A Quick Guide to Balanced Scorecards

A Quick Guide to Balanced Scorecards Here is an overview of a BSC (balanced scorecards) management tool, its advantages and disadvantages. The Balanced Scorecard (BSC) is a popular strategic management tool developed in 1992 by Robert Kaplan and David Norton to answer what the two researchers saw as a shortcoming in existing strategic planning methods: A way to connect the long-term objectives of a business to short-term performance measures, particularly financial indicators. The problem is easy enough to understand; a company’s overall goals, usually expressed in its Mission Vision Statement, are often somewhat abstract and difficult to express in terms of the day-to-day (or month-to-month, or year-to-year) activities and processes of the organization – it may not be clear to the people in the organization exactly how their work tasks at this moment are steps towards the company’s greater objectives, a bit of confusion that can create problems for maintaining productivity and motivation. The BSC is a way to â€Å"provide a roadmap† showing how to present activities lead to future objectives, and if used correctly, the tool can be very effective. If you have any questions our writers will gladly help you! STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT TOOLS PART 1 Background of the BSC The Fundamental Ideas Behind It Kaplan and Norton first introduced the Balanced Scorecard in an article in the Harvard Business Review in 1992 (â€Å"The Balanced Scorecard – Measures That Drive Performance†, HBR January-February 1992), in which they explained that any firm has four key perspectives from which it should consider its strategy: Financial, Customers, Internal Processes, and Learning and Growth. The firm needs to make money, and for that it needs customers; customers’ needs are served by the output of the firm’s internal processes, and in order to achieve and maintain a competitive advantage, the firm must learn and improve over time. Consequently, the BSC begins with a firm asking itself four important questions: What is our value to our shareholders? (the financial perspective) What is our value to our customers? (the customer perspective) In order to provide the value to our shareholders and customers, in what must we excel? (the internal processes perspective) How do we sustain our advantages and continue to improve? (the learning and growth perspective) The answer to each of these four questions has four parts: A relevant objective or objectives; the measures of performance that appropriately assess progress towards those objectives; the specific target value of the performance measures that would signify the objectives’ having been successfully achieved; and the specific processes or activities that must be done in order to achieve them. In form, the Balanced Scorecard is a four-sided matrix, with the firm’s vision and competitive strategy at its center: The Balanced Scorecard (Source: Kaplan Norton, â€Å"Using the Balanced Scorecard as a Strategic Management System†, HBR, January-February 1996) DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MANAGEMENT AND LEADERSHIP Advantages of the BSC The first advantage of the BSC is that it forces firms to quantify their goals. Aspirations expressed in a Mission Vision Statement such as â€Å"being an empowered organization† is a platitude without some explanation of what â€Å"an empowered organization† is, and how, exactly, the organization can become â€Å"empowered†. Or for that matter, whether or not being â€Å"empowered† actually has anything to do with effectively meeting stakeholders’ and customers’ needs, maintaining sound internal processes to achieve those, and improving the organization to maintain a competitive edge. The second advantage of the BSC is that its format makes it easy to see how all of the strategic management perspectives relate to one another. Conflicts between objectives in different areas are immediately apparent and can be corrected. Perhaps the biggest advantage of the BSC is its versatility. Although it was designed for application in business management settings, the basic template can be applied to almost any initiative or organization. By slightly modifying the four key perspectives, the BSC can even be applied to specific areas of the organization and even to individuals. In fact, there is some research that suggests that the BSC is gaining, even more, use as a performance management and assessment tool in HRM applications than as a firm-level strategic planning tool. Disadvantages of the BSC Like many other strategic management tools, the BSC has one unavoidable potential handicap in that it is only as good as the quality of the information put into it. The tool suffers from the same risk as the SWOT analysis called SWAG (Scientific Wild-Ass Guess) by Oxford’s Professor Malcolm McDonald; the importance of objectives and other factors may be over- or underestimated or overlooked entirely, which leads to the BSC returning poor results because the right information is not actually included. Another problem that can make the BSC less effective than expected is that by design, it gives equal weight to all four of the key perspectives, while in actual practice, many organizations might need to give greater weight to one or another. For example, a non-profit organization would likely have very strong customer perspectives and a lesser focus on financial outcomes; without adjusting the BSC to reflect its priorities, the organization might end up actually hindering its efforts towards achieving its goals. And finally, the results of some empirical research on the effectiveness of the BSC suggests that just as with most strategic management tools, its performance in real-world applications falls a little short of the academic hype. A fairly recent broad study of strategic management tool use and effectiveness found that the BSC tends to work better for larger and more complex firms than for smaller ones, and that the alignment of strategy and performance is perceived to be better among firms that use the BSC in combination with other strategic planning and assessment tools than among firms using the BSC by itself (E.Tapinos, R.G. Dyson M. Meadows, â€Å"Does the Balanced Scorecard make a difference to the strategy development process?† Journal of the Operational Research Society, vol. 62, no. 5, 2011). One reason for this may be that, contrary to the assertions of Kaplan and Norton, the BSC is not actually designed to develop organizational strategy; the firm’s vision an d strategy must necessarily exist beforehand in order for the BSC to work as designed, meaning that the BSC is the best thought of as a performance management and operational planning tool (hence its popularity in HRM practice), rather than a strategic development tool. STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT TOOLS PART 2 Whatever project you are working on, be assured you have a  reliable team  of writers  to work with. You can place your order here!

