Lord of the Flies and Animal Farm

Percy Bysshe Shelley once said, â€Å"Power, like a desolating pestilence, pollutes what’er it touches. † He meant that when somebody acquires a reasonable amount of control or power over others, that dominance will eventually corrupt them. The corruption can quickly get to the point of extreme savagery emerging over respectable leadership, causing the people who are being ruled to suffer great hardship. This is exemplified in the novel,  Lord of the Flies,  by William Golding and in the film,  Animal Farm,  directed by John Halas and Joy Batchelor.In Lord of the Flies Jack begins as an innocent young choir boy who later on rises as a leader and turns into a vicious savage when the power goes to his head. Similarly in Animal Farm Napoleon initially promotes equality for all, but soon becomes corrupt and desires full power and control above all of the animals other after he gains authority. Both texts show that people will do almost anything to obtain and keep po wer whether it is fear or violence. In Lord of the flies Ralph is originally elected as the leader of the island, this was due to Ralph summoning the rest of the boys using the conch.The conch represents power, civilisation and order in the novel as it gives whoever is holding it the power of speech. As the boys became less civilised and more savage the conch started to deteriorate so did the boys society. Ralph led the boys with fairness, order and rules. He set jobs for the boys and listed goals he considered important to achieve. The main goal he set was to be rescued he considered a signal fire the best way to get the attention of a passing ship. Jack thought that gathering meat and hunting was the most important goal.Jack became leader of the hunters this was his first step into gaining absolute power. On the first hunt Jack was unable to kill the pig. This shows that at this point Jack still had morals and was not yet corrupt. Eventually Jack was able to kill a pig this shows Jacks loss of innocence and the start of his corrupt behaviour. Jack’s power soon escalates he offers the other boys meat, which is deemed as important by nearly all of the boys except for Ralph and Piggy. Jack soon starts his own tribe all the boys, bar Ralph and Piggy join up.This gives Jack what he had hoped for all along absolute power over the island. Jack and the boys now participates in daily hunts this shows Jacks corruption at its largest extent as after each hunt Jack becomes more and more savage and his power constantly grows along with it. Jack also uses fear of the beast to gain more power. Jack gave a sense of security and safety from the beast so the boys wouldn’t leave his tribe. Jack also controls the hunters who are the strongest and most savage on the island.The other boys are too afraid to leave Jack’s tribe as they fear they will be hunted. In Animal Farm, Snowball is originally elected as leader after their evil human owner is overthrown. S nowball treats all the other animals equally. Snowball and the other animals write 7 rules which must be followed by all animals. The seventh and most important rule is â€Å"All animals are equal†. This is very similar to Golding’s use of the conch in Lord of the Flies as, the society starts to corrupt the pigs change to rules to keep up with their corrupt ways.From the beginning of the film Napoleon one of the pigs wants to become sole leader of the farm, even though this would completely contradict the beliefs which all animals agreed on from the start. Showing that Napoleon is a power hungry character from the start, this resembles Jack and his need for power. Napoleon then uses a pack of trained dogs to kill Snowball after an argument. This is Napoleons first use of violence to gain power, this violence generates fear amongst the other animals giving him an easy rise to power.This resembles Jack and his use of fear to gain power. This is also the beginning of Napo leons rise to complete power. He uses his superior intelligence to convince the other not so intelligent animals that Snowball was a liar and a thief without any proof. While Jack does not possess the intellectual superiority he is still able to convince most of the boys to join his tribe. Once Napoleon and the other pigs move into the old farm house things start to get much worse, as they enjoy the life of luxury the house offers.They even go to the extent of changing one of the 7 rules from â€Å"No animal shall sleep in a bed† to â€Å"No animal shall sleep in a bed with sheets. This is clear abuse of power as Napoleon changes the agreed upon rules only benefiting himself and the other pigs. This is again similar to the conch as Jack shows complete disregard for the rule of the conch. That rule of course being, if somebody is holding the conch they talk and everybody else listens. Napoleon soon realises if he trades with people outside the farm then he will be able to gai n even more power.This similar to Jack as he realises that he will be able to generate more power if more people join his tribe. The pigs need the chicken’s eggs to meet their half of a deal, the chickens refuse as the whole point of the original rebellion was to make use the animals were not used again. This is similar to the way Piggy and Ralph act as they refuse to join Jack’s tribe because it goes against what they decided on at the beginning of the novel. The pigs then try to take the chickens eggs by force, but the chickens purposely break their own eggs.This is another example of Napoleon abusing his power because he thinks because of his power he can do whatever he wants. This is similar to Jack taking Piggy’s glasses as the glasses provided a window to more power. Napoleon makes up a speech claiming the chickens are traitors and that they must be punished to death. This shows that Napoleons greed, corruption and thirst for power has grown to such an ext ent that he is willing to kill anybody who defies his orders. The animal now fear for their lives when they are told they will be used for trade nobody defies this order.This closely mirrors Jacks way of leadership, however instead of killing them, Jack often orders them to be physically beaten. The pigs again change the rules reducing all seven into one single phrase â€Å"All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others†. This rule states what had been evident the whole time that the pigs are superior, or more equal, than any other animal who are all equally below the pigs. This resembles the conch, when the conch was broken it symbolised the death of democracy and thus showing the island was run as a pure dictatorship.Meaning Jack was â€Å"more equal† than his counterparts. The pigs eventually become so powerful that they begin to resemble the humans they replaced, even wearing clothes and walking around on two legs. The pigs have made a full circ le becoming as powerful and corrupt as the humans before them. The use of different film techniques also give the viewer the impression the pigs have power, several times a low shot is used looking up at the pigs. This is a textbook technique used to give power or dominance.In addition there is the use of a high shot looking down at the other animals to show weakness and inferiority. Jack from Golding’s  Lord of the Flies  and Napoleon from Orwell’s  Animal Farm  each demonstrate the tormenting effects that positions of authority can cause, especially when asserted for the wrong reasons. In the case of these two characters, power fell into the wrong hands, and as a result, the subjects suffered under oppressive rule, while the leaders reaped the benefits with no mercy.

