Pornography and Violence against Women

The Legend of the Chevy Nova That Wouldnt Go

The Legend of the Chevy Nova That Wouldn't Go If youve ever taken a class in marketing, chances are youve heard how Chevrolet had problems selling the Chevy Nova automobile in Latin America. Since no va means it doesnt go in Spanish, the oft-repeated story goes, Latin American car buyers shunned the car, forcing Chevrolet to embarrassingly pull the car out of the market. But the Problem With the Story Is... Chevrolets woes are often cited as an example of how good intentions can go wrong when it comes to translation. There are literally thousands of references to the incident on the Internet, and the Nova example has been mentioned in textbooks and often comes up during presentations on cultural differences and advertising. But theres one major problem with the story: It never happened. As a matter of fact, Chevrolet did reasonably well with the Nova in Latin America, even exceeding its sales projections in Venezuela. The story of the Chevy Nova is a classic example of an urban legend, a story that is told and retold so often that it is believed to be true even though it isnt. Like most other urban legends, there is some element of truth in the story (no va indeed means it doesnt go), enough truth to keep the story alive. Like many urban legends, the story has the appeal of showing how the high and mighty can be humiliated by stupid mistakes. Even if you couldnt confirm or reject the story by looking into history, you might notice some problems with it if you understand Spanish. For starters, nova and no va dont sound alike and are unlikely to be confused, just as carpet and car pet are unlikely to be confused in English. Additionally, no va would be an awkward way in Spanish to describe a nonfunctioning car (no funciona, among others, would do better). Additionally, as in English, nova, when used in a brand name, can convey a sense of newness. Theres even a Mexican gasoline that goes by that brand name, so it seems unlikely such a name alone could doom a car. Other Spanish Mistranslation Legends GM, of course, isnt the only company to be cited as making advertising blunders in the Spanish language. But upon closer examination, many of these tales of mistranslation prove to be as unlikely  as the one involving GM. Here are some of those stories. The Tale  of the Vulgar Pen Story: Parker Pen intended to use the slogan it wont stain your pocket and embarrass you, to emphasize how its pens wouldnt leak, translating it as no manchar tu bolsillo, ni te embarazar. But embarazar  means to be pregnant rather than to embarrass. So the slogan was understood as it wont stain your pocket and get you pregnant. Comment: Anyone who learns much about Spanish learns quickly about such common mistakes as confusing embarazada (pregnant) for embarrassed. For a professional to make this translating mistake seems highly unlikely. Wrong Kind of Milk Story: A Spanish version of the Got Milk? campaign used  ¿Tienes leche?, which can be understood as Are you lactating? Comment: This might have happened, but no verification has been found. Many such promotional campaigns are locally run, making it more likely this understandable mistake could have been made. Wrong Kind of Loose Story: Coors translated the slogan turn it loose in a beer ad in such a way that it was understood as slang for suffer from diarrhea. Comment: Reports differ on whether Coors used the phrase suà ©ltalo con Coors (literally, let it go loose with Coors) or suà ©ltate con Coors (literally, set yourself free with Coors). The fact that accounts dont agree with each other make it seem unlikely that the mistake actually happened. No-Coffee Coffee Story: Nestlà © was unable to sell Nescafà © instant coffee in Latin America because the name is understood as No es cafà © or It isnt coffee. Comment: Unlike most of the other accounts, this story is demonstrably false. Nestlà © not only sells instant coffee under that name in Spain and Latin America, but it also operates coffee shops with that name. Also, while consonants are often softened in Spanish, vowels are usually distinct, so nes is unlikely to be confused for no es. Misplaced Affection Story: A slogan for Frank Perdue chicken, it takes a strong man to make a tender chicken, was translated as the equivalent of it takes a sexually aroused man to make a chicken affectionate. Comment: Like tender, tierno can mean either soft or affectionate. The accounts differ on the phrase used to translate a strong man. One account uses the phrase un tipo duro (literally, a hard chap), which seems extremely unlikely.

News of the week Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

News of the week - Essay Example One of the facts in the article is the aspect of the government spending much in printing the typefaces that are standard and the issue of the teen’s idea of a cheaper typeface embrace. The author provides sufficient explanation and factual material that support his idea and propel his thought. He believes that Garamond requires lesser ink as compared to Times News Roman, which is factual. He argues that the government loses hundreds of millions on typefacing using Times News Roman. There is an image of a simple piggy Bank provided in the magazine (Frizel, Para. 2). The 14 year old Mirchandani Suvir thought that changing the government documents standard typeface would save millions in ink posts. The teen advises that using of Times News Roman as a standard font style wastes more ink and suggests that the government resorts to Garamond. The teen got the information from observing other teens switch between font styles with an intention of attaining the required length by the teacher (Frizell, Para. 1). In my opinion, the reportage is true, balanced and unbiased. Times New Roman tends to use more space on a space hence more ink is needed to print it out. However, there are no diversified viewpoints provided in the article. The article is an editorial because it is the author’s original idea and it is convincing because of the fact that if one compares Garamond and Times New Roman, it is evident that the latter requires more ink usage. Lastly, my general opinion about the article is that the teen has an idea that should sell across the world and not only in America. This might save countries millions of

