Meeting Of The Estates General - 1006 Words

Meeting of the Estates General I was at the Palace of Versailles located in France for a meeting. I am a 30 year old housewife in the 3rd estate. There are three classes; the Kings and Queens (1stestate), Noblemen (2nd estate), and the poor class (3rd estate). France is in a financial crisis mainly due to the King and Queen wanting to be richer. The meeting was held because we were going to find out which of the estates was going to get an increase in tax. The King decided that the 3rd estate was going to have the increase in taxes. We are the poorest. How will we ever pay the tax? I want a democracy so we can have a say on what’s going to affect our lives. Tennis Court Oath I was done with our King. He did not care about his people.†¦show more content†¦I ran out of the house and went to the Bastille. When I got there people were surrounding the prison demanding gunpowder. The people wanted gunpowder to protect themselves from the Royal troops. No one wanted a government run by the Royal Troops. It would be worse than the Monarchy. All the guards refused to give us gunpowder. I knew this was the beginning of a democracy because people were starting to fight for what they believed in. The March on Versailles I finally had enough money to buy a loaf of bread. My family was never able to afford food so we were always hungry. We begged for food but no one else had money or food. Bread is usually 50 cents a loaf. Today the price was five dollars a loaf. The King and Queen raised prices to get more money. I could not afford this. That day hundreds of women and I marched 13 miles in pouring rain to the palace yelling â€Å"Bread.† We demanded that the price of bread go down. The group of women promised to stay at the palace all night until they saw the Queen. Finally we were able to break into the palace. We searched every room for the Queen. Then she came out of her room listening to our complaints and stories. Finally she told her husband to lower the price of bread for the people. This was a step towards democracy because the people were heard and the King and Queen reacted. Reign of Terror I stood there watching people die on the guillotine. Thousands of people dead

Reflection on Japanese Earthquake Free Essays

After watching the news about the catastrophic earthquake in Japan these days, I was overwhelmed with a range of emotions: anxiety, depression, grief, confusion and shock. Like a lot of people, I was stunned by percussive images of the ruins of buildings and the bodies of casualties. I felt sorry for the dead. We will write a custom essay sample on Reflection on Japanese Earthquake or any similar topic only for you Order Now Meanwhile, I was deeply touched by those survived. Instead of being thrown into panic, the Japanese faced up to the catastrophe with dispassion and composure. Although their homes were destroyed and their relatives were violently torn away, they still evacuated orderly and stood calmly in a queue to get reliefs. However, the case in china is just the other way around. Some Chinese people seem to be keyed up. Many articles concerning this earthquake can be found on the internet, a majority of which are radical. These people said: It serves Japan right. If only the island country sunk and disappeared forever. Admittedly, as Chinese, I felt repugnance for Japan. However, as descendents of the country with a history of thousands of years, we should reach out our friendly hand and let the world know that we Chinese are a civilized and well educated nation. If we merely stand by or even loot a burning house, we are no better than those Japanese invaders. From my point of view, we are all world citizens living in this global village and international community. In the face of natural disaster, we human beings are vulnerable. No one is powerful enough to escape. We can do nothing but pull together to go through. Therefore, we should relate to those wretches with sympathy and love instead of being narrow-minded and ultranationalistic. Japanese people are innocent. Let’s care for them with tolerant and generous hearts and help them out of the difficulty. How to cite Reflection on Japanese Earthquake, Papers

I Worship Chaos by Children of Bodom free essay sample

When it comes to Finnish Power Metal, youll often think of Nightwish, Stratovarius or even Sonata Arctica first. Here to add to that line-up are some extreme power metal bands like Norther, Kalmah and these guys, otherwise known as melodic death metal of course. These guys have been around since the mid-90s making some pretty sweet releases with their peak, in my opinion, with Follow the Reaper. They then made a comeback album in 2013 with Halo of Blood including the influence of black metal on some tracks. Here we are now. I Worship Chaos is a very special and popular release here. Much like how Halo of Blood included more black metal, this album infuses more power metal, and they show it off quite well. The entire album is 10 tracks and about 44 minutes. Yeah, this album is conceivably longer than anything from the past here, although many tracks are in the 4-5 minute range so that could be part of the reason. We will write a custom essay sample on I Worship Chaos by Children of Bodom or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page We start off with iHurt which is speedy and goes by pretty quickly. Morrigan slows things down, but only slightly. My Bodom is arguably the most thrashy track on here and feels like what would happen if say, Machine Head turned power metal. But my favorite on here is the longest track on here, All For Nothing. As the second to last track it dedicates the latter half for guitar and keyboard solos, which sound amazing by the way, and then just slowly fades out. It honestly feels like it should be the final track for its epicness, but Widdershins took the end spotlight. Although I still feel All For Nothing is more of a perfect ending, Widdershins does have some things to bring to the table. For one, it takes a more metalcore approach with the breakdowns and everything. Its interesting to see these guys experiment a little bit with their sound a little bit and the breakdown does sound nice as well, albiet it comes out of nowhere. They also made three covers, one of which was from the F innish metal band Amorphis, and it sounds decent too. I assume however that the keyboard is the folk instruments for the cover. Is it perfect? Not really, it has its flaws, although its very similar to that of Disarmonia Mundi from earlier this year where its punches arent as forceful the more times you do them. It could be a major problem, but it seem like theres enough tracks that keep you trucking along to the end. I give this album a 9.5/10. I am the Grim Reaper, signing off.

Organizations Campaigning Against the Use of Animals in Research

Human beings have used animals in scientific research for a long time. Animals are currently being used in clinical studies to find cures for some diseases such as HIV, Alzheimer and Leukemia. Nonetheless, several organizations are now campaigning against the use of animals in scientific research. This paper will present a brief summary of arguments against the use of animals in scientific research.Advertising We will write a custom assessment sample on Organizations Campaigning Against the Use of Animals in Research specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The British Union of the Abolition of Vivisection (BUAV) is one of the organizations that campaign against the use of animals in scientific research. It encourages regulators to accept and encourage the use of alternative scientific testing techniques (as stipulated under the REACH regulations). The outcomes of animal-test methods can be misleading. It is important to mention that bot h animals and humans react differently to a particular drug. For example, some scientists have concluded that humans (and not animals) are the most suitable subjects that can be used to test HIV vaccines. Animals locked up (in cages) in the laboratories for use in scientific research undergo enormous stress. Consequently, this phenomenon may compromise the outcome of an experiment and render the scientific results irrelevant. Just like humans, animals have a right to live and not be used in clinical trials. Killing animals for scientific reasons is morally wrong and constitutes murder. There are numerous scientific testing alternatives to animal tests which are not only consistent and efficient but also save the lives of millions of animals. Some of these alternative methods include the use of patients and volunteers in clinical trials as well as computer-simulated models, genomic and in vitro. Studies have revealed that the use of non-animal tests techniques in scientific studies h ave produced reliable results. For example, in vitro (tissue and cell culture) have successfully been utilized to develop anti-AIDS, anti-cancer and other forms of drugs. Studies on tissue and culture have also been used to test and produce pharmaceutical products such as antibiotics and vaccines. In vitro genetic studies have also been successful in isolating distinct proteins, genes and markers associated with schizophrenia, muscular dystrophy, Alzheimer’s disease and other types of genetic disorders. Scientists have recently developed a unique 3-dimensional model that will be used to screen breast cancer in its early stages as well as assess potential cures. Rather than using rodents to study cancerous tissues, this model utilizes the affected human tissues to study the progress of cancer in human beings. Other non-animal test techniques include the use of donated cadavers or human skin leftovers to assess the speed at which chemicals can permeate human skin. Microdosing i s also another non-animal test procedure that can provide useful information about the danger/safety of an experimental treatment. Most of the organizations such as BUAV, PETA and SHAC argue that animal experimenters want to use disposable research subjects which are subject to manipulations and death. Animal experimenters are also aware that their synthetically generated animal models cannot duplicate human conditions. On the other hand, clinical researchers (who use non-animal test methods) know that the outcomes of their studies are directly related to human conditions. The use of animals in scientific studies does not have any moral justification. Animals have a right to live and should be treated with respect. As noted above, the reaction of both animals and humans to a particular drug can be different. It is thus imperative that animal test methods should be discarded in favor of non-animal test techniques (such as Microdosing and in vitro) that provide not only reliable and accurate results but also save animals. This assessment on Organizations Campaigning Against the Use of Animals in Research was written and submitted by user Alia K. to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

Child Observation, A Reflective Report Essays

Child Observation, A Reflective Report Essays Child Observation, A Reflective Report Essay Child Observation, A Reflective Report Essay and I believed that without words being said there was a connexion between the kid and I. ( ability to stay degage to suspend opinion and chorus from engagement, being cognizant of feelings and attitudes evoked, non originating interaction, Precise entering which distinguishes what really happened from what reading, Second I learnt that observation is a accomplishment that is learnt and acquired with preparation and pattern. Before this undertaking as a household support worker I was required to detect people and do determinations, I had no anterior train or cognition but I did it.In add-on Fawcett ( 2009 pg 16 ) stated that We learn much from our observations but we must accept that what we see is the tip of the iceberg. Observation assists the perceiver to acquire a better apprehension of the kid s internal and external universe. Furthermore had a great consciousness of the environment I was in and of verbal and non-verbal interaction between the kid and parent every bit good. Fawcett ( 2009 pg 17 ) conquers as she states that observation is a honoring opportunity to detect ways that people communicate and besides how different gestures mean different things in different civilizations. I was more cognizant of how power and hierarchies operate and how comparatively powerless place of kids, and this is clearly emphasised by ( Fawcett 2009 pg18 ) . Despite the advantages of the observation there were a few disadvantages such as: I felt that one hr was a really short clip and I was non acquiring the whole image from the household. The observation was taking topographic point on Friday and that was a batch of clip in between visits. Inexperience was a large trade because I continually observed the kid as a female parent I was unable to detach my function as a female parent with my function as a pupil. Healy ( 2012 pg 34 ) argued that it is a pattern which recognises the centrality of the emotions, organic structure and head of the worker and service user . It is indispensable to observe that while there may be a few disadvantages as societal workers the accomplishment of observation is important to the twenty-four hours to twenty-four hours pattern ( Tanner 1995 pg 50 ) . As portion of the procedure I had to show my findings to the group and usage PowerPoint presentation on contemplation I learnt a great trade. As a societal worker one requires good written and verbal communicating accomplishments and I believe that through presenting to the group I demonstrated the accomplishments above. Stogdon A ; Kiteley ( 2010 pg 147 ) emphasised that parts to treatments and note- pickings is the beginning of geting these accomplishments. The feedback given to others made the capable country and what was expected clearer in the presentation. In pattern we are given feedback from service users and co-workers this was a readying procedure for what is expected. The importance of maintaining oculus contact and the audience interested in the capable affair, I had to guarantee that the group was clear on the points that were being made. Verbal presentation by single pupils is a opportunity to increase, progress and offer different methods of larning in the talks, ocular presentations. I had the benefit of the feedback and expertness, non merely from the talk but from my equals every bit good. My equals had an chance to inquire inquiries and this helped me do my points clearer. By showing to my equals, I was able to acquire constructive thoughts which I used in order to do alterations to the concluding bill of exchange. I besides learnt that it is of import to supply constructive feedback and how indispensable critical thoug ht was during this procedure. Furthermore I gained insight into other countries of kid observation. The disadvantage of showing was that it I felt clip was excessively short and it took clip for me to restrict my information to show. I was really emotional and nervous and this may hold come across during my presentation. During the observation I picked up from the female parent that the kid s male parent was non at that place for the first six months.Furthermore she stated that he merely came to see the kids when he felt similar and on most occasions unheralded. On the two occasions that he came round as a adult female and female parent, I was really angry and disgusted by his behave and I felt that he was non a good parent. I so reflected back to my childhood and the close relationship I have with my male parent and this made me traverse. As I observed him and the fond regard he had with his kids I realised that we are all human and can merely make our best and I had no right to Judge him. This was a lesson for me and to gain that in pattern there may be state of affairss that will prove my values beliefs and that I have to cover with them in a professional manner. Gibbs ( 1998 pg 9 ) stated that it is from feelings and thought emerging from contemplation that generalizations or constructs that all ow new state of affairss to be tackled efficaciously . Thomas and Pierson ( 1995pg 16 ) define anti prejudiced pattern as a term used in societal work preparation to depict how workers account of structural disadvantage and seek to cut down single and institutional favoritism on evidences of race, gender, disablement, societal category and sexual orientation . Observation was listed as one of the five cardinal phases that influence societal work because it helps the worker to see and what to look for beyond race and gender ( Howe 1987 pg 82 ) .Thompson ( 1997 pg 34 ) theoretical account of anti aˆoppressive pattern demonstrates the three countries that are joined personal bias, cultural beliefs and ethos and societal and structural factors. When working to safeguard and advance the public assistance of a kid the household, environmental factors, rearing capacity and a kid s development are looked at which provides holistic position of a kid. As societal workers critical and complex determinations are made based on observations ther efore it is indispensable that the accomplishments to detect and measure are achieved. This is due to the fact that determinations and actions have far making effects it helps to come to nonsubjective decisions while covering with a household. In societal work pattern all kids and their households should be treated the same regardless of their coloring material, gender, race or spiritual beliefs. On contemplation the observation was a learning curve ready for existent pattern.

