Organizational Culture and Its Counterculture

The authors Joanne Martin and Caren Siehl are focusing on organizational culture and its counterculture. The definition given by the authors for counterculture states that counterculture will most likely arise in a strongly centralized organization that has allowed a reasonable decentralization of authority to take place. The article assumes that cultural systems can emphasize as well as sustain the objectives of the firm’s top management. The main argument here is that in addition to serving integrative functions, culture can express disagreement and address needs for segregation among organizational elements.As a replacement for thinking culture is a huge phenomenon, they explore counterculture’s uneasy symbiotic relationship with the rest of an organization. Finally they tackle the connection between cultural development and managerial action by asking what a leader does, unintentionally or intentionally, that seems to impact the development of a counterculture. Give n said that when a dominant culture and a counterculture takes place it creates an uneasy symbiosis between these two interdependent cultures. There were two books selected for this research, one was by Ed Cray and the other was by J. P Wright on General Motors.The three core values for dominant culture in GM were â€Å"respecting authority†, â€Å"fitting in† and â€Å"being loyal†. J. P Wright talks about how DeLorean’s division in GM has created an uneasy symbiosis relationship between the dominant culture and counterculture. DeLorean’s activities have been studied to see how he has created a counterculture in an organization with such a strong dominant culture. There are several ways to counter the dominant culture and DeLorean has done so by â€Å"questioning deference to authority†, â€Å"finding an alternative way to fit in† and â€Å"opposing demands for unquestioning loyalty†. . There are three types of subcultures; th e first is enhancing, orthogonal and counterculture. This article’s main focus will be on counterculture. According to the authors some core values of a counterculture has a direct challenge to the core values of a dominant culture, therefore creating an uneasy symbiosis. This article has taken two main authors as their references to explore the adequacy of a dominant culture and a counterculture and to find out what values those artifacts put across.The two main authors are Ed Cray, Chrome Colossus: General Motors and Its Times (McGraw-Hill, 1980) and J. P Wright’s description of DeLorean’s activities, On A Clear Day You Can See General Motors (Wright Enterprises, 1979). This article was done on General Motors, one of the main characters that was discussed in this article was on John DeLorean who was a head of one of the division’s in GM. DeLorean was a man who made his way up the corporate ladder which gave him a position of leadership, resources and po wer who in return questioned the dominant culture of GM.There were three main core values of GM that were discussed, the first is Respecting Authority: Jargon and Rituals of Deference. What happens in GM is that the dominant culture gives so much importance to paying reverence to the top corporate management; special jargon was used to refer to these executives. For example, each top manager was assigned a junior executive who will be an assistant, and these assistants were called â€Å"dog robbers† which meant an assigned servant who is responsible to pick up the dogs dropping in a large household.Another type of dominant culture artifact was the ritual, GM had many rituals, this is just one of the rituals; subordinates were expected to meet their superiors from out of the town at the airport and carry their bags, pay for their hotels, meals and chauffeur them around day and night. The second core value found in GM was Fitting In: Communicating Invisibility by Visible Cues. The core value of invisibility was expressed through such visible cultural artifact as dress and decor.An example GM’s dress code was a dark suit, a light shirt and a muted tie so that no single employee stands out. The rule implemented on office decor also states the value of invisibility. All the decor was standardized. In GM if an employee was invisible he was a â€Å"team player†. They engage in public, symbolic acts of conformity to show they are team players. The third core value to the GM way of life was loyalty to one’s boss. They were all expected to be loyal to their bosses and not question them or even point out their wrong doings.One of the examples given was, GM retirement dinner, in this retirement dinner they pay tribute to the retiree by telling his journey story in the past years in GM. These dinner instilled mutual respect, admiration and loyalty. It was important for GM to tell the stories of their retiring employees, simply because these stor ies were true and shows a sequence of events in the company’s history. In one case, DeLorean did not go to pick his boss up from the airport, which was a ritual followed by all GM employees, what happened was DeLorean’s boss was furious and expected DeLorean to not repeat it ever again.In the retirement dinner, they reward the retiree for the past tasks done by ensuring future loyalty, so in DeLorean’s case he would be marked by the others and may be seen as someone who isn’t a team player. The counterculture to these dominant cultures can be seen by DeLorean’s actions. There are three areas to it; the first is questioning deference to authority. DeLorean kept creating stories that were being questioned by other employees, because one story will not make most of the employees buzzing, therefore DeLorean created many situations.For example, he wanted to replace deference to authority with task-oriented efficiency. He discouraged the meeting of super iors at airports. DeLorean himself role modeled the behavior. This incident became an organizational story. He became a controversial and powerful figure. This particular event was significant because it expressed a value that contradicted a core value of the dominant culture. The second counterculture, An Alternative to Fitting In: The Limits of Acceptable Deviance. DeLorean did not agree on the core value of fitting in team play. He instead valued dissent and independence.He backed his values with practices, by changing his divisions’ performance appraisal system. Performance was measured on basis of criteria that were as objective as possible. DeLorean was also able to role model himself by not following the dress code and he also changed the decor in his division, allowing his executives to have their own touch in their spaces. This was his way of declaring independence from the dominant culture. The only way a counter culture can sustain is by implementing the practices as well as being consistent with the preferred value.Opposing Demands for Unquestioning Loyalty is the third counterculture. Articulation of a â€Å"boomerang† challenged the dominant culture. The Corvair was a product of GM that was supposed to be the finest and most appealing product to attract the young. The Corvair story becomes a boomerang, it takes a sudden turn and employees started questioning the safety of the rear engine, but without enough support and evidence that the Corvair was not safe GM management told the employees who objected to join the team or find some other place to work. In the end the Corvair had caused many deaths because of its faulty design.This in return cost GM its reputation and millions of dollars in legal expense, and of court settlements. 3. This argument fits with my experience as an observation that I have seen happen over and over again, it is no other than an public area which most of us are bound to go to in some time in our lives in di fferent occasions, the hospital. It is always said that right after graduating as a doctor, the worst fear for all of them is their houseman ship years. It is a dominant culture that all new doctors who are coming in for their houseman ship are pushed around and are made to work over time.In other words they are bullied by their superiors. It has been a culture that has been happening all around the world and many have come to accept it as a norm. In my opinion I don’t think it should be the case, I believe that there can be an artifact of a counterculture here. Why it is that fresh new graduate doctors allow their superiors to push them around to a certain extreme. For example, senior doctors, will intentionally post questions for houseman ship doctors in front of a patient and then mock them for the answers given to enforce their authority as senior doctors.This can be emotionally damaging depending on the degree of verbal abuse. Another case would be houseman ship doctors are treated as the lowest employees in the hospital during their houseman ship years; they are not only pushed around by senior doctors but by the nurses as well. They are made to do irrelevant work and lots of running around. Another case would be sometimes, senior doctors will make houseman doctors to do their shifts as well, resulting in the housemen to be wore out and exhausted.Some of these housemen will eventually break down, for they are not able to cope with the pressure and stress. Then again this happens over and over again in all parts of the world. In my opinion I think it would make a lot of difference if some doctors have the capability to stand up and make a change in this environment. I believe as time goes by, more and more stories and incidents will occur causing the dominant culture to be questioned and a breakthrough for a counterculture to take place in this particular environment.I am sure there are cases where certain doctors have made a stand for themselves, but with the repetition of the same behavior this dominant culture may be able to change. Where the houseman ship doctors are treated with equal respect and are able to apply what they have learnt over the past few years in their houseman ship years. 3. This argument fits with my experience as an observation that I have seen happen over and over again, it is no other than an public area which most of us are bound to go to in some time in our lives in different occasions, the hospital.It is always said that right after graduating as a doctor, the worst fear for all of them is their houseman ship years. It is a dominant culture that all new doctors who are coming in for their houseman ship are pushed around and are made to work over time. In other words they are bullied by their superiors. It has been a culture that has been happening all around the world and many have come to accept it as a norm. I believe that there can be an artifact of a counterculture here.For example, senior doc tors, will intentionally post questions for houseman ship doctors in front of a patient and then mock them for the answers given to enforce their authority as senior doctors. This can be emotionally damaging depending on the degree of verbal abuse. Another case would be houseman ship doctors are treated as the lowest employees in the hospital during their houseman ship years; they are not only pushed around by senior doctors but by the nurses as well. They are made to do irrelevant work and lots of running around.Senior doctors will make houseman doctors to do their shifts as well, resulting in the housemen to be wore out and exhausted. Some of these housemen will eventually break down, for they are not able to cope with the pressure and stress. Then again this happens over and over again in all parts of the world. It would make a lot of difference if some doctors have the capability to stand up and make a change in this environment. As time goes by, more stories and incidents will occur causing the dominant culture to be questioned and a breakthrough for a counterculture to take place in this articular environment. I am sure there are cases where certain doctors have made a stand for themselves, but with the repetition of the same behavior this dominant culture may be able to change. Where the houseman ship doctors are treated with equal respect and are able to apply what they have learnt over the past few years in their houseman ship years.4. Reference Martin, J and Siehl, C (1983) Organizational Culture and Counterculture: An Uneasy Symbiosis. Organizational Dynamics, pp 52-64

