Illustration Essay on Chelsea Football Club

The Blues and the Pensioners — both are names attributed to the London-based football club, because of obviously the color and the traditional name.The club is easily one of the best teams in the world, brushing shoulders with the likes of Manchester United and Real Madrid. In the current season of 2008-2009, Chelsea is highly regarded by football experts as top contenders not only in the top flight football league in England, the Barclay’s Premiere League but also in Europe’s most prestigious competition, the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) Champions League.With all trophies except for the Carling Cup still available, it seems that they are on the right track in winning at least one major trophy. Hence, Chelsea is one of the top teams in Europe because of its talent-laden squad from all around the world.World Class PlayersChelsea is arguably the most talented football club in the world. Most of the club’s first team players are also in thei r respective countries’ national team. For example, Petr Cech, the club’s goal keeper, earned the right to wear the number 1 kit for both his club and his homeland, Czech Republic. He has helped Chelsea win back to back Premiership titles in the 2004-2005 and 2005-2006 seasons. (chelseafc.com) He has also helped Czech Republic in their World Cup and Euro campaigns, leading the team to pass their qualifying rounds. With his tall frame at 6 ft 5 inches and his good form, he is considered one of the best goalkeepers in the world—a class belonging to Iker Cassilas of Spain and Gianluigi Buffon of Italy.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Chelsea is also the home of England’s finest players—Frank Lampard, Ashley Cole, Joe Cole, and John Terry are key players for England’s manager Fabio Capello. If Shaun Wright-Philips and Wayne Bridge had not left the club, six players on the England side would have been from Chelsea. Of all these Englis h players, Frank Lampard is the best in the business of commanding the midfield. At 30 years old, he is playing like he was 25.He holds the English Premiere League record for having the most number of consecutive games (164). During the 2004-2005 season, only Thiery Henry was able to beat Frank Lampard in the individual awards of the Premiership in the same season.(chelseafc.com) He has been a regular on the Three Lions’ (England) squad, with regular caps on their Euro 2004 and World Cup 2006 campaign.He raised the bar in midfield scoring by touching net numerous times. Currently, only Ronaldo, the Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) world player of the year from Manchester United, is better than Frank Lampard in the league. Lampard, along with John Terry, captains the club.John Terry, otherwise known as â€Å"Mr. Chelsea,† is the captain of not only Chelsea but also of the English Squad. Among the active central defenders in the world, he is on th e top of the list. Ashley Cole, on the other hand, is the very definition of an attacking defender.He has earned numerous caps as an England international and has sealed his position in the left back of the club. He does not score that often, but his threat on goal frees up space in the pitch. His most successful stint as an English player was during the Euro 2004 campaign where he was named as one of the all-star squad for the competition. (chelseafc.com). The other Cole, Joe Cole, is also a midfield player known for his pace and creativity.Joe Cole is the perennial wing man for both the club and country. It does not matter if he is on the left or the right; he is effective on either side. Last season, he has scored a total of 10 goals in all competitions in 45 appearances — more appearances than anyone in the club. (chelseafc.com). His presence at the England side is also constant as he has been capped regularly for the Euro 2004 and World Cup 2006.Portugal has the most num ber of internationals in the club who have proven their worth for previous clubs and country. Ricardo Carvalho, together with John Terry, is the most formidable partnership in defense in club football.The quintet of Carvalho, Bosingwa, Deco, Hilario, and recently signed on-loan Quaresma fills all positions in the pitch, with Paulo Fereira to spare. Only Hilario from the group does not have much international experience to boot. Nevertheless, he has proven his goal-saving prowess during the Champions League run last season where he stepped up during the absence of Cech and Cudicini. Deco, meanwhile, despite appearing mostly as a sub later this season, has done it all with Barcelona.

