Annual report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Annual report - Essay Example In effect, the expose elucidates the company’s 2010 report using economic principles leant in class. Joseph Oriel Eaton and Viggo Torbensen established a small machine shop in Bloomfield, New Jersey in 1911. The shop manufactured heavy-duty truck axles supplying them to the expanding automotive industry. In 1917 however, by which time production had soared to 33,000, Eaton sold the company to Republic Motor Truck Co., the largest truck maker in the country. Eaton appeared again in the industry in 1922 by buying back his original company from Republic Motor Truck Co. In this regard, the company became Eaton Axle and Spring Co. one year later. Efficaciously, the company weathered the Great Depression by acquiring several companies that were approaching bankruptcy. By the late 1930s, President Roosevelts New Deal program stimulated industrial growth. In effect, demand for products from Eaton Manufacturing Company--a name change registered in May 1932--increased slowly and steadily. Moreover, the United States engagement in World War II made Eaton the primary manufacturer of vehicle pa rts. In effect, the company produced a variety of items making its contributions to the war effort. Currently, Eaton Corporation is a diversified power management company with a workforce of over 70,000 people. In addition, the country operates in more than 50 countries and sells its products to almost 150 countries. This year marks a hundred years of the company’s operations (Eaton). In the year 2010, Eaton Corporation made sales worth $11.9 billion. Further, the net income attributable to the company’s common shareholders was valued at $929 million. The company’s total assets were $ 17.252 billion. On the other hand, the total current liabilities $3.233 billion while the total non-current liabilities $6.616 billion; in effect, the total liabilities were valued at $9,849 billion. Moreover, Eaton shareholders’

Potential Impact Of Online Sales To The Company Marketing Essay

Potential Impact Of Online Sales To The Company Marketing Essay Our Company, Houston Incorporated has decided to expand into online sales. The goal is to continue to sell our products in the retail stores located throughout the United States but also establish a presence on the World Wide Web. Your company has recently decided to expand into online sales. The company wishes to continue to sell its products in the retail stores located throughout the United States opportunities available for retail sales and provide a report to your manager which includes the advantages and disadvantages if marketing online, As Marketing Manager, I was tasked to research online marketing opportunities available for retail sales. This report outlines the advantages and disadvantages of internet marketing, the potential impact of online sales to the company, and the requirements for a successful online marketing campaign. Marketing and selling goods online electronically is made possible by software programs that execute the main functions of an e-commerce application. This soft enables product display, online ordering, and online processing. Online marketing encompasses both e-business and e-commerce. E-commerce typical refers to transactions involving the exchange of money such as selling products to customers. E-business is a broader term that includes providing customers with descriptions and specifications for a given product. Online marketing offer many advantages as this report shall show. Having a presence on the World Wide Web offers the opportunity to reach customers not only on a national level but globally. Doing business 7 day a week and 24 hours a day is a reality with online marketing. The gathering and analysis of information gather via online marketing is possible. This information can be used to improve marketing strategies both online and in traditional retail segment. The advantages far outweigh the disadvantages. Increase sales, increased brand recognition coupled with the low cost of operating online leads to increase revenue. These are only a few of the overall impact of online marketing. Executing a comprehensive online marketing plan encompasses virtually the same processes and procedures as traditional marketing. It also requires the establishment of a web site for product display, online ordering, and online payment systems to process payments. The decision to expand into online sales is justified by this research. Expansion into online sales is a much more cost effective mean of growing the company. The recommended model is integration of the traditional retail segment with the new online arm. This is in opposition to establishing a purely online business. The current marketing strategies can be modified to include the online segment and used to promote the website. Introduction The internet is becoming the town square for the global village of tomorrow. That quote was attributed to Bill Gates, Cofounder of Microsoft. Tomorrow has come and according to an article on Reuters website, Online retail sales in the United States could reach $248.7 billion by 2014, growing 60 percent from 2009. As Marketing Manager, my job is to do market research and develop market strategies. This report will outline the advantages and disadvantages if marketing online, the advantages and disadvantages if marketing online, the potential impact of online sales to the company, and the requirements for a successful online marketing campaign. The goal of online marketing, similar to traditional marketing, is to communicate and provide value to the customer and manage relationships with customers that benefit the company and stakeholders. Online marketing encompasses both e-business and e-commerce. E-commerces typical refers to transactions involving the exchange of money such as selling products to customers. E-business is a broader term that includes providing customers with descriptions and specifications for a given product. Marketing and selling goods online electronically is made possible by software programs that execute the main functions of an e-commerce application. This soft enables product display, online ordering, and online payment processing. The advantages of online marketing, including the ability to reach a larger market, far outweigh the disadvantages. Online selling tends to be very competitive and may necessitate lower pricing. This is one of the few disadvantages. Establishment of a globally presence and increased sales are ways that the company can be impacted. However, having an internet presence does not guarantee success. It requires a comprehensive marketing strategy aimed at attracting new customers to our website. Online marketing has its own process and tools that contribute to the achievement of marketing goals and objectives. . Research Findings Advantages: Similar to traditional business, online marketing presents many advantages and disadvantages. However, the advantages of online marketing significantly outweigh its disadvantages. Online marketing can expand the geographic reach of the company by accessing customers in markets where the company does not have a physical presence. In the ecommerce world, doing business around the globe, 7 days a week, 24 hours a day is a reality. (Hossein Bidgoli, 2002) Online Marketing or e-commerce creates the ability to sell virtually any product that can be sold in a traditional retail environment. Nights, weekends, holidays, and time zones are no barriers to e-commerce. Online marketing can also reach customers that for various reasons can not personally visit a traditional retail store. Another advantage of e-commerce is the ability to gather additional information about the customer via tools such as cookies, email, and online surveys. This information can be used to personalize marketing effort s in a way that can lead to higher trade volumes. E-commerce also provides increased flexibility for customers. Customers can make purchases without having to leave the comfort of their homes. The customer does not have to deal with the hassle of parking or the worry of losing contact with their small children presented by traditional retail methods. Shopping tasks can be accomplished from the safety of their homes with a few clicks of a mouse. Of course, increased sales are the first thing people thing about when they consider online market. Market research shows that online sales are trending up despite the current depressed retail market. . Revenue generated by online businesses and the online part of traditional retail businesses exceed $96 billion in 2006, up from $86 billion in 2004, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. An added advantage of online marketing is decreased cost. Traditional retail businesses have overhead costs that associated with online marketing. These includ e utilities, insurance, store lease, and labor. Lower overhead cost generally result in lower overall cost and increased revenue. Therefore, online expansion will give the company a globally presence at a relative low cost. Disadvantages: Online shopping is not attractive to all consumers. They cite the loss of social contact experienced when shopping with others. While many researchers do not see any fundamental differences between the traditional and online buying behavior, it is often argued that a new step has been added to the online buying process: the step of building trust or confidence. (Constantinides, 2004) Many consumers are concerned with the privacy and security issues associated with doing business online. Almost 95% of Web users have declined to provide personal information to Web sites at one time or another when asked. (Otto Chung, 2000) Credit card fraud, unwanted solicitations, and use of their information for other than its intended purpose are a few of the reasons cited. The difficulty in attracting customers is another disadvantage to online marketing. That, coupled with increased competition due to the ease of comparative shopping greatly decreases the attractiveness of online marketing. Onlin e consumers can quickly access information from other online businesses and make better decisions. In fact, some websites are designed solely for that purpose. Therefore, online pricing is very competitive. Additionally, online marketing does not afford the consumers the luxury of examining and getting a feel for the quality and fit of merchandise sold online and generally require the seller to have liberal return and refund policies. The lack of after sales service is another concern of online shoppers. Time also is a problem with online marketing in that consumers are not able to take immediate possession of their purchases and are faced with added expense for faster delivery. Potential impact of online sales to the company: The greatest impact to the company may be the establishment of a globally presence. This means company growth at relative low cost. . Online marketing does not require the overhead cost associated with maintaining a brick and mortar store. This results in lower cost, increased efficiency and greater profit margin. Another potential impact, online sales increases in-store sales. Having an online presence leads to increased brand recognition and consequently leads to increased in-store sales. Conversely, not having an online presence means loss of potential valuable customers. Online marketing creates the opportunity to interact with customers. Exchange of information facilitates product and process improvement and can lead to greater customer satisfaction. It also allows for greater flexibility in that website information such as price, product availability, and promotion can be readily adjusted in response to market conditions. Information gathered via online sales information can be used when considering future expansion of the traditional retail operations. Requirements for a successful online marketing campaign Developing a successful online marketing campaign comprises most of the same processes and procedures used in traditional marketing. The company will need to establish goals, objectives, strategies and tactics much like traditional marketing. Likewise, market research is required. When formulating objectives, strategies, and tactics for online marketing product display it is imperative that such customers requirements as ease of use, quick access to product information, and effective distribution networks including order tracking for transparency is addressed. Understanding consumers motivations and limitations to shop online are major consideration in making adequate strategic, technological, and marketing decisions. (Monsuwe, Dellaert, De Ruyter, 2004) This is part of identifying your target audience and determining how to reach it, a very critical step. To attract customers, firms need to offer dynamic content, keep their sites fresh, and to install security devices to protect th eir customers privacy and interests. (Wei, Moreau, Jennings, 2005) Customer retention should also be included in any successful online marketing strategy. Retaining online customers depends on the overall experience when visiting a website, which includes factors such as perceived value and trust (Pitta, Franzak, Fowler, 2006; Wang Head, 2007). In addition, every online business must be able to accept online payment. Customers need a level of confidence with your website and business when making on line payment. Integration between the e-business arm and the traditional business segments helps to promote confidence. (Gay, Charlesworth, Esen, 2007) The reputation of the tradition retail environment can be extended to e-commerce. Likewise, an online presence enhanced the marketability of the traditional business. Traditional firms can adopt a range of strategies to combine offline and online market channels to derive synergies. For example Barnes and Nobles e-business model overla ps its traditional brick and mortal business model. Regardless of whether the merchandise is sold online or in a physical retail outlet, the warehousing operation is the same. (Rich, 2008) Retail companies should also integrate offline and online operations such as allowing customers to order online for pickup at stores. (Steinfield, Adelaar, Liu, 2005) Lastly, print and word of mouth advertisement will be needed to attract customers to the web site. Recommendations Based on research data, the company should expand into the online sales arena by creating an ecommerce arm of our traditional retail operation. Expansion into online sales is a much more cost effective mean of growing the company. The recommended model is integration of the traditional retail segment with the new online arm. This is in opposition to establishing a purely online business. Analysis suggests that firms should tailor their e-commerce approaches to improve service to existing customers in addition to pursuing new customers and markets. (Adelaar, Bouwman, Steinfield, 2004) Integration is advantageous in that perceived shopping risks are lower when a company also provides a physical location. Integrating online and offline operations adds additional cost saving measures such as such as ordering online for pick-up at physical location. . The current marketing strategies should be modified to include the online segment and used to promote the website Conclusion There are advantages and disadvantages to online marketing. While online marketing presents an opportunity for the company to expand its market nationally, even globally, online shopping is very competitive, as consumers have access to comparison shopping. In addition to reaching new markets, online marketing can also improve relationships with existing customers. To be successful, ecommerce websites must be properly designed so that it is easy to use, engages the customer, and provides a pleasant and trusting shopping experience. It must negate all perceived shopping risks such as concerns about giving financial or personal information, and after sale concerns such as refunds and after-sale service. Marketing strategy formulation for ecommerce businesses are very much like traditional marketing. Market research, goals, objectives, strategies and tactics are the making of a successful online marketing campaign. Analysis of the research data indicates that integration of the tradition al brick and mortar operation with an ecommerce business segment is the best method of creating an online presence. Annotated Bibliography Adelaar, T., Bouwman, H., Steinfield, C. (2004). Enhancing customer value through click-and-mortar customer experience. Telematics and Informatics, 21, 167-182. This article explains how traditional retail stores can combine online marketing to increase geographic reach and to improve relationships with existing customers of physical stores. Dr. Thomas Adelaar, Assistant Professor, University of Amsterdam Business School. Ph.D. in Media and Information Studies, Michigan State University. Awards and Honors include; Winner of the Graduate Office Scholarship Best Ph.D. Research Paper in the Dept. of Telecommunications, Information Studies, and Media, MSU (2004). Dr. Adelaar currently has 7 publications in Academic Journals. Charles Steinfield is a professor and chair in the Department of Telecommunication, Information Studies, and Media at Michigan State University. In addition to his faculty position, Steinfield participates with the MSU Eli Broad College of Business Information Tech. Management Program. His research focuses on the organizational and social impacts of new communication technologies. Constantinides, E. (2004). Influencing online consumers behavior: The web experience. Internet Research, 14(2), 111-126. Dr. E. Constantinides conducted research showing that online marketing can increase business for companies at their physical retail locations. Dr. E. Constantinides is and Assistant Professor of Marketing, Netherlands. His research activities focus on strategic and commercial aspects of Ecommerce and E-media, and he is a member of the Scientific Committee of the Social Media Research Center. Gay, R., Charlesworth, A., Esen, R. (2007). Online marketing. New York: Oxford University Press. This book provides an overview of the advantages and disadvantages of online marketing as well as the techniques that can maximize revenues. Richard Gay is a professor at the Newcastle Business School, North Umbria University. Alan Charlesworth is a Senior Lecturer in marketing and emarketing at the University of Sunderland. Rita Esen is a Law Consultant and Visiting Lecturer at Durham University. Hossein, B. (2002). Electronic commerce: principles and practice. Amsterdam, The Netherlands: Academic Press. This book is a four-part overview of electronic commerce. The book provides a balance of theories, applications, and hands-on material. Dr Hossein Bidgoli is a Professor of Management Information Systems. School of Business and Public Administration                California State University, Bakersfield, California Monsuwe (2004). , P., Dellaert, B., De Ruyter, K. (2004). What drives consumers to shop online? A literature review. International Journal of Service Industry Management. Using the technology acceptance model framework, the authors conducted a review of literature and identified website characteristics such as ease of use and usefulness as well as personal consumer traits as critical factors for online shopping. P. Monsuwe is a professor at Maastricht University, The Netherlands. His research focuses on the effects of media on strategy and decision-making processes, such as corporate environmental management. Otto, J., Chung, Q. (2000). A framework for cyber-enhanced retailing. Electronic Markets, 10(3), 185-191. This article describes the advantages and disadvantages of online retailing for companies with existing brick and mortar retail locations, and provides a framework for analyzing whether the company should engage in online retailing. Q.B. Chung is an Associate Professor at Villanova University. He earned a PhD in Management from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, as well as an M.B.A. in Management Information Systems. He has over twenty two published journal articles, numerous published books and is a seminar speaker. J. Otto is an Assistant Professor with many publications involving Management Information Systems and Operations Research and Management Science. Pitta, E., Franzak, F., Fowler, D. (2006). A strategic approach to building online customer loyalty. Journal of Consumer Marketing, 23(7), 421-429. The article integrates previous research to draw the conclusion that customer loyalty to online websites depends on the perception of value as well as emotional factors such as trust. Danielle Fowler, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor at the University of Baltimore. She has many awards and grants including The John and Margaret Thompson Professorship in Management Information Systems, and the Presidents Teaching and Learning Initiative Competition. Frank Franzak is a professor with Monash University and Director of Information Systems Honors Program. Steinfield, C., Adelaar, T., Liu, F. (2005). Click and mortar strategies viewed from the web. Electronic Markets, 15(3), 199-212. The authors analyzed retail store websites and found that few engaged in online and offline integration such as allowing customers to order products online for pickup at physical store locations. Dr. Adelaar currently has 7 publications in Academic Journals. Charles Steinfield is a professor and chair in the Department of Telecommunication, Information Studies and Media at Michigan State University. In addition to his faculty position, Steinfield participates with the MSU Eli Broad College of Business Information Tech. Management Program. His research focuses on the organizational and social impacts of new communication technologies. Wang, F., Head, M. (2007). How can the web help build customer relationships? Information Management, 44(2), 115-129. The authors conducted empirical research to identify the factors critical for building customer relationships online and found that satisfaction, trust, and switching costs determined whether a customer would continue using a website. Dr. Milena Head is an Associate Professor of Information Systems and the Associate Dean at the DeGroote School of Business, McMaster University, Canada. Specializing in eBusiness and Human Computer Interaction, she has published over 50 papers in academic journals, books and conferences. Her research interests include trust and adoption in electronic commerce, interface design, mobile commerce, identity theft, cross-cultural issues in electronic commerce and human computer interaction, e-retailing, and web navigation. Dr. Fang Wang is an Assistant Professor of Marketing at the School of Business Economics, Wilfrid Laurier University, Canada. Her research interests include e-commerce, e-marketing and marketing strategy. She has published in journals such as Journal of Consumer Marketing, Journal of Comparative International Management, Internet Research, and Journal of Business Strategies. Wei, Y., Moreau, L., Jennings N. (2005). A market-based approach to recommender systems. ACM Transactions on Information Systems, 25(3), 227-266. The research described in the article uses simulations to demonstrate the effectiveness of recommender systems for personalizing customer experiences and customer retention. Yan Zheng Wei is Director of The Department of Broadband Wireless Management, Shenzhen, China. Dr. Nicholas Jennings is an Assistant Professor at The School of Electronics and Computer Science, University of Southampton, UK.

