Comparison and Contrast of Two Articles Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Comparison and Contrast of Two Articles - Essay Example Beyrer’s (2010) article in turn seeks to find a solution that addressed the technical difficulties plaguing students, and hampering learning in online classes. Both articles used the term online to refer to a certain form of instructional method, people, or abilities that make use of the World Wide Web. In â€Å"Comparing Student Achievement in Online and Face-to-Face Class Formats,† Dell, Low and Wilker (2010) used the term online to refer to a form of teaching method that was used as a basis for comparison with the more traditional chalk and blackboard method of teaching, which has been practiced for years. They used the term to refer to a world wide web-aided learning that professors used to channel their lessons and teachings. Dell, Low and Wilker’s (2010) wrote that: A research project was conducted to analyze student achievement using submitted assignments for two sections of a graduate course in human development and learning, taught both online and face-t o-face, as well as three sections of undergraduate educational psychology, two of which were taught face-to-face, and one taught online. (p. 30) In this paragraph, the authors used online to give readers a mental picture of how the online teaching format was done; it also elucidates the items used from which to draw a quantifiable comparison between the two teaching platforms used. â€Å"Online teaching and learning is now commonly offered in teacher education programs, with students enrolled in either individual classes or entire programs online† (Dell, Low, & Wilker, 2010, p. 30). Here, the authors used online to refer to a list of courses that students can take via the web. According to the Montgomery College in Maryland (2006), online courses are convenient, flexible, individualized, promote life-long learning, and are cost-effective. The growing popularity of online courses has led the proponents to explore its efficiency in delivering quality education minus the four co rners of the classroom. Since online instruction and research methodology are under scrutiny, especially in terms of student achievement, researchers should continue to focus on comparing face-to-face and online class student outcomes, as well as the development of best practices in online pedagogy. (Dell, Low & Wilker, 2010) Online in this paragraph was again used to refer to the teaching platform that was being compared against the standard face-to-face method of teaching. Apart from referring to it as a new teaching method used, online in the third line also refers to the group of students that are learning from, or are enrolled in the said method of instruction. The â€Å"Online Student Success: Making a Difference† by Beyrer (2010), on the other hand, used online, still, to refer to a world wide web-associated body of knowledge; however, the term this time is not associated with a method of teaching employed by professors. Instead, it is mostly used to denote an online c ourse that can help prepare, and equip students in troubleshooting future problems encountered while learning online. Beyrer wrote: â€Å"This research project examines the effectiveness of one answer to this question. Cosumnes River College offers a course to meet this need, Online Student Suc