Operations Management and Csr Essay

Why are operations the most vulnerable sector of any company when considering CSR? I. Introduction As globalization continues, the earth’s natural processes transform local problems into international issues along with the development of international commercial activities. Few communities are being left untouched by major environmental issues and social problems. As one of the most active and influential elements of the human society, the business world has been required, for several decades, to shoulder more responsibility by their consumers and society in general. The concept of corporate social responsibility (CSR) draws more and more attention from all sectors of society, and is considered as an issue that we cannot afford to ignore. As we take into account the increasingly serious environmental problems and social issues such as inequitable growth, corporate social responsibility can no longer be used as a slogan or a tool of self-glorification, but rather as a pressing task for all companies, who contribute to these problems. In a day and age when technology allows us to be informed in real time, strategies such as â€Å"green-washing† may only accelerate the deterioration of a company’s image. Consequently, the CSR should be treated as an issue that can be solved only by creating synergies between several functions within a company. From establishing product concepts or services to manufacturing, from delivering goods to recycling waste, every single step of the process may have an enormous impact on whether a company decides to become socially responsible. For this reason operations management is at the core of the CSR discussion, given that it involves the design and control of the production process. Though the principles of operations management and that of CSR have factors in common, such as reducing waste and energy saving, the traditional vision of cutting cost as more as possible conflict with the spirit of sharing value with all shareholders, making operations management the most vulnerable function when considering CSR. The objective for operations managers, increasing profits with less resource, can be quite affected by the value of corporate social responsibility. In this essay, we try to respond the question: Why are operations the most vulnerable sector of any company when considering CSR? After presenting several main concepts and the background of this problematic, we will give three reasons to answer the question above with analysis and examples. Finally, we will put forward our proposals and previsions then come to a conclusion. II. Concepts and background 1. Corporate social responsibility Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a concept firstly raised by Andrew Carnegie (1835-1919) and developed in the USA. According to him, a businessman should, first of all, accumulate his capital, and then distribute his fortune to society. As he said: â€Å"Man who dies rich dies disgraced†¦If you want to be happy, set a goal that commands your thoughts, liberates your energy and inspires your hopes.† (Banerjee, 2007) After this initial definition, the concept of CSR drew more attention from both academic circles and the business world in the second half of the twentieth century. According to Howard R. Bowen, enterprises should make and practice the policies that aim to create values desired by the society (Bowen, 1953). On the contrary, Milton Friedman insisted that the only duty of corporations is to augment the fortune for their shareholders. Is his article on the New York Times in 1970, he said: â€Å"The social responsibility of business is to make profit.† Since the first decade of the twenty first century Concern from governments and appeals from non-government organizations put this issue under the spot light. In 2001, the European Commission defines the CSR as â€Å"the voluntary integration of social, environmental firms in their business operations and their relationships with all internal and external stakeholders (†¦) in order to fully comply with applicable legal requirements, invest in human capital and respect its environment (ecology and territory)† (European Commission, 2001). Moreover, we can observe a combination of concepts from corporate social responsibility and sustainable development. 2. Operations management Operations management is the activity of managing the resources which produce and deliver products and services. A close relation with products and main services makes the operations function central to all kinds of organizations. It is one of the three cores of business, with the marketing (including sales) function, and the product / service development. Rather than an isolated island within a company, the operations function is involved in a high degree of interaction with others. For example, it has to keep in touch with product development function to assure that the firm has the capabilities to manufacture the design of a new product. For the same reason, there is a synergy between operations function and marketing that helps match the sales power with production. (Nigel Slack et al., 2010) The importance of this integrated way of working has been known for long time, but it is the development of information system that makes it possible. Thanks to systems like Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), companies can, on one hand, facilitate the communication with their partners and suppliers, and promote the collaboration among functions. In order to compete in an ever-changing global economy, enterprises make an emphasis on the efficiency and productivity of their manufacturing process, aiming to maximize advantages on price, quality, as well as satisfaction of costumers. The important role of operations management in the company, and the influence it exerts to other echelons of the value chain, make it crucial for managers to consider when they think about environmental and social issues. 3. Background: evolutions on global market During the last three decades, we can observe that two elements are changing rapidly in the business world, the continuous development of international trade and production, and the wide use of the Internet. We cannot talk about CSR or operations management without considering these issues. International trade and production Once a business reaches a certain economic level, it usually aspires to reach an international level (Czinkota & Ronkainen, 2004). This sort of ambition will lead to a series of actions and changes in the strategy of the operations functions. For instance, problems in adaptation to the economic environment and culture in the target country, may cause repercussions on materials sourcing or the integration of products. Even a change of format or packaging requires coordination between the marketing department and the operations function. At the same time, trans-national delivery demands a higher degree of reliability and efficiency from the supply chain, demanding significant improvements of operations management. On the other hand, more and more multinationals locate their facilities in third world countries, raising environmental and social problems in the host country. While they benefit form relatively low cost of raw material, energy and labor, these industrial giants leave behind high levels of pollution ad cause a scarcity in resources (DeTienne & Lewis, 2005). Globalization has not eliminated the inequality between countries, but rather has aggravated the problem. Wider use of Internet First, the explosion of e-commerce has profoundly altered the way we do business. Especially when we talk about selling online, satisfaction of customers is no longer determined only by products themselves, but also deeply influenced by the performance of supply chain, manifesting mainly by issues of delivery and after sale service (Lannoo & Ankri, 2007). Whether taking care of these tasks internally, or outsourcing to third-party companies, companies and their operations function will be faced with unprecedented challenges and risks. Second, the Internet serves as a tool for all members of the society to be informed, to understand and even monitor a company. In many countries like France, annual reports of listed companies are now required to include a CSR report. Along with economic performances of these firms, their contribution to communities and the environment is also be available on their official web sites. In this case, managers have to take more voluntary and effective acti ons to fulfill their promises to the public. III. Major reasons for vulnerability 1. Outside pressures There is no doubt that some of companies give priority to value creation for all shareholders such as the Body Shop. However, in reality, most companies make an effort to achieve their CSR goals largely because of increasing pressures from all sectors of society. Some of these requirements are focusing on the production process and delivery of goods, and thus put tremendous stress on the operations function. First of all, we could compare Traditional and Modern views of Corporate Social Responsibility applied to Operational Management. Within the company, operational management works as an integration of several functions such as: Engineering or Manufacturing (Inventory, Planning, Material Flow, Quality etc.), Distribution (Suppliers, Transport), accounting etc.; with interrelated operations such as: Finance, Human Resources, Marketing and etc. This can be applied to any type of organization, regardless of its sector (Manufacturing, HealthCare, Wholesaling, Retail, Banking etc.) Modern CSR approach creates vulnerabilities to Operational Management because even seemingly insignificant change or disturbance in one participant (function) can influence whole loop of Supply Chain, which can therefore negatively influence company’s behavior in regards to Social Corporate Responsibility and even affect the goals for efficient Operations Management. There are eight possible competitive priorities (goals), which fall into four groups: In the event of such disturbance, most of companies tend to forget their tactics and strategies regarding CSR/ long-term or sustainability goals and use to short-term solutions, no matter what the price to the environment, society, employees, consumers or stakeholders. We have concluded that most important vulnerabilities within the Organization are: * New concepts and re-design (products and services) It is quite clear that creation of new concepts and re-design of products/services is crucial for every company. The first step or designing, creating new or modifying product is generating ideas which furthermore need to be properly tested, feasibility study conducted, no matter how great the ideas seems to be. The process is lengthy and complicated: Therefore, the re-design itself can become CSR problem due to: * Waste Management, additional energy consumption, recyclability * Social impact of the product and Customer Safety * Layoffs (employees and suppliers) in case of restructuring or failure. For example, Michelin has failed to launch its run-flat PAX tire, which could be driven while being damaged, at highway speeds, for a hundred miles or more. Unfortunately, in order to use these tires, the under-body of the cars would need to be redesigned, new equipment and new skills would need to be acquired by the mechanics. As Michelin failed to analyze complete consumption chain of this new concept, the production line had to be discontinued. This was not only a commercial fail, but looking from the CSR point of view, it also had negative social impact such as layoffs, the time and resources used up for R&D, Marketing and other operations which could have been used for more efficient and value-added products. (Harvard Business Review 2007) * Transportation/ Logistics The location of the headquarters/warehouse and any other business unit has an important impact on Operations management and is one of the most vulnerable points when considering CSR. Transportation can have significant environmental impact: business flights, employee commuting and the movement of goods may cause emissions and leaks, including air pollutants, greenhouse gases and water pollution. As transportation is unavoidable for a manufacturing firm, operations management helps to reduce the impact, however due to complexity of the interrelated operations it can become vulnerable. For example, Company A is a supplier of Raw Materials; Company B is a customer, which needs Raw Materials to manufacture goods. In the event of a raw material production delay in Company A, scheduled standard delivery might need to be re-scheduled to a special express dedicated delivery to the Company B because, let’s say, due to this delay and bad planning Company B will have a production stop. Such delivery would be considered inefficient, as it is costly, fuel inefficient, increases pollution, pressurizes truck driver, moving from standard procedures to special procedures, additional pressure and stress for employees from both companies etc. One may argue, that the production stop would cause more negative impact than the rushed delivery, however it is difficult to weight the impact, there is the need to address root causes. If the planning and security stock from both sides was well managed, the express delivery would not have been necessary. To conclude, no matter how efficient Logistics processes are created within the company, human error is unavoidable; therefore Operations Management becomes vulnerable when considering CSR. * Waste and Recycle One of the most tragic examples of an operational failure is Chernobyl disaster in 1986, polluting and creating toxicity and waste problems. Not only companies need to manage the basic production safety and reduce accident rate, but they also need to recycle as much possible, manage day-to-day waste safely and create lean product life cycle. However, these processes are subject to vulnerability when considering SCR as there could be a graver damage made by conducting these operations. Recycling Companies such as HP who organize the recycling of the old cartridges or companies such as Nespresso who collect used coffee capsules, shows a great example of how to reduce the environmental impact of its products. However as great as it might appear, many other aspects need to be taken into consideration, for example supply chain system needs to be created to collect and transport these used items, special environmentally friendly bags or boxes for the pick-up point’s needs to be produced. Remembering Michelin case, where it failed to analyses it’s complete consumption chain, HP and Nespresso had to find a way to encourage consumer to bring back their empty cartridges and capsules. In their cases, it is successful, however it is vulnerable and could become a failure if the participation level of consumer is low. Waste Most significant waste issue is well noticeable in chemical industry or any other industry where waste is hazardous or is non-recyclable or non-reusable. The solution would be to improve the operation processes and to avoid unnecessary waste, however this is proven to be impossible due to human error and especially in chemical industry where chemical reactions can create unusable waste. The hazardous waste management is controlled by the legislation and will be discussed later on in the essay. Not only materials are considered to be waste, but also energy and labor waste – companies try to be more efficient by implementing just-in-time and lean process, however there is a clear vulnerability when considering CSR: at what price do company’s adopt their just in time principles? Overcrowded and polluted roads would be most direct negative impacts, but there are also other social impacts, which will be discussed in more detail in â€Å"organization evolution† section. * Organizational evolution Performance Measure There is no doubt that Performance Measure is highly important in Operational Management as well as for any other part of the business, however measuring and setting standards have negative social consequences, especially for the employees. Reduction of costs and prices, increasing customer experience, quality conformance, the speed of delivery, reliability of delivery could cause serious stress and working hour’s fluctuations for the employees. An example of the employee struggle to meet the set performance level is making data look better than it is by leaving out certain information, some company’s set high un-reasonable standards or in some quarters the performance cannot be met due to external factors causing stress. Continuous Improvement Kaizen is a Japanese system promoting Continuous Improvement or in other worlds never ending journey of improvements. There are many approaches such as the Deming Cycle (Plan, Do, Act, Check), tools and techniques to conduct the Continuous Improvement process. The benefits for efficiency and profit are unquestionable, however when considering CSR we can find many vulnerabilities. A good example of Continuous Improvement is Business Process re-engineering (BPR) which is a way of reconfiguration of processes in an appropriate level to provide highest value to the customers and improving critical areas. However again, at what cost when considering CSR? As BPR requires organizational change which requires changes in staff attitudes and could possibly result in loss of positions for many, reduction of responsibilities for others, the fear for Hire and Fire. Also, as tasks become more efficient, they also become more repetitive and less challenging. (T.Hill 2005) To summarize: Main social considerations of operations management decisions 2. Outside Partners As the world continues to expand we are starting to understand the consequences that our development has not only on the environment but also on society. Due to this new consciousness we have seen the emergence of different attempts to confront these environmental and social issues. Corporate Social Responsibility or CSR is one of the most commonly used concepts within the business world. Historically CSR has been only partially integrated as a philanthropic effort. Little by little the environmental issues caused by everyday operations of a company have also integrated the concept of CSR. With this change in definition, companies have actively trying to reduce their impact on the environment and society. As an essential function of a company, Operations Managements is constantly affected by these decisions. If, for example, a company decides to reduce their packaging it will be the operations department that will have to manage this change. Suppliers When we consider the impacts on Operations Management when integrating CSR to a company, we must go farther and analyze the impact on all outside partners such as suppliers. When we decide to integrate a CSR action, especially within the manufacturing process we need our suppliers to integrate the same change on their process. As customers begin to become more conscientious about environmental and societal issues they are demanding companies to make many changes. Within the clothing industry this green movement was reflected by customers asking for organically grown cotton to be used in the manufacturing of products such as Nike. In this kind of situation we see how the responsibility immediately falls on the supplier to change their process. This sort of sudden changes leaves the operations function of a company quite vulnerable, as they have to trust that their suppliers will be able to change their process without increasing costs. When there is a synergy between a manufacture and its suppliers such changes can be made with collaborations. A great example of this is how the company Esquel managed to give their customer the organic cotton they needed by managing their whole supplier chain. Instead of just demanding their own suppliers to supply the needed product they worked with 1st and 2nd tier suppliers and built a sustainable procurement chain (H. Lee 2010). In the last few years we have seen how many manufacturing companies who have simply demanded certain changes to their suppliers, but do not think about make an effort to assist in this change, and most importantly they do not control the whole procurement chain. This was the case of Mattel who made it clear to its 1st tier suppliers that no lead paint could be used when manufacturing its products, yet it never thought of auditing its 2nd tier suppliers or furthermore the outsourced production its main supplier had. This type of opaque supply chain makes operations very vulnerable and can cause, like in Mattel’s case severe financial repercussions (N. Sun 2007). The new shared-value concept developed by Porter and Kramer has introduced the idea that by collaborating with all the actors in a value chain we can create value while still respecting CSR. A company that has been able to smoothly transition into this new shared-value concept is Toyota. The deep relation that exists between Toyota and its manufacturers has allowed them to naturally apply changes that create a win-win situation for them and its suppliers. The Toyota company culture naturally includes the idea of shared-value and has a long-term mentality (Spear Bowen 1999).