Sample Grooms Wedding Speech Writers Rescue You in the Most Crucial Moments

Sample Grooms Wedding Speech Writers Rescue You in the Most Crucial Moments Sample Grooms Wedding Speech: Writers Rescue You in the Most Crucial Moments A wedding is one of the most important days in our lives. You’re usually so busy preparing for this day that you may not even have time to write a wedding speech. In this case, you need some help. Of course, you can refer to any number of wedding speech writers to create it for you, but it’s better to craft your own. If you want to create a masterpiece, you’ll need to know what you’re shooting for. Take a look at this sample groom’s wedding speech to get some ideas for your own one. I want to begin today by saying that I would never have been standing here if it were not for my friend Jake. He introduced me to Elena at the beginning of my sophomore year, and although Jake couldn’t be here today since he is currently serving his country on a deployment with the Air Force, he’s the reason for my greatest happiness. Over the past few months, my beautiful wife has been searching for the perfect dress. She visited stores, she looked online, she even went to a theatre sale trying to find just the right thing. It happens that our community theatre has several wedding dresses that they are getting rid of at a great price, and those who know Elena and me, know how much we love getting great deals. But when Elena came home and told me that she’d found the perfect dress at the theatre sale I couldn’t help, but keep picturing something from The Bride of Frankenstein. Elena looks good in anything, but I didn’t want to have to paint my face green to match. When she walked in today, I knew that my fears had been in vain, because I saw walking toward me the most elegant, exquisite woman in the whole world – and she found the perfect dress to make me feel that I’m the luckiest man alive. Naturally, I also want to thank Patricia and Kevin for the way that they’ve made me feel a part of the family. They’ve welcomed me with open arms and just a couple of shotgun jokes since I first came home with Elena for Thanksgiving and that’s not something that everyone is lucky enough to have. Since I lost my own parents three years ago in a car accident, it’s been hard to feel alone in the world, although my brother Greg has been a great comfort to me, and I’m grateful to have him as my best man today. He really is the best man that I know. I wouldn’t have said that when he was stealing my girlfriends in high school with his devilish good looks, but now that I have Elena, it’s just as well he did. Having him here by my side is an honor and I’ll be proud to do the same next year when he marries Kate. I will also be remiss if I do not thank Elena’s bridesmaids, Rania and Tamika. They have not only stood by Elena and done everything from lending her jewelry to finding us cheap airline tickets to Bali, but they’ve taken a lot off my shoulders helping to plan the honeymoon and getting us the best caterer around town. Just as we’ve had so much help planning this day and getting here together, we feel that we have all of you supporting us as we begin married life together, and we’re grateful for you all. Thank you so much for being here and for helping us become the people that we are today. References: Bell, S. (2016, June 07). 7 Tips for Avoiding a Wedding Toast Disaster. Retrieved December 27, 2016, from nytimes.com/2016/06/12/fashion/weddings/7-tips-for-avoiding-a-wedding-toast-disaster.html?_r=0 Busfield, S. (2010, July 13). A mans guide to marriage: the speeches. Retrieved December 27, 2016, from https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2010/jul/13/mans-guide-marriage-speeches Ehrenfeld, T. (2009, November 21). To the Happy Couple, and My YouTube Clip. Retrieved December 27, 2016, from nytimes.com/2009/11/22/fashion/weddings/22FIELD.html Feiler, B. (2012, June 16). The Art of the Wedding Toast. Retrieved December 27, 2016, from nytimes.com/2012/06/17/fashion/the-art-of-the-wedding-toast.html Feiler, B. (2015, June 20). Turning to a Ghostwriter for a Personal Toast. Retrieved December 27, 2016, from nytimes.com/2015/06/21/style/toast-whisperers-ghostwriters-personal-speeches.html Foster, B. L. (2016, June 07). It’s a Wedding Toast. What Could Go Wrong? Retrieved December 27, 2016, from nytimes.com/2016/06/12/fashion/weddings/its-a-wedding-toast-what-could-go-wrong.html Gladwell, M. (2014, August 09). Malcolm Gladwell: how I ruined my best friends wedding. Retrieved December 27, 2016, from https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2014/aug/09/malcolm-gladwell-how-i-ruined-best-friends-wedding If you are looking for professional custom speech writing services to get your wedding speech written by experts, dont hesitate to contact us.

Aesthetics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 1

Aesthetics - Essay Example Aesthetics In a midst of such diversity it’s at times easy to understand some works as form of art, while in some instances it raises serious questions as to whether some pieces and performances are forms of art. It’s in such circumstances that the art historians, curators, artists, art critics and even philosophers step in to explain why the works ought or ought not to be regarded as work of art. The diversity form of art found in museum, galleries, theatres, auditoriums and even in literature has necessitated the need for theoreticians to develop an elaborate arguments and systems on the various form of art and as to what ought to be referred as work of art. Over the years, various theoreticians have come up with various arguments and theories on what should be described as works of art. This discussion however will place its emphasis on Arthur Danto’s arguments and theories on the works of art based on his essay, `The Artworld’ and the validity of his arguments. Danto defines an art world as something that the eye cannot decry an artistic knowledge, and knowledge of the history of the art. He discuses two theories of art that is the imitation theory and the reality theory. The imitation theory depicts an art work where an artist imitates the image of the object he or she is drawing or painting. He criticizes this theory brought forth by philosophers Socrates and Hamlet.

Financial Accounting assignment Speech or Presentation

Financial Accounting assignment - Speech or Presentation Example payment of dividend to the preference shareholders is under the discretion of the board of directors of a company, whereas the interest payment for debentures is not under their control. Interests on debentures are tax deductible whereas dividend payments are not. In the case of a company going insolvent, debentures get preference over the preference shares (Harvard, 2009). A stock exchange placing will enable the company to raise the additional funds very rapidly. However the company has to also satisfy the demands of the common shareholders and a number of changes have to be brought in terms of the management and policies. There is also a possibility of another company placing a bid to acquire the company through the stock exchange. A stock exchange placing can also act an effective marketing for the company, as the more people will become aware of the business (Hobson, 2007). A rights issue is offered to all exiting shareholders, as opposed to stock exchange placing where the stocks are open to common public. The shares are issued based on a ratio, for instance, every share qualifies to buy another four shares, for a specified period of time. The shareholders can either accept or reject the offering. There is a possibility that the required capital may not be raised, as the shareholders may not accept the offering. However, the company does not run the risk of adding more shareholders and also taking the risk of mergers and acquisitions (Hobson, 2007 and Keef, 1992). The additional capital required can also be raised by not paying the dividends to the shareholders for the financial year. The main advantage of this method is that there are no additional costs involved in raising capital. However, it is to be noted that the shareholders may not be happy with this decision and it might have a negative effect on the potential investors (Frankfurter, Wood and Wansley, 2003). The net present value is computed by discounting the future savings to present values at

A View from the Bridge Essay Example for Free

A View from the Bridge Essay Catherines response is immediate denial and hurt at his allegation. She â€Å"sobs†, demanding that he â€Å"stops† as they enter the house. This scene is a turning point in their relationship. For the first time, Catherine is defying Eddies superiority, choosing instead not to believe his claims. Being in a serious relationship, she has begun to grow apart from Eddie and not depend on him as much, which in turn upsets Eddie, who attempts to regain her adoration. Though in the past, Catherine may have trusted Eddies impeachments, her defiance is an act of choosing Rodolpho over Eddie, illustrating her shift from a child to a woman. For the remainder of Act One, Catherine continues to mature through her relationship with Rodolpho, causing her interactions with Eddie to become exceedingly stilted and tense. During this period, Catherine portrays her willingness to cooperate when Eddie makes the effort. Catherine becomes â€Å"nervously happy† when Eddie invites Marco and Rodolpho to watch a fight. She asks Eddie if she should â€Å"make coffee†, aiming to please him for his attempts to make peace with Rodolpho. After Eddie â€Å"lands a blow† on Rodolpho, Catherine begins to realize that the previous invitation was merely a ruse, and thus acts audaciously, discreetly challenging him by dancing with Rodolpho. Act Two begins with a discussion between Catherine and Rodolpho. Catherine confesses her fear of Eddie, a dramatic adverse to her initial loving attitude. When Eddie arrives home obviously drunk and demands that Rodolpho â€Å"packs it up†, Catherine announces that she too, will leave, causing Eddie to erupt in fury at her support for Rodolpho. This further hinders their relationship and Catherines finality is yet another act of defiance. Though Catherine is not outrightly furious, she portrays an air of resignation that simply illustrates her will to be with Rodolpho, including choosing him over Eddie. She still loves and accepts Eddie, however her love for Rodolpho is greater. After Eddie informs the authorities of illegal immigrants, Catherines demeanor changes yet again to complete abhorrence. On the day of her wedding, Eddie gives Beatrice an ultimatum, to be on his â€Å"side† or â€Å"their side†. At this, Catherine loses her temper and insults Eddie, comparing him to a rat that â€Å"belongs in the sewer†. Though her words are aggressive and callous, Catherine â€Å"weeps† as she says such, illustrating her upset at the way in which their relationship, among other factors, turned out. Catherine tells Eddie, after he has been stabbed that she â€Å"never meant to hurt† him, imploring him to understand her situation before his demise. This conveys that although she may have matured and become her own person, Eddie will still always remain a key influence in her life. Throughout A View from the Bridge, Catherines relationship with Eddie seems to digress rather than develop, as she grows and appreciates love. However, underlying their tension and her need for independence, Catherine is portrayed as always desiring Eddies approval. Initially, this is very obvious, but is still apparent when Eddie makes an effort to include Rodolpho, and yet again at the end of the performance, when she begs Eddie to comprehend her perceptions. Though Catherine is less apparent of her love for Eddie, she continues to love him, and crave his love for her. Show preview only The above preview is unformatted text This student written piece of work is one of many that can be found in our GCSE Arthur Miller section.