Out, out Essay Example

Out, out Essay Example Out, out Paper Out, out Paper Essay Topic: Poetry Robert Frost effectively reveals the fragility of life in his poem Out, out-. Through a cold detached tone he explores the consequences of a young boys misfortune, as he has a horrific accident with a buzz saw. Strong, vivid imagery is used to picture the scene and conjure images of the horrific accident. He teaches that life is precious and at any point it can easily be taken. Immediately we can tell from the title that the poem will deal with how delicate life is. Out, out brief candle, is from William Shakespeares Macbeth. The title is used to show that life is fragile and how it is nothing but a walking shadow. Frost uses this to imply life is delicate and, like a candle, can be snuffed out easily and at any time. The poet creates a tranquil and peaceful scene in the opening stanzas, a rhythm is created through the alliteration of: sweet-scented stuff The soft repetition of the s creates a luring sense of security by composing a laid-back rhythm for the boy to perform his work to. Frosts setting conjures a peaceful mood, the boy is working under the sunset however this can be seen as foreshadowing of his death. The sunset can represent a life ending and is extremely foreboding, as we know he is in an uncontrolled daze. By contrasting such a peaceful setting with the buzz saw at the beginning of the poem Frost creates gripping tension that leaves us worrying for the boy. The first line presents a strong sense of danger by telling the reader the saw: snarled and rattled. These are aggressive, powerful words, which personify the buzz saw, indicating to the reader this is a dangerous, animalistic machine. These examples of onomatopoeia are repeated throughout the poem which maintains the sense of menace. It also contrasts with the calm, luring mood. By implying a tragedy will occur in such a peaceful setting the poet reveals how delicate this boys life truly is. Even before this tragic incident takes place Frost effectively uses tone to build up to the danger we sense is awaiting. Once again snarled and rattled is repeated which further personifies the saw. It is like a wild animal ready to pounce. The repetition of the phrase insinuates that his work is boring and monotonous which could suggest that the boy could easily lose concentration. Frost continues this foreboding tone using punctuation effectively: And nothing happened: day was all but done. The colon creates a pause in the rhythm, this allows the reader to pause and think. His day may have ended at that particular point and he could have been saved from the awaiting accident. This adds to the readers shock and allows them to feel sympathetic towards the boy. Throughout the poem Frost uses a detached, impersonal tone, however regretfully states, call it a day, I wish they might have said. This is the only point where he unveils emotion and we are forced to believe the seriousness of the situation. By the use of tone Frost illustrates how easily the accident could have been avoided, revealing the fragility of life. When the tragedy actually occurs the boy primarily does not realise the extent of his injury. His sister creates the boys initial distraction by announcing supper and the saw: leaped out at the boys hand Frosts word choice of leaped is an unusual but an effective way to describe the object. The saw is almost like a savage animal: it understood the calling of the meal and struck the boys arm thinking it was its prey. In the end it was all determined by fate, if the boy was not called at that precise moment he might have lived. The actual disaster is not described in great detail: but the hand! This is the first time we are told any information regarding the accident. The lack of detail suggest it is too tragic and gory to even consider describing. We are only told he tried to keep the life from spilling. This use of metonymy is extremely effective as it shows the severity of the boys accident. His life is spilling along with the blood from his veins. As he held his hand half in appeal we know he urgently needs medical attention as his life is progressively ending at this point. The immediate reaction from the boy was a rueful laugh, a laugh of embarrassment and regret. Frosts word choice of rueful suggests the idea that the boy now knows he was not paying attention to his work and he will have to live with the consequences of this. Since he was old enough to know what was happening he did not even have the comfort of ignorance, the poet contrasts this by once again reiterating his youth to create pity in the reader. As the initial shock wears off the child begins to pictur e his life without this essential limb and then: The boy saw all- This effectively describes the boys realisation of how serious his injury is. The dash creates a pause reflecting the boy actually stopping and thinking of how he may not have his hand any longer. The severity of this catastrophe proves that life can at any point crumble away, leaving nothing. The penultimate lines of the poem tell of the attempts to save the boys life and the reaction from the surrounding spectators. Frost creates a blunt, matter of fact tone when he tells us: the doctor put him in the dark of ether A metaphor is used to describe him being made unconscious by the influence of gas, with the word dark suggesting he is slipping away into his death. As we read on it is evident he may not pull through as he lay and puffed his lips out with his breath, he is distinctly struggling to breathe and as his state worsens Frosts use of sentence structure vividly describes his death: little-less-nothing! In his use of punctuation the dashes imitate his fading heartbeat : each brief pause reflecting the rhythm of his slowing pulse. The truth is even though we were expecting this incident throughout the poem, we are shocked when it actually takes place, but the reality is everyone has his or her time. We will have our time to leave the world but cannot predict when this will be. To conclude, by exploring Robert Frosts Out, out-, I found life is fragile and at any point it can be snatched away from us. This is shown through effective imagery and griping tone to tell the story of an unfortunate child having his hand removed by a buzz saw. The poem taught me to life to the full as we only have one chance. We all go at different times and in different, maybe unexpected, so must make the most of the time we have.

