Carrie Chapter Ten

She put the dress on for the first time on the morning of May 27, in her room. She had bought a special brassiere to go with it, which gave her breasts the proper uplift (not that they actually needed it) but left their top halves uncovered. Wearing it gave her a weird, dreamy feeling that was half shame and half defiant excitement. The dress itself was nearly floor-length. The skirt was loose, but the waist was snug, the material rich and unfamiliar against her skin, which was used only to cotton and wool. The hang of it seemed to be right – or would be, with the new shoes. She slipped them on, adjusted the neckline, and went to the window. She could see only a maddening ghost image of herself, but everything seemed to be right. Maybe later she could†¦ The door swung open behind her with only a soft snick of the latch, and Carrie turned to look at her mother. She was dressed for work, wearing her white sweater and holding her black pocketbook in one hand. In the other she was holding Daddy Ralph's Bible. They looked at each other. Hardly conscious of it, Carrie felt her back straighten until she stood straight in the patch of early spring sunshine that fell through the window. ‘Red,' Momma murmured. ‘I might have known it would be red.' Carrie said nothing. ‘I can see your dirtypillows. Everyone will. They'll be looking at your body. The Book says-‘ ‘Those are my breasts, Momma. Every woman has them.' ‘Take of that dress,' Momma said. ‘No.' ‘Take it of, Carrie. We'll go down and bum it in the incinerator together, and then pray for forgiveness. We'll do penance.' Her eyes began to sparkle with the strange disconnected zeal that came over her at events which she considered to be tests of faith. ‘I'll stay home from work and you'll stay home from school. We'll pray. We'll ask for a sign. We'll get us down on our knees and ask for the Pentecostal Fire.' ‘No, Momma.' Her mother reached up and pinched her own face. It left a red mark. She looked to Carrie for reaction, saw none, hooked her right hand into claws and ripped it across her own cheek, bringing thin blood. She whined and rocked back on her heels. Her eyes glowed with exultation. ‘Stop hurting yourself, Momma. That's not going to make me stop either.' Momma screamed. She made her right hand a fist and struck herself in the mouth, bringing blood. She dabbled her fingers in it, looked at it dreamily, and daubed a spot on the cover of the Bible. ‘Washed in the Blood of the Lamb,' she whispered. ‘Many times. Many times he and-‘ ‘Go away, Momma.' She looked up at Carrie, her eyes glowing. There was a terrifying expression of righteous anger graven on her face. ‘The Lord is not mocked,' she whispered. ‘Be sure your sin will find you out. Burn it, Carrie! Cast that devil's red from you and burn it! Burn it! Burn it!' The door slammed open by itself. ‘Go away, Momma.' Momma smiled. Her bloody mouth made the smile grotesque, twisted. ‘As Jezebel fell from the tower, let it be with you,' she said. ‘And the dogs came and licked up the blood. It's in the Bible! It's-‘ Her feet began to slip along the floor and she looked down at them, bewildered. The wood might have turned to ice. ‘Stop that!' She screamed. She was in the hall now. She caught the doorjamb and held on for a moment; then her fingers were torn loose, seemingly by nothing. ‘I love you, Momma,' Carrie said steadily. ‘I'm sorry.' She envisioned the door swinging shut, and the door did just that, as if moved by a light breeze. Carefully, so as not to hurt her, she disengaged the mental hands she had pushed her mother with. A moment later, Margaret was pounding on the door. Carrie held it shut, her lips trembling. ‘There's going to be a judgment!' Margaret White raved. ‘I wash my hands of it! I tried!' ‘Pilate said that,' Carrie murmured. Her mother went away. A minute later Carrie saw her go down the walk and cross the street on her way to work. ‘Momma,' she said softly, and put her forehead on the glass. From The Shadow Exploded (p. 129): Before turning to a more detailed analysis of Prom Night itself, it might be well to sum up what we know of Carrie White the person. We know that Carrie was the victim of her mother's religious mania. We know that she possessed a latent telekinetic talent, commonly referred to as TK. We know that this led ‘wild talent' is really a hereditary trait, produced by a gene that is usually recessive, if present at all. We suspect that the TK ability may be glandular in nature. We know that Carrie produced at least one demonstration of her ability as a small girl when she was put into an extreme situation of guilt and stress. We know that a second extreme situation of guilt and stress arose from a shower-room hazing incident. It has been theorized (especially by W.G. Throneberry and Julia Givens, Berkeley) that resurgence of the TK ability at this point was caused by both psychological factors (i.e. the reaction of the other girls and Carrie herself to their first menstrual period) and physiological factors (i.e., the advent of puberty). And finally, we know that on Prom Night, a third sum situation arose, causing the terrible events which we now must begin to discuss. We will begin with †¦ (i am not nervous not a bit nervous) Tommy had called earlier with her corsage, and now she was pinning it to the shoulder of her gown herself. There was no momma, of course, to do it for her and make sure it was in the right place, Momma had locked herself in the chapel and had been in there for the last two hours, praying hysterically. Her voice rose and fen in frightening, incoherent cycles. (I'm sorry momma but I can't be sorry) When she had it fixed to her satisfaction, she dropped her hands and stood quietly for a moment with her eyes closed. There was no full-length mirror in the house. (vanity vanity all is vanity) but she thought she was all. right. She had to be. She- She opened her eyes again. The Black Forest cuckoo clock, bought with Green Stamps, said seven-ten. (he'll be here in twenty minutes) Would he? Maybe it was all just an elaborate joke, the final crusher, the ultimate punch line. To leave her sitting here half the night in her crushed-velvet prom gown with its princess waistline, juliet sleeves and simple straight skirt – and her tea roses pinned to her left shoulder. From the other room, on the rise now; ‘. . . in hallowed earth! We know thou bring'st the Eye That Watcheth, the hideous three-lobbed eye, and the sound of black trumpets. We most heartily repent-‘ Carrie did not think anyone could understand the brute courage it had taken to reconcile herself to this, to leave herself open to whatever fearsome possibilities the night might realize. Being stood up could hardly be the worst of them. In fact, in a kind of sneaking, wishful way she thought it might be for the best if (no stop that) Of course it would be easier to stay here with Momma. Safer. She knew what They thought of Momma. Well, maybe Momma was a fanatic, a freak, but at least she was predictable, the house was predictable. She never came home to laughing, shrieking girls who threw things. And if he didn't come, if she drew back and gave up? High school would be over in a month. Then what? A creeping. subterranean existence in this house, supported by Momma, watching game shows and soap operas all day on television at Mrs Garrison's house when she had Carrie In To Visit (Mrs Garrison was eighty-six), walking down to the Centre to get a malted after supper at the Kelly Fruit when it was deserted, getting fatter, losing hope, losing even the power to think? No. Oh dear God, please no. (please let it be a happy ending) ‘-protect us from he with the split foot who waits in the alleys and in the parking lots of roadhouses, O Saviour-‘ Seven twenty-five. Restlessly, without thinking she began to lift objects with her mind and put them back down, the way a nervous woman awaiting someone in a restaurant will fold and unfold her napkin. She could dangle half a dozen objects in air at one time, and not a sign of tiredness or headache. She kept waiting for the power to abate, but it remained at high water with no sign of waning. The other night on her way home from school, she had rolled a parked car (oh please god let it not be a joke) twenty feet down the main street curb with no strain at all. The courthouse idlers had stared at it as if their eyes would pop out, and of course she stared too, but she was smiling inside. The cuckoo popped out of the clock and spoke once. Seven-thirty. She had grown a little wary of the terrific strain using the power seemed to put on her heart and lungs and internal thermostat. she suspected it would be all too possible for her heart to literally burst with the strain. It was like being in another's body and forcing her to run and run and run. You would not pay the cost yourself; the other body would. She was beginning to realize that her power was perhaps not so different from the powers of Indian fakirs, who stroll across hot coals, run needles into their eyes, or blithely bury themselves for periods up to six weeks. Mind over matter in any form is a terrific drain on the body's resources. Seven thirty-two. (he's not coming) (don't think about it a watched pot doesn't boil hell Come) (no he won't he's out laughing at you with his friends and after a little bit they'll drive by in one of their fast noisy cars laughing and hooting and yelling) Miserably, she began lifting the sewing machine up and down, swinging it in widening arcs throught the air. ‘-and protect us also from rebellious daughters imbued with the willfulness of the Wicked One-‘ ‘Shut up!' Carrie screamed suddenly. There was startled silence for a moment, and then the babbling chant began again. Seven thirty-three. Not coming (then i'll wreck the house) The thought came to her naturally and cleanly. First the sewing machine, driven through the living room wall. The couch through a window. Tables, chairs, books and tracts all flying, the plumbing ripped loose and still spurting, like arteries ripped free of flesh. The roof itself, if that were within her power, shingles exploding upward into the night like startled pigeons Lights splashed gaudily across the window. Other cars had gone by, making her heart leap a little, but this one was going much more slowly. (O) She ran to the window, unable to restrain herself, and it was him, Tommy, just climbing out of his car, and even under the street light he was handsome and alive and almost †¦ crackling. The odd word made her want to giggle. Momma had stopped praying. She grabbed her fight silken wrap from where it had lain across the back of her chair and put it around her bare shoulders. She bit her lip, touched her hair, and would have sold her soul for a mirror. The buzzer in the hall made its harsh cry. She made herself wait, controlling the twitch in her hands, for the second buzz Then she went slowly, with silken swish. She opened the door and he was there, nearly blinding in white dinner jacket and dark dress pants. They looked at each other, and neither said a word. She felt that her heart would break if he uttered so much as the wrong sound, and if he laughed she would die. She felt -actually, physically-her whole miserable life narrow to a point that might be an end or the beginning of a widening beam. Finally, helpless, she said: ‘Do you like me?' He said: ‘You're beautiful.' She was. From The Shadow Exploded (p. 131): While those going to the Ewen Spring Ball were gathering at the high school or just leaving pre-Prom buffets, Christine Hargensen and William Nolan had met in a room above a local town-limits tavern called The Cavalier. We know that they had been meeting there for some time; that is in the records of the White Commission. What we don't know is whether their plans were complete and irrevocable or if they went ahead almost on whim †¦ ‘Is it time yet?' She asked him in the darkness. He looked at his watch. ‘No.' Faintly, through the board floor, came the thump of the juke playing She's Got To Be a Saint, by Ray Price. The Cavalier, Chris reflected, hadn't changed their records since the first time she'd been there with a forged ID two years ago. Of course then she'd been down in the taprooms, not on one of Sam, Deveaux's ‘specials.' Billy's cigarette winked fitfully in the dark, like the eye of an uneasy demon. She watched it introspectively. She hadn't let him sleep with her until last Monday, when he had promised that he and his greaser friends would help her pull the string on Carrie White if she actually dared to go to the Prom with Tommy Ross. But they had been here before, and had had some pretty hot necking going on – what she thought of as Scotch love and what he would call, in his unfailing ability to pinpoint the vulgar the – dry humps. She had meant to make him wait until he had actually done something, (but of course he did he got the blood) but it had all begun to slip out of her hands, and it made heir uneasy. If she had not given in willingly on Monday, he would have taken her, by force. Billy had not been her first lover, but he was the first she could not dance and dandle at her whim. Before him her boys had been clever marionettes with clear, pimple-free faces and parents with connections and country-club memberships. They drove their own VWs or Javelins or Dodge Chargers. They went to UMass or Boston College. They wore fraternity windbreakers in the fall and muscle-shirts with bright stripes in the summer. They smoked marijuana a great deal and talked about the funny things that happened to them when they were wrecked. They began by treating her with patronizing good fellowship (all high school girls, no matter how good-looking, were Bush League) and always ended up trotting after her with panting, doglike lust. If they trotted long enough and spent enough in the Process she usually let them go to bed with her. Quite often she lay passively beneath them, not helping or hindering, until it was over. Later, she achieved her own solitary climax while viewing the inc ident as a single closed loop of memory. She had met Billy Nolan following a drug bust at a Cambridge apartment. Four students, including Chris's date for the evening had been busted for possession. Chris and the other girls were charged with being present there. Her father took care of it with quiet efficiency, and asked her if she knew what would happen to his image and his practice if his daughter was taken up on a drug charge. She told him that she doubted if anything could hurt either one, and he took her car away.