Billy Collins Essay -- Literary Analysis

Billy Collins: the Poet of Continuity and Change From controversial events to ordinary life stories, Billy Collins writes about various topics in different perspectives just like a chameleon, changing its colors to fit with its surrounding. Collins talks in a gentle, yet humorous way; he illustrates a profound understanding through a clear observation. His writing style blends humor and solemnity in one entity. Throughout his poetry, Collins demonstrates, in a witty and satirical voice, his insightfulness towards the objects, using numerous poetic devices, especially allusions and metaphors to effectively convey his messages, most of which revolves around the theme of death. Humor and Irony are a unique combinations Collins displays in many of his poems, challenging the readers to interpret his work in different perspectives. In â€Å"Introduction to Poetry,† Collins offers a witty comparison between the definition of poetry and various other experiments. He asks the reader to â€Å"hold [the poem] up to the light/ like a color slide† (1-3), â€Å"press an ear against its hive† (4), â€Å"drop a mouse into a poem† (5), â€Å"walk inside the poem's room† (7), and â€Å"waterski across the surface of a poem† (9-10). Rather than stiffly explaining the definition of a poem, he finds creative and humorous approaches to explain his methods of enjoying the poems, and promote the readers’ interest towards discovering the true meaning of poetry. Just as the surrounding would seem different through color slides, he asks the readers to see the world in diverse viewpoints while reading and writing poems. Moreover, by listening to poem’s hive, dropping a mouse, and walking inside its room, Collins encourages readers to discover the concealed depth of poetry. He comments ... ...r corset as the last page of a book he is reading. The poetry eventually reaches an end, and he states Dickinson’s poetry lines to remember her words and leave the implication of her death. Collins usage of words, even though he does not directly states â€Å"death† in the poems, contains the nostalgia of old days and feeling of sadness which naturally leads to his central poetry theme, death. Billy Collins is a poet who takes the change, but keeps his own focus. Throughout his poetry career, his voice varies according to the topic he selects, while his unique poetic devices and consistent theme represent who he is as a poet. Collins knows how to express humor and irony to illustrate his bright insights towards the objects, uses particular poetic terms, for instance allusions and metaphors, to deliver his idea efficiently that focuses many times on the theme of death.