Do lung epithelia in COPD undergo transition to behave more like Essay

Do lung epithelia in COPD undergo transition to behave more like finroblast - Essay Example This process of repair, if successful, is beneficial to the body because it enables the affected tissue restore its functions (Pauwels et al., 2012). However, the repair process can be defective leading to collagen overproduction, formation of excess fibroblasts and fibrosis. This defective repair of epithelia tissue has not been well explored. A more detailed evaluation is important to give proper insight on whether pathological repair of the lung tissue because of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease can lead to conversion of an epithelial cell into a fibroblast. To begin with is an elaboration of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary disease (Barnes and Kleinert, 2004). It is characterised by ineffective flow of air in and out of the lungs. Less air flows in and out of the lungs because air sacs and airways have lost elasticity, air sac walls are destroyed and airway walls are inflamed and thickened. Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease is a disease that keeps progressing (getting worse) since onset and makes it difficult for a person to breathe. COPD is found to start and develop slowly and increasingly limit an individual’s ability to perform tasks (Control et al., 2012; Romain A. Pauwels and Rabe, 2004). In some countries like United States of America, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease is a common term for two conditions namely emphysema and chronic bronchitis. Air sacs walls are damaged in emphysema thereby lose their shape and appear floppy. Further damage leads to damage of air sac walls leading to larger but fewer air sacs instead of several tiny ones. Hence, the respiratory function of the lung is greatly affected and subsequently gaseous exchange is reduced too. In most instances, emphysema is accompanied by chronic bronchitis hence use of a Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease as a term to describe the two condition (Han et al., 2010). COPD symptoms rarely occur at early stages

Derrick Jones, Former Albion Prison Inmate, Wins $312,000 Jury Verdict Article

Derrick Jones, Former Albion Prison Inmate, Wins $312,000 Jury Verdict for Negligent Medical Care - Article Example The doctors gave him narcotics and crutches. The next day he fell from stairs, but was not given an MRI. The second case study is that of Dennis Austin, who was convicted of rape, and died of bed sores. The article’s information and the case studies raise awareness for health care organizations. The message is for the health care communities, to raise their efficiency of health care provision and quality of care. Hospitals and health care agencies must comply with the code of ethics, so that no individual remains deprived of proper and timely health care. There is need for steps taken by health care organizations to provide timely and quality health care to citizens. The Affordable Care Act is one such law that ensures affordable and high quality health care provision. This legislation was passed by Congress, and the President signed it into law on March 23, 2010. The article made me feel sorry for the health standards provided in state prison. I feel that the prisoners must be provided proper health care, since negligence regarding provision of health care is not part of their penalties. It is their right. Lohr, D. (2012). Derrick Jones, Former Albion Prison Inmate, Wins $312,000 Jury Verdict For Negligent Medical Care. Huffpost Crime. Retrieved May 6, 2013, from