Balance Sheet and Income Statement Essay

Balance Sheet and Income Statement Jennifer Grayson BSA/500 June 4, 2011 Brian Keltch Balance Sheet and Income Statement The following four companies are related to the companies that have been in review over the last four weeks. These four following companies show how well the company has been doing over the last two years or not so well. The company has pulled their balance sheets and income statement to see if all the company’s financial needs are being met. If the company’s needs are not being met, the company will show where the company needs to cut back and where the company needs to improve. National Plastic Co Conclusion National Plastic Co. s not doing well after a year. The company has less net fixed assets after a year. The company has borrowed less liability but the company has less revenue so with the changes it did not work in the favor for the company. AMERCO Inc. is still doing about the same after a year. The big thing is that the company is still able to bring in money with the economy at its worst. The company is able to run comfortable. Kout Food Group is doing about the same as the year before. No growth has happen and no lost has happen. Resaas Services Inc. has made the most growth in a year. In 2010 the total liabilities and equity was 0. 8% and in 2011 5. 67%. The company gained more than 5. 39%. Resaas is doing well. To look at all the different company’s income statements and balance sheets show that no two companies are the same. Some companies may do better than others may and some may not do well at all. It is important for all companies to make sure to have a financial statement. Reference BLOOMBERG L. P. (2012).

Execution Methods Annotated Bibliography Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 2

Execution Methods - Annotated Bibliography Example Baker, Peter. â€Å"Obama Orders Policy Review on Executions.† The New York Times. 03 May 2014. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 05 May 2014.< http://ic.galegroup.com.ezproxy.cyclib.nocccd.edu/ic/ovic/NewsDetailsPage/NewsDetailsWindow?failOverType=&query=&prodId=OVIC&windowstate=normal&contentModules=&mode=view&displayGroupName=News&limiter=&u=cypressc&currPage=&disableHighlighting=true&displayGroups=&sortBy=&source=&search_within_results=&p=OVIC&action=e&catId=&activityType=&scanId=&documentId=GALE|A366879542.> In this article, there is a focus on policy required in implementing of the death penalty in various parts of the country. Baker notes that the Oklahoma execution is a clear example that something is amiss in the process of conviction. It shows the president of the United States also called for policy review in the sector. I chose the article as it helps in showing what need to be done to balance the view of those for and against the death penalty. The article is of the essence as it helps in showing areas that need policy changes. Baldus, David, C., Grosso, Catherine, M., Woodworth, George, Newell, Richard. â€Å"Racial Discrimination in the Administration of the Death Penalty: The Experience of the United States Armed Forces (1984-2005).† Journal of criminal law and criminology 101.4 (2011): 1227-1335. Print. The article presents evidence that there is racial bias in the implementation of the death penalty. The authors note that this is well documented in the administration of the death penalty in the United States armed forces in over two decades. The authors rely on three scenarios of racial disparities in the treatment of similarly situated death-eligible offenders. I chose this article as it highlights racial bias in the implementation of the death penalty programs. It is also of benefit as it helps in presenting evidence while the death penalty should be stopped due to racial bias in issuing the death sentences. BBC News- US & Canada. â€Å"US president Obama Calls for Death Penalty Review.† Bbc.com. Web. 05 May 2014 The article highlights the concerns of the United States president over the manner in which death penalty is executed in the country. The concern is based on the heinous execution of Clayton Lockett in the state of Oklahoma. The president expressed his feeling on the botched execution and calls for a rethinking of the process.

John Adams vs. Thomas Jefferson Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

John Adams vs. Thomas Jefferson - Research Paper Example Whether it was a clash of ideologies or clash of personalities, it was an ugly situation which came down to accusation campaigns against each other. Jefferson’s people were heard accusing President Adams as having a â€Å"hideous hermaphroditical character, which has neither the force and firmness of a man nor the gentleness and sensibility of a woman† to which Adam’s crowd responded by calling the Vice President Jefferson â€Å"a mean-spirited, low-lived fellow, the son of a half-breed Indian squaw, sired by a Virginia mulatto father† (Swint 2008). Hence the two characters were introduced to the general public and eventually discussed widely in the academia. While Adam was labeled with rude terms like fool and criminal as well as tyrant and hypocrite, Jefferson was regarded as an atheist, coward, a weakling and libertine. Since there was no campaigning for the presidential candidates in the past, these political figures spent the election period at their homes, Adams in Massachusetts and Jefferson in Virginia. The core difference between the two politicians was in the use of tactics to get to win the elections. Jefferson used James Callendar as hatchet man to convince America that Adams was keen on attacking France which was not the truth but it did win him the election because people bought his story. Adams considered himself above such tactics. Callendar has to serve in jail because of Jefferson and felt he owed him all the respect even after he was released from jail in 1801. When he did not receive any conciliation from Jefferson, he wrote a story revealing that Jefferson had an affair with one of his slaves Sally Hemings who had five children from him and lived in France. Things continued to become dirty between Jefferson and Adams. It is still mind boggling when one recalls the friendship between the two which was so close that Jefferson himself proclaimed Adams as a visionary man who was accurate in his judgments. He referred to Adams as a warmhearted soul who did have his weaknesses but they did not overweigh his goodness (Swint 2008). Adams and Jefferson had contrasting lives. While Adams was the eldest son of a middling farmer in Braintree who worked as a shoemaker in winters for survival of his family, Jefferson was the eldest son of a wealthy planter in Virginia who owned thousands of acres of land and more than hundreds of slaves. Adams was raised in a strict Calvinist atmosphere where he was taught to subordinate an individual for a positive outcome in the community, respecting the authority figures. Raised in Anglican Church, Jefferson was rather impressed with his father’s rise to power by merely surveying and speculation of the plants. He never said a word about his beliefs in his formative years. His father Peter Jefferson was a learned man who worked hard to come to his stature. Adams and Jefferson both received schooling in their early life but Adams stayed home while attending a pre paratory school and Jefferson was sent for early schooling away from home. Adams went to Harvard later in life while Jefferson to William and Mary (Ferling 18). Jefferson wanted to be recognized as a unique figure even among the planter elite. He dismissed the aristocratic ways and acknowledged his worth for seeing things in a progressive light. Adams had no choice but to choose his career but Jefferson always had an option because of

Ted Bundy serial offender Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Ted Bundy serial offender - Research Paper Example Serial killer is defined as an entity or a person who is responsible of murdering more than three people in a time period of over a month. A serial killer is prompted for undertaking such activities due to the possession of psychological gratification by a greater level. This aspect or state of mind is generally developed by way of increased amount of hatred for a particular gender or a class of people. The aspect of serial killing strongly relates to the conduct of high extent of illicit and unethical activities that seem to provide greater threats to an entire society (Hickey, n.d; AETN UK, 2013). With this concern, this paper will highlight the factors associated with the criminal behavior of Ted. In addition, a particular theory of criminal behavior linked with the criminal activities that performed by Ted will be taken into concern. Background of Ted Bundy Ted Bundy was born in Burlington, Vermont wherein he and his mother resided. There are no whereabouts of his father till now . During his childhood days, Ted was considered to be a good student and also performed various activities through participating in Boy Scouts and local churches. He was a bit of shy in nature but he seemed to perform criminal activities before finishing his high school. ... During that period, Ted was in a relationship with a girl named Stephanie Brooks. But due to Ted’s casual attitude towards his life and ambitions along with immaturity, things did not turned up to work much well between the two. Eventually, she ended the relationship with Ted. After few years, Ted turned out to be a completely new man with a different professional attitude. As he was viewed to be a part of the law school, he had something to show about his integrity and dedication towards a professional. Considering this aspect, he approached his lost love once again and finally got accepted by Stephanie. After a short duration of time, Ted himself dumped Stephanie due to certain indifferences in their behavior and they finally broke up. After this particular incident, he started to indulge in conducting all sorts of inhuman activities that mostly represented human torture. He started to perform different sorts of homicidal rampage that continued to last for almost three years . His prime targets comprised the women who were tortured dreadfully in an inhuman manner. It was ascertained that most of Ted’s victims had strong facial resemblance matched with his former girlfriend. Moreover, his victims had long hairs divided in the middle like that of Stephanie (AETN UK, 2013; Murderpedia, n.d.). Factors Associated with Ted’s Criminal Behavior In relation to the instances of the crimes and the cases of homicides that reflected from the part of Ted, there were numerous factors that can be associated with his criminal behavior. From a tender age itself, Ted was fascinated towards performing illicit activities. By the time he finished his high school, he already developed the habit of conducting theft alongside other illicit activities

Psychology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 20

Psychology - Essay Example There are a couple of different theories as to how memory works. One suggests that the brain actually stores all the information we have ever experienced and that the problems of forgetting and remembering have more to do with how we store and retrieve information. Another theory indicates the brain works more like old videotape – the older the memory is, the more likely it is to have broken down, lost details or become blurry to the point of nonexistence. Regardless of which theory is correct, if either, understanding the factors that contribute to remembering more and forgetting less can help us strengthen our ability to remember details quicker and perhaps greatly enrich our lives. There are several elements that contribute to forgetting. Forgetting is the term we use to discuss the loss of details about a particular event or memory that we once knew. It assumes that the information was once learned and stored in the brain but is now somehow irretrievable. At least five major theories have been explored to explain this event, all of which suggest what factors might be involved in the process. The decay theory suggests that forgetting occurs over time as unused information in the brain is simply lost because of its lack of importance in the face of other information (Frank, 2010). Information stored in the brain can also be distorted as a result of improper storage of information, allowing important details to be lost, or even through false memory in which wrong information has been stored. However, even memories that are retained correctly can be warped and shaped by the events that have occurred during the retention interval, another factor that contributes t o forgetting. Interference refers to what happens â€Å"before, during, or after learning or memorizing. Activities done before a task may confuse the retention process or what psychologists call as proactive inhibition. The more