Cultural Changes To Organisations Apple Case Study Business Essay

Cultural Changes To Organisations Apple Case Study Business Essay This essay was primary design to examine the important of the cultural changes to organisations using Apple as a Case Study, gathering different systematic approach with variable models, then having examined the core aspect of culture, the leadership quality, organisation structure, performance management and the human resource strategy, to analyse possible outcome of any chosen approach for the predicted changes. It was discovered that there is no one way approach to the end result, in recommendation to this complexity nature however, conclusion where made, that sacrifice have to be made to get rid of the bad aspect of the organisation to retain this goods, that it is rather totally impossible to have a holistic and unique organisation without some form of setback if organisations objectives are to be achieved. More so the recommendations made where in great consideration of Apples corporate culture. What is culture of Apple? Apple incorporation is todays one of the biggest if not the biggest organisation culture change trend master, in the past few years apple as being in the light of it totally perceive genius ways of getting thing done with a different, however Apples corporate culture is constantly changing as a result of changes to its leadership/CEO from time to time. Apples corporate culture is characterise by its intense work ethic and casual work culture (case study p.3) observers also noted that Apple culture is centred on secrecy and very hard discipline for employees that void the rule by sharing information. To gain an in-depth understanding of this we must dwell into Apple historical background, it pros and cons, and the possibility of future management. Therefore the empirical question would be what is the culture of Apple? What is culture? Culture has been describe by many authors, school of thoughts, theories to mention a few in relation to its conceptual usage, it has been described for example as the dominant values espoused by an organisation, the commonly held and relatively stable set of beliefs, attitudes, values and norms that exit throughout an organisation the basic assumption and beliefs that are share by member of an organisation. In recent time culture has been refer to as the way things are done around here. Lynch (2006, p.37) culture refers to the shared understandings and meanings of that members have concerning an organisation. Rather as individuals have distinctive personalities organisation have their own particular culture. Some will be friendly, relaxed and informal while others will be highly formal aloof and hostile. Also Drenna(1992).in senior.B (1997).p101)says culture is what typical of the organisation, the habits the prevailing attitudes, the grown up pattern of accepted and expected behavio ur . The main feature of culture is that even though there are many organisational differences there seem to be share understandings within them. Culture tends to build gradually in rational thinking of groups with the system which later forms a sub/dominant culture. Using Handy (1993) cultural model, handy opine that A culture cannot be precisely define, for it is something that is perceived, something felt handy (p. 191).however he pointed out the four type of culture in organisation which are explain in fig1.1. Type Metaphor Characteristics Power Culture A web Control from centre; political and entrepreneurial ,personal power serves the figure-head and the leader Role Culture The Greek Temple Classical structure; bureaucratic; role identity position power predominate, serves the structure Task culture A net Valued individual expertise and contribution focus on completing the job, both personal and position powers are important; high level of collaboration base on group unity. Person culture A cluster or galaxy Combine of a lose collection of individuals-pursuing own goal but share common facility, power not necessary a focus because members are experts in their own field. This culture serves the individual. Fig1.1 The four culture type highlights how power and control are utilized by organisation and of whose interest are they serving? certainly theres an element of power culture at Apple inc, as noted in the case study, Steve entrepreneurship style had giving way for personal ideology and more-or-less gain control over the system, he is characterise as Apple a mirror image of Apple, of course we can say this is of Advantage, but the bad aspect is the span of control and politic associated with Steve upon returning back in late 1990s, when he changed the culture back to the way its use to be when he was at the apex Apple. Also the Role culture could be link with eras of Sculley, and other leaders who try to formalize the structure by imposing their own rule, neglecting the important of project groups, which is central to the Task culture even though individual expertise at Apple is crucial to its innovation the only existing collaboration is based on secrecy. A typical reflection of Apple is t he individual culture we may say is the Person culture as different geeks work tiredly to bring about a unique invention based on their expertise. Is the culture good or bad for Apple? According to, Van backer(case study p.10), ( Backer)an analyst at Gartner inc, noted when Apple goes out to hire somebody, the no 1 criteria isnt how much experience you have or who you know .its whether they think you will fit into the culture. Secrecy seems very good for Apples corporate culture as it brought good market value for the product, innovation, and keeps customer loyalty going, the downside of this though is the culture of Secrecy had eaten deep into both the internal and external environment of Apple, they became so paranoid that employee were not allow to share internal information, they call it the surprise factor (case study P.11 1). Clearly this will affect employees engagement and leads to de-motivation of individuals, another is legal ethics surrounding secrecy that leads to big bail out in legal battle, which of course is bad for the corporate image and share profit. Reasonably any changes to the secrecy culture without due care may affect performance and alter t he structure. Nevertheless the culture seems unique but can it function without structure, the leadership, performance and strategy? Ideally, we can communicate this by a thorough analysis of the model below; take note that the model is a non linear model as all the elements are inter-related and interdependent. Fig1.2 A model of relationship between culture, leadership, performance, strategy and structure. The model explained that culture is interdependent with the other four linked organisational behaviour, that any alteration at the centre point (culture) will have a major effect on the these linked elements in any direction, in a simple form an alteration of culture as a result of leadership change will also result in structural change, impacted the strategy, and affect the performance, the rebounds effect may occur in vice-visa order, which in turns brings complexity rather than flexibility. As organisation faces difficult obstacles in providing systemic changes to culture, the most successful organisations are belief to be those with a clear understanding of the important changes from the four elements; this view is supported by various scholars, Cameron and Quinn (2006) emphasis this life cycle shift in culture that had developed in Apple over time. Noticeable in the case study is the commentators reference to Apple as a unique culture, analysts argued that Steve the CEO of Apple is the best marketer in the world, this is good but his leadership style suggests a different view. For instance secrecy is the pinnacle of Apples strategic marketing culture. The initial exit of Steve saw a change in leadership that resulted in different performance and strategy, when Sculley was brought on by Steve to help, as a manager, this itself would obviously alter the Structure, because the strategy was not yielding good results. Which cause a drastic change of performance as the new leader struggle to change the previous culture. Apple was known to appreciate and value its employee, it worth noting that whereas motivational theories such as B.F Skinner (1974), Mintberg (1979), have highlighted the importance of reward and value as the ideological stimuli that motivate individual to work, in contrast, at Apple any universal concept of motivation might not work, because of how Apple justifies its reward system with a do or die culture. More so the structure at Apple Inc is becoming complex as it evolves into a different pattern over the years. FIG2 Hierarchy and Flat structure THE EFFECT OF STRUCTURE The above is an illustration of a standardize structure of organisation formulated by many scholars over the year to explain organizational functionality; the flat is more prominent to entrepreneurship, with suitable element of informal, charismatic, and informal leadership quality but grapevine in nature while the other is ideal for a larger organisation, this was centred by the work of Mayo (1934) in Hawthorn study and was later confirmed by Huczynski and Buchanan,(2007 p.460). It is said the right structure must support strategy, be appropriate-reflecting the goals of individual or the organisation. It must remain flexible and be permissive to communication. However, of all the supportive research is the work of Canadian academic, Henry Mintzberg. According to Mintzberg (1979) an organisational structure is the sum total of the way in which it divides its labour into distinct tasks and then achieve coordination between them. also structure is define as the established pattern of relationship between the components parts of an organisation, out lining both communication control and authority patterns .supportive to this also is Wilson and Rosenfeld(1990) explained that structure distinguishes the parts of an organisation and delineates the relationship between them. This is supported by Apples trend in organisation structure which is more complex than initially perceived, for instance Apple is seen as the pioneer of work hard play hard ethic. Equally important is the frequent changes in culture as different leaders tried to adopt a different approach to reorganise the structure, it is interesting that analyst said Apple adopted a style that was not too far too formal or hierarchical and that the approach was more result-driven.the other bad effect of Apple structure is it tend to yield to favouritism, unfairness and biases, this bad thing of having a formal structure, as employees complain of organisational politics within the system, this will no doubt de-motivate staff morale. In ugly circumstances as a reference to the case study, any poor performance at Apple will not be consistent with its culture; it is important to say that any change in culture will resort in change in structure, however if the structure cannot survive without the culture then where do we inject the leadership style to bring about ultimate performance? Apple structure is neither hierarchy nor flat we could say its more of a hybrid or matrix, the flat is more organic which is prone to bureaucracy according to Max webber in analyst of organisation he had identified the principle of bureaucracy as a continuous organisation that is bound by rules. Webber outline the importance of ideal bureaucracy to an organisation as positive and rational unlike the other which he described as domination as charismatic authority and traditional authority .thus we are likely to adjust the culture to fit the structure as the case of Apple might be, ideally the Adhocracy culture may be implemented. Apples ideal culture Vs Structure Cameron and Quinn (2006) gave an insight into what an ideal adhocracy culture is, they went on to say that there are four types of culture develops within different dimension, the four culture namely the Clan culture, the Hierarchy Culture, the Market Culture and the Adhocracy Culture. The assumption were that organisation were in business to develop new ideas, new product and thus be able to respond to the hyper turbulent world, therefore the major task of management would be to forester creativity, entrepreneurship and innovation. The good picture is Apple structure is informal which promotes cratetivity, and recognises the important of leadership charisma, its a bitter end as this can only work effectively in smaller organisation. Adhocracy have been characterised as tents rather than palaces in sense that they are temporary and response to situational changes rapidly, taking advantage of flexibility and ambiguity. As Apple is a technological industry which must learn to adjust and respond to change in product and market value, Apples culture is dynamic because of the visionary and risk of it leadership effectiveness, as their focus is leading edge of new products and producing unique and original product. However is important to state that the transformation of Apple largely rely on leadership quality and employee commitment to it structural and cultural changes whenever the needs arise. Fig 2.1 A representation of Apples organisation formation structure. AGENT OF TRANSFORMATION AND THE IMPACT OF LEADERSHIP Leadership as a concept has been an interesting centre piece to different fields of thought, to the ordinary man; a leader is just a symbolic head, but as a supportive element by theorists and analysts a definite category of classification; it is said the most important type of leaderships are of the following: the charismatic, the traditional, the situational, the appointed, the functional and the principle centred leader for the purpose of this essay we will look at leadership from management perspective, according Cole(2004), leadership is define as the following: leadership at work is a dynamic process whereby one individual in a group is not only responsible for the group results but actively seeks the collaboration and commitment of all the group members in a achieving group goals in a particular context and against the background of a particular national culture INNOVATORS The leadership style of Apple is highly represented by their iconic CEO Steve that is highly regarded for his innovative, creative and marketing strategies. Using classification of leadership, his style could be linked as the transformational leader according to Burns (1978), which is characterised by the transformation of organisation, creativity and innovation with the purpose to engender commitment. This is genuinely good for Apple, However the simplicity of his approach could resort in the downfall of his perceived personality and organisational performance, for instance if this was ideal for the organisational culture then the question would be the sited instances of global workforce revolting against the culture of secrecy used by Apple as an accepted way to move the company forward. The side effect of Steves charismatic role at Apple is what happens when he leaves the organisation! Will this mean theres no other possible replacement for his strategy and the portrait of Apple i s damages for good? If apple is to maintain its status quo as the number one most valued company in the world then it needs to engage itself in some form of leadership reorientation as over the past decade different management/leaders have tied to change the culture of apple and its structure only to head back to the starting point which is where they are today, Steve job certainly must be doing some right, concrete evidence suggest that Steve job must have outperformed his expectation to the board of management as emphasized in the case study. CONSTRAINTS the ripple effect of change of leaders/managers at Apple inc emphasis the need for change in culture, however this changes also brought about change in structure as each leader tries to implement his/her own ideology, arguable is the internal problem that apple faces from its reorganisation, for instance the appointment of Sculley who was credit for making Apple one of the biggest and fastest-growing corporation in the US.(case study p.5 ).A series of failure in the early 90s again brought another power shift when the board decided it time for leadership change and Micheal pindler was appointed in 1993 to replace Sculley, Spinder also fail to perform as expected ,Amelio could have being the one man that brought the last drastic change into apple because of his focus on Apple product line and workforce reduction but fail follow Apples corporate culture, once more Steve was back in business to turn things Around. A key point to his transformational leadership style, nevertheless it wou ld appear that the board were more interested in performance rather than leadership quality or style; however performance cannot be divorced from leadership. THE ACHIEVER Performance, theres no generalised definition of performance; it has being said that performance cannot be easily defined as you cannot measure or manage it. However few management researchers have noted the core different of performance from other fields in comparison to management sectors. Performance is more adapted to performance management day in day out, therefore performance could be agreed to be of relevance to situational changes. Armstrong and Baron (1998) define performance management as a strategic and integrated approach to delivering sustained success to organization by improving the performance of the people who work in them by developing the capability of team and individual who work in them.. Therefore, it provides avenue for knowledge on organizational objectives and goals and a spectrum to manage and train individual in order to achieve to such objectives Armstrong stress that performance is strategic because it is concern with broader issues facing organizational effectiveness. As evidence in the case study the market value of Apple against the backdrop of its financial performance over the years in Exhibit VIII, it is clear that in the past decade there being a major profit share in the company, more so recently Apple posted all time record revenue with increase earnings of 78 percent, as of July 2010. Apple posted record revenue of $15.7 billion and also quarterly profit of $3.25 billion, (APPLE press release 2006). Surely the share holders would be very pleased with the result. These results compare to workforce engagement and the strategy used to achieve result cannot be overlooked, Apple was known to appreciate its employees. It was consider a great place to work for people who are personate about what they did. (Case study p.3) also experts felt one of the key success to Apples performance is its ability to attract and retain key personnel in technical, marketing and staff positions. Nevertheless financial performance in one comfort zone for the company identity externally, but does this speak the same for the internal general audit of employee of Apple who work tirelessly for over 60hours to get this results out. The secrecy involved creating the competitive edge and the sighted instance of the Chinese employees that commit suicide then how engaged are the staff of Apple incorporation. In reality if we alter the strategic approach of performance which rely on secrecy and long hour working ethic, surely this would revert the profit standing of Apple ,therefore this cant be achieved although the element of secrecy may be bad, this however may not be change as the entire strategy and organisation culture rely on it to survive. The unique culture of Apple which is base on the leadership style of one man approach: Steve jobs, can it survive after the exit of jobs. its plausible to say yes as jobs himself claim he had trained others to manage whenever he is no longer available, however the determination of each individual could result in systemic failure of the culture as every leader approach with a different goal setting. If the goal serve as the basis for motivation, and the goals are set by managers, industrial standard or base on negotiation, how then do you motivate individual, researchers Add a few more noted that one can be motivated by target set against the others while you could be de-motivated by over pressured standard. levison (1972)highlights this in Asinine attitude towards motivation, in relation to reward or punishment to motivate workers, more so borrowing the work of Hygiene theory of motivation by Herzberg (1968),which he claim that the most important motivator or satisfier are Achievement Recognition Work itself Responsibility Advancement. While the following called hygiene factors or dissatisfies Company policy and administration. Supervision-the technical aspects. Salary. Interpersonal relations-supervision Working conditions. Herzberg pointed out that these factors were intrinsically related to the content of work, i.e. with intrinsic challenge, interest and the individual responses generated by them. If applied to Apple, how do we justify the working condition of staff who work for long hours to get the job done, or does the secrecy atmosphere bring about individual motivation or fear of punishment has whoever fail to comply to the culture is noticeably punished, the reward scheme in apple for those that come up with innovative technology like iphone, mac ipad could result in esteem of individual while the punishment approach on the other hand is detrimental to the public image of Apple as any failure leads to sacking individual or leakage of secret will automatically result in dismissal. Therefore we could say any universal concept of motivation might not work in Apple cooperate culture base on perceived punishment and reward of staff performance, thus Apple cooperate culture is zero experience and no stability of staff until now though it has worked for the company. Even though the strategy may be consider risky. Apple target young staff recruits with less commitment and more glory seeking rather than experience. However is worth saying the older generation are not mush expandable. This could be explain using Maslow (1956) Hierarchy of needs, which he associated the important of needs to motivate individual, starting from basic needs called physiological needs, follow by safety needs, then love needs, esteem needs, and self actualisation. He emphasis that as one needs is fulfil we move up to another. A key point to Apple Staff retention Goal setting (locke,shaw sari latham 1981)A change in goal will foreseen a better Apple as a company, for example Apple has always focus on improving on a previous product i.e. Iphone1,2,3..4.e.tc while not come up with something entirely different and innovative. Even though Apple came up with a micro palm device name ipad, it still relied entire on the old operating system which is gradually facing out as competition grows in the technology industry. Again the past ten years down the line Steve Jobs was back the in same job at the apex of the company after many failures of different managers at various stages of cultural development within Apple inc. even though Jobs is making money for apple for now the question is will same strategy that fails at the initial past decade in culture, work for the future? A do or die culture was Apples it ideal for apple? For instance sculley tried for Apple for about five years, thus due to cultural strategy of sculley, the board got rid of him. At this juncture the answer would be it all depends on many factors conserving strategy culture and variable element to forecast the future. THE OVERALL STRATEGY Ohmae (1982), comment that what business strategy is all about is, in a word, competitive advantage. Without competitors, there would be no need for strategy, for the sole purpose of strategic planning is to enable the company to gain, as efficiently as possible, a sustainable edge over its competitors. different academics, have define strategy in reflexion of objective and organisational goal with viable attribute to structure. Chandler (1962) defines strategy as the determination of the basic long-term goals and objectives of an enterprise, and the adoption of courses of action and allocation of resources necessary for carry out those goals. In a simple word strategy must encompass various aspect of organisational defitions, create analysis while making choice before implantation and return back to analyse result. This is represented in strategic process below .by Johnson and scholes (2006). The strategy process Strategy Analysis Implementation Choice HRM Finance operations sales/marketing All the above are based on structure and corporate culture, therefore the overall strategy at Apple is subjected to many reviews taking in to consideration their strength, i.e. secrecy and brand packaging, the unique and trend product, and the possible side effect that comes with ethical issues like radiations, one man culture-Steve, an alteration will result in change in performance, therefore this are necessary tool for Apple to keep, if they are to maintain continues brand and global advantage. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATION Base on reviews of different model in relation to the impact of corporate culture at Apple the following conclusion can be made: There is a significant effect of Apples corporate culture on leadership, performance and reward, strategy and structure. There is also significant impact of the corporate culture on the internal and the external environment. The following recommendations are opinionated: There should be a minimal structural adjustment to Apples corporate culture; management should make sure to reduce dissonance, workers are allowed in decision-making process and team interaction be also allowed. Employee should be made adequately aware of the organisational gains, loses, management policies and goals and a reasonable reward scheme in place to motivate workers. Has secrecy is both good and bad for the organisation it should be kept at a level that encourage performance and it share understanding among the employees and manage since is a necessary evil that cant be gotten rid of. Leadership role should also in context of management training to retain future management and valuable culture.

