An Inspector Calls Play Essay Example for Free

An Inspector Calls Play Essay ‘An Inspector Calls’ has been called ‘a play of contrasts’. Write about how Priestley presents some of the contrasts in the play. In the play there are wide differences in not only the treatment of Sheila Birling and Eva Smith but also large contrasts in the girls themselves- with Eva being a poor uncared for girl and Sheila being a privileged upper-middle class girl. This not only separates them as they would be unable to fully empathise with each other as they experience widely contrasting lives. This is shown as Mr Birling says â€Å"but I see no point in mentioning the subject – especially -(indicating Sheila.)† The quote paired with the stage direction highlights Mr Birling’s attempts to prevent Sheila from being exposed to the situation. This is done as they feel that Sheila should be protected from merely hearing the awful situations that some girls have to endure. This concern is in contrast with how they view Eva Smith as both parents have minimal concern for the fact that they are partly responsible for Eva having to live on the streets. ‘Theres nothing I can tell him. I told the girl to clear out, and she went.’ The use of ‘nothing’ indicates how Mr Birling views the situation of Eva, as if it was ‘nothing’ that he was at fault for Eva being on the streets and out of a job- a contrast to the sheltered life he creates for Sheila. At both ends of the play there is contrast in the language used by Inspector and Birling in their speeches. The early speech by Mr Birling is one with a much happier and self-supporting view of society compared to the later one by the Inspector which holds a tone of finality and encompasses the idea of being responsible for everyone around you. Both speeches talk of the responsibility we have however; where the Inspector talks of responsibility for all- ‘We dont live alone.’ Mr Birling means to say that we are responsible for ourselves and no more- ‘. We employers at last are coming together to see that our interests’ These speeches indicate the attitudes held by the speaker clearly, with Mr Birling showing concern for ‘we employers’ highlights the socialist view held by Mr Birling as he views they employers as one while entity that need to protect and look after each other with minimal concern for the rest of society.

Human Resources in Sri Lankas IT Sector

Human Resources in Sri Lankas IT Sector CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION For an organization to survive and expand in the rapidly competitive environment dominated by several players, it is paramount for an organization to perform. The organization performance would be measure according to several variables such profitability, sales, production quality and market share, however, few organizations give prominence for the most important factors which is human resources performance. According to HRM commentators retention and development of the organization employees are pivotal for organization performance. The overall purpose of human resource management is to ensure that the organization is able to achieve their success through people. Ulrich and Lake (1990) states that: ‘HRM systems can be the source of organizational capabilities that allow firms to learn and capitalize on new opportunities. But in the other hand HRM has an ethical dimension as well, which means it should also concern the rights and needs of people in an organization. With the increased competition, globalization, boundless technological advances, -companies are forced to think about the factors like HRM, environment†¦etc to run the extra mile ahead of the others. Therefore nowadays employers consider investments on the HRM functions are very significant and effective, rather than seeing it as just a cost. As it shown above, HRM should be incorporated with each and every function with in an organization. Starting from the recruitment process to the training and development, performance appraisal, performance incentives, promotion system , design of work and working environment†¦etc should aligned with effective HRM practices as it will reduce the direct indirect employee grievances which results in a highly motivated and pleased workforce, which in turn influences on the overall organization performances. When considering the structure of the Human resource management, there are two categories; 1. Managerial Functions 2. Operative functions Functions of HRM Managerial Functions Operative Functions Planning Employment Organising Human Resource Directing Development Controlling Compensation Human relations Recent trend in HRM 1. Managerial functions It include Planning, organizing, directing and controlling.  · Planning is the main activity that a manager has to consider. The management has to decide what to do and how to do to achieve the objective of the organization. Management uses this process to plan the future of the company, decide what actions they are going to make to avoid difficult problems etc. (Bateman, Snell, 2007).  · Organizing is established in the internal structure of the organization. It mainly concerns the flow of information within the company, division and coordination. Manager has to know what the subordinates can do and what kind of training they need. To achieve the objectives set in the planning process there should be a proper organization of work. In here the management set the tasks, responsibilities and authorities to the employees. The manager has to discuss the tasks with the employees and has to clarify what to do, how to do and make them understand about the job (Allen, G, 1998). Then it is easy to achieve the objective.  · Directing is the next stage after completing planning and organizing. This is to execution of the plan. It influences the people to achieve the objectives in a correct way through motivation, communication, and leadership. The proper direction of employees will affect the achievement of the objectives. The manager has to have a proper relationship with the employees in the company, and then they can easily direct the employees to achieve the target.  · Controlling involves checking, verifying and comparing of the actual with the plan that the company set. Actions and operations are adjusted to identified plans and standards through control. The training programs, conducting interviews, analyzing labor turnover details are some of the controlling functions that a manager can work out. Controlling allows setting the performance standards within the groups and to do the proper communication. 2. Operative functions These activities are related to specific activities such as, employment, human resources development, compensation, human relations and recent trends in human resource management.  · Employment This means securing and employing the people with the relevant qualifications to achieve the organizational objectives. The functions include in employment are, Job analysis, human resource planning, recruitment, selection, placement and induction.  · Human resource development This is the process of improving skills, knowledge, attitudes, aptitudes, commitment etc. depending on the organizational requirements. The functions include in human resource development are; Performance appraisal, training, management development, career planning and development, promotion, demotion and change and organization development.  · Compensation This is the process of providing sufficient, equal and fair reward to all employees. The functions include in compensation are; Job evaluation, incentives, wage and salary, bonus, fringe benefits, social security and measures.  · Human Relations It is the process of interaction between people. The management can practice different human resource policies to interact with the people. Good relationship will motivate people to do a better job In the organization. The functions in human relations include; Motivating the employees, developing the communication skills, developing leadership skills, providing comfortable work environment to the people, improving quality of work life of employees and boosting employee morale.  · Recent trend in human resource management This area is always developing. It is advancing at a fast rate. The recent trends in human resource management is; Quality of work life, recent techniques of Human resource management and total quality in human resources. In 1989 David Guest describes a human resource model according to what he thought. . This model consists of four elements; Human resource policies and practices Human resource outcomes Organizational outcomes Leadership 1. Human resource policies and practices when an organization is introduced there are many policies available in a company. They are; Organization and job design Management of change Recruitment, selection and socialisation Appraisal, training and development Reward systems Communication According to this model human resource policies are design to achieve the four key human resource outcomes which explains as the second element of this model. 2. Human resource outcomes The model include followings; Commitment Quality Flexibility Strategic integration Quality is not only concern about the quality of manufacturing product or the services provided by the company, it includes the quality of the workforce, the management of the workforce and the human resource policies used in the company. Flexibility is the facility to change the jobs people are doing, working arrangement such as number of hours they are working and the nature of employees contract. Strategic integration is the link between human resource strategy and business strategy. Guest explains that integration requires an organizational culture where managers work or share. The commitments have a direct relationship with valued business consequences. He says that commitment is confused and that the relationship between commitment and the performance is difficult to establish. When an employee commitment is higher means that employee is satisfied about the facilities and the way the company treat to employees. When they are satisfied performance will be automatically higher in the organization. 3. Organizational outcomes The organizational outcomes include following; High job performance High problem solving High innovation Low turnover, absence High cost effectiveness 4. Leadership Leadership is the most important element to make all these outcomes success. With the understanding of importance of the involvement of HRM for the betterment of an organization, this paper is about the effect of HRM development to the IFS business success. 1.1 Aims and objectives of the study During the recent years IT sector began to bloom and many leading IT professionals fortified the future of their companies by investing in Sri Lanka. Within few years it begins to expand and now a days it has become a major business sector which support the economy and which provides enormous career opportunities to the younger generation. Latest s show that, over 175 software developments companies are actively operating in Sri Lanka, which are originated from both national and international grounds and they are providing services for both the export and domestic markets. Some of these companies and their products are already well recognized and performing extremely well in the IT sector by competing with other foreign markets. Among these, companies like,Millennium Information Technologies- who not only turned the Colombo stock exchange in Sri Lanka into the worlds first ever event-driven exchange but with their versatile automated trading system have powered the Boston stock exchange among several other clients in the United States, as well as exchanges in Europe, Asia Pacific and Africa;Virtusa Corporation- one of the fastest growing software services firms in the US with seven years of consecutive growth and the largest technology center based in Sri Lanka and; Informatics- a local company whose telecom product is in operation at the regional sites of some of the worlds leading telecom operators, such as Cable Wireless of UK and Millicom of Luxembourg, are leading the way, marking the name of Sri Lanka in the world. Furthermore international names likeIFSfrom Sweden have set up their research and development center employing over 700 people and recently MicrosoftandOraclehave also opened offices in Sri Lanka. graph1 This is an effort to find out the involvement of human resource to the success of Sri Lankan IT sector and how well they are managed for them to get ready to face the future challenges in ever changing world. Taking the IFS Sri Lanka Ltd as the Reference point, the research will focus on interpreting the influence of Human Resource Management on the companys success. Research as a whole, is a process to find an answer to a specific question. The initial objectives of this study are to formalize the necessary procedures and questions to be answered, in order to gather the intended information, which will be desirable in finding an answer to the core research question. To achieve the above objectives, following are the outline of the information that will try to gather, to be used in developing proper evaluations conclusions. Actions taken to motivate the employees. Established procedures on providing job satisfaction to the employees. The process of developing employee skill and how the company utilize it. How strong is the employee-employer relationship Level of performance of the company and how the employees contribute its success. 