The Effect of Western Civilization and Culture in Africa

Afro Asian Journal of Social Sciences Volume 1, No. 1 Quarter I V 2010 ISSN 2229 – 5313 THE EFFECTS OF WESTERN CIVILISATION AND CULTURE ON AFRICA Dare Arowolo (Lecturer, Dept. of Political Science Public Administration, Adekunle Ajasin University, Nigeria) ABSTRACT The central argument of this paper stems from the submission that colo nialism, slave trade and missionary are the platform upon which Western civilisation and culture thrive and are sustained. While insisting that Western civilisation and culture has precariously contaminated the traditional values o f Africa, the paper contends that Africa had established, well before the advent of colonialism, a pattern of home-grown political systems, governance process and generally†¦show more content†¦A new crop of elites was created, nurtured, and weaned on the altar of violence and colonialism armed with the structures of the modern state to continue to carry out the art and act of subjugation of the mass of the people in the service of colonialism (Mimiko, 2010:641-42). The above assertion was corroborated by Kasongo (2010:314) when he submits that â€Å"one could infer tha t when westernisation was imported to African countries, the hidden side of modernism was materialist interests. Civilisation was just another concept of domination: imposition of incoming new culture over traditional cultural values†. It is important to emphasise fundamentally that urgent and more decisive steps need to be taken in order to reorder and reverse this evanescent trend of cultural emptiness, without which Africa may experience seasons of cultural extinction and drought of African values. It is appalling Afro Asian Journal of Social Sciences Volume 1, No. 1 Quarter I V 2010 ISSN 2229 – 5313 to note that two hundred years or so of colonisation were not only destructive in terms of cultural heritage and values for which Africa was famous before colonialism but also precariously retrogressive as the continent was robbed of decades of opportunities- opportunities of self-development, opportunities ofShow MoreRelatedThe Perception of Africa as a Single Entity Essay708 Words   |  3 PagesLooking at Africa as a single entity has been an issue facing how the world perceives it. When news of Africa hits the stands it is rarely talking about specific places but rather a story about the whole of Africa. 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These two civilizations would eventually come to shape much of what would become the modern European culture, politics and society, and by extension, a vast proportion of global culture and society. In examining the trajectory of modern historyRead MoreThe Impact Of Colonization On The Indigenous People Of Rhodesia Nervous Conditions 1711 Words   |  7 PagesIn Tsitsi Dangarembga’s Nervous Conditions, the natives of Rhodesia, Tambu and Nyasha, illustrate a hybrid identity crisis as a result of imperial oppression over the language and educational system of the nation. The role of English language and culture, imposed by colonial education, emphasizes the movement for natives to abandon their indigenous cultural and linguistic roots. The mental coloniza tion of the colonized by the means of English language, education, and European cultural values resultsRead MoreThe Globalization of Culture: Cultural Homogenization1707 Words   |  7 Pagesalso damages the unique cultural identities they once took pride in. This paper discusses the effects of globalization on culture, along with its positive and negative effects. Since the effects of globalization on culture are non-exhaustive, it is attempted to incorporate a few of the most significant ones. The origins of globalization are also discussed. I. Globalization—Towards a Homogenous Culture A. What is Globalization As Yazdani, (2009, p. 54) writes, globalization refers to the growingRead More Degeneration of Kurtz, Colonialism, and Imperialism in Heart of Darkness1025 Words   |  5 Pagesidealist mirage of civilizing work in Africa has to be one of the central themes of Heart of Darkness. This theme forms the background of the whole story, from beginning to end, before the character of Kurtz is even introduced.    The focus of Heart of Darkness is not on the direct effect of the colonial presence on the native population, but on the reflected effect on the colonial occupiers. Centrally, the whole story being told directly is the effect on Marlow of his colonial adventure

Gift of the Holy Spirit Free Essays

The Holy Spirit is a gift from God that sh ows our genuineness for him and our love for him. Holy Spirit is Gods guarantee of the inheritance he has promised us. Acts 1:4-5 â€Å"On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. We will write a custom essay sample on Gift of the Holy Spirit or any similar topic only for you Order Now For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit. † Acts 2:1-4 â€Å"When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place.Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. † *Baptism of the Holy Spirit leads to this gift of tongues. It is an evidence of the dwelling of the Holy Spirit in you. **Reasons for Tongues** 1. Initial sign of baptism of the Holy Spirit. -Supernatural evidence of spirits indwelling . Spiritual Edification -Helps you build up, or â€Å"recharge† in the Lord â€Å"For anyone who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God. He utters mysteries with his spirit. † 1 Corinthians 14:2 â€Å"He who speaks in a tongue edifies himself, but he who prophesies edifies the church. † 1 Corinthians 14:4 3. Reminds us of the Spirits indwelling presence -Not only is it an evidence but it is a continuing experience -Assists us in worship, helps us to never dry up.4. Helps pray in line with Gods will for us – Keeps selfishness out of prayer. When praying in tongues†¦It is your spirit praying by the Holy Spirit within you. Holy Spirit gives you the utterance and we speak it through our spirit. 5. Stimulates our faith. -Helps us trust God more fully. 6. Keeping free from contamination of the world. -Speak to yourself in ungodly times 7. Enables us to pray for the unknown -We can be praying for things we would never know or understand. -Holy Spirit uses our voice and our prayers for others. 8. Gives spiritual refreshing -gives you peace and â€Å"rest† 9. Giving thanks give thanks in tongues but not in front of those who are unlearned in the spiritual things for this will not help them or edify them. 10. Tongues in your private life is separated from public life. -A tongue with interpretation is equivalent to prophecy. If there is no interpretation, it is meant for your private life in prayer. â€Å"If anyone speaks in a tongue, two- or more at the most three- should speak, one at a time, and someone must interpret. If there is no interpreter, the speaker should keep quiet in the church and speak to himself and God. † 1 Corinthians 14:27-28 How to cite Gift of the Holy Spirit, Papers

Night Rider Monologue Essay Example For Students

Night Rider Monologue Essay A monologue by Carl Carmer NOTE: This monologue is reprinted from Modern Literature for Oral Interpretation. Ed. Gertrude E. Johnson. New York: The Century Co., 1920. I knew somethin\ was up as soon\s I see The nags and mules hitched round the court house square They\ll ride tonight, I says, and I was right. I\m sixty-two year old come next July And I been post-mistress for most of \em Right here in Epps. (My pap was agin the war, Agin secession that is, and that\s why I been appointed by the President When he was a Republicanfor years) And I can tell when devilment goes on In this old town about as quick\s it starts. But Goodness\ sakes, I\d no idea they\d come Right down the valley and next door to me. Remember when Nat Gillis died last year They sold his place at auction for his debts The shack that\s just across the pike from mine To that Eyetalian woman from Mobile? She couldn\t talk enough to make a bid But one of her three kids spoke out for her. (Joe Denny made \em pay twice what \twas worth.) Well, come last spring, she had the whole place changed. The shack was painted an outlandish blue And just outside she had a great big lot Laid out in rowsall kinds of vegetables A-growin\ in that red clay soil. Lord knows Howcome she done it, but she did sure \nough. She sold the greens at market in Mobile, Had her two oldest kids in school there, too. One day I heard some talk at Searcy\s store Joe Denny cursin\ them damn dagoes\ luck, And callin\ them a bunch of dirty wops, Plain heathen who believed the Pope was God. We ought to run \em out of town, he says. I thought he didn\t mean a thing by it But I was wrong as I\m a-tellin\ yuh: The day I seen their horses I went home Along toward seven o\clock, real late for me, The biggest moon I ever see was risin\ Right slow above the east rim of the valley. And the Eyetalians\ lamp was out but they was there, Out on their porch to see the moon I reckon, All four of \em a-settin in a row, The mother with her three small boys beside. I\d hardly got unhitched an\ fed my mare I \member now of walkin\ from the barn When I looked up the road and there they come. They wasn\t ridin\ fast, they couldn\t well, On them plow horses and fat bellied mules, Just raisin\ lots of yellow dust, they were, An\ through it I could see them old white sheets That covered \em from head almost to shoes, And still it never came into my mind What they were studyin\ to do until They turned in at the path to the blue house. As soon as I see that I run across, All fixed to speak a good piece of my mind When somethin\ happened that I\ll not forget. The riders set in a sort of half a circle With Berry Greaves in the center facin\ her; (I knew \twas him. He\s over six feet two.) I \member now how funny they all looked, Though I was mad I could a\busted laughin\ At all their shoes a-stickin\ out o\ those sheets. For some of \em was farm boots caked with dirt And one pair yellow with pearl buttons on \em (Tad Burt\s, the one that runs the fillin\ station) And I could tell Fred Brandon quick enough He had those same old Congress gaiters on That he\s been wearin\ at the store for years. The woman had caught on; she was so scared She hid her face in both her hands and moaned; The littlest boy was cryin\, but the rest, The two school boys, was standin\ by their ma. Well just as Berry started in to talk There was a sound from up the side the valley; Right faint it was, just like a man was callin\ Real loud but from too many miles away. We all looked up the road where it meets the rim; The moon was makin\ it as light as day, And we heard the sound again, a-comin\ near. Then on the hill there was a yellow mist And a whirl of yellow dust come down the road So fast that we could scarcely see inside it; It was a rider in a long white robe A-settin\ straight an\ tall on a runnin\ horse, A faster horse than any in these parts, And a bigger man, bigger than Berry Greaves He seemed by at least a half and mebbe more; He rode hell-bent but he didn\t seem to try, Just sat that horse and let it sweep him on Sort of serene and sureand awful, too. He made me think of what my pappy told When I was mighty smallof men who rode At night to save folks and not to harm \em. While we stood lookin\ the rider disappeared For one short moment in a dip of the road. The men by now were lookin\ mighty scared, And all of \em were ready to go home When somethin\ else helped start \em on their way. As he come up the rise beyond the dip, His big white head and shoulders showin\ first, We saw the moon was in a direct line Behind him. Full in sight and near he came When all our hearts stopped beatin\ all at once, For we could see the moonthrough robe and all Thought it had turned from yellow to deep orange And it was barred as if by a dead man\s bones. .u2ea4626bf303f59ebbb9c7a6db9c1d81 , .u2ea4626bf303f59ebbb9c7a6db9c1d81 .postImageUrl , .u2ea4626bf303f59ebbb9c7a6db9c1d81 .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .u2ea4626bf303f59ebbb9c7a6db9c1d81 , .u2ea4626bf303f59ebbb9c7a6db9c1d81:hover , .u2ea4626bf303f59ebbb9c7a6db9c1d81:visited , .u2ea4626bf303f59ebbb9c7a6db9c1d81:active { border:0!important; } .u2ea4626bf303f59ebbb9c7a6db9c1d81 .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .u2ea4626bf303f59ebbb9c7a6db9c1d81 { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .u2ea4626bf303f59ebbb9c7a6db9c1d81:active , .u2ea4626bf303f59ebbb9c7a6db9c1d81:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .u2ea4626bf303f59ebbb9c7a6db9c1d81 .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .u2ea4626bf303f59ebbb9c7a6db9c1d81 .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .u2ea4626bf303f59ebbb9c7a6db9c1d81 .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .u2ea4626bf303f59ebbb9c7a6db9c1d81 .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .u2ea4626bf303f59ebbb9c7a6db9c1d81:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .u2ea4626bf303f59ebbb9c7a6db9c1d81 .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .u2ea4626bf303f59ebbb9c7a6db9c1d81 .u2ea4626bf303f59ebbb9c7a6db9c1d81-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .u2ea4626bf303f59ebbb9c7a6db9c1d81:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: The Diary of Anne Frank and Mother Night EssayI said those mules and horses couldn\t run Well, you can bet they done their best that night, And since that time there hasn\t been a ride The Eyetalian woman\s garden grows in peace.

