Henry Ford the founder of the Ford Motor Company Essay

Henry Ford the founder of the Ford Motor Company - Essay Example In his youth, Henry knew how to help his parents with the farm chores. However, instead of establishing himself in the agriculture, Henry became more inclined into mechanics, machinery, understanding how things worked and what new possibilities lay in store. As a young boy, he took apart everything he got his hands on. He quickly became known around the neighborhood for fixing people's watches ("Henry Ford"). Although he was deprived of formal education, Henry knows a lot about machinery and he knows how to make small machineries work. At fifteen, he was able to build his own steam engine and at sixteen years old, young Henry left Dearborn and went to the town's nearby city. In Detroit, he worked as an apprentice machinist. For three years, he remained in the same company working as an apprentice although there are times when he goes back to his hometown and helps his parents with the farm. Being responsible both to his job as well as to his family, he makes time to go home and repairing and overhauling his father's farm equipments at the same time working in Detroit. When Henry became an engineer at Edison Illuminating Company in Detroit in 1891, he strongly dedicated himself to the industrial business and production. His pursuits were geared towards the further development of the industry that would benefit not only the rich but those who belonged to the middle class. His promotion to Chief Engineer in 1893 gave him enough time and money to devote attention to his personal experiments on internal combustion engines ("The Life"). He had several experiments involving combustion engines, yet it had concluded when he was able to make his own self-propelled vehicle in 1896 - the Quadricycle ("The Life"). It was the first "horseless carriage" that he actually built. It had four wire wheels that looked like heavy bicycle wheels, was steered with a tiller like a boat, and had only two forward speeds with no reverse. It may have been way too far from the vehicles that the modern society now has as well as from the cars that he himself had produced later, yet it was the most significant and the most meaningful accomplishment that Henry had had in the past. It was with this vehicle when the Ford business came to reality. It was only with the creation of the Quadricycle when Henry's experiments became real. With the Quadricycle, his theories no longer remained as is - like the gas engine he built on his kitchen table in the 1890's, which was just an engine with nothing to power. The Quadricycle showed enough popularity and potential that it launched the beginning of Ford's business ventures ("Henry Ford"). Although Ford was not the first to build a self-propelled vehicle with a gasoline engine, he was, however, one of several automotive pioneers who helped this country become a nation of motorists ("The Life"). In 1899 Ford left Edison to help run the Detroit Automobile Company. Cars were still built essentially one at a time. On the other hand, Henry hoped to incorporate the ideas from other industries in order to create a more efficient vehicle. He wanted to mix together the various characteristics from other industries such as the standardized parts as Eli Whitney had used with gun manufacturing or assembly line methods George Eastman tried in photo processing. Yet, instead of encouragement, Henry was left with many criticisms about how absurd and foolish his ideas may be. As such, he quit Detroit

The IT infrastructure Essay Example for Free

The IT infrastructure Essay Integrated Distributors Incorporated is facing a lot of challenges. The IT infrastructure has a lot of outdated hardware and software in multiple locations. This greatly increases security risks and exposes confidentiality, integrity, and availability. Some network compromises have ensued due to the outdated hardware and software. Sensitive and strategic information has been leaked to the public and it is time we put an end to this. End users are the number one security risk and must be dealt with first. In order to accomplish this goal, the company will need to replace the old, outdated systems with new, up-to-date systems. Dell is the optimal company to pursue these systems as they have a full support system that comes with the workstations. All networking components will need to be upgraded next as the current system is not very secure or reliable. I suggest going with a full cisco infrastructure and maintaining physical security by putting all of the switches in racks. Upgrading the infrastructure to a unified cisco presence will also scale into phone systems as well with VOIP options. This will also allow a unified presence with instant messenger and meetings online as well. A Cisco VPN will also be installed for remote access controls. The entirety of the network will have to be protected with Barracuda Firewalls as the threat to intrusion is rather high judging the frequency of the preceding attacks. The company will need to do a cost management analysis to this, however from my understanding, with the increased efficiency; we will be looking to come out on top after a three year return of investment on this purchase. I fully recommend we look at putting a honeypot somewhere in the DMZ so we can monitor how hackers attempt to gain access and thwart their efforts in the future. The Warsaw, Poland location, we must find a new proxy server to replace the IBM Infinity hardened server. The decentralization of all file servers and application servers will need to halt. Virtualization will need to be implemented over the first year to gain stability over the market with our products. I nominate we rent space from RackSpace in two separate locations to gain redundancy and minimize our latency in the event that  customers attempt to connect from a different location. RackSpace has extremely tight security and without authorization, access is not granted. The locations for RackSpace will be Dallas and Chicago as they are far apart and both locations are not as susceptible to the elements as other locations. Virtual hosting solutions will be set up in both locations and a full 100mbps MPLS circuit will be needed for replication purposes. A bulk of the hosting will be done from Dallas and most of the backup servers and replication hosts will be in Chicago just in case of a power outage within Dallas. An intrusion detection system will need to be set up to find intruders and alert IT staff to lock down the network. In order to prevent them from getting in, we will need to have an intrusion prevention system as well. The intrusion detection system will be set up to send e-mail messages to each network engineer. I also nominate removing Mareck from the Information Technology department and finding him a more suitable position as he is not fit for the position he is currently holding. All software that is currently being used will need to be researched and replacements will need to be found. We must find another software vendor to replace Oracle financials for accounting and financial systems, Logisuite 4.2.2, and RouteSim. All patching for computers and servers will need to be done manually and never automatically. All automatic updates will need to be turned off as they can potentially cause an outage. The information technology team will determine when patching will take place and send an e-mail stating when it needs to be done. In conclusion, IDI has a lot to do in order to secure their data. The cost effective and efficient manner is a very difficult solution, however the payoff is way better.