1.2 Company Background IFS, is one of the worlds leading providers of component-based business software developed using open standards. Since 1983, IFS has been a provider of business applications focused on meeting the needs of selected industries. Basically, IFS operates in two areas: lifecycle management, where asset and product lifecycle management are critical issues, and mid market ERP (Enterprise resource planning), which covers distribution and manufacturing in midsize companies. Mainly company operates in Europe, the US, the UK, Australia and Asia with the head office situated in Linkoping, Sweden and having the employs about 2,723. Today, IFS is a global software company that helps leading enterprises improve efficiency, cut costs, react swiftly to market conditions, and take advantage of new business opportunities. IFS Applications, IFS suite of more than 60 web-based components, is the only true component-based business solution on the market, allowing deploying the software step by step as companys needs and budget dictate. Using open standards, IFS makes it easier to stay up-to-date with technology and integrate with legacy systems. And only IFS offers total lifecycle management, enabling their customers to maximize profitability over the lifecycles of your products, customers, and assets. IFS superior technology, functionality, and Industry focus have won praise from some of the worlds leading analyst firms. Gartner recognizes IFS as either a visionary or a leader in all four of its ERP and asset management Magic Quadrants. Most important, IFS legendary commitment to customer service has never wavered. Tod ay, IFS has an impressive roster of satisfied customers, ranging from mid-size companies to global industry leaders such as PepsiCo, General Electric, Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics, DuPont, Volvo, BMW, Deere Co., and Rockwell Automation. Since the day, IFS was founded, they have given a greater importance for the customer service. Therefore today, IFS has become the only enterprise software provider that offers a global product for the mid-market together with local support. IFS has support centres in each country in which it operates, ensuring that you will receive the best customer support anywhere in the world. IFS keep track of your unique component configuration; patch levels, and customizations, ensuring that the information is available globally to all IFS support centres. Therefore it has become the huge network of all the information required to solve the customer issues without any unnecessary delays. Within the huge IFS network, office in Sri Lanka has a major importance, as it is one of the two IFS R D centres in world and major part of software development is done there, with having more than 700 employees in two local country offices. The focus group for the study is mainly taken from Sri Lankan offices and depending on the opportunities employees from the other locations were involved in the study. 1.2.1 Financial Highlights Based on the IFS Annual report 2008, it illustrate that the company is having growth in every section. Mid 2008, IFS has announced long-term financial targets entailing that, in the next five years, product revenue will double through organic growth and acquisitions, the operating margin will increase to15 percent, the dividend will rise to 50 percent of earnings after tax and surplus liquidity will be used to repurchase shares. Furthermore, report says that IFS has signed 10 largest license agreements during the year had an aggregate value of SKr 141 million where as the corresponding for 2007 was SKr 103 million. A total of 20 license agreements valued at more than US$ 0.5 million each were signed. And In all, 215 (177 in 2007) new customers were added, and 760 (778 in 2007) customers either upgraded or expanded their existing solutions. Annual Net Revenue Annual Earnings Before Interest Tax (EBIT) Value Net Debt In order to summarize the success I have extracted the above three from the report which explains the key factors of companys growth. Net revenue (: 7) amounted to SKr 2,518 million (2,356 in 2007), an increase of 7 percent, which is the highest revenue the company achieved per year for the last 4 years. EBIT (Earnings before Interest Tax) value turns out to be Skr, million 154, which is a great turn over compared to the value, SKr million -128 in 2004. Furthermore, as the : 9 shows, IFS have succeeded in diminishing their debts. They have being able to reduce the debts from Skr, million 363 to Skr, million 3, which is a sole evidence for the success of the company. Variation of Total Assets Number of employees While concerned of their financial growth, IFS seems dedicated to the expansion of the company. From 2004 to 2008, their asset, as well as number of employees has increased continuously in a similar rate. 1.3 Significance of the research Success and development of any company is depends on the level of human resource involvement. Therefore it is most important to maintain motivated and satisfied workforce to obtain the very best results of its investment. Skill development, employer employee relationship, grade pay structure employee benefits are some of the key factor which directly related with the motivation of the work force. Purpose of study is to find out how well the importances of above factors are absorbed in the Sri Lankan IT sector; within IFS Sri Lanka Ltd. The research will try to extract the information related to the specific factors and analyze them with the every aspect of the companys performances. 1.4 Structure of the Research work With having the text divided in to the several sections, the dissertation starts with an introduction, which provides the basic understanding of HRM and its functions. It concludes with an overview of the whole thesis including the information helpful for the reader to understand the topic and related facts, we are going to discuss about. The next section is the literature review, which explains relevant theories that will help to support the topic and it is followed by the research methodology which explains the research approach, and how the aims and objectives are planned to achieved. Moreover it, clearly explain the methods that used to collect the relevant data and explained the reasons why there are chosen. The result section provides the actual results I have obtained, carrying out the research, and within the analysis section, it exploits the information gathered, and structured a comprehensive analysis. Conclusion and Recommendation sections conclude the research with interp reting the gathered data and results obtained in Analysis section, along with the aims and objectives discussed at the beginning and provide the necessary recommendations based on the live facts and exhibit the virtue of the research. 