Orange Juice (The Godfather) :: essays research papers

**Orange Juice** Contrast and Irony†¦ Gentle moments in the story keep it realistic while the larger plot progresses and sucks us in. For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction- The Godfather will make sure. Not a killer by his definition, The Godfather does not mix family and business matters, yet family and crime abound. And justice prevails however it may. Transitions in the montage after Michael killed two of his first marks in the restaurant explain exactly how the â€Å"family† works. One scene shows a family member playing the piano, then cuts artfully to another of a dead body. The piano player still playing directly above the body. A spectacular illustration of how the family mastered the art of playing others. The opening line: â€Å"I believe in America† (spoken by the undertaker, no less)-contrasted later in the film by another scene in which one of the family appears to be peeing on the Statue of Liberty, seen in the distance. So much for believing in America after all. The feel of viewing the world through dark sunglasses on an already cloudy day versus the bright, relaxed feeling of the Sicilian scenes creates even more contrast and confusion. The characters hidden from the viewer’s eye in the United States, while Michael hides in Sicily. Images of these scenes prevail in viewers minds, taking us to a happier time and place while we wonder what the Corleone family has up their sleeves in America. The Godfather grants favors- as a self-benefit of course- because the favors control those whom that they are meant for. Corleone has granted favors, but those who have received them will be in his debt and one day, they're afraid, they will be called upon to make-good the favor of the Godfather. Crime merely illustrates the degree of power this family holds. Don Corleone can make it happen- with â€Å"offers that can not be refused†. People are killed just to show who is boss. Even the raspy voice in which the Godfather grants the favors lends to a colossal sense of power, as does his sharply shaped, well-manicured mustache. Michael’s injury transitions his speech and he begins to speak like his father- his power becomes obvious. At the baptism of Connie and Carlo’s son, the film cuts to show the murders Michael has ordered. The patriarchs of the â€Å"five families†. The final montage artfully suggests that the murders and baptism occur simultaneously.

Persuasive Essay on Curfews Essay

Students under the age of seventeen have a curfew of 10 pm Sunday through Thursday and 12 am on Friday and Saturday. The curfew ensures that all students should have no business in a public place or out on the streets late at night. There are obviously some valid reasons why this is enforced and I am completely in favor of this decision. Many dangerous kinds of people come out late at night to see if they can get kids into some kind of trouble. Kids get kidnapped, raped and killed out in the open because its dark and nobody can see it happening. Illegal drug deals happen at night, again, because nobody can tell that they’re happening, and who’s out that late anyway? These times are decent and keep kids out of trouble in the dark. What teen-favorite restaurants are open after curfew time? Not any. The only restaurants and public places that are open after 10pm/12am are very few fast food restaurants and bars. Teens 17 and under aren’t allowed in bars so where would you go that late? There is absolutely no reason why any teen or child would be out late without a parent and/or guardian. Nothing is worse than one extremely worried parent. Personally, if I don’t answer a call or answer a text within 5 minutes of receiving it, they already think I’m doing something wrong. Especially if it’s after the city curfew. Most parents (much like mine) worry dearly for their teenager. At night who knows what runs through a parents mind when their child is having fun with friends. They might think their kids are out doing drugs, having sex(possibility of being on 16&Pregnant), speeding down streets, breaking into stores, sneaking into bars, getting drunk, etc. Although most of us aren’t, they think the worst of us. For the sake of a reassured parent, the curfew is a good thing. In conclusion, the 10 pm weekday, 12 am weekend curfew is a very good choice for the city. Coming from a teenager, whose been yelled at and grounded for being home past curfew, it’s a good thing. Common sense, closing times, the crazy people we have in this world, and our crazy parents are all very obvious reasons why this curfew is good, and should very well be enforced.

“Jane Eyre” and “Hard Times” as Bildungsroman Novels Essay

The traditional Bildungsroman novel is autobiographical in form and displays similarities with the author’s own life, mostly with regard to childhood experiences. The novel displays a single individuals growth and development within the context of a defined social order. In most cases the protagonist is orphaned and experiences some form of loss or discontentment in order to spur them away from the family home or setting. The education of the main character is another aspect, which is crucial to their growth and development within the novel. It states in Todd (1980; 161) 1. that? ‘Ideally Bildungsroman heroes, who continue to pursue their own adolescent ideals and inclinations, are expected to conform eventually to a predetermined identity and become integrated with the society whose values are creating and molding them’. Charles Dickens wrote Great Expectations and described Pips childhood experiences in great detail. It has been argued that most of the child characters Dickens portrayed in his novels resembled that of his own childhood experiences. Like Pip, Dickens received very little in the way of formal education. Charlotte Bronte uses many similarities in Jane Eyre that could be argued resemble her own experiences. She too like that of Jane was the daughter of a clergyman and was sent to a school called Norwood, which bares many similarities with that of Lowood. She also became a governess and this suggests that her own experience of a middle class working woman fighting to find a place in Victorian society was used to express her own views of life in that of Jane Eyre. In Great Expectations, Pip is typical of the main character in a Bildungsroman novel, as he is an orphan. Pip is brought up in a working class environment with his older sister and her husband, Joe Gargery. Pip rejects Joe as a substitute father and looks on him as more of a friend. This is evident in the passage when Joe states?’you and me is always friends’ (12;ch.2) 2. The absence of a father figure for Pip reinforces the need for him to find some sense of identity and belonging in society. The possibility of a better life becomes apparent to Pip on his first meeting with Estella and Mrs. Haversham at Satis House. It is at this stage in the novel that Pip realises for the first time that he is of a lower social status. It is evident that Pip is aware of his social status when he says ‘I had never thought of being ashamed of my hands before; but I began to consider them a very different pair’ (60;ch.8) 3. In Jane Eyre, once again the main character is typical of the Bildungsroman. Jane is an orphan living with her relatives, the Reeds. However she is brought up in a middle class society but is reminded that she is an outcast. Jane’s struggle with her identity and place in society began before she was born, with her mother marrying a poor clergyman, who was considered beneath her by her family. Jane also experiences conflict within class structures in society. This is evident when the Reeds attempt to bully and suppress Jane at every opportunity they can, reminding her that she has no money that she can rightfully call her own. Jane’s struggle is not only to find a place in society but also to find a place in society as a woman. Jane is aware from an early age that she has no power as a female of her social status, while John Reed is fully aware of his importance as a male. Thus Jane’s educational growth begins when she is unjustly locked in the red room at Gateshead and is sent away to Lowood to be educated. Once again although Jane receives a formal education, she embarks on her own educational growth in life towards maturity and finding an acceptable place in society. Jane’s struggle and discontentment is evident in the various stages of the novel. Firstly as already stated at Gateshead and again at Lowood, where she was subjected to terrible humiliation and degradation at the hands of the Reverend Brocklehurst. It seems that Bronte was suggesting that all men in society, even holy men, treated woman unjustly. Even Jane’s relationship with Rochester at Thornfield remind Jane that as a middle class woman, who had to earn her own living, she did not fit into conventional society. Being a governess meant that Jane was educated to the extent of a lady but being  paid a salary put her almost at the level of the servants. Even though Jane loves Rochester she is not prepared to become his mistress, as he is already married to Bertha, leaving Jane no alternative but to leave Thornfield to embark on the next stage of her journey within the novel. It is clear that she was searching for her own identity when she states to Rochester? ‘I tell you I must go?Do you think I can stay to become nothing to you? Do you think that I am an automaton? ?a machine without feelings? And can bear to have my morsel of bread snatched from my lips, and my drop of living water dashed from my cup? Do you think, because I am poor, obscure, plain, and little, I am soulless and heartless? You think wrong’ (252;ch 23) 4. Whilst at Moor House, Jane’s relationship with St John Rivers, once again reminds Jane of her status within society. She is not in love with St John and he is not with her but he still tries to repress Jane by expecting her to marry him and accompany him as a missionary’s wife to Africa. Jane is not prepared to marry him and is well aware of the implications if she is to go away with him, as a friend. Although Jane struggles to find her rightful place in society she always believes that she is equal to those around her. Pip’s education begins not in the formal sense of the word but within his own personal growth. He feels sure that if he were to become a gentleman, it would make him a better person and he would better himself within society. His ultimate goal is to become a gentleman and win Estella’s love. It is this desire that makes Pip unhappy with his life at the forge and the prospect of becoming a mere blacksmith. Pip’s education was very limited and although he was sent to evening school whilst he apprenticed to Joe, he learnt more in terms of a formal education from Biddy. He states?’At last I began, in a purblind groping way, to read, write and cipher’ (44;ch7) 5. Pip’s education is again typical of the Bildungsroman in that he is unassisted and self-educated. His desire to leave the forge is fulfilled when he is visited by Mr. Jaggers, who tells Pip of his inheritance and the  mysterious benefactor, whom Pip believes is Miss Haversham. This becomes evident in the novel when Pip states?’Miss Haversham was going to make my fortune on a grand scale’ (138;ch18) 6. This change from poor working class to a rich gentleman is once again typical of the Bildungsroman but not in the traditional sense. Usually a man has to work to earn his money and become a gentleman, which is contrary to the way that Pip has earned his fortune. Pip’s inheritance changes Pip from a likeable innocent character into one that desires unrealistic expectations for his life. Due to his good fortune, Pip now looks down on his family as beneath him and considers Joe to be common and uneducated. This is evident when he tells Biddy that Joe? ‘Is rather backward in some things. For instance in his learning and his manners’. (148;ch19) 7. Jane’s material wealth is once again inherited but this is in the final stages of her development as a character within the novel. This is where the similarities end between Jane and Pip, concerning money. Jane is fully aware of the value of money since she has had to work to provide for herself. By inheriting she manages to secure her rightful place in society. Pip however does not know the true value of money and thinks that it is the answer to all his problems. His snobbery becomes evident when he realises that his true benefactor is Magwitch, the convict, who he encounters in the first stage of the novel. On realising this fact he is disgusted that his benefactor is a murderer, a twist in the novel, which seems to teach Pip a lesson about gentleman in society. Pip realises that money does not make you a gentleman and real gentleman have qualities, which money cannot buy. Once again as seen with Jane Eyre, Pip leaves his home to embark on a journey of education, leaving the forge, which is situated, on the marshes, near the Thames for London. Again this conforms to the typical Bildungsroman novel, where the main character will embark on a journey, usually leaving a small provincial town for the big city, in order to find his trade or occupation. Often this will be a disappointing experience, where hopes and dreams are shattered and a realisation of what they had left behind them was not so bad. Although with Pip he does not work when he gets to London, Jane has to  work as a governess in order to survive. It is in London that Pip embarks on the next stage of his educational growth, in order to find his real self. Pip squanders his money socialising in order to establish himself as a gentleman but by doing this he only succeeds in getting himself and his roommate, Herbert Pocket into serious financial difficulty. Pip feels sure that Mrs. Haversham intends him to marry Estella and the realisation that this is not so, does not enter Pip’s head until his encounter with Magwitch in London. Pip states?’Miss Haversham’s intentions towards me, all a mere dream; Estella not designed for me; I only suffered in Satis House as a convenience.’ (323;ch39) 8. Once again the similarity with Jane becomes apparent in that Pip experiences disappointment in matters of love. This conforms to the Bildungsroman, where the individual will encounter love affairs or sexual encounters within their educational journey, which are disastrous. In the final stages of the novel there is usually, according to the traditional Bildungsroman, a lesson to be learned before the character is fully matured. Pip learns just how wrong he was about what qualities make a true gentleman. This is apparent when he finds out his benefactor is Magwitch, the murderer. Although at first this was a shock for Pip, he realises just how much Magwitch has sacrificed for him by returning to England and risking capture by the police. Pip also feels guilty about the way he has snubbed Joe when he came to see him in London and the fact that he felt ashamed of him. This embarrassment was evident when he stated that?’If I could have kept him away by paying money, I certainly would have paid money’ (218;ch27) 9. Pip realises the error of his ways and tries to make amends by helping Magwitch escape his captures. He also finds out that Estella is Magwith’s daughter, which is ironic as Estella frowned upon the working classes, only to be the offspring of something far worse, a criminal. Although Magwitch dies, Pip was by his side and gave him comfort in his last hours. After his illness he returns to the forge to Joe and Biddy, penniless since the crown  reclaimed his inheritance. He has learnt a valuable lesson and has come full circle by returning to his roots without a penny, fully matured and understanding the real qualities of a gentleman. Jane also returns to her roots by attending the side of her Aunt Reed at her deathbed, only to find that the Reeds have suffered and lost most of their wealth at the hands of John Reed. John Reed has received his comeuppance and died at an early age. When Jane inherits her Uncle’s money and discovers who her real family are, she returns to Rochester only to find out that he has been maimed in the fire at Thornfield. It seems that Jane has also returned to her past to find happiness with Rochester. She is now a lady and is accepted as Rochester’s wife in society. Jane had to be a woman in her own right in order to be able to conform to society. Although Jane has fought for most of her life against the social order, in the end she does not challenge but upholds the values of society. Dickens and Bronte both express strong opinions in their novels about Victorian society. Dickens implies through the development of Pip that middle class values were hypocritical. He suggests that moral values such as generosity and kindness were far more important than being rich and powerful. Dickens reinforces this by allowing Pip to become rich and then lose his money. If Dickens had allowed Pip to stay wealthy, then he would not have been able to emphasise his point to the reader. He also questions moral values through the character of Magwitch. He illustrates that people of low social status are capable of possessing better qualities than that of the rich and powerful, who were considered to be far superior as human beings. By doing this he goes one step further and insinuates that the justice system is corrupt. He does this through the character of Magwitch, who is killed at the hands of the law and possesses the qualities that Dickens promotes. Bronte suggests that patriarchal society was hypocritical since men preached values that they could not uphold themselves. The rules were made by men and were allowed to be broken by men. Rochester is allowed to take mistresses, which is accepted in society but if had Jane become his mistress, she would  have been considered an immoral woman. Brocklehurst expected the patrons of his school to look plain, yet his own wife and children were decked with frills and curls. Bronte suggests that Victorian society promoted values that were one sided and treated women unjustly.