Life’s Fragility free essay sample

He lay there, immobilized, while blood flowed down his arms and pooled in his hands. The concrete parking lot was not an ideal resting spot, but apparently he had no choice. I noticed his gray hair was taking on a reddish tone. He must have hit his head, I thought. I saw him fall. My mom and I were driving through the grocery store parking lot around 9 o’clock on a Tuesday night. A plastic bag in either hand, he exited the store. I saw him struggling to find his car. I looked away, probably engaging in some banter with my mom. I looked back and saw him fall hard on his back. A woman in her mid-twenties, the only other person around, rushed over. I saw him struggling to regain consciousness. The woman darted into the store for help. My mom stopped the car and we ran over just as the store employees arrived. We will write a custom essay sample on Life’s Fragility or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page He tried to get to his feet, but instead fell painfully on his face. My mom managed to help him up as he struggled to regain his balance. â€Å"Do you know this man?† the store owner asked. â€Å"Yes,† Mom replied. â€Å"He’s her father.† She was referring to me, of course; the elderly man was my dad. I was standing next to a man whom I had not seen or heard from in almost a year. How could I be his daughter? I thought. I noticed his footing was still unstable as he began to laugh. A fierce smell of alcohol exuded from his mouth. He recognized me, at least, but his words were so slurred I had no clue what he was trying to say. Honestly, I didn’t care. He had hurt me more than humanly possible and now I was supposed to listen to his drunken rambling? We drove him home. My eyes filled with tears. Apparently, I actually cared about the guy. That night I could not stop crying as the scene played over and over in my head. The vivid pictures still appear a year later. As we entered the unlocked door to his apartment, I noticed the kitchen. A pizza lay half-eaten on the stove. Empty pill bottles covered the counter. A bottle of vodka sat in the sink, and the trash was loaded with beer cans. As a matter of fact, the entire place reeked of beer. The living room carpet was so stained, I was unsure of its original color. A DVD player, which I gave him for Christmas, lay unopened on his filthy couch. I continued to explore his place since I had not been here since elementary school. In the bedroom, I opened his closet and found a huge pile of clothes on the floor. What happened to my dad? Where was I when he went through this horrible transformation? Could I have helped? I have only seen my dad a few times since that day. The first was at the hospital. He supposedly had what they call an alcoholic seizure. He recovered, as always. The next time was Christmas. Instead of being inundated with expensive, unwanted gifts, I received nothing from him, not even a card. I remember the last time I saw him as clearly I see these words forming in front of my eyes. He was moving to Florida and my mom, being the nice person she is, offered to help him pack. I unwillingly came along. It started out like so many of their fights: he refused to admit he was an alcoholic. I don’t remember exactly what was said, but I remember how it felt. He began cursing. The excruciating sound of those words filled my ears. I couldn’t take it. My dad, who did absolutely nothing to help me in my life, started verbally abusing the only person who has always been there for me. I started crying and quickly exited the apartment, slamming the screen door. â€Å"See, you got what you wanted,† he yelled at my mom as I was leaving. That was the last sentence I heard him speak. When I’m asked who influenced my life the most, I’m expected to say my mom or my grandma – someone who has actually been there for me. But instead, I think of the person who only made an impact on my life during this last year, and not a good one either. He made me see life in a whole new light. That line is cheesy, I know, and it’s probably used by thousands of high school seniors attempting to write the most heartfelt essay, but I don’t know how else to explain it. I was hurt. I hated him for a time. I even occasionally pitied him. However, I have never regretted having him as my father. He showed me the dangerous side of alcohol, so I will never end up like him. His troubles made me realize the fragility of life. That night I saw him for what he had become and I’m a better person because of it.

I know that the sun will rise tomorrow morning Essay Example

I know that the sun will rise tomorrow morning Essay Example I know that the sun will rise tomorrow morning Paper I know that the sun will rise tomorrow morning Paper How is it that I am so sure of this one statement to be absolutely true, without question? Perhaps my personal experience can be held responsible, or my indefinite ability to rationalize and subconsciously conduct legitimate reasoning. The puzzling question still remains, however, unanswered. One of the most amazing gifts given to us human beings was the ability to see. Our eye, the most complex organ in our bodies except for our brains, is said to contribute towards 85% of our total knowledge. Because of our capability to see, we see the sun raised high above the horizon every morning. Mind you, this is every single morning. Couldnt this be counted as factual proof that the sun will rise tomorrow? During the past 16 years of my life, I have never encountered a day when the sun had not risen to welcome me for another, beautiful, granted day. Nor has any other human being, dead or alive. I think it is safe to say that lifes processes, its patterns, this one anyway, will not change for another zillion years to come. Take note, I am not suggesting that I know the sun will keep on rising every morning. I am merely stating the fact that I know the sun will rise tomorrow morning. Inductive reasoning allows me to come to this very conclusion. Because of my own experience with the sun, added with experience of every single human being that has/is tread/treading this planet, I can conclude that the sun will rise tomorrow morning. David Hume, a Scottish philosopher, once stated, Induction is based on experience. The most straightforward way to approach this statement would be the use of scientific evidence. Scientists have concluded that, instead of the planets and the sun rotating around the Earth (like medieval, religious philosophers had concluded), the Earth, along with all the other planets in the solar system, rotate around the Sun. The reason why we see the sun every single day can be explained by the relationship between the Sun and the Earth. Because of the Earth tilt (23. 5 Degrees), the fact that the Earth rotates within itself, and the fact that the Earth, while rotating within itself, orbits the sun, the suns rays only hit half of the Earth at once. We are, half of the day, exposed not to the suns rays, and the other half exposed to the suns rays, which creates day, and night, inevitably. This is exactly why the North and South Poles are always blanketed over a think layer of ice, for it doesnt get exposed to the suns powerful rays as much as other places do on the face of the Earth (in fact they dont get exposed to sunlight for 6 months during the period of one year, but that can be explained logically by angles the positioning of the Earth). Hence, depending on where you are on the Earth, the times at which the sun will rise will differ, but the sun will always rise no matter where you are. Rational accounting and science can help us proceed closer to that shaded answer in the distance, whilst providing even more evidence to prove that the sun will rise tomorrow morning. Human beings constantly question everyday transactions, whether that is a certain action, or a sentence long statement. The ability to question our inner thoughts is crucial, for it is what makes us human. No other animal can rationalize like we do. For this matter, we must question the belief that the sun will rise tomorrow morning. How may we come to refute this belief? One may have learned in Mathematics class, that the probability of something occurring is never zero. The word never, in this context, is perfect because it is certainly never. So why, one may ask, that with the suns detrimental 6000 degrees-Celsius core, is it said that the sun will not explode in our life time, let alone tomorrow? Scientists say that it will happen during the course of 5~6 billion years from now. Wouldnt tomorrow be included within the time span of during the course of 5~6 billion years from now? Hence, what would the probability of the sun exploding before sunrise tomorrow morning be? All we know is this: Certainly not 0%. The number could be very close to zero, but it will not be zero. That alone is enough evidence to refute the simple belief that the sun will rise tomorrow morning. Who knows if the sun will be sucked mercilessly into the dark hells of the black hole? It probably wont happen, but it could. This is inevitable. Another slight possibility is that the media was lying to us the whole time. Sure, the media lies to us viewers all the time, whether that is through domestic complications, and/or patriotic cover-ups (weve seen this innumerable times during the course of our history). How do we know that we have been lied to all this time about the suns existence? Who knows, maybe all the governments in the world came together and decided to plant a massive, ultra-beam satellite into the skies, and with one switch of a button, the light rays could be switched off just like a light bulb. Now the possibility of this being the truth is incredibly low, as many would agree, but is definitely not zero, for we civilians have never looked up there to see for ourselves if thats the ultimate truth or not. I know the sun will rise tomorrow morning. However, there are other things in life we think we know, but if thought about thoroughly, can be easily questioned. Thus it is important for us to analyze how we came to know such fundamental, but fascinating verities. Many forces that have come from our society, our experience, our instinct, have influenced us to become knowers of particular beliefs, or ideas. These forces can ultimately shape who we really are, and what we indisputably know.

Analysis Of Coleridge Jackson

Coleridge Jackson Coleridge Jackson was a story poem written by American black woman Maya Angelou, born April 4, 1928, living in a struggle for black equality. My boss, I think this poem is written to support and sympathize with equal pace of black Americans. The first line is very powerful and puts the image of Koleridge in the head of the reader as soon as the sentence is turned into a sentence. The phrase There is nothing to worry about Coleridge Jackson is limited, and objection can not. An analysis of the rhythm of ancient crewmen of Ancient sailor frost by Samuel Taylor Coleridge is a long poem about the supernatural activities of sea crew and their crew. This work is the original of Lyrical Ballads, two books created by William Wordsworth and Coleridge. Wordsworth intends to make ordinary people into an exceptional appearance in his work and Coleridge's goal is to make this exceptional lineup normal. Fog .. was first published Critical Analysis of William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Colleric William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge were first released in the UK in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Writing movement for outdoor philosophy. Wordsworth and ST Cole Ridge are often considered pioneers of the British Romantic Movement but their collective theology and philosophy are often criticized but they are often criticized by writers because of their excellent fame as a poet It is seldom to be taken to. General Efforts ... The literary romantic era from 1798 to 1832 was the era for the literary style of the 18th century. This period is full of poets who devoted faith to their work and poetry, such as William Wordsworth, a very famous romantic poet of this era. In contrast, during the Victorian era, the poets wrote about their environment and had a pessimistic view of life. In 1797 and 1798, he lived in Somerset's Netherstoy, now known Coleridge Cottage, and was the most productive in Coleridge's life. In 1795, Coleridge met the poet William W ordsworth and his sister Dorothy. (Wordsworth visited him and was fascinated by the surrounding environment and borrowed Alfoxton Park, three miles away.) Coleridge also wrote the iconic poem Kubla Khan, Coleridge in addition to the ancient sailor Rime . I insist on insisting - as a result of the opium's dream, in delusion; and the first part of poet Cristabell. The writing of Kubura Khan on the legendary palace of the Emperor Mongolian Emperor Kubrai Khan and Ksarayi is said to have been interrupted by the advent of Pollock - it has been modified in various scientific contexts. Novel and Lolita of Nabokov

Captivity Narrative Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Captivity Narrative - Assignment Example My memory has not made me any justice yet, I could not recollect how I had gotten into this mess. The door opened, creakily. My heart beat fast, my tongue stuck as a huge figure, roughly six feet tall entered, probably male. The dark hood over his head ensured anonymity. The light that shone from the corridor made him even scarier. Slowly, it began to dawn on me. Walking from school, I had decided to use a shorter route to get home. My friend was a guest that day on a popular TV show so I got home earlier and catch up everything he said. Passing through this alley that was deserted and lonely, my instinct was spooked. However, the wave of excitation was stronger than it, so I proceeded. After all, the home was just a few meters away. I didn’t see anyone. He was quick and effective. How he carried me to this location is a mystery I am yet to unravel. But judging from the figure that stood at the door, it was easy to work for him. He had water and bread slices. He threw them at me, and since my choices were limited I ate as much as I could. I had no slightest idea what he wanted from me. Neither was he in a hurry to tell me He left and came back in approximately half an hour, accompanied by another man, a little shorter with an untidy mustache. He asked for my parent's contact and I obliged, then thinking it was a kidnap for ransom. I was threatened that if they didn’t cooperate I would be tortured, that death only wasn’t good enough for them. That is when they got my full attention. I am a sucker for pain and that idea sent wild ideas in my head, I thought of an escape but my options were just wild. Two hours later they came back, and this time around, there were in no mood of talking. The shorter guy started yelling angrily, his face turning red. Apparently, the contacts I had given him were not the ones he wanted, I tried explaining myself but from with my dry throat, I could only mumble few words. He didn’t care kicks and blows rained at an astounding speed. Initially, I tried to resist, but it was useless. I resigned to just sheltering my face. My initial screams were reduced to just mere whimpers as I became numb and number, and finally passing out.