America and Vietnam Essay Example for Free

America and Vietnam Essay Olsen and Roberts are both history professors who are fascinated with the ways by which the American government made the situation of the war with Vietnam a fearful yet victorious even for the reputation of the said country. The authors were then able to contribute their thoughts about the situation thus seeing the situation of the past wars a manifestation of the reputation of the American society in the world account of recognized countries of war and reconciliation. Their book â€Å"Where the Domino Fell† actually pictures the actual situations that happened during the American-Vietnamese war during the 1960’s and how the said history particularly affects the relationship of the two countries involved. About the Book [Content and Summary] The overall content of the book is highly recommended for reading and teaching as it gives a clear yet critical approach in assessing the US policy that controlled the Vietnam society from then until the present. Undeniably, the book of Olsen and Roberts is an awakening material that helps the human mind realize the importance of being diplomatic and lawful even when in the middle of distress. Surprisingly, the American society was able to steel a fine reputation out from all the oppression that they have already implicated upon the Vietnamese society during the war years. Through the critical assessment of the situation, the authors intended to give the readers a fine picture not only of what is or what has been obvious but also a glimpse of the truth behind the scenes of historical accounts written in books today. Implications of the Reading As it has been noted earlier, the reading gave a clear depiction of what has happened and why the said events happened during the American-Vietnamese war in the 1960’s. With the insightful informations that the authors posted through their book, they were able to help readers realize what the facts are and how they particularly affect the present relationship that exists between the said countries. Critique of the Writing Approach As for the writing approach of the authors, it is undeniable that the informations that they posted through the reading were carefully assessed thus giving out validated facts that support their explanations of the said historical event. The clarity of the implications of the reading has been strengthened by the documentations that the authors used to show the authenticity of the reading. The utilization of other researches that supported their claims and opinions made the book a must read not only for professors and students, but also for those individuals who endeavor reading books under the typical yet critical approach of understanding history and American politics. Within the context of the book lies a less-traveled path among the historians of the present times. Olsen and Roberts certainly made it clear that history is a human account needed to be understood and learned from through critical observation of the past. Reference: James S. Olson and Randy Roberts. (2006). Where the Domino Fell: America and Vietnam 1945-2006 [ILLUSTRATED]. Blackwell Publishing Limited; 5 edition. America and Vietnam. (2017, May 10).

Marbury v. Madison Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Marbury v. Madison - Essay Example The facts that surrounded Marbury’s case were very complex. To begin with, following the election of 1800; the emergent Democratic-Republican Party led by Thomas Jefferson won the election against the John Adam’s Federalist Party. This defeat by Thomas Jefferson created an atmosphere of partisan anxiety for the lame duck Federalists2. As Adams became close to completing his term in office, he appointed several justice of peace for the District of Columbia who were approved by the Senate and received the president’s approval. The President’s signature was affixed with the government’s official seal. The commissions were not delivered; nonetheless, upon President Jefferson’s assumption of office by March 5, 1801, he ordered his Secretary of State by the name of James Madison, not to deliver the commissions. One of the appointees called William Marbury, and then filed a petition to the Supreme Court for a legal order or a writ of mandamus that aimed at compelling Madison to show the reasons behind him not being eligible to receive his commission. Chief Justice Marshall was called upon to solve the case, and was to respond to three questions. One of the questions was to determine whether Marbury has a right to writ for which he petitioned. The second one was whether the U.S. laws permitted the court to grant Marbury such a legal order. The third question was, if they did, could such a writ be supplied by the Supreme Court3? Responding to the first question, Marshal made a ruling that stated that Marbury had been legitimately appointed in accordance to the law, and thus, had a right to the writ. He further stated that since Marbury had a legal right to his commission and the law was to award him a remedy. The Chief Justice went ahead and indicated that it was the particular obligation of the courts to protect

Management Accounting assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Management Accounting - Assignment Example Cost is the most important factor which influences the management decision. The management needs to maximize its cost by different policies such as just in time, target costing etc but should not compromise on the products quality (Straus, 1989).. Target Costing: Target costing is one of the new costing techniques used by managers to minimize its cost effectively. Target costing is cost based pricing. Target costing enable the managers to manage the business most effectively in a competitive market place. It enables the managers to plan and manage the cost in the early stages of design and development cycle. Hence maximize the profit with no compromise on product. Target cost is selling price less desired profit. As in target costing the cost limit is specified first which may lead to omission of essential costs leading to loss. It can also be expected that the calculation of target cost is not accurate leading to mismanagement and increasing the risk of failure. This strategy requir es exclusive coordination and cooperation. This may reduce the quality of the products due to cheap components whose quality maybe inferior (Carlsson-Wall, 2011).  . Total Quality Management: Total quality management is a policy to continually improve the quality of products and processes. It is the management of organization’s all resources both human and material in most effective manner to achieve the objectives of the organization. In this the management uses the strategy of involving all the employees in the improvement of the quality of products and processes focusing on customer needs and their satisfaction. Customers are willing to pay high prices also for good quality products which the competitors are not providing them. The quality of processes can be improved by eliminating unnecessary steps resulting in efficiency of the processes and reducing the time wastage. All these improvements attract the customers towards our products and making the organization more pr ofitable by increased sales and good market share and repute (European Society For Organisational Excellence, 1990).  . The cost of introducing the concept of total quality management is high and staff needs to be trained without disrupting the process of production which may lead the organization to face loss by increasing the expense. The improvements process is continual which may not be maintained for many years. The employees maybe resistant to change leading to demotivation. Throughput Accounting: Throughput Accounting is a management approach. It provides managers with support for decision making for improving the organizations profitability. It is a process of identification of constraints for an organization in meeting their goals. Throughput focuses on generating more output unlike typical cost accounting approaches of cutting costs for maximizing the profit. It speeds up the rate of output by eliminating the constraints of the organizat

Healthcare Finance Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

Healthcare Finance - Assignment Example This saves time and resources dedicated to budgeting (Shim, Siegel & Shim, 2012). Top-down approach also minimizes unnecessary spending by the various departments and helps streamline an organization’s accounting processes. This further helps an organization to stay financially firm while avoiding cost overruns. This is unlike the bottom up approach where departments make their own budgets and pass them to the upper executives. The major risk that comes with this approach is the possibility of experiencing cost overruns, which can be financially damaging (Shim, Siegel & Shim, 2012). By leaving the responsibility of budgeting to the upper management, chances of costs overruns are greatly reduced. A top-down approach can also be used to help departments know what is expected of them. Each department is allocated a budget according to the expectations of the organization on that department. This is ideal in a situation where an organization wants to reduce on its

An empirical analysis of manufacturing overhead cost drivers Essay

An empirical analysis of manufacturing overhead cost drivers - Essay Example According to a Cornell University website, Gordon Potter is still with the School of Hotel Administration of the Cornell University. The same website revealed that Cornell has a PhD in Accounting from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, an M.S. in Accounting from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, and a B.A. Economics from Rutgers College-Rutgers University. The economics background of Gordon Potter may partly explain why the research methodology employed by Banker et al. (1995) are similar to those used in economics or in econometrics. In Cornell University, Potter has been an Associate Professor since 1993 until today. However, Potter has taught at the University of Wisconsin from 1982 to 1986. His resume in the Cornell University website does not reflect a job description entry from 1986 to 1993, possibly indicating that he took his PhD schooling during the period. Potter’s 5-page resume in the Cornell University website indicates Potter’s numerous achievements that included authorship of several papers.Roger Schroeder is a distinguished author in a textbook called Operations Management. According to the website of the Sage Publication, the ISI has classified him as the most highly cited scholar in the world in the field of Operations Management. The Sage Publication also reported that he holds the Frank A. Donaldson Chair in Operations Management at the Carlson University School of Management of the University of Minnesota.... (1995) are similar to those used in economics or in econometrics. In Cornell University, Potter has been an Associate Professor since 1993 until today (no indication in the Cornell University website that he was promoted in the University of Cornell since 1993). However, Potter has taught in the University of Wisconsin from 1982 to 1986. His resume in the Cornell University website does not reflect a job description entry from 1986 to 1993, possibly indicating that he took his PhD schooling during the period. Potter’s 5-page resume in the Cornell University website indicates Potter’s numerous achievements that included authorship of several papers. Roger Schroeder is a distinguished author in a textbook called Operations Management. According to the website of the Sage Publication, the ISI has classified him as the most highly cited scholar in the world in the field of Operations Management. The Sage Publication also reported that he holds the Frank A. Donaldson Chair i n Operations Management at the Carlson University School of Management of the University of Minnesota. The Sage Publication website identified Schroeder as the author of over 100 articles in academic journals. The topic addressed by the work of Banker et al. (1995), overhead costs, is an important issue for manufacturers. This is indicated by the abundance of internet entries on the concern. A quick check on the internet indicates that there are at least 3.6 million entries on the worldwide web on the importance of reducing overhead costs for manufacturers. In 1995, during which the Banker et al. (1995) was published, overhead costs is one of the primary concern of manufacturers and manufacturers had