Conventional Books vs E-Book Essay

As past times go, there’s little that is more old-fashioned, quiet and basic as reading a book. Or, at least, that used to be the case. But with the competitive flood of electronic readers, or e-readers, hitting the market as well as e-reader applications for smartphones, the reading experience has been getting a progressively modern makeover. The stats are in and the fight is on. Overall book sales have dropped in 2008 and 2009, according to the American Association of Publishers (AAP). While adult hardcover books actually increased by over 6% in 2009, eBook sales, which account for 4% of all book sales, have increased a whopping 176%. Are these figures telling the tale of the tape as the publishing industry struggles to regain their status as a recession proof industry? Are eBooks on their way to eliminating traditional books altogether? Most of us love to read and most of us have our preferences for the platform we read from. Will you be a traditionalist and stand behind the old guard? Bill McCoy, executive director of International Digital Publishing Forum, based in Seattle, Washington, said that while it’s hard to gauge just how the sale of digital books (e-books) is growing, it’s clear that the sales, as a percentage of the overall market, are in the double digits â€Å"and on a fast-growing vector†. â€Å"Amazon is saying that they’re selling more e-books than hardcover books. And in many cases, depending on the title, they might be selling more e-books than physical books. † A relatively new phenomenon is that e-reader, be it Kindle, ipad or a number of other new competitors coming into the marketplace. When we think about our environment, these devices seem to be more environmentally friendly than our typical paper and cardboard book, even a paperback. There are certain tactile to real book, just feeling the paper, turning the pages. But on the surfaces, the e-reader would seem to be much greener. E-reader vs. conventional book is a provocative question. Actually, right now, there are some major problems with conventional book publishing, of which you should be aware, if your goal is to get this community to acquire and then to issue your work. The first one is distribution through bookstores has never been tougher. Most publishers sell to stores on consignment. If books don’t fly off shelves into the hands of buyers, they’re returned to publishers, very quickly. Your title doesn’t get very long exposure or time to establish itself. Other than that, books used to be kept â€Å"in print† and available for longer periods of time, in many cases, for years. Now, they’re put to death quickly, if initial sales are anything other than brisk. Besides that, we live in an era of the celebrity book. If Oprah wants to write a diet book, it will be a monster hit; you know that. But the most exciting, up and coming, highly credentialed nutritionist may not have a chance of breaking into print. Next, publishers expect authors to make them profitable through personal promotional efforts. â€Å"What are you going to do to sell this book? † is the major question they ask, and agents will tell you, without a personal commitment to sell your own copies, stated in your book proposal, you won’t get a publisher to bite. Otherwise, publishers are clueless, themselves, about what to put out there. Reluctant to lead, and reluctant to follow the success of others, they are like the proverbial deer in the headlights. It used to be the case that if you wanted information on a subject you either went to your library or to your local bookstore. Not anymore. By going to the Internet, you can assemble the equivalent of a book, fast and more or less, for free. Publishers haven’t figured out how to sell content at a premium, in an environment in which so much of it is available, instantly, for nothing. There are alternatives to conventional book publishing, including self-publishing and using media alternatives such as audios and videos. A regular book is better. Not only is it more reliable and you don’t have to worry about it dying, but there is just something special about feeling the smooth front cover and the rough edges of the thick, coarse pieces of paper that have been read by so many. If you get an e-book you click, download, and read. There’s nothing like the feeling of finishing a really good book. You want to share it with someone! You can’t share an e-book. E-books are really only good for travel. Most of the people refuse e-books either but prefers reading conventional books. Readers like to read in bed so it’s easier the conventional way; they always find it’s easier on the eye to read a conventional book. It seems that our eyes feel more tired for reading e-book. Reading in the internet really hurts people’s eyes. Anyway, we should protect our eyes. There are people who read both but by far prefer a real book. In the technology era, there are some advantages and bright future for e-book. The first one is from the finding the book from the bookshelf. Depending on how many books readers have, and how organized they are, this can be a fairly daunting task for traditional books. Some people used to have organized the books by the name of author, type of the books or alphabetically by title. That fell by the wayside the last time they moved. While they arranged it, they are completely random within the way they organized. That may not sound like trouble, but for someone who has a lot of books, for instance, it can make any one book tricky to find. While searching for a book on the virtual bookshelves within the e-book application is only slightly easier. Using e-book application, making it easy to find a book by typing the title, by author or by how frequently people read the book. Secondly is travelling with books. Some people used to travel a lot and it was all they could do to fill the boredom of those long journeys with reading. It meant readers had to bring a lot of books with them, which weighed down their luggage. Travelling with e-books is something that they call heaven. They can close to 200 books and 30 or 40 magazines on their e-book application. The traditional books stack lot of kilograms but then using the e-book just only a few grams. From this side, people more prefer to using e-book rather than conventional books. In many circumstances, reading an e-book is far superior to reading a traditional paper book. Firstly, the portability of e-book. The wonderful thing about electronic text is that it takes up virtually no room, in both a physical and digital sense. If readers have a storage card, they can walk around with at least a dozen books, and probably many more than that. Even if they don’t have a storage card, they can still walk around with a fair collection of three to six books (again, depending on book size and available memory). In many situations it’s hard to carry even one book around with people. The storage abilities of most e-books allow readers to carry a reasonable collection of reading materials and/or reference texts. Because they probably carry their handheld around with them everywhere anyway, the convenience factor increases nearly exponentially. Because e-book is digital, not only are they super-portable, but they also open up the possibility for some really useful features. For starters, since most e-book is in some form of digital text file, readers can search the text for words or phrases. This is helpful when readers want to find a quote or another specific section of the book. This can cut minutes, if not hours, off of wild goose chases for particular passages. Additionally, digital formats are assuming copy protection doesn’t get in the way that can be duplicated forever without decay or any real expense. We’ll dig deeper into the specifics of this issue later in the series, but if the e-book allows it, this duplication ability can make it possible for people to share books with their friends without ever having to actually give up one of their possessions. This is good for publishers (and hopefully writers as well), who don’t have to pay any production costs. This in turn should drive the prices down for the readers. While the digital nature of the e-book in theory raises the effectiveness of e-book, it also brings up a few ideas that are interesting and worth perusing in this series. E-book also easy to be read. The electronic format offers readers even more benefits over traditional paper books. E-book can be read in a variety of lighting situations, and due to the back lighted screens that most palm computers have, people can read an e-book in most low or no light situations, such as on the subway, during nighttime road trips, or in bed when they don’t want to disturb their partner. Advantages of conventional books over electronic is resale value. Like music downloads, people will never actually be able to resell electronic books. If they are into collectable books, this is a particularly big problem and they should only use physical titles. Reading ease is also one of the advantages of conventional books. This one is only really a benefit for those that would otherwise read e-book on their computers or phones. If readers buy a commercial e-reader, it will probably use ink technology that will not hurt their eyes with backlight. Never the less, readers don’t need to worry about this problem with a physical book. Other than that, no devices needed. If readers find themselves in a small town without their cell phone or computer, they won’t be able to download a new title for your e-book, but they can always stop by a local bookstore and pick up a new paperback. Conventional books have no batteries. While most readers have a good battery life, there will still be times where readers forget to charge it and then can’t read at all. Readers will never have this problem with a standard book. No warranties needed when readers choosing conventional books. If their e-reader breaks, they will have nothing to read until they receive a new one. Some devices let them read the titles they have saved on their computer, but it’s just something readers will never have to worry about with a physical book. Best of all, if a book does get damaged to where people can’t read it, they can just go to the bookstore and buy another copy, rather than worrying if it is still covered by the manufacturer’s warranty. Next is tradition. Let’s face it; people are never going to get that comforting smell of paper or the weight of a good book in their hands when they read an e-book. And while people can flip ahead in an e-book, readers can’t do so in a matter of seconds and flip right back to the page. Amazon recently announced that its June 2010 Kindle e-book sales nearly doubled its hardcover book sales (180% higher). Many of those e-books were self-published books priced under a dollar; however, data indicates e-books may become the dominant long-form format in not too many years. Are low-overhead e-books better for authors or publishers than their print counterparts? Forrester Research says retailers will sell 6. 6 million e-readers in 2010. Apple has already sold 3 million iPads, which are capable of reading Amazon Kindle e-books as well as Apple’s iBooks. At average prices, one would need to buy 15 e-books to offset the $189 price tag of a Kindle, 12 e-books to pay off a $149 Barnes and Noble Nook, and 39 e-books to justify a $499 entry-level iPad (assuming price is the only factor). E-books are up 200% from 2009, according to the Association of American Publishers; however, they still only represent 3-5% of total sales for publishers, according to the New York Times. Hardcover books are also up 40% since 2009, indicating that while e-books are undoubtedly a big part of the future of long-form publishing, people will still be turning paper pages for a while. (Sources: PrintingChoice, NYTimes) The tactile pleasure of worn pages between reader’s fingers is hard to replace. But when it comes to encouraging people to embrace the written word, e-readers trump their physical counterparts. According to the infographic below, people who own e-book devices say they read more than people who don’t, at a rate of 24 books per year to 15. Education, escape, relaxation and entertainment rank as people’s main motivations to plow through books — proving that, whether electronically or via dead tree, reading remains a popular pastime. E-readers are also rising in popularity, signaling that it may not be impossible to imagine a world without traditional books sometime in the not-so-distant future. From December 2011 to January 2012, e-reader ownership nearly doubled, from 10 percent to 19 percent, among American adults. And that stunning surge in just one month’s time doesn’t even account for tablets or other mobile electronic devices people use to read books and long form content. Worldwide, meanwhile, e-reader sales rose by nearly 3 million between 2010 and 2011. It’s also interesting to look at the relationship between actual e-book consumption and ownership of a device that enables users to read books electronically. According to one study, 29% of American adults own a personal e-book device, tablets included. But just 21% of adults had actually read an e-book in the past year as of February 2012. It’ll be interesting to see if and when experiments on the potential impacts of e-readers on memory and cognition are done, as the market has definitely reached a point of no return in terms of moving away from printed pages. Stephanie Mantello, senior public relations manager of the Kindle group at Amazon. com, gave answers that didn’t include specifics, but implied massive quantities. For instance, when asked how many Kindles the company has sold since the product was first introduced in 2008, Mantello simply said, â€Å"Millions. Millions of people are reading on Kindle. Kindle is also the best-selling product in the history of Amazon. com. † It is the most-wished for on the â€Å"wish list† function account holders have on the company’s site. It’s given as a gift more often than any other single product. It has the most 5-star reviews. She did say that between April 1 and May 19, for every 100 print books the company sold, it sold 105 Kindle books. â€Å"This includes sales of hardcover and paperback books by Amazon where there is no Kindle edition. Free Kindle books are excluded, and, if included, would make the number even higher,† said Mantello. The reasons for the slow acceptance of e-books vary but a constant reason given was not being comfortable with reading using personal computers, laptops and palm pilots (Helfer, 2000; Andersen, 2001). Other reasons included: finding it difficult to read on small screens, problems with browser, slow loading time, difficulties in navigating (Gibbon, 2001; Chu, 2003); and preferring to read printed text (Ray and Day, 1998; Holmquist, 1997; Gibbon, 2001). Summerfield and Mandel (1999) indicated that library users at the University of Columbia would use e-book in some depth when they are required to do so by courses they are following. The studies above indicated that the degree of acceptance of e-book is on the rise but the preference for printed text remained. A high percentage of students indicated that they used e-book because it was available online (64. 2%), provided faster and easy access to new titles (45. 7%) and did not require physical visit to the library (40. 7%) (Table 1). Bodomo†¦et al’s (2003) respondents gave similar answers and his respondents recognized that digital libraries were very convenient since they did not need to go to libraries and could still read and download books or journals from home. Similarly, Chu (2003) also reported that â€Å"available around the clock† and â€Å"searchable† were valued the most by students at a library and information science schools in the USA. Table 1: Reasons for Using or Not Using e-book Table 1 (b) shows that almost half (45. 6%) of the non-users indicate preference for paper format as a barrier for them from using e-books service. Holmquist (1997) found that the main reason for his respondents’ non-use of e-journals was their preference to read articles on paper, not on the computer screen. Other non-users have mentioned factors such as little knowledge on how to use or access e-books, the print copy is convenient to use, the lack of Internet connection, difficulty in browsing and reading, having no interest, and perceiving the need for special software to be able to use e-book as being cumbersome. When the non-users were asked whether they would use the e-book in the future, only 30% (38) gave a definite â€Å"yes† while the majority (61%, 76) indicated â€Å"probably† or â€Å"not sure or â€Å"probably not†Ã¢â‚¬  (6%, 8; 2%, 2). â€Å"While university students operate in a world immersed in digital text, they have not simultaneously abandoned print. It is not true, as Steve Jobs stated and as Nicholas Carr implied, that they like the iPad because they don’t read. In fact, for their university studies, students prefer to read on paper, although they also want the convenience of online digital text. † Cull, 2012 There is no doubt that new forms of publishing are becoming increasingly popular across the world. Their benefits are those that the traditional  printed book could never imagine to surpass, and they fill a gap in a rapidly increasing market of readers dictating portability and mass storage as necessary to the current lifestyle. However, evidence shows that readers are not entirely convinced that e-readers are books of the future. They have not caught on as other recent technology trends have, and the consistent theme of simulating e-readers to resemble traditional books, indicates that consumers are not prepared to relinquish the time-honored form for this new technology. As such, the chance of books becoming redundant or obsolete in the near future is improbable. â€Å"The history of communications media tells us that new media often do not replace old. At most, they redefine the purposes and functions of older media† (Cope & Kalantzis 2001:5). Of more value to consumers then, is a co-existence of the two, amalgamating the benefits of each to accommodate for the needs of all, rendering neither redundant nor obsolete.

An integrated critique of kozols and dawkins Essay Example for Free

An integrated critique of kozols and dawkins Essay AN INTEGRATED CRITIQUE OF KOZOL’S AND DAWKIN INTRODUCTION Richard Dawkins was born on March 26, in 1941. He is an ethnologist, an evolutionarily biologists and a popular writer in science. He also holds the Simonyi Chair, which is designed to promote the understanding of science to public at Oxford University. The first time Dawkins come into the limelight and became popular was after writing his book ‘The Selfish Gene’ in 1976. This book introduced the term ‘meme’ and consequently helped discover memetics fields. It also made ‘gene-centered view of evolution’ popular. Around 1982, he made significant contributions toward evolution science. THE SELFISH GENE BY RICHARD DAWKINS Richard Dawkin’s ‘The selfish Gene’ was a very popular reading and to some extent controversial on evolution. The book elaborates and goes deeper to discuss more about the theory of William’s first ever book to write ‘Adaptation and Natural Selection’. The theory discussed on this book is principal to William’s book. Richard introduced, ‘Selfish Gene’ to provoke and express his views on gene’s evolution. This view states that evolution acts on genes and when we select some organisms or a population, this selection is normally based on the type of genes. According to his book, an organism must evolve since it is the only way of maximizing its ‘inclusive fitness’, which refers to the total number of the genes which are transmitted globally, rather than the genes passed on by a particular individual. Consequently, a population tends to learn towards ‘Evolutionarily Stable Strategy’. (Richard, 1990) This ‘selfish gene’ came up with the term ‘meme’. ‘Meme refers to a single unit of human’s culture evolution which is analogous to genes. It suggests that this is a ‘selfish’ replication of human genes, and it can affect the culture of human in a totally difference sense. There is no doubt that ‘memetics’ evoked a discussion of meme since he published his book. ‘Meme’ is cultural information units, which can be transferred from one mind to another. Examples of memes are tunes, clothes fashion, catch phrases, pot making or building arches. â€Å"Meme’ is properly defined in the theory of memetic, which is comprised of information on culture in a unit theory; how evolution of culture or diffusion is blocked, how it propagates form mind to mind and the way a gene propagates from one person or from an organism to an organism. Where memes are multiple, they propagate as â€Å"memeplexes’. Meme complexes act as cooperative groups. (Richard, 1990) A ‘gene’ on the other hand, is a region that can be located and has a sequence called ‘genomic sequence. This corresponds to an inheritance unit that is closely associated with regions that play a regulatory function, the regions, which are transcribed, and other regions with functional sequence. The phenotype and physical development of organisms is believed to be productivity of genes, which interact among themselves and with their environment. Genes are generally inheritance units. A gene generally defines human or organism’s characteristic and the functionality of potential products. Genes do not define products but rather they contain regions. Eukaryotic organisms contain regions, which do not have coding regions and are called introns. These are taken away from RNA, which acts as the messenger in a process referred to as ‘splicing’. Exons are regions, which encode the products of gene. A total number of genes, which make a set, is called ‘genome’. The genome size of an organism is usually low in prokaryotes, which come in base pairs and the gene’s numbers. The theorists of meme state that meme evolve through natural selection, this is similar to biological evolution of Darwin through competition, inheritance, variation and mutation. THE ROLE OF CULTURAL EVOLUTION Cultural evolution and socio-evolution fall under the umbrella called ‘socio-cultural evolution’. It describes how societies and cultures have come into being over time. Cultural theories provide us with models to enhance our understanding on the relationship between our social structure, technologies and society values; and give reasons why and how they change gradually. They change to a degree to which specific mechanisms of social change are described. (Richard 1990) Around 20th and 19th century, there were approaches, which were aimed to give models for humankind evolution. The argument is that the social development of different societies is not in the same stage. The recent approaches of the 20th century emphasize on changes, which are specific to a society as an individual and turn down social progress and directional change. Archeologists and anthropologists use modern theories as the framework of socio-cultural evolution. Sociobiology and neo-evolutionism are some of modern approaches employed to cultural evolution. Richard Dawkins, the ethnologist discovered ‘meme’. According to his book, â€Å"TheSelfish Gene’ 1976, likened human’s cultural evolution unit to a gene. His argument was that replication happens in the culture, through in a different sense. Dawkins contends that meme, which resides in the brain represents units of information and it is the replicator that controls mutation in cultural evolution of humans. This forms a pattern, which has the power to influence surroundings, that is, it can propagate and possesses causal agency. However, his theory caused a heated debate among biologists, sociologists and scientists from other disciplines. Dawkins failed to given adequate explanation about the information units replicates, in organism’s brain, how it can control the behaviour of a human being and finally culture. It is apparent that it was not Dawkins intention to give the theory of memetics. Comprehensively in the selfish gene, he coined the word meme in a kind of speculative spirit. In the same sense, ‘unit of information was given different definitions by different scientists. (Richard 1990). MEME AND EDUCATION It is not entirely impossible though it is hard to debate the subject matter of the functions of emotions in education system if we are lacking the right words to sufficiently discuss the topic. This is the scenario when we reach a point of discussing the functional role of ‘emotional intelligence’ because it has got to do with the needs of our younger brothers and sisters as well as great grandchildren and become stochastically and mathematically proficient so as they can exist and fit in the competition which is characterized by technological advancement. Many educators are failing because they lack words such as ‘eipiphiny’ and ‘mehme’ and hence do not have words, which play an important role of ‘emotional intelligence,’ and how it relates to stochastic and mathematical literacy sufficiently and appropriately address attempts that can be made. The outcome is a system of education that is believed to be failing. If the kids can experience and feel eipiphinies and MEHMES, kids will definitely love maths, and see its relevance to their lives daily. It also contributes a feeling of self-confident. The key here is to create the terms mehme and eipiphiny. Introduction of mehme and eipiphiny may have a positive effect if incorporated in the meme selection process. An integrated critique of kozols and dawkins. (2017, Apr 30).