Hand book customer service Essay

Policies: policies (structure, use, focus, customer requirements/expectations, product and service knowledge, consultation, confidentiality, customer perceptions and satisfaction, monitor customer service and satisfaction, influences affecting implementation, effective communication) Quality of service: methods of assessment; customer expectations; standardised procedures; codes of practice; staff levels (staffing levels, staff competency, flexibility, reliability and responsiveness) Evaluation: purpose; sources of feedback; accuracy; relevance; reliability; validity; methods of data collection; improvements; staff training and development Hospitality industry: industries within the hospitality industry eg hotels, restaurants, pubs, bars and nightclubs, contract food service providers, hospitality services, membership clubs, events 2. Understand the purpose of promoting a customer-focused culture Communication: types eg verbal, non-verbal body language, written; types of response; use; effect Customer: central role; customer service culture; identifying and analysing customer requirements and expectations; influences of service provision on customer perceptions Benefits of improved service: customer satisfaction, repeat business, improved reputation, increased profit  3. Be able to investigate customer requirements and expectations Requirements: sources of information eg customers, staff, management, customer records, past information Module Handbook C. Ugoji Sept, 2013 Page 2 Unit Handbook Unit 4: The Customer Service Primary research: primary research eg sampling, qualitative, quantitative; interview eg individual, group, survey, observation; contact methods eg mail, telephone, personal Secondary research: internal eg sales records, yield data, financial information, client databases; external eg government publications, trade journals, periodicals, professional associations, national organisations, commercial data Satisfaction levels: planning; strategy; assessment of options using researched information; role of the business and services manager; staffing levels; motivating staff; improvements 4. Be able to provide customer service within business and services contexts to meet required standards  Types of customers: different age groups eg the elderly, children; different cultural backgrounds; special needs eg physically disabled; satisfied; dissatisfied; under influence eg drugs, alcohol, medication Customer needs: customer needs eg products and services, urgent, non-urgent, special requirements, quality of service, value for money, cultural, social; trends eg fashion, ergonomic, equipment, training, products and services, consumer protection legislation Customer service: consultation; advice; personal selling; complaints procedure; reception skills; confidentiality Learning Outcomes: To achieve this unit leaner must: 1. Understand customer service policies within business and services contexts 2. Understand the purpose of promoting a customer-focused culture 3. Be able to investigate customer requirements and expectations 4. Be able to provide customer service within business and services contexts to meet required standards. Teaching strategies used: Following are the different teaching and learning strategies, a description of how they work, where they have been applied, results, and where to find more information from individuals, books, web sites, and other resources. Lecture Notes The most basic way of supporting teaching in this module – a place for students to access lecture notes. The main advantages are reduction in the amount of college Module Handbook C. Ugoji Sept, 2013 Page 3 Unit Handbook Unit 4: The Customer Service photocopying and students can access notes prior to lecture and prepare themselves. Presenting Lectures Displaying these lecture notes with the addition of projectors using power point presentation slides to visualize the information to the students. An increasing variety of ways are utilizing to reach students of all different learning styles, to help the students to understand complicated concepts and remember them better by using master graphic tools both on whiteboard and on computers. Interactive Tutorials A set of questions have been designed for each session in assessing student learning of subject matter using both paper based and computer based assessment techniques. The web and web authoring  Students are directed to use the advanced search engine to navigate the correct and legitimate information for their assignment. Different search engines compile information using different criteria and have access to different databases. Applying technology to develop students higher order skills and creativity to manage student learning activities in a technology-enhanced environment. Group Discussions The students will be give topics and some cases with the use of case study that relates to the topic covered in each session. There will also be a follow up on the discussion using group presentation and class assessment as the case may be. Summary of lecture For every session, there will be overall summary at the end teaching session. Attempting the passing criterion in class The student must attempt one or more learning outcome question covered in each session and the evidence will be documented

Organizational Management Essay

A1. As the chairman of the board of the Utah Opera, Bill Bailey is in a position of influence to motivate the Opera’s board of directors to oppose a merger with the Utah Symphony by employing the use of Vroom’s Expectancy Theory. This theory suggests that people are motivated by three distinct determinants; valence (reward), expectancy (performance), and instrumentality (belief). Vroom believed that motivation is a result of the level to which a person desires a reward (valence), the analysis of the probability that the effort put forth will deliver the desired performance (expectancy) and the belief that the performance will result in the attainment of a reward (instrumentality). In the case of the Utah Opera, the most desirable reward (valence) would be remaining financially solvent in spite of a weak economy. The required performance (expectancy) is to support or oppose a merger with the Utah Symphony to strengthen the financial standing of both organizations. The belief in the attainment of the desired outcome (instrumentality) is the continued success of the Utah Opera. In order to motivate the Opera’s board of directors using these factors, Mr. Bailey would need to emphasize the vastly different financial considerations of the two programs. Contrasting the Utah Opera’s business model offering flexibility for performance scheduling, as well as the organization’s cash reserves, and tangible assets against the Symphony’s contractually obligated business model lacking any flexibility, high expenditures, and little or no assets to speak of would be of significant importance. By concluding his assessment of the proposed merger with exerts from the letters of opposition written from the community and Mrs. Abravanel, Mr. Bailey would present enough logical and factual information to convince the Opera’s board of directors to oppose the merger. In consideration of their desire for the organization to remain financially solvent in spite of the weak economy (valence), the board of directors for the Utah Opera would more than likely oppose a merger with the Utah Symphony (expectancy) believing that such a merger with the Symphony would weaken the  financial strength of the Opera (instrumentality). A2. As the chairman of the board of the Utah Symphony, Scott Parker is in a position of influence to motivate Mrs. Abravanel to support a merger with the Utah Symphony by employing the use of the Adam’s Equity theory. This theory suggests that people are motivated to act a certain way because being fair and just is of great importance to them. Inequity and injustice are held in relationship to personal satisfaction based on an individual’s perception of inputs and outcomes. Adams believed that an individual perceiving themselves as either under or over- rewarded would become distressed and be motivated to take action to restore balance or equity in a relationship. In the case of the Scott Parker, in order to motivate Mrs. Abravanel to support a merger between the Symphony and the Opera, he would have to appeal to her strongly reported desire to be just and fair like her husband. One such case could be made if Mr. Parker were to point out that the full year, salaried contrac ts her husband fought to win for the musicians in the Symphony could be threatened by the weakening economy and the threat of a deficit looming. A negative equity situation for the artists involved with Opera could also be offered as a comparison. With lower pay, fewer performances, and no contracts, those involved in the Opera lack equity to the wages, standards, and employment security enjoyed by Symphony musicians. Mrs. Abravanel, knowing how passionate her husband was about securing full time professional status and pay for the symphony musicians (input), would likely be motivated to support the merger as means to secure the contracts and pay for the Symphony and create an equal opportunity for the Opera artists(outcome). Additionally, highlighting the fact that the symphony was in the high end of Group II of symphony orchestras in the U.S. based on endowments and expenditures could also compel Mrs. Abravanel to support the merger. Carolyn Abravanel herself publically stated that her husband â€Å"would never take second billing to anyone.† Being in the lower of the two groups put the Symphony in a second billing situation. A successful merger would produce a higher combined budget and as well as larger endowments creating the likelihood that the Symphony could achieve Group I status and eliminate yet another negative equity situation for the Symphony. A3. Anne Ewers is a seasoned professional with a history of successful leadership within various Opera organizations around the country including the Utah Opera. Having worked her way up the ranks from a stage-director to be the general director of the Utah Opera, she earned a great deal of power. Power grants leaders the ability to direct the actions of others and make decisions with a degree of authority. A leader retains both positional and personal power. Anne’s positional power stems from the title she has earned. The title commands respects and gives her a degree of authority over others. It is based on external factors and can be removed. For instance, if Anne were to be removed from her position as the general director of the Opera, she would lose her positional power within the organization. On the other hand, Anne’s personal power is compilation of her good characteristics and traits that help her appeal to others. It is based on internal factors such as intellige nce, ethics, trustworthiness, charismatic nature, confidence, skill level, experience, and expertise. These things are part of who Anne is as a person, and therefore cannot be taken away from her. No matter what rank or title Anne has that gives her positional power, she cannot earn the respect and devotion of the people she leads without her personal power. The judicious use of positional power will enhance personal power and vice-versa with personal power and positional power. However, misuse of either will result in the reduction of both types of authority. Through the merger Anne would become the CEO of the integrated programs. As the CEO certain decisions would have to be made using her positional power. One example of this might include working with other leaders of the combined organizations to create an integration plan and a new vision for the combined programs and then implementing it with the artists and musicians. Another instance where the use of positional power would be appropriate for Anne to use would be for her to draft an organizational chart for the combined organ ization and take it to the board for approval. There are times decisions have to be made by a leader without passing the buck. To be an effective leader, Anne will need to have followers. This is where the influence of Anne’s personal power comes into play. Anne will have to wisely assess events on a situational  basis while at the same time considering the needs, motivators, and emotions of the people involved. By being thoughtful, honest, and fair she will earn the trust and respect of the people she leads. One example of how Anne might use her personal power might be found in how she chooses to listen to and address the concerns of Keith Lockhart. As the music director for the symphony he would be reporting directly to Anne Ewers. Being accustomed to having more person control than the new organizational structure allows will require some adjustments on his part. By listening intently to Keith and seeking his input where appropriate Anne has a greater chance of earning his respect, trust, and loyalty. A3a. In the potential merger, Anne would become the CEO of the integrated programs. With this position comes the power to make unilateral decisions necessary to operate the organization. To successfully lead the efforts as the proposed CEO, Anne Ewers should use her positional power to develop an integration plan and a solid structure for the new, integrated organization. By defining the roles of key individuals such as Keith Lockhart and Leslie Peterson, Anne could maximize their effectiveness in the merger, satisfy their need for control, and ensure a smooth transition. Gaining the support of the leaders in both entities is a vital to the cohesive success of the merger. Anne will need them to guide the artists and musicians through the transitional process By delegating some her own authority to each of these leaders Anne has a greater potential to make them each feel valued and important without actually relinquishing any real overall control. Due to the nature of her position, Anne will retain the final decisions in all business activities. As the CEO, Anne should also use her positional power to establish a workable budget the financial framework to support it for the board of directors to approve. Her shrewd business acumen, successful fundraising abilities, and a knack for creating financial reserves despite budgetary constraints will grant her expertise in this area. A well laid out financial plan than includes a detailed fundraising campaign is a pivotal portion of the success of the integrated organization. The board of directors and potential donors will need reassurance that the financial well being of the new conglomeration is secure. Anne Ewers will need to provide that in order to prove she was the correct choice for the CEO position. A3b. Anne Ewers has acquired a vast skill set and knowledge base through her years of experience working in the opera industry. She has proven herself to be an ethical, intelligent, trustworthy, confident, and charismatic leader. This compilation of traits and characteristics grant her a great deal of personal power to draw upon in order to empower Keith Lockhart after the merger. In this case, empowerment means Anne will need to give Mr. Lockhart power and official authority. She will first need to gain his trust and commitment. To achieve this Anne can share her vision for the combined organization and his role in it with him. Mr. Lockhart’s primary objection to the merger centered on his having to report to Mrs. Ewers in the new management structure. His own loss of power was a blow to his ego. As the CEO, Anne can transfer some of her positional power and authority to Mr. Lockhart to offset his negative feelings and make him feel valued. She can do this without diminishing any of her overall power or control. Using her personal power, Anne will also need to make Keith Lockhart feel like he is valued and needed as key decision maker in the integrated organization. She will need to emphasize that his participation as a leader is vital to the success of the merger. Mr. Lockhart has to know that he has the power to help set the course of the new entity. His input will be used to set goals, address issues associated with the merger, and to define the course of the symphony. In essence, Anne will need to convince Mr. Lockhart that he has the necessary power to guide the symphony into the future. A4. As a unionized body, the symphony musicians have contracts for wages and benefits protected by a collective agreement. This agreement calls for significant salary increases in each of the next two years. With some musicians fearing that the merger could lead the board of directors to reopen the current collective bargaining agreement as a means to renegotiate the expected salary increases and other terms, opposition to the merger and/or threat of a strike are potential issues at hand. A strike could be detrimental to the organization since there would be no symphony without the musicians, and the same musicians play for the opera. The bottom line is that both entities in the organization depend on the musicians to produce income. This position offers the group organizational strength and power. A4a. To mitigate the potential issue of opposition to the merger and/or threat of a strike with the musicians, it is recommended that Anne ensure the security of the musician’s contracts as written with the board of directors. With the board’s agreement, Anne could then approach the musicians with a guarantee that the current contracts will stand as written without any threat of renegotiation. Although this is a costly solution, neither the opera nor the symphony is in a position to operate without musicians. In the long run, honoring the contracts is most likely less expensive and detrimental to the new combined entity than a strike would be. The public relations ramifications could result in a more costly backlash than even the immediate monetary losses if it were to impact future donations. A5. With eleven years of proven leadership and a reputation for being energetic, enthusiastic, and capable, Anne Ewers is in an excellent position to persuade the Utah Opera staff to support the merger. By employing the use of soft tactics such as rational persuasion, and inspirational appeals, Anne is more likely to be influential with them. As a member of the Opera team herself, Anne is trusted and respected by the staff. Through rational persuasion Anne has the opportunity to logically explain the facts as to why the merger is good for the opera. Reiterating that the downturn in the economy and declining ticket sales would most likely impact the organization could be a starting point. Anne needs to explain that by no longer competing against the symphony for funding; both organizations would stand to gain a stronger footing. By promising to safeguard the Opera’s identity through process Anne could also ease their fears and gain their acceptance. Given her enthusiastic nature and proven track record for successfully guiding the opera, Anne could also make an inspirational appeal to the staff. As part of a larger entity with a solid economic backing, the opera could become a tier-one arts organization. Expanding the artistic potential of the opera would also elevate the status of the organization to be more in line with the symphony. This level of recognition could prove to be very meaningful to all those involved with the opera. Building enthusiasm for the merger as the way to achieve this type of recognition would help also Anne to garner the  staff’s commitment to the process.