The law and the media Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

The law and the media - Essay Example When defamation is established, there is a legal presumption of deceptiveness (Defamation). A report by the Washington post related to a weight lifting coach, Mr. Bob Hoffman stated that the coach sold valueless protein supplements called Hoffman’s high protein tablets. The article also clearly depicted that Hoffman also drove a Rolls Royce car and many of his athletes were discovered later to be using the banned anabolic steroids. Hoffman sued the newspaper stating that the news gave an impression that he supplemented himself by selling the protein tablets. The newspaper made counterclaims that the statements they collected were from individuals and there is no case of defamation. The law of defamation fully states or recognizes that truth is a complete defense, but defamation cases which are not direct, as in the above case always smudge the line between truth and fabrication. An article which is factually correct will omit or may imply falsely a material fact that will make the article harmful like a truly false report. Even though the weight lifting coach sold p rotein enriched tablets to his athletes, the fact that it contained anabolic steroids had no evidential support. The newspaper had published the article without undergoing scientific trials to establish the truth of their claim. Therefore the article was truly a case of defamation. Even courts have struggled to give a clear and true verdict to this matter. The media cannot defend false statements as facts. It is also not possible to defend on the basis of an omitted fact. The case of defamation against Mr. Hoffman is a true case of defamation because the newspaper has published false statement that caused loss of name and reputation for the coach in front of the public. The media should not use its influence and coverage to gain undue weightage among its readers by publishing defamatory articles (Cohn). Privacy can

Management and Steel Industry Essay Example for Free

Management and Steel Industry Essay 1. List and elaborate some strategic issues facing NUCOR. Key strategic issues challenging NUCOR include legislation related to climate change, fluctuating cost and supply of iron ore and scrap steel, increasing amount of steel imports, production technology improvements and economic weakness. Changes in legislation could have severe impacts on the firm’s numerous production facilities and could be costly to become compliant. The fluctuations in both the cost and supply of iron ore and scrap steel directly impact the firm’s profitability because it is difficult to pass those costs on to the customers due to the price-driven level of competition in the steel industry. The rise of low cost steel imports increases the domestic U.S. supply which puts pressure on NUCOR. The firm must stay at the front of technological advances for the production and processing of steel in order to stay competitive. Common for many firms and industries, economic weakness is an issue that challenges NUCOR’s strategy because it can impact the demand for its reputable high quality steel products. 2. What are the key elements of NUCOR’s low cost strategy? What factors have helped NUCOR achieve a low cost position? Key strategy elements for NUCOR: Conservative financial strength Team-based culture and decentralized operations Vertical integration Diversification Innovation – information technology, speed of design process Close proximity to important customers Financially stable employees – higher than average wages and non-discretionary incentive programs Employee empowerment Honesty and openness within the company No employee lay-offs Factors that have contributed to NUCOR’s low cost position: Strong, long-term relationships with outside parties for services such as research and development, purchasing recommendations, advertising, public relations, and  legal or environmental regulation compliance Stepping away from the steel industry’s tradition of equalized freight and offering all customers the sales terms of price plus actual shipping costs Not offering customers volume discounts Fleet of nearly 150 trucks for product delivery Vertical integration from joist manufacturing into steel production Steel production utilizing mini-mill technology Holding workstations responsible for identifying bottlenecks to increase efficiency Sophisticated computer program is used to compute accurate bids Improvements in the melting and casting processes for steel production including â€Å"continuous casters† Flat organizational hierarchy 3. Please apply Porter’s Five Forces model to the steel industry. While doing so, clearly identify who is behind each force and what the impact is of each force on the profitability of the industry (high/medium/low). At the end, also provide a summary of all the five forces and propose whether you think the steel industry is attractive or not. The bargaining power of buyers is high due to minimal product differentiation, low switching costs, excess capacity of steel production and large volume purchases. The threat of substitutes is medium because substitutes such as aluminum and plastic would not provide equivalent strength and durability but could still serve the same purpose as steel. The bargaining power of suppliers is low primarily due to the product being a commodity, high ratio of imported raw materials, and low switching costs. The threat of new entrants is low due to the trend toward consolidation and high amount of capital required to establish production/processing facilities capable of achieving economies of scale. Rivalry is intense because the steel industry is mature with little differentiation among products and mergers both in the U.S. and across the globe creating giant companies with deep pockets. Generally speaking, I think the steel industry is unattractive primarily due to its maturity, significant capital requirements and intense price-based competition that ultimately lead to low profitability. 4. What are NUCOR’s resources and capabilities? Resources: Team-based organizational culture Alliances with outside parties for support services Joint ventures with Physical locations of plants in proximity to key customers Loyal employees comprised of production workers, department heads, support and administrative staff, and senior management Innovative mini-mill technology Own fleet of nearly 150 trucks for distribution Computer program to generate bids Plants, mills, equipment, and machinery Reputation Financial capital Capabilities: Management’s philosophy and leadership skills Successful quality control process Flat organizational hierarchy and incentive program that keeps the workforce cooperative and productive Acquisition management Multidivisional coordination Speed of design process 5. Elaborate on some of the key lessons you have learnt from the case analysis. The most significant lesson I learned from this case analysis is that management style and culture can be key to being competitive. These really are the two things that will give NUCOR sustainable competitive advantage  because they are the most difficult to find and imitate. Building such an impressive employee loyalty takes time and cannot be replicated easily. In addition, the minimization of the corporate bureaucracy is something that makes employees at all levels feel comfortable and as if they are part of a family. I think there are many companies, including the one I work for that could really benefit from adopting this management style.

Television and Media - Variety in TV Shows :: Exploratory Essays Research Papers

Variety in Television Shows There are many different television shows today, practically one for every person in the family. Comedies, dramas, action-adventure all these different forums of television, but they all seem to be about the same people. Threw all the different verity of shows on TV all the characters have common similarities with each other. They are mostly composed of white people and the upper class. Even if the show claims to be about the working class the characters are usually never seen working or even warring about money, they also never have a problem paying rent or buying new clothes. This gives a false image of the working class. The lack of a divers cast also misleads the audience the black population is expected to outnumber the white population in this country by the year 2009. Yet all major television stations don't have many if ant minority in their shows. This leaves most of America's people unrepresentative on television. If these stations where trying to portray the middle class they did not do so in an affective manor. Looking at the show "friends" the whole cast is composed of white actors and never has a minority ever been represented in the show. All the characters have jobs but are never seen at them, occasionally we see Monica in the kitchen where she works, or Rachel in the Coffey shop doing anything but work. Even with the unusual appearance at work the characters still seem to have great apartments and seem fashionably beautiful. "Friend" is one of the most popular shows on television today. How is that possible, the answer is that executives who write and produce the shows have no idea what its really like for young adults in society today. They assume things about the American public and pass it on as the real thing. This in turn is digested by the American public and watched because theirs nothing else that is entertaining enough to keep their attention the reason why television shows seem the same is because they are made and produced by the same people with a formula that i s followed by others. Look at the show "Will and Grace" it seems to have broken the mold of the usual sitcom.

