Cinema And Its Impact On Society Film Studies Essay

In the subcontinent there are legion traditions and patterns that are based on ignorance and which have captivated the advancement of the societies. Of such negative influenced ignorance, unsociableness, dowry systems, rigidness of caste system and solitude system have done singular injury to the society. These influences are present in our society and are practiced without the reverberation of the wake that they bring with them, the society keeps following them like aristocracy preached through hereditary traditions. Cinema movies have, had and will go on to torch visible radiation to eliminate the obstinate discolorations in the sub Continental society. Cinema has been used to advance obliteration of trafficking, illiteracy, bondage, promote national integrating, household planning, and inter caste/religion matrimonies. Cinema can be used as a tool to lend to steer the society to continue along the righteous way. It has been and will be used as a mean to take ignorance from the sub Continental society. hypertext transfer protocol: //essaysandarticles.com/science/the-cinema % E2 % 80 % 94-its-impact-on-society There are dynamic positions and realisation of film to different people associated to this signifier of media, for case for the Manufacturers it is a mean of a moneymaking concern, for managers and backroom staff, it is a signifier of canvas for them there they can execute their art work to the multitudes for personal desire and satisfaction, for on screen performing artists, such as histrions and actresses, its is a mean of gaining money and face value, while for the multitudes it is a mean of inexpensive and interesting signifier of amusement and interest for their screening and listening pleasance. This is one of the cardinal grounds why film has been a booming industry for ages and clasp of a major market portion of the amusement industry. hypertext transfer protocol: //www.preservearticles.com/201106127879/essay-on-the-effect-of-cinema-on-our-society.html Indian Cinema: Since its get downing with the movie ‘Raja Harish Chandra ‘ ( 1913 ) , the film has remained the most powerful media for mass communicating in India. Cinema has the ability to unite amusement with communicating of thoughts. It has the possible entreaty for its audience. It surely leaves other media far behind in doing such an entreaty. As in literature, film has produced much which touches the innermost beds of the adult male. It mirrors the episodes in such a mode that leaves an impact on the coming coevalss. Cinema presents an image of the society in which it is born and the hopes, aspirations, defeat and contradictions present in any given societal order. In the present epoch, film is acquiring replaced by little screen productions. Televised seriess and programmes are replacing fad. They advertise and earn gross for industry. Thus movies telecast has become a beginning of farther income for the industry and trade. Man has inherent aptitudes, different ideas flow which leave an consequence on the heads. The individual laughs with the movies and cryings with them. Scenes of ‘Shaheed Bhagat Singh ‘ , a movie by Raj Kumar Santoshi and Manoj Goswami makes people national-minded and sentimentally involved in the movie show. The fim duologues are busying topographic points in our existent life. Dialogues of Mugle Azam found topographic point in the normal interaction of people for a long clip. Peoples talked and walked like Prithvi Raj, the great male monarch Akbar. In the same manner, dramas by Agha Hashat and Devdas by Sharat Chandra left a deep impact on the multitudes. In the same manner, movie ‘Sholey ‘ created an imending consequence on so many. hypertext transfer protocol: //www.preservearticles.com/201106127879/essay-on-the-effect-of-cinema-on-our-society.html Example of Bengali Cinema and how it portrays: Bengali film is closely linked to Modernity and Realism. The most celebrated and celebrated movie shapers of the Bengali film along with the modernist ideas chose the genre of pragmatism to make to a new tallness. Ritwik Ghatak and Satyajit Ray are some of the greatest illustrations, who have played with the subject of pragmatism and modernness in their movies. Modernity is a huge subject and can be defined into many ways. But we will chiefly concentrate on the artistic, societal and political modernisation. Satyajit Ray ‘s movie ‘Pather Pancheli ‘ is one of the ultimate illustrations of movies portraying pragmatism along with several elements of modernness. It was an inspiration to Vittorio De Sicca ‘s Bicycle Thief, 1948 which was based on Italian neo-realism. Ray ‘s work was a shot of mastermind. It reflected the societal advancement and alteration in Bengal and besides had modernized thoughts and constructs. In his movie Pather Panchali, Ray has focused on go forthing the old thoughts behind, traveling on and working on new constructs. He put accent on the fact that, with the transition of clip the conventional ways of life, household thoughts and traditional life style have become out-of-date and needs to be altered consequently. During the flood tide, Apu and his household, leaves their place and subsequently departs from the small town. Their ascendant ‘s place was the exclusive ground why they were non go forthing that small town. They shifted to another topographic point for a better life and life manner. By relocating, they were able to sell off the old house which was of no usage to them, alternatively was the ground for their girl ‘s life. This movie is an development from traditional times to modern manner of life. Ray used many metaphors throughout his movie which were related to a demand for alteration and modernness. I think old aunt was a perfect illustration of metaphorical use. She was exhausted, old adult female who had nil to make than merely rolling around the house. She is often told by everyone to go forth which indicates that she is unwanted and worthless in the house. The household feared famine, survival and poorness. They were unhappy about the traditional manner of life and traditions. The same manner, they were annoyed by the presence of old aunt. Subsequently, we founds out that the old aunt meanders, after several unsuccessful efforts of seeking for a shelter topographic point, she dies. Death of old thoughts is the metaphorical significance of old aunt ‘s decease. Ray wishes for a alteration, something which is ne'er stoping. Through his illustrations, he focused on a demand for alteration so that we can interrupt off from the traditions which are keeping us back and is a signifier of barrier to our advancement. By agencies of aunt decease, he is able to demo how traditions have become outdated. Ray ‘s another great work Charulata ( 1964 ) , besides focuses on conveying a alteration. The narrative sets in an upper in-between category Bengali society. In this context, a only homemaker falls in love with her brother-in-law while they both were hiking each other to compose. He applied two different ideas of traditionality and modernness, place and desire and literature and political relations together. Ray ‘s movies have a humanistic attack. The deepness of his plant is far making. It has captured the human bosom and extracted the emotions from it. Apu throwing the necklace stolen by Durga, Amal go forthing place for the fright of being unfaithful, Durga stealing nutrient from her aunt are illustrations of Ray ‘s humanistic work. Ray is besides inspired by Neo-realism. From my point of position, it is because his narratives are mostly concentrating on the society. He can non do them fictional because so it would irrelevant to the society. His narratives are non meant to be movies, in fact a world which was an image of the society in which he has lived in. It was a complete imitation of Bengali society. The characters were portraiture of existent personalities. For illustration, Durga is Hindu fabulous character. When you look at her, you will non judge her as a good or evil character but will believe of her as a adult female who had existed in the yesteryear and had different properties which mirrored her personality. She was n't a fictional character. Correspondingly, Ritwik Ghatak ‘s movies introduced the modernistic subjects of isolation, disaffection and demand for place that evolves around the Bengali society. In his socially applicable movie Ajantrik, Ghatak brought together the construct of isolation and disaffection to the society. He demonstrates a adult male ‘s love for his auto ; auto is a exanimate object. That adult male had a disturbed societal life where he was non able to bond tighter with people around him. There are scenes like when Bimal is holding a conversation with his auto. He takes attention of his auto like he is a living comrade. At the same clip, did n't give importance to what the society says. This shows the importance of the auto, Jagaddal. Ghatak treat the auto as a life character and non as a prop. He besides showed the auto ‘s point of position. He wants to turn out his point that with the debut of modernisation ; nowadays people are more mercenary orientated. They value belongings more than dealingss. Similarly in Subarnarekha ( 1965 ) , Ghatak has focused more on the subject of place ( alongside the sub-themes such as dealingss and happiness.His work is besides approximately modernness, alteration and its effects and how divider affected Ghatak and the society. Subarnarekha is a after divider narrative of a household relocating to the bank of Subarnarekha River. Throughout the narrative, Sita hunt for felicity. He talks about the new place feeling and that she confesses her secrets, felicity and sufferings to a river. What I learned from Ghatak ‘s movies is he considers that society has transformed from being a community to a combined life of different characters. Individuality is present wholly over his work. Peoples have how people have gone from being lovers of nature and semisynthetic beauty ( like lakes and montains ) to autos and belongings. One may state that in the movies of both, Satyajit Ray and Ritwik Ghatak, you can happen many modernist necessities. Their work ranges from content to subjects like theanthropism, place and modernness ; besides their trade which is the usage of POV shootings, Brechtian elements, different manner of filming and pull stringsing infinite. Decision It is ever good and good groomed to see good topics on film. They have a really positive and durable consequence on the heads whereas inexpensive and moth-eaten films affect the stamp heads of audience really severely. There is general feeling that present twenty-four hours offenses are all due to effects of film. Besides unfastened and demonstrative topics throw tarnished messages. They spoil our civilization, and society. Cinema and TV severely affect the wellness of the childs. They neglect surveies and physical games to pass more clip on this amusement. School-going kids and society kids fail to do usage of good impacts and are influenced by the bad portion of the programmes on the air. The motivation is non to fling film or Television telecast so easy. The desirable act will be to selective and choosey for programmes. Good films should be seen by the pupils. The films of Television shows should be really much restricted and for a fix clip. The film exercises a great influence on the head of the people. It has a great educative value. It can accomplish glorious consequences in the field of enlargement of instruction. There are certain topics, such as scientific discipline and geographics, which can be more effec ­tively taught with the aid of talking pictures. Lessons on route sense, regulations of hygiene and civic sense can be taught to the pupils and the ‘ public every bit good in a really effectual mode with the aid of film images. Many successful experiments have been made in assorted states on the public-service corporation of movies as a agency of instruction. Feature movies have been produced for school and college pupils and pupils are being benefitted by them. Cinema movies have the power to act upon the thought of the people. They have changed the society and societal tendencies. They have introduced new manners in society. They may be described as pace-setters. They can make a direct impact on our societal life. Movies can travel a long manner towards eliciting national consciousness and besides in using the energies of the young person in societal reconstruc ­tion and nation-building by a adept adaptation of good moral, societal and educative subjects, and by debut of popular sentiments, movies can, to a great extent, formulate and guide public sentiment