Solving Problems and Making Decisions Essay

Background The aim of the cervical screening programme is to reduce the incidence of, and morbidity and mortality from, invasive cervical cancer. This is achieved by screening eligible women between the ages of 25 and 65 years. In my role as an acting Senior Biomedical Scientist in the cytology department, I screen and report negative and inadequate cervical samples in line with XXX protocols as well as facilitating the flow of abnormal cervical samples through to consultant pathologists and ensuring appropriate recall management is given to patients. I am also involved with the supervision of staff and the production and management of in-house standard operating procedures. Description of Problem Although always monitored by XXX, the timeframe from taking a cervical sample to when it was reported has never been given a strict turnaround time target, unlike the screening programme in England, which since 2010 has had a 14-day turnaround time target. However, this is to change as XXX want women screened in XXX to have an equitable service to that of the women in England and with the introduction of new testing alongside the current cervical cytology test, laboratory turnaround times need to be under 3 weeks. In May 2013, the majority of our work was turned-around in 3.5 weeks with only 0.9% of our workload being reported within the proposed 3 week timeframe. Being aware that XXX were likely to implement changes within the next 12 months, we wanted to be proactive and improve our performance before XXX enforce improvement methods upon us or worse the service was moved from XXX. Therefore, the problem was identified as: How can we reduce our turnaround times to under 3 weeks (from date received in laboratory to date authorised)? Analysis of the Problem We were aware as a service that our turnaround times had increased over the last couple of years due to the loss of staff through retirement and centralisation and due to the transportation of work to an off-site laboratory for processing and then its transport to our department for screening and reporting. However, to identify the areas that we could improve, we created a work-stream to understand the flow of work through the laboratory process. A simplified version of the work-stream is found below: (Removed for confidentiality reasons) The days in the green ovals are average accumulative working days it would take to achieve a reported sample from arrival at the laboratory. These are working days and do not include weekends, therefore it is possible a further 2 to 4 days could be added to the actual turnaround time, making a possible estimated laboratory turnaround time of between 4 and 10 days. These days are calculated with no backlog, and therefore the next step would be to identify were backlogs or bottlenecks were occurring. The processing of work at XXX was beyond our control. As was the transport to and from XXX, which occurs on alternative days and is governed by XXX. Therefore, the two areas we could concentrate on were the booking in and the screening of slides. In May 2013, the administration staff based in XXX had a slight backlog of samples to book in, this equated to 1 to 2 days delay. The main cause of this delay was lack of staff and it wasn’t something we could address immediately as recruitment of new staff would take time and screening staff could not help as the backlog and delay in slides being screened was even greater. In the same month, the backlog of slides waiting to be screened was estimated at 2 to 3 weeks, this equated to around 3000 slides waiting to be screened. The backlog of screening work was not only affecting swift results to the patients it was also having an effect upon the screening staff morale as they had to see large numbers of slides waiting to be screened, which  could affect the turnaround further. We were also notified at this time that a member of the screening team would be leaving and therefore the urgency in reducing our turnaround times became more imminent as we would have less staff in a month or two. If no action was taken now the turnaround times would increase further once the member of staff left. As a result, the area we need to concentrate on and identify possible solutions to was the matter of reducing screening times of slides, by attacking this element of the laboratory process we should be able to reduce our overall laboratory turnaround times. Identification of Possible Solutions The Cytology senior staff members, including myself, started with a brain-storming exercise of trying to identify possible solutions. Due to constraints and safe-practices put in place by the NHS Cervical Screening Programme (NHSCSP) and XXX it is not possible to ask screening staff to screen each slide faster, as false positives and false negative results would increase and the quality would be affected. And we could not ask staff to screen for a longer length of time in the day, as screeners can only primary screen slides for a maximum of 5 hours a day, again due to the quality risk. However, staff could work overtime by coming in at weekends. To try and improve the workflow pathway within the screening room I decided to re-read the †Cytology improvement guide – achieving a 14 day turnaround time in cytology† produced by the NHSCSP when England was undergoing changes to its screening programme turnaround times. This guide is a collection of evidence-based ideas for improving workflow and turnaround times in the laboratory and administration departments of the cervical programme. We had already adopted one suggestion from the guide in 2010 regarding batching sizes of work, whereby we have reduced the number of slides in a tray from 20 to 8 slides. Although each slide was still being screened for the same time length, a tray of slides were being finished quicker and therefore the screening staff felt happier and kept the work flowing through  the laboratory. However, on inspection the work wasn’t flowing, as after primary screening, trays were being placed into the rapid review box and only taken out for review twice a day (first thing in morning and after lunch), with some staff only reviewing slides once per day. This was causing the first bottleneck and it was also having a knock-on effect on the authorising of samples by senior staff as large chunks of authorising was occurring first thing in the morning or after lunch, which due to the monotony of checking details and results was causing errors to occur in reporting. We therefore needed to undert ake a Lean transformation. Lean is an improvement approach to enhance flow and eliminate waste that was developed by Toyota. Lean is basically about getting the right things to the right place, at the right time, in the right quantities, while minimising waste and being flexible and open to change. Lean thinking focuses on what the customer values, any activity that is not valued is waste. If you remove the waste, the customer receives a more value-added service. In our department this means reducing our turnaround times, so that the customer (XXX women) get their cervical results in 3 weeks. We therefore had to remove processes that were not adding value to the end result. By investigating further it was noted that some screening staff were writing on the front and the back of the sample request forms if the samples were negative. There was no benefit in duplicating the result on the back of the form and therefore as part of Lean it is considered waste. Distraction was also a large issue in the screening room. To screen and report slides, it requires concentration to process and distinguish abnormal cells from normal samples. However, staff were regularly stopping screening to chat or employees from other departments were coming in to talk, make a cup of tea or to eat biscuits causing distractions of up to 30 minutes at times. The telephone was also a regular distraction, with service users phoning up for advice and results and the XXX administration department phoning up regularly to change and update patient managements. Summary of Options We eventually decided the options available to us were: 1. Screening staff to work overtime. If every member of the screening team and senior team (Senior Biomedical Scientist and Cytology Manager) were to partake in overtime work on one day of the weekend and managed to screen an average of 30 slides per day the backlog could be cleared in 9 to 10 weekends. However, partaking in overtime is a voluntary decision and not all staff members would want to or be able to work overtime. This means that if we were to only adopt overtime as an option a minimum of 9 weekends would need to be worked, and as we were not changing the day-to-day workflow process a further period of overtime may be needed in the future to minimise any further backlogs. Working overtime also had a cost implementation, as staff would need reimbursing for their time given. As overtime would be over a weekend this would be calculated at time and a half pay. 2. One tray of primary screening followed by one tray of rapid reviews. To overcome the current bottleneck of work after primary screening, it would be more advantageous to rapid review slides little and often instead of first thing in the morning or after lunch. The preferred scenario would be to primary screen a tray of slides and then screen a tray of rapid review slides and alternate like this throughout the day. This means the throughput of work is more constant and turnaround is less. These examples explain this option further: Current example – As you can see this example of current working practice means the slides take approximately 22 hours from being initially primary screened to being authorised. Proposed example – This example shows that by alternating between primary and rapid review screening the whole process up to authorising should take approximately 75 minutes. A saving in time of 20 hours and 45 minutes for those 8 slides to be reported and authorised. Some work primary screened at the end of the day will have to wait until the next day for rapid review, but on the whole most work will be turned around at a much faster pace. This could be implemented immediately with no cost implications or changes to staffs working pattern. 3. Authorising work little and often. The examples used above also outline how this can improve the bottleneck between rapid review and authorising. Currently authorising is carried out in large batches after rapid review has been completed mainly at lunchtime and occasional first thing in the morning. These large batches of work are monotonous and transcription errors can arise due to this. By having rapid review completed in small batches of 8, it is possible for senior staff to authorise in these small batches as soon as rapid reviews have been completed. This means authorisation can be achieved much sooner and hopeful reduce the risk of mistakes occurring. 4. Reduce waste. A Lean approach was considered and any process that didn’t add value was removed. The first wasteful process identified was writing on both front and back of request forms, writing on the back was considered worthless. This process approximately took 10 seconds to carry out. Therefore if this was stopped each screening staff member screening 30 slides a day on average would save 300 seconds a day. This equates to 5 minutes, which is more than enough time to screen one or two extra slides a day. Which over a week could mean 10 extra slides been screened by one screening staff member or 80 slides a week if all screening staff stopped. The second process considered was the taking of primary screening work from the work pile before necessary. Some individuals would pick up 2 trays of primary screening or would leave unfinished trays on their desks overnight. If these trays were left in the pile or half trays placed back into the work pile before going home, it would allow another member of staff to screen them sooner and therefore have them moving along the work-stream quicker. 5. Adopt quiet-time. The most controversial option considered was to implement quiet-time in the screening rooms. An initial quiet-time of between 9.30am-12.30pm and 1.30-3.30pm was suggested, asking all staff member to keep any talking to  work-related questions only and to deter any colleagues from other departments from coming into the screening room or phoning the department. No mobile phones would allowed in the department during these times and work emails were to be checked first thing in the morning or first thing after lunch. Evaluation of Options The NHSCSP advise on using a PDSA cycle (plan, do, study, act) to evaluate and to test out ideas to ensure changes make the improvement required before implementation. Although the cycle is good at temporarily trialling a change and assessing its impact, it’s not useful in highlighting the best option or options to adopt without trialling them all. We therefore need to analyse the strength and weakness of each option first. A decision matrix was created to evaluate and prioritise the 5 options above. The criteria we used to make the decisions were: Cost implications; would there be any extra cost involved with each option and was this a small or large cost. (Rated from 1 (high cost) to 3 (low cost)) Speed of implication; were we able to implement this option immediately or would it require much planning. (Rated from 1 (slow) to 3 (fast)) Effect on staff; would the staff be happy with these measure, would it cause a negative effect in the work place. Did the staff have to make large adjustments to their working practice. (Rated from 1 (high detriment) to 3 (low)) Speed of improvements; how long would it take for us to see a change in turnaround times if option was implemented. (Rated from 1 (slow) to 3 (fast)) Each option was rated for each criterion, so that we could establish any issues with each option. From looking at the table above, options 2 and 3 have scored well on all 4 criteria and therefore would be able to be implemented with little disruption but with a good impact on turnaround times. Option 1 unfortunately had too many issues regarding cost and the time it would take to gain agreement for funding the overtime and for staff to agree to giving up their free weekends. Also every staff member wasn’t able to participate due to personal commitments and families, this meant the overtime worked could vary greatly week to week. It was therefore decided options 2 and 3 would be trialled further and option 1 would be abandoned. Although option 4 would take time to see results, it was decided that by ‘Leaning’ up the work process could only be a good thing and that the ideas suggested to reduce waste in the workplace should be implemented immediately. The main cause for concern with option 5 was the detriment to the staff,  however this change to working practice was considered to be the one that would have the greatest affect on reduction of turnaround times. It was therefore decided to trial this for a while, and that once the backlog was reduced we could relax the quiet time option and re-implement it if the backlog was to increase again. We could now look at the PDSA cycle and using turnaround time as a measurement assess the capabilities of option 2,3,4 and 5. By starting to trial the options and regularly monitoring and studying the turnaround times (Do & Study) we can highlight any changes that may be necessary (Act) and think of new plans to tackle any issues that arise (Plan). Implementation Before implementing and disseminating the information to all the staff, the cytology manager and cytopathologist went over all the presented options and made the final decision to implement the improvements for reducing turnaround times. They were happy to put forward the 4 options identified to all the staff and create action plans for implementation. A staff meeting was held to explain the situation regarding increasing turnaround times and the options put forward in the form of an action plan to the staff on how we could reduce the turnaround times. The action plans presented were: It was important to us to use SMART action plans, which meant we had to be specific in our actions and create measurable, achievable and realistic plans. An achievable time frame was set by creating weekly and monthly milestones for reviewing our turnaround times. Staff were asked to provide their thoughts on these actions and identify any issues or bring forward any options not already covered. Staff members made known their fears regarding quiet time, with one staff pointing out their working times were 9.30am until 2.30pm, and therefore apart from lunchtime she cannot talk during her working hours. This was taken into consideration  and the hours of quiet-time were altered. It was also stated the quiet time was a short term proposal and would be lifted as the backlog reduced/ended. An idea of moving the boxes holding the work needing rapid review and the boxes holding forms for authorising was also put forward. As currently the boxes were located across two different rooms and in the furthest corner of one room, meaning the entire screening room was being disturbed when someone went to put work/forms in the boxes. By moving the boxes to an equidistant place between both room, it would reduce the time wasted in walking to the boxes and reduce disturbance to other staff. Therefore the new and modified action plans were added. The staff was also advised that the turnaround times would initially be monitored in-house on a weekly basis to trial these changes and if the turnaround times were improving the monitoring would default to the XXX monthly monitoring. The aim was to try and authorise 300 cases a day, this was a realistic number to screen between 8 screening and 2 senior biomedical scientist staff. This equated to 1500 slides a week authorised, and as approximately 1000 slides were received and booked in each week, this meant we would be clearing approximately 500 slides from the backlog each week. Review of Outcomes Work levels were reviewed weekly by the Cytology Manager using the laboratories computer system. It was possible to see that the workload being reported was greater than that of the workload coming into the laboratory, and therefore the backlog of work was decreasing. However, what helped staff morale and made them aware of a reduction in the backlog and an improvement in turnaround times was being able to visualise the time between the date the sample was taken and the date the sample was screened and also seeing the reduction in the pile of work that was waiting for screening. As all options were implemented at the same time it was not possible to identify the effects of each individual option. XXX were also gathering the 3 week turnaround figures for all laboratories and these were being disseminated amongst the screening staff on a monthly basis. From the graph provided by XXX, it is clear from the implementation of changes in June 2013 the percentage of samples turned around in less than 3 weeks has steadily increased. A slight dip in the percentage is noted between August and September 2013, this coincided with the loss of a staff member and a move to a new laboratory building, which resulted in screening down-time for a couple of working days. It was at this time a decision was taken to stop the strict enforcement of quiet time, allowing the occasional ‘chatter’ within the screening room. This made work more welcoming and created a happier work environment, this in turn seems to have helped in the increase of samples turned around in 3 weeks. The introduction of these measures over the past 12 months have seen the departments 3 week turnaround times increase from 0.9% to 100%. References NHS Cervical Screening Programme (NHSCSP) – Cytology improvement guide: achieving a 14 day turnaround time in cytology NHS Cervical Screening Programme (NHSCSP) – Continuous improvement in cytology: sustaining and accelerating improvement