Dependence of Suppliers on Multimodal Transport Essay

Dependence of Suppliers on Multimodal Transport - Essay Example As the supply chain lengthens and transport distance increases ICs must find more cost effective methods of shipment. In this competitive market, customers expect fast delivery and quality product and services at the lowest price possible. "Trade and transport are inextricably linked: efficient transport services are a prerequisite to successful trading" ("Multimodal "UN 2006, screen 1). To compete, ICs are turning to MTO operators to handle the complexity of logistics required to accomplish timely delivery of the finished product, a marketable product with an economic value to the customer ready to be used without the requirement of further alteration of its form, ("Product" 2005) also the most critical, direct link with the customer. The complexity of international transportation of finished product, goods and services shipped to the end user, has resulted in a lengthening international supply chain (ISC) comprised of economic, technology, social/legal and environment issues and innovations necessary to improve efficiency and effectiveness. (Trienekens et al. 2003). Figure 1 demonstrates an ISC Flow Chart. The main intent of the ISC is the smooth integration of suppliers and customers within one process from raw materials receipt to delivery of finished goods (end user product) to the customer. The continuum of the supply/demand cycle and increased innovations throughout the ISC create a two way dialogue at all stages of the chain increasing efficiency and effectiveness. Figure 1: ISC (Marlow 2004) As seen in Figure 1, the expanded ISC encompasses all process within a company and has further expanded to include vendors and customers all working in tandem: to maximise buying; materials management; production; and shipment to customers. This increased efficiency is accomplished through information sharing and seamless coordination of transportation - land, sea, rail and air, and of storage and handling between each phase of the transportation chain all handled by the MTO. Multimodal transport is the door-to-door service from supplier to customer in another country utilising multiple modes of transportation to effectively and efficiently ensure delivery. ("Multimodal" 2006;"Intermodal" 2006). The Multimodal Transport Operator is "any person whoconcludes a multimodal transport contract and assumes responsibility for the performance of the contract" ("Implementation" 2001, p.5). Critical Analysis: The Inter- Dependence of Finished-Product ISCs and MTOs Companies are relying more and more on MTOs which offer door-to-door service to meet customer needs while coordinating all logistics involved in multimodal use. (Coyle et al. 2003) One factor leading to the development of the MTO was containerisation, placing smaller units inside larger containers for shipment. (Hoyle et al. 1992) The last area to define is the MTO hub, centralized

ICT in Tourism and Hospitality Sector Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5000 words

ICT in Tourism and Hospitality Sector - Essay Example This essay is to evaluate the extents to which use of ICT has been embraced in the tourism and hospitality industries especially in small and medium enterprises. The paper will identify the various applications or innovations of information and communication technology that have been integrated into the mentioned industries and how they have helped in improving operations. This essay will point out the major areas of ICT advancement by use of a case study of one of the companies operating in the said industry. The selected case study is the Galle Fort Hotel in Sri Lanka. The hotel is a world recognized hospitality destination with a simplicity that has won the hearts of many people visiting the Galle Fort tourist attraction in the country. The beach hotel is owned by an Australian family with a total of 13 guest rooms and has won many awards among them the 2007 UNESCO heritage conservation award and the world travel award 2009 for being the country’s leading boutique hotel and many others. The hotel has embraced the use of ICT and has a fully functional website. This paper will closely examine its ICT use through the various applications it has employed in order to help it in the day to day operations. From early times, Sri Lanka has been a major tourist attraction for visitors across the globe. The Galle Fort Hotel is one of the best boutique hotels in the country. The hotel is built on the fortified old town of Galle that was founded by the Portuguese in the 16th century. This points out to how it has been set out on a historical and world heritage site. To turn this around whilst ensuring that the area retains its rich historical and cultural heritage is definitely a great challenge. However, the hotel has adopted the use of ICT as evidenced by its presence in the internet through its official website and other social networking sites like face book.