Heroes and Villains in Postmodernism Essay

Postmodernism is a creative movement that is said to have originated in the 1950s. As the name suggests, it is the successor of modernism, and the development of postmodernism is visible in not only literature, but also other creative disciplines such as architecture, music, fashion, film and painting. Postmodernism was created as a reaction to its predecessor, and its â€Å"rational, scientific, and historical aspects†. This results in postmodernism being self-conscious, ironic, and experimental, concerned with the instability and unreliability of language, and with epistemology, the study of what knowledge is. In saying this, the purpose of postmodernism is not to shock the bourgeoisie world, as the avant-garde movement arguably does, but to challenge it- both by reducing it to its natural state, and by seeing how far it can be stretched beyond its existing ideas. Postmodernism does this by introducing deconstruction and disintegration to question our ideas of certainty, identity and the truth; and by the use of hyperreality, pastiche, bricolage, recurring characters, irony, authorial intrusions, non-linear narrative and self-reflexivity to bring more attention to the world outside of the text as a part of the world inside it. There is a true breakdown of what we know to be true, what we expect, and what we are able to believe, and this is certainly reflected in the depictions of heroes and villains within postmodernist texts. This investigation looks into the role of heroic and villainous characters in postmodernist texts, the aspects of the postmodern world that is portrayed by these characters and how they developed, in relation to the societal and political changes that were gasoline to the flames of postmodernism. The characters that will be used to  investigate this are the superhero Batman, and one of his arch-nemeses The Joker, using the films Batman Begins and The Dark Knight, both directed by Christopher Nolan, and the graphic novels Joker written by Brian Azzarello, and The Killing Joke, written by Alan Moore; Shrek from the film Shrek, directed by Andrew Adamson and Vicky Jenson; Billy Pilgrim from the novel Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut; and Patrick Bateman from the novel American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis. These texts represent the wide-ranging reaches of postmodernism, including both what people may class as â€Å"literature† and â€Å"mass culture† as distinctive examples of postmodernism. However, in studying these texts, it is clear to see the disordered nature of postmodernism by the creation of the antihero- a protagonist who lacks the traditional heroic qualities, who is flawed, who the audience is ultimately able to recognise themselves in. How do the texts themselves reflect postmodernism? The literary label of â€Å"postmodernism† can be applied liberally, and encompasses a large number of texts, with differing postmodern qualities found in each one. However, over the range of texts that is being investigated in this report, there are some aspects that stand out more clearly than others. As this report focuses on heroes and villains within the texts, we will firstly look at the texts that were used to analyse the characters of Batman and the Joker. The texts used to study the Batman include The Dark Knight, Batman Begins, Joker, and The Killing Joke. All of these texts are set in the fictional city of Gotham, New York, which is a postmodern setting that makes us aware of facing widespread social meltdown in which it is becoming increasingly more difficult to make a separation between law and anarchy, heroism and terrorism, and sanity and madness. This shifting, sliding, disintegrating world is clearly portrayed in all of Nolan’s, Moore’s and Azzarello’s work. This postmodern setting, an arguably dystopian Gotham, is infested with crime and corruption, and fear and mistrust is abound- the people of the city cannot trust the authorities, nor can they trust any of the social or political institutions that they were brought up to believe in. This reflects the postmodern idea of disintegration- the dissolving of social norms and institutions on which many people based their lives, the removal of the â€Å"absolute†. The issues  that the citizens of Gotham face are not merely about right and wrong, or good and evil, they are vicious moral dilemmas presented by psychopathic and unpredictable villains. Also, the hyperrealistic nature of the violence that is depicted in both the films and the graphic novels is also a postmodern aspect of these texts. For example, in the graphic novel, Joker, when a mob boss who went against the Joker was flayed alive and paraded on to a strip club stage; or when Harvey Dent’s hired detective/thug is shot in the head and hung upside down from a tree on the grounds of Dent’s mansion and Dent finds him in the morning, dripping brain matter over his newspaper. Hyperreality is a deliberate blurring of the boundaries between fantasy and reality, and the portrayal of hyperreal violence in postmodern texts is common, as they distort reality through a trivialization of violence and the effects it has upon human beings. Hyperreal violence is also found in the novel American Psycho, in which Patrick Bateman, a yuppie Wall Street banker by day, and psychotic murderer by night, commits gruesome murders and sexual acts constantly throughout the novel, which are described with chillingly accurate detail. By the end of the novel, the reader is numbed to the graphic descriptions of violence and gore, accepting them as part of his everyday life, just as normal as him going to work and engaging in mindless conversation with his colleagues. However, in American Psycho, the most obvious, and most often seen, characteristic of postmodernism is its constant references to brand names, pop culture and the corporate world that Bateman is a part of. As the novel is written in a stream-of-consciousness style from Bateman’s point of view, the reader sees his thoughts as he passes shallow, superficial judgment on virtually everyone he sees. Bateman’s thoughts as he and his girlfriend Evelyn attend a party are a good indication of the tone of the novel: â€Å"Evelyn and I are by far the best-dressed couple. I’m wearing a lamb’s wool topcoat, a wool jacket with wool flannel trousers, a cotton shirt, a cashmere V-neck sweater and a silk tie, all from Armani. Evelyn’s wearing a cotton blouse by Dolce do Gabbana, suede shoes by Yves Saint Laurent, a stenciled calf skirt by Adrienne Landau with a suede belt by Jill Stuart, Calvin Klein tights, Venetian-glass earrings by Frances Patiky Stein, and  clasped in her hand is a single white rose that I bought at a Korean deli before Carruthers’ limousine picked me up. Carruthers is wearing a lamb’s wool sport coat, a cashmere/vicuà ±a cardigan sweater, cavalry twill trousers, a cotton shirt and a silk tie, all from Hermà ¨s. (â€Å"How tacky,† Evelyn whispered to me; I silently agreed.) Courtney is wearing a triple-layered silk organdy top and a long velvet skirt with a fishtail hem, velvet-ribbon and enamel earrings by Josà © and Maria Barrera, gloves by Portolano and shoes from Gucci.† The constant allusions to brand names, fashion trends and collections, make the novel a part of, and a product of, the world outside of the text, the consumerist society we have today. Unlike the fictional, dystopian city that Batman and the Joker live in, Bateman lives in a world that we are easily able to relate to- our world. We, as the reader, have our attention called to the fact that the world the characters in the novel are experiencing is the same world that we live and take part in. This is unlike most modernist novels, in which the story and its characters are confined to the world created in the novel, and the reader is only able to experience them through the windows of the novel. References to pop culture feature prominently across postmodernist texts, as seen clearly in the film Shrek. Although intended as a children’s film, the films are a perfect example of a postmodern fairytale. The films themselves are extremely intertextual, creating a story with many, many fairytale characters woven into the one story, such as the Wolf from Little Red Riding Hood, the Three Little Pigs, the Fairy Godmother and the Gingerbread Man, among many others. This intertextuality in itself is a reference to popular culture, citing multiple fairytales, stories, and nursery rhymes for many of the main characters. Other references to the world outside of the text include Robin Hood and his Merry Men dancing to Riverdance; Princess Fiona slowing down in time like Neo in film The Matrix while she is fighting; references to the film The Princess Bride; and mimicking the style of game shows and dating shows, for example when the Mirror on the Wall introduces Princess Fiona in a bachelorette-dating style. The directors also use irony at the start of the film Shrek, as the beginning scene of the film has a narrator telling the story seriously as a fairytale, when Shrek interrupts this and mocks the author when he says, â€Å"Yeah right.† and tears the page out of the book. Not only does the use of irony and humour in this scene make the audience aware  that the ogre we are introduced to is not a stereotypical one, we also see an interaction between the author and character, a barrier which is broken in postmodern texts to highlight that the text is a work of fiction. The audience is also made aware of this as Shrek acknowledges the camera or audience when he turns to the camera and blocks it before kissing Fiona. This shows that the film is self-reflexive, the characters of the film are aware of film-making and its tools. The use of such postmodern techniques embeds the story of Shrek in a world that the audience is aware of, and while it may not fully be the reality we live in, it is one that we have grown up with and are comfortable with. Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five uses similar techniques to assert its postmodernism. It references popular culture, mentioning Christmas carols, novels (a character refers to the novel â€Å"The Brothers Karamazov†, by Fyodor Dostoevsky, as â€Å"everything there was to know about life†) and history books about one of the main events of the novel, the fire-bombing of Dresden. However, despite these links to the outside world, the reader gets constant reminders of the fact that this book is fictional. The author, Vonnegut is present as a character in the book, as a soldier, a POW taken to Dresden along with Billy, making occasional comments, and then informing the reader that â€Å"That was I. That was me. That was the author of this book.† The intrusion of the author into the narrative is also shown through the recurring phrase â€Å"So it goes†, which follows each mention of death: â€Å"The plane crashed on top of Sugarbush Mountain, in Vermont. Everyone was killed but Billy. So it goes. While Billy was recuperating in a hospital in Vermont, his wife died accidentally of carbon-monoxide poisoning. So it goes.† The use of the non-linear narrative structure is also a postmodern aspect of the text- the main protagonist travels randomly through time, experiencing the events in non-chronological order. For example, his death is merely four sentences in the middle of the novel, described as merely being â€Å"violet light and a hum.† Similar to American Psycho, the usual significance of death is not present in the novel. However, while in American Psycho the reader was slowly desensitized towards death, in Slaughterhouse-Five, death  simply does not matter, which challenges all the readers’ preconceived notions about death, and the sanctity of it. The temporal structure of the novel reflects what the alien Tralfamadorians teach Billy of their beliefs about time, that it is an â€Å"assemblage† of moments rather than a linear progression. This means that they are able to accept death as a perpetually occurring event, hence their use of the phrase â€Å"So it goes†. Another postmodern technique is the use of recurring characters: the character of Kilgore Trout, a science fiction writer, appears in Vonnegut’s other novels; Eliot Rosewater appears in God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater; Howard W. Campbell, the American-turned-Nazi, in Mother Night; and Bertram Copeland Rumfoord is a relative of Winston Niles Rumfoord, who appears in The Sirens of Titan. These characters that appear over a number of books connects the discrete novels as being part of a greater whole; as being part of a world outside its pages. Vonnegut also blurs the lines of genre in the novel in order to deconstruct the idea of a â€Å"war novel†. The novel swings between the genres of science fiction and a biography, and Vonnegut mixes the fantasy of aliens and the planet Tralfamadore with the reality of war, and the author’s presence and experiences of it. The term â€Å"postmodernism† sweeps many different, and seemingly unrelated, texts under its wide reaches, but most such texts use similar postmodern techniques to achieve the ultimate effect- of making the reader aware of the text as a work of fiction, and as an entity that exists as a part of a greater whole, rather than an object existing in a world defined by itself. In what ways are the heroes or villains of these texts postmodern? With the ideological, cultural, and social upheaval that was present during the time of the birth of postmodernism, a new protagonist was born, which redefined our existing notions and stereotypes about the nature of these protagonists- the antihero. Defined as being the main character of a text, who does not possess the qualities of a traditional â€Å"hero†, the character appears in postmodern texts regularly. With the movement of heroes away from the expected â€Å"good†, we are also able to see changes in the villains of texts, and these revolutionary changes in the idea of heroes and villains,  which comes down to the primal, instinctive battle between good and evil, can be seen through postmodern texts. The character of Batman is an incredibly complex one, having heroic qualities yet not conforming to the stereotype of â€Å"superheroes†, the strong, powerful men or women with a heart of gold, using their powers for the good of mankind. Batman is postmodern in that he breaks the mold for a traditional â€Å"superhero†, and rejects the story arc for one. His whole journey started not from a need of his to create good, but a twisted sense of revenge for his parents’ death, and in order to become develop his fighting skills. After his parents’ murderer is killed, Bruce Wayne leaves Gotham and disappears for 7 years, â€Å"exploring the criminal fraternity†, and training with the League of Shadows. He obviously has a different set of morals than what is expected, when asked by Henri Ducard whether he pitied the criminals while he lived with them, he says, â€Å"The first time I stole so I wouldn’t starve, yes, I lost many assumptions about the simple nature of right and wrong.† The recurring idea throughout the texts containing Batman is that he is not a hero, but he is â€Å"whatever Gotham needs him to be†, he is a symbol for good, a symbol for the hope of a new, functional Gotham. â€Å"As a man, I’m flesh and blood, I can be ignored, I can be destroyed, but as a symbol†¦ But as a symbol I can be incorruptible, I can be everlasting†¦Ã¢â‚¬  In this way, he is astoundingly similar to Patrick Bateman. Patrick Bateman exists not as a person, but as a reflection of the society that he is a part of. He is an image created to fit the standards and ideologies of the society he lives in. â€Å"†¦there is an idea of a Patrick Bateman, some kind of abstraction, but there is no real me, only an entity, something illusory, and though I can hide my cold gaze and you can shake my hand and feel flesh gripping yours and maybe you can even sense our lifestyles are probably comparable: I simply am not there.† Through the texts, we also see that the Joker is very similar to Batman, and this is what makes their relationship so psychologically complex. They are, in a way, similar to the two sides of a coin. As the Joker says to Batman, â€Å"I complete you.† The relationship between the hero and the villain is subverted and made incredibly ambiguous. Just as the Joker is a villain who does not observe even the basic rules of criminality by which society might identify and punish him, Batman is a hero who does not observe even the  basic rules of heroism so that society might recognise and glorify him. The Killing Joke ends with Batman capturing the Joker, but deciding not to kill him, and offering to help rehabilitate him, because he â€Å"needn’t be out there on the edge anymore. You needn’t be alone†¦ Maybe I’ve been there too. Maybe I can help.† And they laugh together at a joke that the Joker tells him, which only reinforces their similarities, and the fact that they can both understand each other. The Joker, at one point in the Dark Knight, also says to Batman that they are both â€Å"freaks†. And they are, both characters being outcasts of society. But while the Joker is there willingly because of his own calculating inhumanity, Batman is the scapegoat, the reluctant outcast who takes upon himself the violence of society and its corrupted institutions, in order that its illusions of law and order might be preserved, because he rationalizes that he is â€Å"whatever Gotham needs me to be†¦ Because that’s what needs to happen. Because sometimes, truth isn’t good enough, sometimes people deserve more; sometimes people deserve to have their faith rewarded.† The story of Batman and the Joker is postmodern in that it subverts most of the expected story arcs of both superheroes, and supervillains. It shows that these two need each other to be effective. The Joker we see simultaneously seduces and repels, fascinates and horrifies, and he provides the inescapable force which Batman’s own persona is dependent upon. The character of the Joker is also very similar to Patrick Bateman, both displaying hyperreal violence in their villainy, and being incredibly unreliable narrators. In the Killing Joke, The Joker says, â€Å"†Something like that happened to me, you know. I†¦ I’m not exactly sure what it was. Sometimes I remember it one way, sometimes another†¦ If I’m going to have a past, I prefer it to be multiple choice! Ha ha ha!† Similarly, in American Psycho, we are unable to trust the memories of a psychopath, shown by his blank â€Å"But I don’t remember†¦Ã¢â‚¬  statements when recounting his murders and sexual exploits. Also, when we find that one of Bateman’s victims, a colleague of his named Paul Owen, is actually alive at the end of the book, we find ourselves being sure of the entire story- his character, the plot and definitely his grisly tales of murder and torture. Bateman and the Joker are both psychopaths- and in some ways, they are both forces of anarchy in  their societies, the Joker being an elemental force unconstrained by any glimmer of humanity, fear or vulnerability. As he claims in the Dark Knight, â€Å"The only sensible way to live in this world is without rules.† Meanwhile, Bateman has no regard for people as everything in his world is purely material- he does not care when he kills, as all he feels he is killing is an â€Å"Armani pantsuit†. Neither of these characters have an object nor a goal towards which they work, as Alfred, Bruce Wayne’s butler says, â€Å"Some men aren’t looking for anything logical, like money. They can’t be bought or bullied, reasoned or negotiated with. Some men want to watch the world burn.† However, while the Joker is invincible due to his absolute freedom from pain and any other human attachment, Bateman is confined to the expectations of his status and social culture. Bateman heavily refers to popular culture throughout Psycho, keeping up a steady stream of superficial commentary on all aspects of his life. In this way, the character of Shrek is similar to Bateman, as he also lives in a world where advertising, brand names, and social standing play a major part in one’s life. However, looking at the characters, they are clear opposites- while Bateman has embraced the shallow culture of his time, and practices it dutifully, the society of Shrek’s time has turned him into a hardened cynic, one who would rolls his eyes whenever his companions would make a frivolous comment. This is related to the fact that Shrek is an ogre, and the film subverts the stereotype of the ogre as a villain, by molding him as the hero, and the actual Prince Charming as the whiny, cowardly villain of the film. This challenges conventional thinking, since we, the audience, have been conditioned to think of ogres as â€Å"evil† creatures who eat people and have no mercy. Through this film, we see that this is actually not the case; traditional villains can also become valiant heroes, given the right setting and sidekick. Billy Pilgrim, a cowardly, weak, time-travelling optometrist who is the protagonist of the novel Slaughterhouse-Five, is an unlikely war hero. He is weak, unpopular and pathetic to the audience, and becomes a laughable soldier. Even as a time traveler, he is described as a â€Å"spastic in time†. He is postmodern in the development of his character as an â€Å"anti-hero†, an  ordinary, if slightly on the pathetic side of ordinary, man. The story is driven the other the events more than the protagonist, since he is unable to be determined and strong-minded enough to change the world, or even his social world, neither positively nor negatively. He is another unreliable narrator, when he tells the world of his tales about the Tralfamadorians, he is taken to be insane, and not believed. Because he is such a weak character, he does not contradict the fact, but neither does he support it, and so the reader is still unsure at the end of the novel whether his tales of Tralfamadore were true, or whether they were merely an elaborate coping mechanism to help deal with the terrible experiences he suffered during the war. Billy Pilgrim is the ultimate postmodern hero- he is an ordinary person, who is thrust into a difficult situation, and similar to large majority of humanity, does nothing heroic or commendable. Through this, we also come to the realization that for every lauded, decorated war hero, there were hundreds of other â€Å"average† ones, and Billy Pilgrim is a perfect example of one. Through the analysis of these heroes and villains, we are able to see that postmodernism does indeed challenge the traditional notion of a clear cut hero and villain. Just as postmodernism blurs the lines of reality in texts, it also blurs the lines in our mind separating the good and the bad. Postmodernism depicts a much more realistic hero, an increasingly more human one, who makes mistakes, is determined by what society makes it, and sometimes, does nothing heroic at all. He or she is present in postmodern texts generally not to inspire, like a classic hero, but to make the audience realize a truth about their lives, their societies, and the world around them. Villainy is depicted as a result of something, rather than a character trait. Postmodernism claims that villains are created by the expectations of society, and are therefore, an essential part of the heroes they work against. How did the external world influence the rise of postmodernism? The birth of postmodernism has been linked back to the political atmosphere of the time, in the atrocities of Stalinism. This, along with the horrors of  Nazism, and the Holocaust, completely undermined the modernist narrative of progress, and the ability of language to describe such an incomprehensible atrocity. Thus, postmodernism was born, an era which looked not to change the world, but to redefine it, to make people look at truths differently. Postmodernist authors reveal many of the concerns of the world today, by both realistically and symbolically representing our world, our societies, through their texts and characters, and making commentary on them. For example, Vonnegut wrote Slaughterhouse Five as a response to war- â€Å"It is so short and jumbled and jangled, because there is nothing intelligent to say about as massacre.† The story is very jumbled, written satirically based on Vonnegut’s own experiences in WWII and being a witness to the firebombing of Dresden, which killed 130,000 people. The use of a pathetic protagonist indicates his anti-war stance- the novel was published in 1969, when USA was in the midst of the Vietnam War. During this time, Vonnegut was an outspoken pacifist, and critic of the war. Just like Vonnegut’s novel is social commentary of the issue of his time, Bret Easton Ellis uses American Psycho to explore newer, more disturbing trends in Western culture. He looks at the desensitization of our culture to violence, the increasingly gory films, novels and graphic novels we are exposed to, and how this tendency of the media can find its way back to people who are easily influenced by it, such as Bateman. He also criticizes our obsession with popular culture, image and brand names, by portraying his protagonist, a man with the perfect face, the perfect clothes, and the perfect image, as a psychopath, a man who kills for the fun of it at night. The popular-culture-mania of our time is also explored in Shrek, as it is a children’s movie, and even children when they watch it, recognize the references to other fairytales and brand names. This reflects how we are conditioned to believe and understand popular culture from a very young age. The story of Batman and the Joker, on the other hand, delves a little deeper into the issues of our society. They uncover the crisis of values in which America, and most of the western world, finds itself at the beginning of the 21st century. Cultural theorists portrayed the late 20th century in terms of  Ã¢â‚¬Å"the postmodern condition†: an era in which traditional values, identities and social institutions were disintegrating and being replaced by twisted narratives, conflicting truth claims and multiple identities. Gotham City reflects what our society may be looking forward to, with the increasing fragmentation of our world into splintered groups and subgroups. Where does that leave us? The era of postmodernism is one that is difficult to define, but it still heralded as a time of immense cultural change, which redefined the way people look at the world today. This can be especially seen in its portrayal of heroes and villains. Gone are the days macho superheroes, instead we have flawed, sometimes even pathetic protagonists, the â€Å"anti-hero† which is increasingly similar to the ordinary person. The villains, on the other hand, are unreliable, and cannot always be expected to do the â€Å"evil† thing, they too are human; they too have backstory which elicits sympathy from the audience. By subverting the traditional stereotypes about the world today postmodern authors and directors warn us of the dangers of human nature and culture, and the bleak future we may be looking forward to, if we let the dangerous behaviour of our culture continue. Bibliography Adamson, Andrew and Jenson, Vicky. (2001) Shrek, Dreamworks Pictures Accessed 11/07/12 Adamson, Glen, et al. (2011) Postmodernism: Style and Subversion, 1970-1990. London: V&A Publishing. Accessed on 26/07/12 Azzarello, Brian (writer), Bermejo, Lee (artist), Gray, Mick (illustrator).] (2008) Joker. DC Comics Accessed on 26/07/12 Ellis, Bret Easton. (1991) American Psycho. New York: Vintage Books. Accessed 31/08/12 Moore, Alan (writer), Bolland, Brian (artist). (1988) The Killing Joke, DC Comics. Nolan, Christopher. (2005) Batman Begins, Warner Bros. Pictures Accessed 14/07/12 Nolan, Christopher. (2008) The Dark Knight, Warner Bros. Pictures Accessed 14/07/12 Vonnegut, Kurt. (2003) Slaughterhouse Five. New York: Harper Collins. Accessed 26/7/12 Wilcox, Leonard. Programme Coordinator of American Studies at University of Canterbury, interview on 12/09/12.