The individual in western liberal theories of law is vacuous, circular Essay

The individual in western liberal theories of law is vacuous, circular and inconsistent. It could not be anything else because humans only ever exist in specif - Essay Example And, it seems apparent that women and children are the principal victims of such processes and lack equal bargaining power. However, in such an unequal balance of power relations and structures of authority, a universal system of just standards and values seems most urgent in order to have a systematic way to regulate and judge moral and political processes. In other word, define systematically, a rigorous definition and perception of right. Basically, individual rights is a legal term referring to what one is allowed to do and what can be done to an Individual. Police states are generally considered to be oppressive because they offer their citizens few Individual rights. In the following, we will discus the claim that â€Å"The individual in western liberal theories of law is vacuous, circular and inconsistent. It could not be anything else because humans only ever exist in specific sociohistorical, linguistic and ideological contexts† through Feminist and Marxist legal theories. Indeed, it seems important to give in first a short overview on the context in which those theories are involved regarding the general concept of liberalism and individual and/or human right. Liberalism can be understood as (i) a political tradition (ii) a political philosophy and (iii) a general philosophical theory, encompassing a theory of value, a conception of the person and a moral theory as well as a political philosophy. Liberalism is generally viewed as a tradition that has been born out of many ideas of several thinkers and of several social situations, but it is mostly characterized as part of the western tradition. It can be seen also as a reaction to and attempt to reverse oppression which restricts people’s freedoms. Regarding the liberalism, Humans are basically unencumbered selves with the ability to think rationally and make choices about their â€Å"own† beliefs about the good life. Within this tradition, the self is viewed as a predominantly atomistic and

The Grapes of The wrath Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The Grapes of The wrath - Essay Example He is in his late twenties and is highly respected by his family. The story starts off with Tom being released from the prison. He was imprisoned for four years for killing a man in a fight. "Homicide," he said quickly. "That's a big word—means I killed a guy. Seven years. I'm sprung in four for keepin' my nose clean" (Steinbeck 13). This shows that he obviously has certain violent tendencies. He cannot keep his temper in check, can lose his senses at it being crossed. He also seems to be quite powerful physically. The amount of time spend in jail has, of course, changed his personality but he cannot possibly turn a new leave completely and as it is shown later, these former traits come out at different parts of his journey. Tom is also quite blunt; he does not seem to be embarrassed about people guessing about him having a criminal record. He seems to be proud of himself as a person and very sure of himself. He is also determined and wills things to go his way. He does not st rike to be as an educated person and, in fact, he is not. He cannot read or write though he asserts that he could if he wanted to. Tom is sly enough and manages to convince a driver to drop him off near his home, easily keeping up with the conversation. There he comes across a preacher called Jim Casy. They get reacquainted, building a new friendship. Casy is no longer the believer of the things as he was earlier. Later in the story, Casy is shown to be a great influence on Tom with certain repercussions attached to it. The two get closer and Casy makes Tom realise what unfairness and prejudice people are suffering through. "Well, you and me got sense. Them goddamn Okies got no sense and no feeling. They ain't human. A human being wouldn't live like they do. A human being couldn't stand it to be so dirty and miserable. They ain't a hell of a lot better than gorillas" (Steinbeck 221). On one of such arguments with the police, Casy turns violent and is arrested. When he is released, T om goes back to him. Casy is shot dead by a policeman in front of Tom. To avenge the death of a friend, Tom shows his loyalty by killing an officer. Here, the murderer reemerges. On the way to his home, Tom picks up a stray turtle. "An old turtle," he said. "Picked him up on the road. An old bulldozer. Thought I'd take 'im to my little brother. Kids like turtles" (Steinbeck 21). This shows that despite the tough personality he is intent on showing to others, though he has a volatile temperament, he still is in touch with his human side. He has enough affection for his siblings to want to take something for him to make him happy. In the different areas of the text, Tom is shown as fondly remembering his family. He obviously loves them quite a bit. At reaching the house, Tom is informed by Muley Graves the neighbor that his family have left and gone to Uncle John’s, planning to pack up and migrate to California in search of jobs. He finds them, time and time again shows his fon dness for his family. On their road trip to California, his grandparents pass away. Life is not easy in the new city until Noah, the oldest Joad child, gives in and leaves his family. Tom now officially becomes the head after his father. He assumes the responsibilities and is respected by them. It is during these times that Tom starts to look at the conditions in the long run, decides to do something for the others and not just himself or his family. "I climb fences when I got fences to climb," said Tom. Casy

Business Plan Outline Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Business Plan - Outline Example †¢ Research market for online health guidance services in terms of industry size and competitors (Thomas, 2003). †¢ Development of online platform where the users can register and retrieve information. †¢ Building functioning network with partners such as gym trainers, health care consultants and physicians. †¢ Small scale operation and pilot study for assessing the response of customers. †¢ Basic report on online business market. †¢ Online platform and registration tracking system created. †¢ Pilot study in place and result evaluated. †¢ Revenue and costs/cash flow model finalised. †¢ Marketing activities finalized. †¢ Completion of entire business plan. †¢ Resources available to conduct the research †¢ Identification of Gaps is possible. †¢ Stakeholders identifies the value of an online health platform †¢ Team members works together to make effectual use of resources and develops realistic costs †¢ Marketi ng skills can be developed through proper research. †¢ No external constraints.

Henry inquiry into taxation and the report recommendation Essay

Henry inquiry into taxation and the report recommendation - Essay Example w, the ‘root and branch’ review into taxation, conducted by the government by its Treasury secretary, Ken Henry whose recommendations to the government would be decisive. The essay will inquire into the causes of Henry review into taxation, the major recommendation of the Henry report and government response to the super profits tax (RSPT). The purpose of the government for reviewing taxation on the financial organisations was to help in making Australia a regional financial centre by taxing managed funds and related services to ensure that conduit income will be tax free in Australia (Thompson, 2010). The major recommendation of the Henry report is to reduce the aggregate number of taxes collected by the government. Out of the 125 taxes 90% collection is realised from only 10 taxes, which has prompted to simplify and introduce the most effective form of taxation reform by raising those 10 taxes to nearly 10% each and erase rest of the 115 taxes (Thompson, 2010). The government response to the recommendation has been straight forward by releasing on May 2, 2010 ‘Stronger, Fairer Simpler’ tax plan. Regarding financial institutions among a number of other recommendations, the government response has been to be selective by not implementing all the recommendations. The Prime-Minister has stated in the press release that ‘some potential misinterpretations of the recommendations...it will not implement at any stage’ (Thompson, 2010). The government response on the super profit tax (RSPT) has been to introduce 40% rate from 1 July 2012 with the RSPT to be derived from company taking the tax rate effectively to 56.8%. It is still not the final outcome as the government has granted one more year to reconsider and hold discussions before implementing the taxes so that there remains no doubt over some crucial details and content of the RSPT (Thompson, 2010). Papandrea has discussed just one aspect of the issue between financial advisors and their clients,

Measuring the acceleration due to gravity in the lab Essay Example for Free

Measuring the acceleration due to gravity in the lab Essay The distance between the ceiling and the floor (h) was measured. A rubber was then dropped from the ceiling and the time taken for it to hit the ground was recorded. Results Attempt Time Taken (sec) 1 0. 47 2 0. 45 3 0. 71 4 0. 55 5 0. 5 6 0. 71 7 0. 4 8 0. 46 9 0. 58 10 0. 56 Average Time = Sum of all times Number of Times = (0. 47+0. 45+0. 71+0. 55+0. 5+0. 71+0. 4+0. 46+0. 58+0. 56) 10 = 5. 85 10 = 0. 59 sec (to 2 dp) H = height of the drop T = time taken Acceleration due to gravity = 2H T2 =2(2. 59) 0. 592 = 5. 18 0. 3481 = 14. 88 m/s2 (to 2 dp) Evaluation The results circled in the table are anomalous. There was a wide range of results, from 0. 4 to 0. 71. This spread of results indicates that the data may be inaccurate. Although the experiment was repeated nine times, different results were found at nearly every attempt. This could be due to the timing methods used. A stop clock held by a person was used to measure the time the rubber took to hit the ground. As a humans reaction times are not perfect, the button could have been pressed long after the rubber had touched the ground. Also, the timekeeper could have pressed the button too early; at the time he expected the rubber to fall in order to try and get a more accurate time. As the area used was not a vacuum, air resistance would have affected the results. The shape of the rubber dropped was a pyramid, so air resistance would be different dependant on the side upon which it was dropped. These reasons explain why some of the results were anomalous. I do not believe that the procedure was accurate enough to measure the acceleration due to gravity in the lab. The timing apparatus was too imprecise and the air resistance due to the lack of a vacuum meant that the data was not as exact as was needed. A more suitable set of timing equipment would have been to replace the stop clock with a light-gate and data-logger. A light gate would be positioned at the top of the drop, with one at the bottom. The computer would then calculate the time taken much more accurately. The air resistance could not be helped, as a vacuum would be highly impractical and unnecessary for our purposes. However, if it were possible, the experiment should have been performed in a complete vacuum. If a perfectly spherical object were used then the air resistance wouldnt be different no matter how it was dropped. The experiment should be repeated in exactly the same fashion as before, but with the changes outlined above implemented. This would give more accurate results. It should then be repeated in the same way as this, but with a denser object of the same dimensions. This would show that the acceleration was due to gravity and not the mass of the object. One more experiment should be undertaken with the same stipulations but an increased dropping height. This would show that the acceleration is the same no matter how high the object is dropped from.

