The Bangladesh Garment Factory Collapse - 888 Words

Like almost every middle class family members, I went to Wal-mart and bought a $5 T-shirt. At first, I was excited to get a T-shirt for such a low price, but later when I read the news about the Bangladesh garment factory collapse, I questioned myself, â€Å"was I partly responsible for the incident by buying the $5 T-shirt?† After an extensive research, I discovered that our cheap buying habits unintentionally can lead to such disasters. In the last decades, Fast Fashion industry, â€Å"a business model that offers (the perception of) fashionable clothes at affordable prices,† has been growing rapidly. Therefore, today, a number of stores are full of cheap products, and everyday consumers utilize these cheap products on a daily basis. Although these cheap products are economical, they also contribute to increasing pollution, and creating labor issues. Thus, consumers need to consider not only price or design, but also the stories behind the products to decide what to w ear and what to choose. Fast Fashion have brought opportunities to enjoy fashion and current luxury trends all from rich to poor. Before the Fast Fashion industry spread out, luxury fashion was only for the bourgeoisie. However, Fast Fashion has altered the course of the fashion industry, making it more accessible to the general public because of its low prices. According to the U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average annual expenditures on retailed fashion products has been increasing, and â€Å"since 1985, as aShow MoreRelatedThe Collapse Of The Mill Factory Collapsed Essay1556 Words   |  7 Pages24 April 2013, over 1,100 factory workers died when the Rana Plaza factory collapsed. The day before the collapse workers noticed cracks had appeared on the third floor and the factory was closed for the afternoon. The night before the building collapsed the owner of the factory Rana went on the news declaring the building was safe despite reports from engineers, which warned agai nst entering the building. The following morning the banks and other retail stores located on the bottom floor of theRead MoreNegative Effects Of Globalization1361 Words   |  6 Pagesis the Rana Plaza tragedy in Bangladesh in which the eight-story garment factory collapsed killing 1,134 people and injuring many others. (Westervelt, 2015). 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Bangladesh is one of these developing countries that are trying to become an influence in the global economy by allowing multinational corporationsRead MoreThe Structural Failure Of The Rana Plaza Collapse Essay1622 Words   |  7 PagesIntroduction: Bangladesh is one of the world s most densely populated countries, with its people crammed into a delta of rivers that empties into the Bay of Bengal (BBC, 2015). Poverty is widespread, where many people suffer from malnutrition, especially in the rural areas. The structural failure of the Rana Plaza collapse, an eight-story commercial building, occurred on 24 April 2013 in the Savar Upazila of Dhaka, Bangladesh. This resulted in 1,137 confirmed dead at Rana Plaza, and over a yearRead MoreA Report On The Garment Industry1356 Words   |  6 PagesBangladesh’s businesses people have channeled their energy in ready-made garments (RMG) industry for export purposes. The ready-made garments industry facilitates 80% of the country’s exports and further provides over 4 million employment opportunities, with three-quarters being women (Anisul Huq, Stevenson, Zorzini, 2014). The growth in this sector has consequently promoted numerous multiplier connections such as the cloth, i nsurance, professional services, yarn, banking, real estate and machineryRead MoreDisaster in Bangladesh: The Collapse of the Rana Plaza Building915 Words   |  4 Pagesperspective, was the shift to a free trade regime in the textile industry good for Bangladesh? Employment and economic growth in Bangladesh depends upon exports of textile products which were allowed through a preferential quota system for textile market export from poor markets to rich markets. As soon as the shift to a free trade regime appeared along with the competition with countries such as China and Indonesia the quick collapse of Bangladesh’s textile industry has been predicted. However, the oppositeRead MoreEssay about Ethics and morales in the supploy chain1255 Words   |  6 Pagesworking conditions and the lives of the workers in the garment making industry. I will also go over what you as a consumer can do to ensure that the products you buy are not adding to the problem. Ethics and Morales in the Supply Chain of Making a T-Shirt The apparel industry has historically relied on a contracting system that has allowed brand-name companies to eschew legal liability for the working conditions of those who actually sew their garments. A race to the bottom ensued with brand-name companiesRead MoreSociological Ideas of Globalization: The Rana Plaza 2141 Words   |  9 PagesThe Rana Plaza Garment Factory Disaster in Dhaka, Bangladesh On the 24th of April 2013, a tragedy occurred in Dhaka, Bangladesh, resulting in the deaths of more than 1000 people and the destruction of a nine-story garment factory â€Å"Rana Plaza† (Manik Yardley, n.d.,). However, the unsatisfactory condition of the building was known to employees. The day before the tragedy, several cracks were noticed, yet the owner of the factory ignored the warning by police to suspend the factory. In additionRead MoreBangladeshi Garment Worker Fight Back977 Words   |  4 Pages After thoroughly reviewing the article â€Å"Bangladeshi Garment Worker Fight Back†, the writer James North spends a large scope in the article reporting the existing working conditions of factory workers as well as the incident of the collapse of Rana Plaza factory that killed a lot of innocent workers (James 2013). Also, he pointed out the inadequacies and shortcomings of labour safety laws in Bangladesh. James visited the factory in person to figure out more i n-depth facts. For instance: carryingRead MoreBangladesh Garment Industries Helping Workers Have Safe Environments857 Words   |  4 Pagesmore American products to support my country and less foreign brand. For example, if enough customers refused their products, we can force retailers out of business. Loblaw’s of Bangladesh Further, the best reply is to stay in Bangladesh and promote stricter safety standards. This opportunity might assure factory workers a better and healthier workplace, higher wages, and human right. The retailers and brand owners owe the workers greater opportunities to a decent lifestyle. These workers have

Discussion on CPTED Free Essays

In trying to find the connection between defensible space and CPTED we first need to look at the basic definitions used to describe them. Defensible space is an environment, typically residential, whose physical design allows it occupants to aid in their own security. CPTED, on the other hand, is using environmental design to deter the occurrence of criminal activity. We will write a custom essay sample on Discussion on CPTED or any similar topic only for you Order Now The connection between these two terms is that defensible space is referring to the individual physical â€Å"components† that are used in the process of CPTED. The defensible space is the building blocks by which the resulting design is built. Strategies associated with CPTED are natural surveillance and access control. Natural surveillance is applied by utilizing proper lighting positions, placing windows appropriately to allow occupants to easily view sidewalks and parking areas, and using landscape design to aid in surveillance. Applications used in access control strategies include the placement of low, thorny shrubs below lower level windows, the use of locking gates for access to yards and limiting access through single points of entry. The future for CPTED is bright as new construction of schools, commercial properties and public buildings incorporate the ideas of defensible space in their early design models. This approach, along with an increase in the creation of campus environments, is moving CPTED to the forefront of environmental design, and with increased education, CPTED is building a strong foundation for continued growth. How to cite Discussion on CPTED, Papers

The Justification for Genocide, Terrorism, and Other Evil Actions free essay sample