“Australian Rules” essay Essay Essays

â€Å"Australian Rules† essay Essay Essays â€Å"Australian Rules† essay Essay Essay â€Å"Australian Rules† essay Essay Essay Australian regulations is set in a little rural town. where the relationships between the white townsfolk and the Aboriginal people on the mission are complex. conflicted and marred by deeply entrenched racism. The local football squad in many ways serves to stand for the town. it reflects the conflicted relationship between the white people and the Aboriginal people- we begin to understand this as the movie unfolds. Other subjects built-in in the movie are subjects of household. love. trueness and violence- the secretiveness of domestic force and the more open signifiers of racial force that spill out onto the public domains of the football field and the saloon. The gap narrative informs us that half the football squad is Aboriginal and that there would non be a football squad without the Aboriginal participants. therefore we understand how the town squad relies on the endowment and figure of the Aboriginal participants. We so witness the contradiction of the white and Aboriginal male childs playing side by side as squad members followed by the societal segregation between the members after the lucifer. This segregation is highlighted by Blacky ( a white male child from town ) and Dumby ( an Aboriginal male child who is the best participant on the squad ) whose friendship transcends these boundary lines and we besides witness ways that this segregation between the white adolescent and Aboriginal adolescents is culturally imposed by certain grownups. In one of the beginning scenes. merely after a football lucifer. Dumby and Blacky want to ‘hang out’ together. but Dumby is taken back to the mission by an older friend and Blacky can non follow. Blacky. Clarence and Dumby all call out to each other ‘Nukkin ya’ and this usage of Aboriginal linguistic communication between two Aboriginal adolescents and Blacky the white male child signifies the degree of their friendly relationship and common credence. Pickles’ remark to Blacky that ‘now he even negotiations like one’ . symbolises the town’s disapproval of such regard for Aboriginal civilization and Aboriginal people. The character of Pretty. Dumby’s older friend from the mission. plays an of import function in the movie. He was one time a gifted football participant himself but no longer ‘kicks ends for whitefellas’ and he is important because he is the chief character to verbalize that Aboriginal people are treated otherwise and below the belt. He is slightly aggressive in his attack. showing resentment and bitterness. yet it is implied that his attack is reactionist to the manner he has been treated. and his statementsoverlooked by the white coach- are important illustrations of altering responses to uneven power kineticss. For illustration the white manager Tells Dumby to do certain all the Aboriginal squad participants turn up to the following lucifer and Pretty interjects saying that it doesn’t work that manner any longer. his metaphor of ‘yes sir. no sir. three bags full sir’ . clearly refers to the history of Aboriginal people being used as retainers and points out that the coach’s attack of telling Dumby around is no longer appropriate. Unfortunately the manager does non take this message on and instead than admiting the Aboriginal male childs as talented. valuable and so indispensable squad participants. he nervously treats them as undependable male childs who may destruct the team’s opportunities by non turning up. This attitude of trusting on Aboriginal endowment. whilst declining to suitably admit this endowment is made explicitly clear during the award giving ceremonial that takes topographic point after the squad win the finals. Pretty is made to go forth the ceremonial after he disputes the truth of a address about the classless nature of football ‘where you can be anyone. from anyplace. and have the acknowledgment you deserve’ . Pretty is instantly proved to be right when the awards are given merely to white male childs. and Dumby. who is evidently the most gifted participant on the squad is left wholly unacknowledged. There is a direct displacement in Dumby’s response and he becomes more like Pretty. showing choler and bitterness. instead than his normal cheerful. co operative ego. This gives us insight into Pretty’s character and how he may hold developed the attitude that he has towards white people. Pretty and Dumby’s housebreaking to the saloon that really dark can be interpreted as a direct response to the unfairness of the award ceremony- although there are characters. such as the manager. who are non willing to see the connexion. The fact that Dumby is so murdered by Blacky’s male parent is a complicated event with many beds of significance. The penetration we have been given about Blackyâ €™s father prior to the shot is that of a adult male who dominates his household. puts down his boies for demoing exposure and who physically abuses his married woman. There are cases in which we can see links between the force he demonstrates towards his household and the verbal and physical force he feels justified in exposing towards Dumby. and so subsequently towards Dumby’s sister. Clarence. There is a scene in which the male parent physically attacks Blacky and forces Blacky to declare trueness to him ( sing the shot ) . meanwhile verbally mistreating Clarence with racial slurs and telling her to acquire out of his house. During this scene the camera pans onto the faces of the Blacky’s female parent and siblings and we see how domestic and racial force become enmeshed. that the father’s onslaught on Blacky for being with Clarence is an act of force that hurts his whole household. Interestingly it is Clarence who is the least cowed in this scene. she do es non demo fright and walks out with self-respect. In this manner we can see how control and domination is a peculiar form in this household. but is non taken on by Clarence. In many ways. the shot. and the undermentioned events. are accelerators for great alterations. both in the town. and more specifically in Blacky’s household. Blacky rejects his parent’s demands to keep trueness to his male parent and alternatively Blacky remains loyal to his friendly relationship with Dumby. Blacky’s rejection of his father’s authorization instigates other members of the household. such as his female parent and following youngest brother who subtly take Blacky’s side. The scene where his brother urges him to acquire up and confront his male parent. ( when his male parent beat him to the land ) . symbolises the petition of his household for Blacky to stand for them all and dispute the father’s authorization. The declaration of the movie sees the male parent gone. go forthing Clarence and Blacky merrily together but be aftering to this town ‘that has nil for them’ . The destiny of the town is non so happy. the male childs from the mission won’t come to town and there is no longer a football squad. In many ways we can see how Australian regulations reflects the complexnesss of human relationships- of love and trueness and hatred and force. and clearly demonstrates how profoundly entrenched racism hurts everyone. The town. through its racism has destroyed the probationary trust of the Aboriginal people and has lost its ‘glory’- its winning football squad. Its seems empty. a topographic point merely good for go forthing.