Celluar pathology Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Celluar pathology - Assignment Example By studying the density of blood vessels resulting from evaluation (Nico et al. 2008). Nico in particular describes the issue of micro vessel or microvascular density as being the gold standard with respect to the morphological assessment of angiogenesis in In addition to describing the physiological mechanisms, It is also possible to make generalizations concerning high levels of angiogenesis and specific types of carcinomas, specifically cancers of the prostate or the breasts – characterized by high levels of micro vessel formation. Considerable research has been devoted to the characterization of breast cancer, with confirmation of the importance and predictive power of angiogenesis in the tumorigenesis process. There is considerable support for the utility of micro vessel density analysis as a predictive methodology for these tumors, with historic evidence that angiogenesis precedes the malignant transformation of mammary cells into fully cancerous carcinomas arising from relatively benign papillomas. (Srivastava et al. 1988). There is little doubt that higher rates of angiogenesis do indeed correlate with the emergence of certain tumors, but at present the connection may not be absolute: breast cancer studies indicate that lesions with the highest amount of micro vessel density do carry the greatest risk of breast cancer, but it is not entirely certain whether there is an absolute threshold of density that transfection of cancerous tissue with factors antagonistic to angiogenesis decrease the probability of further growth and malignancy (Miller & Sledge, 2003). This is compelling evidence describing particular mutation of a particular oncogene. As cells continuously grow and divide in the millions over many years, each replication event creates a probability that the right (or wrong) mutation will occur in cells that already carry some growth irregularities. If this chain of mutations is not counteracted by surgical or curative methodologies, then