Understand Different Approaches To Management And Leadership Commerce Essay

Understand Different Approaches To Management And Leadership Commerce Essay steve Ballmer, Microsoft.   Without a doubt, Mr. Ballmer is the worst CEO of a large publicly traded American company today.   Not only has he singlehandedly steered Microsoft out of some of the fastest growing and most lucrative tech markets (mobile music, handsets and tablets) but in the process he has sacrificed the growth and profits of not only his company but ecosystem companies such as Dell, Hewlett Packard and even Nokia.   The reach of his bad leadership has extended far beyond Microsoft when it comes to destroying shareholder value and jobs. Microsoft peaked at $60/share in 2000, just as Mr. Ballmer took the reins.   By 2002 it had fallen into the $20s, and has only rarely made it back to its current low $30s value.   And no wonder, since execution of new rollouts were constantly delayed, and ended up with products so lacking in any enhanced value that they left customers scrambling to find ways to avoid upgrades.   By Mr. Ballmers own admission Vista had over 200 man-years too much cost, and its launch, years late, met users avoiding upgrades.   Windows 7 and Office 2010 did nothing to excite tech users, in corporations or at home, as Apple took the leadership position in personal technology. So today Microsoft, after dumping Zune, dumping its tablet, dumping Windows CE and other mobile products, is still the same company Mr. Ballmer took control over a decade ago.   Microsoft is   PC company, nothing more, as demand for PCs shifts to mobile.   Years late to market, he has bet the company on Windows 8 as well as the future of Dell, HP, Nokia and others.   An insane bet for any CEO and one that would have been avoided entirely had the Microsoft Board replaced Mr. Ballmer years ago with a CEO that understands the fast pace of technology shifts and would have kept Microsoft current with market trends. Although hes #19 on Forbes list of billionaires, Mr. Ballmer should not be allowed to take such incredible risks with investor money and employee jobs.   Best he be retired to enjoy his fortune rather than deprive investors and employees of building theirs. There were a lot of notable CEO departures in 2012.   Research in Motion, Best Buy and American Airlines are just three examples.   But the 5 CEOs in this column are well on the way to leading their companies into the kind of problems those 3 have already discovered.   Hopefully the Boards will start to pay closer attention, and take action before things worsen. Some say that Steve Sinofsky, credited with bringing order to the sometimes-chaotic software development process at Microsoft partly by cutting layers of management, should be the man to replace Steve Ballmer. Meetings with Sinofsky can be tough, colleagues say, but he doesnt swear like Gates or scream like Ballmer. Sinofsky has blogged at length about his management ideas, and even taught a management class at Harvard Business School. Some of his best blogs were used as the basis for a book called One Strategy: Organization, Planning, and Decision Making, published by Wiley in 2010, which he co-authored with a Harvard academic. Sinofsky writes in his blog about cutting the number of managers between him and the lowest rung of the Windows unit to three or four from seven previously. This streamlining, along with rigorous planning, has become his signature at Microsoft, but has ruffled some feathers at the company because it has reduced the number of general manager positions, where people got to use a wide variety of skills, and focused instead on the core functions of making software: developing, testing and managing specific programs. But few dispute the results. For sure it flattens the organization, it definitely eliminates fiefdoms, said the former Windows executive. Bill Gates had the most amazing mind Ive ever encountered. You could show him a PowerPoint slide and he would ask why it was different from the one you showed him three years ago, said another former Microsoft executive. Steve Ballmer is the most intuitively mathematical person Ive ever worked with. Steve (Sinofsky) is neither of those things. Sources: http://www.forbes.com/sites/adamhartung/2012/05/12/oops-5-ceos-that-should-have-already-been-fired-cisco-ge-walmart-sears-microsoft/3/ http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46556568/ns/technology_and_science-tech_and_gadgets/t/microsofts-next-steve-windows-boss-faces-biggest-test/#.UAVLf_Wqnm4 Role An executive in the committee tasked to adviseMicrosoft CEO Steve Ballmer has just assigned you to conduct an investigation into how a sample of organisations, including Microsoft and one other company of your choosing, approach the management of their activities. Your analysis will extend into an examination of organisation structure and culture, as well as management style. Tasks: Using the facts of the company presented in the case above and that of another company of your choosing, compare and contrast different organisational structures and cultures (1.1) Explain how the relationship between an organisations structure and culture can impact on the performance of the business (1.2) Discuss the factors which influence individual behaviour at work (1.3) Compare the effectiveness of different leadership styles in different organisations (2.1) Explain how organisational theory is the foundation for the practice of management (2.2) Evaluate the different approaches to management used by different organisation (2.3) GRADING Pass is achieved by meeting all the requirements defined in the assessment criteria. Merit Identify and apply strategies to find appropriate solutions (M1) Characteristics / Possible Evidence Use of comparative chart that is sufficiently detailed to show that an effective approach to study and research has been applied to both organizations. Select and apply appropriate methods/techniques (M2) Characteristics / Possible Evidence Appropriate methods have been applied in organizational structure, culture and approaches to management related to given organizations as well as sources are justified. Distinction Use critical reflection to evaluate own work and justify valid conclusions (D1) Characteristics / Possible Evidence creativity has been used to generate and justify valid comments on approaches to management and styles of leadership. Take responsibility for managing and organizing activities (D2) Characteristics / Possible Evidence independence demonstrated and substantial activities have been planned, managed, and organised related to the practice of management and leadership. A REPORT ON MICROSOFT AND FEDEXS ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURES AND CULTURES Prepared for: Mr. John Andre (Lecturer) Organizations and Behavior Banking Academy, Hanoi BTEC HND in Business (Finance) Prepared by: TRAN MAI TRANG AMY Registration No.: ITP F05-229 (F05A) Submit Day: 21st November, 2012 Table of Contents INTRODUCTION The assignment is about six outcomes of Organizations and Behavior subject. The scenario company is Microsoft, founded in 1975, which is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential (Microsoft, n.d.).The other company to compare with Microsoft is Federal Express Corporation (FedEx Express), the largest company in providing a portfolio of transportation, e-commerce and business services under the FedEx brand. FedEx Express is an express transportation company, offering time-certain delivery within one to three business days and serving markets. FedEx Ground Package System, Inc. (FedEx Ground) is a provider of small-package ground delivery service. FedEx Freight Inc (FedEx Freight) is a provider of less-than-truckload (LTL) freight services. FedEx Corporate Services, Inc. (FedEx Services) provides the Companys other companies with sales, marketing, information technology, communications and back-office support (Fe dEx, n.d.). This assignment is going to explain and compare the organizational structures, cultures, leadership styles and performance of these two companies to find out about the organizational theories that underpin the practice of management. 1.1 Compare and contrast different organizational structures and culture 1.1.1 Microsofts structure and culture Microsofts Organizational Chart (The Official Board, 2012) According to the chart above, Microsoft has a flat structure. We can see that Microsoft has five product groups are Windows Live Windows Group, Server Software, Online Services, Microsoft Business and Entertainment and Devices. Each product group, which focuses on a specific line of goods and services, has one executive reports directly to the CEO. Each group has its own RD, sales, and customer service staff (Daft, 2009). This structure allows larger spans of control. Microsoft also has a matrix structure which works alongside the flat structure. The  matrix structure is a structure where project teams are made up of workers with various specialisms from different functions of a business (BPP, 2004). The legal structure of Microsoft is Limited Liability Company because the company went public on March 13, 1986 (Time, n.d.). Microsoft has a task culture because it is a huge company with 94,420 employees around the world, just 56,934 in USA only (Microsoft, n.d.). It is impossible to manage a firm of that huge amount of workers with a person culture or a power culture. A two-time award-winning journalist Kurt Eichenwald described Microsofts work culture as the cannibalistic culture; a management system known as stack-ranking a program that forces every unit to declare a certain percentage of employees as top performers, good performers, average, and poor effectively crippled Microsofts ability to innovate, leading employees to compete with each other rather than competing with other companies (Vanity Fair, 2012). 1.1.2 FedExs structure and culture FedExs Organizational Chart (The Official Board, 2012) FedEx Corporation FedEx, introduced express delivery to the world in 1973, and is the worlds top express delivery service. The organizational structure of FedEx is flat. According to Organizational Behavior A Strategic Approach, FedEx Corporation should change their structure, because it adopted a multi-divisional structure (Hitt, Miller Colella, 2005). The corporation gives significant authorities to the subsidiaries. Operating independently, each subsidiary manages its own specialized network of services. FedEx employed over 280,000 employees worldwide (FedEx, n.d.), so obviously they have a task culture. The culture of FedEx is also market driven culture. All they care about is the customers; their culture center on the customer. They possess a strong customer-service organizational culture (McNeal, 2011). In short, both Microsoft and FedEx Corp. have a new style of management which is flat structure and task culture. However, FedEx is flatter than Microsoft in organizational structure. To look deeper, we can see differences in their culture as one cares about money, the other one cares about the customer. 1.2 Explain how the relationship between an organizations structure and culture can impact on the performance of the business 1.2.1 Microsoft Microsoft has a flat organizational structure and a task culture which is consider the new method of management. It is believed to be the right way to manage a company. This seems to works well when Microsofts 2011 revenue reached $69 billion (Microsoft, 2011). They make a very huge amount of money. The flat structure creates a lower hierarchy of power in Microsoft. It also allows CEOs direct involvement to make decision process quicker and less time consuming. Microsoft was topped ranking of the worlds 25 best multinational workplaces released by The Great Place to Work Institute (Industry Week, 2011). It is noticeable that employees satisfy their working environment in Microsoft. However, the stack ranking program can kill Microsofts creativity. The destructive management technique can be seen the key problem in Microsoft its management system (Frederick Allen, 2012). It can lead to risk of losing big amount of money. 1.2.2 FedEx FedEx increased revenue 12% in the February-to-May quarter and 13% in the fiscal year that ended May 31, reporting total annual revenue of $39.3 billion (William Cassidy, 2011). It is a large amount of money. The culture of FedEx influences its employees to work more effectively. It encourages them not only work hard but also work smart. FedExs managers also make right decisions, catching up with market trends and changing business needs. 1.3 Discuss the factors which influence individual behaviour at work The factors which influence individual behavior at work are: personality, perception, attitude, ability and aptitude, conflict, stress, and change. For the people of Microsoft, their personality is highly competitive. As discussed above, it is obviously that Microsoft has the culture of competition so the people who are working in a competitive culture will become competitive. If they are not yet competitive, the culture will itself make them competitive. Because they are competitive, they know how to get the money from customers and they will do it so well. Microsoft had always been characterized by a culture that was extremely competitive. When the company introduced new products then rocketing sales, the people responsible for the products did not meet to celebrate. Instead, they found what could have been done better instantly. Therefore, the company had always been a leading competitor, and Gates often sent out memos to remind employees about the competitive threats ahead. Gates truly drove a culture of innovation and vision (Microsoft People Problems, 2003). Thus, people were promoted to strive for the highest standards. However, when Gates left, Steve Ballmer has been a new CEO. Steve has been driving a culture of production rather than innovation (Kurt Eichenwald, 2012). For example, two ex-employees reviewd on Glassdor (Glassdoor is a website that collects information about workplaces and companies) that stack ranking made Microsoft be a less desirable place to work and higher stress workplace (Julie Bort, 2012). One more thing is that, Microsoft has discrimination between black and white workers of the corporation. In 2001, a group of current and former employees accused Microsoft of racism. The seven African American people required $5 billion in compensation, claiming they were paid less than their fellow employees and repeatedly passed over for promotions given to less-qualified white workers. The workers also claimed to have been subjected to racial harassment and retaliation when they complained. According to Willie Gary, who is a lawyer, pointed to 1999, government statistics that showed only 2.6% of Microsofts 21,429 employees, and only 1.6% of the companys 5,155 managers, were black (BBC, 2001). 2.1 Compare the effectiveness of different leadership style in different organizations 2.1.1 Microsoft Bill Gatess leadership styles are participative style and authoritative style. The reason is that, Gates involved his subordinates in decision making so they were good at delegating. He is a flexible person and he recognized his role was to be visionary of the company. Whenever needed, he brought professional managers for managing. Gates is a strong and energizing person. His enthusiasm, hard working nature and judgment skills reflect his personality. His motivating power and involving his friends to working with him became the success of Microsoft (Dip Kumar Dey,n.d.). Besides, Gates paid special attention to recruit and retain the best talent. He believed that the recruitment of talented software engineers was one of the most critical elements in the software industry. Gates looked for recruits who included the capacity to grasp new knowledge quickly and deep familiarity with programming structures. Despite a great number of potential recruits applied for jobs at Microsoft, Gates a ssumed that the best talent would never apply directly. Consequently, Microsofts HR managers had to hunt for the best talent and offer them a job. Giving autonomy to his managers, Gates delegated authorities to managers to run their independent departments. Gates involved a little in autocratic style, because control is basic to his nature and his management practice. He had an obsession with detail and with checking up. He tried to monopolize the World Wide Web software market and had legal problems with the department of justice. Also he did not like complaints (Dhananjay Kumar, n.d.). Microsoft used these styles of leadership very well as the company has great performance with net income of $14.569 billion (2009). 2.1.2 FedEx FedEx has a complex leadership style. The leadership style is combined between affiliative style, participative style and democratic style. Because FedEx has a flat structure; the managers give their subordinates authorities so they are good at delegating. Also, to be able to give subordinates authorities, they must trust their workers. Workers at FedEx are smart people so they do not want to be told what and how to do things. FedEx Corp. under the guidance of CEO Fred Smith has been named the Top  Corporation of the Decade by Fortune magazine (Dumain, 2004). Smith  was determined to make employees an integral part of the decision-making  process, due to his belief that when people are placed first they will provide the highest possible service and profits will follow (FedEx, n.d.). Microsoft and FedEx have different leadership styles so they apply it differently to create different working environment for their workers. However, they both earn a huge amount of profit and manage their company so well. FedEx seems to have the right way to apply its leadership style on its employees than Microsoft. 2.2 Explain how organisational theory underpins the practice of management 2.2.1 Theory X and Y It can be easily seen that Microsoft and FedEx use the Y theory. Because both companies care about how their employees feel. Furthermore, workers at Microsoft and FedEx are smart people so they do not want to be told things. Workers at Microsoft and FedEx are very ambitious, passionate and committed to their work. Because the work load at Microsoft is very pressure but there are still many people wish to work at Microsoft. Because the salary they pay is high, $87,965 for normal employees and much higher for managers, engineers or directors. They all have a regular salary over $100,000 each person (Salary List, 2011). Theory Y is about trust. Both Microsoft and FedEx have flat structure; authorities are given through the chain. Therefore, they must trust the workers. It creates not only the trust of managers in workers, but also the trust of workers in managers. This theory helps to build a strong relationship among workers and managers and then it leads to a strong organization. It i s obviously that Microsoft and FedEx are both strong in structure, culture and financial. 2.2.2 Scientific management FedEx doesnt apply this theory in its management. Because based on the theory, the application of this approach was to break each job down into its smallest and simplest component parts or motions (BPP, 2004). Although the theory improves productivity, it creates de-humanity in the organization. Moreover, everyone at FedEx is smart and talented. Therefore, it is wastes to hire smart people to tell them just do the same job day by day. Scientific management doesnt work in an organization that needs innovation and ideas like FedEx. 2.2.3 Bureaucracy Under the dominated decade of CEO Steve Ballmer, Microsoft applied this theory in its management. For this reason, Microsoft was complained that toxic environment and bad managers for anyone who want to join the corporation. Current and former employees in Microsoft were affected seriously by bureaucracy and management of the company for years (Matt Rosoff, 2011). According an article, employees in Microsoft were more concerned with impressing bosses than creating things (Rebecca Greenfield, 2012). They have no incentive to innovate. Nothing has changed at all since the departure of former CEO Bill Gates. It seems to be Steve Ballmer applied an inefficient management system. All things have not worked out. 2.3 Evaluate the different approaches to management used by different organisations 2.3.1 Human relation approach Both Microsoft and FedEx use this management approach to manage their organization. As analyzed above, Microsoft cares about its employees in a wrong way. Steve Ballmer applied a management system which damage peoples creativity, making them to be bored with their work. Now the dominant tech company belongs to Apple. For FedEx, they care about their employees in a different way. They give employees passion and convenient facilities that allows workers to be more develop. Both Microsoft and FedEx know that how workers feel affects how well they work. However, this method is about what workers think, doesnt matter how the leader thinks about the workers. It is matter that the leader can create an image in the workers mind that they are what the leader wants them to believe they are. 2.3.2 The contingency approach It all depends is what we can define this theory. Managers of both Microsoft and FedEx have find out what is the suitable way to manage, not to find out what is the one right way to manage. This is considered the new management way. Microsoft and FedEx are the new organizations: everything is international, everything is new, everything is faster and everything is turbulent (BPP, 2004). This managing method fits these two organizations because organizations change all the time. This method worked very well for FedEx as the leader of FedEx lead the company through the economic crisis in 2008 to survive (The New York Times, 2012) In total, contingency approach is the correct choice for their management. CONCLUSION How an organization achieves its goals and become successful is the managers and leaders concern. Therefore, leaders and managers should build good relationship with their subordinates as well as good organizational structure, culture and good leadership style.