Women and war Essay Example

Women and war Essay Example Women and war Essay Women and war Essay Currently, there are about 14% to 15% of women serving in the US armed forces. Some of whom are participating in flying helicopter gunships, assisting in propelling nuclear-powered warships, gathering intelligence, communications and signals, ordinance, engineering and myriads of logistic works (Skiba, 2001). Back in 1970, only 1.4 percent of women were serving in the military forces. Five years later the percentage tripled to 4.6 percent, doubling to 8.3 percent during the 1980’s and had steadily risen to 10 percent by 1985. By 1990, records showed that the number of women working the military has already reached to 11 percent and the statistics is continuously increasing year after year (Government executive, 1994 cited in Willens, 996). Although the history of women in combat could be traced during the time of Joan of Arch, who at the age of 17 led the French squad to battle the troops of the English, the professional military status of women was not fully recognized until 1948. It was President Truman who put in effect the â€Å"Women’s Armed Services Integration Act† which allowed women to become a part of a force dominated by males. Although women were able to penetrate the all-male forces, they were still prohibited to fly combat aircrafts and naval combat vessels (Spring, 1994 cited in Willens, 1996). However, the rules that prevented women from taking part in flying combat aircrafts and participating in combat vessels drastically changed in the early 90’s right after the Persian Gulf War. The Congress enacted the National Defense Authorization Act of 1992-1993 which invalidated the laws concerning female combat exemption. The Administration of President Clinton reinforced the said act when they opened combat positions that were once prohibited to women (GAO report, 1996 cited in Willens, 1996). By October 1, 1994 a policy was issued by the Department of Defense which abolished the â€Å"risk rule† where women’s specialties were measured. The policy set by the Defense Department was strongly supported by the department’s secretary, Les Aspin by putting forward an extension of the changes on April 1993 that allowed women to participate in flying aviations which include attack helicopters. The policy also stipulates that no other jobs in the military will be closed to women just because the said jobs were dangerous. However, the policy was not able to address a direct policy for women to participate in other military specialties such as the Special Forces Units or ground combat fighters. At present, women are still excluded from ground combat based from the official policy of the Marine and Army Corps (GAO report, 1996 cited in Willens, 1996). Likew ise, the Navy barred women from penetrating coastal patrol crafts and submarines due to the privacy reasons of the crews. As such, they are also prohibited to become a part of the SEALS, a team specializing in warfare (Skiba, 2001). Despite these limitations, women became an important part of the military, demonstrating that they could perform various missions in any circumstances and the military has become reliant on the vital role played by women during missions (Abbott cited in Skiba, 2001). Granting women to be a part of the military forces and be able to participate in critical missions became an important factor in the retaliation set by President George Bush against terrorism. Right after the September 11, 2001 attack, despite the law governing the standard that women are not permitted to be on ground combat units, women could now be compared to male units that are in the war frontlines and are very close to becoming a part of the combat support. Women managed to be in the positions such as intelligence analysts, crewmembers of the gunships, bombers and fighter pilots, soldiers for psychological operations, supply officers, honor guards and some even rise to the ranks that are especially assigned to men (Stone, 2002). Prior to becoming a faction of the military, women had undergone series of issues that raised arguments whether the military should still maintain women in the forces and whether to put them in the frontlines of wars. One of the major issues faced by women during service is the idea of becoming prisoners of war. In a greater scale, the probability of becoming victims of sexual molestation and rape is much higher among women than men if they were placed in the frontlines. One event that catapulted people to question the presence of women in service is the case of Private Jessica Lynch. Lynch was a part of the 507th Ordinance Maintenance Co. which was ambushed by Iraqi’s during the height of war against terrorism. The event caused the death of 11 of 33 soldiers. Seven of them were held captives while nine were injured. Medical records of Lynch showed that the soldier had broken bones and was â€Å"a victim of anal assault† (Gibbs, 2003 n.p.). Together with Private Lynch d uring the ambush was her colleague Spc. Soshana Johnson who was also held as a captive at a different location. Barely an hour before Johnson was held captive by the Iraqi insurgents; she was shot in both ankles and was later on videotaped for an interrogation which was broadcasted worldwide. Johnson and the others were held captive for 22 days until the Marines were able to rescue them (CNN, 2005). Due to these events many people who were already skeptical about putting women in the frontlines continues raising questions whether women should be subjected for such combats. Yet, despite of what had happened many still argues that women who are pursuing to become a part of the military are already aware of the consequences long before they have finally decided to enlist themselves (Minerva, 1994 cited in Willens). Given all of the odds, many women are still striving to fight for their rights to be in the frontlines, and as for the case of Lynch and Johnson both became heroes and inspi ration for many women who wanted to pursue their duty and their dreams. Another argument put forward by the opposition against women in combat is their physical strength and endurance. Along with this is the question whether women would be able to respond well on the gravitational forces of handling an aircraft. It is a fact that being in the military requires an individual to be physically fit because of the physical demands of the job. Undeterred by this argument, many experts proved that some women have the physical strength and endurance to be on the service (Army Times, 1996 cited in Willen, 1996). As for the case of combat aviation, there were no evidences that women cannot handle such action. In fact in the present war against terrorism, public affair officers who were ones promoting stories about how women struggle in the military are now discouraged to isolate women anymore (Stone, 2002). Until 1967 women were not subject to any promotion higher the colonel rank. Yet President Lyndon Johnson was the one to finally abolish the promotion restrictions by putting in effect the â€Å"Public law 90-130† stipulating that women were free to be promoted in all ranks. From then on many women in the military have risen in the ranks which proved that they are on the same level as men in the task of defending America (Waychoff, 2004 n.p.). This was true in the case of Lt. Gen. Claudia Kennedy; a three-star general in 1997 and was known as the army’s highest ranking woman and author of â€Å"Generally speaking.† Given the consideration that majority of the military p opulation is still comprised of males, women are now almost doing the same jobs as their male counterparts. More women are now poised near the combat zones (CNN, 2001). According to Senior Airman Madelyn Waychoff (2004), every year the number of female fighter pilots is increasing. In 2004 alone, sixty women have been flying fighter jets across the boarders of the enemies and they make up 1.9 percent of all the active-duty fighter pilots during that time. Records indicate that there are more women flying every year. In line with this, there are also several women who took the same risks as that of men during the upheaval of war against terrorism in Iraq and Afghanistan. Some military analyst claimed that the shortage in the troops deployed in the said areas were the very reason why despite of the prohibitions of women taking part in the ground combat, many women engaged themselves in direct offensive action against their enemies. To quote the former congressional Rep. Pat Schroeder (2005): â€Å"These rule no longer make sense because no place is safe in Iraq, the whole place is literally a frontline† (Schroeder, 2005 cited in Ginty, 2005 n.p.). Since the September 11, 2001 attack in the USA, 98 women have already been killed during the time of their service in defending America (CMR, 2008) while others acquired permanent injuries and have sustained wounds from combat. These statistics have surpassed the previous records during the Gulf War where 216, 000 women were enlisted and only 16 were killed (Ginty, 2005). Thus, these records points out that the physical strength of women as well as their endurance should not be undermined by their gender. Another issue faced by women in the military is evident in the impact of their jobs among their families and among the women themselves. According to Amy Blaidorn (2007), an active Navy Lieutenant, the greatest sacrifice that a woman in service does is the time spent away from the family during deployments. Yet she still continued to pursue her work be cause according to her she wanted to make a difference in the lives of other people and that she voluntarily enlisted for the military. Just like Blaidorn, many other women are actively participating in the military, most of whom are wives and mothers. According to a recent army report, the second stressor among female active service members is the separation from family. The multiple deployments became a concern for the whole military force and although there is a continuous means of addressing such issue, the repeated deployment during the heightened time of war continuously impact the family of the service members in a negative way (McChrystal, 2007 cited in Military and Veterans affairs chaplains, 2007). There are many cases that when the service member returns home after a long deployment, she would have to face another battle concerning her marriage and family (Waddell, 2007 cited in Military and Veterans affairs chaplains, 2007). The main problem comes from post-traumatic stress disorder that affects both the families and the service members. After long time of being away from the family, the most notable change that could be seen among the service members is that they are never the same person anymore. Likewise the family she left is not the same family in every aspect. Thus, these changes become a complex issue within the family (McChrystal, 2007 cited Military and Veterans affairs chaplains, 2007). In addition to this, deployments also post a challenge on the authority at home because during the time that the women are away, the male gets used to making all the decision by himself (Kay, 2007 cited Military and Veterans affairs chaplains, 2007). Infidelity and the pervasiveness in the use of pornography have become rampant in times of separation. According to documents, during the time of active deployments to Afghanistan and Iraq in 2001 to 2004, the rate of divorce among active service members drastically increased. Meanwhile for unmarried women in the military, the duty oftentimes serves as an impediment for building relationships (Military and Veterans affairs chaplains, 2007). Despite the family conflicts caused by multiple deployments in the war against terror, the commitment level of women to serve in the military shows higher proportion. Based from the survey findings presented by Penny Pierce and Lisa Lewandowski in an APA convention, surveys concluded that 51 percent of the military women were â€Å"very likely† or â€Å"extremely likely† to continue their service in the Air force while 18 percent of the participants were â€Å"likely† to re-enlist themselves in the service. According to the researchers the intentions of the women to re-enlist in the military depended on the attitudes of their significant others (Pierce and Lewandoski, 2007 cited in Nauert, 2007 n.p.). Based from the findings presented in the study, it is apparent that women have become participative in the military right after the prohibitions against their participation were lifted in some ways. Due to this, women played a vital role in the war against terrorism. They managed to penetrate the once all-male force and were able to ascend in positions that were once assigned to men. However, due to the heightened war in Iraq and Afghanistan which require them to be deployed in critical missions, several issues were faced by these silent warriors. Although there are still governing bodies that limit women to totally engage themselves in ground combat placing them in the sidelines, these areas that are considered to be unsafe does not apply the laws anymore. The battleground for the war against terrorism has become a place that literally became the frontline exposing the lives of women in jeopardy. Likewise, they became subjects of war captivity that inflicted them permanent injuries that may not be physical at times but are more likely to affect them emotionally. Furthermore, the issue within their families is another factor that should not be disregarded when speaking about the women in service. The pain they acquired from war is incomparable to the pain that they have to endure during the times that they have to return home and eventually see the changes that the war had brought on their families and after a short period of stay they would then have to leave again in order to defend the country. Still, despite of all these challenges they have managed to pull their responsibilities together for their country and for their families. They are dying, losing their vital parts, firing their weapons, piloting jets and in a greater sense they are true American soldiers that have served the country with pride and honor.

5 Cases of Premature Reference

5 Cases of Premature Reference 5 Cases of Premature Reference 5 Cases of Premature Reference By Mark Nichol Writers occasionally fall into the trap of inserting too much information between a verb and its object, or introducing a pronoun before the noun it refers to has appeared in effect, alluding to the point of the sentence before specifying it. This syntactical structure isn’t wrong, but it can be annoying. Take care to use the following constructions in moderation, if at all. 1. â€Å"I have decided and I thank you all for your input about the subject that the policy will go into effect immediately.† Interjecting a long parenthetical digression between a verb and the predicate is the least irritating variety of premature reference at least the writer made it to the verb before veering off but it might be better to express the basic statement and then tack on the additional information: â€Å"I have decided that the policy will go into effect immediately. I thank you all for your input about the subject.† (Or start with the parenthetical and continue with the basic statement: â€Å"I thank you all for your input about the policy. I have decided that it will go into effect immediately.†) 2. â€Å"The question is of whether and, if so, to what extent the phenomenon has an impact on climate.† This sentence also interrupts the basic statement with an additional dimension that, in this case, itself is subjected to an interjection. Again, the parenthesis might better follow the fundamental element: â€Å"The question is of whether the phenomenon has an impact on climate, and, if so, the extent of that impact.† 3. â€Å"Whether you appreciate them or not, the devices serve a practical purpose.† When you name something and then refer to it by a pronoun, it’s best to do so in that order: â€Å"Whether you appreciate the devices or not, they serve a practical purpose.† 4. â€Å"These earthquakes, as do most, occurred on faults near boundaries between two tectonic plates.† This type of interruption is also distracting, and it can be solved in the same way as the first two examples: â€Å"These earthquakes occurred on faults near boundaries between two tectonic plates, as do most temblors.† Alternatively, even a slight simplification in wording reduces the distraction: â€Å"These earthquakes, like most, occurred on faults near boundaries between two tectonic plates.† 5. â€Å"The senator, as have many others, brought up the contradiction between the two laws.† The â€Å"as have† interjection can be moved just like the â€Å"as do† parenthesis above: â€Å"The senator brought up the contradiction between the two laws, as have many of his colleagues.† Or, as before, the substitution of like for â€Å"as have† improves the sentence somewhat: â€Å"The senator, like many others, brought up the contradiction between the two laws.† Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Style category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:How to Punctuate References to Dates and TimesHomonyms, Homophones, Homographs and HeteronymsParticular vs. Specific

Commercial Law Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Commercial Law - Case Study Example When a company accepts to tranship the goods of a shipper, they must take due care in ensuring that the goods are shipped in time and reach the owner in good order and condition, which Andy's vessel company failed to ensure. The company failed to take due care of the goods entrusted to it. Edith can hold back his freight charges, which she was entitled to pay for the discharge of goods until such a time when the matter is settled and thereafter pay for the discharge of the goods. In this case, Barry is absolved from any ability since; he played his role by enduring all the three bills of lading to Edith, which shows that ownership has changed. The freight payable to the shipment company by Edith should be held by her until the matter is settled. Liability solely lies to the company since it is apparent good order and condition. This means that they were damaged while on tranship. To conclude, Edith has to sue the shipment company Andy's vessel for the loss caused to her arising from damage caused so her arising from the damage caused to her goods. In this case, she should leave the goods in possession of the shipment company until her claim is full settled and discharged. From the point or rule three above, the shipment company is liable to tranship and after reaching the destination, they will not be liable. In other words they accept liability of goods while on tranship. Same way problem or damage was done while on tranship. The damage caused resulting to loss by Edith has to be compensated for since liability arises as per the rules of the carrier. Edith can sue the carrier for the reckless of her cases. Barry should have complied with all the formalities in ensuring that the goods were despatched in good order and in time but the carrier, company had the dispatched the goods in good form only to reach Edith damaged. A similar case studied is that of: Tool Metal Manufactures Co Ltd v Tungsten Electric Co Ltd (House of Lords) In April 1938 the appellant made a contract with the respondent whereby they gave they gave the respondents a license to import, make, use and sell ' hand metal alloys' in accordance with the patent rights held by them. The respondents were to pay royalties on the materials made and compensation if in any one month they sold more than the stated quantity of the alloys. In 1942, following the outbreak of the Second World War, the appellants voluntarily agreed to suspend their right to compensation, it being contemplated that a new agreement would be entered into. In 1944, negotiations for a new contract begun but broke down and, in 1945, the respondents sued the appellants (inter alias) for breach of contract and the appellants counter-claimed for payment of compensation as from June 1 1945. The respondent's action was dismissed. Regarding the counter-claims, the Court of appellants counter-claimed for payment of compensation as from June 1 1945. The respondent's action was dismissed. Regarding the counter-claim, the Court of Appeal held that the agreement of 1942 operated in