Strategic performance measurement

Strategic performance measurement Introduction to Strategic performance management and its Importance (Moore, 2010) illustrates that strategic performance management system focuses on the workers individual input which is stemmed from a culture inside the company based on interest and worth and it helps the employee to keep attention on base line. With the help of ‘Strategic performance management a company makes a clear mission, sets objectives and creates obvious gettable goals. ‘Strategic performance management is an influential apparatus which guides the company to gauge the outcomes, and helps the organization to find the poor areas which require attention (Moore, 2010). Many companies cannot judge their clear direction and fail in achieving their targets and that is the way for workforce dissatisfaction. With a proper system in place the companies know which goals should be prefers and what should be time frame to achieve those goals. With the help of a ‘performance management system they know whether they have to give importance to consumer or is the internal strengths are more important. They also come to know that which goals should be given more importance than others (Moore, 2010). As a result ‘strategic performance management helps a company to clearly define its objectives and makes the mission more clear and if everything is clear for the workforce then they know their roles which help the organization in order to get success. (Moore, 2010). Aims and Objectives of the Assignment In this assignment there is emphasis given to the importance of ‘Strategic Performance Management, its purpose and the main role in the success of an organization. The selected company is Tesco Plc and what it is doing in terms of its performance management. In addition to this the setting or desired goals and their achievement is discussed. The role of teams and the techniques for the setting targets for teams are elaborated. Moreover, it is discussed that how teams help the company achieve its objectives. There is also emphasis on the job of top management to motivate the workforce in order to get the targets are discussed and in the end the ways and means of keeping the employees motivated are presented. Brief Introduction to Selected Organization Tesco Plc started its business as a value retailer in 1929 and later on it became a top retail giant doing its business in more than fourteen countries with its core UK operations where it holds more than 35 % market share. The company has achieved this position with its ‘growth strategy which focuses on its expansion projects ranging from customers to geographies. It introduced its new strategy in 1997 with a ‘Corporate Steering Wheel which focuses on key expansion areas. The company has an integrated ‘Strategic performance management plan in place in order to take it forward in UK as well as abroad (Dransfield, 2001). LO1: Performance Targets and Strategic Objectives 1.1 Links between team performance and strategic objectives Organizations need to set clear strategic goals in order to be successful in the competitive market. These goals should be realistic and clear so that anybody associated with the operations of the organization knows his/her duty regarding these goals (Wyld, 2010). Important aspects About Strategic Objectives (Birnbaum, 2009) explains the importance of 10 strategic goals which are needed to be considered by any organization in order to gain success in the marketplace. Market Standing: The Company should make its strategic objectives keeping in the view its current position and the desired position in the market by comparing it with the rivalry it is facing. Tesco is currently number one in the UK market against its major rivals like Asda and Sainsburys as it holds more than 35 % of the market share as compared to almost 15 % of Asda and Sainsburys Innovation: The Company should bring fresh products and services in its line-up including new technology and that is the way of progress. Tesco has started new products in its stores including its non-food section and its financial services as part of its growth strategy and has brought new technologies which can take the company to new heights with the help of fast processing, operations and customer services. Human resources: In order to gain its strategic objectives the organization needs to choose and improve the best of its human resource. If workforce is working efficiently then the company can beat its rivals. Tesco in its ‘Corporate Steering Wheel has given a specific place to its employees and their progress is monitored and presented every month in the ‘Wheel placed in front of them in every store (Woods, 2008). Financial Resources: The organization should have sufficient monetary resources in order to start its plans and follow them with more investment. If not then the plan of bringing new goods, new technology, new business and many other projects are under great pressure to grow. Tesco, over the years have grown its stores line up from Metro, Express and Hypermarkets and have also started its businesses in emerging markets like china and India. Physical Resources: The basic infrastructure of the company and its usage, the physical ability of the company is needed in order to show its strength in the market. Tesco has several physical resources which are a sign of its success. It has more than 2000 stores in UK and more than 400 in international market and it is still expanding Productivity: Proficient utilization of company possessions as needed is productivity. Tesco has given it great consideration over the years and has many ways to produce its products and services. Social Responsibility: Taking care of the values of community and the company ‘stakeholders and if the company takes care of it, it is successful in modern business. Tesco has made the ‘taking care of community as one of the core parts of its growth strategy presented in 1997 (www.tescocorporate.com). Profit Requirements: Expansion and fiscal strength are two main factors in profit requirements. Expenses minus cost is usually known as profit and if the company is going in profit it can achieve its targets and grow. Tesco faced a serious crisis at the start of year 2009 due to recession and it had two consecutive losses in its first two quarters of 2009 which had a serious blow on its plan to start its business in US. Action Planning: Laying of a proper plan in order to get the objectives. The company can achieve its goals if the plan goes as it is planned. Tesco has got a lot of success because it makes realistic and achievable plans. Future Course of Action: The Company should make plans of future keeping in view what it is doing now, who does it for the company and what are the prospects and routes to get it. Tesco revises its position by displaying its steering wheel in all of its outlets translated in different languages and keeps an eye on its overall performance and its route towards success (Dransfield, 2001). Workforce requirements (team) capable of achieving above strategic objectives (Coisson, 2010) emphasizes the need of a group of employees working together as a team in the organization. The management in all successful companies put ‘team-building activities in place and do the conferences in order to give knowledge to employees of the need of teams. In order to know what the benefit of making ‘teams in few steps are important as mentioned below: The employees should be provided opportunities to get the knowledge of influence of working in a team environment. The company should make the benefits of a team clear to the workforce as a ‘team constructs the innovation and changes the quality of the work towards positive results. The company should emphasize on the need of loyalty towards the team in the mind of workers. There should be proper systems in place in which the employees know their importance and work with eagerness towards the company. They should know that working in a team will enhance their knowledge and skilfulness and make them distinctive in a unit of workers. Different skills emerge as a result of working in a team and employees should know it. (Likierman, 2009) illustrates the Tesco uses the ‘balanced scorecard in order to check the performance of employees linked with the company objectives. The company works on this scorecard in order to make a worker know that if his own goals are accomplished then the company objectives are also achieve while working in a team and in everyday job the workforce does know the effectiveness of working in a team and the balance of company values with his own intentions. 