Formal And Informal Framework Of Policies And Rules Commerce Essay

Formal And Informal Framework Of Policies And Rules Commerce Essay Organizational Structure can be defined as the formal and informal framework of policies and rules, within which an organization arranges its lines of authority and communications, and allocates rights and duties. Organizational structure determines the manner and extent to which roles, power, and responsibilities are delegated, controlled, and coordinated, and how information flows between levels of management. This structure depends entirely on the organizations objectives and the strategy chosen to achieve them. In a centralized structure, the decision making power is concentrated in the top layer of the management and tight control is exercised over departments and divisions. In a decentralized structure, the decision making power is distributed and the departments and divisions have varying degrees of autonomy. An organization chart illustrates the organizational structure [1]. An example of organizational Structure as shown: Fig 1.1 [2] ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE: Organizational culture is an idea in the field of Organizational studies and management which describes the psychology, attitudes, experiences, beliefs and values (personal and cultural values) of an organization. It has been defined as the specific collection of values and norms that are shared by people and groups in an organization and that control the way they interact with each other and with stakeholders outside the organization. This definition continues to explain organizational values also known as beliefs and ideas about what kinds of goals members of an organization should pursue and ideas about the appropriate kinds or standards of behaviour organizational members should use to achieve these goals. From organizational values develop organizational norms, guidelines or expectations that prescribe appropriate kinds of behaviour by employees in particular situations and control the behaviour of organizational members towards one another. Organizational culture is not the same as corporate culture. It is wider and deeper concepts, something that an organization is rather than what it has. [3] 1.2 RELATION B/W ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE AND CULTURE The literature has suggested that structure and culture in organisations exist in close alignment. Structure is one of the determinants of culture; conversely, culture has been shown to have an influence on the organisational structure and operational systems in an organisation. Both are mechanisms for the coordination of organisations: structure as an integrating mechanism for organisational activities, and culture as an integrating mechanism concerned with behaviour and values within organisations. Organisations and individuals need an understanding of these mechanisms in order to manage uncertainty in the face of ever-changing markets and business conditions. An effective alignment of structure and culture provides a means of getting people to work together to reach strategic goals and achieve an organisations vision. Together they provide a focus to enable organisations and individuals to reduce uncertainty, variability and ambiguity, so providing a framework for acting in a consistent manner. Structure and culture have overlapping functions, but one mechanism is not necessarily a substitute for the other. Both are needed. The literature also shows no one pattern or right way for the development of a relationship between structure and culture. However, it offers many examples of this relationship generated by a range of variable factors inside and outside organisations. In one example, ONeill, Beauvais and Scholl (2001) propose that different organisations face different problems in reducing organisational variability. Variable structural factors such as the complexity of tasks and the geographic dispersal of employees act to increase uncertainty. They demand different responses even within similar cultures. Likewise, differences in organisational culture can explain why organisations in the same industry, with similar structures, can be quite different. This goes some way to explain why TAFEs, with similar structures, and which exist in the same system, can still vary widely in the way they operate. From another perspective, Hodge, Anthony and Gales (1996) observe that while an organisation might authorise a formal structure, an informal structure not necessarily sanctioned by the organisation also exists. This informal structure, whose interactions are shaped by culture and sub-cultures, comes about in part because of ambiguity in the formal design or because of changes in conditions the organisation faces. This further explains some of the operating variability within RTOs. [4] 1.3 FACTORS INFLUENCING EMPLOYEE PERFORMANCE AT WORK It is the quality of the employees workplace environment that most impacts on their level of motivation and subsequent performance. How well they engage with the organization, especially with their immediate environment, influences to a great extent their error rate, level of innovation and collaboration with other employees, absenteeism and, ultimately, how long they stay in the job. Many studies have revealed that most employees leave their organization because of the relationship with their immediate supervisor or manager. So, what are the workplace environment factors that need to be taken into consideration by any serious manager? Described below are the key factors and how each can be utilized by supervisors and managers to boost performance. Workplace Performance Factors Goal-setting Involve employees in setting meaningful goals and performance measures for their work. This can be done informally between the employee and their immediate supervisor or as part of an organizations formal performance management process. The key here is that each employee is actively engaged in the goal-setting process and takes ownership of the final agreed goals and measures. Performance feedback Regularly feed back to employees information on how they are performing. This should consist of both positive feedback on what the employee is doing right as well as feedback on what requires improvement. Role congruity Work to ensure that the role that the employee is required to perform is consistent with their expectations on joining the organization and any subsequent training. The organizations role expectations are typically reflected in formal documents, such as Job Descriptions and Role Specifications. These expectations should be consistent with tasks allocated by the employees immediate supervisor. Defined processes Many errors, defects and customer complaints are the result of poor process management. Constrain the variability of how work is actually performed through documenting processes and communicating such expectations to employees. Verify on a regular or random basis that the work is actually performed in the way required. Along with goal setting, getting employees to help define and improve processes is a powerful opportunity for engagement. Workplace incentives Determine what motivates your employees in particular and set up formal and informal structures for rewarding employees that behave in the way required. Rewards may consist of a mix of internal rewards, such as challenging assignments, and external rewards, such as higher compensation and peer recognition. Supervisor support Act as advocates for employees, gathering and distributing the resources needed by them in order for them to be able to do a good job. Immediate supervisors and managers need to display the interpersonal skills required to engage employees and enhance their self-confidence. This includes providing positive encouragement for a job well done. Mentoring/coaching Make available to employees skilled and respected people to help them perform better in their current role and to assist them develop further into a future role. Mentors and coaches may be internal to an organization or external. Either way, they will need to possess the necessary facilitation skills to assist employees apply existing sills and develop new skills. Resource availability The vast majority of employees take pride in their work and try hard to do a good job. Make sure that individual workloads and organizational systems and processes do not hinder employees from applying established skills or from practicing newly learned skills. Adequate time and material resources need to be available to enable them to perform to the best of their ability. Money is not a sufficient motivator in encouraging the superior workplace performance required in todays competitive business environment. Managers and supervisors will need to be comfortable with working with the whole gamut of workplace factors that influence employee motivation. Last but not least, to drive their organizations to peak performance managers and supervisors must put out front the human face of their organization. Paramount here is the human-to-human interaction through providing individualized support and encouragement to each and every employee [5] TASK 2 2.1 ORGANIZATION THEORY PRINCIPLLES AND PRACTICES OF ORGANISING AND MANAGEMENT Leadership is stated as the process of social influence in which one person can enlist the aid and support of others in the accomplishment of a common task. Definitions more inclusive of followers have also emerged. Alan Keith of Genentech stated that, Leadership is ultimately about creating a way for people to contribute to making something extraordinary happen Tom DeMarc says that leadership needs to be distinguished from posturing. Contexts of leadership Leadership in organizations An organization that is established as an instrument or means for achieving defined objectives has been referred to as a formal organization. Its design specifies how goals are subdivided and reflected in subdivisions of the organization. Divisions, departments, sections, positions, jobs, and tasks make up this work structure. Thus, the formal organization is expected to behave impersonally in regard to relationships with clients or with its members. According to Webers definition, entry and subsequent advancement is by merit or seniority. Each employee receives a salary and enjoys a degree of tenure that safeguards her/him from the arbitrary influence of superiors or of powerful clients. The higher his position in the hierarchy, the greater his presumed expertise in adjudicating problems that may arise in the course of the work carried out at lower levels of the organization. It is this bureaucratic structure that forms the basis for the appointment of heads or chiefs of administrat ive subdivisions in the organization and endows them with the authority attached to their position. In contrast to the appointed head or chief of an administrative unit, a leader emerges within the context of the informal organization that underlies the formal structure. The informal organization expresses the personal objectives and goals of the individual membership. Their objectives and goals may or may not coincide with those of the formal organization. The informal organization represents an extension of the social structures that generally characterize human life the spontaneous emergence of groups and organizations as ends in themselves. Leaders emerge from within the structure of the informal organization. Their personal qualities, the demands of the situation, or a combination of these and other factors attract followers who accept their leadership within one or several overlay structures. Leadership versus management Over the years the philosophical terminology of management and leadership have, in the organisational context, been used both as synonyms and with clearly differentiated meanings. Debate is fairly common about whether the use of these terms should be restricted, and generally reflects an awareness of the distinction made by Burns (1978) between transactional leadership (characterised by eg emphasis on procedures, contingent reward, management by exception) and transformational leadership (characterised by eg charisma, personal relationships, creativity Leadership by a group In contrast to individual leadership, some organizations have adopted group leadership. In this situation, more than one person provides direction to the group as a whole. Some organizations have taken this approach in hopes of increasing creativity, reducing costs, or downsizing. A common example of group leadership involves cross-functional teams. A team of people with diverse skills and from all parts of an organization assembles to lead a project. A team structure can involve sharing power equally on all issues, but more commonly uses rotating leadership. The team member(s) best able to handle any given phase of the project become(s) the temporary leader(s). Additionally, as each team member has the opportunity to experience the elevated level of empowerment, it energizes staff and feeds the cycle of success.[6] 2.2 COMPARE DIFFERENT APPROACHES TO MANGEMENT AND THEORIES OF ORGANIZAING USED BY TWO ORGANIZATION You should be able to: Summarize the quantitative approach to management Describe the contributions of the early organizational behavior advocates Explain the importance of the Hawthorne Studies to management Describe the effects of: globalization, workforce diversity, entrepreneurship, e-business, need for innovation and flexibility, quality management, learning organizations, and knowledge management Academic Disciplines that Affected Management Anthropology work on cultures and social environments Economics concern about the allocation and distribution of scarce resources Philosophy examines the nature of things Political science effect of political environment on individuals and groups Psychology seeks to measure, explain, and change human behavior Sociology studies people in relation to their fellow human beings SCIENTIFIC MANAGEMENT F.W. Taylor Principles of Scientific Management Use of scientific methods to define the one best way for a job to be done Perspective of improving the productivity and efficiency of manual workers Applied the scientific method to shop floor jobs Frank and Lillian Gilbert Use of motion pictures to study hand-and-body movements Therbligs classification system for 17 basic hand motions[7] TASK 3 3.1 DIFFERENT LEADERSHIP STYLES AND THEIR EFFECTIVENESS There are a number of different approaches, or styles to leadership and management that are based on different assumptions and theories. The style that individuals use will be based on a combination of their beliefs, values and preferences, as well as the organizational culture and norms which will encourage some styles and discourage others. Charismatic Leadership: The Charismatic Leader gathers followers through dint of personality and charm, rather than any form of external power or authority [8]. Participative Leadership: A Participative Leader, rather than taking autocratic decisions, seeks to involve other people in the process, possibly including subordinates, peers, superiors and other stakeholders. The question of how much influence others are given thus may vary on the managers preferences and beliefs, and a whole spectrum of participation is possible, as in the table below [9]. Highly participative > Autocratic decision by leader Leader proposes decision, listens to feedback, then decides Team proposes decision, leader has final decision Joint decision with team as equals Full delegation of decision to team Situational Leadership When a decision is needed, an effective leader does not just fall into a single preferred style, such as using transactional or transformational methods. In practice, as they say, things are not that simple. Factors that affect situational decisions include motivation and capability of followers [10]. Yukl (1989) seeks to combine other approaches and identifies six variables [11]: * Subordinate effort: the motivation and actual effort expended. * Subordinate ability and role clarity: followers knowing what to do and how to do it. * Organization of the work: the structure of the work and utilization of resources. * Cooperation and cohesiveness: of the group in working together. * Resources and support: the availability of tools, materials, people, etc. * External coordination: the need to collaborate with other groups. Transactional Leadership The transactional leader works through creating clear structures whereby it is clear what is required of their subordinates, and the rewards that they get for following orders. Punishments are not always mentioned, but they are also well-understood and formal systems of discipline are usually in place [12]. Transformational Leadership Transformational Leadership starts with the development of a vision, a view of the future that will excite and convert potential followers. This vision may be developed by the leader, by the senior team or may emerge from a broad series of discussions. The important factor is the leader buys into it, hook, line and sinker [13]. The Quiet Leader The approach of quiet leaders is the antithesis of the classic charismatic (and often transformational) leaders in that they base their success not on ego and force of character but on their thoughts and actions [14]. In personal humility they put the well-being of others before their own personal needs, for example giving others credit after successes but taking personal responsibility for failures [14] [15]. Servant Leadership The servant leader serves others, rather than others serving the leader. Serving others thus comes by helping them to achieve and improve. There are two criteria of servant leadership: The people served grow as individuals, becoming healthier, wiser, more autonomous and more likely themselves to become servants (Greenleaf, 1977) [16]. The extent to which the leadership benefits those who are least advantaged in society (or at least does not disadvantage them). Spears (2002) lists: listening, empathy, healing, awareness, persuasion, conceptualization, foresight, stewardship, commitment to growth of people, and building community [17]. EFFECTIVENESS OF LEADERSHIP A leader is a person who influences a group of people towards a specific result. It is not dependent on title or formal authority. Leaders are recognized by their capacity for caring for others, clear communication, and a commitment to persist [18]. An individual who is appointed to a managerial position has the right to command and enforce obedience by virtue of the authority of his position. However, she or he must possess adequate personal attributes to match his authority, because authority is only potentially available to him. In the absence of sufficient personal competence, a manager may be confronted by an emergent leader who can challenge her/his role in the organization and reduce it to that of a figurehead. However, only authority of position has the backing of formal sanctions. It follows that whoever wields personal influence and power can legitimize this only by gaining a formal position in the hierarchy, with commensurate authority [19]. Leadership can be defined as ones ability to get others to willingly follow. Every organization needs leaders at every level [20]. 3.2 MOTIVATIONAL THEORIES MOTIVATION: Motivation is to inspire people to work, individually or in groups in the ways such as to produce best results. It is the will to act. It is the willingness to exert high levels of effort towards organizational goals, conditioned by the efforts and ability to satisfy some individual need. Motivation is getting somebody to do something because they want to do it. It was once assumed that motivation had to be injected from outside, but it is now understood that everyone is motivated by several differing forces. Motivation is a general term applied to the entire class of drives, desires, needs, wishes and similar forces. To say that managers motivate their subordinates is to say that they do those things which they hope will satisfy these drives and desires and induce the subordinates to act in a desired manner. In the initiation a person starts feeling lackness. There is an arousal of need so urgent, that the bearer has to venture in search to satisfy it. This leads to creation of tension, which urges the person to forget everything else and cater to the aroused need first. Because of the performance of the activity satisfaction is achieved which than relieves the tension in the individual [21]. THEORIES Some of the theories that are used for the motivation process are discussed as under [22]. 1. Jeremy Benthams The Carrot and the Stick Approach: Benthams view was that all people are self-interested and are motivated by the desire to avoid pain and find pleasure. Any worker will work only if the reward is big enough, or the punishment sufficiently unpleasant. This view the carrot and stick approach was built into the philosophies of the age and is still to be found, especially in the older, more traditional sectors of industry. For centuries, however, they were too often thought of as the only forces that could motivate people. At the same time, in all theories of motivation, the inducements of some kind of carrot are recognized. Often this is money in the form of pay or bonuses 2. Abraham Maslows Need Hierarchy Theory: One of the most widely mentioned theories of motivation is the hierarchy of needs theory put forth by psychologist Abraham Maslow. Maslow saw human needs in the form of a hierarchy, ascending from the lowest to the highest, and he concluded that when one set of needs is satisfied, this kind of need ceases to be a motivator. As per his theory these needs are: (i) Physiological needs: Food, water, warmth, shelter, sleep, medicine and education are the basic physiological needs which fall in the primary list of need satisfaction. (ii) Security or Safety needs: These are the needs to be free of physical danger and of the fear of losing a job, property, food or shelter. It also includes protection against any emotional harm. (iii) Social needs: People try to satisfy their need for affection, acceptance and friendship. (iv) Esteem needs: According to Maslow, once people begin to satisfy their need to belong, they tend to want to be held in esteem both by themselves and by others. It includes both internal esteem factors like self-respect, autonomy and achievements and external esteem factors such as states, recognition and attention. (v) Need for self-actualization: It is the drive to become what one is capable of becoming; it includes growth, achieving ones potential and self-fulfilment. It is to maximize ones potential and to accomplish something. 3. Theory X and Theory Y of Douglas McGregor: McGregor, in his book The Human side of Enterprise states that people inside the organization can be managed in two ways. The first is basically negative, which falls under the category X and the other is basically positive, which falls under the category Y. On analysis of the assumptions it can be detected that theory X assumes that lower-order needs dominate individuals and theory Y assumes that higher-order needs dominate individuals. An organization that is run on Theory X lines tends to be authoritarian in nature, the word authoritarian suggests such ideas as the power to enforce obedience and the right to command. In contrast Theory Y organizations can be described as participative, where the aims of the organization and of the individuals in it are integrated; individuals can achieve their own goals best by directing their efforts towards the success of the organization. 4. Contributions of Elton Mayo: The work of Elton Mayo is famously known as Hawthorne Experiments. He conducted behavioural experiments at the Hawthorne Works of the American Western Electric Company in Chicago. Although this research has been criticized from many angles, the central conclusions drawn were: * People are motivated by more than pay and conditions. * The need for recognition and a sense of belonging are very important. * Attitudes towards work are strongly influenced by the group. 5. The Porter and Lawler Model: Lyman W. Porter and Edward E. Lawler developed a more complete version of motivation depending upon expectancy theory. Actual performance in a job is primarily determined by the effort spent. But it is also affected by the persons ability to do the job and also by individuals perception of what the required task is. 6. Equity Theory: As per the equity theory of J. Stacey Adams, people are motivated by their beliefs about the reward structure as being fair or unfair, relative to the inputs. People have a tendency to use subjective judgment to balance the outcomes and inputs in the relationship for comparisons between different individuals. Accordingly: If people perceive that they are rewarded higher, they may be motivated to work harder. 7. Reinforcement Theory: Skinner states that work environment should be made suitable to the individuals and that punishment actually leads to frustration and de-motivation. Hence, the only way to motivate is to keep on making positive changes in the external environment of the organization. 8. Goal Setting Theory of Edwin Locke: The goal setting theory states that when the goals to be achieved are set at a higher standard than in that case employees are motivated to perform better and put in maximum effort. It revolves around the concept of Self-efficacy i.e. individuals belief that he or she is capable of performing a hard task. MOTIVALTIONAL THEORY AND MANAGEMENT PRACTICE The job of a manager in the workplace is to get things done through employees. To do this the manager should be able to motivate employees. But thats easier said than done! Motivation practice and theory are difficult subjects, touching on several disciplines [23]. Human nature can be very simple, yet very complex too. An understanding and appreciation of this is a prerequisite to effective employee motivation in the workplace and therefore effective management and leadership. The schematic below indicates the potential contribution the practical application of the principles this paper has on reducing work content in the organization. Motivation is the key to performance improvement There is an old saying you can take a horse to the water but you cannot force it to drink; it will drink only if its thirsty so with people. They will do what they want to do or otherwise motivated to do. Are they born with the self-motivation or drive? Yes and no. If no, they can be motivated, for motivation is a skill which can and must be learnt. This is essential for any business to survive and succeed. Performance is considered to be a function of ability and motivation, thus: * Job performance =f (ability) (motivation) Ability in turn depends on education, experience and training and its improvement is a slow and long process. On the other hand motivation can be improved quickly. As a guideline, there are broadly seven strategies for motivation. * Positive reinforcement / high expectations * Effective discipline and punishment * Treating people fairly * Satisfying employees needs * Setting work related goals * Restructuring jobs * Base rewards on job performance These are the basic strategies, though the mix in the final recipe will vary from workplace situation to situation. Essentially, there is a gap between an individuals actual state and some desired state and the manager tries to reduce this gap. Motivation is, in effect, a means to reduce and manipulate this gap. It is inducing others in a specific way towards goals specifically stated by the motivator [23]. TASK 4 4.1 NATURE OF GROUP AND GROUP BEHAVIOUR GROUP A small collection of people who interact with each other, usually face to face, over time in order to reach goals The size of the group can vary from three people to seven to 20. Normally the smallest number is considered which is capable of performing the task TYPES OF GROUPS BEHAVIOUR Groups come in many forms, shapes, and sizes. Most managers belong to several different groups at the same time, some at work, some at community, some formally organized, and some informal and social in nature. The most basic way of identifying types of groups is to distinguish between [24]: Formal groups Informal groups Formal Groups The organizations managers to accomplish goals and serve the needs of the organization deliberately create formal groups. The major purpose of formal groups is to perform specific tasks and achieve specific objectives defined by the organization. The most common type of formal work group consists of individuals cooperating under the direction of a leader. Examples of formal groups are departments, divisions, taskforce, project groups, quality circles, committees, and boards of directors. Informal Groups Informal groups in organizations are not formed or planned by the organizations managers. Rather, they are self-created and evolve out of the formal organization for a variety of reasons, such as proximity, common interests, or needs of individuals. It would be difficult for organization to prohibit informal working relationships from developing. Informal groups develop naturally among an organizations personnel without any direction from management. One key factor in the emergence of informal groups is a common interest shared by its members. For example, a group of employees who band together to seek union representation may be called an interest group 4.2 FACTORS FOR EFFECTIVE TEAMWORK Whether in the workplace, or in sports, or amongst members of a community, effective teamwork can produce extraordinary results. However, that is easier said than done, for, effective teamwork does not happen automatically. There are a number of factors that are required to cohere together, working seamlessly, for an effective team to develop and work. So, what makes an effective team? Well, given below are some of the factors that are vital for building a good team that works successfully [25]: Good Leadership Effective Communication Defining Clear-cut Roles Creating Procedures for Conflict Resolution Setting a Good Example Good Lead