Influence of the Wealthy Over the Media and Politics Essay -- Informat

"Freedom of the press is guaranteed only to those who own one." --- —A.J. Liebling. The majority of media in the United States, are owned in operated by wealthy individuals and corporations. Media also helps portray â€Å"big business† good or bad, depending on their influence, mostly due to contributions. Due to these contributions, select few have been able to manipulate and create a bias towards the contributor. Eventually free media and press evolved into the oligarchy that now â€Å"runs† our country. It is impossible to report everything that happens, therefore bias in unavoidable. But the amount and degree of bias can be controlled. In this country there is said to be a liberal media and conservative media. Though it is hard to define the two, in layman’s terms, liberal is more â€Å"open ideas† in a sense and conservative is sticking to the fundamentals. It is fair to say that there are no morals in business, especially in Corporate America. If morals were the leading factor there would obviously be more diversity within the media. Take, for example, ABC Nightly News- every night one can see that NBC Nightly News is covering the same stories and topics and no more. The media portrays a relative philosophy in that the media displays news it believes is relevant to the time. When people, such as Dan Rather and the Killian Documents, report news found to be harmful to the reputation of big business or government they are censored, or in Dan’s case forced to resign. ... ... The news is now filled with personal problems and insignificant little stories. It has transformed from making truths aware, even if they are bad, to nurturing and protecting against problems. The founding fathers are turning in their graves. This is exactly what they were fighting against, censorship and control laying with a few not the people. The Internet has formed a revolution in the way we obtain and interpret information. There is not a corporation or political influence, in most cases, and awareness about issues can be done cheaply and inexpensive without the censorship of the FCC or other organizations. We should have a new Constitution stating: separation between church, state, media (news), big business, and politics. Influence of the Wealthy Over the Media and Politics Essay -- Informat "Freedom of the press is guaranteed only to those who own one." --- —A.J. Liebling. The majority of media in the United States, are owned in operated by wealthy individuals and corporations. Media also helps portray â€Å"big business† good or bad, depending on their influence, mostly due to contributions. Due to these contributions, select few have been able to manipulate and create a bias towards the contributor. Eventually free media and press evolved into the oligarchy that now â€Å"runs† our country. It is impossible to report everything that happens, therefore bias in unavoidable. But the amount and degree of bias can be controlled. In this country there is said to be a liberal media and conservative media. Though it is hard to define the two, in layman’s terms, liberal is more â€Å"open ideas† in a sense and conservative is sticking to the fundamentals. It is fair to say that there are no morals in business, especially in Corporate America. If morals were the leading factor there would obviously be more diversity within the media. Take, for example, ABC Nightly News- every night one can see that NBC Nightly News is covering the same stories and topics and no more. The media portrays a relative philosophy in that the media displays news it believes is relevant to the time. When people, such as Dan Rather and the Killian Documents, report news found to be harmful to the reputation of big business or government they are censored, or in Dan’s case forced to resign. ... ... The news is now filled with personal problems and insignificant little stories. It has transformed from making truths aware, even if they are bad, to nurturing and protecting against problems. The founding fathers are turning in their graves. This is exactly what they were fighting against, censorship and control laying with a few not the people. The Internet has formed a revolution in the way we obtain and interpret information. There is not a corporation or political influence, in most cases, and awareness about issues can be done cheaply and inexpensive without the censorship of the FCC or other organizations. We should have a new Constitution stating: separation between church, state, media (news), big business, and politics.

Blackadder Goes Forth and Journey’s End Essay

The ending scene for both Journey’s End and Black Adder Goes Forth are similar and different in many ways. For example, the last episode of Black Adder Goes Forth greatly affects the viewer by pursuing the idea that history as it was written and has been taught is incorrectly. In having this approach, it is like the audience is rediscovering history and uncovering the truth of our ancestors for the first time. Not only does this capture the viewer’s attention, but it entertains them as well as touching them on an emotional and comedic level by showing the real life orders trench’s but deliberately miss hearing what the orders were. Viewers, however, also know that these orders are not to be taken seriously and are only there for the comedy value. An example of this is when one soldier states that the reason for the war was because someone shot an ostrich out of hunger. The majority of viewers know this is not true, but the episode and character plays the comic seriousness to perfection. However, Journey’s End shows the more serious side of the war and trench life by being a serious side of the war and trench life by being a serious play with no real comedic value. One soldier is very excited about the idea of defending his country; in fact he is so honoured by this chance, that he does not accept a way out of the trenches when he is offered; even though Blackadder realizes their fate when the go above the trenches and tries to explain he will die. I never imagined anything as awful as war† this also shows the serious nature that war has on its soldiers, this is also shown when another soldier states that he wants the dying to stop, and everyone to go home, because he cannot see a reason for war, this links in Sassoon’s declaration where he states war has gone from one of â€Å"defence and liberation† to one of â€Å"aggression and conquest†. Even George has to try and push these thoughts out of his mind and replace them with thought s of patriotism and the great honour dying for ones county has. This is much like Raleigh in Journey’s End when he first enters the battalion and his innocence is intact because he does not know the true horrors of war yet. Act three scene three of Journey’s End is the very last scene of the play. From almost the very beginning we have known that an attack from the German opposition is inevitable. However, the character in the play are not sure when it will take place or what form it will take place in, as the attack could happen in any moment meaning the ension is high throughout and especially in the final scene. This is not the only tension in the script. At the beginning of act three scene three, Raleigh and Stanhope, two of the most prominent characters, have had a large argument about the death of a mutual friend, which is not resolved until the beginning of the final scene. The strain on their relationship has been tense for the duration of the play and was heightened by the hero worshipping Raleigh did for Stanhope. As they were previously well acquainted before they were both in the battalion Stanhope fears that Raleigh would look at him badly and tell people on the home front what he has become, an alcoholic, and Stanhope chooses to ignore their previous relationship and address him as a new Officer. This contrasts with Blackadder Goes Forth, because as Colonel Melchett knows George he uses this to his advantage by manipulating him into showing propaganda to the men; however Colonel Melchett also has an underlying theme of worry for George and seems to offer him many ways out of fighting the war because he knows his death is inevitable. To conclude I feel that Blackadder Goes Forth and Journey’s End and two completely different plays. However, they both share few similar themes, for example they both share the theme of hero worship, where soldiers look o authority figures for guidance which again opposes the view that Sassoon has on the war. They also share the theme of waiting, because both plays are waiting to ‘go over the top’ and neither plays want to because they know that your death was sure if you do so due to the heavy equipment the Germans have. Although, I believe Journey’s End is much more a serious play whereas Blackadder Goes Forth uses comedy and takes from the impact it could truly have if it was more realistic to trench life, but it still shows the fear and anger of many men when regarding the war.

The Correlation Between Personal Responsibility and College Success

The correlation between personal responsibility and college success Roland Miner GEN/200 November 30, 2012 Sara Martin The correlation between personal responsibility and college success Even though some may say there is no direct correlation between personal responsibility and college success, the relationship with how responsible you are and how that affects your college success becomes evident with higher Grade Point Averages and overall pride in your work. With these tools, high GPA, intrinsic motivation, and self-efficacy, you receive during your college years there is evidence of achieving greater success after graduation.Another vital tool that will be explored, that is not being taught but comes naturally to some students, is emotional intelligence or common sense. The relationship between how responsible you are and your college success is apparent in many ways. A good strategy is to follow the syllabus and set up a game plan or schedule. Following an agenda will help you sp read out your work load over the week, it will show that you are on the right track and is a great indicator of how responsible you are.One of the worst traits that many people possess is procrastination. According to â€Å"California Polytechnic State University, Cal Poly Academic Skill Center† (n. d. ) â€Å"The procrastinator is often remarkably optimistic about his ability to complete a task on a tight deadline; this is usually accompanied by expressions of reassurance that everything is under control. (Therefore there is no need to start. )† â€Å"At some point, he crosses over an imaginary starting time and suddenly realizes, â€Å"Oh no! – I am not in control! There isn’t enough time! (Characteristics) The University states, later in their paper, the benefits of overcoming procrastination â€Å"Peace of mind, a feeling of strength and purpose, and healthy feeling of being in charge of your life. While procrastination makes you feel week, useless , and helpless, taking charge of your life will make you feel strong, competent, and capable. You will experience increased personal freedom! † (Benefits of overcoming procrastination) A responsible person will not wait until the day the paper is due to write it. The final day should be set up for proof eading and any last minute tweaks. As any responsible person will tell you, following a schedule and turning your work in on time and producing higher grades will bring you an overabundance of self-pride other wise know as intrinsic motivation, and self-efficacy. Spitzer found that (2000) â€Å"Academic self-efficacy is one’s confidence to succeed at the academic tasks rather than one’s actual ability. Students with high self-efficacy show greater cognitive effort, intrinsic motivation, persistence, and self regulation in their academic performance. The pride you feel knowing that you did the best job you could in the time you were allotted. This very same drive to internal satisfaction that will continue not just throughout your college years but will stay with you in all that you do. Intrinsic motivation and self-efficacy are not the only rewards you will gain. By taking your time and producing outstanding work you will see a substantial increase in your Grade Point Average which is also your defining mark of greatness in college and beyond. â€Å"All college students share at least two goals during their college career.First, they must perform academically, usually measured by GPA (grade point average). Second, they must progress in career development. † (Spitzer, 2000) Your GPA will stay with you throughout your college career and is important to keep track of and strive for higher marks. It is after you graduate that your higher achievements will continue to count. Many employers will take you GPA into consideration when looking for new employees. The job you are applying for may come down to you and one other person and somethi ng like a GPA could loose you that career.It will help distinguish you from others applying for positions that you desire. Your high Grade Point Average will set you apart from mediocrity. A final important asset to consider is emotional intelligence. According to a study conducted by Sparkman, Maulding, and Roberts (2012) â€Å"Emotional Intelligence is the set of skills that a Pearson needs to function effectively in the world and what might be referred to as â€Å"common sense† (p. 644). Their study with EI, although very new and controversial, points to ow well an individual will â€Å"handle frustration, control emotions, and get along with other people† (p. 644). There is a wildly popular television show that is currently broadcasting which shows a group of twenty to thirty something year old nerds trying to function in the typical day to day environment. They are depicted in what we would call normal day to day functions and interactions and shown how even thou gh they are the Einstein’s of our time they fail miserable on a social level. One of the nerds in particular lacks the emotional intelligence to even function with his own fellow intellectuals.Studying this comedic group flounder their way through life is a perfect, all be it extreme, example of Sparkman, Maulding, and Roberts points on how important common sense is a must to function in today’s society. They even go so far as to suggest that â€Å"Universities wishing to increase student retention and graduation should use these scores to develop curriculum and extracurricular activities to encourage student growth in emotional intelligence which will specifically help students and institutions alike reach their educational goals† (p. 50). To be a successful student there are many tools for you to use, intrinsic motivation, self-efficacy, GPA, and even emotional intelligence, just to name a few. Each student will have to find what tool it will take to enhance t heir achievements. There are those they may disagree, they may say that being responsible has no correlation to a successful college education. They may even say that your Grade Point Average has no impact on landing a stable career.Zupek (2008) â€Å"While grades and GPA play a small role in the job-search process, the good news is that chances are, your GPA is not going to make or break you when it comes to getting a job† (what matters the most? ). With this economy and in these times why run that risk? Why would you not want to give your all? With a higher Grade Point Averages and a greater sense of self-pride there is no end to what you can accomplish. References California Polytechnic State University, Cal Poly Academic Skills Center. (n. d. ). Retrieved from http://sas. calpoly. edu/asc/ssl/procrastination. html Sparkman, L.A. , Maulding, W. S. , & Roberts, J. G. (2012). Non-cognitive predictors of student success in college. College Student Journal, 46(3), 642-652. Ret rieved from University of Phoenix Online Library Spitzer, T. M. (2000). Predictors of college success: a comparison of traditional and nontraditional age students. NASPA Journal (National Association Of Student Personnel Administrators, Inc. ), 38(1), 82-99. Zupek, R. (2008) Does your gpa matter to employers? Retrieved from http://msn. careerbuilder. com/Article/MSN-1577-College-Internships-First-Jobs-Does-Your-GPA-Matter-to-Employers/