Oedipus and His Tragic Character Essays

Oedipus and His Tragic Character Essays Oedipus and His Tragic Character Essay Oedipus and His Tragic Character Essay 22 May 2010 Oedipus and his Tragic Character In the play Oedipus the King we identify the classic tragic hero. The character, Oedipus Rex plays the role of the tragic hero perfectly. He shows the three main characteristics being talented and of noble birth, possessing a tragic flaw that causes the downfall and pain of everyone, and the recognition of responsibility. Oedipus’s first characteristic of being a tragic hero is being talented and of noble birth. Oedipus is talented because during his journey to run away from his curse, the oracle foresaw for him, he stumbles upon the Riddle of the Sphinx in Thebes; Oedipus solved the riddle and is rewarded to be king and is given the old kings wife. â€Å"You freed us from the Sphinx; you came to Thebes and cut us loose from the bloody tribute we had that harsh brutal singer† (Line 44). As Oedipus is being rewarded for his talents, no one knows that Oedipus is already of noble birth and is the true heir to this kingship. Only the blind prophet of Thebes, Tiresias knew before anyone else found out that Oedipus is the old king’s son which made him nobility. â€Å"None of you knows and I will never reveal my dreadful secrets, not to say your own† (Lines 373-379) The next characteristic that shows Oedipus playing the tragic hero is him possessing a tragic flaw. Oedipus’s flaw is being a very narcissistic person. He might have been a good leader for all the years that have come to past but he is very full of himself and makes sure everyone remembers that he solves the riddle of the sphinx even though it is many years ago. Another thing is if his people had problems like the plague that was spreading, no one is as sick as him because to him he had to be number one no matter what the situation. Lines 71-73 show his personality perfectly, â€Å"Well I know you are sick to death, all of you, but sick as u are, no is as sick as I†. This personality if his stirs up much trouble for himself that has the real truths of him surface in front of everyone, that he was the curse that the profit reveals to Laius and Jacasta. Jocasta realizes that he is her son when he pushed the answers out of the messenger, and the messenger says, â€Å"No sir, another shepherd passed you on to me. He called himself the servant of†¦ if I remember rightly-Laius† Now that Jocasta figures it out, she is so afraid that she keeps begging Oedipus to not push any further, to leave it alone, but he is not satisfied and needs to know where he come from and is he of nobility or a servant. Oedipus‘s recognition of his responsibility is very easy for him. He keeps pushing for answers whether or not he is this curse the prophecies foresaw and he does get what he wants and puts the pieces together and figures out he is the prophecies curse, that he killed his father and he did marry his mother. â€Å"I’d never have come to this, my father’s murder-never been branded mother’s husband, all men see me now! † Oedipus feels he is blind and could not see his fate with his eyes, and that he should have seen this coming. The next horror to come for Oedipus is for him to walk into the room where Jocasta hanged herself. He runs to her and cut her down. This is the final act he could witness, and takes her brooches and gouges them into his eyes so he could never see the pain he has caused everyone again. The messenger states, â€Å"You, you’ll see no more the pain I suffered, all the pain I caused! Too long you looked on the ones you never should have seen; blind to the ones you long to see, to know! In conclusion, the tragic hero is a very intense role for a character to play. As one may see in Oedipus the King, Oedipus is a character in the beginning one probably hated for his selfishness, but just had to feel bad for seeing all these mysteries unfold before Oedipus showing he was the curse that the prophecies foresaw, the one to murder his own father and then wed his mother. Work s Cited Brown, A. L. â€Å"The End of the Seven against Thebes† The Classical quarterly 26. 2 (1976) 206-19 Carloni, Glauco and Nobili, Daniela. LaMamma Cattiva: fenomenologia, anthropologia e clinica del figlicidio (Rimini, 2004) Dallas, Ian, Oedipus and Dionysus, Freiburg Press, Granada 1991. ISBN 1-874216-02-9

Free Essays on Cubsim

, the vision of the spectator is enlarged to include a number of different views. As thought they were moving form point to point, looking up then down. Modern studies of perception have shown that this is the way one forms a visual image of an object. Not from one fixed all encompassing glance, but from an infinite number of momentary glimpses, formulated and unified into a whole by the spectator’s mind. Cubism introduced into painting not only a new kind of space, but also another dimension, time. Therefore one may conclude that Les Demoiselles is neither built ... Free Essays on Cubsim Free Essays on Cubsim Picasso’s development toward cubism reached its climax with the monumental justly celebrated Demoiselles d’Avignon (1906). This painting, named for a brothel in Barcelona’s Avignon Street, depicts, in a highly stylized form, five angular nude or partially draped women grouped around an arrangement of fruit. This final, condensed version, developed through many preparatory works, was attained by gradual simplifications and eliminations of an originally conspicuous subject matter. 1. LINEAR (SHARP CONTOURS) VS PAINTERLY (LINES ARE INDISTINCT Picasso shows a rethinking of the human body in Les Demoiselles. This ranges from a simplified naturalism, (in the centre figures) to an increased sense of fragmentation in to angular forms, each of which appears to have an independent existence. Such disjunction of body parts challenged the standards by which the human body had been constructed before. In synchronicity, the background elements of draperies and wall were fragme nted, aligned with the figural handling. 2. PLANE (SPACE BULIT UP OF SEMI-INDEPENDENT PLANES) VS RECESSION (UNIFIED BY DIAGONAL PLANES) It is quite difficult to determine whether Les Demoiselles should be catogorized as the â€Å"plane† or recession† option for the following reasons: Picasso shifted the point of view at will heads, noses and eyes are seen simultaneously in profile and full front. In other words, the vision of the spectator is enlarged to include a number of different views. As thought they were moving form point to point, looking up then down. Modern studies of perception have shown that this is the way one forms a visual image of an object. Not from one fixed all encompassing glance, but from an infinite number of momentary glimpses, formulated and unified into a whole by the spectator’s mind. Cubism introduced into painting not only a new kind of space, but also another dimension, time. Therefore one may conclude that Les Demoiselles is neither built ...