Steel office building Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Steel office building - Essay Example As a result, world’s tallest buildings have extensively applied steel to prop up their colossal mass which had been an engineering test. Today, steel is regarded as useful in gargantuan structures in the future like the Tokyo megacity. Steel also has a high strength to weight ratio (Madsen 2005). Compared to other building materials, steel has an ideal strength to weight ratio and its light weight makes it effortlessly moved and directed which translates to reliable constructability. In addition, Reinforced concrete has a shorter floor-to-floor height by about 2 feet per floor compared to steel (Freed 2011). Steel as a building material resists rust and atmospheric corrosion making it reasonably less vulnerable (Freed 2011). When buildings are made using corrosive metals, they weaken gradually and collapse catastrophically. For this reason, steel, a non-corrosive metal, offers permanent structure (Madsen 2005). The construction of permanent structures using steel is due to being non-reactive to oxygen or other components in the atmosphere. In addition, steel does not drench in water even when bare and this means that steel does not rot (Freed 2011). While some building materials like wood have trouble cutting into precise shapes and sizes during manufacturing Madsen (2005) reveals that steel can easily be manufactured into the right shapes and sizes under the guidance of structure specifications. Madsen (2005) points out that reinforced concrete also has numerous design possibilities given that concrete takes form and provides unique aesthetics. As a result, no extra work is needed to shape steel building materials at the construction site . When used in construction, steel is recyclable and reusable which makes it sustainable especially in constructions where building wastes landfill and waste management are problematic. Through the reduction of building waste, steel building materials

Guide to a Business Entry in China Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4250 words

Guide to a Business Entry in China - Assignment Example There are also other options available for Michael including an on line marketing, joint venture or wholly owned company. Whichever option Michael takes, the market is open for the cake industry. Michael’s Patisserie is a well-developed bakeshop in Australia and has a long experience in the business. The owner of the company is planning to expand the business to China. However, the company lacks the basic knowledge to guide the owner on the proper things to do for its entry to China. Moreover, the company needs additional resources to finance the export operations and is contemplating to apply for an export development grant from the government. The first thing to do is to assess the capability of the company to undertake foreign business. Generally, if a company is doing well in its own country, it can take a further step in foreign sales. The company must first learn the basic in exporting and should learn how the company can adapt to the international business environment. Upon having a basic understanding of the language of exporting, and you think that the company is ready, the next step is to develop a marketing strategy appropriate for the capital and structure of the business. An export strategy must be part of the business plan and everybody in the company should be aware of it. A well-developed export strategy identifies the export aims that match the capital resources required. It helps the company focus on the market identified and to respond to the quality service/product needed (Austrade) For example, the marketing strategy may begin with assessing why Michael’s Patissiere should export and what are the steps needed to achieve these goals. Now, you are about to be ready. The next thing is laying the groundwork by establishing the network of business contacts among export groups.

Patient guide to WWW Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Patient guide to WWW - Assignment Example But in general, if you cant find the information duplicated in more than 2 or 3 references, then it is questionable at best. As a caregiver, your job is to find the most accurate and useful websites pertaining to the condition of your patient. In order to use the internet search engines effectively, you need to know how to assess the websites you are reading. We hope that the guidelines above can help you remain healthy and strong over the coming years. My sister was diagnosed with uncontrolled Gastro Esophageal Reflux Disease (GERD). The Gastroenterologist prescribed proton pump inhibitors (Nexium) in order to control pain and dissipate stomach acid .The doctor also advised a lifestyle and diet change for the patient.We asked the doctor for more information about her illness and the lifestyle and diet changes that it will entail. The doctor advised that we check out the Mayo Clinic website located at : http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/gerd/DS00967/DSECTION=treatments-and-drugs for more information about the drugs, treatments, and lifestyle changes that will be necessary in order to control the illness. The reason that he recommended Mayo Clinic as a web source is because the hospital is one of the most highly respected and trusted research hospitals in the country. Their website looks highly professional and the content is overseen by highly qualified Mayo Clinic staffers. The website itself contains further information about GERD including lifestyle and home remedies plus an alternative medicine guide for patients who prefer a holistic type of treatment. Even though the website contains some advertising in it, there is an advertising disclaimer / policy located within the page that explains why Mayo Clinic has decided to accept advertising for its website. None of the ads are related to GERD and therefore does not seem like the Mayo Clinic is recommending and specific treatments for the illness. More importantly, the information contained

102 exam question 4 Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

102 exam question 4 - Article Example Friedman assumed that focusing on open social investments was not proper for business well-being and this would divert the goals of the business. The ideal goal of the company is to provide a return to its shareholders. By focusing on external social responsibilities, the corporation is distracted from its sole purpose. Friedman asserted that corporations do not know how to properly invest in social causes (Friedman, 1970/2002). Friedman deemed this as a tax upon stockholders of which they have no decision regarding how it is spent. Consequently, he added that an individual is on liberty to pursue social responsibilities; this is because the corporate executive lacks the ability to properly perform such actions (Friedman, 1970/2002). On the other hand, according to Archie Carroll’s, adding on to making a profit and obeying the law, a company should endeavor to improve or solve societal needs. His view is generally advocated through stakeholder theory. This theory maintains that corporations should consider the effects of their actions upon other individuals at stake or of interest in the corporation such as customers, suppliers, general public, and employees (Carroll, 1987). Businesses cannot pursue their long term profit returns if they have poor relations with their stakeholders or the environment. Meanwhile, firms cannot meet all the needs of their stakeholders and continue making profits. It is therefore advisable that management decisions should be based on an objective ethical code of conduct. Using the money that shareholders have invested in the businesses to support unprofitable needs of the society is clearly wrong. Therefore, businesses should make profits, obey the law, act according to an ethical standard, and only pursue corporate social responsibility activities that improve long-term shareholder wealth. A  corporation  is a legal entity, meaning it is a separate entity from its

Mr Ulysses S. Grant ,Mr Robert E. Lee Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Mr Ulysses S. Grant ,Mr Robert E. Lee - Essay Example This document will compare and contrast the two personalities in light of their roles during the Civil War. Ulysses S. Grant was one of the personalities that played a critical role during the Civil war. Bonekemper (233) notes that although people did not know him at the beginning of the war, he was later to emerge as a leading and important commander of the Union forces at the last stages of the war. In fact, Grant was not a soldier at the beginning of the Civil War. His attempt to join the army in 1861 was met with strong resistance from some quarters before being allowed to join the army. He was later to join the Union forces where Grant was elevated to become the Union Commanding General at the last stages of the war. As the commanding general for the Union forces, Grant used military tactics and strategies that helped the Union forces triumph over the confederate forces at the south. By contrast, Lee was a prominent soldier right from the beginning of the Civil War (Bonekemper 233). Unlike Grant, who became a soldier when the war had begun, Lee was the confederate Commanding General right from the beginning of the war, a position, which he held until the end of the Civil War. Secondly, Grant was a very ruthless commander who showed no compassion and mercy to either the confederate soldiers or the civilians. For instance, upon taking command in the last stages of the Civil War, the first thing he did was to order General William Tecumseh Sherman to harass the civilians who were defenseless. Sherman went ahead to implement the direction by ruthlessly taking whatever they wanted from civilians without paying for them. This resulted in the looting of the properties of the local residences even as crops were destroyed, houses torched, and livestock killed (Bonekemper 232). Grants inhumane style of leadership also came to the limelight after ordering a stoppage to the exchange of prisoners of war. Before Grant took command, there was a system in

Qantas Case Study Essay Example for Free

Qantas Case Study Essay It is the world’s second oldest airline, and has a successful history to uphold. Over the next 5 years Qantas aims to hedge fuel prices and use more efficient aircraft to limit further fuel costs improve employee/employer relationships by reducing the number of employment relations disputes and retain corporate market share by enhancing facilities and lounges to appeal to corporate travellers. Change management is viewed by   Alan Joyce as a critical component Reasons for current business planning What were the critical factors that led to Qantas’ decision to move some of their operations off shore? 3 2. What then happened once the decision was made4 – What change management processes needed to have taken place? 4 Were the change management processes well managed? 4 What could they have done better to counteract the disgruntled union and workers? 4 3. Where is Qantas now in its competitive positioning both locally and internationally?

The Things They Carried Analysis Essay Example for Free

The Things They Carried Analysis Essay The purpose of this paper is to introduce, discuss, and analyze the novel The Things They Carried by Tim OBrien.   Specifically it will contain a brief analysis of the first chapter of the book.   OBriens use of metaphors of weight and lightness throughout the story develops the readers understanding of the situation the soldiers in the story find themselves in. Author OBrien fought in Vietnam and so he writes about the men and the war from experience, and it shows in this moving novel.    The opening chapter, The Things They Carried, introduces the men, and allows the reader a glimpse into the real, everyday war these young men fought in Vietnam.   Twice within the first few pages OBrien talks about the death of Ted Lavender while contrasting his death with the lightness of the things he carried with him in his rucksack. OBrien uses the metaphor of humped to show the weight of the things the soldiers carry, but he also uses it to show the emotional baggage they carry with them into the war, such as Jimmys Cross unreturned love for Martha back home.   OBrien writes of Jimmys love, Almost everyone humped photographs.   In his wallet, Lieutenant Cross carried two pictures of Martha (OBrien 4).   Later, he uses the metaphor again when he writes of Lieutenant Cross responsibility to his men. He writes, He carried a strobe light and the responsibility for the lives of his men (OBrien 5).   OBrien makes the weight of these responsibilities seem light, but uses the metaphor to show how weighty they really are.   Clearly, Cross quite understands the weight of his responsibility, and he does not take it lightly.   He knows his men trust him with their lives, and if he makes the wrong decision his men could pay the ultimate cost, they could give up their lives because he makes a mistake.   And that is the ultimate weight that rests on Lieutenant Cross, and it is much heavier than his rucksack. OBrien spends a lot of time on the guns and ammo they carried and the weight of these items.   That is because the soldiers lives depend on these items, which gives them additional weight in the story.   Showing the amount of ammo and other items they carry also shows their fear and some of the conditions they faced as soldiers in Vietnam.   Their situation is far from light, it is very heavy, and they know it. Any of them could die at any moment.   The Vietnamese knew the jungles and the terrain and the Americans did not.   They could be surprised and ambushed at any time.   OBrien shows the soldiers fear in the large amount of weapons and ammo they carry, and also shows they do not actually mean much.   Ted Lavender dies carrying more ammo than anyone else, so the weight of the ammo did nothing to help him save his own life.   That is the fear all the men face – that they have no control over the situation around them, and any of them could die, just like Lavender did. Most important of the things they carry is the weight of memory OBrien talks about in the chapter and notes that is one weight they share.   They cannot forget many of the horrible things they have seen, or that they could be the next one.   They cannot forget their situation because it is the only reality they know for now. That is also too weighty for some of them, so they make jokes about their predicament and try to escape by drinking, using drugs, or thinking about memories back home.   Jimmy Cross has his false memories of Martha that he carries with him, and all the others have memories of something, too.   These memories can weigh the men down if they let them.   Cross thinks his memories helped get Lavender killed because he was not paying attention. OBrien also uses descriptive language to show their surroundings.   He writes, They carried the sky.   The whole atmosphere, they carried it, the humidity, the monsoons, the stink of fungus †¦ (OBrien 15).   OBrien puts the reader right into the jungle with the men.   Using metaphor, description, and language, he makes the reader feel the fear of the men and feel as if they know and understand these men and the things they carry.    References OBrien Tim. The Things They Carried