A Look at Instant Messaging essays

A Look at Instant Messaging essays Instant Messaging, or IM for short, is a way of communicating via typing on a PC, wireless phone, or other Internet appliance or device. Using something called presence, which is the capability to alert the user to whenever somebody on their private list is online, the user can create a private chat room with another individual and exchange messages across the internet or network. IM differs from a chat room by having the conversation between only two people, rather than several people. Besides just sending messages to other users, most instant messaging services also allow users to create chatrooms and transfer files, as well as allowing webcams and streaming content, such as stocks and news updates. Prior to 1996, communication was a slow and deliberate process, considering one's choices were limited to telephones, letters, and face-to-face contact. Even E-mail took a while to send and receive replies and was too slow for some. The idea of sending discussion online was beginning to blossom in the mid-nineties with the introduction of online bulletin and discussion boards. Instant messaging gives you the chance to connect with many different people. You can send messages to anyone on your list, and it also gives you a chance to meet new people. (Tyson, J) Before the Internet became popular, a lot of people were already online through the use of bulletin boards and online services. A bulletin board is comparable to a single, isolated Web site that you reach using special communications software and a modem. You create an entry in the software for the bulletin board that contains the board's direct phone number and any special parameters for connecting to the computer hosting the bulletin board. Once connected to the board, you normally use a series of menus to navigate through the board's contents. To reach another board, you have to disconnect from the first board and dial up to the other one. (Tyson, J pg 1). Online s...

Business Plan Of Slice Bakery Management Essay

Business Plan Of Slice Bakery Management Essay Introduction Slice Bakery and Juices is a start up juice and bakery retail establishment located in down town Nairobi. Slice bakers expects to catch the interest of a regular loyal customer base with its wide variety of fresh juices and freshly baked cakes and bread. Slice Bakery and Juices plans to construct a strong market position in the city due to the partners’ industry experience in the area. The establishment aims to offer its services and products at a reasonably competitive price to meet the demand of the middle and high area residents and tourists. The Company Slice Bakery and Juices is incorporated in the city of Nairobi. It is equally owned and managed by its three partners. Mr. David Williams has extensive experience in marketing, sales and management and was the vice chairman of Eveready Batteries and Harper foods. Mr. Arnold Mwangi is experienced in finance and administration and was previously the chief financial officer with both Luigi’s Cafà © and Wi lly Pastries. Mrs. Felicia Wanjiku is a well respected pastry chef with vast knowledge and experience in the field, she formerly worked at Lagoon beach resort in the Kenyan coast as the head pastry chef. The organization intends to hire 2 full time pastry cooks and four part time baristas to serve customers and perform the day to day operations. Products and Services Slice Bakery and Juices offers a vast range of freshly made fruit and vegetable juice varieties that are brought into the city from various parts of the continent. The company caters to all of its customers by serving each of them a carefully made drink that is specifically tailored to the customers order. The bakery side of the company provides a wide array of freshly prepared bread and cake varieties at all times during business hours. Ten to twelve moderately sized batches of assorted bread and cakes are prepared during the day to assure the availability of freshly baked products at all times. The Market The Fresh ju ice industry in Nairobi has recently experienced very fast growth. The worm equatorial temperature in Nairobi stimulates the regular consumption of cool drinks. Slice Bakery and Juices wants to establish a large regular customer base and it will achieve this by concentrating its marketing and business on local residents, which will be the organizations target market. This will create a healthy, stable revenue base that will ensure the stability of Slice Bakery. In addition tourists are expected to comprise aproximately25% of the total revenue collected. Good visibility and competitive products and services are crucial in order to capture this segment of the market. Financial Considerations Slice Bakery and Juices is expected to raise $90,000 of its own capital and to borrow $110,000 guaranteed by the National Bank of Kenya s a ten year loan. The company anticipates sales of around $485,000 in the first year, $570,000 in the second year and $660,000 in the third year. The organizatio n should break even by the fourth month of business as it steadily increases its revenue. Profits for this period are anticipated to be approximately $12,000 in year one, $31,000 by year two and $48,000 by year three. Slice bakers does not expect cash flow problems

Why America Can Be Called a Land of Unlimited Opportunity Essay

Why America Can Be Called a Land of Unlimited Opportunity - Essay Example These provisions offer the citizens and visitors an opportunity to work hard and without fear to own property. The American industrial growth rises every year. The continued industrial and economic growth, increases job opportunities and subsequently creates more employment. America is among the world nations with the best transport infrastructure. The availability of outstanding transport facilities like the electric trains, unmatched road system, unique airports and harbor has boosted business and economic empowerment projects. People get to jobs on time; trading activities are made easier and timely. Business opportunities are endless in America. America is among the world nations with the most outstanding technology. In fact, technological innovations are made on regular basis. Advancement in technology has made life easier and also created more job opportunities. The rate of investment in America is very high. The vast land masses give room for investment. Consequently, the American government support both public and private investment making America to be among the best places to invest across the world. Additionally, investment is also boosted by the strong security mechanisms put in place. In fact, America has the most powerful security and military forces on the globe. In essence, opportunities in American cannot be

Statistics Project Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 9

Statistics Project Example In this case, a description of the length of labor could have been initiated whereby the length of labor of one works would be considered as a random variable. A probability distribution that provides a description to such a random variable would them be initiated. 4. The distributions of scores for the experimental and control groups were not similar for the length of labor because the two means were different. The mean of the experimental group was 14.63 while that of the control group was 12.79, portraying a mean difference of 1.84 (Troy & Dalgas-Pelish, 2003). 5. The experimental and control groups were slightly in their type of feeding since in all types of feeding such as bottle feeding, breast feeding, as well as the combination of the two modes of feeding depicted a difference in their mode, as a measure of central tendency (Mann, 1995). Breast-feeding was found to have a mode of 40.6% for the experiment group against 41.7% for the control group, while bottle-feeding had a mode of 53.1% against 50.0% for the experimental group and control group respectively. On the other hand, the combination of both the breast and bottle-feeding showed a mode of 6.3 and 5.6 for the experimental group and the control group respectively (Troy & Dalgas-Pelish, 2003). 6. The marital status mode for the subjects in the experimental and control groups included 78.1% for the married subject in the experimental group, against 86.1% for the control group. The mode also included 3.1% for the separated/divorced subjects in the experimental group against 2.1% in the control group, and 18.8% for the single subjects in the experimental group, against 8.3 in the control group (Troy & Dalgas-Pelish, 2003). The frequencies for these three subject categories for the experimental groups against the control groups were 0.781 vs. 0.861, 0.031 vs. 0.021, and 0.188 vs. 0.083 for the married, separated/divorced, and single subjects respectively. 7. The median for the education data cannot be

Strategic Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words - 2

Strategic Management - Essay Example The company’s fleet consisted of 245 aircraft and 40,627 employees at the end of 2009 (Datamonitor). The company earned approximately  £9 billion in revenue at the end of fiscal year 2009, 2.7% higher than the last year. 87% of this revenue came from passengers’ traffic while 7.5% and 5.4% came from cargo and other activities respectively (British Airways Annual Report, 2008/09, Data-monitor). The PEST analysis of British Airways highlights major influences on the airline industry. According to Sanderson and Luffman (2001), this environment analysis indicates â€Å"current strategies of competitors, the potential of new competition to enter the market, the behavior of suppliers and buyers, and the availability of substitute products† (2001, p.20). The competitive marketing environment continuously changes, therefore a well thought-out, composed, detailed and consistent analysis is necessary for best evaluation. The distressing incidents at the start of 21st century have turned out as the most difficult times for the airline industry. These incidents included the terrorist attacks in New York on September 11, 2001 and in London on July 7, 2005. Moreover, wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have caused an extraordinary political instability in different parts of the world. Due to such political instability and security situation, European Union and United States formulated new security regulations which came into effect in summer 2006. Although governments have taken essential safety and security measures and controlled the activities at the airports effectively along with pricing and planning policies but even then the new political strategy reduced the customer’s traveling confidence on airline. During last few years, substantial regulatory reforms have taken place which has given more opportunities to British Airways and such other airlines. As far as, UK political