1.2 Tools and techniques available to set team performance targets: Company Example: Litton SLC and its Self-Directed Work Teams (SDWT) (Phillips, 1994) Litton Company makes navigation systems for ‘cruise missiles and ‘fighter gets has almost six hundred workers. It had a top-to-bottom conventional structure in 1981 which was later on changed into ‘circles known as employee ‘circle partic plan in 1981. It consisted of 3 circles, and on the base of progress of these circles of employees working together, they changed to 15 circles in 1982 and in 1983 these circles changed into teams. For the next 1.5 years there was a great progress and continual improvement in the company as a result of these teams working together. There were regular team meeting on the company floor ‘once every week in which company executives used to sit with the team members. Since 1985, all of these team members were provided with 3 days training and in 1987 these teams were changed into ‘self-directed-work-teams (SDWT) and as the new boss took interviewed one hundred team members from different teams he find out that there were 1-2 leaders in every team that could lead the company in the future. Since then the number of teams had reached ‘133. On the basis of (SWDT), the top management thought to change its product line to two different product lines: 1. â€Å"P-500 product line† and 2. â€Å"Ring lazor Gyro Product line† and all this was possible due to the team performance. The company then applied total quality management technique (TQM), the waste was reduced, quality was improved, and there was more return on investment (ROI) and many other benefits. Since 1993, the company created 14 focused factories, ROI was more than 600 %, waste was reduced 50% and federal government put the company on the â€Å"preferred list† of companies by looking at its progress. This example proves that how important is building teams and what are the benefits to the organization. Tools and Techniques There are many tools and techniques used for the performance measurement, but here we will discuss â€Å"Mickensys 7S† model. McKinseys 7 S models One of the most important tools of measuring the ‘team performance targets is â€Å"Mckinseys 7S Model which was made to measure the performance of a company by a company called Mckinsey and Company (Pascale et al, 1981). All of the ‘variables of this model start from the Letter â€Å"S.† We will use this technique here to find out the performance of Tesco teams as follows: These 7S include â€Å"Strategy, Structure, systems, skills, style, staff and shared values.† These variable are also known as â€Å"managerial molecule.† (Peters Waterman, 1982). Most of the American companies gave more importance to first three of the variable while neglected others but most of the Japanese considered first two as â€Å"soft variables.† Amercians thought that the first three could change. Mickensys model does not give importance to the external factors that affect the strategy of the organization. Here we will have a analysis of the variables aligned with the objectives of the company. Using the 7S Model to Analyze an Organization So the 7S mentioned in the model are distributed into soft and hard parts. The first three are clearly mentioned in the company reports normally but in order to understand the real situation of the company the soft components are our main focus because the workforce changes these components from time to time. if we want to have a clear knowledge of the company they should be analyzed briefly. Tesco is not like the other organizations where there is more emphasis given to hierarchy than the individual performance. All of its employees know their job and how to do it. Tesco employees know what is anticipated from them and whether they have achieved the given target or not (Gibbs et al, 2009). The ‘plan and review document is given to all of the workers and their performance is mentioned on the ‘steering wheel which is posted weekly and monthly in order to show their performance standing. Also all the soft components of Micknsys model are interrelated between each other such as values with the workforce and the employee goals and this interralated qualities are coincided in the ‘Corporate Steering Wheel of Tesco and when it is displayed at the end of the month, everything is mentioned clearly in this model. The scorecard of Tesco is practical and it aligns the employee goals to company values and supports the employees align their own values in their daily job. Although most of the company culture and values are related to the ‘core of those companies but Tesco employees can pursue their own goals aligned with the company goals (Likierman, 2009). 1.3 The Value of Team Performance Tools to Measure Future Team Performance: Capacity and Capability of Current Workforce (Chuasiriporn, 2010) thinks that ‘performance measurement can made official with the help of diagrams and charts in order to keep an eye on the growth to fulfil the goals of the organization. The only method to do it is to keep measuring it in the form of numbers. When the data is put in the shape of a graph, then it can be a lead for the prospects the company wants to achieve. Function There should be a estimation of current performance of the organization in full and all of the components to be measured should be clearly mentioned. Time Frame Clear ‘dates should be fixed in order to achieve some objectives, there might be a difference of opinion in the mind of workers and their managers but still a fixed time frame should be mentioned. Weightage There should be clarity of which goals to be achieved first and which ones have a secondary importance. Those objectives which are needed to be taken care of first, should be prioritised. Considerations All of the targets should be flexible and changeable in performance measurement. There should be a clear vision about the target and if any change is needed should be done. That means there should be proper ‘tracking of all the measures. (Tesco Case Study) gives an idea of the ‘balanced scorecard used at Tesco in order to measure the performance of the employees and core reimbursements are given below: It clearly shows what is going to be measured by giving the current performance It shows what is coming next which will be gauged It clarifies the workers performance in detail and his/her contribution to the company There is a clear way shown in it where the company wants to go and which goal is more important It gives the performance of the teams clearly and shows them they way forward. LO2: Team Performance targets to contribute to meeting strategic objectives: 2.1 Analysis of required performance targets within teams against current performance: There should be an agreement in the teams about the specific targets to be achieved in a specific period of time, keeping in view what is most important to do first. (Hanson, 2010) thinks that in order to have influential management, the ‘performance measurement is important. He considers various steps to be consideredL Tesco has plan to introduce hypermarket shoping mall which is running successful in China. While international level tesco open superstore in india with tata group which is a success of tesco in Asia. Whil in Europe tesco has plan to open more store food and non food. Name your company goals, not more than 5 as more aims lead to confusion Anything related to success of any goal should be practical. For example training of ‘health and safety if there is a danger of accidents The goals of success should be changed into metrics. For example if the company has to pick up the sales, then how much sales? How the objectives will be achieved, what is the baseline of success target? Put a 3 point range in place, ‘minimum, moderate and â€Å"stretch† targets. For example, if the company wants to set a goal of how many workers will finish their training by the end of the quarter and ‘ passing grade is set at 70%, then the management can set 60% of employees at minimum, 65% moderate and 85% at stretch. 2.2 Individual commitments to team performance in achievement of organizational goals: (Nash, 2009) explains that organizations should always give more importance to each of the individuals who are working in a team; workers should be given more confidence and must be engaged in all the works done by the team.( There are many factors important in this regard including taking care of the individual preferences, their choices, the values of the individual, giving them importance and rewarding them if any target is achieved. These factors can be helpful in useful contribution of the individual. When this individual with the encouragement will join a team he/she will contribute and the team will be high performing one. 2.3 Application of delegation, mentoring and coaching to the achievement of organizational objectives: Any kind of mentoring and coaching influences the performance of the individual with new skills, behaviour and new commitment with the job. If the team member is not coached about whole of the environment and how to do the job, that member is not confident and if not confident will not contribute positively to the team. (Johnson, 2009 believes that there should be five steps given importance in this regard 1. Setting clear goals 2. Training 3. Behaviour observation 4. Feedback and 5. Positive reinforcement. 