Impact of iTunes and Other Online Services on Music Industry Research Paper

Impact of iTunes and Other Online Services on Music Industry - Research Paper Example Furthermore, the study indicates that the drop in the number of revenues is a result of two main factors; an apparent increase in piracy related issues and the ability of the potential buyers to pick and choose particular songs rather than buying the entire albums instead. Though iTunes has proved to be a dynamic and a powerful medium having the potential to revolutionize the music industry, but the drop in revenues has turned out to be a huge drawback which overpowers the apparent advantages of the medium of the industry. Impact of iTunes and other online services on music industry Introduction iTunes is like a music jukebox which is used to manage, purchase and download the music online. It is an online music library with an added feature that allows the online purchase of music. However, in contrast to the tradition purchase of music albums iTunes allow the customers to cherry-pick the particular songs instead of buying the entire albums. This in turn has various implications whic h will be addressed further on in the paper. iTunes was launched in 2003 which was a product conceived by Macintosh replaced Napster; therefore it is important to analyze and track the impacts of Napster on the industry to contrast the results with iTunes for a more credible result. The decade after Napster was replaced saw a drastic decrease in the revenues of music industry in the U.S. In contrast when Napster was first introduced in the market, the U.S music industry saw a rapid increase in the profits. According to the statistics, the U.S shipments for recorded music were increase from $5.8 billion to $12.8 billion between 1975 to 1990`s. This is a positive indicator as the recorded shipments almost doubled. However, between 1990`s to 2007, the records again dropped back to $5.5 billion. (Waldfogel 2011). The same trend was observed worldwide indicating the strong impact of iTunes in the market. Though many researches indicated that iTunes have paved way for piracy and illegal c opying of music, but iTunes was constituted in such a way that it minimizes the risks of piracy related issues. With iTunes, music can be shared in two ways, i.e. either by sharing an entire library or by sharing specific playlists. iTunes doesn`t support illegal copying of music over the internet as the music is only available to the host system where iTunes is located. Also, the music can only be retrieved by the person using the iTunes, he shuts down the system the music is no longer available for anyone to be listened. (Waldfogel 2011). iTunes protects the content by two ways, i.e. firstly by incorporating copyrights laws and secondly via contracts. However, different countries have now come up with different jailbreaks and unlocking software which allows copying of music online onto iTunes for free. Though the laws are considerably strict in U.S, but in Europe and other places the laws can be molded which results in music piracy via iTunes elsewhere. Thus, these two factors i.e . pick and choose which music to purchase, and unlocking software leading to music piracy leads towards the apparent decrease in revenues. However, according to a review by Berkeley University, the impact of peer-to peer music

Read argument assignment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Read argument assignment - Essay Example d on their respective research claim that this form of writing is not jeopardizing the written language, in fact it is contributing to development of the language. Puente, while summarizing the writing styles used in online social networks’ status updates has described in her essay how writing in this way has become an art. Humphry makes a point by saying that these abbreviations will cause communication problems, but I also agree with Crystal and Lunsford, that if standardized, and included in the dictionary, these abbreviations can become a part of the language and can be taught by linguists. Whenever there is a change, and innovation, there is a reason for it. That reason may be changing preferences of users or busy time schedules. I believe that instead of criticizing this innovation and trying to undo it, it is better to accept it, and to standardize it for easy usage in future. Majority of people around us who own mobile phones today and have access to online social networks like face book and twitter; are used to abbreviated written expressions. According to one estimate, almost 50% of the world’s population owns a cell phone (Crystal). This technology has brought about an immense change in the communication patterns of people (Puente). The frequent use of services like face book status updating; tweets in twitter and short messaging services on cell phones have given rise to a whole new form of written expression, that utilizes more abbreviations and spells different words in ways that are rather unconventional. Some theorists and linguists consider this as a threat to the survival of English language as we know it (Humphrys). Others however argue that evolution of a language is a sign of it being alive. Instead of destroying the language, introduction of new technology is actually progressive for the language and is adding up new terminology to i t, which is more preferred by its users. During the last decade, written expression of English language

Impressions of Stella Essay Example for Free

Impressions of Stella Essay A Streetcar Named Desire contains many different themes and symbolism, included by Williams to help introduce the characters and ideas of the play. I believe one of the main ideas Williams tries to convey in this play is to do with the streetcar being a metaphor for the idea of fate, going down one route and not being able to change your direction but being destined to arrive in one, pre-chosen destination. Take a streetcar named desire, and then transfer to one called the cemeteries shows further how Williams chose the name of the play to symbolise how desire and passion (in Blanches case) lead to death or self destruction. Within the first two scenes of the play, my first impressions of Stanley were that he was the alpha male, in charge of his household, very stereotypical of a working class man. You also see Stanley as quite short tempered and slightly violent without many manners. Stanley is first seen in the play in a bowling jacket which shows immediately his working class background and joy in sports. He is also carrying a red meat stained package showing his savage manliness and that he is bringing home the food for his family. His character is also constructed through the language he uses in the first scene; in a conversation with Stella he answers Catch! Meat! Bowling! Come on all very short to the point plain answers showing again he is working class with primitive speech. Throughout the play Williams builds on his character and we see a more violent and equally passionate side of Stanley as he becomes more and more angry towards Blanche finally raping her and then with Stella, as we see the violence he shows towards her suddenly change into a raw, animal like passion. Stanleys lines are very to the point and often shouted showing his working class and straight up attitude, but also his tendency to anger and need for dominance of his life and the people in it. My first impressions of Stella arise from the conversation she has with Blanche. They show her as very quiet, and quite simple compared to her sister. She appears to not be worried about her appearance, as she is wearing simple clothes that have been made dirty. This additionally shows how Stella has become more working class than the way she was brought up because she married a working class husband, and could symbolise that unlike Blanche hiding behind fancy clothes, she has nothing to hide. Right from the beginning you are given signs of Stellas infatuation with Stanley, and it seems that from Blanches speech, she has matured and settled down becoming more lower class than the class she was born into at Belle Reve. The way Blanche speaks to Stella shows the drop in class as she seems surprised and looks at Stella with a slight distaste. This is shows when she exclaims, What Two rooms, and we are shown Stellas maturity in, How quiet you are, youre so peaceful As the play goes on I dont think my impressions about Stella change dramatically I think I understand more the extent of Stellas desire for Stanley as she continues to go back to him after violence and rage. I think you learn most about Blanches character within the first two scenes although some of these impressions maybe false. Within her first conversation with Stella she comes across as very open, speaking freely and plentifully but later on we see how closed she is with a lot of history that she tries to keep hidden. She also becomes a lot frailer; she is described as a moth having to avoid strong light but as the play goes on she is shown in light and we see how old and decayed she really is. We discover in the first two scenes that Blanche is an alcoholic, and shows she is unable to control it I never had your beautiful self-control. She also shows that she is secretive about this and deceitful to Stella when the subject occurs. This shows a side of Blanches character that develops through the play as we see how much she is hiding and lying about to Stella and Stanley. I do think Blanches appearance is of her true character right through the play though, as Williams describes her daintily dressed that her appearance is incongruous to this setting of a rough neighbourhood and that Her delicate beauty must avoid strong light. I think these descriptions show more of Blanches character than the way she acts or what she says at the beginning because you are able to tell straight away she is fragile, used to posh places and could be quite snobby and that she cares about her appearance. She shows this very openly through the first conversation with Stella, wanting to show it off, look at my figure! She also shows vanity, mentioning Stellas appearance Youve put on some weight, youre as plump as a little partridge! Blanches snobbery is shown as she expectantly asks Stella, You have a maid, dont you?