Recruitment

Focus and cite strategic manpower planning, recruitment and selection activities. Report and quote on these processes and how they help the company achieve its strategic goals Job analysis and Designing Coca cola companys HR Department check its own Job description and Job analysis in which they get the information about the employees work activities, human behavior, performance standard, Job context and human requirements and also other information related to this conduct.HR Department of Coca Cola used this information also for recruiting, selection, compensation, performance appraisal, training, and employee's relationship Planning and Forecasting Coca Cola HR Department involves in the company strategic planning and they also make sufficient planning for hiring new employees needs in the organization. HR forecast the needs for employees on the change in technology and increases in productivity.After planning the HR Department sends report to the head office for approval and if th ey get approval from the head office then HR will start the ecruitment process, The Recruitment Process HR Department posts their vacancy in news paper, institutions and company websites. The applicant can search for Jobs on the current Jobs tab from the homepage of their website and if the applicant already decided on what position to apply him/her will Just need to click â€Å"Apply Online† button and then follow the instruction provided.But in order to apply the applicant must first create a profile so that he/she can see the updates of his/her application. The company does internal nd external Recruitment. The Selection Process The selection process of Coca Cola HR Department will vary depending on the position that the candidates are applying for. Below are the tools used mostly by the HR department and in most cases they used the combination of any of the following tools; Interview- The interview is designed to reveal more about you and your experiences.Interviewer will ask for examples of how you behaved in different situations, maybe at school, home or in your previous Jobs Group Exercises- Coca cola s very much into teams so this exercise will show how the candidates effectively work with people. It is the good opportunity for the HR to see how the candidates communicate, influence and involve other people in work place.Presentations- Coca Cola used presentation as a tool in selection process to show the ability of the candidate on how he/she communicates to a group of people on a specific topic. The candidate may be given a topic in advance or on the day of the presentation. Psychometrics Test- the coca cola company also gives a psychometric test. Psychometric test are timed exercises that examine the candidates abilities and potential.HR uses the personality assessment tool that is designed to find out more specific things about you. Role plays/situational exercises- this tool is designed to assess how the candidates react in certain situatio ns, this will help to highlight the candidate may be given facts and fgures to review or a report to complete; hr may also have an assessor acting as a customer or employee to simulate a situation that could occur in the workplace.

Business Dissertation about Currency Wars Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 16500 words

Business about Currency Wars - Dissertation Example The report gives a literature review on the topic and also explains the rationale of the study. It discusses the studies and opinions of many analysts, who have clearly mentioned in their views the connection currency wars, and trade, exports, imports and grey imports. The research is believed to provide crucial knowledge on the impacts of currency wars as a strategy to boost exports and contract imports. Interpretive research methodology has been used in the data collection and analysis. The research approach has been qualitative as well as quantitative and case study method has been applied. A case study of the Euro, USD, AUD and Yen has been used for the research purpose, which has helped to answer the research questions. The case studies have comprised of theoretical and analytical frameworks. During the entire research program, all the ethical issues have been taken care of, and the purpose and procedures of the study have been clearly declared. The dissertation explains all the procedures applied for data collection, the results that have been obtained, and a clear analysis based on the examinations has been provided. Based on the analysis, a view has been provided on the importance of currency wars, in the light of international trade.... I am also much obliged to my supervisors who guided me with their timely advice, feedbacks and suggestions which aided me in attaining the expected standard of work and keeping me punctual as per the scheduled deliveries of dissertation chapters. Table of Contents Serial no. Topic Page no. I Introduction, Aims & objectives and Research Questions 8 I.1 Introduction 8 I.2 Aims 10 I.3 Objectives 11 I.4 Research Questions 11 II Literature Review 13 III Research Methodology 29 IV Findings and Analysis 36 V Discussions 55 VI Conclusion 58 VII Recommendations for future Research 61 References 66 List of figures Figure no. Topic Page no. 1 Devaluation improves Balance of trade 15 2 Nominal Exchange Rate between Euro and USD 40 3 Standard Deviation in USD relative to Euro 42 4 Nominal Exchange Rate between USD and Yen 47 5 Standard Deviation in Yen relative to USD 48 6 Nominal Exchange Rate between Euro and AUD 53 7 Standard Deviation in Euro relative to AUD 54 List of Appendices Serial no. T opic Page no. Appendix A Nominal Exchange Rate between Euro and USD 64 Appendix B Standard Deviation in USD relative to Euro 64 Appendix C Nominal Exchange Rate between USD and Yen 64 Appendix D Standard Deviation in Yen relative to USD 65 Appendix E Nominal Exchange Rate between Euro and AUD 65 Appendix F Standard Deviation in Euro relative to AUD 65 II) Introduction, Aims and Objectives and Research Questions: I.1) Introduction: The term ‘Currency War’ was coined by Guido Mantega, the Finance Minister of Brazil, in 2010. (Draghi, 1) Currency War is a â€Å"battle over the value of each nation’s currency and the impact it has on their trade relationships† (Willis, 51) It is a competitive devaluation strategy of the government for the generation of