1.5 Limitations of research The main limitation of this research is getting the access to the employees within the selected company. The results would be much meaningful if the researcher is succeeded in involving many individuals as possible. Therefore it would be a greater challenge to formalize an easy and simple method to acquire the relevant information from the employees, to make sure that they dont feel it as an extra burden. Time can be considered as the other major issue since I have to formalize the whole process with in a very short time period and to make sure it has grasp many individuals as possible. CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW Job Satisfaction Job satisfaction is one of the most important aspects related to the employee management as it is directly related to the performance of an organization. Because of humans tends to listen to the feelings deep in their thoughts, its not enough to full fill every other things, if the employee is not satisfied with what he/she does. Job satisfaction is not same as the motivation but it linked. Job design is aimed to enhance job satisfaction and performance by using different design methods such as Job rotation, job enlargement, job enrichment etc. Job satisfaction can be viewed as â€Å"a pleasurable or positive emotional state resulting from the appraisal of ones job experience† (Lock 1976). When someone is satisfied with his/her job that is job satisfaction, or when any job is fulfilled ones expectation that is job satisfaction. Job satisfaction mainly considers the attitudes and feelings that people have about the work. The Guion (1958) defines morale as ‘the extent to which an individuals needs are satisfied and the extent to which the individual perceives that satisfaction as stemming from his total work situation. However there are some features of job satisfaction identified by Paul Spectors (1985) such as, Pay- amount and fairness or equity of salary, Promotion-opportunities and fairness of promotion, Supervision-fairness and competence at managerial tasks by ones supervisor, Benefits- insurance, vacation, and fringe benefits, Contingent procedures-sense of respect, recognition and appreciation. According to While Luthan (1998) there are three important views to job satisfaction; Job satisfaction is an emotional thing related to a job that cannot measure. It is determined by how well outcome is achieved or exceeds expectations It shows some attitudes which can be used to identify how employees think about their job and how they achieve their targets. The factors that affect the job satisfaction of an employee can be divided in to three main areas; Internal factors External factors Individual factors Internal, external and individual factors which affect to the job satisfaction are listed in the table. Internal factors are the factors that linked to work but those are not the only factors affecting job satisfaction. External factors are related to work or to the working environment and individual factors mainly consider a person and the persons family and network of friends. Job satisfaction factors Description Internal Factors  · Job variety Number of skills and depth of knowledge required to do the job  · Autonomy The freedom that the employee get to control their own work  · Goal determination The freedom that the employees get to set their own targets and the criteria to achieve those targets  · Feedback and recognition The private and public comments that they achieve for their performance External Factors  · Achievement The persons success on their job. The trainings, improved equipments, proper education may be the way to increase the achievement and the job satisfaction.  · Role ambiguity and role conflicts Knowing the position of the work place, responsibilities and agreement between roles. Clarifying the tasks in the job, and the position in the organization. When reduce role ambiguity it lead to job satisfaction  · Opportunity The opportunities with the current and the other employers. If employees feel they have fewer opportunities in the current position, then job satisfaction decrease.  · Job security The assurance that employees get to their job  · Social interaction The way they deal with the others. The quality and the quantity of the interaction.  · Supervision Herzberg explain this as a hygiene factor. The quality of management is affect to the job satisfaction. If the quality is lower, worker can become dissatisfied.  · Organizational culture Culture and management style can increase/decrease job satisfaction.  · Work schedules Match between work schedule and the employees schedule. Flexitime may increase the job satisfaction by allowing employee to interface between work life and personal life  · Seniority The time duration that a person has held a position. When people are respect to the seniority, it will increase job satisfaction  · Compensation The rewards and the role of money Individual Factors  · Commitment This is the dedication that a person is doing to his/her job. If the actions of researching, selecting and the way he/she doing the job is visible to friends and others, then the person is satisfied.  · Expectations Every person has some expectation. Basically what people expect in return for work.  · Job involvement How important a job in someones life. More the person involved more satisfaction.  · Effort / reward ratio This is the balance between the amount they worked and rewards received  · Comparisons How a person can rate the job with someone else jobs. If a person has a good job compared to others they are satisfied.  · Age How old someone, the people who old have more work experience, they understand what are the best thing to do, but sometimes they cannot satisfy with their job. Younger people have no previous experience which to compare with the current job. So they are satisfied. Table 1 There are two main theories of job satisfaction, Variance theory and the model of job characteristics. According to Hackman and Oldham (1975) the variance theory explains that if you want X from your work then you are satisfied to the extent that it provides you with X. The second model explains the causes of job satisfaction are objective characteristics. When the employees are satisfied with their work they tend to work more, they are become more committed to the organization, and they are more productive than previous, they try to achieve their targets in a better way. (Bravendam Research Incorporated, 2002). However job satisfaction association with organizational commitment that was not mentioned in most of the studies was noted by Elangovan (2001). A negative association between the job satisfaction, stress and commitment was indicated in his study. According to his study, higher stress leads to lower job satisfaction and this in turn results in lower commitment. Petty et al, ( 1984) explains that there are three possible links between performance and job satisfaction. 1. Satisfaction generates performance 2. Performance generates satisfaction 3. Satisfaction and performance link indirectly 1. Satisfaction generates performance When designing the job it should aim to produce job satisfaction. Then it will optimize worker performance. 2. Performance generates satisfaction When a person perform well that achievement generates job satisfaction. He/ she feel to do more for their job. So the effort should be made to improve performance then it will increase job satisfaction. 