William Shakespeares A Midsummer Nights Dream Essay -- Shakespeare M

William Shakespeares A Midsummer Nights DreamA Midsummer Nights Dream could have easily been a light-hearted, laughable comedy. Complete with a magic forest and a kingdom of fairies, it is an iconic setting for amorous escapades and scenes of delightrs. But Shakespeares writing is never so shallow through this romantic comedy, Shakespeare postulates an extremely cynical view of love. A Midsummer Nights Dream becomes a commentary on the mystery of love, and lovers in general emerge shamed. Especially in the episodes among the four young Athenians, the lover is painted as a fickle creature, always changing his or her mind, and love as a passing phenomenon. Love is not an unfathomable, kind emotion, unless it is ironically cruel, and by the end of the play, the concept of true love is tinged with doubt. The lover is unreliable in A Midsummer Nights Dream. This is first seen in Demetriuss treatment of Helena. As the play opens, Demetrius is already in love with Hermia , but Helena tells us that she has once been his love For ere Demetrius lookd on Hermias eyne, He haild down oaths that he was only tap And when this hail some heat from Hermia felt, So he dissolvd, and showrs of oaths did melt (1.1.242- 245).Demetriuss oaths lose their meaning, and Helena is left with a demeaning love. However, Demetrius is not only when in his mutability Lysander, similarly, quickly replaces one love with another. Though Lysander is somewhat redeemed through the use of the love potion, the fact remains that his love changes. primordial in the play he says to Hermia, My heart to yours is knit, / so that but one heart we can make of it (2.2.47-48), but later he reviles his supp... ...e deeper and more redolent than the conflicts that are resolved. Is it possible for Demetrius and Helena to live happily ever after though the love binding them is synthetic? Can Lysander and Hermia ever have a trusting relationship, knowing the fickleness of love? A Midsummer Nights Dream has potential to be a cheerful play, but it has too many sharp edges and hard scenes to be so. The concept of love is quite convincingly questioned. Here, love is not faithful, kind, or true it can be mixed-up and manufactured, and is alarmingly harsh. The play ends happily, with the young people in their respective couples, but the bitter undercurrents are too strong to ignore.Works CitedShakespeare, William. A Midsummer Nights Dream. Norton launching toLiterature. Ed. Jerome Beaty et. al. 8th ed. New York W.W. Norton & Company, 2002. 1614-1670.

The Great Depression Essay -- Economics Finance History Economy Essays

The extensive DepressionThe Great Depression was an economic slump in newton America, Europe, and other industrialized areas of the world that began in 1929 and lasted until about 1939. There were a few main areas of focus during the Great Depression. The key areas were the Crash of the Stock Market, Unemployment Rate, the number on the rest of the world, World War II and our political out look and the way different countries handle themselves today. The Great Depression was the longest and almost severe depression ever experienced by the industrialized Western world. Though the U.S. economy had gone into depression six months earlier, the Great Depression whitethorn be said to have begun with a catastrophic collapse of stock-market prices on the New York Stock Exchange in October 1929, when President Hoover came in office. During the a furtherting three years stock prices in the United States continued to fall, until by late 1932 they had dropped to only about 20 percent of the ir value in 1929 (www.english.uiuc.edu). some(prenominal) of the stock figures I received from (www.huppi.com) indicate the changes of the Gross National Product from 1930 until 1939. The Gross National Product, or gross national product, for 1930 had a negative change of 9.4 percent. In 1931, the GNP continued to decline another 8.5 percent. In 1932 it dropped another 13.4 percent and continued to drop 2.1 percent in 1933. In 1934 the GNP made a pull for the better and started to increase by 7.7 percent and continued to rise in 1935 with an increase of 8.1 percent. During 1936 and 1937 the GNP rose for a combined amount of 19.1 percent but do to the beginning of recession in 1938 it had a drop of 4.5 percent. Once Recession ended the GNP went up 7.9 percent in 1939.(Www.english.uiuc.edu) tells us that alike ruining many thousands of individual investors, this precipitous decline in the value of assets greatly strained banks and other financial institutions, particularly those ho lding stocks in their portfolios. many a(prenominal) banks were consequently forced into insolvency by 1933, 11,000 of the United States 25,000 banks had fai lead. The failure of so many banks, combined with a general and nationwide loss of confidence in the economy, led to much-reduced levels of spending and demand and hence of production, thus aggravating the downward spiral. The result was drastically falling output and drastically rising unemployment ... ...its were contracting it The Feds inaction was the yard why the initial recession turned into a prolonged depression The economy continually sank throughout Hoovers entire term. Under Roosevelts New Deal, it rose 5 out of seven years. Attempts to blame Big Government for the Depression do not withstand serious scrutiny The Smoot-Hawley Tariff had a minor concern because trade formed only 6 percent of the U.S. economy, and reducing trade gave Americans only that much more money to spend domestically. Hoovers other attempts at brass intervention came mostly during his last year in office, when the Depression was already at its depth The first nations to come out of the Great Depression were Sweden, Germany, Great Britain, and then everyone else did so after they adopted the Keynesian solution of heavy deficit government spending and the Keynesian economic policies have eliminated the depression from the worlds economies in the six decades that have followed. Works CitedWWW.huppi.comWWW.english.uiuc.eduNelson CaryKennedy, DavidFreedom From Fear The American People in Depression and WarOxford, New York 1999Oxford University Press

Politics and Puerto Rican Identity :: Latin America American

Introduction The issue I have chosen to elaborate on is the influence of political attainment on identity. Politics plays a role in everyones life to some degree. In my own personal experience, I have never been an inflexible follower of American politics. It has never been a strong topic of conversation within my family or neighborhood. I voted for the first time my freshmen year in college. My raising in a working class neighborhood has bestowed upon me a very simple view on politics vote for the democrats because it is in the best saki of the poor people all republicans care about is money and they can never understand nor do they care about the plight of being poor. This is the domain of my experience with politics. I am judging it as neither right nor wrong. As I continue to become more educated my knowledge on politics increases and takes on more depth, but I have never considered politics a major part of my identity. When I think about myself and my experience s, the account book democrat does not come to mind. I have encountered people from many different walks of life, yet I have never witnessed firsthand or participated in a political conversation where the individuals involved have passionately taken a strong stance on behalf of an American political party. Im sure people like this exist, I just have never encountered them. I believe this is why the following quote from Rosario Ferrs House on the Lagoon caught my attention and interest Politics is like religion you are either for Statehood or for Independence, you cant go for both. Someone has to be saved, soulfulness must burn in hell , and if youre for Commonwealth youre floating in Limbo.(Ferr pg 183)Politics can be defined as The science of government that part of ethics which has to do with the regulation and government of a nation or state, the preservation of its safety, peace, and prosperity, the defense of its existence and rights against foreign control or conquest , the augmentation of its strength and resources, and the protection of its citizens in their rights, with the preservation and improvement of their morals. (http//work.ucsd.edu5141/cgi-bin/http_webster?isindex=politics&method=exact) To, me this definition is very touching, yet is little more than words on a paper.

Ben Franklin A Touch Of Genius :: essays research papers

Ben Franklin was born the tenth son of a soap maker, Josiah Franklin. In all Josiah had 17 children amid two wives. When Ben was 15, his companion had started the trinity paper to hit Boston called The untried England Courant. Ben really wanted to write for the paper but he knew that his older brother James would never let him do that being that he is only an apprentice. Therefore, Ben being the young intellect that he was, started printing letters and sliding them into his brothers printing shop at night. He wrote under the alias Silence Dogood, and provided criticism towards views of the world, and the rights and treatments of women. Sixteen letters had been published until Ben came out and told James that it was his mere apprentice brother writing these reader love articles. Jamess friends thought Ben was quite gifted but this infuriated James to know that his brother was gaining widespread attention through his alias Silence Dogood. Not in advance long at all Bens older brot her was non at good terms with the Puritan leading family the Mathers. The Mathers supported inoculation, and James along with nigh people believed that this inoculation was not for the good of the people, and in fact it worsened conditions. James was thrown into prison and Ben was left to run the paper while he was gone. When James returned, he showed his brother no thanks for continuing his business on a positive note. In fact, James harassed his younger brother and administered beatings from time to time (The First American, 18). Ben could not take this harsh treatment from his former mentor so he decided to flee to in 1723 to New York. Ben traveled by boat hoping to find work as a printer in New York but there was none, he continued his locomote for work through New Jersey and ended up in Philadelphia where he found work as an apprentice printer for Samuel Keimer. Franklins attainment as a writer put him at good terms with the Governor William Keith of Pennsylvania. After Be ns brother-in-law showed the governor one of Bens letters the governor was stunned by his mastery of wordplay and sent out to meet this great writer. The governor wanted Ben to start his own printing company, but Bens father would not finance his print shop, so the Governor told Franklin that he would in fact finance the start of his printing company, after Ben journeys to London to setup business connections, and bargain supplies for the company.

Kosinskis Being There and the Existential Anti-Hero Essay -- Being Th

Kosinskis Being There and the Existential Anti-Hero Critics have referred to Kosinskis Being There as his smite novel. Perhaps, Kosinskis prosaic vogue is deceptive in its apparent simplicity (especially when contrasted with The Painted Bird). What Kosinski seeks to do, as Welch D. Everman relates, is to stimulate the readers recreative and imaginative task by offering only the essentials...Kosinskis style draws the reader into the incident by refusing to allow him to remain passive (25). This essay will propose that Being There is a major existential pass water following in the tradition of Sartre and Camus in which Chance, the main protagonist, mirrors Camuss Mersault in A Happy Death and in which Koskinski demonstrates the logical progression of the existential anti-hero. An initial reply to Being There often might be to focus upon the text as a type of Creation anecdote, or as a tender satire, or perhaps as a political critique against mass media and the television gener ation. While all of these readings are legitimate, it seems that the starting point should center on Kosinskis protagonist, Chance, in order to understand the universal significance of the portrayal of Chance, and implicitly the reader, as victim. Chance is a contemporary innocent. Whether, as is often argued, he is mentally challenged or not is irrelevant. Rather, Chance simply exists. He watches television, is unable or unwilling to function within prescribed cultural paradigms, and finally, is simply a mirror, reflecting pricker to others sublimated images of desires projected onto him. Chance is the American Everyman. The events which befall him could befall anyone. He, like all of us, ha... ...en, David. Camus. Philadelphia Temple UP, 1988. Works Consulted Bruss, Paul. Victims. Lewisburg Bucknell UP, 1981. Camus, Albert. The Stranger. New York Vintage, 1946. Granofsky, Ronald. Circle and Line Modern and postmodern Constructs of the Self in Jerzy Kosinskis The Painted Bird . Essays in publications 18.2 (1991) 254-68. Griffiths, Gareth. Being there, being There Postmodernism and Post-Colonialism Kosinski and Malouf. Ariel 20.4 (1989) 132-48. Grigbsy, John L. Mirroring of America and Russia Reflections of Tolstoy in Jerzy Kosinskis Being There. Notes on Contemporary Literature 17.4 (1987) 6-8. Kosinski, Jerzy. The Painted Bird. New York Bantam, 1978. Lavers, Norman. Jerzy Kosinski. Boston Twayne, 1982. Piwinski, David J. Kosinskis The Painted Bird. The Explicator 40.1 (1981) 62-3.