Wal-Mart China: Sustainable Operations Strategy

Wal-Mart China: Sustainable Operations Strategy 1. Explore through the literature the concept of (Business) sustainability and explain it briefly. Also using references on Operations Strategy describe what sustainability in operations strategy means. Traditional cost management models tend to only focus on production costs, whilst ignore products cost of design, development and customers using. In other words, the business concern visible costs and ignore intangible costs that means the destruction of the surrounding environment such as the cost of social responsibility during production the process. Thus, enterprises want to win the competition, they must change the traditional model of cost management and maintain the lowest cost in the life cycle of product. A broader perspective of product life cycle cost which includes social responsibility cost should be a part of business operations strategy or should be a part of business sustainability strategy. Business sustainability is a business approach have policies of environmental and human rights which means the business creates long-term shareholder value from no negative influence opportunities and managing risks on global or local society, environment, community and economy [3]. Smukowski [2] claimed that the concept of business sustainability is a prior plan of the long-term viability and optimizing resource needs, reducing environmental, energy or social impacts which will not damage the profitability of business. It can be summary from above that sustainable business means the enterprise consider not only financial factors, but also more comprehensive concern the impact of environmental and resource efficiency. 2. Discuss what Sustainability means to Wal-Mart, Wal-Mart China, and Wal-Mart Chinas current and potential customers. What would you see to be a balanced definition of sustainability for the business? Answer: (1) Wal-Mart In order to run business sustainability, Wal-mart combined value and service concepts of innovative operational strategies and set three sustainability objectives including more efficiency of vehicle fleet, reduce waste and energy saving. First of all, to combine value and service of its innovative operational strategies involve 14 SVNS made Wal-mart became the largest organic seller and the largest organic cotton purchaser. In addition, Wal-mart also through its integration of supply chain and ROHS compliance which including supplier or vendor selected and scored to achieve business sustainable aims. For instance, Wal-mart sold 110 million compact fluorescent lighting successful with its partner called GE. (2) Wal-Mart China In term of Wal-Mart China, its through 5 SVNS reach business sustainable. First of all, the strategy of sustainable store and operation can help Wal-Mart China reduce cost and decrease Wal-Mart Chinas footprint of operations. Secondly, to develop sustainable products such as food, electronic textiles and product packaging extend its business sustainability supply chain and compliance. Thirdly, to enhance efficiencies of its supply chain not only reduce cost but also footprint of whole chain. Fourthly, to make a good communication with its stakeholders is another critical issue of its business. Fifthly, Wal-Mart China also through share learned experiences with its supplier or vendor to make its sustainable supply chain more successful. Sixthly, Wal-Mart China employed T5 energy saving light bulb and double sides copy to decrease its energy waste of its business. Lastly, Wal-Mart China promotes the product which is an energy efficient bulb for its customers that is also an activity of business sustainability. (3) Wal-Mart Chinas current Wal-Mart Chinas sustainable logistics centers helped its reduce 31 tons of CO2 emission per year. For example, T5 light bulbs can save 20 to 30 percent energy per day in warehouse areas and resting places and to use solar energy and wind power generator can 7,300 kilowatt hours per year. In addition, Wal-mart encouraged its customers to use reusable shopping bags through some prizes including special express checkout line. Finally, Wal-Mart Chinas merchandizing group still continuing builds sustainability measure tools for supplier selection and some on going evaluation of purchase quantities which can enhance its suppliers efficiency of sustainability. Wal-Mart China also continuing creates innovative initiatives of sustainable and implements best practices for communicating to all of its stakeholders. (4) Potential customers If customers can choose Wal-marts sustainability products which not only improve the personal activity of environmental but also protect the Earth. Although the sustainability products price might higher than others, it still have some advantages such as reduce cost of electronic, long time for use and non pollution. According to the article, T5 energy saving light bulbs could save about 20 to 30 per cent energy which means its can also reduce the cost of electronic of 20 to 30 per cent. 3. Identify the distinguishing features of Wal-Mart Chinas distribution system and operations. Explain how it achieves relatively high availability with similar levels of stock to other companies. Answer: In order to provide high quality products for customers and the commitment of businesss operations strategy, Wal-Mart China combines their high employee productivity, latest technology, experienced co-transport sector, an efficient private truck fleet and distribution center operations which not only is an advantage of Wal-Mart Chinas inventory management but also increase efficiency of loading and delivery. According to the article, there are some advantages of Wal-Mart Chinas distribution center: (1) Sustainable logistics centers First of all, Wal-Mart Chinas distribution center uses T5 light bulbs which can save 20 to 30 percent energy per day in warehouse areas and resting places. Secondly, in order to reduce energy waste, Wal-Mart Chinas distribution center maintains control their air conditioning and heat recycling systems temperature. Thirdly, there are 25,550 kilowatt hours saving caused by ten solar energy water heaters which provide 1.7 tons hot water per day. Lastly, Wal-Mart Chinas distribution center use solar cells and wind power station to make up to 7,300 kilowatt power per year. As a result, each Wal-Mart Chinas distribution center also decreased CO2 by it. (2) Outsourced a standardizes trucking fleet Individual supplier ship was lower than expected fill rates. Wal-Mart China outsourced an efficient private trucking fleet which deliver products from DC to DC or from DC to SC. It not only helps Wal-Mart China achieves a well inventory management but also reduce out of stock rate. In addition, in order to make its trucking fleet teams more efficiency, new electronic technology is used in its logistics management [6]. First of all, Wal-Mart China through the electronic technique of satellite, GPS controls the state of transport. Secondly, Wal-Mart China also uses the electronic technique of GIS which provide digital electronic traffic map can suggest the best route of its delivery. Thus, it can be concluded from above that Wal-Mart become a world-class company is not accidental. Advanced electronic technique of Wal-Mart Chinas distribution system not only increase efficiency of its products delivery, but also decrease the situation of out of stock. (3) Centralized management of returning products Wal-Mart Chinas distribution system also has an advantage of centralized management products which has quality problems, slow sales or obsolescence. These products will also be returned to vendor by Wal-Mart Chinas distribution system. In summary, it is clear that Wal-Mart Chinas distribution system and operations can offer a stable inventory which is part of Wal-Mart Chinas safety stock. By way of replenishment products intensively from distribution center, it not only reduces time of out stock but also increase the circulating of goods. In addition, as Wal-Mart China has a very complete and standard systems or process of distribution such as outsourced a standardizes trucking fleet, new electronic technology and centralized management which also let Wal-Mart China become a highly competitive advantage of Chinas retailer industry. 4. How sustainability should be incorporated in the process of selection and evaluation of suppliers/vendors? Answer: In order to achieve business sustainability successful, both enterprise and its suppliers or vendors have responsible of their roles. First of all, enterprise should offer the requests of sustainability, and then try to find the suppliers or vendors who have production techniques of sustainability. Furthermore, to have a good communication and collaboration including share learned experiences with its suppliers or vendor is a critical part of objectives of sustainability. According to the article [4], in order to achieve ROHS compliance, Wal-Mart adopt ROHS regulation standard in some of its operations including supplier selection and product selection. For the first example, P G which is a large international supplier has a long standing working relationship with Wal-Mart in other parts of world including the U.S.A. It has a sustainability program concept called ensuring a better quality of life for everyone, now and for generations to come throughout its worldwide operations [4]. As can be seen from it, the sustainability development program for P G not only is a slogan, but also is a commitment for its customers. For the second example, Blue moon which is a Chinese national chemical products company supply some soap and cleaner in china. Blue moon also has a sustainable program of its products called Protecting the environment is protecting all of us. Our products deliver not only cleanliness but also protection to our customers [4]. In order to achieve its object of sustainable, biodegradable materials which meet a green environmental requirements used in Blue moons products. For the third example, Wal-mart China also created a initiative sustainable objective which called P2E2 program allowed suppliers to quickly and inexpensively equip their factories with cost saving equipment [4]. In order to continuing meet sustainable objectives, Wal-mart builds a sustainability evaluation tools which used in its supplier selection and product or material purchase. For instance, Wal-mart china had implemented a packaging score to measure and calculates efficiency and objective. In the end, this program also a 13 per cent cost reduction in Wal-marts packaging. It can be summary, if the enterprise wants to achieve, to integrate whole supply chain members such as suppliers and vendors are very important. In other words, to develop sustainable supply chain strategy is the only approach to make business sustainability which not only creates a perfect brand image for customers but also protects the Earth. 5. How sustainability can be improved in Wal-Marts distribution and retail operations. Answer: According to the article, Dong [4] asserted that sustainability will be differentiating factor between a good enterprise and a great one. (1) Energy efficient lighting Wal-mart used T5 energy saving light bulbs which could save about 20 to 30 per cent energy in its warehouse or space of rest. (2) Less waste of air conditioning and heat recycling system Wal-mart maintained the temperatures of its air conditioning and heat recycling system which also is an approach of energy saving. (3) Alternative energy Wal-mart used ten solar energy water heaters which can save up to 25,550 kilowatt hours each year to produce hot water. Wal-mart also used solar cells and wind power generators which can provide 7,300 kilowatt hours per year. These alternative energy not only save Wal-mart cost of electronic but also reduce 31 tons of CO2 emissions every year. (4) Outsourced third party logistics Outsourcing a standardized trucking fleet not only improve Wal-marts effective of shipments but also reduce the risk of goods traveling. (5) Reusable shopping bags Wal-mart encouraged its customers to use reusable shopping bags through some prizes including special express checkout line. (6) Offer two energy efficient bulbs Wal-mart China offer two energy efficient bulbs for the price of one and work with local suppliers in its region. After this, Wal-mart China accepted responsibility and the associated cost of the safe disposal of fluids. (7) Batteries placed In order to solve batteries placed problems, Wal-mart provided a recycle place for customer to deal with it. (8) Packaging reduction Wal-mart china had implemented a packaging score to measure and calculates efficiency and objective in its apple suppliers. In the end, this program also a 13 per cent cost reduction in Wal-marts packaging. As can be seen above, generally speaking, business sustainability concept including logistics, marketing and supply chain has many benefit of the enterprise. Refer to the article; the authors [4] believe that more economical situation caused by more sustainable options. In other words, it not only reduce cost of operations but also make more loyal in long run of its customers.

