Effectiveness Of Diversity Intervention Or Their Results

Introduction â€Å"Part of the problem is there is little published research assessing the effectiveness of diversity intervention or their results† (Kulik Roberson, 2008). In my opinion, a workforce diversity initiative might involve many things such as, motivation to interact with each other on the job, ways to relieve stress on the job, and culture shock in the workplace. Resourcefulness comes from originality like being diverse in creating new ways to enhance old ones to combined change. Perhaps, leadership and diversity might help blend the workplace to meet all cultural groups’ principles and beliefs on the job; it is just a matter of more social interaction with each other outside what a person is used to doing or knowing, besides†¦show more content†¦Judgement Stereotyping is consisted a learned behavior of what we were taught to believe in without having knowledgeable facts. â€Å"Prior research has shown that trait concepts and stereotypes become active automatically in the presence of relevant behavior or stereotyped-group features. Experiments showed that participants whose concept of rudeness was well informed interrupted the experimenter more quickly and frequently than did participants informed with polite-related stimuli. Next, participants for whom an elderly stereotype was aware walked more slowly down the hallway when leaving the experiment than did control participants, consistent with the content of that stereotype. Finally, participants for whom the African American stereotype informed subliminally reacted with more hostility to a vexatious request of the transformer. Implications of this automatic behavior priming effect for self-fulfilling prophecies are discussed, as is whether social behavior is necessarily mediated by c onscious choice processes† (Bargh, Chen Burrows, 1996). Leadership and diversity is an important matter concerning cultural and age relationships too, because most people have been brought up to stereotype without having their facts correct. To say someone’s too old to perform a task is just a matter of speech and maybe even proves that a person’s mentality on social interaction skills are lacking. This holds true for people of different cultures that come

Milton Paradise Lost Commentary Free Essays

The Renaissance era represents a complete break with the Middle Ages on a political, philosophical, scientifical and theological scale. Indeed, the discovery of new territories and the expeditions of explorers such as Francis Drake, the resurgence of classic writtings, the new scientific outbreaks of Copernicus, Newton and Galilei as well as the Protestant reformation led by Luther and his 95 Theses, triggered a will for knowledge and a quest for truth, thus putting an end to the intellectual hegemony of the Roman Catholic Church in Western Europe. Intellectuals of this era began to think on mankind, looking for answers outside of the Religious constraints. We will write a custom essay sample on Milton Paradise Lost Commentary or any similar topic only for you Order Now Written during this context of political and religious upheaval, Paradise Lost, an epic poem published in 1667 in ten books, reflects in a way the great changes of the Renaissance. This poem, written by John Milton (December 1608 – November 1674), an English poet, polemicist and civil servant, tell the Christian story of the creation of the Earth, the fall of Satan and the Fall of Man. As a puritan, Milton, who had already attacked the Church for its corruption in Lycidas (1637), give this classical Christian tale puritan traits (such as the protrayal of Eve as a dedicated worker). The passage under study is taken from Book 9 of Paradise lost. In this book, the narrator focuses on the disobedience of Adam and Eve. Satan returns to the Garden of Eden eight days after his banishment by Gabriel to avenge himself. Adam and Eve , preparing for their labors, decide to work separatly , even if Adam is anxious that eve would be an easy prey to Satan’s temptation . In this passage we can see the approach of the Satan , (the snake) and the begining of his temptation that will lead Eve to eat the prohibited fruit. We can clearly see that Milton here uses a mix of Classical and Judeo-christian mythology to tell this tale. We can thus wonder In which way he uses these influences, and why he uses them ? In a first part we will see that the Serpent is a symbol of temptation, and in a second part we wll analyse Milton’s uses of Classical mythology. First, Milton depicts the snake which Satan is possessing, as an incredibly beautiful animal. The main strategy of Satan to try to corrupt the naive mind of Eve is to appear as a magnificent snake. According to the narrator, his physical appearance is so pleasing that never a snake will be as beautiful (on verse 504 â€Å"pleasing was his shape, and lovely, never since a serpent lovelier†). To describe the snake, the narrator use the lexical field of precious material: â€Å"carbuncle his eyes† on verse 500, â€Å"neck of verdent gold† on verse 501. Here Satan seems to have chosen a snake whose appearance can attract Eve only because his similitude with precious material. In a kind of materialist temptation, he tries to appeal to Eve inner sin of cupidity to seduce her. But there is something paradoxical in the way the snake is depicted as a beautiful creature. Indeed, the snake is often assimilated with death, the venom of some species of snakes such as the cobra can kill a man in less than one hour. It also an animal that generate instinctive fear in most human (and occurence of Ophidiophobia can be found everywhere). Here death and beauty become assimilated in one animal. It can thus be perceived as personification of the treachery of satan: behind the beaty of his rethoric, of his discourse hides a terrible fates, the banishment of Man from Heaven. This can also underline the interest of humans for macabre, dark topics. We can see since the dawn of age exemples of this morbid attraction of the Human race: public executions had always (and still do) gathered a lot of people around the death of a single man as well as we can see every day the impact (and also its capacity of generating profits) of a news involving the mysterious death of a movie star, of the murder of a whole family by its patriarch. As we know, Satan has chosen this animal, maybe he relies on this fascination to attract eve attention. We can also notice that the serpent can be interpreted as a phallic symbol. On verse 498 to 502 the snake is described as a â€Å"circular base that towered folds above folds a surprising maze [†¦ ] with burnished neck [†¦ ] erect amidst his circling spires†. Thus the snake appears as a symbol of virility, a phallic form erecting from the ground and can be understood as another strategy of Satan to cajole Eve into trusting him. On the other hand this links made by Milton between sensuality and religion can be seen as a hint of the influence of the metaphysical poetry on his writting: this link beeing one of the interest of the metaphysical poets who were contemporary with Milton. Then the snake can be analysed as a symbol of corruption and of perfidy. Satan uses a disguise, a snake to talk to eve. He uses his beauty, his eloquence to seduce her. His wave movements, looking like a dance, and his attitude (â€Å"Fawning, and licking the ground whereon she strod† on verse 526) can be interpreted as a nuptial parade with the snake laying on the primal instinct (which are restricted by religion) of Man to attract Eve in his trap. It is also interesting to note that the occurence of the word Satan is, as Satan himself, disguised in this passage. Here Satan is refered to as â€Å"the snake† or â€Å"the enemy of mankind† on verse 494. The word Satan can only be seen if the reader looks closely at the poem: an acrostic is hidden from verse 510 to 515. This clever technic reflects the vicious strategy of the Devil in the passage. Satan’s main strategy to talk Eve into beliving that she has the right to eat the apple is flattery. The Devil choose to tempt Eve because he was afraid of Adam’s intelligence which could have be an obstacle to his scheme. Thus he constantly celebrate eve beauty and superiority of others God’s creature to put her in a position where she can feel free to act as she wants. From verse 532 to the end of the passage the snake states that eve is â€Å"sole wonder†, that she is a â€Å"universally admired† â€Å"celestial beauty† that should be â€Å" a goddes among gods, adored and served by angels numberless†. The snake thus seems to contradict Gods Hierarchy of creation, The Great Chain of Being. According to him, Eve is higher than all the other creations of god, and should be sitting just next to god, just as the Holy Spirit and Jesus. In this passage the snake is the voices that question god authority and urges Eve to more freedom which appears, in the eyes of God as an Heresy. Hence a parallel can be drawn betwen the questioning of God’s Hierarchy by the snakes and the questioning of God’s Hierarchy by the new theories about cosmos expressed by scientists such as Copernic who were at the time seen as Heretics, devilish prophets and treated as such. Now that we have seen in which way the snakes represents a symbol of temptation embodying as well as the Biblical symbol of sin, the Renaissance questioning of God’s Hierarchy, we are going to see and analyse Milton’s use of Classic Mythology in this passage. First Milton’s use of Classic reference in his text can be interpreted as a perversions of those myths. In this passage he uses three myth to illustrate the action. He first refers to the tale of Hermione and Cadmus taken from Metamorphoses written by Ovid in AD 8. According to this classic of Latin literature they were both transformed into snakes in an act of vengence from the Gods. Then he refers to transformation of â€Å"Amonian Jove† and â€Å"Capitoline† into snakes to seduce and â€Å"mate† with Olympias and the mother of Scipio to give birth of two of the most famous and glorious war chief of both hellenistic and Roman era: Alexander the Great and Scipio Africanus. We can notice that Milton cleverly used myth in which the snakes as a role close to the one it has in the Bible. Concerning Ovid, the snakes is an object of temptation for which Hermione yields and is thus punished by being transformed in a snake. Concerning the myth of the birth of Alexender and Scipio, the snakes, just as in the Bible, is in fact a deity in disguise, seducing a woman. But if we look closely, these myth appeared to be perverted. In the classical myth, the deity or characters who are transformed into a snake are great and nobles characters: Cadmus is the founder of Thebes, and Amonian Jove and Capitoline are Jupiter. In paradise lost, the snake is Satan, the personification of rebellion against God’s will and of all the Human Sins. In this antithetic linking of diverse mythology, Milton wants to contrast Satan perfidy with classical characters nobility while underlining common themes. He thus appeals to a particular knowledge of his readers. On the other hand , the author’s use of classical mythology in this text can be seen as another influence of the metaphysical poetry on the Milton. Mixing diverse sources of knowledge to build his imagery is a technic used by metaphysiacal poets such as John Donne. But when others metaphysical poets mixed scientific, geographical, astronomical discoveries with theology and philospy, Milton just mixed Judeo-christian religious myths with classical myths. Even if this influence is small, it is sufficient to guess that Milton, contemporaneous with Donne, Herbert, Henry or Crashaw, has drawn some inspiration from the work of these poets. Moreover, Milton use of Classical mythology is representative of the Renaissance. Indeed, it clearly illustrates the resurgence of classical works during this era. Every arts had been affected by this tendency, in paintings, the classical style was a new fashion, the subjects taken from greek mythology began to be more and more numerous, Michaelangelo being a good exemple in both the sculpture and painting field. This resurgence has also an impact on architecture (with the building of houses, mansions, official buildign following the principle of the straight line) , on philosophy ( the â€Å"raison† and the re-reading of the platonician and socratic philosophy) as well as on literature. Thus Milton appears as an exemple of this new interest ofr the classical literrature, and htis work, Paradise lost, embodies this feature of the Renaissance. Finally, as we have seen, Milton uses his main influence, the Bible, to depicts the snake as a symbol of temptation and perfidy and uses his other influence, the classical mythology, in a perversion of the myths to develop his imagery. Furthermore, analysing this text, we can see that Milton was also influenced by the Metaphysical Poets in his uses of mixed sources as well as the use of the theme of the link between sensuality and religion. This book, which is now one of the most famous piece of english poetry, had a great influence on following artists such as Blake who considered Milton as the major English Poet and Edmond Burke and the Romantic theory, asserting â€Å"No person seems better to have understood the secret of heightening, or of setting terrible things, if I may use the expression, in their strongest light, by the force of a judicious obscurity than Milton. † , valuating his exploration of blank verse. Milton also had a great impact on the English language by creating neologism that are still used today such as pand?monium, enslaved, satanic and self-esteem. How to cite Milton Paradise Lost Commentary, Papers