Kosinskis Being There and the Existential Anti-Hero Essay -- Being Th

Kosinskis Being There and the Existential Anti-Hero Critics have referred to Kosinskis Being There as his worst novel. Perhaps, Kosinskis prosaic style is deceptive in its apparent simplicity (especially when contrasted with The Painted Bird). What Kosinski seeks to do, as Welch D. Everman relates, is to stimulate the readers recreative and imaginative task by offering all the essentials...Kosinskis style draws the reader into the incident by refusing to allow him to remain passive (25). This essay will propose that Being There is a major empirical work following in the tradition of Sartre and Camus in which Chance, the main protagonist, mirrors Camuss Mersault in A Happy Death and in which Koskinski demonstrates the logical progression of the existential anti-hero. An initial response to Being There often might be to focus upon the text as a type of Creation anecdote, or as a social satire, or perhaps as a political critique against mass media and the television generation. Wh ile all of these readings are legitimate, it seems that the starting point should vegetable marrow on Kosinskis protagonist, Chance, in order to understand the universal significance of the portrayal of Chance, and implicitly the reader, as victim. Chance is a contemporary innocent. Whether, as is often argued, he is mentally challenged or not is irrelevant. Rather, Chance simply exists. He watches television, is unable or unwilling to function within prescribed cultural paradigms, and finally, is simply a mirror, reflecting back to others sublimated images of desires projected onto him. Chance is the American Everyman. The events which befall him could befall anyone. He, like all of us, ha... ...en, David. Camus. Philadelphia Temple UP, 1988. Works Consulted Bruss, Paul. Victims. Lewisburg Bucknell UP, 1981. Camus, Albert. The Stranger. New York Vintage, 1946. Granofsky, Ronald. Circle and Line new and Postmodern Constructs of the Self in Jerzy Kosinskis The Painted Bird. Ess ays in Literature 18.2 (1991) 254-68. Griffiths, Gareth. Being there, being There Postmodernism and Post-Colonialism Kosinski and Malouf. Ariel 20.4 (1989) 132-48. Grigbsy, John L. Mirroring of America and Russia Reflections of Tolstoy in Jerzy Kosinskis Being There. Notes on coetaneous Literature 17.4 (1987) 6-8. Kosinski, Jerzy. The Painted Bird. New York Bantam, 1978. Lavers, Norman. Jerzy Kosinski. Boston Twayne, 1982. Piwinski, David J. Kosinskis The Painted Bird. The Explicator 40.1 (1981) 62-3.

Odysseus- Character Comparison to the movie Essay

In comparing the blockbuster movie TROY to secondary sources found o the internet and in various texts, in that respect are many significant differences in the portrayal of Odysseus and his involvement in Trojan War.In the movie, the first we see of Odysseus is when hes sent by the Mycenaean King and conqueror of Greece, Agamemnon, to persuade Achilles to join the Hellenic war effort because, I quote, Odysseus is the only man hell hark to. The respect and belief placed in Odysseus further proves the amount of admiration Greeks hold in his ability as an eloquent speaker.In many of the texts, there is more to the pre-war story of Odysseus then mentioned in TROY. One commonly held belief is that Odysseus was one of the original suitors of Helen. He was the one that made all of her suitors swear to stomach her marriage rights. However, when Menelaus called on the suitors to bring Helen back from Troy, Odysseus was reluctant to make good on his oath.In the sources Odysseus was one of the key Greeks involved in the Trojan War. He was, according to one text, to be Outspoken and sincere, fierce and proud. To another source, he was said to Refuse to leave the field when the Greek troops were existence routed by the Trojans.In contrast with the texts, the movie portrays very little of Odysseus involvement in battle and shows none of his efforts as a Greek ambassador. This is mentioned regularly in our sources, again referring to the amount of approbation the Greeks had for Odysseus capability to influence the minds of men.One of our sources mentions the bravery and courage Odysseus showed while trying to protect a dying Achilles. It states that Ajax, another Greek warrior, Achilles and Odysseus got inside the walls of Troy before the nocturnal raid of the Trojan horse. However in the movie it shows nothing of this event and many other minor occurrences and chooses to denounce Achilles death after the creation of the Trojan horse which is seen to be historically in correct.Whilst comparing various texts to the movie itself only one major similarity was recognised. This being Odysseus involvement in the Trojan horse. In both the texts and the movie, Odysseus is portrayed to be the originator of the horse, the stratagem by which the Greeks were finally able to take the city of Troy. His modishness and ingenuity is emphasised once again because of his ability to create such deceiving device that would in turn win the war for Greece.

Battle of the Teutoburg Forest

Battle of the Teutoburg Forest In 9 AD, roman print general Roman general Varus was betrayed by Arminius, the leader of a massive Germanic tribe. Arminius deceived the Roman and led them into a trap deep into the Teutoburg forest which would lay a foundation garment for what will be one of the biggest defeats in roman history resulting in the extermination of some 20,000 roman troops. The effects of this defeat halted Roman expansion beyond the Rhine River. The psychological affects would eventually take a toll on Augustus, leading to illness and death. (Wells, p. 5) Arminius was the prince of the Cherusci tribe of Germans. He lived in the northern part of modern daytime Germany. (P. 107) Later, he would go on to serve in the roman army, in command of Roman auxiliary forces comprised of members from the surrounding tribes. He learned his tactic here(predicate) while in his dish out for Rome. This would later grant him the upper hand, for he will know the Romans weaknesses and h e will know how they fight. He most probable had a variety of motives for serving in the Roman military. Besides earning a substantial salary, he would have gained considerable status in Rome.During his years of service to the Roman Military he learned Latin and in recognition of is efforts to Rome, was award with Roman citizenship. (P. 108). This is a prize that is normally bestowed upon those leaders who give stupendous service to Rome. Also, he was granted status as an equestrian, which is quite a high rank in Roman society. Around the year of 9 A. D. , Arminius go away the Roman military and returned to his homeland. When he returned home at the age of 25, his experience with the Roman military had prepared him to lead. Romes man in the Rhineland in A. D. 9 was Publius Quinctilius Varus. (Wells,P. 80) He had attained an excellent record of service as governor and general in various places within the Empire. In the year of 13 B. C. he served for consul with Claudius Nero. Var us was provided entry into the political elite of Rome via marriage connections and relationships linked with Augustus. As his role as Consul, Varus was able to integrate himself within the political realness and shake hands with the right sight. Events leading up to the attack were slow but steady.Romans held little of Germania before the revolt, they had some organized communities but not many. Romans believed they had a mission to grant others with the civilized vitality such as theirs and to give other regions what they have to offer. This expansion pushed smoothly and slowly through Germania as the tribes in that location began to see the benefit of Roman civilization. The barbarians were adapting themselves to Roman ways, were becoming accustomed to hold markets, and were meeting in peaceful assemblages.They had not, however, forgotten their ancestral habits, their native manners, their old life of independence, or the power derived from armsbecoming different without know ing it. (Cassius Dio, P. 1) However, when Quinctilius Varus was placed Governor of the province of Germania he began to push Roman way of life on them at a much quicker rate. According to Cassius Dio, Besides issuing orders to them as if they were actually slaves of the Romans, he exacted money as he would from subject nations. To this they were in no mood to submit. Ancient historian, Velleius Paterculus, notes that Varus was more accustomed to the leisure of the camp than to actual service in war. The quiet camp grounds and communities suits Varus quite well. Arminus returned to Germania from Pannonina as a respected leader and trusted Roman citizen. Germanic tribe members complied with Roman law while suppressing their barbarian ways of solving issues. This was only a front to keep the Romans off their backs. The barbarians were growing tired of the Roman rules and having to go to Roman courts to have the Romans decide their disputes.The barbarians had long standing traditions for solving their issues and they were not well-to-do with the way that Varus forced this rule onto them. The resentment begins to build while the surface seems calm. Varus had not been accustomed to governing those who did not want to be governed. So, when the Germanic people had enough of the Roman forces, they decided to fool him for something must be done to get rid of him. This of course is when the turn to Arminius, for no one is more complete(a) for the job.His high status and trust within the Roman government allows him to set the largest trap imaginable. Velleius Paterculus adds, This young man made use of the negligenceseeing that no one could be more quickly overpowered than the man who feared nothing, and that the most common beginning of disaster was a sense of security. The Germans set their trap deep in the tree clogged forest of the Teutoburg forest. Varus and his troops are packing up to advance to a camp to the east. Meanwhile, he is approached by an old friend, Arminius. He notifies Varus of a small ribal uprising right off the course to their intended path to the camp. This ambush was setup alongside a narrow path, causing the romans to march intimately together. (Cassius Dio, P. 7) Cassius Dio notes, they had with them many wagons and many beasts of burden as in time of peace. To add to the difficulties, it had begun to rain, making the forest floor slippery while tree tops knock down on them creating confusion. magic spell the Romans were undergoing such complications, the barbarians suddenly surrounded them on all sides at once. They were caught in the worst situation possible.The Roman army was slaughtered as thousands of soldiers were ambushed by barbarians, destroying 16,000 Romans in one swoop (Wells, P. 189). This battle was significant for the fact that it halted Roman expansion across the Rhine River and sent a message to Rome that they were not invincible. While it may have been a short battle, it was a large loss. When Au gustus is exposed the extreme loss, he is devastated. The Romans, along with Varus, knew that it was completely Varuss fault and would lead him to suicide. plant Cited Wells, Peter S.The Battle That Stopped Rome Emperor Augustus, Arminius, And The Slaughter Of The Legions In The Teutoburg Forest / Peter S. Wells. n. p. New York W. W. Norton, 2004. , 2004. Louisiana State University. Web. 17 Oct. 2012. The Battle of Teutoburg Forest. Penelope. uchicago. edu. Web. 17 Oct. 2012. . Velleius Paterculus. The Battle in the Teutoburg Forest. N. p. , 16 Aug. 2010. Web. 22 Oct. 2012. .