Elements of pricing in marketing Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Elements of pricing in marketing - Assignment Example This research will begin with the statement that people make choices of different products and these choices are often resolved by the free play of market forces, and in this case it can be said that the resources are allocated through the price mechanism. This means that the individuals as consumers freely choose which goods and services they can purchase and the producers on the other hand freely decide which goods and services they will provide. In short, the price mechanism plays a significant role in influencing the consumers to purchase a product. As such, this paper seeks to explain the mechanisms that can be implemented in order to get the customers pay more for a product. Reference will be made to a cooling device for removing heat from subcutaneous lipid-rich cells US 8337539 B2. Statistics have indicated that excessive fat deposits in the body are detrimental to health since they increase the chances of developing diseases such as heart disease, high blood pressure, osteoa rthrosis, bronchitis, hypertension, diabetes, deep-vein thrombosis, pulmonary emboli, varicose veins, gallstones, hernias, and several other conditions. Other methods such as liposuction have proved to be less effective in dealing with the problem which has resulted in the development of a new product. This cooling device has two cooling elements rotatable relative to each other and has proved to be very effective and can provide a lasting solution to the above mentioned problem.

Discourse-Specific Narrative Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Discourse-Specific Narrative - Essay Example This essay discusses my literacy history and how it has been developed as a scholar through discourse communities and sponsors during my past and present experiences in reading, writing, research, and critical thinking experiences that await you in the discourse community particular to your major or career. Research demonstrates accounts of literacy attainment as well as language learning, also shows literacy teaching practices, development processes and writing struggles among scholars (Casanave and Vandrick 17). Such philosophical studies have resulted in creating considerable benefits to interested parties by permitting them to explore the scholar’s experiences in some detail (Bruner 105). The relationship between learning and literacy has been highlighted by many researchers. (Devereux and Wilson 124) affirm that the development of an array of literacy practices necessary for a particular discourse community, for example teachers, is crucial because of the close relationship between learning and literacy since scholars need to be able interpret a text, create meaning from it, know the relationships between text structure and function, draw conclusions, and develop the ability to critically think. According to these authors (Devereaux and Wilson) one of the most significant challenges for educators in is to develop forms of learning support that will present students with opportunities to develop their understanding of relevant concepts through literacy. My literacy experience started back at home. Most of my foundation literacy skills came from my family and close friends. My parents instructed me at home during my early schooling years. I remember my parents holding up using a portable blackboard to write simple vowels. I can memorize her voice repeatedly saying A, E, I, O, U. putting all this information in my head was boring and recurring at the time and that memory of boredom is fixed in my mind permanently. Although I struggled with

The great depression Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The great depression - Research Paper Example The depression drastically changed living standards worldwide as people suffered losses of wealth and regular income. However, the depression initiated several policy responses to change the economic downturn. The period also witnessed the growth of the labor unions and various welfare schemes were introduced by the US government to cater for the unemployed. Several key government regulations and policies were also introduced to counteract the effect of the depression. Some of these policies did not help in improving the situation and contributed to a slower recovery period. It was only after the World War II that the country’s economy was back on the recovery track with increases in consumer spending and rises in employment (Romer; Smiley). The great depression caused huge declines employment, industrial production and growth and deflation in all countries worldwide. Beginning in the United States in the summer of 1929, the effect of the depression spread far and wide across many countries in Europe and Latin America and in Japan. The depression worsened during late 1929 and lasted up to 1933. During this period the industrial production in America declined by 47 percent and the GDP reduced by 30 percent. The wholesale price index or the deflation rate slumped by 33 percent and the unemployment rate increased by 20 percent (Romer). Several causes have been attributed to have caused the great depression. Monetary contractions by the Federal Reserve and a general decline in consumer spending are considered to be principle causes that initiated the depression. The stock market grew explosively during the 1920’s with the stock prices reaching its peak in 1929. In order to curb this rapid rise in stock prices the Fed eral Reserve increased the interest rates which caused the initial decline in consumer spending. This was followed by a gradual decline in stock prices which eventually led to rapid selling as investors began to lose

Case study Preadmission and admission phase Essay

Case study Preadmission and admission phase - Essay Example Firstly, pre-admission observations, procedure, and discharge plans were prepared and an informed consent obtained from the patient. As the patient was unable to read clearly, a signed consent was obtained from his son. Glimartin and Wright’s (2007) review asserts the significance of nurses in day surgery activities related to pre-admission assessment, providing information and managing anxiety; communication, pain management, wound infection, nausea and other nursing care (cited by Timmins and McCabe, 2009). Pre-assessment began with assessment of hypertension, eyes, vital signs and general fitness of the patient a week prior to surgery. As per the hospital policy, the patient was given instructions regarding admission time and fasting time on the previous day through phone call. As per doctor’s advice, the patient was asked to continue with his BP medication. At pre-admission, the eyes were tested in a dilated stage to rule out possibilities of other eye severities such as retinitis. As this procedure required small incision, anesthetist spoke to the patient regarding general anesthesia meant for the procedure considering his age and hypertension. Before that, patient’s vital signs including blood pressure and blood sugar were tested, which were found to be in the normal range. Also, a full blood count, chest X-ray and ECG were normal, and previous medical reports were thoroughly checked and verified with current findings. Considering his age, other commonly found medical problems such as diabetes, heart diseases, etc were ruled out. Every clinical procedure should be of high quality and highly effective, which should be practiced in a patient-centered way in partnership with both patient and family (Timmins & McCabe, 2009; p.40). Considering history of hypertension and the patient’s age, the entire procedure was conducted with constant monitoring of the pulse, BP,

Judaism, Kabbalah Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Judaism, Kabbalah - Essay Example This was a period before the Protestant Reformation and the Enlightenment which saw the development of empiricism and science. Thus things were often explained on the basis of spirituality and mysticism. At such a period, the Kabbalah was an important source of explanations in the Jewish community around Europe because it was seen as the authoritative source of interpretation of the Hebrew Bible. And due to the emphasis placed on spirituality, it had a very strong appeal amongst Jews and Christians alike. Kabbalah practiced amongst the Jews in Europe especially in Italy in the Middle Ages mixed principles of Aristotlean philosophy and Sufism in a way that provided a strong body of knowledge in mysticism that was helpful in the interpretation of Christianity and Judaism in that era (Idel 21). This mix gave a practical guide and reasonable system for explaining things in Europe at that time. Due to this feature, it became widely accepted by most people in Middle Age Europe since it gav e explanations to things that the Church was preaching throughout Europe. Although Kabbalah was a Jewish system, the Catholic Church created units within the Church that applied some of the principles of Kabbalah (Idel 22).

Community Health Assessment Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Community Health Assessment - Assignment Example Cambridge Health Alliance (CHA) activities enhance health by collaboratively addressing community health needs. In Cambridge, there exist a strongly established healthcare tradition, community partners, providers and individuals focused at meeting the local healthcare needs. Cambridge is a home to several distinguished hospitals that are ranked top nationally. Medical practitioners occasionally react to quality reports with some bit of suspicion, concerning efforts to estimate quality as thinly cloaked efforts at marketing or cost reduction. Skepticism concerning quality reports is fostered by confusion arising from many report cards, which usually present a bunch of related clinical feedback combined with steps highlighting the use of resources. Nonetheless, medical practitioners should acknowledge the necessity for quality measurement in the United States healthcare. With several facts that accompanied the project, it was not all that easy to access the health facility in terms of gaining access to their medical records as well as gain some information that they felt would expose them to security threats. Organizing the interviewees also posed some challenges since some were not ready to openly share whatever they had in mind regarding their community. Being that some facilities at the community level are situated in different locations, it was a task that involved a lot of movement in order to fill some variables. In the event of moving up and down, time was a factor that saw several days elapse since some scenarios needed to be assessed while the patient visited the facility or when people visited community facilities. Accessing hospital files as well was an issue since it needed the attention of the facility staff to aid in retrieving and accessing the relevant files. Some conclusions that were to be made based on observation were very hard to determine since the respondents themselves did not have

Using Critical Thinking When Believing in Extrasensory Perception Essay

Using Critical Thinking When Believing in Extrasensory Perception (Psychology course) - Essay Example Mike used the success of a fortuitous prediction as a basis to ignore previous failures. Thus, this scenario demonstrates some of the features associated with the fallacy of positive instances. Mike has recalled and relied on a solitary event (the â€Å"hit†), in this case a phone call from his old sweetheart, to justify his assertion that he has extrasensory perception. There is no evidence that Mike can accomplish this feat regularly; indeed, there is no evidence that he has ever done this before. The analysis, therefore, must rest on this single occurrence. The second major characteristic of the fallacy of positive instances is also evident; in this case, for instance, Mike seems to ignore or assign as irrelevant the fact that he was incorrect in predicting the identity of many callers in the past (â€Å"misses†). In this way, Mike is relying on an extraordinarily selective event to assert a larger truth. In this case, his assertion is not justified because he relies on a single hit to the exclusion of many more misses. The romantic attractions of extrasensory perception are present in this scenario. That a psychic can appear in an educational setting, adorned with the trappings of intellectual discipline, and then successfully predict that two students will share the same birthday is impressive. A consequent sense of awe is natural. It is natural because of the statistical improbability of the psychic being correct. This scenario, because of this statistical characteristic, demonstrates the fallacy of innumeracy. The fallacy of innumeracy assumes that individuals may opt to believe that a chance occurrence cannot be explained through any rational means; more particularly, lacking an understanding of statistics or probabilities, people may choose to believe that an event is impossible absent some extrasensory power or insight. This type of fallacy can be applied to this scenario. In this case, there are twenty-four