Feminist Research Into Soap Opera Audiences

Feminist Research Into Soap Opera Audiences Feminist Research into the field of television has made a vital contribution by studying the genre of soap opera and its audiences. The understanding of the relationship that the genre share with its audiences is important in gaining knowledge about why this genre has remained such a popular form, despite the continuous criticism that has been receiving from the television critics and journalists. Feminist researchers such as Ien Ang, Dorothy Hobson, and Lesley Henderson etc focused their research of soap operas in exploring how soap opera audiences use this genre as a medium to engage into social debates and interpret the drama in their own ways. Rather than focusing on the text alone, they have elaborated on how audiences bring their perspectives in the stories. These authors have tried to put themselves in this scenario and explored the study as fans rather than just being critics. As Brunsdon(1995, p.50, cited in Henderson, 2007, p.8) notes, On the one hand, there is a perceived incompatibility between feminism and soap opera, but, on the other, it is arguably feminist interest that has transformed soap opera into a very fashionable field for academic inquiry. The aim of this essay is to out light on and the work of this feminists by analysing and exploring the key concepts such as active audiences, and breaking away from the allegory that soap opera audiences are passive watchers. The aim is also to understand why women have always been the dominant members of the soap operas. Do they enjoy this genre merely for entertainment? If no, then what understanding do they bring to soap operas? Another aspect that this essay touches upon is to critically understand whether soap opera writers lack creative ability, as people especially non soap opera viewers, often think that the storylines of such genre are dragged and over dramatized. Lastly, it touches on the social relevance that soap operas have, apart from just being considered as a source of melodrama and entertainment. Talking about television is part of the everyday work culture of both men and women (p 175). Discussing storylines in the form of gossip or debate, criticizing or applauding, sympathizing with the characters and relating to incidents that unfold in reel life with the real lives, are some of the processes through which soap opera audiences find this genre so entertaining. Breaking the myth of passive viewer One of the most crucial contributions made to the media studies by feminist researchers is the understanding of the relationship between soap operas and its audiences. The answer to the question why the soap opera is so popular lies in understanding the relationship it shares with its audiences. The effects that soap operas can possibly have on its viewers form the basis of their success or failure on television. Feminist researchers have time and again exhibited the importance of understanding the audience/text relationships. But, often soap opera audiences are stereotyped as passive viewers. As the term suggests, passive viewers are the ones who just blindly accept the information that is provided to them. There is a misconception that the members of this category do not use their own knowledge and understanding while watching the soap operas, as they are a product of fiction and fantasy. According to Hobson (2003, p.166), journalists and critic s often stereotype the soap opera audiences as easily duped mass, who fall prey to the melodramatic storylines. This assumption is stated by Seiter et al too (1997, p. 162). They add that critics feel that viewers usually turn off their brain cells while watching a programme, hence losing any critical ability to judge the merits and demerits of a soap opera. They do not understand the difference between what is real and what is fictitious. In a recent episode of BBCs Eastenders, the show tackled with the issue of cot death and baby swap. The episode was subject of a lot of debate and criticism. Viewers termed this particular storyline as awful tragic and sensationalism, especially since it was aired during the New Years time. Joyce Epstein, director of the Foundation For The Study Of Infant Deaths (FSID) was quoted in Mailonline saying, I just hope that people realise that this is fiction, this is not real life. I would hope people can view it as something that happens on screen and is not real life. Apparently, the show received around 5000 complaints about how the subject was so sensitive and the events were exaggerated. This means that the viewers were in fact critical of the subject and brought their own understanding to the topic. Another analysis of this could be that maybe viewers always have had opinions about soaps, its just that now their opinions are more visible because more and more people are using web tools and the whole issue is sometimes blown out of proportion to gain the attention. A viewers interpretation of the text could be in any form a moral argument, a social debate, a group discussion or a part of everyday gossip. Through all these means, it can be said that audiences are bringing their own experiences and opinions to the show and also add their perspectives to the stories. Soap operas depend on the audience following the stories and need their audience to be loyal and watch regularly (Hobson, 2003, p.161). This exemplifies that soap operas are constantly thriving on the support of its audience, and if the audiences discontinue their support, then soaps cannot run for a long time. According to Gillespie (1996, p.13), spending time on watching soap operas is a productive way to understand how viewers consume the text, images and narratives. This thought is also resonated by Slade, who supports the concept of active audience and asserts that viewers do not just accept a producers perspective of a particular story, add their own meaning to it through their reactions. This statement in a way contradicts the famous Hypodermic syringe model which subscribes that audiences are under the spell of media producers and that the audiences act and think according to what the media is trying to tell us, rather than putting your understanding to the media texts. Philip J. Hanes(2000) suggests that rather than understanding the audience/text relationships through effects model terming audience as passive viewers, it is important to focus on a new approach through Uses and Gratification model , as this model focuses on how audiences use and interpret media texts rather than focusing on what effects media has on the audiences. According to the model, audiences have specific needs and actively turn to the media to consume various texts to satisfy those needs (Hanes). Originally targeted towards women above the age of thirty, are shows like Desperate Housewives and Sex And The City. These are now widely popular amongst women in their twenties. Male viewers also e njoy these shows because of the glamour quotient; these viewers would otherwise avoid soap operas. Audiences are not blank sheets of paper on which media messages can be written; members of an audience will have prior attitudes and beliefs which will determine how effective media messages are (Abercrombie 1996, 140, in Hanes April 2000). In her research on audience reception of American Prime time show Dallas, Ien Ang (1985, p.26) found that each of the viewers watching the show shared an exclusive relationship with its characters and storyline. This experience or bond that they feel could be a product of their thinking, their social surroundings, and their background or depending on their social class and age group. Gender studies Why do women audience dominant this genre? As mentioned, soap operas heavily thrive on their viewers attention. And a large part of this audience is dominated by women. Because this genre deals with storylines and themes that are melodramatic, emotional, fantasy based, critics would argue that that are the reasons that soap opera producers can easily attract womens attention. But, feminists researchers believe that there are valid and important reasons as to why women love viewing these types of programmes. Undoubtedly, Soap operas are a means of entertainment, and provide the pleasure of viewing fictitious lives. Emotional realism, the fantasy world, melodrama are some of the reasons that evoke women to watch soap dramas but at the same time, it is important to note that female audiences bring a whole new meaning and knowledge to the soap opera viewing experience. One of the most exceptional qualities that women possess (as a gender) is the ability to relate and empathize with experiences. However, Ang(1985, p. 82) argues th at the fact that women love watching soaps is not so much associated with their social surroundings, especially housewives per se and that they are inclined towards a melodramatic lifestyle. Rather she points out that women are accustomed to tackle any situation psychologically, filled with a lot emotions. Hence, it becomes easier for them to identify with tragic structure of feeling inscribed in the dramas. In her work on audience reception of Crossroads, Hobson (2003, p.168) observed that women related the content of Crossroads, with their own personal lives, by relating the stories and characters with everyday lives. The problems depicted in the programme bore resemblance with the problems that they experienced. A lot Indian audiences, (again mainly women) enjoy watching soap operas because they feel that some of the situations or events in these programs teach them how to tackle family issues, since most of the dramas revolve around family lives as the main theme while rivalry, extra marital affairs, form the sub themes. Another important aspect that attracts women towards soap operas is fantasy world, which offers things and experiences that one cannot experience in real life. It acts a mode of escape from a daily routine in to the world full of possibilities. Pleasure of fantasy lies in its offering the subject an opportunity to take up positions which she could not in real life.The best example could be that contemporary soap operas such as Desperate Housewives and Sex And The City (SATC) narrate the story of women who are independent, powerful and charismatic, but at the same, they are shown to have their share of lifes struggles, and as expected they manage to work their way through domestic problems and family quarrels. For women viewers, such situations act as a means of forgetting their own personal problems by getting engrossed in such programmes. It gives them a chance to divert themselves from the pressures of their mundane life. Women form a personal bond with such characters and start im agining themselves to be like those fictitious characters. For some women, solving a domestic issue is too serious an issue, but when from a third persons point of view, they watch a TV character going through the similar situation, it tend to imagine the issue as a minor one. Moreover, apart from emotional involvement, these shows celebrate free spirited nature of womanhood by focusing attention on female friendships. In her interaction with women via group discussions on SATC, Deborah Jermyn found out that the programmes realism lay predominantly in its depiction of the womens friendships and conversation particularly within the scenes where they meet together as a group to talk.(Akass and McCabe, 2004, p.214) Moreover, the location of the show, New York, for some women, added the escapist quality to their life. However, Mary E. Brown makes a contrasting point here. She argues that soap operas usually portray women characters as passive and powerless on one hand, and sexual objects for men on the other (Brown 1990, p. 75). She gives the examples of strong and positive women characters such as Christine Cagney from Cagney and Lacey, and Maddie Hayes from Moonlighting. The former portrays the life of two strong, independent, working women living life in a modern way. Brown stresses that such positive representation of women on soaps operas act as potential role models of its female audiences. From such a perspective, it is only logical to claim one should strive to offer positive role models by supplying positive images of women. (Brown, 1990, p.83). Hobson (2003, p. 178) echoes Brown views by noting that The women characters that were seen as the most popular were those who had to struggle against the vicissitudes of life. British soap operas often are based on the topic of emotional realism. They are considered to be realistic in nature. In her discussion on English soap operas, Hobson found out that women audiences felt that the female characters in the show held strong popularity because they had the ability to cope with difficulties. Such qualities, as per Hobson are considered as admirable (Hobson 2003, p.178). Many of the characters in the series Coronation Street and Crossroads were women who themselves had to confront problems in their everyday lives, and the resolution or negotiation of these problems within the drama provided point of recognition and identification for the women viewers(167-68) Gender studies play a vital role in understanding how different members (male or female) of audiences think about a particular soap drama. It has been mentioned above how women have the ability to relate to the fiction and bring their own meanings to the soaps. Women, especially housewives who are considered as the prime targets of this genre, generally find this medium to get away from their mundane domestic life. Hence, they switch on to soap operas and watch stories of women who either have better or worse lives than theirs. It gives them a reason to escape from their own surroundings for a while. Men, on the hand, ideally prefer entertainment. They think that soap operas are dramatized beyond belief. They believe that soaps are generally slow and even a little fictitious incident in them is dragged and hyped. Moreover, they cannot be bothered to watch every episode of the show. In short, they are not brought to think emotionally as women usually do. This is an argument put forward by some theorists that identity of a soap opera viewer is inscribed in the soap itself. Soap operas identity is most dominant by women viewers. The competences necessary for reading soap opera are most likely to have been acquired by those persons culturally constructed through discourses of femininity. (Morley, 1992, p.129 