Films and the rating system Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Films and the rating system - Essay Example But have you ever wondered what differentiates or rather categorize these movies apart from the storyline, filmmakers, studios and cast? Have you ever thought as a common man, whether a particular movie is suitable for their kids? Or how do you decide, whether the content of a particular movie is viewable for all? Here comes the importance of ratings. Now, when I say ratings, it does not have anything to do with the critics’ ratings or the reviews. By issuing a rating, the body which issues these ratings seeks to inform parents of the level of certain aspects and contents found in a particular movie. It may include certain level of violence, sex, drugs, language, thematic material, adult activities, etc. that are not suitable for all kinds of viewers. Despite all the strict norms for rating a movie based on these conditions, most big budget films get away with the adult contents and get rated as either PG or PG 13 even when they exhibit contents that can actually rate them as R. It is also a sad fact that the low profile and low budget movies get hard rated even when they don’t deserve such ratings. This paper makes an analysis of why big budget movies get away with the adult content compared to the strict rating exercised on low profile movies. In addition to this, a brief explanation of the rating system and its evolution is also covered through. Rating System and Transition Evolution and Transition: It was in 1922 that the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) started issuing ratings for motion pictures. MPAA is a voluntary system. As such not all movies are rated by them. Movies that are submitted to MPAA for ratings get through the process. Since it is a voluntary system it is not enforced by law, however, almost all the movie theatres will not screen an unrated domestic films and most of the big gun studios have come to a consensus that it would submit all its titles for ratings before the theatrical release. A lack of a uniform body to rate movies affected the filmmakers prior to establishment of MPAA; this led to the formation of MPAA in 1922. MPAA rated the movies based on a general production code administration which was popularly known as, ‘The Hays Code.’ It was a strict and stringent rating system, due to which it lost its prominence in 1966. It was the time when America was open to ‘Frankness and Openness.’ In 1968, came the new rating system which we follow till today. The new system was developed not to approve or reject a motion picture. Instead of this, an independent ratings body would advise or warn the parents to let them know if they are suitable for their children. â€Å"It’s the parents’ discretion whether to allow them to watch the movie or not.† (Soriano, 2011) Even this system was 100% voluntary. The ratings are done by an independent board comprising of parents who have no past affiliation to the movie business whatsoever. The board will compr ise of 8 to 13 parents whose kids fall into the age group of 5-17. â€Å"Their job was to simply rate the motion pictures as they believe a majority of American parents would rate it.† (MPAA, 2011) Ratings: A movie is rated by MPAA based on factors such as language, sex, violence, drug usage and certain other themes and situations which they believe would be of significant concern to most parents. The different types of ratings are G, PG, PG-13, R, and NC-17. ‘G’ stands for ‘

Case study Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 11

Case study - Assignment Example Evaluating, giving feedbacks, making follow up and coaching the juniors like the case with Griffins and York has always been a challenge to leaders. (Duke Corporate Education, 2005). Very few leaders have been trained on ways of formulating and delivering feedback that is constructive and effective; feedbacks that would encourage the concerned parties to change both their personal and professional lives. Research has proved that there are four essential skills required in giving a feedback; self-management, observational, analytical and interpersonal skills. As the vice president, Mary Griffin’s feedback to His subordinate Simon York is very important. Feedback is a very important responsibility to all leaders, supervisors and managers in performance development. A supervisor must carry out descriptive feedback based on behavior on his subordinates for it to be considered effective. It should not be judgmental nor based on one’s personality. Upon issuing the feedback report, the leader should consider coaching the subordinate towards what is expected of him or her. Performance coaching should be a continued process that helps the employees in evaluating their job behavior and their performance with an aim of improving their effectiveness (OToole, 2012). Coaching sessions must be regular; whether they are informal or formal. We will discuss the impacts of healthy interpersonal skills in an organization in relation to the feedback and coaching given by Mary to Simon (Hawkins, 2011). It is of paramount importance for any person in any organization to have good interpersonal skills irrespective of his position in the organization. Interpersonal skills enhance teamwork, bonding and good communication skills. In order for one to appreciate the need of having good interpersonal skills, he must know its importance. The paper focuses on four main significances of

British Politics Shaped By The FPTP Electoral System Essay

British Politics Shaped By The FPTP Electoral System - Essay Example British elections follow the plurality voting system. It is the responsibility of the people to vote for representatives of their constituency and will, therefore, elect a candidate of their choice from the competing political parties. There are approximately six hundred and fifty constituencies in the UK that have to be contested by the multiple parties in elections. Under the FPTP, political parties take time to invest and campaign for their candidates and parties, so as to influence the majority people to elect them. After the First World War, several changes in the electoral system of Britain occurred. The constituencies were divided into approximately equal proportions based on the population from which the FPTP electoral system would operate in. With the 1918 reform, additional groups of people such as the soldiers who had returned from war and the groups of women who had achieved the minimum property qualification affected the size of the electorate. For the first time, the nu mber of voters had almost tripled. Under the new FPTP system, each qualified voter from a constituency has been required to vote for a single candidate from a list given in the ballot paper. The assumption is that the candidate who gets most votes compared to other individual candidates wins the election to qualify for the representative in the constituency. This method has by far been the simplest and regarded as the voice of the majority. No doubt that conservative party can be regarded as the dominant political party of the 20th century.

Safegurading health information and systems Essay

Safegurading health information and systems - Essay Example The other most important wording is the ethical statement. These act as a guide to the ethical behaviors the health care workers such as nurses are supposed to abide by when in use of the information systems (Wager, Lee & Glaser, 2013). This wording is important as it saves on disciplinary actions and prevents nurses and other health care workers from breaching the ethical code of conduct. Lastly, the other most important wording necessary to be included in these health systems is the patient management statement. There are standards of patient management necessary for the nurse to apply in all patients and they should be openly stipulated and clearly worded in the information system for the benefit and frequent reminder of them to the nurses when attending to their patients (Mettler & Raptis, 2012). Failure to follow these statements leads to legal actions being taken against the nurse as is stipulated in the legal and regulatory statement mentioned

Pop Art 1960s Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Pop Art 1960s - Essay Example The first reference to Pop Art was made by a British art critic, Lawrence Alloway in an essay called, ‘The arts and mass media’. He perhaps, was the first one to defend mass culture as an art form. Concerning the origins of Pop Art, Alloway said, â€Å"The term, originated in England by me, as a description of mass communications, especially, but not exclusively, visual ones." The earliest of paintings to be recognised as Pop art was a small 101/4 X 93/4 inches collage titled ‘Just what is it that makes today’s homes s different, so appealing’ by British Artist Richard Hamilton along with John Mc Hale and John Voelcker for an exhibition titled, This is tomorrow, held in 1956 in London. The painting features the interiors of artist Mc Hale’s home, where a body builder holds a big lollypop, on which the word ‘Pop’ is written. At a side on a sofa is a nude posing. The other elements in the collage are a comic book strip, a ham tine, newspaper and a tape recorder, a vacuum cleaner, television set and perhaps an image of the moon. Windows of this room seem to be open, giving a peek of a movie theatre.The modern city life depicts the essence of Pop Art. Images from newspapers, magazines and catalogues form the image of contemporary life. Interpretations of this piece of art are many. However, by and large, the collage seems to represent then new ideas of communication that the artists. The subject has been reworked many a times by Hamilton, including a 1992 version where a female body builder replaces the muscle man. Hamilton has created many remarkable pieces of art, the most famous being replica of Duchamp's, The Bride Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors (1965), Hommage a Chrysler corp. (1957), Interior (1964) etc. While Richard Hamilton can be rightly called precursor of Pop Art, American Artist Andy Warhol extended the Pop Art genre giving it new heights, newer dimensions. He experimented with different mediums-painting, sculpture; film, etc., his most famous work being Campbell's Soup Cans. During the 1960s, Warhol laid the foundation of his studio, The Factory in these years he sought not only

Safegurading health information and systems Essay

Safegurading health information and systems - Essay Example The other most important wording is the ethical statement. These act as a guide to the ethical behaviors the health care workers such as nurses are supposed to abide by when in use of the information systems (Wager, Lee & Glaser, 2013). This wording is important as it saves on disciplinary actions and prevents nurses and other health care workers from breaching the ethical code of conduct. Lastly, the other most important wording necessary to be included in these health systems is the patient management statement. There are standards of patient management necessary for the nurse to apply in all patients and they should be openly stipulated and clearly worded in the information system for the benefit and frequent reminder of them to the nurses when attending to their patients (Mettler & Raptis, 2012). Failure to follow these statements leads to legal actions being taken against the nurse as is stipulated in the legal and regulatory statement mentioned

Research Anaylsis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Research Anaylsis - Essay Example The â€Å"No Child Left Behind Policy in the United States viewed the teachers as dutiful mechanism to foster that so called proven literacy education programs and methods. This follows the â€Å"Do as I do, not as I say† rule. This method implies that students are more likely to perform well and engaged themselves in any activities especially in reading and writing when they learn from teachers who manifest the same traits. Therefore, the competency of teachers being active readers and writers influence the performance of the students. It brings life to the classroom and affects the students interest and enthusiasm to participate in reading and writing and be effective readers and writers themselves. On the contrary these studies can just be a generalization of the whole scenario. The focus of this analysis is the individual experience and approach of an effective teacher. Individual teacher has different attitude, beliefs and practices. Therefore, the teachers individual capacity will affect their performance in sustaining and delivering effective literacy instruction and learning opportunities to students. This is an individual role for them as educators. As a support to this, Susi (1984) found that teachers assumed different positive writer roles and identities as a result of their participation in writers workshops. They experienced the struggles and joys of composing and revising, which, in turn, not only taught them to be more empathetic to the experiences of their students, hut also "humanized" them to their students. Therefore, the extent of what the teachers would facilitate to their students could be determined by their own experiences. It is absolutely hard to teach something when in fact, a person does not have enough knowledge regarding that subject matter. This is further supported by the report of some other researchers stating that more diverse teacher self-concepts as writers from