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, right? Of course! Otherwise, everyone’s â€Å"#mcm† on Instagram would be Mark Wahlberg. But so is not the case. It would be detrimental to our species population growth if everyone were physically attracted to the exact same person, because unfortunately not everyone looks like Mark Wahlberg. Morality, unlike beauty, is seen as a uniform internal compass with only one north and one south. Actions are believed to be either moral or immoral, with no gray area in between. Why, then, does not everyone have the same view on the 9/11 terrorist attacks? Certainly Al-Qaeda saw they were right to attack the large, greedy, oppressive America, and any true-blooded American saw it as an unwarranted and absolutely evil attack on their security. Shouldn’t our internal moral compasses resolve this difference? How can people deem the same action both moral and immoral if we have inherent standards? Morality, contrary to popular belief, is d ependant on the situation and who is present (the beholders). The existence of an inherent right and wrong is a thin argument, and is one that is completely shattered when reading various historical accounts of the same incident. Given our natural morals, history should be uniform and factual, right? Wrong. Humans are programmed winners; we are driven to conquer and rule whatever and whoever we can. History records the wins and losses for future generations to study. Todays morality is no more than a reflection of history; right are the winners, and wrong are the losers. Looking back to the beginning of man, we see assertions of dominance among all cultures. Humans are at the top of the food chain; humans are the most intelligent species on planet Earth, and until aliens discover us, humans are the kings of the universe. Plato, in his Speech of Aristophanes, records an account where humans made an attempt on the gods They tried to make an ascent to heaven so as to attack the gods (Plato 90). Although today this is not considered a true historical account, this mythological tale proves that even in 385 BCE, humans exhibited ambitious behavior. In Mans Nature Is Evil, Hsun Tzu notes a fondness for profit in human nature (Tzu 100). Written in 300 BCE, Tzu’s analysis contends that it is mans emotional nature to love profit and desire gain (Tzu 103). Our natural state, is in fact, selfish. Woven into our genes is ambition and superiority; it is something we are unable to fight. Right and wrong, then, cannot possibly be inherent, due to our undenia ble desire to conquer. Humanitarianism can be noted as an instance where this theory seems to not apply. People selflessly give aid to Africa, Nepal, and Haiti, with no visual reward. But in reality, every man who desires to do good does so precisely because his nature is evil (Tzu 103). Not all rewards are visual, nor are they consciously chased after. Whether people realize it or not, they gain a good reputation and a sense of glory when selflessly contributing to humanity. Humanitarianism is not guided by an inherent goodness; instead, â€Å"conventional morality cannot applyfor it is they who create the new modes and themes of morality in each eage† (Wouk 712). If there is anything inherent in human nature, it is self preservation. Those who rule do not lead with the idea of betterment; missionaries do not consciously travel to third-world countries out of the goodness in their hearts. Whether it is consciously or subconsciously, humans are led by self preservation, and s imply use morality to justify their actions. In school, children are required to study math in an effort to teach them financial basics that are essential to adult life. English, similarly, is studied to help students learn correct grammar and proper English that will help them in the professional workplace. But the study of history serves no similar purpose to math and English. We do not need to know about the War of 1812 in order to do taxes, and we certainly dont need information on the Cuban missile crisis to be able to read. The sole purpose of history, apparent in most school curriculum, is to study wins and losses. This information is used then to determine the moral standards of the current culture. Specifically, wars determine international conduct. Kenzaburo Oe, in The Unsurrendered People, recounts the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki as an absolute evil [that] intruded into the lives and consciousness of the A-bomb victims (Oe 289). Popular history admits the to tal destruction left behind, but defends America’s actions by pointing out that it prevented further loss of life. Nagasaki and Hiroshima revealed to the world how easily it could end, and many maintain that it has prevented World War III. Japan certainly does not see it as such. They see America’s historically just act as inhumane and a complete disregard to life. The same event, when held under different lights, is both immoral and moral, nullifying the idea of the static moral compass. A less trivial event such as the American Revolution would appear to disprove this. Nearly all textbooks account for the religious discrimination and persecution future settlers faced, the entire reason America came to be. Yet none of these textbooks describe the Boston Tea Party as an act of terrorism. That is because, as Herman Wouk verbalizes in The Winds of War, â€Å"the winning side writes history† (Wouk 566). The Boston Tea Party was an act of rebellion that destroyed pr operty and caused harm to others. 9/11 also destroyed property and (severely) injured others. In essence, are they both not the same? The only difference is that the attacking party in the Boston Tea Party, America, won. Had Al-Qaeda succeeded in their ultimate mission of bringing down America just as America did in gaining independence from Britain, history might record September 11, 2001 as a day where the giant greed machine that is America was forcefully and rightfully destroyed. Instead, Britain was revered as a tyrant and Al-Qaeda a threat against humanity because defeat, quite naturally, casts doubt on the conduct of the war by the loser (Wouk 814). Given human’s natural state of ambition, why would we repeat the same actions as the losers of history? This may explain why ISIS has behaved differently than Al-Qaeda. Seeing that flying a plane into some of Americas most important buildings failed, they have instead taken to the method of beheading innocent civilians and broadcasting it worldwide (CNN). Racism and murder: two ideas regarded as inherently immoral. Never in any circumstance are they acceptable, which is especially evidentiary in studying the mix of serious and fallacious allegations of police brutality. Yet looking back into Americas recent past, we find a different thinking behind killing. Roger Lane, in his analysis of â€Å"Crime and Criminal Statistics in Nineteenth-Century Massachusetts,† focuses on organized police efforts in the â€Å"wild west.† With police being almost non-existent, crime was handled by â€Å"private citizens [who] may initiate the processes of justice when injured directly† (Lane 160).Specifically, shootouts were gentlemanly murders, seen as acceptable ways of killing your foe. Today, â€Å"gangbangers† who participate in shoot-outs are perceived as thugs and hoodlums, a stark contrast to the glorified cowboys. By comparing the morals of the same country in different time periods, one completely shatters the idea of static morality said to exist in all humans. In fact, â€Å"there is no morality in world history†¦ victors write history, pass the judgements, and hang or shoot the losers† (Wouk 1016). Racism is a more recent revelation in morality. Not until the 60s did African Americans achieve civil rights, and still today they face discrimination. Our lack of an inner morality is why the American Civil War even occurred; it is why the south seceded from the union; it is why Abraham Lincoln was assassinated. John Carey’s Eyewitness to History observes that John Wilkes Booth yelled â€Å"sic semper tyrannis† (Carey 373), meaning â€Å"thus always to tyrants† (â€Å"Virginia State Flag†) as he fled the theatre after killing Lincoln. Booth obviously saw Lincoln as a tyrant with no regard for anyone but himself. It is a well known fact that slavery was essential to the souths economy, and Lincolns freeing of the slaves would have certainly been detrimenta l. In Booths mind, killing Lincoln seemed the right thing to do, for it would not only benefit him, but the entire south as well. Ambition and survival are what drive us. Booth simply saw this as a survival tactic, which is moral for him. It only so happens that public opinion was against his favor, keeping him from being regarded as a national hero. It is easy to sit back and judge historical events of all time periods as immoral or moral, especially when only studying one side of history. But with all minds and thoughts come subconscious bias and predispositions. For so long, morality has been looked at through a microscope with one setting, only proving that it exists. It does not show the layers of subjectiveness, the exceptions, or the omissions. If right and wrong were standardized as believed today, there would be no need for different versions of world history text books. History included the facts as one side saw them, usually failing to mention the other. Not everyone in the world thought Hitler as a deranged world executor, or else his campaigns would not have been so successful. Yet today, we do not hear from those who regarded him in high standards; we only hear the allie’s side of the war. The combination of predisposed superiority and an extremely connected world have created a false sense of likeness among society. Just like bandwagon Patriots fans after the Superbowl, everyone agrees on social issues because of popular opinion instead of their own beliefs because popular opinion is the winning team. Historys record of prosperous and disastrous escapades have decided our cultures morality for us: genocide is immoral because of Hitlers failure; the American Revolution was just because of its success. A simple investigation into the cultures of all parties involved in key world events would reveal that right and wrong are not predetermined. Morality is like water, fluidly moving in whichever direction each river dicates. Bibliography Carey, John. Eyewitness to History. New York: Avon Books, 1987. Print. Foner, Eric. Who Owns History? New York: Hill and Wang, 2002. MSU Libraries. Print. Hart, H.L.A. Law, Liberty, and Morality. California: Stanford University Press, 1963. MSU Libraries. Print. â€Å"ISIS Video Appears to Show Beheadings of Egyptian Coptic Christians in Libya.† CNN.com. Cable News Network, 16 Feb. 2015. Google. Web. 18 May 2015. Lane, Roger. â€Å"Crime and Criminal Statistics in Nineteenth Century Massachusetts.† Journal of Social History 2.2 (1968). MSU Libraries. 25 Apr. 2015. Print. Liebman, Robert, and Michael Polen. â€Å"Perspectives on Policing in Nineteenth-Century America.† Social Science History (1978). MSU Libraries. 25 Apr. 2015. Print. Oe, Kenzaburo. â€Å"The Unsurrendered People.† Reading the World: Ideas That Matter. 2nd ed. Ed. Micheal Austin. New York: Norton, 2010. 289-291. Print. Plato. â€Å"The Speech of Aristophanes.† Reading t he World: Ideas That Matter. 2nd ed. Ed. Micheal Austin. New York: Norton, 2010. 90-91. Print. Tzu, Hsun. â€Å"Man’s Nature Is Evil.† Reading the World: Ideas That Matter. 2nd ed. Ed. Micheal Austin. New York: Norton, 2010. 100-108. Print. â€Å"Virginia State Flag.† 50states.com. Marchex, Inc. 2015. Google. Web. 28 Apr. 2015. Wouk, Herman. Winds of War. New York: Little, Brown and Company, 1971. Print.