The use of sound in Psycho Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

The use of sound in Psycho - Essay Example Depending on the theme, the uses of sound serve different purposes. It can also be used to overlay or preempt an episode; it also serves as a connector to an already happening event or marks a transition. Arguably, sound is an extremely important aspect of film production. As such, the paper focuses on the use of sound in the film Psycho. The instrumental role played by sound takes the legendary position enjoyed by the movie itself. It has an expressive and effective sound effects system that includes music, dialogue and other instruments. Sound in an input to the general film landscape that attempt to re-innovate and energize view. Its main intention is to improve comprehension and ability to pre-empt next scene events. Psycho is an American horror-thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock in the 1960s having the main actors as Vera Miles, Anthony Perkins, Janet Leigh and John Gavin. In the beginning, a theme of psychological instability remains hidden; however, as the movie continues several scenes of psychological distress appears. The temptation to steal the $40,000 overcomes her conscience making her escape town to Bates motel where she meets her death. Conceivably, Psycho remains one of the best films produced by Hitchcock due to the great cinematic art. Music in the film is influential in conveying tension, d read and transition of events. The primary aim of music in any film is to reveal the spontaneous human elements and virtually human relations. Evidently, the ear has not undergone highly industrialized order or bourgeois rational transformation to handle reality from different commodities, objects or practical activity contrary to the eye (Kramer, Leppert & Goldmark, 2007). Undoubtedly, listening and seeing do not match; therefore, have not kept pace with technological transformation. In many instances, the ear remains a passive organ, which cannot relay the actual message in relation to the

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Business Decision Malkng Projects, Part 3 - Essay Example ft. in size. Thehomesaveragedthreebedroomsandtwobathswhile 30% of thehomeshave a pool. Of the 30 homes, 70% had a garageandtheaveragedistance from thecitycenter is 15 miles(Simon, 1979). There are manyadvantagesandopportunities in businessownershipthat may includeFlexibility, freedom, being your boss, andcontrol to create your future. Lack of self-discipline, however, createschances of businessfailure. Datainformationhavingbeenobtained from varioussourcesgaveinsight to thecurrenthappenings in thebusinessworld. Thechoice of opening a franchise is a significantbusinessdecision, andmanyrisks can be laid to restif there is sufficient data analyzed to makesurethechoice is going to be successfulandprofitable(Cooper & Schindler, 2003). Knowledge of commercialrealestateandfinancemarkettrendshelps Century 21 to establish its franchiseandto preparefor long-term survivability and profitability. After validating and analyzing the housing statistics and confirming the reliability, starting a new franchise in the identified new community is the final step to be

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Book review on Song of the Hummingbird - Essay Example s set about sixty years after the fateful intrusion of Tenochtitlà ¡n-Mexico by Cortes, which earmarks the inevitable fall of curtains on the life of Huitzitzilà ­n. At the time of narration, she is a guest at a Catholic monastery in Mexico City where she wants to make her final confession. A young priest by the name of Father Benito is sent to attend her in order to absolve her from her sins before dying. However, the flow of the story develops into a clash of titans, Huitzitzilà ­n and father Benito, where it can no longer be termed as a confession. In her wisdom, Huitzitzilà ­n knows very well that the recount of her story cannot go undocumented and therefore she creates a platform to tell her side of story. Her perspective of Mexico conquest is an eye witness version from a conquered person’s point of view. There are numerous humorous and captivating scenes in the book, such as the lengthy religious debate between the priest and the protagonist. In this debate, Huitzitzilà ­n talks of events like Montezuma, the women’s cleansing ceremony performed at Tonantzin’s Temple among many others. The author uses the fictional autobiography of Huitzitzilà ­n in these scenes and many others to disparage European exploitation of the Mexico people. On his part, the priest is able to listen to Huitzitzilà ­n confessions to the point where he cannot take in the details of the stories and runs in protest and ashamed. The author appears to be asking readers to imagine how Mexico would have been in the present day if its culture had not been destroyed. However, this novel does not revolve around destruction but rather it is about the survival of the indigenous people and their culture. Many novelists in US have been in the habit of using poetry and narrations to reconstruct the almost forgotten histories of the indigenous people. However, this novel is cleverly informed by intricately interweaving fiction and historical facts which converge at some point in time. As much as

Values And Attitudes Towards English As New Englishes Emerge Essay

Values And Attitudes Towards English As New Englishes Emerge - Essay Example The paper discusses that of how language developed in other cultures through the influences of both the positivism of modern globalization and the negative influences of colonialism that hangs over deconstructed cultures, the emergence of New English has changed the overall status of the language within the world. Cultures are now embracing the English that has developed within their nation as a part of their cultural history, colloquialism a part of their beliefs, their values and their system of communications through which they experience their cultural identity. What was a part of the fusion of West and ‘other’ has become a part of the experience of modern society within those regions? The cultural narrative now includes the nature of colonialism and all that it brought to the societies that were held in its yoke, language part of the way in which the new culture supports the New English. Belief systems, traditions, and values are all a part of how English has become a part of the overall development of the world. English in modern contexts provides for business, academics, and the use of the internet to be accessible across borders. From a historical perspective, English has been recreated through the influences of colonialism. As it exists within the world, the inner circle provides overflow into the outer and expanded circle in which English is spoken, developing a core resource through which modern bodies of people can find peace and understanding through economic interdependence and cultural homogenisation.

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Mentorship in British Nursing - Essay Example This research paper describes the field of nursing and the area of mentor contribution to development of clinical skills in nursing graduates. A mentor is cast in the mold of a teacher. In order to assess the impact of the mentor’s role in enhancing learning, it would be useful to explore how learning actually takes place. Book learning or assimilating theoretical principles are not in question here, since theories and knowledge from textbooks can at best, serve as a general guideline to a nurse faced with real life clinical situations. The ability to perform well in a clinical environment can be grasped only dimly from text book theory and cannot substitute for the valuable experience gained in a working situation under the guidance of a mentor, who functions as a teacher and a role model. The issue to consider here is the manner in which learning takes place and several theories have been presented in this regard. The mentor functions in the role of a demonstrator for a nurs ing student, facilitating learning through real life application of medical principles. But in addition, a mentor also functions as a guide for the nursing student, providing valuable feedback on the actual implementation of nursing principles as practiced by the student. On the job performance appraisals are an important learning tool for a nursing student. Feedback provided by a mentor serves as a valuable tool for the student to understand what he or she is doing wrong or right, so that corrections may be made appropriately.

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer Essay Example for Free

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English Literature Abstract Expressionism Movement

