Is Your Generation Wiser Than Your Grandparents Essay Example

Is Your Generation Wiser Than Your Grandparents Paper This question has been asked about numerous times in the past and yet with so many people pondering and contemplating about it, theres no definite answer to this question. It all comes down to how you look at it. From my point of view, I think that the current generation Is becoming more and more of a book smart. There Is a clear divide between a book smart and a street smart. Being book smarts means being smarter while street smarts means being wiser. The current generation may well be smarter than the previous generation as they are spoon-fed with all the knowledge and information accumulated through the ages starting from the first day they step into a school. These massive amounts of knowledge and Information which is the work of countless scholars, philosophers, researchers and other Intellectuals in the past are taught to our generation In schools and we, the current generation, are expected to digest all of it without complaint. This phenomenon certainly causes the current generation to be more of a book smart than a street smart. It Is an obvious fact that the current generation has unparalleled technological advancements and inventions which make life In the 21 SST century all the more convenient and comfortable. Something that our grandparents generation Is devoid of. But more importantly the technological luxury that we have today causes us to be more and more dependent on technology. Nowadays, no matter which age group you come from, you would most probably use search engines like Google, Yahoo, Billing or any other well known search engines to look for information you need on the internet. We will write a custom essay sample on Is Your Generation Wiser Than Your Grandparents specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Is Your Generation Wiser Than Your Grandparents specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Is Your Generation Wiser Than Your Grandparents specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer This Is clearly not the case back in the old days. Whenever our grandparents generation Is In need of Information, they would have to look for It themselves In other places, for example, the library. In this new millennium, we certainly have taken technology for granted. With all the information in the world at our fingertips, why would anyone in their right mind want to waste their time foraging through shelves of tomes Just to obtain the same information? And in taking technology for granted, we lack something which our grandparents have In abundance experience through exposure. Wisdom defined in the English Collins Dictionary is the ability to use your experience and knowledge in order to make sensible decisions or Judgments. Wisdom comes with experience and exposure. If we take all our technology for granted, we lose out a lot of exposure In life. For example, we Intuitively search the Internet Tort our International needs Instead AT actually slung ten Diary, tens we lose out on the experience of catching a bus and traveling to the library. Apart from that, we play online computer games for entertainment rather than actually going outside o play. Our grandparents have no such technology related forms of entertainment, so they have to resort to using their imagination to come up with fun games which has become traditional games such as board, dice, word, and agility games. There is also another piece of technology which is notorious for being time stealer which almost everyone invites into their houses with open arms and that piece of technology is the television. Personally Eve realized that mind-numbing television programmed can without you realizing it, take away hours upon hours of your recipes time. According to A. C. Nielsen Co. , in a 65-year life, a person will have spent 9 years glued to the tube. Thats nine years of your life wasted away! Though some may argue that education-oriented TV programmed do educate you, but that surely doesnt beat the experience you get from real life exposure. As a Chinese proverb goes, It is better to travel ten thousand miles than to read ten thousand books. I think that the current generation arent in anyway wiser that our grandparents generation. With all the conveniences in our lives through the advancements in science and technology, we need not to work as hard as our grandparents in the old days to get what we want. We are less independent that our grandparents. The lacking of this real-life exposure makes us imbalanced as we get smarter in school but not wiser in life. The way I see it, the modern civilization is shifting from being street smarts to being book smarts, from being wiser to being smarter. A very clear and apparent transformation which cant be avoided since entering into the information technology age of the 21st century.

The Seal Killers Essays - Seal Hunting, Pinniped, Free Essays

The Seal Killers Essays - Seal Hunting, Pinniped, Free Essays The Seal Killers This is the realistic fiction story of two people who catch two commercial fishermen killing off seals. In the beginning, a guy named Andy agrees to fly from Montana to California to work for his uncle at a gas station for boats. In exchange, his uncle would teach him all about boats. It was Andys dream to drive out in the sea. He goes out in a boat with his uncle and he teaches him some things. They noticed that seals were dyeing. Andys uncle said it might be some kind of disease. So then his Aunt gets sick so his uncle has to spend time with her and didnt really have time to teach Andy about boats. One day Andy was working at the boat gas stop and a girl his age comes to fill up. She didnt look at him though, she was looking at the dead seals. She said that she really hated that and the commercial fishermen were killing them for lots of reasons. One was they were eating the boat and scaring the fish away. Anyway, then she left and came back in the evening. She filled up and introduced herself. Her name was Molly and she knew a lot about boats. Andy said where he came from and how he wanted to learn about boats. So then they made a deal that she would teach him how to use the boats and in exchange they would try to track the seal killers. So then a huge boat comes to the gas station. It was owned by the Jackson brothers. They were the two meanest commercial fishermen in the town. Molly had a suspicion that they were the ones killing the scenes. Then they take Andys money and he tells his uncle. His uncle said those guys are crazy and that he shouldnt bother them. A few days later, Andy and Molly go where the Jackson brothers hang out and they follow them. They heard them saying something about killing seals tonight. So Andy and Molly go on Andys uncles boat and follow the Jackson brothers. They spotted them and started shooting them. Then Andy and Molly speeded up but the Jacksons crashed into rocks and got stuck. So then Andy and Molly called the police and the fishermen got arrested. Andy learned a lot about boats and his uncle was very proud of him.

Research Paper on Employment Law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Research Paper on Employment Law - Essay Example Firstly, my paper endeavours to explain the concept of dispute between employer and employee; and the reasons that cause them. Next, the intervention of Employment Law and the existence of the Employment Contract is explained, in the context of the rights and duties prescribed to the employers and employees. Further, moving on to Collective Dispute and Bargaining, a clear distinction is brought about between the concept and that of Individual Dispute and Bargaining, with reference to the Employment Law. The paper attempts to point out that the Employment Law has supported Individual Bargaining. A final conclusion supporting the fact that the Law succeeds in supporting the resolution of Individual Disputes and Bargaining to a greater degree, than that of Collective Bargaining. It is but natural that when numerous individuals come together with different sets of values and temperaments. More importantly, it occurs between employers and employees due to varied reasons, such as difference in viewpoints and opinions, expectations, terms and conditions; and the output generated. Here is an analyses of the varied causes that could lead to the employer-employee dispute and conflict. Poor Communication: One of the prime causes for the disputes that arise between employers and employees, is poor communication. When one or both the parties are not explicit or detailed and clear in their expression of a certain idea or expectation, it perhaps does not reach out to the other party. Thus, when a task or a certain order is not completed as desired due to miscommunication, it can cause disputes. For instance, when the company policy is not spelled out in detail and when the employee goes against the provisions, it can cause quite a ruckus within the company. This is also seen in the case of rather vague and ambiguous clauses in the Employment Contract, which is explained later in the paper. This can cause good amount of chaos. Resources: The resources provided in an organisation could not be up to the expectations, which could be another cause for a dispute. The scarcity or lack of resources and the prevalence of improper working conditions could trigger off a dispute. For instance, long working hours and going beyond the maximum of 48 hours per week, without optimum payment could be an the cause for an impending dispute. Differing Interests and Values: Another potent cause for the employer-employee dispute could be the differences in perception or comprehension; due to a variation in the vision of the final outcome or the interest vested by both parties in

Healthcare Communication Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Healthcare Communication - Essay Example Some of them also face a lack of proper attention given by a health care professional as a result they seek some other nursing services at a very low cost.â€Å" According to Chronic Care in America [Institute for Health and Aging, University of California San Francisco for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation], â€Å"more that one half of the United States has a chronic condition. Out of those, 412 million were limited in daily activities, and 12 million are unable to live independently†. [Strengthforcaring.com. 2006]. It this being the case it appears that the health care industry does not really consider the needed, or they simply function on a profit based level. Most of the reforms brought out in the health care industry prove to be convenient for the health care professionals and service providers rather for those who are in need of a health care service. For example that computerised health care system has brought several innovative trends in providing a health care services. However, It is very useful for the Physicians and health care services to maintain patient details and the treatment undergone by the patients. Immediate access to patient data could maintain the records confidentially and more privacy and security can be expected from computerised health care services. The lack of financial development plays an important role in determining the health care opportunity for an American citizen. The tax system depends more on the individual and consumer items as a result people with a very moderate income and those without that struggle to pay either for health care or for insurance. â€Å"Between 2000 and 2005, 7.2 million Americans lost their health coverage according to the US Census Bureau. Americans typically lose health coverage when they lose their jobs, or get a job with an employer that does not offer coverage,† observes. Favro. [2006]. The health care system seems to have become a profit based one a more