Representation of Cloning in the Media Essay -- Argumentative Persuasi

Representation of Cloning in the Media      Ã‚   Since the birth of Dolly, the cloned sheep, the debate over human cloning has been characterized in the media as an ethical debate. When scientists announced that they had cloned an adult sheep, the public also heard that cloning humans was possible. The media stories about this unprecedented feat was not about the procedures utilized in but rather about the morality of the process itself. Media coverage focused on ethical concerns of cloning, its social, religious and physiological significance, and the motivation behind it. Although the there are many views expressed in the media on cloning, the main characterization of cloning as an ethical issue centers around two connected worries: the loss of individuality, and the seemingly evil motivations behind cloning. In a sense media coverage framed the public moral debate on cloning around the above issues.    In the coverage of cloning, the media has chosen to represent cloning as a danger to individuality and uniqueness. This concern about losing individuality stems from the status of clones as copies. The March 10, 1997 cover of Time Magazine shows two large identical pictures of sheep and in the background numerous copies of the same picture and the cover title asks, "Will There be Another of You ?". The picture accompanying the main article shows a coin operated machine dispensing white males, while another picture shows identical bodies dropping out of a test tube. Similar images expressing this concern over the loss of individuality brought on by cloning dominate the popular media.    This representation of cloning as a means of bringing about the loss of individuality reflects two widespread ideas. The first is... ...w, the media has framed the cloning debate as an ethical debate and has provided the framework that much of the public views the issue. Among the articles that I reviewed, the main characterization of cloning as an ethical issue centers around two connected worries: the loss of individuality, the motivations behind cloning. In the presentation cloning the media has not always presented an objective view of cloning, but rather has played upon peoples fears about loss of individuality and questionable use of cloning to create uncertainty among the public.    Works Cited Begley, Sharon, Little Lamb Who Made Thee, Newsweek, March 10, 1997 Elmer Dewitt, Cloning: Where Do We Draw the Line, Time, November 8, 1993 Herbert, Wray, The World After Cloning U.S News & World Report, March 10, 1997 Nash, Madeline, The Age of Cloning, Time, March 10, 1997

DuPont Case Analysis Essay

INTRODUCTION: DuPont was established in the year 1802 by French Chemist, E.I DuPont de Nemours in USA. DuPont became successful by the end of third year and it started exporting back to its continent, Europe. In the span of these 200 years, it had shaped into a global company with variety of enterprises like Chemical, Energy, Science Based and High Technology. It maximized its manufacturing or processing operations in 40 countries and its products were sold in 150 places by the end of 1990. The company’s one third revenue comes from the European market from 1960. There are 50 companies, which employed more than 19,000 people in 14 countries of Europe. The scientists of DuPont developed the synthetic fibres industry by introducing nylon. They were the leading manufacturer of manmade fibres in the world. The most important product of DuPont is â€Å"Carpet Fibre†. This division was setup in Geneva, Switzerland which holds the R&D, marketing and production areas. Products were produced in the UK and the sales offices are in Germany, the UK, France, Belgium, Spain, Scandinavia, and Holland. CASE CONTEXT: DuPont’s product nylon carpet fibre is not different from other fibres available in the market; however they were the top players in fibre industry. The parameters like color and texture are the factors that differ in the carpets. The fibre industry has nothing to do with these things. The carpet industry is concerned with these directly and they in turn led to the wholesalers, retailers and in turn to the customers. From the consumers point of view the carpet should be colorful, its texture is important and it should be easily maintained. DuPont has done extensive research on the customers third interest i.e. maintenance and founded the â€Å"Stain Master† that would allow to remove the stains permanently. With this invention, DuPont’s market share increased by 5%. This was first introduced in USA, later on with minor changes it has been launched in Europe. It gave mixed results for the company. DuPont’s decision is that the mills should have certain quality to use the process of stain master. In Germany, many mills felt that they don’t have these standards set by them; hence they didn’t show interest in the product. The UK market and France market reacted positively. Many companied executed the same formulae by giving low quality material at lower prices. This led to the stake of DuPont’s position in the market by 1980. FACTS: DuPont conducted research in the European Industry after the decline of its position in the market. They came to know some important facts: Flow of DuPont’s Fibres: DuPont’s Fibres Carpet Mills Wholesalers Retailers End Users The carpet mills are concentrated in only three countries the UK, France and Belgium. 80-20 rule is applied in European market; 80% of the business is carried but top 20% manufacturers. To stimulate the market, they used the help of Style Books to the wholesalers and retailers. They were not loyal customers to the fibre industry. They focused on the company that provides material at the best price. Retail and Wholesale operations are very different in these countries. In Germany  wholesalers dominated in the UK and Belgium retailers dominated the supply chain. PROBLEM: DuPont concentrated only on the carpet mills and they didn’t make any effort in knowing the end users. They invested money in R&D for making innovations in fibres that is to be supplied to the carpet mills. They are least bothered to know about the customers. ALTERNATIVES: DuPont need to concentrate on the techniques that value the customers without affecting the supply chain. As carpet mills are the important customers to DuPont, they need to retain them. â€Å"Creating loyal customers is at the heart of every business†-Don Peppers and Martha Rogers. Identify the â€Å"Customer Benefit† and â€Å"Customer Cost† of the users and provide the product at â€Å"Customer-perceived value† (CPV). Monitor the satisfaction of the customer by conducting surveys. ANALYSIS OF ALTERNATIVES: In Europe, there are 60 carpet mills that can level DuPont’s standards; however only 50% of them are using their fibres. Rest of them wandering around for best price. The mills using DuPont’s fibres should be retained and they need to analyze the CPV value and set the â€Å"price† accordingly. The â€Å"place† is also very important for setting the price as European market is fragmented unlike USA market which is having only four players. The customers give least preference to carpets when they are buying house- hold equipments. They are not enjoying or admiring to shop for carpeting as it is just a blanket to protect the floor. Customers spend at least 10 weeks in buying the carpets.52% Customers buy carpets if the existing one is worn out. Repurchase cycle for carpets is 12 years. Customers are not satisfied with the product information. The retailers and wholesalers are not providing full information. They are not providing information on price, color, fitting rooms and quality. If â€Å"product† and â€Å"service† quality is maintained, customers would retain with them only. They didn’t â€Å"promote† their products. RECOMMENDATIONS: Retain the customers by giving them offers that attracts them easily. Provide sample fibres to 50% carpet mills that are not using DuPont’s material and offer a price that satisfy their needs. Provide a portal for the customers to choose their own color and design according to their choices by collaborating with mills. Provide better customer care services by training the retailers and wholesalers. Provide catalogues to the customers for better awareness of the product, whether it is retailer, wholesaler or final end user. PLAN OF ACTION: Identify the customers who are loyal to the company, give them incentives and promote the product brand. Select the location where sales of the company are not up to the mark and apply the alternatives to them i.e. setting price and giving offers to the carpet mills. Later on collaborate with the mills in that location and train the wholesalers and retailers about the product and give them the full information along with the catalogues. Provide better services to the customers by setting a portal where they can choose their own designs and place order to the carpet mills. Implement the above mentioned steps for three months and find the sales growth. Spread the plan if it worked in the selected location, by making minute changes to it according to the location. CONTINGENCY PLAN: Since DuPont is an expert and leading manufacturer in the manmade fibres, it can go for â€Å"VERTICAL INTEGRATION†. Instead of supplying fibres to carpet mills, it can set up a mill and manufacture carpets. It can directly deal with the customers. The above mentioned plan can be executed without the intervention of the mills. The Customer Satisfaction can be monitored and it can get to know the loopholes in the process and thus leading to correction of the mistakes and increasing the sales growth of the company.