The Dominican Republic Essays - Greater Antilles,

The Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic is one of the many Spanish speaking countries in the world. The Dominican Republic, republic of the West Indies, compromising the eastern two-thirds of the island of Hispaniola. The word Dominican Republic in Spanish means Republica Dominicana. The capitol of the Dominican Republic is Santo Domingo. The population of the Dominican Republic is of mixed Spanish and black-African descent. The society is about sixty five percent urban. The population of the Dominican Republic in 1995 was about seven million, nine hundred and fifteen thousand (7,915,000) people. This gives the country a population density of about one hundred sixty two person per square kilometer. The Dominican Republic is divided into twenty nine provinces plus the Distrito Nacional . It also includes the capital of the Dominican Republic, Santo Domingo. Each province is subdivided into municipalities and townships. Some important cities are Santo Domingo, Santiago de los Caballlereos, San Pedro de Macrois. Santo Domingo is the leading port and has an estimated population of two million and four hundred thousand (2,400,000) persons. Santiago de los Caballeros is a trade and transportation center with a population of half a million people. San Pedro de Macoris, a seaport has a population of seventy eight thousand and five hundred sixty two(78,562) persons. The Dominican Republic consists of mainly Spanish speakers. Spanish is the official language of the Dominica Republic. English is also spoken and a French dialect is spoken. The religion of the Dominican Republic mostly Roman Catholicism. There is small Protestant community and some are Spiritists. The Dominican Republic has a length of in an east to west direction of about three hundred eighty kilometers and a maximum width, in the west, of about two hundred sixty five kilometers. The frontier with Haiti is about three hundred fifteen kilometers long. The Dominican also have possession to many islands. Such islands as Beata and Saona. The Dominican Republic is a very fertile land, well watered and very mountainous. About eighty percent of the country is covered with a series of mountain ranges, extending in a northwestern to southeastern direction. The most fertile region is in the Valley of Cibao and the coastal plains are also very fertile. The Dominican Republic has many rivers and streams. The Dominican Republic has a semitropical climate. Temperatures of more than seventy four degrees Fahrenheit are registered in the lowlands throughout the year. During the summer months temperatures range from eighty to ninety degrees Fahrenheit in the lowlands. The highland are much cooler and receive about sixty inches of precipitation each year. The wet season is from June to November. Tropical Hurricanes occur occasionally. The main resources of the Dominican Republic is mainly agriculture. The fertile soil is instrumental to farming and many of the mountains are covered with forests. The country also has valuable deposits of nickel, gold and silver. The Dominican Republic's vegetation is much like that of the other islands of the West Indies. The vegetation varies and luxuriant. Among the many species of indigenous trees are mahogany, rosewood and pine. Many species of useful plants and fruits are common, including rice, tobacco, cotton, sugarcane, yams, banana, pineapple and grapes. The history of the Dominian Republic starts at the aboriginal inhabitants of Hispaniola were Arawak people, engaged principally in farming and fishing. They eventually became extinct as a result of exploitation by Spanish colonists. Black slaves were later imported to take the place of the Arawak. In time the Spanish migrated from Hispaniola to South America, and for about a century the island was sparsely populated. In 1697, by the Peace of Ryswick, the portion of Hispaniola that had been occupied by French adventurers was formally ceded to France and became known as Saint-Domingue; it is now Haiti. The remaining Spanish section, what is now the Dominican Republic, was called Santo Domingo. In 1795, Spain finally ceded Santo Domingo to France. During the years that followed, the country was caught up in the convulsions of neighboring Haiti, as well as indigenous mixed-race and black people. When Haiti removed the French in 1804, Santo Domingo remained under French occupation for another five years. Then the French were expelled and Spanish rule restored. After 1814, however, the Spanish administration became increasingly tyrannical, and in 1821

Essay on Harris Migration Model

Essay on Harris Migration Model Essay on Harris Migration Model The Lewis two-sector development model consists of the agricultural sector and the urban sector, with the traditional agricultural sector characterized by excess labor; this surplus labor is dispersed from the agricultural sector to the urban sector (Todaro Smith, 2011). As people move to the urban sector, Gross Domestic Product increases. The over supply of labor in the agricultural means that as people leave and go to the urban sector, output in the agricultural sector will remain the same, and it will not decrease, because there was already an oversupply of labor. Like all models, Lewis makes some assumptions; the first is that all profits in the urban sector are reinvested, and that the level of wages in the urban/industrial sector is fixed. The Lewis development model can be shown graphically as well, the following diagram will show the difference in the Urban/industrial sector and the agricultural sector. In the below diagram in figure 1.1, we can see that in the industrial sector, as the total product increases, so too does the quantity of labor. If we recall one of Lewis’ assumptions was that profits and investments are reinvested back into the sector, causing total product to increase. If we derive this curve we are left with figure 1.2, which shows the real wage in the industrial sector. Figure 1.2 shows that if investments and profits are reinvested back into the labor market, that demand for labor will rise, shown by points B, C and D. Now if we have a look at figure 2.1, we see the total product for the rural sector of the economy. Labor will increase until the average total production (TPA) and Average labor quantity (LA) meet at point A. At point A workers in the rural sector will be earning WA, as shown at point E in figure 2.2, after point A surplus labor will occur and the workers average product will decrease and move down the curve. WA represents the average wage that a worker in the agricultural sector will earn, when comparing this to Wbar in figure 1.2, Lewis assumes that employers in the industrial sector can hire as many workers from the rural sector that they want, and wont need to worry about increasing wages, because the industrial wage is fixed at a higher rate than the rural (Todaro Smith, 2011). So as labor is drawn out of the rural sector and put into the industrial sector, per capital income will rise. Todaro Smith argue that the Lewis model isn’t effective in explaining recent trends where mass movements from rural areas to industrial areas occur despite increasing unemployment in city areas (p. 337). To explain this occurrence we use the Harris-Todaro migration model. In this model there is also an agricultural and urban sector, but the urban sector is split between the urban formal sector and the urban informal sector. The urban formal sector is comprised of workers hired officially on contracts, whereas the urban informal sector is comprised of those individuals who don’t have regular jobs. More conventional names for the urban informal sector can be workers for the black market or off the book workers. To make the decision on whether workers will migrate or not, we can use the following equation: Wa (Lf / Lf + Li) x Wf + (Li / Lf + Li) x Wi Where: Lf = formal sector Li = informal sector Wf = urban formal sector wage Wi = urban informal sector wage Wa = agricultural sector wage Equilibrium in the Harris-Todaro model when the wage in the agricultural sector is equal to the expected wage in the urban sector; this can also be