Profession of Arms Essay Example for Free

Profession of Arms Essay Characterizing the Army as a profession is a widely debated issue. Some attest that the military employs a small cadre of professionals, yet this does not qualify the entire vocation as a profession. Others are not so kind and paint a picture of mindless robots simply following orders. The debate rages because it is fundamentally difficult to find an absolute definition for a profession. This troublesome task is further exasperated because the trust of the public ultimately certifies a profession. Nevertheless, the principle characteristic that remains constant to all professions is that they possess a guiding ethic that controls the effective application of their expertise. 1 The Army constitutes a profession because it possesses an ethical framework that is intrinsically present within the institution. As it relates to a professional ethic, all professions possess a code that governs the moral, ethical and legal activities of their members. For example, The American Medical Associations Code of Medical Ethics holds to the Oath of Hippocrates.2 This oath is Western civilization’s expression of the ideal conduct of a physician.3 Lawyers also take an oath of office that anchors them to the ethical practice of their craft. This code of ethics provides parameters for lawyers on how they should conduct their affairs and matters ranging from client confidentiality to conflict of interest.4 Similarly, all members of the United States Army swear or affirm an oath upon initial entry. The Oath of Enlistment or the Oath of Office marks the beginning of each Soldier’s military service and their commitment to a higher ethic. This oath is the bedrock of the Soldier’s moral and legal principles. The Army Values, the Soldier’s Creed and the Warrior Ethos exemplify the pinnacle of the Army’s organizational ethic. Some might argue that many organizations have a similar ethic, yet they are not a professio n. Why are athletic teams that incorporate and enforce team rules, not considered professions? Another issue concerning the Army professions ethical barometer stems from comments made by senior Army officials like General Maxwell Taylor, the fifth Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. According to him, as long as a man performed his duty he  was fine. â€Å"For [GEN] Taylor, a good [S]oldier, even a good [O]fficer, could be a bad man.†5 What these dissentions fail to consider is that the Army, or any profession, does not singularly apply its ethic to the daily living of its members. Concerning the members of an athletic organization, it must be understood that one does not ethically hit, pass or throw a ball. Athletes do not apply ethical guidelines in the performances of their sports. Conversely, GEN Taylor fails to realize how private character affects the ability to command troops. One cannot compartmentalize the ethic of professionals into private and public sectors. Professionals apply their ethic to the application of their craft on behalf of the society they s erve. 6 Soldiers, like all members within a profession, must exercise their ethic in the execution of their work, not just in their private lives. Although, a universal criterion to qualify a particular vocation as a profession is difficult to quantify, the possession of a guiding ethic is common to all professional definitions. The Army is a profession because throughout its ranks it has continued to operate within the ethical framework it has set forth for itself. The Army, as a profession, demonstrates not only that it possesses ethical cannon, but is committed to operating by it. The Army Values, the Soldier’s Creed and the Warrior Ethos are the natural outpouring of these ethical cannon. Regardless of these facts, it remains unique to a profession that they cannot simply declare themselves a profession.7 The public reserves the right to determine so. Americans will only continue to regard the Army as a profession based on our effective and ethical application of landpower.8 Des pite many ethical failings, the American people recognize that the Army possesses the courage to hold its members ethically accountable and therefore legitimize itself as a profession of arms. Bibliography Pbs.org,. NOVA | The Hippocratic Oath Today. Last modified 2014. Accessed September 12, 2014. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/body/hippocratic-oath-today.html. Robinson, Paul. Ethics Training And Development In The Military. Ebook. 1st ed., 2007. Accessed September 11, 2014. http://strategicstudiesinstitute.army.mil/pubs/parameters/Articles/07spring/robinson.pdf. Training and Doctrine Command, â€Å"An Army White Paper: The Profession of Arms,† 8 December 2010, 2. http://www.benning.army.mil/armor/content/PDF/Profession%20of%20Arms%20White%20Paper%208%20Dec%2010.pdf U.S. Department of the Army. The Army Profession. Army Doctrine and Training Publications 1. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of the Army, June 13, 2013. Accessed September 11, 2014. http://armypubs.army.mil/doctrine/DR_pubs/dr_a/pdf/adrp1.pdf. YourDictionary.com,. Code Of Ethics Examples. Last modified 2014. Accessed September 11, 2014. http://examples.yourdictionary.com/code-of-ethics-examples.html.