Buy Anyzone Gold Today Essay Example for Free

Buy Anyzone Gold Today Essay Natural cleaning, Healthy living Air, water, residual agricultural chemicals (pesticides/herbicides) and unpleasant odours (food, bathroom, refrigerator, cigarette smoke and turbid indoor air odours all contribute to our daily toxic load. Most of the solutions developed by industry for ridding ourselves of these pollutants contain additional chemicals, which increase our exposure to potentially harmful chemicals. How Anyzone Gold helps: It’s for the whole family †¢ Disposes harmful bacteria in meat and fish †¢ Removes chemical residue, larva  and pesticides  from vegetables and fruits †¢ Gets rid of unpleasant odor from food Improves skin metabolism and reduces allergy †¢ Removes washing detergent residues and bacteria from household items and utensils †¢ Preserves freshness in food Sterilization and disinfection Germs such as E. coli, colon bacillus, Salmonella, vibrio staphylococcus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa are sterilized and disinfected by strong oxidation reaction. â€Å"Disinfects without using chemical washing or boiling. † Deodorization and air purification Effective in deodorizing refrigerator odours, food odours, indoor odours, bathroom odours and many more. Indoor air, cigarette odours and unpleasant odours are eliminated and turned into refreshing natural air. Air purification cigarette smoke test sight Before use 10 second 20 seconds Pillow Meat, fish, vegetable and fruits Residual agricultural chemical and harmful elements are decomposed through oxidation. Revives freshness and improves flavour. â€Å"Not a single tested pesticide has ever been proven safe. † Professor Dennis Parke, former Chairman of WHO Joint Meeting’s statement on pesticide residues. What is anion and ozone? Anions are electrons with negative electricity, also known as â€Å"vitamins in the air†. Oxygen anions have the capability to eliminate dust, germs and cigarette odours through purification. It is odorless, tasteless and invisible; we could only inhale it in abundance near waterfalls, mountains and oceans. It also helps in maximizing our brain activity. Ozone is composed of 3 oxygen atoms and has a distinctive and peculiar fish-like odour. It is a light blue gas and has strong oxidizing power, used for sterilizing beverages. It decomposes and destroys residual agricultural chemicals on vegetables and fruits through oxidization. It is also used for sterilization of kitchen and baby goods by filtering out harmful components, biological beings and foreign substances. Ozonated water is safe and effective for: †¢ Bathing pets †¢ Regenerating and removing bacteria and parasites form plants. Just water them and/or spray their leaves †¢ Cleaning fish tanks. Drop your ozone nozzle in the water and watch your tank clean itself! Fish are invigorated by ozone water †¢ Eliminating bacteria on kitchen surfaces †¢ Washing hair. Ozone water protects damaged hair, restoring its colour and manageability; PLUS, it is a great treatment for dandruff! Effective treatment for skin problems, including acne, rashes, eczema †¢ Sinus problems †¢ Leucorrhoea, vaginal thrush. Use the water as a douche. †¢ You can set the Anyzone to run while sleeping giving you that mountain/seaside fresh air in your room. Ozonated air is environmentally safe for: †¢ Disinfecting and â€Å"debugging† closets, and cupboards. †¢ Freshening, deodorizing and disinfecting bedding, linens, and clothing. Place linens in plastic bags with ozone nozzle for just a few minutes. It’s so simple! Company Profile †¦ Global Healthy Link Sdn Bhd with its main office in Petaling Jaya is currently actively involved in the distribution of Ozone/ Anion sterilization equipment, health-related products and water filtration system for both household and commercial use. One of our goals is to exceed the expectations of every customer we come in contact with by offering outstanding customer service, value-added functionalities and operational efficiency. GHLSB strives to provide environmental-friendly, safe, durable and reliable products to its valued customers and will not compromise on product and service quality. Our associates are distinguished by their functional and technical expertise combined with their hands-on experience, thereby ensuring that our customers receive the most effective and professional product recommendation and services. We pride ourselves on our proven track record of having hundreds of satisfied customers since the company started operation in 2004. Functions and Effectiveness of Anyzone Gold Anion Ozone Sterilizer Summary †¢ Removes chemical residue and pesticides on vegetables and fruits †¢ Disposes harmful bacteria in meat and fish †¢ Get rids of unpleasant odor from food Expunges parasites and larva on vegetables and fruits †¢ Ozonated water improves skin metabolism and reduces allergy †¢ Removes washing detergent residues and bacteria from household items and utensils †¢ Preserves freshness in food Sterilization †¢ Food – food are exposed to pathogens (illness causing bacteria) and harmful chemicals during the growing per iod and handling †¢ Kitchen sponges and rags – effective as a germicide/ fungicide to destroy germs, molds, bacteria and any microbes. Does not produce chemical residues during cleaning as in other cleaning agents †¢ Utensils and dishes – Salmonella, E. Coli and many pathogens can cause food poisoning, if not properly cleaned. Thus soaking the utensils and dishes in ozonated water can rid these pathogens. †¢ Pets accessories – Bacteria is common in the stool of pets, thus washing the accessories can rid these bacteria †¢ Children toys – If not cleaned and sterilized properly, can lead to illness and infections †¢ Baby’s Utensils – Babies are sensitive to illness, tooth decay and diarrhea if utensils are not properly cleaned especially bottle nipples and pacifiers. Soaking in ozonated water will help destroy bacteria †¢ Medical instruments – Economical way to sterilize equipment Purification †¢ Drinking water – 90% bottled water uses ozone for purification. The taste of Ozonated water is improved. †¢ Fish tanks/ aquariums Ozone can destroy algae and bacteria in fish tank with no harmful effect on the fish. Within 20 minutes, ozone will change back to oxygen, due to the instability of the 3rd oxygen, thus increasing the level of dissolved oxygen, keeping the water clearer and the fish healthier. Work as fridge purifier (reduces fodd spoiling and illnesss) – Ozone destroys food spoiling bacteria and mircroorganisms and organic chemicals, maintaining the freshness of meat and vegetables. †¢ Hot tub, spa and bath water – Ozone is far cheaper than chlorine at destroying bacteria and microorganisms without any adverse effect on sensitive skin †¢ Air purifier – Ozone destroy impurities in th e air such as bacteria, molds, smoke etc. It also reduces dust and other particles because of the negative ions produced as a by product.

Psychology and Pure Entertainment Purposes Essay Example for Free

Psychology and Pure Entertainment Purposes Essay It is a known fact that there is a great diversity of entertainment options. There are many forms of entertainment targeted towards population for different purposes such as educational, informative, or pure entertainment purposes. To begin to talk we would say that as everything, entertainment may be looked whether as a positive or negative thing. Of course, opinions about this topic can be many, depending on the angle we might be looking at it. On the one hand, entertainment is seen as a good thing for society. Referring to television for example and taking the subject from an educational point of view, there are several channels which are mainly about nature and even can provide information about physical phenomena affecting our Earth, things which can be found interesting mostly for children. Nevertheless, television has become a bad influence in the opinion of many people, as there is a lot of perversion and violent things they would prefer not to see. On the other hand, we could take the psychological field. Referring to this topic, entertainment seems to be very positive and relaxing, for example watching television when we get home after a long period of working. It certainly can help to open up our minds and stay calm for a while. However, when it comes to adolescents this can become a bad habit and abusing of its benefits can keep them apart from their obligations and their study. To sum up, I would say that we all enjoy the occasional escape from reality; but more and more entertainment is shoving its way into our world. It’s everywhere we look, we are forced to deviate from the path it leads us down. Entertainment could be a good aspect in our society if we learn how to take control of its advantages and disadvantages.