Sauroposeidon - Facts and Figures

Sauroposeidon - Facts and Figures Name: Sauroposeidon (Greek for Poseidon lizard); pronounced SORE-oh-po-SIDE-on Habitat: Woodlands of North America Historical Period: Middle Cretaceous (110 million years ago) Size and Weight: About 100 feet long and 60 tons Diet: Plants Distinguishing Characteristics: Extremely long neck; massive body; small head About Sauroposeidon For years, pretty much all we knew about the fancifully named Sauroposeidon derived from a handful of cervical vertebrae (neck bones) unearthed in Oklahoma in 1999. These arent just your garden-variety vertebrae, thoughjudging by their massive size and weight, its clear that Sauroposeidon was one of the largest herbivorous (plant-eating) dinosaurs that ever lived, outclassed only by the South American Argentinosaurus and its fellow North American cousin Seismosaurus (which may well have been a species of Diplodocus). A few other titanosaurs, like Bruthathkayosaurus and Futalongkosaurus, may also have outclassed Sauroposeidon, but the fossil evidence attesting to their size is even more incomplete. In 2012, Sauroposeidon underwent a resurrection of sorts when two other (equally poorly understood) sauropod specimens were synonymized with it. The scattered fossils of Paluxysaurus and Pleurocoelus individuals, discovered near the Paluxy River in Texas, were assigned to Sauroposeidon, with the result that these two obscure genera may one day be synonymized themselves with the Poseidon Lizard. (Ironically, both Pleurocoelus and Paluxysaurus have served as the official state dinosaur of Texas; not only may these be the same dinosaur as Sauroposeidon, but all three of these sauropods may also have been the same as Astrodon, the official state dinosaur of Maryland. Isnt paleontology fun?) Judging from the still-limited evidence available, what set Sauroposeidon apart from other enormous, elephant-legged, small-brained sauropods and titanosaurs was its extreme height. Thanks to its unusually long neck, this dinosaur may have towered 60 feet into the skyhigh enough to peek into a sixth-floor window in Manhattan, if any office buildings had existed during the middle Cretaceous period! However, its unclear if Sauroposeidon actually held its neck to its full vertical height, as this would have placed enormous demands on its heart; one theory is that it swept its neck and head parallel to the ground, sucking up low-lying vegetation like the hose of a giant vacuum cleaner. By the way, you may have seen an episode of the Discovery Channel show Clash of the Dinosaurs stating that Sauroposeidon juveniles grew to huge sizes by eating insects and small mammals. This is so far from accepted theory that it seems to have been completely made up; to date, theres absolutely no evidence that sauropods were even partly carnivorous. There is, however, some speculation that prosauropods (the distant Triassic ancestors of the sauropods) may have pursued omnivorous diets; perhaps a Discovery Channel intern got his research mixed up! (Or perhaps the same TV network that enjoys making up facts about Megalodon simply doesnt care whats true and whats false!)

The effective use of participatory action within public-private Dissertation

The effective use of participatory action within public-private partnership in the provision of housing for key workers bearing - Dissertation Example 6 2.3.1 Carrying field work for CSR †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 9 2.4 Sustainability in housing provision †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 10 2.5 Conceptualising participation for both public and private sectors †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 13 3. Citizen power: The Ghana experience †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. .†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦...16 4. The Stakeholders †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦... 17 4.1 The Ministry of Works and Housing †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦... 17 4.2 The World Bank †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 18 4.3 The Home Finance Comp any †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 18 4.4 Strengthening Community management in the development and operation of facilities and services (SCMP) †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 19 4.5 Shack Dwellers International (SDI) †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 20 5. Framework through participatory methods of stakeholders †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 21 5.1 Ethical Issues Involved †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦... ... Assessment: What brings success to a PPP? †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 33 8. References †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 38 1. Introduction Housing has become one of humanity’s basic needs. Without a roof over their heads, individuals become like nomads searching for their place where they can be pioneers, although nomads are different than refugees who flee ‘because they have no choice’ (Kaplan as cited in Buki, 2003, p. 24). In the so-called third world countries, especially Ghana, housing is one of the primary programs over which government makes decisions. Whether to alleviate poverty, to jumpstart the economy, or to improve the quality of life of the people, providing housing for the workers and ordinary employees with the support of the public and private sectors is a m ajor undertaking of a developing economy. (Mason 1996, p. 176) People in Ghana are not refugees; neither are they nomads. They value housing as basic human need but housing is a precious commodity that is difficult to grasp. In other words, post-colonial Ghana has relatively failed in its housing policy: the 1986 National Housing Policy and 1992 National Shelter Strategy both did not succeed (Obeng-Odoom 2013). However, several administrations have tried to put up housing programs for city residents, employing public-private partnerships although those are still in the implementation stage (Obeng-Odoom, p. 108). Housing leaders and experts have called for secondary mortgage solution to solve the growing problem of housing in Africa. Experts also recommended that the private sector, especially the banking industry, should provide financing in the form of home equity loans, to help solve the housing problem. (Obeng-Odoom 2013, p. 109)

Shell Gas Station (Timewise) Compliance Interview and Report Research Paper - 1

Shell Gas Station (Timewise) Compliance Interview and Report Assignment - Research Paper Example That is why I choose this company. There are two main types of laws and regulations that govern Timewise Food Stores in its day to day operations. These are the governmental regulation and company policy. Shell gas station is one of the very vast liability stores that are located in Texas. There is a variety of legal compliance whose adherence is required of the company. There is a legal requirement, professional standards and policies that the company has established for all its outlets in the Texas. The legal requirement includes federal and local county laws that regulate the stores in their daily activities. The most important for Shell store manager is to be aware of any matter related to Tobacco or Alcohol. Federal law requires Shell to sell tobacco to customers over the age of 18 years old and alcohol to over the age of 21 years old. However, each state is free to create its own laws, agencies, and punishments. According to Texas regulation, there is no restriction concerning selling hours or places of sale of Tobacco. However, the violation of term in buying or selling Tobacco to minor is subject to same penalties as alcohol penalties. The laws on alcohol establishments occur under the control of the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission. According to Texas law under Sec. 106.025, first and second offense of minor licensee is considered a class-C misdemeanor which means it only carries a 30-60 days maximum suspension of license and a fine of up to $500.00 along with 8 to 40 hours of community service. However, if the licensee is over 18 years of age, then it usually increased to a class-B misdemeanor, which is 6 months to a full year in jail and a $250 to $2000 fine. An offense under this section is punishable as provided by Sec. 106.071. According to Texas law under Sec. 106.03 a clerk who actually sold