Starbucks Social Media Marketing Strategy

Starbucks Social Media Marketing Strategy In year 2008 operating income of Starbucks took a sharp drop, the majority of which stems from restructuring charges, related to store closures in the US and value share growth drop 0.5% from the year 2007 to 2008 (Euromonitor international, 2009). Chairman and CEO of Starbucks announced in year 2008 that unfortunately Starbucks would force to close down 600 stores this end of 2008 and lay off 12,000 employees. Its a blow, but far from fatal for a company with more than 6,700 locations in the United States and nearly 16,000 worldwide. (TheNewYorkTime, 2010). In resolve part of the problem, Starbucks gone further that involved cutting costs and in the first three quarters of 2009 in few different areas, part of the cost cutting focus on marketing and advertising and this has resulted in savings of US$370 million(Euromonitor international, 2009). However gaining more sales will be the main objective for a healthy growth. Marketing and advertising will be the key element on increasing sales volume. Based on this principle, Starbucks will need to find and alternative way as a substitute for the traditional marketing and advertising. Analysis, planning, implementation, control (APIC) system by Philip Kotler has been effectively as the subtitle of his Marketing Management (Kotler, 1994). As the management issue for Starbucks, managing the communication mix need to take place for solutions. Firstly Analysis of the present situation as the question of where are we now, Starbucks has a high reputation for their company and products that have a great market value. However in the crisis with limited budgeting, Planning will need to take place on reforming on the objectives and positioning. Starbucks has taken the opportunity by utilized the advantages of social media for their reorganization. With the objectives of create high engagement and create positive relationship with their customers through actively engaging in social media that provide the advantages on cost effective and efficiency. In addition Starbucks has formed a social media team to take control, monitor and evaluate the process and development of the us ed of social media. Started on October 2008, Starbucks began to actively engaging in social media, official Starbuck Facebook fan page is one of the major social networking sites for the company. Starbucks started to connect in to the cyber world of social media, and that is speak for itself in the number of Fans the company is engaging with. Facebook as a social media platform that has incorporates with different types of videos, content, and has active interactive activities with the fans. 2.1 Social media marketing strategy Starbucks has a small social media team with only six people; however they obtained a high level of engagement with their consumer in social media. (ENGAGEMENTdb , 2009) On the other hand Starbucks has building social media as a key part in their marketing mix, a stable platform for advertising and promotions. At the same time it creates a centre of attention to attract web traffic to the social networking site fan page with heavy advertising and promotion activities. Alexandra Wheeler, Director of Digital Strategy of Starbucks stated that, We live in the physical world with thousands of natural touch points, so when we laid out the vision for our social strategy, it felt like home for the brand. Its about the relationships we form with our customers. (ENGAGEMENTdb , 2009) The social media marketing strategies that Starbucks are using include special offers, coupons, sapling and discounts distributed through Facebook, because Facebook is the main social networking site for Starbucks. Promotion event on Facebook by Starbucks with the title of Free Pastry Day promotion allowing executively for Facebook fans of Starbucks to print out the online version of coupons for complimentary item with a drink purchase. Through this particular event in July 2009 it further added 200,000 fans just in a week. In the same year, by promoting the launch of the branded ice cream, Starbucks offering coupons for free pints via the Facebook application. Besides, Starbucks also used Facebook to promote a Taste Challenge together with the launch of Starbucks VIA instant coffee, offering participants with a free cup of Starbucks coffee will be given on their next purchase and discount of USD 1 with the VIA instant coffee purchase. (Mark Walsh, mediapost.com, 2010) Throughout the examples from above it is clearly presented that marketing theory of push and pull strategy are being used. A push strategy involves pushing the product of information through marketing channels to final consumers (Kotler and Gary Armstrong, 2009). Two types of push strategies were being used, first the push promotion strategy with the online version of coupons and discount on product purchase, flowing by push marketing with the channel by using Facebook social networking site to transmit the message across their audiences. Objective of the promotion is to gain immediate sales at the same time promote the fan page through the social networking side. Starbucks successful created high level of attention throughout the product promotion on Facebook with encouraging results. Based on a Razorfish study (2009) that generated a conclusion that traditional direct marketing practices for example offering discount and promotion are the keys on building engagement on social networking sites moderately focusing on to create deeper relationship and connection to a brand (Razorfish, 2009). CEO of social media management firm ViTrue, Mr. Reggie Bradford illustrious that Starbucks has the advantage on take in charge and managing all the Starbucks stores, provide an easier way to run standardized marketing programs that team up with Facebook. More significantly, Starbucks well manage with various types of updates that content, and interesting that includes blog articles and videos sharing that cover all aspects of coffee that includes how to grow coffee beans, pieces of writing about Starbucks and Starbucks employees. The tone and pitch of the updates is informative and relaxed, in addition even on their own product updates are kept in a wide-range that enough to remain interesting, for example, by offering and introduction up reviews of new music and books to be displace and for sale in their cafes. Therefore, the well managed and quality status update content has achieved a very engaged fan base, with every update on the social networking site will receive thousands of feedbacks and comments. 2.2 Success Following by reviewing the successful social media marketing strategies that used by Starbucks and the way the coffee giant fully utilized the opportunities of social media to create an interactive and interesting business approve. The level of engagement of a brand in social media will bring different level of success. As Howard Schultz, chairman and CEO of Starbucks said Were not just selling a cup of coffee, we are providing an experience (Business Week 18 November 1991). This implies that customers satisfaction is given top priority. In order to do so Starbucks serve coffee with great taste and quality. Not only quality the treatment of customer is excellent and the variety of beverages served is good (Kotha Glassman 2003). Based on the principle of providing an experience to the customers social media is a latest and most advance technology in communicate that can be personalize between the company and their customers. Coffee house giant Starbucks continue to develop its social media operations in attempt to extend its relationship with its end users. The reason for advertisers using social media is to go where consumers are and to provide a valuable and meaningful brand experience, according to Alexandra Wheeler. Although the challenges of the economic downturn, Starbucks posted profits of $242m in Q4 2009, as revenues rose 4%, to  £1.7 billion, mostly as a result of improved Starbucks store sales (Financial Time.com, 2010). From the research paper on the title of related to how Social Networks Improve e-Commerce, stated that creativity is an extremely important elements when come to approaching a social network (Gayatri, Christo Bryce, Kevin, and Ben Y. Zhao, 2009). Few of the successful principles are value need to be added to the interaction and use the naturally viral nature of community instead of forcing the marketing message through. On social network it have to communicate with people before selling, traditional ad campaigns and promotions should not be forced on the potential customers immediately (Social Media Optimization, 2007). Social network is all about building a community around the brands and the products, promoting, sharing and discussion (Brown, 2009). Get involved in the social network regularly, completely understand the content and focused to the topic is being said amongst the social network community, and the targeted audience before engaging (SocialMediaOptimization, 2007). Howard Schultz, CEO of Starbucks stated that the global economic recession has very much shaken consumer confidence and retailers which wish to stay relevant in the future will have no choice but to recognize and respond to this new reality and to continue and to accelerate. Starbucks current direction with continue to improve, innovate, and focus on strengthening the relationship with their customers. (The Seattle Times, January 28, 2009). In the year 2008 Starbucks promoted the worlds biggest Facebook ad campaign that including Facebook members in 16 that will be served ads for a Starbucks (RED) charity sing along of The Beatles All You Need Is Love when user log in. Starbucks undertook the biggest global Facebook ad campaign the purpose is to raise awareness of the project, which was a celebration of its partnership with (RED), the charity with the aim to fights Aids in Africa (Jennifer Whitehead, brandrepublic.com, 04 December 2009). This particular campaign has invited people to take part in stores which Starbucks donated a percentage of the cost of each selected product sold. The social media campaign that carries out this initiative received as the most viral impression ever; result of millions of people aware of the Facebook digital invitation which given respond (Wheeler, 2009). On Starbucks promotion Free Pastry Day where pastry will be give away for free with every drink purchased, resulting nearly 600,000 people who expressed an interest in that particular promotion on the social networking site Facebook. On the other social networking site Twitter also generated good respond with a similar promotion event. Besides on the public social networking sites Starbucks also has its own platform My Starbucks Ideas on online community that allows customers and staff to put together suggestion to the company, in August 2008 total of 75,000 of suggestions have been recorded (AdWeek, WARC, 2009). Based on the number of people involved has created a strong awareness outcome at the same time it had increase the sales at the period of time. The result on social media has the similarity outcome with the advertising objective that can be achieve through the social networking site. Starbucks persist as one of the brand that gains most popularity on Facebook, with sites now launched globally in 14 countries. In 2009 the consultancy company Altimeter Group, positioned Starbucks is of the brands make good use of the web properties, and Schultz stated that they would be integral to its operations going forward. The importance of our social media expertise continues to grow, and we evolve the conversation with our core customers, (Altimeter Group, 2010) Engaging with the millions of consumers through social media is a success. Multi-step flow is the extension of two step flow theory. A strong multi-step flow and personal influence model being involved in the process. Fill (2002) provides a clear description of the potency of word of mouth that can give a depth of credibility other form of communication cannot. Because of the nature of social media, the process of opinions and comments flow around in the social media, at the same time the social media management team will be able to monitor and provide instant reply. Starbucks brand, content and online vice president Chris Bruzzo, toldAdAge.com: Its like weve taken the version 1.0 of last year and now they are really doing it at scale and going to a lot more places where their customers already are and people are saying this is going to be a big year for social media and they are a microcosm of that. While last year it was a curiosity, this year its a core part of the program. (WARC, 2010). 