The Macro Perspective On Basf Chemical Company Commerce Essay

The Macro Perspective On Basf Chemical Company Commerce Essay To start, here is the macro perspective on BASF Chemical Company. BASF is one of the leading chemical companies in the world, like this BASF is influenced by many political and economical factors. Different laws and regulations determine the production of the company. Moreover, the technological factor has hardly influence in this area of chemical production, where the innovations are leading force. In addition, the main mission of the company is to create chemistry for the sustainable future. Consequently, BASF Company has a lot of strategic methods to achieve its goals. This report has some objectives. To start, one of the main objectives of the report is to analyze BASF Company. To show the strengths and opportunities of the company`s future development. On the other hand, this report presents the weaknesses and threats of the company, for which it gives advice to make BASF more successful. In other words, this report aims to gives advice to BASF Company how to improve its internal and external situation. The following information was collected for this report. For collecting of information were used two main research methodologies. First, secondary research was done on micro and macro environment of BASF Company, for which the main source was used internet. Second, the primary research was done by conducting an interview with Mrs. Sengel, who is member of Executive Board of the company. The report has the fallowing structure. In chapter two, BASF Company and its product line are shown. In chapter three, the project`s description and aim are explained. Chapter four of the report is the Theoretical Framework of the report, in which the McKinsey`s seven S model, PEST analysis and SWOT analysis are theoretically described. In chapter five and six, PEST analysis and McKinsey`s seven S model are attached to collected information. PEST analysis is used to analyze BASF`s eternal environment, while the McKinsey`s model is used to analyze BASF`s internal organization. In chapter seven, is shown SWOT analysis based on the collected information. In chapter eight the conclusions based on the analyses are drawn. In chapter nine, recommendations for company improvement are given. In chapter ten, this report is critically appraised. 2. Company description 2.1 General Company Information Here is general information about BASF Company. BASF is the leading chemical company, which chemicals are used in almost all industries. The production of the company is separate in six different segments: Chemicals, Plastics, Performance Products, Functional Solution, Agricultural Solution and Oil Gas. BASF like an International company has 70 global and regional business units around the world. The department in Germany is thoroughly oriented in produce of Performance Products. BASF combine economic success, social responsibility and environment protection. The main mission of the company is to create chemistry for a sustainable future. BASFs 111, 141 employees, located all over the world, help the company to achieve its goals. BASF is market oriented in four main areas: Europe, North America, South America and Asia. In 2011, the most sales are made in Europe and company`s annual turnover amounted to 73, 5 billion Euros. 2.2 Product Description Germany`s department of BSAF has a broad range of products. The main segment is called Performance Products, which includes the fallowing product lines: Dispersions and Pigments, Care Chemicals, Nutrition and Health, Paper Chemicals and Performance Chemicals. The product portfolio of the company in this segment includes vitamins and foods additives, ingredients for pharmaceuticals and for hygiene, home and personal care items. Examples are products for hair care, sun and decorative care, body care, facial and oral care. The company does not offer products to the final client. BASF develop and sale molecules, catalysts and ingredients to the other companies which use this things for manufactures of products for final client. These things are not end- product; they are intermediate products which go to other steps of the production process. 3. Project description This chapter will give project description. The chapter will be separate in tree sub chapters, which will describe project description, project aim and research approach. 3.1 Project description This sub chapter will show the project description. To start, BASF is one of the leading chemical companies on the world market. In this market there is a big competition. Firstly, the future opportunity for the company is to create new products. Secondly, to find new market`s possibilities. Thirdly, one of the most important things in this branch is innovation. On the whole, to achieve its goals, BASF have to understand its own strengths and weaknesses. 3.2. Project aim The purpose of this sub chapter is to explain the project aim. For this project was collected information about external and internal environment of BASF Company. The aim of this project is to understand the company`s situation based on McKinsey 7S analysis, PEST and SWOT analysis and based on it to give recommendations about BASF`s future development. Furthermore, to show BASF`s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. In other words, these are most important factors which describe present situation and future possibilities for one organization. 3.3 Research approach To start, for analysis of BASF Company`s present situation are used two research methods. First, the primary research was done by conducting an interview with Mrs. Sengel, who is member of Executive Board of the company. This information is used for internal analysis of the company. Second, the external environment is analyzed by secondary research method. This includes McKinsey 7S analysis and PEST analysis. Thirdly, the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats are described with use of SWOT analysis. In conclusion, all of collected information is used to give recommendations of the company, about its future development. *The world can be seen in the Glossary 4. Theoretical framework The purpose of chapter four is to show the theoretical framework of internal and external analysis. Hence, the real companys situation will be shown. First, in sub-chapter 4.1 will be shown the internal analysis- McKinsey 7S model. The model include seven elements, which are separated in so called hard S`s Strategy, Structure and Systems and four so called soft S`s Shared Values, Skills, Staff and Style. Second, in 4.2 will be discusse the external PEST analysis. In other words, Political, Economic, Socio-cultural and Technological factors that influence the company will be include. Finally, in 4.3 SWOT- overview of the company will be given. 4.1 Internal analysis Figure 1: McKinsey 7S model 7S.gif Source: 7S strategy software In this paragraph will be shown the so called hard S`s of McKinsey 7S model. Firstly, Strategy describes actions and plans of an organization to achieve specific goals. The external environment influences the company and its strategy. Thus the enterprise prepares to adapt on changes and to determine the right place among customer and competitors. Secondly, Structure describes the hierarchy of the company. It shows the relationships between the people which work in the organization. It can be seen on the organization chart. It always depends from the business strategy, form the business internationalization, size and diversity. The third S from so called hard Ss is Systems. Systems are all procedures which company uses to operate every day. This includes internal and external procedures. Systems are directly related to the Structure and Strategy of the company, because they describe the main practices of the organization to achieve its goals (Cuypers 2010, 3-9). The soft S from McKinsey 7S model, which will be given in this paragraph includes Shared Values, Skills, Staff and Style. Peters and Watermans (1984) argued that shared Values in 7S analysis determine the core guiding principles of the company. Moreover, it refers to what an organization stands for and believes in. Understanding the Shared Values of the company is the easiest way to find the main ideas and goals of the enterprise. To achieve these goals helps Skills. Skills are the unique abilities of the company. Skills describe the capacity and quality of the company in contrast with the competitors. It refers to the learned capability of staff within the company. Very important here is quality of the products and services within the organization. These things are related with the Staff and Style of the company. Staff refers to the number and type of people employed by the company. However, staff describes the processes used to manage the careers of employees. It is related to the Style, because it is directly dependent on the human resources system that manage the way staff is encourage, reward and motivate. Style is the work culture. It is describe the main way in which senior managers run the organization. It is related to the system that influences the procedures in the company. The most important things that style describes are how managers allocated their time, beliefs and their leadership skills. The main factors are the size and the structure of the organization which determines how different departments inside of the company are managed (Spencer, 2011). 4.2 External analysis In the first place, every organization depends on the political factors. Political factors include government regulations and legal issues. The political factors define the structure of the company and the rules under which the company must operated. It depends on the structure, because in the different countries the trade restrictions, tariffs, tax policy and employment laws are not the same (Oxford University Press, 2004). The second factor which directly influences every kind of company or organisation is the economic factor. The economic environment consist different factors, for example income and income distribution, current and project economic growth, inflation and interest rate. This environment can offer to the company both opportunities and threats. Understanding of economic environment determined the company development (Oxford University Press, 2004). Thirdly, the company is influenced by social factors. This lifestyle trends and demographic changes determined the consumer behavior. The main purpose of every company is to understand which exactly are the consumers wants and needs. If social-cultural changes are clear, it is easier for the company to developing strategies and practices to achieve its goals (Oxford University Press, 2004). Finally, in these days, one of most important factors which influence the company is technological environment. This is the most dramatic and the fastest development factor. These are forces that create new technologies, products and market opportunities. In the world of technology, the company has to be open and prepare for new opportunities (Oxford University Press, 2004). 4.3 SWOT According to Berry, the SWOT analysis is an extremely useful tool for understanding and decision-making for all sorts of situations in business and organizations. SWOT is an acronym for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (Berry, 2012). Strengths are internal capabilities that may help the company to reach its objectives; in contrast weaknesses may interfere for that. This includes understanding of the internal environment or the situation inside of the company or organisation. The factors which determined the straightness and weaknesses of the company are tend to be in the present. Factors are relating to products, pricing, quality, staff and processes within the company. With understanding of these factors the company may understand the unique selling proposition and how to improve it (Berry, 2012). Opportunities and threats are related with the external environment which shows the situation outside of the company or organisation. Here, the factors tend have to be in future. Factors here are relating with markets opportunities fashions, trends, seasonability, politics, society, competitors and every other external factor which influence the company. With understanding of opportunities company is able to exploit the external factors to its advantage. Threats are negative factors that may challenge the company`s performance (Berry, 2012). 5. External analysis This chapter explains the external environment analysis PEST. The chapter is divided into four sub charters. Firstly, sub chapter 5.1 will give the Political factors, which influence the BASF Company. Secondly, 5.2 illustrate Economic factors. Thirdly, 5.3 show Social factors. Finally, sub chapter 5.4 analyzes Technological factors which influence the company. 5.1 Political factors There are some political factors, which influence BASF Chemical Company. One of these factors is a common initiative for a sustainable chemicals industry has launched by European Union in 2005 year. This factor has a positive effect on BASF, because the mission of the company is to create chemicals for sustainable future. This political factor gives opportunity to the company to make more innovations with collaboration on European Union. The negative political factor for the company is unfavorable political environment. In European Union there are different laws and regulations about Genno- modified products and some molecule products. For these reason USA is more favorable market for these kinds of products (Thomas, 2005). 5.2 Economical factors One of the results from present credit crisis is reduced consumption of customers. This is strong factor, which influence BASF Company. It makes the future more unstable and precariously. Only the best companies with the best products could keep their market`s place. The second economic factor which influences BASF is increasing energy prices. It is negative because it could damage chemicals industry competitiveness further. On the other hand, there is increasing competition from new economic powers, such as China. To avoid these negative factors, BASF Company could orientate to different markets, such as Africa and Middle East (Thomas, 2005). 5.3 Social factors In chemical`s industry is very complicated to find new well educated faces. The reason is the fact that young people choose other careers in different branch. Young talents in chemical`s branch, which are well educated require very high remuneration and good working conditions. BASF Company is working to improve matters. Flexible working time is one of decisions of the problem. On this way could be attached qualified labour (Thomas, 2005). 5.4 Technological factors For BASF Company the technological innovations are very important. The main reason is that technological innovations gives opportunity to the company to make products better, and to add new products in company`s portfolio. The company is focus of solutions for sustainable future, and definitely innovations are the key point for it. At all, the global technology platforms act as partners in product development (Thomas, 2005). 6. Internal analysis 6.1 McKinsey seven S framework To start, for BASF like as world`s leading chemistry company is very important to strengthen its position on the market. To achieve this goal, company has to focus their business on customer`s needs and demands. In chemistry market, and for company, which do not produce product for the final consumer is required to focus on innovation, to create new products and functionalized materials, and to find new solutions for more sustainable future. These things are very important too, for the other aim of the company, which is to increase year`s profit with average four percent per year, and to grow two percentage points faster than global chemical production (Interview, Appendix 1) (BASF, 2012). The structure of BASF Company is a Matrix structure. The Matrix organizational structure divides authority both by functional area and project area. In BASF there is Board of Executive Directors which consist eight members. They are responsible for the management of the company. The Board of Executive Directors regularly reports to The Supervisory Board. Supervisory Board consist 12 members, six shareholders representative elected by the Annual meeting and six members appointed by the representative body of the employees. Every country and every different department in BASF Company has a chief, who are supervise from the Chairman of the management board Kurt Bock (Interview, Appendix 1) (BASF, 2012). The company systems are very important for the business and for good done work. BASF has an own marketing department in every country where the company is located. In addition, they have supporting marketing agency outside the company, which helps them to develop the motives and the way BASF wants to present itself to the customers. Like a chemicals company, BASF use only trait media for advertising home personal care magazines or euro- cosmetic magazine, which are special magazines for cosmetic market. To exist and to be successful a big company like BASF is necessary to have fixed rules and good communication between different departments. Primary method within the company to discuss the problems and development in the market are manager`s meetings. The complicated structure of the company determined the need from daily meetings of the leader figures in the organization, much that the other companies (Interview, Appendix 1) (BASF, 2012). One of BASF`s goals is to make rules and system more common in the different countries. The leader style in the company allows to employees to share their ideas about innovations. Every idea on issue placed by some of employees is consider, but the main decision is always taken by The Supervisory Board. In the same time, the management style is people oriented, one of the most important things for the company is to understand consumer needs, and to create values for them (Interview, Appendix 1) (BASF, 2012). BASF is company with almost 200Â  000 employees. Every day in Germany for BASF works 54Â  000 employees. They work in different departments but the responsibility for their work is taken by managers of every department. There are a lot of frameworks and guides which are coming from the central department, and which are common for every employee. The employees have to respect the rules and framework given by the main department. Rewards and warnings in the company depend from Human Resource Department. There is not something special within the company, they fallow the legal system. Every employee has a set of target which is called employee dialogue. This makes management style in the company open for ideas from employees. Employee dialogue gives opportunity to employees to talk about the goals which they are achieving in the year and to share new ideas. The incentive system in the company is connected with reward as money bonuses for well done job (Interview, Appendix 1) (BASF, 201 2). BASF Company, as company which do not produce product for the final customers, it is very important to makes products better, healthier and safer than competitors. The reason is that the end consumer never seen and could not understand that BASF Company is better than competitors, and cannot contrast them. The most important thing for the company are innovations, this is the only way that company can be unique and distinctive from competitors. The Company spending a lot of money every year to make research, which helps to find new opportunities for development. In the same time, the company makes everything possible to have products which are already developed and to make them successful on the market. The main question for BASF is to understand better than competitors what are exactly consumer`s needs and to be ready to satisfy these needs on time (Interview, Appendix 1) (BASF, 2012). The core value of BASF is to create chemistry for sustainable future. To achieve its goals BASF tries to be a company with innovative products, intelligent solution of problems and good service departments. The company strives to be the world most widespread supplier in the chemical industry and to generate high return of its assets. It wants to reach these intentions without harming the environment and nature (Interview, Appendix 1) (BASF, 2012). 6.2 Interconnection of the seven S To start, for BASF like as world`s leading chemistry company is very important to strengthen its position on the market. For achieve its goal for the Company is necessary to make its products better than competition and to has high quality of its services. For this helps The Matrix organisational structure and the management style of BASF, which is people oriented oriented to understand customers needs. The company is focus on innovations and every decision for a new idea is taken by The Supervisory Board. For the company`s success is important to have good communication between the different departments and to have fixed rules. In BASF this is achieve with regular meetings of The Board of Executive Directors. The company strives to be the world most widespread supplier in the chemical industry and to generate high return of its assets. For these goals, company has to employ highly qualified staff. Moreover, the leader system of the company is focuses to encourage the employees to share their new ideas. For this, the company use so called Employee dialogue. On the other hand, the company has to invest in researches. The RD department is responsible to find new market opportunities for BASF. The main mission of BASF is to create chemicals for sustainable future. For this goal helps the good organisation structure, cooperation between departments. On the other hand, very important are employees and the way they are managed. Very important are innovations and the style of the company. All of these things determined the current situation of the company and its future position and development of the market. 7. SWOT overview First, BASF Company is one of the leading chemicals company in the world. This factor gives chance to the company, to manage the big part of the market and to have hard influence on smaller chemicals companies. Moreover, as so international and big company BASF has a lot of production sides around the world. One of the company`s strengths are production sides, so called Verbund sides. These sides have really good conglomerates of the production. This conglomeration allows, every kind of product produced within the company, to be used in the most efficient way. Different materials produced in one department of the company, can be used in another one, which means that the BASF Company produce raw materials which use in its own production. Besides, this allows to the company, to produce a lot of different materials and products, to make innovations in this sector and to create more value for the customers than competitors (YouSigma 2011). Second, BASF Company has a huge profit in the last year. Nevertheless, in the last few years is observed declining earnings in several business segments, which is one of the company`s weakness. There are several reasons about this fact. The firs reason, is one of the company threats, is the Economic slowdown in the European Union Region, which is due of the present credit crisis. The credit crisis in these days covers and influence, both small and in the same way huge companies like BASF. The other reason is that people in European Union have possibility to choose between hundred different products. Here the competition is really strong and the market in Europe is developed till maximum. One of company opportunities is to rising commodity chemicals market in regions like Africa, Asia Pacific and Middle East. These are the growth regions of the future, for almost every kind of industry, because the growth rate of profit in future in European countries would not be so high. The other o pportunity for the company is always to develop new products and new ideas (YouSigma 2011). Figure 2: SWOT analysis table Location of factor Favorable Unfavorable Internal Strengths Leading chemical company Concept of Verbund Variety of products Weaknesses Decrease earning in some countries Less expenditure for RD External Opportunities Product innovations Expand the business in Africa, Asia and Middle East Threats Laws and regulations Economic slowdown in European Union 8. Conclusion BASF is international company, which is leader in chemical market. The company production is separated in six different departments and its market is oriented in four main regions. The department of the company which is located in Germany is oriented primly in production of Performance products products for personal care. Moreover, the main mission of the company is to keep its position on the market and to create products for sustainable future. For understanding the present situation of the company was collected information, based on it was made analysis for internal and external environment of the BASF Company. In this report, BASF Company was analyzed. For this analysis were used McKinsey 7 S model for internal environment of the company. The weaknesses, strengths, opportunities and threats were analyzed based on SWOT analysis of BASF. Based on these analyses it was found that the company has well conducted Matrix Structure and good working management style. Nevertheless, global company like BASF is difficult to manage and demand strict rules and frameworks for the employees. On the other hand, the company produces intermediates, which are used from other manufacture companies to produce final products. For these reason, the final customer is not always informed for the quality of BASF`s products. This is the main fact, that one of the most important things for the company is innovations. Certainly, the innovations and development are the company`s main mission. For this mission helps quality R D and marketing department. The conglomeration of the different departments is one of company`s strength. For understanding of BASF`s external environment was used PEST analysis. It was found that, there are different political, economical, social-cultural and technological factors which influence the company. One of negative factors is different laws and regulations, which limited the production of Genno- modified products and some molecule products in European Union. In the same way, negatives factors which influence the company are increasing price of the electricity in these days, and increasing competition from countries such China. But at the same time, the European Union gives opportunity for innovations, which is positive political factor for the company. In conclusion, the company is focus to produce products and to find solutions for sustainable future. Understanding of internal and external environment is the main factor for achieve its goal. 9. Recommendation In this report BASF Chemical Company was analyzed. Based on these analysis was determine the opportunities, threats, strength and weaknesses of the company. Moreover, the internal and external environment of the company was analyzed. Based on this information, this report gives recommendations of BASF how to take advantage of its opportunities. Firstly, BASF Company can be better than competition if it makes more innovations. This is possible with collaboration of RD and marketing department. The company has to be open for new ideas and to search for people who are useful for it. Moreover, the opportunity for the company is to rising commodity chemicals market in regions like Africa, Asia Pacific and Middle East. On this way, BASF will continue to develop the business and to retain its position on the market. Secondly, one of BASF`s mission is to make its management systems more common for every company`s department in the world. For this mission the company has to create more strictly rules and frameworks, which a common for every employee. Furthermore, BASF have to keep the good communication within departments. Finally, BASF Company have to invest more in research about customer`s needs. This is the best way to strengthen its position on the market. The most important thing for one company is to know exactly customers demands and to make everything possible to create products better than competitors. 10. Critical appraisal Firstly, the information collected for the external environment of the company PEST analysis, was very less. There were not interview questions about PEST analysis. For this reason, was very difficult to determine the current external environment of the company and factors which influenced it. Secondly, BASF Company is huge company for which is easy to find a lot of information. It is difficult to determine which of the information is really important. Moreover, the time for writing the report was limited and the interview was conducted late. It is very difficult with so much information to find the right source. To close, it is necessary to be more prepare with the information for this kind of report.