Community Health Advocacy Essay

The aspects of community and aggregate are closely connected and people tend to use the terms interchangeably. The best way to explain the difference between the two concepts is by examples to differentiate and get a clearer understanding of the difference between the two concepts. This paper will define aggregate and community giving a brief support from current literature. The paper will also examine and give the differences between the two terms plus describe and identify the chosen aggregate based on the health issue of heart disease. The Christoffel’s three stages of a conceptual framework for advocacy will be described. Then each stage as an aggregate selected is described. Community and Aggregate Terms Defines In community health care nursing, aggregate is defined as the whole population, which is being used to describe a given environment. The term aggregate is used to refer or define a group of people in a society who are believed to have similar or common problems and challenges in their life. These people should share similar characteristics and also they should be living in the same area. The group which is to be described should be suffering from the same medical or health care problem and should be in search of similar medication or health care services. Aggregate in nursing setting literally is defined as the entire, whole, or the sum of a given group with similar problems, (Nies & McEwen, 2010). Differences Between Aggregate and Community There are those people who use the term community when referring to aggregate. Aggregate and community are two different concepts but are closely connected. Community in nursing health care setting is used to refer to the general population in a given area. A community is the entire  population that includes the sick and healthy population. When discussing about the aggregate, we refer to the population, which is experiencing a health condition along with those who are responsible of taking care of the group that are sick. The entire population that comprise of healthy and sick in the society is referred to as the community, (Stanhope & Lancaster, 2009). Identified Aggregate and Description as a health Issue There are those people who use the term community and the term aggregate to refer to the same thing or to mean something the same. There stand significant differences between the term community and the term aggregate. When we talk of aggregate, we are referring to a population, which has similar medical problems or challenges and live in the same region or geographical area. For the community, it’s the general population that involves the sick and those who are not sick. In this case, Adults suffering from heart disease in Illinois is an aggregate population that is used to define the current health care challenges. In the state of Illinois, specifically the Sangamon county community, evidence shows that heart disease is the number one reason for death of adults in the entire state of Illinois and in Sangamon county (Illinois Department of Public Health [IDPH], 2010). Christoffel’s Three Stages of a Conceptual Framework for Advocacy Christoffel’s three stages for advocacy include information, strategy, and action. The stages take place concurrently. The first stage, information, includes naming, describing, and measuring the public health problem. The second stage, strategy, involves using the information in the first stage to develop a plan of action for the promotion of public health. The stage includes. This stage involves the communication of information to the public and health care professionals. Groups can then be assembled to focus on the issue and plan needed changes. Strategies can include public education messages, campaigns, and press conferences. This action may involve fund raising, persuading individuals to change their lives, and legislation involvement. To achieve action, changes in mindsets, behaviors, and resource provision. Public health advocacy transpires at two levels: the individual/family level and in the larger community level (Christoffel,  2000). Advocacy that focuses on the interpersonal or intrapersonal level is frequently referred to as patient advocacy. Patient advocacy involves any â€Å"activity that benefits a patient† (Torrey, 2010). It can apply individual patient care, groups that develop policies, and legislation changes to improve the health care system for patients. There are many examples of patient advocacy organizations, which include government groups such as the Center for Disease Control, American Heart Association, and individual patient advocates who act as healthcare assistants (Torrey, 2010). Applying Each Stage as an advocate for the Aggregate The first stage in the Christoffel’s advocacy framework talks about the information factor. The information names, describes, and measures the public health problem. When discussing the issue of heart disease. This stage can be used to describe the disease process, the risk factors involved, and it’s complications. During this stage, the private sector or the government sector get involved so as to develop the research needed that can be used to measure the public health problem. Evidence shows that this stage is relevant simply because it assists develop all statistical information and results that are suitable in order to address the advocacy challenge. The first stage in Christoffel’s advocacy framework is to develop a research on heart disease within the society. This stage will help develop relevant information on the mortality rate related to heart disease and/or its complications (Christoffel, 2000). The second stage in Christoffel’s advocacy framework is the stage of strategy. Having collected relevant information about the problem of health care issue, the second stage helps work on the information so as to understand the problem completely. In this stage, the central idea is to get results that will help come up with some strategies on how to approach the health problem. Experts in respective fields translate the research findings so that proper results are developed to develop a plan of action (Christoffel, 2011). The third stage in Christoffel’s advocacy framework is the stage of action. Strategies, which are developed in the second stage on how to handle the  health issue are implemented and monitored in the final stage of Christoffel’s advocacy framework (Christoffel, 2011). It is alleged that when strategies in stage two are implemented and monitored they provide the best results in respect to the health care environment, (Stanhope & Lancaster, 2009). Public health messages on the news and posters can help educate the community about heart disease. There are also local physicians who provide free learning seminars on specific diseases. Raising funds to help with campaign measures can also be implemented during this stage. Legislation can be educated on the health issue to convince policy makers to get involved. The main part of this stage is action. The goal is to influence people to change specific habits that will reduce the risk of developing heart disease. Conclusion The aspects of community and aggregate are closely connected, and in most cases a lot of people tend to use them interchangeably. These two terms are used interchangeably, but they have different meanings. There are those people who use the term community and the term aggregate to refer to the same thing or to mean something the same. There stand significant differences between the term community and the term aggregate. Aggregate is the populations that has similar health problems and are seeking similar health care services, but the community is the entire population that carries the sick and the healthy. The use of Christoffel’s advocacy framework helps solve a problem in accordance. References: Christoffel, K. (2011). Public health Advocacy: Process and Product. American Journal of Public Health Illinois Department of Public Health. (2010). Leading causes of death, Illinois, 2010. Retrieved from http://www.idph.state.il.us/health/bdmd/leadingdeaths10.htm Nies, M. (Mary Albrecht), & McEwen, M. (2010). Community/public health nursing: promoting the health of populations. Elsevier/Saunders Stanhope, M., & Lancaster, J. (2009). Foundations of nursing in the community: community-oriented practice. Mosby/Elsevier

Judith Beveridge’s Poetry Essay

An inherent tension between nature and the material world is revealed in the imagery of Judith Beveridge’s poetry. Discuss the significance by referring to three poems. Judith Beveridge poetry reveals an inherent tension between nature and the material world. She questions human’s ability to understand and be connected to nature, examines human’s destructive power over nature and demonstrates the changing nature of the world from natural to materialistic. This is represented in her poems, Mulla Bulla Beach, Fox in the Tree Stump and Streets of Chippendale. Judith Beveridge’s poetry examines the ability of humans or the materialistic world to be interconnected with nature. In the poem Mulla Bulla Beach she examines a human’s ability to be part of nature, particularly from an outsiders perspective. She states â€Å" A new world to me, but familiar†, demonstrating how she can be related to nature. She also examines an insiders perspective on the beach, in particular the fisherman, stating â€Å" who are born hearing the sea always there† She examines how the fisherman have become part of the natural rhythm demonstrating how humans can be part of nature, and the tension between the material world and nature does not need to exist. She uses many similes to link humans or human objects to nature for example â€Å"Jellyfish clear as surgical gloves† and â€Å" tide winded shells pacing quietly as shore runners†. These similes demonstrate how humans can not only understand but also be part of the natural rhythm. This is also seen in Judith’s poem, The Fox in a Tree Stump. Judith examines how the child feels a connection to the fox and its innocent nature stating, â€Å" Fox hairs of dust sweated in my palms† although, this connection does not overpower the fear of her uncle, so she kills the fox. This demonstrates that although humans may feel connected to nature although this does not prevent them from destroying aspects of nature. Judith Beveridge examines the inherent tension between nature and the material world by examining a human’s ability to understand nature.

Blood Brothers by Willy Russell Essays

Blood Brothers by Willy Russell Essays Blood Brothers by Willy Russell Essay Blood Brothers by Willy Russell Essay Essay Topic: Literature On the 20th October 2010, we went to watch ‘Blood Brothers’. Written by Willy Russell, the story is a gripping, emotional and sometimes comical tale of twin brothers from Liverpool who are separated at birth due to the financial desperation of their single mother. Brought up in completely different social backgrounds, their birth mother’s obsessive attempts at keeping her sons from discovering each other lead to a tragic conclusion. I was really surprised how they started the play with a flashback but it worked well, it made me realise that the play is going to have a tragic ending. It also engaged me to want to watch the play and find out what happens further on into the story. It allowed me as the audience to feel sympathy for the characters without knowing them. My favourite actor was Sean Jones who played the part of Mickey. This is because I really enjoyed how he acted like a seven year old, he used his enthusiasm clearly to make his acting realistic and believable. He portrayed this by using his body language and facial expressions effectively. He was really successful in showing he was upset and arrogant when he wasn’t allowed to play outside, which is originally what a real seven year old would do. Sean Jones used his levels effectively to present himself as a seven year old. When his mother told him he wasn’t allowed to go outside, he immediately fell to the floor to show sadness. He also made sure he was engaging with the audience by using facial expressions. One effective facial expression, I personally thought was good was when he dropped his face in an exaggerated way like a child would do if they were sad. His voice was loud and confident to show that Mickey was able to speak his mind, and slightly high pitched to present his age. Sean also showed a shy side of Mickey when he was around Linda. He showed this by placing his hands in his pockets and looking away as if he was embarrassed. When Mickey was depressed, Sean presented him clearly and effectively. He showed Mickey was depressed by slowing his voice and making it seem slightly slurred. Even though his voice was quite slurred he still kept it loud and understandable. Sean also showed anger by shouting and steeping forward in a threatening way. He was at the front of the stage to make him seem closer to the audience; I think this was to show he was superior and dominant and felt like he had control over the situation. The other actor I favoured was Nikki Evans who played Mrs. Johnstone because I thought she had a very powerful voice. I think she showed a motherly side to all the children throughout the play. The scene I thought she was effective in was when she gave Edward the locket and she came down to his level. She previously acts quite vicious and keeps on shouting at him, but to me makes it clear she is protecting Mickey and Edward. Both movement and voice were used successfully by this actor, showing Mrs Johnstone was tired and worn out from having a quite stressful life. This therefore made me feel quite sympathetic for her because she clearly couldn’t manage another child and had no choice to give Edward to Mrs Lyons. In the play I didn’t like the one character, Edward played by Paul Davies because I feel like the actor didn’t change much from a 7 year old to a much older person. Unlike Sean, Paul didn’t put as much energy into his movement around the stage. The scene I really didn’t like which involved him was the shooting scene as he didn’t make his acting seem dramatic instead he was more boring and dull. He could have improved this scene by using his body language to portray his innocence and weakness. His facial expression didn’t change much unlike Mickey because he was just having a same face, and not changing. For example when Sean Jones said the ‘f’ word Paul Davies had a little bit of a shocked face but not much. The scene I thought was most effective was when Mickey and Edward first meet and become ‘Blood Brothers’. I like this moment because I find that it’s really sweet and makes the audience feel happy and warm. The actors really showed their enthusiasm which made them look and feel like a seven year old. Mickey tried to impress Edward and attempted to show off, by pulling his jumper over his knees, saying words like ‘piss off’ and the ‘F’ word, this made Edward feel like Mickey is amazing and that he should be his best friend. This proved to us that they were younger than they actually were by using the stage well, by running around as if they were playing a game. I was really disappointed with the last scene. In my opinion there was a lot of poor acting; Edward’s facial expression was completely blank and to me seemed to have no fright in it what so ever. Also the how the police run in through the audience wasn’t effective because it was quite distracting and confusing as I didn’t know where to look. The lighting was a vital part to the play, it helped to create atmosphere. I felt that the use of red presented an evil feel towards the play. Red originally represents anger, murder and hatred. This happened when Mickey thought Linda was having an affair with Edward, in rage Mickey grabbed a gun and ran off the stage in search of Edward. They also used lighting to illustrate places they were, like when they were at the cinema and the lights were dimmed but certain lights were flickering on their face which made it look like a real cinema. These also made the audience feel like their part of the story and as if there watching a real film. They also used lighting to portray their emotions, for example when they got rehoused out into the countryside, the lights turned bright and happy, as if it’s a new start to their life, a new beginning. The lighting became brighter to show their emotions turned happy. This made me feel happy for the Johnstones as they got to start a new life for themselves. In the scene were Mrs Johnstone and Mrs Lyons swear on the bible the lights went dim and a spotlight came down on them. I felt that this was effective as it created a tense environment for the audience and slightly sinister. It also effectively marked the moment. I think the use of music was extremely effective in showing me the different stages of the characters’ lives. ‘The devils got your number’ was dark and sinister, I think it symbolises Mrs Johnstone and Mrs Lyons as if making a deal with Satan. The fact that the Narrator was singing it made it feel more effective in my opinion; this was because it made you see the narrator as the devil always reminding Mrs Johnstone and Mrs Lyons of their deal. The music they chose went well with the scenes and create different moods, for example when Mrs. Johnston sang ‘and we went dancing’ song created a happy and a jolly mood, before she had children and her husband left her. The music changed when conflict grew for example when Mickey accused Edward of having an affair with Linda, the music changed to a fast tempo with makes the audience alert. The music also changed when they moved to the countryside which makes the music happy and bright. This makes people feel happy and good as if it’s going to be a good new start. The use of music also portrayed their age, such as the difference sounds of the gun shots. The gun a considerably high pitched, quite ‘ping’ when they were younger, to me this could reflect on their immaturity level and how their life consists of happiness, whereas the gun made a loud, agitated ‘bang’ noise when they older, perhaps this shows that all their happiness have been diluted due to the fact they’ve grown up and symbolises tough times in the character’s lives. The use of the narrator was really effective. The fact that the narrator was in every scene, I feel that it was effective as it portrayed to the audience that he is being represented as the never leaving past for Mrs Johnstone and Mrs Lyons even though it was the audience who only knew of his existence. He is used to taunt the two characters which eventually led Mrs. Lyons to insanity. Without the narrator, I feel the play wouldn’t have been as effective as you wouldn’t get a deeper view of the play and it generally wouldn’t make any sense. It also wouldn’t show the progress of Mrs. Lyons madness as clearly. They also used the narrator as thought tracking. The thought tracking was effective as I feel it allowed the audience to interact with the characters feelings and thoughts. In my perspective I feel it presented a clear perspective of each character. The contrast in class was clearly shown from the start of the play. The accents the characters consisted off allowed us to make a judgement on where they fit into society. The ‘scouse’ accent may be looked down up when compared to the way Mrs Lyons talked. The tone the actors playing the Lyons’ were quite patronising, as if they knew they were better and enhanced the way they talked to portray to the audience. The movement the actors across the stage also helped show the difference in hierarchy. Sean Jones, who played Mickey, made himself look more relaxed and didn’t make himself look approachable, whereas Paul Davies, who played Edward, had good posture and presented himself as a polite character. The costume the characters wore helped show their class as Sean wore loose fitting clothes with holes in, this reflected how poor his family is and how Mrs Johnstone ached to provide for children but diteriates. Paul however wore smart, fitted clothing that looked expensive. This portrayed that Edward was clearly brought up in a well off house. The set in ‘Blood Brothers’ was really effective because they showed the fact there was two different houses involved in the play. The difference in the houses was that on the rougher side, the houses were dull and boring, parts of the walls were crumbling and they had broken windows. On the other side of the street was the more posh and more well of houses, the houses on the more well off side had fixed windows, unbroken walls unlike the rougher side of the street. This gives off a theme of class and how it affects people in different backgrounds. In the end I feel like it’s a good play with lots of humour and effective acting. It was completely different to what I expected but a lot better than I thought it would be. It consists of humour, romance and tragic deaths which would generally allow you to not take your eyes of the stage. It’s a humorous, comical play which will leave the audience mind blown. The actors that took part really did well and their characterisation was brilliant. They all spoke the same accent, even though they weren’t all from Liverpool, which I congratulate them on. The fact there were hardly any people on the stage, I enjoyed as it made the play simple and not complex. I definitely would really take the opportunity to see this play again and I would highly recommend it to a friend or relative.