English Literature Abstract Expressionism Movement Abstract Expressionism Movement While it was generally conceded that Abstract Expressionism was spent, superseded by the rise of minimalism and Pop art in the early 1960s, Gustans work after 1968 signaled the end of the Idealism that had driven the movement. Some artists such as Newman, cited in (the book); had continued to question whether the New York School had existed at all, stating as late as 1965 that: there was never a movement in the conventional sense of a style, but a collection of individual voices. That is why to talk of the movement being dead is ridiculous. But I have found that this book although it in general, covers the factual information necessary to form a coherent opinion, it nevertheless, rambled, leaving the reader with limited knowledge that conceptualized a clear understanding. In essence, I found it hard to read, and that in some places it also repeated facts. Therefore, I gave serious consideration to the other listed books on the same subject, but further extended my research to more generalist books that covered the history of art. In returning to the text, Abstract Expressionism by Anfam (1990), which offers an albeit extended and sometimes incoherent journey through this subject, we can at least in part find some nuggets of information that carefully explain and discuss some of the wider concepts of abstract expressionism. But, to find the most sensible and coherent facts, I had to delve deeply into this volume, which at best, left the reader often lost and in many cul-de-sacs, where opinions were losing the force and direction of their meaning because of very poor signposting techniques used by the author. At best, the useful and expressive textual details were lost and to re-address this and to have some coherent understanding of the importance and standing of abstract expressionism, I had to cross reference many of the themes in this book, to other texts, which at best, allowed me to form an holistic and guided academic opinion on the movement. Therefore, this book review will provide some carefully constructed opinions guided by the chosen text, but, more fully engaged and directed by the supplementary reading undertaken. REVIEW Anfam (1990) in his work, Abstract Expressionism, suggests that there was a group of artists and like-minded people, who founded the movement. In doing so, he cites aspects of the modern history of the USA, in particular, the depression. In widening his argument, he also reveals some of the many parallels with the unrest within the French expressionism movement and equally rambles on to try to offer some formative cross referencing with the many expressive styles of other movements of the era. This discursive and sometimes lively debate is hampered by a clear lack of coherence, it leaves as stated in my introduction, the reader in many a cul-de-sac, with a real battle of wits to find some real and meaningful information that clearly nails down the subject of abstract expressionism in its diluted forms. The work of Pollock is often cited in the text to explain how artists use their work to show feelings and emotions, in part this aspect is explain and discussed in fine details that allow the reader to make some careful informed opinions. In particular Anfam (1990) tries his best to offer through he opening arguments contained in the introduction to the text, a socio-historical foundation for his later discussions, for example: before the second World War opens perspective that enfold the present. In microcosm we might compare of the western political power and culture after 1945. This interesting and meaningful conceptualization, offers some cohesion to the ongoing debate, setting the social and historical scene is crucial, in that, the World had just been through the most devastating periods of modern history, leaving a bereavement and albeit soulless notion of loss that impacted upon all aspects of society. From this vacuous void, came the development of what we know as modern sustainable artistic talents that in part, were able to bring a real flavour of expressing emotions through the wonderful and many diverse styles that were emerging out of this vacuum. The examples could be many, but for Anfram (1990), it is expressed in his notion that modern companies, that is commercial enterprises, became an everyday occurrence, in that, through abstract expressionism, revealed the founding symbols of modernity. Historically according to Anfram (1990) it is worthy of note, that the western world, in particular, the USA and UK, emerged from the devastation of World War I (WWII). But, more prudently, the USA emerged as the creditor, backer and in the main banker to the countries devastated by the war. A factor to only repeated some decades later. This often if not often obscured action by the USA, brought about the fundamental and sustainable changes in consumerism, fueled by the consistency and often aggressive expansion of industrialization across the Western World. Bringing about what we cited today as modern consumerism. However, what is also of crucial note, in particular for engaging artists, is the rise in the popular movements of mass culture and modern technology. Which impacted upon a world that had suddenly started to grow up out of the vacuum of aggressive conflict. What is abundantly clear from the history of art at this time, is that, Abstract Expressionism, although crisp and modern in its outlook, coupled with its diversity, it nevertheless, lacked clear shape, which was in the main, fuelled by the ever pessimistic negative vibrations that the depression and war years had invoked. Shaking off this cloud of pessimism would take some serious shock waves to kick start a new an meaningful movement that signaled the beginnings of what we now know as abstract expressionism (Gombrich 1984; Levey 1968). The early years of Abstract Expressionism, according to most theorist, (Balken 2005; Polcari 1999; Stangos (ed) 1981 Pickeral 2007); appeared to lacked shape against both this over whelming sense of optimism and yet another more negative vein, which had been intensified by the depression period. The clarity of the pre-depression period as seen in the artistic work of Charles Burchfield and Edward Harper, was fuelled by the onset fear that depression would bring, in so doing, their art revealed the styles that poignantly marked this period. This notional and albeit national fear is expressed in many of the texts used for this review, but, equally cited and noted in the core text by Anfram (1990). Interestingly his work reaches a watershed in which we have an interesting and yet revealing discourse about the artists of the period. However, it is not difficult to find his particular favorite. He in particular, cites in his discourse, the life and work of Pollock, citing the many and meaningful paths that his life took and how this impacted upon his revealing and yet sometimes provocative understanding of the thematic aspects of depression, one might even say, it is depressive and yet expressive art! The critique of Pollock by Anfram (1990), is one of the lighter parts of this text, in that we are provided with a snapshot history of this artist, his struggles and battles to live and develop as an expressive artist. In particular, we find a detailed history of his ancestry, to include the occupational aspects, upbringing and lifestyle of this Jewish family, set against a backdrop of his homeland. But, the most revealing facts are the way in which his argument convincingly places the links between Pollock and other artists like: Guston and Benton. This what could be seen a meeting of minds, signaled in part the foundational beginnings of Abstract Expressionism as we know style it. Some of the facts in the text are fascinating, in that, how life paths merge in the meeting of key personalities who make such significant marks on the landscape of art. For example: Anfram (1990) reveals how Pollock met Guston prior to his enrolment in 1930 at the Art Student League in New York, under the direction of Benton. This in itself to the writer seems uncanny and yet perfectly placed in that what came out of the merging of these personal journeys is a breath taking step in the history of modern art. What is fundamentally clear, is that Pollocks own personal history and upbringing reveals a man who had engaged in and fully experienced the construction of depression in all its many sometimes stark and conflicting facets. His journey is clearly a meaningful aspect of the work of Anfram (1990), who lyrically expresses great interest in ensuring his readers are informed of the important fact about Pollock, but, most importantly, showing how this upbringing, made the man and ultimately the artist and his style. It is worth noting some of those facts. Pollock knew all about the depression as his family had to flea the Baltic states, as a Jewish family like that of his peers, Rothko Siskind, he would have to settle in another land to ensure that it would not be so difficult for him to explore his artistic talents, and so his coming to america was a significant step in the story of Abstract Expressionism. For him to have remained in such a stark country that was consistently engaged in political unrest would have changed the focus of this concept of art as we now know it. It is also fairly obvious that Anfram (1990) has a passion for Guston, in that he equally sets his reader on a research quest from his revealing treatment about this artist. He states that Guston has known all about oppression and in so doing, in equal measure his knowledge of the sectarian movement, known as the Klu Klux Klan, whose membership in the 1920 s prior to the 1930s depression topped a staggering five million. If we place both Pollock and Guston alongside each other patterns emerge, in that, Anfram (1990) clearly wants his readers to make some informed opinion and clarity towards how expressionism was founded. Perhaps the missing signposting of his book is in part due to his stop, think and link approach. If we do just that, we can find that, it does not take long to place the constructions of depression in Pollocks background, and the oppression, noted in Guston background bring together the emotional expressive constructions that are revealed by both artists through their conceptualized notion of what they seen and perceive as Abstract Expressionism, that allows the artist in a sometimes breathtaking manner, to engage the viewers of such works, to think outside the box, in other words, see beyond the form, revealing the pain and emotions that are depression and oppression (Gombrich 1984). Anfram (1990) continues his revealing and yet peppered approach to this important movement with his critique of the 1930s depression, treating his readers to, in part have some understanding of the stuggle and battles fought and won by many of the artists of the period. It is obvious that no artist had had an easy journey, on the contrary, the movement had, brought the conceptualization of what is art kicking and screaming into a more coherent and modern take, that allowed for at best, the artist to think and construct outside the box, in so doing, draw in a more liberalized breath of fresh air in to the stifling world of the artist. As the development of Abstract Expressionism, took root, according to Anfram (1990) the 1950s saw a merging of like minded artists, who for the first time were able to finally break with the traditional constructions that had shackled art. This is poignantly revealed in the citation of the New York, Studio 35 conference, in which what is now know as a contradictory discussion allowed for artist to finally discuss and exchange ideas about how each participant broke with the sometimes constrictive traditional media, techniques and constructs that embedded art at its core. The outcome being, what can only be described as a breach of fresh air. What came out of this merging of minds, were a constituted advance in painting, sculpture and even photography. Questions that once thwarted artists were now in vogue and could be explored without constriction: Should it be Abstract or should it be representational? Would foreigner influence vitiates or even strengthens it? Would expression of feeling of the reality of the medium and of everyday? These were the fundamental poignant questions that came out of it in the 1930s, without which we would never have seen to a certain extent, Cubism, Social Realism to name but two aspect of what can be perceived as art outside the box. Briefly it is worth noting some of the constructs that came forward. At this period of time cubism was the normal Art like that of Bombardnent, who was fully engaged in Realism and Cubism. During the 1941 to 1943 period, Clement Greenburg edited an arts magazine, and befriended serial Abstract Expressionists and would cite them as a representation of a new American Art This coupled with the fact that Gorky in his remarks that Social Realism was the form of poor art for the poor people, where as the writers associated with the magazine Parisian Review, which was funded in the 1934 on the Stalinist times, would express diverse and yet carefully constructed remarks that fuelled the debate that has informed and constructed Abstract Expressionism'(Anfram 1990; Gombrich 1984). The text become repetitive in parts in that, it consistently appears to reinforce the facts presented to the reader for example. It over emphasizes the foundations and founder of what is seen to be modern abstract expressionism. Although what is helpful is the authors pick of the best examples of strong abstract expressionists, like: Newman, Pollock, Greenberg, Hofmann, De-Kooning, Gorky, Graham and Krasner. Pollocks artistic methods are carefully followed and explained, in that is it most obvious to the reader that the author is absolutely enthralled with his work. But, interestingly, he again peppers his work with historical facts like, the fact that: the Boston inst of modern Art switched its titular modern to contemporary and the senator George Dondero, denounced non-academic twenty century painting as communist subversion, so Abstraction once again acquired the radical aura that it held for a previous generation (Anfram 1990). Abstract Expressionism always resisted a single collective identity based on style, theories or even social ties. In comparison to Abstract Expressionism and the modern experience by Stephen Polcari 1999, The book under review, is easier to read and one can understand, and can even in formality of the introduction fined relevant and factual information, from which opinions can be formed, for example: there were few Americans Artists, critics, or even modern art historians of the 1950s and early 1960s who did not cut their teeth on it From it very beginnings, Abstract Expressionism has been interpreted in the light of the cultural and intellect of the 1950s artists and theorist, who understood Abstract Expressionism as Harold Rosenbergs typically defined action painting. According to which the artist theatrically expressed their personal anguish on a blank canvas, with little attention to form, style, or subject matter, for Rosenberg, painting was an autobiographical act of self-creation in the everyday world, and the expression of individual personality. Therefore, it can be viewed that the way that Abstract Expressionism looks to the writer, as if, in typical fashion, you just simply splash your thinking and feelings by just letting yourself go and just splurge it onto a canvas and with such painting, you could in fact come up with a not dissimilar work of art. But, never forgetting in the typical construction of this style, to let the paint do all the work with the brushes. In a shape and form of it own. The reviewed book then goes onto explaining where the movement of abstract expressionism came from and what earlier art movements helped it on its way, this gives any reader far better understanding and layout of what the movement conceptualizes. In the words of the author:- giving the art the best pedigree by linking it with impressionism, Cubism and Surrealism this formalist approach focused on the Abstract expressionism stylistic evolution while proposing for them an exclusive concern with the formal questions: purifying the medium, squeezing out illusionism, and remaking space and a optical rather than tactile . CONCLUSION Therefore, it can be attested, that many of the movements discussed as impacting on abstract expressionism are all clearly linked, one could even say that Surrealism been linked to pagan art, in that, they are all from the same family breeding. So therefore conceptual pagan art would notably come under all of these modernist art movements, even socialism can be placed into this context even if it does have its foundations in Russian history. What is interesting is that, all are from a similar systemic background; perhaps, it could be reviewed that they should all be grouped in one mass movement, like that of the early 20th century movement created through, mass observation. But, what is fundamentally of note, in that, art moves and changes constantly, and for any artist, theorist or aspiring artist, it can be very hard to keep up with it evolution. To note this: the big bang theory of abstract expressionism, as ROBERT ROSEBBERG was wittily called it, argued that this abstract work erupted and suddenly. Fully-grown from virtually no where. This perhaps flippant academic remark, makes it sound that abstract expressionism, grew up to quickly upstage, more formal and founding artistic concepts and movements. But, as one can see in the rise of Surrealism, it took between 10-20 years to mature, so inevitably so will this movement, as it has and continues to do so, with ever evolving creations, like the dynamic art being explored in Paganism. Therefore, it can be concluded that art evolves, movements come and go, but the strength and breadth of the artist will always be creatively and in vogue. BIBLIOGRAPHY ANFAM; D. (1990) Abstract Expressionism Thames Hudson BALKEN; D. (2005) Movement In Modern Art Abstract Expressionism TATE Publishing GOMBRICH; E. H. (1984) The History of Art Fourth Edition; Phaidon. Oxford. LEVEY; M. (1968) A History of Western Art Thames Hudson. London. POLCARI; S. (1999) Abstract Expressionism And The Modern Experience UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE STANGOS; N. (1981) Concepts of Modern Art Thames Hudson