2.3 Rewards This section will present the rewards that Starbucks gained throughout the Facebook campaign, based on the success factor that had been discuss on the above paragraph Starbucks also picked up a lot of benefits throughout the process. Financial performance correlates with engagement will determine the rewards that the company gains from the involvement in social media. Survey of Syncapse Consultancy Company, in an effort to gain understanding of the long term business value that generate by social network. The target research company in this survey is based on twenty most popular corporate users actively engaging in social network that includes Coca-Cola, Starbucks, McDonalds, Dove, Gillette, Nokia, Nike, Victorias Secret and Red Bull. The result found out that consumers who like a product in the Facebook feature were found to spend  £93 a year on the item in question, $71.84 more than the shoppers who have not performed the action (Syncapse, 2010). Starbucks is one of the brands th at scores at least 80% in the category of building empathy among their fans. Besides, the products of Starbucks scored over 90% associated with the feeling consumers that result in warm, gratified or happy. Fan value is cyclical and ever changing based on the ongoing marketing performance, (Syncapse, 2010). The result in the survey illustrate that long term brand value can be build by using the social network, independent social network campaign should be taken to increase the value of their company through their fan. Director of worldwide interactive marketing of Coca-cola Michael Donnelly acknowledged that end users perform activities of sharing information via using Facebook meaning that the fan-page of an organization is an additional way to promote and take immediate sharing information in the platform that the users are spending time with, based on the highly engagement platform it create a channel to listen and collect feedback s from consumer. The varies quick feedback that can be received from different methods for example photos, videos or status updates from the page and the message will rapidly share among their network (WARC, Brand Channel, 2009). Relationships are a form of organizational capital that provides value for the organization, the view that relationships are an enabler for resource exchange is well supported by relationship literature (Baxter Matear, 2004) The involvement of social media has became a importance role in achieving this aim, one of the Starbucks campaigns join together with Project Red to help promote fight AIDS in Africa, which was promoted using social media Facebook, where Starbucks has more than 5.5 million fans in end of 2009 that became the most popular brand second by Coca-cola and does not take long for Starbucks to achieved 10 million Facebook fan in July 2010. Schultz mentions that the effort of creating the world largest campaign ever on the Facebook social media platform is further strengthens Starbucks unique connection with their customers (Starbucks, 2010). Alexandra Wheeler stated that the campaign has became the most viral event in the history of Facebook and meant that this not only were trigger customers excited about the Starbucks at the same time the customer also came together on one day to accomplish something excellent. Take as a whole; she asserted that Facebook helps them get a pulse on the impor tant to their customers. The organization can have a direct communication dialog with their customers about the values and ideals that they gained and share the valuable experience with them. (Brand Channel, 2009) According to a report by ENGAGEMENTdb 2009 with the title of top 100 worlds most valuable brands, who is most engrage? In the report it divided brands in to four profiles with different levels of engagement, depending on the figure of channels and how intensely they are engaged in the brand. Starbucks fall in to the category of Mavens has been description as brands that are engaged in seven or more channels and have a greater than average engagement score. The brands are able to maintain a high level of engagement throughout multiple social media. The Mavens are not just a healthy strategy and enthusiastic teams focused on social media, but also make it a core part of their marketing strategy. Companies in this category will operate with a strong presence in social media. Company like Starbucks with deeply and widely engaged in social media outshine their competitors in term the performance in both revenue and profit by a large difference. Mavens group they have sustained strong reve nue and margin growth in spite of the current economy. (Figure 14) Further on with a strong engagement and multi-step flow and personal influence model it will develop on the principle of relational exchange theory. A brand relationship is being established, self-interest is best maximized by the returns available through cooperation in a relationship (Blau, 1964). In this approach, the analysis of interim relationships moves from the focal firm to the dyad or network level in an effort to understand interorganisational relationships (Cook Emerson, 1978; Bradach Eccles, 1989; Husted, 1994). There is interest in relationship quality that stems from trust and the high degree of certainty of predictable and obligatory behavior that leads to sales giving the seller integrity and the process a high degree of certainty (Crosby, Evans and Cowles, 1990). Based on a study, brands with more supporters and fans on Facebook more likely to involve in discussions, and could gain higher returns (Vitrue, 2010). According to chief product officer at Vitrue Michael Strutton stated that it is important to know that to build up a Facebook fan base will need consistent and well management. The learning process from customer can perform through social media. According to Bruzzo one of specialist members of staff at Starbucks stated that If you approach it as a customer relationship and as a multi-faceted human connection between Starbucks and customers, then we can have more than a conversation about products it can be a customer-insight channel and we can learn things from them. (Seattle PI, 2009).General Manager of advertising and customer engagement of Microsoft, Gayle Troberman, said social media offers a highly engaged audience who keen to know information about the company. She also mention that part of the social media strategy, is to focu s on honesty and authenticity, as well as attempting to respond to users as quickly as possible. (Seattle PI, Warc, 2009). 2.4 Risk On the above paragraphs it discuss about the success and reward of using social media of Starbucks, at the same time the risks of using social media need to take in consideration as well. As different social media evolved there will be multi channel for communications, at the same time communications professionals have a various options to connect with audiences. Worldwide audience can easily be reached with web 2.0, but the heady possibilities come with potential liabilities. Errors or mistakes in communication will be amplified. This is the reason why a lot of companies find the concept of social media as a risky media. The innovation of internet and World Wide Web have brought the world closer, and since social media are available on this technology there are different rules and regulations in different part of the world to protect the end user. From a international point of view for example regulations in the United Stated with the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive guards against false representation, Securities and Commission (SEC) and their Regulation Fair Disclosure (Reg FD) which set to protect the use of the social media. Beside in the EU there are also protecting against the use of social media for example EU privacy rules that against collection of personal information and email addresses on website. Because social media is an open world for every user around the world, different rules and regulations in different part of the world might come into conflict when it operates in business related activities on social media. Further on move on to the use of social media internally under a company. The use of social media should be guardian by rules and regulations, managing social media a company is agreed to allow employees to wiring blog, tweet or post Facebook comments updates. In the past companies tried to control risk on social media by disallowing access to cyberspace, however that will not work with the current situation of the use of social media. Robert Stroud, international vice president of ISACA, said in a statement. Companies should embrace it, not block it. But they also need to empower their employees with knowledge to implement sound social media governance. (ISACA, 2010). This managing process is apparently with high risk than not permitting whatever thing out of the usual channels. In particular if the social media management teams include top level executives or the CEO, where regulations exist which govern the disclosure of information by publicly traded companies. According to a stu dy by Information Systems Audit and Control Association (ISACA, 2010) employees who dabble in social networking both on and off the job could expose their companies to a variety of risks. Malware, brand hijacking, lack of content control, noncompliance with rules over recordkeeping, and unrealistic expectations of Internet performance were the top five social-media risks to businesses (ISACA, 2010). 2.5 Challenges All kind of social networking challenges will be face by organization. Following this section will discuss the possible challenges for organization that are using social media as part of their marketing strategy. Social media providing a lot of benefit to an organization, a well managed of the use of social media will bring great future for the company, at the same time the hard work of minimize the challenges will be the best practice for prevention. 8% of companies had terminated employees because of the usage carelessness of social media (Proofpoint, 2009) for example a very frequent causes that might happen including sharing confidential or sensitive information or data on a network channel. According to David Arman, there are five possible challenges that every organization should be thinking ahead (Harvard Business review, 2010). The connection and linkage of social media cover almost every aspects and function of a business. All organizations will eventually grapple with integrating social into their entire ecosystem adopting either centralized, distributed or hybrid approaches (David Arman, 2010). The first challenge is regarding integration, because of the broad coverage of social media alongside the business, the decision of form up a specialize team to supervise the social media process is a judgment to be consider. Following by the second challenge governance, has been described as task to control and recognize both the contents produced for the public and also information that internal used around employees. Organization will need to keep attention on the internal contents among the company as well as set rules of engagement in the process how employees responding to the social media. The next challenge is that every organization have their own culture on the spectrum either being more transparent of the way they operate and collaborative or keep knowledge internally. Through using social media, organization can strengthen their company policy by managing customers and employees by using this channel, however it have to manage it intelligently and with purpose. The fourth challenge is related to the human resources of a company, emerge of social media business, rules and regulation of human resources will also need to keep up to date. Because of the fast moving and changeable technology set of rules and regulation will be an ongoing development process. At the same time organizations will need to train employees on the use of social technologies for work. The fifth challenge is on the measurement and return on investment. There will be difficulty on measuring the results on using social media, however it is measurable but to work out the financial definite will be a challenging task. 2.6 Conclusion After critical analysis on the achievements and threats, a conclusion can be made that the best practice to maximize on return and minimize risk of using social networking is to develop a well planed social media marketing strategy that cover a large part of the business. By minimizing the risk companies should develop social media policies and build up training meeting and classes to educate employees about the use of social media. The social media policies should includes personal use of social networks as part of the job description and also the personal use outside the work place. The use of visual in the social network is one of the way to stand out from the crow, visual communication is part of the design elements should be consider on how to communication with the audience by using design principles.