3. Satisfaction and performance link indirectly These two are linked but under certain conditions. Apart from the above theories, there are successful studies proving the importance and impact of maintaining a satisfied workforce. The analysis by Vroom (1964) covered 20 studies, in each of which one or measures of job satisfaction or employee attitudes were correlated with one or more criteria of performance. Low salaries, lack of status and social security affect the motivation. When the motivation is low, job satisfaction is low. Lack of job satisfaction is a sign of turnover in an organization. The salaries and benefits which employees can achieve are related to job satisfaction. Motivation â€Å"Management is nothing more than motivating other people†, is one of the most popular proven principle followed within any kind of organization. Motivation is concerned with the strength and direction of behaviour and the factors that influence individuals to behave in certain ways. Individuals are motivated to perform in a specific method based on their perception of the situation. Motivation primarily concerned with what energizes human behaviour, what direct or channels such behaviour, how this behaviour is maintained. Motivation concerns energy, persistence and direction. According to Arnold et al (1991) there are three components of motivation, 1. Direction -what a person is trying to do 2. Effort how hard a person is trying 3. Persistence how long a person keeps on trying According to the diagram felt need creates tension for people. Tensions motivate people to avoid it. The environment will influence to shape people needs and expectations influence the effort. Management can influence employees expectations in a different ways, by offering incentives and setting them specific goals. The persons effort and results can influence the level of performance. The rewards / outcomes are the results achieved. Outcome can come from internal / external environment. Outcomes are always not positive; it can be negative as well. If it is negative, they tend to result in employee dissatisfaction / de motivation. There are number of motivation theories which are complementary to one another. The content models in motivation mainly focus on the needs that individuals are trying to satisfy in a situation. The process models focus on how managers can change the situation in a better way to tie satisfaction to performance. Reinforcement theory is as developed by Hull (1951) suggests that successes, in achieving goals and rewards act as positive incentives and reinforce the successful behaviour, which is repeated the next time a similar need emerges which is coincided with the theory by Taylor (1911), who wrote: â€Å"It is impossible, through any longer period of time, to get workmen to work much harder than the average men around them unless they are assured a large and permanent increase in their pay†. In this theory there are four principal techniques available, 1. Positive reinforcement If someone encourages the people when they done something they are utilising positive reinforcement. 2. Escape/avoidance reinforcement (Negative Reinforcement) This is a form of a reinforcement. It increases the behaviour of a person by taking away something bad. The negative reinforcement is not same as punishment. It is not a form of a punishment. 3. Extinction (repeated non reinforcement) Elimination of behaviour 4. Punishment Most of the people are not expected to take this kind of an experience. The main idea of punishment is to withhold rewards. Motivation is only likely when a clearly perceived and usable relationship exists between performance and outcome, and the outcome is seen as a means of satisfying needs. This theory was developed by Porter and Lawler (1968) in to a model that follows Vrooms ideas by suggesting that there are two factors determining the effort people put in to their jobs. First the value of the rewards to individuals that they satisfy their needs for security, social esteem, autonomy and self actualization, and the second is that rewards depend on effort, as perceived by individuals. According to Latham and Locke (1979) motivation and performance are higher when individuals are set specific goals, when goals are difficult but accepted, and when there is feedback on performance. Abraham Maslow developed the Hierarchy of needs model in 1940s and still it valid today to understand motivation, management training and personal development. This model explains the responsibility of employers to provide the work place environment which is encourages employees to fulfill their requirements. At the same time he explains needs are interrelated with some other needs that are less understood. Those are, Knowledge needs, understanding needs and aesthetic needs. The relationship of Maslows other needs The need for knowledge is defined as the desire to build up facts and s. The need for understanding is an extension of the need for knowledge. This involves search for the relationships between things and what they know and it includes the search for meaning. The aesthetic needs are the beautiful things need to be surrounded. According to Maslow all these need

The Grandmother in A Good Man is Hard to Find by Flannery OConnor :: Papers

The Grandmother in A Good Man is Hard to Find by Flannery O'Connor The grandmother is the central character in the story "A good man is hard to find," by Flannery O'Connor. The grandmother is a manipulative, deceitful, and self-serving woman who lives in the past. She doesn't value her life as it is, but glorifies what it was like long ago when she saw life through rose-colored glasses. She is pre-scented by O'Connor as being a prim and proper lady dressed in a suit, hat, and white cotton gloves. This woman will do whatever it takes to get what she wants and she doesn't let anyone else's feelings stand in her way. She tries to justify her demands by convincing herself and her family that her way is not only the best way, but the only way. The grandmother is determined to change her family's vacation destination as she tries to manipulate her son into going to Tennessee instead of Florida. The grandmother says that "she couldn't answer to her conscience if she took the children in a direction where there was a convict on the loose." The children, the y tell her "stay at home if you don't want to go." The grandmother then decides that she will have to go along after all, but she is already working on her own agenda. The grandmother is very deceitful, and she manages to sneak the cat in the car with her. She decides that she would like to visit an old plantation and begins her pursuit of convincing Bailey to agree to it. She describes the old house for the children adding mysterious details to pique their curiosity. "There was a secret panel in this house," she states cunningly knowing it is a lie. The grandmother always stretches the truth as much as possible. She not only lies to her family, but to herself as well. The grandmother doesn't live in the present, but in the past. She dresses in a suit to go on vacation. She states, "in case of an accident, anyone seeing her dead on the highway would know at once that she was a lady." She constantly tries to tell everyone what they should or should not do. She informs the children th at they do not have good manners and that "children were more respectful of their native states and their parents and everything else." when she was a child.