Ryanair: Performance Objectives

Ryanair: Performance Objectives Ryanairs five performance objectives to maintain or ultimately increase Ryanairs competitiveness, it is useful to analyse its operations with the help of five performance objectives: Quality: In the long run, even the most competitive price structure will not attract customers if the quality of the service offered is below a certain standard. This includes maintenance, efficient booking and luggage handling, reliability, punctuality, and interaction with Ryanair staff. Speed: The areas where speed matters most for Ryanair are turnaround time of aircrafts, reservations, luggage handling, and aircraft maintenance, all of which have a direct impact on costs. Although Ryanair has implemented many steps to increase speed, it also depends on service providers that are not directly under its control. Dependability: This compares very favourably with competitors, where punctuality is similar, but the missed bag/passenger ratio is orders of magnitude higher. This excellent record has to do with the fact that Ryanair offers only point-to-point flights, thereby eliminating the risk of luggage mismanagement during connecting flights. Flexibility: Customers have a high degree of flexibility in choosing the level of service, since only the basic airfare is charged and any additional services must be paid for. Increasing flexibility for the customer would mean offering additional options. From Ryanairs perspective, flexibility comes with diversification of supplementary services on the one hand, and, with increasing market strength, the ability to negotiate alternatives for various service sectors, such as maintenance agreements, outsourced functions, etc. Cost: The fuel price is one of the direct costs for any airline operations. There are enormous fluctuations, and, unlike its competitors, Ryanair has committed to a policy of not imposing fuel surcharges. Therefore, the fuel price become fluctuations and Ryanair takes consider of that action. As a result, Ryanair reported its first annual loss in 2009 when oil prices were at a record high. (BBC Online News, 21 June 2009) International Competition: Ryanair is one of the most successful low cost carriers in Europe. The phenomenon strategy for long-term sustainable which Ryanair has developed from Southwest airlines is cut-cost to gain in high profitable in market share. According to Gillen and Lall (2004) stated that Ryanair has taken step further of Southwest operational, therefore, Ryanair has strongly and clearly position regarding to the airline does not offer any frills such as, no providing service, no ticket, no connection, no travel agents, no frequent flyer programme as well as food and beverages are sell on board. However, Ryanair can keep the cost low and gain more profit by setting the cheaper fares to customer regarding to increase the cash flow. In addition, according to the economic crisis and the fuel price has been increased, it effected to all airlines industry. However, it seems not really effected to Ryanair. Based on that, in 2009, Ryanair has aggressively discounted fares to increase the pressure on its com petitors and increase the cash flow. (Euromonitor International 2010) Nevertheless, Ryanair has been very tactical and acted very quickly to get advantage out of the competitors. Moreover, the competitors of Ryanair, for example, in Western Europe are mostly the schedule airlines such as, Lufthansa, Air France-KLM Group, British Airways, and Easyjet. Therefore, Easyjet is the direct competitor of Ryanair. Furthermore, the competitors in Eastern Europe are mainly budget airlines such as, Wizz Air (Hungarian airlines) as well as the schedule airlines Aeroflot (Russian airlines), LOT (Polish airlines) and, CSA (Czech airlines). In this case, Ryanair claim to increase the traffic to compete with cometitors by operate more routes. However, the competitive advantage of Ryanair that helped Ryanair to maximine growth which require the location advantage by using the secondary airports that located not far away from the city. For example, Gillen and Lall (2004) stated that at Hahn airport ne ar Frankfurt, the number of passengers increased from 450,000 in 2001 to 1.5 million in 2002, due to Ryanair serving that airport. Easyjet tend to have the same direction, however, Ryanair negotiation with secondary airports, often located in economically depressed areas, Ryanair bargained hard for low fees compare to EasyJet. On the other hand, Gillen and Lall (2004) stated that EasyJet is not entirely secondary airport based and so it does seek to attract some business customers. Based on that, Easyjet has more cost regarding to the airport fees. In addition, one of the advantages of Ryanair is rapid turnaround time than other airlines. According to (Barret 2004) stated that the shorter turnaround times permit more journeys per plane which, coupled with the higher seat density of Ryanair planes, generate lower seat mile costs. Based on that, Ryanair planes are mostly flying and it savings more cost of the airport fees in term of the landing charge. According to Ryanair report (201 0), Ryanair received award of being punctual and less in baggage lost Based on the short-haul point to point routing, hence, (Barret 2004) stated that the punctuality performance of Ryanair is high, therefore, the simple point to point is not delayed the passenger and check-in is quicker because is less complex than an interline one. According to table 1, staff of Ryanairs were non union, (Vlaar et al. 2005) stated that the consequence is flexible workforces enable low-cost airlines to fly and support each aircraft with only eighty workers, compared to the employees that required by traditional network carrier. For instant, Ryanair focus on the tight cost control measures. Pilots and cabin crew received lower salaries than other industries, however, the employees received significant variable compensation such as, the commissions on on-board sales. (ibid) Table 1. Some distinctive features of Ryanairs business model Choice Consequence Secondary airports à ¯Ã†â€™Ã‚   Low airport fees Lowest ticket price à ¯Ã†â€™Ã‚   Large volume Low commissions to travel agents à ¯Ã†â€™Ã‚   Low cost Standardized fleet of 737s à ¯Ã†â€™Ã‚   Bargaining power with suppliers Single-class à ¯Ã†â€™Ã‚   Economies of scale High-powered incentives à ¯Ã†â€™Ã‚   Attract combative team No meal à ¯Ã†â€™Ã‚   Faster turnaround Nothing free à ¯Ã†â€™Ã‚   Additional revenue Spartan headquatres à ¯Ã†â€™Ã‚   Low fixed cost No unions à ¯Ã†â€™Ã‚   Flexibility in rostering staff Source: Casadesus-Masanell R, and Ricart J E, 2010 cited from Strategy to Business Models to Tactics As a result, (Vlaar et al. 2005) concluded that Ryanairs business model is a simple product, low operating cost, and differential positioning which they focused on leisure, VFS (visiting friends and relative). Based on that, the value proposition is good fit with these customer segments. More importantly, (Casadesus-Masanell and Ricart 2010) concluded that Ryanair plan of action create a unique and valuable position by engaging in a new set of activities. Based on that, Ryanair found the way to operate the company more efficiency amongst the competitors by create the value for their stakeholders. International emerging markets The Ansoff product-market expansion grid is useful for Ryanair to visualise and identify market opportunities. Therefore, Ryanair establishing a partnership with Wizz Air, it helps company penetrate non-EU markets, synergies can benefit in both party. Regarding to, the market development Ryanair striving to target in business travellers by offering them more benefits such as refundable tickets in terms of more flexible. Moreover, Ryanair consider of the product development by plan to open the new route to US for long-haul, with flight tickets starting at EUR10 according to the Open Skies Agreement between the EU and the US. Based on that, Ryanair could attract more young generation travellers who has low income but would love to experience in Hollywood place.

City Hunter :: essays research papers

The City Hunter is an action comedy movie starring international superstar Jackie Chan. This movie was made in Hong Kong in the early 90s. In this movie Jackie Chan played Hunter, a private detective with a good sense of humor and deadly kung fu skills. The story started out with a badly acted sketch of Hunter's partner being gunned down by four men with automatic weapons. With his last moment on earth, Hunter's partner made Hunter promise to take care of his little sister Carrie, and also not to seduce her. Seeing how the young girl was only about fourteen, Hunter gave his partner his word of honor to take care of the girl and also never seduce her.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The story took a quick turn with the young girl growing up to a beautiful woman. Hunter tried very hard to avoid a romantic relationship with Carrie, but the problem was that Carrie had romantic feelings for Hunter. This love story was interrupted with a group of women trying to kill Hunter for putting their men in prison. This was just a comic relief, so Hunter got out of the situation easily by fighting with all the women at once.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In the next scene, Hunter excepted a case to find a runaway name Yoko. This runaway was the daughter of a rich Japanese businessman. The reason Yoko ran away was because her mother died a few years back, and her father was going to remarry a woman that she didn't like. So Hunter and Carrie set out to find Yoko. Hunter got lucky and he found Yoko at a skate park. Yoko did not want to go home to her father, so she told her friends that Hunter was trying to molest her, and tried to get away. She managed to get away after going into a department store to hide from Hunter. In this department store she managed to trick a man to follow her into the dressing room where she knocked him out and took his clothes, wallet, and ticket for a cruise.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  By some coincidence, Carrie got on the same cruise to get away from Hunter because he had not given her enough attention. Of course Hunter tried to come along with Carrie on the cruise, but he did not have a ticket for the cruise. The Captain of the cruise did not let Hunter on board, so Hunter stole away as a luggage.

The Effects Of War And Music Together Essay -- essays research papers

The Effects of War and Music Together How are music and war related? Music puts a voice in the people’s ears, and tells them whether or not we should be involved in that war. It helped out the troops when they were over seas to not be so home sick. Also, every war preceding the Vietnam War had music to help or support the war, but the Vietnam War is where music during wartime changed. The Vietnam War has been called "America's first rock-and-roll war" because of rock music that was played and listened to by all Americans. As the draft was raised and draft dodgers were being cracked down on, an overwhelming number of military personnel belonged to one generation: the average age of combat soldiers was 19 and 90 percent were under 23 years of age (Vietnam War Characteristics). Many of these soldiers did not want to be in Vietnam, and no one wanted to be away from his surroundings back home. Therefore, many soldiers took things that reminded them of home. Rock music was what most soldiers brought from home, along with beads and peace symbols. The beads and peace symbols were worn with the uniforms to remind the soldiers of the family at home (Abernathy interview). Between the military branches, there was no preference in what music was liked, however officers liked one thing and soldiers liked another. Most soldiers preferred hard rock or psychedelic music; 30 percent enjoyed rhythm and blues; 10 percent, country; 5 percent, classical; and 10 percent...