Ethics and Regulation in the Professional Asset Management Industry

Ethics and Regulation in the Professional Asset Management Industry 11 December, 2011 Whenever a person is hired to perform a service or look after the interest of another, the question of rules for interactions and transactions behavior arises. This is particularly important for the financial industry were portfolio managers may be entrusted with portfolio value of trillions of dollars , the inherent risks associated with financial investments and the fact that portfolio managers are often exposed to ethical conflicts. Hence, it is no surprise that the financial industry is highly regulated to ensure that there is a minimum level of acceptable practice. Guidelines are built on two legs – formal legally enforceable regulations and ethical standards. Both follow the overall principle that â€Å"portfolio managers will always act in the best interest of their investors†. Legal regulations are complex often with an interaction between state and federal laws. At the very basic level they establish adequate disclosure of information related to the investment process and provide anti-fraud protections. These cover aspects like documentation, reporting, fairness, timeliness and accuracy of information. At a more complex level, regulations cover specific investments types like for example retirement / pension assets that have different risk management requirements. Following are the principal Securities Laws for the Asset management industry and their primary target user: * Securities Act of 1933 for security issuers * Securities Exchange Act of 1934 for security brokers * Investment Company Act of 1940 for mutual funds Investment Adviser Act of 1940 for advisors and private managers * Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) for retirement asset managers and fiduciaries * Pension Protection Act of 2006 for pension fund sponsors and managers Several agencies / institutions are responsible to ensure these industry regulations are managed and followed: * SEC – U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the main federal agency) * U. S. Department of Labor (pension plans inc luding 401 (k) plans) * NASDR – National Association of Securities Dealer rules * U. S. Commodity and Futures Trading Commission * U. S Internal Revenue Services (tax policies) These financial regulations are the â€Å"1st leg† of regulating investor/agent relationships and they provide the legally binding and enforceable framework of conduct. The â€Å"2nd leg† comprises voluntary ethical behavior standards. They follow the same overall principle of â€Å"investors come first† but describe in much more detail how the clients/investors interest must always take precedence over the interests of investment professionals and their employers. Ethical guidelines are the indispensable as they fill a void space. Policies and regulations may punish illegal behavior but cannot prevent such abuses from happening in the first place. Also while some financial transactions may not have violated any laws but could still be to the disadvantage of investors because of unethical behavior. Thus, Ethical guidelines aim to establish a self-regulating, voluntary behavior to prevent abuses before happening and to provide guidance for aspects of financial transactions not covered by formal policies. Leading institute is the CFA, the Chartered Financial Analysts Institute https://www. cfainstitute. org/Pages/index. aspx, previously AIMR – (Association for Investment Management and Research), which established a code of ethics for its members. Key elements are: * act with integrity, competence, diligence, respect and in an ethical manner. * place integrity of the investment profession and interests of clients above own personal interests. * use reasonable care and exercise independent professional judgment when conducting investment analysis, recommendations and taking investment actions. This ethics code is complemented with precisely defined conduct and actions that are acceptable (or unacceptable). The Centre of Financial Markets Integrity founded by the CFA has created a comprehensive â€Å"Asset Manager Code of Professional Conduct† providing more detailed minimum standards for providing asset management services to clients. These standards extend the rules for individuals to those of entire investments firms. Of note, agents and companies strictly adhering to ethical standards may achieve higher trust and preference ratings from investors as well as employees. Therefore, it is in the own interests of financial institutes and agents to be a CFA member and follow their ethics code. However and despite these wide-ranging regulations in place investors’ interests are not always followed. Two reason fall mostly in two categories 1) Ethical dilemmas: these are situations where the â€Å"investor interest† evaluation is not straight forward, therefore posing an ethical dilemma for the agent. Examples include where an agent may occur expenses for costly company research or other expenses which may not be clearly to the benefit of the client. ) Guidelines must be put into daily practice. A policy by itself is not sufficient to achieve compliance. The responsibility is with the leadership of financial companies by creating a corporate culture that reinforces ethical behavior, by always leading with best example and by establishing a regulatory compliance framework with capability trainings, frequent internal communication, and by stric t enforcement. Closing remarks Much progress has been made in updating and raising the standards of legislation to be more comprehensive and to avoid a repetition of historical financial crisis. However, no matter how detailed regulations may be â€Å"the question really boils down to staying true both the spirit and the letter of the law. † (Carlo V. di Florio) This is the reason why ethical codes such as provided by CPA are a critical complement to legal regulations as they provide behavioral guidelines. In fact, efforts are being made to make the ethical behavior standards legally mandatory. 913 study submitted in 2011 for the Dodd-Frank act as well as FINRA and the code framework itself is in a constant process of updates and expansion (e. . the Shingle theory). This is encouraging and will provide further guidance â€Å"how to put the investors’ interests first†. The investor is playing an important role in the process as well: Being very specific about individual investment priorities, by selecting only CPA proven financial partners and, last not least, by staying in close contact with the agent to ensure the steady flow of information. After all à ¢â‚¬â€œ asset ownership also carries the owner responsibilities. References Brown,C. , & Reilly, F. K. (2009). Investment Analysis and Portfolio Management. (9 ed. ). Mason, OH, Cengage Learning. Carlo V. di Florio, director of the U. S. SEC’s Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations (OCIE). downloaded on 08 December 2011, http://blogs. cfainstitute. org/marketintegrity/2011/11/30/fatally-flawed-compliance-without-ethics-in-the-investment-industry/ Carlo di Florio, Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance and Financial Regulation, Nov 25-2011, downloaded on 08 December, http://blogs. law. harvard. du/corpgov/2011/11/25/compliance-and-ethics-in-risk-management/ â€Å"913 Study†: Study on Investment Advisers and Broker-Dealers as Required by Section 913 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act (January 2011), downloaded on 8 December 2011 http://www. sec. gov/news/studies/2011/913studyfinal. pdf Jon Stokes â€Å"Fatally Flawed: Compliance without Ethics in the Investment Industry† (30 November 2011)  · Enterprise Risk Management- Integrated Framework, Com mittee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (September 2004)