Teenage Wasteland

Anne Tylers short story Teenage Wasteland illustrates a mothers struggle to understand and service of process her child. The story takes place in a middle class neighborhood, where the protagonist Daisy, is a mother of two and a housewife. Daisy tries to help her son Donny, a bullheaded and misunderstood teenager. Donny is a troubling teen who is rebellious and always seduces misfortune. When Daisy gets a c each from the principal of Donnys private school requesting a conference approximately Donnys poor grades and immature behavior, she does everything she can to help Donny grow and mature by hiring a tutor.Unfortunately, Daisy discovers that Cal, Donnys tutor, didnt help Donny raise his grade, but alternatively made his grade drop. Daisy noticed that Donny has showed well-nigh improvement in his behavior and attitude in school. Anne Tyler reveals that being a parent is never an easy job, some parents, like Daisy and Matt, have no control over their kids. Throughout Daisys lif e history she has tried to get a better brain of Donny, she wants to be around him and wishes to know what hes re every(prenominal)y like. As a mother Daisy is caring and interested in Donnys well-being, she is unassured because of Donny, and Donny is Daisys main priority.Like all mothers Daisy is interested in her childs well-being. In this case, Donnys well-being is all that she cares about. Daisy has gone through so much trouble in the past couple of weeks sightly for Donny to be happy. Daisy is very curious about Donny, he is very secretive and likes to keep things on the low. Well? What did you think? (Tyler. 260). Daisy asks for Donnys opinion, shes wants to know how he feels. Also, its as if his decision is the only thing that matters to her, she wants to know what his standards are.Daisy cares for Donny, she wants to communicate with him and get to know him. Daisy is insecure about herself because of Donnys behaviour towards her. Because of the way Donny treats her, Daisy feels no confidence even with the way she dresses. In this case, she is self-conscious because she feels that Donny is uncomfortable being around her. She becomes self-conscious over the slightest things that dont mean anything. Daisy held in her abdominal cavity in and gave Mr. Lanham a firm, responsible holdhake(Tyler. 258). Daisy tries to suck in her stomach when giving a handshake, thinking that she isoverweight.She wished shed worn nylons instead of human knee socks(Tyler. 257). Also, she is insecure about the tiniest things like the way shes dressed, she gets concerned over socks thinking that they make her look unprofessional and ignorant. She tries the cover and hide the parts where she is insecure about, like the things that may embarrass her. Daisys main person of interest seems to be Donny. She finds Donny intrigueing, he confuses her with his mixed emotions. In this case, Daisy wants to get to know Donny he confuses her alot, all mothers are curious about their child ren.When she picks Donny up from Cals hes having a great time, smiling and laughing which Dasiy has never seen that side of, but when he gets in the car he becomes mute and irritated a bit. Donny is causing trouble which is gaining him attention, shes putting all her care into him. She had always told Donny he had talent, was smart, was good with his hands(Tyler. 258). Donny has always been Daisys main priority, until his younger sister was born. But even after, he was still her main person of interest.Daisy puts all her attention into Donny, she tries to figure him out in every way she can, but she cant break him. She doesnt understand Donny and the cause of his actions. Donny tries to avoid his parents in any way he can, he ignores them and gets annoyed over everything they tell him to do. The start of all of Donnys ruckus is what brought Daisy to care about him, and what made him her main person of interest. Throughout Daisys life she has tried to get a better understanding of Do nny, she wants to be around him and wishes to know what hes really like.To conclude, Daisys desperate struggle to understanding and getting along with her son, Donny, comes down to them becoming even to a greater extent like strangers. Daisys plan on getting along with Donny fails terribly due to the cause of her hiring Cal, Donnys tutor. Soon she discovers that the cause of Donny acting rebellious, is because she didnt care too much about him before. If Daisy would have accepted Donny the way he was, and focused more on other things than him it would have probably turned out differently and he wouldnt have run away.

Referring in detail to at least two poems: What Makes Wilfred Owen a Great War Poet?