2.4 A team performance plan to meet organizational objectives: (Holman, 2009) describes the importance of ‘team performance plan as this plan is not just managed in 1 department of the company; it is in the whole organization. This team performance plan has brings many benefits to the organization as the team performance Solves many problems and is helpful in different choices. Because there is not just one person taking all the decisions, it is the whole team which does it, so they become easy. There is more communication in different team members after working on this plan. The team members are able to communicate their knowledge and skills with each other. There are more chances of risk if the management is not working in the form of teams and if any problem occurs, then teams can handle it better. Different departments can be collaborated with the teams of each department sharing the same kind of idea. Also there is always resistance to any kind of change, so teams can handle this matter far better. Even a team member can give his views and top management has to listen to it because it is good platform. So all the targets set by organization can be achieved by dividing the big objectives into small set of performance measures. Teams working at Tesco consist of all kinds of workers and they keep sharing their work and duties. There is great importance given to company growth strategy but the whole of the workforce which consists of teams knows what they have to do, what is the company goal and what is their own target and the route to achieve it. There is a great collaboration in teams and they work together to achieve the company objectives and they are informed every week that what is the company target and what is their progress with the help of ‘Tesco Steering Wheel. LO3: Monitoring 3.1 The process for monitoring team performance and initiate changes where necessary: It is the responsibility of any leader to monitor the performance of any team. There can be many ways to monitor the performance (Papa, 2010). One of them can be that there should be clear objectives in mind of the leader and if the team reaches those targets then it is clear that performance is good otherwise not. Another way is taking the feedback from the team, either with the internal resources or external ones. If there is positive response from the team members, it means there are good expectations from the team and vice versa. 3.2 Evaluation of team performance against agreed objectives: (Diligent, 2009) thinks that it is not easy to be a leader in a team and evaluate a team performance. Being in a team and leading it is one of the most difficult works to do. If there is low morale in the team it does not always mean that team is performing well but leadership is weak. Team member work in negative fashion if they think they are not treated properly by the leader. In order to get out of situation like this, a top leader has to evaluate the team performance if anything has gone wrong. Tesco leaders are not rigid but there is a democratic culture within the organization and there has not been many cases of team members going to court in order to tell that they are mistreated. A leader should have one-on-one meetings with the member in order to get their suggestions, answer their questions and solve their problem, these things give them confidence and show them their importance. A leader should take care of team members by knowing their everyday life routines so that they feel that they are not just the machines but in reality a treated as a human being. A good leader puts trust in the team member after he gives them a job and if they are pressurized too much, they may not cooperate. LO4: Politics of personal interaction and influence of Leadership 4.1 Influencing and persuading methodologies to gain the commitment of individuals to a course of action: According to (Batumalai 2008) it is important for the leaders to ‘persuade the team members in order to get them involved in the decision making and improve the team-work. There are many ways of doing it as mentioned below: Deal people with positive attitude and they will respond positively. If the person is given a responsibility then he will be committed to it and will be consistent to it, so give them a responsibility. Presenting examples to the team member of the same ‘actions done by other can persuade them to do things. Tell them if any other company has done it, you can do it as well (Festinger, 1954). If the team members like the leader, they will listen to him and the qualities of a good leader include the liking capability as well. The workers should be given rewards on the accomplishment of any project or course of action and this motivates them to do more for the company. At Tesco team leaders are those workers who already have been in teams and know how to persuade people to work in a healthy environment. The techniques used in Litton are most effective ones in this regard where the top executives of the company used to sit on the same floor as the lower level employees. 4.2 Commitment of Individuals: Gains and Losses The Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) (Fagnani, 2006) describes that in order to give importance to the performance of an individual in a team and makes the things easy for the team-work, the knowledge of different ‘personality types is important and ‘Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) is one way of doing it. The model has described four personality types: ‘extroverts/introverts, sensing/intuition, thinking/feeling and judging/perceiving. On the base of these results there are sixteen personality types discovered. There are many methods used in MBTI to determine the personality of the team member and what role he/she can play in the team. One way of doing it is ‘Indoor roping by using this technique, there are six ropes used, as they are put on the floor, as a personality test the team members are asked to stand in one of the ropes. At the end the completely different types of personalities will be in opposite sides of the ropes. Similarly another method used is ‘role playing in which members of the team are asked to fire other individual from the job. Some of them show sympathy towards that individual while other do it straight away, so a emotional situation arises. Lastly, ‘fun exercises are one way of doing it in which different individuals are given a specific task to do and one of the member helps them, this shows how two members of the same team can work together. (Thomas, 2008) describes the team building exercises and role playing at Tesco Hertfordshire in a case study and demonstrates the importance of fun games played in order to build teams and shows the enjoyment. Training staff and developing leaders (Thomas, 2010) describes the importance of giving training and producing leaders in the organizations around the world. In the difficult time of today there are so many companies cutting down on training but there is great need of doing it as seventy percent of companies are putting more money in training and team building. There should be more budget allocated for the training as it is important for company future. But there should be more precise approach in terms of training of employees than doing it as a practice in every field. There should be more focus on precise training and weight age should be given to the most preferred training and needed most. Company should focus on the laps of the skills of the employees and should try to train them in order to fill those gaps, in this way a lot of money can be saved on the training. For the development of leaders in the organization, existing leaders should work together with the trainers in order to give the coaching with the training. In the time of recession, the companies are trying to cut down on training in to get the short-term benefits but they forget the long-term payback of this investment. At Tesco every year around 7000 staff member get the training and another way of saving money for the company is that around ten thousand of the workforce change their jobs within the company which helps the company to make leaders and retain its workers who will be good loyal leader working with the company in the future. Conclusion In the assignment we discussed different issues ranging from importance of strategic performance measurement to the making of leaders. So it looks like the direction of the assignment was that how a company can make great leaders and get prosperous in the future. Any workers who joins the company is not a leader but just a worker who knows nothing how to become an influential part of the management. It is the performance measurement who guides the worker to become a good leader. The company we chose for the assignment also looks an ideal company in this regard.