Organizational Culture of Google Essay

Introduction Sergey Brin and Larry Page who were PhD Students at Stanford University met in 1996 and they came up with the idea of starting a search engine that they named BackRub. However on 14th September 1997, the two students renamed this search engine to Google and in the year 1998 this organization was launched officially. The term Google was derived from the word googol which refers to digit one (1) followed by hundredth (100) zeros. Studies show that, Google receives millions of users on daily basis and it is estimated that this organization is worth billions of US dollars. In addition to this, Google has proven to be among the leading organizations with diverse cultures and has been named as the best performing organization that ingrates Culture and Diversity in Decision Making process. Some of the Awards that have been given to Google include: Hispanic Bar Association of Orange County, Organizational Excellence Award, and Diversity in IT Award, UK IT Industry Award, and National Association of the Deaf Accessibility Award among many other Awards. Google’s Culture The bottom line of Google’s success across the globe stems from the culture that has been developed by the key stakeholders in the organization. It is indeed quite evident that, Google has grown considerably since 1998 when the company was officially launched and currently, its employees are more than 200, and come from all parts of the globe. I will examine Google’s culture of ethical standards and behavior as well as observable organizational policies in the Company. Although Googlers share common goals and visions for the company, Google hail from all walks of life and speak dozens of languages, reflecting the global audience that Google serve. And when not at work, Googlers pursue interests ranging from cycling to beekeeping, from frisbee to foxtrot. The culture of ethical standards and behavior in Google Typically, employees of Google Company are smart people and coming from various parts of the globe, they speak different languages and their cultures vary. As a matter of fact, these employees are expected to serve all customers without any favor or discrimination, thus â€Å"Don’t be evil† is key to Google’s stakeholders, members of staff and all employees working for Google Company. This statement is very vital to Google Company and it is expected that, everyone working in the Company as well as other members of staff should respect one another and above all honor those laws and guiding principles that have been established in the organization especially when it comes to the entire process of decision making (Weber, 2008). In addition to that, clients’ information is vital in the Company and the company expects every employee and other members of staff to ensure that customers’ information and data is given adequate protection from unauthorized access. The company expects that, all its employees maintain high levels of integrity at all time and any employee or staff member who is found to have jeopardized his work by exposing clients information and data to unauthorized access is held liable for all the damages caused will be forced to pay for the ultimate price of his negligence of duty (Schermerhorn, 2012). If there was ever a decline in the web searching service, Google will have to adapt to the new demand. This is why it important for them to strive to hire the smartest and the brightest within the field. Google has the employees to adapt to a decline in the web searching service, the employees that they currently have and will be able to hire will be able to adapt to any other business that Google wants to become during this decline.(Bulygo, 2013) Furthermore, protection of Google’s assets is very important to all employees and staff members of this company. It is quite evident that, Google is rich in intellectual data, communication facilities, employee data, clients’ information, and Company equipment among other assets from in all parts of the globe (Flamholtz & Randle, 2011). The company expects all employees, and other people who access these assets to protect them from any  access by other people with ill motives. This goes hand in hand with the working environment of Google Company and studies shows that, Google ensures that all employees work in a violence free environment and this has enabled employees of Google Company to be very productive at all time. This goes hand in hand with the issue of drug and substance abuse and in this respect; the company does not allow her employees, staff members to use or to promote drug and substance abuse. How I determined that Google has shown the culture of ethical standards and behavior Google Company has adopted the culture of ethical standards and behavior. To Frost, this culture is entrepreneurial, dynamic, and innovative and above all it makes employees to be creative in their places of work (Frost, 2009). It is quite evident that, employees and managers of Google Company embrace risk-taking and innovation, thus they work hard in order to ensure that Google Company is on the leading edge as compared to other organizations or companies from all over the world. Indeed, employees and members of staff of Google Company are unified by their commitment towards implementing what they have or what they know. In addition to that, Google Company aims at leading other companies or organizations in the industry, thus to achieve this, it encourages freedom and individual initiative among her employees and staff members. Factors that caused Google to embody the culture of ethical standards and When Google was officially launched in 1998 as a search engine many people took advantage of various types of information that were being sold by the company. As the company grew and spread all over the world cases of misuse of the available data and information were reported from various parts of the globe. This threatened Google’s performance in the industry and the company came up with various codes of ethics and standards that were meant to guide staff members and users of Google’s information. Secondly, Google being the leading and the best performing organization all over the world needed come up with the culture of ethical standards and behavior. The main reason behind this is that for any organization or company to be successful then all its employees and members of staff should be guided by well established ethics (Schein, 2010). Type of leader that suits Google Company In my opinion, I believe that the ideal leader for this company is the one who has the ability to cultivate Google’s presence continuously. In addition to this, the leader should be customized to the type of business in order for him to deliver the impeccable customer service demanded customers and also to ensure that the company produces amazing results. This individual should lead by example and lead all employees towards the attainment of the company`s mission and vision. He should be approachable, open minded and very knowledgeable. Conclusion In an event of a decline in the demand of goods and services of Google Company, it will be a prudent for the company to adjust its culture to match the trend. In my view, I believe Google Company has been adjusting its culture in a number of ways in to make the most of prevailing conditions. It is quite evident that all employees and stakeholders of Google Company are committed to service delivery and one of the adjustments to be made by the Company is to create fun times between employees and clients. This will allow employees of the company to share their amazing experiences and services with their clients and this will increase the demand of goods and services of the company by these clients or customers. References Flamholtz, E., & Randle, Y. (2011). Corporate Culture: The Ultimate Strategic Asset. Palo Alto: Stanford University Press. Frost, P. J. (2009). Organizational culture. Beverly Hills u.a: Sage Publ Schein, E. H. (2010). Organizational culture and leadership. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Schermerhorn, J. R. (2012). Organizational behavior (12th ed.). Danvers, MA: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. ` Weber, S. (2008). Organizational behavior – Google corporate culture in perspective. München: GRIN Verlag GmbH. Bulygo, Z(2013, Feb 11) Insidw google’ culture of success and employee happiness.[Web Log Post]. Rettirved from http://blog.kissmetrics. com/google-culture-of-success/