Definition of the Ability to Pay Principle

Definition of the Ability to Pay Principle Definition: The ability to pay principle is the widely held view that the amount of taxes someone pays should increase as their income increases. Terms related to The Ability to Pay Principle: Progressive Tax About.Com Resources on The Ability to Pay Principle: Should Income Tax Rates Depend on Lifetime Earnings?Are Sales Taxes More Regressive Than Income Taxes?Do Richer People Pay a Higher Proportion of Tax Under a Flat Tax? Writing a Term Paper? Here are a few starting points for research on The Ability to Pay Principle: Books on The Ability to Pay Principle: Federal Taxation - Basic Principles Journal Articles on The Ability to Pay Principle: Ability-to-Pay Taxation as Discriminatory Pricing of Government ServicesA Re-Examination of the Use of Ability to Pay Taxes by Local GovernmentsThe Welfare Cost of Capital Income Taxation

Shanghai Business School and Hong Kong Essay

Shanghai Business School and Hong Kong Essay Shanghai: Business School and Hong Kong Essay High quality global journalism requires investment. Please share this article with others using the link below, do not cut & paste the article. See our Ts&Cs and Copyright Policy for more detail. Email ftsales.support@ft.com to buy additional rights. ft.com/cms/s/2/47414878-c0a6-11df-94f9-00144feab49a.html#ixzz2UB65VYx7 Some people are lucky enough to live a life of luxury. The splendidly named Raphael le Masne de Chermont is different, however – he has devoted his career to it. After graduating in 1987 with his masters in management qualification from Audencia Nantes School of Management, the French grande à ©cole, de Chermont worked for some of the biggest brands in the portfolio of Switzerland’s Richemont group – Cartier, Piaget, Panerai and Baume & Mercier – in the UK, Belgium and Hong Kong. By 2001, however, he wanted a change from the world of watches and jewellery, and asked Richemont to put him in charge of one of its smaller investments, Hong Kong-based Shanghai Tang. As chief executive he has steered the transformation of a concept based on the traditions of Shanghai tailoring into China’s first luxury lifestyle brand – earning himself the informal title of â€Å"le mandarin de luxe† in the French press. His three years at one of France’s top business schools have helped de Chermont, 46, throughout his career, but there is no substitute for experience. â€Å"The business school gives you all the basics, including how to read a balance sheet, marketing, human resources, tax, fiscal studies and so on, so it gives you a broad picture of what you can encounter in the professional world,† he says. â€Å"But it doesn’t replace a good first job or a career, because what you’re missing in the studies sometimes is, of course, the real experience of human relationships and how to handle different issues.† While the cases that students examine at business schools can show how a concept can be turned into a business model, it is important to live that experience too, he says. â€Å"Until you are accountable for it, you don’t really feel the pressure. You learn through pain sometimes, and by trying things and making mistakes.† One surprise for him after leaving Audencia was how much time he would spend selling – and how useful it could be. More ON THIS STORY Making sense of the ranking Masters of the universe Indian School of Business India rushes into business education Local hero IIM Ahmedabad faces the future IN BUSINESS EDUCATION Term of the day ‘fund family’ Term of the day ‘free float’ Hà ©ctor Izquierdo, IE Business School Term of the day ‘fat tails’ â€Å"It’s funny, when you graduate from a business school you think you don’t want to sell, because that is not what you’re meant to do, and actually I sold a lot at the beginning of my career. That’s what gave me confidence in business – all my career I’ve been selling. To put in place marketing and brand strategies, you need to understand how to sell.† This combination of education and experience has helped fulfil de Chermont’s vision at Shanghai Tang. The company had begun as a quirky, art deco Hong Kong boutique, founded in the mid-1990s by David Tang and stocked with Chinese-made clothes and accessories. It became a big draw for the millions of visitors to Hong Kong around the time of its handover to China in 1997, but a second outlet in New York was less successful and it seemed the concept was not travelling well. â€Å"They were a bit stuck,† he says. â€Å"They had to bring this concept, based on extremely ethnic, beautiful but not easily wearable [clothes], to the next stage. That’s where my team and I came in. We said, ‘Let’s work on this concept, keep the DNA of what David had created and put it into a proper brand that would travel, have a presence globally, be relevant and wearable, and still be Shanghai Tang and different.’† One of the advantages of a good education, be it from a business school or elsewhere, is that it can inculcate a desire to continue learning

Short Story and True Selves Essay Example

Short Story and True Selves Essay Example Short Story and True Selves Essay Short Story and True Selves Essay Authors use certain characters to attract and persuade certain audiences. The two short stories, The Prospector’s Trail by Cathy Jewison and Bluffing by Gail Helgason are easily comparable by the use of characterization. Both stories consist of two main characters, as couples, as it is affected by another individual. Also, throughout the stories, both couples face challenges in which reveal their true selves. Lastly, the author used one dynamic character while the other remained a static character. The Prospector’s Trail and Bluffing consisted of two main characters as it was affected by another individual. Norman and Jennifer from, The Prospector’s Trail, were happily married, until both their relationship and their financial funds started going downhill. Norman came to Yellowknife with his ambitious wife to make something of himself and Roy helped him do so. Jennifer doesn’t think much of Ray, and wasn’t fond of him or the way he dressed. â€Å"Unless I catch you wearing a red plaid flannel shirt, in which case I’ll leave you on the spot. † From this passage, it is clear that Jennifer was stereotyping Roy from not wanting Norman to become like him for the reason that he was wearing a red plaid flannel shirt during that time. That being said, while prospecting with Roy, Norman found a barely ripped red plaid shirt and  he instantly wore it, knowing that it would tick Jennifer off. As a result, Jennifer left Norman without even saying a word. In Bluffing, Gabriella and Liam went on a hike as they came across a bear in which showed how much they truly were uncommitted to one another. Liam ran off when he should’ve done something on the spot to keep Gabriella same from getting hurt from the bear. This occurrence completely changed the way Gabriella felt about Liam. Thus, these were how the two main characters were affected by another individual. Throughout the stories, both couples faced challenges in which revealed their true selves. In Prospector’s Trail, before going into Yellowknife, Norman lost his job and confidence from the formality and high expectations of his boss. He became clumsy where his reputation spread and could no longer work. In the following passage: Jennifer halfheartedly agreed to let Norman pursue his dream of opening and interpretive centre, on the condition that he did t far away from anyone they knew. We realize that Jennifer was ashamed and blinded by her pride, which ended up with her treating Norman wrongly. In Bluffing, when Liam ran away from both Gabriella and the bear, it shows that Liam was a coward and he didnt necessarily care about her. Furthermore, by the end of the story, Gabriella seems to also not care so much anymore. This is proven by the following passage: When the last bandage is removed, she pulls her chair closer to the bed and stretches her lips into a smile. She knows in her bones that she can manage this way, for the rest of the afternoon, at least. She still has that much bluffing in her. From this, it was clear that she was lying when she held his hand as the bandage was being taken off. It was obvious that she’d plan on leaving him due to the fact of him leaving her with the bear. Hence, these were how both couples faced challenges in which reveal their true selves. Lastly, the authors in both, The Prospector’s Trail and Bluffing used a dynamic character while the other remained a static character. Jennifer was portrayed as a selfish, inconsiderate, nagging wife who simply nagged about making Norman the best he could possibly be while Liam was portrayed as an unpredictable and a difficult person to understand. From beginning to end, Jennifer and Liam remained the same making them static characters. While on the other hand, Norman from the Prospectors Trail was portrayed as a young, confused, clumsy nerd but as time passed, he changed into a more open-minded, free man who  just wanted to start a new life in Yellowknife. This is proven by the following passage: You’re little lady’s not going to like it. She’s more upscale than my Elsie. â€Å"You’re right. She won’t see the potential. But like I said – this is the end of the road for me. † This shows that Norman wanted to be free from the stress Jennifer caused him, even if he were to be left behind. It was just Jennifer’s presence that was dragging him down to get to where he really wanted to be. In Bluffing, Gabriella changed from being committed and wanting to continue living with Liam to just simply leaving him and lying about how she felt about what had happened. Both Norman and Gabriella changed throughout the story, which made them dynamic characters while Jennifer and Liam remained the same, as a result of being static characters. By the use of characterization, the two stories are easily comparable. Both stories consisted of two main characters, as it was affected by another individual Also, throughout the stories, both couples faced challenges in which reveal their true selves. Lastly, the author used one dynamic character while the other remained a static character. Thus, these are the reasons why the characters from The Prospector’s Trail and Bluffing are very much similar.