The Development and Institutionalization of Slave Trade free essay sample

Slavery, the condition of one human being owned by another (Slavery), has gone through many stages in its development and its reception around the world. As part of the Roman Empire in the 1st century ACE, slaves were a large part of civilized society as entertainers in the gladiator arena. These slaves would have been forced to compete, but with their victories and their deaths they would gain respect and some even their freedom.In Africa before the 1 6th century, slavery and systems of servitude existed throughout the continent African slaves during this time were often captives of war or indentured servants; however they were not treated with disrespect. Instead it was common practice for such slaves to be fully integrated into the village or tribe to which their owners belonged. Slaves would live side by side with their owners and could eventually become each others peers.It wasnt until the colonization of the New World and the spread of tobacco cultivation (Fonder 101 began that the bond of slavery became less about the slave and more about cheap and lifelong labor. As Eric Fonder states in Give Me Liberty! , An American History, no European nation.. . Embarked on the colonization of the New World with the intention of lying on African Slaves for the bulk of its labor force (1 01 Unfortunately, as the New World began to develop and expand its agriculture base, namely tobacco, that the demand for workers increased.European settlers originally had no plan to meet the labor request. Their first resort was to force Indian labor (Morgan 52). This plan began to unravel quickly however, since the Indians were easily susceptible to foreign diseases and began to die off before profits could be made (Morgan 53). It became clear that the Indian population would not support the labor force needed, and so the Europeans began looking elsewhere. Having considered other options, Europeans set their sights on Africa (Morgan 53). The nations of West Africa had had long standing relationships with the different European nations. In the early years of what would become the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, Spain and Portugal were the first nations to export slaves from Africa in great numbers. Records show that from the years 1500 to 1 550 over 64, 000 slaves were exported by these two countries alone (Number of Captives). These same records conclude that until the 1 asss, Spain and Portugal were the only two countries with significant numbers in the slave trade.In 161 9, the first Africans, twenty in all, arrived in Virginia (Fonder 105), and with their arrival, the flood gates opened. It was at this time that other nations, namely Great Britain and the Netherlands, became more involved in the slave trade. The British and the Dutch began importing slaves to the New World to meet the needs Of the colonies. The British colonies of Virginia and Maryland, as well as the Dutch colony in New York, made up the Chesapeake area, with each having its own large tobacco industries that needed to be fueled by slave labor.By the turn of the century, the British and the Dutch had imported nearly 640,000 slaves o the colonies. With the importation of large number of slaves came more and more laws that tried to rationalize slavery as well to create a never ending supply of new slaves. Laws were passes regarding the birth of slave children as well as interracial children, with nearly all laws stating that if the mother was a slave that the child was a slave also, and became property of the slave owner. These laws consequently made sexual abuse of slave women profitable for slave holders (Fonder 106).In such a short time Virginia had changed from a society with slaves, in which slavery was one system of labor among others, to a slave society, here slavery stood at the center of the economic process (Fo nder 108). Across the Atlantic, as stated before, slavery was practiced throughout much of Africa among the various tribes and villages. However, with the increasing demand for slaves, coastal tribes would raid the inland tribes and capture their fellow Africans and sell them to the Europeans for small valuable trinkets.These newly Captures slaves couldnt possibly have known what their futures held for them in the New World, if they made it there. Within the borders of the New World slaves tried to escape whenever Seibel, but rarely succeeded in such a new and strange world. Slaves newly imported were subject to laws and customs that they didnt understand, and since many of them came from different villages few could communicate with each other (Marques). Slave rebellion was kept under control by the fierce and open violence aimed at those who stepped out of line.Fear for ones life suddenly became more important than freedom for many of the newly enslaved. As the years progressed the slave trade would see fluctuations in the number of slaves exported from Africa and imported to various countries as ell as into the co lonies, and then the United States of America. Political tensions, including the Revolutionary War, contributed to decline in slave importation but it wasnt until the 1 831 s that the slave trade essentially ended, at least for the United States.As History is bound to repeat itself, in recent times, there are numerous occasions were slavery has peaked and then declined. Fortunately these recent incidences, have never reached such catastrophic and saddening numbers as the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade had.

Organisational behaviour case study Essay Essay Example

Organisational behaviour case study Essay Essay Introduction The chief end for any concern has ever been to increase net income borders. In the past the companies focused merely on the figure of productions and other proficient issues. whereas other facets. such as human recourses direction. were non valued as of high of import. These yearss. concern environment has changed dramatically. It is believed that organizational behavior is one of the chief countries for possible betterment in order to run a sustainable concern ( Robbins et al 2011. p. 8 ) . This instance survey will analyze the internal direction schemes of Westpac group ( Westpac ) . one of the four chief Bankss in Australia. It shows how Westpac uses organizational behavior rules to increase occupation satisfaction to actuate its employees. It will besides explicate how the company supports its employees in struggle state of affairss and analyze the leading manners of the bank’s Chief Executive Officer ( CEO ) . Gail Kelly. Surveies have shown that utilizing the appropriate organizational behavioural techniques can advance a motivated. satisfied and conflict free work force. but how does Westpac actuate its staff and how satisfied are its employees in their occupation functions? We will write a custom essay sample on Organisational behaviour case study Essay specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Organisational behaviour case study Essay specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Organisational behaviour case study Essay specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer Job satisfaction and motive Westpac being a big. good established company is good cognizant of how finding. retaining and actuating its employees can be important for a successful concern to thrive ( Westpac 2006 ) . The company is faced with actuating employees and. in bend. bring forthing high occupation satisfaction throughout all degrees of the administration ( Root 2014 ) . It can besides be deduced that if employees feel occupation satisfaction so this. consecutively. will filtrate through to make a positive experience for Westpac’s clients every bit good. However. in order to bring forth a motivated work force. Westpac must offer its employees benefits. wagess and acknowledgment. which are a few of the cardinal causes of occupation satisfaction ( Robbins et al 2013. p. 59-74 ) . These incentives come in many different signifiers and are sometimes. specific to an employee’s demands. When actuating a individual with a benefit or wages. Westpac must understand that each single individual will value a wages otherwise ( Root 2014 ) . For illustration. an employee with a immature household may value paid parental leave. or a shorter on the job twenty-four hours. over a publicity or a wage addition. Westpac shows that they understand that non all employees are the same and have differing demands by ranking foremost in 2013 in the one-year benchmarking study ‘Work/Life Initiatives’ for their flexible work options. offering 12 hebdomads paid parental leave. entree to child attention every bit good as offering flexible on the job hours ( ‘Westpac leads in satisfaction poll’ 2013 ) . However. for another employee. a valued wages may take the form of chance to travel up in the company. If an employee is promoted to a function they have been endeavoring to obtain so that publicity is a agency of recognizing their difficult work and finding and makes the employee more motivated in their occupation and the company. therefore bring forthing occupation satisfaction ( Robbins et al 2013. p. 59-74 ) . while profiting the company excessively. There are many ways that Westpac generates motive and in bend occupation satisfaction. nevertheless. one of these is through occupation enrichment ( Darling 1997 ) . This is the pattern of heightening an employee’s person occupations and increasing duty which. in bend makes the occupation more stimulating and honoring for the employee. by giving them more control over their work and how they perform it. advancing increased occupation satisfaction ( Robbins et al 2013. p. 171-190 ) . By giving employees more duty and control of the work they are making increased occupation satisfaction. as a deficiency of control or stimulation is frequently a cause of emphasis and ennui. which causes a lessening in motive. It is difficult to challenge that the right employee motive creates occupation satisfaction. and in bend client satisfaction. In 2013. Westpac surveyed its employees and 70 % said they were committed to their occupation. moreover. in the same twelvemonth Westpac came out on top of the four chief Bankss for client satisfaction ( Bennet 2014 ) . Westpac topographic points great accent on the bar and declaration of possible struggles between its employees. It can besides be said that by making a more comfy workplace for employees this will in turn contribute to the efficiency of the company’s public presentation as a whole. Conflict direction It is hard to conceive of any workplace to be wholly conflict free. First of all. workplace brings together people with different values. personality traits and people of different ages. Furthermore. when there is increased force per unit area on employees to run into marks. complete undertakings faster frequently with a deficiency of resources. tensenesss can originate and the work environment becomes increasingly more nerve-racking for the employees. This means that colleagues ever need to seek an appropriate manner to interact with each other at work. However. it is besides an issue for directors as they are responsible for comfy communicating and struggle declaration between workers. Harmonizing to Robbins et Al ( 2012 p. 450 ) . there are three chief causes or beginnings of struggle: communicating. structural factors ( such as size of a group and specialization ) and personal variables ( including personality. emotions and values ) . Analyzing the struggle direction system of We stpac. it is just to reason. that the company is more focussed on the bar of struggles that may originate from personal variables. As an illustration. the company pays great attending to the rights of employees to an equal employment chance. Indeed. today the enlisting patterns of many companies indirectly discriminate possible employees because of their race. gender. age. sexual orientation or cultural background. One of the chief schemes of Westpac is to make a balanced work environment. free of torment and favoritism. Harmonizing to Westpac ( People policies 2014 ) . the handling claims about the events of favoritism applies to all employees. clients and spouses working for the company. Westpac takes all sensible stairss to forestall possible struggles caused by such events from happening in the workplace. The company requires all employees to set about particular discrimination/harassment preparations and requires them to be familiarised with the current favoritism and harassment policies and processs. Two other types of personality-based struggle in the workplace are emotional-based and values-based. The ability to equilibrate emotions and grounds. understand the involvements of each other every bit good as the ability to keep good communicating and remain dependable can assist to forestall and pull off a struggle ( ‘Managing Conflict’ 2007. pp. 46-47 ) . In order to keep a comfy work environment for the employees Westpac has created the Employee Assistance Program. which provides employees with confidential reding on a scope of issues. such as household mournings. deficiency of occupation satisfaction. results of mark oriented direction. emphasis and trauma direction. Another foundation. Critical Incident Management Program. helps employees after traumatic events: personal menaces in the workplace. the decease of work co-workers and menaces from different external events. Why is it of import for the company to pay so much attending to such type of struggle? As Robbin s et Al ( 2012. p. 448 ) province. relationship struggles are dysfunctional. It means that they have a negative impact on the work efficiency. This point of position was shared by Karim ( 2009. p. 289 ) . who argues that emphasis on the occupation causes lower productiveness and hapless public presentation in the administration. As an illustration. pull offing traumatic incidents can significantly cut down employee’s absences after the event ( ‘Prompt injury direction can cut down employee absence’ 2007 ) . The company aims to promote staff members to describe any error in order to assist directors to adequately pull off hazard and cultural issues. Examples of error can be a breach of Westpac’s Policies and Codes. improper behavior and safety issues. As a portion of struggle direction. the company has established the ‘Concern Reporting’ system ( Westpac 2013 ) . It includes an online and telephone service. which allows anon. communicating. which connects employees to trained specializers from an independent administration. However. if the struggle has already occurred. Westpac has a figure of procedures to foreground issues between employees and their directors with farther probe with senior directors if the issue is non resolved. It is of import to gain that the relationships between employees are really susceptible to the leading manner set in the group. Leadership manners Leadership plays an of import function to maximize efficiency and to accomplish organizational ends. Effective leaders have an ability to actuate and animate employees and contribute to the great success of the company ( Keskes 2014 ) . Gail Kelly emphases the importance of puting a clear way for an administration and joint all employees and other stakeholders ( ‘Leadership advice from the CEO of Westpac. Gail Kelly’ 2014 ) . This manner of leading has been successful to accomplish the company’s ends and visions. This achievement brought her as a magnetic leader and her personal appeal helps her to all employees commit to the house and bring forth higher fiscal public presentation ( Davidson et all 2009. pp. 386-387 ) . Now she is ranked the 11th most powerful adult female in the universe and is Australian’s highest paid businesswomen. Harmonizing to Goleman et all ( 2002 ) . leadings are divided by six types. viz. airy. coaching. affiliative. democratic. p acesetting and commanding. Each type of the leading can be used apart. depending on state of affairss. Companies spend a great trade of money on new procedures and efficiencies to increase one per cent of bottom-line profitableness. but 30 per cent of the company’s bottom-line profitableness is responsible by leading manner. Therefore. it is really of import to utilize leading manners to react to different state of affairss efficaciously. These yearss. dramatic alterations can be seen across the fiscal services. Australian Bankss have competed for the biggest portion of the place loans market. However. this competition has shifted to acquiring customers’ sedimentations. When the company prosecute a new way. airy leading manner is the most appropriate. The aim of this manner is to travel people towards a new set of shared marks with clear account. Many companies end up with failure to alterations due to decelerate response or when employees are non certain about the way of the house. One of the great successes of Westpac is that Gail Kelly uses this manner efficaciously ( ‘Leadership Styles’ 2011 ) . Another manner of leading that is built-in to Gail Kelly is affinitive manner. Affinitive manner of leading is besides seen to accomplish high employee satisfaction ( Brook. K 2003 ) . Westpac put the value on the importance of teamwork and the diverseness of employees irrespective of age. race and ability ( People policies 2014 ) . The company helps the employees’ to work out personal jobs and encourages them to be more cohesive in order to make a comfy work environment. This manner of leading is utile to heighten squad harmoniousness. increases the morale and the betterment of communicating in employees. that is indispensable in current volatile state of affairs in fiscal industry. However. affinitive leading would be unsafe to utilize by itself since its emphasis’s on group work and it might advance hapless public presentation or no future growing. For this ground. the demand to unite different manners of leading. that the company does successfully. is indispensable to make the ends of the concern ( Robbins et al 2011. Ps 357 ) . Decision Organizational behavior is more than merely the rules of how people can work in the group together. It is a complex survey that shows how the right interaction of employees can profit the business’s effectivity. The analysis of Westpac Group has revealed that the company endeavours to increase occupation satisfaction of the employees by honoring each individual correspondingly. Therefore. in order. has a good consequence on the production effectivity. doing positive feelings among clients. The company appreciates the diverseness among its employees and successfully manages the struggles caused by personal jobs every bit good as struggles in relationships with others. The Westpac’s system of struggle direction helps to forestall a possible diminution in occupation public presentation and creates a comfy work environment. The instance survey has besides revealed that the company benefitted from the efficient usage of different manners of leading. The ability to rapidly react to the volatility in a finance sector by altering leading manners helps Gail Kelly to take the concern successfully. heightening squad engagement and overall part. MentionsBrooks. K 2003. ‘Primal Leadership: Gaining the Power of Emotional Intelligence’ . Human Resource Development Quarterly. 14. 2. pp. 235-238. Business Source Complete. EBSCOhost. viewed 6 September 2014. Darling. K A ; Arn. J 1997. ‘How to efficaciously honor employees’ . Industrial Management. 39. no. 4. Masterfile Premier. EBSCOhost. viewed 8 September 2014. Davidson. P. Simon. A. Woods. P A ; Griffin. Roentgen 2009. Gail Kelly. bank executive – outstanding leader and director in Management: Core Concepts and Applications. John Wiley A ; Sons. Milton. Queensland. ‘Dealing with Workplace Conflict’ 2006. Point For Credit Union Research A ; Advice. p. 19. Business Source Complete. EBSCOhost. viewed 29 August 2014. Goleman. D. Boyatzis. R A ; McKee. A 2002. Cardinal leading: Learning to take with emotional intelligence. Harvard Business School Press. Boston. USA. Karim. N 2009. ‘Stress in Organsations: Management Strategie s’ . Dialogue ( 1819-6462 ) . 4. 2. pp. 286-300. Academic Search Complete. EBSCOhost. viewed 25 August 2014. Keskes. I 2014. ‘Relationship between leading manners and dimensions of employee organisational committedness: A critical reappraisal and treatment of future directions’ . Intangible Capital. 10. 1. pp. 26-51. Business Source Complete. EBSCOhost. viewed 10 September 2014. ‘Leadership Styles 2011’ . The Wall Street Journal. pp. 1-3. viewed 9 September 2014. . ‘Leadership advice from the CEO of Westpac. Gail Kelly’ 2014. Australia Business Review. viewed 30 August 2014.