Occupational Folklife Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Occupational Folklife - Assignment Example Partaking in this activity assists us to bond out of the classroom and develop friendly relationships on and off the field too. This helps us to come together as a group and identify as one. The values and skills stressed during the soccer match are those of teamwork, hard work, commitment, and dedication. Each member of the opposing team gets expected to understand the concept of teamwork and how it is vital in helping their team to win and play excellently. Teamwork in soccer is displayed by passing the ball to your teammates and also through attacking or defending against the opposing team as a unit. Each member also has to show dedication and commitment by making time to participate in this activity after class and group work. As members of the group study, we encourage each other to show up for matches and always give our entire effort when playing for our teams. Members encourage each other to dedicate part of their extra time towards playing soccer together. Soccer is a physically demanding game and requires hard work to maintain physical fitness and shape. As a group, we undertake warm-ups and some physical exercises together before playing. By exercising, member s get to ensure their levels of physical fitness are commendable and thus do not strain physically during the match. Through playing soccer as an informal activity, the individual status or ranks within the group become forgotten until the match is over. The activity helps the group to bond and relate to each other as team members and friends on a casual basis. Soccer assists the group members to relate to each other on a friendly level where we share a joke about each other or let loose of the seriousness that comes from knowing each other on our academic levels. Group members do not mind about their academic performances’ while on the field playing, but rather become focused on assisting their teams to win.  

Marks and Spencer Financial Statements Coursework

Marks and Spencer Financial Statements - Coursework Example Many of the private companies in the UK use International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) conceptual framework for financial reporting (Holland, 1998) and address issues regarding fair value accounting in terms of the 8 phases, out of which four are active: the objective and qualitative characteristics, elements and recognition, measurement, and reporting entity. The conceptual framework itself provides guidance on which measurement bases to be used or outcomes to be obtained through the measurements decisions. The measurements of the different segments are aimed at fair value to meet the qualitative characteristics of the framework. As IFRS includes fair value measurements required by the United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (UK GAAP) (Ballard, 2010, p 704), it is obvious that the different identifiable components (Connolly, 2012) like pension and other associated costs and liabilities of M&S are according to fair value measurement that meets the qualitative characteristics of the framework (Ballard, 2010, p 703). Also, according to the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) and the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB), the objective of fair value measurement is â€Å"to provide guidance for selecting measurement bases that satisfy the objectives and qualitative characteristics of financial reporting† (FASB, 2009b, p2; Ballard, 2010, p 703). The qualitative characteristics aid financial reporting in the selection of a measurement method which the company has attained through identifying its employees as their valuable asset and also having certain policies and schemes like the pension scheme and work, health and safety schemes as part of its sustainability drive (M&S How We Do Business, 2011). Further, identifiable segments are reportable or operating segments of the company that have reported revenue of more than 10% of the combined revenue of both internal and external revenue of all other segments. Also, if the profit or loss of a particular segment, like employee remuneration or employee benefits, including pension benefits, is greater than profit or loss of all operating segments combined or the assets are worth more than 10% of all combined operating segment assets, then the segment is said to be reportable (Connolly, 2012, p2). This means that M&S has the option of not including the employee remuneration benefits or pension liabilities and costs in the financial report. Measurement is defined in the IASB’s framework as â€Å"the process of determining the monetary amounts at which the elements of financial statements are to be recognized and carried in the balance sheet and income statement† (IASB, 2001, p 99; Ballard, 2010, p 706). M&S has recognized the measurements relating to employee remuneration, costs, and benefits in its financial statement in 2011 (Appendix 1 & 2). Many of the financial reporting institutes have recognized that there exists ambiguity in standard s attained in financial reporting. There are limitations in financial reporting and public information disclosure as it is common practice with companies to practice mandatory and voluntary public and private disclosure of information that is targeted at specific stakeholders of the business (Holland, 1998).

Operations Management (please refer to uploaded file) Essay

Operations Management (please refer to uploaded file) - Essay Example On the other hand, a service supply chain deals with the intangibles due to which little physical inputs are required. Even the number of suppliers in a service-based supply chains are limited to an extent. Raw materials required by the internet service providers are limited to only offices and servers. The costs incurred by the service supply chain are less as compared to the product supply chain (Veronneau and Roy, 2009). Logistics is essential in product-base supply chain as the manufacturing industry highly depends on the transportation of physical goods from one destination to another. If the raw materials are not transferred from one place to another, the supply chain will be broken which halts the operations of the company and the company is forced to use different modes of transportation; land, sea or air. Furthermore, the cost of logistics is quite high depending on the size and weight of the raw material that is being moved (Min and Zhou, 2002). On the other hand, for a service industry logistics is irrelevant as the industry directly deals with the intangibles. The cost incurred by the product-based industry for logistics are utilised by the service-based industry for upgrading servers and for maintenance (Veronneau and Roy, 2009). This upgrade and maintenance allows enhancement in the speed and communication between the clients and the internet service providers. In a traditional product-based supply chain, finished goods are those products that have been completely transformed from raw material to products that are ready to be sold (Simatupang and Sidharan, 2002). For Coca Cola Company, a finished good represents a chilled bottle of coke ready to be served to the customers to meet their demand. In a service industry, a finished good represents quality service to the clients. This means that the customer should be satisfied with the internet

Evolution of reading and writing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Evolution of reading and writing - Essay Example It is factual that ancient periods were characterized by people who had no knowledge regarding reading and writing. It was a state of utter ignorance where nobody ever pictured the development of the highly sophisticated forms of reading and writing. As such, the advancements realized today are a product of continuous and new developments that have lasted for more than a thousand years. The nature of reading and writing differs from one geographical location or society to the other. However, it is worth noting that there are some fundamental steps that have characterized all these developments. For instance, in the earlier days, convectional signs or pictures is what was used to express ideas. This however changed over time and was replaced by phonetic writing. Later development gave way to syllabic writing before alphabetic writing eventually took over (Schmandt-Besserat 43). The origin of writing and thus consequent evolution cannot be traced back to one particular place. Instead, historical studies indicate independent emergence of these skills in different regions of the world. Some studies suggest the Egyptians and Sumerians as the first people who developed the writing skills. Despite of the variability, the researchers noted that Sumerian writing depicted Egyptian influence and vice versa. This study further suggests the need to document their agricultural data as the drive behind this development. In addition, other factors such as need to annotate dealing in trade activities and government taxes were significant in influencing the development of reading and writing. The early records from Syria show the use of clay tokens which were shaped differently to represent agricultural products. In this case, each shape indicated different products and further marks were added to provide further means of distinguishing products of the same kind. This system went on for some long period before being replaced with three dimensional hollow balls. This also never l asted long as they were small and handier to use and so they were substituted with two-dimensional tablets at around 3100 BC curved to represent the products. This was also cumbersome since it required one to curve as many drawings as the number of products were (Martin 66). Further Advancement simplified the whole process by allowing individuals to only specify first the number and then indicate the object. This marked the inception of scribes who kept record of units inform of lines drawn using the stylus tip and tens by pressing the stylus bottom on a tablet. The shape of the product counted followed this. For instance in a case of 43 amphorae, one would indicate: OOOOIII followed by only one amphorae shape. This was another significant step forward and was made even better as new system allowed different signs to indicate goods and numbers (Schmandt-Besserat 34). In around 300BC another development in writing and reading skill realized the introduction of new sings that drifted from indicating the usual objects to indicate sound also called phonograms. This was a reaction to the growing need to solve the problem related to writing names of persons. Cuneiform derives its name from the idea that it used signs that were similar to small wedges. In this form of writing agricultural goods and domestic animals were drawn using conventional signs while wild animals drawing conformed to the distinctive characteristics of each animal. However, a problem