Italian Adverbs - Avverbi Italiani

Italian Adverbs - Avverbi Italiani Adverbs (avverbi) are used to modify or clarify the meaning of a verb, an adjective, or another adverb. The adverbs are italicized in the examples below. Ho riposato tranquillamente. - I slept peacefully.Quello scrittore à ¨ piuttosto famoso. - That writer is quite famous.Devi parlare molto lentamente. - You have to talk very slowly. Where do you place adverbs in Italian? With a verb  - When an adverb , it’s usually placed after the verb (italicized): Ho fatto tardi e la segreteria dellUniversit era gi chiusa. - I was late and the Secretary’s office at the University was already closed. Depending on the context of the sentence, though, the adverb (italicized) can be placed elsewhere: Domani, se à ¨ una bella giornata, voglio andare nel bosco. - If it’s a nice day tomorrow, I want to go to the forest. With a compound tense - When the verb is a , many adverbs can also be placed between the auxiliary and the participle: Veramente non ho ben capito. - I really didn’t understand well. With an adjective - When an adverb refers to an adjective, the adverb comes before the adjective: Questo cane à ¨ molto buono. - This dog is really good. With another adverb - When an adverb refers to another adverb, those of the adverbs of quantity (avverbi di quantit), in this case â€Å"di solito - usually,† are placed ahead of the others: La mattina, di solito, mi alzo molto presto. - Usually in the morning, I get up really early. With a negation  - The adverb of negation (avverbio di negazione non) always comes before the verb: Vorrei che tu non dimenticassi mai quello che ti ho detto. - I hope you never forget what I told you. With a question - Interrogative adverbs (Avverbi interrogativi) introduce a direct interrogative sentence and are usually placed before the verb: Quanto costano queste banane? - How much do these bananas cost? What kinds of adverbs are there? Italian adverbs can be divided into four groups: semplici, composti, derivati, and locuzioni avverbiali: Simple adverbs (Avverbi semplici) are formed from a single word: Mai - Never, ever, even, possibly, reallyForse - Maybe, perhaps, probablyBene - Good, well, fineDove - Where, anywhere, someplacePià ¹ - More, several, extraQui - Here, there, where, over hereAssai - Very, much, extremely, quiteGi - Already, enough, yet, previously Compound adverbs (avverbi composti) are formed by combining two or more different elements: Almeno (al meno) - At leastInvero (in vero) - Indeeddappertutto (da per tutto) - Everywherein fatti (in fatti) - In factperfino (per fino) - Even Locution adverbs (locuzioni avverbiali) are phrases arranged in a fixed order: Allimprovviso - SuddenlyDi frequente - OftenPer di qua - This wayPressappoco - RoughlyPoco fa - A bit agoA pià ¹ non posso - As much as possibleDora in poi - From now on These types of adverbs can often be replaced with an adverb: allimprovviso improvvisamente; di frequente frequentemente. Derivative adverbs (avverbi derivati) are formed from another word, to which a suffix is added, like -mente or -oni: allegro allegramente, ciondolare ciondoloni). Most adverbs are derived by adding the suffix -mente to the feminine form of the adjectives that end in -o: certa-mente, rara-mente, ultima-mente or to the singular form of those adjectives that end in -e: forte-mente, grande-mente, veloce-mente. But if the last syllable of these adjectives is -le or -re the final e is eliminated: general-mente, celer-mente. Special forms include: benevolmente (instead of benevola-mente)ridicolmente (instead of ridicola-mente)leggermente (instead of leggera-mente)violentemente (instead of violenta-mente)parimenti (instead of pari-mente)altrimenti (instead of altra-mente) The forms ridicolamente, parimente, altramente are rare or obsolete. Other categories of adverbs: avverbi di modo (adverbs of manner)(adverbs of place)avverbi di tempo (adverbs of time)avverbi di giudizio (adverbs of judgment)

China Housing Bubble Dissertation Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 10000 words

China Housing Bubble - Dissertation Example The Chinese government has also secured measures to manage high prices as well as high mortgage rates. The down-payment requisites for second properties were also increased (Dreger, et.al., 2011). For the high housing price areas, the owners were not allowed to more home purchases. The state-controlled mortgage lenders also reduced the mortgage discounts and more measures were installed to be implemented down the road, including increased property taxes. As a result, the housing prices in the cities stopped increasing, but were still very high (Dreger, et.al., 2011). The housing issue was not only an economic issue, but an issue which also refers to the livelihood of the people, especially one which can impact on stability. Families on average income are likely to be able to afford housing. The ratio of house prices is set at an average income more than 18 in Beijing (Wu, et.al., 2010). The challenge for the government is to eliminate the theoretical in-flows, while still maintaining the strong housing growth. However, although increasing house prices may indicate a bubble, is existence is still debatable. In fact, the trends of urbanization, as well as elevated incomes and decreased interest rates may have caused changes in the housing phenomenon. The higher prices of houses may still be in line with the basic elements and may still be within the demands under residential housing (World Bank, 2010). A burst in the house price bubble can present major destabilization in the economy.

STARBUCKS Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

STARBUCKS - Coursework Example 10 Evaluation of the Effectiveness of the Investment 10 Conclusion 12 References 13 Bibliography 15 Introduction In 1971, Jerry Baldwin, Gordon Bowker and Zev Siegal start up a coffee store in Washington in the heart of Seattle’s Pike marketplace. During 1987, Mr. Schultz purchased the store and started expansion of the business outside the Pacific Northwest and Chicago. In 1993 Starbucks registered under company rules and started selling share to expand its business world-wide (Starbucks Corporation, 2013; Lee, 2009). Starbucks wanted to establish itself as the premier seller of the most favourable coffees globally. The company was committed towards ensuring and incorporating exceptional business principles, ethics, corporate social responsibility as well as unique product and services. The mission as well as vision of the company duly focused upon the motto "inspire the human spirit." During the year, 2002, Starbucks conducted qualitative research wherein it was discovered t hat the brand image of the company was deteriorating. As a result, Starbucks has been extensively concerned about its eroding customer base and reducing level of customer satisfaction. The company was duly committed towards mitigating the problem of reducing customer base in order to return to the mainstream of growth and expansion in the global market (Moon & Quelch, 2006). A. The Case Highlights Customer Satisfaction Issues That Starbucks Is Facing. ... This ultimately led the company to place due consideration to resolve these issues in order to remain viable at the marketplace and to gain greater competitive advantage over its rivals. Few important issues considered by the company are revealed below. . Consumer Frequency as well as Loyalty Issue The scores of customer satisfaction obtained from the qualitative research was taken into due consideration by the organisation because this factor was directly related with the customer loyalty and its overall performance. To ascertain the degree of customer loyalty, the researchers were concerns about analysing the data of customers’ frequency of visit in the Starbucks coffee stores. According to the research, it was found that 21% of its total customer visits the company’s stores more than 8 times per month while 37% of customers visit 3 to 7 times per month. At the same time it was ascertained that 42 % of customers visits just 1 to 2 times per month at the Starbucks stor es. Source: (Moon & Quelch, 2006) This research data revealed the negative impact on the organisation in terms of customer loyalty as well as level of customer satisfaction (Moon & Quelch, 2006; Hurth, 2006). Starbucks Brand Image The organisation also concerns about few more important attributes which were associated with the Starbucks brand image. Firstly, the researchers were concerns regarding the customers’ awareness about the speciality of Starbucks gourmet coffee. Through this analytical study the researchers discovered that 54%of customers were fully agreed about the Starbucks speciality coffee and they were aware about this product. Secondly, in

Marginalization in Haiti, Peru, Russian Term Paper

Marginalization in Haiti, Peru, Russian - Term Paper Example The Russian Federation, Haiti, and Peru are classified as developing countries, which is mainly due to the unevenness of their respective people’s access to national resources. There are small numbers of extremely rich and powerful individuals enjoying the national wealth while a large group of the populations remain marginalized and kept aloof from the resources and political power.   Regardless, the former kind of marginalization is manifested in the three countries, especially among members of the middle-class segment of the populations. The population segment face marginalization in terms of access to higher education, comprehensive medical care, proper nutrition, and adequate housing due to poor paying jobs and lack of adequate training. However, some members of the group enjoy food stamps, fair-priced housing, universal elementary education, and access to emergency health care. However, these safety nets are inadequate and are usually overstretched by other pressures such as overpopulation. For instance, constant natural disasters such as floods have usually exposed substantial numbers of Haitian middle-class, for instance, to the problem of overstretched rescue teams and medical resources (Kidder Chapter 3). Certainly, these populations live in extremely trying situations and feel marginalized by the fewer more, affluent members of the society.  On the oth er hand, abject poverty which is the focus of the protagonist and his community is attributed to a lack of any safety net for vast populations. The group is represented by the lower-class populations of Russia, Haiti, and Peru who cannot access footwear, safe water for drinking, basic education and health care (Kidder Chapters 4 and 5). In addition, those who are in abject poverty are completely marginalized in terms of access to housing as evidenced in inadequate floor area, leaking roofs, improper furniture, and walls or other finishing.  Ã‚     

Explaining the assertions in the quotation in your own words Essay

Explaining the assertions in the quotation in your own words - Essay Example In other words, the quotist asserts that a tyrant does not need to face an electorate to approve his leadership, since it is authoritarian. On this note, the author asserts that in a democracy, politicians use languages that are polite, and convincing to lie to the people on the importance of their policies, and why they ought to take office. In his own opinion, in a democracy, there is no honesty, and people take power through dishonest means, for purposing of advancing their own agendas, at the expense of the citizens of the state. The author also asserts that, in a democracy, a leader is praised by the same crowd when he is doing good, and his failures unknown. Immediately his failures are known, he faces hostility from the same crowd that praised him before. On this note, the author asserts that in a democracy, in as much as leaders are not honest, people are also not honest. They are unstable in their minds, concerning a particular leader, or policy, and on this note, they do not know what they need. Their needs are only defined by those in authority. The author further asserts that the people of Thebes cannot manage democracy. He is of the opinion that, the people cannot form true judgments, and therefore lack the ability to govern a state. He also asserts that, people in Thebes are so much pre-occupied with economic benefits that they do not put their minds on politics. On this note, the author asserts that democracy gives an opportunity to a person with no values and morality, to take office. The person depends on his wealth, and once in office, he will serve his own interests. Some of the assertions on this quote are right, and some are wrong. For instance, the assertion that in a democracy a ruler must consult in order to enact a policy is true (Tilly, 51). Democracy provides an opportunity to the citizens of the state, to engage themselves in the governance of their state (Kraut, 41). In a democracy, people choose their