Eastern vs. Western Architecture essays

Eastern vs. Western Architecture essays Architecture has many unique characteristics as compared to the vast body of styles of art. Architecture must be functional and contend with difficult engineering challenges as well as an artistic statement. Even within the boundaries of architecture, it is obvious that the styles approached in creating the magnificent buildings seen in everyday life vary greatly. Difference in style is obvious when comparing the works of the Ancient Greek culture and those of the Islands of Japan. Both cultures have contributed greatly to the science and art of architecture, each in their own unique styles. The two contrast greatly, yet have some artistic similarities making each impressive according to yesterdays, and todays standards. The characteristics in architecture developed by the Greeks are considered among the greatest achievements in Western Society. The Greek style of architecture combines both simplicity and grandeur to create magnificent structures that are world renowned and have continuously influenced the latter day architecture of Western Society. There are many characteristics in the architecture of Greek temples that separate the Greek era from of the Japanese Shinto shrines. To fully comprehend Greek temple architecture, one must understand the basis of the Greek state of mind. Ancient Greek culture thought very highly of man. Greek philosophers believed that nature to served mankind and that man was second only to humanistic Greek gods. The Greeks built temples as monuments to the deities and were designed in attempt to conquer nature much like the gods; last for an eternity. An excellent example of a Greek temple is the Parthenon located on the Acropolis in Athens, Greece. The Parthen on was built to honor the goddess Athena. The Parthenon is a regular but articulate building; although it is a stoa it is perceived more or less as a sculpture or monument rather than a place of shelter. Because the Greek culture was...

Causes of Disequilibrium in the economy

Causes of Disequilibrium in the economy Economists usually define general disequilibrium as the state in which contrasting market forces of supply and demand fail to reach a balance and there exist an intrinsic inclination for change. The main indicator of market disequilibrium is the continuation of shortages either in the demand or supply side of the economy. There are two main models that hold divergent views concerning disequilibrium namely the classical and Keynesian models   [ 1 ]   . Causes of disequilibrium Generally, the major causes for disequilibrium in the markets if the deficiencies created either in the aggregate demand or aggregate supply side of the economy. This means that in such circumstances the market does not clear. Main causes of disequilibrium are understood in the light of the economic model s followed by scholars. For instance, the Keynesian theory’s causes differ from that of classical economists. For instance, following Keynesians’ view, disequilibrium arises when there are di sparities between leakages and injections where as classical economists argue that if such cases arise, price always adjust to bring the economy back to equilibrium.   [ 2 ]    In the above diagram, equilibrium occurs at point P2-Q2 where AD2= AS. At that point, the economy is at full employment. Below this point the economy is in disequilibrium whereby it is operating below full employment. Keynesian theory’s view s about disequilibrium Keynesian theory is the widely used model that explains the general equilibrium using the IS-LM model. Keynesian model construe that markets may not be self-adjusting therefore the markets would not lead to full employment equilibrium if the economy is left to self-regulate. Keynes used the income-expenditure theory to explain the concept of disequilibrium and full employments. He came up with a detailed analysis of the functions of money, functions of interest rates as well as the aspect of relative prices. Keynesian theory postulates th at equilibrium usually occurs below the full employment level. Keynes argued that constant equilibrium cannot prevail due to the existence of involuntary unemployment.   [ 3 ]    In the commodity markets, Keynesians clearly outlines the major disparities that usually reinforce a state of disequilibrium. They compare the aggregate expenditure which includes household consumption, investment function as well as government spending with the effective demand. They postulate that when the economy operates below the intersection of the two, it means there is an imbalance/disequilibrium.   [ 4 ]    Keynesians denied the supply side of the classical economists. Keynes stated that firms should be given the supply schedule so that they can demand smaller amounts than the existing national demand schedule. Keynes explained the causes of disparities in supply and demand separately. According to him, supply creates income. He postulated that what people produce is the one which is bought therefore supply’s value at all times equals the income value. The income is spent by the earners in consumption of more goods. Keynesian economists advocate an increase in government spending when the economy is below full employment in order to stimulate the economy.   [ 5 ]    Classical economists Classical economists holds the notion that markets are self regulatory which is opposite of Keynesian views. They construe that whenever disequilibrium state occurs between the leakages and the injections, prices usually adjusts to re-establish the general equilibrium. They held assumption that there prices are flexible savings are equal to investments as well as embracing the say’s law which states that supply creates its own demand. Explaining the aspect of disequilibrium through say’s law, classical theorists construe that aggregate production in the economy have to create sufficient income that to buy all units of income, failure to which disequilibrium occ ur.   [ 6 ]

Color-blind racism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Color-blind racism - Essay Example The study aims at discussing colour-blind prejudice and explaining how neoliberal was drawn on old thoughts and experiences of race. Critics allege that many people apply the use of colour- blindness as way of avoiding the subject of prejudice and racial bias. The term is used to weaken populace legal right achieved by some minority collections. In the United States for instance, the country was made by settlers. Roads and canals were built by Irish while the Chinese were employed to finish the transcontinental railway line (Carl 1). Due to the competition among the settlers and workers especially from China, they were forced to resolve to less in order to retain jobs. Thus, the employer has effectively removed the difference between illegal and lawful settlers. They all lined up outside the company long before the doors were unlocked to be the first to start work. Around the globe, neo-liberalism has been inflicted by strong financial organizations like the World Bank, and the international monetary finance. World nations are told to minimize their import restriction, monetary controls and duty. The process of neo-liberalism was made possible in order to protect their sovereignty as well as competitive gain (Massey 124). They are informed to allow internationals the right to control banks, industries and public utilities and to exploit natural reserves. The exploration was to be done without restrictions in order to endorse all round economic development. In the current global economy, capitalist market strategy has taken grasp across the globe more than any time in history. It attracted more region of the planet and a growing section of the populace into capitalistic social connection. The outcome is an increasingly rough development and ever-greater social disruptions worldwide. At the time of the North America free trade agreement (NAFTA) cooperation, for instance, Mexican President Carlos