Prufrock Answers Essays

Prufrock Answers Essays Prufrock Answers Essay Prufrock Answers Essay † indicating that he is worried that all of life’s mysteries (the fog, murder, creation) will be over once he has made it to his destination. There will be â€Å"time yet for a hundred indecisions† he tells himself, afraid that he is going to lose the luxury of infinite possibility. He knows, though, that time will narrow his possibilities down one by one, systematically making each possibility real or not real: having already seen the eternal Footman, Death, he is familiar that there will not be time for everything. Although Prufrock is not sure that he wants to commit to comfort, a world of â€Å"sunsets and teacups and sprinkled streets,† he knows that the time he has for indecision is not limitless, and he fears that waiting too long will leave him a lonely old man, sitting in the window, smoking. Doubt and Ambiguity Near the end of the poem Prufrock declares, â€Å"I am not Prince Hamlet, nor was I meant to be. † To many, the defining characteristic of Shakespeare’s Hamlet is his inability to conquer or accept his doubts and settle upon one course of action to follow. Having seen Prufrock’s thought process twist throughout stanza after stanza, and having seen him fret over whether the life he is committing to is the one he really wants, or if he has chosen unwisely because of social pressure, or if his body is so worn out that he has no choice left at all, the reader could rightly disagree with him and say â€Å"Yes,† he is too Hamlet. The indecisiveness of Hamlet is clearly there: what he seems to be denying is the â€Å"Prince† part of the identity, as if the title of royalty is too glamorous for a humble fool like himself. Ironically, it is this self-consciousness, this constant reminder that he is a lowly being, that conflicts with his rebellious nature and causes Prufrock the most indecisiveness. Near the middle of the poem his constant questioning of himself takes on a brief pattern: â€Å"how should I presume? † he asks, and after another stanza he asks again, followed at the end of the following stanza with â€Å"should I presume? In this sequence we see that his self-questioning, his long one-man dialogue that is meant to think things through and settle some issues, is actually working backward, taking him further from decision. In this poem the speaker’s doubts do not reach an answer, they just multiply, so when he finally decides to take action it is not with comfort or certainty bu t with regret; he sees his move from contemplation to action as a drowning. Style â€Å"The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock† begins with an epigraph, a quote that sets the tone for the poem to follow. This epigraph, included in the poem in the original Italian, is from Dante’s Divine Comedy. Its use here emphasizes Eliot’s belief in the instructive function of poetry, as well as his conviction that it was a poet’s responsibility to be aware of and build on the established tradition of poetry. This poem (exclusive of the epigraph) is structured into four sections, with each section separated by an ellipsis, a mark used in conventional punctuation to indicate an omission, but used here to signal either time passing between thoughts relevant to the subject under consideration, or information considered too obvious to be included. Eliot’s belief that â€Å"No verse is free for the serious poet† is apparent in â€Å"The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock. † This poem is written in free verse with varying line lengths, but Eliot employs rhyme as a major structural component in its composition. In fact, in the 131 lines of the main poem structure, only 12 lines are unrhymed. Note the pattern of the rhyme in the first stanza, beginning â€Å"Let us go then, you and I. †: a couplet - an unrhymed line - a series of three couplets - an unrhymed line - a couplet. Such a pattern serves to establish coherence in the stanza, as well as to create a distinctive music. Eliot also found repetition useful to establish rhythms of ideas as well as sound rhythms. Note the repetition of the word â€Å"time† in the two stanzas beginning â€Å"And indeed there will be time. † in the first section. Conventional punctuation and sentence structure are used in this poem, but capital letters at the beginnings of lines stress lineation, thus balancing the importance of the sentence with the importance of the line. While Eliot maintained that poetry should conform to current conversational speech, he emphasized the musical qualities of speech, as well as the imagistic and symbolic possibilities of words, by his use of lineation. The varying line lengths and stanza lengths of this poem are indicative of Eliot’s refusal to impose a form on the thoughts and emotions at the center of the composition. It was not his purpose to discover or create a new form for poetry, but to free the poet from set forms in order to allow each poem to create its own form - in this case a â€Å"love song† which Eliot sings onto the page for the reader. Historical Context In a review of Catholic Anthology 1914-15, edited by the poet Ezra Pound and containing â€Å"The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,† critic Arthur Waugh noted that if â€Å"the unmetrical, incoherent banalities of these literary ‘Cubists’ were to triumph, the State of Poetry would be threatened with anarchy. † His remarks are clearly intended to frighten lovers of poetry and to dismiss the authors as bungling amateurs. Little could Waugh have guessed that he was identifying the very effects that the poets intended, and that his criticism is only of interest to us today because it signifies that, by the time he was writing, the Modern Age had arrived. Modernism is a blanket term that we use for a great number of artistic and philosophical movements (including Cubism in painting) that were intent on throwing away the old standards and replacing them with work that is closer to the way the people really live and think. This struggle between life and theory has always gone on and continues to this day. In music, for example, rap has been embraced by its listeners as an authentic expression of how people feel, but it is scoffed at by music connoisseurs for its lack of melodic complexity - â€Å"incoherent banalities,† as Waugh would say. After years of being underground and rejected, rap has now reached a level of acceptance that makes it a prime target to be dismantled by the next new upstarts. Similarly, the rise of Modernism was a reaction to Victorianism, which was a reaction to Romanticism, and on throughout history. Since the chain is unbroken, there is no clear place to start tracing Modernism’s roots, but one good place might be in 1798, with the publication of William Wordsworth’s and Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s Lyrical Ballads. In response to the formal, strict poetry that had come before him, Wordsworth wrote that poetry should drawn from â€Å"a selection of language really used by man. † Poetry, he felt, was too far out of touch with reality, and he encouraged writers to change the way they thought about their job. Out of this grew the Romantic movement, which included such great early-nineteenth century writers as Keats, Shelley, Byron, Tennyson, Emerson, Melville, Poe, and Dickinson. Romanticism was a spirit of intellectual freedom that affected all areas of society. The individual, especially the artistic individual, was held to be of the highest importance to Romanticism: creativity was worshipped. The last half of the nineteenth century saw the triumph of industry and capitalism, and is considered a less humanistic time. Novels concerned themselves with social structure, and poetry became more formal, more stylized, emphasizing how things were said over what was said. The Industrial Revolution brought trains and eventually automobiles, stepping up the pace of life: reading became less and less relevant, a luxury to be enjoyed by those who were socially comfortable. Throughout the period, though, there were scattered elements that would eventually make it impossible for the forces of social order to hold: Marx and Engels published The Communist Manifesto in 1848; Darwin published Origins of the Species in 1859; Freud’s The Interpretation of Dreams came out in 1900. Each of these created a revolution in its own intellectual area and lead to the Modernist suspicion of all previously accepted beliefs. There is no particular philosophy of Modernism, but instead we measure its growth by looking at various revolutionary movements in the arts. In 1909, for instance, the Futurist movement in Italy released its â€Å"Foundation Manifesto of Futurism† (bold artistic movements often announce themselves with manifestoes), praising â€Å"aggressive action, the mutual leap, the punch and slap. † At the same time, Pound fell in with a group of poets in London and discussed principles that eventually became known as Imagism, known for its rejection of poetic conventions. Pound was also instrumental in founding Vorticism, which was based on change and motion and was supposed, Pound said, to â€Å"sweep out the past century as surely as Attila swept across Europe. These three examples of literary movements at the time give us a sense of the new values that came with Modernism: embracing instead of avoiding the industrial world; an emphasis on powerful, not pretty, poetry; a willingness to use any tools and break any rules in order to capture what the world was really like; in general, a devotion to a higher social caus e (think of all of those manifestoes) and an unwillingness to simply create art for its own sake. Criticism Marisa Pagnattaro Marisa Pagnattaro is a freelance writer and is the Book Review Editor and an Editorial Board Member of the Georgia Bar Journal. She is a teaching assistant at the University of Georgia, Athens. In the following essay, Pagnattaro provides a close reading of â€Å"The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,† emphasizing its comic elements. It is a mistake to approach T. S. Eliot’s â€Å"The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock† with the same seriousness as for The Waste Land. To enjoy this poem and get the most out of the verse, readers should have a wry sense of humor. Prufrock is an anxiety-filled, insecure, middle-aged bachelor who fears that his expressions of love will be rebuffed. First published in Poetry in 1915, and then collected in Prufrock and Other Observations in 1917, Eliot used the traditional form of the dramatic monologue for the speaker, Prufrock, to express his romantic dilemma. The dramatic monologue is generally associated with nineteenth-century poets such as Robert Browning and Alfred, Lord Tennyson, and is characterized by the voice of a single speaker who reveals something personal to the reader. The memorable title of this poem may have been derived from an advertisement in Eliot’s hometown. In The Invisible Poet: T. S. Eliot, Hugh Kenner revealed that the â€Å"name of Prufrock-Littau, furniture wholesalers, appeared in advertisements in St. Louis, Missouri† at the beginning of this century. Although Eliot claimed that any approbation of the â€Å"now-famous German surname must have been ‘quite unconscious,’† Kenner suggested that this is an early example of the â€Å"rich mischief of Eliot’s mind. By adding â€Å"J. Alfred† to the name, Eliot combines a sense of mysterious dignity to the ridiculousness of â€Å"Prufrock. † Compound this with the title’s claim that the work is a love song, and readers are on their way to appreciate the dry humor underlying this very famous work. The poem opens with an epigram from Dante’s Inferno in which Guido de Montefeltro, who is consumed in flames as punishment for giving false counsel, confesses his shame because he believes that it cannot be reported back on earth. In context, this excerpt is essentially Prufrock’s assurance that he can confide in his reader without fear of shame for what he is about to disclose. And so the poem opens: â€Å"Let us go then, you and I,† which is to say, â€Å"come along and hear my story because I can trust you. The speaker then entreats his reader to join him on an evening stroll, presumably through Boston (where there are â€Å"sawdust restaurants with oyster shells†), but not to ask â€Å"What is it? † just yet. Instead of just laying bare his quandary, the â€Å"overwhelming question,† Prufrock says, â€Å"Let us go and make our visit†; he takes his reader along on a social call to reveal his inadequacies. As the poem progresses, ho wever, it becomes apparent that the â€Å"you-and-I† format begins to collapse and Prufrock is merely talking to himself. Prufrock first travels through the grunge of the city, filled with ellow fog and smoke (not unlike the industrial waste of Eliot’s native St. Louis). Eliot imbues the scene with catlike characteristics, giving the evening a somewhat seductive feline tone: â€Å"The yellow fog that rubs its back upon the window-panes†; â€Å"Licked its tongue†; â€Å"Slipped by the terrace, made a sudden leap† â€Å"Curled once about the house, and fell asleep. † Prufrock next enters into a world of butlers and tea. Here, in an arena of vacuous social chatter, â€Å"the women come and go / talking of Michelangelo. † This is the world of writer Henry James, in which proper etiquette and social grace must prevail. By opening the fourth stanza with â€Å"And indeed there will be time,† Eliot echoes the memorable line â€Å"Had we but world enough and time,† from Andrew Marvell’s seduction poem, â€Å"To His Coy Mistress. † Ironically, Prufrock does not feel compelled to seize the day. There is plenty of time for indecision as Prufrock pictures his mind racing through â€Å"a hundred visions and revisions† in the short span of time between the serving and â€Å"the taking of a toast and tea. † Prufrock repeats his conviction that â€Å"indeed there will be time† to wonder â€Å"‘Do I dare? and ‘Do I dare? † - that is, first, does he dare to make a declaration of love, and, if not, does he then dare to flee down the stairs after he rang the doorbell, knowing that the subject of his affections may spot the â€Å"bald spot in the middle† of his hair. Prufrock makes a desperate attempt to attire himself accordingly and not t o overdo it with his â€Å"necktie rich and modest, but asserted by a simple pin. † Yet, in his mind, Prufrock envisions his contemporaries commenting on his deteriorating appearance, imagining the remarks, â€Å"How his hair is growing thin! and â€Å"But how his arms and legs are thin! † Balding and scrawny, the self-deprecating Prufrock again wonders, â€Å"Do I dare / disturb the universe? † In other words, does he dare to shake up the stasis of his social universe by expressing his love? Prufrock falls into a state of melancholy by lamenting that his life may actually be nearly over: â€Å"For I have known them all already, known them all - / Have known the evenings, mornings, afternoons, / I have measured out my life with coffee spoons. Far from living a life of adventure, Prufrock has played it safe, passing his days sipping coffee. He then attempts to lay himself bare: â€Å"And when I am formulated, sprawling on a pin, / When I am pinned and wriggli ng on the wall. † Picturing himself like an insect mounted in an entomologist’s collection, Prufrock wonders where he would begin his story, to tell about â€Å"all the buttends† of his â€Å"days and ways. † After posing the rhetorical question â€Å"And how shall I begin? † Prufrock digresses in the five lines that are bracketed off from the rest of the poem by a series of dots. He reveals his walks in the working-class part of the city, where â€Å"lonely men in shirt-sleeves† are â€Å"leaning out of windows. † Prufrock seems to fear becoming like those forlorn men, isolated from love and left to spend their evenings â€Å"watching the smoke that rises from the pipes. † The dejected Prufrock then declares â€Å"I should have been a pair of ragged claws / Scuttling across the floors of silent seas† as if to say that he would be better off as a carefree crustacean instead of the lovelorn man he has become. When he returns to his monologue, Prufrock flirts with the notion of himself as a heroic character, but dismisses each comparison. First he invokes the image of the prophet John the Baptist who was murdered and his head brought in on a platter to Princess Salome who had requested his death. Prufrock laments that he has seen his â€Å"head grown slightly bald] brought in on a platter,† but acknowledges â€Å"I am no prophet. † He has been slain at the behest of a woman, yet lacks the heroic quality of John the Baptist. In fact, he has seen the â€Å"moment of [his] greatness flicker† when â€Å"the eternal Footman hold my coat, and snicker†; the hopelessly intimidated Prufrock has been snubbed by arrogant servants at the homes of genteel society where he visits. Next, once again drawing on imagery from Marvell’s poem (â€Å"To have bitten off the matter with a smile, / To have squeezed the universe into a ball†), Prufrock envisions himself as Lazarus, who rose from the dead. He imagines himself returning to the social scene saying, â€Å"‘I am Lazarus, come from the dead, / Come back to tell you all’† (presumably to tell them about his romantic affections for one in particular, perhaps even of a marriage proposal). Instead of being met with great enthusiasm, Prufrock pictures the woman he adores as â€Å"settling a pillow by her head† coolly saying, â€Å"That is not what I meant at all. / That is not it, at all. † In this scenario, she flatly rejects him, suggesting that he has misunderstood her social politeness for romantic interest. Prufrock again repeats her curt and cruel response in the next stanza to further underscore his horror at receiving such a social death sentence that leaves him looking foolish before his acquaintances. Lastly, he acknowledges that he is â€Å"not Prince Hamlet, nor was meant to be. † Like Hamlet, Prufrock wrestles with a paradigm of indecision (â€Å"To be or not to be. †), but Prufrock lacks the ability to act. â€Å"Deferential, glad to be of use, / Politic, cautious, and meticulous,† Prufrock is much more a Polonious than a Hamlet. Aging and silly, Prufrock is left only able to dream of romance. Several of the most memorable lines in the poem follow this anti-heroic sequence. Prufrock muses: â€Å"I grow old I grow old /I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled. / Shall I part my hair behind? Do I dare to eat a peach? /I shall wear white flannel trousers, and walk upon the beach. † With this he creates yet another ridiculous image of himself with his hair slicked to cover his bald spot, trousers cuffed in youthful fashion, considering the act of high daring of eating a peach in easily stained white slacks. The â€Å"Do I dare? of romance is reduced to an act of ingesting a notoriously juicy piece of fruit. Prufrock is defeated in love by his own inaction. As the poem draws to a close, Prufrock admits, â€Å"I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each //I do not think that they will sing to me. † These mythical sea creatures believed to coax sailors out to sea with their seductive songs sing to each other in Prufrock’s world; they will not enc hant him into action. He sees the mermaids at a distance â€Å"riding seaward on the waves / Combing the white hair of the waves blown back. Prufrock will never enter their world or the realm of love and romance in his own world. In the last stanza of the poem, Prufrock lingers on the dream-like periphery of the sea of desire by â€Å"sea-girls wreathed with seaweed red and brown / Till human voices wake us, and we drown. † Even though Prufrock uses the pronoun â€Å"we† - as if he is referring to the reader who apparently accompanied him at the beginning of his narrative - he seems to have slipped into a dream-like state, waiting for the human voices of reality to alert him to the pitiful fact that he will be unable to sustain himself with his dreams. When â€Å"The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock† was first published, it was met with a wide range of criticism. In a 1916 assessment in Quarterly Review, English critic Arthur Waugh dismissed the poem as mere â€Å"cleverness. † The author of an unsigned article in Literary Review denounced Prufrock as â€Å"neither witty nor amusing† and suggested that â€Å"Mr. Eliot could do finer work on traditional lines. In sharp contrast, American poet Ezra Pound praised Eliot’s work and defended him against his critics’ attacks. Since those initial reviews, Prufrock has baffled many critics who have sought to uncover some deep, dark meaning of â€Å"Prufrock. † Biographer Peter Ackroyd reported that Eliot’s own commentary was essentially limited to his remark, â€Å"I’m afraid that J. Alfred Prufrock didn’t have much of a love life. † This simple explanation should be taken seriously and the poem should be enjoyed.