Indias movie industry

Indias movie industry Motion pictures came to India in 1896, when the Lumià ¨re Brothers Cinematographed unveiled six soundless short films in Mumbai. This was just one year after the Lumià ¨re brothers (inventors of cinematography) had set up their company in Paris. The first Indian on record to make a movie was Harishchandra Sakharam Bhatvadekar (nickname: Save Dada). He made one short film on a wrestling match at the Hanging Gardens in Mumbai and another on the playfulness of monkeys. Both these shorts were made in 1897 and were publicly exhibited for the first time in 1899 using Edisons projecting kinetoscope inside a tent which the film maker had himself erected. Indias first feature film named King Harishchandra was released in 1913. It was made by Dhundiraj Govind Phalke (nickname: Dadasaheb Phalke, 1817-1944). This was a silent movie. By 1920, film making had taken the shape of an industry. The first talkie made in India was Alam Ara (produced by Imperial Film Company) released in 1931. Until the 1960s, film-making companies, many of whom owned studios, dominated the film industry. Artistes and technicians were either their employees or were contracted on long-term basis. Since the 1960s, however, most performers went the freelance way, resulting in the star system and huge escalations in film production costs. Financing deals in the industry also started becoming murkier and murkier since then. Current position India has the worlds biggest movie industry in terms of the number of movies produced (around 800 movies annually, mostly in the Hindi language. Tamil, Telegu, Bengali and Malayalam are the languages in which most of the non-Hindi films are made). Today, the technology of film-making in India is perhaps the best among all developing countries though the films themselves remain mostly repetitive in storyline and content. Superior movies, in thematic and creative terms, are made in many developing countries with less sophisticated technologies. According to unofficial estimates available in January 2001, the Indian film industry has an annual turnover of Rs. 60 billion (approximately US$1.33 billion). It employs more than 6 million people, most of whom are contract workers as opposed to regular employees. The above statistics cannot however be used to calculate the movie industrys share in the GDP or employment generation. This is because a vast proportion of the turnover takes place outside the legal economy. Though Indias overall entertainment industry is taking on professional colours (with the rise of TV production companies), Indias movie industry per se remains highly informal, personality-oriented and family-dominated. Until the late 1990s, it was not even recognised as an industry. Even though it has since been recognised as an industry, banks and other financial institutions continue to avoid the industry due to the enormous risks involved in the business. Two banks, Canara Bank and Indian Bank, have reportedly lost heavily by financing films. However, the prospects of bank financing and risk insurance are becoming brighter, albeit at a slow rate (as explained further down this report). As a result, the financing of films in India often remains shrouded in mystery. Surprisingly, however, the oft-murky world of film industrys finances has not tainted the film industrys perception in the general public eye or in the governments attitude. Even though many famous people from the movie industry have risen to positions of political and social responsibility, including seats in federal and state parliaments, none of them have cared to reveal or have been under pressure to reveal the truth about the industrys finances. Some developments in the years 2000 and 2001 including the arrest of a leading financier, Bharat Shah for his alleged links with a fugitive gangster have not yet brought to public knowledge the inside economics of the industry. The rot or financial amorality of Indias film industry seems to have set in since the 1960s. Until the 1960s, film producers would get loans from film distributors against a minimum guarantee: this meant that the distributors had to ensure that the film was screened in cinemas for a fixed minimum period. If this minimum guarantee was fulfilled, the producers had no further liability. Profit or loss would be the destiny of the distributors. (There are exceptions, however. Indias most celebrated film-maker, the late Satyajit Ray, is known to have pawned his wifes jewellery to part-finance his first film). Star System: The financing pattern, centered on distributors, is suspected to have changed since the 1960s when the studio system collapsed and freelance performers emerged. This gave rise to the star system in which actors and actresses ceased to have long-term contractual obligations towards any studio or film production firm (such as the now defunct Bombay Talkies, New Theatres and Prabhat Studios). Rather, they began to operate as freelancers commanding fees in proportion to the box office performance of their recent films. This increased costs of film production since the more successful actors and actresses hogged major proportions of the producers budget. In the changed system, distributors would pay 50 per cent of the film-making cost leaving it to the producer to get the rest from other sources. The other sources are: conventional moneylenders (who lend at an interest rate of 36-40 per cent annually); non-conventional but corporate resources, promissory note system (locally called hundi system): this is the most widely prevalent source, and underworld money: about 5 per cent of the movies are suspected to be financed by these sources. Film production thus became a risky business and the relationship with usurious money-lenders strengthened over the years. As at the start of 2001, a reasonable budget film in Hindi could cost US$1.75 million. A low budget Hindi film can be made for even as low as Rs. 15 million. A big budget Hindi movie can cost in excess of US$30 million. The bigness of the budget is attributable mainly to the high fees paid to stars, celebrated music directors, high-end technologies and expensive travel costs to shoot in exotic locations worldwide. At the time of writing, it is believed that stars like Shah Rukh Khan and Salman Khan are paid Rs. 20 million (US$440,000) per film.In contrast, script writers and film editors remain poorly paid. In an interview, Indias so-called superstar Amitabh Bachchan (whose wax statue stands at Madam Tussauds in London) attributed the lack of strong storylines to the poor money paid to writers. India has a National Film Development Corporation (NFDC) which finances some films. A few film makers, who would find it hard to obtain finance from the regular sources, have been financed by the NFDC. However, NFDC cannot be considered to play a central role in the film industry because it finances too few films which, too, are not of the type that has made the Indian film industry so vibrant. It however goes to the NFDCs credit that, without it, some of Indias best film makers wouldnt have got a break in the industry. Another shortcoming with the NFDC is that it funds films only at the production stage while ignoring the just-as-important marketing stage. The film industry is currently losing unestimated volumes of revenue due to competition from local cable operators who illegally beam newly released movies into the drawing rooms of their subscribers. Future Of The Industry This is not intended to be a scare story, however. As mentioned above, the overall entertainment industry in India is taking on professional colours and this will change the culture of the film industry too. Some film production companies, such as Mukta Arts, have made public share issues, thus keeping out of the world of murky financing. The Film Federation of India is actively seeking to make film financing a viable proposition for banks. It is likely that films would also be insured to offset possible losses for banks. The granting of industry status to the film industry will eventually allow overboard financing of films, though this will result in production of fewer films than at present. Stricter enforcement of copyright law will help the film industry in its fight with cable operators. Foreign entertainment companies, with steady revenue streams, can do good business if they invest in Hindi and other Indian language films.Despite high risks on a per-movie basis, the risk spreads out across a number of movies. Animation industry Animation is a word that has practically stormed the film industry these days. Everyone, right from the 8-year old kids to 80-year old granddads, loves to watch an animation flick. Have you ever wondered what animation exactly is and how did it come into existence. Animation is basically the rapid display of a sequence of images, of 2-D or 3-D artwork or model positions. The display is so rapid that it creates an illusion of movement in the viewers. The phenomenon of persistence of vision is the main basis behind the development of animation. Background of Animation The earliest instance of animation dates back to the Paleolithic times, when attempts were made to capture motion in drawings. The cave-paintings of that time depict animals in superimposed positions, drawn with an aim of conveying the perception of motion. Persistence of vision, the basis behind animation, was discovered by Ptolemy, the Greek astronomer, in 130 AD. Fifty years later, in 180 AD, an unknown Chinese inventor created an early animation device, which we later came to know as the zoetrope. Phenakistoscope, praxinoscope and the flip book are the other early animation devices, which were invented during the 1800s. All these devices made use of technological means for the purpose of producing movement from sequential drawings. However, it was the introduction of motion picture films, in the late 1890s that gave a boost to the concept of animation. There is no single person who can be credited with the title of the Creator of animation. This is because when animation was developed, many people were involved in the same thing at the same time. J. Stuart Blackton was the first person to make an animated film, which he called Humorous phases of funny faces. For the purpose, he used to draw comical faces on a blackboard, one after the other, and film them. In 1910, Emile Cohl came out with the first paper cutout animation. The development of celluloid, around 1913, made animation much easier to manage. While talking about the history of animation, three names that are definitely worth mentioning are those of Winsor McCay of United States Emile Cohl and Georges Melies of France. Émile Cohls Fantasmagorie (1908) was the first animated film that was made using traditional (hand-drawn) animation. Georges Mà ©lià ¨s, a creator of special-effect films, was the first person to use animation, along with special effects. He was the one who gave the idea of stop-motion animation. McCay also created a number of animation films, with the most noted ones being Little Nemo (1911), Gertie the Dinosaur (1914) and The Sinking of the Lusitania (1918). In fact, many people take Sinking of the Lusitania to be the first animated feature film. However, it was Walt Disney who took animation to an entirely new level altogether. In 1928, with the premiere of Steamboat Willie, he became the first animator to add sound to his movie cartoons. Walt Disney achieved another milestone in 1937, when he produced the first full length animated feature film, named Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. The year 1955 saw Art Clokey producing Gumby, a stop-motion clay animation. Introduction of computers marked a step further in the concept of animation. In 1951, an MIT student Ivan Sutherland created a computer drawing program, Sketchpad, further giving a boost to animation. With time, computer started gaining an increasing importance in the field of animation. Movies like Star Wars relied on computer animation for many of its special effects. In 1995 came Toy Story, produced by Walt Disney Productions and Pixar Animation Studios, the first full length feature film animated totally on computers. Since that time, animation and computer have gone hand in hand, creating new milestones with time. Technology development has prompted a number of low cost hubs with powerful computer animation platforms to emerge in Asia. India is fast becoming a preferred destination for Animation outsourcing and is steadily overtaking the traditional players in the field like Philippines, Korea Taipei. Its boom time in the Indian animation industry, pegged at approximately US$ 300- $350 million in 2005. Cities like Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Thiruvananthapuram are fast emerging as the countrys major animation hubs. The big studios have set up world-class, state-of-the-art facilities equipped with hardware and software like SGI, 3DMax and SoftImage, SFX and processing motion capture facilities. Indias biggest advantages are its cost effectiveness and good quality. The total cost for making a full-length animated film in America is estimated to be US$100 million to US$175 million. On the other hand, in India, it can be made for US$15 million to US$25 million. According to NASSCOM, the animation sector grew by over 20% in 2004. Studios spread across the country are doing animation work like cartoon characters and special effects for clients around the world including Walt Disney, Imax, Warner Brothers and Sony. Some of the other companies are outsourcing animation for commercials and computer games. Some of the prominent animations outsourcing companies are: Toonz Animation India is based in Thiruvananthapuram and has to its credit the successful series The Adventures of Tenali Raman. The team here is also working on a full-fledged feature film called Tommy and Oscar which is a 2D /3D combo project. This is apart from completing work for the Italian producer Rainbow Productions; a 2D television series called Will o the Wisp (26 X 6 min) for Animoon Plc, United Kingdom and a big-budget 3D television series for major a US broadcaster. This company has tied up with First Serve International to form First Serve Toonz. Pentamedia Graphics, Chennai is a subsidiary of computer software company Pentafour. It is best known for its animated 3D film using the motion capture technique, Sindbad: Beyond the Veils of the Mists. Maya Entertainment, Mumbai has been doing outsourced work for a while now and has done the special effects for The Mummy and Stuart Little. It is also working on animating short films starring a character called Wabo, to be used by the United Nations to educate worldwide audiences on the importance of fresh drinking water. UTV Toonz, Mumbai is the animation division of UTV Software Communications and is one of the top ranking studios dealing in flash as well as traditional animation. It has bagged a US$10 billion deal with an American company for outsourced work. Other assignments for international clients include like two