Analytical Response Paper #1

Analytical response Paper #1 I have found that both â€Å"Kick Back and Endure Being Bored and Uncomfortable† by Clive Hamilton, and William Deresiewicz’s â€Å"The End of Solitude† can be efficiently summarized with the great social psychologist, Erich Fromm’s quote, â€Å"If I am what I have, then I lose what I have, who then am I? †. Hamilton’s article reflects his view illustrating that he views modern technology as a deterrent for people’s natural ability to not only accept, but to appreciate absolute gratification of solitude.It is this concept of people’s growing disvalue of solitude that both I, and Deresiewic concur with (demonstrated in his essay). I feel that the ability of people’s easy accessibility to social media is nothing more than a barricade to individuality, preventing people from realizing their true self; in doing so they fall victim to what I would like to call â€Å"True loneliness†. This co ncept of â€Å"True loneliness† I characterize by a constant bombardment of social interaction occurring solely through technological means.Deresiewic’s essay is a brilliantly compiled work of literary genius that ensnares the perception of today’s youth being consumed by social networking. He does this with references to the sociological importance of one’s self developed during the romantic movement; then goes on to compare them to the his own theory that the â€Å"self† has lost significance in this day and age due to social networking. Deresiewic refers to a teenager’s cell phone bill stating that the adolescent had sent over 3,000 text messages from his cell phone in the matter of one month; this means that he had sent a text message once every ten minutes.It is this dependence that has forced both myself, and Deresiewic to find our society’s addiction to technology to be utterly repulsive. When the culture we establish demands t hat every teenager must have a cellular phone, and must use texts to keep in contact with friends that live mere minutes away just supports how our dependency on technology has been stretch to an unhealthy level. My point is best solidified by analyzing Deresiewic’s quote â€Å"Not long ago, it was easy to feel lonely. Now, it is impossible to be alone. Not long ago people had the grace of being able to live in a state solitude; now it is near impossible to find even a single moment in their day when they are alone. In Clive Hamilton’s essay entitled â€Å"Kick Back and Endure Being Bored and Uncomfortable† Clive casts light upon the otherwise shadow bound, insidious effects technology has on the average American family. Clive uses examples of children getting their own personal televisions in their rooms or the family car, as a way to identify that parents now lack both the time, and the patience to deal with their children’s boredom.I concur with Clive ’s statement when he says â€Å"They put televisions sets in their bedroom, which surely should be regarded as a form of child abuse†, because I too feel that parents oversaturate their kids with influences of television to the extent that our generation has can consider the TV set one of their parental figures. As Clive Hamilton’s essay progresses he goes on to provide an example of a family sitting down at a diner for a meal but the children are too engrossed in their cellular phones to even communicate with the other members dining with them.While provided this example I am consumed by Hamilton’s tone of sheer disgust as he comments â€Å"why [do] they have children if they have nothing to say to them over dinner. † In conclusion to me reflecting on Hamilton’s essay, I would like to note that I found his essay to have a sense of vigor and passion but lacked the proper literary tools to fully capture my attention. Overall, Hamilton, Deresi ewic, and I share the same conclusions concerning the topic of interacting via technological means, in that it is more of a destructive asset of our culture rather than a positive addition to our society.Too much attention is given to our desire to never be alone with our own thoughts in this day and age. This in turn leads people to have no sense of self unless it is somehow justified through our social interactions. We, as people, have gone from the thought focused on in the romantic era, and best quoted by Clive Hamilton, â€Å"He may have put his neighbors off, but at least he was sure of himself.Those who would find solitude must not be afraid to stand alone†, to the notion that being alone means you suffer from some kind of social, or anxiety disorder; and it is this kind of thinking that fuels our addiction to social networking. Youths do not want to go a single day without updating their statuses on Facebook to alert their peers to exactly what they are doing. Adults provide young children with their first catalyst into technology by being too busy to spend time with their child and introducing them to television from the time they are in diapers.In conclusion, us, humanity, society, and even as individuals, have lost what it truly means to be just that, an individual, and I fear that if something is not done to relinquish the control electronics have on our daily lives we will end up as socially neurotic, constantly anxious, sociopaths that constantly hide behind a brightly light screen to voice their thoughts instead of using our ability to look at someone in the eyes and carry on a conversation.