Print Book Self-Publishing 101

Print Book Self-Publishing 101 In this day and age of Kindle and e-books, more and more novels and tomes are being read using an electronic device. However, many readers still relish the feel of the pages of a book, the independence from the limits of battery life, and the joy of browsing a bookstore for hidden treasures.Authors themselves feel the draw of holding a physical book in their hands as a tangible reminder of their creation! Furthermore, publishing a print book is a great idea from a business standpoint. With only electronic copies, how would book signings go? When you encounter a fan at an event, its easier to hand off a copy of your book than to do it electronically. Although many venues for electronic giveaways exist, an in-person exchange creates a unique impression on the reader.Print books still have a market, particularly for nonfiction works. And even today, print books still play a role in the electronic world, since many people order print books online to be shipped to them. Plus, having a pri nt book purchasing option provides a handy sales tool; when a print book is listed at $12.95 next to the e-book version for only $4.95, the customer feels he is getting a great deal on the electronic version!A wide range of book mediums is available, which can all benefit you in different ways in your book sales. But before you get to that point, you must consider the required steps for self-publishing your print book.Edit your workAuthors who publish under a publishing house have certain resources at hand, like in-house editors. As someone who is self-publishing, youll have to make sure your own text is polished and perfect.Even though great care and planning went into your text, its still a compilation of fragments composed under different thoughts and moods over the course of hundreds of writing sessions. And dont forget that even the most meticulous grammar nerds make typos.Tighten up your languageTake out words or even passages that dont add much to the book. Wordy language has put me off many books in my reading experience; its distracting, and it prevents me from getting lost in the story. And who has the time to read a book that doesnt draw you in? Take a look at the example below, and see which one gives you the point without wasting your valuable time:If Gabriel hadnt glanced out the window, he would have passed the evening in quiet solitude and ignorance in front of the fire, dog on his lap, drink in hand. He would have drifted away to sleep with nary a care in the world, not knowing that the rain was sweeping away his lawn furniture. Without looking outside that night, in the morning he would have discovered his front porch bare where previously there had been a table and chairs.orGabriel glanced up to see the rainwater gush through his yard, carrying away his patio table and chairs.Of course, there is a time and place for lengthy description, but the key to good writing is conciseness. Some experts suggest that your book should be half its length after a good round of editing.Use synonyms to vary your expressionsIn Dead Poets Society, we learn the following wisdom: Avoid using the word very because its lazy. A man is not very tired, he is exhausted. Dont use very sad, use morose. Language was invented for one reason, boys- to woo women- and, in that endeavor, laziness will not do. It also wont do in your essays.Ask for editing and proofreading helpWhen youve been staring at your text for so long, you can miss some glaring errors. You know what you want your text to read like, but what will your readers see? Ask a friend to take a look at your book. You can also hire a professional editor from an online service like ServiceScape. The investment will bring you peace of mind as well as a polished text.Copyrighting your bookYouve created your masterpiece after months- maybe years- of dedicated hard work. You certainly want to protect it by copyrighting your creation. Copyrighting secures your rights to distribute your book, adve rtise it, and reproduce it.Make sure to register your copyright with the Library of Congress at copyright.gov in case anyone should dispute your rights to your book. The process can take months, so dont wait for your copyright to go through before you submit your book for print or e-book. Once you obtain your copyright, youll include a copyright page inside your book indicating All rights reserved.The launchIf youre publishing in print and electronic versions, be aware that the two mediums offer production on different time tables. E-books offer a quicker production process with fewer steps. So, if youre going with both forms of your book, plan to launch according to the time needed to process your print book, since it will take longer than your electronic version.Some authors hold a soft launch for their e-books to gauge the critical reaction to their work before printing a hard copy, while other people like to produce both simultaneously to cater to both customers who prefer e-books and those who want a print copy.Holding an official book launch offers you as the author the chance to celeb rate your accomplishments with friends, colleagues, and other guests. This event also enables you to market your book and sell copies to adoring fans who will also ask you to sign them.Try to plan your book launch in conjunction with another event, such as a reunion, community celebration, or festival, since the crowds will already be there. Plan ahead, leaving plenty of time for possible delivery delays of your print copies.Think of the venue where your event will be held. Are you providing catering? Do you have a table for signing and selling your books? How many people are you expecting to attend? Will there be another form of entertainment offered in conjunction with your book launch? Perhaps you might employ a prominent figure to help promote your book to add increased interest in your event and even encourage the presence of media coverage.Offer stacks of sales flyers in case your guests are on the fence about buying your book. Include in your flyer a photo of the books cover, passages from the book, information about the author, and maybe a purchasing coupon. These can be simple to put together yourself, or you can hire a service to produce them, either in color or in black and white. Some services also offer an electronic version of the flyer so you can send them via email.If the books author is present at a book launch to sign copies, guests feel compelled to purchase a copy while they have the chance to secure the authors signature. Consider also offering a discount during the event to encourage additional sales.A book launch provides excellent exposure for your book. However, some authors wish to not be the center of attention or cant reach their intended audience in person. In that case, there are several other options for marketing and promoting your book.Marketing your bookWhen youre self-publishing, marketing can prove to be a difficult task, so you should start the process as soon as possible. When you have the delivery date for your print book , start your efforts to spread the word about your book. If you feel youre not up to the task, you can hire a publicist to do the heavy lifting for you.Create a web site. This is essential for any Internet marketing endeavor. Always add your URL to your e-mail signature; every email you send will serve as a piece of marketing material.If youre self-marketing, compose a list of potential buyers and their contact information. If you are marketing to a specific group, especially if youve written a nonfiction book, search online for relevant groups and stores that would be interested in selling your book.Local outletsMany bookstores sell books only from publishing houses, so youll need to get creative when coming up with places to market and sell your self-published book. Try the following marketing destinations:Hotel lobbies and transport centersMuseums and art galleriesWriters festivals and reading groupsLocally owned stores and gift shopsOther places might let you display sales flyer s or brochures about your book, such as libraries, newsstands, and community centers.Press releaseCompose a press release and send it to your local newspaper, journals, and other related publications. This costs you very little money and can provide excellent advertisement for your book. You might get a published book review out of the process, which is a free and effective way to generate sales.Media coverageContact your community radio station to read your press release, and provide the staff a copy of the book. You might even target a station that typically broadcasts art programs.Get your book reviewed. Many people base their book-buying decisions on recommendations from colleagues. Determine which reviewers will give you a favorable review in a short amount of time, and send them a copy. Remember that reviewers are not obliged to review every book they receive.Cost of printing: Is it a deal-breaker?Now lets talk about printing cost. In the past, authors had to shell out a massi ve upfront fee to print out hundreds (or even thousands) of copies of their books with the hope that they would all sell. Unfortunately, many of those books ended up in the landfill. Today, although print books do cost more to produce than electronic versions, there are services that can prevent you from having to spend a huge sum to print stacks of copies youre not sure will sell right away.One such service is called print on demand (POD). With this service, you send your text and cover art to a company that offers this service (Ingram Spark and CreateSpace are a couple of options). Then, when a potential reader buys a book from Barnes Noble, Amazon, or other online book retailer, the POD service prints one copy and sends it to the customer.Not only is this a cool service, but it also offers several benefits:You pay nothing upfront for printing.You dont have to store stacks of books.You wont have to ship your book every time someone orders a copy.There is much less waste of unsold books.No cumbersome reminder of the copies you have yet to sell.These POD companies offer this service for free (while just charging a small portion of each sale), so that makes your self-publishing load quite a bit lighter! Most significantly, it eases the pain many authors face when they shell out a high upfront printing cost for a huge print run.The task of self-publishing can be intimidating, but its not impossible at all. Remember that youre not alone when planning your book editing, printing, launch, and promotion; help can be found around every corner!

Egyptian architecture Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Egyptian architecture - Research Paper Example A deep delineation and an in-depth analysis of the structural study of the great pyramids, monuments, temples and tombs remaining along with little domestic structure shall focus considerable light on the pertinent characteristics inherent in the Egyptian architecture. The most potent characteristics of the Egyptian architecture were its consistent nature. With very little scope of variation or alteration, the set designs and forms were repeated in the designs of almost all the periods. As regards to the building materials of the structure, one can notice the use of sun-baked mud bricks and use of plenty of stones specially sandstone, granites and limestone in all the architectures. This was because of scanty availability of wood. The architecture comprises symmetry; walls are generally thick and are generally not broken due to fenestration. The use of rectangular shapes is very prominent in the form of architecture and the walls are highlighted with colorful decorations upholding walls and columns. The visual metaphors are very strong displaying hierarchy and power game prevalent in the society. Motifs of the Egyptian architectural detail comprise Egyptian ornaments of spiral, papyrus and circles. Tomb structures are very common in the Egyptian architecture and the cut temples where various religious ceremonies and rituals were held is their traditional form of building structures commonly found (Arnold 2-203). Egyptians had generally constructed three types of tombs. Among them, Mastabas or the funerary mounds and the Pyramids constructed during the initial period of the 4th dynasty are the iconic symbol of Egypt captivating within them the mummies of the great kings symbolizing eternal power and divinity (Harwood, May and Sherman 1-210). There is no end to the study of the architecture of Egypt, like the mummy of the Tutankhamen or the pyramids, their motif, structure and most importantly use of science and comprehension of geometry at that

Mises vs weber Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Mises vs weber - Essay Example Mises’ economic analyses of bureaucracy also identified the key differences between bureaucracy, profitable organisations, and unprofitable organisations. He demonstrated that â€Å"government bureaucracy will be unable to engage in an economic calculation and thus will suffer from significant inefficiencies† (Francu and Hociung 159). Consequently, Mises clearly distinguished between bureaucratic management and profit management. On the other hand, Weber, considered as the ‘father’ of bureaucracy, proposed the fundamentals of an explicit theory of bureaucracy (Francu and Hociung 159). He not only pioneered the most â€Å"comprehensive, classic formulations about the characteristics of bureaucracy†, but his ideas also ranged across a whole spectrum of historical, political, economic, and political thought† (Weber (2) 50). According to Francu and Hociung (159), he built on the premise that increasing efficiency of the bureaucratic organisations in carrying out complex activities resulted in the growth of the bureaucratic organisation. Thus, the ideal bureaucratic system was an organisational scheme where competence and not force or tradition formed the basis for the allocation of power (Weber (1) 25-30). Thesis Statement: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the opposing perspectives of Ludwig von Mises and Max Weber on bureaucracy and its consequences on society. It will be argued that Mises had a better understanding and a more realistic approach emphasizing bureaucracy’s adverse effects on society and the economy, as compared to Weber’s views on the need for institutional structure. Mises’ Austrian sociology is similar in some respects to the Weberian school; however they are two different methodologies. They usually address different topics. With the discipline of sociology becoming institutionalized around the Durkheimian or Weberian schools, Anderson (3)