Biomes of the World Essay -- The Worlds Biomes

A biome, also known as life zones, consists of all plants, animals, and other organisms, as well the physical environment in a particular area. A biome is characterized by its’ plant life, climate, and location. The climate and physical features determine the boundaries of a biome. A biome is made up of many different ecosystems. The ecosystems tend to have the same pants and animals as neighboring biomes around the boundaries. The major biomes are the tundra, taiga, tropical rain forest, temperate forests, desert, grassland, savanna, chaparral, and marine. Each biome has it’s own characteristics such as the tundra. The tundra is a biome that is located in the Northern Hemisphere of the world. It circles the North Pole and reaches down to the taiga. The tundra has a very cold and harsh climate, especially in the winters. The average winter temperatures is about -30Â °F and average summer temperatures is roughly 37-54Â °F. The yearly amount of precipitation, which includes melting snow, averages to about 6 to 10 inches. With these conditions it makes for a short growing season of about 50-60 days. In some parts it can be up to 180 days. This is only found in the more southern part of the tundra. Another aspect of the tundra includes the vegetation that is found there and the adaptations that have been made. The tundra is known for its’ cold temperatures, but also its’ limited plant species. The growth of the vegetation is primarily low to the ground and the biomass of plants is concentrated in the roots. Here the plants reproduce more likely by division and building than by flower pollination. Some of that growthforms that you will find in the tundra include tussock, mats or cushion plants, rosettes, and dwarf shru... ...enthic, coral reef, and estuaries. Some freshwater habitats include marches, lakes, rivers, ponds, wetlands, and bogs. All the biomes of the world have climates, plants, and animals all their own. Traveling through each zone you can pick out the similar adaptations of each plant and animal. Biomes are unique to their location, each one of great importance to the world. Bibliography 1. Biomes, http://ths.sps.lane.edu/biomes 2. Aquatic Biomes, http://redbaron.bishops.ntc.nf.ca/wells/biomes/html/aquatic.htm 3. Biomes, SLW, October 1996, http://runet.edu/~swoodwar/CLASSES/GEOG235/biomes 4. Chaparral, http://www.csun.edu/csc24235/hairach.html 5. Northern Coniferous Forest, http://www.uwsp.edu/acaddept/geog/faculty/ritter/geog101/biomes_northern_forest.html 6. The World of Biology, 4th ed., Davis, Solomon, Berg; Saunders College Publishing, Ó1994.

Business Education Essay -- essays research papers

Argumentative Draft Formal Education Is the Key to Success   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The advancement of technology in the last decade has increased the demand for Americans to seek higher and formal education. No longer do we live in the age of manual labor, family owned & operated conveniences, but rather a computerized age. Thirty-years ago job seekers could find stable and secure work that would ensure stability and a prosperous future. Those white collar jobs could be obtained and secured by individuals lacking a formal and/or higher education. Today, blue collar jobs like fast food restaurants, warehouse labor, and/or janitorial services prefer and sometimes require some form of education. Employers have become more openly concerned about their employees ability to represent their companies. (Formal education is the key to empowerment, but it is not necessary in order to become successful in today’s society.)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Education has become a large importance and often the determining factor for competitive job seeker. More than half of Americans citizens seek some form of education at one time or another whether it be for job placement or advancement. Technology is always changing and requires employers to train and re-train its employees to keep then afloat. College students like myself have always been for warned that higher education is the key to ensure success in the career world and will be the only means of providing a competi...

Overcomes Hard Times in The Jilting of Granny Weatherall Essay

Granny Weatherall Overcomes Hard Times in The Jilting of Granny Weatherall In the short story, 'The Jilting of Granny Weatherall,' an older woman is having flashbacks of her life, while she is slowly dying. Throughout her life, this woman, Granny Weatherall, has had many life altering experiences. With these experiences, she has become the strong woman that we have become to know. With a name like 'Weatherall,' one can only imagine what she has been though. Forty years earlier, Granny Weatherall became ill from not only milk leg but also double pneumonia, which she recuperated from. Granny Weatherall also had a tough time when her youngest and most favorable child died. Her daughter, Hapsy, passed away while giving birth to her child. Another tough time in Granny Weatherall's life was when her first love, George, left her on her wedding day. After getting married, having kids, and keeping the farm on a stable basis, Granny?s husband, John, passed away. With him gone Granny Weatherall had to raise their kids by herself, and she also had to keep the farm going, such a...

Reflection Worksheet Essay

Please use the information from your interview to complete this worksheet. Submit this worksheet in the Module 2: Assignment Dropbox no later than Day 7 of Module 2. Include vocabulary and concepts from your reading and course site to support and illustrate your own insights. In preparation for the papers you’ll write later in this course, take the time to organize your thoughts for each question and write clearly. 1. Summarize how you were rated on the 4 components of Interpersonal Effectiveness. Where are you doing well? Where do you need some practice? (Simply report your findings – do not explain your position). For the 4 components of Interpersonal Effectiveness, I was rated decently. In Emotional Intelligence, the only thing that I need to improve on is staying calm when speaking; I have a tendency to raise my voice and be overly intense. For Mindfulness, I was rated highly; I do posses the ability to maintain my full attention to the person and allow the person to speak before I do. Ethics was also rated highly, being able to keep in mind the situations of others. Competence was high, as well, I’m able to put aside my own differences in order to better understand others. 2. Discuss the differences and similarities between your interview results and your own self-assessment in Module 1: Discussion 2. How are people’s perceptions of your interpersonal effectiveness in alignment (or not) with your own? What surprised you? Honestly, I was not surprised by the results of the interview and my own self-assessment. I knew coming into the interview that I needed to work on some things, specifically, Emotional Intelligence. I’ve always had a temper when talking with someone and they are either not listening to me or not understanding where I’m coming from. It does seem that when I’m talking to someone I don’t really know, my Emotional Intelligence is in check. I’m able to tone down how I respond or act in unfamiliar territory when it comes to others. 3. How easy or hard was it for you to stay open-minded and non-defensive? Why? What did you have to do to stay open-minded and non-defensive? It was somewhat easy for me to stay open-minded and non-defensive because I was talking with someone I’m comfortable with. One thing I’ve learned is when you are faced with talking to someone you don’t necessarily agree with, it’s easy to put yourself in their shoes. Not getting so caught up in my feelings and ideas help me to maintain a leveled head. I have to remind myself that everyone is entitled to their opinions and ideals and I don’t have to like them but I do need to respect them. Having talked with someone I know did make me keeping all of that in mind, a little easier to do. 4. Why do you think you are being perceived as you are? Consider the perception process as outlined in Chapter 2 (i.e. selection, organization, interpretation, negotiation). For example, did your partner notice or â€Å"select† different behaviors than you expected? Or, did he/she think or â€Å"interpret† your behavior in ways that were different from what you intended? I think why I’m being perceived the way I am is because of my body language. The moment I folded my arms my partner knew I was becoming defensive. When I place my hand under my chin to rest my head, my partner assumed I was bored which was not the case at that time, I genuinely wanted to just hold my hand under my chin. Some perceptions that my partner saw and explained how they were feeling about it weren’t all accurate. My partner pointed out things that I didn’t realize I was doing and took it as disrespect but some habits I have are just that – habits. 5. Summarize 2 key insights from this assignment. What do you know now about your behavior and interpersonal effectiveness that you didn’t know before? There really wasn’t any behaviors and interpersonal effectiveness that I didn’t know already. This assignment did make some behaviors stand out more than others, such as, Emotional Intelligence. I’ve known I have a problem with remaining calm and not â€Å"wear my emotions on my sleeve† when having a conversation with someone and I don’t agree with what they’re saying. This assignment definitely pulled that out in full force and made me realize how often I do it. If anything that was a behavior that I didn’t notice that I do quite often in conversation. 6. Identify 2 actions you can take (i.e. new behaviors you can practice) that will immediately help you improve your interpersonal effectiveness. Be specific. One action I can take that will improve my interpersonal effectiveness is becoming a more active listener. Instead of just â€Å"waiting to speak† I can be present in that moment of conversation with someone and attentively listen. A second action I could practice would be to keep in mind Emotional Intelligence. Making sure I refrain from â€Å"wearing my emotions on my sleeve† and not get too involved in how things are said as much as what is being said. Listening with an open and clear mind will help me improve how I interact with others.