Roles of Managers and Individuals Essay Example for Free

Roles of Managers and Individuals Essay There is one thing that is a constant within any organization which is change. Change is undeniable and inevitable. Change is what leads to progress. Structures, procedures, systems and policies and systems or just a few forms of change which an organization will use when utilizing change. When an organization undergoes goes there is a focus on the behaviors as well as the results based production delivered by its employees. When employees engage themselves in the change process while taking ownership of the processes in place, the organization will obtain value. Management at the executive level to the supervisors on the front line will all play a role in the process of change. The following will examine the roles of managers, change agents that are used, as well as the management’s role in combating resistance, and championing change. Roles of Managers â€Å"The ultimate goal of change management is to engage employees and encourage their adoption of a new way of doing their jobs.† (Change Management Learning Center, 2014). There are several key management roles in the change process such as a project team, intermediate level managers and supervisors and finally executives and senior management. Senior-level managers and executives have many roles such as visibility and participation throughout the entire duration of the project, communicate with employees, manage resistance and build a group of strong leaders for the future. An effective way to predict the success of a project is through strong leadership. Front line supervisors and intermediate-level managers also manage resistance in addition to the roles of coaching, advocating, communicating and acting as a liaison for upper management to the  individuals. Employees prefer hearing the risks and rewards that come from change and how it will affect the staff on a day to day basis from their direct manager as this is who they built a report with. Managers act as the voice of the organization and must be advocates of change whether they agree with it or not. The manager’s job is to prevent resistance from employees, take direction while providing feedback to the team and helping with the individual transitions of the employees. When dealing with the change process, the role of the individual is the acceptance of altering the day to day operations while using the solutions of change. The employees are in charge of controlling the changes and alterations in their particular division or area. The employees also act as the main source of feedback regarding the changes as they are on the â€Å"front line† and see all of these changes first hand. Change Agents Whether the organization is large or small, it will need a change agent to undergo the change process. A change agent is defined as â€Å"individual or group that undertakes the task of initiating and managing change in an organization† (Lunenburg, 2010). A change agent will either be internal, which consists of managers, supervisors or any employee that is in charge of the over-sight of the change, or external, which consists of any third party firms or consultants. Internal Change Agents Internal change agents consist of individuals that provide training, knowledge, personal perspectives, procedures in problem solving, skill building, data gathering to evaluate processes and assistance with team learning within groups. Internal changes agents will invest themselves personally in the change and have knowledge of the organization’s culture, issues, employees and environment. External Change Agents External change agents are used to make large organizational overhauls and massive changes. These change agents are brought in from outside the organization and are used to provide an unbiased perspective of the situation and push the organization to think outside of the norm.The draw-backs of external change agents are availability ( as they will have other clients), cost, and time ( to become familiar with the way the organization runs its business). Combating Resistance The first step in combating resistance is to realize that not all employees are going to resist the changes. Once the employees who do resist are identified it’s important for management to identify how each employee will respond best when feeling resistant. Managers would be best served looking for signs of resistance that include sabotage, blaming and intimidation. Once these symptoms have been identified management must utilize the correct approach with which they use for the employee. Some of these approaches include: Resistance Cycle- This approach includes the psychological stages such as resistance and denial. Situational Approach- This is a combination of six methods that range from communication to education to implicit and explicit coercion. Thought Self-Leadership- This process involves leading through persuasion using the thoughts of the individual. Successful leadership involves identifying and understanding the differences between the two styles of resistance, passive and active. Once this is done, action may be taken to squash any resistance the employees have created. Championing Change Championing change begins in the hiring and grooming process. Organizations are committed to choosing the best available candidates that will flourish and blossom into the leaders of the future. The organization must identify the changes they are looking to make and then choose employees that will best format to those changes, Once the employees have been selected, they must be given all the tools needed to transition the organization to where it wants to go, this includes training and education. Finally, feedback needs to be given throughout the process to ensure that all agreed upon changes are being completed successfully and are accomplishing desired  objectives. There is one thing that is a constant within any organization which is change. Change is undeniable and inevitable. Utilizing change agents, having active leadership and management with the ability to communicate, and sustaining a positive relationship with the employees are sure fire ways to ensure a seamless transiti on through change. References Change Management Learning Center. (2014). Retrieved from http://www.change-management.com/tutorial-job-roles-mod2.htm Lunenburg, F.C. (2010). Managing Change: The role of the change agent. International Journal of Management, Business, and Administration, 13(1), 1-6. Retrieved from http://www.nationalforum.com/Electronic%20Journal%20Volumes/Lunenburg,%20Fred%20C. %20Managing%20Change%20The%20Role%20of%20Change%20Agent%20IJMBA,%20V13%20N1%202010.pdf

Cat Stevens & His Journey to Islam :: essays research papers

Before you read this : Yusuf Islam ( formely Cat Stevens ) used to be one of the most famous POP singers in England in the 70th till he decided to be a Muslim and Alhamdulillah he found the light of Allah ! All I have to say is all what you know already, to confirm what you already know, the message of the Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) as given by God - the Religion of Truth. As human beings we are given a consciousness and a duty that has placed us at the top of creation. Man is created to be God's deputy on earth, and it is important to realize the obligation to rid ourselves of all illusions and to make our lives a preparation for the next life. Anybody who misses this chance is not likely to be given another, to be brought back again and again, because it says in Qur'an Majeed that when man is brought to account, he will say, "O Lord, send us back and give us another chance." The Lord will say, "If I send you back you will do the same." MY EARLY RELIGIOUS UPBRINGING I was brought up in the modern world of all the luxury and the high life of show business. I was born in a Christian home, but we know that every child is born in his original nature - it is only his parents that turn him to this or that religion. I was given this religion (Christianity) and thought this way. I was taught that God exists, but there was no direct contact with God, so we had to make contact with Him through Jesus - he was in fact the door to God. This was more or less accepted by me, but I did not swallow it all. I looked at some of the statues of Jesus; they were just stones with no life. And when they said that God is three, I was puzzled even more but could not argue. I more or less believed it, because I had to have respect for the faith of my parents. POP STAR Gradually I became alienated from this religious upbringing. I started making music. I wanted to be a big star. All those things I saw in the films and on the media took hold of me, and perhaps I thought this was my God, the goal of making money.

CIO Interview Questions

What shortcomings have you experienced with your management style? How do you use metrics to manage IT? What are some common metrics pitfalls? How do you balance tactical business demands with the need to stick to a long term strategy? What project are you most proud of? Can you give me a example of a project you were involved in that failed? How do you ensure a fair and competitive procurement process? How will you market IT to your peers on the executive team and to the CEO? Can you give me an example of a long term IT strategy you successfully implemented?How do you stay abreast of what your competitors are doing In the IT space? The focus of this paper Is to provide Insight on the role of Chief Information Officer In his day-to-day life In the office. It appears that at Cants the CIO has to deal with strategic and operations aspects of IT In a way that Is aligned with the business goals and strategies. It became clear that the CIO must be a good communicator and must have a busin ess background mixed with knowledge of Information Technology to be able to understand the business process exhaustively and find solutions to enable the business to operate efficiently.Overall, CIO needs to have three major skills: business skills, communication skills and leadership skills. No doubt there will be Internal and external challenges down the road as the CIO tries to change the perception of IT from Just keeping the lights on to providing a strategic value. At the end of the day, the CIO will have a great Impact Implementing the company's strategy and achieving Its goals. By balletomane How do you stay abreast of what your competitors are doing in the IT space?The focus of this paper is to provide insight on the role of Chief Information Officer in his day-to-day life in the office. It appears that at Cants the CIO has to deal with strategic and operations aspects of IT in a way that is aligned with the business goals internal and external challenges down the road as t he CIO tries to change the end of the day, the CIO will have a great impact implementing the company's strategy and achieving its goals.