Should Competition Take Place in Healthcare Research Paper

Should Competition Take Place in Healthcare - Research Paper Example On the other hand, many others argue that no segregation is necessary for healthcare industry from other industries and competition may increase the quality of the healthcare services and products delivered.   Michael Porter and Elizabeth Teisberg in 2004, argued that â€Å"competition takes place at the wrong level in the healthcare industry: the level of health plans, networks, and hospital groups† instead of â€Å"level of diagnosis and treatment of individuals’ diseases† (Enthoven & Tollen, 2005). For example, the health insurance sector in America is dominated by private people even though governmental intervention is there for namesake. The greedy private insurance people always try to increase their profits which will increase the competition among the private insurance business people rather than at the level of diseases and treatments. The unhealthy competition among the healthcare insurance people actually denies the rights of the patients. Insurance companies can influence the doctors who treat the patients. Attracted by the offers and promises provided by the insurance companies, doctors may not prescribe expensive medicines or treatment options for the pat ients who have taken private insurance. Thus unhealthy competition among insurance providers may result in patients getting inadequate care even if they have the insurance protection. â€Å"Some employer groups advocate ‘system to system’ competition, in which physicians are forced to commit to one closed network or another. This actually limits competition at the level of diseases and treatments† (Enthoven & Tollen, 2005).  Ã‚  

The Old Man at the Bridge Essay Example for Free

The Old Man at the Bridge Essay The book I have read Ive recently read a book, which has made a very deep impression on me. It is named Gone with the Wind The author of the book is Margaret Mitchell. She was born in Atlanta, Georgia, in a family of the president of the Atlanta Historical Society. All the family was interested in American history and she grew up in an atmosphere of stones about the Civil War. After graduating from the college Margaret Mitchell worked for a time for the Atlanta Journal. In 1925 she got married. In the following ten years she put on paper all the stories she had heard about the Civil War. The result was Gone with the Wind. It was first published in 1936 and became the talking point of all America. In 1939 the book was made into a highly successful film. Vivien Leigh and Clark Gable played the leading roles. Vivien Leigh won the Oscar. Everyone loved her high-spirited and beautiful heroine, Scarlett OHara. The story is set around the time of the American Civil War (1861-1865), when the Southern states went to war with the North to defend their way of life. It was a way of life in which rich gentry lived in large houses and owned huge areas of land, cultivated by black slaves. Scarlett OHara was born in one of those rich houses. But Gone with the Wind is also about a love triangle. While Scarlett loves the quiet, gentlemanly Ashley Wilkes, the wild and decidedly ungentlemanly Rhett Butler is in love with her. Not so long ago, in 1991, a publishing company asked Alexandra Ripley, a historical novelist, to write the continuation of the story. Her novel Scarlett was not in the same class as the original. Critics have been writing very bad reviews of Scarlett but the book is popular with the public. ? , .  «  ». — . ? , , ? . , ? ? ? . - ?  «Atlanta Journal ». ? 1925 ?. . ? , ? .  «  ». ? 1936 ?. ? . ? 1939 ?. . ? .  «Ã‚ ». ? , . ? (1861-1865), ? , . , ? ? , . ? .  «  » ? . ? , ?  «  » .  ? 1991 ?. , , , .  «Ã‚ » ? ? .  «Ã‚ » , . Entertainment Nowadays everybody knows that people are very busy and don’t have much time to spare. Sometimes it’s only the weekend and I think that every day-off needs some special planning. The English say: Who knows how to work, knows how to rest. I think it’s true. In my view rest is as important as work. I prefer spending my free time with the people whose company I always enjoy. I also like to spend my spare time alone, when I’m tired and haven’t got any desire to talk to anybody, very often I want to get away from noisy streets and go to the countryside and change the scenery. On the other hand I may go to different entertainment centers such as cinema, theatre, concerts halls, etc. If you want to be strong and healthy, go in for sports. There are many sports clubs, swimming-pools, gymnasiums and sport grounds for everybody who loves sports. Sport will make you not only healthier and stronger, but kinder, more sociable, cheerful and even wiser. Sport will give you its strength and energy and you’ll become a greater admirer of life with all its problems and wonders. Travelling is also a good way to spend my spare time. Visiting new places, seeing sights and meeting new people is a very exciting and useful relaxation. I can go hiking. In summer I like to be outdoors from morning till night, sunbathing, walking barefoot on the grass. My family or my friends are the very people to go with to the riverbank, to the forest or to the seashore. Its really wonderful to put up a tent, make a fire and spend time in a picturesque place. People are dreamers, our dreams are different but each person chooses his own way of spending free time, either passive or active. In any case leisure should be refreshment and a source of inspiration. Education in Great Britain: Schools In Britain it is compulsory for everyone between the ages of 5 and 16 years to receive some officially recognized form of schooling, though most secondary schools continue to provide education until the age of 18. The vast majority of pupils attend state schools, which are absolutely free (including all text books and exercise books), but there are also about 500 private schools providing secondary education. The most famous of these schools are Eton and Harrow. There is no statutory age at which students change from primary to secondary school, nor are schools specialized — pupils choose from the numerous subjects taught in their particular school. The recently introduced National Curriculum has made it compulsory, however, for three core subjects — English, mathematics, and science — and seven other foundation subjects — technology (including design), history, geography, music, art, physical education, and a modern foreign language — to be included in the curricula of all pupils. Passage from one academic year to the next is automatic. After a two-year course, usually from 14 to 16 years of age, most pupils take their General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE), assessed on the basis of a mixture of course work and a written examination, in individual subjects. Pupils obtaining at least five passes at GCSE can then specialize for two years (usually from 16 to 18 years of age) in two or three subjects, in which they take the General Certificate of Education Advanced level (A-level) examination. This is used as an entrance qualification for university (minimum two passes) and other types of higher education, as well as for many forms of professional training. Education in Great Britain: Higher Education (1) There is a considerable choice of post-school education in Britain. In addition to universities, there are also polytechnics and a series of different types of assisted colleges, such as colleges of technology, art, etc. , which tend to provide more work-orientated courses than universities. Virtually all students on full-time courses receive grants or loans from the Government which cover their tuition fees and everyday expenses (accommodation, food, books, etc. ). Universities in Britain enjoy complete academic freedom, choosing their own staff and deciding which students to admit, what and how to teach, and which degrees to award (first degrees are called Bachelor degrees). They are mainly government-funded, except for the totally independent University of Buckingham. There is no automatic admission to university, as there are only a limited number of places (around 100,000) available each year. Candidates are accepted on the basis of their A-level results. Virtually all degree courses are full-time and most last three years (medical and veterinary courses last five or six years). Students who obtain their Bachelor degree (graduates) can apply to take a further degree course, usually involving a mixture of exam courses and research. There are two different types of postgraduate courses — the Masters degree (MA or MSc) and higher degree of Doctor of Philosophy (PhD).

Tradition: Lost And Kept :: essays research papers

Tradition: Lost and Kept Each culture in the world follows its own customs and traditions. These traditions, however, are sometimes broken to allow a compromise in their society, or are still kept throughout the culture's existence. In the story The Rain Came, an African tribe faces a harsh and desolate time because their tribe is experiencing a severe drought and as a result the livestock is dying from dehydration, the crops are drying out, and the tribe's Chief is called upon to remedy the situation. Following their tribe's tradition on asking the gods for assistance, the Chief discovered the only way to eliminate the drought is by sacrificing his daughter in a traditional ritual. The events that follow will show how the tribe's customs will be kept and lost. Tradition is shown in many parts of the story. The first example of tradition is evident in the scene where the Chief speaks to the ancestors to change the sacrifice; he loves his only daughter dearly and does not wish her to die. Unfortunately, he could not abandon his position as Chief and let the people die from the drought either. In the tribe, it was customary for the Chief to have several wives and children. The Chief married five wives and the fifth one brought him a daughter. Another tradition that was shown in the story was the explanation of how Oganda (the chief's only daughter) received her name. Her name meant "beans" because her skin was smooth, very much like the skins of beans. A last example of tradition is the sacrificing of Oganda. She is scheduled to be sacrificed to a lake monster in order for the tribal villages to receive precipitation and water. In modern days, we would check the local satellite forecast for the area and determine when to conserve water during a drought. However, in this story, tradition must be followed to allow the people to live and thrive, or does it? Revealing the parts of the story where tradition is kept is important in order to compare with the part where tradition is lost and compromised. The Chief keeps tradition when he arranges a meeting with all the family members except Oganda to discuss her sacrifice to better the chances of survival for everyone else. Oganda believes that her family is discussing her marriage and her morale and hopes increase until her family informs her of the situation. To the villagers, it was a great honor to let a woman's daughter to die for her country. To the Chief, it was a great and sad loss for his only daughter would

Career Goal-Setting Worksheet Essay

1. Adjust your professional or career goal you created in Week Two based on the Career Plan Building Activities results from the My Career Plan assignment. How did the results of the Career Interest Profiler and Career Plan Building Activity on Competencies contribute to your professional goal development? After seeing my results from each one of these I came to find that I came right on track with the career that I chose. Because in my Career Plan Building Activity the results was right on track because I love working with people. I can not think about working doing a nother kind of job because this is what I want to do. 2. Describe how you will balance academic expectations and your personal and professional responsibilities. I believe the most important expectation would be to contact my advisor least once a week. Learn about what is required for me doing the time I am in school. Like the requirements for my major, policies, and procedures.And develop an plan such as my academic plan, including my timeline that I work as I near graduation. 3. How can understanding the importance of SMART criteria and your career interests and competencies help you move toward your career and academic goals? After doing my SMART criteria and interest profiler They let me know where I were haeded and now I know that I working toward the degree. Both the SMART criteria and the inerest profiler gave me some pretty good ideals about what kind of job I should have. Both let me knew that I love to work with other people. 4. Now that you have set academic goals and identified your career interests, explain the relationship between academic goals, skills, and professional goals. My academic goal is to one day be able to work with groups of people and may work with kids. And the professional goal I am working toward getting is near the same as the each of these the academic gaols, skills, and my professional. I plan to work toward my career goal by doing what ever it take in achieve my goal.