Consumption and Customers in the Automobile Industry

Consumption and Customers in the Automobile Industry Yu Dai â€Å"I don’t need it but I want it, why shouldn’t I have it?† In the documentary No Impact Man, the heroine Michelle questioned her husband Colin who had proposed the environmental protection project. The question, simple while indeed stated with logical precision, involves significant issues. From the economic perspective, this situation is described as hovering between personal motivations and consumer values when making economic decisions. Personal motivations have been considered a driving force of consumption, whereas consumer values express motivational concerns according to the theory of basic human values (Schwartz, S. H., Bilsky, W.). In the end of the movie, Michelle cycled through Manhattan with her baby girl. She once could not understand why some people did not drive in New York City, but then she became one of them. It is customary to consider that â€Å"finding balance regard to values† implies compromise, in which personal desires are usu ally first sacrificed, as it did in the case of Michelle who gave up her car. Nevertheless, I argue that values can be useful in expediting technological progress and giving us guidance for consuming smarter rather than simply sacrificing motivations. The formation of consumer values cannot be divorced from the consumption behavior itself. The idea of consumption has a long history, even before the emergence of money, back to the barter system period. Consumerism in the contemporary sense, which was considered as the early immature consumer value, originated in late nineteenth century when the accomplishment of the Second Industrial Revolution further encouraged the economic development. People’s spending habits changed greatly during the past several centuries. Most economic developments in the last century have been achieved at the cost of environment, and after entering the new century, many attempts were made to change the situation. Automobile industry as one of the most representative examples shows the possibility that moral standard, as part of the consumer value, can stimulate the market to develop new technology through its influence on consumer demand and behaviors. Modern cars were invented based on the working steam-powered vehicle during the Industrial Revolution, and have become prevalent since the mass production of affordable cars by Ford Motor Company in early 1900s. The popularization of cars had made life more convenient, but meanwhile, plenty of problems arose owing to a lack of environmental consciousness in the early period. Along with the improvement of the consumer values, vehicle pollution has been a global concern with the coming of the twenty-first century. Although the inhabitants of the earth were fully aware of the importance of the environmental protection, it was still unrealistic to force them to give up owning cars in order to minimize the gas emissions and the use of petroleum resources. Therefore, there was an urgent demand for new types of cars which can be more ecofriendly. In the first decade of the new century, the design and manufacture of electric vehicles by Elon Musk is a milestone in the automobile history. Tesla Motors, the company with its incredible fully electric luxury sedan hit the wealthy who pursued fresh excitement and were willing to take responsibility for protecting the environment. The attractions of this fancy motorcar lie not only in its amazing acceleration or safety performance, but also in the use of clean energy to effectively avoid the emission of carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxides. As Tesla Roadster was introduced as a better substitute of traditional cars to the market and consumers were naturally willing to replace the old one for the reduction of gas emission and the better protection of the environment, other companies saw the great opportunity as well and launched their new products one after another. Such positive consumer-driven cycle made energy-efficient and environmental-friendly automobiles a new trend of this cen tury. Different from what had happen to other markets, consumers didn’t simply cease their consumption in automobile to ease their concerns. Instead, they stimulate the market to update the products supplied by showing great demand for new types of cars out of concern for the environment, behind which is great influence from the consumer values. It finally offers them more choices, and thus they do not need to give up their motivations. The high price of Tesla Roadster may not be affordable to everyone, but other participants also showed their great efforts to make consumption both eco-friendly and satisfying. For those who already have cars, it seems impractical to buy a new one but reasonable to replace with another kind of fuel. Consumers highly demanded some improvements made in petroleum industry in order to reduce their guilty of polluting the environment. In this situation, the appearance of hybrid gasoline is well-founded. This new fuel reduces the pollution by adding ethanol into gasoline, which remains water after the combustion. With government support and the increasing demand, the production and use of ethanol fuel boomed in the past few years. And for those who want to buy new cars with budget constraint, the promotion of highly-efficiency and clean-fuel vehicles drop the price dramatically, and provide them with many choices as well. Consumer values often succeed in giving us suggestions about what we really need and demand for right things, in which bring such innovations that allow us to avoid struggling between conscience and desire. Besides automobile industry, there are many other businesses in which consumer values successfully make progress of technology to drive industrial development. In pharmaceutical industry, it has been a long history to use rare animals in medicine. The controversy of whether bear bile should be used as medicine has never stopped. Bear bile has been used as ingredients for its high medicinal value for thousands of years. However, the methods of bile extraction were very cruel which caused untold suffering to bears. Consumers expected the development of new drug which has the same effect but without hurting animals. Under this circumstance, after half-century study and experiment in medical circle, an artificially synthetic analogue of bear bile eventually were sold on the market and used widespread. It was another success that values guidance played its role rightly to promote the upgrade and update of commodities to conform customers’ demand. And there are numerous successful e xamples in every all walks of life. During the formation of consumer value in the past few centuries, a question has been frequently asked was in what way and how it guides our consumption behaviors. I would like to point out that consumer value as an invisible ideology often makes indirectly effect on buying habits. It exerts an imperceptible influence on consumer demand, and eventually promotes the market to supply better products with advanced technologies which allowed consumers easily to make right decisions.

Nanotechnology: Immortality Or Total Annihilation? :: essays research papers

Technology has evolved from ideals once seen as unbelievable to common everyday instruments. Computers that used to occupy an entire room are now the size of notebooks. The human race has always pushed for technological advances working at the most efficient level, perhaps, the molecular level. The developments and progress in artificial intelligence and molecular technology have spawned a new form of technology; Nanotechnology. Nanotechnology could give the human race eternal life, or it could cause total annihilation. The idea of nanotech was conceived by a man named K. Eric Drexler (Stix 94), which he defines as "Technology based on the manipulation of individual atoms and molecules to build structures to complex atomic specifications (Drexler, "Engines" 288)." The technology which Drexler speaks of will be undoubtedly small, in fact, nano- structures will only measure 100 nanometers, or a billionth of a meter (Stix 94). Being as small as they are, nanostructures require fine particles that can only be seen with the STM, or Scanning Tunneling Microscope (Dowie 4). Moreover the STM allows the scientists to not only see things at the molecular level, but it can pick up and move atoms as well (Port 128). Unfortunately the one device that is giving nanoscientists something to work with is also one of the many obstacles restricting the development of nanotech. The STM has been regarded as too big to ever produce nanotech structures (Port 128). Other scientists have stated that the manipulation of atoms, which nanotech relies on, ignores atomic reality. Atoms simply don't fit together in ways which nanotech intends to use them (Garfinkel 105). The problems plaguing the progress of nanotech has raised many questions among the scientific community concerning it's validity. The moving of atoms, the gathering of information, the restrictions of the STM, all restrict nanotech progress. And until these questions are answered, nanotech is regarded as silly (Stix 98). But the nanotech optimists are still out there. They contend that the progress made by a team at IBM who was able to write letters and draw pictures atom by atom actually began the birth of nanotech (Darling 49). These same people answer the scientific questions by replying that a breakthrough is not needed, rather the science gained must be applied (DuCharme 33). In fact, Drexler argues that the machines exist, trends are simply working on building better ones ("Unbounding" 24). Drexler continues by stating that the machines he spoke about in "Engines of Creation" published in 1986 should be

The Concept of Satan in World Religions :: essays research papers fc

The concept of Satan in world religions is an interesting one that has not sufficiently been studied by scholars. We all know that Satan is a familiar character from Christianity; does the red-pajama'd, soul-stealing badass, however, appear in other religions as well, drinking the blood of newborn babes and raping evildoers with his white-hot thorned penis? As it turns out, he does (although not in his characteristic red pajamas). In Hinduism, for example, there is an evil trickster known as Majapudu, who is reputed to have twelve horns, eyes of fire, and noxious flatulence that can kill an entire village in minutes, like mustard gas. Worshipers in the south of India and in Burma, fearful of Majapudu's power, reportedly have developed an elaborate set of rites intended to pacify this worst of demons. Some of the rites include the ritual sacrifice of all infants born in the month of D'vindi (roughly mid-November to mid-December of our calendar). The religion of the aborigines of the Ukraine has a similar character, Thauraza. No traditions give any direct description of Thauraza, though, He is said to travel around the countryside in a giant ball of fire, only stepping out to devour the occasional soul and send it to thousands of years of torment in his miles-long sulphurous bowels. Not all Satan characters in world religions, though, are terrifying. Others are more like tricksters, or, even worse, like that frat brother everyone had who was always able to score at any party, no matter what. The Indonesians, for example, tell of a mysterious stranger known as Jobimba, or "mystery man," who would occasionally come into a town, seduce all of the women under thirty, and then leave them pregnant and unfulfilled by their less seductive husbands. The resulting social dysfunction that would ensue was said to be worse than that caused by a thousand episodes of "Dr. Phil." In sum, many world religions talk about Satan (or someone who looks a lot like him). Maybe that's the most important thing about Satan-- he goes by many names and wears many faces (the Devil, the Lord of the Flies, Prince of Darkness, even Jobimba).

Robert Frost Essay -- essays research papers

Robert Lee Frost was born in San Francisco on March 26, 1874 and died in Boston on January 29, 1963. Frost was considered to be one of America’s leading 20th century poets and a four-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize. He was an essentially pastoral poet who was often associated with rural New England. Frost wrote poems of a philosophical region. His poems were traditional but he often said as a dig at his archrival Carl Sandburg, that â€Å"he would soon play tennis without a net as write free verse.† Frost said this because he believed he was a pioneer of rhythm and meter and in the poetic use of vocabulary and inflections of everyday life and speech. Frost’s poetry is considered to be traditional, experimental, regional, and universal (Robert 1997).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Frost was born of two teachers. At the age of ten, Frost suffered the loss of his father. After the death of his father, his mother moved to Lawrence, Massachusetts. He grew up in a teaching atmosphere, along with its problems. Early in Frost's school career, he was extremely careless and preferred fun and game to his studies. In high school, he decided to apply and involve himself in many areas. He graduated in three years from high school at the head of his class. After high school he attended Dartmouth and Harvard but ended up not finishing at either due to personal problems (Newdick).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  He was destined to be a teacher. Frost after not making it in college, went to teach at his mother's school in Salem, New Hampshire. In 1912 he went to England to be with his family, and in his publication of North of Boston, in 1914, he was finally hailed as the great artist that he truly was. After he returned to America in 1915, he went to Harvard and read a poem for some exercises, and was instantly honored by institutions of higher learning by their conferring degrees on him (Biography).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Throughout Frost's 60 years of existence, he spent 30 of those years teaching a half a dozen subjects. He has taught in schools ranging from plain white country schoolhouses in his native land of New England to the proud American Universities. He has gained half a lifetime of considered experience and philosophical observations (Libraries). In the critical analysis that I read, the critics were hard on Frost’s work â€Å"Road not taken.† The first critic, William George, starts off by attacking other critics, saying they misin... ... with right or wrong situations, and the speaker has to choose which road, or decision, to take. I like to think that I can somewhat relate to the speaker. I have had to make many choices throughout my life and I will never know whether my choices were right or wrong until I made them. The speaker kind of concludes the poem by saying that he is relieved that he chose the right road to take. I look back and wonder if I had chosen a few different roads, how everything would have come out. I think that a lot of the roads I chose to take have been good, as far as I know. Work Cited â€Å"Biography† www.pro-net.co.uk/home/catalyst/RF/bio.html. 2000. Cervo, Nathan "Frost's The Road Not Taken" Proquest March 27. George, William "Frost's The Road Not Taken" Proquest March 27. "Libraries/media centers: Robert Frost Elementary school." American school and University; Overland Park; Aug 1999. Newdick, Robert S. "Robert Frost and the American college." The Journal of Higher Education; Columbus; Sep./Oct. 1999. â€Å"Robert Frost on the Web† http://www.amherstcommon.com/walking_tour/frost.html.1997. â€Å"Robert Frost (1874-1963)† http://www.lit.kobe-u.ac.jp/~hishika/frost.htm 2000.