Analyzing the play Real women have curves and applying critical Essay

Analyzing the play Real women have curves and applying critical thinking and terms - Essay Example But God has selected the woman, not the man, to give protection for the initial nine months to His creative force! This is the common thinking line of Josefina Lopez, in all her literary creations, whether it is a novel or the play. She is part of the problem and she participates in their solutions through literature. The colours may vary, her canvass is the same. Her thinking has something to do with her upbringing in a traditional Mexican household, the history and geography of it where menfolk are invariably served food first, not necessarily the prime items, but the leftovers. It is a herculean effort for the woman to nurture her body, spirit and soul. â€Å"Real Women Have Curves†, is her autobiographical play with a difference. She creates a play that depicts feminist consciousness clubbed with working-class consciousness. She defends womanhood with an approach of sarcasm. She does not pity her, condemn her, but wonders how a woman has to bear with so much pressure, to n urture her body image. The shape of her body is important to her; it is also important to menfolk. The story relates to a young woman who wants to go to college but the family pressurises her to work, obviously to earn. The important issues of oppression grounded on gender, class and ethnicity, coupled with the immigration problems of the Latino community are meaningfully classified in the play. On the whole, the play is a feminist narrative of upward mobility and it is a working class play. Women who wish to achieve success in life need to take Josefina as the model. Her life lets you know how to remain unbeatable in adversaries and triumph in the end. She is a Latina, an utterly traditional community, that puts many hurdles in the path of a progressive woman, and yet she succeeds in breaking out from that set up, and designs her own pattern of life. From the point of view of a reviewer and critic, the characters speaking Spanish may be a problem, but it keeps the authenticity of t he dialogues, for each community and each language has something that is un-translatable, and needs to make meaning in the original form. In brief, â€Å"Real Women Have Curves,† is the ‘biography’ of the Latino community. The author’s Chicana pride triumphs over all odds. In the play immigration has been shown as a persecution the Latino has to undergo and the author identifies the characters with one’s real-life experiences. Coming to the plot of the play proper, â€Å"Real Women Have Curves†, highlights the relationship between five Latina women. When women from common background join together, they unknowingly form a ‘union’ (not in the trade union sense of the term). In that association they share their sorrows and joy, mostly sorrows, as they belong to poor immigrant families. The story relates to the year 1987, when the problem of immigrants is the highly discussed in the American sociological and political circles. One of the five women, Ana is ambitious, she is a fresh high school graduate, and she has great dreams to achieve success in life, that too as a writer. A writer, with the writing skills and passion to transform the society, is able to achieve something tangible to the ethnic group to which she belongs. This seems to be the agenda of Ana. In the play under review she aims to achieve her objectives by describing the physical beauty of the multi-generational families, who have achieved prosperity as participants in the American Dream. She has no ambiguities or fear about

What is at stake in the call to decolonize IR What difference would it Essay

What is at stake in the call to decolonize IR What difference would it make, if any, to how we make sense of the international theoretically - Essay Example Further, this field has been dominated by Anglo-American scholars, and to this extent it has ignored much of the rest of the world. Thus, the field of International Relations has largely been reduced into western imperialism, and the international interest for global powers has effectively become the foundation of the world order. It is against this background that the creation of a new world order in the 21st century becomes a subject of interest, which can barely be achieved without first decolonizing International Relations (Tickner, 2003:297). Despite the fact that globalization has come as an avenue through which a new world order can be created, the long-past against which the previous and the current world order is built has hindered this transformation. Thus, International Relations, which has largely ignored the fundamental questions of dispossession, racism, colonialism and slavery serves as a major impediment to the achievement of the new world order (Krishna, 2001:407). Therefore, there is no vital time in the history of the world to address the decolonization of International Relations, than presently. The call to decolonize International Relations emanate from the need to address the historical background that led to the development of the current world order, which has completely been ignored by the International Relations discipline (Shohat, 1992:102). The apparent definition of the historical background of colonialism and dispossession that led to the current world order as a taboo by the discipline of IR has raised sufficient ground for understanding the unwillingness of the west to address the issue of colonialism, slavery racism and imperialism, which led to the development of a world order where some nations are powerful, wealthy and developed than others (Barkawi, 2010:1365). Therefore, the decolonization of IR would majorly seek to create a ground for focusing on such historical backgrounds, so that the

Analyzing the play Real women have curves and applying critical Essay

Analyzing the play Real women have curves and applying critical thinking and terms - Essay Example But God has selected the woman, not the man, to give protection for the initial nine months to His creative force! This is the common thinking line of Josefina Lopez, in all her literary creations, whether it is a novel or the play. She is part of the problem and she participates in their solutions through literature. The colours may vary, her canvass is the same. Her thinking has something to do with her upbringing in a traditional Mexican household, the history and geography of it where menfolk are invariably served food first, not necessarily the prime items, but the leftovers. It is a herculean effort for the woman to nurture her body, spirit and soul. â€Å"Real Women Have Curves†, is her autobiographical play with a difference. She creates a play that depicts feminist consciousness clubbed with working-class consciousness. She defends womanhood with an approach of sarcasm. She does not pity her, condemn her, but wonders how a woman has to bear with so much pressure, to n urture her body image. The shape of her body is important to her; it is also important to menfolk. The story relates to a young woman who wants to go to college but the family pressurises her to work, obviously to earn. The important issues of oppression grounded on gender, class and ethnicity, coupled with the immigration problems of the Latino community are meaningfully classified in the play. On the whole, the play is a feminist narrative of upward mobility and it is a working class play. Women who wish to achieve success in life need to take Josefina as the model. Her life lets you know how to remain unbeatable in adversaries and triumph in the end. She is a Latina, an utterly traditional community, that puts many hurdles in the path of a progressive woman, and yet she succeeds in breaking out from that set up, and designs her own pattern of life. From the point of view of a reviewer and critic, the characters speaking Spanish may be a problem, but it keeps the authenticity of t he dialogues, for each community and each language has something that is un-translatable, and needs to make meaning in the original form. In brief, â€Å"Real Women Have Curves,† is the ‘biography’ of the Latino community. The author’s Chicana pride triumphs over all odds. In the play immigration has been shown as a persecution the Latino has to undergo and the author identifies the characters with one’s real-life experiences. Coming to the plot of the play proper, â€Å"Real Women Have Curves†, highlights the relationship between five Latina women. When women from common background join together, they unknowingly form a ‘union’ (not in the trade union sense of the term). In that association they share their sorrows and joy, mostly sorrows, as they belong to poor immigrant families. The story relates to the year 1987, when the problem of immigrants is the highly discussed in the American sociological and political circles. One of the five women, Ana is ambitious, she is a fresh high school graduate, and she has great dreams to achieve success in life, that too as a writer. A writer, with the writing skills and passion to transform the society, is able to achieve something tangible to the ethnic group to which she belongs. This seems to be the agenda of Ana. In the play under review she aims to achieve her objectives by describing the physical beauty of the multi-generational families, who have achieved prosperity as participants in the American Dream. She has no ambiguities or fear about

The American Frontier and the Western Hero Essay

The American Frontier and the Western Hero - Essay Example He is a real hero who possesses the features of an ideal man, and personifies high moral values and physical strength. Wister depicts the Virginian as a person who is able to distinguish what is good and what is bad, and who follows his personal beliefs. He is described as: "The dealer had styled the Virginian "a black-headed guy." This did well enough as an unflattered portrait" (Wister, 34). The Virginian tries to make a better world paying a special attention to universal order and peace during the Johnson County War in Wyoming. The main character of Susan Warner's novel is "Christian Character", Ellen Montgomery. Female characters in the novel are depicted through minor themes such as the themes of motherhood and religion. Christianity and church was a strong force which dictated social norms and social order. At the beginning, Ellen is depicted as a devoted parishioner who follows all values and commandments. he main similarity between the male and female characters is their desire to fight for freedom and justice which limits their behavior. The Virginian is a leader who possesses self-belief and tolerance, which helps him to create the reality; he is a high moral person who fights for justice, harmony and orderliness of the universe.