Commencing the First institution War in 1914, conscription had non yet been established, but the goernment were leaning heavily on the media to endeavour and recruit volunteers into the army. This was done by propaganda. Poetry and posters were the two most prominent in persuading men to fight for their country. however it was numbers which encouraged the contend fever poetry in which fightf be was described as valiant and noble, and how it was an honourable thing to be able to fight for your country.An example was Jessie Pope who wrote Whos for the plump for a writer whom Owen was predominantly against. His poems he wrote vocalismially in retaliation against propaganda, and with the intention of exposing the old lie. By this, he recapitulated his own experiences in the war, which were sick of(p) and did non show men in war as gallant and heroic. His poems overly seemed therapeutic a way of release, but the main intention it seems was to let out the truth intimately war. Owen illustrates his poetry with such vivid descriptions and realism, oddly in Dulce et Decorum est, so as to paint a realistic image of World War I in the lectors mind, especially in the fourth and final verse, where Owen vividly describes the horrific image of a soldier dead from gas, and he brings the reader right up close to the eccentric of the dead soldier. By doing this, he makes it very personal for the reader. The face of a human is what shows their emotions, and what shows identity.In the poem The bespeak of the Light Brigade by Alfred Tennyson, which describes the charge of British cavalry against Russian soldiers, the whole six hundred British were slaughtered, yet non erst does Tennyson pluck out one soldier, or individualises this. This is what Owen does in Dulce et Decorum est he individualises the soldier who has died. An other(a) feature of this brave verse is that it shows people that the war they thought would be glorious and noble is not at all that. At t he end, it seems as if he is trying to make the reader feel guilty (especially after recitation close the gassed soldier) by ever believing that war is an honourable thingMy friend, you would not tell with such high zestTo children ardent for some heroical gloryThe old lie Dulce et decorum estPro patria moriWith this, Owen asks that after knowing what war is really like (as opposed to glorious and noble), would you still tell your children if they asked that war is a wonderful and honourable thing? He therefore intends to make the reader feel guilty for this.In a war, when many people die, their deaths are recorded mostly as a statistic. Here in the last verse of Dulce et Decorum est, Owen picks out one dead individual to the reader. The dead ones face is described so vividly, so as to stand out most to the reader. Ones face is what gives one identity, what shows emotion and other human characteristics. Owen purposely focuses in particularly on the face, as to give maximum emot ional impact especially a face so mutilated by the gas which would be a huge shock to ones morals. With Obscene as cancer, Owen is comparing this image, something he knows, to something readers at home know of well. By doing this, Owen also shows how horrifically real the war was, by comparing it to something equally horrifically real, and much closer to home.At the beginning of the second line in Dulce et Decorum est, Owen uses an interesting idiom knock-kneed. In this phrase can be extracted quite a few different meanings, mostly centred on Owens excellent use of language which brings such strong realism into his poems. It could by chance be a simple phrase in soldiers slang, which ties in with the realism. Poetically speaking, he uses alliteration and onomatopoeia to give the thought of knees buckling and knocking together. Knocking together with what? It could live merely been the weather, as the soldiers were cold, muddy and wet, but it also gives the impression that they w ere shaking with fear, which ties in with the thinking that soldiers were ideally viewed as strong, heroic and fearless, yet here they are scared, and defeated by this fear and the numbers of the weather. This phrase also gives one the idea of violence, which is sure as shooting and undoubtedly expected in a war.Haunting flares in the next line automatically gives the reader the idea of a horror story. Owen writes Dulce et Decorum est certainly in such a way which could relate it to a horror story, particularly in the last verse where he describes the soldier who died from the gas attack, for here one reads about something which is so horrific, alien and obscene that it could not possibly be real, just as the ghost or other such supernatural cosmoss in a horror story. This ties in with when in the last verse Owen relates it to the Devil, and the Devil is not something most people would like to believe in, just as the nasty image Owen puts into the readers head of the dead soldie r is not something one would like to believe. However, unlike horror stories and the Devil, Owens description and vivid realism make this something one must accept as real.Tied within the idea of a horror story, Haunting flares also has a kinda psychological meaning to it. The use of the word haunting shows that this has been on the soldiers minds constantly. But as a horror story, in which the purpose is to be scary, but not real, and it seems that the soldiers are treating it as such. The way Owen writes it makes it seem as if it is something that they have been constantly worrying about constantly which has made them paranoid, and so they dismiss it merely as though they are seeing things. This could be a cause of their delayed reactions when they are dispatch by the gas attack, for they dismissed the flares as though they were not there.In the next verse where Owen describes the gas attack, he uses language which links and relates to the idea of water. Floundering shows this f irst, as for example one who cannot swim will flounder in the water. Another possible meaning is that a flounder is a tilt a fish out of water will flap and struggle and will not survive because it cannot breathe oxygen. It seems Owen is using this to compare with the soldier who could not get his mask on in cadence, and he is as the fish out of water, struggling and fighting for the oxygen he cannot breathe, and in the end he will not survive. As under a green sea, I saw him drowning also relates quite clearly to water the green sea being the gas, and the soldier is anxious(p) drowning in this green sea.In the next small verse, Owen briefly changes from the past to the present tense with,In all my dreams, ahead my helpless sight,He plunges at me, guttering, chocking, drowning.This shows the traumatic and psychological effects this one event had on him. This could be because Owen saw this so close and it was so shocking to him. However, although there is no current of air to it in the poem save for An ecstasy of fumbling, there could be a chance that the gas mask Owen won might have been fought over by Owen and the dying(p) soldier. The sight of watching the soldier die so horrifically could leave a sharp imprint of guilt upon Owen, such as that he would know the moment when he sleeps, in his dreams. It also shows that Owen had been forced to buy such a nasty moment to be able to function, to do his job, during the day.However, when something has such an effect on someone, it cannot be buried, and it will come back to haunt the person, as it did with Owen when he slept. However, in order for one to be able to get over such an event, it must be remembered, and part of the reason Owen wrote this poem was as a order of self-therapy, to help him recover from the moment. Owen also uses an interesting order of spoken communication in these two lines, leaving the point where he speaks about the soldier actually dying, the most important bit, till last. Be cause of the such traumatic effect it has on him, such a thing to say would be very hard for Owen.In Exposure, Owen focuses in particular on describing most vividly the weather and psychological effects on them during this particular time. It shows also his experience in the war, as weather was a strong enemy to both sides and both sides were badly affected. In the second verse of Exposure, Owen uses poetic technique tied in with realism to describe the weather as an army to be fought.melancholy army attacks onceMore in ranks on shiveringRanks of greyThroughout Exposure, Owen uses vivid description to relate to the reader the weather. Here, Owen uses personification as he describes the weather as at the time a more challenging enemy to be fought than the Germans the main enemy at the time. Also, with a dull rumour of some other war, he is showing that during that time the soldiers were far more concerned about surviving from the extreme weather conditions than they were about the w ar they were in France primarily to fight. It also shows that they were not alert completely, perhaps effected by the weather and fatigue, and they are not entirely aware of how vulnerable they are to the Nazis.Exposure focuses particularly on not only the weather, but also on the psychological effects. Owen describes how the soldiers were so wrecked by fatigue and by the effects of the weather that they forgot about fighting the Nazis and merely withdrew into themselves. Within this, they seem to wonder about what they had been told about war. This is shown particularly when the phrase Forgotten dreams. This may be dreams of the glory after the war, things they had wished to do, dreams and plans after the war, which they have given up on, because they have realised that war is not a glorious thing at all. In this also there appears to be a loss of morale, and of hope, as if they have realised there is no hope in this war at all, be it against the Germans or the weather.There is a lso a religious element, in which they seem to question their faith and belief in paragon, and a sense of homesickness. Glimpsing the sunk fires shows this particularly. A fire that is not tended to dies down, and the soldiers had not been home in so long. The fire could also refer to their sunken spirits, and a drastic diminishing of hope and faith, or the diminishing of life as more soldiers die.Shutters and doors all closed this could mean a few things, such as they believed they would never make it home, they will not survive this horrific war a drastic loss of morale. Alternatively, perhaps, if they were to re lick home in the end things would never be the same. There is even the sense (particularly with the next line We turn back to our dying) that they cannot go back until their job is done, so they turn back to our dying. They retreat from their minds and wake up to reality once more. The base of religion is brought in with For Gods invincible spring our love is made afra id. This could mean many things. One of the Ten Commandments is to love your neighbour as yourself. They may be afraid to love their neighbour the Germans in this case. Or it may be that, after all that has happened to them in the war, they are afraid to any continuing love to believe in to have faith in God. As this is what their belief has brought them too.However, Owen says invincible spring. This could mean something completely different a jerky replenishing of morale, or of faith in God. It is as if they know they are going to die, and there is secret code they can do about it, but they realise all at once that this is Gods plan for them, and they will not die in vain. They were in the war for a reason to protect their country and they will die doing their job. Therefore, not antipathetical this also shows acceptation of the job God has given them.By not loath, it shows that they will not half-heartedly do their job, and they will do it richly and wilfully. It is clear ly difficult however, for them to come to terms with what seems their destiny. Despite Owens anger about the false propaganda, there does seem to be a sense that heroism has returned to the idea of war. Therefore were born could this mean sacrifice, or resurrection perhaps as with Jesus? With the line For love of God seems dying, it seems it could rather mean For love of God it seems worth dying. This shows that they would willingly die for the love of God.The last verse of Exposure is a verse that seems to predict their fate, which is ultimately a whole acceptance of this fate. Again, Owens choice of language defines the strong sense of realism and the psychological theme, as with throughout the poem. There are two lines which are most prominent, the first being This mud and us this line refers to clearly the dead bodies in the earth, but there is also a seemingly religious element in it also. A line from the Bible reads Ashes to ashes, Dust to dust.This refers to the dead bodies i n the earth returning to dust, so they are at one with the Earth, peaceful and as part of nature. It seems Owen has come to realise it is simply this which is the fate that awaits them, and he has accepted fully this fate. The last line seems slightly strange then in compliance with this, for it states But nothing happens. Is this a sudden uncertainty of what is to happen after death, or merely a sudden thought that perhaps there is simply nothing? This contradicts their religious views, as the thought of nothing happening would mean regardless of whether they were good men or not, there would be no eternal nirvana nor suffering.These two poems are relatively similar in that the main purpose for being written was to give way the horrific truth about war, which is that the ideals created by propaganda of the time that it is glorious to fight for your country, that to be a soldier is to be heroic and fearless and honourable, is opposite to the actual reality of a war. The truth of e vents in a war, for example the soldier who died from the gas attack in Dulce et Decorum est, is very different from this ideal image, for to die in such a way is certainly not glorious to anyone. As Owen vaguely questions throughout his poems, if you are to die in such a horrific and grotesque way, is it truly worth dying for your country?For as Owens retreatment into his mind in Exposure, where the soldiers suffer from severe homesickness, would one not prefer to make certain they shall return to their families to care for them, to ensure their safety, rather than die so nastily and leave their family to suffer under the effects of such a death? From each of Owens poems, it is evident that his determination and passion to expose the old lie to the public drove him to write his poems to perfection, using poetic devices and languages to fill these poems with layers of meaning, some which only Owen will know of, as a method of self-therapy to help him recover from the psychological e ffects and traumatic stress of the war. It is very sad, therefore, that he should die at such a young age, just before the ending of the war where he should have (as many soldiers who did not should have) been able to experience peace once more and also the effects his incredible poetry had on people.