Addressing Gary’s Aggressive Behavior in School

From The Four Mistaken Goals of Children’s Misbehavior – Diagnosis and Remediation (cited from Dreikurs and Soltz, 1987), these goals are seeking undue attention, power, revenge, and inadequacy (PSYCHOTHERAPY INSTITUTE). Gray’s case falls in the goal seeking undue power. In this type of mistaken goal, there are still 2 types: the active power and the passive power. The active power is the one which the child sees himself and acts like a boss to other people around him.On the other hand, passive ones would refer to those that do not allow themselves to under the authority of other people. Basically, being a new student in Ms. Adams fifth grade class, Gary’s primary response is to be defensive of his own self. People like Gary creates the I’m-in-charge atmosphere and, feeling that they are the boss, they refuse to cooperate with other people. According to the Psychotherapy Institute the effective way to deal with this kind of behavior is for Ms. Adams to not to tolerate Gary’s behavior.Primarily, she should listen first to Gary. There should have a communication between them as to why the child misbehaves himself and its effects to other people. Choices must be also available for Gary. When he misbehaves, he should be redirected to a similar yet pleasing manner (University of New Hampshire Cooperative Extension, 2002). Bargains should be made such that the child is not acknowledged of his misbehavior instead made to do something more agreeable.In here, some privileges too can be suspended due to his misdemeanor (Keep Kids Healthy, 1999). Schools have different strategies in dealing with student misdemeanors. To deal with them is one of the major aspects in classroom management in which educators, administrators and parents are to provide a safe, compassionate and well motivated environment for everyone especially the children (Blomberg, 2004).Misbehavior in School ReferencesBlomberg, N. (2004). Effective Discipline for Misbehavior: In School vs. Out of School Suspension. Villanova University: Department of Education and Human Services.Dreikurs, R. and Soltz, V. (1987). Children: the Challenge. OK, USA: Plume.

Do you agree that Yeats creates a scene of tragic intensity in Purgatory?

Do you agree that Yeats creates a scene of tragic intensity in Purgatory, or is the play too short and the characters too thinly evinced for this to be the case? The play Purgatory was written in 1938 by Yeats as a single-scene play revolving around the idea of tragic intensity. Yeats was a philosophical writer, choosing meaningful subject matters to discuss in his work. In this case, he chose to symbolise the destruction of Ireland created by the controversy of religion after being inspired by other plays such as Shakespeare's Hamlet and using the definitions set out by Aristotle after he studied the elements that made up a great tragedy. In order to create a successful tragedy, Yeats used the Aristotelian unities: time, action and place. The timing of the play ensures a strong plausibility as the action is all dealt with in real-time, therefore reducing the imagination needed on behalf of the audience increasing the plausibility. The setting throughout the play is in a confined place upon the stage with very few changes made, allowing little release of tension. This intimate setting forces closeness between the characters and audience: though it finishes with the Old Man abandoning the scene leaving it desolate. The complexity of Shakespeare's Hamlet, there are more precise actions and plot in Purgatory, making it easier to understand, and allowing the seemingly simple plot to have all attention on it, resulting in a claustrophobic and tense atmosphere. In Purgatory there are only two characters for the audience to focus on, which provides enough space and time in his play to create characters that are evinced clearly enough to serve their purpose as model examples of an old and a young boy, which provides the plot with a deeper impact. Due to the relationship between the father and son, there is intensity between the characters as they should share a close bond and yet they both ignore and insult each other with snide remarks such as â€Å"silly old man. † Yet, the characters do share an attempted intimacy as the Old Man retells his painful and distressing story in the form of a monologue that is interrupted by the Boy. The Boy is ignored and this increases the drama and emphasizes the communication difficulties between the characters. Although Yeats characterises the Old Man and Boy to an extent, the lack of details reinforces the cold and detached elements of the play, and without names they are left unidentified to the audience and therefore could appear as symbolisations of anyone. Fear of the supernatural emerges from the fear of the unknown, and Yeats uses this idea to extend his tragic scene by presenting the ghosts as a misunderstood and mysterious element due to the Old Man not knowing how to prevent the ghosts from returning. He also doesn't know how to deal with them, which can be seen in the way he attempts communicate with his mother by shouting â€Å"Don't let him touch you! † despite knowing that she cannot hear him and he cannot interfere. Death is a foreboding unknown in everyone's life that most are afraid of, and in Purgatory Yeats uses this to foreshadow the Boy's death as the he mentions â€Å"Now I am young and you are old. † This creates confusion and tension as it is unclear who will die. Although the ghosts' role in the play is limited, their presence is a constant reminder of past events, present actions and the future to come that all relates to death. This tension and the compactness of the play help to increase the intensity as well as invoke fear in the audience, which contributes to the final catharsis Yeats uses cyclical chronology within the play to illustrate the idea of time being a continual concept that cannot be stopped. It highlights the eternal nature of purgatory and expands the idea of the inevitability of the drama. Yeats' use of the hoof beats signals the reoccurring cycle, allowing the events to begin and for the audience, who cannot hear the noise, to question the sanity of the Old Man. The simple lighting in the window, the props, stage effects and setting all help form the audience's perception of a void place, therefore a tragic location filled with intensity, as anything more flamboyant would detract from the tragedy and therefore reduce its strength by distracting the attention onto details that do not contribute. Purgatory effectively demonstrates tragic intensity due to the brevity of the drama. This ensures that the audience's focus is concentrated to such an extent on the plot that the drama becomes claustrophobic. There is no scenic juxtaposition, underlying subplot or change in scenery, which exaggerates this overpowering atmosphere and prevents a release from the tragedy – instead, a build-up of tension is created. Visually, the play is very precise and concentrated, and the anxiety of the dialogue is maintained until the final moments of the play, due to Yeats using his characters to produce emotions of fear and terror in the audience. The amount of emotional fluctuations in the short play only heightens the intensity by creating an overwhelming scene which leaves the audience emotionally exhausted before culminating in catharsis. Props and setting are essential to the play as the relevance of the knife and money goes straight to the core of the plot. Because there are no distractions on the stage, tension is created due to the attention and detail and each prop's significance is more obvious and important. The â€Å"jack-knife† relates to a jackdaw – a species of birds that commit mercy killings amongst their flock, echoing the way the Old Man ends up stabbing his son, as it can be interpreted into the act of salvation of his mother. The setting too contains poignant features that are considerably tragic themselves. The tree is a constant reminder of the destruction of the Old Man's family members as Yeats' use of symbolism makes it a representation of his family tree. The house shows the ruins of the family's livelihood and the fall of nobility, increasing the visual intensity seen upon the stage. It is also seen to represent a wider scale issue, the destruction of Ireland, and this symbolism shows the vast ruin of a country concentrated to a mere house. This is intensified as the tragedy is not reduced but shown on a small scale. Harold Bloom1 criticized Purgatory by attacking Yeats, believing there is â€Å"confusion†¦ n the play. † Bloom found the ending of the play a mass of confusion rather than causing the surge of emotions that are evoked at the end of a tragedy. This brings up the debate as to whether Yeats created an intense piece of drama or just a bewildering fifteen minute sketch. However, even if Purgatory is confusing due to the brevity, the mysterious plot can add to the overall tragedy, leaving the audience unsure of what they have witnessed, and fearful due to the rash actions of the Old Man and the presence of the paranormal. In conclusion, Yeats creates a scene with brimming with tragic intensity by using the minimal props, time, characters and plot. The brevity of Purgatory ensures a ‘scene of tragic intensity' due to the resulting starkness, claustrophobia and desolate tone. The horrifying drama concludes with an dark, empty set, which is how it had started, therefore presenting the cyclicality of purgatory on the stage for the audience to see. Yeats successfully moulded every aspect of tragedy at his disposal and created an intensely dramatic production.

How far can metrosexual men go?