Popular Culture Media and Society: Culture Jamming Essay

Introduction â€Å"Culture jamming† is a strategy often utilized by the anti-globalization movement in the creation and reappropriation of memes, or memorable and persistent ideas. Traditional culture jamming strategies have included a variety of actions, ranging from billboard liberation, wherein artists reclaim billboards as public space, to media activism, wherein activists attempt to garner news coverage through some form of direct action in order to have their message heard. Additional tactics such as spoof advertisements geared to mock a particular brand or industry and branding removal, wherein activists remove all marks of branding from products, have also been deployed. Culture jammers attempt to expose the norms of western industrial society and call them into question but often their attempts are not popular enough to reach a large audience and encourage a large scale questioning of the status quo. The goals of the culture jamming community are to introduce new norms into societies that effectively turn back the meanings of current social norms. Despite the best intentions of those working within the movement, traditional culture jamming rarely makes it into popular culture and is thus often thwarted in the attempt to successfully challenge the norms perpetuated by globalization. The purpose of this study is to examine the ways in which culture jamming that permeates the media and crosses the line from subculture to pop culture can challenge hegemonic structures of power while simultaneously reinforcing those challenges by increasing their popularity. Through the study of popular culture artifacts from a variety of genres I hope to determine whether or not popular culture may serve as an effective strategic forum for the introduction of culture jamming artifacts, as opposed to the traditional and more subversive tactics being deployed by culture jammers. Towards an Understanding of Culture Jamming Culture jamming and studies of culture jamming have typically focused on the ability of an activist group or individual to effectively redeploy the signs and symbols of a dominant system in a manner that disrupts their meaning and critiques the overall system from which the symbols originate. In his recently republished 1993 pamphlet on culture jamming, Mark Dery (2001) states that culture jammers: †¦ introduce noise into the signal as it passes from transmitter to receiver, encouraging idiosyncratic, unintended interpretations. Intruding on the intruders, they invest ads, newscasts, and other media artifacts with subversive meanings; simultaneously, they decrypt them, rendering their seductions impotent (para. 36). From Dery’s perspective culture jamming can be seen as actions or artifacts that are politically or subversively charged. Jamming can range from parody to media gags, but always aims to make a statement against a particular target of power or popularity within a culture. Similarly, semiotic theorist Umberto Eco (1984) advocates that one form of media can be utilized to spread criticism pointed at another type of medium in order to â€Å"restore a critical dimension to passive reception† (p. 138). Eco refers to acts and artifacts that have this potential to be part of â€Å"semiotic guerilla warfare.† The signs and symbols of a culture are open to interpretation. While within a culture there may be a common meaning for these signs and symbols within a culture that meaning is not set in stone. A sign or a symbol may be used to contradict its own popular meaning. Thus we can see how semiotics plays an important role in developing tools for the toolbox of the culture jammer. The lack of fixed meaning in the signs we see on a daily basis allow culture jammers to turn back symbols as semiotic weapons against their creators. Kalle Lasn (2000) defines culture jamming as the demarketing of marketing. As the founder of Adbusters magazine, Lasn has pushed for the reclaiming and redeployment of particular brand names, icons, and advertising campaigns through a process known to culture jammers as subvertising. Lasn explains in his book, Culture Jam that culture jammers utilize Debord’s notion of detournement, or turning back specific aspects of a spectacle against itself. In the case of culture jamming, brands and their advertising are turned back upon themselves to reveal questions and inconsistencies about a particular advertiser’s ideals as seen through its campaigns. Lasn (2000) also claims that successful culture jamming can function as a pincer movement utilizing both high profile media campaigns that challenge industry in combination with grass roots campaigns for local action. The challenge to an industry or target combined with encouragement of behavioral change has the potential to change the perception of the target on a broad scale while also reducing support for the target. A well-organized pincer will get millions of people thinking about their lives—about eating better, driving less, jumping off the fashion treadmill, downshifting. Eventually the national mood will evolve (pg136). Lasn’s pincer attack attempts to make that which is currently chic or popular in a society unpopular on a massive scale. As fewer people within the society buy into the imagery of a particular industry or brand the industry loses financial support and must either change its practices or face rejection by the community at large. Lasn has spear headed grass roots campaigns such as â€Å"Buy Nothing Day;† an annual campaign urging consumers to avoid buying anything on the last Friday of November (a date commonly known among retailers as â€Å"Black Friday† as it often marks record profits for retailers as a result of holiday shopping). Lasn combines this grassroots campaign with thirty-second television ad spots on CNN each year as well as more locally oriented promotion such as fliers that activists can print off the Internet and disseminate at will. Christine Harold (2004) claims that the culture jammer â€Å"seeks to undermine the marketing rhetoric of multinational corporations, specifically through such practices as media hoaxing, corporate sabotage, billboard ‘liberation,’ and trademark infringement† (p. 190). These strategies are used by jammers in an effort to â€Å"glut the system† by supplying audiences with contradictory messages. Their goal is to generate a qualitative change in the minds of the audience about the subject matter targeted. Harold (2004) critiques traditional culture jamming as a rhetorical strategy because it often relies upon revelation of hidden truths and rejection of the systems it attempts to play upon. In her analysis, Harold specifically indicts Lasn’s publications and others who deploy parody or direct negation of corporate logos in their attempts to cause questioning of norms. Reliance on parody as a mechanism for revealing truth requires audiences to deconstruct the common meaning of a sign with little to work with but the sign itself. Additionally, parody causes a commitment to rhetorical binaries that articulate rejection of the targeted idea with little room for the idea to be reframed. Dominant powers within a criticized system can easily utilize these tactics for their own means. The reliance on a recognized symbol helps to maintain its cultural prominence. The rhetorical binary used by culture jammers allows the targeted entity to easily deflect criticism and quash the questioning of norms. While Adbusters and activists of similar ideology may put forth a message of rebellion and rejection corporate targets can use these concepts of rebellion and rejection to sell their products. Recent advertisements for Sprite illustrate this concept well as they focus on rejecting celebrity culture and embracing one’s own character by purchasing the product. Harold (2004) advocates a more appropriative approach to culture jamming seeks to be appropriated by commercial media in order to redirect the focus of dominant media systems. Much of Harold’s argument focuses on the value of media activism via prank, pointing to groups such as the Barbie Liberation Organization (BLO) and Biotic Baking Brigade (BBB) as groups that have successfully received positive media coverage through their pranks. Clearly, we can see that culture jamming may be an effective strategy for putting dominant hierarchies, organizations, and systems into question. However, Reinsborough and Harold (2004) both raise interesting points in terms of the effectiveness of the strategy, with Harold illustrating the problems of strategies that are not appropriative and Reinsborough recognizing that subversive media strategies (such as those Harold advocates) are often limited in scope. When considering Reinsborough’s (2003) usage of the word meme the concept that he is referring to is not necessarily identical to that articulated by memetic theorists. Susan Blackmore (1999) has broadly defined memes as â€Å"everything that you have learned by imitation† (pg6). The definition of imitation from a memetic perspective should not be confused with â€Å"copycat† acts. Instead, imitation should be seen as memes passing from one mind to another. In his article on culture jammers and the World Wide Web, Stephen Downes (1999) defines the meme as a â€Å"contagious idea that spreads from one mind to another† (para. 2). He articulates that memes are a way to represent the ideas contained within advertising and explains that in order for ideas to take hold in one’s mind they must appeal to the audience in a way that helps them to be remembered. Similarly, Kalle Lasn (2000) speaks of â€Å"infotoxins,† or â€Å"infoviruses,† that permeate dominant media forums. Lasn claims that disinformation is propagated through media and public relations spin resulting in the establishment of incorrect beliefs about the world. In one example, Lasn refers to the media’s portrayal of anti-automobile activists as limiters of personal freedom as a contributing factor in the failure of activists to popularize their message. The movement becomes unable to stimulate a mindset shift towards a culture that is less dependent upon petroleum products. As the activists are seen as â€Å"anti-freedom† harms they are attempting to solve such as global warming are not taken seriously. Additionally, he argues that while the effects of global warming can be seen on both local and global scales, disinformation that has been spread through dominant media forums has led to a sense of complacency about the issue in the minds of Americans. Lasn believes these â€Å"infoviruses† are untruthful memes that must be challenged through the production of counteractive memes that outperform those that movements wish to question. â€Å"We build our own meme factory, put out a better product and beat the corporations at their own game. We identify the macromemes and the metamemes—the core ideas without which a sustainable future is unthinkable—and deploy them† (pg124). Both Reinsborough (2003) and Lasn (2000) seem to be identifying that memes are memorable and popular concepts that have the ability to be spread in order to transform cultural norms. Blackmore (1999) and Downes (1999) clearly illustrate that memes are made up of ideas that are picked up from popular culture and imitated. The process of culture jamming can be seen as one generating memes that hold a meaning that challenges existing norms. To return to the analogy of the gene, culture jamming can be seen as a form of â€Å"memetic engineering† with a goal of producing a dominant and meaningful meme that causes new â€Å"traits,† or meanings, to become exemplified within a culture. Understanding the Transformative Potential of Popular Culture Communication and mass media scholars have examined the extent to which popular culture may contribute to the formation of cultural norms and social structure. Guy Debord (1977) implicates popular culture in large portion of what he labels â€Å"the society of the spectacle.