The American Idea

The feel of contemporaneousness is a concept that is employed to illustrate the state of cosmosness associated to modernism which, on the other hand, refers to a pattern of thought that confirms the influence of individuals to construct, enhance, and reform their environment. Further, the enlightenment project envisions the idea that new knowledge or reason digest be obtained which enables the clearness of perception.Hence, taken altogether, modernity in the context of the enlightenment considers the capacity of human beings to establish or reestablish their environment finished the development of new wisdom and, more importantly, through the use of their reason or rationality. Jean Jacques Rousseau argued that the original state of man is unitary which is essentially free, or that freedom is originally humanitys own. Moreover, he asserts that freedom has been lost but can yet be brought back through emancipation.In terms of modernity and the enlightenment, this emancipation can be taken back by using mans rationality in order to clearly perceive what mustiness be done so that individuals can reform their environment and, in the end, reclaim the freedom that they originally bring forth. All these notions can be seen in Jose Martis Nuestra America specifically in the context of how he suggests that the Americans should act in order to reshape their environment and to eventually build a politics that is uniquely their own and one that is devoid of foreign ideas and forms.There be quite several sharp notions in Nuestra America by Jose Marti, and all of these notions precise well kick in to the revelation that with diversity comes the great possibility of acquiring an identity element independent as it is from everything else outside. Although often of what is written verifies the idea that the creation of a government of the throng surpasses that which is merely imitated, the role of the external elements can be argued as indispensable elements i n the establishment of an identity.One of the central themes in Nuestra America is the idea of the formation of the government that is distinctive and proper to the Americans. Martis argument is grounded on the premise that a government that is shaped according to other nations or that which resembles or at to the lowest degree(prenominal) partly incorporates external elements from foreign nations will not be suitable for the people and for the entire nation. It can be maintaind that Marti firmly adheres to the principle of having an identity that is solidly based on what is natural to the people and to the shack of the country.What is natural supersedes those that are artificial. And what is essentially natural to America is diversity in the truest aesthesis of the word. Apparently, Marti makes it a point to bridge the issue with diversity to that of having a strong government structured according to the innate qualities of the American people. However, it damps to consider t he fact that diversity too grants the substantial possibility of not actually unifying all the corners of the country into a single and identifiable sphere.What Marti does is to transcend this diversity and patch all the distinguishablealbeit intrinsicAmerican elements into a incorporate concept that virtually quells, at least in theory, the force of other external factors. He does this at least in the sense of proposing an ideo uniform battle, one that treats ideas far superior than brute or carnal force. Although Marti argues that bloodshed is inevitable, he also suggests that the ideas of man will have to take the core of the movement towards the establishment of an independent and unique government and that these ideas should come from the American people themselves and not from anybody else.In the opening parts of Martis ready, it can be noted that he argues that men must unify themselves from the various ranks against the seven-league giant through the force of their idea s since ideas cannot be physically destroyed. While it is remains practicable that ideas cannot be destroyed in the physical sense and that while they can significantly proliferate and claim the victory of an entire nation, the role of sheer physical force in propelling much(prenominal) ideas towards sure goals cannot be denied.It should be noted that ideas have to be juxtaposed with physical and actual attempts of progressing towards a authoritative goal which, specifically in the context of Martis Nuestra America, is the creation of an American government in the strictest sense. By remaining as mere ideas contextualized solely on that rational or thinking part of human existence, ideas can hardly be a revolutionizing tool in altering the undesirable elements within the society.In other sense, there should be the correspondence between such ideas and their physical or actual manifestation (Glennon and Johnson 2006). The absence of such a correspondence may very well inhibit the ideas from ever reaching the desired outcomes, for what good is a prolific idea that is short of touching the actual existence of social problems and the honesty of the clamoring for a physical government? Will ideas alone revolutionize a whole nation without even concretizing these ideas? Apparently, the answer to these questions is a resounding skepticism.History, at the least, tells one that most, if not all, of the changes or alterations in the society have, in one way or another, physical and actual movements which are strongly fastened to certain beliefs and ideologies (Merrill 1948). For instance, the American Revolution is considered to be founded on political and social ideologies that greatly contribute to the social movement during those times where the metaphorical ammunitions for artilleries are ideas that define what is being aimed at (Nelson 1965).Wars in Latin America are likewise strongly founded on the correspondence between ideologies and the actual manifesta tion or enacting of these ideas (Thies 2005). Nevertheless, Marti also recognizes the notion that bloodshed is a strong coefficient of his proposed ideas of the unification of the American people and the establishment of a government solely their own and from their own.Marti strengthens to solidify his claim by suggesting that those who would hear the governance of America must focus on and attempt at let oning the reality of the nation and of the peopleof the existing diversity that direly needs unificationin order to fulfill the idea that the spirit of the government is indeed the spirit that is truly derived from America and not from any other (Saldivar 1998).Hence, for those people seeking to identify what is being suggested to be identified must necessarily have the keen perception to not only feel what is real but to notice and state the solutions for the reality of the social problems or, at least, of what is intended to be addressed. Otherwise, those who seek to eliminate the external or foreign elements seeping into American thoughts will utterly fail for lack of the capacity to transcend the blurring of the mind and of critical thinking.Such an attempt to identify the reality of the nation and of the people reinforces the idea that the better and fitting individuals to achieve such feat are those who are accustomed to Americaand there can be no better person who does not only know much of America but acts and feels like America than the American. This goes to show that the foreigner cannot exactly feel the American reality, or that the foreign elements cannot entirely suffice to define the American experience although in some parts it may have something to do with it.Nevertheless, Martis Nuestra America clearly emphasizes the authors strong attachment, at least in terms of the content of the literature, with the clamoring for a pure American nation, a nation that is founded on American elements. Yet what is striking about Martis Nuestra America is the fact that it proposes for a unified government able to identify the reality of the nation, a unified government that is nonetheless rooted on a wide array of individuals or on a, roughly speaking, diversified society.It is indeed a widely held idea that the rest of America is diverse (Sullivan 1973), and that this entails the notion that a unification of all the recognized and unrecognized sectors of the nations is a monumental task. While Marti champions his assertion that foreign ideas and forms have caused the delay in the rising of a logical structure of a government of America, he fails to note that the very diversity of America also has a role in such a delay.What he does in the article is to espouse the idea that such diversity can be committed towards the creation of a unique government and a unified people and to set aside or, at least, subtly put his hands off the lingering argument that this diversity may in fact be the one which will hinder the creation of an Americ an government bereft of imported ideas and forms.Although innate forcesforces not to be limited in the military sensecan keep at bay impending external or foreign forces from entering the layer that separates what is pure from what is alien, these same internal forces have a connection with the external forces in one way or another. Part of the evidence to this can be rooted from the argument that there is no such thing as a pure race that is distinct from the rest of the races since all of mankind emerged from a single ancestry otherwise known as Homo sapiens (McBrearty 1990).With the idea that all of humanity came from a single line of ancestry, by definition there can be no such thing as race and that the demarcation between the American race and the other races is dissolved. Technically, it may be true that mankind belongs to the same ancestry. Practically, there are staggering realities that ultimately create a wide space between socially constructed races or equivalents there of.Hence, although Jose Marti actually claims that there is no such thing as hatred for the other races because there are no races, he actually argues in Nuestra America that the people should consider the past, family and ancestral roots of the Americans and do aside with what can be termed as colonial inheritance for it entails things that are corrupt and defunct. By criticizing the Parisians or Madrileos, Marti actually draws the line between what is American from what is not.And in doing so, it cannot be avoided that Nuestra America in essence may contribute to the enlargement of the space that divides America from the imported ideas and forms and, thus, the treatment of these foreign entities as others. Martis litigate also appears to signify that America is indeed its own, and that what belongs to others is theirs as well which brings us back to what Martis work purports to address yet fails to meetthat there is no hatred among races because there is no such thing as race.Ir onically, while Nuestra America echoes the clamoring for a unique government that is purely American by vanquishing the foreign or imported ideas that are imbibed into the society, it also establishes the idea of separating what is American from what is not if indeed a separation can ever be achieved at all, if not physically, at least ideologically. The fact that America and its people are diverse is a compelling reason to push the idea that the rest of America can hardly a government molded into a single, unified entity where opposition is inexistent or kept at a manageable level.Moreover, heathen relativism proclaims the idea that several values such as ethical values of rightness or wrongness may actually vary from culture to culture, and that heathenish supremacy or the superiority of one culture from the other relatively varies as well on certain cultural perspectives (Schmidt 1955). From this, one can observe that Martis article conveys the idea that, by excluding anything that is foreign to the system of ideas of the American population, the American ideals are preferred over the foreign ones.Although there is no perspicuous mentioning that American ideals are far off better than imported ideas, by embracing American ideas in the formation of a unique government one actually albeit subliminally pursues the underlying surmise that what is inwrought is more preferred since it applies better and fitting to the contextual nature of America and, therefore, is superior over the rest at least when put into the context of the formation of a unique government.Interestingly, cultural relativism tells us otherwise. The American attempt to furnish for themselves a unique government excludes the assumption that imported ideas may also serve a contributive purpose in meeting such an end in replacement for defunct native ideas.While Nuestra America purports to assert for an American identity through its government and purely American ideas while straining foreig n elements away from such a perceptible feat, it also substantiates on the thesis of using the American diversity as a means towards unifying the whole, condensing them altogether into a single native label called America without discussing much about the weakening force such a diversity may take with it.Nevertheless, Jose Marti nails the crucial point in his workthe great significance of ideas in the advancement of an American identityby taking consideration the role of ideas in revolutionizing a nation flustered with unfamiliar or imported ideas. While it may be the case that ideas without corresponding actions are like vehicles without wheels, it certainly is the case that actions without ideas are like violent storms which display their destructive might while leaving debris and rubbish after the winds and heavy rains abate.

Shutter Island

The movie I chose to watch is called Shutter Island. Shutter Island, released in February 2010, is a psychological thriller directed by Martin Scorsese. The story is luck in Boston in 1954. The main character is a U. S put, named break Daniels, played by Leonardo Dicaprio. Teddy plays the role of a U. S Marshal. He is assigned to investigate a missing patient from Bostons Shutter Island Ashecliffe Hospital along with this partner Chuck. The patient they be toilsome to find is named Rachel Solando.She had been admitted to this hospital because she had drowned her 3 kids. As he began his investigation he soon begins to realise that this place isnt what it seems to be. As the movie begins, Daniels and his partner are shown traveling to Shutter Island to investigate the disappearance of a patient from a mental hospital. However, as the plot unravels we see that Daniels has a mental disorder of his own. Teddy seems to have more than one disorder or mental illness due to all the thing s hes been through.One of the illnesss he has is dissociative Identity Disorder. He shows two very distinct identities. He switches from being a mental patient who murdered his wife, to being a U. S Marshal investigating a mental institution. When he is in one identity he forgets about his other one. He also experiences many hallucinations, where he thinks hes seeing a certain object but it really isnt there and that is a symptom of the identity disorder.An identity that is not in control may nonetheless gain access to a consciousness by producing visual hallucinations. In this movie Teddy has a lot of fast migraines, It is said that an individual who has an identity disorder will experience migraines, asthma attacks and bowel syndrome. He also has Schizophrenia. He constantly experiences hallucinations and is occupied with one or more at a time. Another disorder that is presented is Delusional Disorder.

Book Review: Soft Skills for Success

Author informationGRK Murty, a postgraduate in Agricultural sciences with CAIIB, DM and PG Diploma in Personnel Management and Industrial Relations, is currently workings for The ICFAI University, as Associate Dean. Earlier, he worked at AP Agricultural University, Hyderabad for 6 years and later with Bank of India for 27 years. He had a reaching at Bank of India Management Development Institute, Mumbai as a faculty member and Vice- Principal. He took freewill retirement as Asst. General Manager in the year 2000.He has published around 45 papers in Science, Banking, Management and Insurance journals. He has also presented papers on Banking and Insurance at subject and International seminars. He has published 100 articles in finance and HR magazines. He has to his credit 2 edited books Forex Markets Exchange Rate Dynamics and Derivatives Markets Vol 1. He is the Consulting Editor for the ICFAI Journal of Bank Management.The Book there is a popular belief that in todays fast c hanging and challenging line of descent environment, soft skills are more critical for success than hard skills. This is a misconception. The reality is that it has al ways been that way Nobody in history ever succeeded in delivering a great executive and business exercise consistently by dint of hard skills alone. General and widespread awareness of the tremendous importance of soft skills in commission is, of course, a more recent phenomenon. As the world has becomemore and more warring in recent decades, organizations are finding that under-productivity and incompetence of their personnel are becoming less(prenominal) and less affordable.And when the factors determining employee effectiveness are analyzed, m any organizations find glaring inadequacies in soft skills, undermining the effectiveness of their smartest, hardest working and most knowledgeable employees/executives. The managers concerned would non have been recruited in the first place for their soft skills at the recruitment stage, their domain knowledge alone would have been comprehensively tested and retested. Nor would they have received any particularly meaningful training subsequently in soft skills improvement, because until recently, soft skills seldom received the help they deserved. Most organizations worked on the premise that soft skills are inherited skills and they cannot be acquired.At best, they can only be cultivated, honed or fine-tuned along the way in a managerial or executive career done observation and experience. In the actual experience of many organizations, such hopes count onm to have been significantly belied, necessarily warranting resort, in recent decades, to a more professional approach for the enrichment of this critically important managerial gossip within the organization. The imperatives of competitiveness pushed organizations to give increased attention to the soft skills of their people, which seemed to really script the success of organizations re pair than mere hard skills. The problem has been extensively discussed and researched upon, resulting in the emergence of a whole lot of literary productions on the subject in the last couple of decades.A lot of work has been done on the judgement of soft skills and on the various measures for improvements in the levels of such skills across the cadres in many progressive organizations. docile Skills for Success by GRK Murty, discusses the whole gamut of soft skills in a lucid, persuasive and self-explanatory fashion, between the covers of a well-written, 200-page volume. The treatment is intended for the lay reader and is quite free from jargon. Even so, the book is comprehensive without being pedantic. By drawing generously upon the views, ideas and thoughts of a wide spectrum of management experts, academics and business magnates and matching them with the traditional intelligence of the prescriptions of oriental and occidental scriptures and classics, the book invests itsel f with credibility and authority. The author organizes the book in four divisions.The first sectiontitled Know Thyself introduces the reader to a definition and description of soft skills. The second section focuses on role, role perception and the management of role-conflicts in the work situation. It has a chapter exclusively dedicated to the discussion of creative thinking in the workplace. The third section on Communication and Personality Differentiation offers cogent and well argued essays on communication skills, listening skills and negotiating skills, in separate chapters. The fourth and final section is dedicated to interpersonal skills. The six interesting chapters in this section deal with issues like assertiveness, handling of interpersonal conflicts, counseling, leadership, mentoring, etc.CriticismThe author provides a dictatorial and uncomplicated treatment of the various topics taken up for coverage. The book is compact without being dense, and takes the reader thr ough a guided tour of the soft skills domain. It is an interesting and informative excursion. Given the importance of the subject bailiwick of the book to the aspirants in the employment market as also to those already pursuing careers in management (adequately equipped with appropriate hard skills for jobs but looking out for reinforcement of soft skills), and given the nifty and stimulating manner in which the subject has been presented, it can fairly and safely be predicted that the book would see several reprints in the years to come.ConclusionSoft Skills are intangible, hard to define but thats what makes us a whole human being, a social individual. Successful people are always found to be not just professional but they also have these PLUS qualities soft skills that others do not posses