Skilled Workers Shortage in China: Causes and Effects

Skilled Workers Shortage in China: Causes and Effects In this chapter the researcher will present the theoretical foundation for this dissertation. This review aims to investigate and examine extant literature on the following research questions: Research Question 1: How great is the shortage of skilled workers in China? Research Question 2: How do such shortages in skills affect the working of multinational corporations? Research Question 3: How do multinational corporations, with the use of talent management practices and tools, retain skilled workers, including managerial and executive staff, in China? Information for this literature review has been obtained from a range of secondary sources including books, journal and magazine articles and other media publications, both in online and physical form. Talent management is a comparatively new development in HR theory and practice and much of pertinent and associated literature on the subject exists in the form of publications in various periodicals. Shortage of skilled workers in China is presently attracting a significant amount of concern and material on the subject has been sourced from different articles authored by Chinese and Western experts. The various aspects of the studied subject matter have been taken up in sequence in the interest of coherence and continuity of thought and discussion. 2.1 Shortage of Skilled Workers in China The shortage of skilled workers, whilst of recent origin, is assuming grave dimensions. The Chinese economy has been growing at an astonishing pace for the last two decades (Barbosa 2010). Such phenomenal economic growth has propelled the country from the ranks of the poorest of the poor to the position of the second largest global economy (Barbosa 2010). Having crossed Japan in the GDP rankings in August 2010, the Chinese economy is now second in size to only that of the USA (Barbosa 2010). With it being widely accepted that access to cheap and skilled labour has played a predominant role in the countryà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s economic performance, the emerging shortages in availability of skilled workers is becoming a serious matter of concern (Powell 2009). Experts feel that the problem, whilst manageable until now, is increasing in various dimensions and can become a serious challenge to the countryà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s economic growth in the foreseeable future (Powell 2009). à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Various domestic  media reports  put the labour supply gap at around a million people in Guangzhou and neighbouring cities such as Dongguan, legendary centres of Chinaà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s export boom in the past three decades. Numerous assembly lines and construction sites are sitting idle while anxious employers have raised salaries by more than 30% but still canà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t attract enough applicantsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬?. (Hong, S. 2010) The current shortage of skilled workers in China is due to the emergence and interplay of a range of factors (Trading Economic 2010). It is in the first place indisputable that sharply accelerating economic growth in China has created enormous demand for skilled workers (Trading Economic 2010). The Chinese economy has grown in size from an annual GDP of 990 billion USD in 2000 to 4900 billion USD in 2010 (Trading Economic 2010). The last decade has seen the entry of numerous multinationals in the country and the establishment of thousands of local and foreign owned production units (Blanchard 2007). Such production units are now being established in different geographical areas making it easier for workers to obtain gainful employment near their houses (Blanchard 2007). The Chinese government has also in recent years embarked upon developing the economic and physical infrastructure of numerous inland and hitherto neglected provinces (AsiaNews.It. 2006). Airports, roads and housing in upcountry regions are receiving strong investments (AsiaNews.It 2006). Such investments are creating thousands of jobs across the country and reducing migration of workers to zones with strong manufacturing activities (AsiaNews.It 2006). Experts also feel that low wages in the manufacturing sector, along with long working hours and difficult working and living conditions are forcing many workers to give up their jobs in manufacturing units and return to work on their farms (Rein 2010). The Chinese governmentà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s decision to reduce taxes on agriculture has also helped in reinforcing such attitudes (Rein 2010). The Chinese government has constantly placed emphasis upon development of agriculture and providing of adequate food supplies for the rural population, who constitute 727 million people (Rein 2010). A continuous supply of positive policies, like the elimination of onerous taxes and powerful market intercession, have enhanced rural incomes and made farming rewarding in comparison to skilled jobs in some manufacturing organisations (Rein 2010). China implemented its one child policy in 1979. This has resulted in the development of an ageing population (Hong, S. 2010). The median age of the country, at 33 years, is closer to that of the USA, the UK and the countries of Western Europe, rather than to its southern neighbour India, which has a median age of 26 and whose economy is also growing rapidly and with a swiftness that is second only to that of China (Hong, S. 2010). The ageing population is leading to lesser numbers of people joining the workforce every year and consequentially to restrictions on the availability of skilled workers (Hong, S. 2010). The impact of an ageing population is being felt intensely in manufacturing centres like Shanghai, where people above 60 are expected to constitute practically 30 percent of the total population in another 10 years time (Hong, S. 2010). The numbers of people in the 15-19 age groups in the country have reduced by approximately 17 percent, from 124 million in 2005 to around 10 3 million today (Hong, S. 2010). Academic policies in China have in recent years paid greater attention to academic performance and have neglected imparting of high level vocational training and skills training to people (AsiaNews.It 2006). Many universities have failed to understand market demands and mechanisms in the designing of their courses (AsiaNews.It 2006). Only 200 of the 20,000 vocational schools in the country are aiming to produce skilled workers and technicians with good skills (AsiaNews.It 2006). Such circumstances have added to the reduced availability of skilled workers in the manufacturing sector (AsiaNews.It 2006). Rein (2010) states that the younger Chinese unwilling to work any longer in factories. They are much too buoyant about their work prospects and perceive no compulsion to work for comparatively low wages at long distances from their families (AsiaNews.It 2006). The increase in the number of college and university graduates from just about a million in 2000 to 6 million in 2010 has reduce d the pool for potential skilled workers (AsiaNews.It 2006). Even workers with low skills prefer to stay nearer home in interior provinces like Sichuan and Hunan, rather than relocating to manufacturing centres like Guangdong to work for remuneration that is being increasingly perceived to be insufficient (AsiaNews.It 2006). The shortage of skilled workers is being felt intensely in the export regions of the country like the Pearl River Delta as also the Yangtze River Delta. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“It was officially reported that the city of Shenzhen, on the Hong Kong border, alone faced a labour shortage of about 300,000 workers this year. In Guangdong province, the government said factories were short more than 500,000 workers; and in Fujian province, there was a shortage of 300,000à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬?. (AsiaNews.It 2006) Surveys, conducted a few years ago, revealed that technicians constituted only 4% of the total numbers of skilled workers, even as organisations needed at least 14% technicians in their labour force (Peoples Daily 2004). Personnel who are most in demand include skilled workers, technicians and marketing staff. Such shortages appear to be greater in case of enterprises where skilled workers were not trained adequately (Peoples Daily 2004). Business organisations are also finding it difficult to attract and retain employees in different administrative and managerial positions (Peoples Daily 2004). It is ironical that the country that is widely considered to be the largest reservoir of cheap and skilled workers is now actually hard pressed to find and retain skilled workers as well as supervisors and managers at different levels for its own needs (Peoples Daily 2004). 2.2 Impact of Shortage of Skilled Workers and Managerial Employees on the Working of MNCs in China. Shortage of skilled employees is affecting the working of all business firms, MNCs as well as locally owned establishments, across China (Roberts 2006). Such shortages are in the first case leading to progressively higher levels of attrition and employee turnover in business firms (Roberts 2006). The most important challenge in contemporary Chinese business enterprises concerns attracting, finding and retaining skilled workers (Roberts 2006). The Institute of Contemporary Observation, a research organisation based in Shenzhen, states that employee turnover in low technology industries is nearing an unprecedented 50% (Roberts 2006). There are 2.5 million jobs in the province of Guangdong that are yet to be filled, even as the provinces of Shandong, Jiangsu and Zhejiang are also facing considerable shortages of skilled labour (Roberts 2006). Such shortages are affecting the production of numerous organisations, adversely impacting expansion plans, and restricting organisational growth (Roberts 2006). à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“It was officially reported that the city of Shenzhen, on the Hong Kong border, alone faced a labour shortage of about 300,000 workers this year. In Guangdong province, the government said factories were short more than 500,000 workers; and in Fujian province, there was a shortage of 300,000.à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? (AsiaNews.It 2006) Numerous MNCs have increased their investments in Chinese production centres and built up large capacities (Lane Pollner 2008). The unavailability of the required numbers of skilled workers is leading to underutilisation of capacity, idle machinery, higher finance costs, and poor productivity and profitability (Lane Pollner 2008). Shortages in required numbers of skilled workers are also leading to significant increases in job hopping and in the movement of employees between organisations for the sake of achievement of small salary differentials (Roberts 2006). MNCs and local companies are à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“stealingà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? skilled workers from each other, by offering the target worker a lucrative opportunity such as a better compensation or better benefits. The à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“talentà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? war has led to rapid wage inflation. . MNCs have been increasing salaries to keep existing employees (Downing, Rouleau, and Stuber 2008). Whilst labour intensive industries are facing increasingly severe problems, substantial increases in numbers of employee departures are affecting all low tech and high tech organisations (Roberts 2006). à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Emerson General Manager David Warth says its all he can do to keep his 800 employees from jumping ship to Samsung, Siemens, Nokia, and other multinationals that are now operating in the tech manufacturing hubà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬?. (Roberts, 2006) Increases in employee turnovers and shortages in supply of skilled workers, as well as employees for higher level and managerial jobs, is leading to sharp increases in employee costs. AS Salop and Salop (1976) indicate that labour turnover is costly for all firms. In the event of a sudden employee departure, the firm suffers two types of cost: direct and indirect cost. Direct cost includes leaving costs, replacement costs such as advertising, interviewing and selection costs and transitions costs, and indirect costs refer to the loss of production, reduced performance levels, unnecessary overtime and low morale (Schlesinger and Heskett, 1991). à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Companies across the board are feeling the squeeze. Last year turnover at multinationals in China averaged 14 percent, up from 11.3 percent in 2004 and 8.3 percent in 2001 (AsiaNews.It 2006). Salaries jumped by 8.4 percent, according to human resources consultant Hewitt Associates LLCà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬?. (AsiaNews.It 2006) Minimum wages in China are going up steadily and are currently many times that of Bangladesh, a neighbouring low cost producer (AsiaNews.It 2006). Many organisations are perforce improving the working and living conditions of their employees and the quality of food served in their cafeterias, with result increases in total costs expended on labour (AsiaNews.It 2006 ). Such increases in labour cost have multiple implications (Roberts 2006). At one level companies are seriously thinking of putting up new establishments in interior regions where wages are lower, or even of shifting their operations to lower wage countries like Indonesia or Vietnam (Roberts 2006). Organisations that have already made substantial investments in regions that are now facing labour shortages are experiencing strong pressures on costs and margins (Roberts 2006). Such pressures are leading either to problems with organisational viability or are manifesting themselves in higher product prices and consequent pressure on competitiveness (Roberts 2006).The American Chamber of Commerce recently reported that increasing costs of labour have reduced the margins of practically 48 percent of US organisations that operate in China (Roberts 2006). Teresa Woodland, the author of the report states that China could well run the risk of using its cost advantage (Roberts 2006). The shortage in availability of skilled people goes beyond the workforce and extends too many other organisational areas (Roberts 2006). Mckinsey and company estimate that just about 10 percent of job candidates in areas like engineering, accounting and finance have skills that are necessarily required by foreign organisations (Roberts 2006). Whilst 75,000 jobs for managers are expected to arise in the country during the next five years, the country currently has lesser than 5,000 managers with the required skills (Roberts 2006). Observers believe that the impact of shortage of skilled people on the economic growth and performance of companies and the nation as a whole is likely to be far more powerful than other constraints like material or power. 