Metrosexuals are well-educated, sensitive and straight urban dwellers keeping touch with his feminine side. They usually go for manicure and could even have their hair taken care of by stylists and not the barbers. These men love shopping and even wear jewelry. Their bathroom counters are full of male products that include moisturizers and some makeup. They work on their physiques at fitness clubs as opposed to gyms and this appearance gets them a lot of attention that delights them. Metrosexuals are mostly found in large cities especially media centers. There is however imitations and experimenting among men in other smaller cities.These men have a great concern for how they appear. Their lifestyle displays characteristics stereotypically linked to gay men. â€Å"Metrosexuality† traces its origin from an article by Mark Simpson in â€Å"The Independent† in 1994. He described a metrosexual man as one who has high income and lives or works in the city, where he can find the best shops. Metrosexual men are proving to be among the best markets for cosmetic products in the decade. In 1980s, these men were only found in fashion magazines, TV ads or gay bars. Later in the 1990s they were allover and even doing their shopping.The trend The term’s popularity rose after Simpson wrote another article â€Å"Meet the metrosexual. † Euro RCSG Worldwide, an advertising firm, immediately adopted this term for marketing studies. Some careers have been known to attract metrosexual men. They include music, media, table waiting and modeling. Popularity of this metrosexuality rose following increased integration of gays into society and a decline in taboos towards those deviating from masculinity notions. Shortly after, Canada, Belgium, some US states and Holland enacted legislation for gay marriages.Metrosexuality aroused a lot of curiosity when a marketing agency tried exploring the changing face of American men. According to this research titled, â⠂¬Å"The Future of Men: USA,† there is a new clique of men who reject traditional male roles and do as they please no matter what the society thinks about them. The media and male magazines such as Maxim and FHM have greatly influenced men to become metrosexuals. They have devoted a lot of their space to fashion. They encourage the men to dress fashionably. Homosexuals are also believed to have contributed towards metrosexuality.Despite metrosexuals being totally heterosexual, the homosexual movement helped in the society accepting an effeminate lifestyle and characteristics. Consequently, the society is now very comfortable with homosexuality. Displaying it on television is no longer a taboo since the heterosexual males are now comfortable with the homosexuality culture. Metrosexual men are more sensitive and effeminate than their fathers were. They are have shown willingness to push the restrictive gender boundaries defining what in masculine and what is feminine and still co nsider themselves â€Å"real men.† Metrosexual men are secure in their sexuality. Pedicures and facials do not make them less heterosexual or less masculine. Research has revealed that 43 per cent of men are not satisfied with their general appearance. Sixty-three per cent of them are particularly not happy with their abdomens. This leads to their seeking the services of cosmetic surgeons for minor aesthetic operations. Abdominal liposuction for wiping out love handles has become very popular. Lip augmentation surgeries and Botox injections have also become very popular among men.Opting for cosmetic surgery among men is usually a last resort in improving their personal appearance. They dress well, groom well and move to cosmetic surgery. These procedures include laser skin resurfacing, chin augmentation and eyelid surgery. Sometimes metrosexual men’s preoccupation with personal appearance can take to the extremes. It can interfere with schoolwork, career and relationsh ips. This is where a therapist’s advice should be sought to create a healthy and more sensible approach to personal appearance. All men, regardless of their sexual orientation, are developing a big interest in their personal appearance.They visit hairdressers instead of barbers. They also avoid the use of soap because they say it is harsh on the skins, go to the gyms instead of sports, and find it difficult to decide what to wear. They spend a lot of time on the mirror, in boutiques and bars instead of pubs. They also dance at night clubs and go to salons. Marketers have responded to this trend by dropping the macho element from all the products that target men. Tough male images have completely been done away with even on car and beer advertisements. Fashion chains for men are increasing.Some women’s stores like Esprit have launched products for men as well. Men’s magazines have their fashion coverage since more ads are coming in. Fashion and grooming adverts f or FHM, a men’s magazine, have been increasing for the past three years. Two decades, vanity, skin care and male fashion were identified with homosexuals. This has now been abandoned. Even the workplace has experienced changes for men. The growing number of white collar workers brings with it the need for good appearance. For effective competition in the work environment, one must take care of his body, cut his hair neatly and dress well.Even beer marketers are using a less masculine tone in communicating with men. They have also changed the how they buy their electronic goods, cars and home ware. In buying of electronic goods, for instance, men are no longer interested in the traditional male attributes such as gadgetry and technical features. Instead they follow what could be called female attributes such as the store’s environment, service and other intangible attributes. Vehicle advertisers are emphasizing more on the people driving and their feelings and not the v ehicle’s physical specifications (Trubo, 2008). Proponents’ viewTraditionally, men are supposed to avoid feminity, restrict their emotions, disconnect sex from intimacy, pursue achievement and status and be self reliant, aggressive and homophobic. However, statistics have shown that pursuing achievement and status has lost its importance compared to how it was in the past. Restricting emotions and disconnecting emotions from intimacy is no longer important to men either. Men do not find sexual freedom enthralling any more. The modern man shows less avoidance of femininity and embraces attitudes and customs that were stereotypically a reserve for women.Masculinity has had a considerable shift over the years. The modern concept of masculinity is very different from that of ancient times. Certain aspects of modern style and behavior perceived as feminine were actually masculine in the past. They include jewelry and makeup. Feminity came to conquer masculinity and the latt er became restricted (Simpson, 2002). Metrosexuality is seen as a counter-reaction against this change. Some men have a feeling that they are too restricted within their gender roles. It is a way of establishing more equality between men and women by shifting towards androgyny.Cultural and attitude changes towards masculinity have led to changes in the conservative masculine norms. This can often be seen in the media, especially TV shows Culture and the environment had to change for the metrosexual men to start appearing. According to Simpson, gays gave the initial prototype for metrosexuals. Media has played a major role in portraying metrosexuality as straight. It has bought them out as heterosexual men keeping touch with their feminine side. They coordinate colors, are deeply concerned about exfoliation and are manscaped.Consumer culture encouraged men to go shopping, buy magazines and spend freely to improve appearance. Consumer capitalism has helped in doing away with unmoistur ised, repressed and old-fashioned heterosexuality in favor of metrosexuality. The conservative, self-denying, straight and modest man did not do much shopping. He had a duty to earn money to be spent by his wife. He was substituted by a different kind, who has more interest in his image than his so called identity. This metrosexual man is more concerned at how he is being looked at.This man has been so much sought by the advertisers. Some people are of the view that metrosexuality is a phenomenon that just occurred naturally. Metrosexuality will very soon become our everyday vocabulary. Being metrosexual should not be treated as wrong. Those against metrosexuality use stereotypes to argue out their stand. Such stereotypes expect men to be insensitive, cold-hearted, thug-looking and grungy, which is not the reality. Ironically, many respected icons like Diddy, Usher and Kanye West are actually metrosexual but are role models to many.When we look at individuals who embrace metrosexual ity, we notice that they do not attach themselves to gender norms of the society. But clearly, metrosexuals are making an attempt to be different and find who they really are. This mindset is as old as mankind. Every society has a small group of people who look at what is normal for only a specific time before creating a different â€Å"normal† to express themselves. In most cases, this bears fruit in cinema, art and music. In the society, men and women expected to follow specific guidelines for their gender.Failure to following these rules qualifies one to be labeled as an outcast. Despite the society accepting metrosexuality in men, it is still hesitating in allowing heterosexuals to create a unique guideline to be followed. The opponents’ view By the society accepting and integrating homosexuality, many strange cultural customs have been created. On the other hand, metrosexuality has caused even greater havoc but silently. It has been argued that metrosexuals act ga y, causing social interaction problems since they are straight with identity issues. This eventually starts affecting even family lives.Divorce rates are on the increase since men cannot keep their word and women having to take up men’s jobs. Great leaders world over have encouraged strong family institutions. They argue that these are the foundations of strong civilization. But since families are breaking up, the society will also follow the same course. Opponents assert that metrosexuality has had a great impact on dating nowadays. Dating is today a complicated ritual more often than not ending up in heartbreaks rather than providing a learning experience for those involved. Worse still, many cannot find dates while others play around with other people’s hearts.Others engage in dangerous sexual behavior. It is argued that if women acted like women and men like men, the laws of attraction would take effect and make relationships interesting and healthy. Men must be de cisive, driven but understanding while women must be caring, delightful, free and loyal. This balance can never find a replication in any other way (Serio, 2006). It is common for men and women to go the same salons, wear the same jeans, watch sports together and share beer. They even watch the same movies. Opponents of metrosexuality argue that this phenomenon spells disaster.They refer to it as â€Å"unisexification. † These opponents have linked unisexification to the society’s downfall. They further claim that as men behave like wassies and women become more aggressive, a platform is created that causes family break-ups, gender role reversal and dysfunctional relationships. Kids end up growing in mental and emotional problems. This could lead to more drug abuse and violence. Earlier civilizations knew it. They depicted that the balance is vital for opposites. They argue that if all things were the same, life would be unbearable.Gender equality does not exist. Gende r roles exist and there is a whole lot of difference between the genders. This is in terms of their biological, mental and emotional attributes. These attributes are the foundation of a strong society. They balance and stabilize families, relationships, work, schools and homes (Serio, 2006). People should therefore be themselves. Men should act like they ought to and ladies should behave like ladies should (Serio, 2006). Conclusion The issue of metrosexuality is complex and controversial. There are two arguments about this issue.On is a strong proponent for metrosexuality while the other is opposed to it. One thing remains clear though. The society has changed tremendously over the ages and will continue changing. Some aspects of the society that were so important in ancient ages have now found themselves in oblivion in the modern world. This is because they could not work for today’s society. Traditionally, men and women have particular gender roles. It is evident that these roles have been changing with time to keep up with the world’s advancements. Also, men were stereotypically associated with certain attributes.These were meant to distinguish them from women. They included acting tough, cold-hearted and generally in control. Women were also assigned specific attributes that identified them as ladies. They included being soft, caring, loyal, and supportive and so on. In today’s society, these notions cannot apply in their entirety. This has given rise to the concept of metrosexuality. Metrosexual men are only trying to find themselves. As a matter of fact the future is metrosexual. Gone are the days when men and women alike were restricted to particular gender attributes.People should be allowed to be themselves, and metrosexuality is one such way. There is no doubt therefore that metrosexuality has a future. Reference Coad, D (2008) Gender, Sexuality and Sport Suny Press Flockner, (2004). Metrosexual. Emece Editores Serio, L. (2006):M etrosexuals and the downfall of society, retrieved from www. diserio. com, on November 20, 2008 Simpson, M. (2002). Meet the metrosexual, retrieved from http://www. salon. com, on June 22, 2002. The Age Company (2008)Rise of the Metrosexual, retrieved from www. theage. com, on November 20, 2008 Trubo, R. (2008)Metrosexuals: It’s a Guy Thing; Medicine Net .