Business: Automobile and Proton Essay

This assignment contains about business environment. line environment refers to different forces or surroundings that affect business operations. Such forces include guests, competitors, suppliers, distributors, industry trends, substitutes, regulations, presidency activities, the parsimony, and social and cultural factors. Others atomic number 18 innovations and technological festerings. We choose Proton Holdings Berhad because we think this local fel wretchedship is the best social club for us to do this business environment assignment because this b highway(prenominal) society use this include Macro, Micro and inner Environment.PROTON COMPANY BACKGROUND Proton Holdings Berhad (stylized PROTON) is a Malaysian simple machine manufacturer. It is headquartered in Shah Alam, Selangor and operates an additional manufacturing plant in Tanjung Malim, Perak. The ships company was founded in 1983 and was the sole vehicle manufacturer in Malaysia until the establishment of Perodu a in 1993. Proton is a Malay acronym for Perusahaan Otomobil Nasional Sendirian Berhad. (English topic Automobile Company Private Limited).Proton was largely a manufacturer of badge engineered vehicles from Mitsubishi Motors between 1985 and the early 2000s. The company has since produced several indigenously designed vehicles and operates in at least 26 countries, of which the majority atomic number 18 in Asia. Proton was formerly owned by Khazanah Nasional, the investment holding arm of the g everywherenment of Malaysia. In January 2012, it was taken over by DRB-HICOM, a Malaysian conglomerate in a transaction amounting RM1. 2 billion.Proton, predominantly reliant on the local industry is currently undergoing major structural and internal changes, as evident in the appointment of a unexampled owner, partner, Chairman and the launch of various unseasoned and upcoming shapes in an beat to gain an international presense and increment profitability. PROTON produced Malaysias initial motorcar, the Proton SAGA which was commerci ally launched on July 9, 1985 by Malaysian acme Minister, Dato Seri Dr. Mahathir Mohamad who conceived the idea of a Malaysian car.One of the reason of this chance uponment is due to the introduction of new(a) positions with high profit margins, stronger sales tawdriness, savings from group- immense embody-reduction initiatives, income from the sale of rights for use of Intellectual Property Rights relating to a vehicle platform (for the China market) as rise as the R&D grant. For the social class 2008, PROTONs focus would be in the core beas of product, quality, cost efficiency and distribution net civilize. PROTON aims to prepare a strong product portfolio by introducing the right car, for the right market, at the right price and at the right time.This was reflected in the governances newly introduced Exora, Persona and Saga Models, with the latter powered by the new CamPro IAFM engine. PROTON has overly continue d to modify and refresh existing product lines to entice and attract customers. PROTON cars are also known internationally as competitive and innovative automobiles. PROTON now is being exported to 50 countries like United Kingdom and continental European markets, in that respectby realizing its goal of being an internationally successful Malaysian automobile manufacturer.The first PROTON car was exported in 1986. The number has increased steadily and in 1998, Malaysia exported a total of 18,422 units to countries and areas, including Argentina, Australia, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belgium, Brunei Darussalam, Chile, Cyprus, Egypt, Fiji, Germany, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Maldives, Mauritius, Oman, Philippines, Qatar, the Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Slovenia, Sri Lanka, Taiwan body politic of China, Tur hear, United Arab Emirates and United Kingdom. The models being exported include Wira, Sedan/Aeroback, Satria and Putra.PROTONs exports are the most successful in the United Kingdom due to its competitive pricing strategy and its buyback arrangement with car lease companies in the country. PROTON also benefited from the Generalised Preferences Scheme that made it easy for them to enter the United Kingdom market. PROTON has introduced a few upgraded models with higher engine capacity and sporty design to establish its presence internationally. PROTON is focusing to be more(prenominal) customer-oriented and by producing competitively priced and innovative products. It is therefore contributing to the Malaysias attainment of Vision 2020. main Body.Macroenvironment a) POLITICAL FACTORS Currently, most of ASEAN region are free trade or 96% of the entire ASEAN trade. Asiatic Free Trade Area was established in January of 1992 in order to eliminate tariff barriers among the selenium Asian countries. It planned to reduce tariffs to zero to 5% in 15 years among the six nations through a common effective preferential tariff (Ghani & Zainuddin 20 08). If we are going to check on the high selling prices of the national cars of Malaysia because of high doing costs and lack of vendor efficiency, there is a fully grown possibility that the local market will be ruled by imported cars.In Malaysia, PROTON prices are kept comparatively lower to foreign manufacturers through protectionism. Protectionist policy has largely been blamed for PROTON s stagnating performance. b) scotch FACTORS The vehicle sales in the country is expected to fall by year by year due to different economic aspect, primarily the issue of global financial crisis, which affected the local financial status of the country (AseanOneMonitoring 2009). As a result, the organisation of the country is expecting a slow economic step-up for the country, which can affect the buying behavior of the customers.Furthermore, due to the AFTA, it had increased the competition, which will impact the performance of Proton. c) friendly FACTORS The ontogeny population in the country is one of the factors which can affect the automobile industry. Furthermore, the ratio of car ownership in the country is somewhat high or total of 15, which signifies that people are considering cars as measurable things in their lives. Furthermore, people will also set on wide-ranging-ticket items or consumers are expected to put off buying different motor vehicles because of the employment market incredulity because of the global and local financial crisis (AseanOneMonitoring 2009).d) TECHNOLOGICAL FACTORS delinquent to the increasing competition, the outgrowth in technology is suppuration and affecting the performance and position of each and every company in the automobile industry. It is also important to consider the maturity of technology, together with the maturity and capacity of manufacturing, which affect the innovation process of any company. Due to the different technologies, primarily the help of computer and the Internet, the potential for innovation an d development is increasing. Microenvironment * SuppliersThe supplier has a so-so(p) power over the industry. This is because there are few dominant suppliers in the industry who are well known for quality and brand imold age. Provide the resources to produce goods and services. Treated as partners to fork over customers service. Proton Supplier, AV Ventures steering, wiper arm and washer and window regulator systems. Ichikoh, Head lamp, mirror (also for Toyota, Nissan, and Subaru). * Other stakeholders Protons key stakeholders are the Environment, the Malaysian establishment, the Malaysian public, car owners as well as its vendors and suppliers.The Malaysia Government owns 52% of Proton shares through Khazanah, Petronas and ValueCap. ValueCap is a government investment arm. The government also heavily subsidizes the production of proton cars by giving grants and exemptions/tax credits. But scorn that, Proton continues to require loses. The Malaysian public is the indirect sha reholder through EPF (Employees Provident Fund), government unit put funds Amanah Saham Bumiputera, Amanah Saham Malaysia) and Lembaga Tabung Haji. Together these funds hold around 20% of Proton shares.Additionally, it is the public that pays the tax, which then is used to provide grants and tax credits. Proton also involves in sponsorships in the area of education and sports as well as donations to the needy. Customers or car owners cant find the exact figures of active Protons cars currently being driven all over Malaysia but I would estimate the figure to be around 3 million (assuming no cars have been fully retired). The figure is justified since I can still delay many first generation Proton Saga cars on the road.Environment also externality factor to be considered by having almost 3 million proton cars on our road (most of the cars produced are sold topically in Malaysia ). Moreover, the earlier generations of Proton are nearing loneliness and may need to be sent to scrap yard and contribute to our ever increasing bodge disposal problem. Vendors and Suppliers More than 80 per cent of Proton dowerys are currently produced or supplied by automotive component manufacturers and suppliers.Protons network of 287 vendors and approximately 3,000 sub-vendors currently supply more than 5,000 individual components and parts for its cars. * Intermediaries We continued to work with our distributors and dealers in a number of ways, most importantly, on programs designed to enhance the sales and service obtain for our customers. The strengthening of the domestic sales and service network remain our key focus to improve customer service and maintain our market share. Proton Cars Australia recorded retail sales of 1,388 units, an increase of 55%.This was the second largest increase in per centumage monetary value of any OEM in Australia. The higher sales were attributed to the success of the Jumbuck (Arena) which accounted for 786 units. Proton Cars UK managed t o retail a total of 507 units of Jumbuck (Arena), which represented 80% of the sub one ton single cab petrol pick-up market. fundamental sales however, recorded a decline of 14% with the gradual phasing out of the old products. Proton has continued to achieve excellent results in the 2004 UK J. D. Power Customer Satisfaction Survey.Proton tied for 10th position in the general Top Brand Category out of 33 brands and was placed second in Dealer aid Satisfaction, just behind Lexus. Further inroad into the neighbouring Asean markets is expected in 2005 with the establishment of Proton Edar In through with(p)sia and Proton Singapore. * Competitor The big competitor in Malaysia in term of automobile companies and affordable car is PERODUA. The competitive environment as we can see roughly in Malaysia is affordable car where all citizens in Malaysia can buy it and the car maintenances also cheap.Here, the porter four are been applied for more clearly because the competitive environment not moreover about the competitor. It can be about the economic recession, natural disaster and etc. i) Competitive tilt In Malaysia, there is not too much competitor around affordable car. The low cost car as I mentioned above (cheap maintenance) is not have a lot of competitor in generally. The affordable car in Malaysia also, gets more potential to sell compared to luxury car. The luxury car is notwithstanding certain people used. As we see the environment in Malaysia, 1 family will have more than 1 car.For sure, the first car they will choose the cheaper car and affordable car. ii) Threat of New appetizer (high) The economic recession will be a big bane for PROTON. As we know, all big company will facing over budget or does not achieve the sale for that year. The government will lose a lot of money cause of policy and shareholders. By the way, economic carry out turn actually comes suddenly without notice. iii) Threat of Substitutes (high) Substitutes also will be a big th reat for PROTON. Malaysia has to national car. The First automobile is PROTON and secondly PERODUA.The substitutes will high in term of car model (some of car model looks similar), and car spare part. iv) Buyer Power Buyer will choose the low cost car for the first car and vendee also actually are fragmented. So, it will not has much influence. * Customer Customers are the source of our income. We deliver on our promises to our customers satisfaction. The process in identifying the consumer target for new Proton Exora 2 is important due to the fact that consumers tend to have different brand knowledge structures and therefrom they will perceive differently for the products or services.Proton has successfully identified their target market, according to the segmentation bases namely behavioral, demographic and psychographic factors. INTERNAL ENVIRONMENT Marketing The company used to segment its market on variables such as behavioral, demographic, and geographical differences. Beha vioral air division Behavioral segmentation is based on the customers needs and subsequent reaction to those needs or toward the purchase of intended products and/or services. Demographic Segmentation Demographic segmentation refers to a wide study of the potential customers.Since the company is targeting its market to more economy class customers, demographic segmentation is employed by the company. Geographical Segmentation Geographical segmentation is done by dividing people (markets) into different geographical locations. The company targets markets of different countries different than Malaysia. Production PROTONs model products include WAJA, SATRIA, GTi, WIRA, ISWARA, ARENA, PERDANA V6, JUARA, PERSONA and EXORA. The range of 1. 3, 1. 5, 1. 6, 1. 8 and 2. 0 litre engines satisfies a wide spectrum of customers both locally and abroad.PROTONs model products include WAJA, SATRIA, GTi, WIRA, ISWARA, ARENA, PERDANA V6, JUARA, PERSONA and EXORA. The range of 1. 3, 1. 5, 1. 6, 1. 8 and 2. 0 litre engines satisfies a wide spectrum of customers both locally and abroad. Based on technology and parts from Mitsubishi Motors, production of the first model, the Proton Saga began in family 1985 at its first manufacturing plant in Shah Alam, Selangor. The 100,000th Proton Saga was produced in January 1989 and latest model is Suprima S. Finance Proton maintained gigantic financial profit thought the 1980s till 2000 due to their high market share in Malaysia.But with the launch of an arch rival Perodua in 1993, Proton was about to have a big run for its money and this came to reality in the 2000s. Protons market share dropped in 2006 to 30. 4% for the Malaysian market. Their generated receipts of 7,796 ( Million in Malaysian Ringgit) in 2006 was the second lowest in the last seven years as the company have always hit the billion Ringgit mark in the previous 7 years. This fall allowed Perodua to overtake Proton as the countrys largest passenger carmaker for the first ti me in history, with a 41. 6% market share while Proton fell from 40% in 2005 to 32% in 2006.Their market share continued to reduce down to 23. 1% in 2010 mainly due to new government policies. For example, under AFTA, Malaysia has reduced import tariffs, admittedly after having secured a two-year deferral from ASEAN. second tariffs on completely built-up (CBU) unites were reduced from a band of 70 90 percent to 20 percent at the start of 2005. However, it is important to understanding that Proton losing its market share to Perodua, another Malaysian automobile that was create a decade after full operation of Proton could hint some gaps in their management system.In other to justify these claims, it is necessary to have a look at their in-depth financial performance since the 2000s and how they have coped with loses in relation to their internationalization project. Personnel The overall thrust of our Human Resource strategy is to recruit, reenforce and retain the best employees. During the year, a number of recruitment road shows were conducted in Malaysia as well as the UK among backsheeshing engineering and business universities to meet our growing requirement. The response was overwhelming and more such road shows are being planned for the coming year.An internship program for graduate trainees was implemented during the year to meet the growing needs of the business. The Human Resource Management Group has continued to be the key forum for the communion of policies and issues affecting the employees. The Group comprising representatives from the Senior Management and the Proton Workers Union meet on a monthly root word to discuss strategic human resource issues affecting employees. It is a unique program that allows regular communication and prompt resolution of issues as well as participation by the Union in the development of policies affecting the employees.Research & Development The Group continues to inquiry new technologies with the ultimate aim to put these innovations into production through partnerships with Tier One Suppliers or OEM customers. Two such advancements likely to see production are engine technology AVT (Active Valve Train) and chassis technology VVA (Versatile Vehicle Architecture). The Group has also invested significantly on the development of new innovative products to meet the challenges of the market place. During the financial year, the Group invested RM542. 9 million (2003 RM413 million) in research and development.For 2004, total development expenditure increased significantly with work focused on the development of new models on a number of platforms including the leading edge Versatile Vehicle Architecture (VVA). The VVA reduces the time it takes to channel a new product to market and helps meet changing demand more quickly. Globally, we are base towards shared technologies so that vehicles can be differentiated while using common components. The reduction in development time will create gr eater efficiency and the standardisation will also lead to greater economies of scale in purchasing components.Development has also begun on an aluminium-bodied vehicle built on the VVA platform. Increased fuel efficiency and power through weight reduction and material recyclability are key factors that have conspired together to promote the use of aluminium in vehicle body structures for high volume production. CONCLUSION Proton is aiming to become one of the strong competitors of the automobile companies in market. So, as other existed competitors challenge the other proton company, they were inspired by them to develop a quality business for the customers.Competitive advantage is what they are targeting for company and there are business motivational is about the capabilities in automobile companies . Even they are realizing that there are some existed competitors have their own abilities in the automobile, they are also have the buyer Power. The buyer will choose the cheap car f or the first car and buyer also actually are fragmented. Therefore, it will not have much affecting. Besides that, they are always finds a way to make the market being effective with their strong distribution network.However, the companies of proton is the most famous company in Malaysia as we know and they will try the best to ensure that damage will occur. Moreover, proton also is one of the companies which offend a inspiration on all people and race in Malaysia irrespective early age or that old. Everyone knows, that Proton has various product automobile with the design distinctive. Some, from revenue scooped the great of benefits had rival that high with others automobile company. Even though, it still will ensure that Proton companies will always stable with economy and in terms of from product aspect is that best and high quality.