Nonprofit Organizations Essays -- Papers Not for Profit Business Essay

Nonprofit Organizations I. Introduction: Why do Nonprofit organizations exist and what do they do. II. Planning in Nonprofit organizations 1. The importance of planning 2. Steps in planning a. setting goals b. identifying the needs of those whom the goals will serve c. developing and defining specific role and mission of organization d. specific organizational objectives e. setting priorities f. measuring results III. Budgeting Nonprofit organizations 1. Importance of budgeting 2. Steps in budget process a.defining mission objectives b.projecting expenditures based on available revenues c.reporting and control IV. Funding Nonprofit organizations 1. How Nonprofit organization get their money. V. Managing Nonprofit organizations 1. Total Quality Management VI. Summary The non-profit sector is based on two philosophical concepts: voluntarism and market failure economies. Voluntarism is applied ethics, moral philosophy and action for the benefit of the public, and market failure economics explains the existence of non-profits. The government simply cannot provide or perform services for everyone. Non-profit organizations are everywhere. Wherever there are people there are non-profit organizations. Non-profit, or Not-for-Profit organizations exist to perform or provide services. Whether provided by a public organization or agency, or a private organization or agency, they serve a purpose. Government, educational institutions, community organizations and health care facilities are all examples of non-profit organizations. They are very different in size, some are small neighborhood grassroots organizations with only a few employees and little mo... ... four functions of non-profit organizations are extremely important for the survival and future of an organization, and for the quality of services to be provided by an organization. Bibliography: 1. Gies, David L., Ott, J. Stephen, Shafritz, Jay M. The Nonprofit Organization: Essential Readings. California: Brooks/Cole, 1990. 2. Grayson, Leslie E., Tompkins, Curtis J.. Management of Public Sector and Nonprofit Organizations. Reston, Virginia: Reston Publishing Co., 1984. 3. Herman, Robert D. The Jossey-Bass Handbook of Nonprofit Leadership and Management. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass publishers, 1994. 4. Lee, James C. Do or Die: Survival for Nonprofits. Washington D.C.: Taft Products, Inc. 1974 5. Powell, James Lawrence. Pathways to Leadership: How to Achieve and Sustain Success. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass publishers, 1995

Use of Logos, Ethos and Pathos by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. :: I Have A Dream Speech

Alleged by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in his â€Å"I Have A Dream† speech on August 28, 1963 at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. Dr. King said â€Å"This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness†. Meaning there shall be equality between one another. Dr. King grew up around pastors in a Baptist Church, so when he gave his speeches he sounded like a preacher. He was a well-educated person who graduated from Boston University and received his Doctorate degree. Plus he was a strong worker for civil rights for members of his race. Being a strong worker and having knowledge of civil rights made him more of a confident and convincing speaker. Therefore, In Dr. King’s â€Å"I Have A Dream† speech, he pointed out to African Americans, that in the near future the African Americans would have equal rights and liberty like all the other Caucasians have. In this speech I have found Dr. King using logos, ethos, and pathos to get his attention across about equality and to make his speech sound more effective. Out of the three rhetorical appeals I have found that Dr. King used ethos the most predominately followed by the second most effective, pathos, and how King is a convincing speaker to his audience. Dr. King announced the â€Å"I Have A Dream† speech in front of 200,000 African American families and to a few Caucasians who were at the scene of his speech. Dr. King’s speech was mainly addressed to the African Americans, to explain one day there will be equality in all Caucasians and other ethnicities such as; Hispanics, Native Americans and Asian Americans. Therefore at the time of his speech, his audiences were to the 200,000 people who attended the speech but he was also referring to all other ethnicities as well. To his audience for example, he said as the future years pass, the hardship they are going through would pay off for the future children. For example, in his speech he said, â€Å"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be jugged by the color of their skin but by their content of character. Use of Logos, Ethos and Pathos by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. :: I Have A Dream Speech Alleged by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in his â€Å"I Have A Dream† speech on August 28, 1963 at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. Dr. King said â€Å"This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness†. Meaning there shall be equality between one another. Dr. King grew up around pastors in a Baptist Church, so when he gave his speeches he sounded like a preacher. He was a well-educated person who graduated from Boston University and received his Doctorate degree. Plus he was a strong worker for civil rights for members of his race. Being a strong worker and having knowledge of civil rights made him more of a confident and convincing speaker. Therefore, In Dr. King’s â€Å"I Have A Dream† speech, he pointed out to African Americans, that in the near future the African Americans would have equal rights and liberty like all the other Caucasians have. In this speech I have found Dr. King using logos, ethos, and pathos to get his attention across about equality and to make his speech sound more effective. Out of the three rhetorical appeals I have found that Dr. King used ethos the most predominately followed by the second most effective, pathos, and how King is a convincing speaker to his audience. Dr. King announced the â€Å"I Have A Dream† speech in front of 200,000 African American families and to a few Caucasians who were at the scene of his speech. Dr. King’s speech was mainly addressed to the African Americans, to explain one day there will be equality in all Caucasians and other ethnicities such as; Hispanics, Native Americans and Asian Americans. Therefore at the time of his speech, his audiences were to the 200,000 people who attended the speech but he was also referring to all other ethnicities as well. To his audience for example, he said as the future years pass, the hardship they are going through would pay off for the future children. For example, in his speech he said, â€Å"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be jugged by the color of their skin but by their content of character.

Pulp Fiction Essay -- essays papers

Pulp Fiction The puzzle pieces are carefully fitted together as director Quentin Tarantino intermingles three different story lines in his hit movie Pulp Fiction. The movie begins in a quiet little diner as two petty robbers discuss their next mission. The mission in question involves two lovebirds (Amanda Plummer and Tim Roth) holding up unsuspecting restaurants, instead of their usual liquor stores. As their plan falls into action, time alters and we find ourselves riding down the street with Vincent and Jules John Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson), two hit men on their way to work. As the men travel to work they discuss such worldly things as gourmet food, like the "Royale with cheese", and the sexual innuendoes involved when one gives a foot massage. These two intellects do the dirty work for the infamous Marsellus Wallace (Ving Rhames). Due to Wallace's lifestyle, the movie branches off into three separate stories. The first tale begins when Wallace has some overnight business he must attend to. While gone, he leaves Vincent in charge of entertaining his beautiful wife Mia (Uma Thurman). After a surprisingly pleasant evening of dinner and dancing, Vincent must revive Mia after her abusive episode with heroin. The second adventure involves Wallace and a washed-up boxer, Butch, portrayed by Bruce Willis. Wallace gives Butch a substantial amount of money to throw a fight. After receiving the cash Butch decides to double-cross a double-crosser. The final episode revolves around Vincent's accidental murder of a young black in the back seat of Jules' car. This hilarious scene develops when Jules is forced to ask the "Wolf" (Harvey Keitel) to act as a clean-up man. As the 2 ½-hour movie unfolds, one must keep very alert and place the pieces together just right to complete the final picture. Before Tarantino begins his clip, he attempts to focus the audience by quoting two dictionary definitions of pulp. "The first one is literal: the second is the figurative usage, derived from magazines of the past that were published on cheap pulp paper and specialized in lurid fiction of several genres" (Kauffmann 26). With the making of his Cannes Film Festival winner, Tarantino changes all the rules restricting genre. "Tarantino has lifted up the dark rock of crime cliche and found a brilliantly colorful world thriving undern... ...r night out on the town with Vincent. Vincent also feels a sense of responsibility for Mia because of his relationship with Wallace. Even Wallace's enemy, Butch, goes out of his way to save Wallace from being "man-handled". Since Wallace's faith is only in those he has control over, loyalty appears to have a price. Because Tarantino's film Pulp Fiction branches off into several separate stories, one must concentrate hard to get the full affect of his work. With great talent he blends three main scenarios and several sub-plots into one full-length movie. Once completed he tosses in chaos, and ready to serve is an award winning film. Bibliography: Ansen, David. â€Å"The Redemption of Pulp.† Newsweek 124. (October 10, 1994): 71. Ansen, David and Charles Fleming. â€Å"A Tough Guy Takes Cannes.† Newsweek 123. (June 6, 1994): 79. Corliss, Richard. â€Å"A Blast to the Heart.† Time 143. (June 6, 1994): 73. Johnson, Brian D. â€Å"Making Crime Play.† Maclean’s 107. (October 24, 1994): 57-8. Kauffmann, Stanley. â€Å"Shooting Up.† The New Republic 211. (November 14, 1994): 26-7. Travers, Peter. â€Å"Movies Tarantino’s Twist.† Rolling Stone. (October 6, 1994): 79-81.