Opportunities for Company Essay

Opportunities for Company Q to lead in the area of social responsibility Company Q’s attitude towards social responsibility appears to be nonexistent, possibly through ignorance or disconcert. Either way the lack of social responsibility affects their business and community’s perception of their business. It appears that the company management has never developed and ethics program that clearly defines the corporate culture including provisions for social responsibility. Profits, or at least a lack of losses appears to be a primary motivating factor for company Q’s management’s decisions. Company Q has been attempting to cut losses by closing stores that were losing money instead of finding innovative ways to increase revenues and profitability for the stores. Based on the known information, Company Q still has ample opportunity to build a socially responsible reputation within the community it serves and at the same time create profits for its shareholder s. Simple and cost-effective changes could be implemented in a relatively short amount of time and the benefits to the community, employees and the company itself could be realized within a reasonable amount of time. There are at least three ways that Company Q can make a positive affect within the community that it serves while increasing revenues and profitability for shareholders. First area of improvement: Take those previous customer requests for health conscience and organic products and turn them into reality within their stores. For many years, Company Q’s customers have been requesting health conscience and organic products sold at Company Q’s stores. The company’s efforts to provide this for its customers have been weak at best. The company’s management has the ethical duty to be positively reactive to its customers requests, so long as those requests are not illegal, immoral, irresponsible or unethical. Since requests are for products that benefit the health of customers, company Q needs to act to deliver those requested products in a manner that is consistent with its goals of profitability. In this case, the company has the ability to show social responsibility in bringing healthier products into its stores and have the added benefit that these items are high-margin, delivering profit opportunities to company shareholders. Because the items are high-margin, the costs of purchasing a reasonable supply and variety of items is relatively low as compared to lower margin items that are most  likely currently stocked in each store. The company even has an opportunity to reduce costs in the stores purchases by eliminating similar products that are lower in margin to the ones that they will be bringing in based on customer requests. Promotion of the social responsibility plan is important. With no additional cost in advertising, company Q can promote these new healthy products in its ad vertising. Doing so can bring back some of their lost business as well as bring in new customers to the stores. This situation is a win not only for Company Q but is also a win for customers and employees. The additional profits from higher-margin items will assist the company in creating wages that are appropriate for each position and opportunities for advancement in pay and position for its employees. This can help create an atmosphere that retains employees and reduces turnover, consequently, reducing the costs of obtaining and training new employees on a regular basis. Second area of improvement: Donations to local food banks, shelters and other charities Company Q experiences a direct loss of not only the potential profit from but the actual cost of day-old items that are thrown away. In doing so, the company experiences these costs with no benefit to the company. This method of handling the old items not only costs the company dollars in loss but also does not allow the company to reap the benefits of a socially responsible positive image to its customers and employees. Company Q’s management has taken the approach that by donating the day-old items it leaves the possibility for employees to steal from the company. A thorough plan of documentation for the donation process will help in ensuring that the donations go where they are intended and minimize risk of employee theft. One part of this plan would be to have the food bank pick up the donated items on a daily or weekly basis. As part of the donation process the food bank employee and the store employee would sign an inventory of the items picked up. This inventory tracking could be used by the stores as proof for prospective tax deductible donation on federal and/or state taxes. Any legal reductions in tax liability, improves profitability for the company. Company Q can benefit with a more socially responsible image to its customers and employees each time the food bank truck pulls up to the store and is being loaded with donated food. Food banks are not the only opportunity to show company philanthropy to the community. Making donations and collecting donations from the community for  homeless shelters and other worthy charitable organizations is yet another avenue to show the community that Company Q is active in social responsibility. Shelters and other charitable organizations are in need of items that the stores may not be able to sell to their customers for donation, but when customers and employees bring in donated items such as clothing, personal appliances and possibly furniture, these items could be collected at or near the store and be picked up by these charitable organizations. This gives the store an opportunity to receive business from those that are dropping off donations, by going in to the store and purchasing items that they may need for themselves and do it in one simple trip. These type of donation events can be listed in their existing advertising and give customers another reason to come by the store. Third area of improvement: Create opportunities for employees as well as customers to share in the charitable activities that promote social responsibility. As part of its change in being more socially responsible, Company Q could directly involve its customers by making donation bins available in stores for customers to purchase items and donate to the food bank. Advertising this in the store is good, but including it in their existing ad campaign could bring in customers that appreciate socially responsible businesses. Not only is this the sale of the items additional revenue for Company Q, but it allows customers to be directly involved in donation, which in turn creates even more goodwill for Company Q. In addition to customer involvement, employees can be directly involved in developing a socially responsible image of the company. Company Q could organize and promote employees assisting at food bank locations. These employees could go in for one day each month or each quarter and work within the food bank in one of many areas that the food bank needs physical labor for. Company Q could pay the employee’s their regular wages and be may able to take tax deductions for the wages paid to employees while assisting the food bank. This approach is another win for all parties involved. The food bank wins with donated labor, the employees win by being paid for the time worked at the food bank and Company Q wins by showing social responsibility in its community and gaining goodwill for itself in the process. In conclusion, Company Q can develop an ethics program and implement a plan for social responsibility that helps those within its community and increase its revenue and profits  in doing so.