cited in Chandler, 1994). Death of creative writing? Due to the qualities that soap operas inherit: exaggerated storylines, melodramatic imagination, tragic structure of feeling, emotional realism, escapism, it is often assumed that they tend to lack creativity and originality in terms of writing. In the recent years, there has been an increase in number of soap operas that are being produced. This might give television critics a reason to think that soap operas have nothing new to offer to its audiences, except stretched storylines and themes. This genre is originally meant to provide entertainment and the reason that it is successful in doing so, is because its audience loves it. They love being a part of writers fictitious world and then, also have the advantage of bringing their own endings or beginnings to these soaps. Moreover, it should be noted that the makers of such soap operas often take examples from real life events and situations and then play them out by adding drama and fiction to it. More importantly, the issues that formed the basis of stories were those which were important and relevant at the time when they were conceived and had a place within the planned storylines (Hobson 2003, p. 201). Since, they cater to a vast amount of audiences, it is impossible to the soap producers to not be reflective and not tackle the everyday issues. In a recent episode of BBCs Eastenders, the show tackled with the issue of cot death and baby swap. The episode was subject of a lot of debate and criticism. Viewers termed this particular storyline as awful tragic and sensationalism, especially since it was aired during the New Years time. The example that is previously mentioned about Eastenders, also to a certain extent implies that soap opera storylines do take instances from real life events. Another quote by Joyce Epstein, (FSID) saying, I would hope people can view it as something that happens on screen and is not real life. However, she did say that, But cot death does happe n (Thompson, 2011). This shows that scriptwriters do take instances from real life or issues that affect people and played them out on screen. Rather than saying that soap opera writers lack creativity, it should be said that they possess reflectivity, the tendency to reflect their views through dramas, while keeping in mind its relevance. As Henderson notes, Creeber challenges the perception of a decline in quality programming and argues that we should not lament the death of the single play but should instead celebrate the generic hybridity of television drama (Creeber, 2004, p.15, cited in Henderson, 2007, p.15). A T.V drama writer has the whole world of imagination to choose from, (Henderson, 2007, p. 9). They have the gift to experiment with the storylines, introduce new characters from time to time, bring mini climaxes and dramatize cliff hanging moments. The Eastender example manage to grab the eye balls apart from becoming a topic of debate, and both these points work in the favour of the show, because it keeps the audiences hooked and possibly also get the attention of viewers who are not regular watchers. According to Henderson, 2007 (p. 168), the production team behind the working of soap operas most often bring their own experiences to the show, hence acting as surrogate audience. Hendersons thoughts are echoed by Hobson as well. Hobson argues that the biggest advantage soap operas have as compared to other genres is that this genre has the scope to engage the audiences by exploring the events based on daily lives. Soap opera writers stay true to their audiences by showing their high creative ability to adapt real life situations rather than manipulate them. The repetitive nature of soaps, with its core of established characters, may also allow a level of identification and empathy which is impossible to replicate in other fictional forms. (For example, the single play) p 174 h) Ang states a rather different view on this. She asserts that exaggerated plots and themes function as metaphors for lifes torments.(Ang, 1982, p.63) She adds that this should mean that there is a lack of creativity or originality in the soap operas as critics who opine this ignores the structural function that lays this genre. The repetitive nature of soaps acts as metaphors for lifes torments in our culture, speaking directly to the imagination of the public.(Ang, 1982, p.64). An exploration of the important issues in everyday life, the soap opera provides a set of representations which can be seen as vibrant reflections of reality. They work because they reflect important issues and they connect with the experiences of the audience; unless they make that connection they will not succeed. After all, shows like Eastenders have always talked issues such as teenage pregnancy, issues related to drugs, suicides and extra marital affairs. Social relevance Lesley Hendersons research in the field of television fiction stresses on the argument that television fiction is not simply is a site of pleasure but it also is a site of definitional power (Henderson, 2007, p.8). She also adds that Soap opera has emerged as a format within which controversial or socially sensitive issues are played out (Henderson, 2007, p 12). As soap operas cater to a wide range of audiences across the world, it becomes important for the broadcasters to own up a moral responsibility by imparting social education to the audiences, apart from just entertainment. When producers realised that the audiences were slowly getting alienated from family dramas, they shifted their focus on socially relevant issues like Child marriage, eve teasing, female infanticide and other important issues and incorporated them into stories. Soon, the television fiction saw a huge change in the way soap operas were earlier perceived. Women, Men and children and elders, everyone started wa tching soap operas again and applauded the creative teams for talking about issues that were long ignored. Television fiction has largely been studied as a site of entertainment and pleasure despite its importance in relaying social meanings and cultural forms (Grispurd 1995, p.21, cited in Henderson, 2007, p.7). A recent T.V drama, Nivedita, talks about the issues of HIV/AIDS. Inspired from education oriented soaps operas produced in South America, this soap opera follows the route of education as entertainment, as described by its makers. Its a 26 episode series and at the end of episode, viewers get to see a short message on HIV/AIDS awareness by celebrities. In a developing country like India, where HIV/AIDS epidemic is one of the major concerns, a soap opera like Nivedita is a good way to educate the audiences about the epidemic. Besides, in India, television and film actors are considered as demi gods, whatever they do, good or bad, audiences keenly observe them. According to marketing strategy followed by media owners, incorporating a social message as a part of storyline is an eff ective tools because viewers relate to them in a better way (Pain, October 2010). The secret is to make sure that the drama remains recognisably real while subtly redefining reality in such a way as to alter perceptions of what is normal and good (Carlin 2003 in Henderson, 2007,, 2007, p.18-19). The fictional soap operas and the situational comedies give us an impersonal way to begin a debate about moral issues. (Slade, 2000, p. 424) Slade(2000, p.422-423) provides an example of Mirada de Mujer, a Mexican high quality telenova. Based on the life a women character Marie- Inà ©ss, this soap opera dealt with controversial themes such as AIDS, unwanted pregnancy and extra marital affair. It became a topic of debate not only in domestic sphere but also in the Mexican press. The life events of this central character were a constant topic of debate among Mexican household. Thus, this telenova was successful in generating enough controversy and encouraging people as well members of the audiences in participating in social debates. But, in order to be a success in terms of attracting the audiences, such soap operas need to thoroughly understand the audiences needs as well. The producers of soap operas that deal with a certain social message need to make sure that the message is clearly put across to the audience, for them to continue watching the show. (Henderson, 2007, p.19) They should avoid making the drama look like a documentary or a commentary. Contemporary soap operas audiences feel the need to be entertained with every scene. Hence, a right balance of entertainment and seriousness is a must for such a soap drama. How is this genre different from other dramas? Unlike some of the other genres such as crime, the format of soap opera is not meant to be full of suspense, where the audiences are supposed to tune in everyday to see the suspense unfold, rather this genre is a product of a long, slow, and complex fiction which becomes successful in engaging the audiences, as they are tempted to know more about the storyline and characters. According to Ang (1982, p.57), even as the theme is recurring and repetitive, it works in the favour of the audience, as they start viewing the show not as an outsider but as one of members of that show. aUnlike a talk show, where audiences are just made sit and watch two people converse, in soap operas, the main theme is constructed in a way that it seems never ending. Life in a soap opera is full of troubles crime, rape, burglary, extra marital affairs. The French semiologist Violette Morin points out, for example, that the popularity of the television serial could derive from the fact that the life depicted in it seems to proceed more slowly than real life. (Morin cited in Ang, 1982, p.81) This could mean that in todays contemporary society, where people have to just rush through moment, due to time constraints, they till crave for a life in slow motion. A small incident in a soap drama stretches for minutes, sometimes days, hence bringing a melodramatic meaning to audiences life, which they normally do not experience. The longer they run the more impossible it seems to imagine them ending.(Geraghty, 1991, p. 11, cited in Chandler, 2004) Conclusion: Undoubtedly, as Charlotte Brunsdon put it, soap operas today have become a subject of many syllabuses, rather than being considered merely an object of ridicule. While it has been mentioned that audience engage and contribute their understanding in the viewing of soap operas, it should also be kept in mind the judgment of this knowledge and comprehensive study largely depends on a viewers own awareness of culture and experiences, meaning that a particular story or a scene in a soap, could possibly have different meanings. It can also be concluded that soap operas take the process of communication beyond the experience of television viewing itself, in the form of social debates, imitating the fictional characters and their lives. Through the analysis of Angs work, it can be said that soap opera audiences relate to the metaphors that storylines often depict and this is study is relatable to contemporary soap opera audiences as well. The pleasure of watching a soap lies in i ts exaggerated plots, emotional sufferings and cliff hanging plots. The experience of watching a soap drama is very personal too, because everything is told from a personal viewpoint. Another assumption that can be disrupted from the research on Active audience is that contemporary soap opera audiences have become smart and aware of that content they are watching. They can no longer be fooled by the programme markers. That means, even programme makers have to deal with certain challenged to keep the viewers engaged. So, it is a possibility that in an effort to keep the audiences glued to the drama, producers today resort to techniques such as over dramatizing the events, sensational stories, spreading true or false link up stories of their TV actors in media, because today since news spread really quickly, owing to the internet and hence, such means help the producers in grabbing eyeballs. After all, any publicity is considered to be good for such shows. Lastly, it is important to understand that soap operas were originally meant to offer a company to housewives, who fitted their daily routine work around soaps. A domestic life of any person is filled with all kinds of emotions. These are used as metaphors to depict situations and events in soaps. While it is a valid argument that emotions are portrayed in extreme ways of melodrama, it cannot be denied that these metaphors are sourced from real life events, more or less. Apart from providing entertainment to their audience, a soap opera producer also holds the responsibility to regular be reminded of their social responsibility as a broadcaster. Critics, who view soap operas as merely a source of repetitive pleasure, need to understand that socially relevant themes can also act as means of pleasure for the audiences. After all, bringing up socially relevant issues too form a source of moral debate in the contemporary society. But when what has happened in the last thirty years or so is, a strange restructuring of presenting women on screen. This point is most valid with context to contemporary shows such as SATC and Desperate Housewives. While it has been pointed out that such shows celebrate the true spirit of women, but at the same time, shows trivialises the female condition by making them into money hungry, male craving pieces of physicality. A valid query could be do they want anything else? is the changing the attitude of the people or are people forcing their opinions onto shows? Similarly, another stereotypical notion arises when one views Indian TV soaps, where the traditional housewife is shown as the positive role model while the sexy modern thinking woman is the vamp. The strange aspect of this is that these stereotypes are still prevalent; somehow these facts are overlooked by audiences because of the popularity this genre holds. Lastly, the reason that audiences keep coming back to their favourite soap operas each and every day lies in the fact that they not only do they relate to the storylines and characters but it is the personal experiences and memories that these soaps show which intensifies their relationship with this genre, because they feel that they have been through such situations at some point of time. As Hobson (2003, p.202) puts it, The future of soap opera of intricately interwoven with the power and desire of the audience.