Painting a Portrait of Death Essay -- essays research papers fc

â€Å"Painting a Portrait of Death† Death is inevitable to all forms of life. In giving birth to a typical family, Flannery O’Connor immediately sets the tone for their deaths, in the story, A Good Man is Hard To Find. O'Connor’s play on words, symbolism and foreshadowing slowly paves the way for the family’s death.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  O'Connor begins to paint the image of death with her presentation of the grandmother. As the family prepares for their adventure the grandmother carefully selects her attire. â€Å"A navy blue straw sailor hat with a bunch of white violets on the brim and a navy blue dress with a small white dot in the print. Her collars and cuffs were white organdy trimmed with lace and at her neckline she had pinned a purple spray of cloth violets containing a sachet† (O'Connor 267). The imagery of the grandmother’s impeccable attire foreshadows her position at the end of the story. When a person dies it is common that they are adorn in their best outfit. The grandmother has symbolically prepared herself for her eternal rest in a coffin as she is dressed in her Sunday best. O'Connor continues to incorporate the theme of death into the story, as she provides the readers with the reason for the grandmother’s ensemble, â€Å"in cares of an accident, anyone see ing her dead on the highway would know at once she was a lady† (O'Connor 267). Symbolically the grandmother is walking down the path of death.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   As the family travels closer to...

Bel Air Chair

Bel Air Chair Peter Shire has many interesting works of art. The artwork that stuck out to me was the Bel Air Chair. Its interesting physic really caught my eye. The colors and shapes were so bright and different; it just jumped out at me. It was so unique and diverse from any of his other artwork; I had never seen anything like it before. With further research I discovered that this amazing work of art was created in 1982. This chair was one of the most important contributions to a design group called Memphis.The chair became a signature object for the Memphis Collection and was used on many book covers and posters. Shire got a lot of his inspiration from Los Angeles while creating this piece of post modern art. To me, the main part of the chair is obviously the colors. The vibrancy and brightness are the first things that catch the eyes of admirers. He didn’t stick to one color. He used a dark, maroon, red color for the back of the chair as well as a green, yellow color for the cylindrical arm which establishes a contrast. He used an orange for the sphere on the back part of the chair.My favorite color of the chair was the semi-pastel green on the bottom front of the chair. This color, along with the semi-pastel pink, makes it look classy and elegant. The materials used on this chair were wool and cotton. It brings the sense of warmth and comfort that makes you want to sit and curl up on the chair. Its inviting with the look of its bigness and comfort that makes it more attractive. Being an art teacher’s daughter, i’m drawn to this type of colorful extravagant art. It brings a spice and jazzy look to art. This chair was made of many different geometric shapes and materials.A sphere was used for the bottom back of the chair to add some diversity to the chair and make it Peter Shire’s own creation. A cylinder was used for the arm rest which is only on one side of the chair which creates a distinct look while the other side of the cha ir is half of a cylinder which helps to create a sense of uniqueness. A square was used as the seat of the artwork which exaggerates the look of it being a chair. The back of the chair is a different and difficult shape to explain. This shape makes you think and really admire the artwork.Trying to figure out what kind of creative mind could come up with such an extraordinary work of art puzzles me. Peter Shires inspirations came from many different objects. The sphere was inspired by a beach ball which he had used for the bottom back of the chair. The best part about the chair is the part where you lay your back when you sit. He got his inspiration from a beach wave or even a shark fin. An interesting part of this work of art is that it was named after a five-star luxury hotel in Beverly Hills California. The title that is on the Bel Air Chair was taken from the hotel and placed on his piece.At first glance, the work of art is not perceived as wood. It looked like shiny plastic glaz ed in bright colors. With a closer look it was clear that it was wood. This extravagant work of art looked difficult to carve yet so perfected. His use of the variety of colors was complimenting both to the objects and the other colors. His chair has been duplicated into a special limited edition which is shown at museums all around. His work of art would have not nearly gained the popularity it accomplished if it weren’t for the colors. The pop of the chair made it a hit.