Cultural Change

Organization Culture And Change Organizational culture – a popular but also a very complex concept – has been identified as an influential factor affecting the successes and failures of organizational change efforts. Organizational culture could be looked at as the pattern of shared valued, beliefs and assumptions considered being the appropriate way to think and act within an organization (Schneider, 1985).In other words, culture: the pattern of shared values, beliefs and assumptions considered to be the appropriate way to think and act within an organization. – Culture is shared – Culture helps members solve problems – Culture is taught to newcomers – Culture strongly influences behavior Generally, this shared culture is invisible to the employees and their interpretations are viewed as something unique to the individual—their personal opinions.People tend to surround themselves with others of like opinions and values, thus reinforci ng their common beliefs and expectations. Where does organization culture come from? It comes from the Organization founder, vision and mission statement, past practices, Top management attitude and behavior and through socialization – the process that helps employees adapt to the organization’s culture more quickly and effectively.People/ Employees of the organization learn culture through stories, narratives of significant events or actions of people that convey the spirit of the organization, rituals, repetitive sequences of activities that express and reinforce the values of the organization, material symbols, physical assets distinguishing the organization, language, acronyms and jargon of terms, phrases, and word meanings specific to an organization. Keeling (1981, p. 8), who offers that culture refers to an individual’s â€Å"theory of what his fellows know, believe and mean, his theory of the code being followed, the game being played, in the society in to which he was born†. In a similar framework, Geertz (1973) views culture as a symbolic system (i. e. , shared codes of meaning) that reflects understandings shared by social actors. These definitions all imply that culture affects ways members think, feel, and act. According to Henry Mintzberg, â€Å"Culture is the soul of the organization — the beliefs and values, and how they are manifested.I think of the structure as the skeleton, and as the flesh and blood. And culture is the soul that holds the thing together and gives it life force. † There fore, culture is the social glue that helps and holds an organization together by providing appropriate standards for what employees should say or do. People who have worked in different organizations agree that each organization is different from the other organization. Things are not done the same way in everywhere in the organization. Even businesses within the same industry can be quite different from each other.Th e difference is what management scholars call â€Å"organizational culture† or â€Å"corporate culture†. Therefore every organization has their own culture according to which they carry out their day-to-day activities and act and behave accordingly to it. Do Organizations have uniform culture? Schein (2009), Deal & Kennedy (2000), Kotter (1992) and many others state that organizations often have very differing cultures as well as subcultures. Dominant Culture: expresses the core values that are shared by a majority of the organization’s members.Subcultures: mini cultures within an organization, typically defined by department designations and geographical separation. Core Values: the primary or dominant values that are accepted throughout the organization. Strong Culture: a culture in which the core values are intensely held and widely shared. Organizational culture is therefore different from national culture or ethnic culture. The national culture in which the business is based can however have some influence on that business’s organizational culture. Smircich (1983) has analyzed different conceptions of organizational culture in relation to the anthropological schools.Organizational culture has been conceived either as a variable or as a root metaphor for conceptualizing organization. The studies can be divided into two areas; organizations have been regarded as cultures (‘is’ approach) or having a culture (‘has’ approach). It happens all too often. A company introduces changes with high expectations of improving performance. When the changes fail to take root and produce intended results, the unfulfilled hopes lead management to introduce other seemingly promising changes. These, too, ultimately fail.The sequence repeats—an unending cycle of high expectations followed by failure and, inevitably, frustration on the part of management and cynicism on the part of workers. There are several possible reasons for these failures. One key reason is that changes introduced fail to alter the fundamental psychology or ‘‘feel’’ of the organization to its members, it is this ‘‘feel’’ that directs and motivates employee efforts (Guzzo and Shea, 1992). Without changing this psychology, there can be no sustained change. The main point is: organizations have people in them; if the people do not change, there is no organizational change.Changes in hierarchy, technology, communication networks, and so forth are effective only to the degree that these structural changes are associated with changes in the psychology of employees. The primary mechanisms for both maintaining and changing an organization’s culture includes: 1. What managers pay attention to, measure and control? 2. The ways managers (particularly top management) react to critical incidents and organizational crises; 3. Managerial role modeling, teaching, and coaching; 4. T he criteria for allocating rewards and status; and . The criteria for recruitment, selection, promotion, and removal from the organization. Managers should expect to encounter difficulty in clearly understanding situations that involve change. Analyzing a change problem can become quite complex because of the large number of variables that must be considered since there’s no way to stop change from happening, there are several positive steps to make a change program successful, including opening channels of communication, developing a learning environment, and providing training.Even with open communication, careful planning, and extensive training, new program or idea may still meet with resistance. According to Schein, culture is the most difficult organizational attribute to change, outlasting organizational products, services, founders and leadership and all other physical attributes of the organization. His organizational model illuminates culture from the standpoint of the observer, described by three cognitive levels of organizational culture (Schein, 1992).Culture change may be necessary to reduce employee turnover, influence employee behavior, make improvements to the company, refocus the company objectives and/or rescale the organization, provide better customer service, and/or achieve specific company goals and results. Culture change is impacted by a number of elements, including the external environment and industry competitors, change in industry standards, technology changes, the size and nature of the workforce, and the organization’s history and management. 3-Step Model This is often cited as Lewin's key contribution to organizational change.However, it needs to be recognized that when he developed his 3-Step model Lewin was not thinking only of organizational issues. Nor did he intend it to be seen separately from the other three elements, which comprise his Planned approach to change (i. e. Field Theory, Group Dynamics and Acti on Research). Rather Lewin saw the four concepts as forming an integrated approach to analyzing, understanding and bringing about change at the group, organizational and societal levels. A successful change project, Lewin (1947a) argued, involved three steps: . Step 1: Unfreezing.Lewin believed that the stability of human behavior was based on a quasi-stationary equilibrium supported by a complex field of driving and restraining forces. He argued that the equilibrium need’s to be destabilized (unfrozen) before old behavior can be discarded (unlearnt) and new behavior successfully adopted. Given the type of issues that Lewin was addressing, as one would expect, he did not believe that change would be easy or that the same approach could be applied in all situations: The ‘unfreezing of the present level may involve quite different problems in different cases (Lewin, 1947a, p. 29). Enlarging on Lewin's ideas, (Schein (1996, p. 27) comments that the key to unfreezing Ã¢â‚¬Ë œ. .  . was to recognize that change, whether at the individual or group level, was a profound psychological dynamic process’. Schein (1996) identifies three processes necessary to achieve unfreezing: disconfirmation of the validity of the status quo, the induction of guilt or survival anxiety, and creating psychological safety. He argued that: ‘. .  . unless sufficient psychological safety is created, the disconfirming information will be denied or in other ways defended against, no survival anxiety will be felt. nd consequently, no change will take place’ (Schein, 1996, p. 61). In other words, those concerned have to feel safe from loss and humiliation before they can accept the new information and reject old behaviors. . Step 2: Moving. As Schein (1996, p. 62) notes, unfreezing is not an end in itself; it ‘. .  . creates motivation to learn but does not necessarily control or predict the direction’. This echoes Lewin's view that any attempt to predict or identify a specific outcome from Planned change is very difficult because of the complexity of the forces concerned.Instead, one should seek to take into account all the forces at work and identify and evaluate, on a trial and error basis, all the available options (Lewin, 1947a). However, as noted above, (Lewin (1947a) recognized that, without reinforcement, change could be short-lived. Step 3: Refreezing. This is the final step in the 3-Step model. Refreezing seeks to stabilize the group at a new quasi-stationary equilibrium in order to ensure that the new behaviors are relatively safe from regression.The main point about refreezing is that new behavior must be, to some degree, congruent with the rest of the behavior, personality and environment of the learner or it will simply lead to a new round of disconfirmation (Schein, 1996). This is why Lewin saw successful change as a group activity, because unless group norms and routines are also transformed, changes to ind ividual behavior will not be sustained. In organizational terms, refreezing often requires changes to organizational culture, norms, policies and practices (Cummings and Huse, 1989).It is more difficult to change the culture of an existing organization than to create a culture in a brand new organization. When an organizational culture is already established, people must unlearn the old values, assumptions, and behaviors before they can learn the new ones. The two most important elements for creating organizational cultural change are executive support and training. . Executive support: Executives in the organization must support the cultural change, and in ways beyond verbal support. They must show behavioral support for the cultural change. Executives must lead the change by changing their own behaviors.It is extremely important for executives to consistently support the change. Training: Culture change depends on behavior change. Members of the organization must clearly understan d what is expected of them, and must know how to actually do the new behaviors, once they have been defined. Training can be very useful in both communicating expectations and teaching new behaviors. Other components important in changing the culture of an organization are: Create value and belief statements: use employee focus groups, by department, to put the mission, vision, and values into words that state their impact on each employee's job.For one job, the employee stated: â€Å"I live the value of quality patient care by listening attentively whenever a patient speaks. † This exercise gives all employees a common understanding of the desired culture that actually reflects the actions they must commit to on their jobs. Practice effective communication: keeping all employees informed about the organizational culture change process ensures commitment and success. Telling employees what is expected of them is critical for effective organizational culture change.Review orga nizational structure: changing the physical structure of the company to align it with the desired organizational culture may be necessary. As an example, in a small company, four distinct business units competing for product, customers, and internal support resources, may not support the creation of an effective organizational culture. These units are unlikely to align to support the overall success of the business. Redesign organization approach to rewards and recognition: needs to change the reward system to encourage the behaviors vital to the desired organizational culture.Review all work systems such as employee promotions, pay practices, performance management, and employee selection to make sure they are aligned with the desired culture. Hofstede (1980) looked for global differences between over 100,000 of IBM's employees in 50 different countries and three regions of the world, in an attempt to find aspects of culture that might influence business behavior. He suggested abou t cultural differences existing in regions and nations, and the importance of international awareness and multiculturalism for the own cultural introspection.Cultural differences reflect differences in thinking and social action, and even in â€Å"mental programs†, a term Hofstede uses for predictable behavior. Hofstede relates culture to ethnic and regional groups, but also organizations, profession, family, to society and subcultural groups, national political systems and legislation, etc. Hofstede suggests of the need of changing â€Å"mental programs† with changing behavior first which will lead to value change and he suggests that however certain groups like Jews, Gypsies and Basques have maintained their identity through centuries without changing.Hofstede demonstrated that there are national and regional cultural groupings that affect the behavior of organizations and identified four dimensions of culture (later five in his study of national cultures: Power dist ance (Mauk Mulder, 1977) – Different societies find different solutions on social inequality. Although invisible, inside organizations power inequality of the â€Å"boss-subordinates relationships† is functional and according to Hofstede reflects the way inequality is addressed in the society. According to Mulder's Power Distance Reduction theory subordinates will try to reduce the power distance between themselves and their bosses and bosses will try to maintain or enlarge it†, but there is also a degree to which a society expects there to be differences in the levels of power. A high score suggests that there is an expectation that some individuals wield larger amounts of power than others. A low score reflects the view that all people should have equal rights. . Uncertainty avoidance is the coping with uncertainty about the future.Society copes with it with technology, law and religion (however different societies have different ways to addressing it), and acc ording to Hofstede organizations deal with it with technology, law and rituals or in two ways – rational and non-rational, where rituals being the non-rational. Hofstede listed as rituals the memos and reports, some parts of the accounting system, large part of the planning and control systems, and the nomination of experts. . Individualism vs. collectivism – disharmony of interests on personal and collective goals (Parsons and Shils, 1951).Hofstede brings that society's expectations of Individualism/ Collectivism will be reflected by the employee inside the organization. Collectivist societies will have more emotional dependence of members on their organizations, when in equilibrium – organization is expected to show responsibility on members. . Masculinity vs. femininity – reflect whether certain society is predominantly male or female in terms of cultural values, gender roles and power relations. . Long- Versus Short-Term Orientation which Hofstede des cribes as â€Å"The long-term orientation dimension can be interpreted as dealing with society’s search for virtue.Societies with a short-term orientation generally have a strong concern with establishing the absolute truth. They are normative in their thinking. They exhibit great respect for traditions, a relatively small propensity to save for the future, and a focus on achieving quick results. In societies with a long-term orientation, people believe that truth depends very much on situation, context and time. They show an ability to adapt traditions to changed conditions, a strong propensity to save and invest, thriftiness, and perseverance in achieving results. Conclusion: Employees form an overall subjective perception of the organization based on such factors as degree of risk tolerance, team emphasis, and support of people. This overall perception becomes, in effect, the organization’s culture or personality. These favorable or unfavorable perceptions then aff ect employee performance and satisfaction, with the impact being greater for stronger cultures. Just as people’s personalities tend to be stable over time, so too do strong cultures. This makes strong cultures difficult for managers to change.One of the more important managerial implications of organizational culture relates to selection decisions. Hiring individuals whose values don't align with those of the organization is not good. An employee's performance depends to a considerable degree on knowing what he should or should not do. Changing the organizational culture requires time, commitment, planning and proper execution – but it can be done. References: Henry Mintzberg Cultural and Environmental School of Thought culled www. mbaknol. com accessed Thursday11th April 2013. Geertz, C. (1973). The interpretation of culture. New York: Basic Books.Keeling, R. M. (1981). Theories of culture. In R. W. Casson (Ed. ), Language, culture and cognition (pp. 42- 66). New York : Macmillan. CHAPTER FORTY-ONE Creating a Climate and Culture for Sustainable Organizational Change Benjamin Schneider Arthur P. Brief Richard A. Guzzo (1996) Accessed on Thursday 11th April, 2013 http://media. johnwiley. com. au/product_ancillary/64/04702605/DOWNLOAD/chapter41. pdf B. Schneider, ‘‘Organizational Behavior,’’ Annual Review of Psychology, Vol. 36, pp. 573–611, 1985. R. A. Guzzo and G. P. Shea, ‘‘Group Performance and Intergroup Relations in Organizations,’’ in M.D. Dunnette and L. M. Hough (eds. ), Handbook of Industrial and Organizational Psychology, 2nd ed. , Vol. 3 (Palo Alto, CA: Consulting Psychologists Press, 1992). Smircich, L. (1983): Concepts of Culture and Organizational Analysis. Administrative Science Quarterly: 28(3). Pp. 339-358. . . Cummings, T. G. and Huse, E. F. (1989). Organization Development and Change, 4th edition. St Paul, MN: West Publishing. Cummings, T. G. and Worley, C. G. (1997). Org anization Development and Change, 6th edition. Cincinnati, OH: South-Western College Publishing. . Deal T. E. and Kennedy, A. A. 1982, 2000) Corporate Cultures: The Rites and Rituals of Corporate Life, Harmondsworth, Penguin Books, 1982; reissue Perseus Books, 2000 . . Hofstede, Geert (1980) Culture's Consequences: International Differences in Work Related Values, Beverly Hills, CA, Sage Publications, reprinted 1984 . . Kotter, John and Heskett, James L. (1992) Corporate Culture and Performance, Free Press; ISBN 0-02-918467-3 . . Lewin, K. (1946). ‘Action research and minority problems’. In Lewin, G. W. (Ed. ), Resolving Social Conflict. London: Harper & Row. . . Lewin, K. (1947a). ‘Frontiers in group dynamics’.In Cartwright, D. (Ed. ), Field Theory in Social Science. London: Social Science Paperbacks. . 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