Discuss the value of having a strong corporate brand for an Essay

Discuss the value of having a strong corporate brand for an organisation - McDonalds - Essay Example (McDonalds Corporation, 2008; Brand Republic, 2002) For this study, the student will first define the true meaning of brand followed by the basic information related to the establishment of a brand. After discussing how McDonald’s have been managing its corporate brand over the years, the student will examine the importance of branding within the hospitality industry. Prior to the conclusion, the student will enumerate the benefits attached with having a strong brand on the part of McDonald’s and its consumers. Brand is defined as the â€Å"name, term, sign, symbol, design, or a combination of these† (Kotler, 2000: 404) such as the yellow coloured ‘M’ sign of McDonald’s. Basically, the main purpose of a brand name is to enable the consumers to identify the products or services of one company from a similar product that is being offered by other companies. Aside from using a simple brand name, it is also possible for McDonald’s to have a brand extension such as in the case of ‘McDonald’s Happy Meal’ or ‘McDonald’s land or playplace’ used in targeting children (Gidman, 2008; Roberto & Roberto, 2004) offered by the company; (2) the physical and emotional benefits the consumers get out of patronizing the company’s product and services; (3) the values of the company in terms of its capability to render a high quality product to its target consumers; (4) the corporate culture such as being organized in terms of delivering its services to the public; and (5) the kind of consumers that patronizes the products and services offered by the company. (Aaker, 1997; Kapferer, 1992: 38) There are many ways on how to establish a brand. Marketing managers or a company owner(s) has the option to use the founder’s name(s), location, the quality of a product, the lifestyle of a company’s target market, an artificial name, a culture or a heritage. (Urde et al., 2007;

The Punjab Conflict Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

The Punjab Conflict - Essay Example These have a history of resisting central control, and with historical ties to the territories, they occupy (Chenoweth and Lawrence 222). The problems experienced in Punjab mainly root from aspects that are associated with religion in the area. These attempted to separate the Shikhs from other ethnic communities in the area, for political gain. In the 20th Century, conflicts erupted when various new ideologies were developed among the Sikhs. These therefore, had required that the central government meets their demands, which were both religious and political. When the central government failed to meet their demands, tension built up in the 1980’s among Sikhs in Punjab and those in New Delhi. The Shikhs had sought a greater autonomy; for fear that, they were being assimilated into the greater cultural Indian and Hindu (Chenoweth and Lawrence 226). This led to massive violence, with detention of some Shikh leaders, as well as hundreds of the Sikhs. More than 3,000 civilians were killed, including troops, priests, and pilgrims. Sacred buildings were destroyed and political assassinations increased. The killing of Indira Gandhi by the Shikhs led to massive killings in New Delhi, claiming more than 2,000 lives. However, in 1985, a peace agreement was reached between the Indian government and the Shikhs. There followed a dismissal of the state government, and Punjab was put under president’s rule, which lasted up to 1992, when Beant Singh won the elections (Chenoweth and Lawrence 230). The Punjab violence of the 1990’s began when approximately 80 people were killed in two incidences of train bombings in 1991. In addition, the assassination of Beant Singh, the senior... This paper stresses that in the 1990’s during the new governance, the level of participation in conventional politics increased remarkably. The voter turnout for the municipal elections in September 1992 increased by 50 percent. In addition, voter turnout also was also high for gram panchayats in January 1993, and exceeded 70 percent. Generally, violence in Punjab declined during the years that followed. This report makes a conclusion that the government plays a critical role in different types of violence in a country. The involvement of the government in a conflict might result in either positive or negative consequences. The outcome of government intervention can only be positive, if it aims at ensuring fairness and equality of the involved parties. If fairness and justice is denied to either party, it is probable that the violence will escalate. In the case of Punjab conflict, there are two instances, where the government intervened differently. In the 1980’s conflict, violence was high because the central government denied the Sikhs their political rights. The government then resorted to an inappropriate way of solving the issue by killing the Sikhs, with some of their leaders. This led to increased violence. However, in the 1990’s when a new government took office, people were allowed to vote, unlike the 1980’s. In addition, the political participation of p eople was increased in various ways. Although elements of unfairness toward the Sikhs were still present, this could not compare to the 1980’s. Therefore, this quite fair involvement by the central government in the 1990’s led the level of violence to decrease in Punjab.

An Analysis of The Famous Sushi Pants Story by Tucker Max; Essay

An Analysis of The Famous Sushi Pants Story by Tucker Max; - Essay Example The stories are entertaining, highlighting his views about women, excessive consumption of alcohol and drinking games, which lead to him insulting people, and embarrassing sexual encounters. Whether the stories are true or overly exaggerated perhaps is irrelevant, as one of his stories, which is in his popular publication and on the website is the â€Å"famous sushi pants story† (Max, 2006), and which recognizes and emphasizes on a familiar sequence of events individuals follow during a night out drinking alcohol, and commonly defined as binge drinking (Measham & Brain, 2005). Binge drinking is when an individual takes six or more standard drinks in one given period (WHO, 1994). Binge drinking is a common drinking behaviour in Ireland (SLAN, 2007). The impact of alcohol relies on the amount taken, although alcohol is a depressant it can have a stimulating effect. Some common effects following consumption include a sense of dis-inhibition, social freedom, and excitement, the proverbial ‘Dutch courage’, and a warm feeling of enjoyment. However, at higher doses alcohol can affect the cerebellum, which results in poor balance and slurred speech (Drinkaware, 2014). The ‘Sushi Pants Story’ is one of a young mans shamelessness. Morality is rarely discussed. However, moments during the story the author has inscribed remarks, â€Å"remembering past encounters with the law, and realising there is no one around to bail me out of the county lock up, I summon up every bit of adrenalin in my body to sober up, I apologise again† (p.6). There appears to be disapprobation or at least of an egressing consciousness that there is something "wrong" with this behaviour. Additionally, there is a way in which this story records the pain and sorrow of a young man whose life while in certain aspects is in good order, in other ways has careened out of control.

Describe the journey of a Red Blood Cell around the body Essay

Describe the journey of a Red Blood Cell around the body - Essay Example A spectrin network attached to the lipid bilayer contains several organic proteins, phospholipids, sphingolipids and cholesterol. This type of attachment increases the stiffness of the RBC. Moreover, this sort of spectrin protein allows the free diffusion of vital component from extracellular fluid to intracellular fluid. (Li & Lykotrafittis, 2012). The journey of red blood cells (erythrocytes) usually begins in the circulatory system. During their passage through the blood vessels the erythrocytes undergo several important changes in shape and structure particularly when needed to pass through the narrow passages in the circulatory system. An erythrocyte is a biconcave disc of a diameter ranging between 6-8 microns, with mean thickness of 2.5 micrometres at the periphery and approximately 1 micrometre towards the centre of the cell (Guyton & Hall, 2006). Transporting of oxygen from lung to various other organs is the function of the RBCs during their journey in the human circulatory system. Importantly, this oxygen available for the functioning of organs is stored into the haemoglobin of RBC and when it reaches its particular destination, oxygen is liberated from haemoglobin and it moves through the cellular passive diffusion. Furthermore, carbon dioxide (CO2) that is released after cellular activities is then again fused with haemoglobin of RBC. This deoxygenated blood due to presence of CO2 into the haemoglobin then enters into the heart, and is finally diffused to the lungs. It was reported that in some lower animals (some invertebrates), Hb is present as a free protein in plasma and it is not bound to the RBCs like in human beings. The total life span of each erythrocyte in the circulation is 120 days (Dean, 2005). But during this period if any of them gets damaged, then they could be eliminated from the circulatory system with the help of macrophages which is usually present in the bone marrow, spleen or in the liver (Premkumar, 2004). A normal man has an average of 5,200,000 red blood cells (RBC) per cubic millimetre and a normal woman has an average of 4,700,000 RBCs per cubic millimetre (Guyton & Hall, 2006). Around 3 million red blood cells (RBC) enter the circulation each second (Starr & McMillan, 2012). Haemoglobin is usually concentrated in the red blood cells (RBC); the metabolic limit of haemoglobin-forming mechanism of the body allows only a maximum concentration of 34grams of Haemoglobin in each 100 millilitres of cells (Guyton & Hall, 2006). In any normal and healthy individual, the haemoglobin (Hb) concentration remains at this maximum permitted level. 2. Bone marrow, Journey and Production of erythrocytes: Production of the erythrocytes from the bone marrow is called erythropoiesis (Schlossberg & Zuiderna, 1997). Apart from bone marrow, red blood cells are also produced by various other organs during the early development of human body. Yolk Sac is the primary site of the production of RBCs during the early embryonic p eriod (Guyton & Hall, 2006, p. 421). Liver serves as the main organ for RBC production during the middle trimester of gestation while lymph nodes and spleen also produce an amount of RBCs during this stage of development (Guyton & Hall, 2006, p. 421). Bone marrow is an important part of human body for the production of red blood cells (RBC) during the last month of gestation and soon after the birth (Guyton & Hall, 2

Developing Business Processes and Operations Essay

Developing Business Processes and Operations - Essay Example Applying tools such as fishbone diagram, workflow diagram and decision matrix, it was found that appointing an editor will be the most logical and feasible solution to level the situation. Business concept had undergone a major change in 1980s. â€Å"It was the realization by management that the business and manufacturing processes, not the people, is the key to error free performance† (Harrington, 2007). Since then, organisations have been continually striving to escalate the business processes and related operations to the level of perfection as it has been observed through the 1990s till date that â€Å"stockholders are not looking for good quality – they want perfection† (Harrington, 2007). For the purpose of this research I have chosen a start up organisation which consists of three teams each handling a distinct process. Team A performs online journalism and prepares news reports for various websites; Team B prepares international tests preparatory tools and Team C caters management solutions to retail clients. The three teams are autonomous in their functioning and have individual team leaders. A separate business development team headed by the CEO looks after networking and client development. Team wise client allocation is determined through weekly meetings as well as on ad hoc basis. The company has been enjoying considerable reputation in its sector and is also planning to diversify its operations and services in other locations as well. It is in a growth mode and is looking forward to increasing its employee base in terms of the existing units and especially a dynamic marketing department. Following implementation of this plan the workforce is expected to be doubled over a period of 9-12 months. It is also expected that the revenues will be remarkably enhanced in the next quarter. The current business scenario

Tragic or Comedy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Tragic or Comedy - Essay Example It can be affected by factors such as attitudes, beliefs, religion, family tradition and custom as well as the environment. Comedy on the other hand also has the same factors, but the difference is, the story is told in a â€Å"lighter† sense. Even if there are sad scenes still, the â€Å"lightness† of the plot and its mood is stronger and apparent. The second one of looking at the novel is through the reader’s point of view. Overall reader’s perception of the story will somehow determine whether a novel is a tragedy or a comedy, without knowledge of technical writing styles. A reader’s perception is also dependent on his or her experiences, culture and beliefs. Personal views on novel cannot be entirely labeled as something that is incorrect because, to read is like taking a journey. However way you take the journey is up to you and wherever the story leads you is something that is personal in nature; except of course, if one is completely mislead because of lack of understanding of the terms used and confusion of the events in the story. Life stories all have its ups and downs, happiness and sadness and whether one believes it or not tragedies can also have its â€Å"comedic instances†. Such is brought about by people’s behavior, attitude, age, beliefs and the environment. As I lay Dying is a novel about death in the family and although there are funny scenes in the novel, it has brought me more into the â€Å"serious† side of it. When Vardaman said that his mother is a fish, this seems funny, especially when spoken by a child, but the words have deeper meaning. Yes, we could laugh at it for awhile but something slowly sinks into us - a sad feeling. We pity the child for saying it because it can be perceived as a denial on the child’s part. Losing a mother is indeed very difficult especially for young children, and this is how Vardaman coped up with the