Female Genital Mutilation Essays -- Biology Essays Research Papers

Female Genital Mutilation Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), also known as female circumcision, is a destructive and invasive procedure involving the removal or alteration of female genital. The procedure is carried out at a variety of ages, ranging from shortly after birth to some time during the first pregnancy, but most commonly occurs between the ages of four and eight. There are three main types of FGC that are practiced: Type I (Sunna circumcision), Type II (Excision), and Type III (Infibulation). These three operation range in intensity, from the "mildness" of Type I, to the extreme Type III. The practice occurs in Africa, the Middle East, parts of Asia, and in immigrant communities in Europe and North America. An estimated 135 million of the world's girls and women have undergone genital mutilation, and two million girls a year are at risk - approximately 6,000 per day - about one every 15 seconds. (1) Although Female Genital Mutilation predates Islam and is not practiced by the majority of Muslims, it has acquired this religious dimension. However, FGM is a cross-cultural and cross-religious ritual. In Africa and the Middle East it is performed by Muslims, Coptic Christians, members of various indigenous groups, Protestants, and Catholics; to name a few. The type of mutilation practiced, the age at which it is carried out, and the way its done varies according to a variety of factors, including the woman or girl's ethnic group, what country they are living in, whether in a rural or urban area and their socio-economic background. The first and "mildest" type of FGM is called "sunna circumcision" or Type I. The term "Sunna" refers to tradition as taught by the prophet Muhammad. This specific procedure involves the... ...ted with a blunt penknife. After the operation, no one was allowed to aid me to walk. The stuff they put on my wound stank and was painful. These were terrible times for me. Each time I wanted to urinate, I was forced to stand upright. The urine would spread over the wound and would cause fresh pain all over again. Sometimes I had to force myself not to urinate for fear of the terrible pain. I was not given any anesthetic in the operation to reduce my pain, nor any antibiotics to fight against infection. Afterwards, I hemorrhaged and became anemic. This was attributed to witchcraft. I suffered for a long time from acute vaginal infections." Hannah Koroma, Sierra Leone (4) Internet Sources: 1) http://www.religioustolerance.org/fem_cirm.htm 2) http://www.fgmnetwork.org/intro/fgmintro.html 3) http://www.amnesty.org/ailib/intcam/femgen/fgm1.htm#a4