Traditional Chinese Wedding Customs

Traditional Chinese Wedding Customs This is the elaborate process on the grooms parents part to look for the right kind of bride for their family. Rich families will look for a bride who can take care of household finances and most importantly, give birth to sons to inherit the wealth of the family. Poor families will look for a bride who can work hard in the fields and give birth to sons to help out on the farm. In the old days, marriages are arranged so its quite normal for the parents to dominate the bride-seeking process. Girls from rich family will be sought out by other rich families and poor girls will probably marry into poor families. Hence the Chinese saying: bamboo door is to bamboo door as wooden door is to wooden door. There are some circumstances where the marriage has been arranged when both the bride and the groom were very young or not even born. In the former case, a young girl may be bought by the rich family as a servant girl to serve the rich boy. When the boy grew up, she may become either his wife or one of his concubines. In the latter case, two pregnant mothers will make the promise that when the babies are born, if they were both boys or both girls, they would become brothers or sisters and if one baby was a boy and the other a girl, they would get married. Hence the saying: pointing to the bosom as a marriage promise. However, a lot of times when the boy grew up, his family may have fallen from prestige and sometimes the girls family may refuse to let them get married. There are numerous folktales about tragedies that stem from arranged marriage. However, there are also many happy endings to arranged marriage. All we can say is that it was the fact of life at that time. Ia. Three Letters In the old days, all communication was through formal letters. Therefore, the letters play an important role in the events. Request Letter This letter confirms the formal arrangement of a marriage. It is sent by the grooms family to the brides family. This letter is normally presented with the initial gifts for the brides family. Gift Letter This letter accompanies the formal gifts for the Brides family. It is actually a gift list that records the description and quantity of the gifts. Wedding Letter This letter is presented to the brides family on th day of the wedding. It confirms the act of bringing the bride into the grooms family. Ib. Six Etiquette The Chinese word for etiquette can mean both customs and gifts. The following customs are known as the Six Etiquette Request for Marrying the Bride After the grooms family has spotted a young girl whom the groom wants to marry, the family will hire a spokeswoman who will communicate their wish to the potential brides family. (In the old days, it is popular to hire elderly ladies as midwives or spokeswoman for the groom.) This lady will persuade the potential brides family to accept the offer from the grooms family. Both sides will negotiate certain terms. If successful, both families will proceed to the next step. Request for Bride and Grooms Birth Dates This is the second step in arranging a marriage. Upon successfuly completion of the previous step, the grooms family will request for the brides Eight Letters through the spokeswoman. In Chinese calendar, there are 22 letters that we use to represent date. Ten are known as Tian Gan and twelve are Di Zhi. Two letters are used to represent each of teh following: year, month, day and time. Altogether, eight letters will accurately represent the brides birthdate. After obtaining the Eight Letters of the groom and potential bride, a fortune telling master will be hired to determine whether the two match each other. If there is nothing wrong with the brides birthdate, the grooms family will proceed to the next step. Otherwise, there will be no further contact between the families and the grooms family may look for another suitable bride. Initial Gifts for the Brides Family If the potential brides birthdate is acceptable, the grooms family will request the spokeswoman to send some initial gifts accompanied by the gift letter. Formal Gifts for the Brides Family The grooms family will pick a good day and send the brides family the following bridal gifts: gifts, cash, cakes and food and sacrifices for worshiping the ancestors. This act confirms the marriage agreement between the two families. Select the Wedding Date The fortune telling master will select a good day according the the bride and grooms and their familys birthdates. Wedding Day On the big day, both the bride and the grooms house will be decorated in red. The grooms family will send out a procession of servants, musicians and a carriage which is carried by four servants to the brides family to bring the bride back. The bride will then be brought back to the grooms house and the two will perform the marriage cermony witnessed by all the relatives and friends. The bride and groom will worship the heavens and the earth, the grooms ancestors and they will also serve tea to all of their superiors in the family. After that, the superiors will give them red packages (lai see) with monetary gifts and wish them well. The grooms family will then throw a huge feast (if they can afford it) for the friends and relatives to celebrate the wedding. All along, the spokeswoman will oversee the whole process and keep toasting the couple. After the meal, the newly wed couple will return to the bridal room and some naughty friends may tag-along and play tricks on the groom. When all is done, the couple will drink and toast and the spokeswoman will offer sweets and fruits to the couple to wish them long life and lots of kids (!). Then, the couple will finaly be left with themselves and the groom can take off the red cloth that covers the brides face. II. Preparation for the wedding IIa. Setting up the Bridal Bed After the grooms family has selected a good day as the wedding day, a man whos considered to have had good fortune all through his life will be hired to move the bridal bed to the right place. Then a lady whos considered to have had good fortune [with healthy and living husband and sons] will make the bed and place certain good fortune food and fruits on the bed. Then the bed will be left untouched until the day of the wedding. IIb. The Brides Gifts for the Groom The brides gifts for the groom will either arrive a couple of days before the wedding day or if shes a relatively long-distance bride, shell bring along the gifts with her maids as she arrive at the grooms home on wedding day. The brides gifts usually consists of valuable jewelry and precious stones, kitchen utensils, proper bridal linen such as sheets, pillow covers and clothes. In some area, the brides family is expected to furnish the bridal except for the bridal bed. Theres a saying that if the bride supplies the bridal bed, then the family is practically giving the bride away for free. IIc. Combing Hair The night before the wedding, both the bride and the groom needs to find a good fortune woman and man to comb their hair in his/her home respectively. Both the bride and the groom needs to take shower before the event, change to some fresh new underwear and incense needs to be burnt. The bride also needs to sit next to a window where the moon can be seen. Their hair needs to be combed four times and each has a special meaning: The first combing symbolizes: from beginning till the end The second combing symbolizes: harmony from now till old age The third combing symbolizes: sons and grandsons all over the place The fourth combing summaries good wealth and a long-lasting marriage. The whole action also symbolizes the adulthood of the couple. If either has been married before, then the combing event can be skipped for that person. |  Top of Page  |  Traditional Customs  |  Modern Customs  | III. Wedding Day Activities IIIa. Wedding Day: picking up the Bride On the day of the wedding, the groom will send a carriage over to the brides family to bring the bride home. The carriage is decorated in red and is carried by four servants. Musicians will accompany the procession and they will play wedding music all the way. A lot of gifts are also brought to the brides family at the same time. At the brides home, the bride will put on her bright red wedding gown and the brides parents will give her jewelry to wear. IIIb. Bride Leaving Home As the grooms procession arrives, the grooms spokeswoman will enter the brides house and will carry the bride on her back. The bride cannot touch the ground with her feet until she arrives at the grooms house. In some regions, the brides relatives will throw rice into the air, hoping that the chickens around will eat the rice instead of pecking at the bride. Sometimes, a red umbrella is used to shield the bride as the opening of the umbrella will symbolize her bringing many descendants to the grooms family. As the bride leaves the house, her parents and her relatives will bid her farewell as she rides the carriage and leaves home. Wealthy brides often have servant girls who will follow her to the grooms family and continue to serve her. These maids are known as ones who accompany the marriage. IIIc. Bride Arriving at the Grooms Home After the bride arrive at the grooms house, the couple will again worship the ancestors and worship the heavens and earth. Then they will serve tea to the grooms family according the their seniority and the relatives will give them red packets or bridal jewelry in return. IIId. The Wedding Banquet To celebrate the marriage, the grooms family will throw a wedding feast as large as they can afford. In the old days, some villagers may use up to seven continuous days to entertain the relatives during a wedding. Every night, delicious food is being served to all the guests. IV. Post Wedding Activities IVa. The Bride Returning Home after 3 Days Three days after the wedding, the bride is expected to return to her family. The bride will bring along roasted pig and gifts for the family. Some regions require that the groom accompany her while some didnt. Nonetheless, this is probably the last chance the bride gets to see her parents. Therefore, she will bring along a lot of gifts for the family and she may even stay for a couple of days or even more. As a tradition, the brides family will also return part of the gifts to the grooms family as a courtesy. Some regional custom requires that the family should return the head and tail of the roasted pig to the grooms family symbolizing the good beginning and end of the wedding. Modern Chinese Wedding Customs The above practices contributed to the festive atmosphere of a wedding, however, most of the customs are not performed to its fullest extent in the modern world. Instead of performing all these ancient practices, even most elders would prefer the following simplified customs nowadays. For the modernized customs (or the even more simplified customs) , please see this section on Modern Customs. When to get married? Hong Kong is a funny place where wedding plans are not driven by the couples relationship. It is