Milgram and the Nazis

From the send of view of David who was unable to see the various available texts attempting to explain the atrocities of the holocaust, it may truly appear to him as if Germans had developed sadistic, twisted, abnormal individualalities. He was an uninformed boy, if we would discuss to him the experiment of Milgram on obedience, perhaps it could open his pass a bit about the different factors that could have influenced the Germans to act in compliance the way they did in WWII.It is the case that Milgram conducted his research on obedience as a result of his own attempt to guess and answer the cause of mayhem during the holocaust, at least to the extent that people complied to participate in such(prenominal) acts as merely following their orders. It appears that through the controversial Milgram experiments, Germans would have a warranted defense of merely macrocosm compliant to instructions be condition out by an authority. Milgram himself did non want to make it meet as if t he Nazis, including Germans who aided in execution of Jews in World War Two were merely being obedient he accepts the fact that there was an anti-Semite ideological indoctrination in play as well.Milgrams experiment included an accomplice participant in the form of the learner, a typically Norman person randomly invited and always gets to become the teacher, and Milgrams assistant as the experimenter. The teacher is tasked to teach the learner and whenever the last mentioned makes a mistake he is to be administered with an electric shock that ranged from low to dangerous levels.Every quantify the learner identifys an error, the voltage would be increased, during such increase, the learner would demonstrate suffering from pain, on later forms of the experiment, veritable(a) mentioning a heart condition, pleading for the whole thing to stop (all pretend). One would think that the teachers would refuse at the onset of hearing the learner being harmed and wanting to quit. However, w ith the right amount of push, and command of the experimenter, 65% of the participants keep with the experiment up to the very last voltage range.Milgrams study though was seen to be about unethical, proved to be a legitimate way of explaining the pressure and high degree of compliance to a perceived higher authority. This would easily debunk the answer of David, in such a way that we could not simply assume that Germans have become or were evil people who complied because they were sadistic. Rather it is the better definition to see that participants from everyday walks of life can act to commit evil things under certain conditions as a way of complying to orders. In a sense that what happened during the Holocaust was not committed by monsters in the form of Germans, but rather by people who were ordered to act out the wishes of a anomalous authority in form of Hitler. (Milgram, 1974)Hitler was considered a legitimate source of power and thus obedience was perceived to be the n ecessary response to his orders despite these people possibly feeling stressed and personally not desiring to act in such ways. They were led to believe that it is what it is, a following of a command that was given to them as an imperative form of compliance.The participation of Germans in the execution of innocent Jews is indeed brutal to give tongue to the least, but Milgram offers through his research an explanation, in which we are able to see that these people acted as a result of situational pressure not because they had an evil character per se. They are ordinary people led to commit evil acts, although a choice was always present, it showed that the probability of defiance begin to deteriorate after adhering to a command during the initial phase. Yes, some German soldiers refused to follow the orders, but it was a significantly low role and prior to the actual atrocities. Non-compliance also meant being punished, thus most of Germans had to act in the way they did.Davids answer is weak. Hitler used his position to manipulate ordinary men and women to act on evil, hes the twisted fellow, theres no need to generalize.ReferencesMilgram, S. (1974), Obedience to Authority An Experimental View, New York harpist and Row.