2.3 Talent Management and its Application in China Multinational corporations in China can benefit in areas concerning employee turnover and improvement of employee retention through the application of contemporary talent management techniques and tools. Organisational managements have over the years constantly tried to develop and adapt in response to workplace changes, right from the days of the industrial revolution and the emergence of labour unions to the demands of automated production, globalisation and outsourcing (Schuler, et al, 2010). Contemporary years are witnessing a global HR movement for attracting and retaining talent (Schuler, et al, 2010). Whilst organisations have in many ways been trying to attract and retain skilled and productive employees for ages, formal talent management processes have emerged only recently (Schuler, et al, 2010). Whilst such practices are now being implemented rigorously by progressive business organisations in the developed economies, they have become extremely relevant in the Chinese envi ronment where an abundance of people is ironically accompanied by shortages in availability of skilled workers and other managerial personnel (Schuler, et al, 2010). 2.3.1 The importance of talent management Talent management represents the systematic use of appropriate HR strategies, policies and practices for management of the talent challenges faced by business organisations (Lane Pollner 2008). Such policies and practices in the Chinese context include attraction of the most appropriate talent, careful selection, training and development, fair and sympathetic evaluation and assessment, high quality training and development and alignment of personnel and business objectives (Lane Pollner 2008). The importance of adopting strong talent management practices for retaining talent assumes great importance in the existing and predicted scenario (Lane Pollner 2008). Research conducted by the Kenexa Research Institute, conducted in 2007 in six countries, including China reveals that à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“policies such as career path programmes, goal development and monitoring, regular feedback sessions with managers, tracking progress have a demonstrable effect on employee execution and motivati onà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? (Talent Management 2008). The report confirms that employees of organisations that focus on talent management are more engaged with their functions and more content with their jobs and organisations (Talent Management 2008) 2.3.2 Vroomà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s VIE expectancy theory Vroomà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s VIE (Valence, Instrumentality and Expectancy) theory of expectancy states that individuals tend to act in specific ways with the expectation that specific acts will lead to particular outcomes, and in line with the attractiveness of such outcomes (Citeman.com 2010). The theory, whilst appearing to be complex, is actually simple and necessitates the comprehension of three relationships, namely (a) the perceived probability by individuals that the making of specific efforts will lead to performance, (b) the extent to which individuals believe that performing at specific levels will result in achievement of specific outcomes and (c) the importance placed by individuals on possible rewards that can be obtained in job execution (Citeman.com 2010). The intensity of individual motivation to make efforts depends on the intensity with which individuals believe that they can achieve what they are attempting, whether they will be adequately rewarded by their organisations, and whether such rewards will meet their individual objectives (Pitt 2001). The application of the expectancy theory needs the careful consideration of four relevant steps (Pitt 2001). Organisations must firstly assess the perceived outcomes offered by specific jobs to employees (Pitt 2001). These may be (a) positive like income, benefits, stability and security, comradeship, congenial relationships trust, employee benefits, and opportunities to use skills, or (b) negative like weariness, monotony, annoyance, apprehension, inconsiderate management or danger of dismissal (Pitt 2001). Employee perceptions, regardless of actual reality become relevant in such scenarios (Pitt 2001). Organisations must try to assess the attraction to employees of such outcomes and whet her employees perceive outcomes with positivity or negativity (Pitt 2001). Individuals who find specific outcomes attractive and view them positively would like to achieve them (Pitt 2001). Managements also need to determine the type of behaviour required of employees to achieve positive outcomes and employees need to clearly and explicitly know what they must do to achieve them (Pitt 2001). It is finally also important to know how employees view their chances of satisfying what is asked of them (Pitt 2001). HR experts feel that appropriate applications of the expectancy theory through the linkage of efforts with performance and rewards can make employees developed a liking for their jobs and consequentially reduce employee attrition and employee turnover (Pitt 2001). Whilst the expectancy theory certainly has its logical strengths, talent management is a far broader area and retention of talent in skilled jobs in China poses specific challenges like (a) the need for skilled workers to work far away from their farms and homesteads, (b) difficult working and living conditions, (c) inadequate monetary benefits and (d) the emergence of various alternative areas of occupation and work with more attractive attributes with regard to location, remuneration and job content (Changing Minds.org 2010). 2.3.3 Impact on skilled workers The Kenexa (2007) report on organisations in countries including China states that organisations with progressive talent management cultures have workers with greater pride in their organisations who moreover recommend their organisations to others as good places to work for (Talent Management 2008). Employees with positive perceptions of the talent management practices of their organisations are likely to be confident of the prospects of their organisations (Talent Management 2008). The research revealed that employees who believed in the talent management policies of their firms tended to have more positive perceptions of their managements (Talent Management 2008). Such employees believed that their managers were capable of effectively managing workloads and that their senior managers felt that employees were critical to organisational success and growth (Talent Management 2008). Employees of such companies were likely to experience greater sense of job stability and security, be h appy with company training, feel that their performance is fairly assessed and harbour greater feelings of individual achievement (Talent Management 2008). MNCs in China are working towards retaining talent through the adoption of a range of initiatives (Roberts 2006). Many companies are locating their manufacturing units in interior regions in densely populated areas in order to tap larger workforce pools (Roberts 2006). à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“General Motors, Honda, Motorola, and Intel, for instance, have all shifted some manufacturing or research to inland locations in recent years, both to tap lower costs and to open up new markets.à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? (Roberts 2006) Salaries and rewards are being increased significantly across the line in order to retain talent and reduce job hopping (Roberts 2006). Many organisations are taking pains to ensure better living conditions, better cafeteria food and more attractive career paths for their employees (Roberts 2006). Foxconn, the maker of Apple iPhones in China is experiencing severe criticism for its treatment of its workforce (Rein 2010). It is evident that such organisations will have to make significa nt investments in HR policies and practices if they are to attract and retain skilled employees (Rein 2010). The Chinese government is also taking initiatives to improve the content of vocational and technical courses and build a stronger workforce base of skilled workers. It is however very evident that the Chinese economy and the various business organisations, both MNC and local, are facing significant challenges with regard to availability of skilled workers and competent managerial employees. Such trends are also expected to intensify in future. 2.4 Talent Retention tools Vaiman and Vance (2008) suggest that motivational force can be achieved by extrinsically through monetary incentives or intrinsically through non-monetary incentives. 2.4.1 Monetary rewards and non monetary rewards Monetary rewards include all types of compensation and benefits (CB) packages such as salary, performance related payment, deferred compensation plans, social and commercial benefits and etc (Tian 2007). Monetary rewards can satisfy employeesà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ physiological needs and it is an effective tool to retaining talent (Vaiman and Vance 2008). Maslowà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s Hierarchy of Needs, suggests the physiological needs have to be satisfied before dealing with the higher order needs. This may be the reason why money is still the best reward for the majority of people. In contrast, non-monetary reward is another essential tool for retaining employees. It can be use to satisfy employeesà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ higher other of needs such as the needs for achievement, affiliation and power (McMlelland 1987). Non-monetary rewards include: training and career development, employer branding, ect. (Tian 2007). The researcher will consider these retention tools in the Chinese environment below.. 2.4.2 Extrinsic motivation According to a recent survey conducted by Waston Wyatt in China, the number one reason for Chinese talented and skilled workers to leave their current job is to find a better-paid job (Leininger 2004). Therefore, it is extremely important for MNCs to offer a competitive compensation and benefits package, in order to retain the Chinese skilled worker. The following components are normally included in the packages that MNCs offer to local employees, and therefore they are discussed here in detail. 2.4.2.1 Salary Salary is the fixed amount of money pay to an employee for work performed and is the largest component in a CB package. Due to the weak social security in China, Chinese employees tend to place more value on money than Western employee (Jones 1997). Therefore, MNCs need to consider a number of factors when they design the salary level for Chinese employees. For example, the cost of living and level of economic development vary significantly from city to city, so the salary for equivalent positions may vary as well. Leininger (2004) points out that first-tier cities such as Beijing and Shanghai enjoy the highest salary level, followed by second- and third-tier cities. Moreover, the salary level has been increasing at a dramatic rate in China. Since the rapid economic growth, the annual salary growth rate has been risen up to 8 percent in recent years, and the trend is expected to continue in future (Tian 2007). As a result, it is necessary for MNCs to have a general idea about local compensation level and salary growth rate before designing their own competitive packages. 2.4.2.2 Performance related payment Performance related payment (i.e. bonus) is the portion of a CB package that is related to performance. It is very popular and accepted by many MNCs in China. Many MNCs believe that performance related payment is an effective tool to given an incentive for compensation to meet certain goals such as completion of a specified sales target. In addition, it is able to encourage local employees to be more creative such as: propose a new idea to increase efficiency in the work place ,or improve the quality of the output, etc (Melvin 2001). To an extent, performance related payment helps to attract local employees and keep them help in the company. 2.4.2.3 Deferred compensation plans- Deferred compensation plans are also called à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"golden handcuffsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢. They are popular with MNCs in China, and are offered in the form of a contract-related gratuity. For example, If the Chinese employee stays with the company for a contractually specified length of time ( i.e. 2 years), at the end of his/her contract he or she would be given an extra years salary as a reward. Deferred compensation plans are useful in retaining Chinese employees because it provides a financial incentive for talented Chinese employees to remain in the company. Recently, MNCs have begun offering a new version of à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"golden handcuffsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ to young talented Chinese employees who would like to get a degree at an overseas university. They offer a full scholarship for these employees and in exchange, the employees have to work for the company for specified length of time after completing their degree (Tian 2007). 2.4.2.4 Social and commercial benefits. Social benefits are mandatory in China they refer to contributions to government-run social insurance schemes, which cover pensions, medical care, unemployment, work injury, child birth and housing, etc. The benefits are borne by both employer and employee. 30 and 40 percent of payroll is paid to the State, of which around 50% is paid by employers. In recent years, Chinese employees are increasingly aware of the importance of social benefits, due to rising costs of housing and medicare in China. , Some MNCs are even willing to pay benefits of more than regulated ratios to retain their employees. By contrast, commercial benefits refer to the benefits offered by an employer to an employee on a commercial basis. Many MNCs in China provide numerous commercial benefits for their employees such as offering loans at below-market interest rates, monetary assistance with single child family or even payment of wedding. Both social and commercial benefits are reported as useful to inducement to employees to remain in the company (Tian 2007). 