Role Of Womens Rights In Afghanistan

Role Of Womens Rights In Afghanistan Do you think that Afghan nation from the outset needs only men to serve it? Before Islam, women were treated like slaves or property. Their personal consent concerning anything related to their well-being was considered unimportant, to such a degree that they were never even treated as a party to a marriage contract. Women were used for one purpose, and then discarded. They had no independence, could own no property and were not allowed to inherit. In times of war, women were treated as part of the prize. Their condition was unspeakable. In addition, the birth of a daughter in a family was not an occasion for happiness, but was regarded as embarrassment. The practice of killing female children was uncontrolled. With the arrival of Islam a verse came from the Quran criticizing those who practiced female infanticide: And when the news of (the birth of) a female (child) is brought to any of them, his face becomes dark, and he is filled with inward grief! He hides himself from the people because of the evil of that whereof he has been informed. Shall he keep her with dishonor or bury her in the earth? Certainly, evil is their decision (An-Nahle 16:58-59). Afghanistan is the only country in the world where women are symbolized to all other countries. Afghan womens current situation is not only the result of Taliban, but there exists a history over the centuries of Afghan womens situation. Afghanistan is a country that lost all its economical infrastructures passing three decades of war, has been faced with Economical, Social and cultural problems. One of the major problems that Afghans are suffering is violence against womens rights. Taking in to consideration that many activities have been accomplished since 2001 by international and governmental organizations but statistic show that problems have been remained and vast number of women are still suffering from violence. Many of women are deprived from education. A few women participate in political and social activities. As observed in Kabul, a woman suffers from violence every 30 minutes and 3% of women participate in governmental decision making activities. Only 11 percents of women were candidates in the 2010 parliamentary elections. Some of the challenging facts Afghan women faces in daily life are listed as following: Every 30 minutes, an Afghan woman dies during childbirth, 87 percent of Afghan women are illiterate, 30 percent of girls have access to education in Afghanistan, 1 in every 3 Afghan women experience physical, psychological or sexual violence, 44 years is the average life expectancy rate for women in Afghanistan, and 70 to 80 percent of women face forced marriages in Afghanistan (The Plight of Afghan Woman) Since the fall of the Taliban in late 2001, many people would agree that the political and cultural position of Afghan women have improved substantially. The recently adopted Afghan constitution states that the citizens of Afghanistan whether man or woman- has equal rights and duties before the law. So far, women have been allowed to return back to work, the government no longer forces them to wear the all-covering burqa, and they even have been appointed to top positions in the government. Although many people believe that women have equal rights to men, but Afghan women, especially in the rural areas of Afghanistan are not equally treated and their rights are violated. Women are not allowed to get education, women are forced into early age marriage and they have no right to work equally with men and take part in social activities. In many societies today, especially in Afghanistan, a woman is only valued and considered important if she performs the functions of a man, while displaying her feminine attractions to the public. If women get involved in politics, they would stop marrying, having children, and the human race would greatly be affected. Women are emotional creatures, and incapable of making a sound political decision. Afghan men, Typically among Pashtun families, parents believe that their daughters going to school is an immoral act, such as: being friend with the boys and then claiming to marry with the boy of their own choice. They have the ideas saying that their daughters may adopt non-cultural behaviors at school, such as: changes in their clothing, adapting modern clothing and ways of thinking, which are not accepted in Afghan culture. In most afghan families, relatives and friends advise each others for not letting their daughters attend school. A girl is considered as a financial burden on her parents; therefore, parents give their daughters to men who are in their fathers age to receive marriage cost and lessen their home expenses. In the most provinces of Afghanistan, girls are sold to men without knowing a girls consent, and then these girls are used as labors by her husband and in-laws family for carrying physical loads of the whole family. First, its known that education, especially for girls is among basic requirements for an improved life standard in any society, however 85 percents of women and girls are illiterate in Afghanistan. The United States of America International Aid (USAID) allocated fund to address this challenge that constitute the lowest educational level in the country, and girls are facing many problems in this area. Womens education is a foundation for building womens human capital and a requirement for their meaningful participation, effective leadership, and enjoyment equal of rights. Although, the womens right to education is legally protected by law, the Afghan women have been long deprived of their right to education and still the participation of girls and women in various levels and fields of education is limited and they face numerous constraints. Access to equal education opportunity still is a dream for many women. Despite of educational improvements in recent years, women still face a num ber of obstacles in their way to education such as early marriage; restricted movement; cultural barriers, security, transport constraints, shortage of qualified female teachers especially in rural areas, poor school infrastructure and facilities and the lower value attached to girls and womens education. In Afghanistan, the number of girls going to school is less than half the number of school boys and even in some provinces, like Zabul, this percentage is 3%; though the numbers of male and female populations aging between 6-18 year old dont have a considerable difference. Another problem in terms of education in Afghanistan is the number of female schools including elementary and high schools that has decreased considerably. In Kandahar, for example, there are 255 elementary schools, whilst 20 high schools exist in the city. In central region of the country there are 256 elementary schools and only 27 high schools, which show unwillingness of girls to study (Commission). Nearly 10 00 girls schools have been destroyed. Girls and teachers have been killed in a return of the Taliban reign of terror. Only 18% of Afghan women have skilled medical personnel present when they give birth (Feminism, Womens Rights Articles Issues). In Paktia province last year, a shura of elders decided that a 25-year-old man who sexually abused a 7-year-old relative girl should pay compensation to the childs family. They also decreed the girl should marry her rapist when shes older (The Star). Due to fear of Taliban or local warlords, girls cannot go outside their homes. If they go to schools, they are burnt, acid is thrown on their faces, or Taliban kill their family members. Almost in all provinces of Afghanistan girls are sexually abused and harassed. Girls are kidnapped on their way to school. They are kidnapped for different purposes by the Taliban or local warlords, to make money by selling them or to use for smuggling, or marry them by force. Second, forced marriages constitute the other serious problems of women in Afghanistan which is exercised on different ways and forms as to payment of huge dowry, underage marriage, engaging in the very early days when a child is born. Widows are still considered as a heritage and are not allowed to marry other man willingly. Forced marriage is considered to be one of the main cases of women rights violation in all over the country. For instance, only in Helmand Province 144 cases of forced marriage is registered by the Commission so far this year, mostly exercised as badal (girls exchange in families for marriage) and huge payment of dowry. In many parts of Afghanistan, marriages have taken place with threats by the powerful people, gunmen or in repayment for depts. Another reason considerably increases the number of early age marriages is the poverty in Afghan families. Third, in Islam, the value and importance of women in society and the true measure of their success as human beings, is measured with completely different criteria: their fear of Allah (SWT) and obedience to Him, and fulfillment of the duties he has assigned them, particularly that of bearing, nurturing and teaching children. Islam is a practical religion, and responds to human needs and life situations. Many women need, or wish, to work for various reasons. For example, they may possess a needed skill, such as a teacher or a doctor. While Islam does not prohibit women working outside the home, it specifies that the following restrictions be followed to safeguard the dignity and honor of women and the purity and stability of the Islamic society. Muslim women are not forbidden from going out in the community, working, or visiting relatives and female friends, if there is no objection from their guardian/husband and they are covered and behave and speak according to Islamic guidelines and, if necessary, escorted by their Mahram (male relative). However, a womans home should be the main base that she works from. Allah (SWT) instructed the wifes of the Prophet (SAW): O wives of the Prophet! You are not like any other women. If you keep your duty (to Allah), then be not soft in speech, lest he is whose heart is a disease (of hypocrisy or evil desire for adultery, etc.) should be moved with desire, but speak in an honorable manner. And stay in your houses, and do not display yourselves like that of the times of ignorance, and offer prayers perfectly (Iqamat-as-Salat), and give Zakat and obey Allah and His Messenger. Allah wishes only to remove Ar-Rijs (evil deeds and sins, etc.) from you, O members of the family [of the Prophet (SAW)], and to purify you with a thorough purification (Quran Al-Ahzab 33:32-33). Afghanistans social development can only be ensured through democracy and the reduction of poverty, the success of both being assured through full participation of women, especially in rural Afghanistan. Afghanistan has always had elite and middle-class women who asserted their rights and walked towards modernization. But a lot of most Afghan women in rural areas have been one of oppression through tribal customs and dictates. Womens rights are human rights. They are not simply American, or western customs. They are universal values which we have a responsibility to promote throughout the world, and especially in a place like Afghanistan. It is not only the right thing to do; it is the smart thing to do.

Aids: Is It A Modern Plague? :: essays research papers

AIDS: Is it a Modern Plague?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In some parts of the world there are still wars being fought and dictators in power. There are societies which consider themselves at the peak of evolution and progress. They are able to create state of the art automobiles, luxurious homes, efficient and organized industries, complex computerized machinery and atomic weapons. Many societies are governed by a democratic system which herald a belief in freedom.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  All societies, regardless of their political and economic makeup, are also ruled by a special class of dictators; these dictators are unseen to the naked eye, and are invincible. These invisible tyrants are microorganisms. Underdeveloped countries, technologically advanced countries, and those in between are at the mercy of these microorganisms, which come in many forms - viruses, bacteria, fungi and parasites. The most dangerous of these forms is the virus. Some viruses, such as the common flu, are considered to have a fairly detrimental capacity. The flu can incapacitate a human for several weeks with various symptoms such as bodily soreness, fever, bronchial complications, and even pneumonia. But while these conditions can be painful and frightening, we are usually confident that proper medication and rest will take care of the matter.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  However there is a much more severe and indiscriminate tyrant, with enormous corrupting influence, capable of infiltrating all of civilization. Scientifically, it is a submicroscopic pathogen consisting of a particle of nucleic acid, enclosed in proteins, and able to replicate only within a living cell. Socially, it is responsible for an enormous amount of chaos and fear in the world today, and pronounces the human fault of ignorance. Can it be considered to be a modern plague?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  This complex and confusing king of all tyrants is called Human Immunodeficiency Virus, or HIV. HIV is a retrovirus. Retroviruses are commonly identified in many animal species, but HIV and its variants, such as HTLV I, HTLV II, HTLV III are among the rare retroviruses found in humans. It is transmitted through blood, semen, and vaginal secretions.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  HIV is a retrovirus of the Lentivirus group and is the etiologic agent of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS). AIDS was first recognized as a disease syndrome in 1981; HIV was identified as its cause in 1984. AIDS is a life and death issue. To have the AIDS disease is at present a sentence of slow but inevitable death. There currently is neither a cure, nor an effective treatment, and no vaccine either.

Fellini Essay -- essays papers

Fellini When Ida and Urbano Fellini bore their first son, Federico, they must have known that he would be far from a calm easygoing person. On the evening of January 20, 1940, the weather at the seaside resort of Rimini on the Adriatic coast of Italy, was not pleasant. There was thunder, lightning, high seas, winds, and heavy rains; quite a setting for the entrance of one who was to be regarded as one of the greatest film directors in history. Urbano was prominent salesman of confectionaries and preserves, and dreamed of training his son for the bar. Ida, who had a vibrant personality and a flair for art, was mainly in charge of raising Federico and his younger siblings, Riccado and Maddalena. Fellini was a fairly good student, though not wonderful. He was sent to a parochial school and did fairly well, though not wonderfully. He learned to be terrified of his teachers (who were nuns), and basically of religion in general. He remembers one incident where he was admonished by a nun during an outside gathering at which he was assigned to hold a candle : "Don't let the candle go out because Jesus won't like it." Federico became so overwhelmed with the responsibility of holding the candle that he completely broke down crying. Such memories about religion would later affect his work. Going to the cinema, though, was one of Fellini's favourite passions. He would often go with his father and .remember specific details regarding the movie and even the theatre. ...