How Has Religion Affected History And Literature? :: essays research papers

â€Å"And for the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor.† With these words, penned by the eminent political scientist Thomas Jefferson, the struggling colonies known as the United States proclaimed their independence from Great Britain and began an adventure that would develop this small nation into a world superpower. With this â€Å"firm reliance†, her people embraced the unknown future and set out to advance their country politically, economically, and socially. Now, over two centuries later, many would argue that this â€Å"Divine Providence† has been almost completely eradicated from society. Yet, despite these many claims, the fact remains that religion has played a vital role in American public life and, despite the â€Å"demoralization† of the United States that so many individuals cry out against, religion continues to be a basic cornerstone of American societal life. Over and over again, both the history and the literature of the United States of America have taught her people and the world that religion has and always will have an incalculable effect upon the society of the United States. Historically, many see the United States as a â€Å"Christian nation† founded on Christian principles by Christian men with Christian motives. Therefore, they will argue that this heritage should be continued in the U.S. today by allowing prayer in public schools, outlawing abortion, or giving religious organizations special privileges. However, a closer examination of American history reveals that although the United States was founded with many religious guidelines, America is not a specifically Christian nation. This having been said, it is important to recognize how religion has historically affected American society. A chief example of religion’s impact is found in the landmark Supreme Court ruling of 1962 in the case of Engel vs. Vitale in which organized prayer in the public school system was declared unconstitutional. Steven Engel, a Jewish man in New York, had visited his son’s classroom in the fall of 1958 and was offended when he observed the entire cl ass, including his son, with their hands clasped together and their heads bowed. Along with four other parents, Engel challenged the school board and its president, William Vitale, and, on June 25, 1962, the Supreme Court ruled 6-1 that organized prayer in public schools, regardless of whether they are a requirement or not, were unconstitutional and therefore must cease immediately.

Social Democracy Cures Social Inequality Essays -- Poverty Welfare Pol

For the last several hundred years with the advent of capitalism and urbanization, the spark that the enlightenment was, has reshaped the world as we know it. Great things were promised from this revolution, but as proven by time and experience this is not the case. Most humans living today are living in poverty and misery with little hope of escaping it; there is a small minority however who live in extravagance and abundance and whose main goal is to keep this arrangement persisting. The most significant problem/disease in our lives today is poverty and social democracy can cure it. Capitalism in its design needs poverty or at the very least excels when poverty is rampant. Liberalism’s focus on individuality does not do enough to protect the impoverished and solve inequality. Conservatism blatantly adores poverty and accepts inequality as natural. Socialism is a great concept but it is completely unrealistic and would only happen through a revolution which in today’s society is highly unlikely. This paper will begin by analyzing the ideologies and there failings in regards to social inequality, and poverty. Beginning with Liberalism, although many of the core liberal ideas have been accepted by all ideologies today, liberalism does only so much to end poverty, most people do not get a fair shake as this paper will show. Next this paper will discuss conservatism’s complete disregard for social policy and its anti-social policies. Thirdly socialism and its current unrealistic goals will be discussed. Finally, Social democracy will be analyzed, its pro-social attitudes while working within the capitalist economy. Liberalism is the dominant ideology of the industrialized countries, in regards that all other ideologies have accepte... ...t has realistic goals that can be achieved through reform. By slow transformation we can rein in capitalisms evils, and help achieve a more equal society. Works Cited Hayes, M. (1994). The New Right in Britian: An Introduction to Theory and Practice. Colorado: Pluto Press. Heywood, A. (2003). Political Ideologies: An Introduction. 3rd Ed. Houndmills, Palgrave Macmillan. Johnston, L. (2001). Ideology. Peterborough: Broadview. McNally, D. (2006). Another World Is Possible: Globalization & Anti-Capitalism . Winnipeg, Canada: Arbeiter Ring Publishing. Miliband, R. (1994). Socialism for a Sceptical Age. London: Verso. Mullaly, B. (1997). Structural Social Work: Ideology, Theory and Practice. 2nd Ed. Toronto: Oxford University Press. Patriquin, L. (2004). Inventing Tax Rage: Misinformation in the National Post. Halifax, Nova Scotia: Fernwood Publishing.