Amity Centre for eLearning Essay

Mr. Sreenivas (55) working as manager in Alfa Chemicals, a large scale industrial establishment engaged in the production of Phosphate and Sulphur. He has 30 years of experience in Alfa Chemicals. He has an excellent track record as Manager Human Resources within the organization. Many times he got ‘best  employer award’ to performance excellence. His area of expertise in recruitment and selection process, and performance appraisal has been widely acknowledged. The Information Technology division of Alfa Chemicals industry once faced acute shortage of manpower. Mr. Raj, Manager IT division put forward an immediate requirement of 10 employees in the IT division, to HR department, starting from junior level to senior level. As and when Mr. Sreenivas got the letter from Mr. Raj, in his department, he started processing of it. To get it done, he approached many sources. He had gone through the data bank of company and considered 100 resumes for recruitment from it. He also informed the employees and employers of the organization, in their respective departmental notice board, showing the immediate requirement of 10 employees to facilitate the internal recruitment procedures. From the employees and employers of Alfa Chemicals he got around 150 applications with resumes. In addition to that in order to give an opportunity to candidates’ external to the organization he floated an advertisement in several daily news papers viz., Times of India, Sakal, and Indian Express. From external sources he got around 350 applications. Almost 600 candidates, including internal and external applicants, applied for 10 vacant posts. To ensure the reliability and dependability of the process, Sreenivas made his personal scrutiny at all levels, in the recruitment and selection process. Since the entire department function as a team in HR, all the members trust each other and extended their valuable contribution in the recruitment and selection. The department conducted a preliminary interview in order to made first  screening process and filter the number of applicants. After the first screening process the HR department reduced the number of applicant list from 600 to 500 applicants. He conducted a written test and group discussion and there by further reduces the number of applicants to 300. These 300 candidates then exposed to one hour psychometric test and out of which 50 candidates selected for the final interview. From the final interview, 10 candidates finally selected. The entire process of recruitment and selection took almost 3 months. The selected candidates list then forwarded to the top management for the final approval. HR department informed the candidates that the appointment letters will be sent to those who are selected for the post. Sreenivas approached several time to the top management about to get final approval of list of candidates for the IT department. Sreenivas informed the IT department also that the delay in the final list announcement as the top  management take some more time. He waited almost 4 weeks. But, no reply at all. Mr. Raj, the IT manager every day enquired about the latest information about the final list of the candidates and tentative date of induction. Sreenivas faced the difficulty to make any comment on the subject as there was no information from the top management. HR department had to answer many phone calls from out side and inside the organization, as recruitment involved candidates from inside and outside. The employers and employees of the industry, whose relatives got into the final selection process, became regular visitors of the HR department, asking for the finalist. Sreenivas called a meeting of HR team members and once again made a close verification of the entire process. But he couldn’t find any fault in any of the recruitment and selection process. As the time went on he became more suspicious about the delay in the announcement of the result. When the problem becomes so crucial Sreenivas got direction from the top management to meet Mr. Kartik, General Manager, one of the top officials in the organization. Mr.Kartik asked the entire process of recruitment and selection that made on IT professionals. Sreenivas furnished the entire details of the process in a precise report. Mr. Kartik read the entire  report and soon after made a direct comment that the recruitment and selection process that for IT professionals need to be cancelled as he observed some discrepancies in the process made by his department. He further directed Sreenivas that the vacancies have to be filled through contract basis and no permanent vacancies to be made in these positions, for one year. Further he informed Sreenivas that another recruitment process to be done from external candidates applied and no internal application to be entertained. Sreenivas couldn’t agree with the Mr. Kiran comment on his department’s inefficiency in the recruitment and selection process. For a while he thought about quitting the organization, as he faced a baseless allegation from the top management. Till date there is no black mark in his functional dissemination. On many occasion he helped the industry to find out best possible solutions in order to tackle the many manpower crisis. Sreenivas became so depressed and felt quiet unhappy about the decision taken by the management. Mr. Sreenivas called an urgent meeting of his subordinates and communicated the management decision and directives. He shared with the team members that the management had greater dissatisfaction on the recruitment and selection process done by the department. He enquired that any one made any mistake in the  process. All members denied the probability of any mistake. As there were clear norms and regulations related to each step and there was no dual command, they found no possibility of creeping errors in the selection process. In the meeting he informed his subordinates that the management freezes the appointment process for IT professionals and asked for external recruitment on contract basis. It was shocking news to members. They asked several questions to get a proper clarification from Sreenivas. As Mr. Sreenivas himself unaware of the reasons behind management decision, he informed his subordinate his inability to give a proper reply in this regard. Sreenivas also informed this matter to Mr. Raj. During the evening hours, in the same day, Sreenivas got a call from Mr. George, one of his senior-level Managers, with whom he had friendly and informal relationship. Mr. George asked Srinivas to come to his cabin. As per the call Mr.  Sreenivas met George in his cabin. George enquired about his family and many unofficial matters in the informal interaction. Half an hour later, Mr. George enquired about the recruitment and selection process of IT professionals. He shared with George all those things happened with top management. Leaving aside the informal interaction, George initiated formal discussion with Sreenivas. He told Sreenivas that the selected list of IT professionals consisted two names, Mr. Avdesh and Mr. Praveen, they are the relatives of two trade union leaders of the organization. The management felt that being the relatives of two trade union leaders, in the long run, they could be a threat to organization. It may create an image that the trade unions still have a control over the decision making process in organization. Further, the hold of trade union may expand if this selection process materializes. Mr. Geroge informed Sreenivas that management didn’t have any doubt about the dependability and exactness of the recruitment processes that HR departmentr did. George further informed Sreenivas that as per the intimation from top management he called Mr. Sreenivas and briefed about the undercurrents of this episode. The entire news was shocking to Mr. Sreenivas. He didn’t know that the management decision had this much of undercurrents. After hearing entire story Sreenivas become so silent and returned to his cabin. While sitting inside his cabin, he made a silent comment that, â€Å"what a useless effort. Questions 1. What are the undercurrents of selection process in Alfa Chemicals? 2. How management decision justifies management effort in the maintenance of harmonious industrial relation? 3. Do you believe that as HR Manager, Mr. Sreenivas failed to gather direct and indirect information about the candidates? 4. How ‘cancellation of appointment’ decision that affect the moral of organizational members? 5. How you interpret the dilemma of HR managers have to face in such kind of situations. 6. What would be your decision if you have to face such situation? 7. Do you believe that trade unions have ‘quota’ in appointments? 8. How the decision affect the reduction of wastages and improvement of resources. 9. Is the decision reflecting management fear towards trade union or inability to develop a congenial industrial relationship within the organization? 10. How you interpret the silence of Mr. Sreenivas?

5 Tips on Self-Publishing an Ebook

5 Tips on Self-Publishing an Ebook 5 Tips on Self-Publishing an Ebook While we’re still fond of the old-fashioned papery versions, no one can deny that digital self-publishing has made it much easier for authors to find an audience for their writing. But how does self-publishing an ebook work? And what do you need to do? We have a few tips to share. A library in tablet form! 1. Edit, Edit, and Edit Some More! If you want to impress readers, typos and bad formatting have to be avoided. But many ebooks fall into this trap due to a lack of editing and proofreading. Make sure your manuscript is ready before you even think about publishing. This means seeking feedback and redrafting until it is perfect, as well as formatting it correctly. Getting the final draft proofread is essential, too, so get in touch with us when you’re ready! 2. Cover Art We’re told not to judge a book by its cover, but not everyone listens to this advice. As such, you’ll want to think about how you present your ebook. Your cover art should look professional and work as a thumbnail. And remember to write a short, catchy blurb to use on the back cover. 3. Picking a Platform There are plenty of services self-published authors can use, including major industry players such as Kobo, Amazon KDP, and Smashwords. Amazon KDP also has a â€Å"Select† service, which offers extra benefits in return for publishing exclusively on Kindle. This can be great for new authors, but once you are more established, you may want to publish on multiple platforms to reach as wide an audience as possible. 4. Creating an Ebook File Some self-publishing services automatically create an ebook file when you upload a Microsoft Word document. However, for extra control over the process, you may want to do this yourself! The biggest decision here is which file format to use. A PDF is fine if your ebook will be read on computers, but for mobile devices you’ll need a dedicated ebook format. Your options here are ePub and MOBI (Amazon KDP only accepts MOBI files, so keep this in mind if using this service). You cannot create ePub or MOBI files in MS Word, but there is software available to do this. 5. Selling Your Ebook Once your ebook file is ready, you need to find an audience and promote your book! Part of this will be done on the publishing platform (e.g., writing a blurb, picking keywords, setting a price). The rest will come once your book is available for purchase. Think about setting up a blog and social media accounts, sending a free copy to reviewers, or limited giveaway and discount promotions. The point of all this is to get people talking, as word of mouth and positive reviews will help more than anything else!

Descriptive Statistics of a Data Source Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Descriptive Statistics of a Data Source - Essay Example The research reported in this journal article presents a non-parametrical assessment of data on global free trade agreements and their potential effects on the international trade flow based on a statistical assessment of the number and revenues generated from bilateral trade agreements established during the timeframe beginning in 1960 when few FTAs were negotiated, until 2000, when their existence began to dominate global trade policies. The authors concluded that this analysis of the correlation between these two parameters produced a useful and relevant estimate of the effects of FTSa on bilateral trade as a representative of a more generalised international profile. The data suggested that the absence of FTAs has become an increasingly negative economic burden on nations who lack such agreements in regard to their trading position on a bilateral basis. The variables chosen for evaluation are: 1. Log sum of revenues for nations with FTAs; 5 year interval calculations 1960-2000; 2. Log sum of revenues for nations without FTAs, 5 year interval calculations 1960-2000; 3. Difference in log sum values for nations with and without FTAs as a function of time; 4. total number of FTAs worldwide for 5 year intervals ranging from 1960-2000. The data represented in Figures 1-5 indicate that there was a positive correlation between the overall increase in the total number of FTAs globally and the disadvantage to nations not participating in FTAs in regard to the revenues generated by bilateral trade agreements. Overall, the results are suggestive that the increasing trend toward establishing FTAs affects other types of trade agreements, specifically, BTAs.