Performance Appraisal Notes

A. Explain the benefits of performance appraisal systems within an organization in which you address the following: A1. Present the optimal results of a well prepared and well-delivered performance appraisal. *If the company establishes a well prepared and well delivered performance appraisal, what are the best results the company can expect? (employee prospective and company perspective are good here) Performance appraisals are a tool that most companies use when assessing their employees.A well prepared and well delivered performance appraisal can be beneficial to both the employee and the company. The company benefits in many different ways when they deliver this type of performance appraisal. The performance appraisal process allows the company to reiterate the goals that they have, as well as change the priority of previous goals. Things change all the time and the evaluation would be the perfect place to make this aware to employees. The company also can use these performance e valuations when they are preparing to promote within the company.When the company promotes from within it creates a moral boost to current employees by letting them know that there are chances for growth within the company. The evaluations also give the company a paper trail of documentation for use if legal actions are ever taken. This will show just cause for the decisions made by the company. These decisions could be linked to promotion, termination, salary raises, and even poor performance documentation. It is always in the best interests of the company to keep documentation that will justify all decisions.The company also benefits by learning areas of needed improvement to help raise productivity and moral throughout the company. Employees will see the loyalty the company has towards them when the company invests time and money into their employee’s improvement. Personal goals of the employees is another benefit the company has through performance evaluations. The compan y can see where the employee wants to be in the future, which may uncover a potential management trainee that was overlooked. Companies can greatly benefit by promoting employees that have personal goals that match company goals.The company is not the only entity that benefits from these performance appraisals. The employee benefits as much as the company does. The performance appraisal process gives each employee a face-to-face meeting with their supervisor or manager. This is a perfect chance for the employee to learn exactly what the company expects from them. This gives a chance to clear up any issues or questions that may have been weighing on the employee. A well prepared and well delivered performance appraisal will raise the moral of the employee as well.The employee will know what specific things he has done well, which will enable them to keep them up. The areas that the supervisor feels needs improvement will be discussed and they can both agree on a way of getting the em ployee more training. The employee feels more involved in these decisions when the supervisor allows for their input on decisions. This makes the employee feel the company has loyalty and therefore the company wants to help the employee achieve all their performance goals. The employee also benefits by letting the company know their future goals.This will allow for the company to help the employee out in all ways possible. For example, the employee may want to be in a different department in the next year. The company could possibly start cross-training the employee in that department, therefore helping both parties reach their goals. This could benefit both the company and the employee by showing support and possibly raising performance. These regularly scheduled performance appraisals will promote better performance through employees knowledge of what is expected of them.A2. Recommend pre-appraisal activities that ensure they are performance appraisal processes that are beneficial to the employee and the company. *What happens before the appraisal? (suggestion: ongoing activities and in the time proximal to the performance review) It is important to make time for pre-appraisal activities to make sure that the benefits are at max potential. It will hurt the chances of maximizing gains for both the company and the employee if the following activities are not done beforehand.The most important thing when it comes to being ready for the performance appraisal is being well prepared. The manager needs to make sure that he sets aside enough time to perform the pre-appraisal activities. These activities include establishing a time for the appraisal and relating it to the employee, making sure to lay out all new and old goals for the employee, giving the employee an advance copy of the review, collecting the employee’s review of themselves, and collecting all notes taken that may validate your points and emphasize your decisions as well as the last  performa nce appraisal.It is important to make sure that the employee has enough time to prepare for the appraisal. This allows for quality feedback from them and will also lead to quality questions. In order to make it the most beneficial appraisal possible, then both sides need to be well prepared. Goals and expectations will be completely understood if both parties have an idea of what’s expected of them. The employee can have questions ready for things that they may not understand. There may be instances where they can ask for additional training in areas they know they are weaker in.The act of giving the employee the advance copy of the review will make sure that the employee is not blind-sided and will significantly lower the amount of defensiveness. The employee will have questions ready to ask their managers, which will in turn make for a more rewarding appraisal. The employee’s review of themselves will also let the manager know where the employee sees himself performi ng. This could in turn get the manager ready for an employee that felt he was above expectations on everything, but in reality the manager seen the total opposite.This will allow for the manager to prepare himself with the necessary responses for the possible situations or questions. It is also important for the manager to have all the documentation that supports his thought or decisions. A copy of the previous appraisal will also allow for the manager to show what strengths and weaknesses the employee may have had in reaching previous goals. The manager will have more backing and a proper paper documentation basis for all decisions. A well prepared appraisal will lead to a happier and a more beneficial meeting between the two parties.A3.  Recommend post-appraisal activities that ensure there are performance appraisal processes that are beneficial to the employee and the company. *What happens after the appraisal? Activities that occur just after the performance review (meeting) u p through 364 days after. The appraisal is has now been concluded and it is time to make sure that it remains beneficial. It is important that the employee knows that the manager is going to do everything possible to make sure the employee can be the best he can. It is now time to implement the training programs that were discussed with the employee.This will show the employee that the company is investing the time and money on them. The company and the employee will both benefit if the employee reaches their full potential. Daily, weekly, or monthly follow-up meetings with the employee may also be necessary and beneficial. This will allow for a personal relationship to be formed between manager and employee, which will in turn give a sense of trust towards management. Managers can also continue to take notes on observations about what the employee is improving at, or can document what the employee seems to be struggling with.This will give the manager things to go over when they ar e having these follow-up meetings. It is also important to let the employee know that he can come to the manager if they have any questions or concerns about their progress from the previous appraisal. This will allow for the manager to give the employee the proper accommodations to fulfill their goals. A4. Illustrate what can go wrong when giving feedback. *If you consider the performance review a communication loop or conversation, what can go wrong during this critical feedback period?Illustration means giving detail and specifics. There are a lot of issues that can go wrong through the process of giving feedback during a performance appraisal. An employee’s moral can drop significantly if the manager spends all his time telling the employee only the things they do wrong. The appraisal process should focus on what the employee is doing right and what areas the company can help them improve in. It is important that the manager emphasizes that both the company and the employ ee benefit from maximizing the employee’s performance.The employee should have some input on the areas of training they need to improve in. This will allow the employee to have a sense of ownership in the training process. They will be more inept to go along with the accommodations and training programs decided upon. Employees may also become defensive if they feel the manager is throwing a bad performance review on them. An employee may walk into a performance appraisal thinking they have been doing a good job, but the manager throws them a curve that suggests they are not performing to the companies standards.If the employee has no idea what’s coming, then they will be prone to defend themselves in order to not look as bad. There will be a less chance of the employee agreeing with the training suggestions for improvement. Another affect from this scenario would be that the sense of trust between the manager and employee could be lost. In this event, the employee went in to the meeting thinking all was good, but now they feel that they can no longer trust the manager. There is also the possibility of a biased review when it comes to performance appraisals.This could happen if the manager rated the employee a certain way because they were not liked on a personal level. There may be a promotion coming up and the manager wants someone that they are friends with to get that new opening. This could lead to a biased review that could potentially lead to legal issues. There are always the possibility of reviews being biased, which could lead to legal actions being taken. A5. Discuss steps that a manager might take when delivering a performance appraisal for optimal value. *Of all those things can go wrong in A4, how can we avoid those? What steps can a manager take?It is very important for the manager to follow steps that will lead to the delivery of an optimal valued performance appraisal. The things that must be present in order to achieve this are t he idea that the evaluation is based off the performance of the employee, maintain an environment during the meeting that promotes moral and includes the employee’s thoughts, keep the evaluation focused on the employee, equip the employee with the appraisal before the meeting, remain unbiased in the employees evaluation, and to keep in mind the possibility of legal issues that could come from a biased evaluation.A performance evaluation is given to do just what it says, evaluate only the performance of the employee. It is extremely important to make sure that the focus on the evaluation is that of the employee’s performance. If this is followed when doing the employee’s appraisal, then it leads to making sure the employee understands that all topics will relate to performance only. It is also important to make sure that the manager promotes an environment to promote moral for the employee. This can be done by specifically telling the employee what he has done we ll since the last appraisal.It is important to make sure the meeting is not based just off what the employee is not doing right, but instead about areas he is excelling at and areas that he could improve in. Moral can be boosted by taking the employee’s thoughts into consideration for the training and accommodations that they need. The employee will feel valued by the company and manager if they have some sort of contribution. It is possible to have an employee that has underperformed in every area leave the meeting with a moral boost, but this depends on the environment which has been setup by the manager.It also a must to equip the employee with a copy of your appraisal before the meeting. This will allow for the employee to come to the meeting prepared and with a knowing of questions that will maximize his performance growth. The manager can even ask for a list of questions from the employee. This will allow for the manager to be prepared to give the employee the best corr ect response. The employee will not feel that they have to be defensive when they have some sort of idea what is coming in the review. Managers must maintain that all appraisals are based on the employee’s performance and are free of bias.It is a manager’s duty to make sure that they exclude any biased evaluations for their employees. Managers could get the company into legal troubles by allowing for biased evaluations. It is critical that they keep in mind all legal issues that could arise from their meetings with their employees. The company can be found liable for any discrimination that the manager promotes or demonstrates. It is important to keep the appraisal about performance only. A6. Discuss the benefits to the company of working with employees to further their career goals.*Company perspective—what are the positive consequences of discussing career goals with employees? The company benefits in many ways when it works with employees to further their car eer goals. A big benefit for the company is the increased performance that comes when it helps employees reach their career goals. Performance is an area that is important to all companies and getting the most out of each employees is key to helping the employee grow. These employees that can reach their potential have the foundation to move up within their company.Some companies have special programs that monitor potential management trainees. This keeps the company on top of these employees and makes sure they keep challenging them. If companies take an interest in furthering their employee’s career goals, then these employees feel a sense of loyalty and are less prone to leave the company for career advancement. This keeps the turnover down for the company, which in return saves money for the company by not having to reinvest time and money in new employees. It will also boost moral by allowing employees to see that promotions are made from within the company.This will all ow all employees to see that the company is just as committed and loyal to them, as they are to the company. This will make it easier for the employees to see that there is potential for promotion. The company also invests time and money into employees as they are prepared to advance through the company. The company can learn that an employee is interested in moving up within the company, which the company could then evaluate a plan of training for the employee. The company could also implement career development programs that their employees could enroll.Managers could also recommend employees for these development programs. The perfect time to talk to employees about personal career goals is during the performance appraisal. This will help the manager set goals that will lead the employee towards reaching his career goals. It will become very valuable for the company to learn that their goals are a match to an employee’s. B. Discuss the evaluation of teams within an organiz ation in which you address the following: B1. Summarize research of effectively assessing team performance. There are various models that can be used to assess team performance.The assessment of team performance is becoming more and more standard with the emergence of team environments. The three models that I have decided to research to evaluate team performance are the absolute judgment method, the behavioral appraisal method, and the management by objectives (MBO) method. These are all valuable assessment methods that are used by many different types of organizations. It is important to remember that no single assessment method is 100% perfect, so be sure to take into consideration which works best for the company.The absolute judgment method is an assessment of performance that is based only off the performance standards that are set. It does not compare one employee to the next, therefore there could be multiple employees with the same ratings. In the textbook Managing Human Re sources it states, â€Å"the dimensions of performance deemed relevant for the job are listed on the rating form, and the manager is asked to rate the employee on each dimension. †1 This method allows for a manager from a different area to assess the performance of the team, since there are set standards set.We can use the example that each of our sales  teams has a performance standard of making 15 sales per week. If the team has averaged 18 sales per week over the last six months then any manager could see that their performance is above performance standards. The idea that there are preset performance standards that are known makes it easy for the manager to rate the team’s performance. The benefits of this system is that it doesn’t put employees against each other during the evaluation and that there is documentation that supports the assessment of the employee. In the event of legal issues, this method makes it easier for the company to prove why the asse ssment is rated the way it is.The negative side of this method could be variances in evaluation standards of different managers and also there could be issues judging individual performance when assessing the team. It is important to make sure that assessments reflect not only the team, but also the individuals on each team. The behavioral appraisal method is another method that could be used to assess team performance. This method looks at the behaviors that are performed by the team and its individuals. A manager may focus on things like whether the team is back from lunch on time, whether the team is prepared for meetings, or whether the team shows up for work daily.The focus is laid on behaviors that the company deems important to improve performance. The most commonly known example of this method is the Behaviorally Anchored Rating Scale (BARS). Robert Bacal describes its differences by stating, â€Å"it focuses on behaviors that are determined to be important for completing a job task or doing the job properly, rather than looking at more general employee characteristics. †2 This method is used to appraise whether a person is doing what is expected of their job. For example, a salesperson may be evaluated on whether or not they successfully ring up every piece of merchandise on every transaction.This is a very valuable step for a salesperson’s job description. This step is extremely important to make sure the company is not losing money. The behavior’s that are being evaluated in this type of appraisal are more specific to the job at hand. The benefits of this type of appraisal is that it makes it easier on the company to spot areas that need improvement and to provide possible solutions, it promotes the behaviors that are necessary for the employee to be successful and productive, and it provides documentation that supports the legal aspect of backing up the evaluation.The job description and role  of the employee has to be resear ched to make sure this type of assessment is appropriate. Management by objectives (MBO) is another strategy that can be used to evaluate performance. MBO is a strategy that relies on setting goals or objectives that the employee is expected to reach. This strategy can be a little time consuming if the job description relies on a steady change of objectives. In order for MBO to be an effective strategy for appraisal, then the manager would have to meet with the employees either daily, weekly, monthly, or possibly quarterly to go over the objectives.It is important for the manager to make sure that all objectives are given to the employees and they are understood. A major benefit for this type of assessment is that the evaluation of specific goals does a fantastic job of cutting out the chance for biased evaluations. It is also a benefit that the objectives can be changed for each job description rather quickly. An issue with this type of assessment is that employees tend to focus ma inly on the objectives and goals that are set by managers, which in turn could lead to other areas falling. Paul Kevin Michaelree states, â€Å"the MBO process focuses attention not on the person but on the job.†3 This shows that the MBO is focused on reaching objectives and does not leave room for a biased evaluation. This assessment focuses more of setting goals for specific jobs and not for specific people. A manager should set objectives or goals for all production workers to be the same. This would mean that each person under the job title production worker would have the same goals or objectives. This would leave solid documentation for future possible legal matters. Behavioral Appraisal Instruments Management by Objectives (MBO) *Research and discuss 2-3 models of team performance. How can the company evaluate team results effectively?  (need sources: in-text citations and references)B2. Recommend a strategy for the company to adopt to assess team performance. *Which one should the company use? Why? I believe the best appraisal method for our organization would be MBO. I believe that our company would benefit the most by aligning the objectives of the company to the objectives of the employee. Our managers have a great deal of knowledge in the company’s goals and objectives. They can look at the jobs that are done in their departments and make sure that the goals and objectives for their employees are steps in the direction of the company’s.The MBO strategy will give the company goal seeking employees. We will see a change of direction in the way things are done by the employees. There are beliefs that we could lose employee performance in other, non-objective areas. The answer to this is to make sure that the company’s ethics policy is followed at all times. The new performance assessment strategy may have the employees thinking heavily about quantity, but the managers must continue to stress the importance of quality as w ell. This method of assessing the employees will also take away the error and bias that come along with other methods.The assessment of a team will no longer have room for the manager to use bias when evaluating, since all teams doing the same job will have the same objectives. There may be individuals, like team leaders, within the teams that may have added personal objectives. The idea of the managers spending more time with the employees is also a benefit for the company. Each manager will have to spend more time with individual employees as well as the teams. Managers will have to meet with the teams weekly, monthly, or quarterly to ensure the objectives are understood.This makes it easy for the managers to make sure changes in objectives are relayed quickly. It will mean that our employees will not have to wait until their next assessment to find out their new goals. This could make it easier to see which teams are performing and which are not. We can easily make accommodations or setup training for teams that need it. This method of assessing our company will work the best for growing our employees, managers, and the company in whole. B3. Illustrate the benefits to the company of working with employees to further their career goals.