Describe the journey of a Red Blood Cell around the body Essay

Describe the journey of a Red Blood Cell around the body - Essay Example A spectrin network attached to the lipid bilayer contains several organic proteins, phospholipids, sphingolipids and cholesterol. This type of attachment increases the stiffness of the RBC. Moreover, this sort of spectrin protein allows the free diffusion of vital component from extracellular fluid to intracellular fluid. (Li & Lykotrafittis, 2012). The journey of red blood cells (erythrocytes) usually begins in the circulatory system. During their passage through the blood vessels the erythrocytes undergo several important changes in shape and structure particularly when needed to pass through the narrow passages in the circulatory system. An erythrocyte is a biconcave disc of a diameter ranging between 6-8 microns, with mean thickness of 2.5 micrometres at the periphery and approximately 1 micrometre towards the centre of the cell (Guyton & Hall, 2006). Transporting of oxygen from lung to various other organs is the function of the RBCs during their journey in the human circulatory system. Importantly, this oxygen available for the functioning of organs is stored into the haemoglobin of RBC and when it reaches its particular destination, oxygen is liberated from haemoglobin and it moves through the cellular passive diffusion. Furthermore, carbon dioxide (CO2) that is released after cellular activities is then again fused with haemoglobin of RBC. This deoxygenated blood due to presence of CO2 into the haemoglobin then enters into the heart, and is finally diffused to the lungs. It was reported that in some lower animals (some invertebrates), Hb is present as a free protein in plasma and it is not bound to the RBCs like in human beings. The total life span of each erythrocyte in the circulation is 120 days (Dean, 2005). But during this period if any of them gets damaged, then they could be eliminated from the circulatory system with the help of macrophages which is usually present in the bone marrow, spleen or in the liver (Premkumar, 2004). A normal man has an average of 5,200,000 red blood cells (RBC) per cubic millimetre and a normal woman has an average of 4,700,000 RBCs per cubic millimetre (Guyton & Hall, 2006). Around 3 million red blood cells (RBC) enter the circulation each second (Starr & McMillan, 2012). Haemoglobin is usually concentrated in the red blood cells (RBC); the metabolic limit of haemoglobin-forming mechanism of the body allows only a maximum concentration of 34grams of Haemoglobin in each 100 millilitres of cells (Guyton & Hall, 2006). In any normal and healthy individual, the haemoglobin (Hb) concentration remains at this maximum permitted level. 2. Bone marrow, Journey and Production of erythrocytes: Production of the erythrocytes from the bone marrow is called erythropoiesis (Schlossberg & Zuiderna, 1997). Apart from bone marrow, red blood cells are also produced by various other organs during the early development of human body. Yolk Sac is the primary site of the production of RBCs during the early embryonic p eriod (Guyton & Hall, 2006, p. 421). Liver serves as the main organ for RBC production during the middle trimester of gestation while lymph nodes and spleen also produce an amount of RBCs during this stage of development (Guyton & Hall, 2006, p. 421). Bone marrow is an important part of human body for the production of red blood cells (RBC) during the last month of gestation and soon after the birth (Guyton & Hall, 2

Tragic or Comedy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Tragic or Comedy - Essay Example It can be affected by factors such as attitudes, beliefs, religion, family tradition and custom as well as the environment. Comedy on the other hand also has the same factors, but the difference is, the story is told in a â€Å"lighter† sense. Even if there are sad scenes still, the â€Å"lightness† of the plot and its mood is stronger and apparent. The second one of looking at the novel is through the reader’s point of view. Overall reader’s perception of the story will somehow determine whether a novel is a tragedy or a comedy, without knowledge of technical writing styles. A reader’s perception is also dependent on his or her experiences, culture and beliefs. Personal views on novel cannot be entirely labeled as something that is incorrect because, to read is like taking a journey. However way you take the journey is up to you and wherever the story leads you is something that is personal in nature; except of course, if one is completely mislead because of lack of understanding of the terms used and confusion of the events in the story. Life stories all have its ups and downs, happiness and sadness and whether one believes it or not tragedies can also have its â€Å"comedic instances†. Such is brought about by people’s behavior, attitude, age, beliefs and the environment. As I lay Dying is a novel about death in the family and although there are funny scenes in the novel, it has brought me more into the â€Å"serious† side of it. When Vardaman said that his mother is a fish, this seems funny, especially when spoken by a child, but the words have deeper meaning. Yes, we could laugh at it for awhile but something slowly sinks into us - a sad feeling. We pity the child for saying it because it can be perceived as a denial on the child’s part. Losing a mother is indeed very difficult especially for young children, and this is how Vardaman coped up with the

Women’s History Essay Example for Free

Women’s History Essay Women have fought for many years to gain rights and the ability to be treated as man’s equal. Women have earned the right to vote and work outside the home in jobs that were classically men’s work. Women earned the right to serve their country during wartime. However, women must work harder to prove that they are worthy of being treated as an equal. Women have made great advances in civil rights since 1865, but they still have a long way to go to be treated as man’s equal. 1865-1900 During this time period, women in the United States gained a little independence with the westward expansion. They had to learn to operate all machinery and to run their homestead just as well as their husbands in case of an emergency when he was not around. There were many homesteads that were entirely run by women. These women were widows that moved either west after their husbands died or inherited the land after their husbands or ancestor’s death. During the 1900’s women worked as domestic laborers such as maids, cooks, waitresses, and launderers. Some women obtained manufacturing jobs for pay that was significantly less than male workers (Bowles, 2012). Women were also beginning to become teachers. One in every four teachers were women. By 1900, three out of every four teachers were women (Bowles, 2012). After the slaves were freed in the South, the African American women took jobs as domestic workers. These were the same jobs that they had when they were slaves, only they were now able to earn a wage. In the homes that could not afford to hire outside domestic labor, the women of the home were forced to take on the responsibilities of running a home and  some had to obtain jobs outside the home. These women took jobs outside of the home preparing meals, sewing in factories, and domestic work in upper class homes. There were few women in industrial jobs, mostly sewing factories where they worked on an assembly line. Women began getting jobs in the clerical field, as the typewriter was better suited to their fingers. Other fields that were opening up to women workers were teaching, nursing, social work, and retail clerks. The women working outside the home were from the lower and middle class, single women, immigrants or African Americans. The upper class women did not get jobs outside the home, but many volunteered their time to causes that they felt strongly about. Elizabeth Cady Stanton started the fight for woman’s equal rights and their right to vote. Elizabeth Cady Stanton drafted the Declaration of Rights and Sentiments for Women in 1848. In 1868, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony began the National Woman Suffrage Association and wrote the Revolution a weekly publication that prompted equal rights for women. Susan B Anthony was arrested for illegally voting in the 1872 presidential election (The Bibliography Channel, 2011). The amendment to allow women to vote was introduced to congress in 1878; however, E. C. Stanton and S. B. Anthony died before the amendment was passed into law. 1900-1920 There were nine western states allowed women to vote by 1912. One of those states was Montana. In 1916, Jeannette Rankin decided to run for a seat in the House of Representatives. She was elected in 1917 and played an integral part to the women’s right to vote. She fought for the creation of a Women’s Suffrage Committee and was appointed to it upon its creation (Office of History and Preservation, 2007). This committee wrote the Constitutional Amendment that would allow women the right to vote. On May 21, 1919, The House of Representatives passed the amendment and the senate passed it 2 weeks later. On August 18, 1920, Tennessee became the 36th state to allow women the right to vote. When Tennessee ratified the amendment, this allowed Congress to pass the amendment since three-quarters of the states agreed. Women gained the right to vote with the 19th amendment that was certified on August 26, 1920 (National Archives, 2012). Although women gained the right to vote during this period, their employment opportunities were still limited. They were still accepted as teachers, nurses or social workers, retail sales, domestic labor, nuns and in the clerical field. As women filled the clerical positions, employers offered les pay to the female workers than the male workers had received (Bowles, 2011). Most women attended all female colleges or business schools during this time, as there were a few colleges that allowed co-education of men and women. There were also limits on what a woman could do after obtaining her degree, as it was still not acceptable for women to hold other jobs. Women’s fashion during this time period changed. Many women began to stop wearing the corsets that were so popular during the 1800’s. The length of their dresses became shorter. Instead of floor length, the hem rose to their mid-calf (Bowles, 2011). Women also began to wear makeup and cut their hair short. This represented a woman’s freedom to do what he wished with her body. Women also started to become more athletic and outdoorsy, shedding the Victorian ideals of keeping the skin pale by staying out of the sun. Women also started to smoke as a sign of freedom and rebellion. Margaret Sanger was a nurse in New York when she wrote a newspaper column titled â€Å"What Every Girl Should Know† (Biography.com, 2012). She started a publication called The Woman Rebel in 1914 in which she advocated a woman’s right to â€Å"birth control†. In 1916, she opened the first clinic specializing in birth control, where she gave out information, condoms and fitted women for diaphragms to prevent pregnancy. She felt that it was a woman’s right to decide if and when to have children and that a woman would never be free until she was allowed that choice. In 1921, Margaret Sanger started the American Birth Control League. When World War I began in 1919, the clerical field was completely feminized (Bowles, 2012). During this war, 20,000 women worked in the armed forces, one quarter of these women were nurses stationed overseas (Bowles, 2012). They also took over the family farms and drove trucks during the war. They volunteered their time to promoting Liberty Bonds, teaching food conservation and sending supplies overseas. Their participation in the war efforts were then used as an example why they should be have an equal say in the political matters of the  country they helped to defend. 1920-1945 During the 1920’s after earning the right to vote, women were able to express themselves in the political arena, so they also began expressing themselves in other area. Their fashion and lifestyles became â€Å"freer†, thus earning the name of â€Å"Flappers† (Bowles, 2011). These women wore their hair very short, wore a lot of makeup, and wore shirts or dresses that were at or above knee length. They were more apt to explore sex since birth control was available. They became very liberated during this time period. During the Great Depression, women suffered as much as the men. Women’s wages were decreased or jobs lost depending on the industry that they worked in. Many home became multi-family homes and the women became responsible for the care and feeding of more people. When the Great Depression started to subside, the United States government allowed women to obtain retirement and unemployment benefits when the Social Security Program began. This program was started by Frances Perkins, Secretary of Labor. She was the first woman to hold a position in the Presidential Cabinet (Biography.com, 2012). There were also great advances in technology that produced more housework for women. With more advanced stoves, vacuum cleaners, washing machines and refrigerators the expected care of the home increased, thus creating more work for the women of the home.