First native women Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

First native women - Essay Example The basis for Lavell and Bedard for their claim of discrimination was how Aboriginal women would lose their Indian status when a non-Indian or a non-registered Indian married them. In addition, it meant that Lavell’s children would be deprived of their Indian status. Lavell argued that Section 12 (1) (b) discriminated the women gender, and the sections should be repealed, in relation to the 1960 Bill of Rights (5). Lavell’s case was the first that dealt with discrimination because of sex. Because of these discriminatory sections, many Indian women were denied their heritage, and not by the will, but because of an archaic law. Lavell did not like how the acts that were set to govern the Indian reserves were being operated, whereby it stated who is not and who is acknowledged as an Indian. Lavell was furious about how the Indian Act allowed the male Indian, who happened to marry out retained their status and were able to pass it on to their non-Indian wives and to their c hildren. The male Indian wives, even though they sometimes did not have First Nation ancestry; they were entitled to full status. The result of the discriminatory sections was the practical ostracism of more than ninety thousand women, their children and their spouses from their societies and traditional homelands (Lavell 7). It caused great emotional, psychological and economic suffering to the affected people. Lavell was not pleased with this outcome because when she married she was sent a notice submitting that she was no longer identified as an Indian as stated in Section 12 (1) (b) of the Indian Act. It is because she was a no native who had married David Lavell a native. These grave effects for enfranchised First Nation women made Lavell go to court to challenge the Indian Act. Lavell’s claim was supported by Bedard, who joined her in 1973 when she appealed for her case after losing it at trial. Lavell had lost her case on the basis that the Canadian Bill of right