Critically analyze Brandom and Haugeland’s views regarding Cartesianism

The concept of Cartesianism is that every and/or any thing that can be doubted must be discarded, and ideally formulated anew in order to be cemented in truthfulness. Doubting is the first way of determining whether something is useful, and if it isn’t, you discard what you know and basically reinvent it in such a way that is useful. We apply this Cartesianism in a social context when we look at society, politics and the interactions of people on any communicative grounds.This would include linguistics, thinking and any other forms of interaction that form any kind of groundwork for social and societal interaction. Using Cartesianism, we can draw distinctions between such things. We will look at the notions of language, reasoning and thinking, in terms of the works of two philosophers, Robert Brandom and John Haugeland, with the emphasis on comparing and contrasting their unique views. Brandom: Freedom, Norms, Reason and ThoughtRobert Brandom’s views on personal freedom were rooted in the difference between how he perceived his forerunners on the subject matter; he compared and contrasted Kant and Hegel in his work ‘Freedom and Constraint by Norms’. In this work, he critically observes the foundation from which Kant and Hegel analyzed the ideas of personal freedom, as expressed – or refuted – by norms. In order to set out these principles – freedom and norms – we must first define them. Brandom had this to say about Kant’s viewpoint:One of the most suggestive responses to the first set of concerns has been developed by the Kantian tradition: the doctrine that freedom consists precisely in being constrained by norms rather than merely by causes, answering to what ought to be as well as what is. (1979, p. 187). We assume the fact here that norms are things which become established over time by society/community, and that they determine and decide how things should be done, by the individual and by the community.Where Kant pragmatically argued that society used norms to determine the individual’s actions, Brandom also included how Hegel proposed a different approach, from a different angle: The central feature determining the character of any vision of human freedom is the account offered of positive freedom (freedom to) – those respects in which our activity should be distinguished from the mere lack of external causal constraint (freedom from) †¦ (1979, p. 187). Brandom furthers his argument by taking his proposed solution into the domain of the linguistic.He argues that the basis of norms, with regards to their use in regulating society and the individual’s role therein, requires creative expression from individuals in order to promote the Hegelian concept of idealistic, ‘positive’ freedom. Ultimately, Brandom proposes a post-Hegelian solution, one which builds on Hegel’s initial statements and ideally assists the advancement of ind ividuals within a communal setting. In ‘A Social Route from Reasoning to Representing’, Brandom further explores the generally held principles that individual beings are capable of reasoning and reasonable thought processes.Because of this inherent trait, fostered in the upbringing of each individual, truth by inference or deductive reasoning becomes a cornerstone of the thoughts and actions of every individual. The exploration of the difference between actually thinking and thinking about something is established and represented by the accepted standard that individuals move in social circles, and so influence each other’s ideas and notions of reason. Common ground is found in these motions, or as Brandom qualifies, â€Å"the representational dimension †¦ reflects the social structure †¦ in the game of giving and asking for reason.† (2000, p. 183). Haugeland: Truth, Rules and Social Cartesianism John Haugeland approaches the idea behind the soci al establishments in much the same way as Brandom. He explores the same set of topics in his work ‘Truth and Rule-following’, where he mentions the idea of norms as being bound to rules and how the social circle comprised of unique individuals see such institutes. These rules are divided into factual and governing, with factual being held as understood and upheld by all and governing as normative; â€Å"how they ought to be† (Haugeland, 1998, p. 306).Haugeland also argues that these norms are upheld by a communal motion to associate and create similarities between individuals: conformity. He further proposes that social normativity can be grounded in biological normativity – the same principles and arguments can be applied, but only insofar as human beings are capable of reason, and that a biological body by contrast follows certain predetermined, preprogrammed sets or rules, while a reasoning mind can necessarily adapt around or expand on conditions and w ork beyond them, as a biological preset cannot.This supports the idea of governing norms being changeable, separate from objective truth. Also, social norms are enacted through the input of others, in a sense promoting a system where one member of the community checks up on the others, and vice versa. Haugeland’s case is concluded with an emphatic argument for the similarity and union between norms of reason (governing norms) and objective truth (factual norms) boiling down to being the same thing: both are in fact changeable, if in different, subjective ways.With ‘Social Cartesianism’, Haugeland explores the work of three other philosophers, objectifying the reason for his assumptions based on the use of philosophy in language, which all three works – the works of Goodman, Quine and Wittgenstein/Kripke – explore in some form. The reason for this analysis is Cartesian in origin. The first work, by Goodman, is an argument based on defining predicates – accepted rules – and testing the limits of their acceptability, in true, doubtful, Cartesian style.The work of Quine focuses on the elements of translation, of taking personally accepted norms and placing them over a culture with differing norms, thereby defining that culture according to our own way of doing things. Lastly, the debate ventured by Wittgenstein/Kripke is one of skepticism that proposes that all norms are social, not private: â€Å"In sum: if meanings must be normative, but individuals can’t impose norms on themselves, then private, individual meanings are impossible† (Haugeland, p. 219).Haugeland extrapolates that each one of these arguments is fundamentally flawed, based on the conclusion he draws regarding each of the three works’ shortcomings: they all fail to account for the real world, the world that everyone lives in and is affected by. Brandom versus Haugeland Perhaps the most obvious similarity between Brandom and Haugela nd’s individual accounts and reasoning is the fact that they approach the same kinds of topics: social situation, individuality, freedom, language and thought.Despite various approaches and held viewpoints, both are compelled to a certain Cartesian way of doing things, of discarding everything or anything that is not beyond doubt and recreating these things anew by using sound reasoning. Brandom is fond of referencing Kant and Hegel and placing them in opposition against each other, most notably in stating their viewpoints from necessity and polarity: Kant held the view that norms dictated freedom and individuality, whereas Hegel was more positive in expressing his views on freedom ultimately determining norms.In a similar fashion, Haugeland approached the subject of norms and normativity, and how they affected individuals, both linguistically and thoughtfully. We will look at the comparison of norms and normativity first, and then spread outward into linguistics and thought. The view of normativity being a deciding factor, most notably on a linguistic basis, for representing the two polarities of norms and facts, is upheld by both philosophers.Brandom sees norms as something which is instituted based on reason, on the idea that they are something that is held by a communal mindset and imposed on the individual. Facts in turn are things which are accepted as a given by not only individuals but also by the community. Focusing on linguistics, Brandom draws on translation, on the action of placing or transposing one set of accepted norms – from, say, one community’s point of view – onto another community’s point of view. Note here that Haugeland also referenced the idea of translation in his critique of Quine’s work.This poses the first real contrast between Brandom and Haugeland’s points of view: Brandom poses the idea that translation promotes assimilation: By translating, rather than causally explaining some per formance, we extend our community (the one which engages in the social practices into which we translate the stranger’s behavior) so as to include the stranger, and treat his performances as variants of our own. (1979, p. 191). The act of making something your own, drawing something or someone in from outside your boundaries, speaks of a shift of norms.Logically it can be argued that assimilating something new forces your way of thinking about something to be altered to accommodate what is new, even if what has been absorbed becomes a representation of something completely new and different. In this we see Brandom’s shift to the Hegelian idea of the novel, the new, being created in a positive sense in order to advance and enhance the communal whole. Haugeland contrasts by referencing Quine: â€Å"†¦ although the translations are different, there is no fact as to which of them is the ‘right’ one, because there is no ‘objective matter to be right or wrong about’.† (cited from Haugeland, ). Haugeland would seemingly disagree with Brandom’s use of translation as a means of successfully integrating norms, of taking norm and transforming it into fact. Translation still argues for something similar, not new: it presupposes a universal component that stretches through all languages. Judgment is another key concept, one bound to reason and thought. Brandom cites Kant once more in bringing to the fore the sense that one must act from thought, and that judging and acting requires a commitment, â€Å"staking a claim – undertaking a commitment† (1979, p. 164).Brandom repeats the basis of linguistics, of the game played between people, based on inference and the inherent ability to deduce and conclude. An individual can naturally deduce something spoken or gestured from another individual by making a commitment to do so. This commitment relies heavily on the shared understanding between individuals, th e factual norms that are referenced again and again as a means of achieving the communal awareness of similarity. Haugeland agrees here; linguistically, words must have a normal, generic meaning in order for the speaking individual to be understood.There must be common ground. He continues by saying that â€Å"meanings, by their very nature, are normative rules,† and emphasizes this dilemma by citing this example: And the essential problem is that individuals cannot impose norms on themselves. For that would be like taking a dictator, with absolute legal authority, to be bound by her own law. But she can’t really be bound by her own law since, given her authority, if she changes her mind and does something different, that just changes the law – which is equivalent to saying that the law did not bind her in the first place.Similarly †¦ an individual cannot, on his own authority, bind himself by his private norm. (Haugeland, , p. 219). The crux of this compar ison between Haugeland and Brandom is that both agree on the fact that law, in a sense, and rules, must be used to bind a norm, albeit a governing one – a norm based on reason. A person cannot be subject to his/her own norms, therefore the norms must be implemented from outside the individual; from the communal.Coming back to the linguistic component again, we can logically assume that language as a means of communication forms a regulating basis here. The words, actions and judgment of others forces a certain conformity, a means whereby an individual can operate and coexist within a community. Thought has always been at the core of the human need to define him/herself. The adage cogito ergo sum (I think therefore I am) has been advanced to more complex statements. Rene Descartes advanced dubito, ergo cogito, ergo sum (Latin for I doubt, therefore I think, therefore I am) (Persaud, p. 259).Cartesian philosophy dwells deeply on thought processes, so it should be unsurprising t hat both Brandom and Haugeland spent some thought on the dynamics of applying Cartesian methods on the thought process. Haugeland praised Descartes’ input, going further than the original assumptions made by Descartes and stating that â€Å"The determinacy that matters here concerns not the formal reality of those ideas †¦ but rather their objective reality (roughly their intentional content as representations. ) (Haugeland, , p. 224). In other words, Haugeland implies that human individuals in isolation, as subjectively separate, is fairly unimportant.What matters ultimately is the collective, the union of all individuals in an objective community, not necessarily defined by the community but by their place in it, and their unique contributions to it. Brandom seems to agree by stating: The social dimension of inference [deduction] involved in the communication to others of claims that must be available as reasons [common ground] both to the speaker [individual] and to the audience [collective, community], in spite of differences in collateral commitments, is what underlies the representational dimension of discourse [communication]. (2000, p. 183).Summed up, the previous statement can be matched to Haugeland’s assumptions: the community is not the only important thing, but in order for norms, rules and laws to make sense regarding thought, language and freedom, the community or collective needs to operate on a standard of shared understanding, so that each unique individual can still function and interact with others despite the individuality. Conclusion Through using Cartesian principles regarding the discovery of usefulness, we have come to the conclusion that, with regards to using doubt as a means of determining an outcome or a reality, pragmatism is in fact a necessary element.Reality, as Haugeland would have us believe, is not simply determined by the individuals, communities and their norms only, but rather arises from the world we live in first, before casting a shadow of effects over the individual and the rest. We have argued that Brandom and Haugeland, though often different in their modes of expression and discourse, are nevertheless in agreement on many of the key aspects regarding norms, whether factual or governing, subjective or objective.At the end, Cartesian doubt influences thought, and thought influences language and interaction between people, yielding a collected sense of understanding and finally yielding a system of laws, rules and judgments that govern and regulate society and community. However, in conclusion it is perhaps better to emphasize Hegel’s idealism – as opposed to Kant’s pragmatism: that freedom be positive, to allow for creativity within the system and to not be bound by external causes such as rules and laws only. References Brandom, R. B. (2000). A Social Route from Reasoning to Representing.Articulating Reasons: an Introduction to Inferentialism. Cambridge , Harvard University Press. Brandom, R. B. (1979). Freedom and Constraint by Norms. American Philosophical Quarterly, Volume 16, 13, 87-196. Haugeland, J. (). Social Cartesianism. 213-225. Haugeland, J. (1998). Truth and Rule-following. Having Thought: Essays in the metaphysics of mind. Cambridge, Harvard University Press. Persaud, R. (2002) Ten Books. The British Journal of Psychiatry, Volume 181, 258-261, Retrieved May 17, 2008, from http://bjp. rcpsych. org/cgi/content/full/181/3/258.