often restrained by financial situations. Given Hong Kongs US$500-US$1000-per square-foot real estate price and 9% interest rate on mortgage plan plus the cost of an elaborate Chinese wedding banquet that most parents require, most couples struggle for years in order to save money for the wedding. As crazy as it seems, I know a couple who applied for public housing for 8 years and failed every single time and finally got married because they had to before they can apply for a different government housing scheme and still failed and finally ended up living with their parents. They love each other but they had to wait all these years because of the lack of a living quarter. Another couple planned to get married in 92 but their parents fail to compromise on the number of guests they can invite to the wedding banquet and it finally took the young couple 4 more years to save enough in order to satisfy the needs of the parents. Therefore, the financial restraint has torn up many couples. For those fortunate enough, they will then go through the following procedures.. Preparation for the Wedding Ia. Exchange Birth Dates and Family Tree If the groom and the brides birthdates are OK (meaning that no disaster is predicted by the fortune teller if the two get married), the two families will exchange their family records/family tree. However, this custom is not always being followed depending how superstitious the families are. Ib. Send Gifts to Brides Family The modern families usually send both the intial gifts and the formal gifts to the brides home on one day instead of separating the two events. Most families still need to consult the Chinese calendar to pick a good day which is normally about one month before the wedding. Instead of sending the whole list of gifts such as livestock, certain good-luck food or material, some couples simplify the gifts and the groom will only send some nice gifts such as dried seafood and fruit basket to the brides family. (Nowadays, most parents dont know what to do with some lively chicken flying around the fifteen-storey high apartment. Plus, theres a great chance that theyll suffocate before arriving at the brides home, given Hong Kongs infamous traffic jams) As for the monetary gift, the groom will either pay a certain agreed amount to the brides family or will offer to pay for all of the wedding cost. The negotiation will then focus on how many tables the groom is able to offer to the brides family during the wedding banquet. Sometimes, the brides family will insist on having a certain number of guests but if the groom cannot afford it, they will try to compromise. At other times, the grooms family may have a certain reason to limit the brides number of guests, such as if the grooms family is not too large, some relatives may feel uneasy if the brides family invite more guest than the grooms family. Even nowadays, this is a potential area for conflict between the two families. IIa. Setting up the Bridal Bed Not every couple can afford to buy a new bed as the bridal bed nowadays. Especially with the outrageous real estate prices in Hong Kong, not every couple has their own place and a new bed, so its now quite customary to simply change the linen to the traditional red linen as a symbolic act for setting up the bridal bed. Some couples dont even bother with that. They may simply buy some nice Esprit or Ikea linen and use those as the bridal linens. IIb. The Brides Gifts for the Groom Not many people will follow this rule still. The only jewelry the bride brings over to the grooms family is probably the ones that her relatives give her on wedding day as a wedding gift. Some brides contribute some of the gifts from relatives to pay for the banquet as well and some say that is considered as part of the brides gifts as well. IIc. Combing Hair Some couples choose to skip this event altogether, although it is a relatively simple act compared to the others. IIIa. Wedding Day: picking up the Bride Nowadays, the bridesmaid will have most fun during the picking up of the bride. Early in the morning, the groom and the groomsmen will decorate the cars and drive them over to the brides home. At the door, the bridesmaids will prepare a lot of tricky questions for the groom to answer. The groom not only has to answer all the questions, he also has perform certain acts such as doing push-ups to show that hes strong enough to take care of the bride,or sing out his love for the bride in front of many people. The groomsmen will help the groom to pass all these tests. The last test is a financial test. The groom has to pay the bridesmaids some red packets [good fortune] as gifts, then the groom and his groomsmen can enter the house and greet the bride. The couple will then serve tea to the superior in the brides family. The brides parents will be the first to be served, followed by other relatives. Each one will give the couple some present in return, often red packets and jewelry for the bride [gold is often preferred in the Southern region]. IIIb. Bride Leaving Home Nowadays, only very traditional families may use the red umbrella or throw rice as the bride leaves the house. Most people do not perform any special activities and the brides parents and relatives will either go to the Marriage Registrar or the church to attend the wedding ceremony. IIIc. Bride Arriving at the Grooms Home Again, the couple will then serve tea to the superior in the grooms family. The grooms parents will be the first to be served, followed by other relatives. Each one will give the couple some present in return, often red packets and jewelry for the bride. After that, the whole family will leave for the Marriage Registrar or the church to attend the wedding ceremony. IIId. The Wedding Banquet This is probably the part of the tradition that has been very well kept. In the modern Chinese society, the wedding feast is considered to be very important as supposed to the church ceremony or even the signing of the marriage license at the Governments Marriage Registrar. Most parents do not mind the rest of the tradition except for this part. To the parents, the wedding feast is a chance for them to return their relatives kindness and to announce the marriage of their kids. If the wedding feast turns out to be good, then its a great thing because they will have face. In the Chinese culture, its most important to have face [respected by others]. Traditionally, the groom will pay for everything but nowadays, some young couples will offer to pay for themselves. As mentioned before, this is the area with the highest likelihood for conflicts between families of the bride and the groom. The brides family will want to invite as many friends and families as possible while the grooms family may either have a budget concern or they do not want the brides family to invite more friends than they do in fear of losing face. Note that the bride and the grooms own friends are often being neglected. The wedding banquet is truly more of a parental event than that of the young couples. There are many jokes about some people slipping into wedding banquets and nobody even noticed until the young couple exchange notes afterwards and realize the guests are neither the bride nor the grooms relatives. Or that the guest went to the wrong banquet in the same restaurant [there may be 3 or 4 banquets going on at the same time in the restaurant, separat ed by partitions or rooms] without knowing it. Once the guest list is drafted, the parents will then decide on the menu. A traditional Chinese banquet will include somewhere around 12 courses including an appetizer [lobster salad], roast pig, abalone, shark fin soup and end with fried rice/noodles, dessert and fresh fruit. The food is of utmost importance to Chinese and in most cases only delicacies are served. Besides,really nice cognac such as VSOP is often being served. As a side note, most restaurant finds the beverage to be a great way to rip off the family as you can never keep track of how many Cokes each guest has consumed. During the feast, the guests are seated in round tables and sometimes seating plans are being made in order to avoid guests not knowing each other being seated at the same table. Each guest will normally bring along monetary gift that runs around US$50-US$100 in Hong Kong [the price varies in different regions]. Normally the gifts can barely cover the cost of the banquet, therefore, the banquet is a great financial constraint in the couples planning. [that is, on top of the US$500-US$1000-per square-foot real estate price and 9% interest rate on mortgage plan in Hong Kong]. As for the wedding colour, it is quite standard:  red. The events in a Chinese wedding banquet have been modified a bit nowadays. Before the banquet starts, most of the guests will participate in one of the Chinese national games, mahjong [a Chinese tile game]. Others will take photos with the bride and the groom. When the food is ready, the waiters will play a modified xylophone and wedding music will start to play in the background. Some couples will hire an MC to conduct the ceremony. Due to Western influence, the best man and maid of honour often gets to toast the bride and the groom before food is being served. During the serving of shark fin soup, the couple will go from table to table, toasting the guests and thanking them. In return, the guests will also toast the bride and the groom. After that, the groomsmen, bridesmaids and friends of the young couple will often play certain tricks on them. This is similar to the clinking of glasses in the Western culture. The goal is to make the groom show his love in public. Some of the game s are X-rated, depending what kind of friends the couple has. Some games are similar to the ones played in during bridal shower or a bachelars party. Others may be a bit more outrageous. After that, the bride will change into a different gown [For some peculiar reason, brides have to change into 4 or 5 different dresses on the wedding day]. As the time draws near for the guests to leave, the parents, the couple and the relatives will stand in line at the door to thank the guests and wish them well as they leave. This is contrary to the receiving line in Western culture. Chinese has retreating line instead. When all the guests have left, the bridal party will go home. That is, if the couple is not holding the banquet in a hotel where a guest room is provided for the newly wed to stay. If so, the persistent friends will break into the room and play more games on the newly wed. For details, please refer to directory Lee Ans movie  Wedding Banquet  which has a great description on wedding banquets. IV. Post Wedding Activities IVa. The Bride Returning Home after 3 Days Nowadays in certain regions, this rule is still being followed where the bride will return to the family with gifts. However, in some regions, this custom is being simplified so the bride will return home on the same day if distance allows. Otherwise, some brides will leave the door, and then return to the house again and count that as returning home.