2.4.3 Intrinsic motivation However, monetary rewards are not everything employee wants. Once compensation reaches a certain level, employees are likely to look for higher order of needs such as career development opportunities ( Maslow 1954; McClelland1987). According to the DDI survey in China 2007, the result shows that the top two reasons for Chinese employee turnover were lack of growth and development opportunities with the current company with 53% of the respondents agreed and better career opportunities elsewhere with 42% of the respondents agreed. The result reflects that Chinese employees have high expectations for rapid advancement (Howard, Liu, Wellins and Williams 2007). Therefore, it is necessary to consider these non-monetary factors that can motivate and retain employees. As Jones (1997) points out that it is very important to understand Chinese employeesà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ expectations. For most Chinese employees, especially those top performers joining a MNC not only for a high CB package but also for the opportunity to receive advanced training and learn western business methods. Those top performers are clearly aware of the skill gap between them and their Western counterparts, so they are eager to improve their own knowledge and skills. Additionally, providing training and career opportunities to employees can improve employeesà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ commitment to the company. As Leininger (2004) stated that the heart of retention is long term employee commitment. He divided employees into two different groups. They are à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“satisfiedà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? and à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“committedà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? employees. The satisfiedà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? employees can easily be retained by satisfying their monetary incentives while the à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“committedà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ ? employees tend to stay longer with companies even without monetary incentive. A global research conducted by Waston Wyatt shows that committed employees are more productive and efficient than those whose employees showed low commitment (Leininger 2004). Therefore, it is important that MNCs recognize the importance of training and development opportunities to their Chinese employees and demonstrate a commitment to training, development and career path development for them. Besides, organizational factors can also influence talent retention such as corporate culture, communication, leadership behavior are able to satisfy employeesà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ needs for affiliation (Chew 2004). In the Chinese case, the leadership behavior is one of the most important motivation and retention drivers for Chinese employees. For many MNCs, the meaning of a à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“good leaderà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? for Chinese people can be far more complicated than what they have seen in their home countries. Leadership in China has specific connotations. According to the research conducted by Craig Pepples, to achieve success in Chinese environment, foreign leader need a strong leadership style to build a team. Chinese employees respect those leaders who have a strong leadership style. They expect leaders always able to give them instruction to follow. Moreover, Pepples also insists that to be an effective leader, foreigners need to create a culture of teamwork, showing their personal commitment to the employees and care for each individual (Jones 1997). Therefore, Chinese employees are most likely to want to stay and work for an organization if they have a good manager or boss, who recognized individual contribution, and had great company leaderships (Howard, Liu, Wellins and Williams 2007). These studies above are just a few examples of tools regarding talent retention in the Chinese context. When these retention tools are applied to Chinese employees, MNCs have to rank all the tools in order of importance, and then focus on several areas for motivation and retention talent (Vaiman and Vance, 2008). 2.5 Talent development in the Chinese cont Fear: Types, Causes and Effects Fear: Types, Causes and Effects Bradley Varney McLea How Fear Allows Us to Better Know Ourselves It is difficult to know how one would respond in a moment of fear or terror. People tend to give themselves the benefit of the doubt in situations like these. Fear is one of the most powerful emotions for all living creatures and the most extensively studied emotion (LeDoux, 2014). Autonomic responses are involuntary actions that take place inside our nervous system. Fear is an autonomic response that can only be triggered by outside stimuli. You cannot make yourself feel fear, but it is something that we more passively experience. In order to better understand ourselves and our basic nature, fear should be studied being one of our most primitive emotions. By looking at the origins of fear, the main categories of fear, the characteristics of fear, and the natural responses to fear I believe we can better understand the concept of fear what it means for us. Do We Know the Origin of Fear? To more fully understand fear it is important to understand its roots. Since the beginning of time, fear has been essential in the survival of the human race and the survival of many different species. Ãâ€"hman, Carlsson, Lundqvist, and Ingvar (2007) found the following, Fear denotes an emotion that has been primarily shaped in evolutionary arms races between predators and prey. Improved predator hunting skills have prompted more efficient defense manoeuvres by preys, which have put a pressure on further skill development in the predator, and so on. Thus, the function of fear is to motivate organisms to cope with threats that have jeopardized survival throughout evolution. This quotation explains just how the â€Å"game† is evolving; the prey is getting smarter and so the predator must do the same or starve. If the rabbits learn that a fox lurks around the woods at night, then the rabbits might start to only go into the woods during the day. The rabbits will start to learn the habits of the fox that way they can maneuver their way around and survive. This is how the game is evolving; the fox must now learn that the rabbits are getting smarter and so it must make changes if it wants to eat. The rabbits fear getting eaten and dying while the foxes fear starvation and dying, fear drives their motivation. Another example is of deer, when a deer is spotted in the woods, will it lift its head up and stare at strangers because it is friendly or because it is afraid? If a human approaches the deer too closely, it will turn and run. Will a fawn do the same, maybe not to the exact extent of a deer but yes. Some claim that many creatures, including humans, are born with an innate sense of fear. Is fear learned or is it part of our essence since birth? A toddler is not born afraid of fire; he will approach the flames without caution. Once the toddler touches the flame and is burned, he will cry and feel pain. Those flames will forever be associated with the pain he felt in that instant. According to McGuire et al. (2013), learning about and remembering fearful experiences are critical to survival. No one enjoys feeling pain and so they will avoid it, even a toddler knows to avoid and fear pain. It is not safe to say that fear is solely felt due to experience. Why will the baby cry in the arms of a stranger, but not in the arms of his mother? Does the baby feel afraid? I believe that the baby does feel fear in these instances, while the level of fear is not known. According to Trost, France, Vervoort, Lange, and Goubert (2014), people can be conditioned by observation alone. Due to priming, a sample group of people believed that they c ould get hurt doing day to day activities. This sample group highly associated fear with pain. These people were so afraid to experience the pain that they were seeing during the priming that they refused to participate in many normal day activities. Living creatures can also be conditioned to fear certain things. An example of this could be a dog that fears the sight of a spatula because he knows that spatula means getting spanked. When I was young my parents would make loud sounds with a belt in order to spark fear in myself and my siblings. We began to fear the belt, especially if the belt ever accompanied us getting spanked. These forms of conditioning are used to put fear into the heart of someone or something else. There is no one that is completely immune to fear, it is something that is inescapable. What Are the Two Main Categories of Fear? Fear is divided into two major categories; these two categories include irrational and rational fear. Irrational fears are not â€Å"ridiculous fears†, but they are fears that one has that do not pose an immediate danger to one’s life. Phobias are an example of irrational fears. Often people think that irrational fears would consist of fears that are extremely uncommon or strange, but in reality if one were asked what fears he has then almost all named would be considered irrational. According to Quandt et al. (2013), women with diabetes are terrified of leg amputation. Since they are so afraid of leg amputation, many of them will not walk around their house without their shoes on in case there is a nail poking upward. The likelihood of stepping on a nail inside your own house is slim to none, which means that the idea of wearing shoes to protect their feet is due to an irrational fear. Arachnophobia and claustrophobia are fairly common phobias, or irrational fears. Most people will say that they have some sort of phobia/something they are afraid of. Recently, a woman c laimed to be afraid of sharks. Yes, there are many sharks in the ocean, but the likelihood of a shark attack is very slim. In Hawaii, more people die from falling coconuts than from shark attacks. Irrational fears can be potentially dangerous, but are usually misjudged or magnified. A shark attack is very dangerous, but a lot of times the likelihood of occurrence is amped up significantly inside our minds. While watching horror films, people experience irrational fear since they are not actually in any form of danger. Rational fears are opposite of irrational fears and are composed of immediate threats. If a gun is brought to school one day by a fellow classmate, students will experience rational fear. If the crime rate is high, then a fear of crime can be a rational fear (Chadee Ying, 2013). Threats that can cause injury, death, and ruin reputation are rational fears and have a much higher probability of occurring than do irrational fears. If someone is afraid of heights and decides to go skydiving, that is also an irrational fear. While it may be dangerous to jump out of a plane, you are still strapped in and safely falling down with a skilled instructor. Do these fear categories ever overlap? Definitely, they do. This overlapping happens when the probability of danger increases. If Bob is afraid of heights, but decides to skydive, his irrational fear can become rational once one or two of his parachutes decide to not function correctly. The Characteristics of Fear Allow Us to Detect What does fear look like? Is it described by screaming or by â€Å"goose bumps†? Characteristics of fear will vary from person to person and also with each different situation. Some physical characteristics of fear involve a rapid heart rate, quick breathing, elevated adrenaline levels, perspiration, and the tensing of muscles. Depending on the severity of the degree of fear, one can also enter into a state of temporary paralysis which will prohibit the person from being able to scream, make sound, and sometimes even move. If a bunch of college kids decide to go into a cemetery late at night, the ones who are afraid are all experiencing similar or the same physical symptoms of fear. The physical characteristics of fear are generally the same for everyone, but the emotional characteristics will vary from individual to individual. Most people have negative feelings towards fear, but others enjoy it. â€Å"Adrenaline junkies† will search for opportunities to feel fear beca use they like the way it allows them to feel. To people like them, fear is desirable and that is its characteristic for them. Fear is not an emotion that can easily be masked or denied due to the obviousness of these characteristics. When people experience negative feelings due to fear, you will see it on their faces. The same works vice versa when positive feelings are felt. Without someone saying that they are afraid, it is stillvery possible to diagnose their symptoms without any words being exchanged. How We Respond to Fear Grants Understanding Fear is the strongest of all the autonomic emotional responses. Since fear is completely an autonomic response; it cannot be consciously triggered. It is so fascinating that our consciousness cannot decide nor tell our unconscious how to think or behave. Of course, there are many factors that help define the human being but how often does one get to tap into the unconscious and learn about our basic nature? To truly understand who we are, we must tap into the conscious and the unconscious parts of our own minds. The two categories of fear responses There are two different categories of fear responses: biochemical responses and emotional responses. Biochemical responses are quite possibly an evolutionary development, which allows us learn more about our nature. The major biochemical response is the fight-or-flight response. The fight-or-flight response is when the body will prepare itself to either stand its ground or run away. This response has been crucial to the survival of many species. When a threat is perceived, hormones are released throughout the body granting humans enhanced ability for survival. With these hormones circulating throughout our bodies, we become quicker, have increased strength, and can see more clearly through dilated pupils. Can we know if we would fight or if we would flee? The only way to truly know is to experience it. In non-human primates, the fight-or-flight response has been observed time and time again. Some researchers have concluded that the term should be reversed to flight-or-fight. The reas oning behind this reversal is that when a non-human primate first perceives a threat, then it enters into a â€Å"frozen† state followed by an attempt to run away. If the primate cannot flee and it feels it must fight, then it will fight (Bracha, Ralston, Matsukawa, Williams, Bracha, 2004). The second category of fear responses is the emotional response. This is generally a negative or a positive feeling. When negative feelings are associated with fear, then the individual will try to avoid the stimuli that are creating fear at all costs; this is how phobias are born. When positive feelings are received as a response to fear, â€Å"adrenaline junkies† are born, and these people will actively seek activities that invoke fear. These people are not without fear, but they embrace fear itself and turn it into a natural high. By attempting to understand the concept of fear we understand parts of our self. We are searching through the enigmas of the unconsciousness so that when we feel afraid, we can realize and better understand who we are. In the future, more research should be done on the emotional response of fear. Researchers should study the â€Å"adrenaline junkies† to find out what chemicals in their brains are different. How does one person react so differently to fear? Although, one will not have conscious control over oneself during moments of fear, the beauty lies within the idea that this is human survival instinct at its best. References Bracha, H. S., Ralston, T. C., Matsukawa, J. M., Williams, A. E., Bracha, A. S. (2004). Does â€Å"Fight or flight† need updating? Psychosomatics, 45(5), 448-449. doi:http://dx.doi.org.erl.lib.byu.edu/10.1176/appi.psy.45.5.448 Chadee, D., Ying, N. K. N. (2013). Predictors of fear of crime: General fear versus perceived risk. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 43(9), 1896-1904. LeDoux, J. E. (2014). Coming to terms with fear. PNAS Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 111(8), 2871-2878. doi:10.1073/pnas.1400335111 McGuire, J. L., Bergstrom, H. C., Parker, C. C., Le, T., Morgan, M., Tang, H., . . . Johnson, L. R. (2013). Traits of fear resistance and susceptibility in an advanced intercross line. European Journal of Neuroscience, 38(9), 3314-3324. doi:10.1111/ejn.12337 Ãâ€"hman, A., Carlsson, K., Lundqvist, D., Ingvar, M. (2007). On the unconscious subcortical origin of human fear. Physiology Behavior, 92(1-2), 180-185. doi:10.1016/j.physbeh.2007.05.057 Quandt, S. A., Reynolds, T., Chapman, C., Bell, R. A., Grzywacz, J. G., Ip, E. H., . . . Arcury, T. A. (2013). Older adults’ fears about diabetes: Using common sense models of disease to understand fear origins and implications for self-management. Journal of Applied Gerontology, 32(7), 783-803. doi:10.1177/0733464811435506 Trost, Z., France, C. R., Vervoort, T., Lange, J. M., Goubert, L. (2014). Learning about pain through observation: The role of pain-related fear. Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 37(2), 257-265. doi:10.1007/s10865-012-9483-4