Reflective Draft

Through the activities was undertaken in class about negotiation, I realized that different negotiation tactics have crucial impact on negotiation in the workplace. In the activities, I was assigned to play the role of manager (Dale Williams). I need to persuade two of my subordinates to wear safety glasses. I use pressure to told Taylor she should allow the principle of company, if she doesn’t wear safety galsses, she will be fired. I give her pressure. she wants keep her job, finally, we were got a deal. And she is unhappy. In the second turn, I changed my way of talking to Chris Johnson.First I show my care of her, I asked her do u have problems of your eyes. Then I tell her experience of J. B. Harris. J. B. Harris was suffered a serious accident in another division. And she missed six weeks of work after an eye injury. If don’t wear safety glasses when work, it is easy to have risk to hurt eyes. Finally , we got a deal, and she is happy this time.. contrast these sa me situation but different experience and different tactics I used. I realized that the first time I used of fear to evoke a desired response from Taylor.It is nor effective. when I want to negotiation and get a deal. the better way and easy way is show my sympathy and worry first . it is easy let people can accept. KNOW:::From the aactivity, I know effective and good communication is an essentially significant source of negotiation power. A good communicator can manager a group or an organization easily. At the same time, it also can improve the pproduactivity of work.. on occasion, good communication is not easy. It needs people who . In fact, from this role play, I also know listening is very important.For example, Obama is good at motivation , when listen his speech, I always full of energy. And willing to accepet what he present. I realize the barriers existed in the process of negotiation. In this process, my parten is from indonisia as Pat Taylor. but I come from Chian. When we communicate, we have language barri. She have been this comapy for 20 years, More than me. She is the informal leaders of the group of more experienced employeers. I wanna she can tell me more about her experience. But she The tutor teach us types of influence tactics.Power used well achieves effective communication and positive results. Negotiating power is the ability of the negotiator to influene the behavior of another. What actions do you plan to take based on what you learnt? did you discover that a particular influence tactic is more/less effective and therefore are you likely to use this tactic in future negotiations? What did you learn about your natural preferences for influencing tactics based on? the aactivity? you might have felt more comfortable using ‘rationality’ and less comfortable using one or more other tactics.

Monsters Ball Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Monsters Ball - Term Paper Example The strong point of the movie is its powerful and well crafted story. The basic attributes of the narrative of this film are miserable patriarch approach accompanied with racism, a strong hatred for women, violence, depression, frustration, victim, and the loneliness of each character. It is a dark movie in which the negative shades of human personality are prevalent. The story happens in a rural area of United States. The events of the story take place in rural Louisiana, far away from the cosmopolitan urban life. Being far away from urban and cosmopolitan culture, the people are shown as rigid. The story divides into two families. First is the family of male protagonist that is Hank and the second part is the family of Leticia. Hank’s family is a distressed family, where three men of three different generations are living together under one single roof with blood relations, but there is a vacuum of these generations. The father of Hank has a completely negative shade. He is extremely malicious towards black people. The extreme hatred is shown in the scene where he is so happy to read the article from a local newspaper about the execution of Lawrence Musgrove. He basically is pleased with the thought that one more man of colour is killed. He has passed on this same hatred to his son Hank. Hank’s son Sonny on the other hand is very sensible and sympathetic kind of person. He is lonely and somewhere searching for motherly love and care which has lost in his life. His father hates him and he is not accepted in his family. Somewhere he is in need of that lost love, affection and sense of acceptance. He was urging for his father’s love and affection. Sonny asks his father, â€Å"You hate me, don’t you?† his father coldly admitted that he doesn’t love him. Sonny before shooting himself says, â€Å"Well, I always love you,† and he kills himself in front of his father Hank. Hanks wife and his mother had committed suicid e in a same manner. The second parallel family is Leticia’s family. She is living as a single mother. She is living with her son, Tyrell. She is an African American woman whose husband Lawrence Musgrove is executed after a long waiting of 11 years. Her needs are both financial and emotional. She and her son are struggling and undergoing through financial crisis. She is in need of economic stability as well as mental stability. Her urge for her need is shown through her action of drinking. The audience are shocked when they see the suicide of Sonny. Why did Sonny become a sudden victim of frenzy? He was in need of his father’s affection at that moment. If his father had shown that affection, he probably would not have taken such a drastic step of killing himself. Same thing is with Leticia when she is shown smoking cigarette. Actually she is restless and at that moment she wants someone to give her solace, to take her out of her frustration. She wants to come out of her loneliness. It is her stupid attempt to find peace from smoking. When her son has an accident and she is shouting for help on the road hysterically, she is in need of someone who would help her and her son physically. This momentary need of course was fulfilled by Hank, who takes them to the hospital. The momentary need further develops a very close relationship between her and Hank. The complete transformation of the protagonist is also one of the major attributes of the narrative. The contradictory behaviour of Hank creates an

Family Life Education Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Family Life Education - Assignment Example As the essay stresses the definition of social support is subject to a lot of debate. The definition of social support varies, the concepts behind the definition similarly diverse. Among the most common definition of social support include: the activity that involves resource provision; a positive outcome implied; social integration; and outcomes that involve a recipient feeling cared for. The concept of social support is however widely applied in many cycles including health behaviour, caregiver burden, and compliance. Sociologists, psychologists, and nurses for example have used the concept in assessing social networks; evaluating social relations; and linking illness outcomes to family assessments respectively. This discussion declares that the global war on terrorism has impacted on many people’s lives, military personnel and their families especially according to Huebner, Mancini, Bowen, and Orthner. Deployment of military personnel to the battle field has an effect on the personnel, their marriages, and their children. Children for example end up experiencing depression, loneliness, and bruised self esteem even as their parents under deployment are stressed up in the wake of imminent harm. Facing such challenging situations without the support of other people is often very tasking, the reason people need to engage external support. The family support system needs to be augmented by the community’s support for better results when dealing with stressful issues. Engaging the community in capacity building and supporting the family is characterised by two main elements; collective competence and shared responsibility according to Huebner et al (nd, p 219). Military men and wome n for example get a lot of support when they form formal and informal networks. Although the resilient informal support network are often preferred by members of society, their formal counterparts play a great role in providing grounds for their (informal support systems) establishment and growth (Huebner et al, nd, p 220). Research has shown that having positive view of community capacity directly impacted positively on depression. In the Air Force, a study showed that suicide rates reduced when members of the AF community engaged in interagency activities (Huebner et al, nd, p220). Also, at the national level, community capacity has notably helped in the establishment of stable social capital and conducive business environments. Community Engaged Parent Education The role of parents in the community and society at large has been one issue that has drawn a lot of concern. This is especially the case with the rapid changes that are taking place in the world today. As such, the paren ting landscape has undergone significant transformation causing the need for similar albeit adequate response in parent education as noted by Doherty, Jacob, and Cutting (nd). In the United States, the need for engaging the community in parent education finds its roots in the establishment of organized parent education initiatives. With time, parenting education started focusing on making the world a better place.

Olaudah Equiano Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Olaudah Equiano - Essay Example He was the youngest one in the family, which also had five brothers and another sister. At the age of eleven, he was kidnapped along with his sister by the slaveholders. From there, he was a sent to the islands of Barbados, located in the West Indies. After that, he was transferred to Virginia (Equiano, 39). He was a bought by a member of the Royal Navy called as Michael Pascal. After serving him, he ended up being given to a merchant named as Robert King. After working some years for him, he gained his independence. Equiano settled in London and became a vocal voice against the anti-slavery movement. By the year 1783, he was involved in the transfer of information to a lot of the anti-slavery campaigners. Some of his accounts of the slavery paint a picture of the trials and tribulations faced by the slaves. His book was published in the year 1789 and went through a large number of editions. It was a sensational event, as it covered a large fact base regarding the slave trade. Equian o has mentioned a number of events regarding the slave trade, with a description of the cruelties being suffered by them. It has been mentioned by him, that the slaves suffered from a host of tortures including the â€Å"iron muzzle†. His work has helped in explaining the atrocities committed by the slave owners. This has been one of the reference points for the history of slavery and the eventual abolition. ANALYSIS There has been a recent controversy about the origin of the author. He was one of the most accomplished English speaking writers of the age, coming from an African origin. There has been an emergence of some recent information from sources: that the birth records and other details of Olaudah Equiano  had discrepancies in them. One of the factors that were noticed as a part of the records, are the claims about the baptization at the Saint Margaret’s Church and the Arctic expedition. Some of the documents also cast a doubt on the veracity of the claims abo ut his birth. It is being researched that the place of birth was not current day Nigeria, but South Carolina. In an event of these factors being true, they cast a reasonable doubt on the genuine nature of the thesis; regarding the slave trade. If this has been a case of the wrong identity being used, it could cast a number of aspersions on the image of Olaudah Equiano. Some of the historical records have suggested the date of birth as 1747 and not the year 1745. Some of the authors have described this behaviour to be of a man who is â€Å"self made† (Caretta, 277). This word has a lot of dichotomy in the meaning, with the achievement of success; as well as the realization of a childhood dream. This would have a significant impact on the description of the times and the events being expressed. His expression of the events is a reaction to his wanton need for achieving the due recognition and success. The extrapolation of the events is a way of defining his identity, as perceiv ed by himself. CONCLUSION In light of the recent discoveries, it can be assumed that Olaudah Equiano may have made an attempt to reclaim the African identity, rather than having lived one. So, much of the middle passage in the slave ship may not seem