The Commodification And Commercialization Of Youth Culture Cultural Studies Essay

The Commodification And Commercialization Of Youth Culture Cultural Studies Essay Youth is the promise of possibility. It is the freedom to act on impulse. It is a time to establish identity and desire. At least that is what youth presently represents in dominant Western culture. Youth, as a concept rather than an age group, is often used as a signifier to represent freedom, efficiency, promise, possibility, rebellion, strength, endurance, potential, beauty, freshness, innocence. Youth keeps on meaning different things at different times. Youth as an age rather than a concept is a time to situate firmly the rules and expectations of consumer culture and our social world. Youth is a stage when these powerful rules and expectations are strongly dictated by communication disseminators such as advertising, music, movies, television, and magazines. These rules work through a consumerist ideology to serve corporations by producing meaning. These meanings that represent and signify youth have been engendered and mapped closely onto the understanding of the term youth. Im ages in advertisements are utilized to maintain these notions of youth. Their power is very pervasive in our increasingly visually based culture. This engendering of meaning comes at a cost to the group deemed youth themselves as well as to those attempting to achieve or maintain youth. The quest to find and capture cool is an integral part of youth subculture. Coolness is a concept that is widely accepted to mean a kind of popularity, mystique and sacredness, which inspires and motivates desire and appreciation. What is cool is evasive and elusive, both for young people and for corporations. As a subculture, youth is a site of variance. Corporations are increasingly appropriating the signifiers of cool, as produced by youth culture, to facilitate the selling of commodity goods to the masses, specifically targeting the young people with whom these meanings originated. Dick Hebdige, in his book Subculture: The Meaning of Style, discusses the origin and function of subculture as a rea ction to dominant culture with a continuing (and struggling) position as opposite and counter. Corporations are consistently attempting to bridge the gap between underground youth subculture that is creating cool, and the ever-accepting mass youth culture that is consuming cool. There is an efficient system of observing, appropriating, standardizing and commercializing youth culture to the population at large. This proficient machine seeks out marketable subcultures to establish cultural ideals and maintain them, while selling commodity goods that reflect an ideology of what youth is supposed to be and look like, as well as how the consumer is supposed to participate within this paradigm. The tenets of youth culture in terms of social exchange, economic status and individual value change quickly. With the use of cool hunting, a highly complex system of exploitative research and target marketing, corporations can closely follow these changes and capitalize on their popularity and mea ning. This system of selling culture is significant in terms of the power and potential of the media, conglomerate and corporation to exploit, co-opt and appropriate the experience and expectation of what it means to be a young person in our contemporary social world. The consequences of this selling include the corporation becoming the institution that we increasingly turn to, instead of government, to exercise power, to define our communities, to build up our economy, to identify ourselves as participants and to solve our social, environmental and personal problems. In the chapter titled Youth as an Industrial Ideal, Ewan discusses the symbolic role of youth as signifying a fresh innocence with very favorable prospects for the future (139). This view comes within the context of the development of industrialization. Ewan explores the influence of industrialization of the position of the family in society. He discusses the effects of leisure time and surplus wages on social culture, focusing in some parts on the situation of youth. With industrialization and the increase of hard factory work, youth quickly became privileged as an ideal to sustain and uphold. Work in the domestic or private sphere, deemed womens work, quickly became devalued as the necessity to earn a wage outside of the home in the public sphere increased (Ewan 119). Youth, and the ability to work the necessary long hours with maintained endurance became a central qualification for employment (Ewan 141). Young men were able to find jobs relatively easily because of their stamina a nd strength. As a result, young men commenced their participation in consumerism. Advertising played a large role in perpetuating consumption and the realization of consumer goods through the production of false needs (Ewan 139). Ewan argues that the skill shift from artisan to labourer directly reflects a shift in authority from the patriarchal family to the corporation or the advertiser (140). This shift is especially momentous in the development of consumerism. Advertising, consumer culture, and realization encouraged people to buy mass produced commodity goods, which could easily be and historically were produced within the home. With independently earned wages, young people previously expected to help with the familys daily chores and tasks necessary for survival, began to be increasingly encouraged by business to see themselves as consumers of material goods rather than as producers of such goods (Ewan 139). These social and cultural changes associated with industrialization would set the stage for future embodiments of consumer culture, particularly for you ng people. Barak Goodman and Rachel Dretzin in their Frontline program Merchants Of Cool, discuss contemporary youth culture today as a very powerful, evasive market unto themselves, demanding and being subjected to a large amount of unique advertising that attempts ever-changing approaches to specifically target and tailor market to youth. In their documentary, Goodman and Dretzin explore the complex relationship teenagers and young people have with the media they consume, and very similarly the elaborate fixation the media have with teenagers and youth. Both as the target market, as well as the signifier of youth, youth-culture is pursued aggressively. Goodman and Dretzins thesis poses that the medias power and influence utilize commodity fetishism to establish and maintain ideological notions of desire and performance, both for and of young people in order to standardize, commodify and commercialize youth culture, or the culture of cool. Goodman and Dretzin offer the notion that the media an d advertisers achieve this control by infiltrating, observing, studying and appropriating the culture of youth as it is, and then attempt to change it into what ever will sell the most commodity goods to mass market young people. As Goodman and Dretzins film suggests, commodifying goods is often done with a cross-platform in mind to sell even more commodity goods and maintain a strong level of authority. For instance, many television shows produced by the WB television network exemplify Goodman and Dretzins point. Shows such as Felicity or Dawsons Creek take advantage of their youth based audience with both subtle and overt product placements accented by youth dominated images and performances during the program. The commercials broadcast in the show often compliment the commodity goods featured in the program. At the end of the show, before the credits roll, there is a cleverly situated advertisement for all of the artists music appearing in that specific episode. Also, the soundtrack advertisement informs the viewer that all CDs may be purchased at the WB.com website. Advertising like in this campaign is multi-tasking; it is selling more than one thing at a time, touching on more than one potential sense of lack at a time. The division of age, specifically childhood, into unique and different identifying segments is a relatively new and highly effective practice. In our recent social history, it is only within the past century that businesses have placed emphasis on fragments of young life giving youth status as a separate category with names like toddler, child, tween, adolescent, teenager or young adult. Marcel Danesi, in his book, Cool: The Signs and Meanings of Adolescence cites Stanley G. Hall as emphasizing adolescence as a location of study in 1904 (3), and the 1950s as the decade the term teenager gained general currency within mainstream culture (4). The term tween is a very new concept referring to pre-teenagers. It plays on the semantics of the word between  [1]  . The tween, to advertisers, behaves unequivocally like the teen. The corporation views both the tween and the teen as sites of differentiation in terms of marketing and potentially appropriate commodity goods. Danesi explains t hat before the 1950s, the teenager didnt exist as a category unto itself. This variation in segmentation of age group can at least partially be attributed to industrialization and the influence and effect of division of time, of work, and of living into separate exclusive periods designated by the clock (Glickman 100). Stuart Ewan argues that the development and social construction of the category teenager is paralleled by a shift from familial authority to business authority and that the development of consumption is performed by segmenting life into highly specialized fragments that privilege youth and maintain spatial and social differences (140). The teenager and tween, as Goodman and Dretzin offer, occupy these same spaces, maintaining them with even more concrete rooting and even more segmentation and specialization of social, spatial, and sexual difference than when the social influence of industrialization was first encountered. By seeking new and different ways of creating target market groups to capitalize on, the corporation seeks to further fragment groups of consumers to sell to on every angle imaginable. This means that populations such as youth will be segmented into groups such as the teenager and the tween. It means that individuals will be segmented into groups such as music fan, and fashionista. Fashionista, another new addition to post-modern vocabulary, refers to an individual, usually a girl or woman who is devoted to all things fashion related. Fragmentation increases the number of people in an audience and the number of times an audience can be re-appropriated. The segmentation ensures that every individual is being sold to in more than one market, and as more than one kind of consumer. The tween is an excellent example of this, as it identifies a new market segment to create commodity goods specifically for, and to advertise to. The corporation creates these highly specialized fragmentations so that every possible avenue of commodification and commercialization are explored and exploited to sell commodity goods and to create an ideology of a good consumer. Further on Theador Adorno approaches a similar concept in music, an ideology of the ideal listener. Both Ewan and Goodman and Dretzin agree on the differentiation between the conception, approach, targeting, and advertising to girls and boys. The spatial segmentation of the sex-gender economy Ewan speaks of, instituted with the outset of advertising, is firmly upheld and perpetuated today as Goodman and Dretzin explore in their examination of youth culture. Ewan explains the industrial systems reification of separation with the establishment of the domestic sphere as private and predominantly populated by women while the working sphere as public and predominantly populated by men. Susan Porter Benson, in Gender, Generation, and Consumption in the United States sustains a similar view perpetuating the gendering of production as male and consumption as female. (226). Advertising works to establish, reify, and perpetuate ideological sexual, social and spatial differences, with industrialization putting emphasis and privilege on surplus value being productive versus use value being con sumptive. Emphasis and privilege do not reside with production to the same extent as at the outset of industrialization. In consumer culture, use value and consumption are now favored as expressions of power; emphasis and privilege are placed on the ability to obtain commodity goods demonstrative of wealth and interest. At the time of industrialization, however, the result of the industrial system reifying separations was an elevation of mens work outside the home while simultaneously devaluing womens reproductive realm in the home (Ewan 118-9). I would argue that this system of value is closely related to the social celebration of industrialization and the privileging of production, while attempting to downplay the importance of consumption. A capitalist ideology will operate most efficiently when its participants are supporting its tenets whole-heartedly. If privilege lies with production and not consumption, it can be predicted and assumed that people will want to be immersed in that realm, in production, able to manifest some of its power. Power, a patriarchal location was and is a male dominated expression. With industrialization and the recent shift in authority from familial patriarchy to the corporation, men were eager to maintain some kind of power position (Ewan 140). Consumption was new, and unfamiliar. In a patriarchal framework, anything that privileged work other than mens was avoided. Men felt emasculated enough with industrial authority becoming powerful; they did not want to sacrifice power positions otherwise. Consumption, in a capitalist ideology is therefore secondary, and delegated to those not in power, women. In a capitalist framework our social world privileges capital-producing work above all else; thus, as womens effort in the home is not capital producing, it is negated as non-work. In contemporary consumer culture, this power exchange is not the case. Consumption is paramount, for both men and women, and is a site of power. Benson also outlines the circumstance during industrial exchange in which boys were able to spend their own wages, while girls had to contribute to the patriarchal family (227-8). Differences between the sexes do not stop there. Goodman and Dretzin explain established terms for the ideological character advertisers present to young people to aspire to be and incorporate into their being. For boys, it is the mook, an irresponsible and capricious character that manifests qualities of goofiness and the pursuit of pleasure. The term to describe the girls character is midriff. It connotes a sexualized yet innocent girl who can achieve anything she wants to through her beauty. These concepts offered to young people by corporations to strive to be are inherently unattainable. Like cool, these characters are forever vague and constantly changing to maintain their inherent appeal, as well as their preferred position as something to emulate. Both the mook and midriff abstractions are highly in dividualized and segmented concepts that reify expectations of what it means to be a young and cool teenager today. These contemporary notions which aim to define youth are highly invested and pursued heavily by scores of young people. They are difficult to achieve, however. It is precisely the difficulty in manifesting these personas that makes them so perfect for an ideology of consumerism. Although young people may and will try to incorporate aspects of the mook or the midriff into their life, the mook and midriff are set up in such a way as to be impossible to acquire. The preoccupation our culture has with the importance of celebrity is an excellent example of this point. Although young boys may want to be like Fred Durst of the rock group Limp