, which includes private medical insurance and health screening, as well as a cash allowance for new hires to purchase benefits and defined contribution pension plans for those employees no longer eligible for the defined benefit plan Executive Reward packages Remuneration for executives is in cash and equity. This policy has been established by the remuneration committee of the board, whereas the policy for all other employees is by the group people committee. According to BP, their reward packages, strike the appropriate balance between rewarding individual performance and reflecting group performance. Performance Management BP does recognise that its high organisational growth and market share is due to the employees great performances (both individually and as a team). It strives for a performance -driven culture, with a clear alignment between team performance, individual performance and bonuses that are received. BPs performance approach entails that each BP business plan is designed to accomplish elements of the groups overall strategies. Objectives and milestones for each individual are set in accordance with the team plan. There is a direct link between the goals set by BP board and that or other BP key businesses, and the performance contracts of their executive leadership. Standard approach is that, the executives performance is evaluated against their performance contract. BP carries out an internal and external evaluation processes in developing plans for these group leaders Managers, peers and team members review leaders performance, using a 360ÂÂ ° feedback tool, to identify their top three relative strengths and weaknesses. It runs Career Acceleration programme which supports rapid development of employees who have the highest potential and are expected to achieve For Managers, it runs a series of development programmes called Managing Essentials. This is aimed to assists line managers in attaining leadership skills. They encourage leaders to develop, as they expect the leaders or managers to not only exhibit valuable expertise, but also to influence and motivate employees and be able to act decisively and deliver high quality results. RECOMMENDATION OF THE EFFECTIVENESS OF HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT IN BP Having researched and discussed the Human Resource Management in BP, I hereby recommend the effectiveness of the Human Resource Management. Their current systems in comparison to most local jobs (companies) are indeed second to none. Some of the highlighting points I base my recommendation on, includes the following working conditions: BP recognises the needs of individuals and has set out innovative working practices that encourage employees to enjoy a happy and productive work and life balance at every stage of their career. Flexible working BPs Information Technology infrastructure helps support flexible working and there are a variety of flexible working arrangements e.g. part time, and depending on employees role, they have home-based working or teleconferencing in some circumstances replaces the need to travel. Time to live As a global business, there are occasions when people have to work very hard an unsociable hours. If this is the case, BP may consider whether to provide extra time off and or additional benefits. Family time BP supports family friendly policies, such as career breaks and adoption leave, aimed at allowing people to contribute to their families without compromising their professional development aspirations Global Diversity and inclusion Council in the lead, is the Group Chief Executive. He ensures that the managers have the support they need to promote diversity and inclusion at every level of BP. It includes other senior managers and together they share their focus on making diversity and inclusion priority. Global Affinity Groups These are local affinity groups, employee-led teams of individuals who share interests or backgrounds. These groups offer support, information and the opportunity to help the business reach its diversity and inclusion goals. BPs Human Resource Management aims to attract and retain the best people, by offering opportunities to employees to learn and develop both informal training and mentoring. Teams set out to support individuals through their progress, by assisting new employees discover their talents and abilities. BP has a focused performance management system is one of the best in the world When employed, BP will align the individual objectives with the goals of the area of specialisation, upon which will be measured to ascertain the effectiveness of the individuals performance against the objectives and contributions to those goals. Norman Rockwell: Artist Biography Norman Rockwell: Artist Biography Norman Rockwell was born in 1894. Rockwell enjoyed drawing at an early age and soon decided he wanted to be an artist. At age 15 he left high school and enrolled in two art schools simultaneously. His mornings were spent at the National Academy of Design, and his afternoons, spent at the Art Students League. He is perhaps best remembered for his countless Saturday Evening Post illustrations and artistic contributions to the advertising industry. His early covers made Rockwell a star, and his paintings appeared in magazines and advertisements for the next half-century. Rockwell never considered himself an artist, but rather a commercial illustrator. After all, Rockwell never painted freehand, and almost all of his paintings were commissioned by magazines and advertising companies. No matter how many contributions Rockwell made to the commercial arts over his career, they