Free Essays on Gregg V. Georgia

Syllabus Petitioner was charged with committing armed robbery and murder on the basis of evidence that he had killed and robbed two men. At the trial stage of Georgia's bifurcated procedure, the jury found petitioner guilty of two counts of armed robbery and two counts of murder. At the penalty stage, the judge instructed the jury that it could recommend either a death sentence or a life prison sentence on each count; that it was free to consider mitigating or aggravating circumstances, if any, as presented by the parties; and that it would not be authorized to consider imposing the death sentence unless it first found beyond a reasonable doubt (1) that the murder was committed while the offender was engaged in the commission of other capital felonies, viz., the armed robberies of the victims; (2) that he committed the murder for the purpose of receiving the victims' money and automobile; or (3) that the murder was "outrageously and wantonly vile, horrible and inhuman" in that it "involved the depravity of [the] mind of the defendant." The jury found the first and second of these aggravating circumstances, and returned a sentence of death. The Georgia Supreme Court affirmed the convictions. After reviewing the trial transcript and record and comparing the evidence and sentence in similar cases, the court upheld the death sentences for the murders, concluding that they had not resulted from prejudice or any other arbitrary factor, and were not excessive or disproportionate to the penalty applied in similar cases, but vacated the armed robbery sentences on the ground, inter alia, that the death penalty had rarely been imposed in Georgia for that offense. Petitioner challenges imposition of the death sentence under the Georgia statute as "cruel and unusual" punishment under the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments. That statute, as amended following Furman v. Georgia, 408 U.S. 238 (where this Court held to be violative of those Am... Free Essays on Gregg V. Georgia Free Essays on Gregg V. Georgia Syllabus Petitioner was charged with committing armed robbery and murder on the basis of evidence that he had killed and robbed two men. At the trial stage of Georgia's bifurcated procedure, the jury found petitioner guilty of two counts of armed robbery and two counts of murder. At the penalty stage, the judge instructed the jury that it could recommend either a death sentence or a life prison sentence on each count; that it was free to consider mitigating or aggravating circumstances, if any, as presented by the parties; and that it would not be authorized to consider imposing the death sentence unless it first found beyond a reasonable doubt (1) that the murder was committed while the offender was engaged in the commission of other capital felonies, viz., the armed robberies of the victims; (2) that he committed the murder for the purpose of receiving the victims' money and automobile; or (3) that the murder was "outrageously and wantonly vile, horrible and inhuman" in that it "involved the depravity of [the] mind of the defendant." The jury found the first and second of these aggravating circumstances, and returned a sentence of death. The Georgia Supreme Court affirmed the convictions. After reviewing the trial transcript and record and comparing the evidence and sentence in similar cases, the court upheld the death sentences for the murders, concluding that they had not resulted from prejudice or any other arbitrary factor, and were not excessive or disproportionate to the penalty applied in similar cases, but vacated the armed robbery sentences on the ground, inter alia, that the death penalty had rarely been imposed in Georgia for that offense. Petitioner challenges imposition of the death sentence under the Georgia statute as "cruel and unusual" punishment under the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments. That statute, as amended following Furman v. Georgia, 408 U.S. 238 (where this Court held to be violative of those Am...

Soft Drink Industry Essays - Ice Cream Parlors, Ice Cream

Soft Drink Industry Essays - Ice Cream Parlors, Ice Cream Soft Drink Industry Executive Summary The word 'Saturation' does not exist in the dictionary of the U.A.E. Year by year, new products and their competing items have entered into the field and have successfully created a slot for themselves. This phenomenon is greatly supported by the open down policy of the local government to the people coming from other lands for settlement and tourism. Ice creams are a product that has not seen their prime in the U.A.E. It's potential is tapped in a meager form. Not that the commodity is in short supply. There is ample ice-cream available even at the moment. But, there is great scope of habitualizing the inhabitants of this place to consume more of the product, by exploiting the U.A.E. climate to its best potential. This statement vindicates the statistics that while an average person in Australia consumes 36.87 pints of ice cream, and in the United States 30.04 pints, the consumption in U.A.E. is only 6 pints per capita. Thus, even if the consumption is increased by 6 times for a person here, we will still be comparable to Australia and will need more effort to become world leader in consumption. This indicates the amount of vacuum existing in the U.A.E for the growth in the Ice-cream consumption. The bottom line is a 'Difference'. Up until now the ice creams that are being sold in the U.A.E. are mostly the conventional stuff and it will bring a sea change in the minds of consumers about ice creams if they are given something different at affordable prices and at accessible locations. One such company that can meet all these interests is Ben & Jerry's. We are a group of investors now planning to open Ben & Jerry's ice cream parlor. The food and beverage industry has been in a boom. Therefore we plan to make our mark in the industry as the premium ice cream and yoghurt parlor in the country. U.A.E has a multi-cultural environment thus providing a good market for Ben&Jerry's.. Ben&Jerry's is the 'difference' which can fit in the slot to help bring up the per capita consumption of the country. Most of their ice creams are made from fresh fruits, which hardly any other maker has attempted. Introduction & Background The company Ben & Jerry's had its humble beginning more than 70 years ago, when its founders started manufacturing ice cream with a hand - cranked machine. Today, it offers the widest range of ice creams and frozen deserts in packs, including cups, bulks, and cones. The brand enjoys its reputation for successful innovation and development of flavors and its new offerings are eagerly awaited every summer. Current Market Situation The Marketing Environment- The United Arab Emirates has an ice cream market of Dh140 million, yet it has one of the lowest consumption (6.00 per capita/ pints) of ice-cream when compared to Australia which consumes 36.87 per capita / pints and USA 30.04 pints. The ice-cream parlors Baskin Robbins enjoys having a monopoly followed by Haagen-Dazsas and Breslers. There are other non-famous parlors in some shopping centers and malls. Considering that there is two major franchises in the U.A.E market there is a high scope in entering the ice-cream industry. As for the external environment, it is divided in the following manner. Competitive Environment- There is high degree of competition in the foodstuff industry. In the ice-cream industry, the market share is evenly distributed with Nestle being the market leader, followed by Walls and then by Kwality. Recenlty Hag n' Das has also come up with major marketing schemes and are aggressively marketing their ice creams. They have a parlor opened at Al Diyafah Street in Deira. There is no official study to the exact market share. The prices in the parlors are about 10% higher to that of franchises in London and Canada. The other competitors in the family line are Igloo, Unikai, Kimo Cadbury, Mamma- Mia, and also those previously mentioned. Hags n' Das, Cadbury's, Baskin Robbins and have an importation, the rest are local manufacturers. Below mentioned is the approximate market share. Estimates provided by Kwality and Unikai year 1996 Overall market growth 20% on yearly basis Social and Cultural environment- We intend to target our products