Project Management Regency Plaza

Table of ContentsPage 1. Executive Summary (207 words) 2. Introduction (280 words) 3. Project Definition Phase (949 words) 3. 1Problems Encountered during the Project 4. The Project Manager (790 words) 4. 1Assessment of Kris Hodgkins 5. Risk Management (938 words) 5. 1Evaluating Risk Management 6. Miller’s Dilemma (821 words) 7. Final Discussion (398 words) 8. Conclusion (142 words) 9. Appendix 10. References 1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Being a successful hotel operator, the Regency Hotel Group (RHG) has the experience, the resources as well as the capability of managing the Regency Plaza Project. So the question is, why has the project been dogged by various problems? From slow sales growth, unhappy customers to increasing costs, internal conflict as well as work delays, the list is extensive. One major reason for this appears to be poor planning. With proper planning and project management in place, scheduling and coordination is made much easier. Any arising problems could be identified and resolved which would lead to less time and money spent on rectification. This would in turn enable more time and resources to be spent on the refinement of the works which would result in the completion and success of the project. The RHG has established a reputation and a brand name associated with good service, luxury and an extensive range of amenities. Failure or even further delays on this project would be detrimental to their reputation. This goes to show the importance of project management in relation to the organization’s strategic mission. This report will assess how the Regency Plaza project was managed and implications for future project managers to take note of. 2. Introduction Lewis (2005; P23) mentioned that haste makes waste and it is very true. But in the â€Å"hurry up and get it done world†, there is little patience with â€Å"wasting time† on all that planning. The result? Rework and rectification, which is 100 percent waste. Experts estimated that one-third of the cost of the average project goes to correcting errors through reworks. Having said the above, there is still no flawless project process. Why is that so? This is because we are all human beings, and human beings tend to make mistakes. In situations where time, cost and resources are of special concern, project anagers tend to make more irrational decisions, resulting in more re-work. The Regency Plaza case study is a key example. So how can these errors be minimized? What projects managers can do to minimize these errors is to ensure that there is proper planning, project design and project management. Projects are stepping stones of corporate strategy and its success is the lifeblood of every organization RHG is well known for her luxurious fitt ings and high service quality in the hotel industry. The Regency Plaza project was formulated using this strategy in the challenging market environment. The role of the project manager (which in this case is Hodgkins), is to take responsibility for the overall success of the project. However, this is not seen in the Regency Plaza project. As indicated, this project has been racked with many uncertainties. This essay will evaluate the following: 1) The Project Definition Phase of Regency Plaza, 2) The Role of the Project Manager, 3) The Overall Risk Assessment, and lastly 4) The Implications for the Project Manager facilitating the pace of the project. 3. Project Definition Phase The overall project definition phrase goes according to the following cycle diagram which shows the interrelationship between the 3 stages of project definition. Goals RHG had a clear goal in mind of what they wanted to achieve in this project development; that is, to develop Regency Plaza. This is their first attempt venturing into building luxury condominiums units together with hotel rooms. The financial aim was to earn projected gross profits of $134. 4 million and net profits of $26 million. In the development of Regency Plaza Project, luxury condominium units are also included. The management failed to take into account the fact that they are venturing into a new business territory involving long-term residential condominium units. Hotel guests and condominium residents have different levels of expectations not to mention the fact that the Regency Plaza is a luxury development. While being established and successful in their main business is good, perhaps this has also contributed to the over-confidence of the management and their failure to set appropriate realistic goals. A project priority matrix was first developed to identify the various levels of project priorities in terms of time, performance and cost which interelate to the goals set. Project Priority Matrix | | | | | | | | | | | | This would signify the following for the Regency Plaza Project: ? If the project is behind schedule, there will be a reduction in the completion time in order to successfully market the product ? If the project is behind schedule, cost budget will be increased to speed up work ? The original specifications fixed cannot be compromised Specifications When the project management team under the leadership of project manager Hodgkins was set-up by RHG management, plentiful amounts of information/data/specifications was provided. It was a tough period for Hodgkins as she needed to undertake many decisions of deciding on the project’s main specifications. For instance; she had to decide on the number of units that would be offered when the project was completed. From RHG’s perspective, obtaining the maximum profit from the 96 units would be deemed as a wise decision, whereas considering the duration and deadline of the project, choosing to build more units would be tedious not only in terms of planning and meeting deadlines but also with regards to cost in terms of materials. At the same time, one of the key strategies of the development was allowing buyers the option of customising their units. As such, the decision to opt for more units is a core decision which would greatly affect the project’s main specifications whereby the rest of the specifications that follow would be affected as well. Tasks and Responsibilities As ambitious as RHG may be, following the concept development, they not only left key decisions but also the majority of the project responsibilities and decision-making power to Hodgkins. However, this fact was not communicated to the rest of the project participants, resulting in many individuals influencing the project manager’s decision. RHG management had failed to organize the task and responsibilities in a systematic manner where there is proper information dissemination and a tight chain of command. The management also failed to supervise and maintain a series of checks and control for the entire project. It was also noted that the management had a different project team working on the hotel but the same contractor. It is essential that both teams work closely as any delay by either party would impact on the other as could be seen when construction slowed down on the hotel nearing the completion date due to issues with the condominium units. Conflict and unhappiness with the contractor and vice-versa also impacted the other. Decision making process hindered by too many parties pic] 1. Problems Encountered during the Regency Plaza Project Unable To Complete Before Scheduled Time In the case of the Regency Plaza Project, the hiccup encountered by the project manager was behind schedule If a clear and sufficient time frame was pre-planned in the project definition phrase, the possibility of such a problem occurring would be greatly reduced. The project manager had failed to allocat e and include an amount of time/duration into the entire project duration as a contingency plan to rely on in the event of phrase failure or delays.. In the initial tender stage with the contractor, the lowest bid selected and the selected contractor was persuaded to cut off 3 months from their target date. This was agreed with the understanding that the timeline was tight but with minimal changes and disruptions, the time line could still be met. With this in mind, the project manager should note that no disruptions or delays could be tolerated. There also appears to be a lack of proper checks and progress updates, as if this was present, the problem would be flagged earlier on and measures to resolve this could be established. Decision making hindered by multiple stake holders The decision-making process, right from the conceptualisation stage had to go through tedious discussions with the stakeholders. The nature of the project itself, with two separate project teams (hotel and condo) as well as the customisation element, meant that while the responsibility laid with Hodgkins and she was tasked to make major decisions, she had difficulty doing so as she needed to accommodate and take the various stakeholders into consideration while trying to obtain the optimum profit/benefits. If the major decision maker has been determined during the project definition phrase, a systematic flow utilising the decision making matrix should be used to avoid the problem of too many decision-makers. 4. the Project Manager The role of the project manager involves integrating, planning, organizing, controlling and leading. Hodgkins needs to be able to properly communicate and combine the crossing points of functional departments, the subcontractors and other stakeholders. In the initial planning stage, Hodgkins needs to identify the task each stakeholder is involved in and the targeted completion deadline. This will provide a better picture of the resources availabile at each stage of the project. Hodgkins is required to manage and organize the project team that was put together for her by Regency. This controlling role requires the project manager to plan out the objectives and processes required to reach the end goal. Following which, the assigned processes need to be implemented and at various stages, the results need to be tracked and tallied to ensure that the expected outcomes are reached. Lastly, project manager must be flexible and react decisively. There is a eed to constantly keep track and analyze the cause of any differences and re-evaluate the whole process and make the necessary changes. A project manager should lead by example as it is a highly visible management style that will build and sustain cooperative relationships. The skills required as a project manager would be as follow; 1. Good communication ensures that valuable information related to the project status is provided in a timely and effective manner. 2. Ability to work as a team will allow team members to understand their roles and responsibilities on the project and work collaboratively. 3. Listening skills is important because good listening skills is needed to truly hear and try to understand what others on the project are trying to say 4. Planning skills will help the project manager provide each functional department a clearing schedule of their work. 5. Persuasion techniques – influencing without direct authority and obtaining win-win situations 4. 1Assessment of Kris Hodgkins Hodgkins dismissed Farley’s, a renowned condominium marketing consultant, suggestion on building larger but less units. Her focus was to hit the projected sales targets and failed to consider the merits of Fraley’s suggestion. She also realized that customization had disrupted the completion of the project, but did not try to persuade the management on giving up the idea. If she had done so with the evidence of the increase in cost, wastage of materials and potential complaints from customers that may likely lead to damages to the company’s reputation, the management may have reconsidered their commitment. Hodgkins choose not to discuss with the buyers about the option on customizing individual units, as she felt that most of the customizing could only be done after the building was completed. This resulted in the wasting of materials and resources as the base design that was constructed had to be ripped out and rebuilt according to the buyers’ changes. This has also resulted in a delay in the work flow because with incomplete drawings the main contractors are not able to get accurate quotes from the subcontractors. By not processing and disseminating vital information promptly, miscommunication occurs, the work process is lengthened and the pressure is placed on the final recipient. A key example of this is the situation where Hodgkins only delivers sketches from the interior designer to O’Brian and Sinclair when she had the time. An instance where miscommunication results is when Hodgkins never explains to Helen Miller that the reason why the bills she received are so expensive is because of the complexity of the work and the incomplete design provided by Susan Randolph. Incomplete control and bad planning where there is no proper task breakdown structure in place resulted in continual changes to design even while the opening date is closing in. This causes the already tight timeline to be stretched even further, not to mention the fluctuation in manpower, increasing costs and subsequent further delay to the project. As mentioned earlier, the two project managers from Regency are working as different entities although the main objective is for the building to be completed sooner. Furthermore when Hodgkins realize that sales was not doing very well, she did not discuss with Farley and the sales staff on ways to improve sales figure. It can be concluded that Hodgkins is not a good project manager. She failed to communicate vital information to the stakeholders. She was given a team to help on the sales but did not make good use of it. It was only till things were getting out of hand that she called for a meeting. If she had done so earlier, this would have reduced the amount of time and resources wasted. There is also evidence of poor control and checks, bad planning and a refusal to address issues and update management of problems. 5. Risk Management The Risk Management Process consists of four stages which are elaborated below; 5. 1Stage 1: Identify – Risk Identification Identification ensures that actions and contingencies are focused upon specific risks. Actions may then be developed to specifically target this risk and attempt to reduce its impact. Risk Breakdown Structure i. Complexity – The strategy of customisation of condominium units resulted in the delay of the project’s completion. Hodgkins did not identify and assess such risks when she took on this project. If she had done so, it would have allowed her to factor this in when assessing the contractors and costs and would also have given her ample time to develop choices of strategy to tackle the problem. ii. Subcontractors – Time was an issue during the designing process when making alterations to the condominium. This would have been acceptable if the issue had been addressed at the beginning and contingency plans were made. But Hodgkins preferred to take the chance of hoping customers would settle for what was given instead. This was a curious decision that she made in view of the fact that customisation was a selling point for the condos and the target market consisted of wealthy couples who were likely to have higher expectations and would want something personalised and unique. It would not be surprising and would in fact be expected that they would opt for customisation despite the additional cost to them. This judgement error by Hodgkins resulted in problems with regards to work schedules and budgets. Once alterations were required, the process of designing these changes would take weeks. This placed a lot of pressure on the contractors. iii. Construction Management – Due to the customization option available to the buyers, Hodgkins was required to ensure proper management of the overall construction of the project. Any delay on any aspect of the project, eg the delay in completing floors would have a chain effect and cause delays to other parts of the project (i. . the Millers’ case) and result in additional costs. While the buyers are willing to pay for the cost of alterations that they have made, the extra costs associated with the delaying of the entire project would not be their responsibility. Due to the fact that the contract between RHG and the contractors was a fixed sum contract, as such the contractors would be extremely cautious of committing to anything. 