all had something in common. He understood the importance the drawing process had in order to achieve effective ill ustrations for his advertisements and magazine covers. In the beginning of his career Rockwell worked from real life. He used models drawing directly onto his canvas. It has never been natural for me to deviate from the facts of anything before me, he says, so I have always dressed the models and posed them precisely as I have wanted them in my picture; then I painted the thing before me. If a model has worn a red sweater, I painted it red I couldnt possibly have made it green. I have tried again and again to take such liberties, but with little success. To keep up with the demand for a quicker turnaround for finished art, Rockwell began to use photos as a reference for his drawings. For twenty-three years I did all of my drawing and painting without any help from the camera. Even today I often work without photographs, yet I have found that if they are properly utilized they can sometimes prove an invaluable aid. I feel very strongly, however, that no one should resort to photographs until he has learned to draw and paint extremely well without them.In Guptills book Norman Rockwell Illustrator a description of Rockwells technique is given in extensive detail. The first step was to get an idea. Without a good idea right at the start, only failure can result, Rockwell said. Once he had an idea, his procedure was to make small scale thumbnails with pencil. When the idea was approved, the models were selected. He commonly used friends and neighbors and his models. He always insisted on getting the perfect model even if it entailed a len gthy search. Rockwell then acquired the necessary props and would hire a photographer to shoot the scenes, while he directed the models. With his okayed preliminary pencil sketch and his selected photographs, Norman then did a small sized study in pencil. This was done to organize his materials and his thoughts about layout and composition. Next, he made a full size detailed charcoal drawing on architects detailpaper. This was made to the exact size which he intended his final painting to be which varied according to the subject matter it was used for.Now the photographer was called again to reshoot the desired layout. Rockwell then painted from the photographs and did several color studies which allowed him to make tweaks to the tone, form or color. Rockwell then made a transfer from his full size charcoal layout on to his prepared canvas. First, he would trace this ona sheet of architects tracing paper, which he would then attach to his blank canvas. Between the tracing paper and the canvas he would place transfer paper and traced it onto the canvas. After all this meticulous prepping he was now ready to paint. Eventually, Rockwell altered his sketching process by using an opaque projector called a balopticon, which allowed him to cast photographic images onto his drawing surface, and lightly trace them. Rockwell said, When using the balopticon in this way, I do not simply copy everything which is projected from the photograph. Instead, I make many, many changes, large and small, in order to make the drawing like the image in my mind of what I want to portray. I cannot emphasize this point too much. The real danger in using the balopticon is that you will develop the lazy tendency to follow the image exactly instead of following the creative idea or image within yourself.Painting from photographs canbe a wholly creative performance if the artist himself is creative. To copy the form, tone and color of a photographic print certainly is not creative. But one can be creative by modifying drawing, values and other aspects of the photo to realize the creative needs of the subject. The camera is no substitute for those creative faculties of mind and hand which have always produced art and always will. The artist who cant draw or paint will never getanywhere trying to work from photographs. Probably the most important stage in Norman Rockwells technique was the drawing stage. In this stage, subjects were drawn in great detail, going so far as to indicate differences in light and shade by filling in areas with varying values of grey. If you look closely at a Norman Rockwell painting, much of his pencil lines can be seen lurking below the paint. I take the making of the charcoal layouts very seriously, Rockwell once remarked. Too many novices. I believe, wait until they are on the canvas before trying to solve many of their problems. It is much better to wrestle with them ahead through studies. Knowing that the success of his covers and advertisements depended on the strength of his ideas, Rockwell struggled to develop engaging picture themes. With the emphasis on preliminary drawings this allowed Rockwell to produce strong illustrations for his commissions. His successes in commercial art and the advertising industry are a result of those drawing phases. With his art on cover of the Saturday Evening Post, Norman Rockwell became an American icon. Although hesitant about approaching the Saturday Evening Post, he had dreamed for years of having his illustrations on the cover. Rockwell put aside his fears and in 1916 took two paintings and three sketches to Phildelphia and Mr. Lorimers office. Mr. Lorimer liked the two paintings and approved the three sketches for future covers for the Saturday Evening Post. The first Norman Rockwell Saturday Evening Post cover was published May 20, 1916. Entitled Boy with Baby Carriage (See fig. 1), it shows 2 boys in baseball uniforms making fun of another boy dressed in his Sunday suit pushing a