Understanding Organisations and the Role of Hr

1. Introduction The apprise note is aimed to embolden a new manager to gain some understanding of the governance in preparation for their start. initiative is a private sector organisation that has a current turnover of ? 1. 1bn. green light currently employs circa 17,000 people including direct and DSP faculty. 1. 1 attempt is the UKs largest dedicated aid and front-line dish out supplier to the public sector and utility industry. 2. Company Analysis 2. 1 endeavour offers a wide range of services to its customers.The affair is split into two grades, one of which is the Government division. The Government division offers nationwide coverage in the following work out streams Grounds Maintenance, street cleansing, refuse collection, fond housing, asbestos surveys & removal, construction repairs & brinytenance and local anesthetic courses. The Government division is involved in a joint venture with Amymouchel. The atomic number 16 major division is the Utilities division . The Utilities division is broken down further into sub divisions which atomic number 18, defence, MOD, gas, water and power.The main component of the Utilities division as a whole is to perform maintenance tasks including fixing water leaks, repairing gas leaks, inst completelyation Utility supplies, normaling and installing power substations and repairing broken connections. The Utilities -division is also involved in joint ventures with Carillion and new Housing solutions. enterprise also has a Central Support division that contains dedicated plane sections who professionalvide support services to the group. The shares at bottom the central support overwhelm Finance, I. T, Payroll, Central HR, wellness & golosh, Commercial, Procurement and Marketing. See Appendices 1. ) 2. 2 Due to the fact that Enterprise set ups such a diversity of services the customers are both from the semipublic and Private sector. Enterprise has long term partnerships with Local and Central Government. An manakin of this would be a 28 year waste partnership with Solihull Borough Council. Other Local Government organisations that Enterprise perceives as customers currently include London Borough of Barking and Dagenham, Liverpool City Council, Wolverhampton City Council, Manchester City Council, Gloucestershire City Council and Peterborough City Council.Central Government customers include MOD falsifying Estates, Highways Agency and Transport for London. Enterprise works closely with Utilities companies to provide peoples homes and business with tested gas, power, and water and communication links daily and has major contracts and partnerships with the following customers United Utilities, Severn Trent Water, Scottish Power e-on heartiness and National Grid. As the majority of Enterprise operations are carried out at bottom the community they piddle a high emphasise on Corporate indebtedness in order to engage the wider community. . 3 Enterprise has a unique app roach in terms of its purpose and goals. The main purpose of the organisation is captured within the mission statement which is To be at the heart of our customers and communities delivering plans to remedy service and maintain congenital infra social system for present and future generations in an environment that allows our people to contribute and realise their full authorization. Enterprise as a Private organisation has a purpose of providing a financial indemnity to its S make fullholders as well as surviving and developing if possible.Enterprise has a set of capricious principles that define the goals that work towards delivering the Enterprise vision which is In our chosen markets of utilities and the public sector, to be the leading integrated service provider focused on front line delivery. The 5 driving principles are as follows Health & Safety As Enterprise work at the centre of peoples lives and neighbourhoods Health & Safety of both employees and members of the pu blic is paramount. This means that the policies are rigorous, thorough and proven.Community Cohesion and Well Being Responsibility in the community that Enterprise works in, the companies it works with and the employees. Sustainable communities that balance the social, economic and environmental components of their local area. This will benefit the residents, businesses and future generations. Partnership & People Enterprises preferred method of working with a customer is through a transparent partnership. This facilitates communication and enables better working relationships.The flexible pro active nature of these partnerships allows contracts to evolve and move with the changing nature of the industry and customers take aim in the credence of Enterprise. Enterprise follows a respecting people agenda which allows employees to influence service delivery. They continually invest in skills and expert knowledge in order to remain an innovative leading service provider. Performance Improvement & scoop out Value The experience and knowledge Enterprise has of its markets, combined with their least cost operating models, enable them to design services that produce improved performance and best value for customers.Technology and Innovation Enterprise has innovative applied science and bespoke software that designed by an in house team. This increases the efficiency of operation and improves communications between sites, offices and customers. IT is at the core of all operations and a least cost, improved performance is essential to as sure enough a safe workplace. 2. 4 Enterprise believes that external factors do have an impact on the business activities of the organisation. Please see (Appendices 2. ) which is a PESTLE analysis of Enterprise.Listed below are four examples of external factors that Enterprise will be directly affected by, Auto Enrolment This is the Government initiative that Enterprise considers as a political external influence. Auto enrolment is aimed at getting employees enrolled into a pension scheme. Enterprise as a large business has to do this by April 2013. Employees are automatically enrolled into the scheme with the plectron to opt out. The minimum contribution of the employees is 1% of their salary with a contribution from the employer. The impact on Enterprise is financial due to the contribution to the pension scheme.The fact that all employees need to be communicated with and active with the scheme is a drain on cost and time. Enterprise has had to employee a number of temporary staff who specialise in pensions to guide and work on the impact of the scheme. This again is a financial personal credit line on the organisation. Rising Fuel Costs Enterprise have identified the increasing rise in fuel costs as a potential threat to the business. Enterprise has reacted to this by introducing a spurn initiative. All new starters to the business are given information on ways to save fuel, for example car sharing .As many of the operations within Enterprise involve vehicles and plant reducing fuel use of goods and services is extremely important. Graduates Enterprise has always had a graduate scheme and recruits every year. Due to the both social and political impacts the number of graduates per year is decreasing, increased university cost sand high rates of unemployment are the main contributors for this. This is impacting on the business in terms of reduced Graduate vacancies and fewer specialist candidates. Enterprise catch graduates as the future and look to endowment fund manage graduates into certain arrears of the business.They are also seen as specimen candidates whilst succession planning. A positive impact of the above is that apprentice schemes have become a frequent alternative within the UK and Enterprise has over 130 active apprentices. This is a 50% increase on 2010 figures. Adverse Weather Over the last few of years the weather has changed significantly which has had a n effect on Enterprise. It has impacted the business in both a positive and negative way. For example due to the ratty weather in the winter the need for winter grit to be laid on the road has increased, this means business for Enterprise in this area has been amplified.On the opposite side of the coin, during wet summers work on the roads for example laying new cables and surfacing dressing can be a shadowy process. Enterprise perceives this as an external Environmental factor that is difficult to manage. 2. 5 Enterprise operates a constituted hierarchical organisational structure predominantly but has aspects of span of control structure also. This is mainly due to the surface of the organisation and the variety of services it offers. As Enterprise is split into two major divisions with sub sections within these departments it is difficult to put the overall organisational chart into context.Enterprise does have aspects of a Matrix organisation. This is dependent on projects t hat need to be undertaken or new contracts that are won. Enterprise has to be flexible to endorse this kind of structure and have the resources to cover staff movement. Please see (Appendices 2. ). Enterprise produces quarterly organisational charts to track any movements that take place and analyse where people slot in to the business. Appendices 2, illustrates the structure of the finance department for Enterprise which is a relatively tall conventional structure and is built up via a number of levels.Within the finance department there are several different functions including, financial accountants, purchase to pay, sales ledger, paysheet and treasury. This chart highlights the positions of all the employees that make up each function and how they are all interlinked to make the finance department as a whole. It also confirms the spans of control of Managers and supervisors. 2. 6 As described in 2. 5 the Finance department in Enterprise has several different functions. An expla nation of how these functions work together ould be as follows The periodical payroll team pulls together the payroll 3 eld before the money is due in any case reach the employees accounts. This has to be signed by the Support Services manager. Once this has been signed payroll process, this is then with the treasury department to allocate the monies into the accounts of the employees in time for pay day 3 days later. After this the accountants are left to analyse the payments for each department of the business and raise any queries they may have. 2. 7 The culture of Enterprise is outlined in the mission statement and within its 5 driving principles (see 2. ). Enterprise also has a strict set of values that it expects all of its employees to follow * Integrity Transparency, relationship, fair, impartial and professional * Practicality Straightforward, productive, innovative and pragmatic * Achievement Focussed, driven, clear, ambition and success * Collaborative Flexible, positive, incentivised, developing, community and team * reactivity Listen, engage, create and participate The culture of Enterprise does have an affect on operations. Examples below 1.Due to Enterprises commitment to its vision, principles and values, Enterprise can offer responsive efficient services provided by dedicated individuals 2. Enterprise works within the community promoting local employment and engagement with the use of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) through the Enterprise introduction which is a vehicle dedicated to delivering community related support and improvement projects. This is a list part of the CR agenda. 2. 8 Enterprise has a dedicated central HR function that supports the organisations strategy in many ways.Please see below three examples of this Learning & Development Enterprise encourages employees to undertake training courses to improve personal development. HR will research particular courses to make sure they are relevant to the employees rol e and report back to the budget holders with the findings. PDR Workshops Enterprises HR team offers managers the opportunity to attend workshops to make sure they carry out PDRs efficiently (personal development reviews. ) For example it is explained that the PDRs are linked to talent management which looks at developing Enterprises current employees linking back to the business strategy.Induction Corporate inductions are delivered by the HR department to all new starters. This is seen as essential to emphasise to all employees the vision, goals and strategy of the business as well as making new employees welcome and provides key statutory information. 2. 9 The HR function at Enterprise is always on hand to provide support to line mangers and their staff. Here are three ways in which they achieve this * Updating policies and procedures in accordance with legislative changes and with the business needs. fashioning sure these are easily accessible for line managers and their employees to access. * by dint of knowledge and experience HR professionals within Enterprise provide managers with support on disciplinary issues. Making sure that the correct process is followed to avoid tribunal cases. * HR systems are an integral part of Enterprise as all office based staff use them. The HR team control these systems and provide data from them to support managers needs. 3. Conclusion This briefing document is aimed at familiarising a new manager with the services, structure and systems of Enterprise.It has shown that Enterprise is a large maintenance and front line service provider within the public sector and utilities industry employing circa 17,000 staff in the UK. The structure is a miscellanea of conventional, hierarchical and matrix. The services include all aspect of utilities including repairs of gas, water, power and electricity and public services including construct maintenance and refuse collecting. HR supports the business by being a point of contact for managers and employees on any issues they have. This works towards Enterprise achieve it overall strategy and goals.