2. Stage 2: Analyse – Risk Assessments Rank risks according to the likelihood that the risk will occur and also the severity of its occurrence. The ranking is usually done using words such as ‘Severe’ or ‘Highly/Likely’ which are then linked to numerical values that can be multiplied together. The results can then be ranked, with the highest number the one which most requires attention. For Regency Plaza Project, the major potential risks are plotted below Risk Management Assessment Matrix | | | |Contractors- Time Length | | | | |Complexity |Construction Management | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 5 4 Likelihood 3 2 1 1 2 3 4 5 Impact Red zone–Major Risk Yellow zone-Moderate risk Green zone–Minor risk 5. 3Stage 3: Planning – Risk Response Development Risks cannot be ignored. They may be tolerated, treated, transferred to another party or terminated. Below are some plans that can be used to tackle the major risks: i. Complexity – Solutions of strategy to reduce possible risk damage will be accepting the recommendation offered by Farley on building larger units. If Farley’s recommendation had been taken up, the risk of complexity will be reduced due as there will be lesser buyers and conversely less complications and liaison required. This will result in lesser probability of alterations and the progress of the project can be increased tremendously, while additional cost due to delays is avoided. In terms of the consideration of revenue, bigger units can be priced higher thereby making up for the lesser units. Another alternative will be as mentioned before, if Hodgkins had identified the risk of complexity upon taking up this project, she will then have the necessary time to plan out and tackle the source of this risk. Other than factoring in sufficient contingency time, she would also be able to appeal to management and stakeholder to lengthen the time scheduled for completion. This additional time would enable additional marketing of the units and possible recommendations from satisfied buyers which would assist in the slow sales. ii. Subcontractors – If the issue had been tackled earlier then a visible framework could have been set up with adequate and fixed deadlines that would cause little or no problems to the contractors and allow the changes to be made before critical areas of the condominiums were constructed. This difference would also help avoid the majority of complaints from customers regarding delays and slow service. iii. Construction Management – This again could have been planned more effectively if the scope of change had been correctly defined and agreed at an earlier date, allowing for more efficient use of resources and better planning. 5. 4Step 4: Management – Risk Response Control Hodgkins should monitor the project progression, do an extensive risk assessment, anticipate possible risks and handle unforeseen new risks. All these should be updated to project team members and stakeholders during regular meetings. Problems should be embraced and resolved and not concealed and denied. All the team members should be encouraged to identify problems, mistakes and new risks, and ensure that constant communication and information flow amongst the project members. Hodgkins should also make an effort to communicate and highlight issues specifically to the hotel project team who will be directly affected by any problems on the condominium project. 6. Miller’s Dilemma In view of the Millers’ predicament, Hodgkins was found to be trapped in a tight spot with only five options to consider. Option 1: The first option of telling the Millers that it was too late to customize the unit would have a disastrous impact. The buyer-seller relationship and reputation of Regency Plaza and its management would be put at stake if the Millers, who are active and influential members of the Boston social circles, were to spread the information amongst their social circle (who are the potential target market of this project). Even if the Millers decide to undertake this option, extra time and coordination would be required as changes to the unit might involve shutting down the entire floor, hindering construction on other units and causing further delay to work schedules. At the same time, the positive effect of this option might not be beneficial to Hodgkins either as it may make no significant impact on the already delayed work schedule. Option 2: The second option would involve pushing through the changes. This would reduce the amount of demolition work required and keep the Millers satisfied. However, on a macro view, putting the unit on hold would delay schedules and have impact on both direct and indirect costs, eg delaying the hotel project and thereby the loss of possible income from occupancy. Should the Millers decide to draw out this option and the changes take a longer time, the cost liability during the holding phase would be a grey area which would add on to the complexity of the problem. Option 3: The third option to hire a small general contractor to finish the unit before closing may not resolve the Millers’ problems. Extra overhead expenses would be extremely expensive and it would be tedious for Hodgkins to handle two general contractors. The possibility of conflicts and disagreements on roles and responsibilities might arise between the different groups of contractors, adding complexity and delay to the project. This may also impact the morale of worker in Kelly Construction thereby impacting quality of work. But the advantage of hiring small contractors could be beneficial looking at it from a microscopic view. Changes to the Millers’ unit could be accomplished while works on other units could be carried out concurrently. This would allow works to be completed and costs would not be borne by Kelly Construction which would minimise any other inconvenience. On hindsight, this option might be appealing to the Millers as well as they could get their unit on time. But, the price of satisfying the Millers by increasing management expenses significantly may be too great for Hodgkins to justify paying for. Option 4: The fourth option involves stopping work and handing over an empty unit. The advantage of this approach will be that the Millers could finish the unit at their own convenience while works on other units could be done concurrently. However, Hodgkins could still be trapped in the dilemma if she were to execute this approach. On top of the fact that the costs have already been incurred and work would need to be undone, the bank’s unwillingness to lend money could add on to the Millers’ frustration, which could be extremely unfavorable to the reputation of RHG. Regency would also lose control over the project and may be forced to deal with other occupants who want this option. In a construction sense, there may be future issues with works to units done by external contractors. Option 5: In general, the last option of moving the Millers to a different unit on a higher floor would be a more feasible and win-win alternative. It would generate the least negative impact on both time and cost. Most importantly, all parties – the Millers, Kelly Construction, Susan Randolph, Hodgkins and even the RHG, could benefit from this approach. A higher floor unit is of a higher value. Offering to move the Millers there (it is of course recommended that RHG absorbs the price difference), would help to â€Å"compensate† the Millers for any inconvenience caused. This move would be a positive long-term investment in exchange for the satisfaction of the Millers and sustainability of the positive impression for RHG. Likewise, moving the Millers to a higher floor in which interior work had not yet started would buy additional time for the contractors as no demolition work is required. There would be no wastage of materials and significant cost savings would be anticipated. Susan Randolph would also have a larger time frame to make changes to the designs while cost assessment and approval could be done concurrently without affecting the schedule. In view of the fact that sales figures are not high, there would not be any significant inconvenience caused to RHG and in fact this move may assist in sales if the Millers are positive about the Regency Plaza Project and this is circulated in their social circle. 7. Final discussion The above evaluation has revealed that the Regency Plaza was not very well managed. A major factor contributing to the failure is poor planning. The project seems to be in a mess as roles and responsibilities are not properly defined and allocated, the decision- making process is muddled and is not well communicated. there are no proper checks. These problems could be easily overcome if delegation of roles and responsibilities was communicated clearly (refer to appendix on RAM). Every modification introduced within the project phase can have certain impact on the level of achievement of the project (Lock 1992). Each modification could take several weeks so that quotes could be gathered and reviewed. In t he case of the modification of the Millers’ unit, this caused the delay of the scheduled completion of the twelfth floor and has also affected the safety and infrastructure of the building. As such the risk management aspect was not well taken care of. If the issues had been addressed earlier through constructing a project network, this would cause little or no problems to the contractor as it allows changes to be made before critical areas of the condominium were constructed Newell (2002) suggested that assumptions must be made for the purpose of project planning. However in Hodgkins’ case, her assumptions are flawed and not thought through properly. She assumed that most buyers would not customize their units and would settle easily for what was given. By assuming such scenarios, she had overlooked the target market for the project, ie the wealthy. This error in judgement disrupted the completion of the project, raised overall budgets and caused much dissatisfaction among the project group. To make matters worst, the marketing strategy adopted by Hodgkins was that of word of mouth. With complaints of delay, cted the sales performance of the project was affected and a poor image of Regency was projected. Hodgkins would have done better to have done research on the buying patterns of her target market or spoken to her contacts, market specialists or even to have discussed with her team. If the above problem was to be addressed or realized earlier, the impact would have been minimized. While assumptions may not be a bad thing and in fact are encouraged, they must be made with a contingency plan and for Hodgkins case, she does not seem to have any. 8. conclusion The Regency Plaza project was a race against time and time means money. This situation put Hodgkins in a tight spot and many decisions needed to be made immediately to avoid any delays. Many irrational decisions were thus made which affected the overall progress of the project. As a project manager, success of the project should be the first priority. Coming up with possible alternatives to tackle the tough situation is critical. Although many possible solutions were provided, however Hogkins did not appear to have used many of them to resolve the current issues related to the project. Lock (1992) mentioned that to achieve the project objectives, People, Communication, Jobs and Resources must be properly organized. Planning and coordination is essential. To summarise, Project Managers are key to the success of any project and are worth their weight in gold. . Appendix Responsibility Assignment Matrix(RAM) Task/Resource |PM: Hodgkins |KDS |O’Brian and Sinclair |Kelly Construction |Millers Designer: Randolph |Consultant: Farley |Sales Team | |Sales and Marketing |R | | | | |C |R | |Building Architectural |A |R |R |C | |C | | |Customization |I | |C |R | | | | | Managing the subcontractors | |I |I |R | | | | |Miller’s interior design |I |I |C |C | R | | | |Construction invoices |R | |R |R | | | | | R = Responsible (People who do the work) A = Accountable (People who make sure the work gets done) C = Consulted (People who provide input before and during the work) I = Informed (People who are kept informed of progress) Blue boxes refers to the stakeholders 10. REFERENCES 1. Ballard G & Whelton M, 2002, Wicked Problems in Project Definition, Retrieved on 14th September 2009, from http://www. leanconstruction. org/pdf/WickedProblemsinProjectDefinitionIGLC10. pdf 2. Gray C. F & Larson E. W, 2008, Project Management: the managerial process, 4th Edition, McGraw-Hill/Irwin, America. 3. Juan R. S, 2009, Good Project Manager, Retrieved on 27th September 2009, from http://www. gaebler. om/Good-Project-Manager. htm 4. Lewis J. P, 2005, Project Planning, Scheduling & Control 4th Edition, McGraw Hill, America 5. Lock D, 1994, Project Management 5th Edition, Gower Publishing Company Limited, America 6. Meredith J. R & Mantel S. J, 2003, Project Management; A Managerial Approach 5th Edition, John Wiley & Sons, America 7. Newell M. W, 2002, Preparing for the Project Management Professional P MP 2nd Edition, Amacom, America 8. The Responsibility Assignment Matrix (RAM), 2009, Retrieved on 20th September 2009, from http://www. mindtools. com/pages/article/newPPM_RAM. htm 9. Weiss J. W & Wysocki R. K, 1992, 5-Phase Project Management, Perseus Books Publishing, America 10. Yagiz O, 2008, Project Planning, Retrieved on 14th September 2009, from http://www. emu. edu. tr/~oyagiz/MGMT409/MGMT409-05-BW. pdf BIBLIOGRAPHY 1. Berkun S, 2005, The Art of Project Management, O’Reilly Media, Inc. , America 2. Bruce A & Langdon K, 2007, Manage Projects Dorling Kindersley Limited, London 3. Burke R, 2003, Project Management Planning and Control Techniques 4th Edition, John Wiley & Son, UK 4. Egeland B, 2009, Project Management Tips, Retrieved on 27th September 2009 from http://pmtips. et/ 5. Lewis J. P, 2007, Fundamentals of Project Management 3rd Edition, Amacon, America 6. Lockyer K, 1985, Critical Path Analysis 4th Edition, The Bath Press, Great Britain 7. Lovegrove H, 2008, Good Project Managers are hard to find! , Retrieved on 23th September 2009 from http://www. pmhut. com/good-project-managers-are-hard-to-find 8. Randolph W. A, 1988, Effective Project Planning and Management; Getting the Job Done, Prentice Hall, UK 9. Reh F. J, 2009, Project Management 101, Retrieved on 16th September from http://management. about. om/cs/projectmanagement/a/PM101. htm 10. Shackleton E, 2005, Managing your people; real life lessons from top business leaders, BBC Books, London 11. Tusler R, 1996, An Overview of Project Risk Management, Retrieved on 22th September 2009 from http://www. netcomuk. co. uk/~rtusler/project/riskprin. html ———————– Performance Cost Time Constrain Enhance Accept Marking Consultant (Farley) Clients Vocal Neighbourhood Groups Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA) KDS Associates Regency Hotel Management Project Manager Hodgkins Decision Making Process