Dutch deals to produce a musical cartoon series called ClubNow! and a fantasy series The Donz; a project with Cinegroup of Canada for the images for a sci-fi series. They are also working with companies in Scotland and Luxembourg for the development of series like Clootie Dumpling and Snow Queen. It will also be working on Kong: The Next Generation for New York-based BKN New Media. Heart Entertainment, a 2D animation studio is yet another big name in the animation sphere, which is doing a lot of outsourced work. Among the animation featured in its portfolio are Warner Brothers Histeria, Tommy Nelsons Crippled Lamb and Little Dogs on the Prairie. It also has to its credit some work done for Walt Disney. Padmalaya Telefilms, Mumbai is a unit of Indias largest listed media firm, Zee Telefilms. It is expected to make 104 cartoon episodes for US$ 14 million and distribute Mondos library for US$ 15 million. It has also inked some deals with British animation companies like Mallard Media and Ealing Animation. Nipuna Services Ltd, a division of Satyam Computer Services, has recently bagged a project worth US$ 8 billion from 4K Animation GmbH, a German animation company. This assignment is among the biggest deals struck by an Indian BPO in the animation space. It is also doing significant work for a New Zealand based company called Applied Gravity. The work includes animatronics models for New Zealand Theme parks as well as an animatronics dog for Animal Planets series K9 to 11. Jadoo Works, Bangalore is working on an animated film series Lord Krishna and the crime caper Bombay Dogs. It has done work for US animation studios like Wild Brain and Guardian Angel Animation (GaGa). Crest Communications, Mumbai, is a leading 3-d animation company and does a lot of work for American Studios. It came into limelight in 2002, when it won an Emmy for animation production work done for the animated series Jakers: The Adventures of Piggley-Winks. It is also to work on three features for Lions Gate Family Entertainment. Crest is also expected to produce and release Sylvester and the Magic Pebble based on the story by William Steig the creator ofShrek. Silvertoon Studio, Mumbai, is engaged primarily in subcontract work for U.S., French, and British studios, using digital ink, paint and compositing system. The Animation Industry in India though a late starter, is considered as one of the fastest growing segments of the entertainment and media industry. The Animation Industry in India gained significance as an outsourced destination for animation work due to low cost, skilled labour as its many advantages. In the recent past Indian animation companies and animation studios have been moving up the value chain to create their own intellectual property rights with Hanuman, Roadside Romeo, etc. and partnering with international studios to produce animated properties for the global audience. Though a majority of the work done by the animation industry in India is outsourced work, this is expected to change in the future with increased demand from the domestic entertainment industry. The Indian animation industry in 2007 was estimated at USD 0.31 billion and is expected to grow at CAGR 24% to reach USD 0.94 billion by 2012. (Source:Ficci-PwC Entertainment and Media report 2008). The Indian animation industry in 2007 was estimated at USD 0.31 billion and is expected to grow at CAGR 24% to reach USD 0.94 billion by 2012. (Source:Ficci-PwC Entertainment and Media report 2008) 1.2 Introduction to pestle analysis PESTLE Analysis is a simple, useful and widely-used tool that helps you understand the big picture of your Political, Economic, Socio-Cultural, Technological Legal and Environmental. As such, it is used by business leaders worldwide to build their vision of the future. It is important for these reasons: First, by making effective use of PESTLE Analysis, you ensure that what you are doing is aligned positively with the powerful forces of change that are affecting our world. By taking advantage of change, you are much more likely to be successful than if your activities oppose it; Second, good use of PESTLE Analysis helps you avoid taking action that is doomed to failure from the outset, for reasons beyond your control; and Third, PEST is useful when you start operating in a new country or region. Use of PESTLE helps you break free of unconscious assumptions, and helps you quickly adapt to the realities of the new environment. How to use the tool: PESTLE is a simple mnemonic standing for Political, Economic, Socio-Cultural, Technological, Legal and Environmental To use this tool, follow this three stage process: Brainstorm the relevant factors that apply to you; Identify the information that applies to these factors; and Draw conclusions from this information. The following factors may help as a starting point for brainstorming (but make sure you include other factors that may be appropriate to your situation): Political: Government type and stability Freedom of press, rule of law and levels of bureaucracy and corruption Regulation and de-regulation trends Social and employment legislation Tax policy, and trade and tariff controls Environmental and consumer-protection legislation Likely changes in the political environment Economic: Stage of business cycle Current and project economic growth, inflation and interest rates Unemployment and labor supply Labor costs Levels of disposable income and income distribution Impact of globalization Likely impact of technological or other change on the economy Likely changes in the economic environment Socio-Cultural: Population growth rate and age profile Population health, education and social mobility, and attitudes to these Population employment patterns, job market freedom and attitudes to work Press attitudes, public opinion, social attitudes and social taboos Lifestyle choices and attitudes to these Socio-Cultural changes Technological Environment: Impact of emerging technologies Impact of Internet, reduction in communications costs and increased remote working Research and Development activity Impact of technology transfer Legal World legislation changes National legislation changes Prospects Current legislation home market Future legislation European/international legislation Regulatory bodies and processes Environmental regulations Employment law Consumer protection Industry-specific regulations competitive regulations Environmental Customer values Market values Stakeholder/ investor values Staff attitudes Management style Organisational culture Staff morale Staff engagement The PEST Analysis is a perfect tool for managers and policy makers, helping them in analyzing the forces that are driving their industry and how these factors will influence their businesses and the whole industry in general. Our product also presents a brief profile of the industry comprising of current market, competition in it and future prospects of that sector. Chapter-2 Objectives of the study The major objectives of the study are: To get the knowledge about the business environment of film and animation industry. To assimilate the factors which affects any industry. To enlarge the view of doing business in the present era. Chapter-3 Research and methodology Research methodology is the theoretical depiction of the process involved in the research work. It refers to the collection of data from various sources. This term paper deals with the PESTLE analysis of film and animation industry. For collecting information I have used two types of sources i.e. primary and secondary sources. Primary sources: The primary sources of this term paper includes Interaction with my teachers. Secondary sources: The main secondary sources for this term paper includes- Site visits. Document analysis (Reports and newspapers.) Data collected from various journals. Data collected from books. Chapter-4 PESTLE Analysis of Film and Animation industry Political factors affecting Film and Animation Industry: Tax in Indiasignifies the tax paid by the Film and Animation Industry in India. The entertainment tax in India is usually applicable for large-scale entertainment shows, private festivals that are sponsored, movie tickets, video game arcades, and amusement parks among others.All activities include commercial movie/theater shows, games, amusement parks, exhibitions, celebrity stage shows, any kind of sports such as horse racing, and exhibitions. The entertainment tax department looks after the tax payable for the entertainment activities being performed in various places across the country. The entertainment tax department is located in Delhi and works under the stipulation of The Delhi Entertainment and Betting Tax Act, 1996. The organizers or proprietors of the entertainment shows are responsible for the entertainment tax in India. They collect the tax from the sponsors and deposit it to the Government of India. One of the highest revenue earning sectors from tax in entertainment industry is cinema. With every ticket, a certain amount of tax is tagged which is paid while buying the movie tickets and is included in the price of the tickets. The entry tickets to any cinematographic exhibitions have the entertainment tax included in it, which is 25-30 percent. The entertainment department is a major source of revenue for the Government of India. It also has a great contribution towards the publicity of Indian arts that portrays ancient culture and various sports. This is done by granting tax-free benefits to the same. The organizers of any entertainment shows will have to seek the permission of the Entertainment Tax Department before putting up any commercial shows. The entertainment tax in India is levied upon the organizers or proprietors depending on the kind of shows being organized. There are a range of tax schemes for various entertainment programs. These are as follows: Tax schemes designed for amusement parks Tax-paid programs Programs based on tax exempted sectors Tax programs on cable television networks Tax for various invitee programs Tax on entertainment betting Tax on video parlors To alleviate the tax generating program, a series of technologies has been introduced in the entertainment tax department. For example, the computerized ticket booking system has been incorporated for booking movie tickets along with the online data transmission in the entertainment industry. The more advanced the entertainment industry is becoming the tax rate is increasing at a proportional rate. Customers mostly look for convenience and less hazardous tasks while going for any entertainment program and so faster access would definitely attract more customers. Economic Factors affecting Film and Animation Industry: Consistent commitment to economic reform over the last decade has spurred the steady growth of the Indian economy. The emphasis on creating an enabling environment for investment and the inherent potential of the Indian economy have together pushed Indias annual Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate beyond 8 percent. While Indias GDP ranks eleventh in the world in absolute terms, it ranks among the top five economies of the world when assessed in terms of purchasing power parity. It is the growing consuming class with the proclivity to spend that will drive the growth of the Indian entertainment industry. Adding to this positive outlook is the fact that the average Indian is getting younger and is showing a greater propensity to indulge and entertain himself. Moreover, there are over 20 million Indians living abroad who are increasingly opting for India-oriented entertainment, as the availability of such content increases. Globally, a clutch of international films with Indian content, themes and performers are receiving wide visibility and acclaim. This broad acceptance of Indian entertainment is likely to give a further fillip to the expansion of this industry. The emergence of the Indian middle class with greater earning power and a higher disposable income is one of the key factors that will drive the growth of the Indian entertainment sector. Demographic analysis clearly shows the evidence of this growth. The consumption indicates the continued progression of people into higher income and consumption segments. As the average Indian gets richer and his more compelling needs are met, his propensity to spend on discretionary items such as entertainment increases. Further, as his consumption of various goods and services rises, companies would try to reach out to him through more marketing and advertising. Higher demand and an increased investment would result in an expansion of the entertainment industry in the years to come. As the Indian entertainment market grows, it is essential to recognize the heterogeneous nature of the market. All too often, the specific appetite of certain segments such as the rural population, women and children, is under-estimated and their financial value proposition continues to be under-recognised. Companies and businesses that have managed to differentially cater to the varying segments of Indian population have benefited. As a corollary, the entertainment sector too has begun to witness the advent of a broader set of offerings which are aimed for specific segments: e.g. television channels for children. On the other hand, the childrens films genre, for instance, has yet to grow and mature in India. There is a case for a proactive and sustained targeting of specific, niche segments of the market. In fact, given the size and potential of Indias niche segments, niche may be a word which is likely to be replaced soon. As per industry estimates, the total advertising spend in India in 2004 was approximately INR 118 billion, a growth of 13.4 percent over the last year. However, India continues to have a low advertising spend to GDP ratios compared to other economies, underscoring the untapped potential. In 2004, the advertising spend for India stood at 0.50 percent of the GDP, up from 0.48 percent the previous year. This is expected to increase significantly due to rising consumerism and growing interest from global brands attracted by this huge and expanding market. Given the increasing number of media channels that consumers are exposed to, brands will have to advertise more frequently and across more channels to generate brand recall. As television channels have multiplied and the content available has become more diverse in the last decade, their viewership has increased, niche channels have emerged targeting specific demographic segments and the cost of advertising on television has reduced. While the broadcasters can dwell on this shared optimism, they must also recognize that advertising budgets are very sensitive to economic downturns. Advertising budgets are not only easily brought down, but the productivity of such expenses is also challenged. Companies are increasingly demanding their advertising agencies to link their fees to performance indicators such as sales increments. With increasing access to state-of-the-art technologies, addressability issues are being put to test, ther