Evolution Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Evolution - Essay Example There is an overwhelming body of evidence which supports the theory that life on this planet started from a single living microorganism which evolved and adapted into the multitude of living creatures that inhabit the earth. Furthermore, other than the fact that there is strong evidence to conclude that the theory of evolution is sound and valid, the author does not feel that there is similar empirical support for other existential theories. This paper will begin by presenting an introduction into the topic of evolution, including pertinent definitions and a brief history on the issue. Then, the paper will move on to presenting necessary and sufficient evidence that backs up the author’s position on evolution. This paper will also include the presentation of an objection to the author’s position and a corresponding refutal of this objection. Evolution: Definition and History Evolution is the change in the form and behavior of organisms between generations. According to Ridley’s book entitled Evolution, evolutionary changes in living things do not proceed in a predictable manner; instead, the details of evolution depend on the environment that a population happens to live in and the genetic variants that happen to arise by almost random processes in that population (2004). A great majority attributes the evolution theory to Charles Darwin, who, in the 1800s, was the first to present a convincing explanation of how evolution works in his classic work, On the Origin of Species. However, it was the ancient Greeks who had the first known discussions about some concepts that later became part of evolutionary theory. In particular a Greek scientist named Anaximander who lived during the sixth century BC said all life began in the sea. Later on, sea creatures crawled onto dry land and over time, their bodies slowly changed, evolving into reptiles, mammals, and even people (Nardo, 2009). Evolution may be biological or organic, but the key point is t hat there is a modification in the descendants of organisms over generations. It has to be noted that the unit of evolutionary change is the population, not the individual, which is why changes are manifested in a widespread manner. Evolution: Supporting Evidence Science requires the testing of explanations of the natural world against nature itself, and discarding those explanations that do not work. What distinguishes science from other ways of knowing is its reliance upon the natural world itself as the arbiter of truth. It is for this reason that the theory of evolution presents such a strong argument --- because it is deeply rooted in scientific foundations. Thus, its reliability has been proven time and again by a number of empirical studies, done by a number of respected personalities in the field of science. There are main pieces of evidence that support the theory of evolution. The first is concerned with similarities between organisms that one would not expect if they had independent origins. These similarities are found on all levels, from the molecular to the anatomical. Second, organisms can be classified in a hierarchical fashion in a nested pattern of groups within groups, as predicted by evolutionary theory. Third, biogeography plays a great role in defense of the theory of evolution. Biogeography is the study of the distribution of organisms across the world. The observation that the most closely related species are found close together geographically, regardless of their habitat or their

Career management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Career management - Essay Example This is attributed to tightened global economy where everybody is need of an employment opportunity. Many people find themselves staking up jobs with minimal career requirements. As they get deeper into these miscellaneous jobs, their career objectives fade until they lose the passion to have a career. This has been the case in many nations. However, human resource analysts argue that the economic conditions have forced people to abandon their career to look for other jobs with minimal requirements. The increasingly unemployment rates have also played a major role in making people abandon their careers (Zunker, 2005). For instance, in Greece many people have moved away from the country to look for employment opportunities in other countries. In foreign countries, these individuals do not stick to their current career but look for the most available employment opportunity. However, human resource analysts say that these are not reasons enough for people to abandon their career for men ial jobs. People should be responsible for the growth of their careers regardless of the economic conditions (Nathan & Hill, 2005). The major questions are why should people be responsible for their own careers and what are the advantages of growing ones career. An argument by Grant (2009) claims that people should ensure that their careers grow with each step of their professional life. Human resources specialists argue that, individuals are responsible for their own mishaps when it comes to seeking for employment. Many organizations administrators say that many people fail during interviews because they lack depth in their respective careers. Over the years, the quality of interviewees has dropped significantly which begs the question if career objective s are being abandoned. If individuals would strive to expend the depth in their careers, many people would find employment in the expending industrial industry. To prove this point, the global industrial market has over the past 5 years grown by about 13 percent (Grobler, 2005). With the growing industrial industry, it would be obvious to assume that employment opportunities would be available in these hubs. However, this is not the case as many people around the globe are in need of jobs. Many organization opt the use of machinery as their output tools. This is mainly attributed to the fact that people don’t have the depth in their careers that would drive the industry towards its success. If people could take responsibility and build their careers effectively, the human resource demand in the industries would return rise to the expected heights. Another reason why people should take responsibility of the careers is to maintain the economy growth. Behind the success of all global commercial giants there are personalities responsible for this success. However, the quality of these personalities has diminished in years. Individuals still at the helm of commercial giants are of old age since there is no such quality in the young generation. The quality of management skills required to run large companies has been a difficult thing to find. Many organizations have opted to retain the ageing administration. If this trend goes on, 10 years from now we will have companies with no appropriate management teams. In an argument by Werner (2008) this has been caused by the young generat

Discussion Questions Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 6

Discussion Questions - Coursework Example Saying anything at all is not doing something; one who says anything neither has control over what he says nor the consequences, most of which are normally negative. In light of this argument, saying anything means raising the eyebrows and counter-sayings or counter-actions along one’s path to a desired destination (Soccio 58). By advocating for inaction, it is fair to describe Asian philosophers as passive. Asia is technically a closed society where open reactions to issues are highly unlikely. In Buddha, the Middle Path is the cure for suffering (Soccio 59). The Path requires the faithful to avoid either extremes of life which would keep them in indulgence or denial. Successful individuals do not yearn for endless satisfaction, and they refrain from painful scenarios either. In all these, ego is always the trigger of all the negative stimuli in the brain, and thus it is the basis of denial and suffering. Tzu’s observation is accurate; Buddha’s approach to suffering ensures that adherents are always prepared to avoid suffering by staying away from extreme pleasures or overindulgence (Soccio 44). The approach can cure virtually all kinds of suffering because pain is often associated with both

The Horror Story Of Domestic Evil

The Horror Story Of Domestic Evil Sredni Vashtar is a short and a horror story that is written by Hector Hugh Munro (Saki). When a reader reads this story a feeling of horror and fear comes to mind. The words that Sakis used in Sredni Vashtar are very dynamic and makes you feel that this child, Conradin, react like an adult in the story and not like a child ten years old. In this research paper I write about the title of the story Sredni Vashtar as a polecat-ferret, as a religion and what Conradin believes about this, about Sakis life that is reflected in his stories. Also, I write about the relationship that Conradin had with his strict cousin and guardian Mrs De Ropp, and about the setting that the story is represented. Through all this, we are going to see the domestic evil that Saki wants to show us through this story. Sredni Vashtar is a short story that is written between 1900 and 1914. The story is about a 10 year old boy called Conradin, the main character of the story. The doctor pronounced that he would not live another five years. The boy lives with his strict cousin and guardian Mrs De Ropp. Conradin founds a new religion for himself, a polecat-ferret, that he calls Sredni Vashtar, a vengeful and merciless god. Conradin keeps in a cage the Sredni Vashtar and Mrs De Ropp disnt know anyrhing about this. The story is comes to the end when Mrs De Ropp aims to discover what Conradin keeps from her (the God, the new religion that Conradin discover) and when she finds it, then she died. At the end when Mrs De Ropp died, Conradin believes that this happen because Sredni Vashtar helps to happen this and he was happy for this end. We can understand this through the last sentence of the story that Sakis writes Conradin made himself another piece of toast. (Sredni Vashtar,Saki) Through this we can unde rstand what he feels about her and that he didnt care if Mrs De Ropp died. As Byrne writes in his essay Conradin responds to the death of his guardian with great sangfroid, giving himself the rare pleasure of slowly buttering himself a second slice of toast. From this reaction of Conradin not to care of the death of his guardian give us the idea of one child that suffered a lot of his strict guardian and also this feeling that he had of happiness and now will live in a better way. According to Byrne that writes Already he is stronger, making choices for himself, enjoying simple but sensual pleasures, and entering into the life his guardian denied him. Authors life is reflected in their works. Many authors in the world take the important events and periods in their lives and write them in their books or in their stories. One of this authors is Hector Hugh Munro ( pseudonym Saki ). Saki was born in 1870 in Akyab, Burma, son of Scotsman Charles Augustus Munro, an inspector-general in the Burma police and his mother, Mary Frances who died in an accident in England. He had a brother Charles and a sister Ethel. Saki is a Scottish author of the Edwardian era, often referred to us of the master of short stories. Saki is a master of short stories and we can see this through his many short stories that he writes. Saki takes an important event in his life and write in, on one of his famous short stories Sredni Vashtar . When Saki was young and his mother died , they sent him with his brother and sister to Broadgate Villa, in Pilton village near Barnstaple, North Devon. They were looked by his grandmother and by his two strict aunts , Charlotte and Augusta . According to the article An authors life is reflected in their works write that Living with them was a nightmare for Saki , as he often took revenge on them when he was little , just like Conradin in Sredni Vashtar. Also, Saki love and cared for wild animals and this we can see it in a lot of his famous short stories. The title of the story Sredni Vashtar is refer to the polecat-ferret that Conradin keeps in a cage and is the new religion that Conradin believes that he finds. This ferret symbolizes Conradins fight for freedom and his capacity for violence. In the story it is described as a lithe, sharp-fanged beast (Sredni Vashtar, Saki) and Conradin himself was dreadfully afraid (Sredni Vashtar, Saki) of it. Conradin believes that Sredni Vashtar can do anything for him and this is the reason that he believes in this polecat-ferret. He believes that whatever happen at the house, good or bad , is because of Sredni Vashtar. We can see this from the story à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦. when Mrs De Ropp suffered from acute toothache for three days, Conradin kept up the festival during the entire three days, and almost succeeded in persuading himself that Sredni Vashtar was personally responsible for the toothache. (Sredni Vashtar, Saki) From this sentence we can understand how Conradin sees this polecat-ferret and also how he suffers from his strict guardian. He suffers, because when he did festival party when his guardian was sick this mean, that she didnt react to him good and now Conradin finds the opportunity to feels happy of what she had. Also, we can understand how Conradin believes in this new religion that he discover. This religion that Conradin discover through his polecat-ferret starts when in the story he had Houdan hen and Mrs De Ropp take it away and from that time he starts believes to Sredni Vashtar. Furthermore, in the story we find a phrase that Conradin always say when he wants his polecat-ferret to help him with something. Do one thing for me, Sredni Vashtar. From this phrase we can understand that Conradin wants Sredni Vashtar to do something for him, but we cant understand what he wants, until the end of the story when his strict guardian died and we can understand that this is what Conradin wants. Saki again used in his story something from his life in this story and in a lot of his short stories we can see this. He used animals and as we know he loved animals in his life and tried to use them with different ways in every story. In Sredni Vashtar he used the polecat ferret as an evil, as the new religion that Conradin discover. According to Maxey this theme are the semi-deified, titular ferret in Sredni Vashtar, who appears to understand human desires. With this phrase I agree, because Saki in this story shows us that an animal can understand what the humans wants and here Conradin wants his strict cousin to die and Sredni Vashatar did this at the end of the story and kills Mrs De Ropp. But I dont believe that the polecat-ferret that Conradin calls Sredni Vashtar, kills Mrs De Ropp because Conradin wants but because the ferret was kept in a cage and when Mrs De Ropp finds the animal attacked to her and kills her. As Maxey writes in his essay each story is named after its anim al protagonist-and each story takes the creatures side. This happen in Sakis stories, that gives name to his story through the animals that he used in the stories. Another example from Sakis fiction, to give the title of his story through the name of animal that he used in the story is the short story Louis that published in the book The toys of piece in 1923. In the story Conradin hates his guardian and prays for her death to Sredni Vashtar. In the story we can find words that show that Conradin hates his strict cousin and one of this is when he said that hated her with a desperate sincerity. (Sredni Vashtar, Saki) The relationship that Conradin had with his guardian was not good as we see that Conradin hates her but as we find in the story Mrs De Ropp in her honestest moments, have confussed to herself that she disliked Conradin. With the words that Saki used in his story to describe what Conradin feels about Mrs De Ropp leaves the reader in no doubt about what he feels and shows to the reader an unpleasant side of his character. This part of the story that Conradin not want his strict guardian and do all this, we can say that Saki give us an event from his life, when he was looked up by his two strict aunts and if we compare it this, we can say that Saki is an author that writes stories through his own life. Mrs De Ropp, maybe she repr esents one of the two strict aunts of Saki and this was the reason that writes this story. Through this point, maybe he wants to give a message of what he leaves in his life with his two strict aunts. In the story, when Mrs De Ropp start look of what Conradin kept from her, Conradin began to chant loudly the hymn of his threatened idol: Sredni Vashtar went forth, His thoughts were red thoughts and his teeth were white. His enemies called for peace, but he brought them death. Sredni Vashtar the Beautiful. (Sredni Vashtar, Munro) This was the first time through the story that we read the hymn that Conradin writes. Sakis write this and make the reader to feels very strange when reads the story, and also feels fear of what is going to happen at the end of the story. The story is appropriately named, since the beautiful deadly beast is at its center, taking the place of the beautiful, sometimes feral, youths who are the objects of aesthetic or erotic attention in other stories as Byrne says. Byrne wants to say that this strange polecat-ferret becomes beautiful to Conradin eyes. Moreover, in the story when Sakis wants to give emphasis, to writes something about Mrs De Ropp he used the word Woman with the letter W in big letters. In the story we find this when Mrs De Ropp start to looking about what Conradin kept from her. Conradin shut his lips tight, but the Woman ransacked his bedroom till she found the carefully hidden key or when he writes He saw the Woman enter, and then imagined her opening the doorà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ With this way Sakis tries to show us the difference that the two main characters had. The setting of the story is important because Sakis description of the garden reflects the lack of affection between Conradin and Mrs De Ropp. The image that Sakis used in his essay of the few fruit trees that it contained were set jealously apart from his plucking (Sredni Vashtar, Saki) wants to suggest that nothing enjoyable and positive is kept away of him. Conradins story is for himself alone. According to Byrne who writes that his imagination has been all that has sustained him during a long and lonely imprisonment. This we can see it from the story that Sakis writes one of these days Conradin supposed he would succumb to the mastering pressure of wearisome necessary things-such as illness and coddling restrictions and drawn-our dullness. Without his imagination, which was rampant under the spur of loneliness, he would have succumbed long ago. (Sredni Vashtar, Saki) Conradin in the story was alone and I believe that sometimes feels loneliness. Through all this that I wrote, we can see how Sakis life is reflected a lot in his famous short stories and how through an animal we can see this domestic evil that Sakis tries to do through the story Sredni Vashtar. Finally, according to Byrne that close her essay with an excellent sentence about Sakis stories that says about his work I will close my research paper The weakest of Sakis stories depend upon a punchline or last paragraph reversal. The strongest combine instant characterization, wit, tension, shock, great humor, and pathos.