Implications of Business Process Management for Operations Management Essay

Implications of business process management for operations management Colin Armistead and Simon Machin The Business School at Bournemouth University, Bournemouth, UK Introduction Operations management is concerned with the management of people, processes, technology and other resources in order to produce goods and services. There is a resonance from operations management into business process re-engineering (BPR) of the process paradigm and of the concepts and techniques of designing, managing and improving operational processes. Doubtless much can be learned from operations management for the application of BPR[1]. But business process management is more than just BPR applied to operational processes. What are the implications of the wider consideration of business processes for operations management and can the concepts and techniques from operations management be directly applied to all types of business processes? This paper introduces the concepts of business processes and business process management, and reports findings from interviews in four organizations which are continuing to develop their approaches to managing processes. These findings are then positioned within a categorization of business processes, by way of research propositions. Finally, implications for operations management are discussed. What are business processes? Business processes can be thought of as a series of interrelated activities, crossing functional boundaries with inputs and outputs. Why are they important and why are organizations moving to adopt approaches to explicitly manage by business processes? Reasons include[2] that the process view: †¢ allows increasing flexibility in organizations to meet changing external demands; †¢ addresses the speed to market of new products and services and the responsiveness to the demands of customers; †¢ facilitates the reduction of costs; †¢ facilitates in creased delivery reliability; and †¢ helps address the quality of products and services in terms of their consistency and capability. Processes are part of the philosophy of total quality management (TQM)[3]. Both the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award[4] and the European International Journal of Operations & Production Management, Vol. 17 No. 9, 1997, pp. 886-898.  © MCB University Press, 0144-3577 Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) model[5], on which the European Implications of Quality Award is based, have at their heart the consideration of business business process processes. Such models require the identification of processes, the management management of these processes with review and targetary, innovation and creativity applied to processes and the management of process change. A second route that leads organizations to consider their business processes 887 is BPR[6-9] which promotes the radical change of business processes. Some have illustrated the complementary nature of BPR and TQM[10], others the conflict[11]. Regardless of this, the fact is that organizations come to consider their business processes through TQM, or through BPR, or potentially through both avenues. What is business process management? There is considerable debate about what business process management means and how organizations interpret the business process paradigm[2,12]. Business process management cannot be considered simply as BPR. Rather it is concerned with how to manage processes on an ongoing basis, and not just with the one-off radical changes associated with BPR. But how are organizations actually managing their business processes? What approaches have they developed? What lessons have they learned and what can be drawn from their experiences? The aim of the research reported in this paper is to address such questions by considering organizations at the leading edge of process management. Methodology A qualitative methodology was adopted in conducting the research. During a pilot phase interviews were conducted in four organizations: TSB; Rank Xerox; Kodak; and Birds Eye Walls. This, coupled with knowledge of the approach within Royal Mail, led to an initial understanding of the approaches being adopted by organizations[13]. This was followed by further interviews in four organizations (including within a different part of Rank Xerox), and it is these that form the basis of the findings reported in this paper. The four organizations, in this second phase of interviews, were: (1) Rank Xerox – European Quality Award (EQA) winners in 1992; (2) Nortel – Netas, a subsidiary of Nortel, were EQA winners in 1996; (3) Texas  Instruments – EQA winners in 1995; (4) Hewlett-Packard – who do not use the EFQM model, but have been using their own â€Å"Quality Maturity System† for several years, with many similarities to the EFQM model, including the central role of processes. While these organizations are at varying stages of their approach to business process management they can be considered â€Å"excellent† against many crit eria (including process management), as shown above, and the findings and lessons derived from the research should inform other organizations which are just starting their approach to process management. IJOPM 17,9 888 In two cases the quality director of the UK operation was interviewed; in one case the participant was the business process manager; in another the participant was a direct report to a service director. We consider that the roles and experience of the participants make possible sensible comparison between the organizations, based on the interviews. Semi-structured open-ended interviews (typically of between two and three hours), based on the ideas emerging from the pilot interviews, were carried out in each organization. The interviews were supported by other documentation from each organization which included process maps, planning frameworks and organizational structures. Interviews were transcribed and the transcriptions used as the basis for analysis. Each interview transcription was read and examined several times and lists of concepts developed[14]. A cognitive map[15] of all four interviews was then constructed showing the concepts emerging from the data and how the concepts i nformed on each other (based on the perception of the authors). Concepts were then clustered, with six clusters, or themes, readily appearing. The clusters were then checked against the transcripts from the pilot interviews and documentary material from the case organizations to ensure consistency of findings. Findings The six clusters emerging from the research we have labelled: organization coordination; process definition; organization structuring; cultural fit; improvement; measurement. While some of these might not be novel in  themselves we discuss them first individually and then as a set. Organization co-ordination One property associated with business processes is their â€Å"end-to-end† nature. They start with input at the business boundary and finish with outputs from the business boundary. Hence their cross-functional nature and, implicit in this, is their ability to integrate and co-ordinate activity. For example, â€Å"a better way to think about process is that it is an organizing concept that pulls together absolutely everything necessary to deliver some important component of strategic value†[16]. It is perhaps not surprising therefore that a strong theme emerging from the interviews was that the process paradigm provides an approach for co-ordination across the whole organization. This integration through the use of business processes is perhaps most simply illustrated by the fact that participants, in describing their approaches to business process management, described how they run and organize their entire business. The co-ordination took a number of forms. For example, business process management was strongly positioned in the overall approaches to business planning adopted by the organizations. This was illustrated in one organization with their long- and medium-term plans explicitly linked to annual plans for their key processes. Business process management also provided an approach for integration through increased knowledge within the organizations (for example, about strategic direction), without the need for bureaucratic procedures or hierarchical control: Implications of business process The concepts of business processes emerged as providing a link between the management top of the organization and activity at the lower levels: â€Å"the bit in the middle†. Central to this is the concept of different levels of processes and typically the organizations reported having identified three or four levels of process from the top-level architecture through to the individual or task level. In providing the co-ordination across the organization, the importance of managing the boundaries of processes was strongly emphasized. One organization, for example, was addressing these boundary issues between their processes through the use of networks of individuals representing the interests of their process. They used networks around each process to formulate and implement strategy, and identified which processes have boundary issues with  other processes. Individuals from one process network then attend meetings of the other process networks on this boundary to address the potential issues. Without some form of co-ordination between processes, changes in one process could also lead to changes in performance of other processes such that strategic goals would be compromised, typically in the areas of quality and costs. but what we were trying to do was create a very free environment, a very innovative environment, but an environment where we knew exactly where we were going. 889 Process definition Much of the literature on managing processes is concerned with process improvement[17,18] and this is typically directed at how to improve the actual operation of processes. However, a view expressed during the interviews was that the real value derived from the process approach is through the understanding and development of an approach at higher levels within the organizations, rather than simply process improvement activity at the task or team level. Nevertheless, these organizations recognized that they struggled with this and acknowledged that, in reality, the understanding of processes was often still at the task level, with a natural tendency for procedure writing. Approaches to help overcome this included communication across the different levels of the organization to develop common understanding (and, in particular, to develop better understanding between process owners and process operatives) and a focus within process flowcharts on value steps and decision points, together with the definition and management of process boundaries. Process flowcharting is often presented as a panacea for understanding and managing processes, but some organizations reported problems with applying the methodology to all processes: the methodology of flowcharting †¦ is OK for consistent, regularly operated, reliable processes – it is not that useful for processes that are very iterative and processes that run infrequently, the more complex processes. Certainly the organizations were coming to realize that such process maps in themselves were not sufficient: people talked a lot about process re-engineering and all they ever did was diddle around with process maps, and they didn’t really get the big picture. IJOPM 17,9 and we have used a flow-charting methodology widely deployed across the company†¦we have still got a lot of problems though in terms of processes gathering dust on the shelf. 890 Also, while the organizations recognized the need to specify processes beneath their high level processes, the need certainly did not emerge to map all processes to the same level or detail. It would be unusual to go to an entity and show all the processes in detail to all depths. In general, the drive appeared to be to use business process management more as a long-term and living tool than just a remedial tool for short-term, tactical issues. Long-term plans were needed for processes to enable the process owners to focus on the future requirements of their processes. Also there was the need to develop methodologies other than flowcharting to support a more holistic approach to business process management, and to directly consider the â€Å"process of managing processes†. Organizational structuring Much has been written about the role of processes in structuring organizations and, in particular, the development of horizontal organizations structured purely around processes[2,19,20]. In general, the organizations interviewed in this research appeared to be taking a less radical view. Instead they had developed matrix-based organizations between functions and processes, and tended to adjust their functional structure to align with their identified processes. They thus saw processes as simply another dimension of the organization structure[21]. Indeed they seemed to have implicitly balanced the dimensions of autonomy/co-ordination,  motivation/ control and efficiency/learning[22] and in doing so derived the matrix structure. This perhaps also reflects other organizational paradoxes[23]. Their reasoning was influenced by a view that personal relationships were the key to effective organizations, as much as the formal, imposed structure. Processes were seen to provide a framework for these relationships in terms of building understanding and common approach across the organization. This framework was reported to help establish empowerment in a structured way, matching level of empowerment with control and support. Hence the entering of the process dimension into their structure. However, they were unwilling to do away with the functional dimension, due to the perception that functions better supported the actual personal relationships within the framework of processes and better supported specialist expertise: people don’t necessarily align with processes, they align with other people, and entities and organizations. People don’t go to parties on processes! and if you start bashing on about process organizations, and â€Å"you’ve got to do away with the silos, and the function† and so on†¦you’re denying it in a way – something to do with that relationship side of things. This has a resonance with reports that moves to process-based organizations Implications of can be ineffective if the personal relationship and cultural aspects are business process overlooked[24]. management These matrix structures were regarded as relatively unstable[13] with a tendency to drift back to a functional structure, or to move too far towards a process focus, but the organizations saw the role of their â€Å"quality professionals† 891 as the catalyst to ensure balance between functions and processes. More interesting is that, in these matrix-based organizations, there appeared to be no desire to move towards a purely process-based structure, with the matrix recognized as a desirable state, enabling constant and efficient reorganization through its flexibility. Inevitably the matrix adds complexity, but it seems that these organizations are willing to trade this complexity against the flexibility and personal relationship aspects supported by the matrix structure. One organization did, however, report a  totally process-based structure, and this did appear to support a high degree of simplicity against the complexity of the matrix approach. There may therefore be value for organizations in explicitly considering the trade-offs between processes and functions in forming their approach. Regardless of the process/function structure, the approach of process groups and process owners at different levels of the processes was common. Cultural fit Culture is an ambiguous concept which is difficult to define[25]. However, most organizations have some notion of their culture, and this was the case in all four organizations, where culture had an implicit meaning. It is an important concept in thinking about organizations since people and processes m ust combine to produce output. However, within the organizations, processes were not seen as a constraint, rather, as reported above, as providing a framework for empowerment. There emerged a general view that the overall approach to business process management needed to fit initially with the culture of the organization, and allow that culture to be maintained, at least in the short term. This is not to say that there was not a longer-term objective to address culture, but culture drove the appropriate initial approach: that’s why it works well, because we’re a highly empowered organization, and a team of people are comfortable working as a team, so bringing them together for a process team is perfectly easy – all we had to do was teach them the tools to do it and a bit of flowcharting and away they go. But that fits well with the culture. This is in stark contrast to some business process re-engineering approaches which may often be insensitive to culture or may have an immediate objective of changing culture[26]. Where BPR was deployed in the organizations it tended to be positioned as part of the overall approach to business process management, for example, alongside process stabilization and continuous improvement, rather than instead of. When used in this context, there were examples of culture change for smaller organization groupings. There were also IJOPM 17,9 892 examples where the failure of BPR initiatives was directly attributed to a culture within the organization which so strongly supported constant, but incremental, change that radical change, as proposed by BPR was rejected. All four of the organizations embraced TQM and, in particular, continuous improvement. The concept and language of teams and â€Å"teams of teams†[27] featured strongly, with rewards and recognition often linked to team performance. The formation of cross-functional teams in improving processes happened naturally in these organizations, and appeared critical to the success of their approach in managing processes. Improvement through business process management Unsurprisingly the interviews supported a drive within the organizations to constantly improve processes and this is reflected in the above discussions of culture. Examples of specific approaches included the use of benchmarking to understand and set best practices and the development of compendiums and databases of best practices and the linkage of improvements to assessments against European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM), Baldrige and other quality models. While BPR was clearly used in some of the organizations (indeed Texas Instruments and Rank Xerox are well known for their re-engineering work) this tended to be talked about more at the process simplification or process improvement end of the spectrum of definitions placed on BPR[28-30]: you would not change the overall process radically in a short space of time, but for people (in the process) I think it is a drastic step. and I would not anticipate the total process radically changing over a short space of time because one could not manage it, so you have to move forward in sizeful steps at each part of the process. One organization reported benefits through using human resource professionals alongside process engineers on BPR projects to â€Å"keep some sanity in what the re-engineering was doing†. Measurement and business process management Measurement is a key principle to managing processes[18] with the need to identify trends, assess stability, determine whether customer requirements are actually met and drive improvement. This was confirmed by the interviews  and measurement emerged as central to successful approaches to business process management. There seemed to be a genuine attitude of â€Å"living and breathing† measurement within the organizations: if you can’t actually get good metrics you won’t manage a process, so it’s absolutely fundamental to managing a process. and if we don’t define the metrics we’ve had it. Increasing importance was being given to customer satisfaction and customer Implications of loyalty measures and there was a recognition of the importance of developing business process efficiency measures for the processes as opposed to just measuring whether management processes actually delivered. There was also a drive towards examining the tails of distributions of the measures (process variation) not just average values, consistent with the view of statistical process control[31,32]. 893 One danger that was reported is related to the â€Å"level† issues discussed above: detailed measures were implemented into lower-level process maps, directly related to processes, as one would hope – however, this resulted in a large number of measures that it was then difficult to prioritize, because, at a higher level, measures had not been (or had not been properly) defined. A particularly interesting approach to measurement was in one organization where they had established â€Å"business fundamentals† as performance measures on key processes, deployed worldwide and at all levels. All professional staff in the organization have business fundamentals which are deliverable, cost, customer or people measures, but self-driven measurements rather than management-driven measurements. These business fundamentals are linked to the key processes, and individuals self-assess their progress against these, using a simple rating scale. Every quarter there is then a formal review across the organization against the business fundamentals. The same approach is used to track individual performance, performance against plans, and process performance, providing an integrated approach to measurement across the organization, and a strong illustration of integrating process measures with other organizational measures. Process categorization Different categorizations of processes have been proposed in the literature[28]. For  example the CIM-OSA Standards[33] use the categorization of manage, operate and support. In describing processes we have found a categorization into operational, support, direction setting and managerial processes to be useful (see Figure 1). The separation of direction setting and managerial processes is driven by two considerations: Operational Managerial Direction setting Support Figure 1. Categorization of business processes IJOPM 17,9 894 (1) on a practical level models, such as the EFQM model, adopted by organizations, separately identify leadership from policy and strategy formulation; and (2) the strategy literature regards development of strategy as a process in its own right[34,35]. Operational processes are the way in which work gets done within an organization, to produce goods and services. These processes are the ones which have been the subject of much of the focus to date in TQM and BPR. They run across the organization and are associated with outcomes such as product development or order fulfilment. They are recognized in the ideas of integrated supply chains and logistics and in simultaneous engineering and are part of justin-time approaches. The same ideas for improvement in flow and reduction in cycle times come through into service organizations in the practices of BPR. Support processes are those which enable the operational processes. They are concerned with the provision of support technology, or systems, with personnel and human resource management, and with accounting management. Direction-setting processes are concerned with setting strategy for the organization, its markets and the location of resources as well as managing change within the organization. Direction-setting processes involve a mix of the prescribed steps within a formal planning process and also less well-defined  frameworks. Managerial processes are to some extent superordinate to the other categories and contain the decision-making and communication activities. For example, the entrepreneurial, competence-building and renewal processes proposed by Ghoshal and Bartlett[20] are managerial processes. Some organizations have tried to formalize these processes and have adopted a structured approach to, for example, decision making and communication. This categorization, like any other, does not necessarily fit with the view taken by all organiza tions (for example, some organizations would position the direction setting processes as part of their operational processes) but it provides a useful framework for discussion of the research findings, and for describing propositions for further research. Discussion and propositions arising from the research The six clusters identified in the findings of organization co-ordination – process definition, organization structuring, cultural fit, improvement and measurement can be considered in the light of these process definitions. The issue of process definition at a top level is a view of how organizations work to satisfy strategic intents. The translation of top-level architecture into an operational reality is influenced by aspects of organizational culture which affect both organizational co-ordination and organizational structure. In no cases is the disappearance of functions apparent; rather the functional organization is replaced by a matrix structure. This form of organizational structure derives its co-ordinating strength from the formation of cross-functional teams. The issues of measurement and improvement reflected in the findings reinforce the need for Implications of effective measurement which drives process improvement in a form which co- business process ordinates and prioritizes activity; something which many organizations find management difficult. The findings suggest that taking a business process management approach is one way to overcome some of the difficulties. It is our observation that organizations in approaching business process 895 management tend to initially address their operational processes, then move to focus on support processes, while continuing to improve their operational processes, and next to focus on direction setting processes while continuing to improve operational and support processes. Thus there is a similarity to the operations management  sandcone model, as proposed by Ferdows and De Meyer[36], used to show that cost reduction relies on the cumulative foundation of improvement in objectives. We propose that an organization’s approach to process management is similarly constituted by its approach across process categories, and that to build a stable sandcone the approach to, first, operational processes must be created (see Figure 2). This proposal has practical value, since it is the operational processes that directly impact on customers and so can yield quick benefits. Thus attention to the operational processes ensures capability of delivery; attention then moves to encompass support processes, since these in turn ensure the capability of the operational processes; attention to the direction setting processes recognizes that capability can only be maintained with good direction setting. The superordinate nature of managerial processes positions them outside the sandcone, with influences from the other categories. This sandcone model for business processes implies further propositions based on our findings. P1: As organizations develop their approach to business process management, moving through the sandcone, the appropriateness of techniques will change. Flowcharting methods are well tested in understanding operational and some support processes. However, the organizations in this phase of our research were discovering that such methods were inflexible for other types of process. Operational Operational + support Operational + support + direction setting Figure 2. A sandcone model for developing approaches to business process management IJOPM 17,9 896 The appropriate methodology for understanding the managerial and directionsetting processes may lie in the fields of systems thinking[37] and business dynamics[38] and the shape of a process for managing such processes needs further attention. Thus the appropriateness of â€Å"soft mapping† techniques increases as an organization moves through the sandcone. P2: As  organizations move through the sandcone there is an increasing impact on organization structure, with the need to address structural changes to reap the benefits from the process approach. Increasingly organizations will need to consider organization design as an explicit, rather than implicit, activity to ensure organizational effectiveness. This need not necessitate a move towards a complete process-based structure, but may mean a trade-off between process and functional structures[39]. This trade-off includes the need to consider factors such as personal relationships and cultural aspects. For example, in some organizations a purely processbased structure will be appropriate while in others the process-function matrix approach will be best utilized. P 3: We propose that there is an increasing need for maturity in TQM throughout the organization to ensure a successful process paradigm, as the organization moves through the sandcone. This raises the immediate question as to whether TQM is a necessity before a process-based approach can be effectively initiated. Certainly all organizations in this phase of our research had developed a TQM-based culture. It also raises questions as to whether the continual application of the radical end of the BPR spectrum[28-30] makes it impossible to address all process categories, with the associated lack of care for the human dimension and resulting demoralized workforce. P4: We propose that the degree of co-ordination across the organization increases with moves through the sandcone. As the process approach spreads through the sandcone it forces the question of what integration actually means for an organization and clarifies the requirements for coordination. This is readily understood for operational processes, with a key element being the elimination of barriers to flow. The co-ordination includes the need for a co-ordinated approach to measurement (an example is illustrated in the measurement section above). Further implications for operations management There is a clear message emerging from this research of the need to manage the boundaries between the categories of processes and between the processes themselves. The appropriate approach will be determined by the category of process being addressed and organizations may find the sandcone logic useful in placing their current position. There are different requirements at different points in the sandcone: knowledge and understanding of process flowcharting techniques at one end of the spectrum through to knowledge and understanding of â€Å"softer† mapping techniques; the need to consider the Implications of appropriate organization structure and trade-offs between process- and business process function-based structures; the degree of maturity in TQM; the degree of comanagement ordination desirable and possible and, in particular, the need for a co-ordinated approach to measurement. 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