Bmw Case

What was BMW’s motivation behind the idea of producing the films? BMW’s motivation behind the idea of producing the films was one to simply communicate, and focus on â€Å"what makes a BMW a BMW†. In fact, there was no product launch to advertise and BMW was able to use this time to shift its strategy from ‘push’ to ‘pull’. The goal of this advertisement was to â€Å"produce the most exciting, fun thing people had ever seen come out of their computer†. In terms of numbers, this campaign was used to maintain growth and sales, which had been growing excessively since 1992: from 60 000 units sold to 180 000 units (exhibit 1). In terms of target, BMW wanted to attract younger generations while still keeping its current target audience. This would enable the brand to increase the already high brand loyalty (44. 7%, Exhibit 8a), by getting customers from a younger age, and therefore following them throughout their lives. In terms of image, the goals of this campaign were to strengthen the company’s brand image in luxury segment, and differentiate it from other competitors. Who was the target market for the BMW Films campaign? With its campaign, BMW was hoping to reach customers between the ages of 25 to 44 who were new to the luxury car market, without affecting their current customer base, being 46 year old male, married with no children with a median income of about $150 000. This target audience was therefore well educated, two thirds were very active males engaged in sports and other activities. BMW wanted to target people who wanted a perfect product, stylish and which offered great driving experience. Last but not least, the target was highly attracted to technology, as the â€Å"Internet was used by 85% of customers before buying a BMW†; the films on the Internet therefore targeted perfectly these people. How successful has the campaign been? Why or why not? There are two ways of defining a successful campaign: the effectiveness and efficiency. In terms of effectiveness, it is important to compare the results according to the initial goals. Overall, the campaign was really successful: BMW sales increase by 12. 5% compared to 2000. Concerning viewers, films were viewed 11 million times in the first four months, and were seen by 1 981 049 people in total. The short films were recommended by 94% of the people who registered on the website, showing how incredible and successful the buzz was. Last but not least, two million people registered on the site after viewing the films and 60% signed up to receive newsletters and other information. In terms of numbers, this campaign was therefore obviously very effective: it was a tremendous buzz and gave the brand a â€Å"cooler† and younger image. Concerning target audience, in comparison with the overall goals, BMW was very successful here again. In fact, the median age of the people who registered on the website was 31, exactly in the target market goal. Moreover, the higher segments of viewers were in the range of 25 to 34 years old (35%) and between 35 to 44 years old (22%). These segments include both young people targeted by BMW and its current target market. 63% of viewers were educated and 68% of profile visitors owned non luxury makes, and were therefore new to the luxury segment. Here we can clearly see that all target objectives were reached by BMW. In terms of strategic goals, the company was also successful: it perfectly produced â€Å"the most exciting, fun thing people had ever seen†, and focused their message on what makes a BMW a BMW. Here is what a viewer said: â€Å"BMW lets the directors do whatever they want and they’re not constantly shoving the BMW logo in your face or anything†. Here again, BMW reached its entire strategic goal. Overall, the campaign was extremely effective in terms of achieving goals and communication to customers. Although effective, it is important to calculate the efficiency of this campaign. In order to do so, it is necessary to calculate the Cost per Thousand (CPM), and compare it to an ad airing during the super bowl. The calculations are detailed in Appendix 1. I have focused my analysis on the movies which aired on the internet, their costs of production and number of viewers, to compare it to the super bowl commercials. Overall, even without considering the costs of publicity (trailers on TV, print advertising) which reached $14 million, the CPM is way higher than for super bowl commercials ($ 7571 against $ 31. 25 respectively). Therefore, the efficiency of the BMW film series was low, as costs were way higher compared to the audience reached. In conclusion, this BMW campaign was very effective but not efficient. BMW should now focus on an â€Å"encore†. I believe that the company should create a DVD to give to dealerships in order to reach potential customers and already existing customers who didn’t view the movies. In addition to that, BMW should produce three to four new films with Clive Owen. This would enable BMW to answer the demands and desires of their customers, without disappointing them. When using A Brand New World, I believe that BMW was really able to create brand strength and not only brand awareness. This campaign really enabled the company to create an emotional attachment with both its customers and potential customers. Appendices Appendix 1: Cost per Thousands comparison |BMW FILMS ON WEBSITE |AD DURING SUPERBOWL | |Cost of production/ ad |$ 15 000 000 |$ 2 500 000 | |Circulation |1 981 049 |80 000 000 | |Cost Per Thousand (CPM) |$ 7571 |$ 31. 25 | Appendix 2: Target effectiveness, Example of non BMW owners reached [pic]

The Solutions of Energy Shortage in Pakistan