LEGO Case Study of Innovation

LEGO Case Study of Innovation Technology Management (Case Study) Contents Case Study 1: Q.1: How do you think the changes that LEGO made will reshape the firm for the long term? Q.2: What suggestions would you have for LEGO’s competitors in the declining toy industry? What should they be watching for? Case Study 3: Q.1: How did Corning address the issues presented in this chapter? Q.2: What advice would you give to Corning about planning for innovation? Q.3: If you were a Corning competitor, what would worry you most? How would you compete with them? Case Study 6: Q.1: Do you think United Technologies was wise to focus only on subcontractors in India and the United States? Q.2: The Otis unit of United Technologies illustrates differences that occur in a worldwide firm as it manages alliances. What are some of the other differences illustrated? What other issues should be considered? Case Study 7: Q.1: What do you see as the primary integration issues facing the new acquired units? How did IBM address the issues? What should they do next? Q.2: This Global Systems unit is the largest in the company. How does the expectation for the unit affect the management of the unit? What possible problems emerge because of the expectations? What possible advantages? Case Study 1: Q.1: How do you think the changes that LEGO made will reshape the firm for the long term? Answer: After LEGO met with failure in its innovative toys and diversification into other areas like theme parks, action figures like ‘Galidor’ and craft sets known as ‘Clikits’, it had to come up with an innovative strategy that will help the company to rise from the abyss. The company developed a new creative structure for its operations. A cross-functional team was being engaged in order to bring control and coordination in the innovative activities. The team divided the innovation processes into eight categories as follows: Core Processes- they consist of the operations, financial planning and the sales and marketing. Offerings- they consist of the presentation of the product and the packaging. Messaging- These processes include the developing of the website and the advertising. Enabling Methods- These consist of the market forecasting and planning. Interaction with customers- services to customers, linkages with customers. Platforms- here the design and the usage of the building blocks have been modified. Model of Business- it deals with the pricing and the revenues. Channel of distribution- it consists of the several distributing channels like the direct marketers, retailers and others. LEGO innovation is a new line of product known as the ‘LEGO Board Games’ by implementing the new framework of innovation. This game enables the players to build new structures each time they play the game. It was launched in 2009 in the UK and Germany and in 2010 it was launched all across the world. It is expected that the new innovation strategy implemented by the company and with the manufacturing of new product lines like the board game, LEGO will be successful to regain its dominant position in the toy market and will be able to grow and attain sustainability in the global toy industry. Q.2: What suggestions would you have for LEGO’s competitors in the declining toy industry? What should they be watching for? Answer: The suggestions to the competitors of LEGO in the declining toy industry can be enumerated as follows: In this extremely competitive toy industry in the world, there is need for constant innovation to compete with each other. LEGO is the leading toy brand and the rivals need to bring in innovative strategies to bring change in the toy market. The other step which the rivals should take is to bring in diversification in the toy products to suit the different age groups of the children. Keeping the prices competitive is another major step which the rivals should take to compete with LEGO. If the prices are too high then the competitors will face even more difficulty to fight with LEGO. The competitors should take a cue from the innovative Change Management Strategies that LEGO has undertaken to rise to the top once again, after it met with a huge failure in the toy market. They should emulate the several steps which the company has successfully taken with the help of a very efficient management at the helm of the organization. Case Study 3: Q.1: How did Corning address the issues presented in this chapter? Answer: Corning has implemented an innovative strategy to bring in diversification in the product lines apart from manufacturing glass. The company has an extremely competent RD Department who are engaged in extensive research work on how to bring in innovation and diversification to sustain and grow in the industry. The company holds offsite meetings with the top level and the technical managers regularly at intervals of four to six weeks. It also believes in taking customer feedbacks and suggestions regularly in order to design products and services as per their tastes and preferences. Corning has also a cross-functional team which has members from different departments like operations, engineers, sales and marketing specialists and scientists who work together in designing the innovative strategies for the company. This is the process by which the company handles the several issues related to innovation in services. Q.2: What advice would you give to Corning about planning for innovation? Answer: Corning has a very effective cross-functional team which takes care of the innovation strategies by working in coordination with each other. This is the reason why the company has been successfully running for more than 150 years. But, it is often seen that the company sometimes plan too many innovative things which might not be suitable for the organization at the current moment. This involves some outflow of funds also, as extensive research work comes at a significant cost. This is the area which I would suggest the company to take care of, not to overdo the innovative research. It should be done at some intervals and after watching the customer responses to a newly launched product. But, it cannot be denied that the company has earned more than 50% of its revenues during the last 10 years from selling products which are not even 5 years old. Q.3: If you were a Corning competitor, what would worry you most? How would you compete with them? Answer: If I was a competitor of Corning, I would be extremely worried about the fast changes in product lines that the company is making which is making it difficult for the competitors to sustain in the industry. As a rival company the main effort will be into developing a sound and efficient system of RD which will enable the company to foresee a lot of events relating to the industry. An extensive research will ensure that the company has understood the tastes, preferences and the demands of the customers. The most emphasis will go into the product diversification which will enable the company to capture the changing demands of the customers and also to increase the diversity of products and services. Case Study 6: Q.1: Do you think United Technologies was wise to focus only on subcontractors in India and the United States? Answer: It can be said that the decision taken by United Technologies to subcontract the Information Systems process to India and US was the right one. This is because in both the countries there is cheap availability of subcontractors who are already established and there is plenty of support system available, which has helped the company to achieve reduced costs of transaction. Also, the company had made annual savings of $50 million by subcontracting the processes to India and US. Q.2: The Otis unit of United Technologies illustrates differences that occur in a worldwide firm as it manages alliances. What are some of the other differences illustrated? What other issues should be considered? Answer: In case of OTIS, one of the subsidiaries of United Technologies, it was observed that the move by United Technologies to subcontract the process to India had some initial difficulties although the project was successful. The subcontract brought thirty applications to India. OTIS saved around $5, 00,000. But the company was facing trouble in coordinating the different projects in different locations. Hence, OTIS opened a dedicated center which was run by Wipro in Bangalore. This helped the company to bring back consistency of services and coordination in the different OTIS projects which were then under once center. It has been seen that there are certain inherent disadvantages which a company faces when it subcontracts its process to a different country. The major problem arises when the company is into multiple projects. This creates a lack of coordination and control in the foreign country, It is better in such cases for the company to hand over the services to a single organization who will be running all the projects on behalf of the company. These issues are to be considered by any company who is trying to subcontract to some other country. Case Study 7: Q.1: What do you see as the primary integration issues facing the new acquired units? How did IBM address the issues? What should they do next? Answer: In 2002 IBM took over PwC as a merger.IBM is a technological firm whereas PwC is a consulting firm. Hence, the merger created some initial troubles for the employees of both the organizations. IBM was looking to adopt the consulting services of PwC on how to implement different technologies like ERP, CRM and SCM services. The merger combined 30,000 employees from consulting unit of PwC with 50,000 employees from the IBM consulting unit. IBM was operating as a specific corporation whereas PwC is a partnership firm. Hence, it was an area of concern. IBM was dealing with the issues related to infrastructure and PwC dealt with providing consulting services and solutions to the clients. The cultures were also different. It happened that the clients of PwC were beginning to feel concerned that they might be forced to purchase the IBM products as the result of the merger. These were the major issues. IBM developed a three stage process to deal with the issues. Firstly, it cancelled the deal, and gave back the initial operating model to the unit. It declared the President for the unit. IBM offered lucrative incentive packages to retain the employees. In the second stage, a new operating model was created to incorporate several main factors of the business. These happened in 2002. The last phase happened in 2003. In this stage the IT processes and systems of both the companies were incorporated and the true integration of the companies took place. IBM also laid-off 5,000 of its employees in order to make way for PwC employees. In the end, the IBM Global Systems unit was formed and the company should take care of the values of the employees from both the companies and to take care of their interests and recognize the difference in cultures and provide time to them to mix with each other and adopt the IBM culture. Q.2: This Global Systems unit is the largest in the company. How does the expectation for the unit affect the management of the unit? What possible problems emerge because of the expectations? What possible advantages? Answer: The IBM Global Systems is the largest IT services provider in the world. There is huge expectation of the customers on the merger of the two global giants. The management of the unit has to take care of their responsibilities so that they can live up to the expectations of the clients. The objective should be to provide the highest quality of IT and consulting services to the customers all across the globe. There could be few problems which might emerge because of the high expectations. This can be in the form that the clients all across the globe can think of or expect of services which can sometimes be illogical or unprofitable for the organization. They will think that the company will be providing the products and services of the highest quality but with the minimum price. This is not possible as the company has to undergo huge investments at every stage in order to keep alive its brand image and the quality of services. The advantages can be many. The clients will trust quality of products and services because of the big brand name. This will help the company to automatically retain the goodwill formed out of the two of the most renowned brands of the world. The company will not find it difficult to promote the products and services in order to gain competitive advantage, as the clients are already aware of the products and services of both the companies which are integrated into one. This is a huge advantage for the company as it has already been provided with a pool of happy and loyal customers. 1