† Debord’s (1977) view of the world in the era of global capitalism is one in which popular culture serves to provide images or representations of the world that do not represent its historical state, but instead inspire audiences to digest the world around them as commodities as a replacement for the real. Artifacts such as films are not representative of art, but are tools to inspire audiences to strive towards the acquisition of consumer goods and respect the hierarchal structure. Debord (1977) points out that the society of the spectacle is replete with images and representations that drive audiences to become consumers. This consumption leads audiences to respect the structural hierarchies that repress them. In essence, the complacency most audiences have towards the consumption of images and subsequently the world around them drives this structuralism. While Debord (1977) implicates popular culture and the spectacle as paramount in the construction of a social order of consumption, he does offer some hope for those striving to work against the consumptive nature of capitalist hierarchies in the form of â€Å"detournement† By creating contradictions, negations, or parodies of a given work, â€Å"corrections† can be made to the meaning of the work in order to create a meaning that is more representative of the â€Å"true† states of societies. Marshall McLuhan (1964) argued in his groundbreaking work, Understanding Media, that popular culture experienced a drastic shift with the advent of technologies such as film, radio and television. Whereas popular culture had been print dominated in years previous, the shift to new types of media changed the way media was created and the effect was dramatic. McLuhan argues that the introduction of printed texts into cultures undermined the tribal aspect of communities and collective ideas that had once dominated small communities. Cultures became more individualistic and increased the power of logic and rationale of the written word as opposed to commonality among group members. The advent of new media brought about a more collective consciousness as individuals were drawn to its aesthetics. New tribal communities formed that were rooted in both local and global norms. Audience exposure to new and different sights and sounds increased the shared understanding across cultures. McLuhan also illustrates that the spread of media united people as a result of the media’s importance by comparing media to staples of a society’s economy. Television, for example, can be used to construct the cultural norms of a society. Those people who are active audience members of a particular television show or genre are likely to have shared beliefs, forming a tribal community of their own. McLuhan argued that the community building potential of television and the syndication of programming created the potential for these cultures to spread globally. While McLuhan’s work was performed in the 1960s the subsequent popularity of the Internet seems to confirm at the very least that communities of people who make up television audiences extend worldwide as fan sites, bulletin boards, and blogs dedicated to television programs cross multiple borders and cultures. Television, much of McLuhan’s media, is a part of popular culture. Research has also been conducted suggesting that popular culture has the ability to reaffirm existing cultural norms or as a tool in transforming current norms. Lee Artz (2004) has examined the cultural norms that are present in the bulk of the animation produced by the Walt Disney Co. Artz argues that the autocratic production process embraced by Disney executives results in four dominant themes present in nearly every animated film the company has released. These themes include the naturalization of hierarchy, the defense of elite coercion and power, promotion of hyper-individualism and the denigration of democratic solidarity (p. 126). The prevalence of these themes can be identified through study of the narratives contained within Disney films as well as through the stylistic elements of the animation itself. The ease with which animated film can be translated and transported into the languages and cultures of peoples worldwide offers a large audience to Disney in marketing its films and film-related products. The portability of Disney products from one culture to another is a problematic notion for Artz (2004), as he explains the social stratification present and reaffirmed in the films produced is largely representative of the global capital system that allows Disney to thrive as a media giant. Artz suggests that effective resistance against these thematic representations cannot be implemented by rogue Disney artists injecting subversive messages into films. Instead, â€Å"cooperative creations and narratives† and the appropriation and subsequent use of animation technology by artists, writers, and producers committed to the promotion of democracy would be more effective. This conclusion appears to be impirically proven. While not discussed in Artz’s work, subversive strategies have been employed by disgruntled artists involved in the production of Disney films (such as the post-production inclusion of an image of a topless woman in the background artwork of The Rescuers). However these acts did not generate substantial negative publicity for the company. Peter Simonson (2001) has examined the successes the animal-rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) have experienced as a result of using communication strategies rooted in popular culture. PETA seeks to change predominant cultural norms in the area of animal welfare. Their traditional communicative strategies have relied on the generating news controversy and gaining news coverage. Simonson proposes that social movements and organizations seeking to change popular morals or norms rely upon social noise—a multifaceted concept that can be defined as messages that are compelling or loud enough to be heard amidst the signals of mass-media. Noise disrupts commonly held social meanings and is often discordant or disagreeable to a subset of the audience. Scholars have also focused on what makes a particular artifact or action popular. John Fiske (1989) studied culture as popular culture in terms of texts. By making textual analysis of artifacts in popular culture, Fiske began to make claims about the structure of popular messages. Fiske introduced the concept of the producerly text as a primary characteristic of popular culture. The producerly text is conceptually anchored in the distinctions made by Barthes (1977) between the writerly and readerly texts. Barthes contends that readerly texts are those that we are able to read passively. Interactions between the audience and these texts are receptive; there is no need to question or interpret the text in a different way than it is written. Writerly texts can be seen as those texts that require the reader to constantly evaluate and rewrite the meaning of the text, and writerly texts usually require some specialized knowledge or a toolset to decode (Fiske 1989). Many scholars and activists concur that there is a risk when entering into pop culture that the rhetoric used by those critiquing dominant ideologies and structures may be co-opted. The potential exists for the message to be appropriated by those in power for their own means; the message becomes incorporated by those in power in order to embolden their own claims or profits. The same process that allows activists to change the meaning of texts is available to everyone. Popular culture has the potential to create and transform both societal structure and norms. Additionally, communities of common exposure and belief can be developed using popular culture as a medium. There may be a risk of that subversive ideas can be incorporated by dominant systems of power, but this incorporation does not necessarily limit the transformative potential popular culture holds. When considering the culture jammer’s intent of questioning and changing norms popular culture becomes an interesting point of cultural injection. Conclusion In essence, the popular culture jam seeks to be appropriated into pop culture- it becomes pop culture and helps to redefine that which is popular. The result is a sort of â€Å"subpropriation,† where in the author seeks to have his or her work popularized in order to simultaneously popularize a previously subversive concept or idea. However, this appeal to the popular does not necessarily stop culture jamming from occurring. Entry into popular culture does not dictate that the message will be recuperated by industry. Rather, popular culture jamming takes place at a different point than other types of culture jamming. The â€Å"jam† in popular culture jamming occurs at the point that the artifact, action, or behavior becomes popular. The most obvious effect of moving towards a jamming of popular culture is the increased access to larger audiences. Popular culture does not request to be covered in the same way that news-oriented communication or advertisements often do. Instead, popular culture places demands upon media outlets to not only be covered but also be distributed to the masses. This sense of demand results because the popular is attractive to the media as a potential form of profit. Again, we see Fiske’s (1989) theories on production and incorporation at work. A popular culture jam spreads as a result of its popularity. Often this popularity is created by the irresistible profits that may be yielded from an artifact’s incorporation into the popular. In essence, one aspect of the structures that propagate and allow for globalization (and the subsequent problems that those in anti-globalization movements perceive to be resultant from it) to persist and thrive are turned back to criticize either itself or another portion of the hierarchal structure. Popular culture, despite the criticisms it often faces for lack of sophistication or intelligence, is an important element of our lives. Popular culture may also serve as a tool for those struggling against globalization, rampant consumerism, and capitalist exploitation. Each time we turn on a television or listen to the radio or log on to the Internet we are exposing ourselves to popular culture. Popular culture should not be perceived as an intellectual wasteland. While much of that which makes up popular culture may be perceived as being detrimental to society by any number of people, activists and media scholars cannot ignore or reject it. Popular culture needs to be embraced and transformed through the use of producerly texts in order to improve and transform the genre into another persuasive conduit for activists. Popular culture is not going away. In the age of new media popular culture is becoming even more pervasive in our lives as media formats are combined. If embraced as a rhetorical forum by culture jammers, popular culture can be transformed into a more revelatory and revolutionary space for communicating ideals that activists wish to make popular. References Artz, L., (2004), The Righteousness of Self-centered Royals: The World According to Disney Animation, Critical Arts Journal, Vol. 18, No. 1, 116-146. Blackmore, S., (1999). The meme machine, 1st ed., Oxford University Press. Debord, G., (1977), The Society of the Spectacle. Available at http://library.nothingness.org/articles/SI/en/pub_contents. Dery, M., (2004, Oct 10), Culture jamming: hacking, slashing and sniping in the empire of signs. Available at: http://www.markdery.com/archives/2004/10/cultureJamming_l.html. Downes, S., (1999, Oct. 4), Hacking memes. First Monday, 4.10. Available at: http://firstmonday.org/issues/issue4_l 0/downes/index.html. Eco, U., (1984), Semiotics and the philosophy of language, 1st ed., Bloomington, USA: Indiana University Press. Fiske, J., (1989), Understanding popular culture. 1st ed. Boston, USA: Unwin Hyman. Harold, C. (2004). Pranking rhetoric: â€Å"culture jamming† as media activism. Critical Studies in Media Communication, Vol. 21, No. 3, 189-211. Lasn, K., (2000), Culture Jam: How to Reverse America’s Suicidal Consumer Binge—And Why We Must, 1st ed. New York, USA: HarperCollins Publishers. McLuhan, M., (1964), Understanding Media. London, England: Routledge Press. Reinsborough, P., (2003, Aug.), Decolonizing the revolutionary imagination, Journal of Aesthetics and Protest, No.1, Available at: http://www.journalofaestheticsandprotest.org/l/de_colonizing/index.html. Simonson, P., (2001), Social Noise and Segmented Rhythms: News, Entertainment, and Celebrity in the Crusade for Animal Rights, Communication Review, Vol. 4, No. , 399-420.