The Time Machine and Mrs. Warrens Profession as Socialist Manifesto Es

The Time Machine and Mrs. Warren's Profession as Socialist Manifesto  Ã‚   The industrial revolution was the period of greatest economic and technological growth in modern society. Starting in Europe and spreading to the world, multiple countries experienced a new definition of efficiency and productivity. Although the growth was certainly profound, many people questioned the methods with which it was achieved and the society created from its ideals. In particular, two British Authors, H.G. Wells in The Time Machine and George Bernard Shaw in Mrs. Warren's Profession provide critiques of capitalism and industrialization. Both members of the Fabian society present pictures of a seemingly content world, which, when examined, reveal the degeneration of modern society, Shaw looking from the present, Wells from the future. Through portrayals of ostensibly prosperous worlds and the conflicts that arise between characters with differing views, both literary works successfully show the disadvantages of the new economic system and predict its destructive consequence s in the present and the future. Unlike their revolutionary communist counterparts, Fabians advocated gradual reform of the capitalist regime by working within the system. Through both emotional and logical appeal, Fabians attempted to sway the public towards greater policies of human rights and equity, creating the basis for modern leftist parties, such as the British Labour party or the democrats of the United States. Shaw and Wells, two of the founders of the party, appeal to the people through both morals and entertainment value in order to powerfully convey the Fabian cause. The Time Machine applies a vision of a disturbing, advanced world to current society, warn... ... change society, as in The Time Machine, or is just entering the social arena, as in Mrs. Warren's Profession, it is obvious what the fair and moral choice is in both literary works. No matter how they approach it, both literary works provide compelling arguments against social stratification and industrialization, providing only undesirable choices for the audience unless society can overhaul itself. The two stories provide similar critiques of any system promoting class conflicts and exploitation. However different, both present a scene of a seemingly content world, a scene that is shattered when viewed from a closer level. When applied to modern society, both present the view that although the growth of industrialization is undeniable, it is questionable as to whether society truly reached a more desirable end, given the consequences that stem from our progress.

Hello Kitty case study Essay

1.0Introduction Hello kitty is a cartoon character of a small white cat that looks kind, sweet and cute, with a button nose, two black dot-eyes, six whiskers and a ribbon in her hair. Hello kitty has no mouth and this represents a major source of emotional association for buyers and buyers can put many different feelings to the little cat. Owners and their cat can be happy, sad and cheerful or any other feelings that user wishes to feel. Hello Kitty was firstly introduced in Japan in 1974 and is a segment of Japanese popular culture and hello kitty is a Japanese bobtail cat also knows as kitty white. Currently hello kitty is 40 years of age; hello kitty trademark is worth over 5 billion annually worldwide. 2.0What the appeal of Hello Kitty? What needs does it fulfill? Hello Kitty appeal is success in Japan to the prevalence of the Kawaii culture in the country. The Japanese, regardless of their age, were known to have a passion for ‘cute’ objects. ‘Kawaii’ itself mean cute. Hello Kitty not only popular among kid but for adult too. They describe as ‘kidult’, the combination of ‘kid’ and ‘adult’. It attracts user who love pink and cat. For instance, it was considered normal for grown women in Japan to be seen with mobile phone cases that were adorned with cartoon characters, or for banks to print check books with pictures of cartoons. The postal department issued stamps featuring popular cartoon characters. Even the Japanese government used Hello Kitty as tourism campaign in Hong Kong and China. Hello Kitty is fulfilling the need of belonging and love. She has become a friend and has its own social fans. People will feel happy when they buy it for their self or receive it as a gift. The appearance and cuteness make people happy when they see it. It becomes collectable items and fans become happy when they can collect all the various looks of Hello Kitty. 3.0What make Hello Kitty distinctive in its early years from other dolls,  and what made non-distinctive in later years as its sales declined? In its early years, Hello Kitty is the most attractive because that time there no other animate that is cute and represent a girl. Hello Kitty then become viral that attract people from any ages. It not only the symbol of cuteness but also as a friend. Hello Kitty for a little girl she become a friend, for teenager special friend and trend and women also is attracted as the symbol of feminine. Hello Kitty enters all age groups and market. The ‘kawaii’ thing that make it very attractive compare to other dolls. Even though Hello Kitty was still among the top-selling brands in Japan, the avenues for future growth seemed limited. The increased popularity of other animate like Pokemon among female consumers make the attraction of Hello Kitty’s was at risk in Japan. Sanrio may have succeeded in reviving the brand in the 1990s by repositioning Hello Kitty to make her appealing to a larger number of people. However, the company could not pull off the same trick a second time. There were several reasons for this. Hello Kitty had already been placed on a wide range of items and there were few new items left. Furthermore, Technology changes factor may lead to it declined. Abundance electronic and gadget that is more attractive to children and teenager. All the gadget come with sound and voice that is more attractive to be watch. Hello Kitty is created without mouth, so it a bit difficult to create a television animation likes others. It seems weird if Hello Kitty has a voice because she doesn’t have mouth. 4.0How have the needs of children change over the years in term of what they look for in a doll? Today technology change rapidly with many gadget and advanced technology in market. As a user it affects us when we can’t catch up with the changes. We may left behind from other. This changes not only effect adult but children too. When toys are now using advanced technology to express the animator creativity and to enter the market. The impact of this, children more  attract to figure that are look more real. Children today not only looking for toys that are attractive but come with voice and have their own trademark. Example like Upin Ipin, the television series with in their graphic technology, latest is Frozen animation, Elsa is the popular one from the movie. It becomes viral among children. The movies itself very interesting come with good graphic, storyline, song and products. It’s a complete package that attract children today, they memories the song. It’s completely different with Hello Kitty that has no mouth and can’t talk. Hello Kitty has the sentimental value that not everyone can understand it. Children now want something that more related to real life, real expression. The technologies today have impact on children choice. Conclusion There many competitor that come with more advanced technology that are more attractive not only for children but for adult too. Hello Kitty is now left behind even there so many promotion and contract with big company. Hello Kitty has lost it shine but not for the fans. The loyal fans are from kids from past year that are adult today. Kitty fails to attract younger kids in this 21st century. Kids may like the kitty but still can’t be the loyal fans of kitty. Hello Kitty should be able to cope with technology changes to attract young kid today. Hello Kitty must change to something that is catchier suitable with kids this 21st century.