Person Essay On Charles :: essays research papers

Person Essay on Charles As a handsome 5' 10" male with dark hair spiked in the front, and the most engaging smile approached my desk , I knew I would be laughing shortly. Charles walked up to my desk in Human Biology while we were dissecting eyeballs and commented on my eyeball. "You seem to have a better eyeball than I do." Many people wouldn't have taken this situation so lightly but because of Charles's sense of humor being around him was guaranteed to be fun. With his feigned itching disease, his crazy antics, or his practical jokes my friend Charles's sense of humor has taught me not to take life so seriously and have fun anywhere and everywhere. I first met Charles at Dans, a mutual friends, party, where he told me he had an I itching disease. He was drinking beer and I had cranberry juice with vodka, and since we drove we had to spend the night. So around 3:30am we got tired and went to lie down. As soon as we laid down Charles asked if he could take his shirt off and if I would scratch his back. I told him sure. So he did and that's when he told me he had an itching disease and I wouldn't be able to stop scratching his back until it stopped itching him. Well, with a little alcohol in me I believed him. I laid there for 2 Â ½ hours before I realized he had fallen asleep and went to sleep myself. On Monday on school I saw Charles and asked him how his itching disease was. He just looked at me grinned and chuckled. That's when I realized he had pulled a fast one on me. It didn't take me long to realize that Charles had some crazy antics up his sleeve. At another party Charles, Lisa , Dan and I sat in a room talking. Lisa and Dan were drinking and were drunk. Charles and I were not. Dan started flipping out by yelling and screaming that the radio, which was on 2 at the most, was to loud. Charles knew that Dan was drunk and decided to play with his head. So Charles whispered into my ear that I should tell him I turned it down. So I did and Dan was ok with it. Charles and I were laughing hysterically because it was so much fun playing with these drunk friends. Charles didn't care what other people thought about him as long as he made people laugh. At a chorus concert one night our friend Lisa brought in her