Organization Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4250 words

Organization Management - Essay Example Knowledge management as a practice emerged at the beginning of the 1990s and, to a certain extent, is considered as still in its infancy. According to Bounfour (2003) "KM can be defined as a set of procedures, infrastructures, technical and managerial tools, designed towards creating, circulating (sharing) and leveraging information and knowledge within and around organizations". (Bounfour, 2003, p. 156) Therefore, from this perspective, KM involves several dimensions: individual, group, organisation and networks of organizations. KM which often consists of communities can be conceptualized as groups or organizations whose primary purpose is the development and promulgation of collective knowledge. Knowledge communities are a prevalent and increasingly important form of contemporary organization. For example, all of the major social sciences are organized as knowledge communities consisting of numerous researchers whose common goal is the advancement of knowledge within their discipline (Porter, 1995). Within such communities, knowledge is typically disseminated through a variety of mechanisms. These include formal routines and procedures, such as publication of original research in scholarly journals and presentation of work-in-progress at academic conferences. Knowledge is also disseminated through various informal mechanisms, such as circulation of unpublished manuscripts and the exchange of preliminary ideas and data through electronic mail. Whether formal or informal, such mechanisms are intended to facilitate the steady accumulation, integration, and rapid diffusion of emerging insights and innovations within the community. (Levine et al, 1999, p. 164) There are two types of mobilizable knowledge within an organization: Knowledge which is assimilatable to pure information, i.e. a stock of items, having a relatively weak combinatory potential, in particular in terms of innovation: commercial information on current customers, information on the priority sectors, information on the firm. Knowledge having, on the contrary, a high combinatory potential both inside and outside the firm: such is the case, in particular, for the best practices and grey literature, whose vocation is to affirm the potentially developable added value by the company. Being furtive by nature, best practices can be combined with other best practices to produce better 'new best practices'. The same applies to the grey literature; whose vocation is to affirm the definitely distinctive character of the company's supply. The publics targeted by the use and production of this knowledge can, to a certain extent, be differentiated. Thus information of a commercial nature is addressed initially to the players in a situation of sale or in a first approach to selling services. On the other hand, the grey literature concerns initially 'the intellectuals', i.e. those in charge of the development of new activities. (Bounfour, 2003, p. 164) How organizations learn In order to gain access to the learning of organizations, we have to dig history a bit. It started when classic bureaucratic organizations started to link learning to professionalization. Therefore researchers like Swieringa and Wierdsma (Swieringa and Wierdsma, 1992, p. 140) argued that the learning organization concept may be a

Cinematography of the film Casablanca Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Cinematography of the film Casablanca - Essay Example Edeson helped director Michael Curtiz in visualizing by focusing on the shadows and maximizing the use of proper lighting and angles. Wide-angle shots are placed in the beginning scenes giving importance to the place of Casablanca and how a German plane flies behind the sign for Rick's Cafe. The wide shot of the planes just over the cafe shows how important this place will be in the next parts of the story. An establishing shot will soon be noticed as camera angles focuses inside Rick’s cafe as if the audience were walking inside for the first time, giving wide angle shots of the patrons inside the club. Some medium shots are placed on individual characters such as the colored man piano player, until an extreme close up shot of a slip of paper is shown with an â€Å"OK† sign by Rick. Here it is established that Rick is an important man, in a medium shot, he is shown slowly puffing a cigarette. The shots through out the scenes create such continuity and gives credibility to the empty life of Rick. The intensity of the setting in a neutral country of Morocco is established with the mix of characters from the Allied forces and the Germans. It also creates an impression on how â€Å"all is fair in love and war† as what the story line would develop. There is also a use of proper lighting maximized with the proper dà ©cor to create at 1940’s kind of American cafà © with live band and gambling, but still the production team maintained certain props to make sure that the audience would remember that it is still in Morocco like the Islamic architecture that remains obvious in the interior. There is heightened use of lighting to create shadows especially to give focus on melancholic state like after curfew encounters at Rick’s cafe with Renault as he searches for money or documents. It creates a touch of mystery establishing that the main character Rick is an amoral man who after a painful heartbreak has remained to be neutral and cynical. He is portrayed as a bitter and sad man, as focused on the medium and close up shots of a face that seems to be sad and old despite earthly success. He moves slow and somehow gloomy with the background of shadows and smoke that surrounds his cafe. As for Iisa the leading lady, angles are focused on her sad and somehow glowing face with eyes that appears to be always in tears. The musical score also creates an impression. Most part of the film revolves around the song â€Å"As Time Goes By† as it somehow relives a memorable time in Paris by both Rick and Iisa. Songs from the 1930’s to the 1940’s are also el oquently highlighted and combined with national anthems from France and Germany, The audience are reminded that this is not just another love story, it maintains the political issues of World War II. Bogart plays a superb role of a romantic leading man, the sad and indifferent bad boy ruined by a past love. At first he seems to be the typical strong man, full of machismo and ego without caring for anyone in the world but himself. But a sense of humanity is shown by how he treats his employees such as Sam, the piano player. As Bergman enters the scene, we notice that indeed this could be the woman that has created all this illusion. When Sam had an encounter with Iisa, he pretends to have never met her before. It is obvious then that this woman would be someone important. Bergman portrays the role of Iisa with so much justice. The focus on her soft face makes a