The Impeachment of Andrew Jackson Essay example -- American Politics,

America was created on the principles of honesty, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Andrew Jackson exemplified these founding principles. This man insightfully closed a corrupt bank, preventing a possible financial meltdown in the world economy. He espoused the principle of federal law ascendancy and upheld nationalism by sending troops to prevent a civil war. Lastly, he did what was best for both settlers and Native Americans by issuing the Indian Removal Act. Demonstrating unparalleled foresight and dexterity, Andrew Jackson did what was necessary to move the country forward, thus making him one of the greatest presidents of the United States. Despite popular belief, Andrew Jackson actually prevented a catastrophic financial meltdown in the world economy by closing a corrupt bank, The Second Bank of the United States. It all started in 1819, nine years before Jackson’s election. â€Å"At that time, the Bank was lending credit to smaller state banks. Suddenly, it demanded that all state banks pay back their credit, which caused the Panic of 1819, leading to a decade-long depression† (sparknotes.com). From this, Jackson truly felt that was a disaster was brewing and set out to shut it down. In addition, only the wealthy who invested in this bank gain profit while the common people do not. In regard to bank loans, the wealthy obtained lower interest rates while the poor, who actually need the money, have a tougher time getting any loan. Here the ordinary man was not represented. Instead, it slowed down economic expansion and restricted the rise and success of the working class. Not only did it pose a do mestic threat, our national bank could cause international conflict and affect the global economy. Jackson stated ... ...sions seem unorthodox, but its true purpose emerges in years to come. He transformed our economy into a safe, secure, and prosperous money-making machine. He always stayed firm in federal law dominance and prevented a civil war that would have tore our young country apart. Finally, he maintained domestic tranquility with the Indian Removal Act, satisfying both the white settlers and the Native Americans. Strong-armed and unafraid, Jackson truly was the man of the people. In his farewell address to the country, Jackson reminded the people, â€Å"eternal vigilance by the people is the price of liberty,† (sparknotes.com) and encouraged change as a positive boost to the nation. America will forever remember him as one of the greatest presidents of the United States of America. Works Cited sparknotes.com The Americans u-s-history.com pbs.org iamthewitness.com

The Impressionist Movement :: essays research papers fc

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Impressionism was a movement that occurred in both art and poetry. It was a time in which the people broke from the traditional standards or styles. They wanted to bring new ways of expressing their ideas to their societies. These ideas were seen through subjects of interest, such as art and poetry. Claude Monet’s Woman with a Parasol: Madame Monet and Her Son and William Butler Yeats’s â€Å"The Wild Swans at Coole† both characterize important aspects of the Impressionist Age.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The word â€Å"impressionism† is mostly associated with the artistic movement. The first time this term was used with reference to art was when one writer was speaking of a painting by Claude Monet, called Impression: Sunrise (1872, Musee Marmottan, Paris). The term was first officially used in 1877 (â€Å"Impressionism†). The artists of this movement were characterized as impressionists because of their simplified works (â€Å"Monet, Claude Oscar†). They were part of a group in which the artists shared similar styles and techniques between 1867 and 1886. Some of the important artists were Monet, Renoir, Pisarro, Sisley, Morisot, as well as a few others (Pioch). Monet and Renoir both painted scenes of La Grenouillere. Their work signified the beginning of this new age of art (Mataev). The Impressionist Movement grew because these painters wanted a different style, a new technique, and paintings with more unique subjects. The popular paintings of the time were all approved by the Academie des Beaux Arts. The standard type of paintings that were most commonly approved included a scale of tones for forming shapes and blacks and browns for making shadows. These classical paintings were realistic, usually of scenes indoors. Impressionists turned from this traditional art and began to paint their subjects outside, using unarranged light. These paintings were more spur-of-the-moment type, and appeared less realistically (â€Å"Impressionism†). There are certain characteristics that set impressionist art apart from all other styles of art.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Impressionists, both in art and poetry, portrayed great images of their subjects by using their styles or techniques. They often captured scenes with vivid color, with great light effects, and with motion (Sporre 525). The impressionist painters tried to view their subjects not as what they really were, but as different areas of color, shapes and light. They commonly used quick, free brush strokes of non-detailed spots of color. This method created a lively appearance (Sporre 527). Impressionists did not mix their colors, as the earlier artists had done.

Community Windshield Survey Essay

Purpose The purpose of this assignment is to complete a direct observational assessment of a community in your area. This windshield survey will be the initial step in uncovering a community health problem in your area and identifying community dynamics. This problem will be further assessed in the following two assignments. Course Outcomes This assignment enables the student to meet the following course outcomes. CO #2. Integrate clinical judgment in professional decision-making and implementation of the nursing process through analysis of community health nursing practice. (PO #4) CO #5. Analyze the nursing roles in the community health setting. (PO #7) CO #7. Accept accountability for personal and professional development as part of the life-long learning process. (PO #5) Due Date Submit to the appropriate basket in the Dropbox by 11:59 p.m. MT Sunday of Week 2. Points: 150 points Directions 1. Download the NR443 Community Windshield Survey Form from Doc Sharing. You will type your name and answers directly onto this Word document. Your form does NOT need to follow APA formatting; however, you are expected to use correct grammar, spelling, syntax and write in complete sentences. 2. Save the file by clicking â€Å"Save as† and adding your last name to the file name, e.g., â€Å"NR443 Windshield Survey Form_Smith† 3. Submit the completed form to the â€Å"Caring for Populations: Community Windshield Survey† Dropbox by Sunday, 11:59 p.m. MT at the end of Week 2. 4. Length: The completed form should be no more than three pages in length (not including any optional references). Guidelines Below are the requirements needed for successful completion of the Windshield Survey Form: 1. Introduction to the Community: Identify the community you will be using for this assignment and provide a brief one to two paragraph description of the community. Your community should be the area where you  live or the area surrounding your work setting. 2. Windshield Survey: Assess your community by doing an informal windshield survey. Information about the components of a windshield survey is located in your textbook, Nies & McEwen (2011) on page 97 (Box 6-2). Drive through the area and report your observations by describing each of the following six areas using the questions in the text as your guide (one to two paragraphs each): a. Community vitality b. Indicators of social and economic conditions c. Health resources d. Environmental conditions related to health e. Social functioning f. Attitude toward healthcare It is helpful to conduct this assessment at least two different times: during the day or evening, on a weekday and/or on the weekend. If possible, plan on asking someone to drive during your survey so that you can take notes. 3. Conclusion: Provide a summary of your findings. The information gathered during the windshield survey should assist you to identify a community health problem that will be further assessed in the next assignment. 4. References: The purpose of this assignment is to document your observations of your community. Outside sources are not required. However, if sources are used, these sources must be cited within the form and listed in the Reference section. Best Practices in Preparing the Form The following are best practices in preparing this project: Make sure all elements of the form are included. Review directions and grading rubric below thoroughly. Cite any outside references as above (these are optional). Proofread prior to final submission. Check for spelling and grammar errors prior to final submission. Abide by the CCN academic integrity policy, which may be found in the Policies under the Course Home tab.