A Critique of Tess Onwueme’s Tell It to Women Essay

To Women, we travel back to a Nigerian village in postcolonial Africa. The story enlightens the audience about the dichotomy of traditionalism versus modernism and the ways in which different cultures interact. It ends by revealing the true meaning of culture; the real quality in a society that arises from a passion for what is excellent in arts, manners, and customs. Overall, the play discusses the role of women within this Nigerian village and largely examines the conflict of whether it is better to advance with the rest of the world, or to hold on to the traditions that truly make a society independent and beautiful. The play begins with Yemoja, the most important woman in the village, in a house with Daisy and Ruth, two feminist western-educated scholars. They are the primary antagonists in the play. At this early stage, we see that Daisy and Ruth are not fond of Yemoja. Daisy and Ruth are leaders of the â€Å"Better Life for Rural Women† campaign, which inspires women to believe that they are not only equal to men in many ways, but are even superior in others. The two of them select Yemoja as the mediator between the village and the western world that they are so desperate to force upon the women. The movement causes a great disturbance in the village between the men and women, and especially with Yemoja’s husband and father. Back in Daisy’s home, she has been getting into many disagreements with her family. Her husband Okei, disagrees with her passion about the feminist movement and they frequently fight about it. Her mother-in-law, Sherifat, still encourages Yemoja to participate in the village’s traditional tribal rituals. Sherifat expresses that it would a terrible fate if Yemoja attempts to assimilate to the modern culture and loses her roots. As the story goes on, Daisy becomes estranged from her daughter Bose, as Bose is beginning to understand more and more the culture of the village and becomes closer to Yemoja and Sherifat. Towards the end of the play, the villagers organize a march, for which Daisy gives Yemoja steps to teach to the rest of the women. It becomes clear to Yemoja at that point that western culture is not for them. Daisy and Ruth’s superior arrives to enlighten the women about her ideas of feminism. She is the one that will decide whether or not the movement has succeeded or not. When it is time for Yemoja to perform the dance, however, she and Sherifat perform one of the Idu rituals instead. Bose even joins in the dancing. Ruth falls and becomes extremely injured while Daisy is thrust into the middle of the action. The play ends here in a beautifully tragic scene as Ruth chokes to death while the rest of the villagers celebrate having revitalized their culture. Tess Onwueme’s play was delightfully written and captivating to any audience. The story was intriguing and definitely matched it’s title. Now I see that, Tell It To Women, is a statement on how the women of the village are always being told to do or be something. Whether it is by Daisy and Ruth or by their husbands, the women never really find their own voice until the very end. We see in the first movement, Sherifat telling the chorus of women that being a wife is â€Å"meaning that a wife deserves to be treated like a daughter and not something that you possess. † Yet, throughout much of the story, we see the women being treated like servants and as subhuman to Daisy and Ruth, the village men, and western civilization as a whole. However, I believe that even as a woman, the author was at times, very objective in her portrayal of feminism. She was able to write a play that showed both the positives and negatives of modernism, while advancing the ideals of traditionalism. She does all this without losing sight of what is most important to women of a small village like that. At one part she even has Ruth say â€Å"these rural women are very gullible, you know. All you need to do is make them feel they are important†¦ we need them anyway, maybe even more than they need us. † The author is commenting here on the passive-aggressive attempts of Daisy and Ruth but also shows that the village women do not actually need to be modernized. Perhaps here, the author is a little biased because she is making Daisy and Ruth out to be selfish and slightly cruel. To a western reader, the play was not very easy to read. The names of the villagers were at times tongue tying and I found myself changing opinions about a character because I in fact, thought they were another. Onwueme also does not really explain the native African dialect and proverbial expressions that are used, which was slightly confusing as well. Many play-writes include footnotes at the bottom of the page to explain vernacular that is not known to the reader and that would have been very helpful here. That being said, the true meaning of the play was present the entire time. The clash of cultures and the lingering pains of colonialism in Africa come through wonderfully in the author’s interpretation. In one eloquent line we see that colonialism left its mark of the villagers. Sherifat says to Daisy that â€Å"it’s easier for those who inflict the pain on others to forget. † Tell It To Women, while at times was hard to follow, beautifully captured the struggle of traditionalism versus modernism and is a true mark of feminism. Overall, I thought that the play was well written and captivating. Even as a man, when sometimes it is hard to understand the desires of women, let alone women of another culture, I was able to grasp the true value of this play. It enlightened me about African culture and the roles of men and women in society. I believe Onwueme did a tremendous job in exposing the struggles of postcolonial Africa in an artful representation.

Paper Religion Research

Paper Religion Research Paper Religion Research Paper Religion Research: Belief in Unapproachable Many students often face difficulties in writing papers on Religion research. Professors and teachers give complicated exercises their students and require delivery from them very often. Hoping to find help-assistance they have to seek support on writing services that could offer them definite papers religion research. According to the theme of paper religion research you may write your opinion and attitude to this topic. In the beginning of your paper religion research you may point out that religion is the belief in admiration of substance called god. Paper Religion Research: There is No God but One Continuing and developing the religion theme in paper religion research, it is necessarily to specify, that there several world well-known religions. If you have to write paper religion research you may use these topics: 1. Christianity Christianity - the largest by number of believers world religion. Christianity appeared in Pal estine as a result of Jesus Christ and his closest followers. The extension of Christianity, especially in the first five centuries of our era, grows very rapidly. The majority of Christians glorify Jesus Christ as the second person of the divine Trinity, one God in three persons (hypostasis): God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. The sacred book is Bible. Most Christians believe in the Incarnation, due to Jesus death atoned all the sins of human. Most Christians realize the necessity of the sacraments -special sacred action. 2. Islam Islam is one of the most spread global religions. It is followers- Muslims. Islam appeared in Arabia, the founder is Muhammad. In the Arab conquests result Islam gained popularity in the Middle East. Quran contains all main principles of Islam. The main dogmatic point is the worship of a single almighty God. Almost all countries with basic Muslim Islam is the state religion. 3. Buddhism Buddhism is one of the global religions, it appeared in ancient India. At the heart of Buddhism - the doctrine of four truths: there is suffering, its cause, the state of liberation and the path to it. There is no soul in Buddhism. Paper Religion Research: Rhetorical Question. In the conclusion of your paper religion research you should approach to the main question Is there a God? Does not matter where in the globe religion appeared, way or another it suggests one God. Be careful in writing paper religion research, listen to your heat. Believe in words you are writing and people will accept them.