baby carriage. One of Norman Rockwells favorite models, Billy Paine, posed for all three boys. On June 3, 1916, the second Saturday Evening Post Norman Rockwell cover was published. His second effort featured a kids circus with one kid in long underwear being the strong man. Another kid in a top hat was the ci rcus barker, extolling the other kids in the painting to see the show (See fig 2). This was the second of the two finished paintings Rockwell originally showed to Mr Lorimer. All in all, more than 300 Norman Rockwell Saturday Evening Post covers were published. Norman Rockwells painting of a colonial tavern sign painter in the February 1936 issue of The Saturday Evening Post had caught the eye of Princeton architect Thomas Stapleton, who decided to commission Rockwell to do a mural for the reconstructed 1756 Nassau Tavern located in Princeton. Rockwell enjoyed doing colonial subjects and because Princeton was the site of a major Revolutionary War battle, a painting of Yankee Doodle seemed appropriate. Yankee Doodle was placed behind the bar to be enjoyed by all the male guests (See Fig. 3). Rockwell researched and had new costumes made for his models. He engaged his friend, Fred Hildebrandt, a professional model and illustrator, who had posed as the colonial sign painter, to pose as Yankee Doodle. This painting underwent several phases in preparation for the oil painting. First, a drawing was done from the model, with very little changes being done (see fig 4). Second, a drawing was done from the first drawing. In this version the drawing was pushed further. Here he makes the body thinner, the arms and legs are elongated, and the shape of his nose is changed. The clothing also adds to the character and his action. The vest now creates a more interesting silhouette, while the smaller scarf helps thin the shape of his upper body. The negative space between him and the saddle, as well as the disheveled hat, flowing hair and coat, convey a bouncing ride (see fig. 5). Third, the drawing is transferred and a color-study is done (See fig. 6). Finally, the finish changes are made. Most are subtle, but there is improved contrast to the coats folds, and changes to the negative space in relation to the elbow. (see fig 7). These process images support Rockwells comments that the ability t o draw is the most import. In the cover illustration for The Saturday Evening Post on April 16, 1955, Art Critic, Rockwell was far from beginning his final painting when he completed this drawing. His photographer recalls that Rockwell considered this one of the most difficult paintings he had done. He spent more time on it than on almost any other Post cover. Using his wife Mary as the model, the face of the woman in the portrait changed no fewer than 17 times. (See fig 8). For each alteration, Rockwell painted a separate oil-on-acetate sketch, which he then could place for consideration within the portraits frame. At some point Rockwell replaced the 17th-century landscape on the opposite wall with a group portrait of Dutch cavaliers. The cavaliers critical observation of the students close examination of the ladys pendant added a new dynamic and further compelled the viewers participation in Rockwells painting. You can also see Rockwells process drawings leading up to his finished Post cover paintings in Fix ing a Flat August 3, 1946 (See Fig. 9) and Weighing In June 28, 1958 (See Fig. 10). Record of his work process is rare and really provides insight in to his technique. On the cover of The Saturday Evening Post, Norman Rockwell earned his reputation as an artist. Inside, however, his work was just as moving. His paintings regularly appeared inadvertisements. Rockwells advertising career started in 1914 with a Heinz ad in the Boy Scout Handbook and ended 64 years later in 1976 with Lancaster Turkeys. Rockwell also did advertising illustration for companies like Jell-O, Willys cars, Grape Nuts and Orange Crush. He is also remembered for his numerous advertisements for such companies as Coca-Cola, Ford Motor Company, and Sun-Maid Raisins. Even in Rockwells advertisement illustrations he continued his technical processes and the use of drawing with models and photographs. When people ask why I sometimes resort to photographs, I tell them what a job it is to get models to take and hold poses like in this Interwoven Socks advertisement. Any time you wish to become a model, try either of these poses for a few minutes, says Norman. (See Fig. 11). In the Fisk Tire advertisement he draws from a live model rather than a photograph to create his painting (see fig. 12). In this case my model was old Pop Fredricks, known to all illustrators. He was a great guy, an old actor. He used to pose twenty-five minutes and then rest. Before the pose we would set the alarm clock, a noisy Big Ben. Waiting for the blasted thing to go off was nerve-racking; after about twenty minutes I would be on edge. Once I had Pop in a sleeping pose and he actually fell asleep, I let him sleep until noon. One of Rockwells advertising campaigns resulted i n 81 black-and-white drawings. The Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co. commissioned him to create scenes reflecting family life for a national advertising campaign. Rockwell reportedly used a hard, grease-free type ofcrayon for the sketches (see fig.13). Massachusetts Mutual chose the black-and-white medium because it represented a contrast to the color advertisements used by most companies in the 1950s and 1960s, and the company hoped it would grab peoples attention. The company ran ads with the drawings in The Saturday Evening Post, Time and Newsweek.