Exploring The New World essays

Exploring The New World essays Europeans had high expectations as they begun to explore the Atlantic. They were of course initially searching for the shortcut to find India. All of the European nation, namely Spain and Portugal, were trying to put their own stake on the route to India. They knew that once they found the magical route, that it would be their claim to fame and riches beyond their wildest dreams. The Spanish were heading west in order to find the shortest route east. There was only one problem, they would of course run into a massive land mass they had no clue existed. When The Spaniards found The New World, they immediately thought they had found India. They were mistaken. Once they made their way through the Caribbean, they found what is now known as Central America. They found something even greater than a route to spices and silk; they found entire cities made of gold. There was only one problem, there were cannibalistic people who lived there. The Spaniards took it upon themselves to try to make these heathens righteous in their eyes. They did this while they were burning down their cities, raping their women, and stealing all of their riches. The Spanish didnt start settling down in the New World until much later. The British had already settled almost everything east of the Mississippi. The few Spanish explorers who did land in Florida and explore land east of the Mississippi did help soften the Indian stronghold on the area. The Spanish helped by spreading all kinds of diseases that the Indians were not accustomed to. This wipe d out many Indian tribes, making lots of room for the upcoming British invasion. The Indians never saw it coming. There had been many rulers in England that had come and gone, but only one Queen, Elizabeth I, had the courage to push onward to the New World. When King James I took power, he chartered two companies and gave them the power to colonize. The first, and least su ...

Four Ways to Beat the Feast and Famine Cycle (Without Burning Out)

Four Ways to Beat the Feast and Famine Cycle (Without Burning Out) Freelance writing is a balancing act. If you take on too much work, you burn out. If you take on too little work, you risk a crater-sized hole in your bank account. What counts as just enough work or just enough income varies from one freelance writer to another, but its easier to find that sweet spot in the middle when you: Pitch Often You dont have to pitch articles every day (though if that works for you, Take at Least One Light But Regular Gig The problem with high-paying assignments, like those from magazines and big-name corporations, is that theyre usually temporary. You need something to tide you over in-between these assignments, which is where the light-but-regular-gig comes in. (For starters, check out the gigs advertised at Blog Writers Wanted.) http://blogwriterswanted.com Think of this extra gig as a part-time job. It might pay lower than what youre comfortable with, but at least youll have pocket money. Besides, if the gig involves tasks like social media promotion and image editing, you can expand your existing skill set, which puts you in a good position to haggle for higher rates in the future. A word of warning, though: Dont stay too long in these kinds of jobs. You might fall into the habit of churning out only easy articles, leaving you with little time and energy to craft more difficult, more lucrative, pieces. If a better opportunity comes along, and the extra gig is becoming more of a burden than its worth, drop it as soon and as professionally as you can. Use the 45-15 Rule To better handle these tasks, create a schedule. You need time to pitch, time to write those $1-a-word assignments, and time for your extra gig. Sounds like a lot to squeeze into a day, right? Not if you allocate 15 minutes of rest for every 45 minutes of work. This method keeps your energy levels stable throughout the day, no matter how many hours you work. The 45-15 rule helps you accomplish and earn more, without sucking every last bit of energy out of you. Make It a Habit to Freewrite Freewriting may not be directly related to income, but it can spell the difference between five articles a month and five articles a week. Before you write any paid article, jot down as many ideas as you can about that article without opening Google and without stopping to check whether your ideas make any sense. Youll be surprised at what you can come up with, and how fast youll be able to write the final product. Feast and famine doesnt have to be your awkward bedfellow. With these tips, youll be on your way to a more fruitful and less stressful writing career.

Organisations and behaviour Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4500 words

Organisations and behaviour - Assignment Example The paper tells that one of the earliest structures used in organisations is the functional method. In this type, the organisation is divided into sectors or departments; each department has a particular specialism or function. The advantage for this type of structure is that the organisation can achieve effectiveness and success in pursuing its goals with the different departments having their separate functions. These departments or sections can enhance their expertise, while the workers are specialists in their own field.Another important advantage is that there is no duplication of functions. For example, in a car manufacturing plant like that of Toyota, they have different field of specialisation for each department – one works for engine specialisation, another group works for the other components, while another section works on the assembly of the Toyota car. There are disadvantages to this type of structure. The departments can have a narrow specialisation that may hin der the workers’ knowledge of their organisation. Another disadvantage that must be quickly looked into is the possible existence of an inter-departmental rivalry. The key is for the organisation to determine if the rivalry can result into good intentions or attain success for the organisation. There can be slow lines of communication on this type of structure, but a modification can remedy the situation. Information Technology can provide the answer. Toyota Motors Structure: Functional and Geographic Approaches Toyota Motors with its many branches worldwide has carried the traditional method up to this day although there may be some modifications. This company brings up to this day a family tradition of car making and traditional business. It uses the functional structure in the sense that the company is divided into departments, each with its own function and specialty. But it also uses the geographical approach considering that it is now a large organisation. Toyota is our choice organisation because it is a successful international firm that provides independence to its subsidiaries abroad. Its operation uses the geographical based approach while each independent subsidiary has a functional structure. The subsidiaries attain some kind of autonomy but also reports to the main headquarters in Japan. The United States branch of Toyota is under an independent management that allows quick responses whenever local branches and shops need help to solve local problems. It also allows tailoring of operations depending on local culture, such as language, customs, and laws and regulations. (Toyota, 2011) Toyota has been on the forefront of car making because of an effective strategic and operational management coupled with an efficient and competitive workforce. Their strategies involve innovations in production, marketing, sales and promotions, and branding. But to top it all, it has been able to handle knowledge management like it is a part of ordinary business. These strategies are applied to every branch despite their individual independence. In the 1950s Toyota was only a small company, averaging 18,000 vehicles per year. As years passed on, management perfected the so-called Toyota Production System – this is the Japanese way, a means of achieving mass production efficiencies with small volumes. Toyota expanded to become export-oriented and began to open