Not Just Another Outdoor Company Essay Example

Not Just Another Outdoor Company Essay Example Not Just Another Outdoor Company Essay Not Just Another Outdoor Company Essay Nau is an outdoor company which the whole organization shares a belief that â€Å"in addition to generating a profit, companies have an equal responsibility to create positive social and environment changes†. To achieve this target, they claimed that they have 3 approaches in design, sales and financial areas to do a green business. The public get an impression that this company is doing something to improve the society by using the sustainable approaches and they must be ethical and responsible. However, if we keep a lookout for it, we will have questions. Is this company really doing something good for the society or it is just some marketing gimmicks? I have doubts and do not think that they are ethical and responsible. Firstly, in the design area, they stated that they develop 24 of its 32 fabrics to be more sustainable. To some certain extent, the sustainable fabric is a real boon to the environment. But what is the inwardly intention by achieving this goal? The raw material of the sustainable fabrics may be much cheaper than the original one. By developing these, the companies can save cost and their revenue is higher. They may not be so considerate to the environment but these are just pretty covers. Secondly, in the sales area, they have provided a web store so that customers can do online shopping. As the real store inventories has reduced, the store become smaller. The company claimed that this is good for the planet by minimizing the operational cost to save energies. Let us have an exhaustive examination of the issue. Provide online shopping platform is for saving the cost to hire staff and promoting their business using the World Wide Web. They also save the cost to rent a bigger store. These helps their business for better revenue which nothing done with the environmental protection. That’s only the goldbrick to create a positive reputation for the company. Thirdly, in the financial area, the company has pledged 5% of the sales to charitable organization. Compared to other companies, Nau has donated a much higher sale to the charity. However, what if Nau raised the selling price higher and customers pay more. Therefore, the 5 % denotation is actually all coming from the customers and Nau have the same profit without any sacrifice. They use the tricks on the selling price and make everyone thinks that they have corporate responsibility to do something good for the world. All in all, I do not think Nau’s approaches place much emphasis on the social responsibility. Although their ideas are worthy of praise, they are still under suspicion due to the above reasons. This is not a good approach for Nau to do business. You can use this as the decoration for your company to increase the reputation but this is not a long term way to build the images. Nau has now decreased the denotation to charity from 5 % to 2% which provide a bad impression to the public that if this company can stay long in the market. This also scares away the investor to put their investment into Nau. If the price of the material of the sustainable fabrics increase a lot and this makes the company cannot survive, will the company abandon the sustainable fabrics and use the normal fabrics? Therefore, it is not wise for the company to only build their images on this areas and they should think of some other promotion gimmicks like good and colourful appearances of their products.

Aerospace engineering Personal Statement Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Aerospace engineering - Personal Statement Example Go fight the slash of rain and face the force of wind, your cheeks will tan and the palm of your hands shall thicken. This is a motto that has constantly driven me and given me the zeal to work even harder, whether on the hundred occasions when I contacted people and hosted events at the ‘I can fly’ program both in high school and college, or whenever I face a challenge in my program at the university. My deep interest in aerospace engineering has provided me with a focus in my life and noteworthy opportunities. I am currently a bioengineering student, but intent to fulfill my long cherished dream by studying aerospace engineering. Further, I want to apply for other internships offered by other airlines, but they are limited to aerospace engineering major, and I may never get a chance if I am a bioengineering. In the past few years I have been in the university, I have had experiences that have assisted me become more familiar with aerospace, while at the same time boosting my interest. I joined the ‘I can fly’ program at the Cathy Pacific Airways, which explores several careers in aviation. Through the several lecturers, field trips, and hands-on exercises within the program, I gained valuable experiences in the aviation field. I was later elected the vice-president of the advanced ‘I can fly’ program, an opportunity that equipped me with the knowledge of a real employee within aviation. In program, I had an opportunity to help the people repair jets and planes an d hear stories from the retired veterans, which would help me in future. I have gained more than my expectations from this program and books, and I intent to further my knowledge by enrolling as a student in your esteemed university. Despite being a woman, I have a passion in aviation, believing nothing is impossible. I have some personal attributes that I believe have been a source of motivation and success in my academic and social life. I intent to use these attributes

Into the Fray Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Into the Fray - Case Study Example In my opinion, Danielle demonstrates the completely legitimate political behavior. After she has attempted to establish a professional relationship with Michael and upon his refusal and inaction, she has no reason to regard Michael as an ally. Still, the communication she has with Michael and his subordinates is straightforward by emailing and meetings proposals. The problem with political behavior is not with Danielle’s moves, but with Michael’s disregard of â€Å"social alliances that make an organization run†. Therefore rumors and interpretations make Danielle's behavior seem threatening and illegitimate. The only problem is that Danielle is acting and connecting to people in order to obtain the desired position, and Michael is not.First of all, Michael should decide whether or not he wants a career at Lafleur (Hassan). If he does, then his ambition should be long-term oriented and he and his family should judge as to what the best move for Michael is. If he r eally wants to develop in Lafleur, then he should take this opportunity seriously and discuss the personal implications with his family. Michael lacks international experience and the China position is an opportunity for him to develop his leadership abilities in networking and grow in the company. What is more, CEO’s proposition is only indicative that Michael is not the best candidate for Beaumont's place right now, but it also proves Pierre’s trust in Michael’s abilities and his desire to keep Michael motivated and within the company.