Bizkit, and young girls may want to be like Jennifer Lopez, they cannot be exactly like them. Young people are able, however, to buy the commodity goods that the celebrities endorse and therefore become some of what the mook and the midriff mean. These conceptions of youth and produced meanings are very effective in their attempt to command interpretat ion and to shape significance. It is the goal of corporations to keep this separation between the desire of mass youth culture to possess cool and the reality that cool cant be owned through possession or commodity goods, an invisible gap. It is corporations goal that consumers understand that by purchasing commodity goods, they are participating in the very system that can bestow to them a feeling of becoming what they want. Purchasing commodity goods that reflect a feeling of what they desire is the admission to being a part of it and becoming what they want. They are becoming the objects they are buying, they are becoming cool. It is then the corporations task to convince young people to believe that they are cool by buying their product. Consumption then acts like culture. It allows individuals to share a consciousness solely through acquiring by purchase. Consumption, however, is neither culture nor a community activity. It is an individualizing process masquerading as culture. As explored further on, Jean Ba udrillard, in his piece, The System of Objects, discusses how individuals realize through consumption (15). This realization then means individuals perform, for the corporation, the desired result of acquiring to cooperate in consumer culture. Because our commodities so effectively act as social communicators, status symbols and indicators of taste, there is clear motivation to consume the specific goods that convey the most appropriate and desired details of who we are and what we like. It is a representation or a perspective of our social identity, transmitted through commodity goods. This communication is performed through the acquiring of new and different commodity goods whose engendered meaning we hope to share with the world through ownership and display. This, however, puts consumers in a position of constant want and need for new objects and apparel. Colin Campbell, in his article The Desire For the New, explores concepts of desire, various kinds of new, and their relation to consumerism. Campbell describes the Veblen-Simmel model of modern consumption as a regulated and involved process of obtaining objects that communicate position, intuition and perception, as an inherent system of rapid obsolescence to maintai n superiority, and as a hierarchy of style with elite classes constantly embracing the fresh and novel (50-1). Colin Campbell examines the Veblen-Simmel trickle down nature of fashions approach to trends, as originating with high art and an aristocratic division and then being imitated and adopted by lower classes (48). Campbell, however, also writes about the limitations of the Veblin-Simmel system, and about how trends do not exclusively originate with the elite, but also from so-called lower classes (51). Campbell quotes Paul Blumberg as indicating the appropriation of underground subculture to be emulated in couture, and in turn, mainstream mass fashion (51). This appropriation is seemingly relevant to youth culture and the co-optation performed by the corporation. By utilizing cool hunting, the corporation is executing the same kind of exploitation of expression and trends of young people to sell to the mainstream that Campbell quotes Blumberg as illustrating. Campbells article investigates Veblens theory of conspicuous consumption to maintain competition through consumption of communicative commodity goods, and its design to keep participants in a pattern of procurement in order to maintain participation itself (Campbell 49). Pierre Bourdieu, in the introduction of his Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste, writes about cultural competency and having the appropriate knowledge to be able to understand a cultural object or practice (2). Again these authors position is consistent with the appropriation of youth culture. By employing cool hunting, corporations are able to commandeer familiar and informed signs of cool from underground youth-culture to sell back to mainstream youth in order to maintain cooperation of consumption. Part of the institution of consumption, as Campbell illustrates, is the relatively quick onset of age, worthlessness and abandonment of commodity goods (50). Campbell informs us of the ongoing desire and experience of want that disappears when possession occurs. This cycle of longing is practical for the selling of commodity goods; however, it places the consumer in a position of constantly searching for satisfaction through consumption. This structure of rapid, abrupt and swift obsolescence is not unfamiliar to a structure of cool. Both have a period of desire and emulation, and both change invariably. I would endeavor to say that the ideology of cool so suitably works with, and for, consumerism for these very reasons. There is a highly intricate network of tools in place to gauge, observe, measure and survey youth culture, getting more complex all the time. In Cool: The Signs and Meanings of Adolescence, Danesi quotes Stanley G. Hall as establishing adolescence as a unique segment to examine and study (3). In Captains of Consciousness, Ewan explains the introduction and establishment of the category teenager as being dependent on the evolution of consumerism. This development is the origin of the study of youth as a fragment as a group unto themselves. Since then, as the documentary The Merchants of Cool explores, the study of youth as a group has become highly specialized undertaking, with the bottom line being profit. Today, youth are a huge market. They have a significant disposable income of their own, and they have parents buying them additional commodity goods. The corporate gaze, the position the corporation takes and its involvement with selling to the youth market, is highly prominent and becomes a more specialized organism all the time. Cool hunting, the locating, documenting, and appropriating of underground popularity among teenagers and young people, is extremely big business as Goodman and Dretzins film illustrates. It is beneficial for corporations and advertising agencies to know and understand the youth market, so that they will be able to target them as efficiently as possible to sell the most commodity goods. Goodman and Drezin show that corporations achieve this intent by utilizing their tools, a number of investigative methods including focus groups, surveys, and market research. As The Merchants of Cool features, on behalf of corporations, marketing firms such as Cornerstone recruit strong charactered and popular young people to be representatives for them to help convince their friends to participate in purchasing their respective commodity goods. These representatives are compensated either monetarily, or with commodity goods themselves. This process, deemed under-the-radar marketing (Goodman and Dretzin) is executed on behalf of the corporation to aid in building brand loyalty among young people. The representatives are hired, at least partially, based on their ability to convey word-of-mouth advertising to a significant group of young people. This practice is capitalizing on the hope that young people will trust and believe another young person rather than the media in the expectation that more commodity goods will be consumed (Goodman and Dretzin). The youth market, a highly prized target group is idealized as a number of young people unified by their knowledge and participation in subculture. Dick Hebdige introduces the meaning of subculture as a subversive refusal and rebellion against dominant culture, having conflict contained in ideology and signification (3). Hebdige describes the site of subculture as a struggle for possession of the sign which extends to even the most mundane areas of everyday life (17). Objects, concepts, vernacular, et cetera are assigned to or take on meanings that both reflect and deny the meanings bestowed by dominant culture. For example, this process can be seen historically through the hand gesture containing two fingers held in a V; held one way the gesture is understood to mean Victory in war, while turned around, this hand gesture is seen to signify peace. As Hebdige describes, this appropriation of one kind of sign and its transformation into another oppositional sign works as a function o f underground subculture (2). Similarly, and more recently, the words cheddar, cheddah, or cheese can be used to signify the traditional understanding as a dairy product, but also these words have been appropriated to refer to money. The rap artist Jay-Z uses this signification on Vol. 3 The Life Times of S. Carter, in his song Big Pimpin. The lyrics, Big pimpin, spendin cheese, refer to the use of cheese as money. Hebdige offers the notion that this process of signification is utilized by subculture to communicate (18). In order to maintain ideology and sell commodity goods, corporations can also exercise this signification process to seek out signs apropos to young people and incorporate them in their marketing schemes and campaigns. This inclusion of signs is completed in the expectancy of attracting mass youth market. Corporations rely on the consumers ability and desire to collapse the gap between the ideal of what they want the corporation designed representation of the individual and the reality of who they are. Media images are increasingly strict in their representations of ideals of beauty, of power, of health and of cool. Judith Williamson, in her book Decoding Advertisements: Ideology and Meaning in Advertising, talks about the mirror phase in advertisements that works to show a representation of a created image and concept that the individual can both locate his or herself in, and extend that location by attempting to become through consumption, altering their appearance or identity in some fashion (60). The discontinuity between this manufactured ideal identity and the reality of day-to-day existence does exist, however difficult to identify and endure. Young people, as well as women (and more recently, men), are expected to participate within this highly regulated paradigm and positio n themselves with the created image, rather than with a more attainable reality. Advertisers aim to have consumers define their own unique identity and personality solely through consumption and the commodity goods we purchase (Baudrillard 14). It is the goal of the corporation that consumers will establish, build, and express an identity through the type of commodity goods we wear, use and consume. In consumer culture objects are used as social communicators, giving the individual an opportunity to become a part of what they desire, or in some cases as the corporation and advertisers insist, to become the thing itself. Through an ideology of competition, connotations are attached to objects, concepts are engendered to them and meaning is produced. It is advertisers aim that individuals will capitalize on these produced meanings by buying commodity goods that closely reflect what people want to express about themselves, as well as what they want to communicate to others. Jean Baudrillard explores the potential of objects as social communicators and commodity goods as a code, each with a specific connotation (23). Baudrillard offers that by picking and choosing various competing objects we place ourselves into established like categories (20). He extends that individuality, uniqueness and distinctness is not to be found in commodity goods, as advertisers would have us believe. The meaning attached to commodity goods is engendered through a process of signification; these desired meanings for commodity goods are appropriated through the use of cool hunting. Advertisers seek to capture and claim the meanings produced by youth culture for the commodity goods they produce, so as to secure the youth market for their products. It is a tight and highly engineered and maintained cycle. Advertisers will go to great lengths to find cool and employ found or produced signification to their products. In terms of meaning being engendered to objects, the effect of this can be understood through and examination of the companies Louis Vuitton and Kate Spade. Both Vuitton and Spade are fashion design houses that specialize in accessories and purses. Louis Vuitton, a well-established house that sells to wealthy and accomplished women possesses connotations of luxury, comfort and affluence. Kate Spade is a relatively new design house that sells to young, trendy women and has connotations of chic, taste and femininity. These design houses sell a very similar product; however through the signs and significations used and operated by each company, the produc t is understood very differently. Both Louis Vuitton and Kate Spade are highly invested in the connotations they exude through their products. It is not just a commodity good they are selling with the name and brand Louis Vuitton, or Kate Spade. They are also selling an identity of who and what they are, and in turn who you are for owning their merchandise. It is interesting to note that in recent seasons, Louis Vuitton has secured designer Stephen Sprouse and the use of his graffiti typeface for some of their products. This graffiti type has added a more urban and young connotation to those Vuitton products. This typeface has been appropriated by other corporations and a very similar graffiti typeface is utilized on recording artist No Doubts latest album Rock Steady, not to mention countless knock-off type products that also use the graffiti. Louis Vuitton is able to maintian a very high class identity, while adding another dynamic to their complex market. It is interesting to note the current trend of product diversification and market expansion. Martha Stewart has her mail-order company Martha By Mail, her products are available at K-Mart and she has an incredibly lucrative book series and magazine. Marthas Hampton neighbour Puff Daddy, more recently known as P Diddy, is another interesting example. P Diddy has a successful rap career; his close relationship to the late Notorious B.I.G. helped catapult his album sales and fan interest. P Diddy also has a prosperous position as a record producer. He produces many other rap, R B, and pop artists work, contributing to his growing empire. P Diddy, whose real name is Sean Combs, is also undertaking the auspicious role of fashion designer with his line of mens wear titled Sean John. Also, P Diddy has recently entered the domain of acting including a role in the 2001 film, Monsters Ball. As featured on the Bad Boy Entertainment website, P Diddy is also venturing in restaurants, and predict ably enough youth market consulting. P Diddy himself, and his conglomerate Bad Boy Entertainment, is expanding his horizons to increase profitability. Like P Diddy, Louis Vuitton and Kate Spade are expanding into other markets. Louis Vuitton, in addition to purses and luggage, is now designing and marketing shoes, and clothing. Kate Spade has expanded their catalogue to include shoes, clothing, stationary, pajamas and skin care products above and beyond purses and luggage. Stephen Sprouse, the graffiti typeface designer Vuitton has used for a number of their products, is now designing a line of clothing and accessories for the discount department store Target in the United States. Product diversification recently, it seems, is essential and obligatory to maintain a level of competition and admission to large market exposure. It appears that these corporations are attempting to saturate the markets that they are able to flourish in, in order to exploit the potential to create capital and incr