*Illustrate differences between team and individual performance assessment. Bloom’s Taxonomy clarifies that â€Å"illustrate† means: solve, calculate, interpret, relate, apply, classify or put into practice. So, even though you won’t really â€Å"paint† for this illustration, you are trying to show that you can apply what you have learned from section A, B1, and B2. Discuss and give examples. Our company would benefit by working with employees to help them further their career goals. Our company does both individual and team performance assessments.It is vital to our company’s growth that we make sure to work with our employees to help them further their career goals. Individual performance a ssessments allow our managers the chance to talk with their employees about their career goals. Managers will then look at how their employee’s goals complement our company’s goals. Managers will have an idea of whom they feel has long term ties to the company are willing to move up in position. It is cheaper on the company to keep a low turnover ratio and not have to keep training new people.It also will bring up moral, throughout the employee ranks, as they see promotions within the company. Employees will continue to perform and work hard if they see that there are rewards waiting. Career advancement consists of moving up the ranks, whether at the same company or at a new one. It benefits our company to keep our loyal employees. Manager trainees are most often found within the company through these performance appraisals. For example, the manager of the shipping department may have an employee that has shown advancement capabilities in the last two annual appraisals .This year the manager learns that shipping will increase and he will need another lead. The manager could easily pick the employee that has showed promise for the last few years, which could lead to another promotion a few years down the line if he keeps his performance up. Team performance appraisal also benefits the company in a lot of the ways the individual performance assessment does. Team performance is increased when you show that the company has furthering their career goals in mind. It is always a benefit to the company when performance levels are increased.The company also benefits from employees helping train and educate their teammates. This saves the company money from having to setup special training classes for certain people. Teams understand that their performance are not based off individual success, but rather what they do as a whole. There is understanding that if one person in the group fails to pull their weight, then the whole team suffers. Companies also get a good idea of whom the leaders are in each group. This works out to the company’s advantage as they can easily spot individuals who are ready to advance in the company.It is up to the manager to make sure the employees know that the company is here to help them advance their careers as much as possible. Comments on this criterion: The presentation identifies a few differences between evaluating team performance and individual performance, such as the training that is conducted and how success is obtained, but the presentation focuses more on the company's benefits for furthering goals of each type of performance, rather than on the differences that exist when evaluating team performance and individual performance.Please provide additional detail and discussion on the differences that exist when evaluating team and individual performance, in order to appropriately satisfy the task prompt. There are differences that exist when evaluating team performance and individual perfor mance. Individual performance evaluations usually tie in with the salary raises of the individual. The individual performance evaluations are based on the job description for which position they were hired for. Individual objectives and the duties of the job are the things that the manager will evaluate and then decide what the individual needs improving on.A team performance is based on the goals and objectives set for the team. The manager will evaluate how the team has done as far as accomplishing their goals. Team performance evaluations can look bad if one member is not capable of pulling their weight. It would be up to the other teammates to make sure to help the individual out as far as training and development. The team realizes that if one member fails, then the whole team fails. Individuals of the team are aware that the evaluation process is uniquely different than what an individual performance evaluation brings.Accountability is hard easy to evaluate in individual appra isals, but in team appraisals it is easy to overlook a weak member if the rest of the team picks up the weight. Peer reviews are a way of looking at how the team works together. This form of appraisal is a good way to account for all individuals in the group, but biased appraisal could be an issue. Team performance greatly depends on accountability, communication, and decision making. It is important to make sure that there is good communication between the team and that a leader emerges to take control of making sure team objectives are met.This will make sure that all members are held accountable for their work within the group. Individual performance appraisals typically happen once or twice a year. Team performance appraisals could happen as often as every project change. This leans toward team evaluations happening a lot more often than individual performance appraisals. Rewards and compensation are linked to appraisals, but can differ in the ways they are seen from the individ uals. Individual appraisals will reward and compensate the individual on how good they were at doing their job and reaching their goals and objectives.Managers have to manage their time allotted for evaluations differently based on which type of review they are doing and depending on how often they will evaluate. Team performance can also reward and compensate, but sometimes it is deemed unfair. Members can sometimes feel cheated when a weaker team member is rewarded the same way. This can come back to a faulty evaluation if peer reviews are not used. The differences in the two types of appraisals can vary from time, accountability, rewards and compensation, and methods of evaluations.It is very important to make sure all communication about goals and objectives are understood between managers and employees, which will lead to better performance throughout the company. C. Discuss the concept of succession planning with an organization in which you address the following: C1. Present reasons for adopting succession planning. *Why would a company do succession planning? Addresses company needs ahead of time Allows company to select best candidates Focuses on the future Meets company needs by finding competent employeesSuccession planning is very important when it comes to continuing the company’s success in the future. It seems that a lot of companies are realizing that replacement hiring is not the best option for long term quality employees. Companies are starting to realize the commitment level that employees are willing to give when they have companies that train and promote within. Succession planning looks within the company and finds its future leaders and manager from the ranks. The company will then send the selected employees through various training and developmental programs to get them ready for future succession.This could be a lengthy process and employees should not look at this plan as a two week training period. Succession planning is a d rawn out process for the future needs of the company. A replacement hiring method usually brings people in right away for a specific job opening that the company was not preparing or planning for. Succession planning allows for the company to pick candidates that are right for a position that may have someone retiring in the next two years. This will give the employee a two year period to learn and train with the person they are taking over for.It is important for the company to choose the best of their talent pool when they are planning for future trends. Succession planning also allows for the company to give employees a shot at reaching their career goals within the company. It is always a good thing for an employee to know they do not have to leave their company in hopes of advancing. Moral and performance are usually higher when employees know that they are not working in a dead end position. Our company will give all employees the chance to further their careers. C2. Discuss h ow succession planning can be used by the given company. *How to use it?What are the side benefits? What may happen in the process of implementing the components of a succession planning system? What can go well if these side benefits occur? Succession planning can be used in all sorts of way depending on how each company wants to go at the process. I believe that our company can benefit greatly and build a future that has no boundaries. I believe that our company can use succession planning to our benefit by keeping a deep group of candidates for possible promotion within the company. It is always good to have someone trained and ready to take over in the event we have someone leave the company.The company should have an idea of what members of leadership are coming upon retirement or which ones are approaching the end of their time with the company. We must understand that there are going to be instances where we may lose people that we are not planning on losing. Succession plann ing will come in handy and have people ready to assume these positions in these instances. It is crucial to have people being trained and obtaining the knowledge that our leadership can pass on. This will entail for our company’s morals and prior knowledge to be passed down to our new leadership recruits.I also feel that it will continue to give our company a good reputation as being a place that challenges our employees and works dramatically to enhance their careers. People look for places like this when they are transitioning their careers. This program will make us the place all career oriented people will want to work. This will allow for us to keep recruiting the top talent for both our organization and our succession planning program. Succession planning also comes with side benefits for the company. Implementing this program here at our company will allow us to keep employees loyal.Loyalty can save the company a lot of money, which will keep costs of training new asso ciates down. Our company invests time and money into training employees and we want to make sure we are not wasting these assets. Employees will have an idea of what things they need to do in order to become potential candidates for succession planning. This will give our employees drive and motivation to keep performing at high levels. The company also benefits by passing knowledge from our older leadership into the younger leaders of tomorrow. It is very important that knowledge is not lost in the transition.Young leaders can learn resourceful information that will keep them from making past mistakes over again. We also benefit by maintaining a good reputation as a solid company that promotes career goals of employees. This reputation will help the company keep pulling in promising talent for both the company and the program. This will help us keep that company moving forward in the direction that past leaders have set us up for. The side benefits will help our company in growth t hroughout the future as long as we keep the goals and objectives matching future outlooks.We must remember that this program is setup to keep us going forward. There are lots of possibilities that could come from us implementing succession planning. Some of the possibilities are good and some are not so good. Time constraints could be a negative possibility that could come in various instances. A few examples of how time constraints could hurt us would be that all members of the succession planning team keep having things come up or that it just takes too long to prove to the employees that this will work. Employees will want to see this program successfully in action before they buy in to it totally.There is also the possibility of communication issues. Employees that do not receive the information effectively will think they are excluded. It is key to a successful succession plan that all communication lines are effectively thought out and successfully implemented. We must make su re the employees know how this will benefit their careers and what is required of them for this program. This could also be a benefit for the company because it could give a better communication line between leadership, employees, and HR. Communication is always important in the company and we can benefit greatly from it.Goals, ethics, and company morals are all things that must be successfully communicated between the company’s employees. The company will also benefit by finding stronger candidates for the program. The implementation will help the company find the best candidates that could end up leading the company into the future. C3. Illustrate a succession planning process for the company. *What are the steps of a succession plan? Be specific. (â€Å"illustrate†) The succession planning process will not go anywhere if we do not have the backing and support of upper management and the CEO.It is crucial to the plan that these managers are around showing support at various times. Once we have the backing we need we must research the objectives and core concepts that are to be gained through implementing the succession planning program. We must look at ways to get the employees to back the program, we have to develop ways to estimate what we will need as far as future management openings go, and we have to look into current managers that could make a good succession planning team. We must then select a development team that should come from various areas of our company.This will help us diversify the way our program works by bringing in people with different skill sets to help lay the foundation for our succession planning program. This highly diverse team will research the company’s potential for growth in all areas and will estimate potential moves that will be made in the future. This will help our team develop a highly successful design that focuses on the company’s future goals and projections for growth. Possible future move s will be accounted for and our program design will leave room for reviews and possible adjustments.It is extremely important that we focus on a communication plan to help announce it to the company. We will want our employees to realize that this is in place to help them and that we welcome all forms of communication from them. We will stress the importance of communicating possible problems or possible solution they may have thought about. This open communication will help the company by making it easier for the employees to buy into. We want to make sure that no one is left out when we make this official to everyone. A good communication plan will get this information out to all employees through various avenues.We will use e-mail, intranet, bulletin boards, departmental meetings, and any other ways that we feel are potentially used to communicate important company information. We must also make sure that we successfully communicate what requirements are associated with getting p icked for the program. This will help in keeping the moral, loyalty, and performance levels at a high. As the program is implemented we must make sure it is reviewed and evaluated, which will help us make changes to the process if we deem there are necessary changes that need to take effect.It is crucial that the designed program has room for changes as the company or business changes. If we spend the time to build the program and leave no room for change, then we will end up scraping it down the road and it will be a short-term plan instead of a long-term investment for the company. CONCLUSION It is important to remember that the company’s growth and prosperity is greatly tied to the three main areas we have discussed. We must continue to improve our performance appraisal systems, which will in turn allow us to notice possible candidates to promote within the company.We must realize that both the company and the employees benefit from these performance appraisals. Some on th e benefits the company receives is that we can promote from within, it allows us to reiterate or change goals, paper trail for documentation, it identifies weak areas and allows us to give training, and it boosts moral and performance. The employee benefits by having moral and performance boosted, face-to-face time with managers, better understanding of company expectations and goals, and they feel a sense of loyalty from the company.Pre and post appraisal activities are also important to ensure that these appraisals are as effective as can be. Pre-appraisals activities include establishing meeting times, collecting new and old goals, make sure to give employees an advance copy of their appraisal, and collecting all notes and previous appraisals. Post-activities would include the implementation of discussed training programs, scheduling follow-up meetings with employees, continue to observe and make notes on employees, and reinforce an open door policy to all employees.These are key steps to make sure that these performance appraisals benefit the company as much as possible. An effective appraisal system put in place within our company will benefit all areas and aspects. An importance should be put on making sure the proper steps are taken for optimal performance appraisal. These steps should include things like managers basing evaluation off performance, promote moral and including employee’s thoughts, focusing on the employee, give them access to your evaluation before the meeting, remain unbiased, and to keep possible legal issues in mind while performing the performance appraisal.It is also a benefit to incorporate the employee’s goals into the performance appraisal. Employees will feel that the company is loyal to them by making their objectives match some of their personal career goals. It is important to stress the importance of promoting the employee’s career goals to all managers that do performance appraisals. This will help rais e the performance level of our company. Team performance appraisals are also important for the benefit and growth of the company.There are many different techniques that can be used to assess the performance of teams, but I recommend that our company base appraisals off the management by objectives (MBO) model. This will help us assure that employees are focused on goals or objectives, it will help remove added chance of errors or bias in appraisals, and it will give the managers a chance to spend more time with employees. There are benefits for both individual and team performance appraisals.Individual appraisals benefit the company by helping to identify which employee’s career goals match the companies and it helps increase the individual’s performance. Team appraisals benefit the company by raising performance of teams, having employees train other team members that need additional development, and it gives management an idea of which people may be ready for an upw ard movement within the company. Furthering the career goals of employees will show everyone in the company that we are invested in them.Succession planning is the last area that we discussed, but it is an area that can help the company as it moves into the future. Succession planning will help us generate candidates that will be trained for potential management positions that become available. The company benefits of this plan include the addressing of needs before they occur, allows the company to select and train best candidates, it focuses on the future of the company, and it will keep employees loyal to the company. The right steps for a succession plan are also important to ensure that it will be successful.It would not be a good thing to invest time and money into a program that was not developed for success. The rights steps include getting proper backing from upper management, researching objectives and core concepts of the company, select a team from various areas with var ious skill sets, research future needs and goals of the company, develop an effective communication plan, implement communication plan to get program out to all employees, and continue to evaluate and review the program to ensure it changes as the company’s goals and objectives change.These are the steps that are important when implementing a successful succession planning program. The CEO and board of directors should implement these area into the company. The performance reviews would be an issue that HR could complete and make sure all managers understand the new performance appraisal policy. There could be training scheduled to help managers get comfortable with the new appraisal process. We also need to make sure the employees are made aware of the benefits that they will gain by this new appraisal process.The upper management really just needs to make sure that the company knows that they support the new process. We need to make sure that managers incorporate the furthe ring of employee’s career goals into the objectives and work goals that they establish for the employee. This will keep employees loyal to our company, as we show the employee that we are loyal to them. Team performance appraisals also need to be established to be effective. This will be done by adopting the MBO appraisal process for team performance appraisals.Our employees will be more goal oriented and will perform at a high level in order to accomplish these goals. It is important that managers continue to stress the importance of quality to all workers and establish that the code of ethics should be followed all the time. We do not want short cuts taken to raise performance levels. Succession planning is an area that will need more time from upper management. The CEO and the board of directors need to fully believe in and support the succession plan that is put into effect. This plan will not work without the proper backing from upper management.HR will start the process and select the most diverse group to bring the most skill sets as possible. This team will then come up with a design to implement for succession planning. Upper management should stay involved and show the company that it supports all that is going on. Inputs and thoughts can be added or given to the design team. This success of this program will be the success of the company. Upper management has invested many years in making sure the company has grown as commanded, but now this design will lead the company to the same success in the future.