Energy Shortage now is a global crisis for many countries in the world including Pakistan. Pakistan, one of the high rapid development developing countries now is in the worst energy crisis in its history (Kazmi, 2013). The high speed increasing of its economy and population absolutely demand a large energy supply, but the problem is that the storage of the energy of the country now can hardly supply the whole country’s energy usage. As AOL News said â€Å"Car owns wait for hours to get petrol and gas, cities and villages are lack of electricity for many hours per day, homes can hardly cook without gas.†The situation is becoming more and more serious in the whole country. Actually, Pakistan’s energy shortage crisis can be tracked back to the 1990s ( Kugelman, 2013); and in the 1970s, the energy crisis was averted once because of the Mangla and Tarbela dams. However, the strong economic growth needs a large mount of energy; no matter how indigenous energy resource s do Pakistan have, it is hard to satisfy the soared consumption of energy. For figuring out the good solutions of energy crisis in Pakistan, we’d better to know the effects and causes of the crisis.It is very obviously to see that the impact of the energy crisis in Pakistan is terrible for almost everywhere during the country: economic, educational, political and etc. As Chung (2013) mentioned, because the lack of electricity, numerous business and factories have to reduce 20 to 25% of their productivity, and the consequence of this can be really bad such as citizens are losing jobs, children are losing their education opportunities and factories are losing their foreign markets and clients, even worse, it may lead economic slowdown or economic contraction on Pakistan.On the other hand, Pakistan relies on the compressed natural gas (CNG) most and this is an important cause that leads the energy shortage crisis directly on Pakistan. Because the population is increasing so fas t, no matter how much gas the government has purchased in, it’s still hard to supply CNG for the whole country, also the negative impact of this is that there’s a inflation on the price of CNG. Besides, according to Leung (2013), the government plays an important role in this crisis.The poor managements of the government makes a lot of problems in Pakistan such as the government realized the problem but it didn’t take any action to solve the problem, the worse is, the government even made the problems worse. Government always spent money on wrong ways but not to spend the most of money on solving the energy crisis; at last, it seems that government can only make a ration of energy and owe much more money, but this obviously cannot solve the problem and it will keep increasing burden on the citizens.Hence, for solving the serious energy shortage problem, what could be the possible solutions and what solutions can truly solve the problem permanently or temporarily ? One thing now can be sure is that for solving the energy crisis, Pakistan will require political will, additional funding, and new power-generation sources etc. (Kugelman, 2013). One short-term solution as Kugelman (2013) pointed out that Pakistan could request a new loan from International Monetary Fund (IMF). However, except how much will this solution work, it seems that Pakistan now is not willing to get help from IMF at least after the spring’s elections.In other words, because of the possible political influence from IMF, it’s hard for Pakistan to get new fund from IMF as for now. It means even get loan from IMF is good solution in the additional fund way, it’s not a happy solution for the government’s political will. However, actually for the Pakistan’s situation, even the government doesn’t ask IMF for fund help, it’s still necessary and better to get economic help as soon as possible because even the government itself canno t pay all power bills.New fund can also help Pakistan to import more energy for supplying the demand for a while. Except the new fund, shifting the energy resource to another one is also a good solution for Pakistan. For this, coal energy seems like the best choice to instead of CNG for Pakistan. Considering Pakistan’s economy situation, like Ebrahim (2012) mentioned, many experts think coal is the alternative for Pakistan because Pakistan cannot afford to be romantic.Hydropower depends on water so it’s seasonally, oil is too expensive, only importing abundant coal is viable because coal is much more cheaper than oil and it’s non-seasonally. However, although coal energy is a long-term solution for Pakistan to solve the energy problem, it is also a long-term damage for the global environment (Chung, 2013). In this way, Pakistan needs to consider how to balance the solution of the current problem and the cause of the potential crisis in the future. Hopefully coal energy won’t be a dilemma for Pakistan in the future.Meanwhile, besides coal energy, another long-term solution for Pakistan now is to develop more sugar plants to supply electricity. According to Kazmi (2013), Pakistan has the potential to get electricity from sugar plants across the country especially in rural areas. Sugar mills only use low bagasse to heat boilers; moreover, sugar can also produce ethanol for motor gasoline. This means, if Pakistan starts to use large sugar to be an energy row-material, then it will be helpful for Pakistan to contain oil imports and CNG (Kazmi, 2013).The advantages of sugar are obviously; it can provide Pakistan another new chance to change the situation in a good way, and maybe the only problem for this solution for Pakistan is how to get more places for planting sugar. In general, like Kugelman (2013) mentioned, Pakistan’s energy problems are deep and complex, and sometimes the crisis is not only about Pakistan itself, other coun tries could be involved in the problems; thus, for getting better understand of the problem and better solutions for the problem, we still need to find more information. However, as for now about Pakistan, the energy shortage crisis is becoming worse and worse.The impacts of the crisis are negative: people in Pakistan now have a very hard and challenging life, economy may suspend or even reverse, government can hardly control the situation etc. So far, due to Pakistan’s complex situation, sugar seems like the best solution for Pakistan to solve the problem, it’s cheap and easy to get, it can provide both gas and electricity energy for the whole country, and it can help government to balance the imports and the fund during the crisis. Hopefully, Pakistan could solve the energy shortage crisis and change its hard situation peacefully and quickly.