Questions: Mobile Phone and Personal Navigation Devices Essay

Overview As TomTom, one of the largest producers of satellite navigation devices in the world, entered 2010 it faced stiff competition from its traditional rivals such as Garmin and from new competition from cell phones. Although its sales reached an all time high of â‚ ¬1.74 billion in 2007 by 2008 sales had slipped to â‚ ¬1.67 billion. That year the company posted a loss of â‚ ¬872 million. The decline in sales continued with 2009 sales slipping to â‚ ¬1.48 billion, although the company managed to post net income of â‚ ¬86 million that year. TomTom employed over 3,000 employees in 40 countries. Since its founding in 1991, the Netherlands-based company experienced steady growth. It offered an array of information services and devices aimed at the consumer and business markets. It led the navigation market in Europe, and was second to Garmin in the United States. In 2007, it outbid Garmin to acquire Tele Atlas in a vertical integration strategy to control the map creation process. TomTom paid â‚ ¬2.9 billion for Tele Atlas. As 2009 came to a close, Google announced it would offer turn-by-turn navigation within cell phones. Google said the product, initially limited to driving directions in the U.S. would be free to consumers. As the U.S. and European markets for navigation devices matured, TomTom was faced with decisions related to the relative emphasis it should place on its stand-alone navigation devices, built-in navigational units for automobiles and aviation, and business devices and services aimed at companies with large mobile workforces. Suggestions for Using the Case Students should find the TomTom case interesting since many of them probably own a GPS unit or use a smartphone- based GPS application. The Nintendo case is excellent for drilling students in applying the concepts and analytical tools covered in Chapters 4 and 5. The case provides sufficient information to allow students to fully examine the competitive forces at play in the personal navigation industry, consider the industry’s driving forces and key success factors, and examine TomTom’s internal situation. In addition, the case’s decision focus allows students to consider what TomTom must do to survive in an increasingly competitive environment. To give students  guidance in what to do and think about in preparing the TomTom case for class discussion, we strongly recommend providing class members with a set of study questions and insisting that they prepare good notes/answers to these questions in preparing for class discussion of the case. You may also find it beneficial to have your class read the Guide to Case Analysis that is posted in the student section of the Online Learning Center for the 18th edition at www.mhhe.com/thompson. Students will find the content of this Guide particularly helpful if this is their first experience with cases and they are unsure about the mechanics of how to prepare a case for class discussion, oral presentation, or written analysis. TomTom: New Competition Everywhere! *This teaching note was prepared by Professor Woody Richardson, Mississippi State University. We are most grateful for his insight, analysis and contributions to how the case can be taught successfully. * In our experience, it is quite difficult to have an insightful and constructive class discussion of an assigned case unless students have conscientiously have made use of pertinent core concepts and analytical tools in preparing substantive answers to a set of well-conceived study questions before they come to class. In our classes, we expect students to bring their notes to the study questions to use/refer to in responding to the questions that we pose. Moreover, students often find having a set of study questions is useful in helping them prepare oral team presentations and written case assignments—in addition to whatever directive questions you supply for these assignments. Hence, we urge that you insist students spend quality time preparing answers to study questions— either those we have provided or a set of your own questions. The case can be used effectively for a written assignment or oral presentation. Our recommended questions for written assignments are as follows: You have recently been hired by TomTom as a new market analyst and have been asked to assess the attractiveness of the personal navigation industry and determine TomTom’s competitive strength. Please prepare a 5-6 page report that evaluates competition in the industry, assesses industry driving forces, and lists industry key success factors. Your report should also include an assessment of TomTom’s internal  situation and makes specific strategy recommendations that will allow TomTom to improve its market and financial performance. Assignment Questions 1. What strategy is TomTom pursuing?  2. How well is the strategy working?  3. Does the satellite navigation industry offer attractive opportunities for growth? What kind of competitive forces are industry members facing and how do the forces influence the outlook for industry profitability? 4. What are the strengths and weaknesses of TomTom? What are the threats and opportunities facing the company? 5. Do you think TomTom’s shift to value-added services and making Personal Navigation Devices a smaller portion of total revenue will be enough to sustain it in the near future? Is this strategy consistent with the needs of markets outside North America and Europe? 6. What recommendations would you make to TomTom management to improve its competitive position in the satellite navigation industry, take advantage of market opportunities, and defend against external threats? Teaching Outline and Analysis 1. What strategy is TomTom pursuing? For the most part, TomTom has followed product development and market development strategies with clear emphasis on differentiating its product. Its 2007 acquisition of Tele Atlas was clearly illustrative of vertical integration. Through the years its acquisitions and patent development display elements of an offensive basis of competitive attack based on pursuing continuous product innovation to draw sales and market share away from less innovative rivals. A good use of the history section of the case is to have students classify or label TomTom’s historical actions related to products and markets into product development or market development. The results might look like the following table. Time Action Described in Case Strategy Early 1990s Software development for handheld computers to commercial applications. Product Development & Market Development 1996 Announced first navigation software Market Development 2001 Entered Mobile car satellite navigation market Market Development 2006-2008 Acquired Datafactory AG to power TomTom Work Acquired Applied Generics for Mobility Solutions. Acquired Tele Atlas for map creation Product Development Product Development Vertical Integration 2009 TomTom for the iPhone released Market Development The TomTom Group consisted of TomTom (Business to Consumer), Tele Atlas (Business to Business), WORK (Commercial Fleets), and Automotive (Auto Manufacturers & Suppliers). In response to the economic downturn that began in 2007, increased competitive threats, and growth declines in the U.S. and Europe, the company shifted its business mix toward value-added services. The potential results of this attempt to make personal navigation devices (PNDs) a smaller proportion of total revenue were at best uncertain. 2. How well is the strategy working? The short answer is that up until the global economic downturn beginning in 2007 and continuing in 2008, TomTom’s strategy had produced outstanding results. However, as the losses in 2008 indicate, the strategy bears scrutiny. The downward pressure on prices due to competition and the slowing of discretionary expenditures due to the global recession produced a financial strain on TomTom. An examination of Case Exhibits 3 and 4 reveals the following trends from the first Quarter of 2008 to the first quarter of 2009: ÃŽ ½ European Revenue Down 22% ÃŽ ½ North America Revenue Down 52% ÃŽ ½ Global PNDs sold Down 29%. At the same time, the selling price and overall operating margins had been decreasing since 2007. The gross profit margins from 2006-2009 were as  follows: 2009 2008 2007 2006 50.6% 53.3% 56.0% 57.6% This caused net income to drop much more precipitously than the decline in sales. Couple this information with a debt load over â‚ ¬1 billion due to the acquisition of Tele Atlas and the company appeared to be in a financial bind. For all of 2008, the company posted a loss of â‚ ¬872 million. 3. Does the satellite navigation industry offer attractive opportunities for growth? What kind of competitive forces are industry members facing and how do the forces influence the outlook for industry profitability? The outlook for industry profitability is not what it was 5 years ago. Students should be able to develop an outlook by using Porter’s Model of Industry Attractiveness as discussed in Chapter 3 of the text. Rivalry among Competing Sellers Rivalry will intensify as industry growth in US & Europe slows. Margins will continue to decline. Firms will fight to utilize capacity through further price cuts. Growth in China & India would mitigate the rivalry intensity. Buyers Big Box stores exert strong pressure on price, terms & delivery. Car makers also exert strong influence owing to their purchasing power. Suppliers Very limited influence as all key components are controlled through vertical integration. Threat from Substitute Products Major Threat – Cell phones for PNDs predicted to dominate by 2013. Less Threat – Fleet management & Automotive markets. Potential New Entrants Nokia’s acquisition of Navteq signals their intent to integrate phone and navigation services. Google’s announcement also signals its entry into the market. Up until recently the industry was much more attractive. Physical maps were not much of a threat as a substitute, but by 2009 the industry was undergoing a sea change regarding cell phones as substitutes. For the younger consumers who have never not known cell phones, the expectation that navigation be a common feature will be a strong force in the market just as many in this generation only wear watches as fashion ornaments because they are never without their cell phone. These tech-saavy consumers may eschew separate devices for navigation. 4. What are the strengths and weaknesses of TomTom? What are the threats and opportunities facing the company? Strengths Weaknesses †¢ Brand Name Recognition †¢ Map creation capabilities †¢ Innovative features — Mapshare — Points of Interest — Traffic updates †¢ Automotive partnerships †¢ European market share †¢ Sales declines †¢ Shrinking margins †¢ Debt load since Tele Atlas acquisition †¢ Relative weak sales outside Europe & the United States †¢ Stand alone (separate) products Threats Opportunities †¢ PND unit sales decline †¢ Multifunctional devices (cell phones/smart phones) popularity is growing †¢ Strong Competition from Traditional competitors – Garmin & Magellan †¢ Strong Competition from new competitors – Nokia & Google †¢ Potential legislation to restrict/ban navigational devices from autos †¢ Aging satellites that support GPS †¢ Growth of India & China †¢ 65% of U.S. adults don’t own any kind of navigation device of any kind †¢ High fuel prices encourage better fleet management & fuel efficiency for consumers †¢ Environmental concerns encourage better fleet management & consumer behavior to be â€Å"green† 5. Do you think TomTom’s shift to value-added services and making Personal Navigation Devices a smaller portion of total revenue will be enough to sustain it in the near future? Is this strategy consistent with the needs of markets outside North America and Europe? This is a difficult question. Certainly the move to reduce the company’s reliance on PNDs, a product category with declining sales, prices, and margins seemed a prudent measure. The efficacy of this strategy will depend on at least two key questions. ÃŽ ½ How fast will the PND market continue to shift to cell phones? If the analysts are correct and the cell phones will dominate the delivery for personal navigation devices then TomTom may need to accelerate its plans to reduce its dependency on this category. Students should recognize that as the demand for stand-alone PNDs declines the price will drop even more precipitously. ÃŽ ½ How fast can TomTom grow its non-PND business lines? One bright potential bright spot for TomTom could be the demand for more partnerships with car makers. Car makers will likely offer navigational devices as standard features rather than luxury options. TomTom could be well positioned (if it chooses to do so) to garner a share of this market similar to its deal announced at the end of 2008 with Renault. Of course, the car makers would continue the downward price pressure, but would represent a sizable market opportunity. Of course, should legislation be introduced to ban navigational devices in automobiles this would have a profound effect on TomTom and its competitors. Some students will be quick to point out that the markets in China and India would be lagging the U.S.  and Europe and would therefore be ripe for market penetration without any significant outlay for new product development. However, better students will point out that China and India both have significant cell phone penetration and they may actually be more desirous of product integration and multi-bfunctionality. 6. What recommendations would you make to TomTom management to improve its competitive position in the satellite navigation industry, take advantage of market opportunities, and defend against external threats? First, there appears to be no â€Å"magic bullet† capable of taking a strong #2 player such as TomTom to number one in the industry unless Garmin were to make a major misstep. The diffi culty of making a recommendation is further exacerbated by the move to cell phones for PNDs. However, TomTom might consider some of the following actions. ÃŽ ½ Focus on information solutions, specifically the â€Å"Better Routing† & â€Å"Better Traffic† information goals mentioned in the case. Provide these solutions regardless of type of device. ÃŽ ½ Defend and Develop markets not dependent on cell phone devices (e.g. coast guard, maritime, aviation, and fleet management markets.) ÃŽ ½ Seek more automotive partnerships – use the Renault and Avis experiences to ramp up sales in this area. ÃŽ ½ Extend product life – attempt to recoup R&D efforts by seeking markets in developing countries where the disposable income may be reaching the threshold to adopt PNDs. ÃŽ ½ Aggressively market fleet management solutions. ÃŽ ½ Develop more applications/partnerships similar to the iPhone experience. Find a way to â€Å"ride the dragon.† Find a way to participate in the growth in multifunctional cell phones. Even a small portion of this huge market would be extremely lucrative. Epilogue Immediately following Google’s October 28, 2009 announcement mentioned at the end of the case, TomTom and Garmin offered Black Friday discounts of 25% up  to 40% on some units. In 2010, the company generated sales of â‚ ¬1.521 billion with a net income of â‚ ¬108 million. TomTom announced in a February 25, 2011 Reuters report by Roberta B. Cowan that it faces â€Å"such a rapid decline in its key market for personal navigation devices (PNDs) that its shift into new businesses may not be fast enough to compensate.† The company forecasted that the overall PND market would decline by 10 to 15 percent in 2011 and that its earnings would not grow.